Chapter 351 Chelsea's Attack (2)
At Stamford Bridge in Fulham, London, England, the match between Chelsea and Manchester United has just begun.
Just now, the shot of Ivory Coast's Drogba was cleared by Manchester United defender Ferdinand out of the baseline, and Chelsea got a corner kick opportunity.
Arkin Robben walked towards the corner flagpole and calmly took a corner kick at the signal of the referee. However, the pass into the penalty area was a bit too low. The experienced American goalkeeper Howard took the initiative and hit the ball out of the penalty area with both hands. Then Fletcher, who was guarding near the penalty area line, kicked the ball out of the sideline.
This corner kick failed to pose a threat to Manchester United's goal, which made the Blues fans a little disappointed.
Wang Li was also trying to head the ball in the penalty area, but even if he had the wonderful footwork of Lingbo Weibu, he still had to have room to display it. The penalty area was crowded with people, and no matter how exquisite his footwork was, he couldn't pass through the "human flesh", and the place where the football fell was really far away from him. When he saw the football fly out, he immediately turned around and ran back, ready to wait for his teammates to kick the ball out, so that he could continue the attack.
Winger Damien Duff threw the ball to Lampard with both hands on the sideline, and the latter stopped the ball with his chest. As there were Manchester United players defending next to him, Lampard kicked the ball to Duff, then after shaking off the defender, he received Duff's return pass, which put him in a relatively safe position. Then he looked up to look for his teammates and saw Wang Li running back from the front.
There was no need for Wang Li to make any gestures. After cooperating for more than half a season, Lampard already knew who to pass the ball to in this situation. He kicked the ball to Wang Li without hesitation. After passing the ball, Lampard did not choose to follow up, but slowly moved backwards, following behind Wang Li, ready to respond at any time.
At this time, Manchester United's defenders saw Wang Li get the ball. In order to prevent him from making a sudden cold shot or a threatening pass, Scholes and captain Roy Keane immediately pressed forward, and other players also consciously moved the front line forward a little, trying to create space to cause offside and prevent Wang Li's sudden threatening pass.
This was a tactic Ferguson had formulated before the game. On the one hand, he strengthened the blockade of the backcourt, and on the other hand, he created opportunities for offside to suppress Wang Li's precise passes. He wanted to limit Wang Li's performance in these two ways.
At this time, due to the forward movement of the front line, there were large gaps between Manchester United's defense line and the goal. As a result, Drogba's position could only move backwards, and it became difficult for Wang Li to pass the ball because Drogba would be offside if he was not careful.
This approach is indeed effective. At least, the Ivorian Beast feels much more difficult to play against. He has never been an agile forward or a speed player.
At this time, Wang Li faced the double-team of Roy Keane and Scholes with the ball. These two players were both experienced veterans who had been fighting on the court for more than ten years. Although their personal strength might be far inferior to Wang Li's, their experience was incomparable to Wang Li's. They did not choose to grab the ball directly, but slowly approached Wang Li, blocking the passing route between Wang Li and the right. Even behind them, there was Manchester United striker Saha's backup defense - it seemed that Wang Li was about to be double-teamed on three sides.
However, faced with this situation, Wang Li did not panic. He just lowered his head slightly and kept moving forward. But if you look closely, you will see that his eyes were always scanning the left and right roads. There is no doubt that if there is a chance, he will pass the ball to his teammates to get rid of this trouble.
Sure enough, just when Scholes and Roy Keane couldn't help but step forward to steal the ball, Wang Li saw a gap on the left road out of the corner of his eye. He passed the ball without hesitation, and then immediately rushed towards Manchester United's penalty area with light steps.
On the left, Arkin Robben ran two steps forward and received the pass. Manchester United's double-team attempt failed. After receiving the ball, Robben quickly took two steps forward and chose to lob the ball into the penalty area without hesitation. Wang Li arrived in time and jumped from behind Manchester United defender Brown and headed the ball. The football hit Wang Li's forehead and rushed straight towards Manchester United's goal. Fortunately, Howard did not make a mistake this time. He jumped up and lifted the ball out of the baseline.
"Beautiful. In the 4th minute, Chelsea had another chance. Wang Li completed the shot with a header, but the ball was lifted over the crossbar by the opponent's goalkeeper. It was really a pity." At this time, the "ball blind" Chaoting TV football commentator finally saw the excitement of the game. He began to comment again: "In just four minutes, Chelsea has completed two threatening shots. Does this mean that the game will be completely controlled by Chelsea? Coach Zhang, what do you think?"
Coach Zhang next to him also turned his eyes away from the screen and began to comment from a professional football perspective: "From Chelsea's two attacks, we can see that they were completely attacking around Wang Li. Both attacks were initiated by Wang Li, and both attacks were high-altitude passes from Robben. From this, we can see that the cooperation between Wang Li and Robben is very tacit..."
