The home game against Liverpool was Chelsea's first game after the international break. However, Chelsea's home record in front of the Red Army was not ideal. In the past four seasons, the Blues only achieved 1 in the 2009-2010 season.
wins. 1 before and 1 after
Every season, Liverpool wins. I remember that in the 2008-2009 season, Liverpool’s 1-0 away victory ended Chelsea’s record of 86 unbeaten league games at Stamford Bridge. But today, facing this opponent again, the Blues unexpectedly
It was the third time in four years that we lost.
Chelsea's first goal conceded seemed to be an accident: in the 33rd minute of the game, Mikel picked up the ball in the middle of the backcourt and unexpectedly grabbed it from Charlie Adam behind him. The Nigerian hesitated for a moment and fell to the ground. Adam willed the ball.
After the ball was intercepted, it was passed to Bellamy beside him, who assisted Maxi Rodriguez and broke the goal guarded by Cech, giving the Red Army the lead at Stamford Bridge.
However, this ball seems to be accidental, but in fact it is inevitable. As the last barrier in front of the defense, Mikel's ball always seems to be too big. In the Premier League, no matter which team competes with Chelsea, it is necessary to grab meters.
Kerr has become a common tactic. With two or even three opponents pressing closely, conceding the ball becomes inevitable.
In Chelsea's three-midfield system, Mikel is the only player who devotes his main energy to defense.
However, today, he also participated in an attack: in the 11th minute of the game, Drogba and Lampard made tackles in the frontcourt. The ball rolled to Mikel's feet. The Nigerian swung it 35 yards away from the goal.
He raised his thigh and fired a volley, the ball slightly higher than the goal frame. However, this was the only time Mikel participated.
into the offense. But signs of omissions in his defense came earlier: in the 9th minute of the game, Suarez broke through Mikel in the frontcourt. Thanks to the two defenders Luis and Ivanovic, the defense was blocked.
The ball was stolen. After the first half, Mikel returned to the lounge, but he never returned to the court after that.
As we all know, Mikel was originally an attacking midfielder. In the 2006 World Youth Championship, he followed Messi and won the Silver Ball, but that became the only glory in his career.
Later, at Chelsea, Mourinho transformed him into an out-and-out defensive midfielder. Mikel, who played as a defensive midfielder, was popular for a while, but soon became dull. In the second half of last season, Mickel
Mick rarely got opportunities, and the media even reported that he would leave Hamburg with Arnesen. However, in the end, Arnesen took away Mancini, who was once selected for the England team. And this season, Mick
I have become the team's biggest weakness.
In fact, in view of Chelsea's three-midfield system, each team has clearly defined the playing style of grabbing the midfielder.
However, before Mikel, it was Makelele who played this position. But trying to grab the ball from him was so overwhelming that the French even turned this position into the "Makelele position". In Makelele
After leaving Chelsea, the Blues have been unable to find a stable midfielder who can reach the same level. In fact, Essien was originally Makelele's successor, but in the past three seasons, the Ghanaian has been frequently troubled by injuries.
He suffered a serious injury in the summer and is not expected to be able to play until next year at the earliest.
Regarding Chelsea's midfielder position, both Villas-Boas and his predecessor Carlo Ancelotti have tried their best. For example, both of them chose to use Ramires, who has better technical skills.
Using Ramirez, the defensive effect is indeed better, but in this way, the Brazilian's forward attack is sacrificed. Therefore, Ramirez is still not an ideal fixed candidate. And Meireles joined this season
, but he is more willing to attack in his bones. Today, in this crucial red-blue battle, Mikel still serves as the starting midfielder, but this decision of Villas-Boas made a big mistake.
Another tragic figure is naturally Torres, who is the focus of media attention. "T9" was unstoppable when he was in the Red Army, but fell into a trough in the Blue Army. Now he is turning back, can he get out of the haze?
When the starting list was announced, many people were surprised that Torres was sitting on the bench! Is it because he was afraid that the Liverpool defender was too familiar with him? Or was it because of the Champions League next week? Torres sat on the bench for almost a game until the 84th minute.
He was then substituted, replacing starting center Drogba.
In fact, Torres has been active on the sidelines since the 63rd minute. As soon as he stood up, the decibel level at Stamford Bridge immediately went up, and the camps were clearly defined. The Blues fans naturally applauded and sang "Torres's Song" again, but
This could not cover up the harsh boos, and the visiting team Liverpool fans made a lot of noise at t9.
He came on the scene in the 84th minute and the game ended in the 93rd minute. In just 9 minutes, it was difficult for Torres to make a difference. For a striker with his reputation, facing his old club and being the focus of the media, he only played for a mere 9 minutes at the end. This is almost
It is a humiliating arrangement. Of course, Torres is a professional player and he will follow the coach's arrangements instead of being resentful and rising up like Tevez.
