Chapter 296 The mysterious mid- and lower-tier teams in the Premier League
Chelsea’s first opponent in the Premier League in the 2014-2015 season was Burnley.
This veteran team was founded in 1882 and is located in Burnley, Lancashire, England. It is a founding member of the English Football League and its home stadium is Turf Moor Stadium.
They won the FA Cup in the distant 1913-1914 season, and even won the English top league championship in the 1920-1921 and 1959-1960 seasons.
In other words, if you exclude the championships won by Abramovich after taking charge of Chelsea, Chelsea and Burnley actually have similar honors in their ancestors.
However, Burnley is not as lucky as Chelsea, with an owner who loves the club and is willing to invest in the team.
They are just a small-capacity club that has been in the second and third tier leagues all year round.
In the 2008-2009 season, they finished second in the English Championship and were able to compete in the Premier League for the first time. They immediately realized the dangers of the Premier League and were relegated back to the English Championship the following year.
In the last season, that is, the 2013-2014 season, Burnley once again won the runner-up in the English Championship and was able to return to the Premier League this year.
Chelsea is also their first opponent after returning to the Premier League.
Burnley is currently coached by bald head coach Sean Dyche.
The 43-year-old started coaching Burnley in October 2012 and was the biggest contributor to leading the team back to the Premier League.
In fact, Sean Dyche is one of the more successful head coaches in the Premier League. He later coached Burnley for 10 years, during which time he also brought Burnley to seventh place in the league and made the team 51
Qualified for European competition for the first time in years.
Therefore, unlike those media who only follow the trend and criticize people, he will think Chelsea is an easy opponent to deal with.
At the press conference the day before the game, Sean Dyche said that the results of the warm-up match were not enough to prove Chelsea's strength.
"If you have truly led a professional team, you will know that losing in the warm-up match is actually not a big deal."
"Especially for a coach like Pan Yi, I can see that he is not particularly interested in the results of the warm-up match. Instead, he uses such matches to practice various routines."
"And it can be seen from their last two warm-up games that Chelsea is on the right track and has begun to play the football Pan Yi wants them to play. Therefore, they will be a dangerous opponent!" p>
Sean Dyche also said that he had also studied the games of Chelsea led by Pan Yi, and he also felt that there was a big difference between Pan Yi's Chelsea and Mourinho's Chelsea.
"This Chelsea team is younger and more energetic. Pan Yi dares to use so many young players at once, which is surprising, but it also makes people admire his courage."
"He has proven that he has unique insights in training young players. Presumably he also wants to replicate the success in Milan and Hamburg at Chelsea."
"The brand-new 3-center-back system he showed in the warm-up match made me feel that it has the shadow of Van Gaal or Bielsa, and also has some ideas of Tuchel and Conte, but it doesn't seem to be exactly the same as them. No matter in offense
Whether it’s defense or defense, they all clearly have Pan Yi’s own imprint.”
"Tomorrow will be Pan Yi's first game leading Chelsea. Therefore, we must be careful when playing against Chelsea to avoid falling into their rhythm. Pan Yi has proven in Hamburg in the past two years that once the game
If you follow his rhythm, the result of the game cannot be changed."
When asked about his expectations for tomorrow's game, Sean Dyche said frankly that when leading a new Premier League team like Burnley against a strong team like Chelsea, even if it is a home game, it is impossible to get all three points.
A very luxurious wish.
Therefore, striving to score a point and get a good start to the Premier League journey in the new season is the most pragmatic goal of the Burnley team!
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Seeing that Sean Deitch seemed to have a "fanboy" crush on Pan Yi, the British media's firepower, which had been preparing to attack Pan Yi, suddenly lost support.
As a direct opponent, you are not that popular. You guys are really in a hurry when the emperor is not in a hurry.
However, if you want to see Pan Yi down, you can still find an angle.
"The Sun" believes that although Pan Yi has played against some strong Premier League teams in European competitions, the playing style of teams like Manchester City and Manchester United is actually very different from that of the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League.
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Take Burnley, who Chelsea will face in the first round, as an example. Their staffing determines that this team is destined to adopt the traditional British style of play.
In the British Championship last season, they mainly used the aerial advantage of the two centers to seize opportunities for counterattacks and set pieces.
Even though Burnley achieved second place in the English Championship, it only had an average ball possession rate of 40%, and its total number of passes and pass success rate were among the more than 20 teams in the English Championship.
The reciprocal of.
Give up possession of the ball and make the offense as simple as possible. This is Sean Dyche's tactical philosophy. After all, almost none of Burnley's midfielders are good at controlling the ball.
Therefore, the defensive counterattack in the new season is still Burnley's tactical idea, which is to use simple long passes to solve the battle in the fastest way.
