White Hart Lane. It was here that Nicholas started his season. He was proud to have won against Pochettino here. Later met Christine at the hotel and those hours were wonderful.

He didn't expect to return to White Hart Lane more than two months later, and his mood would be so depressed. He was recognized by many people, and presumably the cameras of Sky Sports swept over him. And none of that matters. He was anxiously waiting for the game to start.

He studied the pre-match starters. He didn't think she was crazy. But he really didn't think about what she was going to do.

But put Patrick Amber on the bench?

First of all, she is probably the only one in the world who can do this without any worries. The current Patrick is not what it used to be, and even England coach Roy Hodgson wants to press him on the bench without injury.

Secondly, did she want to use Patrick and Vargas as back-ups?

But why?

It's definitely not that simple to defend first in the first half and attack in the second half. There should be a complete and rigorous logic in this.

Finally, players from both sides walked out of the tunnel of the players.

The referee of this match was Mark Clattenburg, who walked into the field with the Premier League ball in his arms.

The rain in London was getting heavier and heavier, and it was the heaviest rain Nicholas remembered since he arrived in England.

****

Pochettino glanced at the figure. In a stadium that is almost entirely full of men, she looks very thin. When she shook hands just now, she was very indifferent and politely exchanged a few words with him, and she didn't seem to be too worried about her crumbling handsome position.

The Argentine didn't believe she was really not worried, otherwise how could she have made such a crazy starter.

He frowned, he might have buried the girl's career with his own hands. But that's the case on the football field, and he doesn't plan to be more sympathetic just because the other party is a woman.

Judging from the current situation, in this game, he not only wants Tottenham to win, but also wants a big win. Since she is going to bury her career, it is better to be tragic. What's more, whether it's three points or goal difference, it's important.

The whistle blew.

Under the pouring rain, the White Hart Lane stadium resounded with the sound of the rain.

Lu Ling sat in the coach's seat, his heart beating extremely fast.

She was nervous, in fact, she hadn't been so nervous in a long time. It's just that when the camera swept over her, her face was always calm.

All the reporters in the media gallery were staring at the positions of the QPR players, trying to figure out how Kristen lined up.

Sky Sports ace commentator, 71-year-old Martin Taylor, said to the guests in the live broadcast box: "I don't know what you think, this starting formation seems to me to be a 4231 formation. ”

Commentator Alan Smith said: "That's right, this is 4231, Kristen Lu didn't change the formation, but I'm puzzled, why did she use such awkward personnel in this formation today?"

Martin Taylor continued: "It's really strange and it looks like a lot of players aren't in the positions they're most comfortable with. ”

QPR's starting line-up:

Matt Phillips (25 years old)

Yu Zixiang (20 years old), Nathan Raymond (22 years old), John O'Connor (18 years old)

Marco van Ginkel (23 years old) Jack Steele (19 years old)

Álvaro Cruz (19 years old), Ian Parker (19 years old), Steven Caurk (24 years old), Timothy Fosu Mensah (18 years old)

Robert Green (aged)

Mauricio Pochettino, who was on the sidelines, was also puzzled.

Mensah is a versatile defender and understandably at right-back. But two full-backs, Yu Zixiang and John O'Connor, were put in the winger position, and there were four full-backs on the field?

Not to mention Ian Parker once again on the back line, as well as Matt Phillips and Nathan Raymond, both wingers were placed in the unfamiliar middle.

It would be too rash for Lu to have multiple players switch positions in such an important game.

And there were two reserve players who had never had any first-team experience, Jack Steele and Álvaro Cruz, on the pitch.

Pochettino's brows furrowed tighter and tighter, what does Lu mean by this?

After a few minutes, he gradually discovered some clues.

On the pitch, QPR's right-back Mensah followed Tottenham's left wing-back Eriksen all the way to the middle and harassed him closely, while QPR's left-back Alvaro Cruz harassed Tottenham's right-back Lamela all the time.

On one occasion, Eriksen ran straight from the left to the right to receive the ball, and Mensah actually threw away his right-back position and followed across the pitch.

When Tottenham centre-forward Harry Kane dropped back into the centre circle and received a pass from the back, he was immediately squeezed by strong QPR centre-back Steven Cork. It's stopped. Ian Parker, who was next to him, took advantage of the situation to intercept the ball.

Nicholas in the stands also gradually clarified Christine's thinking and logic at this time.

"What a bold arrangement!" exclaimed the Spaniard softly.

In this life-and-death battle, his girl sacrificed a very classical man-to-man tactic.

