I build a giant in the Premier League

Chapter 165: The opening match decides the outcome! We, Manchester United, will not raise the price to dig out the remaining Barcelona! [Subscribe]

March 3st afternoon, Wembley Stadium, London.

In the 30rd round of the Premier League, Bayswater Chinese faced Manchester United at home.

When the game reached the 28th minute, the score was still 0-0.

The attack launched by Bayswater Chinese on the left created a corner kick opportunity.

Rakitic stood in the corner area, raised his right hand high, sent a signal to his teammates in the penalty area, and then quickly took a fast and flat corner kick.

In front of the penalty area, Pepe bypassed the defender, jumped high, and headed the ball directly to the right side of Manchester United's goal, leaving Van der Sar helpless when he came to save the ball.

At this moment, no one could stop this goal.

Scholes, standing in front of the penalty area, had no other options.

So he made an exaggerated defensive move, as if he was startled, and raised his arms.

Pepe's header hit Scholes' right forearm and bounced out.

If you just take a first glance, it would be easy to mistakenly think that the ball was headed in.

But referee Phil Dowd blew his whistle without hesitation.

The Chinese players from Bayswater and Manchester United players all gathered around.

The home team players were shouting that it was a handball, and Maicon and others who were nearby kept patting their right forearms.

Manchester United players argued that it was not an intentional handball, but the ball hit Scholes' forearm.

Why do we need to raise our forearms?

This is purely a subconscious action on defense!

Referee Phil Dodd did not accept this explanation, called Scholes over and showed him the red card.

This means that he believes Scholes committed handball on purpose!
The moment the red card was given, all 9 fans in Wembley Stadium were cheering wildly.

Scholes did not argue much, just grabbed his head and walked off the field.

Bayswater Chinese got a penalty kick opportunity.

Yang Cheng turned his head and glanced at the visiting team's coaching bench, and found that Ferguson was still sitting in the coaching bench, making it difficult to see his expression at the moment.

But I don't think there will be any big reaction.

"After the 1-4 defeat to Liverpool in the last round, he probably has given up on the league," Brian Kidd speculated.

Yang Cheng nodded slightly.

The score was 12 points behind, and for an experienced person like Ferguson, it must have been clear that a reversal was unlikely.

Yang Cheng can even say bluntly: There is no suspense about the Premier League championship this season!
Under such circumstances, it is understandable that Manchester United once again performed poorly in the league and even lacked fighting spirit.

As the team's top scorer, Dzeko was responsible for taking the penalty kick.

The Bosnian center forward quickly stepped forward and calmly sent the penalty kick into the Manchester United goal.

1 is better than 0!

Wembley Stadium instantly turned into a sea of ​​celebration.

With a one-goal lead and one more player, there was basically no suspense in this game.

Since Scholes was a midfielder, Ferguson did not make a substitution but instead pulled Rooney back.

The game continues.

It’s just that Manchester United played more conservatively, and the Chinese in Bayswater had a more obvious advantage on the field.

After continuously creating opportunities, Bayswater Chinese scored in the 77th minute of the second half. Dzeko moved to the right, received the pass from Maicon and crossed it in front of the goal. Walcott quickly moved forward, got ahead of Vidic, stopped the ball with his chest and volleyed it into the goal, expanding the score again.

2 is better than 0!

This is also the final result of this game.

Bayswater Chinese beat Manchester United 2-0 with goals from Dzeko and Walcott!
……

“This season is like a repeat of last season!”

After the game, Yang Cheng treated Ferguson to fine wine and delicious food in a room at Wembley Stadium.

This wine was brought back from France by him through Wenger. It is not very famous, but it is very good.

In addition to staying to entertain the guests, he also specially sent some to his stepfather, future father-in-law, and future brother-in-law who were far away in the country.

"Both of our teams are aiming for the treble, but now..."

When Yang Cheng heard this, he immediately took action and interrupted Ferguson.

"Jazz, let me correct you, we are the ones striving for the Triple Crown, what else are you striving for?"

After Yang Cheng finished speaking, he couldn't help but laugh.

Ferguson's face changed, and he nodded slowly: "Yes, just tell me, do we still have a chance?"

"Yes, there is, but..."

"That's enough!" Ferguson didn't let Yang Cheng continue speaking.

"Even if there is only a 1% chance, it is still a possibility. What's more, we are just a little behind now."

