Football: After listening to the persuasion, I became the strongest free man!

Chapter 349: Real Madrid pushed forward with almost no success

At the beginning of the second half, both sides took advantage of the opening momentum to threaten the opponent's goal. Aguero's shot was slightly higher, while Bell's breakthrough Otamendi almost caused a foul in the penalty area. In the second half, Real Madrid defender Pepe and Manchester City defender Otamendi started their respective performances. The two made many tackles and perfectly blocked the opponent's attack.

Pepe even stole the ball twice and then dribbled the ball into Longtan at high speed.

In the second half of the game, Manchester City's double midfielders began to be fully suppressed. Fernandinho probably consumed his physical energy due to the pressing in the first half and made many consecutive passing mistakes. At this time, Manchester City's offense began to lack patience. Tammendi and Kompany repeatedly tried to find Aguero with long passes.

On the one hand, Pepe's defensive positioning is excellent. On the other hand, Aguero is about 15 centimeters shorter than Pepe, so this offensive routine is easily resolved. Iheanacho, who replaced Silva, rarely moved to contain the opponent's defenders for Aguero and De Bruyne. On the other side, after Real Madrid left Benzema, Bell began to take on more responsibilities. He was no longer limited to the right wing as in the first half, and began to expand his range of activities.

Manchester City is well aware of Bell's speed threat and has been limiting the size of Bell's surrounding area. When players cannot keep up (including Silva's foul in the first half), they decisively choose to foul to minimize Bell's threat. In this case, Bell also pulled an arc in the penalty area to try to kill the game.

After Real Madrid established a possession advantage after 50 minutes, the two full-backs entered the attack more frequently, but Manchester City's defense was deep. These resulted in multiple corner kicks for Real Madrid as well as a free kick from the line of the penalty area. In terms of corner kick defense, Manchester City did not do very well. Ramos, Casemiro and Pepe each created an opportunity that could directly kill the game, and Hart's position selection was extremely good. Real Madrid's goal The ball is a bit out of reach.

In the final stage of the game, Real Madrid began to speed up across the board, but this also brought certain hidden dangers to the team's backcourt. After the offense was resolved, Manchester City had two 3-on-3 opportunities in Real Madrid's half. If Pepe had not played bravely, Manchester City players Maybe kill the game. In the final stage, De Bruyne forced a break through Carvajal and created a free kick. De Bruyne, who took the penalty shot, chose to hit the goal directly to create a threat.

Manchester City's counterattack in the final stage of the game continued to pose a threat, which also explained why Real Madrid had been trying to suppress the rhythm before. The final score was fixed at 0-0, which also left the suspense at the Bernabeu Stadium. Generally speaking, Real Madrid has the advantage in this game. Real Madrid's midfield advantage is really huge, Kroos's passing is stable, and Modric's passing is weird. The performance of these two completely suppressed Fernando and Fernandinho.

On the back line, the defenders of both teams were very stable, and Otamendi and Pepe performed perfectly. As for the attacker, Bell raised the banner of Real Madrid's offense, but he failed to make a breakthrough. Aguero could only create two chances due to the weak offensive support in the midfield. Iheanacho had no sense of presence, which shows that Manchester City needs to think about how to transfer the ball from the backcourt to the midfielder in the best way to the forward.

Comparing the two, Manchester City has the following disadvantages

The forwards have a single function (especially De Bruyne and Navas).

These disadvantages make Manchester City's ball holding effect in the opponent's penalty area very poor, and the passing route map faithfully restores the problems that exist in the home team's actual combat state.

De Bruyne proved with undisputed performance that he is qualified to become the core of the city. After Silva left the field in this campaign, the only tactical unfamiliarity in Manchester City's midfield disappeared, resulting in Fernando and Fernandinho being "exhausted". This was one of the reasons for the disconnect between Manchester City's midfield and backfield in the second half. On Real Madrid's side, Cristiano Ronaldo was watching the game on the bench. Benzema's old injury relapsed and the number of players was reduced in the battle. Fortunately, the forward line led by Modric and Toni Kroos faced the squeezing frontcourt press and got enough. With tactical weight, he produced the most brilliant offensive and defensive balance performance of the season.

