"We can definitely beat Chelsea and break their winning record!"
At the pre-match press conference between Chelsea and Aston Villa in the sixth round of the Premier League, Villa coach Sherwood made such bold words.
As a player, he helped Blackburn Rovers win the Premier League championship as captain in the 1994-95 season.
Although the Blackburn team at that time also had famous stars like Alan Shearer, they were not a traditional strong team after all. It was not easy to win the championship from Manchester United.
This experience makes him always confident on and off the court.
After coaching, Aston Villa was able to overtake several big6 teams this year and rank second in the Premier League standings, which gave him a sense of pride.
He is just preparing to overthrow Chelsea in the away game to prove his coaching ability, and also to slap his "predecessor" Tottenham in the face!
He was still the head coach of Tottenham last season, but boss Levy has always been interested in Pan Yi and has been reluctant to renew the contract with Sherwood.
Later, Pan Yi rejected Tottenham and switched to Chelsea, but Levi still chose Argentinian Pochettino, and finally fired Sherwood.
This makes Sherwood so angry!
But now, after he came to Aston Villa and put Tottenham behind him, this feeling is much better.
Today he has to face Chelsea directly again. If he can defeat Pan Yi, the "White Moonlight" in Levi's heart, wouldn't it be even more exciting?
Therefore, Sherwood boldly issued such a challenge declaration, hoping to win a battle to become a god in such a focus match between the top two in the Premier League!
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Aston Villa's current lineup is relatively neat, and this is Sherwood's greatest confidence.
The goalkeeper positions include American Guzan and Irish veteran goalkeeper Given.
The leader of the defense is the Swiss Senderos. Although he was beaten a bit badly by Didier Drogba when he was at Arsenal, his current performance at Aston Villa is still very stable.
The midfield positions include Sinclair on loan from Manchester City, Cleverley on loan from Manchester United, versatile midfielder Delph, veteran England international Joe Cole, and rising star Grealish on the wing.
The striker is even more heavyweight!
In addition to the extremely fast Agbonlahor, there is also the strong "Yunli King Kong" Benteke.
Relying on this good lineup, Aston Villa was able to win three games in the first five rounds.
In order to achieve good results against Chelsea, Sherwood also carefully studied Chelsea's games in previous rounds of the Premier League.
Then, he had a targeted strategy.
"Chelsea's offense on the left is sharper than on the right, but correspondingly, their defense on the left is also relatively weak."
At Aston Villa's pre-match preparation meeting, Sherwood pointed to a few chess pieces on the left side of Chelsea's tactical board and said.
"This is how they conceded the goal in the League Cup. The left wing-back Cancelo tried to attack and failed to return to defend in time. As a result, Bolton penetrated the wing."
"Although Pan Yi only played in the rotation lineup in the League Cup, whether the wing-back is Cancelo or Marcos Alonso, his offense is stronger than his defense. And their left winger Hazard is also the same.
That’s it.”
"Chelsea's defense on the right is much better. Whether it's Azpilicueta, Yinwano Yinqi, or Bernardo Silva, they are very active in defense and have strong abilities. Therefore, we
Attacks on this road must be minimized."
"It just so happens that our right-side attack has always been our strength. The right forward Agbonlahor is extremely fast, which can take advantage of Alonso's slower speed. Both Joe Cole and Grealish have extremely strong abilities.
Breakthrough ability."
"So, for this game, we have to keep using our sharp right knife to attack their defensive weaknesses! Force them to go back to defend, so that our own defensive pressure will be reduced..."
Aston Villa's strategy has been formulated long ago. In the past period of time, they have been training closely around this point. Now it is time to test the results of the team's training.<
/p>
Because in Sherwood's view, blindly defending against a team like Chelsea is tantamount to chronic suicide.
The failures of the previous teams have proven this.
Only by counterattacking, and constantly launching counterattacks, will force Chelsea to be unable to concentrate its forces on the attack, and the team will have a chance to defend.
Even if the right attack line composed of Agbonlahor, Grealish and others can beat Chelsea at the beginning and make their young players unable to recover, Aston Villa may even suppress their opponents in the away game.
Opportunity.
Sherwood admitted that the Chelsea team led by Pan Yi was indeed very strong, but no one discovered their weakness in the previous rounds and took advantage of it.
Now Sherwood has found out.
After all, Chelsea is a new team led by a new coach, and some hidden dangers are not immediately noticeable, especially when they are on a winning streak, they will automatically ignore them.
It is precisely because of this that Sherwood has the opportunity to formulate targeted tactics and bring Chelsea down!
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"There is no doubt that the key to this game lies in our left wing."
On the match day, in the home team's dressing room at Stamford Bridge, Pan Yi was also giving the players final mobilization.
