Chapter 342: The Secret of the Cardinal's Dominance in Serie A
Vlahovic really didn't expect that he had just kicked the ball and ran a few steps forward, but now he had to go back to kick the ball again.
Although the others showed their dissatisfaction but did not say anything, veteran Di Maria did not tolerate Pogba. On the way back to his own half, he went straight to Pogba and asked him why he kept holding on to the ball for a long time and did not pass it.
The wingbacks on both sides press so high, waiting for the midfielder to pass the ball to them. In this case, if the ball is lost in the middle and the opponent counterattacks, they will not even have time to return to defense.
The Frenchman knew he was in the wrong, but after all, the ball was lost from his feet, and Roma's counterattack also started from his loss of the ball.
But he was not ready to admit his mistake. No matter if it was Di Maria or Di Lieba, who cares about how you play? He immediately smiled strangely, waved his right hand a few times in response, and ignored Di Maria.
"Beep!" The female referee Maria Caputi blew the whistle, Vlahovic kicked off, and Juventus reorganized the attack.
Although he showed reluctance on the surface, Pogba did improve his playing style in the following period , and when he gets serious, he is still one of the best midfielders in the world.
This is also the reason why Allegri put Paredes, Facioli, Mireti and others who have a more positive attitude towards the game on the bench and insisted on using the French.
In the 7th minute, Rabiot made a cross from the left side of the rib, and Vlahovic headed the ball in the scramble with Gvardiol.
Although he didn't exert his full strength, the ball still flew towards the goal in a strange arc. Patricio took two steps back and tried to pull the ball out almost on the goal line.
Mancini on the side immediately kicked the ball away, and the ball flew out of the penalty area. Cristante and Pogba rushed forward to grab the ball.
Cristante touched the ball first, and Pogba stretched out his foot soon after, but he was half a beat too slow and did not touch the ball, but instead tripped Cristante.
The referee Maria Caputi immediately blew the whistle for a foul. Pogba turned around and wanted to complain to the female referee, but Cristante, who had fallen to the ground, immediately got up, put the ball on the ground, and kicked it forward quickly.
Even Vlahovic, who had just joined the team and was usually quiet, couldn't stand it anymore and shouted at Pogba: "Look behind you!"
When the Frenchman turned around, Christian's quick free kick had already reached Chen Xiaoliang's feet.
Locatelli and Danilo, who was retreating, immediately surrounded him, saying that they would not give Chen Xiaoliang any space to start.
However, this time Chen Xiaoliang did not choose to dribble the ball forward himself. Instead, after receiving the ball with his back to the basket, he immediately turned around to take a look, and then made a long pass directly forward!
The essence of football is to score points by transferring the ball, safely delivering it as close to the opponent's goal as possible, and then shooting it.
Therefore, as long as the ball can be delivered forward accurately, he doesn't care whether he dribbles the ball forward or passes it to the front.
At this time in the middle of the front, Cesco had already made a beautiful offside run and was running in front, about two body lengths ahead of Bremer. Bremer and Gatti behind him and to the left were chasing at full speed.
At the top of the penalty area, the ball fell. Cesco stretched out his left foot forward and beautifully took the ball away from the person with whom he had the best tacit understanding in the world, just as he had practiced countless times in extra training.
Then he ran forward a few steps with the ball, shortened his stride and adjusted himself, ready to shoot!
But in just these few steps, Bremer had caught up from the right rear and raised his left hand!
Cesco knew that he could not adjust anymore. If he was any slower, he would be completely caught up by Bremer, so he pushed the ball towards the left side of the goal with his left foot!
Szczesny, who was standing one step behind the small penalty area line, did not make any saving move, but just turned his head to look at the kicked ball.
Bremer cleverly pulled Cesco's jersey down instead of pushing it outwards at the moment before Cesco shot, which interfered with Cesco without causing him to "dive" to the ground.
In the stands of Roma fans, many people had already stood up to celebrate, but the ball just hit the post and rolled out of the goal.
