【10-11 ZM专贴】280L：替补伊布戴帽助瑞典5-0横扫芬兰

Alex2011

Villarreal 0-1 Barcelona: Barca eight points clear
April 3, 2011

The starting line-ups

Gerard Pique smashed in the only goal of the game after Lionel Messi came off the bench.

Juan Carlos Garrido set out in his usual 4-4-2 / 4-2-2-2 system. Nilmar was only on the bench, so Marco Ruben started. Carlos Marchena continued in his new holding midfield role, pushing Borja Valero out to the right, and Jose Catala was at left-bac
Pep Guardiola was without Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Pedro Rodriguez, Eric Abidal and – from the start – Messi. This caused a big reshuffle across the side, with Pique and Dani Alves the only outfield regulars starting in their usual position. Thiago Alcantara started in midfield alongside Seydou Keita, Andres Iniesta moved into the front three, and Ibrahim Afellay was on the left.
With the absence of Xavi and Messi, Barcelona were clearly less creative and not particularly threatening when they had the ball. They still dominated possession, however, especially as Iniesta dropped into central positions to become an extra man in midfield, allowing Alves to scamper down the flank.

Rossi a threat
The main interest in the early stages came from Villarreal’s attackers up against Barcelona’s makeshift centre-back pairing. In particular, Pique and Sergio Busquets were very wary of Giuseppe Rossi, and he caused them problems in two separate ways – both with his creativity and trickery in deep-lying positions, and with his pace in behind.
It was notable that whilst Ruben was allowed time on the ball in deep positions, Rossi was always followed by one of the two centre-backs when he dropped off. This strategy had two parts – primarily, it meant that Rossi, the main threat, was closed down more quickly when he had the ball, but not following Ruben was because Barcelona were scared of their defence opening up for Rossi’s forward runs. He did manage to penetrate the backline early on, but Victor Valdes came to Barca’s rescue with an excellent save.
After around 20 minutes, Guardiola decided to switch Pique and Busquets – Busquets came to the right of the pairing and was directly up against Rossi (despite having previously been outpaced by him) though this meant that the quicker Pique was acting as the covering centre-back.

Barcelona not fluent
Barcelona’s problems upfront were twofold. First, they lacked creativity with Xavi and Messi out – that was obvious. Second, David Villa struggled for support throughout the game. Iniesta dropped off into midfield, whilst Afellay stayed very wide. Neither Keita nor Alcantara looked to break forward and connect with Villa, so he often looked isolated.
Villarreal were defending rather well – the full-backs stayed quite wide and stuck to their men (particularly Mario Perez up against Afellay), and although this increased the gap between centre-backs and full-backs (the area Barcelona love to play in), the lack of drive from midfield meant they didn’t take advantage in these areas.

Villarreal dragged out of shape
Alves caused Villarreal difficulties, though. He didn’t do a great deal on the ball, but his forward runs meant Santi Cazorla had to follow him into deep positions. This is the usual situation for left wingers up against Alves, but for Villarreal it was particularly problematic – because Villarreal’s wide players like to come inside into the centre of the pitch, Cazorla was forced a long way from the zone he wanted to create from, and Villarreal lacked a link player.
This meant Rossi dropped into that position, and started to pick up Javier Mascherano when Barcelona have the ball. Against a 4-4-2, Barcelona often look to drop their holding midfielder into the back and move to a 3-4-3, but this didn’t happen often – (a) because Mascherano is not as comfortable as Busquets at the back and (b) because Rossi moving onto Mascherano meant Barcelona had a spare man at the back anyway.

Second half
The line-ups after Messi's introduction

Especially with Real Madrid’s defeat earlier in the day, Guardiola seemed content with a draw – at no stage did Barcelona go all-out-attack. They did, however, have the luxury of bringing on the world’s best player, and Messi’s introduction, for Keita, changed the game.
It wasn’t necessarily all about Messi’s individual impact. The change prompted a reshuffle – Messi played as a false nine – arguably even deeper, as a classic No 10 – and Villa went to the right. In turn, Iniesta came inside into his best position, on the left of the midfield three. Suddenly, Barcelona had much more creativity – not just from Messi in playmaking positions, but with the silky Iniesta in the side in place of the more functional Keita. They stepped it up, and though they didn’t create many great chances, their pressure eventually resulted in the corner for Pique’s goal. Villarreal will be disappointed with their marking – Barca only had two real targets for corners, Busquets and Pique, and one of them flicked the ball on towards the other, who scored.
Villarreal had chances. Nilmar’s introduction for the static Ruben meant they had more movement and energy upfront, and Valdes was forced into another exceptional save – he was the game’s star man. Barcelona kept the ball for most of the final 20 minutes, though, and Villarreal didn’t have the energy to win it back.

Conclusion
This was nothing like the previous meeting between the sides, which was one of the best games of the season. It was slower, calmer and neither side pressed as intensely – and there were fewer natural attacking threats on the pitch.
The introduction of Messi pushed Barcelona forward and gave their side a more natural feel, but they needed a set-piece to win it.

Alex2011

Napoli 4-3 Lazio: Cavani wins amazing game
那波里4-3拉齐奥：卡瓦尼赢得美妙动人的比赛
April 3, 2011

The starting line-ups

Edinson Cavani scored another hattrick as Napoli battled back from 0-2 and 2-3 down to win.

Walter Mazzarri chose his usual first choice XI for this season, with one exception – Hassan Yebda continued in place of Walter Gargano in the centre of midfield.

Eddy Reja, returning to his former club, surprisingly left out Hernanes and switched to a 4-2-3-1 system.

Despite developing into an astonishing contest, the game actually started quite slowly. Both ‘double pivots’ in the centre of midfield were allowed time on the ball, but tended to pass the ball from side to side, rather than playing it forward, and the match was quite static.

Game takes off

The sides started to get amongst each other as the first half went on, particularly when Yebda moved higher up the pitch and put more pressure upon the two deep Lazio midfielders. This created space in behind, however, and Stefano Mauri was the main beneficiary. He was the key man in a ten-minute spell in the middle of the opening period, scoring the first goal and coming close to another by finding space in an inside-right position, pushing up to connect with Mauro Zarate. Lazio often looked like a 4-2-4 in the attacking phase of play.

Napoli were poor in the first half, creating few goalscoring opportunities. Marek Hamsik was the pick of the front three – he cleverly found space on the edge of the penalty area, but was unable to link up with the other two forwards frequently. With Lazio playing a highish line, Napoli’s best chances came when Christian Maggio and Andrea Dossena made long diagonal runs from the wings to get on the end of balls over the top, and Lazio’s full-backs didn’t look comfortable against that pace.

It was surprising that Napoli struggled in the centre of midfield, and they often appeared outnumbered when they had the ball. Usually, when they play against a side with one man upfront, they push Hugo Campagnaro forward slightly, almost as an additional right-sided central midfield. That didn’t happen here, however, because Giuseppe Sculli remained advanced on the left-hand side, well ahead of Alvaro Gonzalez on the right. Yebda had a decent game, but Napoli perhaps missed the authority on the ball offered by Gargano.

