Chapter 530 Of course the master must help the apprentice
The start of today's game was a typical Chelsea start.
Just like Pan Yi did when he was still at Chelsea, when the Blues encounter weaker opponents, they often press forward aggressively to score goals as early as possible.
And such a start was obviously expected by everyone. After all, York City is indeed a bit too weak compared to Chelsea.
Just over a minute into the game, Hazard tried to break into the penalty area from the right, but was knocked to the ground by Westermann, giving Chelsea a chance to take a free kick. However, Hazard's kick was blocked by
Isaacson confiscated it easily.
After that, Chelsea continued to maintain pressure on York City, especially the high pressure in the frontcourt, which was very intense.
Today, Chelsea specially arranged two forward midfielders Gnabry and Hazard to suppress the two full-backs, which gave both Fiyasu Kenyo and Alphonso Davies a headache.
In the fourth minute, when Kenyo Fuyasu was dribbling the ball forward, Gnabry was chasing him all the way, and successfully completed a steal near the midline of York City's half.
After successfully stealing the ball, Gnabry and Kanter quickly completed a collision-to-the-wall coordination, and drove straight in with the ball.
But Alonso positioned himself in time, blocked Gnabry on the inside, and successfully blocked the ball from the baseline.
Chelsea quickly took a corner kick and Lukaku headed in front of the goal in the penalty area.
York City goalkeeper Isaacson reacted quickly and lifted the ball with one hand, and it was another corner kick.
This time, it was De Ligt from York City who grabbed the first spot and directly headed the ball out.
Kanter from the outside shot a long shot, high.
One minute later, in the fifth minute, Lukaku suppressed Westerman with his back from the outside of the penalty area. Then, after receiving Gnabry's cross, he stopped the ball, turned around, and directly kicked the goal, slightly wide.
Right side of goal.
In the seventh minute, Hazard stopped the ball on the right side of the penalty area and broke through Alphonso Davis, then volleyed from a small angle on the right side of the penalty area and slid out again.
In less than ten minutes, Chelsea already had three to four threatening shots.
Chelsea's wave of offensives after the start made York City's goal a jittery one, and also made the fans inside Wembley Stadium scream in surprise.
Everyone could see that Chelsea wanted to seize the initiative from the start.
However, York City's players and coaches had obviously anticipated such a situation. They did not compete with Chelsea for such initiative, but instead stayed steadily inside and outside the penalty area.
The cost of this is that in the first ten minutes, York City did not even have a threatening attack.
——
As usual, Arteta stood in the coaching area and watched the players on the field play.
After seeing Hazard's shot go wide again, he sighed in frustration.
When he turned around and walked back, he shook his head at the assistants in the coaching bench and smiled bitterly: "This team really has the style of Mr. Pan and plays very tenaciously. It doesn't look like it will be easy for us to break their goal.
"
Most of these assistants are Pan Yi's old staff, and they certainly know what Arteta means.
Steve Holland nodded and said: "But the ability of our players is better than theirs, I believe they can't hold on for long!"
Arteta also nodded, but he was not sure.
As Pan Yi's direct disciple, he knew very well how powerful Pan Yi was.
Not to mention Pan Yi, even Scaloni, who is conducting next door, has made a lot of progress in the past two years.
Under the direct guidance of Pan Yi, Scaloni now has a better understanding of football. Whether it is to control the ball and advance or to defend and counterattack, he has a set of skills.
At least judging from the ten minutes of the game, York City's defense can be said to be airtight. Chelsea's offensive threat is there, but it is difficult to form a fatal blow.
In today's FA Cup final, Pan Yi must have participated in the team's tactical design, but it is the head coach who ultimately implements it into the team's training and games.
It is precisely because Scaloni's current ability allows players to show their tactical intentions on the court without compromise that York City is so difficult to deal with now.
And Arteta also knows that York City's strength is definitely not just their defense.
Regardless of whether it was Tottenham, Arsenal, or Manchester United, they ultimately suffered because they failed to guard against York City's attack and were successfully attacked by them.
From York City center Baker, to Lin Liangming and Kulusevski on the wings, they all must be controlled, so that York City's counterattack will be difficult to be effective.
Arteta also practiced York City's frontcourt combination punches early in the training session, and it seems that the effect is good so far.
In the 12th minute, York City had a counterattack.
Baker dropped back to catch the ball, and Lin Liangming and Kulusevski on both sides were beside him, ready to respond to his ball.
