From a technical and tactical perspective, Zenit St. Petersburg is actually more like an atypical Dutch team.
A Russian team, under the guidance of the Dutch head coach, plays the Dutch 433 tactics, which is considered unusual no matter how you look at it.
The reason why he is said to be atypical is because his two wingers, Arshavin and Dani, are not true wingers. These two players have strong personal abilities, delicate skills at their feet, passing, and breakthroughs.
A midfielder who is excellent in terms of speed and other aspects.
But they all have a common weakness, which is physical confrontation bias.
The terrible thing is that on the football field, everything is based on the body.
Therefore, this limits their possibility of going further.
With Arshavin and Dani as wingers, Zenit is destined to adopt an unusual 433.
Wingers are atypical, but center Pogrebniak is a typical Dutch football center.
He is tall and strong, has excellent ball-handling ability, and has certain passing ability, but his tactical role is far greater than his scoring ability.
This is my favorite center in the Dutch football tactical system.
With such a center, and supplemented by such wingers, Zenit is destined to be a team that focuses on overall combat.
Facts have also proved that in the past few years when Dutch coach Advocaat coached the team, Zenit's top scorer never reached double digits, but he scored a lot of goals and showed a multi-point score.
situation.
This is the result of the overall battle.
The midfielder is led by Tymoshchuk, and two teammates with both offensive and defensive capabilities are on both sides, forming a three-midfielder. The defense is composed of two full-backs with excellent offensive abilities, plus two central defenders.
Gao Shen has always felt that Hiddink was able to lead Russia to great success in the 2008 European Cup, largely thanks to his compatriot Advocaat and the Zenit he trained.
Zenit has never been a conservative team, but presses and is aggressive at home.
The most typical example is that in St. Petersburg, after Advocaat took a one-goal lead, he still pursued Naples fiercely.
In fact, Advocaat wanted to further expand the results at that time.
But Naples is not a vegetarian, and through defensive counterattacks, they took away a point from the away game.
Now, it's Zenit's turn to face difficulties.
…
When he received the Zenit lineup, Gao Shen had already returned to the locker room.
Goalkeeper: Malafeev.
Defense: Hill, Krizanak, Robarts, Anyukov.
Midfielder: Denisov, Tymoshchuk and Zlyanov.
Forward: Arshavin, Pogrebnyak and Dani.
It is worth mentioning that South Korean defender Kim Dong-jin is currently playing for this Zenit team, and he is a substitute tonight.
In the past two years, Zenit has shone in the European arena and won too many surprises.
Needless to say, the Russian Super League champion, in the Europa League, teams such as Standard Liege, Villarreal, Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich were all defeated by Zenit.
Last season, they defeated Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 away from home and beat Bayern Munich 4-0 at home, which was soul-stirring.
In the Champions League this season, they encountered Bayern Munich again and were ranked in the death group with Naples and Real Madrid. However, the performance of this Russian Super League team still won respect and showed strong competitiveness.
After the one-on-one draw with Zenit in the away game, Gao Shen has already experienced the strength of this team, so he does not dare to be careless at the moment. Only then will he make a large rotation in the game against AC Milan to maximize the chance of success.
A strong lineup to face Zenit.
Playing at home and aiming to win, Gao Shen formed a four-three-three formation.
Goalkeeper: Handanovic.
Defense: Vargas, David Luiz, Bonucci and Lichtsteiner.
Midfielder: Biglia, Thiago Motta and Rakitic.
Forwards: Di Maria, Cavani and Sanchez.
In this four-three-three formation, Gao Shen took Hamsik and used Thiago Motta. The main reason is to ensure the stability of the defense when the full-backs actively participate in the frontcourt attack.
The presence of Biglia and Rakitic can ensure the strength of Naples' midfield.
Therefore, he allowed Hamsik to play more in the domestic league.
Not only that, he also made adjustments to the lineup.
…
"Tonight, Sanchez plays on the left and Di Maria plays on the right."
After the players finished training and returned to the locker room, Gao Shen made detailed adjustments to Zenit's lineup.
Since the team became familiar with Gao Shen's tactics, the wingers will switch positions from time to time. Especially this season, Gao Shen often lets Sanchez play on the left and Di Maria on the right.
Therefore, everyone was not surprised when they heard this.
But Gao Shen then warned again, "You two, don't change places."
Sanchez and Di Maria looked at each other, and both noticed the surprise in the other's eyes.
"Boss, fix it?" Sanchez asked.
"Yes, don't go to the right, and Di Maria don't go back to the left. Just stay in your respective positions and attack with all your strength!"
Although the two players were surprised, they still nodded and said they understood.
"I believe that everyone has experienced a trip to St. Petersburg, so you should be able to understand what a difficult challenge this away game is for us. It is so difficult for us to go from Naples to St. Petersburg, and it is equally difficult for us to come from St. Petersburg to Naples.