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No matter what the two people from the court said, the game on the field continued. After Chelsea failed to score another corner kick, Manchester United finally made a wonderful fast break.
The attack was initiated by goalkeeper Howard, who caught the corner kick from Duff with both hands, then swung his right hand and the ball flew directly to Fletcher's feet.
Without Wang Li's obstruction, Fletcher finally displayed his rare technical skills in the Premier League. He used continuous changes of direction and bicycle kicks to get past William Gallas' defense. The whole process was very smooth. Although this way of passing was really rough in the eyes of C. Ronaldo and Wang Li, it still won applause from many Red Devils fans.
After passing Gallas, Fletcher was not arrogant enough to try to pass Claude Makelele. You know, this French man is known as the "Chelsea Butcher". He didn't want to test whether his body was strong enough, so he passed the ball to C. Ronaldo on the wing without hesitation.
After receiving the ball, Cristiano took two steps forward, made a two-pass cooperation with Paul Scholes who was following nearby, and then kicked the ball to striker Saha who had entered the penalty area line.
The French striker, who was called "glass man" by the English media, ended Manchester United's attack with a poor long shot. Unfortunately, Thomas Clarke, who was wanted by many giants as the team's main goalkeeper, has a goalkeeping ability that is by no means for show. There is no way such a poor shot can get through his fingers.
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In the 11th minute of the first half, Chelsea attacked.
Wang Li, who was standing on the penalty area line, did not stand still and wait for his teammates to pass the ball. Instead, he ran back with a "bodyguard". It was obvious that he was looking for his teammates to pass the ball. He did not need to wave his hand to signal. Damien Duff, who had just received the ball, passed it to him directly. At this time, Wang Li was about to retreat to the vicinity of the midline. The reason why he did this was to reduce the offensive pressure on himself. Now Manchester United's blockade of him at the front of the penalty area was too tight. If he stayed there, it would be difficult for him to get the ball. Even if he got the pass, it would be difficult for Chelsea to launch an attack. As long as he took the ball from the back, it would be difficult for Manchester United players to double-team him.
After Duff passed the ball to Wang Li, he immediately headed towards Manchester United's half
After receiving the ball, Wang Li instantly turned around and changed direction with the ball, directly shaking off his "bodyguard" and heading straight towards the Manchester United goal.
This approach made Manchester United's midfielders helpless. They could not press close to the center line to defend Wang Li, as the range was too large and the result would definitely be tragic. So they could only watch Wang Li get the ball and run towards them. However, Manchester United's defensive players were very conservative and none of them went to grab the ball alone. After studying Wang Li at Chelsea for half a season, they already knew that they would not be able to grab anything by doing so.
Their idea was correct. What Wang Li feared least was a player coming over to steal the ball directly, because that would make him almost no different from a wooden stake. Double-teaming was the best way to restrict him from continuing to dribble the ball. Facing two or more experienced defensive players, Wang Li did not want to take the risk of passing them. Even if he passed them, he would still have to pass the ball.
The space in the frontcourt is not big, and it is impossible to run unlimitedly to shake off the defenders. Doing so will only result in two defenders following closely behind.
Facing a double-team from Manchester United, Wang Li slowed down his dribbling and began looking left and right for the position of his teammates. Seeing that there was no chance, he immediately passed the ball back to Lampard behind him.
Lampard was not without Manchester United players around him, and he was not good at dribbling, so he faced the football and pushed it hard with his right foot, and the ball fell to Damien Duff on the right. Then Duff made a fake move to the middle to deceive C. Ronaldo, and after finding space, he passed the ball into the penalty area.
At this time, Wang Li was also in the penalty area, but Duff's pass was a mistake, and the ball was kicked directly out of the field by Ferdinand.
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In the 19th minute of the first half, Chelsea attacked again.
On the center line, Makelele directly tackled C. Ronaldo who was "juggling" in front of him, and ignored the Portuguese "diving king" who was lying on the grass and humming behind him, and passed the ball to William Gallas next to him.
As a defender, Gallas actually has a good dribbling ability. After receiving the ball, he accelerated and crossed the center line. He changed direction and dodged Scholes' counter-attack before passing the ball to Wang Li who was waiting behind him.
At this time, due to Manchester United's attack, many players were near the center line. After Wang Li received the ball, he was immediately double-teamed by three people. In this situation, Wang Li calmly passed the ball to Drogba in front of him, then took a few steps and instantly shook off the three people who wanted to double-team him.
Unfortunately, as a center forward, Drogba seldom cooperated with Wang Li on the tactical level. He did not expect Wang Li to pass the ball to him at all. After he reacted, he stopped the ball too far and was directly intercepted by Manchester United defender Sylvester. Fortunately, Drogba reacted quickly, chased back and kicked the ball to the side, where Robben, who came in from behind, happened to receive the pass, which prevented Chelsea's counterattack from ending like this.