At this time, Terry immediately followed. When Baker took the ball, he held him from behind. David Luiz supported him from the side, so that the top scorer in English League One could not turn around and had to quickly pass the ball.
Pass back.
If it lingers on your feet any longer, the ball will be lost.
Not long after, York City launched another attack. This time, Baker was pulled to the wing, but Azpilicueta quickly stepped forward to hold Baker, Terry blocked the inside, and David Luiz was positioned in time to return.
The defense line also cut off the connection between Baker and Lin Liangming.
As a result, Baker could not pass the ball comfortably, and when he passed the ball back to Alphonso Davies, he was stabbed away by Hazard. Instead, Chelsea instigated a quick counterattack, but
Because York City retreated very quickly, it did not pose a threat.
Obviously, in this civil war between Scaloni and Arteta, who are "brothers from the same school", both sides know the basics, and both sides have deployed very targeted defensive tactics, just not wanting to let the opponent's offense or attack.
Counterattack produces effects.
Since Chelsea players do have superior personal abilities, the Blues still have a greater advantage on the field, but there are very few truly threatening shooting opportunities.
By the 20th minute, Chelsea had already fired seven shots, but none of them resulted in a goal.
Either the shooting opportunity was not good, or Isaacson was brave.
This veteran Swedish goalkeeper, who has renewed his contract with York City for one year, seems to be getting more and more demonic as he gets older.
Especially after leaving Manchester City 10 years ago, and now returning to English football to face these old Premier League opponents again, he seems to have regained his youth and performed extremely well!
With such a goalkeeper, coupled with the five defenders and four midfielders lined up in front of him, it really feels like an unbreakable Great Wall.
Arteta also watched from the sidelines and shook his head secretly.
"This is going to be a tough fight!"
Scaloni has made it clear that he must defend tightly, and Chelsea must find a way to break York City's goal without making any major flaws in their own defense.
How easy is this?
——
Amidst such restrictions and counter-restrictions, the game time flies by.
Many viewers even felt that the first half of the game was over as soon as they opened the "elevator".
"This game looks a bit boring, doesn't it?"
In the Sky Sports commentary booth, Lineker said to the silver-haired old man next to him.
This old man is none other than the current head coach of the Dragon Kingdom national team, Silver Fox Lippi!
He made a special trip to the UK to watch the FA Cup final, and then returned to China with Pan Yi to prepare for the next World Cup qualifying match.
After all, in two weeks after this final, the Dragon Country team will go to Syria to play this crucial away game. It is of course beneficial to prepare as early as possible.
For Lippi, York City has Lin Liangming, the absolute main player of the Dragon Kingdom, and a potentially useful player Huang Zichang, so it is necessary to observe the status of the players.
Therefore, he also accepted the invitation from Sky Sports and came as a commentator.
In response to Lineker's question, Lippi shook his head and said: "No. On the contrary, I think this game has a high technical content."
"Oh?" Lineker asked in confusion, "Really? Do you rate this game so highly?"
Lippi laughed: "It even reminds me of the Champions League final at Old Trafford."
Lineker opened his mouth.
He knew that Lippi was talking about the zero-0 Champions League final between Juventus and AC Milan in the 2002-2003 season, and the venue for this final was Manchester's Old Trafford Stadium.
The 2002-03 season indeed gave birth to many classics. The score difference between the four groups in the quarter-finals was one goal. The suspense of the two groups of semi-finals was maintained until the last moment. Sudden death was the main theme. The final took this to the extreme.
The two teams that met were both from Italy, and this final was destined to be "results more important than content." In fact, this was indeed an "Italian-style" final.
In the 120 minutes of the game, Juventus only had one shot that hit the goal frame. Conte hit the crossbar. Milan's attack was in vain. Shevchenko's goal was ruled invalid due to Rui Costa's offside.
Italian football has reached its peak, so the outcome is destined to require the addition of will and luck, and both sides can only enter a penalty shootout.
Buffon saved the penalty kicks of Seedorf and Kaladze, and Dida was even more outstanding. He turned away Juventus' penalty kicks three times.
At the end, Shevchenko walked 12 yards. With an expressionless face, he deceived Buffon and let Milan win the championship!
40 years ago, the father of Milan captain Maldini won the Champions League trophy as the captain of Milan. Now, Maldini, who has long become a totem of red and black, has also replicated this feat.
