"The next games will definitely become more and more unfavorable for Switzerland."
Lineker explained.
"Today's game was very difficult for the Swiss because they were already 2 goals behind and the game hadn't even lasted more than five minutes!"
"In addition, after the opening game, their defense was overwhelmed by the Italian team, and their momentum was completely suppressed by the Italian team. This caused them to completely lose any initiative in the game."
"I wonder if the Swiss expected such a bad situation before the game? Maybe they still underestimated Pan Yi's team's ability to attack at the beginning..."
At this time, the live TV camera happened to show Petkovic on the sidelines.
He was sitting on the coaching bench of the Swiss team, looking helpless and bewildered.
Obviously, he still doesn't know what happened after the game started, and what mistakes he made to lose so miserably.
"Today, the most important thing for the Swiss team is to wake up as soon as possible from the storm of attacks and goals created by the Italian team at the beginning and regain stability as soon as possible. Otherwise, it will be difficult for them to face Italy again in this game. The team created a threat and it was difficult to see the hope of winning."
Obviously, after such a successful attack after the opening, the Italian team will naturally maintain this advantage and initiative.
Switzerland, on the other hand, is in chaos. No matter how Petkovic arranges the situation, it will be difficult to regain the initiative in the game.
The possibility of regaining 2 goals from an Italian team with such a strong defense in a passive situation, or even reversing the score, without being attacked and counterattacked by the Italian team is almost zero!
Not to mention that Switzerland's offensive line is inherently flawed, or offense is not their strong point. It is really difficult to score goals.
The current Swiss frontcourt can basically only rely on Shaqiri's breakthrough, but he, who is known as the "Swiss Messi", is not as brave as he was back then.
This season, the Stoke City team he played for was relegated in the Premier League, and he only scored a total of 15 goals in his three seasons at Stoke City.
Besides, when the Italian team faces a real Messi, they can guard him to death. How can they be afraid of you, a Swiss Messi who is not even at his peak?
Therefore, when the scoreboard above the stands showed Italy 2:0 Switzerland, even the Swiss coaches and players, including the Swiss fans, no longer had much hope.
It can even be said that this World Cup quarter-finals was actually over after the opening three minutes...
"As expected of Pan Yi! We won Switzerland in 3 minutes. It's not easy!!"
In the stands of the St. Petersburg Stadium, Southgate also appeared in the stands with his assistants to watch this game, and he also gave his own evaluation.
The knockout round of the top 16 between England and Colombia will be held later, and the winner between them will meet the winner between Italy and Switzerland in the quarterfinals!
It stands to reason that Southgate should focus on the game against Colombia first. After all, only after winning can he be qualified to study the next opponent;
But Southgate was very confident that he could overcome Colombia, so he came to observe Italy, a potential enemy, in advance.
"Colombia didn't even win against Japan, so it's no threat." That's what Southgate thought.
For Southgate, he can be said to be the culmination of all the shortcomings of British coaches: stubborn personality, conservative ideas, rough tactical concepts, nepotism, and insufficient adaptability on the spot...
Unfortunately, even so, he is as good a homegrown player as the FA can find.
Southgate was very proud of his undefeated record of 8 wins and 2 draws in the European Qualifiers, but even the always arrogant British media believed that Southgate's ability was not worthy of England's elite players. .
But fortunately, Southgate still knows himself.
In his eyes, Pan Yi's Italy is the most terrifying.
When he first learned about the groupings, he had already considered the opponents he might encounter in the quarterfinals, and Italy was obviously the team he cared about most.
Obviously, Italy did show him its strength today, defeating the originally tenacious Swiss in 3 minutes!
This also made Southgate realize that the Italian team was still stronger than he had expected.
"Yes, in such a short period of time, the Swiss team has been completely finished! Pan Yi will always be so ruthless!" Sitting next to Southgate is the current assistant coach of the England national team, Steve Howe orchid.
Yes, he was Pan Yi’s assistant coach when he was at Chelsea!
