Just like when playing against Manchester City, Lallana's position is still slightly behind, between center forward and attacking midfielder.

But the role is different from that in Manchester City. In today's game, coach Adkins asked Lallana to act as a shadow striker behind the center forward when attacking, and to retreat to act as a central midfielder when defending, and to make space to support Gu Ran's forward runs at any time.

In other words, Lallana's role today was more defensive in the midfield and frontcourt, while the offensive role was greatly reduced.

The attacking midfielder position was previously played by Lambert when playing against Manchester City, but today, it was played by Gu Ran! This is the biggest change in Southampton's tactics today! Although the positions before the game officially started are still unclear, as long as they enter the game state, Gu Ran will move forward and Lambert will move backward.

Of course, as an attacking midfielder, Gu Ran’s main role today is actually to play in the forward position of the defensive midfielder. In other words, Gu Ran’s main role in the attacking midfielder position is to intercept, steal and confront.

Not only do you have to do the dirty and tiring work, but you also have to look for opportunities to get forward and deliver output.

However, there is an obvious problem with such a tactic - that is, once Gu Ran is targeted by the shrewd Ancelotti, Southampton will really be at a loss.

Therefore, Coach Adkins's tactics are actually very risky.

Coach Adkins must have 100% confidence in Gu Ran's abilities, believe that Gu Ran can break through the limitations of Chelsea's world-class midfielders, and believe that Gu Ran can compete with Lampard, Drogba, and other world-class stars on this central axis.

Only by placing Gu Ran on the central axis and the defensive midfielder in front can there be a chance to limit the passing ability of Lampard, the passing machine.

If they played like they did against Manchester City and just put Gu Ran in the defensive midfielder position, Lampard would have passed the ball in the midfield before Gu Ran could get forward.

Therefore, if we want to beat Chelsea in two rounds, we must play trump against trump and let Gu Ran face off against Lampard.

To put it more bluntly, whoever's No. 8 performs better, whose team will win.

In today's game, Coach Adkins has no choice but to fight and take risks.

Fortunately, Gu Ran is very strong and can play in multiple positions, otherwise, there would be no chance of winning this game.

Southampton's left midfielder is still Chamberlain.

Chamberlain seemed very excited. He is definitely a tournament-level player. The closer he gets to the tournament, the better his condition and the stronger his performance.

Southampton has been able to overcome all obstacles and get to where they are today, in addition to Gu Ran, Chamberlain, Lallana, and goalkeeper captain Davis have all performed beyond the level of the English League One.

Of course, this improvement in the collective state is also due to Gu Ran.

Schneiderlin is still the right midfielder.

Schneiderlin's recent progress is obvious to all. His ability to chase back has begun to improve, and his defensive and supporting abilities in the midfield have also increased visibly. He is the most suitable candidate on the right side of Southampton's defensive strategy.

Southampton's left back is Hammond.

Hammond has also been well transformed recently. Although Hammond is not a left-footed player, as a former defensive midfielder, Hammond is very experienced in defense, interception and positioning. In particular, he can step up at critical moments and form a three-defensive midfielder pattern with Gu Ran and Lambert to strangle the opponent. This is also a new change in Coach Adkins' backcourt defense.

Southampton's right back is Fonte, and the usual Richardson is temporarily sitting on the bench today.

Defensively, Fonte and Richardson perform similarly at right back, with Richardson also having an attacking edge.

However, in the match against Chelsea, the full-backs had no chance of assisting.

What Southampton needs now is a watertight defense that will never allow spaces to appear behind the full-backs.

Of course, letting Richardson sit on the bench is not because we don't want Richardson to play offensively, but because we have other plans.

Fonte can not only play as a right back, but also as a center back. Therefore, when necessary, Fonte can switch positions to play as a center back.

The center back position is critical. If a new player is found to replace him, it is easy to fail to grasp the rhythm of the game at the beginning and cause fatal mistakes. Therefore, Coach Adkins has ambushed the center back Fonte at the right back in advance. When the center back needs to be replaced, Richardson can be directly replaced and Fonte can be allowed to play as the center back.

Southampton's starting two central defenders are Jaidi and Walton.

In the crucial game, Walton regained the trust of coach Adkins and returned to the starting lineup.

In the previous month, Walton's performance in the club's training was remarkable. Although his physical fitness was still not as good as before, as the club's performance got better and better, the vice-captain became more and more honored and serious. He even arrived early for training several times. When playing against weaker teams, Walton was able to play the whole game and performed well.

Such performance will naturally impress Coach Adkins.

Although Coach Adkins was convinced that Walton's body would not be able to sustain the entire game in the high-intensity confrontation with Chelsea, Walton was very experienced in defense.

Moreover, Coach Adkins summoned Walton alone before the game, talked with Walton for half an hour, and gave Walton a "secret mission."

Southampton's goalkeeper is still Davis, who has performed very well recently.

Davis is also the goalkeeper with the most shutouts in the English League One, and has basically already secured the English League One Golden Glove this season.

In general, there are some changes in Southampton's lineup today, especially the position of the defensive midfielder in front, which will be the best highlight of today's game.

Chelsea's lineup was much more luxurious! Chelsea used a 433 formation today, with half-court pressing, a mixture of long and short passes, and a cautious attacking mentality.

As an Italian head coach, Ancelotti is naturally conservative. Chelsea's 433 formation is also a modification of Mourinho's 433 formation, which is both offensive and defensive, and it strengthens Italy's chain defense.

During Ancelotti's coaching, the Blues Chelsea were one of the teams with the lowest goal conceding rate in the top five leagues.

This is not only because Chelsea's goalkeeper is Cech, the strongest goalkeeper in the world, but the main reason is the defensive concept brought by Ancelotti.

Even when facing a weak team that is not very strong, Ancelotti will first take a safe defensive approach.

...(End of this chapter)