In one statistic, Burnley is superior to the Premier League.
Last season, Burnley completed a total of 822 successful high-altitude ball duels. Letting the ball fly in the sky for a while is the rhythm of the game that Burnley hopes for. This style of play may remind us of the "City in the Sky" Stoke
City team.
In order to adapt to the sky full of high-altitude balls, Burnley has the most capable striker combination in the Premier League. For example, forward Barnes contributed a terrifying 80 successful aerial challenges last season.
On the other hand, Chelsea's lineup is full of technical players like Hazard, Oscar, and Azpilicueta, and is obviously weak in the air and power confrontation.
Including the young players that Pan Yi introduced and promoted later, such as Cancelo, B Seat, etc., they also have the same weaknesses.
Moreover, the pace of the Premier League is very fast, especially when playing against mid-to-lower teams. Close combat and physical confrontation are essential and will not give you any time to react. This will be a problem for Chelsea's technical players.
It's a serious problem.
[To tell you the truth, I have been using the Huanyuan app recently to read and catch up on new books. It allows me to switch sources and read aloud with many sounds. .huanyuanapp is available for Android and Apple.]
Many head coaches will encounter a period of discomfort after coming to the Premier League, and eventually encounter Waterloo, and then leave the Premier League in disgrace.
Therefore, "The Sun" concluded that a somewhat idealistic head coach like Pan Yi will inevitably follow in the footsteps of these head coaches and be defeated by the high-flying and relentless beatings of a practical team like Burnley.
.
But in response to these negative remarks about himself, Pan Yi smiled calmly in the face of them at the press conference before the game.
"It is normal for a new head coach to be questioned when he comes to the Premier League."
"I am a foreign head coach and a native of China. Even if I have won the Triple Crown, being able to come to the Premier League to coach a team like Chelsea will always make some people feel a little uncomfortable.
”
"But just as I proved before in the Champions League that I can beat the strong teams in the Premier League, I can also prove that I also have a way to deal with the so-called mysterious middle and lower-tier teams in the Premier League."
"I will not refute their doubts, because I hope I can prove myself on the court!"
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On the evening of August 19th, Burnley City, Turf Moor Stadium.
In the first round of the 2014-2015 Premier League season, Chelsea's away game against Burnley is about to begin.
In the home team's dressing room before the game, Burnley head coach Sean Dyche received the visiting team's lineup.
Sure enough, it is the 343 formation that Pan Yi has been practicing during the warm-up match, and these players are really strong!
Not to mention players like Terry, David Luiz, Gary Cahill, Hazard, and Matic who have been famous in European football for a long time, even Lukaku, who was just rented and recovered
, Courtois and others have all proven their strength during their loan spells, and their worth in Germany has reached tens of millions of euros.
That is to say, the strength of Bernardo Silva, Marcos Alonso and others that Pan Yi has just purchased is a bit unclear, but based on Pan Yi's past buying experience, they must have two talents.
Only with a brush can Pan Yi take notice.
As for this group of players, or whether Pan Yi can adapt to the Premier League...
Sean Dyche thinks it’s all media bullshit.
The net worth and weekly salary of these players are ranked here, and many of them are veterans who have played in the Premier League for many years. Is there any problem of adaptability?
In terms of strength, the two teams are even more different.
Let’s look at Burnley’s highest salary. That’s attacking midfielder George Boyend, whose weekly salary is 27,000 euros.
And Hazard in Chelsea’s team earns 250,000 euros per week! It’s almost ten times as much.
If this comparison isn't already obvious...
The lowest-paid players in the Chelsea first team are Zouma and Christensen, who have just been promoted from the youth team, but their weekly salary also reaches 30,000 euros.
In other words, the person with the lowest salary in the Chelsea team is higher than the person with the highest salary in the Burnley team.
How to kick this?
Of course, football is round, and it is true that the outcome of a football match cannot be judged solely on price.
But the problem is that today Sean Dyche is the first person to face Pan Yi and Chelsea in the Premier League, and Burnley is also the first team to start a real battle with Chelsea in an official game. p>
So Sean Dyche feels that he is a bit unlucky.
If not, he might be able to study Pan Yi's Chelsea's real style of play, and then develop an effective targeted defense.
But now, other teams in the Premier League are staring at this game to see what Pan Yi will do in his first game after coming to the Premier League.
Because everyone wants to see how the new Chelsea, which Pan Yi "only" spent 80 million euros to build, is different from Mourinho's Blues last season?
Will their state be as ups and downs as it was in the warm-up matches, or will they be as ferocious as a tiger descending the mountain as soon as the main game comes, just like Pan Yi did in Hamburg?
