Harry Kane is gone, is the team missing a center?

If you take another ten to twenty million out of these 85 million, wouldn't you be able to buy a high-quality and low-priced striker?

For the 100 million yuan he got from selling Bale, Levi bought seven new players including Eriksen and Lamela.

It doesn’t matter if you didn’t buy it. Didn’t you just buy Son Heung-min? Just put it on top.

On the other hand, because Levy was so decisive in selling people, this also disillusioned Harry Kane's last vestiges of Tottenham Club.

I originally wanted to give my heart to Mingyue, but Mingyue wanted to exchange me for money!

He is now firmly a new Chelsea man!

He is also more eager to perform well in the new season, so as to tell Tottenham and Levi that their approach is wrong!

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After finalizing Harry Kane, Pan Yi began to consider Chelsea's main lineup for the new season.

After having two young and promising forwards, Lukaku and Kane, it would be a waste to let anyone play as a substitute, so the new formation will be a two-forwards-based play style.

For players like Marcos Alonso, their power will be greatly reduced if they play as traditional full-backs, so they still have to stick to the wing-back or full-midfield style.

In addition, the team is already very comfortable with the three-centre-back system, including young players such as David Luiz, Terry, or Ake, Zouma, etc., and there is no need to change it.

Therefore, a new formation has emerged——

No, it’s -2!

In fact, the difference between the two formations is not particularly big.

Whether it is -2, the configuration in the midfield is a combination of two wing-backs and three midfielders;

The difference between the two is that they prefer to use a defensive midfielder, an all-around midfielder and a pseudo-winger. This is a bit like the position of Pirlo + Pogba + Vidal in Juventus' formation last season.

And -2 is two defensive midfielders, plus an attacking midfielder. This formation is actually a little outdated in today's world football, and not many coaches are used.

If you want to give an example, Paris, which later owned MMN, used this formation, allowing Messi to play as an attacking midfielder, with Mbappe and Neymar in front.

But about fifteen years ago, this -2 formation with two defensive midfielders was very popular, with two wide midfielders and an attacking midfielder in the middle.

Especially in the 2002 World Cup finals in Korea and Japan, the starting lineups of the Brazilian national team and the German national team, the head coaches of both sides of the game arranged such a -2 formation.

Take the Brazilian team as an example. The goalkeeper is Marcos. The three central defenders are Lucio, Roque Junior and Edmilson. The wing-backs on both sides are double cards, Cafu and Carlos. The double midfielders in the middle are

Gilberto Silva and Kleberson, midfielder Ronaldinho, forwards Rivaldo and Ronaldo.

Germany's side also has a double forward combination of Klose + Neuville, but the absence of Ballack behind them has a great impact on the German team's offensive firepower.

This final also represented the peak of the -2 formation in the history of world football formations. The Brazilian national team finally relied on its powerful 3R striker combination to successfully win the World Cup.

But such a configuration would do more harm than good to ordinary teams.

The offensive midfielder will inevitably be closely marked by the opponent, making it difficult to organize an effective attack.

The inability to organize an effective attack in the frontcourt will put the team into trouble, causing the wide midfielders to retreat to the backcourt under defensive pressure, turning the formation into a realistic 5-back formation.

And once the offensive end is affected, the team's defensive end will also be dragged down by the weakness of the offense.

This is why Paris, with Messi, dares to use such a formation...

But not every team has Messi, and when Messi is in poor condition or is looked down upon, the team's performance will still not be very good.

So, a coach thought of a change.

Later, a new formation represented by Juventus appeared.

The new formation has made certain adjustments to the midfield deployment, from the original double midfielder with two midfielders on both sides and a single offensive midfielder to a configuration with a single midfielder, two midfielders on both sides and two offensive midfielders.

These two attacking midfielders, or sometimes central midfielders, can spread the opposition's markings and make it easier to launch attacks from the front row.

However, this improvement also has its drawbacks. When the number of defensive midfielders is reduced to one person, the pressure on the player in the defensive midfielder position suddenly increases. He must be responsible for the vast area in front of the three defenders alone.

When attacking, the midfielder also plays an important role, so for this formation to be fully effective, there must be an excellent midfielder - in Juventus, this person is Pirlo.

When I arrived at Chelsea, it was Pan Yi’s favorite player, Kante.

Although the two have different characteristics, they can also play the role of the single defensive midfielder in the formation.

And for such a person, Pan Yi also has a clear understanding.

Its advantages are somewhat similar to , but also different.

The same thing is that by adding a central defender, the defensive pressure on the two full midfielders is reduced, which is reflected in both the offensive and defensive ends.

When attacking, the two wide midfielders (wing-backs) can press for assists without any worries, and at the same time, they can also enhance the team's control in the midfield;

When defending, the midfielders (wing backs) on both sides will form a 5-back defense system with the three central defenders at the back to maximize the width of the field.

The difference is that the formation is a formation that attacks the center. In this formation, most of the players are distributed in the middle of the court.