Cesco smiled sheepishly, shook his head, turned around and raised his hand to express his apology to Chen Xiaoliang.
In the broadcast room, Totti first praised Cesco's progress in the past two seasons and his potential, but also pointed out that Cesco, who will turn 20 in a month, is still very young and still has a lot of areas to improve and make up.
Each side had a chance to almost score a goal, which further increased the enthusiasm of the fans of both sides, and the long-range verbal battles directed at each other became louder and louder.
Capello, the former coach of Juventus, focused on commenting on Chen Xiaoliang.
He believes that the Roma captain is becoming more and more comfortable and at ease in Italian football. In addition to the rapid improvement of his personal abilities and his increasing versatility, it is also related to the tactics, formations, and rhythm of each team.
In recent years, some German and Italian head coaches have begun to advocate the three-center-back formation. In Serie A, the three-center-back formation has almost become the mainstream tactic. For example, Allegri, Conte, Inzaghi, Gasperini, a number of famous coaches mainly use the three-center-back formation, and even the mid- and lower-level teams such as Torino, Verona, Udinese and Monza do the same.
The German team includes Tuchel during his time at Chelsea, Fischer, the highly-watched coach of Union Berlin, who are ranked third in the Bundesliga this season, and former Bayern coaches Nick Kovac and Nagelsmann. Three central defenders are not a rare thing in their hands.
Dutch coach Louis van Gaal also played with three central defenders when leading the Netherlands in last year's World Cup, which was quite effective. However, they were quite helpless in losing to the eventual champions Argentina on penalties in the quarterfinals.
Non-German and Italian head coaches, including Mourinho and Guardiola, also use a three-center-back formation in certain games.
In the first leg of the Champions League between Manchester City and Bayern, Guardiola once again made his habitual "lively" change of formation, with three central defenders in 3-2-4-1 in offense and 4-4-1-1 in defense. Stones, who originally played as a central defender, was transformed by him into a "waist defender". In offense, he played as a defensive midfielder and could rush all the way to the opponent's penalty area to assist. In defense, he played as a central defender and formed a double central defender with Dias to solve the problem of the ribs being easily broken through in the three-central defender system.
This is different from previous midfielders, such as Yaya Toure, Mascherano, Ramos, Javier Martinez, etc. Those people could play as a defensive midfielder in the previous game and play as a defender in the next game, while Stones repeatedly switched roles between the two positions in one game.
However, Capello specifically pointed out that the current three-center-back system is completely different from the past 3-5-2 system. The peak of the traditional 3-5-2 system was the 2002 World Cup final, when both Brazil and Germany used the 3-5-2 formation at the same time, which became the last glory and swan song of this old formation.
What eliminated him was the 4-2-3-1 formation that had been popular in Europe for nearly 20 years and the 4-3-2-1 formation with one defensive midfielder and two double forwards, modeled after the peak Barcelona team.
Although most head coaches still use the traditional four-back formation, it is not without reason that the three central defenders are used by the coaches of these popular teams.
Firstly, in defence, a central defender is added to ensure coverage of the left, middle and right sides of the penalty area. At the same time, the full-backs are eliminated and replaced with two wing-backs or wing forwards, so that more people can press forward in attack.
Secondly, taking today's Juventus as an example, there are three central defenders, a single defensive midfielder, two central midfielders and two forwards. Except for the two players on the wing, the other eight players are all in the middle, making the troops in the middle appear very dense. A quick counterattack from the middle can also be easily divided into the sides, and then the pass comes back from the sides, relying on the large number of people in the middle to grab the point and attack the goal.
Finally, on defense, the wingbacks/wide midfielders can drop back to act as full-backs, forming a de facto five-man defense. The two central midfielders can also drop back to share the frontal defensive pressure with the defensive midfielder, making the middle more layered.
But all these were aimed at Chen Xiaoliang, which was also the reason why Mourinho moved him from the original defensive midfielder position to the absolutely free all-around midfielder.
