With Robben's opening goal, Manchester City tried to steal another wave, but this time Barcelona learned their lesson.
Seeing that there was no chance, and Barcelona gradually stabilized its position and took control of the game, Gao Shen signaled the team to start retreating.
Barcelona gradually took control of the game.
I have to admit that Barcelona's ability to pass and control the ball is really, very good. The players' skillful and tacit understanding of passing and receiving the ball is like magic, constantly intertwined back and forth.
As an opponent, facing such a team, it is impossible to chase the ball.
The result of doing that is that you will tire yourself to death. Not only will you not be able to grab the ball, but you will also be constantly pulled by Barcelona, creating a gap that will be blown away by the opponent in one fell swoop.
There have been many similar cases proving this in the past.
The tactics adopted by Gao Shen are different. He takes the initiative to apply pressure, but always maintains a meticulous overall formation. The players cooperate with each other and never compete with Barcelona for the ball. They just keep moving around the overall formation.
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As Gao Shen has always emphasized, when facing Barcelona, as long as they maintain a rigorous defensive formation and put enough pressure on their opponents, no matter how much Barcelona controls the ball, it will be useless.
At the same time, we need to find the right way to attack Barcelona.
After gradually taking control of the game, Barcelona tried hard to bring the game into the rhythm they are best at.
But Manchester City just didn't live up to their expectations.
Whenever there is an opportunity, Manchester City applies pressure, forcing Basara to play fast, and once they get the ball, they immediately launch a quick counterattack.
As Gao Shen expected, Barcelona actually wanted to achieve a breakthrough through the middle and two ribs.
The front three of Sanchez, Aguero and Messi frequently cross and change positions, and there are even situations where Sanchez plays as a forward.
But Manchester City remained unmoved. No matter who played in which position, Manchester City stuck to the center and flanks.
Javi Martinez often retreats to the penalty area, even level with the central defender, while Yaya Toure and Rakitic can actively return to the defense line to protect.
Gareth Bale, Robben, and even Suarez all actively dropped back to defend.
This allowed Barcelona to have a high ball possession rate, but the offense was never able to open up, let alone a threatening offense.
Manchester City's defense is very different from the passive, iron-barrel defense.
For example, this time at eighteen minutes.
Barcelona tried to attack Manchester City from the right side of the penalty area, but as soon as the ball was passed, David Luiz was immediately tackled in time. He got ahead of Aguero, cleared the ball and kicked it away.
The ball flew very far and landed in the front court.
Suarez withdrew to the left side of the bottom half of the center circle in his own half, judged the landing point, stuck the position, and wanted to grab the first landing point, but Pique caught up from behind and jumped directly on Suarez.
, headed the ball back.
The Uruguayan center is really depressed.
If he had been a bit of a thief just now and walked away, Pique would have been beaten to pieces.
There is even a possibility of injury.
This Barcelona central defender is so outrageous. Do you really think he is still the best in the world on the court?
This kind of personality will suffer big losses sooner or later.
It can be said that, but after the ball was pushed back by Pique, it fell to the left side of the top of the arc of Manchester City's penalty area.
Both Aguero and Messi rushed over to grab the ball immediately, but Yaya Toure was one step faster. Taking advantage of his height and strength, he forced himself into position and grabbed the first landing point, stopping the ball with his chest.
Come down.
In this regard, Barcelona players are really at a disadvantage.
But Barcelona also has its own set of tricks, which is close combat.
Xavi, Aguero and Messi formed a double attack on Yaya Toure at the same time, trying to trap the Ivorian and intercept the ball.
If you steal in this position, you can score a goal at any time.
Of course, Yaya Toure also knew that. He immediately took action to protect the ball, and he spotted an opportunity and wanted to take it to the left.
When you go to the wing, the defensive pressure will be so great.
The small movements of Aguero and Messi interfered with Yaya Toure. Xavi spotted an opportunity and suddenly took the ball to the left sideline.
Felipe made a decisive move and stopped the ball.
But as soon as the ball was stopped, Xavi had already rushed forward.
The two struggled again. Felipe wanted to pass the ball back to Yaya Toure, but Xavi blocked it with his foot.
The ball bounced high and fell to the left.
Gareth Bale retreated and used his body to hold up Alves who was following him. Facing the falling ball, he directly headed the ball to a small unmanned area behind Xavi in the middle.
Busquets did not dare to press too far forward, and Xavi chased the ball, resulting in a small gap between him and Iniesta.
Rakitic took the lead, intercepted the ball, and passed it to Suarez in front. After avoiding Iniesta, he ran into the gap.
Behind Suarez is Busquets, who knocks back for Rakitic knowingly.
