Champions League final, Leeds United vs. Paris Saint-Germain.
Even before the game, many football celebrities, including Gao Shen, Ferguson and Wenger, were very optimistic about Leeds United.
This is really not a coincidence or favoritism.
It's because of a natural flaw of Paris Saint-Germain that Gao Shen mentioned before.
Ligue 1 is so comfortable!
Maybe many people think it’s not good to be more comfortable?
After Paris Saint-Germain dominates Ligue 1, it can devote more time and energy to the Champions League. Doesn't this have an advantage over other teams?
Yes, this does have certain advantages.
But on the other hand, the league environment that is too comfortable lacks competitive pressure, and players are too relaxed. They can win and take the lead casually, even if they are a little distracted. This is not a problem for any team or any player.
, are not good things.
For example, in Gao Shen's previous life, he always felt that Mbappe really didn't seek to improve when he joined and stayed in Paris.
Even though Mbappé had made progress before reaching the advanced level, he was far from meeting the outside world's expectations of him.
And the whole world knows that at that age, it should be the stage when players increase the fastest, but Mbappe's increase is too slow.
In this life, Mbappe is at Leeds United and later moved to Real Madrid. He is making rapid progress with each step he takes.
The same situation applies to Haaland. It was as if he was a completely different person from last season to this season.
This is what the league environment hones.
Even like Rashford, during the critical period of ball growth, he encountered a sudden increase in height, which caused his entire technical characteristics to change and his career was seriously affected.
But this season, he still played and made great progress.
Everyone can say that Rashford did not meet the expectations for him back then, but the momentum of improvement after adjustments is absolutely surprising.
From this point of view, Neymar really should not join Paris.
Likewise, there are Pogba, Varane, Kante and others.
From a purely competitive perspective, they really shouldn't have done this, but from a career or even life perspective, they did nothing wrong.
This is not only because PSG gave them enough money, but also because they returned to their home country.
Many people ignore this.
But it is undeniable that when Paris has a group of outstanding superstars, when they can easily score a big score against their opponents in Ligue 1 with a little effort, how do they ensure their concentration?
The advice given by Gao Shen is competition, competition within the team.
This has indeed had a certain effect, but from the perspective of Paris as a whole, it is still not enough.
Especially in the past two years, the French Ligue 1 has really experienced a decline, and it has become more and more obvious. The gap with the four major leagues, especially the gap with the Premier League, is getting wider and wider.
This is why Gao Shen strongly supports the Qatari consortium’s acquisition of Premier League teams.
If it doesn't work, these stars will let them transfer to Tottenham.
But as far as this Champions League final is concerned, it is very, very difficult for Paris to get past Manchester City.
Gao Shen even felt that if PSG faced Real Madrid instead of Manchester City, they would probably have to take a break.
In the Champions League final, facing the wolf-like, young and energetic Leeds United, PSG immediately exposed its problems.
…
As soon as the game started, Leeds United launched a crazy fast-paced pressing and pressing, especially intensifying the pressing on PSG's midfield and backcourt, which directly made the Ligue 1 team unable to keep up.
In just over 2 minutes, Leeds United completed a steal on the right.
After Ashraf stole the ball, he quickly passed the ball to Valverde and sprinted forward as quickly as possible, taking away the Paris defensive players and creating an opportunity for Sancho.
Valverde passed the ball to Sancho, who took the ball and cut laterally from behind Achraf.
At this moment, Leeds United's two attackers completed a very clever movement coordination.
Haaland pushed forward in the middle, attracting the defensive attention of the Paris center defender. Rashford deliberately trailed a little behind Haaland. After the defensive players' attention was attracted by Haaland, he went around.
From behind Harland, he ran a curve and went straight from the right side of the arc top area to the right side of the penalty area.
At this time, Sancho cut inside with the ball and sent a direct pass.
Rashford went straight to the right side of the penalty area, caught up with Sancho's pass, and hit the goal with his right foot.
The shot was saved by goalkeeper Navas and failed to lead to a goal.
However, Leeds United's fast-paced offense and defense were still very sharp, and the players' movements were also very thoughtful.
The addition of Rashford, Haaland, Sancho, and the team's two full-backs, plus midfielders Enzo Fernandez and Valverde, allowed Leeds United's entire midfield attack and two
The wings are all very tightly knitted together.
With this exquisite movement, cracks were opened in Paris' defense.
Do not believe?
Look at another attack organized by Leeds United more than a minute later.
It was Sancho who got the ball on the right rib, but Pogba was unable to break through and was forced to go diagonally to the right sideline.
But just after crossing the center line, Sancho suddenly accelerated and took the ball from between Pogba and Bernat towards the penalty area.