Therefore, as Sean Dyche said in the pre-match press conference, he made very careful and thorough preparations for this game.
Especially on the defensive end, he emphasized that his players should pay attention to the surprise attacks from Chelsea's two wings and the attacking points from the central forward.
In terms of formation, Sean Dyche also made a little tweak to his commonly used 442.
That is, while keeping the midfield and backfield positions unchanged, let the forwards form front and rear positions, and let No. 10 Danny Ince retreat a little to achieve an actual 4411 formation so that he can defend better.
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At almost the same time, in the visiting team's coaching bench, Pan Yi also received Burnley's lineup.
Forwards: Jutkiewicz, Danny Ince.
Midfielder: Taylor, Marney, Jones, Yin Woyint.
Defenders: Benjamin Rice, Shakur, Michael Duff, Trippier.
Goalkeeper: Tom Heaton.
This lineup is slightly different from what the media predicted. Strong forward Ashley Barnes did not play.
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Pan Yi also saw Sean Dyche's tactical intention, which is to defend well first when facing a strong team like Chelsea, and then resort to their regular style of playing high and high after stabilizing the position. p>
Perhaps, this will also be the mentality that many mid- and lower-tier teams will adopt when encountering Chelsea this season.
But Pan Yi had already been prepared.
Looking at the Chelsea players sitting in their seats in the locker room, Pan Yi was not prepared to do much mobilization.
Although this is his first game in the Premier League, and it is also the first Premier League game for many players here, Pan Yi does not think it is anything special, and he does not want to put too much pressure on the players.
What they faced was just Burnley, a team that was far inferior to them in terms of strength.
Then, Pan Yi believes that as long as Chelsea’s generals can play their own game, they can firmly hold today’s victory in their hands!
Therefore, after the final tactical emphasis, Pan Yi just waved his hand gently to everyone:
"Everyone, let's start today's performance!"
Obviously, when everyone heard this sentence, their expressions relaxed.
They stood up one by one, cheered each other up, and walked out of the locker room steadily!
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"Viewers, welcome to Turf Moor Stadium to watch the first round of the 2014-2015 Premier League season."
"Burnley will wear their traditional red jersey and face the upstart Premier League Chelsea at home. Directors Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu will bring you a live commentary of this game."
"This will also be the first official game of our country's famous coach Pan Yi after taking charge of Chelsea."
"Although today's game is not a strong dialogue, it still attracted the attention of the entire Premier League and even the media and fans around the world."
"The reason is of course Pan Yi. Everyone wants to know whether Pan Yi can continue to be successful when he comes to Chelsea this summer with the highest salary in the world after achieving success in Milan and Hamburg.
My own magic?"
"In this summer, Pan Yi did not use checks to disrupt the entire European transfer market as everyone expected, but just spent 40 million euros to bring his favorite Kante from Hamburg, and spent 40 million euros to bring him
Here are three little-known young players."
"In his team building policy this year, he has adopted more methods of recalling loaned players and promoting youth team players. This move has also been supported by local Chelsea fans."
"It is generally believed that Chelsea is gradually changing its mercenary image by using a large number of players from its youth training this season, and is becoming more rooted in the local community and becoming the true home team of local Chelsea fans!"
"Because of this, even though tonight's game is an away game, there are still more than 5,000 Chelsea fans who traveled north with the team and came to Turf Moor Stadium to watch the game."
"They all can't wait to witness Pan Yi's debut, and at the same time they also want to express their support for the team and the new head coach!"
"Considering that Turf Moor itself can only accommodate more than 20,000 spectators, today's Chelsea fans seemed to be anti-visitor."
"Now, the players from both teams have walked out of the tunnel and onto the court under the leadership of the referee!"
"There was a burst of warm cheers and applause at the scene, and most of them were given to the team and Pan Yi by Chelsea fans!"
"Pan Yi, this young head coach who just turned 28 this year, is already a Triple Crown winner. He also expressed his gratitude by applauding the blue square of fans in the visiting team's stands."
"Let's look forward to today's game! Let's see what kind of wonderful football he will show us after arriving at Chelsea!..."
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After the head coaches of both teams shook hands politely, the game officially started.
Sure enough, Burnley's players followed Sean Dyche's instructions and were very cautious after the start. They quickly gave up possession of the ball and then concentrated a large number of personnel on their own midfield and backfield for defense. This is also a coping strategy that Sean Dyche came up with after studying Pan Yi’s tactics.
Because when Pan Yi was in Hamburg, he liked to attack at the beginning, and it was really uncomfortable to use the "three axes".
As a weaker side, if Burnley is hit by such an "axe chop" and loses the ball, then there will be no need to play the rest of the game.
Therefore, defense is their first priority after the start.