However, taking advantage of this opportunity, the Manchester United players had returned to their positions and the chance for a fast break was gone.
After receiving the ball, Robben saw that there was no chance, so he passed the ball back and made several passes with Lampard and Gallas. Finally, the ball was passed to Wang Li's feet.
As the offensive core of Chelsea, most of the attacks are now initiated by Wang Li, and due to the enhancement of his overall view, he has done very well in this regard. This time is no exception. In the lineup built around him by Chelsea, almost half of the offensive players' positions revolve around him, so Wang Li has many passing options.
Facing Manchester United's blockade again, Wang Li still chose to pass back.
Due to the first twenty minutes of the game, Manchester United paid more attention to Chelsea's defense in the middle and the two flanks, which reduced Wang Li's opportunities to pass the ball to the flanks.
However, he was not the only one fighting in the middle. The offensive defender William Gallas also joined in, which relieved Wang Li's offensive pressure. Lampard received the ball and passed it to Gallas and Wang Li several times. Then, when Wang Li received the ball again, he finally found an opportunity---
After several passes, Manchester United players focused their defense on Wang Li, while Gallas was left unguarded. So Wang Li passed the ball to Gallas without hesitation and then ran forward quickly.
In fact, as a defender, William Gallas has a very fast dribbling speed and some dribbling skills, but his passing is not satisfactory. This time, facing the empty opportunity, he made a high pass, but it went astray, which made Wang Li run as hard as he could, but he only lightly touched the football with his head.
However, the ball changed its course slightly during this collision and happened to fall towards the position of Robben who had just entered the penalty area.
At this time, Manchester United defender Brown raised his hand to indicate that Robben was offside. However, the linesman in the distance saw clearly that when Wang Li's head touched the ball, Robben was still running behind him. When the ball flew over everyone's heads and fell to the side, Robben appeared behind the defense line and was indeed not offside.
After Robben received the ball, Stamford Bridge instantly erupted in a fierce cheer, because the Dutch boy was about to score.
"Chance"
At the same time, the official commentator at Stamford Bridge, Creed Pesvak, shouted: "Single-handed"
At this time, many Chelsea fans in the audience also stood up at the same time. They stared at Manchester United's goal with their eyes, as if there was a beautiful naked girl there that was attracting everyone's attention.
Faced with this opportunity, Robben dribbled the ball and shot directly with his right foot.
The ball brushed past goalkeeper Howard, then hit the right post, then crashed into the net, creating a wave of beautiful waves for the Blues fans.
"The ball went into Arjen Robben's goal. The shot was so beautiful. From Gallas to Wang Li, and then to Robben, the connection was very tight, which also reflected the tacit cooperation between Chelsea players. However, this goal was more due to Allen's pass. This header was so beautiful, it should be said to be very accurate. Although Gallas's high lob was a bit crooked, we can see from the slow-motion replay that Allen's running speed was very fast. He jumped high in the air almost instantly and completed a wonderful header pass..."
Although the on-site commentator Pesvak praised this attack to the sky, in fact, Wang Li who was celebrating the goal on the court felt a little embarrassed. This pass was really a matter of luck. He originally wanted to head the ball to Drogba, but after jumping into the air, he found that the route of the ball was too bad. Of course, he didn't even see Robben coming up, he just symbolically touched it with his head.
"Alan, that's a great pass," said Arkin Robben, who was so excited after scoring a goal that he ran over to give Wang Li a warm hug and said excitedly.
"Thanks."
Wang Li didn't say much, but he still looked up and exchanged glances with Gallas, and both saw the smile hidden in each other's eyes. But in the arena, luck is also a part of strength. Although it was completely based on luck this time, Chelsea scored a goal and he himself got an assist.
The result is the most important. The process will definitely be ignored by the fans. It should be said that it has also been ignored by Wang Li.
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At this time, in the Manchester United coaching booth on the sidelines, Sir Alex Ferguson couldn't help frowning.
The reason why he had this expression was not because he was worried about the situation on the field. In fact, he had already prepared for the loss at Stamford Bridge before the game. Now, he was puzzled by Chelsea's offensive performance in the past 20 minutes.
In the battle against Chelsea, if you want to win, you must find ways to suppress Wang Li's performance. This is the consensus of all Premier League head coaches.
As the head coach of Manchester United, Ferguson certainly did this work and spent a long time on it. In fact, he had been thinking about this issue after three rounds of the league.
Before Christmas, he finally decided that if he wanted to suppress Wang Li's performance, only the zone blockade tactics would be the most suitable. No matter what your personal ability is, you must cooperate with your teammates. If you suppress the passing route in the dangerous area, then your degree of danger will definitely be greatly reduced.
However, this was not shown in the first 20 minutes of the game. Chelsea's attack was very smooth, and Wang Li, as the core of the offense, was also very active in every attack. From here we can see that Manchester United's regional blockade had very little impact on Wang Li.
"But, why is this?"