i don't want to be king

Chapter 412 The Way to Kill a Genius

It's just ordinary high-position pressing and man-to-man defense at key positions. Because of the difference in the ability and attitude of the executors, there are surprising differences.

It is not that Li Liang has never seen this form of defense in the game, but it is the first time that he has personally experienced the tremendous pressure brought by amazing concentration.

After completing the adjustment of the starting list, Pochettino said to his players: "I don't need to say more about the strength of Monaco-my request to you is very simple, treat them as opponents like Chelsea and Manchester City!
The opponent's No. 17 is a very threatening player, and we can no longer underestimate him.

We have to defend him as a player of the level of Christian (Eriksen) and Eric (Lamela)! "

Compared with the first home game against Monaco, when he firmly believed that the team's overall defense was enough to limit Li Liang's self-confidence, Pochettino has made great changes.

This change is vividly reflected in his players on the field, especially Dembele, Wanyama and Wiggins who are responsible for taking care of Li Liang.

Dembele, who announced that he wanted to take the victory from Li Liang when he entered the field, was particularly active.

He, like everyone else, knows very well why the coach took Vertonghen out of the starting lineup.

His compatriot and teammate of the national team has just recovered from a long injury. Pochettino must not want Vertonghen to face Li Liang, who had defeated him at the new Wembley, in the first game of his comeback. So I would rather let Weimer start and partner with Dell as a central defender.

Dembele does not believe that the No. 17 can reach the level of Eriksson or Lamela, but he does not underestimate his opponent at all.

With an overall rating of 82 and a height of 1 meters, Dembele, who has been in the Premier League for 85 seasons, has had head-to-head confrontations with many top midfield attackers.

Dembele, who usually has a strong body and excellent foot skills, can always successfully occupy a considerable advantage in one-on-one in most cases, and Li Liang is of course no exception.

His partner, the Kenyan Wanyama, is stronger but slower, so Pochettino arranged for Wanyama to be more responsible for defending the front of the penalty area in defense, giving the speedy Dembele more freedom.

With the experience of the previous game, Dembele, Wanyama and other Tottenham players paid great attention to the coordinated defense of Li Liang.

Even though Dembele, who is obviously superior in strength, stepped forward to defend Li Liang, the nearest teammates always kept a close distance from him to guard against Li Liang's breakthrough.

For the first time, Li Liang wanted to get close to the defense zone of Dembele and Wanyama, and his attempt to pull between them and the two central defenders according to the pre-match arrangement was a complete failure.

Fabinho put the ball through his feet in the midfield, and Dembele directly grabbed it from behind him. Li Liang was pushed aside by the strong Dembele without even touching the ball.

He couldn't believe that the results of his special training were so unbearable in front of Tottenham?
Obviously, he has done his best to protect the ball by leaning on his back, or was Dembele stealing the ball in an instant? !

Monaco defended against Tottenham's counterattack, Remelson kicked the ball out with a big foot, Li Liang quickly rushed to the landing point, and Ali jumped close to him at the same time.

Li Liang, who went all out, couldn't grab Ali, who was 1 meters tall, and he was knocked to the ground severely by the young England international.

The referee penalized Ali for a foul. Fabinho stepped forward to take a quick free kick, but found Li Liang still lying on the ground helplessly.

The game was suspended, team doctor Parker entered the field, and Spignoli also followed.

Parker checked and found nothing serious.Li Liang was hit too hard in the air, so he turned upside down and stretched a few times in one breath, and he felt much better.

He and Parker and Spignoli temporarily left the field together, and he asked Spignoli as he walked: "Carlo, will my special training be ineffective when I meet them (Tottenham players)?"

Spignoli smiled: "Li, you can't say that. If it were you in the past, you might have to be substituted after these few confrontations!"

Li Liang gulped water on the sidelines, and Spignoli's words made him suddenly enlightened.

He suddenly understood that the opponents had already exerted their full strength, and his own confrontation ability had also reached a new level.

Tottenham are not as blindly confident as the English media. They lowered their stance and recognized Monaco's strength, and played the game with a mental state that must be fought. This pragmatic style of play and attitude made the intensity of the confrontation suddenly rise.

Faced with the fierce pressing of the opponents in the frontcourt, Li Liang began to retreat temporarily, but Wiggins' pressing made it difficult for him to control and hold the ball in the way he was used to.

For a while, Monaco's midfield was a little out of control, and the wing attack was not smooth. Tottenham began to take the initiative on the field.

Pochettino closely watched the situation on the field. After the loss to Monaco, he collected all the game videos of Monaco, even including the video of the last game against Lorient, which he watched repeatedly before leaving for Monaco.

What made him feel a little worried was that, besides Monaco's excellent attackers, there was also Li Liang.

He found that Monaco's No. 17's attack selection is very unpredictable, with almost no rules to follow, and it is completely unlike the attacking midfielder in the usual sense.

But he also discovered at the same time that he found that No. 17 didn't like to play the ball with one kick, and was more used to controlling the ball at his feet and waiting for an opportunity to deal with it.

Pochettino asked his assistant to analyze Li Liang's game data, and the conclusions he got were completely consistent with his own speculation: Li Liang's success rate in handling the ball immediately after receiving the ball is far lower than his more than 3 touches. After the ball.

Not only that, Li Liang's ability to create a threatening ball after winning a one-on-one confrontation or successfully breaking through is also impressive.

After getting all the analysis results, Pochettino locked himself in the office and watched these video clips repeatedly.

After a whole day and night, Pochettino finally confirmed his earliest guess. He once again saw more and more shadows of a familiar person from Li Liang, who was also called "the magician" Genius No. 10 - Riquelme.

There are striking similarities in the way the two move, attack the goal, defend the ball and get away from it, but Pochettino still finds a considerable difference between them.

When Pochettino played for the Newells Old Boys and the Argentine national team, he was greatly influenced by Bielsa, who was nicknamed "Madman".

Bielsa once gave up Riquelme under great pressure. The reason was that the typical classical midfielder's playing style of the "magician" was becoming less and less suitable for modern football.

Under the fast pace and strong confrontation, there is less and less ball control space and reaction time left for such a genius.

In other words, although Riquelme's magical playing style cannot be achieved, it is relatively easier to find a way to destroy it!
This is what Pochettino is doing now. According to his arrangement, Tottenham's players are doing their best to destroy Li Liang's space to hold the ball, while continuously compressing his reaction time.

(End of this chapter)