"Besides, when I talked about the treble, I didn't say it included the league."

Yang Cheng was really speechless.

Old sir, let's not become more shameless as we get older, okay?

You just said that this season is a replica of last season, both are aiming for the treble...

Oh, so Manchester United’s treble is the League Cup, FA Cup and Champions League.

Yes, this is indeed the Triple Crown!

But that's not what you said when you were working for Liverpool.

What a double standard!

Anyway, you can define the Triple Crown however you want!
Even though Ferguson was thick-skinned enough, he felt a little embarrassed when Yang Cheng looked at him like that.

On March 3, Manchester United defeated Tottenham in the League Cup final and won the League Cup.

"The situation this season is completely different from last season. Last season, you didn't have much of a lead in the league and the points were very close, but this season we are already 15 points ahead."

Yang Cheng grinned and laughed.

Ferguson became even more depressed.

Why?

Because out of these 15 points, at least 9 points were lost by Manchester United in the recent period.

Including the 3rd round make-up match, the home loss to Liverpool in the last round, and the away loss to Bayswater Chinese today.

The gap between winning and losing is really too big.

"Honestly, Jazz, if you don't strengthen your team's lineup, especially the midfield, you will still have no hope next season!"

Yang Cheng is now pointing out Ferguson's problems bluntly.

He believed that Ferguson himself was aware of this.

Being beaten by Liverpool in the last round seemed to be Vidic’s problem, but what was the reality?
It’s still a midfield problem.

Just as Yang Cheng said when Manchester United signed Vidic.

In the combination of Vidic and Ferdinand, Vidic is responsible for advancing and Ferdinand is behind.

The Serbian central defender's purpose of stealing the ball is to support the midfield.

Why support midfield?

Because the midfield is weak!
Especially after Hargreaves was out this season, Fletcher has not been very stable, which has led to Manchester United often having to adopt a random combination of Carrick, Anderson and Scholes.

That is, with the help of Manchester United's off-ball running system and their defensive methods that disrupt the ball's path, otherwise Manchester United would have been finished long ago.

But this season marks a turning point.

To put it simply, the 27-year-old Vidic and the 30-year-old Ferdinand were no longer in control.

The defense in the midfield and frontcourt is too weak!

Playing against Liverpool, Vidic was scolded like a dog!
In Yang Cheng's previous life, Vidic also started to stay in the team from the next season.

That is to say, he no longer rushes forward, but chooses to stay behind.

If you don't rush to grab the ball, the probability of making mistakes will be reduced.

In front of the fans and the media, a central defender who makes fewer mistakes is a good central defender.

But in this way, Manchester United's defense also collapsed.

09/10赛季还算好，到了10/11赛季，曼联足足丢了37个球。

In the season when Ferguson retired, Manchester United won the championship, but their defense conceded 43 goals.

In the Premier League, if you want to win the championship, conceding more than 35 goals on defense is considered a lot.

So why did United collapse after Ferguson retired?

Actually not.

Manchester United collapsed long ago.

It was just that Ferguson used his strong personal ability and high personal prestige to hold on to Manchester United, slowing down the pace of Manchester United's collapse.

The competition in the Premier League at that time was not as fierce as it is now.

The emergence of Chinese people in Bayswater has further aggravated the internal competition in the Premier League.

It seems like this season, everyone has been fighting for the top four in the Premier League.

Based on Yang Cheng's current observation, Manchester City will definitely increase its signings this summer, and Chelsea must also increase its investment if it wants to regroup.

As for Arsenal, the Gunners will definitely recruit new players.

In this situation, does Manchester United still have hope?
"If you are willing to sell Modric to us, I will risk my old reputation to get the transfer fee back from the Americans!" Ferguson looked at Yang Cheng with longing.

Yang Cheng snorted and pointed at the appetizers on the table, "These are only three dishes, and you're already so drunk!"

"What do you mean?"

"Dream on!" Yang Cheng refused bluntly.

After a pause, Yang Cheng added, "How about I sell Yaya Toure to you?"

Ferguson immediately got angry, "Do you think I'm stupid? Manchester City and Real Madrid are watching me, and I heard Barcelona and Arsenal are also paying attention. Do you think I can beat them?"

"Hey, can you help raise the price? You guys should be good at this, right?"

Ferguson was puzzled.

