Chapter 450 Guardiola VS Klopp, a battle between world-class top coaches!
The so-called three-center-back system means that when the team is attacking, the full-backs or center-backs are moved to the midfield to form a three-center-back position.
There are many advantages to doing this: first, the three-center-back position means that the team lacks full-backs and the width of the defense line is reduced. If the opponent wants to continue to implement the high-pressure tactics, they need to let their wingers position themselves to pressure the two side center-backs in advance.
The addition of one player in Manchester City's midfield will further force the opponent to deploy manpower in the midfield, forcing their formation to shrink into a trapezoid.
In this way, Manchester City's two flanks' passing routes are revealed, and the full-backs can directly pass the ball to the wingers, allowing the wingers to carry the ball and organize the attack.
And thanks to the contraction of the opponent's defensive formation, the wing players have more room to move when dribbling the ball and will not be disturbed or intercepted in the first time. This makes it easier for them to advance with the ball, and the possibility of attacking the opponent's half or even the 30-meter area is greatly increased!
Guardiola is indeed a world-class coach. The tactics he came up with can greatly improve Manchester City's offensive strength. However, he is still quite nervous at the moment and is not sure whether this tactic will work.
On the other side, in Liverpool's locker room.
Klopp is encouraging his students: "You did very well in the first half, I am proud of you!"
Hearing Klopp's praise, Liverpool players straightened their chests, their hearts filled with pride and honor.
The stronger the opponent, the more their strength is reflected.
"But Manchester City is not a weak team, and the Etihad Stadium is not an easy place to conquer, so I need you to continue to show your full state in the second half, not to be arrogant or impatient, fight for every ball, and don't give our opponents any chance. I hope we can return to Liverpool with a victory in the end."
After saying this, Klopp's eyes became sharp. After glancing at the Liverpool players in the locker room, he asked loudly:
"Tell me, can you do this?"
"able!"
Liverpool's players shouted at the top of their lungs, vowing to win this victory as a gift to their coach and fans! "Okay, let's go get them!"
Klopp pushed open the door of the locker room, waved his hand, stood at the door and high-fived every Liverpool player who came out.
The locker rooms of the two teams were not far apart, and the noise made by Liverpool was clearly heard by the Manchester City players next door.
However, there was no expression on their faces. They all walked towards the court without looking around and in silence.
The opponents are in high spirits and a tough battle is bound to await them in the second half.
Manchester City has not seen such a tough battle for a long time.
But will Manchester City be afraid?
I'm afraid it won't be called Manchester City! With the referee's whistle, the second half of the game officially began.
Manchester City made the first substitution. Aguero, who was in poor form, was replaced by Son Heung-min, and Lin Quan moved up to the striker position.
Seeing this, Klopp was shocked: Is it coming?
He had obviously watched the derby between Manchester City and Manchester United, so he was not surprised by Manchester City's practice of replacing the striker.
However, if we want to play without a striker, shouldn’t we replace the striker and add a defensive midfielder?
But what does Guardiola mean by substituting a winger? Is it because the score is behind and he doesn't want to withdraw an attacking player? Without the striker's restraint, Liverpool's backcourt players can press forward more boldly, and Manchester City didn't send three defensive midfielders. Can they withstand Liverpool's impact? Klopp couldn't figure out Guardiola's reason for doing this for a while, but considering Guardiola's strength, he didn't think that this was a low-level mistake made by the opponent.
Rather, he was worried whether the other party had considered something that he could not see. If that was the case, then the situation might be a bit dangerous.
Thinking of this, Klopp perked up and concentrated on observing the game.
This observation immediately reveals the difference.
"Manchester City's formation has changed!"
He saw that when Manchester City attacked, right-back Zabaleta left his position and moved to the defensive midfielder position, while the remaining three defenders shrank to the middle, forming a three-center-back formation.
Is this Guardiola's back-up plan?
Without reducing the number of offensive players in the frontcourt, can we ensure that the defensive midfielder position has sufficient interception ability by using the full-backs as a prerequisite?