The only problem is that when they have the ball, Manchester City's midfielder has enough mobility and aggression, but lacks horizontal connection and passing accuracy. As the controller of the organization and offensive rhythm, David Silva is under too much pressure. Big, it makes people miss Yaya Toure greatly. The strategic mistake was that Pellegrini underestimated the technical advantages possessed by the visiting team's midfielder.

In a dense defensive situation, the forwards cannot get better support.

Comparing the diagrams of the key players of the two teams, Real Madrid has a clear advantage in the midfield, and the one who wins the midfield wins the world. The Galaxy Battleship playing away from home is actually at a disadvantage in the confrontation level. When the two full-backs reach the center circle, the technical advantage and The overall team collaboration immediately surpassed that of Manchester City, which is enough to show how much the injury list of the two teams affected the game.

He has also experienced the dilemma of the French national team being "powerless" for many years - this is a valuable asset for future coaching. In addition, he is very good at comparing opponents. Here I have to mention again the second round of El Clasico Q this season. Barcelona provided Real Madrid's "rookie coach" with a very practical game yardstick.

Manchester City's most significant presence is the defense, which reflects from the side that the loss of power in the midfield has put too much pressure on the defenders.

Pellegrini's tactical thinking is quite clear. He relies on a strong double midfielder to press high in the midfield. He does not have enough hardness against the BC combination and tries to find scoring opportunities through suppression.

The result of the game was dull. There were too many outstanding points in the scene, from parts to the whole.

As the game progressed, Real Madrid's players discovered Manchester City's weakness after adapting to the intensity of the fight: due to technical disadvantages, the frontcourt penetration ability was insufficient, which meant that Manchester City would easily lose the ball in local confrontations, so the key to the game was The point turned into a fight for the ball. As a new coach, Zidane has not yet "exposed his weaknesses". He has unparalleled practical experience in the player era.

For Manchester City, Yaya Toure was watching the game. David Silva, the only metronome in the midfield, came off due to a strain. God threw the only cheating indicator to Joe Hart.

Based on Casemiro's defensive hardness, the two men's game reading and technical advantages are fully displayed. The focus of this competition is the coordination and orderliness of the offensive and defensive ends of the midfield, emphasizing the high degree of coordination of local tactics. To put it bluntly, what is considered is the understanding of the most cutting-edge tactical ideas of modern football, which one is higher and which one is lower.

In the Bernabeu battle, judging from the performance of this game, if Ronaldo continues to miss the game, Real Madrid will open 64 against Manchester City, and if Ronaldo returns from injury in time, the game will be more difficult for Manchester City. Personally, I feel that Real Madrid will beat Manchester City by at most 2 points in the next game.

Whether Manchester City can advance depends on whether Pellegrini can improve Manchester City's offense.

This game was full of drama. Both sides had key players injured, and there were also players who retired midway through injury. Overall, the fate was fair.

The bench is not deep enough - specifically in the midfield (Real Madrid is actually not deep enough either).

Technique and game reading are a mixed bag.

The lack of goals makes the game really not exciting enough. If you don't just look at the scene, this Champions League semi-final can help a lot of fans deepen their understanding of the offensive and defensive balance of modern football.

They were all fighting for the midfield. Manchester City still had a methodical way through the center circle, but they encountered a strong defense in the middle of the 20-meter area.

Even if the two wingers once hit the edge of the visiting team's penalty area (i.e., the ribs), so what? Without reasonable transfers, it is impossible to make full use of the wings and ribs, and the offensive rhythm is too simple. Most direct passes from the center are The red line (failure) ended and the ball was frequently lost. The competition was about the ability to run back and forth. If this continues, the midfield advantage was directly given to Real Madrid in the second half.

On the other hand, the Galaxy Battleship was successful in holding and passing the ball within the 30-meter area of ​​the home team, especially the number of diagonal passes from two ribs to both sides. When the attack was launched, Real Madrid's back line immediately opened up the field with the ball. The trend is obvious - when faced with high pressure in the middle, Real Madrid will continue to advance by changing the rhythm, returning and transferring. The activity heat map of the two teams' defensive midfielders is almost synonymous with the offensive and defensive qualities of the midfield. Fernando and Fernandinho were almost strangled in the center circle. They had too many defensive tasks and their organizational attributes could not be used normally. After Silva left the field, the offensive and defensive rhythm was completely out of control.

