N-A-A Chapter 65 The New 433
Chapter 65 The New 433
"Come here, you too, let me explain the playing style of this weak-footed winger to you."
Ye Xian pulled Rooney to his side.
For Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, both wingers in a 4-3-3 formation, their responsibilities are actually quite similar, only their positions are reversed.
So we can talk about them together now.
"When you were in the youth team, the coach should have taught you to break through on the wing and then cross the ball."
"But this style of play makes it very difficult for you to shoot from the front."
"The reason I asked you to switch positions is not so that you would be the ones crossing the ball."
"You need to find the gaps in the half between their full-back and center-back, or the gaps left behind when Drogba drops back and draws the attention of their center-back, then break through and shoot!"
"Strictly speaking, you're not wingers, but rather forwards positioned on the flanks, because you're more offensively driven and have more shooting opportunities..."
What Ye Xian is talking about now is the most popular inverted winger style of play in the future.
In technical terms, they can be further divided into "inward-cutting wingers" and "inward forwards".
When cutting inside from the flank into the penalty area or the front line, the winger tends to stretch the opponent's flank defense, providing space for the full-back to overlap and attack.
Inside forwards, on the other hand, are more direct in their attacks, usually finishing with a shot – which is the main style of play when Ronaldo went to Real Madrid.
However, these people are just getting used to this style of kicking, so there's no need to make such detailed distinctions.
Just let them know that their main responsibility has changed from crossing to cutting inside and shooting.
Even the tactical responsibilities Ye Xian assigned to Drogba were actually designed to create space for these two wingers.
In the future, Liverpool's Mane + Firmino + Salah, Bayern's Ribery + Lewandowski + Robben, and Real Madrid's Ronaldo + Benzema + Bale will all feature three forwards capable of scoring goals, rather than relying solely on the center forward.
After Rooney and Ronaldo understood Ye Xian's ideas, they both showed joy and nodded frequently.
They are all geniuses, and by their very nature as teenagers, they prefer to score goals rather than assist others.
Now that Ye Xian has directly given them more shooting opportunities than the center, isn't that a cause for celebration?
My liking for this young coach, Ye Xian, has also increased by 1 point...
Young people really understand young people!
As for Ye Xian's request that they also join Drogba in applying high pressure on the opponent's midfield and defense, they had no objections.
The center forward has to defend, what complaints do the wingers have?!
As for the midfield position, Ye Xian didn't have to say much.
Li Tie is a former player for the Chinese national team and is already very familiar with Ye Xian's playing style.
Well, Ye Xian's requirements for him have always been very simple: to use his hard work to cover as much of the court as possible, increase the defensive area, and protect his teammates!
Alonso continues to play the role of midfield commander, just as he did at Real Sociedad.
Gravesen isn't here today; U21 player Osman is replacing him, so Ye Xian made some changes.
That means having Osman and Li Tie participate more in defense, and letting Alonso handle the intercepted balls.
This creates a standard "one attacking, two defending" midfield configuration.
Of course, Ye Xian also gave corresponding instructions to the midfielders regarding the current three-forward configuration in the front line:
"Spread out horizontally, with the width on both sides matching the flanks, coordinate more with the wingers, and avoid crowding in the middle."
"Maintain a staggered hierarchy vertically, with one person at the back to cover the bottom, and two people in the middle and at the front, leaving not too many gaps in front and behind."
"When the wingers cut inside, the midfielders promptly fill the gaps on the flanks to maintain the width of the formation."
"When the opponent advances, we should uniformly contract laterally, tighten the middle lane, and block through passes."
"Once the full-backs push forward, the midfielders should immediately cover the gaps on the flanks to prevent attacks from exploiting the space behind the wings..."
Since the topic of full-backs had come up, Ye Xian decided to bring Grosso and Alves over to coach them as well.
In the future 4-3-3 formation, Guardiola also created a "tucked-in full-back" style of play, which means that the full-backs act as half defensive midfielders to assist in the defense, which can greatly improve the defensive thickness of the formation.
