I just wanted to play football, but I became a Hollywood god

After half an hour of warm-up training, the players from both sides left the field for final preparations.

The Southampton players were obviously a little nervous. After all, this was also their first appearance in the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup, and their opponent was the star-studded Manchester City team.

Coach Adkins didn't put too much pressure on the players, he just told the players to put down their burdens and play hard.

After all, as the only English League One team to break into the quarterfinals, it makes sense even if they lose to Manchester City.

As long as you play well and the fans see your hard work, they won't be angry or disappointed.

Southampton's players, led by captain Davis, folded their hands and cheered each other up.

At 7:35, players from both sides lined up in the tunnel, holding caddies in hand, and lined up to enter the court under the leadership of the referee.

Ran Live broadcast accessed the live signal, and the number of people online in the live broadcast room instantly exceeded the 40 mark!
Although today is not a weekend, the value of this game is extremely high, and the domestic sports lottery has also opened a single level, so it has attracted a large number of fans and non-fans.

Most of the fans in the live broadcast room had already bought lottery tickets for Manchester City to lose by 2 goals, and were waiting for Gu Ran's help to realize the freedom of a second home.

There was a water friend in the live broadcast room named "I am really Sun Jihai" who came up and shot a super rocket.

"Holy shit! Is it really Sun Jihai?"

"Isn't it possible? Sun Jihai can watch the game in our live broadcast room? It must be fake!"

"I also want to change my name, I want to be called - I am really Sun Jihai!"

"Haha, I want to change my name to Zheng Zhi!"

At this time, a friend with the online name "I am really Zheng Zhi" silently fired a super rocket to show his presence.

At the Etihad Stadium, players from both sides lined up to shake hands.

The referee signaled the captains of both teams to come and guess coins.

Manchester City's captain on the field is No. 28 centre-back Kolo Toure, while Southampton's captain is goalkeeper Davis.

Kolo Toure is not the first captain of Manchester City. Manchester City has many big-name players, such as "Big Head" Kompany, former Arsenal captain Vieira, versatile Milner, and midfield ace David Silva. The best player De Jong, the Brazilian god Balotelli, and Tevez, the Premier League golden boot poached from rival Manchester United last season.

At this time, Manchester City is all about reputation.

In this era, Tevez was at the height of his powers and at his peak.

Therefore, Manchester City’s current captain is Tevez.

This also has something to do with Mancini's preference for forward players.

However, in this game, Tevez did not start, but sat on the bench talking and laughing.

The coin guessing game on the field naturally fell on the dedicated Vincent Kompany.

In the end, Southampton got the priority to kick off and Manchester City got the priority to pick the side.

Manchester City chose the south half, which is also in line with the traditional way of starting.

The captains of both sides shook hands and exchanged team flags according to the procedure. The players of both sides also took photos in their respective half-courts and then formed their formations.

In today's game, Southampton's away team still adopted a 442-[-]-[-] formation, fully defending in the first half and pressing closely in the half.

Manchester City is a wealthy team that is stronger than Everton. Although they did not play well before 09, since the wealthy people from the Middle East moved in, Manchester City's configuration is quite luxurious.

Moreover, according to the pre-match military situation and tactical analysis, Manchester City is a team that focuses more on offense, and Southampton, which has a weak front line, will choose to play against Manchester City unless they are crazy.

Therefore, defense plus counterattack is the Southampton team’s tactical idea today.

The main players of the Southampton team are all on the field today after taking a break.

The two forwards are high center forward Gurley and flexible forward Lallana.

Lallana's position is slightly deeper, between the center and the attacking midfielder, serving as a passing point in the midfield.

The midfielder position is played by Lambert.

Of course, Lambert's role is not so much as an attacking midfielder, but as a central midfielder. His main role today is to intercept and cross positions, not to cross forward, but to change positions backward.

Behind him is Southampton's biggest starting change in today's game - Gu Ran.

Gu Ran moved from his previous starting left back position to the defensive midfielder position.

This is also to counter Manchester City's extremely ferocious 433 attack style, and only Gu Ran can control the midfield.

At the critical moment, Gu Ran can also switch positions with Lambert in front and directly confront Manchester City B2B.

The left midfielder is the big boy Chamberlain, and the right midfielder is Schneiderlin.

Gu Ran stands in the defensive midfielder position, and his relationship with Chamberlain and Schneiderlin is closer, and he can better gather the midfielder.

Today's starting left back was replaced by Hammond. Hammond was previously a defensive midfielder, but during this period he was abruptly transformed into a left back by coach Adkins.

As a left back, Hammond has almost no assist ability and cannot cover the side, but he is still remarkable in the defense of the side.

And that's enough.