He's just been handed the Aston Villa squad.
The opponent arranged a standard 442 formation, with right forward Agbonlahor, right midfielder Grealish, and right back Hatton, all players with fast speed and strong breakthrough ability.
This also allowed Pan Yi to immediately see Sherwood’s intention.
After all, in the previous few Premier League games, Aston Villa's lineup was not like this.
They prefer to use a three-midfielder formation, and then focus more attacks on the center.
For example, in the last round against Arsenal, Sherwood deployed a three-midfielder consisting of Cleverley, Carlos Sanchez and Delph to deal with the opponent.
But unfortunately, they lost to Arsenal and suffered their first defeat of the season.
Perhaps it was precisely because the defense of the three defensive midfielders was unreliable against a strong team that Sherwood thought of using a 4-4-2 formation, and then use the three players on the side to take turns attacking Chelsea's defense.
The "shaker" Grealish during this period was not like the back-footed left winger he later played at Manchester City. In this 442 formation, he mainly stood on the right wing and broke through with his right foot.
The two centers on the front line deliver artillery shells.
Although he is only 19 years old this year, his breakthrough skills cannot be underestimated, otherwise Sherwood would not trust him to come.
However, if you say that you can break through Chelsea's defense with this strategy, you would be looking at Pan as a little too weak.
Does Pan Yi really not know that in his 343 formation, there is space after the wing back presses?
This in itself is one of the biggest problems with this formation, okay!
It's just that the Chelsea players rotate and protect each other well, and the games on the court are almost all crushing attacks, so Pan Yi doesn't put much emphasis on the defense on the wing.
But now that Sherwood wants to use such targeted tactics, Pan Yi will naturally make necessary defensive arrangements for it.
"The defense of the wings has never been a matter for the wingbacks alone. The center backs, including the midfielders and frontcourts, must assist and protect them."
This is Pan Yi's emphasis on all players.
After everyone solemnly nodded to express receipt, Pan Yi looked at Marcos Alonso and gave him personal instructions:
"Pay special attention to this game. They will use three people or even more people to attack your side, and you will be under a lot of pressure."
Marcos Alonso nodded: "I'm listening, boss."
"So, I have special requirements for you today. That is, you don't need to participate in the offense at the beginning, and don't press too much." Pan Yi continued: "To be honest, Aston Villa's little defense, as long as we
If your frontcourt plays normally, scoring goals will not be difficult at all. Don’t forget that in front of you is the omnipotent Hazard.”
Everyone laughed, and Azar was a little embarrassed and covered his face with a towel.
"But if you start to fail and we lose the ball or something, the situation will be different and everyone's mentality will be affected."
"So, I need you to defend well first. And when defending, don't make a move easily. Watch the opponent's movements before blocking, otherwise it will be easy to foul."
"Especially the opponent's Grealish, he dribbles a lot and looks like he deserves a beating, but you must stay calm and defend well."
Marcos Alonso took a deep breath and said, "I understand."
He understood the tactics, but he still didn't quite understand why Pan Yi specifically said that the 19-year-old Aston Villa player "deserves a beating"...
They shouldn’t know each other, right??
How did he know that Grealish would be a famous sarcastic shield forward in world football in the future? Basically, it would be abnormal if he didn't receive a few fouls on the field.
"You must attack the minion with taunt!"
Seeing him dribbling, it seems that all defenders will be attracted to him and then give him a kick.
So Pan Yi wants Alonso to be careful not to foul, otherwise it is not a good thing to give the opponent too many free kick opportunities.
Of course, Alonso will do whatever Pan Yi orders now. After all, it is the coach who has the final say on whether to focus on offense or defense on the court.
Although it is indeed more enjoyable to attack than to defend, Marcos Alonso now obeys Pan Yi's words and never has too many questions.
After all, before this season, he was just a left-back who was loaned out by Fiorentina and couldn't play.
"You are so big and slow, how can you play as a full-back?"
This is what many people doubt about him.
But after being inexplicably recruited to Chelsea by Pan Yi, the new wing-back position and style of play allowed his characteristics to be fully utilized, and his career also took on a new lease of life.
Being able to play the main role in a big club like Chelsea and quickly becoming a top wing-back that attracted the world's attention, Marcos Alonso has nothing but gratitude for Pan Yi.
So, why did Pan Yi ask him to defend?
You can let him guard the goal! (Courtois: Go away.)
After giving instructions to Alonso, Pan Yi turned to his several central defenders and said: "Your task is also very clear, that is, pay attention to defending the cross from our left. Captain, you must pay attention to Marcos Alonso."
Assistance and protection in the area behind Longsuo."