Second half

The second half was a crazy contest featuring a red card, a penalty, an own goal, a ‘was it over the line?’ controversy, a last-minute winner, a hattrick, a couple of fights and, in total, six goals. It’s also worth considering that none of the goals resulted from good football or clever build-up play – Lazio’s second half goals came from a set piece and an own goal, whilst Napoli scored from two set-pieces, a penalty, and then after a simple, long hoof downfield from their goalkeeper. It wasn’t technically proficient, but it was extremely exciting – although everything happened in such a frantic fashion, that it’s very difficult to analyse in chronological order. Here then, are some general points from the second half:

First, both sides (particularly Lazio) defended free-kicks abysmally. The marking was atrocious at both ends, and Lazio managed to make life particularly difficult for themselves by helping the ball into dangerous areas – the free-kicks for Napoli’s first and second goals were both flicked on by Lazio players at the near post. They also both found Maggio unmarked at the far post – the first occasion he headed in himself, the second time he nodded across for Cavani.

Second, Mazzarri used his substitutions very well. He gradually increased his attacking threat – first inserting Giuseppe Mascara to be a ‘runner’ from midfield, and then when Lazio went down to ten men, he threw on Cristiano Lucarelli to provide a focal point for the attacks when Morgan de Sanctis wanted to kick the ball long – this worked well for the winner. In between, he also introduced Gargano, which added guile to the midfield zone.

Third, Lazio were guilty of sitting far too deep. Having started the game with the highish line that Napoli were seemingly only able to exploit sporadically through their wing-backs, they ended up playing with almost the entire side in their own third of the pitch. For a while, Napoli struggled to break through and sat too deep themselves, but considering how badly Lazio defended set-pieces, it was suicidal to allow crosses into a congested penalty area.

Four, Mazzarri ended up with something like a 4-1-1-4 system, similar to the shape Jose Mourinho used on the rare occasions his Inter side were desperate for a goal late on in games. It worked well here – providing a solid defensive base (even though Napoli had started with a back three) and five clear attacking threats, plus one man, Gargano, to break up play and distribute the ball forward.

Conclusion

Arguably the game of the season so far. At 0-2, it appeared Reja had got the better of the tactical battle, but Lazio’s poor defending at set-pieces allowed Napoli back into the game, and from then the momentum and confidence was with the home side. The second half was scrappy, and whilst Napoli didn’t play particularly well at time, they took their chances excellently – only a poor finish from Mascara is memorable as a wasted chance.

Cavani further strengthened his claim to be regarded as the best player in Serie A this season, and unquestionably the most astute signing.

Alex2011

转贴，100楼的参考译文
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AC米兰3-0国际米兰 战术复盘：帕托的进球使米兰掌控了局面
由 rhapsodia 发表在GoalHi足球·翻译团-足球

Two goals from Alexandre Pato and another from Antonio Cassano sent Milan five points clear of Inter.
帕托的两个进球和卡萨诺的锦上添花让米兰领先国米5分。

Max Allegri started Pato and Robinho upfront in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s absence. Clarence Seedorf played on the left of midfield, and Gianluca Zambrotta got a surprise start at left-back.
在伊布拉希莫维奇缺阵的情况下，阿莱格里用帕托和罗比尼奥作为先发锋线。西多夫首发的位置是左中场，赞布罗塔令人惊讶地作为左后卫先发。

Leonardo chose to play 4-2-1-3 rather than 4-3-1-2. Javier Zanetti played at left-back, and both Cristian Chivu and Andrea Ranocchia were fit to start – Lucio was suspended.
莱昂纳多选择了4-2-1-3阵型而不是4-3-1-2。萨内蒂踢左后卫，齐沃和拉诺基亚的身体状况适合先发——卢西奥停赛了。

The game got off to a sensational start – Pato scored the opener after just 44 seconds, and Milan were immediately in charge.
比赛一开场就让人兴奋——仅过44秒帕托就首开记录，米兰立即掌握了主动。

Midfield battle
中场大战

The key to the game was the midfield battle, where Milan had a 4 v 3 advantage. As a result, they dominated possession and all four players played their roles well – Mark van Bommel sat, Rino Gattuso shuttled and doubled up against Samuel Eto’o, Clarence Seedorf was the most ‘free’ player and carried the ball well, whilst Kevin-Prince Boateng drove forward and connected the midfield and attack. Boateng also provided an aerial presence for long goal-kicks forward, which was quite useful – as Inter’s forwards occupied Milan’s defenders, Christian Abbiati couldn’t play out from the back, and neither could he play long to Robinho or Pato, who lack height and aerial prowess.
比赛关键在于中场对决，米兰在此处有4打3的优势。结果是，他们掌握了控球优势，四名队员都很好地发挥了自己的作用——范博梅尔坐镇后方，加图索来回奔跑，并协防埃托奥，西多夫是四人里最“自由”的球员，很好地控制了皮球，而博阿滕压上连接中场和锋线。博阿滕还给门将开大脚球提供了空中支点，这相当有用——由于国米的前锋对上了米兰的后卫，阿比亚蒂不能把球传给后卫；他也不能长传给罗比尼奥或帕托，这两人缺少高度和制空能力。

There were some interesting duels in the midfield. Gattuso started playing high up, putting pressure on Thiago Motta when he moved forward with the ball, but Gattuso soon dropped deeper and spent more time moving out towards Eto’o, who wasn’t very effective in wide positions as a result. Mark van Bommel tracked Wesley Sneijder well, though was happy to let him drift into deeper positions unoccupied. On the other hand, when Milan had possession in the early stages, Sneidjer dropped deep and let van Bommel have time on the ball – but later on moved forward to mark him, and Milan weren’t able to use van Bommel as a pivot.
中场的一些对位颇有意思。加图索开场的位置靠上，当莫塔带球向前时就给他施加压力；但随即回撤，更多时候移到埃托奥这一侧，这也使得后者在边路不太有效。范博梅尔很好地盯住了斯内德，尽管乐于让后者不受阻碍地游动到靠后的位置。另一方面，当米兰在比赛早段控球的时候，斯内德回收让范博梅尔去控球——但之后就上前盯防，这让米兰没法将范博梅尔用作一个支点。

With both defences defending relatively deep (Milan more so than Inter, who moved higher up the pitch as the game went on), the midfield zone was stretched and very open. Inter were essentially overpowered in this zone, and Leonardo really needed an extra body in midfield to help Inter compete. He decided to start with Goran Pandev on the right – he may have regretted not using Dejan Stankovic, because that would have given him more flexibility to move between systems. The use of Sneijder and three forwards meant he was tied to 4-2-1-3.
由于双方防线靠后（米兰比国米更甚，后者随比赛进行压得更靠上），中场区域被拉伸了，显得相当开放。国米在这一区域基本上是被压制了，实际上莱昂纳多在中场需要再多一人协助国米竞争。他决定把潘德夫放在右路先发——或许他会后悔没用斯坦科维奇，因为那样的话会有更大的弹性来进行变阵。用斯内德加三前锋意味着他得固守4-2-1-3。

Inter defence
国米防线

Despite Milan’s obvious midfield advantage, they were at their most threatening when they played quick, direct football, rather than working the ball gradually forward. With Inter behind from the first minute and therefore pushing both Maicon and Javier Zanetti up the pitch straight away, they often had 2 v 2 at the back.
尽管米兰有着明显的中场优势，他们最有威胁的时候出现在采取快速、直接踢法的时候，而不是将球逐渐推进的时候。国米从第一分钟起就处于落后，从而把麦孔和萨内蒂都立即推上前线，他们在后方通常是2打2的局面。

