future king

After the 6-1 bloodbath of Manchester United in the league away game last weekend, the Blue Moon team led by Mancini seemed to have jumped into the ranks of the top European giants in an instant, and Manchester City's deputy coach Pratt even shouted With the rhetoric of "Quadruple Champions", from this point of view, Manchester City is determined to win all the championships of this season, even the tasteless League Cup.After defeating Wolves 5-2 in this game, Manchester City has won 5 consecutive victories in all competitions.

This is indeed the case. Although Manchester City used a substitute + youth team lineup to visit Wolves in this League Cup, the terrorist attack combination led by Dzeko still played its best, especially in the middle of the first half. 0 behind, Mancini's team broke out with a suffocating attack power: 1 minutes crazy scoring 4 goals, completely ending the suspense of the game.

That was when the game progressed to the 37th minute, Zabaleta made a pass from the right and was barely cleared by the opponent's defender. Dzeko made a pass back, and Adam Johnson volleyed from inside the penalty area and scored.

This goal brought the two sides back to the same starting line, and it also opened the prelude to Manchester City's frenzy of goals.In the 39th minute, Adam Johnson sent a direct pass again. Nasri broke through to the edge of the penalty area and shot the ball into the lower left corner.Manchester City overtook the score after 2 minutes, but this was not over yet: in the 40th minute, Adam Johnson made a pass from the right, Scapucci shot from a small angle from a far point was barely blocked by De Vries, Dzeko A supplementary shot into the net from close range, 3-1!It took only 4 minutes for Manchester City to rewrite the score from 0 to 1 to 3 to 1, which also completely ended the suspense of the game. Then the League Cup really entered garbage time, and Manchester City's offensive drill middle.

The original 90-minute game took only 4 minutes, or 123 minutes, which completely lost the original meaning of the game. Looking at today's European football, I am afraid that only the rising "Manchester City Galaxy Battleship" can do it. Now, for this point, perhaps their rivals Manchester United in the same city could not be more clear.

Last weekend's Manchester Derby, the powerful Manchester City Legion also used their terrifying and suffocating goal frenzy to destroy the last fighting spirit and belief of Manchester United.Originally, after Fletcher scored a face-saving goal in the 81st minute of the game, the Red Devils Manchester United at home almost saw a glimmer of hope for an equalizer. Unexpectedly, the situation reversed again at this time. Mancini's team In the 89th minute, 91st minute and 92nd minute, relying on Dzeko and Silva to expand the score to 6-1, it was another frenzy of scoring 4 goals in 3 minutes, completely destroying Ancelotti The team gave the Red Devils Manchester United their worst defeat in nearly 50 years.

Ancelotti encountered a crisis of confidence for the first time since he took office, and the team lost to Derby rival Manchester City by a big score.

"Everything is like a nightmare, things have become helpless, Manchester United has become an amateur team with one less player, this is a strange problem!"

Yes, the same doubts also appeared on Li Yu. Compared with Manchester City's strikers, Manchester United's No. 9 was not excited enough. It must be pointed out that Li Yu did not perform at all in the game.

Only use victory to retaliate to those doubting voices.

"What is a shooter? A shooter is a kind of talent, a kind of instinct, they will have some intuitive elements, they can always appear in the most suitable place, and I am such a type of player." Li Yu in In an interview, he explained his super high scoring rate in this way.In the game against Aldershot, Li Yu took the initiative to ask to play in this game. He scored the 13th goal of the season. Now the core of Manchester United finally regained the feeling of shooting. His efficiency is still enough to make his teammates ashamed.Li Yu once again proved to people with practical actions that doubts are unfounded guesses, and Manchester United's No. 9 is just adapting to the new position given to him by the new head coach.

Objectively speaking, there are not many opportunities for Li Yu to appear in the game. Compared with the new aid Mata, Li Yu has only a handful of appearances in the camera.But every time Li Yu came into people's field of vision, it would make the opponent's penalty area turbulent. Li Yu used his actions to interpret the true qualities of a shooter: as immovable as a mountain, as moving as a fire.