When am I good at raising prices?
Who are you slandering?
Can we, Manchester United, be that kind of second-rate stuff?

But Ferguson finally heard it.

Yaya Toure can be sold, but Modric will never be sold!

I have to say that Yang Cheng is really smart.

When it comes to being shrewd, Ferguson immediately thought of Yang Cheng's vision of people.

He immediately lowered his posture and said softly, "How about you help me with some advice?"

"My advisor?"

"Yes." Ferguson nodded. "I won't let you suffer any loss. I'll give you two boxes of fine wine that I have treasured for many years."

Yang Cheng hesitated for a moment, then raised five fingers with his right hand: "Five boxes."

Since both my stepfather and future father-in-law are giving them away, I have to keep some for myself, right?
"Also, I want the same wine you treated Wenger to last time."

Ferguson suddenly felt a pain in his flesh.

That wine was very expensive, and he didn't have much in his cellar.

But when he thought that Yang Cheng had always had an accurate vision, he gritted his teeth, stomped his feet, and agreed.

"Five boxes is five boxes. I'll have someone deliver it tomorrow."

As he spoke, Ferguson really sat there looking at Yang Cheng seriously, waiting for him to speak.

"You know, you are different from us Chinese in Bayswater. You are rich and powerful, but we are small-scale business owners. So, when you recruit players, you must recruit players who can fight immediately, right?"

Ferguson was quite pleased with the flattery and kept nodding his head.

"If I were the manager of Manchester United..."

"Wait, you are the head coach of Manchester United, then what am I?" Ferguson was a little anxious.

"If, if..."

"Oh, okay, go ahead."

You're an old man and you're about to retire, why are you still in such a hurry?

No wonder Queiroz didn't listen to you and ran away.

God knows how long you plan to last?
"Busquets, Barcelona's No. 4, is now under a lot of doubt and his position is not very secure."

Without Yaya Toure, Busquets came to the fore faster.

But it is also more controversial.

However, Guardiola supports Busquets and his position is secure.

Yang Cheng only made suggestions. Whether Ferguson could buy it or not was beyond Yang Cheng's ability.

These days, even matchmakers don’t guarantee the birth of children!
"The second one is Bayern's Schweinsteiger. It's a pity that this kid plays on the wing. I think he can be transformed into a deep-lying midfielder. The effect will definitely be very good."

"The third one is De Rossi from Roma. This kid is definitely a world-class midfielder. I am very optimistic about him."

Ferguson almost couldn't help but swear.

I am particularly optimistic about him!

Among these three people, De Rossi is the most favored.

The question is, can you buy it?

These three players are clearly unrealistic.

Even if I buy it, how much will it cost?
"Is there anything cheaper and easier to dig?" Ferguson asked patiently.

Yang Cheng immediately groaned, with disdain, "You want good players again, but you don't want to spend more money?"

Ferguson nodded awkwardly.

"Okay, Tularan of Lyon, you can consider it."

"There are also players who are easy to buy, such as Yaya Toure from our Bayswater Chinese. As long as you pay enough, you can take him away at any time."

Ferguson is now very sure that the Chinese in Bayswater have failed to reach an agreement with Yaya Toure on the contract renewal.

At the same time, he was also very sure that Yang Cheng must have already found a good midfielder to recruit.

Look at the people he recommended. Their abilities are indeed good, but they are also expensive.

The cheapest Toulalan went to deal with the vampire of Lyon. Ferguson estimated that it would be difficult to convince Aulas without 20 million euros.

"Don't look at me like that. I swear, Turan is indeed on my midfield recruitment list." Yang Cheng said very confidently.

It feels like, I have really given my heart to you.

Yes, he is indeed on the list.

It’s just that…my list is a little bit long, and his ranking is a little bit…lower.

But everything I, Yang Cheng, said is true!

"If I were you, I would fight to the death with Barcelona for Busquets. It's not like they haven't tried to poach him before, so why should I be afraid of him!" Yang Cheng instigated.

Ferguson was completely speechless about Yang Cheng.

Busquets, Schweinsteiger and De Rossi are all somewhat famous, but they are not considered particularly good defensive midfielders at this stage.

Yang Cheng's words made Ferguson further confident about the future of these three players.

But Manchester United really has no power to buy it.

"Hey, I've given you all my savings, so remember to send me five boxes of wine," Yang Cheng reminded.