In 9 minutes, Torres passed the ball 4 times, made 2 turnovers, and lost the ball 3 times. He had no shots, no breakthroughs, and no threats. Of course, this is not his problem. No world-class forward can do anything in 9 minutes.
It will definitely make a difference. "Sky Sports" gave the Spaniard a 5-point score, but also admitted that he "doesn't have time."
Sitting on the bench in such a crucial game, Torres obviously did not reach the state where the head coach could fully trust him and use him in every game. In fact, after he came to Chelsea, the gap in performance was very obvious. At Chelsea, he scored every 425 minutes.
He scored 1 goal, compared with 1 goal in 121 minutes when playing for Liverpool; the shooting accuracy rate in the two periods was also 38% vs. 49%, and the chance grasp rate was 10% vs. 22%.
Someone raised the topic of whether Torres is still worth 50 million pounds to Villas-Boas, but the Portuguese young coach continued to support t9: "Is he still worth that much money? Will I pay 50 million pounds for him? Of course I will.
Torres' best period so far was at Liverpool, but that doesn't mean he can't reach his peak again at Chelsea, and now he's performing very well for the team."
I'm afraid Villas-Boas's words were half encouraging, but no one can guarantee when Torres will reach his peak again. After the game, Torres, who looked gloomy, smiled, but that was against Liverpool.
When his teammates were chatting in the past, the Spaniard once said that although Liverpool is smaller than London, life is more comfortable and he finds it easier to adapt. Now that he sees those acquaintances from the past, does he miss that good time in his heart?
?
Chelsea lost 1 to 2 at home to Liverpool. Villas-Boas' coaching position has become a topic of public discussion. His dismissal odds have soared from 331 before the game to 81. The Mirror even commented, "Abrahimovic is prone to change."
The itchy finger is on the trigger again”…
Villas-Boas himself did not think he would be fired early. He said: "The boss paid 15 million euros to lure me from Porto, not to give me another termination fee to send me away early. We want to build something new at Chelsea.
Something for the future.”
Having said that, being the number one in football today is a "flaw" since Villas-Boas took charge of Chelsea. They have lost 4 games in 12 rounds of the Premier League, with only two clean sheets, and are one step away from the top spot of Manchester City (
Weibo) is already 12 points behind. Although the Blues are temporarily in fourth place, Tottenham, who have 2 games in hand, may overtake them at any time.
Liverpool and Arsenal (Weibo) have also tied the points. The most terrible thing is that in the strong dialogue, Villas-Boas has lost all the games so far, losing 1 to 3 away to Manchester United (Weibo), and the scene is still bloody.
, but losing 3-5 at home to Arsenal and now losing two consecutive home games to Liverpool are somewhat difficult to explain.
History proves that Abramovich has never been patient. Ranieri led Chelsea to the Premier League runner-up, defeated the unbeatable Arsenal in the Champions League and entered the semi-finals, but still left at the end of the season; Mourinho won six championships in three years, but missed several times
Champions League, lost the Premier League trophy again in the third season, although
Won the FA Cup, but there was some turmoil at the beginning of the fourth season and he was fired; Grant led the team to the historic Champions League final, only one penalty away from winning the championship, but was dismissed in the summer; Scolari left as soon as he arrived.
, Ancelotti, who won one championship, was expelled in the second year...
According to the "Sunday Express", Abramovich has already made a showdown with Villas-Boas. The Russian recently met with the Portuguese coach and said he was worried about Chelsea's results at the beginning of the season, especially the 3-5 home defeat to Arsenal.
Obviously, the boss's message to Villas-Boas is very clear, if he continues to fail to win, you can do whatever he wants.
A difficult problem is placed in front of the 34-year-old young coach. Chelsea must transform and change their style, but at the same time they must continue to win. You can imagine the difficulty.
Sometimes, there is a price to pay for changes in the team's style of play. For example, the Blues today use a high-pressure style of play. The formation presses very high, and the defense line must also be positioned near the center circle. This pressing style of play requires
There are defenders with strong mobility, but Chelsea are influenced by Mourinho’s 433 system.
Most of the Western defenders are used to shrinking their defense. Once they are pressed out and the space becomes larger, they are easily overwhelmed. This may explain why the Blues defenders suddenly became unable to defend this season. The system has changed and they are exposed to the forwards.
There are many opportunities under fire, so mistakes are naturally easy to make.