The Croatian midfielder had his hands free at this time. He glanced ahead and found that Gareth Bale was already in place.
Rakitic made a long pass without thinking.
Almost at the moment when Rakitic passed the long pass, Gareth Bale forcefully overtook the car from the outside of the left wing at lightning speed, shook off Alves, and surged forward.
"After the chaos in the midfield, Manchester City seized an opportunity and Gareth Bale quickly counterattacked!"
"He's too fast!"
"Oh my God, Gareth Bale..."
"No one can catch him!!!"
When Gareth Bale rushed behind Barcelona's defense, there was no one in the entire Barcelona half.
There was only a lone Valdez stationed in front.
The Welshman didn't hesitate at all. He could see Alves, Pique and Puyol chasing back quickly, but they were not as fast as him!
Gareth Bale has absolute confidence in his speed!
After rushing up as fast as he could, he slowed down at the outside of the left corner of the penalty area. When the football hit the ground, he waded forward and suddenly accelerated to catch up.
Just when Gareth Bale was about to pass the ball into the penalty area, Pique had already chased back to the line of the penalty area in time.
But just when Pique was about to make a move, he suddenly found that Gareth Bale had accelerated again, directly wading the ball into the penalty area, and rushed forward like an arrow. Even if Pique wanted to commit a foul, he was unable to do anything.
Gareth Bale dribbled the ball into the left side of the penalty area and caught up with the ball in his best area. Facing the attacking Valdes, he calmly kicked a low shot.
The ball passed by Valdes and hit the left side of the goal.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
“Bell Zone!!!”
"Gareth Bale!!!"
"Two to zero!"
"My God, Manchester City scored two goals in less than 20 minutes!"
"Gareth Bale used a very sharp kick, which was like a lightning-quick anti-offside kick, and single-handedly scored Barcelona's goal."
"Both Manchester City's wingers are very fast. We must admit that Manchester City's several counterattacks tonight were very decisive and sharp, making it difficult for Barcelona to defend them."
"More importantly, Barcelona's defense pressed too high, exposing a large gap behind them."
…
Guardiola had an ominous premonition after seeing Gareth Bale successfully countering offside.
When he saw that Pique failed to catch up, he knew that the ball was most likely going to be bad.
Sure enough, Gareth Bale shot from the left side of the penalty area, where he is best.
At that moment, Guardiola raised his head and felt a pain in his heart.
The tactical system he designed for Barcelona does not make much sense. On the surface it is about passing and controlling the ball, but in fact it is about pressing and pressing.
Everyone knows that in addition to offense, tactics must also include defense.
But Barcelona's style of play is too forward. The advantage of this is obvious, that is, the passing and controlling area is as close to the opponent's goal as possible. This is Barcelona's advantage, because they are good at passing and controlling the ball.
But when the passing and controlling area moves forward, the defense must also press forward.
When Xavi, Iniesta and others pass the ball near the 30-meter area, the central defender and defense line are basically near the center line.
The question then arises, once the ball is intercepted or beaten behind, what should you do?
When encountering speedy players like Robben and Gareth Bale, there is basically no solution.
They don't even need to be at their level, as long as they are a slightly faster forward, there is nothing they can do.
In response, Guardiola adopted a midfield and frontcourt pressure that was almost suffocating.
This comes from Van Gaal's tactical philosophy. After losing the ball, you must get the ball back in the shortest possible time.
Of course, this is unrealistic.
But the purpose of this concept itself is not to seize the ball 100%, but to allow all midfielders and frontcourt players to actively engage in counterattacks on the spot.
Only by actively counterattacking on the spot can the team ensure that the team exerts enough pressure on the opponent in the frontcourt, preventing the opponent from launching an effective counterattack and buying time for the team's defensive positioning.
But now, Barcelona has a problem in this link.
Especially the second goal conceded just now was hit directly behind him.
How did Rakitic get the chance to pass the long ball?
You know, long passes are different from short passes. Long passes require time and space.
But he just spread it.
At this moment, Guardiola really felt depressed.
He has no doubt that his team has encountered some problems that even he himself cannot solve.
That is, what can he do when this group of successful core players begins to no longer be so committed and focused on executing his tactics?
The answer is, there is nothing he can do.
Fire them?
Putting aside personal relationships, this is impossible even from the club's perspective.
Anyone who wants to fire them will be fired by Barcelona fans first.
Not even Chairman Russell.
Guardiola has talked to them many times, and the players have repeatedly assured that they will work hard.
But sometimes, laziness is something that occurs unconsciously and does not depend on human will.
Just like that time just now.
Although it is a two-leg match, but we conceded two goals in a row at home, how can we play this game?
