"It can be said that even when Mourinho came to Stamford Bridge with the title of Champions League champion and UEFA's best coach, he was not welcomed as much as Pan Yi is today."
Sky Sports host Lineker also sighed sincerely.
"Yes." Alan Shearer also took over Lineker's words and said:
"After all, Mourinho was just a rising star in the coaching world when he won the Champions League with Porto. In fact, the true peak of his career was in the Premier League and Chelsea."
"Pan Yi is different. He has proven himself both in Milan and Hamburg. Especially when he won the Triple Crown in Hamburg last season, it was even more of a miracle."
"And Pan Yi is even younger. He has just turned twenty-eight! This is an age that is not too old even for a professional player, but he is already a world-class head coach recognized by the world..."
But at this moment, Gary Neville snorted: "Who said it is universally recognized?"
Everyone couldn't help but laugh.
Carragher said: "Yes, the outcome of today's bet has not yet been decided. It is still unclear whether Gary will loudly say that Pan Yi is the best coach in the world."
Zola also curled his lips and said: "I think this bet is a bit hasty. Even if Chelsea loses today, I can't call Pan Yi out of class. After all, Chelsea now has one game less but is still ahead of Manchester United. To Van Gaal also finished class first."
The studio burst into laughter again.
Roy Keane hurriedly came to help Gary Neville: "I think Gary is right. We have only played one or two games in the Premier League now, so we can't make a conclusion so early. In the end, it is Manchester United or Chelsea who is in front." It’s hard to tell right now about the front of the line.”
Neville also nodded and said: "Let's take a look at today's game first! Pearson's defense in Leicester City has always been good. Even if Chelsea is playing at home this time, I think they want to knock off Leicester City. The gate isn’t that easy either.”
At this time Lineker also pointed to the big screen in front:
"Now the starting lineups of both sides have come out. Let's see what tactics Pearson has prepared to deal with Pan Yi..."
——
In this game, Leicester City's starting lineup is indeed a bit unexpected.
Pearson has set up a serious 4231 formation, and the starting players have also changed a lot from the first game.
Forward: Vardy.
Frontcourt: Schlupp, Nugent, Mahrez.
Defensive midfielder: Andy King, Hammond.
Defenders: Konchesky, Moore, Morgan, De Laet.
Goalkeeper: Schmeichel Jr.
The most obvious difference is that among the three defensive midfielders deployed against Everton in the last round, only Andy King was retained, and the more balanced English veteran Hammond was used to partner with him.
"Pearson wants to play offensive tactics against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge?" Alan Shearer asked doubtfully.
Indeed, except for the two original defensive midfielders Drinkwater and Cambiasso who did not start the game, the two frontcourt players Schlupp and Nugent are also players with offensive attributes.
These two offensive players, plus Mahrez on the right, and center Vardy, this is a standard 4231 offensive formation.
"It seems that this guy Pearson is quite bold." Carragher also analyzed. "The fact that he dares to arrange such a starting lineup shows that he is not just thinking about scoring one point at Stamford Bridge."
Neville sneered and said: "Do you think I'm right? You all think Chelsea will win, but Leicester City doesn't think so, and Pearson doesn't think so! Maybe he has seen Chelsea's weaknesses. Prepare to give a fatal blow in this game..."
——
At the same time, in the visiting team's dressing room at Stamford Bridge, Pearson was already looking confused.
He also just got Chelsea's starting lineup, but this list was slightly different from what he expected.
Forwards: Hazard, Bamford, Willian.
Midfielder: Cancelo, Loftus-Cheek, Kante, Ivanovic.
Defenders: Ake, Terry, Zouma.
Goalkeeper: Courtois.
Compared to the starting lineup that defeated Burnley in the first round, Pan Yi actually replaced seven players in one breath today!
What's going on?
It stands to reason that for a team that will win, and a team that achieves a big win, the head coach will generally not make too many changes to its lineup.
But Pan Yi has changed.
And it’s become quite a bit more!
So this made Pearson really confused about Pan Yi's thoughts.
When the players from the two teams walked out of the tunnel and Pearson shook hands with Pan Yi, he could also see that Pan Yi was very confident, as if he had already guessed that Leicester City would not defend today. .
This made Pearson feel a little uneasy.
After shaking hands with Pearson, Pan Yi went straight to Leicester City's forward, Vardy.
The two of them had spent two wonderful years in Hamburg, and now that they met on the court, they were already rivals, so naturally they couldn't avoid exchanging pleasantries.
After the two men finished chatting, Pearson couldn't help but go over and ask Vardy: "What did he say to you?"
Vardy smiled: "It's nothing. I asked him jokingly why he didn't bring me to Chelsea. He said, next time he will definitely..."