Throughout the process, Pogba tried several times to suppress Sancho with his body, but failed to stop the England winger.
Sancho was running fast with the ball in his hand and just took the ball out from between the two defensive players.
After dribbling the ball to the outside of the penalty area, Sancho saw Marquinhos coming up and immediately passed the ball across to Harland.
Harland was facing the goal, but there was Varane in front of him, so he did not stick to the ball. As soon as he stopped, he passed the ball laterally with his left foot, passing the ball from behind Sancho back to the right wing of Leeds United.
.
At this moment, Achraf rushed in along the right sideline at a very fast speed. After catching up with Haaland's pass, he strode towards the baseline and passed the ball low with his right foot to the goal.
Rashford rushed over and pushed the ball forward.
If Navas had divine help at the critical moment, he fought hard to save the ball and directly saved the ball from the bottom line.
At this time, the game had just passed 4 minutes.
But everyone can see that Leeds United has almost scored the goal of Paris.
…
Seeing Leeds United preparing for a corner kick, Wenger shook his head and sighed.
"Sancho can be regarded as a player with weak physical confrontation ability in Leeds United, but Pogba still can't suppress him."
Wenger regrets this.
This is not because of Pogba's lack of physical confrontation, but because of his overall playing habit.
Pogba has inadvertently developed a habit while playing in Ligue 1, that is, he does not need to use all his strength to suppress his opponents, or just like just now, if he were a Ligue 1 player, Pogba only needs to lightly
Just lean on it and your opponent will be disarmed.
If it doesn't work, let him go. There is Bernat behind him.
But the problem is, now they are facing Sancho and Leeds United!
The reason why a habit is a habit is because it always appears inadvertently.
If the pressure Pogba had just put on Sancho was strong enough, the England winger would not be able to break through at all. He would most likely have to stop to protect the ball and then pass it back. He might even stumble, lose his pace and lose the ball.
.
Whether he is at Leeds United or Real Madrid, Pogba can do it.
But two years after joining Paris, he can no longer do it.
This is the impact of the league environment.
On the other hand, Sancho is indeed not strong in physical confrontation, and is even a little weak. However, he has been in the Premier League for many years and has long been accustomed to this level of physical competition. Therefore, after being squeezed by Pogba, instead of losing the ball, he continued to
Take it forward.
This is the training the league environment gave him and the confidence it brought him.
Leeds United's two attacks just now showed their own fast pace, and at the same time they also made their opponents exhausted.
More importantly, Harland, as a high center forward, has shown irreplaceable value.
That is, he uses his speed, impact, strength and physical advantages to force Paris to focus its defense around him.
One on one?
Varane can't guard Haaland.
When the opponent's defense gathers towards the center, there will inevitably be looseness around the center, which creates more offensive space for the offensive players wandering around the center.
For example, with the ball just now, Rashford passed behind Haaland and went straight into the right side of the penalty area.
For the second goal, Haaland retreated, pulled out the defensive player, and then distributed the ball to the right. Ashraf crossed to the goal to find Rashford.
The routines are ever-changing, but the fundamental one is the high center.
"This is what you said back then, the tactics of the big center era!" Ferguson was convinced.
When Gao Shen proposed the era of big centers, everyone was still skeptical. Even head coaches such as Guardiola were trying forwardless tactics. Many head coaches who played three defenders were trying two forwards, or using players like Yin Cardi.
Running forward.
But now, with the success of Leeds United, everyone has clearly seen this trend.
With or without a center, the difference is really huge.
"To be honest, with the current strength of Leeds United, the age structure of the team, and the configuration of the lineup, I really can't think of anyone who can stop Leeds United in the next few years?" Wenger said with admiration.
Everything that Leeds United is doing now seems to be accidental, but in fact, if you dig deeper, you will find that it is almost all Gao Shen's deployment and continuous accumulation in the past few years.
Including this group of young players, including a series of software and hardware such as the scouting system and youth training system created by Leeds United, these all added up to create the current Leeds United.
If professional football is really a so-called system battle, then which other club’s system can compete with Leeds United?
As of now, there really isn’t!
Perhaps, in the future, teams such as Manchester City, Real Madrid, Tottenham, and Newcastle will have such strength, but Leeds United may be wreaking havoc in European football for a long time, because this team is so terrible!
"Back then, I told you that when Haaland's youth training lineage grows up, we will be invincible!" Gao Shen said with an unusually confident smile.
He is somewhat domineering now.
But Leeds United's momentum has been established, and there is no need for Gao Shen to hide his capabilities and bide his time.
At this moment, almost in response to Gao Shen's words, Leeds United launched another threatening attack on the pitch.