I also plan to send it to please my future father-in-law.

Ferguson is particularly tolerant and generous towards local players when it comes to signings, but tends to be conservative towards foreign players.

Especially in recent years, Manchester United has been heavily in debt and has a tight transfer budget, causing Ferguson to become more cautious.

He even repeatedly refused to make moves in the transfer market because of inflated player transfer fees.

Ultimately, it's all Glazer's fault!

……

Ferguson left, the 30th round of the Premier League ended, and the Premier League was temporarily suspended.

March 3th, national team match day.

The national team players have all reported to the national team.

The next round of the Premier League will be on April 4, followed by the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, where they will face Chelsea at home.

Therefore, during the national team training, Yang Cheng really did nothing but concentrate on studying Chelsea.

He watched videos of every Chelsea game since Hiddink took over as coach.

Speaking of Hiddink, he is really amazing.

As a famous coach who coached Real Madrid in the past, Hiddink's coaching ability has been verified whether in Eindhoven or later in national teams such as South Korea and Australia.

Now, he is coaching Russia and is shining at the 2008 European Cup.

Because of this, after Chelsea decided to fire Scolari, Hiddink, who had a very good relationship with Abramovich, came to Stamford Bridge and became Chelsea's fire-fighting head coach.

After taking office, Hiddink's coaching was also very successful.

So far, the team has an unbeaten record of 8 wins and 7 draw in 1 games.

Except for the 2-2 away draw with Juventus, Chelsea only conceded one goal in the remaining seven games.

This is Hiddink's coaching style.

Running without sparing any energy, a very rigorous defensive system, and sharp counterattacks, all these make Hiddink's coaching resume very impressive.

Of course, he has also been criticized a lot.

For example, when he was coaching Real Madrid, he was fired due to poor results.

Later, he coached Real Betis and the results were even worse.

As for the reason, many people believe that this is because Hiddink's tactics are incompatible with La Liga.

What he is best at is defensive counterattack, which was not popular in La Liga in the late 90s.

Yang Cheng feels that the match that best reflects Hiddink's coaching philosophy is the 2006 World Cup round of 16 knockout match between Australia and Italy.

At that time, Italy's central defender Materazzi was sent off with a red card in the 50th minute of the second half.

The results of it?
Hiddink didn't even dare to intensify the attack, and still maintained a tight defense, wanting to wear Italy into overtime and kill them on the field.

Unexpectedly, in the stoppage time before the end of the game, the great Italian left-back created a penalty and Totti scored the final goal!
In Yang Cheng's previous life, after Hiddink coached Chelsea, he did make Chelsea fans forget about Mourinho.

But facing Guardiola's Dream Team III, Chelsea still defended tightly.

Many people only paid attention to the misjudgment in the second leg at Stamford Bridge, but did not notice that in the first leg at Camp Nou, Chelsea also took a lot of advantages from the referee's decisions.

If you really want to dig deeper, there is no second round at all.

Barcelona ended the battle in the first round!
But no matter what, Hiddink's Chelsea is very successful.

It even almost killed Guardiola's Dream Team III.

And what they rely on is their iron-clad defense.

Therefore, Yang Cheng must study carefully how to deal with Hiddink's defense.

Not only did he watch Chelsea's game videos himself, he also handed the task over to the coaching staff, especially Gianni Vio's data analysis team, and asked them all to study Hiddink's Chelsea.

The overall strategy is very clear.

The first leg will be at Wembley Stadium, so the Chinese in Bayswater must do everything they can to be the first to score!

Scoring a goal first means taking the initiative!

While the national team is training, the coaching staff and employees of Bayswater Chinese are still like a smoothly running machine, each doing their job and doing things step by step.

On the evening of March 3, Yang Cheng received a message.

In the World Cup qualifier between Portugal and Sweden in Porto, Portugal, Bosingwa was injured and left the field.

……

"Based on the intelligence we have received, we can be sure that it will take at least three weeks."

Scouting director Gary Worthington reported the information the scouts had found out.

After hearing this, Brian Kidd immediately walked to the big blackboard in the conference room and put a big question mark on the line connecting Bosingwa and Drogba.

After the Portuguese defender joined Chelsea, his cross from the right to find Drogba became a very important route for Chelsea's attack. If Bosingwa was injured, neither Ferreira nor Ivanovic would be able to do this.