Ranocchia and Chivu simply couldn’t deal with the pace of Pato and Robinho, who started from the channels and made diagonal runs into the centre of the pitch, in behind the defence. Really, Inter needed an extra man at the back, or at least a full-back playing a more conservative role, and in a position to cover when Milan broke quickly.
拉诺基亚和齐沃就是没法跟上帕托和罗比尼奥的速度，后者在边路启动斜插到中路，把后卫甩在身后。国米确实需要多一人在后方，后者至少得有一名边后卫踢得更保守些，当米兰快速反击的时候能在协防的位置上。

It was the first time Ranocchia and Chivu had started together at the back, and there was clearly no understanding between the two. Chivu was the most vulnerable. He became drawn up the pitch too easily, and then didn’t have the pace to turn and recover his position. Ranocchia and Zanetti had to cover on separate occasions when Pato went through in the first half.
拉诺基亚和齐沃是第一次搭档中卫首发，彼此显然没有默契。齐沃最容易受攻击。他很容易被吸引出来，然后又没速度转回到自己的位置。拉诺基亚和萨内蒂在上半场不同场合都需要过来补位，当帕托突进的时候。

It should also be noted that Milan’s midfield advantage meant there was often no Inter pressure on the ball for passes over the top. Pato was also guilty of not using his pace enough – turning back into play rather than motoring towards goal.
同样值得注意的是，米兰的中场优势意味着国米对于过顶传球通常没有施加压力。帕托也错在没有充分利用自己的速度——更多地是向回走而不是向前冲。

Inter had their chances, though. Both came from wide areas (where they naturally were more of a threat than Milan). Motta’s header from a corner was brilliantly saved by Christian Abbiati, whilst Eto’o somehow shot wide at the far post after a Pandev cross.
不过国米也有机会。两次机会都来自边路（这里他们自然比米兰更有威胁）。莫塔接角球开出的头球攻门被阿比亚蒂漂亮地扑住，而埃托奥接潘德夫传中则射偏了。

Second half
下半场

The game was decided soon after half time. Inevitably, the key moment involved Chivu being caught out for pace in behind – Pato got the ball in Milan’s centre-left channel, was through on goal, but cut across the pitch and was tripped by Chivu. The Romanian was sent off, and Ivan Cordoba replaced Pandev as Inter went 4-2-1-2ish.
下半场开始不久比赛就大局已定了。无可避免地，关键时刻出现在齐沃速度跟不上的时候——帕托接中左路的直塞球内切突破，被齐沃绊倒。罗马尼亚人被罚出场，科尔多巴替下潘德夫，国米打类似4-2-1-2的阵型。

Milan made very good use of their extra man (in stark contrast to how they failed to adapt (under Leonardo) when Jose Mourinho’s Inter went down to ten men in this fixture last year). They suddenly had their full-backs completely free, and spread the ball from flank to flank, stretching the play and making Inter’s ten men work harder. The goal came when Ignazio Abate (the poorest player in the first Milan derby of the season, but very good here) motored forward and crossed for Pato’s second.
米兰很好地利用了他们多打一人的优势（和去年他们面对穆里尼奥的国米也是11打10时欠缺章法的状况形成鲜明对比）。他们突然完全解放了两名边后卫，不断把球分边，拉宽阵型，让国米场上的十人更加忙碌。阿巴特压上传中制造了帕托的第二个进球（前者是本赛季第一回合米兰德比表现最差的人，不过本场表现非常好）。

That was essentially game over. Milan continued to be a threat with balls over the top, and Robinho should have taken advantage of these situations. His replacement, Antonio Cassano, won and scored a penalty in stoppage time, before being sent off.
比赛基本已经结束。米兰继续用过顶球制造威胁，罗比尼奥本应抓住那些机会。替补他上场的卡萨诺在补时阶段赢得点球并亲自罚进，随后被罚下。

Conclusion
结论

A clear tactical victory for Allegri – or perhaps, more of a defeat for Leonardo. Inter were exposed in two different ways – they were outnumbered and outbattled in midfield, whilst also amazingly vulnerable at the back to balls over the top. Inter didn’t do well enough without the ball – the wide forwards, in particular, didn’t help out enough – which has echoes of Milan under Leonardo last year, particularly away at Manchester United.
阿莱格里战术上一次明显的胜利——又或许，更多地是莱昂纳多的一次失败。国米在两方面暴露了缺陷——他们在中场以少打多不敌对方，同时后防线又屡受过顶球侵扰。国米在无球时做得不够好——尤其是边锋，没有给到足够的帮助——让人回想到去年莱昂纳多治下米兰的情况，尤其是客场面对曼联的时候。

Milan may have been helped by Ibrahimovic’s absence. Though he was the key man in the fixture earlier in the season (and his pace was a threat, winning the penalty in that game), Milan enjoyed having too very mobile players who played in the channels, rather with a more static focal point for the attack. Their two experienced Dutchman also had great games in the centre – van Bommel broke things up and distributed the ball wide, whilst Seedorf played intelligent balls higher up.
伊布拉希莫维奇的缺阵或许帮了米兰。尽管他在本赛季第一回合的对决中是关键先生（他的步伐有威胁，在比赛中赢得了点球），但米兰在进攻中采用两名机动性很强、善于在边路活动的球员，比起使用一个相对静态的支点更有成效。他们阵中两名经验丰富的荷兰人在中路同样有着优异表现——范博梅尔阻截和分边，而西多夫在前场踢得很聪明。

[ 此帖被rhapsodia在2011-04-03 16:57修改 ]

原文链接：http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/04/03/milan-3-0-inter-pato-goals-put-milan-in-charge/
原文标题：Milan 3-0 Inter: Pato goals put Milan in charge
完工日期：2011-4-3
译者：rhapsodia

Alex2011

那不勒斯的阵型很有意思

Alex2011

Benfica 1-2 Porto: Porto are champions
April 4, 2011

The starting line-ups

Two goalkeeping errors from Roberto handed Porto the Liga Sagres title.

Neither Oscar Cardozo nor Maxi Pereira were fit to begin the game for Jorge Jesus’ men, so Jara and Airton started.

Andre Villas Boas brought back Helton in goal, and Nicolas Otamendi replaced Maicon at the back. Joao Moutinho came in for Fernando Belluschi in midfield.

The start of the game was very scappy – it was stopped too many times by the referee, who also had to deal with some objects being thrown onto the pitch – this all created a stereotypically fractured and ill-disciplined Classico.

Direct play

The main feature of the first half was that the ball spent relatively little time in the centre of midfield. Both sides were looking to play quick, direct forward passes up towards their forward players, and the game was literally end-to-end stuff in the opening period.

Porto’s strategy was to switch the ball across to the left flank, where Silvestre Varela remained wide. Airton stuck very tight to him and did a good job in 1 v 1 situations. On the opposite flank, Hulk, the man who dominated the previous encounter, was kept reasonably quiet by Fabio Coentrao, who confronted the Brazilian quickly and didn’t let him pick up speed and run with the ball.

Benfica sometimes tried to play through Pablo Aimar, but aside from an early attack where he was cynically brought down on the counter, he didn’t manage to exert an influence on the game – a common feature of the ‘big’ matches he’s played in over the last couple of seasons. More often, it seemed Benfica were trying to play the ball to Jara in the channels, but he was often outmuscled and failed to hold the ball up.