With the good stories of Maldini and his son, Milan once again stood on the top of Europe after 9 years. They will usher in another prosperous era, although in this golden era, they have become the backdrop more than once...
Although Juventus led by Lippi unfortunately lost in the final, they still played a classic offensive and defensive showdown with Milan!
Although from the perspective of the fans, this game was a failure, dull, and extremely boring, and there was not even a goal.
But if you analyze it from a professional perspective, this is definitely a classic tactical duel. Both sides made perfect arrangements and did not leave any good opportunities for their opponents in the game. This is why the game was zero to zero.
However, Lippi now compared the battle between York City and Chelsea to the classic battle between Milan and Juventus, which Lineker did not expect.
You know, that was the Champions League final, and those were Milan and Juventus who had countless stars back then!
As for the two teams in front of us now, Chelsea can indeed be compared;
But York City?
This is just a League One team!
It feels a lot worse, right?
And judging from the scene, it was not the same as the Champions League final.
At that time, Milan and Juventus could be said to be rivals. Both sides were cautious in offense and defense and did not give their opponents any good opportunities.
But today's two teams are obviously not on the same level. Chelsea firmly controls the situation. Whether it is offensive opportunities or threat levels, Chelsea must perform better.
York City has only had three shots on goal so far, all of which came from counterattacks. However, their defense is very good and they can maintain the current score of 0:0.
"I'm not talking about the scene, or I'm not talking about which team has the advantage of the scene, and its winning rate will be higher than its opponent." Lippi explained, "Judging from the first half of the game, both head coaches are
They have used all the resources they currently have to the limit, and because of this, they have also minimized the threat level of their opponents. This is why I appreciate this."
Lineker understood.
As a famous former star, he certainly knows that the most essential core of football tactics is to score goals and prevent opponents from scoring goals.
In the current game at Wembley Stadium, both sides obviously have very clear tactical purposes.
The weaker York City is based on defense. While doing everything possible to prevent Chelsea from scoring, they will counterattack when they have the opportunity to try to score Chelsea's goal.
Chelsea, whose players have superior abilities, took the initiative, tried to attack, and tried every means to break through York City's defense, but at the same time, they had to be wary of being unable to attack for a long time and being counterattacked by the opponent, threatening their own goal.
This creates an interesting stalemate on the court.
More importantly, the head coaches of both sides have worked hard on the details.
Scaloni made strict arrangements for Chelsea's defense. Whether it was five defenders or four midfielders, York City was able to well resolve the opponent's attacks in the face of Chelsea's successive attacks.
However, Arteta also left no chance for York City.
Lin Liangming and Kulusevski, who have performed very well this season, including the two full-backs Alphonso Davies and Tomiyasu Kenyo, have been firmly suppressed by Chelsea players and have never been able to plan a threatening attack.
.
Both wings were mute, which made it difficult for York City to press the offensive line into Chelsea's position. There was not much threat in the counterattack, so the number of shots was only three.
Baker, who had shined in the previous games, was a direct misfire in this game.
Arteta allowed his players to immediately restrict York City's offensive personnel during the transition from offense to defense, preventing Baker from easily getting the ball.
Therefore, no matter whether Baker is pulling wide or retreating, there are Chelsea players around him to surround him, and the passing line is basically cut off, making it difficult to threaten.
This scene may seem a bit boring, but in the eyes of a world-class professional coach like Lippi, such a game is very valuable.
"It's hard to imagine that two such young coaches can have such high tactical attainments." Lippi sighed, then laughed at himself, "And I didn't really understand it until I was almost 50 years old."
What Lippi said was that it was almost when he was coaching at Juventus that he truly joined the ranks of world-class coaches and was able to freely use various tactics on the court to limit opponents.
This is of course a very difficult thing, and it is also a process that needs to be "leveled up" slowly.
In fact, Lippi officially served as the head coach of the youth team of Sampdoria Football Club as early as 1982. However, Lippi's first coaching career ushered in a 0-5 defeat. In the following three years, Lippi
The Sampdoria youth team under Lippi has not made great progress.
Then, he coached in several clubs in Serie C, then to Serie B, and several teams in Serie A slowly grew, and finally he was favored by Juventus and became a famous coach.
Compared with many of his colleagues, Lippi is lucky. He survived after all.
How many people like him started training in the youth team, but failed to make it in the end? They can't even count them.
