It was still cloudy in the morning, and as soon as noon arrived, a drizzle began to fall from the sky.
Ancelotti stood in the ceiling of the visiting team's coaching bench, looking at the thin raindrops and the wet field, and couldn't help but cursed in his heart: "This damn weather!"
As an Italian, he is really not used to the British climate.
What made him even more uncomfortable was the tactics adopted by Manchester City today.
Gao Shen actually arranged for the team to play a four-three-two formation.
Yes, it’s Ancelotti’s famous tactic, the Christmas tree!
It's really surprising to say the least, because no one thought that Gao Shen would adopt such a style of play.
Ancelotti was also surprised at first glance.
But when it came to the actual competition, he discovered that the Christmas trees grown by the Chinese were different from those grown by the Italians.
Goalkeeper: Neuer.
Defence: Leighton Baines, David Luiz, Kompany and Zabaleta.
Midfield: Henderson, Fernandinho and Yaya Toure stay deep, Hazard and De Bruyne advance.
Forward: Robin van Persie.
Contrary to Manchester City, Ancelotti adopted a four-three-three formation.
Goalkeeper: Cech.
Defence: Ashley Cole, Alex, Terry and Ivanovic.
Midfielder: Ramires, Mikel and Essien.
Forwards: Malouda, Drogba and Anelka.
The two people's tactics actually switched with each other.
Ancelotti used Gao Shen's best four-three-three, but Gao Shen used Ancelotti's famous Christmas tree.
This is new.
Ancelotti knew that the reason why he chose 433 was because Lampard was absent.
But why does Gao Shen use a Christmas tree?
Ancelotti guessed it, it should be to stay in the Champions League in midweek.
Therefore, core players such as Gareth Bale, Suarez, Robben, David Silva and Rakitic have all gone into hiding.
With the current lineup configuration of Manchester City, Gao Shen has such confidence.
But the question is, can we win against Chelsea with this style of play?
…
In today's world football, no one is more familiar with the four-three-two formation than Ancelotti.
There are three main advantages of this formation: First, it seizes the key position in front of the penalty area and puts pressure on the opponent who enters the thirty-meter area, so that the opponent can only shoot far away from the goal.
Second, there are three offensive players in the frontcourt. When counterattacking, they can use layered movements to take advantage of the opponent's defensive space.
Third, because our team has the counterattack characteristics of three players, the opponent's backcourt must always maintain a four-back configuration.
Why?
If there are not enough people, it will be difficult to block the loopholes as much as possible when defending the Christmas tree counterattack.
Many people may ask again, is this lineup perfect?
No, it also has many flaws, even more than its advantages.
The first is the overall retraction, which is essentially a set of defensive counterattack tactics. Ancelotti used it at the time because AC Milan's defense players were seriously aging, and the result of the retraction was that when switching from defense to offense, the distance
The goal is far away.
Understand?
This is why Kaka can shine in this set of tactics and the advantages are maximized.
Also, 4321 looks like four lines, but in fact, if the players' positions are unreasonable, they may be cut into two different formations of 43 and 21 at any time, causing the offense and defense to be torn apart.
But most importantly, it lacks wings, so the game is always played in the middle.
Take a closer look at these points. Do they perfectly match the AC Milan lineup that year?
On the one hand, it is aging, on the other hand, there is a lack of wingers, and at the same time, there are high-speed attackers like Kaká.
So the question arises, why does Gao Shen use a Christmas tree?
He obviously has strong wingers and a very mobile central defender, so there is no reason for him to resort to Christmas trees.
The answer will soon be revealed.
The tall Christmas tree did not retract like Ancelotti used at AC Milan, but continued to stand tall.
A very important reason why he did this was to confine Chelsea's midfield and frontcourt and compress the passing space of Chelsea players.
Needless to say, the defense line has three strong men: Henderson, Fernandinho and Yaya Toure in the midfield. Whether it is running coverage, pressing pressure, or strength confrontation, it is all
Leverage drops.
The key is that there are Hazard and De Bruyne in front.
The two Belgian teenagers are more stationary on the defensive end, but when switching from defense to offense, they will all separate to the wings to make way for the center. Yaya Toure will actively use this area.
It's not difficult to break down the Christmas tree from a high position. A fast wing attacker can do it.
But the problem is that Ancelotti now has Anelka and Malouda, both of whom lack speed and one-on-one assault capabilities.
Another way is to use Drogba's advantage and use the advantage of the high center to create opportunities in the frontcourt.
But Gao Shen actually arranged for Kompany to come and watch Drogba specifically.
Drogba is undoubtedly a monster, but he is already thirty-two years old, and his body has already begun to decline. He has been undergoing transformation in the past two years, while Kompany is still in the prime of life and is only twenty-four years old, which is when his physical strength reaches its peak.
period.
