soccer king

Porto is good at defensive counterattacks, but it doesn't mean they can't play positional warfare.

It's just that the routines in positional warfare are nothing new.

When the attack space becomes narrow, their offensive players do not appear to be better than the Ajax attacking group in terms of movement.

Maniche on the left, Alenichev on the right, forward McCarthy, behind them is Deco for offensive organization, a very common offensive configuration.

In the 85th minute, Alenichev's cross after breaking through the bottom from the right was of average quality and was directly confiscated by Lobant.

Ajax continued to use the long pass tactic, and the offense did not improve much.

Qin Xiong seems to have lost his amazing aura and is doing ordinary passing work. Even though he passed the ball to Ibrahimovic in the frontcourt no matter how accurate it is, because Ibrahimovic is caught in a double-team and the football is flying The distance is too long and the ball speed is too slow. Porto can not only resolve Ajax's simple attack well, but also launch a fast break immediately.

Although Mourinho still maintained a calm expression on the sidelines, deep down in his heart he always felt that something was wrong with the situation of the game!

This feeling is mysterious.

Ajax's substitute players are still warming up. Koeman doesn't know what he is waiting for, or is he ready to be dispatched in overtime?

do not know!

On the scene, Porto's defense line did not sound the alarm frequently, and Ajax seemed to take the initiative to retreat. From this point of view, it should be beneficial to Porto.

At least they can continue to use positional warfare to challenge Ajax's defense without worrying about the defense.

But Mourinho just felt something was wrong!

In the 87th minute of the game, when Deco dribbled away from Qin Xiong in the front field and blasted a long shot that hit the goal frame, the Ajax fans on the scene let out a burst of exclamation. Fortunately, Lobent was fully prepared and focused. , Hold the football firmly, otherwise Deco may kill Ajax.

Even seeing this scene, Mourinho frowned.

Porto can fight positional warfare, but the greatest power of offense still comes from the counterattack!

If positional warfare is the main method of attack, they cannot reach the final.

Now their defense seems to be unchallenged and very safe, but at the same time, they also lose the space to counterattack.

The turn of events after Mourinho had put Ajax's equalizer in the game was running through his head two or three times.

When the time on the big screen passed 90 minutes and the fourth official of the stadium held up the stoppage time sign on the sidelines, Mourinho was startled. He walked quickly to the sidelines with a sharp look in his eyes. , With a big wave of his hand, he ordered the whole team to retreat!

Even forward McCarthy, I have to go back to defend!

You must go back and waste your time!

Mourinho, who has been calm and composed throughout the 90-minute game, is now beating drums and thunder in his heart.

When he repeatedly reviewed the changes in the game situation in the last 10 minutes, he was surprised to find that with Porto's defense line relaxed and the midfielder able to instigate a positional offensive, their overall formation is slowly pressing forward every minute. It is not obvious, and this change is also extremely slow.

Among them, Ajax's defensive formation dragged behind, and Porto's position rushed forward. At the same time, the offensive players found that they did not need to return to the defense. Ajax did not play any threatening offensive at all, and they used the long pass style. There is no way to return to defense in the first place.

This led to their trident and midfield commander Deco not retreating like a tide immediately after the attack failed.

Another point is that Ibrahimovic was at the forefront of the striker at first, and he was constantly retreating, but each time the retreat was not large, driving Porto's defense forward bit by bit.

The defensive problem before Porto is simple: block Ibrahimovic, and Ajax's offensive disappears virtually.

On the contrary, if you leave it alone, the back line stays in the penalty area honestly, Ibrahimovic retreats to respond, with his technical ability, it is possible to get rid of a defensive player, then he shoots long shots in front of the penalty area, who can guarantee him Won't one foot of the world wave ruin Porto's efforts?

So there is nothing wrong with Porto's choice of defensive players.

It’s just that in Mourinho’s view, there is no problem with the choice of defenders. The problem is that even if Ibrahimovic retreats to respond and harass the players defending Ibrahimovic, it should not be the defenders, but the contraction of the midfielders.