Vardy is a professional player, and he naturally knows that every head coach has his own reasons for recruiting players. Perhaps his characteristics are indeed not suitable for Chelsea's current tactics that often require strong attacks.
Therefore, Vardy naturally has no complaints about Pan Yi not taking him away from Hamburg.
On the contrary, deep in his heart, he was still full of gratitude and respect for Pan Yi.
After all, it was Pan Yi who made him go from an amateur player working hard in the fifth-level league to becoming a Bundesliga champion, a Champions League champion, and the top scorer!
It is precisely because of this that he was favored by many teams, and finally came to Leicester City and returned to England.
Of course, the reason why he finally chose Leicester City was not only their sincerity, but also the fact that no big teams were interested in him due to his age and personal characteristics.
Otherwise, who wouldn’t want to try out for a big team?
In fact, this is normal. It does not mean that team members who have won the Champions League will be favored by strong teams. It still depends on the player's characteristics, potential, team needs and other comprehensive aspects.
Just like the last team that won the Champions League in an upset, it was Porto led by Mourinho in 2004.
At that time, the main forwards Carlos Alberto and Dre, the main defensive midfielder Costinha... and so on were later poached to some teams in Eastern Europe and even Brazil, and were not kicked out in the end.
In fact, after Porto won the championship that year, a few three or four players in the main lineup, including Deco, Ferreira, and Carvalho, went to big teams, and most of them were taken to Chelsea by Mourinho.
"Didn't we talk about the content of this game? Tactics or something?" Pearson asked again, "For example, what do you think of our starting lineup today?"
"No, we just chatted about a few things." Vardy shrugged. "To be honest, I think the person who knows my characteristics best in the world may be him. Although we didn't chat, I felt that he You have already planned how to deal with me..."
"Okay." Pearson nodded and asked Vardy to return to the queue.
Then, he heard a roaring sound like a tsunami coming from the Stamford Bridge stands.
This is the DJ at the scene announcing today's Chelsea starting lineup, and with every name, there is a burst of cheers.
Although this is a reserved program at Stamford Bridge, it is obvious that the noise today is louder than before.
On the one hand, because today is Pan Yi’s home debut, Chelsea fans are even more excited;
On the other hand, it is because among the starting lineup sent by Pan Yi today...
Five of them actually came from Chelsea’s youth training! ! !
Youth training players accounted for half of the starting players. This is an unprecedented first time for Chelsea, which has always been known as a "mercenary".
Now on the court, 33-year-old captain Terry leads 20-year-old Bamford, 19-year-old Ake and Zouma, and 18-year-old Loftus-Cheek. This represents Chelsea's past and future!
Is there anything more exciting than seeing so many "family members" on the field charging forward for Chelsea?
On the bench, there is even an 18-year-old youth training player like Christensen.
Of course, after the bursts of cheers, a trace of doubt flashed in the hearts of Chelsea fans:
Now is the second round of the game. Is it really necessary to start such a large rotation directly?
The first round of the game played so well, and the starting lineup also proved to have strong strength and tacit cooperation. Can this second lineup also achieve the same effect?
More importantly, coach Pan Yi directly sent so many young players from the youth training today. Is he really sure that he can defeat the strong Leicester City with such a young lineup?
It is with such doubts that the game on the field has begun!
——
With the referee's whistle, Vardy handed the ball to Mahrez beside him, and then rushed towards Chelsea's hinterland.
When Mahrez once again passed the ball back to the feet of defensive midfielder Andy King, several Leicester City frontcourt players Schlupp, Nugent and others also moved forward.
Then Andy King, after looking forward slightly, sent a long pass to find Vardy who had already run into the Chelsea penalty area.
But at this time, Chelsea's central defender Terry was very focused and jumped directly to push the ball out of the danger zone.
Then Kanter took the ball and passed it diagonally to winger Willian on the right. The Brazilian cut inside and hit the goal, slightly over the crossbar.
Less than a minute into the game, Chelsea completed a shot!
Judging from Leicester City's opening strategy, they also wanted to take the lead, but were blocked.
From this point of view, both sides are indeed not conservative, and they both want to score goals in the opening stage!
Because of this, the rhythm of the game was very fast from the first minute of the opening. However, Chelsea players had some advantages in their ability to pass and control the ball, so they had a slight advantage on the scene.
"Pan Yi's set of 343 is really different from other coaches."
Pearson also gradually saw clearly the positioning of Chelsea players on the court, including some defensive and offensive movements and coordination.
As a professional coach, of course he has studied various formations popular in the world, which naturally includes the 3-center-back system.