So, when the game came, everyone discovered that Kompany did nothing but pinch Drogba.
This posture is a bit like Drogba staring at Arsenal's central defender Centros.
The key is that after several contests at the beginning of the game, Drogba discovered that he could not take advantage of Kompany.
When it comes to physical play, he has no advantage; when it comes to speed, Kompany is not slow either; when it comes to active running, Kompany can keep up, and Drogba even consumes more energy than Kompany...
In the end, Ancelotti discovered sadly that he had no way to deal with Gao Shen's meat grinder-like Christmas tree!
On the contrary, this advanced midfield, especially the three defensive midfielders, is so brutal that Chelsea was overwhelmed from the very beginning of the game. When facing other teams, they were very poor in passing and controlling the ball.
The ball was cut into pieces.
Essien has been praised by many fans this season, saying that he has developed his passing organization ability, but in this game, he was completely misfired.
Ancelotti knows very well that when there is space, any goalkeeper, let alone Essien, can play the role of playmaker.
The key depends on how big the space is.
But what really matters is how to get and deliver the ball under high pressure.
Essien really cannot compare with technically sophisticated organizers in this regard.
Not only Essien is not, Ramires is also not.
…
When the game entered the 27th minute of the first half, Chelsea encountered Manchester City's high pressure while advancing the attack, forcing the ball to be passed to Ramirez.
As a result, as soon as Ramirez stopped the ball, Yaya Toure suddenly rushed up from behind, forced Ramirez away with his body, and snatched the football away from him before he stopped.
After taking the ball away from Ramirez, Yaya Toure took the ball forward and instigated a counterattack.
The two players in front, Hazard and De Bruyne, moved to both sides, especially De Bruyne, who was the closest.
After Yaya Toure dribbled the ball across the center line, he didn't wait for Mikel to come over and passed the ball straight to the feet of Robin van Persie in front.
Manchester City's players are moving forward quickly to counterattack, while Chelsea's players are dropping back.
During the running between each other, Van Persie happened to be swimming between Terry and Alex, and Yaya Toure's pass happened to be given to Van Persie's feet, allowing the Dutch center to stop the ball and turn around, directly at the top of the arc.
He shot an angry shot with his left foot towards the goal.
The ball flew into the left side of Chelsea's goal at great speed, almost grazing the post and entering the net.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!"
"Van Persie! Van Persie!!"
Manchester City fans throughout the Intihad Stadium were cheering wildly.
"This stop is really wonderful!"
"Van Persie opens the scoring for Manchester City!"
"Yaya Toure's steal and subsequent counterattack were also very good."
"It can be seen that these two players have performed very well in Manchester City under the advanced tactical system."
Van Persie was so excited that he rushed to the sidelines, ran all the way to celebrate the goal, and finally slipped and knelt under the fans' stands.
In the visiting team's coaching booth on the sidelines, Ancelotti looked disappointed.
He really didn't expect that Gao Shen would greet Chelsea in this way in this game.
It’s an improved version of the Christmas tree!
In this world, there is never the best tactic, only the most appropriate tactic.
It is undoubtedly the most appropriate for Gao Shen to use this set of tactics to deal with Chelsea.
…
After changing sides in the second half, Ancelotti made a substitution in the 60th minute.
Zhirkov replaced Mikel.
This is a signal to strengthen the wing attack.
Gao Shen made decisive adjustments to move Hazard and De Bruyne closer to the wing.
Manchester City suddenly transformed into a 433, with Hazard and De Bruyne suppressing Chelsea's full-backs.
Henderson and Yaya Toure still protect the two ribs and help defend the full-backs.
Gao Shen saw through Ancelotti's plan and knew that the Italian wanted to play on the wing.
Manchester City's adjustment came in time.
Although Chelsea created two threatening attacks, only one threatened Manchester City's goal.
Neuer showed great courage and made a smooth side dive to block Anelka's shot into the far corner.
Instead of throwing it out, he directly controlled the ball with a side dive.
This wonderful save also earned the German goalkeeper warm applause from the audience.
Gao Shen made the first substitution in the 70th minute, replacing Henderson with David Silva.
This substitution quickly created a threat.
After Hazard got the ball on the left, when facing Ivanovic one-on-one, he dribbled the ball into the penalty area and tried to pass the ball to the center, but Alex blocked the ball first.
Ya Toure's long shot went straight high.
But this also allowed Gao Shen to see the loopholes at the front of Chelsea's penalty area.
After Mikel came off the field, neither Essien nor Ramirez could provide strong protection for the front edge of Chelsea's penalty area.
And this also gave Manchester City an opportunity.