From the center backcourt to the frontcourt, the three center backs plus three midfielders and two forwards are almost all in the middle of the court. This means that the two-wings flying routine often used in the original Chelsea formation needs to be modified somewhat.

Changes, the positions of some players will also change accordingly.

For example, Hazard may move more towards the center and be used as an attacking midfielder.

In addition, in addition to having a numerical advantage in the middle, the formation also has a more hierarchical personnel arrangement in the middle.

Usually, football formations are roughly divided into three lines: back line, midfield line, and forward line, but the 352 formation has 4 lines.

The difference between it and other formations is that in the midfield, the formation has two lines in the midfield, while other formations have only one line in the midfield.

This extra line can often create an advantage for the formation.

For example, the single defensive midfielder in the formation wanders between the back line and the midfield line, and this area is often a position that cannot be taken care of by some parallel midfield formations, such as the 442 parallel midfielder, 343 formation, etc.

Of course, every formation has its shortcomings, and formations are no exception.

First of all, it is still the same as before. The inherent flaw of the three-back formation is the peripheral space on the flanks of the formation. The space on the flanks of the formation is extremely easy to be used by opponents to maneuver back and forth.

Because the formation accumulates a large number of troops in the center of the team, there are only two left and right wingers left on the wings for protection.

When the team retracts to the half court for deep defense, the full midfielders cannot take the risk to attack at this time, so there is a large space on the wings of the formation, and the opponent can take advantage of this to target the formation.

Carry out left and right scheduling to find a breakthrough.

Secondly, the areas on both sides of the single back waist are easily overlooked.

Looking at the formation as a whole, its inherent flaw is that the left and right wings of the formation are exposed to huge gaps. From an individual unit perspective, the single defensive midfielder in the formation is undoubtedly the weakest link.

The new and improved formation has only one deep-lying defensive midfielder in the midfield, and the area on both sides of the defensive midfielder's midfielder is also the area where the opponent focuses on attacking.

As the last barrier in front of the three central defenders, he must not only have sufficient defensive ability, but also have a strong ability to organize offense. If a very good defensive midfielder cannot be selected for this position, then the team's

Both offense and defense will be limited.

Chelsea now has Kante, so this problem is not a big problem, but Pan Yi needs to consider how to adjust or change the lineup if Kante is absent, just like in the Champions League final.

As long as there are no major changes to Chelsea's current group of players, the new season will be completely successful.

First of all, the three central defenders, whether it is David Luiz, Terry, Ake and others, have all proven their abilities.

Since the formation has strong control in the midfield, it usually attacks from the backcourt and does not easily choose long passes or defensive counterattacks.

The attack is initiated from the backcourt, which requires the players in the midfield and backfield to have certain passing skills and ball protection ability. Then, through passing the ball back and forth in the midfield and backfield, and gradually penetrating, the numerical advantage in the midfielder and frontcourt can be utilized.

Give full play to it.

The distance between the three central defenders should be kept reasonable and as wide as possible. They also require a certain ability to protect the ball. They not only determine how the team's offense should be launched, but also affect the mutual protection and support of the team's defense.

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The left central defender and the right central defender need to have a certain ability to dribble and protect the ball, and the ball from the back must also be accurate.

Because when they spread out to the wings, there is no one behind them when they receive the pass from their teammates. They must maintain possession of the ball under such conditions. If they lack a suitable passing route or the pass is too slow, they can easily be caught by the opponent.

Live in a hole.

Obviously, the current Chelsea central defenders can meet these requirements, otherwise they would not be able to play clearly before.

The midfielder needs a certain ability to organize and connect, because the midfielder, who is deep in the midfield where the opponent's marking is relatively weak, is responsible for organizing the offense through accurate passing.

This position not only requires players to have the ability to participate in defense and actively run on the field, which has little to do with personal skills, but more importantly, they need to maintain a broad vision, grasp the situation on the field at all times during the game, and adjust their positions.

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Of course Kanter has no problem.

The two full midfielders in the formation sometimes do not need to attack too much, but stand conservatively on both sides of the midfielder to protect the midfielder and avoid counterattacks after the opponent steals the ball. The half of the field is empty and there are few people.

situation occurs.

If you press forward blindly and are intercepted by your opponent, you will only have one defensive midfielder and three central defenders behind you, with a total of 4 players defending, and your defensive strength will be stretched thin.

Therefore, the full-backs in the formation do not need to risk participating in the attack every time, so coaches generally choose full-backs who are good at attacking to play as wide-forwards.

Then, Marcos Alonso, Azpilicueta and others are good candidates for this position, and they can even thrive in this system and become even more powerful.

In addition, it can be "sideways, middle, front or back", making it an ideal choice for the front waist position.

The range of activities of the attacking midfielder in the formation is relatively wide. When the team organizes the ball from back to front, the attacking midfielder sometimes needs to retreat to help the defensive midfielder players organize.

When attacking in the frontcourt, the attacking midfielder must also seize the opportunity to come to the wing to cooperate with the wide midfielder and forward players and finally send a cross into the penalty area.
To be continued...