Based on Chen Xiaoliang's abnormal intercepting ability and running coverage ability, the denser the middle road is and the more balls go to the middle road, the higher his average steals, interceptions and successful headers will be.
Once they move to the wing to bypass Chen Xiaoliang's frontal defense, there are only two wing players in the three-center-back system. All the burden of wing attacks will fall on these two people. The result is that either the central midfielder on one side will move to the wing to support, or the forward on one side will move to the wing to support, which makes the three-center-back system lose the advantage of dense density in the middle.
Furthermore, the greater the offensive task on the wing, the higher the possibility that the two wingbacks/wing forwards will not be able to return after they go forward. This gives Kvaratskhelia and Dybala plenty of opportunities to play one-on-one against the two central defenders in a three-man defense.
The front line couldn't get back, with only three central defenders left, and one had to be pulled out, which gave Cesco in the middle and Chen Xiaoliang in the backcourt plenty of space to attack.
In addition to the wing, similar to the first goal Juventus lost just now, when Locatelli is the only defensive midfielder, once the two central midfielders who are attacking lose the ball, or are too late to return to defense in the counterattack, the single defensive midfielder cannot take care of the ribs on both sides of the penalty area at the same time.
In modern football, the flanks are where most attacks are initiated. The team can pass the ball to the side or to the bottom, or pass the ball straight or cut inward to shoot. Losing protection for the flanks is equivalent to handing over the goal through one's own penalty area to the opponent.
It just so happens that in addition to the traditional midfielder's abilities, Chen Xiaoliang also has a very beautiful crossing ability. Once his ribs are exposed, it is equivalent to giving him unlimited space to accurately deliver the ball to the penalty area.
This is also the reason why the 4-2-3-1 double defensive midfielder formation is so popular, because the two defensive midfielders can defend the ribs on one side each.
If the opponent does not want to give Chen Xiaoliang space and double-teams him so that he cannot attack directly, then all he has to do is to pass the ball to the two wingers on both sides, and then watch Kvar and Dybala use their skillful dribbling to enter the penalty area, and then he can score or assist his teammates to score.
Finally, the three-center-back system requires relatively high comprehensive abilities of the wing-backs and central midfielders. Not only do they need to be able to attack and defend, but they also need to have good awareness, know when to make assists and when to retreat inward to defend, and have enough physical strength to support this kind of back and forth running.
Facing a central midfielder like Pogba who is better at strolling after losing the ball is tantamount to hurting oneself.
According to Capello's analysis, the three-center-back system that is popular in Serie A perfectly suits Chen Xiaoliang's strengths, allowing fans to see that he can challenge the wing-backs on the wing, pass or shoot on both sides of the penalty area, and even overpower the single defensive midfielder to score goals near the top of the penalty area.
After listening to the legendary coach's analysis, the beautiful host Dilita Leotta was full of admiration, and Totti nodded repeatedly. The two also said that this analysis would definitely be heard by Guardiola.
Capello's rare smile told the two that Guardiola's variant of the three-center-back formation might be a rehearsal for Roma.
After Stones retreated in defense, the three central defenders were changed to four central defenders. The original left and right central defenders Akanji and Ake did not have to worry about retreating. They just had to stand outside and immediately became full-backs, solving the problem of the wing-backs being unable to retreat to the penalty area.
At the same time, the two central midfielders Rodri and Gundogan retreat to the defensive midfielder position to cover the gap on the flank. The attacking midfielder in the 4-4-1-1, whether it is Grealish, Mahrez or Foden, can harass Chen Xiaoliang from behind after retreating and double-team him with the two defensive midfielders.
Haaland, like a monster in the front, attracts the opponent's attention and is ready to change back to a three-center-back system after the offense-defense transition.
Capello: "For a game as important as the Champions League final, especially for Manchester City who have been longing for this award for many years, it is impossible to rehearse it after the FA Cup on June 2nd."
