In fact, when Gareth Southgate was appointed as England manager, one British newspaper described the public reaction as "a howl of despair".
At that time, the Three Lions had just been eliminated by Iceland in the 2016 European Cup. The newly appointed head coach Sam Allardyce was suspected of instigating player agents to violate regulations and had to resign 67 days after taking office. The Football Association He made a choice that seemed prudent and prudent at the time.
However, before Southgate became England coach, his only senior team coaching experience was to lead Middlesbrough to be relegated from the Premier League and then fired.
With such a resume, can he be a good head coach of the England national team?
Perhaps his advantage is simply that he was once an England international.
However, in the first test after "Nanmen" took office, he passed the test.
In Group F of the European Zone of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, England achieved an unbeaten record of 8 wins and 2 draws, thus firmly entering the World Cup as the first place in the group.
As a result, Southgate, who has clear thinking and straightforward speech, has become the most competent head coach.
In terms of his selection and formation, many media believe that he is a loyal believer of Pan Yi.
Southgate's usual formation in the England national team is the 3-5-2 that Pan Yi often used when he was at Chelsea, and many of the players occupying the main positions are Pan Yi's former favorites.
Especially in the midfield, Rice, who has gradually emerged this season, has begun to play in the defensive midfielder position, and in front of him are Chick and Lingard! These three are all "Pan Yi".
Looking at the two forward players, they are Harry Kane and Sterling, and Abraham was also called up to the team as an important substitute.
On the back line, veteran Gary Cahill still plays an important role. He often partners with Stones and Smalling in the central defender position.
Such a lineup is very effective, as evidenced by the results in the World Cup preliminaries.
However, this also makes Southgate always suspected of "copying homework". Many people think that he directly applies Pan Yi's formula.
This is not a big problem for Southgate. After all, in today's world football, there are many people copying Pan Yi's work!
But now that he has the opportunity to face Pan Yi, a "student master", Southgate is still eager to prove that he can be better than his master.
This year, he is only in his forties and can coach the England national team. To be honest, it is already very good.
In addition to the fact that he is an England international and has good connections and reputation, the ability he has shown is of course one of the most important factors.
It's just that this so-called achievement he achieved completely lost its luster in front of Pan Yi - not only him, but also countless coaches who were considered to be young coaches and famous coaches also became dim under Pan Yi's light. Light.
Is Mourinho awesome?
Is Guardiola very strong?
Ancelotti?
Can he win triple crowns or even seven crowns with multiple teams like Pan Yi?
Well, if someone can win the Triple Crown, can he lead Sweden to win the European Cup and lead the Dragon Kingdom to the World Cup?
These are all epic challenges.
Now he is ready to lead Italy to attack the last heavyweight championship he has not won - the World Cup.
In this case, it becomes a matter of course that Southgate values the battle with Pan Yi so much.
If Italy can be defeated at Wembley Stadium, in such a world-famous situation, Southgate's reputation will undoubtedly rise to an extremely huge level and it will also consolidate his position in the England national team.
Under such expectations, this friendly match that even attracted more attention than the official game began!
——
"Welcome to Wembley Stadium! In this temple of English football, the Italian national team will face the strongest opponent since Pan Yi took office, England!"
"England is in very good shape in this qualifier, which also makes fans look forward to them achieving good results in the World Cup. However, because England's opponents in the group stage are not strong, many people also think that players such as Slovakia and Scotland , a team like Slovenia really can’t really verify their strength.”
"Coincidentally, many Italian fans think so too. Although the Swedish team they defeated in the play-offs is the European champion, their strength has indeed been greatly affected after several meritorious players left the team, especially Ibrahimovic. "
"Of course, the more important thing is that there is no Pan Yi in Sweden anymore. Pan Yi was abducted to Italy!"
Sky Sports' famous mouthpiece Lineker laughed and said that Alan Shearer, the former national team's legendary striker who was invited to be a guest with him, also laughed on the side.