There is a gap between the crosses and Bosingwa's.

"Ivanovich should be on the team." Yang Cheng said with certainty.

If he were Hiddink, he would also use Ivanovic to ensure the stability of the defense first.

Ferreira did not do a very good job of defending in several strong confrontations.

After hearing this, Brian Kidd immediately changed the Chelsea starting lineup on the blackboard, removing Bosingwa from the right back and replacing him with Ivanovic.

In this way, Chelsea's defense line is Ashley Cole, Alex, Terry and Ivanovic.

The problem now is the midfield.

The midfield is also related to the frontcourt.

In the past few games, Hiddink has used two tactical plays, 433 and 4231.

Lampard is the unshakable main force, while Essien, Mikel and Ballack are often rotated.

But Yang Cheng also mentioned another possibility, which is to let Essien play as a right winger to pinch the opponent's left back.

When did Hiddink use this style of play?

In Yang Cheng’s previous life, he played at Camp Nou in the first leg of the semi-finals.

In that game, Hiddink used the 4231 formation.

He used Lampard to play as the number ten to pinch Yaya Toure, who was at the number four position for Barcelona. Mikel and Ballack formed a double defensive midfielder to intercept Iniesta and Xavi.

At the same time, he used right-footed Bosingwa to play on the left, cooperating with the back line to lock down Messi.

Hiddink's targeted defense was very successful.

Although, there were some favorable decisions by the referee, it worked on a tactical level.

Barcelona really has no way to deal with this.

Yang Cheng himself has also deduced this problem.

The Chinese in Bayswater are different from those in Barcelona.

Whether in Yang Cheng’s previous life or now, Barcelona lacks a center forward.

Neither Eto'o nor Henry could connect the front trident, so Guardiola had to let Messi appear in the middle and let Eto'o go to the side.

But the Chinese in Bayswater have a strong center forward like Dzeko, and the two wingers are also very sharp.

Although the team is not as good as Barcelona in passing and controlling the ball in the midfield, they have done a great job in passing, cutting, coordinating and creating chances.

Therefore, Yang Cheng could not guess what kind of targeted playing style Hiddink would adopt.

But it’s normal not to be able to guess your opponent.

The key is, how are the Chinese going to fight in Bayswater?
"Our data analysis team has been repeatedly conducting technical and tactical deductions and simulations over the past week or so."

Gianni Vio presented the interim results of their data analysis team.

"We have studied all the defensive data and performances of Chelsea this season, especially since Hiddink took over, and we insist that if we want to break Chelsea's defense from the front, we still need to open up the width."

"So, we can only attack from both wings!"

"We need to stretch the opponent's defensive width as much as possible through the two flanks, and then try to pass the ball back to the middle, play to the advantages of the center forward and two wingers, as well as the midfielders to form an offensive level."

Gianni Vio also mentioned, "So, our advice is to pile up people!"

Yang Cheng immediately understood what the Italian meant, "Let the full-backs press forward!"

"Yes, the full-backs are responsible for opening up the width, forcing Chelsea to stretch their defensive line and allow Dzeko, Gareth Bale, Walcott or Di Maria to move back and forth in the middle."

"Gareth Bale and Dzeko both have a certain ability to get the ball in front of them."

"In addition, we have Rakitic, Modric and Yaya Toure in the midfield, so we can form a second offensive echelon and actively move forward."

"So, our data analysis team has designed more than 50 sets of opening offensive combinations targeting Chelsea players and defensive layouts in the past week."

"So many?" Yang Cheng was a little surprised.

"This is just preliminary and very rough, and it has not been practiced yet. After screening, it is estimated that there will be at most ten sets that can be used, targeting different scenarios, so that the players can respond to the situation improvisationally."

"tell me the story."

As he spoke, Gianni Vio went to the data analysis team and took out their offensive coordination routines one by one.

Each cooperation routine has a very detailed introduction, including which player's weaknesses it targets, a certain possibility on the court, and what characteristics of the players this style of play can bring out, etc.

Yang Cheng, Brian Kidd and others listened very attentively.

Their familiarity and understanding of their own players is much higher than that of Gianni Vio and others.

I also have a deeper understanding of Chelsea players.

Therefore, they can see at once that many tactics are not very feasible.

But many tactics are highly feasible.

For example, when targeting a long pass to Dzeko, let the Bosnian center forward compete for the header.

