champion light

Chapter 1255 Running Faster Than Passing
Although the media in England are not very optimistic about Boas, in his home country Portugal, everyone still supports him very much.

There are even Portuguese media who forcibly linked the three defeats of Manchester City to Porto this season with Boas. They cheered for Boas and hoped that Boas could avenge the team he coached before!

Porto's elimination from the UEFA Champions League group stage this season is a foregone conclusion. While criticizing Porto's own performance, some media also turned their anger on Manchester City.

They believe that Manchester City's defeat of Porto in the UEFA Super Cup completely shattered Porto's fighting spirit and confidence, which was one of the reasons for Porto's poor performance in the subsequent Champions League.

Porto has no hope of seeking revenge from Manchester City, but Boas, the coach who went out from Porto, can still avenge Porto!
※※※

"Boas said that he found a way to beat Manchester City, are you worried about that?" Benitez was also asked this question by good journalists during an interview.

"No, I have confidence in the team." Benitez was very confident.

It is indeed easy to have confidence in coaching this team for a long time-is there anything in this world that this team cannot do?

However, Benitez's answer is not just because he has confidence in coaching Manchester City. His confidence comes from his understanding of Villas-Boas' tactics and his understanding of Chelsea.

Chelsea, who was coached by Boas, obviously has a good hand. Why is the performance this season so ups and downs? Why can Chelsea beat Swansea 4:1, Bolton 5:1, Everton 3:1, but they can also lose to Manchester United 1:3 and Arsenal 3:5?
What is it that makes this team's performance such a contrast?

Benitez knows that.

Because Boas' tactics are fundamentally problematic.

As a coach who is not good at training the team's defense, Boas chose an oppressive style of play when he coached Chelsea.It is not wrong to use oppressive style of play, but it depends on who it is used on.

He allowed central defenders like John Terry and Alex, who turned slowly, to lose their defensive positions, push forward, and press the defense, which is tantamount to providing opponents with a good counterattack space.

This alone can make Benitez firmly believe that they can definitely beat Chelsea.

In addition to turning slowly, central defenders David Ruiz and Ivanovic, who are not slow, are often counterattacked by opponents because they are too sticky to the ball and the ball is rough.Coupled with the lack of a qualified midfielder in front of the central defender for a long time-Essien has been injured for a long time-to provide effective protection, this has caused Chelsea, which is originally known for its defense, to lose the ball like a ball...

The most important thing is that Boas is still very stubborn, only accepting death, he clearly saw that this tactic is not suitable for Chelsea, and he went all the way to the dark, without any intention of adjusting.

The oppressive style of play can certainly achieve good results when facing a weak team, because the opponent is too weak to threaten Chelsea's goal, and Chelsea, who besiege the opponent, can often score a lot of goals, so they can win when facing a weak team.

But once they encounter a stronger opponent, the space behind their defense line becomes a battlefield where the opponent gallops freely.

That's why against Arsenal, who play attacking football, Chelsea conceded five goals to three goals.

And Manchester City is good at playing defensive counterattacks. What tactics do you like most about defensive counterattacks?oppression.

As long as you dare to press up, we dare to fight you back.

Benitez's confidence comes from this.

Unless Boas adjusted his tactics in this game and stopped pressing, but slowly dealt with Manchester City, there may be other possibilities.

But will Boasken make adjustments?
Benitez doesn't think he will.

As a young and promising coach, Villas-Boas has achieved great success in Porto. The treble-winning achievements have drawn the attention of the whole of Europe to him. The praise of the Portuguese media made him a little ecstatic. Villas-Boas, who has hardly experienced failures and setbacks, just came to Stamford Bridge and took over Mourinho's team.For a while, he seemed to have become a world-class coach, able to sit on an equal footing with coaches of the same level as Mourinho and Ancelotti.

Such an experience will inevitably lead to a person's blind confidence in himself, how can he make adjustments?
He will only think that his oppressive style of play is the best. The unstable results are just that the players did not faithfully implement my tactical intentions. It is the players' fault, not mine.

※※※

Everyone is paying attention to the match between Manchester City and Chelsea, and it seems that they have forgotten that there is actually a Champions League group match in the middle of the week, and it is also the last Champions League group match.

Maybe it's just forgetting, but it doesn't matter if you really forget.

Because this Champions League group stage is completely meaningless.

Manchester City, who qualified first in the group ahead of schedule, challenged APOEL in an away game. No matter how the game was played, it made no difference to Manchester City.

However, Chelsea is quite concerned about this game, because this game is an away game for Manchester City, and they have to fly to distant Cyprus, which is almost the easternmost point of the European continent.Then fly back to play against Chelsea.

It would be even better if such a long-distance flight can make Manchester City more tired and make Manchester City players in poor condition or even injured.

But Benitez did not do what Boas wanted. He almost let all the main players rest in Manchester, and did not enter the 20-man squad at all.Then he took the "second team" composed of substitute players to beat APOEL 1-0 in the away game.