Shearer said: "As English people, to be honest, we hope that Pan Yi can come to coach our national team. After all, he has coached in England for two years and is now the owner of an English club. There are also many of him in the national team. My favorite general...is very suitable no matter how you look at it. Of course, Southgate is leading him well now."
Lineker still smiled: "You don't have to make up for Southgate. If you directly say that he is not as good as Pan Yi, I believe he himself will not have any objections. In fact, there should be no one in the world now." Does the coach dare to pat his chest and say that he is better than Pan Yi?"
Shearer laughed: "But there is no doubt that Southgate must be holding back his energy in this game and wants to defeat Pan Yi on the field. We can all see that England's tactics now are different from those of Chelsea back then. It's very similar, let's see if Southgate can come up with something new."
Lineker nodded: "He even used many young players Pan Yi used during his time at Chelsea, including Rice, who is now performing well at York City. This also made this game a game between young people, Because Pan Yi also brought many young faces to the Italian team."
"But Southgate did not use York City's top scorer Baker." Shearer said, shaking his head, "But England's striker is indeed good now. Harry Kane is the top scorer in the Premier League, and Sterling has also performed stably after moving to Manchester City, and with young forwards like Abraham and Rashford, it seems that there is really little need for such a high center forward."
"You are the top scorer in the history of the Premier League. I believe your analysis." Lineker smiled. "But the actual situation depends on today's game. Today both sides want to prove that their teams can compete in the World Cup." We have the strength to get good results...Okay, now the players from both sides are ready to enter the field, let’s take a look at the situation first!”
——
In the tunnel, Rice was greeting his York City teammates.
"You guys, please be gentle, we have to go back to the club to fight side by side."
Today, Italy's starting midfielders are Tonali and Barrera. They are also Rice's good friends, so Rice joked with them.
"That's one code, our leader said, you must kill England today!" Barrera looked serious.
"Tch... then come on!" Rice curled his lips.
The "negotiations" between the two parties broke down instantly.
But this is also the norm among professional players.
No matter how good the relationship is in the club, when it comes to the national team, each has its own boss, and they have to try their best.
For example, Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo were twin stars when they were at Manchester United, but when England played Portugal in the World Cup, the two would become red-faced and unhappy.
Although today's game is just a friendly match, the head coaches of both sides want to win, and they also field their main lineups. This is obviously a real fight.
The national team's training and competition time is already relatively tight, and they happen to encounter such a good opponent. If we don't train well now, when will we wait?
At this moment, the referees standing at the front began to move. Amid the roaring cheers of the fans in the stadium, the players from both sides entered the stadium.
Before that, when Pan Yi walked into the field, he had already received huge cheers - even louder than when he played in the warm-up match - both the English fans and the Italian fans were all cheering for this handsome man. The world's number one coach gave his own applause.
Needless to say, Italian fans, Pan Yi’s achievements after leading the national team are obvious to all;
As for England, although Pan Yi only led the Chelsea club before and is now only the owner of a British Championship club like York City, he has gained a lot of reputation in England in the past few years.
Everyone is a creature of admiration. If it were Guardiola in Pan Yi's previous life, he would be a respected presence wherever he goes.
Not to mention that Pan Yi has trained so many young talents for the England national team, allowing them to quickly complete the replacement of old and new players.
Soon, several of Pan Yi's old men in the England team also came to Pan Yi to pay tribute, Harry Kane, Lingard, Loftus-Cheek, Abraham, Gary Cahill, Rice...
It even includes several old opponents such as Kyle Walker, Stones, and Sterling.
After all, every player knows how rare a coach like Pan Yi is!
"Mr. Pan Yi, you are indeed worthy of your reputation."
When shaking hands with Pan Yi before the game, Southgate looked at Pan Yi for a long time before speaking in a tone that was difficult to describe.
Maybe it’s the feeling of having a “master” in front of you, but not being able to recognize him?
Do you have the mentality of "watch me punch my old master to death today"?
But for Pan Yi to be loved by so many players, especially from his own players, Southgate still felt a little sour in his heart.