To adapt to the new system and style of play, time is needed, but this is a luxury for Villas-Boas. On the one hand, it requires time and cost to pursue an ideal, and on the other hand, the boss is demanding results.
Now comes the biggest problem in his coaching career. For Villas-Boas, the next away game against Leverkusen may be a crucial game that determines life and death. If he loses again, Abramovich may really lose his limited patience.
In fact, a name is already hanging high above Boas's head and may be chopped down to replace him at any time. This name is Hiddink.
The famous Dutch coach was fired by the Turkish Football Association and is now a completely free agent, and his relationship with Abramovich is well known. In the 2008-09 season, after Scolari was fired, Hiddink took over as a part-time employee.
The performance of leading the team also left a good impression on Abramovich (won the FA Cup, was eliminated from the Champions League by Barcelona in a controversial game, but played very bloody, once the decision was made to win Villas, Hiddink was an emergency replacement
The perfect choice.
The Portuguese actually knows that Abramovich has retained Hiddink as a backup. "Hiddink is one of the best coaches in the world," Villas-Boas said. "There is no vacancy at the moment. If there is, I am sure he will be the best coach."
One of the priority candidates. When Hiddink coached Chelsea, it was a good period for the club, but this does not mean that
He will always succeed in a club of this level." From Villas-Boas' cautious praise, some caution can be heard. The example of Scolari was just yesterday. Once the young coach's Chelsea continues to linger in the trough, then now
The "vacant coaching position" that does not exist yet will probably be vacant by then with Abramovich's order!
Chelsea, which has been changing coaches, has not had a satisfactory record this year. Manchester United, which has also changed coaches, has been at the top of the standings this season.
In this round of the Premier League, Manchester United will finally have a one-goal advantage in the away game and bring back another 3 points!
Li Yu scored the only goal of the game and continued his good form. Under his supervision, Manchester United's offensive and defensive ends gradually took shape. It was said that Ancelotti was conservative, but now it seems that so
Recruiting Li Yu to organize the entire team and practice in the league with confidence and boldness is not without risks. Fortunately, Li Yu's performance did not live up to the trust of the coach.
Five consecutive wins! Not conceding a goal! After just experiencing the nightmare of a 1-6 home defeat to rival Manchester City at home last month, the entire Manchester United team "understood shame and then became brave", using a wave of victories to buffer the sluggish morale in time.
, did not let the team continue to sink.
Go. However, behind such deceptive data, how convincing has Manchester United really performed? People who have watched these games will also ask: In the past, that team was able to firmly control the game.
Where did Manchester United go?
In the last two games, Manchester United's victories have always been accompanied by record breaking: Manchester United has scored in every 19 games at the beginning of this season, surpassing the 18 consecutive games at the beginning of the 2001-02 season. However,
Despite this, Manchester United's away game against newly promoted Swansea City continued their recent poor form and gave fans a slightly depressing weekend with a "less than happy" game.
As a Premier League team from Wales, Swansea does not stick to the simple and rough British style of play.
Under the guidance of head coach Rogers, the team attaches great importance to ground passing, pays attention to passing and cutting cooperation and running without the ball. It also gives full play to the players' strengths and adopts a "side-center combination" method to use the speed advantage to attack opponents. Therefore, it is praised by the local
The media nicknamed it "British Barcelona".
Obviously, Manchester United, which faced Barcelona twice in the Champions League finals, suffered a lot against the "fake Barcelona" in this game: In the 2nd minute, Swansea counterattacked from the right and passed the ball to the back point.
El Jones's header almost gave Sinclair a chance to shoot; in the 23rd minute, Vidic's passing error caused chaos in the penalty area. Carrick's clearance was interrupted, causing the opponent to pass into the penalty area. The unguarded Sinclair made the first pass on the edge of the small penalty area.
For a moment, the shot was deflected in the air.
In the 49th minute, substitute Joe Allen passed the ball and Sinclair's shot from a small angle on the left side of the penalty area was saved by De Gea; in the 56th minute, Gower took a corner kick and Monk headed the ball from 8 yards away.
The goal was pushed out by Vidic's flying header; in the 67th minute
, Swansea made a pass from the left, and the little Fabio who came on the bench competed with his opponent for a header, and made a big kick after the ball landed. The Brazilian teenager, who was extremely dissatisfied with his teammates, roared forward and scolded his teammates for their lax defense.
Causing the opponent to cross easily.
In the final stage of the game, the home team even formed a siege on Manchester United, which made the latter quite embarrassed. Unfortunately, they were unlucky and failed to score.
Although football is a sport where scores speak for themselves, the post-match statistics did not make Manchester United people happy at all: the home team took 10 shots and the visiting team took 13 shots; corner kicks were 6 to 2; the ball possession rate in the game was evenly divided between the two sides.