Let Boas down, none of Manchester City's main players went, and those who went were not injured, and they were all in good condition.

And it can be clearly seen from the game that Manchester City is staying strong and not going all out. They are obviously preparing for the league match with Chelsea...

※※※

In the visitors' dressing room at Stamford Bridge, Benitez drew Chelsea's starting XI on the blackboard.

The central defenders Terry and Ivanovic are very forward, almost coming to the center circle.Behind them was a large open field.

"This is Chelsea's starting lineup. When they attack, their formation will be very high. This is our opportunity, so as long as you steal the ball, don't hesitate to pass it forward and find Rong or Ibrahimovic or Kaka."

Benitez combined the formation on the blackboard and told everyone.

But he only said so much, and he didn't continue to say the rest.

Because there is no need.This team has been formed for two seasons, the tactical aspect is very mature, everyone knows what to do.

As long as he draws this picture, everyone will understand, and there is no need to waste words.

Isn't it simple what to do next?
speed!Fight back!
That's it.

※※※

When the two players entered the field, the TV broadcast shifted away from the players of the two teams and cut to Chelsea coach Villas-Boas.

Villas-Boas sat on the dugout, surrounded by his assistants and behind them Chelsea's substitutes.

Chelsea's original main core, Lampard did not start this game, sitting behind Villas-Boas.Wrapped in a thick down jacket, he sat there with a gloomy expression.

It is rumored that the relationship between Lampard and Boas is not good, because Boas attacked Lampard as soon as he arrived at Chelsea to establish his authority in Chelsea.So Lampard, who was originally Chelsea's unstoppable main force, became a substitute after Boas came.

This shot is very interesting, not only for Boas, but also shows the bad relationship between Lampard and Boas.

The lens language used in European football broadcasts is very pure, and a simple lens can often explain a lot of things.

If Chelsea loses this game, Boas is likely to dismiss get out of class, then Lampard will also be liberated again.

But as a legend of Chelsea, Lampard has a very deep affection for Chelsea. I am afraid he does not want to see his team lose.

So the team loses, he comes back, the team wins, and he continues to sit on the bench.Such a multiple-choice question was placed in front of Lampard, how would he answer it?

※※※

After the start of the game, as Benitez expected, Villas-Boas did not change his tactics, and Chelsea still adopted an oppressive style of play.

The narrators also saw this very clearly.

"Boas is really..." John Mortensen wanted to cover his forehead. "...Stubborn! How dare he stick to this style of play against Manchester City?"

Alan Hansen sneered at the side: "He is such a person. Of course, Portuguese reporters may be praising their hero for being brave and brave at this time! I still remember that after Porto lost the UEFA Super Cup, some Portuguese media were very upset. If Villas-Boas is still in Porto, Porto will never lose to Manchester City. Now I think Chelsea fans must also hope that Villas-Boas is still in Porto!"

Benitez's tactics against Boas not only adopted a defensive counterattack, but also required the players to actively counterattack in the midfield and put pressure on Chelsea's backcourt players, causing them to make active mistakes, and then they can directly counterattack.

Rong Guang faithfully implemented the head coach's tactics on the court. From the beginning of the game, he actively made steals in the frontcourt.

With excellent physical fitness and speed, Rong Guang's counterattack in the frontcourt is quite threatening...

As soon as Terry passed the football to Ivanovic, Rong Guang rushed to Ivanovic's side, scaring Ivanovic and quickly kicked the football back to Terry.

As soon as Rong Guang changed direction, he pounced on Terry again.

Under such circumstances, Terry has no time to observe who is in front of him and how to pass the ball.

So he turned directly and passed the football back to goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Generally speaking, after the defender passes the ball to the goalkeeper, the opposing player who is counter-robbing can retreat in the face of difficulties, because it is useless to rush past other than wasting energy.

But Rong Guang is not an ordinary player, and ordinary rules are useless to him.

Seeing that Terry turned around and passed the football to Cech, he rushed towards Cech. The speed of the process did not slow down at all. He passed Terry and rushed towards Cech, as if he had no intention of looking for Terry at all. He was running for Cech from the beginning.

Relying on his amazing speed, he followed the football and ran towards Cech.

Rongguang's speed and momentum greatly affected Cech's judgment.

Faced with such a situation, he couldn't even think about it. There was only one thought in his mind - can't let the football stay under my feet!

So he kicked the football, trying to pass it back to Terry.But he forgot that he was almost in a straight line with football, glory, and Terry...

This kind of straight pass is the most taboo on the court, because it is easy to be cut off by the opponent's defender...

Cech kicked the football over, but the football did not roll to Terry's feet, but was intercepted by the glory of stretching his feet!

"Cech! Oh, mistake!!"

The glory of intercepting Terry's ball was not polite, there was no surprise, as if he had known Cech would pass the football to him, he quickly kicked his left foot and kicked the broken football with his right foot towards the goal!
Although Cech made a save, the football went around him!

Then flew into... the goal behind him!
Only 2 minutes into the game, Manchester City took the lead!
(End of this chapter)