The data team will give Dzeko's success rate in heading when facing Terry and Alex.

After winning the competition, what should we do next and how should we cooperate?

If we lose the game, where will the ball fall? How can we control the second landing point and form a second-tier attack?

Things change rapidly on the football field and there are too many uncertainties. Sometimes, it is simply impossible to simulate and deduce.

The only thing Yang Cheng and the coaching staff can do now is to prepare as much as possible and help the team score against the opponent on the field.

Finally, after careful selection, 23 sets of offensive coordination routines were obtained.

Moreover, the coaching team spent two full days carefully polishing and perfecting them.

In addition, there are set-piece attacks and corner kick attacks, which are what Gianni Vio is best at.

All of this has been well prepared.

After the players return from national team games, they will take a short rest and then immediately begin targeted training.

In the 31st round of the Premier League, before the first leg against Chelsea, Yang Cheng's team will face Benítez's Liverpool at home.

Yang Cheng waved his hand and decided to give Liverpool a try!
This is also very necessary.

After all, in many cases, training cannot replace actual combat.

But Yang Cheng will not send all his main players to fight Liverpool to the death.

On the contrary, Yang Cheng wanted to save his energy for the Champions League, so he only arranged Di Maria, Dzeko and Modric to start.

And it was agreed that we would make substitutions around 60 minutes into the second half.

……

On the evening of May 4, Wembley Stadium, London.

In the 31th round of the Premier League, Bayswater Chinese faced Liverpool at home.

As the team will face Chelsea in the midweek, Yang Cheng made a lot of rotations in this game.

Everyone understood this.

With such a big lead in the league, of course we should concentrate on playing well in the cup competition.

At the beginning of the game, in the first attack of the Chinese in Bayswater, Di Maria got the ball on the left, dribbled past Arbeloa, and immediately shook off the Spanish right-back, broke into the left side of the penalty area and made a cross.

Dzeko ran to the position and headed the ball into the goal, beating Carragher.

Reina reacted quickly and lifted the ball over the crossbar with one hand.

The subsequent corner kick still resulted in a shot, but failed to create a threat.

The Chinese players at Bayswater almost overwhelmed Liverpool in their opening attack.

The Reds still used the 4231 formation, and the iron triangle in the midfield was fully deployed, obviously attaching great importance to this game.

Yang Cheng stood on the sidelines, watching the offensive on the court. His biggest feeling was: I miss Teacher Tony so much!
When the Bayswater Chinese faced opponents with tight defense, they relied more on short and medium-distance passes between the two flanks to achieve lateral transfers and stretch the opponent's defense.

When the opponent's defense line is pulled, flaws will inevitably appear when moving horizontally.

This creates opportunities for attack!

Teacher Tony's long pass is equivalent to passing it with just one kick, which takes others two or three passes.

This is also why, in Yang Cheng’s previous life, when Teacher Tony played for Real Madrid, he always liked to stand on the left.

Because this can maximize the effectiveness of his long passes.

But now, the horizontal transfer ability of the Chinese in Bayswater is still relatively weak.

On the contrary, the vertical long passes were really good.

In the 10th minute, Bayswater Chinese passed the ball back to Thiago Silva on the back line when their midfield organization was blocked.

The Brazilian center back made a long pass directly to the frontcourt.

Dzeko retreated, turned his back to the direction of attack, leaned his body against Carragher, stopped the ball with his chest, and kicked it off.

The ball stuck firmly to Dzeko's feet.

As soon as the ball stopped, Dzeko suddenly kicked his heel and, like a dragon's tail, knocked the ball behind him.

At almost the same time, Di Maria quickly cut in from in front of Arbeloa and behind Carragher, caught up with Dzeko's heel pass, and quickly stepped into the penalty area to get a one-on-one chance.

Facing the attacking Reina, Di Maria calmly shot the ball with his left foot and sent the ball into Liverpool's goal.

1 is better than 0!

After seeing the goal, Yang Cheng clapped happily and applauded Di Maria.

"Angel is in good form recently. Use him on the left and Gareth Bale on the right." Yang Cheng instructed Brian Kidd.

After the opening, Di Maria's side's attack was indeed more active.

Hazard seemed a little sluggish on the right.

No wonder.

The Belgians beat Liverpool in the FA Cup and were closely monitored by Benítez in this game.

