blogombal Chapter 33 Strong Side Strike Overload
Chapter 33 Strong Side Strike Overload
The day after the match between South Korea and Italy, the Chinese coaching staff held a tactical seminar to prepare for the match against Senegal.
After all, the round of 16 ends in just three days, and the quarterfinals will begin soon.
Although the match between China and Senegal was scheduled as the last game, time was still tight.
Just like in the previous matches, Ye Xian had also gathered information about Senegal well in advance, and he explained it to Milutinovic and coaches Jin and Chi at the meeting.
"Almost all the players on this team come from Ligue 1, so they are quite strong."
"French coach Mechu used tactical discipline to restrain the African players' undisciplined nature, allowing them to play as a team, which is why they have been able to fight their way to this point."
"But at the same time, they still retain the characteristics of African players in terms of physical strength, technique and speed, and their individual combat ability is still outstanding."
"So dealing with them is not an easy task..."
In fact, when Senegal defeated France 1-0 in the opening match of this World Cup, the media called it a match in which "France's second team" defeated "France's first team".
This is absolutely not an exaggeration.
In fact, the vast majority of Senegalese national team players hold French citizenship.
The French team also has many players from its former colonies.
This is one of the reasons why the French team can consistently maintain a high level of performance: they can select players from a wide talent pool, not just from France.
To put it bluntly, a large number of French-speaking countries are training talent for France.
Those who play well are selected for the French national team.
Those who aren't very good at playing football have no choice but to become national team players in African countries.
Take Zinedine Zidane, for example. If he hadn't played well, he might be an Algerian international right now.
The defensive stalwart Desailly is actually Ghanaian.
And Arsenal's defensive midfielder Vieira's parents are both Senegalese...
This Senegalese team, with its entire squad playing in Ligue 1 and its head coach being French, has an even stronger "Baguette flavor."
「他们主打的阵型是4-1-4-1，有时候也会踢4-3-1-2，但总体来说都是踢防守反击的套路。」
"Whether playing against France or Sweden, the strategy is the same: trapping the enemy in midfield, strangling them down the flanks, and launching single-target attacks."
"In terms of attack, the most crucial player is undoubtedly Diouf, who plays for Lens. He is extremely fast, has excellent dribbling skills, and is strong at holding the ball with his back to goal..."
Ye Xian began pointing and gesturing on the tactics board.
Starting with the forwards, then moving down to the defenders and goalkeepers, he reviewed each player one by one.
This is what Milutinovic, Jin Zhiyang, and Chi Shangbin admire most.
To be honest, most people only have a general understanding of African teams, knowing that they are physically strong, fast, and technically skilled.
But it's really hard to pinpoint the specific characteristics of each player.
But Ye Xian understands it very well!
This allows the team to be very targeted when formulating tactics, avoiding aimless actions.
"In the previous few matches, Senegal chose to play a defensive counter-attacking style. So when they play against us, will they choose to attack?" Milutinovic asked.
"I don't think so," Ye Xian replied.
"On the one hand, Michu is already very familiar with this formation and has led Senegal to a historic quarterfinal appearance. Out of habit, he won't risk changing it."
"On the other hand, we are now also a quarter-final team, and we have performed well in the previous matches, even scoring 3 goals against the Japanese team."
"This will definitely make them wary of our offensive firepower, and they will continue to use a defensive counter-attacking style of play."
Jin Zhiyang also said, "So how should we deal with this? The opponents we've faced before have all been offensive teams, and it seems we haven't encountered a team like this before."
Ye Xian said, "We won't press too far forward, but we don't need to defend with all our might either. My suggestion is to play a more balanced game, first establish our own teamwork, and then look for their weaknesses. After all, they are still an African team. As long as we stabilize first, they will inevitably reveal their flaws!"
Chi Shangbin asked, "How exactly do we do it?"
"We don't have many players with strong ball control, so we need to rely on teamwork to attack. Specifically, we need to move the ball more to the left to create a strong attacking side and focus on attacking Senegal's right flank!" Ye Xian patted the left side of the Chinese team on the tactics board.
China's left-back Wu Chengying is fast and powerful. When paired with left winger Ma Mingyu and left forward Yang Chen, they can indeed create some good attacks.
Right-back Xu Yunlong is more defensively oriented, and Qu Bo's overall ability is also somewhat inferior to Yang Chen's.
It's a pity Sun Jihai was injured, otherwise he could have taken off too!
But with the current personnel configuration, Ye Xian needs to use tactical resource allocation to compensate for the players' lack of ability.
Another point is that Senegal's right flank is indeed relatively weak.
Besides center forward Diouf, their best player is number 10 Fadiga on the left wing.
He plays for Auxerre and is very strong in one-on-one situations, with great impact. Xu Yunlong will probably have to spend a lot of energy defending against his breakthroughs.
If Xu Yunlong is allowed to participate too much in the attack, the area behind him will undoubtedly become a key target for Fadiga's surprise attack.
Because of Fadiga's strength, both Diouf on the front line and captain Aliou Cissé, who plays as the lone defensive midfielder, would habitually move to this side to receive the ball and cooperate.
It can be said that Senegal's main attacking point is on the left flank.
On Senegal's right flank, both Ndiaye and Ferdinand Colly are defensively oriented with weak attacking capabilities.
Even if Wu Chengying and Ma Mingyu charge in, there won't be too many hidden dangers.
"Of course, we don't just attack down the left flank all the time. Once we draw their defensive focus over there, we can use a long pass to break through on the other side, which can create a bigger threat..."
As Ye Xian's explanations deepened, Milutinovic and the coaches nodded frequently.
This "strong-side overload" tactic was first successfully used in the World Cup by the Dutch team in 1974, who played a total football style.
At that time, Michels positioned star players Cruyff, Neeskens, and Rensenbrink on the left flank for attack, while leaving only one winger on the right wing to wait for the ball to be passed to them.
Later, renowned coaches such as Guardiola and Klopp further developed and popularized this style of play.
For example, during Barcelona's Dream Team era, Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, and Alves formed a classic strong right flank.
Klopp's Liverpool also relied on the right flank, with Salah and Arnold leading the attack.
Ye Xian's use of this tactic to counter Senegal's counter-attacking strategy is clearly very targeted.
After all, only by first determining the offensive focus and then shifting it according to the situation on the field can you create more openings for the opponent as they constantly move their defensive positions.
If the defensive positions are fixed, it is actually very difficult to break through the defense – this was the case when Brazil played against China. They relied too much on the individual abilities of their star players and did not try to stretch the Chinese defense as much as possible.
"I see no problem with this strategy." Milutinovic finally made the decision.
"We'll immediately gather the players and communicate our tactical strategy. Everyone, please pay close attention and cooperate fully with Ye's training arrangements!"