The opening goal came from a dreadful Roberto error – he pushed in a shot that wasn’t heading into the net, and Benfica equalised from the penalty spot after a foul on the edge of the penalty area. Neither goal owed much to design or unlocking the opposition defence, and both sides struggled for real creativity on the ball.

As the game went on, the midfield battle became increasingly important, and Porto admirably managed to dominate that zone despite having (in theory) one fewer player – they attacked directly through the middle and caught Nicolas Gaitan and Salvio in wide positions, exposing Javi Garcia ahead of his own back four. The move that resulted in Porto’s penalty was the only great football the game saw – slick passing through the middle ended up with Falcao being brought down by Roberto, and Hulk dispatched the penalty calmly.

Second half

Jorge Jesus made two changes at the break. Jara and Aimar were both withdrawn – Cardozo came on upfront, and Cesar Peixoto went to the left, in tandem with Coentrao, whilst Gaitain moved into the centre. Gaitan was now the man Benfica were looking to for inspiration, but his only notable contribution was a bizarre, wayward shot from the halfway line.

Benfica were slightly better in the second half but still rarely unlocked the Porto defence. Villas Boas instructed his side to sit deeper, and whilst in the first half Hulk and Varela were a little slow getting back, meaning Porto defended with only seven players, it was more of a 4-1-4-1 shape in the second half. Fernando was the game’s best player, sitting between the lines and breaking up play, whilst also distributing the ball calmly to the full-backs, pushing Porto up the pitch with the ball.

The game really lacked any kind of purpose until the 70th minute, when Porto had Otamendi dismissed for a second bookable offence. Villas Boas hadn’t changed anything until then, and this gave Porto a new challenge – 20 minutes to preserve a one-goal advantage, with one fewer player.

Villas Boas made two substitutions, removing both Varela and Falcao, bringing on another midfielder, Belluschi, and a replacement centre-back, Maicon. Porto then sat deep in a 4-4-1 formation, similar to how Inter held out at the Nou Camp last season. Hulk did a good job of being an nuisance upfront, whilst the midfield played very narrow, preventing Benfica from playing through the centre of the pitch.

Benfica still didn’t play good football – their best hope was bringing Cardozo into play – he made a good impact, held the ball up well, and tested Helton a couple of times. Cardozo’s frustration got the better of him, though, and he was sent off in the closing stages for a late, wild hack. That should have signalled the end of Benfica’s efforts, but Gaitan’s shot was followed up by Salvio, who hit the post. Porto held out.

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Conclusion

“We showed who plays the best football”, said Villas Boas after the game. That is only half the story – frankly, there wasn’t much good football played, though the only good move of the match resulted in the decisive penalty. In terms of aesthetic beauty and symbolism, it’s a shame Falcao wasn’t able to put the ball in himself, as that would have wrapped up the title nicely.

Benfica simply didn’t have enough quality on the ball, even with an extra player. None of the midfield four played well, and the result was that Porto managed to overpower them in the centre, partly through the strength and quality of their midfield three, but also through intelligent and reserved full-back play, casually supporting the midfield and making Benfica move across the pitch.

Porto are deserved champions, and may well go the season unbeaten.

Alex2011

本赛季，本菲卡被波尔图双杀，一个0-5，一个1-2

北极海

90哥，西汉姆对曼联的比赛阵型图片和评论文章有吗？

pedro

107# 北极海

zm上，至今还没有这场比赛的技术评论帖，比这场球赛晚的几场比赛却有

Penelope

Twente 2-0 PSV: Twente go top
April 5, 2011

The starting line-ups

FC Twente moved ahead of PSV Eindhoven, thanks to two goals from Theo Janssen.

Nikolay Mihaylov replaced Sander Boschker in goal, in Michel Preud’homme’s only change – Bryan Ruiz was only on the bench.

Fred Rutten named an unchanged side from the XI which beat Utrecht the previous weekend.

The game started at a slow tempo. The most obvious feature were that the two midfield trios were ‘matched’ up against each other in the centre of the pitch, with clear 1 v 1 battles. None of these players could get away from their marker to receive the ball, and therefore both sides spent the first few minutes playing the ball across the defence.

Direct play

With the midfield so unproductive in terms of creativity, both started trying to play direct balls from the defence to the two wide players. PSV did this slightly better than Twente – Balázs Dzsudzsák showed good awareness of the situation to drop deep and get service into feet, though this meant Emir Bajrami was in a position to double up, whilst Jeremain Lens stayed wide and wanted balls played down the wing. The best chances early on came from set-pieces.

The first half went through phases – around 20 minutes, both sides started trying to play balls over the top of the opposition defence. Denny Landzaat’s overhit pass almost found Wout Brama, who made a rare run from deep, and then Wilfred Bouma stepped out of the back to sweep a wonderful ball over to Marcus Berg, who wasted the opportunity. Berg had a poor game, staying upfront as a poacher but wasting chances, whilst Luuk de Jong was more of a link-up man.

That development owed much to both sides playing higher up and leaving space in behind, and another result of this was the increase in counter-attacking towards the end of the first half, as both sides left gaps at the back. Berg had another couple of chances here, as PSV seemed more suited to the counter-attacking game.

Second half

The tempo of the game increased again in the second half, with both sides pressing more and putting more pressure on each other’s defences. Again, this seemed to favour PSV, who were on top for the first 15 minutes of the second half – they seemed more mobile without the ball, and more cohesive when they tried to win it back.

Twente were hanging on slightly – but were still looking to score, and it was an entertaining contest as both sides looked to get the three points, rather than settling for a 0-0.

Ruiz on

The game changed significantly with the introduction of Bryan Ruiz, the Twente forward who caused havoc with his dribbling and immediately shifted the balance of play. Twente were more of a force in the game, and Ruiz found it easy to pick up possession – and one of his dribbles resulted in a penalty, converted by Janssen.

PSV had to respond, though Rutten didn’t change his system. Instead, he introduced Genero Zeefuik as a direct replacement for Berg, keeping the 4-2-3-1 shape and the same strategy he started the game with. However, as PSV seemed to be favouring a quick, confrontational game towards the start of the second half, they were now less effective when Twente had the luxury of sitting back and soaking up pressure. PSV found it difficult to play the ball to their wide players, and missed the presence of Ola Toivonen when playing through the centre.

Twente played on the counter late on, and Janssen grabbed his second with a wonderful run and chip.

Conclusion

A game of many parts – six, in fact, roughly in 15-minute spells. We had, in sequence (a) a slow, cagey game with all six midfielders struggling for time on the ball, (b) a period where the defences pushed up and both played longer balls, (c) a brief spell of counter-attacking before half-time, (d) more pressing in the second half and PSV on top, (e) Ruiz’s introduction putting Twente in command, and (f) PSV pushing for an equaliser, and Twente playing on the break.

PSV may feel slightly aggrieved at the scoreline – they created a few chances, but Berg wasted too many. The tactical battle was relatively even, and really the difference came from two individual runs – first from Ruiz, then from Janssen.

Penelope

Real Madrid v Tottenham: tactical preview
April 5, 2011

The potential starting line-ups

A clash between a man seen as the ultimate tactician, and a man seen as ‘not doing tactics’.

The main story here is the injury news. Each side’s most devastating attacking threat – Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale – is seen as a major doubt. There are also question marks over William Gallas, though he often seems to recover from niggling injuries and play through the pain. Here, to be safe (as usual) we’ll take any player that is ‘doubtful’ as likely to start, only those definitely out are omitted from thoughts.