And people like Scaloni and Arteta, who only stayed with Pan Yi for a year or two after retiring, became head coaches of important clubs, and then have such a deep understanding of the most advanced tactics in the world today, really
is rare.
"So, Pan Yi is the real god."
At this time, Lineker, the famous "Pan brag" couldn't help but brag: "With Pan Yi's side, whether it is players, coaches, or even staff, their working abilities will improve rapidly...
It really makes people doubt that he is a football encyclopedia, and anyone can get the answers they want from him."
Lippi smiled and said: "I have worked with him in the Dragon Country national team for a while, and I have a deep understanding of this. I can only say that if there is a so-called genius in the coaching field, then I think it should be someone like Pan
Yi is like this."
Lineker couldn't help but nodded.
Of course there are geniuses in the field of football, such as Messi, otherwise it would be difficult for you to explain how a five or six-year-old child can have such good feet.
But in the field of coaching, there are actually very few. Some even say that there are no geniuses in this area. This requires the accumulation of time and experience.
Even Guardiola, who has shone in world football in recent years, still needs time. For example, when he arrived at Manchester City this year, he couldn't make a big impact.
But Pan Yi is different.
In just a few years, he went from an unknown young man who just graduated to one of the world's most famous coaches.
And he doesn't even have any experience as a professional player!
What's even more valuable is that he can always pass on his knowledge and experience to others, and then more top football coaches will be born...
This is true for Nagelsmann in Hamburg, Inzaghi in Milan, and Scaloni and Arteta in front of us.
It is conceivable that in a few years, the world football world may be filled with Pan Yi's disciples and disciples, and the duels between various giants will turn into "Pan Yi's internal fighting."
"So, which one of Pan Yi's apprentices do you think will win today's game?"
Lineker changed the topic to this game again.
Although it always feels good to praise Pan Yi, he is still the commentator of this game after all, and he cannot go too far off topic.
"From a comparison of the strength of the two sides, Chelsea is definitely the stronger side, but can Arteta break through York City's iron wall?"
Lippi also shook his head: "I don't know. Actually, at this point in the game, neither side has any big secrets."
"York City must defend and counterattack. As long as Chelsea does not make major mistakes, it will be difficult for York City to have a chance to score tonight. After all, Chelsea's defense has always been very solid."
"Chelsea's possession time is close to 70%. This was both stolen by Chelsea and voluntarily given up by York City. So Arteta's current strategy is to keep pulling and running, forcing York City to waste their energy.
"
Lineker nodded: "Chelsea's bench has an advantage."
The depth of their bench is obviously unmatched by York City.
Apart from this starting set, the only one York City can really use as a surprise player is Aman. Most of the other players are still at the level of League One and League Two, making them difficult to use.
But Chelsea is different.
On the bench, there are even stars like Mbappe, Matic, Goretzka and Van Dijk who have already made a name for themselves in European football.
If York City's physical fitness bottoms out under Chelsea's constant impact and both sides have to make substitutions, Chelsea's advantage will obviously become greater and greater.
"Yes, Chelsea had an advantage, so they forced York City to fight hard. Scaloni also knew this, but he had no choice but to hold on. If he couldn't fight, he would lose."
After hearing what Lippi said, Lineker asked: "What do you mean, Chelsea will win in the end?"
"Not necessarily." Lippi said, glancing towards the rostrum of the stand, which was exactly where Pan Yi was sitting. "Pan Yi is the owner of York City after all, and he still has to help his team.
.What we considered before was a fair duel between his two apprentices, but if this master joins the battle, the outcome will be hard to say..."
Lineker laughed: "Then I understand."
He can often win unexpectedly, which is actually what Pan Yi is most talked about about.
Everyone discovered that Pan Yi not only has a unique vision in selecting players, but the key is that he can always bring unexpected surprises when arranging his troops. Even some of the same players can give surprising performances in different combinations.
Just like York City's current 5-4-1, who knows what it will become if Pan Yi intervenes in the second half?
"Now we just have to see if Arteta can keep his composure." Lippi couldn't help but glance at Pan Yi. "He must know that his master Pan Yi is a cunning fox, and this fox is likely to
Waiting for Chelsea to make a mistake. But sometimes changes on the field can make people lose their rational judgment."
"Pan Yi has proven countless times in the past few years that he has the ability to wait patiently for his opponents to make mistakes and seize opportunities." Lineker also finished in time:
"Then let's see, in the next second half, whether Chelsea or York City will be the first team to break the tie!"