On the afternoon of November 30th, Milan Meazza Stadium.
In the fourteenth round of Serie A, Naples challenged Inter Milan away.
When the players from both teams were brought into the stadium by referee Roberto Rossetti, the entire San Siro stadium went crazy.
Although Inter Milan faces AC Milan as rivals in the same city and faces Juventus in the Italian Derby, in the past two seasons, Inter Milan's most troublesome opponents have been Gao Shen and his Naples.
Especially in the pre-season Super Cup, Inter Milan lost to Naples at San Siro.
Mourinho made harsh words before the game to reverse Naples at Meazza and top the Serie A standings.
This is not only a league game, but also a battle for the top spot of the Serie A leaders this season, a showdown between the two sides over the past three years, and even a competition between north and south Italian football.
Today, the Meazza Stadium is also crowded with guests.
In addition to the high-level officials of both sides, there were also political and business celebrities from Milan, as well as professionals from Italian football. Even the national team coach Lippi was sitting in the stands, obviously looking forward to this game.
Compared with Mourinho's high profile before the game, Gao Shen seems to be much more low-key.
This also made many people begin to speculate, is he not too confident about winning this game?
Yesterday afternoon, before Naples left for Milan, Gao Shen announced the roster at the pre-match press conference. When interviewed by the media, he only spoke some official talk and didn't have much real information.
The only thing of more value is that Gao Shen once again reiterated that Naples will stick to its own style of play.
"We will not change our tactics according to the opponent. This is not our style."
And the facts also prove that there are really no surprises or surprises from both sides.
…
"You turned out to be exactly what I thought."
This is what Mourinho said when he smiled when he saw Gao Shen before the game.
What he was talking about was Napoli's squad.
Tonight, Naples has a four-three-three lineup, which is the main formation used by Gao Shen in the Champions League.
Goalkeeper: Handanovic.
Defense: Vargas, David Luiz, Bonucci and Lichtsteiner.
Midfielder: Biglia, Thiago Motta and Rakitic.
Forward: Di Maria, Cavani and Sanchez.
At present, Gao Shen more often uses 433 in the Champions League, while in Serie A he mainly uses 4231.
The reason why 4,231 is used in Serie A is mainly determined by the current lineup of Naples.
There is only one Thiago Motta, the other players play the fourth position, and they have never met the advanced requirements.
Gao Shen has reservations about Mourinho's words.
He didn't believe that Mourinho could really guess his decision. In other words, Mourinho should have guessed two or three options, and Gao Shen's formation tonight was one of them.
In fact, he also considered using 4, 2, 3, 1, but found in training that if the two centers retreated, one center defender would follow up and work with Thiago Motta to limit the situation, which would be more effective.
Thiago Motta is actually not much different from a central defender in terms of physical fitness and strength.
He can really play as a central defender.
Therefore, after much consideration, Gao Shen finally chose 433.
But what really has no suspense is Mourinho's Inter Milan.
Goalkeeper: Cesar.
Defense: Maxwell, Samuel, Lucio and Maicon.
Midfield: Muntari, Cambiasso and Zanetti stay deep, Stankovic moves forward.
Forwards: Ibrahimovic and Adriano.
This is the lineup Mourinho used when he played Juventus, and not a single player has changed.
However, the difference is that Crespo and Cruz are both on the bench, as well as Figo, Mancini, Moutinho and others.
Mourinho only put one defender on the bench, Cordoba.
"Are you a bit desperate?" Gao Shen asked with a laugh.
Mourinho looked at Gao Shen and nodded slightly, as if to say: It doesn't matter, you can completely understand it.
"You know what? Jose, I have always felt that you are the type who either don't gamble and are extremely conservative, or risk everything without risking your life. And such people usually die miserably."
"You fart!" Mourinho laughed and scolded.
Gao Shen said this when we were playing cards together.
"I never talk nonsense. Just wait and see, your substitute lineup will probably not be used tonight." Gao Shen didn't feel dissatisfied. How could he not know Mourinho's character?
In fact, this guy only has one idea: once he falls behind, he will play center forward.
One is not enough? I will replace it with two!
Gao Shen has no doubt that if Inter Milan falls behind, Mourinho can really use all four centers.
This is definitely Mourinho's traditional skill.
In fact, this is also the basis for what Gao Shen said, Mourinho is not good at coaching offense.
The starting point for all Mourinho's tactics comes from his character, which is risk aversion.
People who are risk-averse usually don't like players with excellent creativity, and they don't make good use of these players.
Because creativity is often linked to risk.
…………
…………
The start of the game was a typical Napoli start.
What does it mean?
In fact, it was Naples who pressed forward aggressively.