After Southgate joined the England national team, he warmly invited the experienced coach to join him, and Steve Horan also accepted.
Now, Steve Holland is still a little panicked when he sees that Pan Yi will become his potential opponent.
In his heart, of course he hopes that Switzerland can defeat Italy in an upset, so that the pressure on England, who aspires to be the champion, will be much less.
If England encounters Switzerland after passing Colombia, this will undoubtedly be good news for them to continue their efforts and reach the semi-finals.
But the problem is that, judging from the current situation, such a wish has basically come to nothing.
Steve Holland thought for a long time, but he couldn't think of a game in which Pan Yi would lose the game with a two-goal lead...
Well, when he was next to Pan Yi, Chelsea seemed to lose only a handful of times, let alone such a comeback.
As if to prove what the two English coaches said, the Italian team launched another attack on the field.
This time, Tonali found the space on the right to get the ball. Facing the defender who flew towards him, he made a deft fake move and tried to volley the goal.
After deceiving the blocking defender, Tonali cleverly passed the ball to the left. After Chiesa blocked the defender with his body, he faced the ball and volleyed it directly from close range and scored the goal. Swiss team's goal, 3:0!
Chiesa scored his fourth goal of this World Cup!
At this time, the game had just entered the 25th minute!
"Tonali is a player who is so mobile and plays very intelligently."
"He is certainly not the kind of player who can break through and advance directly with the ball in the midfield. It can even be said that when he is alone, he does not pose much of a threat and it is easy to defend."
"However, once players gather around him to help him stretch the defense and create gaps for him, then his threat will become apparent!"
Steve Holland is a seasoned player after all, and he immediately saw what Tonali is best at.
Of course, this was also because he had watched reports on Tonali earlier, so he was able to keenly identify Tonali's strengths.
"The three goals all came from Tonali's assists, and all three goals have an obvious feature, which is that the surrounding players are pulling, and Tonali runs into the space to catch the ball and then release the ball."
"His ball is very fast and the landing point is very accurate. He immediately tears open the defense!"
"We can judge that it was the tactics Pan Yi set for Italy that allowed Tonali to perform like this."
When he said this, Steve Holland looked solemn, "If we can't restrict him, then it will be difficult for us to prevent the Italian team's attack!"
Southgate was always watching the game when Steve Horan was analyzing it, but that didn't mean he wasn't listening.
On the contrary, Southgate heard every word of Steve Holland clearly and remembered it in his heart. Their judgment was the same.
That is, Tonali who runs to catch the ball is the greatest threat!
“This Italian team’s off-the-ball movement is so smart that it’s hard to guard against!” Southgate replied with a frown, “It’s not just Tonali, look at today’s performances by Barella, Verratti, Little Chiesa is running very well!"
Steve Holland curled his lips after hearing this.
Emphasizing running without the ball and cooperating with teammates is what Pan Yi emphasized on the players when he was at Chelsea. Steve Holland certainly knows this.
But the problem is, knowing doesn't mean how to limit it.
If anyone could limit him, Pan Yi would not be the Pan Yi he is today, and he would not be the admirable victorious general.
However, now as the assistant coach of the England team, Steve Holland of course still has to assist Southgate as much as possible to help England defeat Italy!
"This Italian team also has very good rhythm control, slow and fast, fast and slow. It is really varied." Steve Holland analyzed:
"Switzerland died at this point in this game. After the start, they were stunned by the Italian team's fast-paced offensive storm, which resulted in the entire game being lost!"
"But this does not mean that the Italian team is a perfect team. Compared with us...compared with Pan Yi's phenomenal seven-time champion Chelsea, this Italian team can only be regarded as barely passable."
"They don't have a player with a large coverage area like Kanter, so there are obvious problems in defending in the middle, including the transition from slow to fast tempo, so Pan Yi often turns to long passes from the back to play against opponents. Corner attack.”
After hearing this, Southgate chuckled: "It seems that we all thought about it together. I also saw this and was thinking about how to deal with them."