In the 41st minute, Mata sent a low pass from the right side of the penalty area. Li Yu, who was still cruising near the penalty area line before, suddenly appeared on the pass line. While the defensive players were still watching the ball cross the dangerous area At that time, Li Yu had already completed a fatal blow near the penalty spot. Although the shot angle was very straight, the covert shot of Manchester United No. 9 made the opponent's goalkeeper unpredictable. He could only watch the ball fly into the net against his body. .

As the team leader Ferdinand commented on Li Yu's running ability: "There are only a handful of players who can run like him. If I were a coach, I would let all the young forwards carefully observe his running style. This is absolutely true. It's a must for a top shooter."

This goal is Li Yu's 7th goal scored in the 7 League Cup games represented by Manchester United. Manchester United's No. 9 can be called the Red Devils' chief killer in the League Cup.The first title Li Yu won after joining Manchester United was the Champion of the League Cup. Before the game, Owen told Manchester United TV: "We will not give up the League Cup. In the past few years, our performance in this competition It's been good so we're going to try to win the title this year."

After that, Li Yu still had a chance to complete the assist.In the 70th minute, Li Yu set up a turret for Pogba at the top of the arc in the penalty area, but the French teenager's shot went slightly wide.In the 75th minute, another wonderful pass from Manchester United's No. 9 helped Park Ji-sung get a good chance to shoot from the edge of the penalty area. The Korean shot from an angle and the ball slid past the goal.

As Manchester United's official website commented after the game: Li Yu, as always, showed a strong desire to score goals, and his excellent running position made it easy to convert Mata's pass into an assist.In addition to his instinctive performance in scoring, his cooperation with his teammates outside the penalty area is also very tacit and efficient.

After a nightmarish defeat, even a Carabao Cup win can go a long way in restoring morale.In an interview with Sky TV, Li Yu said frankly: "The weekend game made the team feel extra pressure. Although no player started the game last weekend, we all have the obligation to defend the dignity of the Red Devils. .Sometimes, you need to go through some sudden changes, so that you can better focus on the next challenge, and last weekend's game was undoubtedly a huge setback, so we desperately need a victory to achieve bottoming Bounce back, glad we did."

When the team fell into the lowest ebb, what they thought of was to try their best to defend the dignity of Manchester United. Li Yu like this is worthy of the No. 9 jersey of the Red Devils.Running like lightning, with a strong body to play the fulcrum of attack, Li Yu is still the efficient killer who can make every opponent a headache.

In an interview with Manchester United TV, Li Yu also confidently said: "Many of our players did not participate in the Manchester Derby. The team will carry out a large-scale rotation in this game, but even so, Manchester United can still arrange a strong starting lineup. It's one of them."

Regarding his own transformation, Li Yu said: "The new position requires adaptation. There have been some ups and downs recently, but there is no problem with my state. I just need time to adapt and get familiar with it!"

After the Manchester Derby fiasco, Ferguson's rage in the locker room did not happen again. The new coach Ancelotti did not continue the style of his predecessor's locker room. Now that the London Derby is defeated, Villas-Boas broke out at Stamford Bridge. British media It was revealed that the Portuguese coach criticized the players for the first time since he took office, which surprised the whole team.

Boas's gentleness earned him the nickname "Bambi" in the dressing room, which means he is innocent and cute, but on Sunday morning local time, when the Chelsea team reported to the training base for the usual training warm-up , but suddenly encountered a storm blown by the "little deer". The "Daily Mail" revealed that Boas gathered the whole team in the locker room and angrily criticized the performance of the players in the derby for as long as 30 minutes. Terry and others, who have always dared to speak in front of the coach, This time, too, I was shocked and didn't dare to make a sound.

The "Daily Mail" stated that Boas reprimanded the players for being sorry for the club and not strictly implementing the tactical plan. Ben's league.

This is the first time Boas criticized a player after he took office, but he did not target any individual, but emphasized the responsibility of the whole team. Afterwards, this was recognized by the main players in the team. They also believed that the team needed to focus on rebounding. Although the players were a little surprised by the sudden outburst of the head coach, they were all understandable after the 3-5 loss.