Real high line?

The major tactical issue concerns how high Real Madrid’s defensive line will be. Pepe and Ricardo Carvalho are plays who naturally sit quite deep, but that won’t be the best strategy against Peter Crouch, who has a fantastic record in European competition, and enjoys winning headers at the back post. That’s generally only a problem if he can get into the penalty area, however, and if the opposition defence holds a high line, he’s much less effective.

Two former Premier League defenders have spoken to the Guardian’s Sid Lowe about the threat of Crouch, and playing a high line is clearly on the agenda.

Alvaro Arbeloa said:

“Maybe in England they’re more used to players like Crouch. Players who are tall, strong, good in the air. England is much tougher, physically. They know how to deal with players like Crouch. In Europe, it is harder to face him. Centre-backs don’t like it – that could be an explanation for the difference. We believe we’re ready for that because we have players who are strong in the air and Ricardo Carvalho has played in England but we can’t play to Crouch’s strengths. We have to push the defensive line as high as possible, to keep him away from the area. He’s tall but not that quick. We can risk giving him space in behind but we can’t risk him receiving in our penalty area: that’s where he causes problems, with knockdowns, second balls and headers.”

It’s quite rare to see a player speak so clearly about a specific area of his side’s tactics for an upcoming game, and Carvalho himself agreed with Arbeloa, when considering the differences in facing Crouch and Jermain Defoe:

“They’re both very good but very different and we’ll be forced to adapt accordingly. Against Crouch we can play higher because he is not so dangerous on the shoulder, while Defoe is quicker behind you.”

It’s very unlikely that Defoe will start over Crouch, however, and therefore we can expect a high line.

Pace in behind

That brings its own problems, though, and not just because Real were massacred by Barcelona when caught too high up the pitch. Tottenham have tremendous pace on the wings, with Aaron Lennon and (potentially) Bale, and whilst Marcelo and Ramos are much quicker than their centre-backs, they still might be vulnerable to Bale’s pace in behind.

At this point, we simply don’t know the match-up in pace – if Bale can outrun Ramos, Real could have problems. The key there would be how high up against the defensive line Bale can get – if his starting position is next to Ramos, possibly on his blind side, then the potential for him repeating his home display against Inter is entirely possible.

Counter-attacking

Bale might not be able to get into those positions, however, because Tottenham’s game is likely to be based around a counter-attacking strategy, as at the San Siro against Milan. Whilst they became associated with a relentless, all-out-attack style in the Premier League last season, they’re also more than capable of playing on the break, and the emergence of Brazilian holding player Sandro has given them extra protection ahead of the back four.

Real, too, are well used to playing on the break – and therefore we could be set for a slightly cagey opening few minutes – neither side wanting to make the first move and leave space in behind for the opposition’s quick players to exploit.

Lennon will be crucial in helping to stop Ronaldo

Creating space in midfield

An important factor in the game might be exploiting space between the lines. Sandro, for example, did a great job away at Milan by tracking Clarence Seedorf all across the pitch, but then he had Wilson Palacios alongside him to occupy that space, and Milan offered no forward movement from their midfield zone. Sandro can’t afford to be as tight to Ozil in this game – partly because Ozil is a fantastically intelligent player with his off-the-ball movement, and partly because Real have players who can exploit the space he creates – most notably, Sami Khedira. That would put Luka Modric’s defensive abilities to the test.

At the other end, that same Khedira-Modric battle might be crucial. Rafael van der Vaart wanders across the pitch into wide zones, and Real will be very wary of him creating 2 v 1 situations down the flank against their full-backs. That means Xabi Alonso will have to follow him, and again, this may create space for Modric to charge into. Therefore, whilst the pacey wide players are the most important players in terms of a counter-attacking game, the ’second function’ midfielders, Modric and Khedira, are probably the key to the central midfield battle.

Ronaldo

This all leaves out what Tottenham should do about Ronaldo. In basic terms, Vedran Corluka has to (a) try and show him down the line, and (b) simply play well – get tackles in and not get beaten. In Gallas, they have a player comfortable of coming out to the flank if Corluka is beaten, and Assou-Ekotto has improved a lot in terms of covering the centre-back positions, once Michael Dawson has moved across.

The way to stop Ronaldo might be to negate the impact of Marcelo. Ronaldo loves to cut in from the left, but can often only do so when Marcelo goes on the overlap and stretches the play. Ronaldo was considerably less effective away at Lyon when Marcelo was omitted in favour of Arbeloa’s defensive ability. Therefore, if Lennon can deal with Marcelo – either by tracking him up and down the line, or by pinning him back permanently, Ronaldo might be less of a threat – especially if only half-fit.

Alex2011

Real Madrid 4-0 Tottenham: Spurs fall apart
April 5, 2011

The theoretical starting line-ups...

The early loss of a goal – and then a player – put Tottenham in a terrible situation they couldn’t recover from.
Jose Mourinho named his expected line-up. Emmanuel Adebayor played in the absence of Karim Benzema, who was injured, and Gonzalo Higuain, who was fit enough only for the bench.

Harry Redknapp named his expected starting line-up initially, but was then force to change his side when Aaron Lennon became ill before the game. Jermaine Jenas replaced him.

Real lined up as they usually do, in a 4-2-3-1, but Spurs used Gareth Bale on the right, with Luka Modric tucked in on the left and Jenas alongside Sandro in the centre. The away side struggled to get hold of the ball early on.

1-0

Spurs were quickly behind when Adebayor nodded in from a corner. There was seemingly some confusion about marking responsibilities  - Adebayor was being picked up by Jenas, but this was surely a late switch, as there’s no way Lennon would have been picking up the Togo striker. Either way, it was 1-0.

The game was changed significantly by the dismissal of Crouch, for two silly, unnecessary lunges at Real defenders. Crouch was the man Real particularly feared – see the preview – and this obviously made Spurs’ task much more difficult. Bale moved to the left, with Jenas out to the right and Modric in the middle.

Real pressing

It was expected that Real would sit back and invite pressure, but instead they pressed high up the pitch and denied Spurs time on the ball. This was a particular problem when Real had a man advantage, of course, as Modric and Jenas, in particular, were unable to cope with being put under such sustained pressure. There was one moment where Modric got the ball and was confronted immediately by three Real players, which summed up the home side’s approach.


...and how the sides actually matched up after Crouch's red card

The only attacking route Spurs had was to get the ball to Bale. He did a decent job down the left – he caused Sergio Ramos some problems and shot into the sidenetting after a long diagonal pass, but Real’s advantage at the back meant they were able to double up on him, and Bale generally received the ball a long way from goal.

Tottenham defence

Tottenham actually did well without the ball in the first half. They kept their shape nicely, defended narrow and forced Real wide – and the last-ditch defending, particularly from Michael Dawson, was heroic at times. Real were patient and worked the ball from side to side – Xabi Alonso was the main who imposed this calm, intelligent passing style on the side, alternating passes to the left and the right, forcing Spurs to work harder.

There was a lack of penetration from Real, however. Their best attacking force in the first half was Marcelo, primarily because he was the only player who had space to break into (Ramos was concerned with Bale on the other side, so was more reserved). Mesut Ozil wandered to the flanks to create 2 v 1s, which meant Real didn’t have a central playmaker to create, but meant they sent plenty of crosses in, which Spurs were happy enough to deal with.