Currently in the Premier League, the only one who has been insisting on using the 3 central defender tactic, apart from Pan Yi, is Manchester United's Louis van Gaal.
However, looking at it now, there are significant differences between the three central defender systems of the two teams, which makes the effects of the entire system very different.
For example, Manchester United played Sunderland in the second round.
At that time, Van Gaal did not use the "big circle tactic", but adopted a 5-1-3-1 position when defending. Fletcher was a defensive midfielder, and Van Persie was at the forefront.
Manchester United's initial approach was to block the space in the center and prevent Sunderland's midfield advancement.
However, they did not last long and were scored in the 30th minute.
Because unlike Chelsea, Manchester United's full-backs have no room to move forward to guard the opposite full-back.
When attacking, Sunderland will use the two full-backs of Virgini and Van Aanholt to stay close to the sideline. They will not cut inside frequently, but will bypass the Manchester United defense to attack.
This makes it very uncomfortable for Manchester United's full-backs, especially Valencia, who often finds himself facing the two Sunderland wingers alone.
Mata did not retreat resolutely, and Cleverley also seemed hesitant when leaving the central defense zone to help defend. The result was that Sunderland could always pose a threat to Manchester United in the wide area.
So Manchester United changed the position to a flat 5-4-1, but this caused new problems.
After Manchester United deployed a 4-man midfield defense, Sunderland began to find gaps between Manchester United's two fronts. Forward Wickham always positioned higher, while the other two frontcourt players Barkley and Stephen ·Fletcher will switch positions frequently.
This allows Sunderland to always gain a numerical advantage in a small area, and also makes the division of labor on Manchester United's defense a little unclear, and makes the positioning and pressing timing a little confusing.
Manchester United's defense would easily expose gaps, and if De Gea hadn't cheated, Sunderland would have been able to further expand the score without any effort.
But the 343 used by Pan Yi at Chelsea does not seem to have a problem with Manchester United.
Without the ball, Chelsea's first line of defense will maintain a narrow stance, while the defensive line remains high.
The wing-backs will have the freedom to move forward to look after the opposite full-backs, and the center backs will adopt a proactive defensive mentality to deal with the opponent's wingers.
The narrowed formation also makes the space between Chelsea's lines smaller, creating a numerical advantage on the ball side.
Their pressing system is also quite good. When defending, the position will become 5-3-2, and the forward will put pressure on the opposing center back.
The winger on the ball side either blocks the passing channel in the center and compresses the space on the field, or is responsible for guarding the opposite full-back.
In this process, the far-end winger will drop back to form a midfield three with Loftus-Cheek and Kante, further consolidating the defense in the middle.
Of course, Chelsea players generally have relatively strong running abilities.
Take center Bamford, who started today, for example. Although he seems to lack some proficiency in finishing shots and passes, he is extremely athletic.
Sometimes we often see him grabbing points in Leicester City's penalty area one second, and the next second he has moved to the midfield or even the backcourt to surround the Leicester player holding the ball.
Of course it’s not just Bamford.
Whether it is Chik in the midfield, Cancelo on the left wing, or Willian on the right, they are all running as hard as they can.
In this way, Chelsea's overall tactics are quite smooth, and no link will give people a sense of stagnation - this is the perception that Manchester United often gives people.
In addition, Chelsea's system will give the wing-backs considerable flexibility, allowing them to enter the opponent's penalty area.
The wing-back has an excellent understanding of the game with the winger on the same side and can frequently change positions. The wing-back's responsibility is to maintain width, but not to persist for 90 minutes dogmatically.
The responsibilities of Chelsea players will frequently interchange, and the wing-backs will often threaten the opponent's penalty area like an inside winger.
In this process, the winger will also switch to the wing to pull the opponent's formation and open up space in the ribs.
It is precisely because of the relentless running of Chelsea players and the natural rotation of positions that it is difficult for opponents to deal with it.
"If you have a three-centre-back formation, then the wing-backs are closer to the midfield than the full-backs."
In an interview with reporters before the game, Pan Yi said this when asked about Chelsea's three central defender tactics.
"I wouldn't call Azpilicueta or Alonso a defender. They do have to defend at certain times, but they both have the freedom to attack."
"They are also closer to the opponent's penalty area than traditional full-backs. We will encourage them to rush into the penalty area and become offensive terminators to increase our offensive threat."
"Including them cutting inside to attack like a winger, this is also what I allow, there is no problem."
"The focus is on the areas we want to attack. We position players in all the areas where we want to be an attacking threat. So if a winger goes wide to provide width, the wing-backs can attack the half-space."
"Tactics are dead, formations are dead, but people are alive."
"As long as players know what they should do on the court at any time, why they do it, and how to do it, then they can perform their duties well no matter what position they are on the court without having to Imprisoned and restrained by location..."