Terry usually serves as the left center back in this 343 lineup, so when defending, he is closest to Marcos Alonso.
"I understand." Terry nodded in agreement.
"And if the opponent's full-back Hatton comes forward to assist, Kanter, I need you to go and defend as soon as possible, otherwise there will be too much pressure on Alonso." Pan Yi said to Kanter again.
"Okay." The French guy agreed concisely.
When Pan Yi said this, he thought for a while and said: "These are just targeted defenses against their overloading style on the left. Of course, it does not mean that we will not attack. We will still fight how we usually fight. Lukaku!" "Arrived!" Lukaku held his head high.
"Their centre-back Senderos was once praised by Wenger as the best young centre-back in the world. But later he lost all his confidence after being violently destroyed by your predecessor Drogba several times. Now he can only play in smaller teams.
The team is playing football."
With that said, Pan Yi had already walked to Lukaku and patted him on the shoulder:
"And you happen to be called the Little Monster by Chelsea fans, and you are Drogba's successor. You should know what to do, right?"
"Yes! I understand!" Lukaku replied loudly, then touched his head with a silly smile, "Boss, are you saying that you want to violently foul him on the court? But you have always taught us to pay attention when playing football.
The force is placed on the ball itself..."
Pan Yi slapped Lukaku's big head hard: "Damn it, you stupid fool!"
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The game starts on time at 3:30 pm local time.
Amid the cheers of the fans at Stamford Bridge, the referee blew the whistle to start the game.
The visiting team Aston Villa took the lead.
As Pan Yi had predicted, Aston Villa launched an offensive from the beginning.
After days of targeted training, Aston Villa's left-field attacking strategy has indeed shown its effect.
According to Sherwood's strategy, at the beginning of the game, Aston Villa frequently launched offensives against Marcos Alonso's side.
Agbonlahor and Grealish both actively attack this side, and full-back Hatton often provides assists.
Facing such an attack from his opponent, Marcos Alonso was still struggling and looked very embarrassed, even though Pan Yi had given special instructions before the game.
Only two minutes into the game, when Grealish got the ball on the right, he used a fake move to deceive Marcos Alonso and then made a cross.
Courtois in the penalty area reacted very quickly, rushed out of the small penalty area first, and picked the ball out of the air before everyone else, which barely resolved a crisis.
But Aston Villa's next attack soon arrived.
This time, Grealish and Agbonlahor cooperated tacitly on the wing. A one-two against the wall hit the ball behind Marcos Alonso, and then Grealish swept the ball with a sweep.
Within the restricted area.
At this time, Benteke, another forward of Aston Villa, received the ball.
This is an opportunity to face an empty goal almost directly!
Because at this time, Courtois had already reached the front post and was preparing to block Grealish's pass, and he had no time to return.
But Benteke hesitated when facing Courtois, seeming to be considering what footwork to use to score the shot.
At this time, Terry behind him had already rushed over and poked the ball out of the danger zone with his toes.
The fans at Stamford Bridge let out an exclamation as if they had suffered a disaster, while Sherwood on the visiting team's coaching bench was so angry that he jumped to his feet and cursed:
"ctmd Benteke, wouldn't it be over if he pushed the empty goal early?"
Indeed, if the goal is scored, then his opening strategy will work!
With the ball in hand, Aston Villa can play more freely.
However, Benteke's hesitation simply gave away a good start!
How can we not seize every opportunity when playing against a strong team like Chelsea?
Wasted opportunities will be punished!
"Remember, keep your position, pay attention to the distance between you and your teammates, and don't rush to make a move!"
Pan Yi's shouts from the sidelines were heard by Marcos Alonso, who also gave a thumbs up to the sidelines to express his acceptance.
The opponent's attack at the beginning was really fierce, and he was a little bit blinded, which caused his technical movements to be a bit deformed, so he had to make psychological adjustments.
This is also a necessary condition for an ordinary player to become an excellent player!
And obviously, Marcos Alonso is an excellent player.
He quickly adjusted and followed Pan Yi's instructions to firmly fix his position in the backcourt, which kept Chelsea's defensive formation intact.
Coupled with the defensive assistance of Terry, Kanter and others, in the next ten minutes of the game, they resolved many of Aston Villa's attacks.
Grealish tried to attack from Chelsea's left many times, but Marcos Alonso seemed to start to find the feeling and followed Grealish.
No matter what actions Grealish made, Alonso always kept a steady distance from him, preventing him from easily breaking through or coordinating. This also made Grealish feel a little depressed.
In addition, Benteke's empty goal had a slight impact on the mentality of the Aston Villa players, and their offense also slowed down a bit.
And when their offense slowed down, especially when the right attack failed to create a threat, Chelsea could finally free up their hands to counterattack.