But the question is, isn't Zabaleta a true defensive midfielder? Can he handle the duties of this position?
Not only Klopp saw this, Liverpool players also saw the changes in Manchester City's formation.
At the beginning, they didn't care, and even wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the decrease in the number of people in Manchester City's back line to further increase the pressing in the frontcourt. Their two wingers directly hit the faces of Manchester City's left and right central defenders, and the overall formation was pressed very forward.
The advancement of the two wingers forced Liverpool's midfielders to move forward to ensure a reasonable distance between their three lines.
Liverpool players seriously implemented the requirements put forward by Klopp in the locker room. They used active running and fighting to limit the passing and cooperation of Manchester City players.
During this process, the entire Liverpool was like a machine, every part was running at high speed and no one was slacking off.
But they found that their high-pressure pressing in the second half was much less effective than in the first half.
Manchester City increased their offensive power in the second half. Their two flanks were able to frequently attack into their own half and even create good shooting opportunities.
In the 52nd minute of the second half, Lin Quan successfully broke through the wing and chose to cut inside to shoot. The ball hit the crossbar, making Liverpool players sweat in their hearts.
It was a close call. If the ball had gone just a little bit worse, their lead would have been only one goal!
Although the ball did not go in, it sounded the alarm for Liverpool that there was a problem with their defensive tactics.
But where did the problem lie? Klopp also noticed this on the sidelines. He frowned and carefully recalled the entire process of Manchester City's offensive from initiation to organization and end.
"Why didn't the wingers on his team step forward to pressure Lin Quan the first time he received the ball?"
A question popped up in his mind. In this game, he paid great attention to the defense of Manchester City's two flanks.
Especially for Manchester City's top scorer Lin Quan, they are even more vigilant.
But he clearly remembered that when Lin Quan received the pass from his teammate, Liverpool's winger did not step forward to interfere and intercept the ball immediately.
What was going on? Were the players lazy and not executing their own tactics, or was there something wrong on the field that they hadn't noticed? Thinking of this, Klopp widened his eyes and stared closely at the positions of the Manchester City players on the field.
In fact, for head coaches, because they are on the same level as the players, it is not easy to observe the players' positions at once.
If Klopp was standing in the stands at this time, he would be able to clearly see that the defensive positions of Liverpool players had changed unknowingly.
This change was not the result of Klopp's active adjustment, but a passive result.
After Zabaleta's move, the opponent now has four players in the midfield. If they continue with the pressing method in the first half, they will have to use fewer players to defeat more players. Even if they run harder, it will be difficult to make up for the difference in numbers and they will not be able to put enough pressure on the opponent.
Therefore, Liverpool's formation was forced to retreat inwards and to the middle.
There is no way around it. The players did this spontaneously. Klopp would not feel anything unusual even if he saw it, because even if he was on the court, he would do it subconsciously.
But it was this natural thing that made Manchester City's attack come alive.
After Son Heung-min came on the court, he frequently relied on his speed to run with the ball on the wing. His ability to cut inside and shoot was limited, so he only needed to use his speed to advance the ball to the frontcourt, and then find a way to pass it to Lin Quan to complete his mission.
When Son Heung-min is dribbling the ball, Lin Quan will also take the initiative to move towards the wing to support him.
Lin Quan's behavior prevented Liverpool's full-back from getting close to restrict Son Heung-min. He could only choose to stand between the two and cut off the connection between them as much as possible.
This kind of position can hardly bring any interference to Sun Xingmin, he can dribble the ball very comfortably and complete the pass! What's more terrible is that in this offensive process, Manchester City's resources are obviously tilted.
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At that time, not only Son Heung-min and Lin Quan will be active on the wing, but De Bruyne and even Zabaleta will move over here to form a local numerical advantage.
Moreover, their positions are very scattered, not crowded together, leaving their own people no space to maneuver.
This made it much more difficult for Liverpool to defend on the wing, and they were unable to intercept Son Heung-min's dribbling and passing.