Now that Pearson thought of Pan Yi's words, he realized that what he said was actually true.
He really told everyone his tactics before the game!
This also shows how confident Pan Yi is in the flexibility of his rotation tactics.
Because the more flexible your tactics are, the harder it is for your opponents to target them!
Indeed, you know that Chelsea's wing-backs and wingers will take turns attacking their ribs, but do you know when they attack and how they attack?
Sometimes even their midfielder will appear there, and then the winger will run to the midfield to assist in defense...
Looking at it, Pearson also understood why Pan Yi wanted to use players like William to play winger.
Comprehensive! I can run!
In fact, the same goes for Seat B and Azpilicueta, who started in the last round.
All of them are players who can run all over the field and play wherever they stand.
This is actually the reason why Pan Yi was able to make such a wide range of rotations in the second round and use so many young players.
That is, after special training in the summer, these players have actually systematically accepted Pan Yi's tactical thinking. Those who can stay in the first team are ready to fight when called upon!
Now, both William and Hazard are very active on both wings.
Including the young Cancelo, he is also actively cooperating with Hazard to frequently insert, inserting very high along the left wing.
After the two sides fought against each other for more than ten minutes, Leicester City's players seemed to be unable to stand it any longer.
They are also a little uncomfortable with Chelsea's wide range of interspersed runs and position changes.
The Leicester City players began to shrink back unconsciously in order to better narrow the running range of the Chelsea players so that they could stand in a defensive position and steal the ball from the Chelsea players' feet.
But in this way, Chelsea's offense seems even more unscrupulous.
They more frequently used their foot skills and small coordination to play threatening offenses on both sides of Leicester City.
In the 20th minute, after Chelsea stole the ball in their own half, they quickly moved the ball to the left wing.
Before Cancelo could cross the center line, he spotted the space in front of him and sent a diagonal pass with his left foot. He transferred the ball to the left rib of the front court and handed it to Hazard.
The Belgian forward stopped the ball and quickly passed the ball directly to the center of the frontcourt before Andy King could get close.
There, center Bamford was ready to take over.
But Leicester City's centre-back captain Morgan had already entangled Bamford, preventing the young England forward from turning around smoothly.
But Bamford was not to be outdone. At 185cm tall, he also tried to block Morgan with his body, and then sought opportunities to cooperate with his teammates in the back row.
The two people got together like this.
When Hazard's pass flew in front of Bamford, Morgan saw the right opportunity to grab the ball, but failed to kick the ball.
On the contrary, he kicked Bamford firmly, and Bamford fell to the ground.
The referee also blew the whistle decisively!
Chelsea were awarded a well-placed free kick.
The ball was only about twenty meters away from the goal, slightly to the left.
Soon, Hazard and Willian, who were better at free kicks among the Chelsea players, stood in front of the ball.
Naturally, Leicester City did not dare to neglect, and had already formed a five-man wall.
At this time the whistle sounds.
William started running first, but did not touch the ball. Instead, he ran directly from the side of the wall.
If Hazard ran again at this time, he still did not choose to shoot directly.
With a slight push from the arch of his right foot, the ball rolled right to the feet of William, who had already run ahead.
At this time, Leicester City's defenders were all stunned for a moment. After reacting, they rushed forward to block the ball.
But it was too late.
William took the lead and kicked a volley directly near the penalty spot.
This shot was powerful and heavy, and the ball flew straight to the right side of Leicester City's goal at lightning speed.
Leicester City's Danish goalkeeper Schmeichel was still standing on the other side of the wall at this time.
Even though he reacted very quickly when William shot, and flew sideways, he still failed to catch William's furious shot.
"Goallllllllllllllllll!!!!!!"
"In the first 20 minutes, Chelsea used an exquisite free kick to open the scoring for Willian!"
"I heard before that Chelsea pay special attention to the coordination of set pieces during training, but I didn't expect that they really succeeded like this!"
"This reminds me of Hamburg in the previous two seasons. This is not the first time Pan Yi has used such a 'trick' in a game..."
As the whistle sounded that the goal was valid, the entire Stamford Bridge stadium burst into excitement.
All the Chelsea fans stood up and cheered wildly.
Led by the stadium DJ, all the fans chanted William's name over and over again.
William also quickly rushed to the sidelines and celebrated his first Premier League goal of the season.
At the same time, this is also Chelsea's first goal at home this season!
Pan Yi calmly raised his right fist in the home team's coaching bench and sent congratulations to William from a distance.
He didn't seem as excited as the players or fans.
Because he knows in his heart that Chelsea's offensive storm tonight has just begun!
(End of chapter)
