When one side on the field is suddenly hit by a counterattack, the players on the field will subconsciously retreat to defend. No matter how far away from the football, retreating and showing a defensive posture is at least a sign of professionalism.
This will cause the formation to move back. After defending against counterattack, the threat will be brewed again when advancing when attacking.
When the Greek team launched a counterattack against England in the 41st minute, England's frontcourt players did not go back to defend immediately, nor did they move back.
Irving, Scholes, and McManaman kept in mind Aldridge's instructions before the game, and their positions were to press the Greek midfield line.
This is risky, because if the Greek team presses forward like a desperate attack, the pressure on England's defense will suddenly increase dramatically.
However, the Greek team's counterattack did not rely on investing too much troops, but focused on attacking weak links, relying on the flexible movement of the players to hit more with less.
After England defended successfully, they turned around and England launched a counterattack on the spot. This forward attack was more powerful than any attack in the previous 40 minutes.
The reason is that the Greek team counterattacks and advances quickly. The formation will be slightly advanced, providing passing support points, tearing apart England's defensive formation, creating opportunities, and ensuring the success rate of passing.
Greece's counterattack does not rely on simple long passes, but on terrifying tactical discipline.
Although England's counterattack against Greece failed in this round, the offensive space is still not as wide as it was against Germany in the last game, but the victory lies in the stronger ability of the players. The strength of the Greek team's players cannot be compared with the German team's players.
The space is not too big, but it is enough!
It was originally a risky counterattack by Greece, but 3 seconds after the fatal pass, England's counterattack passed the Greek half!
Such a sudden reversal of the situation on the field left the Greek team at a loss.
As you can imagine, they were accumulating strength and waiting for the opportunity. They were about to explode, fully expecting to surprise the England team. They caught the opponent off guard, but the reality was a complete reversal. Their counterattack posed a certain threat, but in the end they failed to score a goal.
, didn’t even take a shot, even so, they should have frightened the England team. The result? The England team seemed to have been prepared for a long time, but they suddenly exerted their strength and turned to beat them without any control!
Left back Fissas and midfielder Sagorakis rushed forward in panic. The midfielder moved and the center was wide open. Beckham made the right move. McManaman picked up the ball in the center and dribbled forward quickly.
.
Irving went straight to the center of the opponent's penalty area, attracting center back Dabizas and sweeper Dras. Another center back, George Chiotis, had no choice but to come up to defend McManaman who was dribbling the ball.
But the moment he moved, an alarm sounded in his heart, and from the corner of his eye he saw someone slanting into his back from the middle of the penalty area.
McManaman made a direct pass into the right side of the penalty area. Owen pinned the Greek defenders on the left and center of the penalty area. On the right, he grabbed Beckham on the full back and the center back defended. An English player happened to move in and cut in there.
area, like a sharp knife, hitting the enemy's weakest part!
"Scholes! Scholes got a good shooting opportunity, stopped the ball, passed the ball to his dominant foot, and volleyed! Beautiful! Scholes opened the scoring for England! This goal was better than we expected.
It's a little later, but it's still here. England, the group leader, will advance to the World Cup finals without any suspense!"
After breaking the door, Ginger Head turned around and pointed at McManaman with a smile on his face.
Old Trafford was silent for a long time. Finally it burst into overwhelming joy.
The first 40 minutes of the game indeed made the fans sleepy, but the process of scoring the goal really made the fans excited and excited.
The Greek team suddenly picked up the pace and launched a sharp counterattack. Just when people were worried about England's defense, in the blink of an eye, 7 seconds later, England turned to break the Greek goal!
This reversal drama on the green field, from Greece's counterattack to England's goal, may not add up to 15 seconds, but it is what happened in these 15 seconds that made the fans hooked.
There were many fans in the stands patting their chests, looking happy but still scared.
Aldridge clenched his fist fiercely and waved it. Many players on the court looked at him. Their admiration for Aldridge could no longer be described in words.
Rehagel saw the team's shortcomings in this conceding goal.
But he was not discouraged.
He has only coached the team for half a year, and the Greek team's foundation is also poor. It will take longer to fully take shape.
As for the timing of this formation, Aldrich knew it better than Rehagel did.
Many people later said that the myth created by the Greek team in 2004 had a lot of luck and chance.
Aldrich doesn't think so.
Especially after being immersed in the football world in this life, looking back on Greece's outstanding record, it is difficult to describe it as luck or accident.
A game can be lucky or accidental, but if a series of games that outsiders attribute to luck and chance appear continuously within a period of time, then this is not luck!
The Greek team will really take shape by the end of next year!
When the 2004 European Cup qualifiers officially started, the Greek team lost to Spain at home and Ukraine on the road, losing 0:2 in both games.
At that time, everyone thought that Greece would be eliminated early, but in the next six games, the Greek team won all 6 games! Without conceding a goal!
1:0 in 4 games, 2:0 in 2 games.
In 8 games, he scored 8 goals and conceded 4 goals. The statistics are very poor, but the results are brilliant.
Beat Spain and directly enter the European Cup, Ukraine was kicked out!
Speaking of luck, the Greek team's only luck may have been in the group stage of the European Cup, with 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss. They scored more goals than Spain and sent Spain back home.