With Gu Ran sitting in the middle, he can mobilize the left and right wings at any time.

Southampton's right back is Richardson, and the two center backs are Jaidi and Fonte.

The goalkeeper is still captain Davis.

In general, Southampton's formation has used all the main players that can be used. In one word, it means fighting, fighting to defend desperately.

On Manchester City's side, the lineup seems much more luxurious.

Southampton has almost no big-name stars, while Manchester City can pick out any player and it is a big-name star.

Manchester City's formation today is still Mancini's most skilled 433-[-]-[-] formation.

Mancini is not a master tactician, and his formation is also very conservative, basically 433, with few formation changes.

In Mancini's words, formation changes will affect stability, and team stability is the goal he pursues.

If the lineup does not change, it will rely more on the performance of the players, especially the stars.

Therefore, any team coached by Mancini is definitely a team with a super luxury lineup. Even the substitutes must be with a luxury lineup. Mancini will not take over a team without a luxury lineup.

Mancini's 433 formation, to put it bluntly, is a large frontcourt triangle constructed by a center and two wingers, and a small inverted midfield triangle constructed by two midfielders and a defensive midfielder, plus 1 defenders.

The frontcourt triangle of center and winger is very similar to the 433 model of the Barcelona Dream Three Dynasties, and it also pays great attention to the coordination of passing and control.

But the difference is that Barcelona's Dream 433 frontcourt triangle is very flexible and very skilled players, while Mancini's [-] frontcourt triangle is equipped with players who are tall or have strong impact.

Barcelona Dream [-] pays more attention to the passing and receiving cooperation in the midfield and frontcourt. On the surface, the frontcourt and midfielder are just two upright and inverted triangles, but the real essence is that after running, the six players in the midfield and frontcourt can do whatever they want. Combined, every three people can form a running triangle or rhombus.

Such a passing and controlling tactic is very clever. It can ensure a large number of flexible ball routes at any time when attacking. Therefore, Barcelona's 433 is definitely very suitable for passing and controlling. Their retreating center or a built-in winger The defender can put the midfielder under the advantage of strength and connection.

During his peak period with Barcelona, ​​Alves was a typical built-in full-back. As a full-back, he acted as a large number of midfielders to ensure that the midfield triangle could move flexibly.

With such a formation and tactical support, almost no team could form a midfield confrontation with the Barcelona Dream Three Dynasty at its peak.

Even Real Madrid can only break Barcelona's passing by using foul-level confrontation and strangulation.

In comparison, Mancini's 433 is not that flexible, but much more rigid.

Mancini's 433, on the surface, looks like a big upright triangle in the frontcourt and a small inverted triangle in the midfield. In fact, it is really the upright triangle in the frontcourt and the inverted triangle in the midfield that are forcibly sewn together.

The positive triangle in the frontcourt still feels quite like Barcelona's Dream Three, but the real core essence is not.

Manchester City's frontcourt triangle and midfield triangle are not connected.

Manchester City's offense does not use the midfield triangle to achieve passing and control, but relies on the luxurious wingers to cut inside, thereby achieving the frontcourt triangle to close, then pass and shoot.

In this era, Zhengyin centers are not very popular, and wingers cutting inside has temporarily become the king's mainstream style of play.

Therefore, Mancini's 433, to put it bluntly, is relying on a super luxurious star lineup. Without Tevez, Balotelli, Yaya Toure, David Silva and other well-known stars, Manchester City would not be able to survive at all. I can't afford such results.

During the tactics class, Coach Adkins pointed out that the biggest hit point of Mancini's 433 formation lies in the space behind the full-backs and wingers.

In Mancini's 433 offensive style of play, the winger is a privileged player in the team and cannot retreat to defend, and the full-back assists are too high. When attacking, the full-back must act as a midfielder, so it is easy to let The opponent hits behind to form a deadly fast break.

Therefore, from a purely tactical perspective, this game is definitely not as scary as imagined.

As a veteran defensive counterattack team, Southampton still has the ability to restrain itself against Mancini's rigid 433.

As long as he defends against crazy attacks and plays more balls behind him, Mancini's 433 will be in chaos.

And once Mancini's 433 goes into chaos, Mancini's mentality will collapse, and his sense of collapse will also affect all Manchester City players.

Then, Southampton will have a chance.

Of course, this is just tactical theory. After all, no matter how good the tactics are, they must be executed by people. The Manchester City team with stars, even if the tactics are a bit rigid, its overall strength is still very strong.

If Southampton wants to win Manchester City on the road, the difficulty factor is basically 200%.

Today's game is also an obvious game of weak against strong.

Gu Ran's guarding in the middle and distributing the ball to the wing are also crucial.

... (end of this chapter)