This can ensure that Porto always guards its own defense zone, and at the same time compresses the defense space, without giving the opponent the slightest chance.

The current situation deviates from the originally envisaged track.

Porto's defense line seems solid, yes, they absolutely restricted Ibrahimovic!

But there is a big premise: Ajax's midfield line did not press up to attack at all!

Sneijder and Van der Vaart who retreated did not attack either.

Porto's real defensive quality?

No real test at all in the last 10 minutes!

Calm seas are not enough to represent a solid line of defense.

Just when Mourinho was waving his arms a little excitedly on the sidelines to let the players on the field retreat, Porto was conducting an attack, and the players' attention could not directly observe Mourinho's on-the-spot adjustments.

Maniche dribbled the ball down the left flank and tried to cut inside past Grigera, but he failed.

After a successful steal, Grigera quickly passed the ball straight to Qin Xiong in the middle.

Qin Xiong caught the ball with his back, and Deco, who was beside him trying to harass him, failed. Qin Xiong kicked the ball, returned the ball to Garasek, and then turned around and ran forward!

As soon as he ran, Deco turned around and chased after him, obviously unable to keep up with the speed.

Porto seemed a little unprepared for this defense, and they didn't have time to pay attention to Qin Xiong.

They put all their attention on Sneijder!

Garasek passed the ball obliquely to split the side, and the ball reached Sneijder's feet. He waded the ball decisively and started. After a short respite, he accumulated enough physical energy for an explosion.

The problem of Porto's defense was clearly exposed at this moment. Alenichev behind Sneijder was far away from him, and he could not interfere with Sneijder behind him at all, and he could not delay Ajax's attack speed!

When Sneijder dribbled the ball forward from the side, Porto's defensive players realized that they had unknowingly moved away from the penalty area, so they retreated back in a consistent manner.

Sneijder waded the ball past the midfield line and headed towards the center.

Ibrahimovic did not withdraw immediately, but stayed in the middle of the penalty area and waited for the opportunity. He was defended by Mendes and Costinha together.

Sneijder did not pass the ball to Ibrahimovic, but to compatriot van der Vaart.

The Dutch golden boy may have exhausted his last physical energy for a high-quality burst of speed, and rushed up from the right flank.

After Sneijder took the ball, he quickly cut into the penalty area, forming a left forward threat to the goal, and will wait for his teammates to pass the ball.

His movement shocked Porto's defense, and Ferreira immediately retreated into the penalty area, trying to form a personal mark on the line that Sneijder advanced.

Mendes saw that Van der Vaart used a rhythmic pause to get rid of Valente's grab at the moment he was in possession of the ball on the side. He moved decisively to press Van der Vaart.

Instead, van der Vaart took the ball back a step, out of the way and passed the ball straight to Ibrahimovic.

After passing the ball, Van der Vaart flew past Mendes and rushed to the right-hand area of ​​​​the penalty area, where the right winger should pose a threat to the goal.

Valente followed up with Van der Vaart again, but he was left on the outside by Van der Vaart, which made it impossible for Valente to intercept Van der Vaart once Van der Vaart could get the ball at his feet.

Carvalho had to retreat to block a possible pass from Ibrahimovic to Van der Vaart, and Costa also had to prevent Ibrahimovic from sending shells to Sneijder. The two central defenders retreated slowly, hoping that Costinha could keep going One on one forced Ibrahimovic success!

Ibrahimovic stopped the ball very steadily. He used his body to block the harassment of Costinha. After observing that the opponent's back line was restrained by the forward penetration of Sneijder and van der Vaart, Ibrahimovic made a false pass. action!

He pretended to kick the ball to van der Vaart, causing Costinha to raise his leg to block, and then Ibrahimovic deftly dunked the ball behind Costinia's center of gravity. The earth dribbled forward, he didn't dare to go big, and he didn't dare to kick easily, he knew that time was running out, and he needed to ensure that this attack could achieve the result they wanted!