Second half

Redknapp chose to bring on Jermain Defoe for the second half. Although in hindsight it barely helped Spurs, this was probably the right move – Rafael van der Vaart had contributed nothing, and with Real playing so high up the pitch, Defoe’s pace was probably the best bet of getting up the pitch and creating chances. Roman Pavlyuchenko would have offered more of a hold-up presence, but with Spurs increasingly tired and not being able to work the ball forward up to a front man accurately anyway, Defoe ‘running the channels’ was a decent move.

Cristiano Ronaldo's shots


Spurs continued to defend well in open play – the second goal they conceded was also an Adebayor header after a (short) corner. The third came after Spurs conceded possession in midfield cheaply, but Real’s pressing caused that, and Angel Di Maria’s shot was unstoppable.

By the final twenty minutes the game had ceased to be a contest. Spurs couldn’t get the ball up the pitch, Real were intent on scoring as many goals as possible but were wasteful in the final third, and really there was little tactical battle to speak of. Cristiano Ronaldo added the final goal with – amazingly – his 14th shot of the evening.

Conclusion

Spurs found it impossible to recover from a terrible opening to the game. The concession of the first two goals from set-pieces is peculiar when they’d defended so well in open play.

Real had a fairly easy task at 1-0 and one man up, but credit should go to their players for their patience in possession.

Chalkboard from TotalFootball iPhone app

Alex2011

赛后诸葛亮，战术上使用克劳奇和范德法特突前，就是中了鸟的圈套，鸟可以这么用大米和斯内德，但是热刺这么用范德法特就是糗了，所以少一个人时干脆就把偷鸡不成的范德法特换下去了，但是又换上迪福，而不是加强中场靠后的空虚，就更糟了。

列侬不能上是一个影响，但是倚重范德法特像上赛季国米使用斯内德那样，就是一个冒险，以及再用克劳奇而没有列侬突破下底传中，凭这个去打，羸弱的国米和米兰防线，还可以，但是打皇马这个级别的就差了马子大了去了。

全场皇马跑动一直比热刺积极，射门更是压倒性占据优势。还是里昂可以跟皇马拼拼。热刺中后场根本不能破坏皇马闪击战和围攻。

沙尔克之所以击败国米，大概有三个优势，一是跑动一直比国米强，劳尔下场前早就跑进1万米；一是小犯规比国米多了去了，吃黄牌虽多一些却没有国米愚蠢或者危险，齐沃连吃2张就下去了；三是，进了5球的那段时间里射门和射正均比国米多很多，所以上半场，即使2次先丢球，却能在16-10分钟里扳回来。不过国米控球上一直有些微的优势。

劳尔同学居然是沙尔克跑动最积极的，犯规也最多的之一，打进欧冠70球，欧战72球，均居第一，不得不服

午时靡深蓝

劳尔从出道以来在场上一直是非常非常非常勤奋的，在银河战舰时期众多大牌里他是唯一一个肯放下身段努力奔跑防守为球队做牺牲的，这个球员绝对值得尊敬

北极海

可惜劳尔大侠是你床的梦魇

Alex2011

这是关于国米vs沙尔克之战的欧足联官方网上技术统计链接
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampion ... 011/live/index.html

Penelope

Inter 2-5 Schalke: awful defending produces an incredible scoreline
April 6, 2011

The starting line-ups

Schalke shocked Inter to put themselves on the verge of a European Cup semi-final place.

Leonardo switched to a 4-3-1-2 system after Inter’s poor display against Milan with a 4-2-3-1. Dejan Stankovic replaced Goran Pandev, whilst Diego Milito played alongside Samuel Eto’o upfront.
Ralf Rangnick played a 4-4-1-1ish system. Kyriakos Papadopoulos was used as the sole holder in midfield, with Jurado given license to go forward. Raul played just off Edu upfront.
The game got off to a fantastic start with an amazing volley from the halfway line from Dejan Stankovic – Inter were 1-0 up after just 40 seconds.

Schalke dominate
The goal put Inter ahead, but Schalke were unquestionably the dominant side for most of the first half. Inter’s narrow system couldn’t contain Schalke’s full-backs, particularly down the home side’s left. Atsuto Uchida broke forward on various occasions completely untracked, and other times worked 2 v 1 situations with Jefferson Farfan down the flank.

Inter seemed content to let Uchida – and other Schalke players – have time on the ball in wide positions, as the Inter midfield three was very slow to shuffle across to close down. This was big mistake, however, because Cristian Chivu and Andrea Ranocchia both had terrible games at the back, and the constant stream of crosses was always going to cause them problems. In the end, Schalke got their equaliser from a corner.

Midfield battle

Inter may have had more bodies in the centre of the pitch, but they didn’t work well as a unit and were often played around by Schalke. Thiago Motta stayed as the deepest midfielder and had the responsibility of looking after Jurado, but the outside midfielders, Stankovic and Esteban Cambiasso, were unsure of what they were doing both with and without the ball (as previously discussed). With the ball, there was confusion about whether they were supposed to stay in central positions and allow the full-backs to overlap, or pull wide and stretch the play. With those two offering little, Inter’s build-up play was entirely predictable – almost all of it when through Wesley Sneijder.
Inter's attacking play all went through the centre-left channel, through Sneijder

This was a lot to ask of Sneijder, because he was near-man-marked by Papadopoulos for much of the opening period. Sneijder’s response was to drop deeper, lose his marker and pick the ball up near the halfway line, before sending balls over the top. A couple of his passes were excellent, and one created Milito’s goal to put Inter 2-1 up, after Cambiasso was free at the far post.

The goal that made it 2-2 was bizarre, considering the formations and the general pattern of play. Inter had packed the centre of the midfield, whilst Schalke were working the ball from side to side and trying to play down the flanks. Therefore, it was a surprise that Schalke’s goal came from a direct break down the middle. They took advantage of Motta trying to storm forward – the Brazilian was trying to exploit space created by Sneijder dragging Papadopoulos away, but as the deepest midfield and his side 2-1 up, he probably should have stayed in position He miscontrolled the ball, though, and Schalke broke straight down the middle to equalise again.

Other developments

Amongst all the tactical features that resulted in goals, there was other points of note. Raul worked extremely hard defensively, dropping off the front and pressuring one of Inter’s midfielders, often Motta, to give Schalke more bodies in that zone. He also provided a different passing option, whereas Inter’s strikers both stayed high up the pitch.

Schalke defended very well, keeping a good defensive line and catching Inter offside six times in the first period. Their full-backs were the ‘free’ players, and did well at tucking inside and creating a spare man at the back when Inter had the ball in wide positions – Uchida covered his centre-backs well, in particular.

Second half

In the second half, Schalke managed to extend their lead to 2-4 with two goals in a crazy ten minute spell. The goals simply owed a lot to classic features of modern football – movement, pace and quick passing. The third, through Raul, came after some wonderful passing that cut Inter open through the centre, whilst the fourth came from a break down the right – exploiting the space in behind Chivu, just as Milan did so successfully at the weekend – before Ranocchia summed up Inter’s defending by turning the ball into his own goal.
Schalke were constantly able to switch the ball to Uchida in space

Chivu had a disastrous evening, losing tackles and eventually being dismissed for a second bookable offence. It was his second red card in four days, and frankly Inter might be better off with him suspended. Leonardo had to bring on Ivan Cordoba as another centre-back, and so took of Houssine Kharja, who himself had replaced Stankovic early on. This was a relatively minor feature of the game and Inter were hardly likely to turn it around, but it was a strange decision to replace Kharja, who had fresher legs, when Inter looked exhausted as a whole.