"This should be the most effective way to restrain the Italian team, which is to prevent them from getting up fast!" Steve Holland also smiled and nodded, "And an Italian team that can't get up quickly will have a hard time creating a threat! "
Southgate showed a hint of excitement on his face.
When watching the Italian game, in addition to observing future opponents, there is also a very key point, that is because their head coach is Pan Yi!
It is undoubtedly very exciting to be able to compete face to face with a master tactician like Pan Yi.
Winning or losing the game is one thing, but this kind of real-life strategizing competition makes a "new coach" like Southgate feel inexplicably excited.
Defeating Pan Yi is not only defeating the martial arts leader, but also the best opportunity to become famous in the world!
In the eyes of Southgate and others, the current Italian team is completely different from the seven-time Super Champions created by Pan Yi. The biggest difference lies in personal ability.
Every Chelsea player selected is the world's top superstar, which makes Chelsea players have outstanding personal abilities.
One-on-one or even one-to-many, including the ability to seize opportunities in front of them, are all good for this group of Chelsea superstars.
For example, Hazard, Harry Kane, Kante, or Courtois. Their personal abilities are obviously better than those of the Italian team's players in the same position.
Nowadays, Italy has more civilian stars, and it can be said that there is no superstar among them-except for Buffon, who has aged and faded out of the main lineup.
It's just that they still have the teamwork spirit unique to Italian football. After Pan Yi's adjustment and running-in, they can immediately produce a chemical effect and exert a combat effectiveness that they cannot when fighting alone.
But this does not mean that the Italian team's problems will be weakened. At best, it can only be said to be covered up at the tactical level.
Because the Italian team does not have the personal ability of a superstar or the kind of player who can break the deadlock when restricted, Pan Yi has been clear from the beginning, pursuing teamwork and more flexible running without the ball.
He just wanted to use this to cover up his shortcomings in personal ability, while also giving full play to Italy's traditional advantages.
It can be said that under Pan Yi's training, the Italian team's ability to advance to the front of the penalty area is already the best in the world. The biggest problem for this team is that when the ball advances to the front of the penalty area, once it faces the opponent's tight When defending, how do they break through the opponent's iron wall.
One-on-one breakthrough ability and personal escape ability are all slightly worse than world-class players. This is an objective flaw of this group of Italian team players!
Chiesa Jr. and Insigne can indeed be considered stars, but first-rate superstars? Not even close. Shaarawi, Raspadori? Worse.
Including Balotelli, he can't even be considered a star now.
Now Pan Yi's solution is to let the center use flexible movement to strengthen the coordination of passing and receiving in the frontcourt, and to attack diagonally, going deep from the side to both sides of the opponent's penalty area, pulling the defense line and then cutting inside. , this is still the way of teamwork.
But to achieve these two days, there must be a prerequisite, hurry!
Everyone knows that faster than slower, it is easier to create time differences, create loopholes, and make it more difficult for the opponent to help defend and intercept. Therefore, in the final analysis, the Italian team's offense must be based on fast.
Without speed, teamwork cannot create much of a threat!
Just imagine, a team that is constantly passing, receiving and cooperating lacks speed and efficiency and wants to slowly pass the ball into the opponent's penalty area. Is it possible?
Defensive players can easily block their passing routes, which is simply impossible in a strong dialogue!
Therefore, Steve Holland said that the Italian team that cannot get up quickly is not scary, and this is not wrong at all!
If Pan Yi is given a Messi...
No, as long as you give Chelsea's Hazard, as long as you give him a player with outstanding personal abilities and the ability to break through the opponent's defense alone, then the Italian team's attack can definitely be improved to a big level!
But it is also a pity that Italy is still Italy after all, and it is not the Italy that could have forwards such as Baggio, Signori, Vieri, Del Piero, Inzaghi, Totti... Who is this? Objective facts that cannot be changed.
"In addition, the two centers Pan Yi used in Italy are also very important in his tactical system." Southgate added.
Of course he was referring to the two centers Scamacca and Balotelli.
