In the second half, the team changed sides and fought again, and Di Matteo took the initiative to seek changes.
In the 60th minute, he made a substitution adjustment.
Mikel exits, Torres enters.
Replacing a midfielder with a forward is an obvious signal to strengthen the attack.
Obviously, today is Chelsea at home, and Di Matteo does not want to lose.
After Torres came on the field, Chelsea's formation also changed to 442.
Although there is one less midfielder, Chelsea's midfield control may further decline, but Di Matteo can't control that much now.
I can't beat you guys anyway, so why not have one more striker and explode 442!
In this way, even if Milan's two central defenders can keep an eye on Drogba, they can't keep the two forwards at bay.
Under such an adjustment, Chelsea's ball release point also began to tilt toward the wing. The two full-backs and full-midfielders took the ball more often, and then found space in the center to pass to the two forwards.
Milan also responded immediately.
Allegri stood up and kept waving, asking Salah and Mane to hug the wing.
In this way, while attacking both sides of the opponent equally, it can also frustrate the opponent's attack.
In addition, the midfield trio assisted the two wingers in pressing, making Chelsea's wing attack not so smooth.
However, the combination of Torres + Drogba is still very powerful in itself.
In the 65th minute, their cooperation threatened Milan's goal.
Drogba received a long direct pass from the backcourt and directly dumped the ball on the grass with his chest. Torres, who had quick eyes and quick hands in the back row, followed up with a kick, but the ball was held down by Ederson who reacted quickly.
In the 70th minute, Milan also started to make substitutions.
Seedorf and Aubameyang came on, replacing Salah and Mane.
This substitution also caused confusion among many fans and media reporters.
Commentator Zhan Jun also wondered:
"AC Milan's substitution... is a bit strange."
"Seedorf usually plays in the middle of the midfield in Milan, close to the attacking midfielder. And Aubameyang also appears more in the center position."
"Now they have replaced two wingers who performed well. What is Allegri thinking?"
"We can only wait and see how they stand on the court..."
This is what Pan Yi suggested Allegri do.
This is because, in the last 10 minutes, Pan Yi saw the loopholes at the front of Chelsea's penalty area.
After Torres came on the field, although their offense seemed to have improved, this was at the expense of protecting the front of the penalty area.
After Mikel left the field, Chelsea now only have Lampard and Essien in the center of the midfield. Lampard himself is more offensive, which has greatly weakened the defensive ability of the midfielder.
Therefore, at this time, Pan Yi substituted Seedorf and Aubameyang, who are good at attacking in the middle, to seize the opponent's weakness and hammer hard.
In addition, after 70 minutes of high-intensity pressing, most of Salah and Mane's physical strength was consumed in hand-to-hand combat with their opponents. At this time, two freshmen with sufficient physical fitness can also further block the opponent's space.
After these two people came on the court, Milan's formation became a bit weird 4312.
The name is the same as Allegri's usual 4312 last season, but in fact it is different.
Aubameyang and Seedorf are both positioned behind Ibrahimovic, and between the two, Aubameyang is closer to the shadow forward position, while Seedorf is a little further to the left, which is said to be 4321
A Christmas tree formation is also possible.
But Pan Yi doesn't really care about the name of the specific formation now.
Formation serves tactics. As long as the tactics are appropriate, there will be no problem even with a 10-0-0 formation.
And this substitution quickly created a threat.
After Aubameyang got the ball, he faced Ivanovic one-on-one looking for a breakthrough. When he saw Terry coming to help defend, he transferred the ball to Seedorf on the other side.
Seedorf fired a long shot before Cahill came up to block it, but unfortunately it went over the crossbar.
…
Kanter actually felt a little tired today.
On the one hand, it is because the competition in this game is indeed fierce, and he often has to help the two central defenders and Drogba to fight, which also consumes a lot of his physical energy;
On the other hand, after playing for Real Madrid, Pan Yi came to him specifically and asked him to do more offensive training.
In the past few weeks of tactical training, Pan Yi seems to have deliberately cultivated him to become Milan's midfield transition hub.
In other words, in the current Milan game, Kanter not only has to defend well, but also is responsible for launching the offense.
This will of course put higher demands on his physical strength and energy.
Otherwise, even if he keeps running all over the place, he will not feel tired.
"A sage named Lu from the Dragon Kingdom once said that with greater ability comes greater responsibility."
Kanter still remembers Pan Yi telling him this.
Although he always felt like he had heard this sentence in some movie, but since the coach said it, it should be correct.
So he felt flattered too.
He was originally just a black kid who made a living by picking up garbage in the slums, but now he was inexplicably chosen by Pan Yi to play football in Milan, and he even became the main player.
Not only that, Pan Yi also asked him not only to do the dirty work on the court, but also to be an offensive organizer like Xavi and Zidane, and to develop into an all-around midfielder.
"Believe me, you have this ability."
Kanter certainly believes in Pan Yi's judgment and his ability to do this.
A scholar dies for the one who knows himself.
So he is also working hard to adapt to this new role, and at the same time, let his body adapt to such intensity.
Hang in there and get through it!
He knew that as long as his body passed this small limit, it would reach a new height.
…
The ball is coming again.
Thiago Silva assisted Van Dijk to steal the ball from Torres and immediately handed it to Kante.
This has now become a habit.
As long as there are no other defensive players around Kanter, or there are no particularly good opportunities for long passes in the frontcourt, the central defender will usually hand the ball to Kanter.
Everyone also trusts this young French player who is not strong in stature but is extremely good at blocking the opponent's space while creating space for himself.
When Kanter turned his back to get the ball, Chelsea midfielder Lampard also rushed over to defend.
But Kanter protected the ball, swung it to the left, and then moved the ball to the right with the sole of his foot.
This action immediately shook Lampard, and Kante began to dribble the ball towards Chelsea's goal.
Kanter looked up and saw Aubameyang reaching for the ball in the space on the right.
On the left, Seedorf is also standing there, but he is running in the direction of Kante, because he is used to approaching the center to receive the ball.
In a short period of time, Kanter chose a passing route that he thought was the most reasonable.
He handed the ball to Seedorf.
Because Chelsea's wing defense is relatively tight now, Ashley Cole has already pounced on Aubameyang.
In the middle, there is a lot of space!
After Kanter handed the ball over, he did not stop but continued to run forward.
Seedorf stopped the ball for a moment, followed the trend with a click of his heel, and the ball returned to Kante's feet!
At this time, the attention of Chelsea's defensive players was completely attracted by Seedorf, who was good at long-range shooting. Kante's front was already flat!
"Danger!"
Terry exclaimed, but at this time Kanter had already started to shoot.