Some more ludicrous defending at the back meant Edu added a fifth – but Schalke weren’t playing much better at the back, leaving spaces which Eto’o enjoyed running through – but poor finishing from he and Milito let Inter down.
Rangnick used his substitutions simply to replace tired legs, and it finished 2-5.

Conclusion

A ludicrous game that asks serious questions of Leonardo. Inter were outwitted tactically, made an incredible  number of individual mistakes, and looked exhausted at an early stage. Their attacking play was too predictable and revolved almost completely around Sneijder.

Rangnick should be praised for his approach, however. He presumably knew how much Inter depended on Sneijder and therefore used Papadopoulos and told him to stick tightly to the Dutchman. He also exploited Inter’s defensive weakness on the flanks, instructing his players to frequently switch the ball from flank to flank. By the second half, Schalke didn’t need a grand plan – they just ran into the huge spaces in the Inter defence and helped themselves to goals.

Penelope

Chelsea v Manchester United: tactical preview
April 6, 2011

Possible starting line-ups

Manchester United travel to Stamford Bridge with a score to settle, having narrowly lost the same fixture just over a month ago.

Whilst we’re used to these two sides playing each other, the nature of a two-legged battle brings a different challenge for both managers. Champions League two-legged ties are generally cagey and defensive-minded, but both managers have hinted they might attack from the start here. Besides, the Champions League knockout round has produced a surprisingly high number of goals so far this season – 11 goals in two matches last night indicates that trend may continue.

Unlike ahead of last night’s game at the Bernabeu, both managers have genuine decisions to make over their starting XIs here. Carlo Ancelotti has a simple choice upfront – two from Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and Fernando Torres. The three have different qualities, and therefore it’s possible that he’ll pick according to style over form – which would, of course, favour Fernando Torres – who would unquestionably be the man omitted were his manager picking simply according to recent displays.

Two from three for Chelsea

Irish journalist Miguel Delaney has offered an interesting take on Torres’ failings today, stating that Chelsea’s style of football hasn’t favoured the Spaniard. The quotes from Ancelotti would indicate that he acknowledges this, but tonight may be a game where Chelsea could vary their style and play to Torres’ strengths. United’s game against West Ham at the weekend showed that they were vulnerable to long balls into the channels for onrushing forward players, and whilst Drogba and Anelka are far from uncomfortable in those situations, Torres is potentially lethal.

A combination of Drogba and Torres seems to offer Chelsea the most promising match-ups against United’s backline. Nemanja Vidic’s woes against Torres in recent years may have been exaggerated, but there is history there. With Torres needing a psychological boost, and Vidic possibly nervous after the weekend display, that might be a battle Ancelotti will relish. Meanwhile, Drogba has caused Rio Ferdinand problems down the years – and if Ferdinand is not fit, one suspects Chris Smalling would rather play against Anelka than against Drogba.

Aside from that decision, Ancelotti’s side is unlikely to contain many surprises. Sir Alex Ferguson has a greater number of factors to consider.

United formation?

The biggest decision is which formation to play. Despite a fondness for a variety of 4-5-1 in recent years in Europe, Ferguson has been more likely to use 4-4-2 in ‘big’ games this season. His use of three central midfielders seems to be a safety measure to prevent him becoming overrun in that zone rather than a first-choice system – see the game away at Valencia, where he started off by matching Valencia’s 4-2-3-1, but as soon as Valencia switched to 4-4-2, he did the same, and won the game.

His decision may be influenced by the players he has available. Darren Fletcher is out and Anderson is doubtful, which points to a Michael Carrick – Paul Scholes combination in the centre of the pitch. Anderson could be useful if fit, however, to provide energy and drive higher up the pitch.

In this fixture last month, Ferguson used Fletcher on the right up against Ashley Cole, with Nani on the left. It would be a surprise if Nani didn’t start in that position again, despite his best work this season coming on the right. Ferguson has always been keen to nullify the threat of Cole, and after Valencia did a great job up against him at Stamford Bridge last season, that looks likely to be the situation again tonight.

Wayne Rooney will start – either as a lone forward if Ferguson uses an extra midfielder, or as a support striker if Javier Hernandez (or Dimitar Berbatov) is used upfront. The Mexican started against Chelsea last month, and his raw pace is something John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic will be wary of. The key there would be the knock-on effect – Chelsea would have to defend deeper, which might then increase the gap between midfield and defence, with Chelsea (unusually) having no defined holding player. That would give Rooney space to work in – and that’s the position he opened the scoring from in the aforementioned recent clash between the two.

by Guardian Chalkboards

That game has been such a key part of this preview because it was so fascinating tactically. It was the stereotypical game of two halves, both in style and result. The first half was relatively calm, strategic and patient, whilst the second was played at a higher pace and was much more physical. Carrick and Scholes dictated the game in the first half, then were overpowered in the second as Chelsea turned a 0-1 into a 2-1.

With that in mind, the most important feature of this game may be the tempo, with either side favouring a different type of game. Michael Essien and Frank Lampard are much more dynamic than Scholes and Carrick, who are better passers. Those players can’t merely go along with the nature of the game, however, they have to dictate the tempo and stamp their authority upon it. Carrick is important in this regard, and the main battleground is surely the midfield zone.

With both sides likely to play a 4-4-2, it will be interesting to see how either ‘adds’ to their duo in that zone. Ramires plays slightly narrow on the right for Chelsea, whilst for United Rooney might test the positional discipline of Chelsea’s midfield by dropping into deep positions.

None of this really considers the first leg mentality of either coach. Go out for the win, or play for a draw?

Penelope

Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United: first half Rooney goal gives United the lead in the tie
April 6, 2011

The starting line-ups

A tight game at Stamford Bridge saw only one goal.

Carlo Ancelotti chose to leave out Nicolas Anelka, starting Didier Drogba alongside Fernando Torres upfront. There was a surprise on the left, where Yuri Zhirkov played over Florent Malouda.

Sir Alex Ferguson welcomed back Rio Ferdinand. He also gave starts to Ryan Giggs and Park Ji-Sung, in a surprise midfield four. Javier Hernandez played just ahead of Rooney.

The game took a while to settle down into a pattern. Both sides made too many errors in the opening minutes, with misunderstandings between teammates and possession conceded too cheaply.

4-4-2 v 4-4-2

The match-ups across the pitch here were fairly obvious, and similar to the recent game between the two sides at Stamford Bridge. Both used four across the midfield, although it’s fair to say that none of the central midfielders used from the start are really at their best in a two-man central midfield partnership. This resulted in a strange contest in the middle of the pitch, with those players given a decent amount of time on the ball.

There was one slight exception to this was – Rooney dropped into the midfield zone and occupied Michael Essien when United were without the ball. Michael Carrick picked up Frank Lampard and Ryan Giggs was often, strangely, United’s deepest midfielder – keeping an eye on Ramires, who played narrow on the right for Chelsea.

Central midfield

The Carrick v Lampard battle was particularly interesting – Carrick would probably have preferred to have another midfielder ahead of him in order to defend a little deeper, whilst Lampard would have preferred to have another man behind him in order to make his trademark late runs into the box. The clash between those two was standoffish – Carrick was generally 10 yards from Lampard and only closed him down when he got the ball, whilst Lampard was nervous about not leaving space between the lines of midfield and attack, so stood off and allowed Carrick too much time on the ball to dictate play.