When playing against Chelsea, the focus is on attacking.

Gareth Bale has physical and confrontation advantages and is better than Walcott.

The Little Tiger and Hazard will become Yang Cheng's trump cards and can be substituted into the game to make a charge when necessary.

……

For this game, Yang Cheng and the coaching staff's focus was to test the lineup and practice tactics.

The most important thing is the two starts in the first and second half.

After taking the lead, Bayswater Chinese slowed down their offensive appropriately and had a back-and-forth battle with Liverpool.

The Reds were still on the attack at one point, with Torres' shot hitting the left post.

However, Rakitic's subsequent run also hit the crossbar.

At the start of the second half, the Chinese players from Bayswater launched another attack.

This time Liverpool was well prepared and their response was very targeted.

Overall, Yang Cheng still believes that Hiddink will adopt a 4231 formation.

This is exactly the same tactic as Liverpool's.

Therefore, to a certain extent, in this game of Benítez, Yang Cheng actually hoped that the team would expose more problems.

In this way, Yang Cheng and the players will be more confident when playing against Chelsea next Wednesday.

Starting from the 60th minute, Yang Cheng made substitutions one after another.

Liverpool gradually increased their offensive intensity.

But Benítez still doesn't dare to be careless.

The substitutions were basically targeted adjustments, and we didn't dare to increase investment on the offensive end.

The elimination from the FA Cup still leaves Benítez with lingering fears.

But in stoppage time, the substitute passed the ball to Gerrard.

In the melee, Gerrard made a straight pass to Torres, but was blocked by Kompany.

But the Belgian's clearance was not given out. Gerrard stole the ball, broke into the penalty area, and shot from the right side of the penalty spot, successfully equalizing the score.

At this time, the game was already in the 92rd minute.

In the end, Liverpool tied Bayswater Chinese 1-1 away from home thanks to Gerrard's goal in the last minute of stoppage time.

In the same round of the league, Arsenal beat Manchester City 2-0 at home.

Chelsea beat Newcastle 2-0 away.

Manchester United beat Aston Villa 93-3 at home thanks to two goals from Ronaldo and a lore from Macheda in the 2rd minute.

……

After returning to London from the away game against Newcastle, the first thing Hiddink did was to ask his assistant Roy Wilkins to gather the coaching staff to watch the game between Bayswater Chinese and Liverpool.

Everyone's first reaction was that Yang Cheng was holding back.

"With a 15-point lead, we can be so willful!" Wilkins said with envy.

Hiddink remained noncommittal.

In contrast, Chelsea still has to fight for the top four in the league.

Therefore, when Hiddink visited St. James' Park, he played with almost all the main lineup.

Looking at the whole game, there were not many highlights, but in addition to gaining 3 points, Hiddink also examined Mikel.

Outsiders are generally unaware that Mikel has not met Hiddink's requirements in the previous few games.

Therefore, in the previous two games, he was directly relegated to the sidelines.

Hiddink would rather use Essien as a single defensive midfielder than let Mikel play for a single minute.

In the match against Newcastle, Drogba and Bosingwa were both absent, Hiddink restarted Mikel and freed Lampard.

In the end, Lampard made one assist and one goal, and was named the best player of the game.

But the best performance of the game was actually Mikel.

After this kid comes on the field, he can effectively reduce Lampard's defensive tasks and also organize the midfield.

Judging from this game, his role is even greater than that of Ballack.

Therefore, Wilkins suggested that the three midfielders at that time would be Lampard, Mikel and Essien.

"Do you think we can defend our right side if we use this set of midfielders?"

"When Anelka is not particularly active in returning to defense," Hiddink reminded.

If Anelka is very active in returning to defense, why should he be used?
The purpose of using Anelka or Kalou is to counterattack and attack.

Wilkins and others hesitated.

Judging from the game video, both Di Maria and Walcott, who came on as a substitute, caused a lot of trouble for Liverpool on the left.

The only goal scored by the Chinese in Bayswater was scored by Di Maria.

Arbeloa is a well-known defensive player in the Premier League. He couldn't stop Di Maria. Can Ivanovic do it?

this is a problem!
"But if we let Essien play on this side, the defense on the right will be stable, but the offense will be completely ruined!"

Wilkins reminded Hiddink.

Outsiders have no idea that Chelsea has practiced this style of play.