The intensity of the Champions League semi-finals is completely different from that of the Premier League. The three Manchester City midfielders are trapped in a six-man double-team from Real Madrid, which requires the back line to press up to increase passing points. At the same time, the frontcourt teammates have to drop back to catch the ball and improve the direction. The success rate of front penetration, but it is a pity that Silva ended the game before Manchester City's overall operation was normal.

Manchester City's three offensive midfielders (including Iheanacho who replaced Silva) can still take advantage of the wing and left rib, but please pay attention to the center, which is a vacuum zone and lacks Yaya Toure. After that, Manchester City had almost no offensive presence in the middle, and the home team's offensive efficiency was greatly reduced.

The encirclement formed by Vazquez, Modric, Casemiro, Pepe and Carvajal was too tight and surrounded Silva and De Bruyne. Clichy had to directly take the ball and pass. The black circle is the undefended area in the middle. The only reason Real Madrid can confidently push Manchester City's attacking group to the wings is that the home team does not have enough resources to invest in this position.

The power of the visiting team's coordinated defense is reflected in the local personnel accumulation. It can be seen from the two left-half heat maps of the 30-meter area that Real Madrid has sufficient numerical advantages in both offense and defense, as well as good off-the-ball movement.

In terms of position, Casemiro is in the middle. Whichever side the offensive side is on, he will support the side with the ball. Toni Kroos and Modric are only on the two ribs, and the distance between them and the two full-backs is tight, forming a numerical advantage. In addition, Bell and Vazquez returned to defend and provided support, forming a small group of 4 to 5 people during defense, which directly strangled Manchester City's wing attack on Manchester City's right wing, with Iheanacho and Navas attacking, Sagna Backups, Fernando or Fernandinho only have limited support, and De Bruyne's position change is the main method. This is where Peigong miscalculated. In fact, Real Madrid's left wing can open up the gap better because Marcelo is not good at defending.

The change is that Casemiro pays attention to the defensive investment on this side. Ramos only presses frequently and forms a wall with him. Toni Kroos only returns to defense with Bale. In addition, Marcelo shrinks and Navas It is impossible to sing alone.

The heat maps of the right half of the two thirty-meter areas are similar.

Manchester City still uses the left half where De Bruyne and Silva are as the axis, and with Clichy's assists - the space for the three people is severely cut off. They can only make contact with Fernando, but only to the direction. Later, it became even more difficult to respond to Aguero's offensive and defensive coordination on the right side of the Galaxy Battleship. The long-term passing control and movement caused the hot spot to spread directly from the side to the center.

The pictures don't lie. Casemiro and Modric's cooperation was obviously better. In the actual game, the German man dominated the high-post press. After he inserted the space, Casemiro and Vazquez took turns to fill it; Croatia The uncle leads the counterattack organization after stealing the ball. Both of them can change the rhythm of the game and have clear responsibilities.

Modric, who has better physical fitness and is more adaptable to the pressing rhythm of the Premier League, also brings a faster advancement speed. Therefore, after halftime, Manchester City's midfielder was completely passive. The picture below helps to deepen the understanding of Real Madrid's right-side synergy. Real Madrid's passing and movement were significantly higher than Manchester City's. After Manchester City's overall pressing intensity dropped in the second half, the visiting team was able to easily get rid of the high press from the backcourt and quickly launch an attack.

At 75 minutes and 09 seconds, Sterling only got the ball at the end of the -meter area of ​​the away team and Real Madrid's right rib. At this time, Real Madrid led the defense with Pepe in front of them. As many as five defenders took all the actions, quickly completed the double-team, and cut the ball. Trin handles the ball's space and cuts off his connection with Clichy (left), De Bruyne (center) and Fernandinho. As for echoing Aguero, it is completely impossible.

One second later, the encirclement was completed, and Sterling's limited talent and escape skills were completely unable to retain the ball. If the target is a starting player, it can be said that Real Madrid has a physical advantage, but it is a new force coming off the bench. This kind of partial defense is the essence of technical football represented by La Liga.

From the three data of overall passing, frontcourt passing, and counterattack, we can see the huge power of Real Madrid's midfield and backcourt coordinated defense.