Just over a minute into the game, Sanchez tried to break into the penalty area from the right, but was knocked to the ground by Samuel. He gave Napoli a chance to take a free kick, but it was easily confiscated by Cesar.
Napoli continues to keep the pressure on Inter Milan.
Especially the high pressure in the frontcourt is very powerful.
Di Maria and Sanchez's suppression of the two full-backs gave both Maicon and Maxwell a headache.
In the fourth minute, when Maicon was dribbling the ball forward, Di Maria was chasing him all the way, and successfully completed a steal near the midline of Inter Milan's half.
After successfully stealing the ball, Di Maria and Biglia quickly completed a wall-hitting coordination, and drove the ball straight in.
But Zanetti positioned himself in time, blocked Di Maria on the inside, and successfully blocked the ball from the baseline.
Naples quickly took a corner kick and Cavani headed the ball in front of the goal in the penalty area.
Inter Milan goalkeeper Cesar reacted quickly and lifted the ball with one hand, and it was another corner kick.
But this time, Lucio grabbed the first spot and directly headed the ball out.
Rakitic from the outside shot a long shot, high.
In the seventh minute, Cavani suppressed Samuel with his back on the outside of the penalty area. After receiving Di Maria's cross, he stopped the ball, turned around, and directly kicked the goal, slightly missing the right side of the goal.
In the ninth minute, Sanchez stopped the ball on the right side of the penalty area and passed Maxwell, then volleyed from a small angle on the right side of the penalty area and slid out again.
Napoli's wave of offensive after the opening made the Meazza stadium scream with surprises, and the front door of Inter Milan was in turmoil.
Everyone could see that Naples wanted to seize the initiative from the start.
Inter Milan seemed to be happy with this, and did not compete with Naples, but stayed steadily inside and outside the penalty area.
But the price paid was that in the first ten minutes, Inter Milan did not even have a threatening attack.
…
As usual, Gao Shen stood in the coach's command area and watched the players on the field play.
After seeing Sanchez's shot miss again, he sighed in frustration.
When he turned around and walked back, he shook his head and smiled bitterly at the assistants in the coaching bench, "He has made it clear now that he will defend and counterattack."
Zidane nodded, "Let's see how long he can hold on!"
Gao Shen smiled, because he still didn't know much about Mourinho's current strength.
In fact, during the period from when he was dismissed from Chelsea to when he coached Inter Milan, Mourinho has increased his self-esteem a lot and has a lot of energy. At least his understanding of football has taken a step closer.
If he really wants to play defensive counterattack, he can really defend the whole ninety minutes.
In fact, Gao Shen can even say that Mourinho's current ability to organize defense is estimated to be unmatched by anyone in European football.
Of course, offense is his weakness.
Facing Inter Milan's style of play, especially when counterattacking, the most important thing is to control their two centers.
It is impossible to freeze the two pillars of Ibrahimovic and Adriano, but they must be controlled, so that it will be difficult for Inter Milan's counterattack to be effective.
This will test the effectiveness of Naples' targeted training.
In the fourteenth minute, Inter Milan had a counterattack.
Ibrahimovic dropped back to receive the ball, and Adriano pushed to the front.
Bonucci immediately followed, and when Ibrahimovic got the ball, he held him from behind. Thiago Motta supported him from the side, making it impossible for the Swedish center to turn around and had to quickly turn around.
The ball is passed back.
If it lingers on your feet any longer, the ball will be lost.
Not long after, Inter Milan launched another attack. This time Ibrahimovic pulled to the wing, but this time it was Lichtsteiner who held Ibrahimovic and Bonucci blocked it.
Inside, Thiago Motta positioned himself in time to return to the defense, cutting off the connection between Ibrahimovic and Adriano.
Rakitic also retreated in time and followed Stankovic.
This time Ibrahimovic couldn't pass the ball. When Maxwell passed back, Sanchez stabbed him first. Naples launched a quick counterattack, but Inter Milan retreated very quickly.
It is obvious that both sides have deployed very targeted defensive tactics, just not wanting the opponent's offense or counterattack to be effective. On the scene, Naples has the advantage, but there are few or even no real threatening shooting opportunities.
By the 18th minute, Naples had already shot seven shots, but none of them resulted in a goal.
Either the opportunity was bad, or Cesar showed great courage.
This Brazilian goalkeeper really has the quality of a top goalkeeper.
Gao Shen, who was on the sidelines, was shaking his head secretly.
"This is going to be a tough fight!"
Mourinho has made it clear that he must guard the defense strictly, and Naples must find a way to break through Inter Milan's goal without making any major flaws in their own defense.
How easy is this?
If nothing else, who is not afraid of the two great centers Ibrahimovic and Adriano in front?