But teaching these things now is obviously too advanced and unnecessary.
Therefore, Ye Xian's requirements for the full-backs are still limited to "pushing forward to assist when there is an opportunity".
Instead, he analyzed the passing strategies of the center-back pair of Li Weifeng and Pilkington.
That's right. In addition to normal defense, in this style of play, center-backs need to have the mindset and ability to pass the ball out.
First, the two players should maintain a coordinated distance and not push forward at the same time; they should position themselves to tighten the middle and prevent long-range shots and through balls.
When passing the ball out from the backfield, the attack should be advanced around the center, prioritizing passing the ball to the defensive midfielder who has dropped back to receive it, while avoiding spreading out the overall formation, and then further compressing the opponent's overall defensive formation to the center.
If the center-back is pressed in the middle, then the center-back needs to pass to the full-back on the flank, while the winger on the same side also needs to quickly move to the flank to create a numerical advantage in attack on the flanks, ultimately creating a breakthrough point...
Ye Xian explained things in great detail, and the young players would ask questions if they didn't understand, and he would provide further answers.
This caused the process to take a while, and Moyes was getting impatient!
They didn't have much to say.
The traditional 4-4-2 English style of play has been used for decades, and there's really nothing new about it.
They also believed that their "ancestral methods" would definitely beat Ye Xian and his group of young people's "last-minute cramming"!
But when the game actually started, Moyes knew he was wrong.
From the very start, the young men of Ye Xian's team were like they were on steroids, relentlessly pressing the players of Moyes' team.
The "old men" of Moyes' team simply couldn't adapt to this pace.
Just five minutes into the game, captain Stubbs received the ball in the backfield and, under pressure from Rooney, hastily attempted to pass it to the wing, but it was intercepted by Ronaldo on the other side.
Cristiano Ronaldo sprinted forward, cut inside the penalty area, and easily slotted the ball past goalkeeper Paul Gerrard to make it 1-0.
The quick goal boosted the young players' confidence in Ye Xian's tactics.
On the other side, Moyes' players looked completely bewildered.
They've never encountered this kind of kick before!
Even against strong teams like Manchester United or Arsenal in the Premier League, the intensity doesn't feel this high!
Moreover, he felt very awkward when defending against Ye Xian's team's winger.
For example, when defending against Ronaldo on the left flank, the full-back usually blocks his left foot to prevent him from crossing the ball after breaking through on the left.
But Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't do that at all!
After receiving the ball, he immediately cut inside into the penalty area and then shot with his right foot!
The same applies to defending Rooney on the right; he uses his left foot to shoot more often.
And their center forward Drogba was not to be outdone either.
Unlike Moyes' two strikers who wait to pounce in the penalty area, he often drops back to receive the ball, making it difficult for the center-backs to mark him.
Previously, when Ye Xian was in the Chinese team, due to the individual abilities of the players, the team was unable to fully utilize the strength of this formation.
But now it can be said that this strategy, which is at least 10 years ahead of the previous version, is truly a game-changer!
The same applies to the midfield and defense.
Ye Xian's team attacks with lightning speed, with both the center-backs and full-backs actively participating in the attack;
When defending, the entire team works together, with the forwards immediately forming the first line of defense and the midfielders coming up to help defend.
Alonso demonstrated his exceptional ability to read the game, displaying masterful skill in both through balls forward and long passes to the wings!
In the 35th minute, it was Alonso's long pass that tore apart Moyes' team's flank defense.
Alves made a high-speed run and crossed from the byline, where Drogba headed the ball into the net, making it 2-0.
The third goal was a stunning long-range strike from outside the penalty area by Rooney.
After receiving a cross from Ronaldo, he immediately unleashed a thunderous shot!
In the end, Ye Xian's team easily defeated Moyes' team 3-0!
While Moyes was still standing there in a daze, Ye Xian had already walked up to him with a smile and patted him on the shoulder:
"David, I know a good Chinese restaurant nearby. I'll reserve three tables for you..."