Previous head coaches had thought of ways, but whether it was Klopp arranging someone to mark the entire game, Inzaghi transforming Damian into a wing midfielder, or Pioli simply putting three defensive midfielders in the team, the results were not ideal. Either they could not defend, or they defended the middle and gave up the wing, or they simply gave up attacking completely and only relied on the personal abilities of some individuals to try.
This also shows that Guardiola is ahead of others in tactical design ability.
The beautiful host Dilita Leotta asked Capello, how will Mourinho target him?
Capello smiled calmly: "After all, the enemy is in the open and I am in the dark. It is Guardiola who is making defensive changes to Roma's offensive system. If I were Mourinho, I would not reveal my trump card in advance."
Roma, who were leading by one goal on the field, played their most familiar defensive counterattack steadily, compressing the offensive space of Di Maria, Rabiot and others, while luring Juventus to press forward again and again, and then launch a counterattack.
However, although the top club in the history of Serie A has fallen into a trough in recent years, it is by no means mediocre. As an experienced coach, Allegri dared to bet on Pogba in the starting lineup, so he must have his basis for judgment.
After the French midfielder almost caused the second goal and was further criticized by his teammates, he was forced to use all his strength to prove that he is still one of the best in Europe, at least in Serie A.
In the 38th minute of the first half, Kostic received the ball on the left and advanced. Di Maria, who had no chance in the triangle defense formed by Chen Xiaoliang, Wijnaldum and Chris Anter in the middle, took the initiative to move to the left. Kostic passed the ball when he advanced to the offensive third zone.
Di Maria challenged Binya on the left side. It was a South American battle between the Argentine and the Uruguayan.
After Di Maria approached Binya, he took a small step with his left foot and forced his way to the bottom line with his speed.
Binya quickly turned around, using the left side of his body to push Di Maria, while stretching out his right foot to try to intercept the ball that Di Maria had dribbled out.
As a result, at the moment when Binya stretched his foot to intercept the ball, Di Maria stepped forward with his left foot and pushed the ball inwards. The ball passed under Binya's crotch as he took a big step forward. Then he stopped suddenly and changed direction, went around Binya and dribbled the ball directly into the small penalty area!
A wonderful pass can trigger enthusiastic cheers from fans in any football stadium, let alone a top player like Di Maria!
The Juventus diehard fans in the stands behind the Roma goal immediately burst into cheers, then raised their butts and looked at Di Maria who was alone in the dragon's den.
Patricio blocked the near corner, Di Maria approached the goal and swept the ball to the middle with his left foot!
Rabiot and Vlahovic came in and double-teamed the attack, falling to the ground one after the other to shoot!
The ball passed the front point and Vlahovic touched the back point, but his shovel shot hit the post and bounced back!
Wijnaldum, who was in the penalty area, was just about to push the ball behind him and out of the penalty area, but before he could jump, another black man pressed on his head and smashed the ball with his head like a slam dunk!
Patricio dived hard from the near post, and although he touched the ball with his fingertips, he was unable to change the trajectory of the ball.
1 to 1!
Juventus equalized the score!
It turned out to be Pogba!
Juventus fans had a mixture of love and hate. They hated the careless and mindless loss of the ball just now, but they loved the fact that the Frenchman ran to the sidelines after scoring the goal and made an arrogant celebration.
What should I do? Should I still be angry?
Juventus fans chose to respond to Pogba's goal with cheers and accept Pogba's gesture with applause.
The war criminal just now instantly became a hero.
Totti was obviously disappointed: "Wijnaldum didn't look behind him on this ball, and the others in the penalty area didn't give him enough protection."
Capello said: "It is inevitable to lose the ball. Roma is indeed the best team in Italy at the moment, but in the history of football there is no team that can beat all opponents."
"Whether it's Arsenal, who won the league title unbeaten, or Barcelona and Bayern, who won six titles, they can't win all the games and even lose in cup games and the Champions League."
" What's more, the current Roma team is far from being strong enough to be compared with the above teams."
As a result, the game, which seemed to have no suspense for Roma as they scored a goal at the beginning, was back to the starting line.
The road to the triple crown is by no means easy or effortless!