Lampard's forward passes were often unsuccessful

Carrick had a very good game, his best for a long time. In addition to passing calmly and spreading play to the flanks, he also hit a terrific crossfield pass that resulted in the only goal of the game, via Giggs’ cutback and Rooney’s finish. That was probably the only incisive pass of the half. Rooney had dropped off and found a huge amount of space between the lines, against bringing into question whether Chelsea are yet comfortable without a designated holding player.

Meanwhile, Lampard was actually a very good advert for Carrick’s usual  ’keep it simple’ approach – whenever Lampard passed the ball sideways, Chelsea moved up the pitch and continued their attacks, but whenever he attempted a forward pass, he gave away possession.

Attacking strategies

Despite playing a narrow four-man midfield with both Ramires and Zhirkov tucked in slightly, Chelsea’s best chances actually came when they worked the ball wide, before crossing. Jose Bosingwa was at fault for the goal but provided a good attacking presence down the right.

Having gone 1-0 up, United were more patient in possession. They were keen to hit Chelsea on the break – when they won the ball they tried to use it quickly and directly, but aside from one Rooney-orchestrated counter, this didn’t work too well.

Second half

The opening to the second half was similar to the first. The only incident of note was Rafael going off injured, meaning Nani came on and Antonio Valencia dropped to right-back, where he did a very good job for the rest of the game.
Chelsea’s midfield played higher up the pitch and pressured Carrick and Giggs more, perhaps trying to replicate the upturn in tempo they imposed after the break in the recent league game, where they were also 0-1 down at half time. United did OK at getting the ball wide quickly though, and the main impact of this Chelsea pressure was to give Rooney a little more space. It was notable that when he put the ball in the net in the second half (a long way after the whistle had gone), he had again found space between the lines. Chelsea can’t afford for this to happen in the second leg.


When United play two smalls players (ie Rooney and Hernandez) upfront, pressing them high up the pitch works well, as it forces van der Sar into long kicks that neither of the forwards are likely to win

Changes

Ancelotti waited until the 70th minute to make two substitutions – Malouda and Anelka came on for Zhirkov and Drogba. Chelsea went to 4-3-3, with Lampard playing much higher up the pitch, and immediately they dominated possession, pushing United back and sending the ball into the box more frequently. The extra man in midfield seemed to make it easier for them to work the ball forward, whilst Anelka and Malouda both dropped very deep to pick up possession.

United had looked in control until this point, but here they started to look nervous. Clearances were more hurried, tackles looked more desperate, but they kept 4-4-2 and Ferguson decided to bring on Dimitar Berbatov for Hernandez.

It was the further change for Chelsea that seemed to kill their momentum. Jon Obi Mikel came on and Michael Essien went to right-back. This meant Rooney went over to the left, Park Ji-Sung came into the centre of midfield, and United looked more solid with Park’s energy in the middle and more of a clear five-man midfield.

Chelsea didn’t seem to have any cohesive strategy with United packing men behind the ball – but after sending longish balls into the box, they still caused United nervous moments, and had two late penalty shouts.

Conclusion

A very tight contest. It’s difficult to say that either manager conclusively won the tactical battle – United won and had spells where they looked completely in control, but Chelsea came into the game later and Edwin van der Sar was the busier goalkeeper over the 90 minutes.

There was no overall pattern to the game, no player consistently in space, and no major area where the game was won and lost. However, the preview said that the key factor would be the tempo of the game – this was certainly a calm, patient game rather than a frantic, fast-paced one, and that favoured Ferguson’s side.

小豆丁梅西

赛后诸葛亮，战术上使用克劳奇和范德法特突前，就是中了鸟的圈套，鸟可以这么用大米和斯内德，但是热刺这么用范德法特就是糗了，所以少一个人时干脆就把偷鸡不成的范德法特换下去了，但是又换上迪福，而不是加强中场 ...
Alex2011 发表于 2011-4-6 10:07

范德法特这种水准，在英超是属于技术超群的，

去西甲就原形毕露了， 以前早已印证过了。


别说斯奈德， 斯奈德是得益于鸟的铁血整体打法， 而不是个人能力有多强。


罗本是个例外，要不是伤病，他应该是当仁不让的皇马NO.1

苍生劫

范德法特这种水准，在英超是属于技术超群的，

去西甲就原形毕露了， 以前早已印证过了。


别说斯奈德， 斯奈德是得益于鸟的铁血整体打法， 而不是个人能力有多强。


罗本是个例外，要不是伤病，他应该是当仁不 ...
小豆丁梅西 发表于 2011-4-7 10:11

罗本挺倒霉的，论突破能力，我觉得梅西之后也就是他了，查了查数据，他也是今年唯一除了梅西之外场均成功突破次数超过5次的球员

小豆丁梅西

罗本挺倒霉的，论突破能力，我觉得梅西之后也就是他了，查了查数据，他也是今年唯一除了梅西之外场均成功突破次数超过5次的球员
苍生劫 发表于 2011-4-7 12:56

如果没有伤病影响，我甚至认为罗本不比小西差。


不过世界杯决赛上那两个单刀，实在让人不敢恭维。

午时靡深蓝

如果没有伤病影响，我甚至认为罗本不比小西差。


不过世界杯决赛上那两个单刀，实在让人不敢恭维。
小豆丁梅西 发表于 2011-4-7 15:26

那有点夸张了，裸奔至少球感比梅西差了1，2个档次，梅西的球感，特别是第一下触球，调整的能力（停球位置极好几乎无需调整）以及带球时的衔接能力决定了为什么他才是当今第一人。
不过裸奔这厮也的确厉害，球感要强出C罗不少，而且抛开玻璃体质，他的身体其实也很BT，爆发力极强，而且很强壮，所以内切那一下后卫几乎干扰不了他。他要是不那么玻璃的话应该和是C罗不相上下的。

北极海

罗本属于运气不太好，伤势较频繁，严重影响其发展

想当年在穆里尼奥手下，在英超绝对是边路狂人
但后来多次受伤，加上被皇马看中等一系列“不利因素”，现在只能蜗居于拜仁了
其实他在拜仁算是头牌，只不过拜仁在德甲是班霸，在欧洲混还是差了点

北极海

里贝里+罗本两个估计就在拜仁混下去了，他们俩的年纪也不算小了
像现在这样的状态也就最多再两年左右

苍生劫

那有点夸张了，裸奔至少球感比梅西差了1，2个档次，梅西的球感，特别是第一下触球，调整的能力（停球位置极好几乎无需调整）以及带球时的衔接能力决定了为什么他才是当今第一人。
不过裸奔这厮也的确厉害，球感要强 ...
午时靡深蓝 发表于 2011-4-7 15:41

同意，罗本带球的技术方面基本没什么缺陷，有一定空间情况下突破威力不比梅西差多少，和梅西比也就球感差了一些，小范围内和对抗下处理球没梅西好，但比C罗强多了。

感觉他和吉格斯有些象，都是突破技术没什么问题的球员，步伐基本功都非常扎实，但球感和南美球员那种人球合一的程度比起来还是差一些，把他们放在边路打边锋，突破的威力可能和梅西、老马、大罗这种顶级突破手都差不多，但一放到中路，空间变小，防守强度上升，球感、人球结合的差距就显出来了。