This involves the issue of the 433 formation.

That is, the distance between the winger and the full-back is too far.

Much farther than other formations.

So, to some extent, a team with weak individual abilities simply cannot play 433.

The full-backs in the 433 formation often have to face the opponent's wingers independently.

Hiddink had anticipated this, so he had conducted internal drills and had Essien play on the right in order to reduce the defensive pressure on the full-backs.

If it is Bosingwa, it will allow the Portuguese to attack without any worries.

If it is Ivanovic, it is to further protect the defense line.

Hiddink has his own considerations.

"From the big picture of the two-legged match, what do you think is the most important thing for us in the first leg at Wembley Stadium: scoring goals or defending?"

Faced with Hiddink's question, Wilkins and others didn't know how to answer.

The most interesting and challenging rule of the Champions League knockout stage is away goals.

Especially the visiting team in the first leg, they like to score goals.

One valuable away goal is worth two home goals.

But now, they are facing the Bayswater Chinese, who are famous for their offensive power.

Do away goals matter?
Of course it's important, Chelsea definitely want it.

But isn't defense more important?

"If you ask me, the most important thing for us in the first away game is defense. Only by defending against the attack of Bayswater Chinese can our counterattack in the frontcourt be threatening and we still have the opportunity to score an away goal."

"To take a step back, even if we can't score an away goal, as long as we can defend the goal, a 0-0 score is also good for us!"

The second leg is at Stamford Bridge.

Roy Wilkins looked at the coaching staff around him, and they all nodded.

There is actually no absolute good or bad in this.

It all depends on how the head coach chooses.

Just like now, everyone knows that Yang Cheng’s home team will definitely launch an attack!
Look at the game they played against Liverpool. They were attacking in both the first and second half, which was obviously training.

By the same token, isn't Chelsea also training when they play against Newcastle?
Mikel returned to the starting lineup.

This is clearly a signal.

Hiddink is observing Mikel's condition.

And now, Yang Cheng is probably very sure that Mikel will start.

Because his condition is really good.

In the world of professional football, there aren't really that many sudden surprises or clever strategies.

If you really want to launch a surprise attack and make adjustments on the spot, you are more likely to cripple yourself before killing your opponent.

"According to my opinion, let Essien play on the right, and Lampard, Ballack and Mikel will still be in the middle, forming a regular triangle, and let Lampard mark Yaya Toure."

"Mikel and Ballack are responsible for protecting the defense and suppressing Modric and the other central midfielder."

So far, Chelsea has not been able to determine whether Yang Cheng’s other central midfielder will be Rakitic or Matuidi.

Both players are possible.

The former is good at both offense and defense, is good at passing the ball, and has excellent running ability; Matuidi is good at defense, has a wide running range, and is also good at linking and short passes.

To some extent, it doesn't matter which one you use.

However, Yang Cheng often uses Matuidi in the Champions League.

This is also a manifestation of seeking stability.

"Let's take a training session and practice targeted tactics, especially letting Essien guard their left wing."

"We give up the attack on the right, but concentrate all our forces on the left. The focus is on defense and counterattack!"

Wilkins nodded, understanding Hiddink's intention.

This head coach is really a bit like Mourinho.

At the critical moment, it is better to stabilize yourself first and then slowly try to score a goal.

This is very consistent with Chelsea and is in line with the habits of Chelsea players.

Therefore, it is not completely unreasonable that the Blues were able to accept Hiddink so quickly, and even many fans said that with Hiddink, they would forget about Mourinho.

At least, in terms of tactical concepts, they are still very similar.

"Also, we need to pay special attention to their opening attack!"

At this point, Hiddink's brows couldn't help but frown.

He has also been watching videos of Bayswater Chinese's games recently, and after watching the match against Liverpool, he found that Yang Cheng is really good at and keen on opening the attack.

Any team that wants to defend and counterattack must do so on one basis, and that is to be able to defend!

If we lose the ball during the opening attack, how can we defend and counterattack?

Just surrender immediately.

"Ask the video team to edit all the recent opening attack videos of Bayswater Chinese for me."

"Arrange some time so that the players can pay attention."

"This point must be taken seriously. We must not lose the ball at the start of the game!"

Hiddink spoke at the end with a very resolute tone!
He had a very strong premonition.

The outcome of this battle at Wembley will be decided at the start!

(End of this chapter)