Extraordinary coach

"It's time to end Nice's winning streak."

"In fact, Nice is not that strong. As long as they lock down Salah and Balotelli, they have nothing to fear."

"This is our home court, we can definitely win."

"Come on, Nice. Let us give you your first defeat of the season!"

...

Nice had won five consecutive games and topped the list, which shocked many people, but more people wanted to defeat Nice to show that they are stronger.

This is what the fans of Nice's sixth opponent, Montpellier, think. In their opinion, Nice does not have the strength to sit firmly at the top of the list. It's just because of the change of new coach and the change of a lot of blood in the team, others don't know Nice. I think as long as I understand it in depth, I will be able to easily beat Nice.

The fans of Montpellier have confidence in their team, and their head coach Hanz is also confident. Although he is not as arrogant as the fans, he also claimed to have seen the weaknesses of Nice in the pre-match press conference. He also said that his team has only one goal at home, that is, victory.

The opponent was so confident, but Sun Yi just said that he wanted to win six games in a row.

Just saying six games in a row was much more domineering than saying a lot of things.

Of course, Sun Yi was still more careful when the opponent dared to say such things. In fact, Sun Yi also knew what the weaknesses of the Nice team were.

As a head coach, what you have to do is to make up for the team's flaws and weaknesses. It's just that some things can't be changed just by knowing. First of all, you have to have money.

Money and fate are linked. Without money, you know that your clothes have a hole, but you still have to wear them out.

Sun Yi is in this situation now. Therefore, what he has to do is to use various methods to cover up weaknesses and play to his own strengths according to the situation of the opponent.

And Montpellier, the opponent, said that they would beat Nice at home, which was not bragging. Because they do have the strength to beat Nice.

Their overall strength is not worse than Nice. From the pre-match intelligence analysis, Sun Yi knew that Montpellier should not be underestimated. On the day of the game, he checked the system and proved this point.

Maybe Les Epeliers is not as strong as Nice, but they are more balanced as a whole and have no obvious weaknesses.

Except that the forward line is not as strong as Nice, Montpellier has a slight advantage in most other positions.

Such a Montpellier team is almost another Schalke 04 team for Nice. A weakened version of Schalke 04.

However, unlike Schalke 04, Montpellier is not as strong as a whole, but its high-altitude ball ability and set-piece attack are better than Schalke 04.

In view of this situation, Sun Yi naturally cannot use all the tactics against Schalke 04 to deal with Montpellier.

Since Montpellier likes to use 4231 formation, Sun Yi used 4312 formation.

Sun Yi originally wanted to use 3412 three-back formation, but considering that Sarr needs to be used with Terry, he continued to use four backs.

4312 formation is actually a variant of 442. The midfielders were changed from parallel positions to diamond positions. Balotelli and Salah were used as forwards, one tall and one fast.

4321 formation is an all-out attack and defense formation with a relatively balanced offense and defense. Sun Yi did not use it this time, but used 4312 formation instead, mainly to bring out the firepower of Balotelli and Salah in positional warfare. At the same time, the two wings were used to increase the cross from the side.

The most critical part of 4312 formation is the midfield. It tests the through-ball ability of front midfielder Cyprien, the attack, defense and dispatching ability of single back midfielder Seli, and finally the physical fitness of the two wingers.

However, the back line is already stable, and there is no need for the full-backs to frequently go up and down. The defense is relatively stable.

It can be said that Sun Yi used 4312 formation to fight a hard-hitting positional battle.

Montpellier team continued to use 4231 formation, and the idea was to compete with Nice team in single position strength. Sun Yi's change of formation turned it into a competition between the forwards and the back line of both sides. In this way, Montpellier's advantage in defending high-altitude balls and wing attacks was greatly weakened.

When the game started, seeing this situation, Montpellier's head coach Hanz frowned slightly.

This situation was different from what he expected before the game. His arrangement to limit Salah, the engine, became a useless chess piece.

Just as Montpellier fans said, Nice's attack was almost launched from Salah. As long as he was locked down and Balotelli was strictly guarded, Nice would lose its offensive ability.

But Sun Yi set up a 4312 formation, and the key to Nice's attack was no longer Salah. Salah's role in this game was to become a terminator like Balotelli.

4231 formation VS 4312 formation.

In the attack, Montpellier can still play its due strength. But their offensive strength is not as good as Schalke 04 after all, and it is not easy to break Nice's goal in a short time.

But when it came to defense, Montpellier was a little uncomfortable.

Due to the misalignment of positions, the defenders arranged by Hanz could not find the defensive targets they were required to defend before the game. This caused some discomfort and confusion in their defense.

More importantly, the key point for Nice to launch an attack in this game was the defensive midfielder Seri. The opponent against Seri was the organizing core of Montpellier, Budeb.

Budeb is very strong. However, he is strong in attack but weak in defense. Facing Seri, who also has A-level strength, he can't limit Seri's performance in a one-on-one situation.

This allows Seri to play his advantage of long passes and frequently deliver shells to Balotelli and Salah in front.

Balotelli and Salah, two A-level forwards, are not something that B-level defenders can defend one-on-one.

Although Montpellier has four defenders in the back line, they can't be divided into two groups of two-on-one defense. Nice's two flanks still need full-backs to defend. At most, they can only use three defenders to defend Balotelli and Salah.

Three against two, defending two A-level forwards, this is not possible at all.

It's okay to prevent them from getting the ball, but once one of them gets the ball, it will pose a threat.

Especially Salah, once he gets the ball, he can often create a huge threat. And when he and Balotelli cooperate well, it makes the Montpellier defenders unable to resist.

Montpellier's attack was threatening, and as long as they created more opportunities, they could still score. But their defense was like paper in front of Balotelli and Salah.

This made it difficult for them to break through Nice's goal, and instead allowed Salah to break into the penalty area and shoot low.

In the 21st minute, the score became 1:0. Nice was leading!