However, Benayoun, the Israeli midfielder who was loaned out to Arsenal by Chelsea, caused controversy at this time because of his personal remarks. After the London derby, Benayoun celebrated the Gunners' victory on his personal twitter and said: "How beautiful Good job everyone!" Although Benayoun was loaned to Arsenal, he is still a player belonging to Chelsea. This statement caused anger among the Blues fans, and many people accused him of being "" Judah", they believe that Benayoun can completely keep silent, but he is holding Chelsea's contract while celebrating the victory of the derby opponent, this behavior is unacceptable.

Chelsea's home game against Arsenal is undoubtedly the highlight of this round.Compared with the several strong dialogues that have been held this season, the only similarity of this game is that this is another big score game.The Blues conceded 5 goals in this goal battle, which also created a disgraceful record for the team in the Premier League.

Chelsea conceded 5 goals in the last game, dating back to 1989.Last season, Chelsea lost 3-4 at home to Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup. However, the head coach Ancelotti at the time did not pay much attention to the cup. This is a well-known fact. Reasonable.

In addition, in the 2008-2009 Champions League quarter-finals, the goal match against Liverpool was 4-4 at home, allowing the fans to enjoy the joy of victory even more while they were in fear.In the match against Aston Villa on Boxing Day 07, although the Blues conceded 4 goals at home, they also scored 4 goals.

The last time Chelsea conceded 5 goals in a single game was on January 2002, 1. In the second leg of the League Cup semi-final of that season, the Blues lost 23-1 away to Tottenham Hotspur; , Chelsea also lost 5-2000 away to Barcelona in the Champions League, but both sides also experienced extra time in that game.The last time the Blues conceded 4 goals at Stamford Bridge was even more distant on January 1, 5. On that day, Chelsea lost 5-1998 at home to Manchester United in the FA Cup.

In the Premier League, fans at Stamford Bridge have not seen the Blues concede 5 goals at home. This scene only happened in the League One in December 1989. At that time, Chelsea scored 12-2 at home in two consecutive home games. Lost to Wimbledon (now Milton Keynes) and Liverpool by the same scoreline. Twenty-two years, eight months and 2 days later, this scene reappeared at Stamford Bridge.

History can only explain the past, but the reality of Chelsea is that defense has become Chelsea's biggest obstacle this season.As of this game against Arsenal, Chelsea have conceded goals in 9 consecutive league games, and the last time this happened was in September 2003 when Abramovich just took over the Blues, but that Conceded goals in 9 consecutive games, but it is across seasons.This season, Chelsea's only league game without conceding a goal was the 9-0 away game against Stoke City in the first round of the season.

After the game, coach Villas-Boas insisted that the defense was not Chelsea's problem, and he showed the statistics: "Before this game, we were one of the three best defensive teams in the Premier League, so I will Discuss with anyone whether our defensive organization is a problem." Of course, he also talked about the reasons for the last two goals conceded: "One is because a player slipped and the opposing player formed a pair with our goalkeeper. One, it had nothing to do with the organization of the defense; the other was because we were trying to get ahead three minutes before the end of the game."

However, the facts are really as the Portuguese said, is there no problem with the defense line?Leaving aside the data of conceding goals in 9 consecutive games, in the two strong dialogues against Manchester United and Arsenal, Chelsea conceded 8 goals.Sun Tzu once said: "In the past, good fighters first fought for the invincible, and waited for the enemy to be victorious. The invincible lies in oneself, and the victory lies in the enemy." It means that defense can make oneself invincible, while The opponent's mistakes are the reason for your victory.The problem couldn't be more obvious. The root cause of the two big-scoring losses lies in himself.And the line of defense that once made the Blues proud is now really full of flaws.

The primary problem for Chelsea's defense comes from the central defenders.Captain John Terry is one of the most stable people in Chelsea's position, but in order to prepare for this round of derby, Villas-Boas did not take Terry to Liverpool in the League Cup in midweek.

However, jt still made a mistake, and it was when the team had just tied the score at 3-3 and was expected to overtake.Brazilian Luis, who has been favored by two consecutive coaches, is a double-edged sword.