In the first 30 minutes of the first half and the first 10 minutes of the second half, Swansea firmly dominated the ball possession rate with 53% to 47% and 66% to 34% respectively; and in terms of pass success rate, Manchester United was only higher.
beat the opponent by 0.5 percentage points.
As one British journalist put it on Twitter: "What is happening to the Manchester United players? I find it hard to imagine that such a poor way of playing football can keep them in second place in the table." It all points to this.
One conclusion: Manchester United has no advantage against the newly promoted team, and victory is not convincing. Considering Manchester United's performance in the previous games, we can't help but ask: Is this still Manchester United? What exactly is the team's problem?
Before this campaign, Manchester United had a total of 168 shots in the Premier League, ranking 9th, even worse than Wolves, Queens Park Rangers and other underdogs; it was shot 196 times, ranking 2nd, only 2 times less than first-place Bolton.
; The ball possession rate is 55.15%, ranking 6th, which is lower than the other three giants, as well as the current opponent Swansea and the city rival Manchester City; the threatening ball has been passed 127 times, ranking seventh, still lower than the three giants and Manchester City.
In terms of goalkeeper saves, De Gea ranked 4th with 45 times, only two less than the first. On the other hand, Manchester United is the only team in the Premier League that does not have a player to play the entire league. Everyone is
Being rotated, the lineup is undergoing frequent changes. From the above data, we can see that Manchester United currently lacks three abilities: the ability to control the game, the ability to create opportunities, and the ability to protect the backcourt.
As the saying goes, "One waxes and wanes": Manchester United, which has just kept five consecutive clean sheets against its opponents, seems to have lost the super offensive power it was proud of at the beginning of the season. It only scored 8 goals and lacked absolute initiative on the scene.
, and were even besieged by opponents during certain periods of time.
The lack of ability to control the game and create opportunities is closely related to the lack of an organizational core in the midfield: as a nearly 40-year-old veteran, Giggs’ physical strength cannot support him to play the game for a long time, and he is more of a substitute player to make changes.
The situation on the field: After a stunning start to the season, Cleverley was struck down by injuries and was unable to participate in the game before Christmas.
So we can see that when the two midfield organizers Cleverley and Giggs are difficult to play, Li Yu, who serves as the forward, has to frequently retreat to organize attacks, thereby weakening the strength of the front line, resulting in
The number of goals scored has dropped sharply. However, Nani, Mata and others who are on the two wings have encountered various problems such as low form and injuries, and have not been able to perform impressively recently.
The midfield and backfield and penalty area are frequently "patronized" by opponents because there are too many unstable factors in the position of midfielder and central defender: Fletcher is difficult to return to his peak form after recovering from a serious illness; Pogba is still young and lacks a first-line player.
Game experience; Carrick’s fighting ability and coverage are relatively limited, resulting in a fee
Dinand, Vidic and others often have to directly face the opponent's offensive players. Of course, we must not forget the "time bomb" Evans, who may cause the team to suffer at any time... Faced with various problems, 19 consecutive games
The game goals may only give people some comfort in terms of statistics.
Objectively speaking, the current lineup has made it difficult for Manchester United to remain competitive enough in both the league and the Champions League. Therefore, correct recruitment is imperative, and the top priority is to improve the team's creativity. From "Mirror"
According to the newspaper, Manchester United is interested in bringing in the Brazilian Sao Paulo club midfielder Lucas, who is known as an offensive genius. Sao Paulo also expressed that they hope to receive a satisfactory offer before they will consider this transfer transaction.
.
In any case, facing the unprecedentedly fierce competition in the 2011-12 season, there is not much time left for new coach Carlo Ancelotti to transform Manchester United.
Regardless of whether Ancelotti is changing Manchester United's style of play, it is difficult to satisfy the fans. The recent victory cannot demonstrate Manchester United's recent offensive problem. Some people may ask why Mata, who was introduced with a lot of money, is placed on the wing.
Let attacker Li Yu sort out the team's offense.
Ancelotti is also aware of his own suffering. Mata still needs to adapt and run in when he first arrives in the Premier League. However, Manchester United does not have many games for Ancelotti to establish a core. Li Yu is ready-made, which is much more advantageous than Mata, a newcomer.
, let Manchester United's No. 9 be the core, no one will say anything, and if the same position is replaced by Mata, there will definitely be no less problems.
The new coach adopted a seemingly risky, but actually safe, approach to slowly transform the team. Unable to guarantee the record, Ancelotti had done everything he could to consider and come up with a set of compromises.
The method is also very consistent with Ancelotti’s personality.