Of course, giving up the ball does not mean giving up the ball completely.
When a Chelsea player dribbles the ball past half-time, Burnley, led by retreating forward Danny Ings, will press the Chelsea player with the ball under a high pressure.
This will prevent Chelsea players from organizing an effective offensive comfortably, and Burnley's defenders will not be too busy to make mistakes when defending.
Once the attack fails, Burnley players will quickly retreat and form a tight defense at the front of the penalty area.
For such a scene, Pan Yi has long been mentally prepared.
He sat on the coaching bench, took out a spicy stick and ate it by himself.
The two assistant coaches sitting next to him had solemn expressions.
Steve Holland is fine. He just feels that it is not easy to play at Burnley's home court and is considering how to make better suggestions to his head coach.
And Scaloni is really nervous!
After all, this is his first official professional game as a "rookie coach".
He had played as a player before, but what he didn't expect was that sitting on the sidelines would be more tiring than playing football in person!
Mainly because of the psychological pressure.
He inexplicably got the favor of Pan Yi, the world's top coach, and came to Chelsea. He has been preparing for training and games with great trembling and conscientiousness. Of course, he hopes to have good results to prove that his work is not in vain.
This way he can repay Pan Yi's kindness to him! It's true that not a player can become an assistant coach at a big club like Chelsea just after retiring...
His eyes were fixed on the players running on the field, and he held his hands tightly, and his palms were already sweaty.
"Danding, come on, let's eat some spicy radish sticks?" Pan Yi saw his assistant's nervousness and smiled and handed a spicy stick to Scaloni.
"Oh... No, thank you." Scaloni was a little embarrassed and pointed to the field, "But, boss, are you really not worried at all? Their defense is doing very well now, and we seem to
It’s a bit hard to get in..."
"Why should I worry?" Pan Yi smiled, "We can't help much! Besides, we said everything we should say during training, and now it's time for the players to perform."
"But..."
"Do you know why I use the 343 formation?" Pan Yi suddenly asked.
"Because it is more aggressive? It has an advantage when dealing with such a defensive team?" Scaloni thought for a while and replied.
"That's half right," Pan Yi said. "When I'm attacking, I can put almost everyone in the frontcourt and leave two central defenders behind. And when I'm defending, I can quickly turn into five defenders and stay tight."
Fence. This kind of flexibility is the main reason why I want to try to use the 343 formation this season."
"So..." Scaloni still seemed to understand.
"So, when facing a defense like Burnley, I can also use the large number of wing offensive players in the frontcourt and use their breakthrough ability to open up the opponent's wing." Pan Yidanding explained,
"In this regard, the 343 formation has unique advantages over the 433 or 4231..."
Before Pan Yi finished speaking, a burst of exclamation suddenly came from the stands.
It turns out that on the field at this time, Marcos Alonso and Hazard played an exquisite cooperation on Chelsea's left wing.
Hazard immediately pushed forward after knocking the ball back to Alonso, and Alonso also understood it and handed the ball directly to Hazard without stopping.
At this time, Burnley's right back Trippier rushed over to defend Hazard, but was shaken by the deft Belgian winger with a beautiful fake move, and then went directly into the penalty area.
This breakthrough was so extraordinary that the Burnley fans at the scene exclaimed.
And this is exactly what Pan Yi said, when their 343 formation can play a special role when facing a dense defense like Burnley.
Because when attacking, Chelsea's two wing-backs Alonso and Azpilicueta can act like two full-backs or even two wingers, always suppressing the front of Burnley's penalty area.
Their support for Chelsea's offense, especially the support of the two wingers Eden Hazard and B-seat, is very strong.
Therefore, they can cooperate at any time and form a local advantage with more and less.
In the ball just now, the wing-back and the winger "bullied" Burnley's full-back Trippier, and then took advantage of the situation to create an offensive threat.
At this time, the attack is still continuing.
Hazard broke into the penalty area, and Burnley's central defender Duff rushed over to cover.
The other central defender, Shakur, was pressed tightly behind Chelsea center Lukaku and could not move.
At this time, Hazard did not continue to use his footwork to break through, because he had already seen better openings.
In the center, the wing-back Azpilicueta and the winger B on the other side have reached the top of the penalty area, and next to them, there is only one left-back Benjamin Mi.
Hazard saw the opportunity and sent the ball over directly.
Azpilicueta missed a point in front, and Benjamin Rice's eyes were blurred. He swung his right foot from the B seat behind him and volleyed hard!
The ball was like a thunderbolt, hitting the left side of Burnley's goal with lightning speed.
Goalkeeper Heaton made a sideways dive, but failed to catch the ball at all.
The ball hit the net!
In other words, Burnley's defense only lasted less than ten minutes before failing!