Once the ball was handed to Lin Quan, with his explosive power and breakthrough ability, their midfielders and defenders would not be able to stop him in the first time.
As a result, Liverpool's defense was in danger and it was only a matter of time before they scored.
Sure enough, shortly after Lin Quan's shot hit the crossbar, Manchester City made a comeback in the 58th minute.
It was still Son Heung-min who was dribbling the ball down the wing. After he reached the 30-meter area, he did not go directly to the bottom line, but looked in the direction of his teammates and passed the ball back to Lin Quan who was following up.
After receiving the ball, Lin Quan dribbled and changed direction continuously, dribbled past the defender and entered the penalty area.
This time he did not rush to shoot, but after the goalkeeper came out, he made a light lob shot, creating a beautiful arc and sending the ball steadily into the goal.
2:3!
Manchester City scored another goal, and the score difference between the two teams was only one goal!
On the sidelines, Klopp couldn't sit still.
He widened his eyes and stared at the Manchester City players on the field with a serious expression.
The person who appeared in his sight was not Lin Quan, but Manchester City's right back Zabaleta! It was this person's position change that caused this series of chain reactions.
It turns out that Guardiola’s three-center-back formation has the killer move here!
Klopp did not back down. He immediately waved his hand and asked the two strikers on the bench to warm up and prepare to play.
Manchester City's tactical offensive capabilities have indeed improved significantly, but the sacrifice in defense is also visible to the naked eye.
Coutinho and other players have almost exhausted their physical energy and are unable to put more pressure on Manchester City's defense.
In that case, I will give all three substitutions to the forwards and use substitutes with more physical strength to attack Manchester City's defense.
I want to see if Guardiola's formation can hold up!
After making the decision to make substitutions, Klopp called Coutinho over and asked the players who were about to be substituted to run hard on the field and use various methods to consume the physical energy of Manchester City defenders.
Anyway, they will be able to go off the court to rest soon, so it doesn’t matter if they consume a little more energy now.
Klopp's ruthlessness and decisiveness made Guardiola worried.
Seeing the other party's actions, he had already guessed Klopp's intention.
Replacing three people in one breath, this kind of courage is not something everyone has.
He really wasn't sure he could withstand the opponent's attack. After all, Manchester City's new tactics were just something he came up with on the spur of the moment. It was the result of a sudden inspiration and he hadn't done too many experiments.
According to the media and fans, this is his job, and Guardiola himself is not sure whether it will work! Klopp was more ruthless than Guardiola imagined. Not only did he replace three offensive players in the 65th minute, he also pushed the team's formation further. When attacking, both of Liverpool's full-backs rushed up.
Their overall formation became 2-1-4-3, with the two full-backs completely moving down the flank, further increasing the width of the team's attack and the pressure in the frontcourt.
Affected by this, it is no longer easy for Manchester City to pass the ball to the wingers smoothly when switching from defense to offense. They have to wait until Liverpool's full-backs retreat.
Of course, you can also take the risk of making a long pass to the wing, but doing so will easily fall into Liverpool's offside trap.
There were not many people in their backcourt. If they did not cooperate with the offside trap to strengthen the defense, Liverpool's goal would be wide open and they would be lying dead.
Ordinary fans may not be able to understand the strategies of the coaches of the two teams.
But they clearly felt that the competition became more intense and more exciting!
"As expected of two world-class coaches, Guardiola's three-center-back position strengthened the team's wing attack, while Klopp's crazy pressing and the full-backs' complete descent pushed back the two wing corridors that Manchester City had just created!"
"Guardiola's adjustment can be called a stroke of genius. I think his offensive system is likely to spread throughout the football world in the future.
Klopp was able to see the opponent's intention so quickly and make timely adjustments. His on-the-spot command ability can be regarded as top-notch in football."
In the Sky Sports commentary booth, Martin Taylor praised sincerely.
"These two are a perfect match! This is how the Premier League will be more interesting!"
(End of this chapter)