Handsome position is not easy

Chapter 158 Battle against Lazio ([-])

For Mourinho, what worries him most in this duel is that Lazio will score first. Even with a 1:0 lead, the probability of their final promotion will be greatly increased.

Even in a single round, once the Italian team takes the lead, they will actively shrink their defense, even when the scene is balanced, as their opponents, it is extremely difficult to encounter this situation, most teams will fall into an endless loop that is almost paradoxical.

In order to equalize or overtake the score, the lagging team must take the initiative to attack, but this will be in the arms of the Italians. The reason why the Serie A at the peak of the 90s was able to achieve a great reputation depends on their solid and stable defense.

Unlike the Swiss who pioneered the chain defense, decades of development of the football technical and tactical system have gradually removed the roles of sweepers and liberos from the main stage. The Italian team combined chain defense and zone defense, emphasizing the The position changes to move the overall formation.

The first defensive chain composed of midfielders will always be locked in front of the opponent's ball holder, and the second defensive chain composed of the back line will move accordingly. Even if the opponent can break through the first defensive chain, it can be guaranteed that someone will defend Block the line of the ball as much as possible under the circumstances.

Italian teams that use this trick are almost always able to play more and play less in areas where the ball is in place, maximizing the opponent's dribbling space. The angle at which the dead opponent passes the threatening ball forward. In this case, the opponent often can only cross or pass back, which also gives the first defensive chain time to recover its position.

After ensuring the horizontal position and vertical distance, the opponent will have very little space to start holding the ball. Without the blessing of speed, the offensive side will easily fall into a painful and long positional battle. The Italian team will always launch a counterattack quickly at this time , The chain defense prevents their midfield from being out of touch. This is where Italy's world-famous defensive counterattack is so powerful.

The overall defense has very high requirements on player discipline, off-ball running, mutual support and protection. Almost all of them are dirty work. In order to resist the opponent's attack, players need a lot of running to maintain the formation. If there is no hard work The attribute of a model worker is difficult to integrate into this Italian defensive system.

But the overall defense is not without weaknesses, because every player has to keep moving in their own defense zone. In order to maintain the integrity, once the opponent with strong personal ability succeeds in dribbling continuously, someone needs to come over to defend, and the chain continues. Stability can also be torn apart. Mourinho knows that there are such guys in the Porto team, so he has been thinking about how to break the Italian defense more effectively.

However, there is a player in the Lazio team that Mourinho is very afraid of. Claudio Lopez, the Argentine striker nicknamed "The Bug", has reached the level of perfection in shooting, dribbling, and passing and receiving. Almost every time he meets Mourinho, he will score a goal. This happened eight times when the Setubal was still an assistant coach in Barcelona.

When Lopez played for Valencia, he scored goals in three games against Barcelona in [-] days, and even staged a hat-trick in the semi-finals of the Champions League. Xiao Chong is also a good partner of Batistuta in the Argentine national team. In the past few years, there has been a saying that Claudio Lopez was one of the sharpest and fastest strikers at the time. After suffering so many times, it is normal for Mourinho to be afraid of him.

At the press conference before the game, Mancini said that Lazio not only wants to win the runner-up in Serie A to keep the qualification to participate in the Champions League next season, but also win at home in Porto. Show more aggressiveness than usual.

Many media have put the words of the young marshal in the headlines. In the 90s, Italian football did have capital that made it difficult for Portuguese clubs to look up to, but Mourinho did not think that it had shown signs of decline. Lazio, who pays wages, can stir up wind and rain at his own home court. He took the initiative to attack and said in a conversation with reporters that Porto will entertain the Blue Eagles who came from afar. The smell of gunpowder gradually became stronger.

The day before the game, Boas returned to Porto. While studying Lazio's roster, the brothers and the coaching staff screened and arranged Porto's starting lineup. The victory over Setubal made the main players of the Blue and Whites They got enough rest and they had a lot of cards to play.

"Goalkeeper Vitor Baia, back line Paulo Ferreira, Jorge Costa, Ricardo Carvalho and Nunovalente, Deco, Young, Maniche and Costinha continue to form the diamond four In the midfield, Del Rey and Postiga paired up with a double striker.

Our opponent is an aging Serie A team. Their defense in a static state is still top-notch, but their movement and defensive speed are their absolute weaknesses. We will defeat them from here and take advantage of their speed and dribbling Play it all out. "

……

In the locker room of the home team at the Asantas Stadium, Mourinho got Lazio's starting list. Mancini did spend his money for this UEFA Cup game, even though there are still important Serie A games to play. , He still took almost all the main players.

"Lazio's formation is also 4-4-2, but it is biased towards parallel positions in the arrangement. Goalkeeper Peruzzi, defense line Stam, Negro, Fernando Couto and Favalli, defensive midfielder Diego. Simeone and Gianni Keida, Stankovic and Castroman stand higher, and the double striker combination is Bernardo Corradi and Claudio Lopez.

Angelo Peruzzi, this goalkeeper is also 33 years old. Don't be fooled by his fat body. Among the goalkeepers, he is definitely the most flexible fat man. He plays steadily and rarely makes low-level mistakes. His arms are extremely thick. It is very explosive when defending a strong volley. The biggest weakness is its height, which is only 1.8 meters, so the range that can be fully controlled is not too large.

Jap Stam, although he was sold to Lazio due to ankle injuries and conflicts with Sir Alex Ferguson, the Dutch defender's strength has not declined much. The 1.9-meter-one big man has rarely had one-on-one in his career Depressed, the most important thing is that he is playing right back now, Del Rey, don't get hung up on him, or you will suffer a lot.

Fernando Couto, the main central defender of the golden generation, made his debut in Porto. I believe that Ricardo Carvalho must have heard about him from the coach in the youth training camp. The 33-year-old veteran has indeed declined overall. But the overall view and defense ability are still not worse than at their peak.

Negro and him form a central defender, but they may switch positions with Stam in the game. It is difficult for us to find header opportunities in Lazio's towering defense line, so Delray and Persia are used. Tiga's combination, use dexterity and speed to fight these fierce men..."

(End of this chapter)