Isn't this a kind of NTR?
"I hope it will be a wonderful game today." Pan Yi and Southgate have no friendship, so there is nothing to talk about, so what they say is more official and polite.
In fact, when Pan Yi was a fan in his previous life, many people still thought that Southgate had no ability, and they believed that it was because of his existence that England, which is full of talents, has never won any championships.
But Pan Yi still feels that this evaluation is still biased.
Although they didn't win the championship, they were once in the semi-finals of the World Cup and once the runner-up in the European Cup - and they lost on penalty kicks - you can't say that these results are bad.
If compared with previous England results, this is already the best in recent decades.
It can only be said that the demands of English fans are still a bit too high.
But today, Pan Yi had the opportunity to test the quality of the south gate on site.
Hearing what Pan Yi said, Southgate nodded, then let go of his hand, watched Pan Yi walk towards the visiting team's coaching bench, shook his head, and turned around and walked towards his position.
"He is younger than me, but why do I act like a primary school student in front of him... Is this the aura of a strong man? No, I want you to see that I, Gareth Southgate, am absolutely nothing Weak people who are left to be slaughtered!”
Southgate thought to himself as he sat down in his seat.
Now, his desire to defeat Pan Yi has become even stronger!
——
Bonucci is wearing the captain's armband and shaking hands with the opponent's captain Gary Cahill.
When Buffon did not play, Bonucci was the captain of the Italian team. This is something Pan Yi confirmed after joining the Italian team.
Regardless of the age or seniority of the starting players on the field, Bonucci has this qualification.
Another reason is that Bonucci's ability to play in the backcourt is very consistent with Pan Yi's tactical requirements. Now his probability of starting is higher than that of his partner Chiellini at Juventus.
Just like today, Pan Yi used another defender Bastoni with strong ball-playing ability. This is also to help the Italian team's defense complete the replacement of the old and the new as soon as possible.
On the England side, after Terry retired from the national team, Southgate recruited a large number of young players. In the same situation of "Home Alone", Gary Cahill was the only two or three starters in the team. As one of the veterans, it is only natural to assume the role of captain.
Today, England's starting lineup is still a 3-5-2, with goalkeeper Pickford, three central defenders Smalling, Stones, and Gary Cahill. Rice is trailing behind in the midfield, and the front two are with him. The inverted triangle positions are Loftus-Cheek and Lingard, Kyle Walker is on the right, Ashley Young is on the left, and Sterling and Harry Kane are partnered up front.
Judging from the composition of the players, England seems to be stronger than Italy.
After all, most of their starting players are from big teams in the Premier League, such as Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, etc. That is to say, Pickford comes from Everton, and Rice comes from York City with a slightly worse background.
On the Italian side, due to the recent decline of Serie A, many players seem to be less starry. In addition, there are many players from English championship teams such as York City, so they naturally appear to be worse than those in England.
After guessing, Italy won the right to kick off.
Amid the cheers of many Italian fans who came to Wembley Stadium to watch the game, Italy, which took the first kick, immediately launched a fierce attack.
Of course, Pan Yi knows this England team very well. After all, many of them are his former players.
Their defensive ability on the back line is not weak, including midfielder Rice's defensive ability is also first-rate, but the two wing-backs and double central midfielders have hidden dangers.
Loftus-Cheek prefers to step in, while Lingard is an attacking midfielder himself.
Ashley Young is a winger, and although Kyle Walker is a versatile player on the right, he is sometimes aggressive.
Therefore, the tactics deployed by Pan Yi are not particularly complicated, which is to put pressure on the opponent from the midfield and suppress their defense!
England's two forwards have very strong personal abilities, but Harry Kane is not very fast, while Sterling's movement and breakthrough are very distinctive, but his shooting is a bit eye-catching, so Pan Yi is not very afraid of England's counterattack. .
So after the game kicked off, Italy's two full-backs immediately rushed through the half like a whirlwind, leaving only the two central defenders and the midfielders Barella and Verratti behind.