In less than a year after joining the Blues, he has conceded 1 penalties, the most among all Premier League players.Moreover, two consecutive mistakes made Boas decide to abandon him. However, the effect of Ivanovic who played today is equally mediocre.There is a scene that can illustrate the problem: In the 3th minute of the game, Arsenal's corner kick was ejected and then kicked again. Ivanovic on the edge of the penalty area tried to clear the ball with a header, but the ball was pushed to the vicinity of the small penalty area. Thanks to Terry leaned on Mertesacker, who was 2 centimeters taller than himself, and the Germans missed the ball.

Arsenal's 55th-minute go-ahead goal was due to the short-circuiting of the brains of Ivan and Terry at the same time.In today's Chelsea team, it may not be appropriate to blame anyone for conceding goals.I am afraid that the problem still lies in the system that Boas categorically denies.

Secondly, the two full-backs are also a hidden danger for the Blues.Whether it is Ashley Cole or Bosingwa, both belong to the attacking full-back.Taking Cole as an example, it is undeniable that his offense or assists are very active, but the defensive pressure is also too great.The duty of the left winger Mata is to swim in the frontcourt, but the area of ​​responsibility when defending is not on the left. Cole needs one person to play two roles, and it is inevitable that he will not be exhausted.

Although Bosingwa on the right is useful in offense, but in defense, there are too many gaps behind him.Chelsea lost the second goal because Song saw the gap on his side and passed it diagonally to Andre Santos, who drove straight in and scored.At that time, following behind the Brazilian turned out to be winger Sturridge, but Bosingwa was nowhere to be found.In addition, in stoppage time, Bosingwa seemed at a loss in the face of Van Persie, allowing the Dutch striker to calmly hit a strong shot, and Cech was helpless.

The third problem in Chelsea's defensive system is the midfielder.To a certain extent, the back line has been under too much pressure, and the reason is actually that the midfielder's defense is not good.Among Chelsea's three midfielders, Ramirez and Lampard are both attack-oriented and defensive. Only Mikel is dedicated to defense.But the performance of the Nigerians is unsatisfactory.

In terms of style of play, Chelsea's oppressive offensive style requires the team to be in the front. At this time, as a defensive midfielder, it must have excellent lateral movement ability, but Mikel's characteristic is that he is good at frontal defense and moves well. The ability is weak, and it is manifested in the game that it often loses sight of one another.In Chelsea's second goal conceded, Song's diagonal pass was actually completely within Mikel's defensive range.

In the 76th minute, Boas replaced Mikel with Meireles. This substitution obviously paid off: Meireles steals the ball from the right side of the front court and assists Mata to equalize the score.

Moreover, Meireles had a few steals from the left side of the frontcourt, all of which formed a second attack on the spot.Obviously, Meireles has no problem moving back and forth, left and right, which is what Mikel lacks.Apparently, Villas-Boas was thinking about arranging a full-time defensive midfielder. After all, Meireles had to take both offense and defense into account. In fact, there was such a person in Chelsea's camp, and that was Essien. , but Essien, who is recovering from his injuries, is expected to wait until after the New Year before returning, and the Blues will need to wait longer.

Obviously, defense has become the biggest shortcoming of the Blues.Boas has long said that defense will be the key to the season.

But from the London derby with Arsenal, it seems that the problem is not just a certain person, but a system problem.

If Chelsea does not make changes to the defensive system, it is inevitable to lose the ball, or even continue to lose by a large score in the strong dialogue.Malouda said this week: "The Premier League is our first goal." But this goal is likely to be unable to complete because of defensive problems.

Speaking of the Champions League, after entering the knockout rounds, a strong dialogue is absolutely unavoidable.Even if it is the "fourth most important" League Cup, the five giants have all entered the quarter-finals, and Chelsea will face Liverpool in a month. With such a defense, who can be optimistic about the Blues?In the transfer market, almost all the names associated with Chelsea are attackers.At least in the next two months, Chelsea will not be able to turn to the transfer market. The first thing Villas-Boas needs to adjust is Chelsea's defensive system.