This game is a model of technical and tactical confrontation between the two sides. The rhythm and speed of offensive and defensive transitions have reached the top level, and the resulting defensive scenes are also exciting.

Both teams have the problem of focusing more on offense than defense, but in this game, Master Pei's stability vs. Joe Hart's incredible, Magic Flute's master-level tactical vision vs. Silva's pivot in offensive and defensive transitions. The forwards of both sides were restricted by the opponent's midfield and defense, and there were very few opportunities. It can be said that except for the unsatisfactory score, the game scene was definitely a classic in the Champions League in recent years.

Such a game would also be boring, and there are only three explanations for it. One is that they only watch the score but not the ball, the other is that they watch the text but not the live broadcast, and the third is that they are exclusively black. It can be seen that there are two types of fans: those who only focus on the score, and those who appreciate the game itself.

This game may be the most dramatic game Real Madrid has encountered this season. Let’s start with the starting lineup. Cristiano Ronaldo did not play in the game against Rayo Vallecano, which led people to mistakenly think that Zidane was trying to save energy for this game. But when the starting lineup was announced before the game, everyone discovered that the smoke bomb had become a grenade.

Good news and bad news for Real Madrid fans. The good news is that Pergone was also deceived by this news before the game. It can be seen that many defensive settings from the opening to halftime are assuming that Ronaldo is on the court, but in fact, this setting is when Ronaldo is not on the court. It seems that firstly it is a luxury, and secondly it puts a great test on one's physical strength. But the bad news is that the previous rumors that Ronaldo may have a serious injury may be true.

The appearance of Lucas means that he is in a leading position in the competition with Jese. After all, his attitude is more favored by Zidane.

On the other hand, Manchester City's appearance prevented the defense from being as undercover as before. However, the absence of midfielder Yaya Toure means that when facing Real Madrid, the midfielder basically has no options such as controlling the ball and fighting in the midfield and other changes. They can only use the double midfielder mode and place their hopes on Schier. Watt and Tintin's organizational tandem.

It can be seen that the two people's handling of the ball in the backcourt in the first half can be said to be basically flawless. Overall, the magic flute will be more involved, and tk will be more inclined to stay in the midfield. The passing of the two Errors also basically come from through balls in the frontcourt. In fact, Real Madrid basically didn't create any chances in the first half, let alone those from behind.

In fact, it can be seen that the two teams pressed hard in the frontcourt, and the passing errors in the backcourt did create some opportunities.

Among them, Manchester City's defensive system strives to prevent Real Madrid from entering the 30-meter area of ​​the goal. It can be clearly seen that Real Madrid's most forward pass is located in front of the top of the penalty area, and it does not pose a threat when it actually hits the penalty area. Both threatening shots came from mid- to long-range shots. On the other hand, Manchester City basically focused on the two wings after halftime, and there were almost no passes in the midfield.

This is because Pergone has a clear understanding of the space behind Real Madrid's two full-backs, especially Marcelo's assist. At the same time, he also understands that neither Tintin nor Silva will be able to survive without the help of Yaya Toure. Open a gap in the middle. In addition, Real Madrid is more inclined to reverse the ball in the midfield to complete the transfer of the ball and wait for opportunities to launch a through attack.

However, due to the inverted triangle position adopted by Real Madrid, Manchester City has a certain degree of control in the midfield. By the time Real Madrid starts to counterattack, Manchester City's 4231/4141 defensive position has been formed. The space compression of the three lines is reasonable, so Real Madrid can only pass in front of the penalty area but cannot find any space. It also increases the possibility of passing errors.

It can be seen that Real Madrid has almost no successful through ball going forward.

Manchester City's offense in the frontcourt seeks to be simple. Before Silva comes off the field, it mainly uses Silva as the core, through the cooperation of Silva and Ding Ding on the left. At the same time, it mainly relies on Navas's speed and Ding Ding's speed on the right. Break through and attack the space left behind after Marcelo inserted it.

In the first half, there were several successful attacks on Real Madrid's left wing, and Pepe received a yellow card. However, after the opening stage, Marcelo's insertion was reduced, and it was difficult for Tintin to have space on the right to make a fuss. Therefore, Manchester City's offense is generally a bit rough, mainly based on one-shot through balls.

(End of this chapter)