"
"So, I can conclude that Zenit's current situation will not be much better than ours at the beginning, but our St. Paul's Stadium is not their St. Petersburg Stadium. We have to be at home and start from the first minute.
Blast Zenit's defense and let them have a taste of our power!"
After Gao Shen's words, the players' fighting spirit was immediately ignited.
"Sanchez and Di Maria are responsible for dealing with the two full-backs Hill and Anyukov. I believe that with your ability, you won't have much problem killing these two guys. As for the center, leave it to Cavani.
!”
Gao Shen pointed at the Uruguayan center.
Cavani immediately nodded heavily, "Don't worry, leave it to me!"
He seemed to be already gearing up and eager to give it a try.
"Be careful with Tymoshchuk, he can retreat to the back line at any time." Gao Shen reminded.
"Understood." Cavani agreed.
Gao Shen also explained several other details, all of which are aimed at adjustments to Zenit's lineup.
The overall tactics have been arranged long ago. Gao Shen is just making fine adjustments now. When it comes to the competition field, it still needs to be constantly adjusted. This is the art of on-the-spot command.
Regarding the team's overall tactics, Gao Shen emphasized again what he had said several times before.
Especially passing the ball.
"We have to hold the ball, remember, pass the ball more often. We have an absolute advantage in this regard, let them grab it!"
Naples is already familiar with this style of play.
As many people have said, high-level teams actually have many different faces.
You can play defensive counterattacks, you can also use a violent bombing like a storm, you can also use a passing and controlling style of play, or you can even directly use a midfield strangulation pressure tactic...
To put it simply, a high-level team depends on what the opponent likes, and he can play any role.
"In the end, I still say the same thing. If we win this battle, we will get the right to advance to the top 16 knockout rounds!"
"I believe you will not disappoint me!"
…
The referee tonight is Jonas Eriksson from Sweden.
When he led the players from both teams onto the court and routinely set up their positions on the court, ready to guess the side, Gao Shen politely walked to the visiting team's coach's bench and shook hands with Advocaat with a smile.
This Dutch head coach's coaching ability is still very good, and Gao Shen also admires him very much.
If nothing else, training a team like Zenit is not easy.
Although the Europa League is not as valuable as the Champions League, winning the championship is definitely a sign of superior strength. What's more, Zenit also defeated Manchester United in the European Super Cup.
Speaking of this game, Manchester United's performance was really disappointing, which was also related to Cristiano Ronaldo's absence.
Taking advantage of the time before kick-off, the two chatted on the sidelines.
Gao Shen asked politely about adapting, and Advocaat smiled bitterly.
It can be seen that his team is also not adapted to the climate in Naples.
"I hope it will be a wonderful game tonight!" Gao Shen said with a smile.
Advocaat heard the profound undertone, but didn't answer.
They couldn't beat Naples at home, and with such an unfavorable situation on the road, everyone could see that Zenit was in trouble.
Of course, the specifics still depend on the actual performance of the game.
…
Following referee Eriksen's whistle, Zenit took the lead.
From the moment the whistle sounded, Napoli rushed towards Zenit's hinterland with great momentum, directly overwhelming Zenit's momentum and forcing the Russian team to pass back all the way.
Seeing Naples directly pressing into the back line, he drove directly into the frontcourt with a big kick.
Center forward Pogrebnyak failed to seize the position, and David Luiz took the lead with a header and headed it back to the midfield.
After Rakitic got the ball, he immediately passed it forward in an attempt to counterattack.
But Zenit's defense organized very quickly. When the ball reached Di Maria's feet, the Russian Super League team had already organized its defense.
Di Maria had no choice but to pass it back.
After Thiago Motta received a pass from his teammate, he chose to move the ball to the left.
Vargas stopped the ball and moved forward. Before Dani could press him, he quickly kicked the ball to Biglia in the gap, and he quickly moved forward to respond.
Biglia stopped and pushed and passed the ball back to Vargas. The latter passed the ball again and passed it to the feet of Sanchez who was retreating in front to receive the ball. However, Anyukov and Zlyanov blocked Sanchez.
Cutting inside, the Chilean winger was forced to pass back to Vargas.
The Peruvian crossed the ball to the unguarded Biglia, who glanced ahead and quickly sent a medium and long pass directly to the top of the penalty area.
He saw that Cavani had blocked the position with his body and stopped Biglia's long pass with his chest. He was about to turn around, frightening Zenit's two central defenders Robarts and Krizha.
Nack made a block at the same time.
But Cavani is no longer the rookie he was at the time, and has become more and more experienced. He was already prepared. After stopping the ball in time, he turned around to protect the ball, and then passed it across to the right side of the top area of the arc.
I saw a sky-blue figure rushing over, facing Cavani's pass, and fired angrily.