These two centers with slightly different styles also gave Pan Yi more choices and means of tactical changes.
No matter who is on the court, they can provide the Italian team with an effective fulcrum in the penalty area, allowing Italy's attack to have a direction for the ball even if it is intensively defended after reaching the frontcourt.
If these two centers can be frozen, the Italian team will undoubtedly lose a weapon that can break the deadlock.
"Yes, in addition to their quick counterattacks, we also need to pay attention to how to defend Italy's center tactics." Steve Holland nodded, then sighed, "To be honest, I have been with Pan Yi for two years. But I still can’t fully understand his thoughts. Or it can be said that there are too many tactics in his head, and the changes are too complicated, making it difficult for people to find the rules!”
This is actually the common view of many people in the industry towards Pan Yi.
He is good at coaching offense, and he is also good at coaching defense. More importantly, Pan Yi is not the kind of person who is extremely stubborn.
On the contrary, he is very tactful and knows how to adapt. He does not stubbornly stick to his own things, but makes changes according to local conditions. Countless games have proven this.
"But no matter what, his journey to the World Cup is destined to end in failure!" Southgate smiled confidently.
Now that the loopholes of the Italian team have been found today, it means that targeted tactics and arrangements have been found.
Southgate has absolute confidence that his team can beat the Italian team!
——
Pan Yi obviously didn't know that there were two Englishmen in the stands commenting on him.
His immediate task is to win Switzerland first and then consider other things.
The first half ended with a score of 3:0, and the Italian team entered the halftime break with a huge advantage.
In the second half, the Swiss team still could not get over the painful blow suffered by the Italian team after the opening game.
The Italian team once again took the initiative. Chiesa Jr. and Spinazzola played consecutive one-twos on the left. Tonali lurked at the front of the penalty area and waited until Spinazzola dribbled the ball inside. , came out to ask for the ball, and the ball was comfortably given to Tonali's feet.
After Tonali took the ball, he turned around and kicked the ball through. As if the ball had eyes, it passed through the entire Swiss defense line and went straight into the penalty area. Scamacca was already ambushing in the penalty area, and he finished it in one fell swoop. !
4:0!
All the Italian team fans in the stands of the St. Petersburg Stadium and in front of the TV were completely crazy!
This is a battle in the top 16 of the World Cup, and the opponent is the Swiss team, which has a strong defense and has always been difficult to deal with. They actually scored such a disparity!
This can even be said to be an overwhelming victory in terms of strength.
The Italian fans in the audience celebrated like a festival and cheered.
But they all know clearly that the key to winning this game is, in addition to Tonali who scored four assists, the more important thing is their head coach.
It was Pan Yi's opening strategy that made the game lose its suspense after 3 minutes. The rest of the game was actually just a formality!
Even who will be responsible for pushing, who will be responsible for pulling, who will be responsible for passing the ball, and who will be responsible for the final goal, Pan Yi arranged it very carefully. The two goals are exactly the same. This can be seen from Pan Yi's Coaching ability and level.
Yes, players are the executors of the game, and they are the key to the team's victory, but as the head coach, without Pan Yi's behind-the-scenes advice, planning and command, there would be no such game.
"Long live Pan Yi!"
Many Italian fans even shouted this.
When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, all the Italian fans stood up, chanted Pan Yi's name, and celebrated the victory with the Italian coaches and players.
"In three group matches and one knockout match, the Italian team scored two 3-0s and one 4-0. This record is astounding." Lineker couldn't help but continue to brag about Pan Yilai:
"Their powerful attacking power and excellent form are incredible. They are definitely the favorites to win this World Cup. I feel that neither Brazil nor France can stop them!"
"We have enough reasons to look forward to it and watch this Italian team. As for Pan Yi, he will probably lead Italy to the World Cup after leading the Swedish team to win the European Cup!"
But at this moment, Southgate and Steve Horan had returned from the St. Petersburg Stadium with a full load.
Southgate, in particular, is convinced they have found the key to beating Italy.
Southgate is determined to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup!