In the 19th minute, Alonso intercepted the ball from Grealish and immediately sent the ball to Hazard in front.
Hazard dribbled the ball and forcibly broke through Aston Villa defensive midfielder Cleveli, and then sent a through ball forward.
The ball penetrated Aston Villa's defense, and Lukaku in the middle also stepped in in time to receive the ball.
At this time, Aston Villa center back Senderos was also clinging tightly to Lukaku, constantly hitting Lukaku with his body, preventing him from continuing to dribble the ball forward comfortably.
But at this time, Lukaku finally used his unique skill-explosion!
He kicked the ball several meters away and then rushed over at full speed.
In the process, Lukaku also used enough energy to make his body stiff, and actually knocked Senderos away!
Then Lukaku quickly caught up with the ball and calmly fired the shot against the goalkeeper!
1:0!
This goal also completely released Chelsea's suffocation from being attacked before.
As Pan Yi said in the locker room, Aston Villa's defense is not strong. As long as Chelsea frees up its hands, it is not difficult to break the opponent's goal.
In the 32nd minute, Hazard forced a breakthrough to the baseline from the left, was destroyed by the opponent's defensive player, and won a corner kick.
After the corner kick was taken, David Luiz scored with a header, giving Chelsea another victory, 2:0.
Two goals completely shattered Aston Villa's spirit, but Chelsea's offensive continued.
In the 39th minute, seat B took the ball from the right and cut inside, then passed it to the left side of the penalty area with his left foot. Marcos Alonso stepped in to catch the ball and made an emergency stop. He dunked past the defensive player and then hit with his right foot.
A curve ball once again broke Aston Villa's goal, 3:0.
This is also Marcos Alonso’s first Premier League goal for Chelsea!
After scoring the goal, he was so excited that he ran to the home team's coaching bench and dedicated the ball to Pan Yi.
After a change of sides in the second half, Chelsea scored another victory in the 79th minute. Azpilicueta passed from the right, and substitute forward Bamford ran into the space and scored with an unguarded header to help Chelsea.
In the end, the score was locked at 4:0.
As the referee blew the final whistle, Villa coach Sherwood didn't even shake Pan Yi's hand, and sprinted back to the tunnel.
He said his harsh words before the game and now feels completely ashamed. He really doesn’t want to stay at Stamford Bridge for one more second!
The Stamford Bridge stadium quickly turned into a sea of celebration.
Another four-goal victory!
This big victory also turned Chelsea's record into six consecutive victories, far ahead of other teams in the Premier League standings!
After the results of the night's game came out, everyone felt how rare it was for Chelsea to always beat its opponents.
How can there be so many big scores? That means Chelsea can often win such big wins!
Other strong teams either won a small victory or could not win.
Liverpool 1:1 Everton.
Manchester United 2:1 West Ham United.
At the same time, the results of these two games also allowed Manchester United to overtake Liverpool in the standings, and Gary Neville has stood up since then!
In fact, the North London Derby that attracted the most attention this round was the North London Derby. Arsenal played 1:1 with their arch-rival Tottenham at home. Chamberlain and Shazley made contributions to the two teams respectively.
Manchester City, who lost to Chelsea in the last round, recovered their form and defeated Hull City 4:2 away from home. They were also the second team to score four goals in this round.
But they are still too far away from Chelsea in terms of points.
Chelsea has won all six games with 18 points. As Aston Villa was defeated, Manchester City also climbed up, but they only have 10 points with 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses, the same as Arsenal, Swansea and Aston Villa.
points.
In other words, this season's Premier League has only passed six rounds, and Chelsea's lead is already as high as 8 points!!!
This situation certainly makes Chelsea fans ecstatic, but it also makes English football feel a bit like "sorrow is everywhere".
Because they feel that the Premier League championship, which has been fiercely competitive every year, seems to have lost its suspense early this year?
The vast majority of media reporters are disappointed with Chelsea's strength.
Although Pan Yi has just joined the team, and although many players in the Chelsea team are playing in the Premier League for the first time, they have shown amazing stability, and their overall strength seems to be higher than other teams in the Premier League. p>
Even "The Times" believes that with Chelsea's strength and condition, if nothing unexpected happens, they will win the Premier League championship this season!
No team can even stop Chelsea's winning streak!
Of course, some fans hold different views on this.
Such as Arsenal fans.
Because at this point in the Premier League this season, in addition to Chelsea, there is another team that remains undefeated, and that is Arsenal.
Although Arsenal cannot win three goals and four goals every game like Chelsea, they have never lost after all!
Therefore, many people are looking forward to whether Chelsea can defeat Arsenal in the seventh round of the same-city battle between these two London teams!