However, they defeated France in the quarterfinals, defeated the Czech Republic, the strongest team since independence, in the semifinals, and defeated the host Portugal in the finals. Greece entered the temple of green myth with these 3 games 1:0!
This is definitely not lucky!
Fleet Street often describes Aldridge and Wenger as Skywalkers. Both of them have their own pursuits on the field and have successfully caused a football style to set off huge waves in England. The storm will have an impact
Profound.
But in Aldrich's view, Rehagar is the Skywalker on this thorny and rugged road of seeking truth!
This game in Greece is mainly about military training, and the outcome is not important.
Aldrich will not feel any sense of accomplishment just because the team temporarily takes the lead, or even if he finally defeats Greece. If he is proud of it, it will be simply pathetic.
After conceding the goal, the Greek team's original plan was disrupted. There was no strong attack in the last few minutes of the first half, and England walked into the locker room with a one-goal lead.
After Aldridge returned to the locker room, he did not praise the players. Instead, he focused on the performance of the Greek team. He actually hoped to let the English team players understand how to cope with the game in such an environment from the perspective of the Greek team.
In international competitions, especially major competitions, caution is paramount and your mentality must be stable!
Especially in the World Cup, when top players compete, whoever can keep his composure has a higher chance of winning.
Halftime. Aldrich gave the players some time to digest.
In today's game, the battle is not about bravery, but about resourcefulness. Who is calmer on the court, who can take advantage of the situation better, and who can gain the upper hand. If you rush blindly, you will only fall into the opponent's plan, which will expose your own fate.
The door is given to the opponent.
Aldrich went out to have a cigarette with Janson on the corner of the passage.
Jensen puffed out smoke and suddenly smiled: "Aldrich, you are going to train this England team's counterattack ability to the peak. It is almost perfect."
Aldrich lowered his head and smiled and said: "There are thousands of ways to win, and the right one is to take the one that suits you best."
Jenson thought about it for a while and nodded in agreement.
The coaching staff does not spend any effort on England's positional warfare. There is a profit and loss consideration. How much investment is made and how much return is given. Even if the England team's positional warfare potential is fully stimulated, it may only be at the top level in Europe at best. Why?
Because the England team has no Zidane, no Pirlo, no Xavi, no 3R...
But England has players who are absolutely suitable for counterattacks. Irving's running and speed, McManaman's breakthrough and dribbling. Beckham's long pass, Scholes' precise kick and goal-scoring awareness.
Coupled with Lampard's long-range threat, England itself has the potential to launch a top-notch counterattack. It is the players' abilities and characteristics that determine the tactical design, rather than Aldrich's sudden whims of what tactics to play and letting the players adapt or modify the players.
"What if Greece is determined to defend today? Or what if the opponents we face in the future are also determined to defend?"
Jansen asked leisurely with his head held high.
Aldrich pointed at him with a smile and said: "Deliberately looking for trouble to tease me?"
Jensen laughed, they all knew that this would not happen.
In the league, there are indeed teams that will only want to hold on to a draw when facing a strong team because the strength gap is too large, because a draw will result in points.
But in the national team, especially in international competitions, this situation is difficult to happen. If you don't win in the group stage, you will face the possibility of being eliminated. How to stick to the knockout stage? How to advance? Penalty roulette?
A certain factor behind the success of the Greek team in preventing counterattacks is the contempt of the strong teams, but there is also the factor that they have a calmer mentality and grasped the psychological factors of their opponents. Because the opponents were unable to score goals, they became anxious and continued to invest offensive forces, thus
Gave Greece a chance to deal a fatal blow.
Although Aldrich felt in his heart that he could not compare with Rehagar, as the other party was like a god and he only relied on better resources to stand on top of mortals, but Aldrich did not respect Rehagar's tactical system.
People will study successful tactical systems such as 442, 433, 352, 4321, Christmas tree, TIKI-TAKA, Mourinho's winger attacking group 433, etc.
But few people will study the successful 5-back tactical system of the Greek team. Against the background of encouraging offense, Rehagel's tactical system itself is not popular in the Greek team. It is understandable to play like this in international competitions. Defense wins.
It is also a cliché.
But it has never been able to form a mainstream, because even the relegation teams in the top leagues will not adopt this tactical system that will force fans to leave the stadium to watch the game. It can neither cater to the market nor succeed by imitating it. The Greek team itself
Teams with a little bit of financial resources may be able to form a lineup of similar quality, but not every team that wants to imitate can have a coach named Rehagel.
This training battle for the Greek team and the life-and-death battle for the English team remained calm in the second half. However, in the 80th minute of the game, Greece made a comeback, but the goal in the first half was copied by the English team, but the goal was full of twists and turns.
, Owen's shot was blocked by goalkeeper Nicopolidis, and Lampard followed up with a long shot from the outside to knock the ball into the goal.
Amid cheers from the Old Trafford crowd, Aldridge sent off Rehagel, who was expressionless after losing.
The England team's World Cup qualifying journey is over. With 6 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, England ranks first in the group with 19 points and directly advances to next year's World Cup finals.
The German team is going to play in the play-offs, which is unpredictable.
The England team's plan before the arrival of the World Cup is that in addition to studying the opponents in the group stage after the World Cup group draw results are released at the end of the year, other FIFA match days will be to practice the lineup to further hone the team and improve its strength.