Chiesa controlled the ball in the midfield. Facing Ashley Young and Lingard who came to defend him, he immediately stretched out his feet and passed the ball to Verratti who came back to respond.
Verratti took the ball in the England half with his back to England, then raised his foot and passed the ball directly to DiMarco who came in from the left.
DiMarco dribbles forward and Kyle Walker comes to guard him. DiMarco knows that the opponent is fast, but he is more confident in his own skills.
After making a fake move inside, DiMarco immediately moved the ball to the sideline, then accelerated and rushed past Kyle Walker!
As DiMarco broke through Kyle Walker, huge cheers immediately erupted from the visiting team's stands!
However, although DiMarco got rid of Kyle Walker, he immediately fell into a situation where he was flanked by Kyle Walker and Rice.
Especially for Rice, DiMarco knew that Rice reacted and turned very quickly, and there was Kyle Walker chasing after him relentlessly. If he hesitated a little, the ball might be lost.
So after catching up with the ball, DiMarco did not continue to move forward, but made an emergency stop and then passed the ball across to Verratti who came up to meet him.
Verratti passed back, Tonali took the ball, and immediately made a wide transfer and passed the ball to Insigne on the right.
At this time, De Sciglio stepped in from the wing, attracting the attention of the opponent's defender and giving Insigne ample space to take the ball.
Insigne, known as the "New Zola", is very skilled with his feet and has good passing skills.
He first stopped the ball lightly at his feet, then raised his head to survey the situation in the frontcourt, immediately raised his right foot and passed a high ball!
In mid-air at Wembley Stadium, the ball drew a trajectory visible to the naked eye and quickly flew to the edge of the penalty area. Italian center Scamacca, who had already reached his position, jumped up at the top of the penalty area, and then Header ferry!
Although England's defense has a good height, Scamacca has a good sense of grabbing points. As early as the moment Insigne passed the ball, he used a turning sideways run and used Smalling's perspective to get out of the blind spot and beat the ball. Got to the ball.
This was actually transformed by Pan Yi.
Although Scamacca had height early on, his core strength and physical strength were not very strong, so he participated in the midfield far away from the penalty area more often. He practiced a lot of control with his feet, passing the ball, and testing the field, and even Practice more often than shooting.
It can even be said that he is actually more like a weakened version of Ibrahimovic, or like Dzeko.
And Pan Yi asked him to strengthen his physical strength more so that he could be a bridgehead in the penalty area - just like Pan Yi asked Lukaku to do when he was at Chelsea.
Today, Scamaca is one of Pan Yi's biggest trump cards.
This time, he grabbed the first spot and accurately passed the ball to Tonali who came up.
Tonali raised his foot to remove Scamacca's header, flicked it horizontally, and then immediately took off his right foot and volleyed vigorously from the front of the penalty area!
This shot was quite powerful. Although the angle was a bit straight, Pickford did not dare to neglect. He flew to the ground and hit the ball with both fists. Gary Cahill immediately made a big-footed clearance and the ball went out. sideline.
De Sciglio ran over to serve the throw-in, and he threw the ball directly to Verratti who came over to respond. Verratti passed it back to Insigne. Insigne tried to pass the ball, but he raised his foot and passed it directly to the center of the penalty area. A little further back.
Chiesa, who came in from the left, caught the ball and took another long shot. The quality of this long shot was still very high, but it missed a little and flew directly out of the baseline.
Although there was no goal, Italy had two quality shots at the beginning, which still made the Italian fans in the stands very excited. This kind of aggressive attack is what they like very much.
"The tradition of Italian football is defense", although this is true, but to be honest, which fan likes to watch their team defending without attacking?
And the changes Pan Yi made to the Italian team are exactly what Italian fans like to see!
This is a bit like the Italian team led by Prandelli in the 2012 European Cup. At that time, they played beautiful offensive football on the field and received the support of many people.
Nowadays, Pan Yi's team plays better and can win better, so of course it is more popular.
Today we will see whether this kind of offensive football can break through the English defense!
(End of chapter)