Lu Ling sat in the coach's seat, and judging from the current situation on the field, her arrangement was effective.

Over the past week, she has been sleepless, scrutinizing Tottenham's weaknesses. After that, the players were constantly strengthened on the training ground in order to play this tactic.

Getting rid of captain Nedham Onuoha, discarding all the older players except goalkeeper Robert, and using two inexperienced reserve players to line up a squad with an average age of just over 20s with only one goal.

Extreme man-to-man man-to-man tactics to compete with Tottenham's athleticism.

Tottenham are an extremely physical team, having run the longest distance and the most sprints in the Premier League in the statistics of last season and this season, as well as having the youngest average age.

Pochettino's plan was to combine a number of players with beastly physiques and rely on athleticism to brutally crush opponents.

Even in the Premier League, where the emphasis is on the body, Tottenham were able to use this violent style of play to almost win last season's title, which speaks volumes about the horror of this team in terms of body.

But these super athletic abilities, in Lu Ling's eyes, are nothing more than excellent track and field skills, and after studying the footage of about 20 Tottenham games, she came to the conclusion that the only people in the Tottenham team who can create a threat with guò brains and superb skills are Kane and Eriksen.

Therefore, the first general direction she determined was to use extreme man-to-man play to contain almost every point of Tottenham.

It requires a lot of physical and physical ability, so she has sacrificed her experienced players in favor of a younger squad in order to overpower her opponents in the 'physical' category that Tottenham is most proud of.

"It looks like the whole audience is staring at people. She dared to take risks. In the press room, John Claus spoke to Chloe. He tapped his keyboard as he spoke.

The discussion of the game on Twitter is also going on, and he updates his tweet from time to time.

Chloe frowned.

Manmarking and zone defense are two principles in football defence. The former emphasizes the defense of people, while the latter emphasizes the defense of space.

The advantage is that it is not easy to miss the opponent's players, but the disadvantage is that the formation will be disrupted and leak important space, and it is extremely physically consuming, so pure man-marking will not be used in modern football. Today's teams are basically zoned and marked.

Even Chloe knew that this style of play would make QPR players run around with their opponents and easily lose their defensive positions.

The field of football matches is much larger than that of sports such as basketball, and the use of man-to-man is bound to lose the blockade of space. This can have disastrous results.

Why would Christine play a style that has been almost abandoned by modern football? Chloe didn't quite understand. She asked John Krauss, and the famous reporter for The Mirror shook his head.

Sky Sports' camera swept over Nicholas's face and commentator Martin Taylor laughed: "Everton just drew at home to Manchester United yesterday, I didn't expect Flores to be in the stands at White Hart Lane today. It seems that Lu's Spanish mentor is also very concerned about her handsome position. I just don't know if the Spaniards can understand Lu's tactics?"

Guest Alan Smith teased: "Look at the expression, this tactic should not be taught by him." ”

Nicholas clasped his hands on his chin, and the details of Christine's tactics were the ones that showed her talent the most.

The QPR's stance does look chaotic at the moment, but because of the very good athleticism of the players, Tottenham is uncomfortable at almost every point.

But there is a person on the field who does not have a marking task.

Because Tottenham's two centre-backs are cared for by just one QPR striker, there is an extra person at the back of the QPR.

That man is Ian Parker.

Nicholas looked at the red-haired boy on the field, the corners of his mouth slightly raised.

He has two roles on the pitch, the same in classical football – both a seeper and a libero.

He is the key to the success of Christine's style of play!

As a scavenger, level-headed and quick to get in place, Ian dragged to the end and needed to constantly make up for other out-of-position teammates.

As a free agent, Ian's skill and ability to play the ball allows him to guide the team's offense when he has possession.

Christine, do you really believe him?

So far, he's lived up to your trust.

If you want to break this style of play, blindly attacking is no longer effective, and you must have very good ideas and techniques to make use of the space in the QPR defense.

Nicholas's eyes fell on QPR's Mensah and Steven Caurker again.

She sent Mensah, the team's most solitary defender, to target Tottenham's brain, Christian Eriksen – the Dane has very good creativity and passing footwork, but he is one of the worst physical players in the Tottenham squad – and the constant interference with his body can drastically reduce his threat.

Against Tottenham centre-forward Harry Kane, she used Steven Cork, who has a great physique, to keep her body in touch.

In fact, Steven Cork alone is unlikely to be able to guard against England's best striker at the moment.

However, Ian is right behind Steven. This made up for Steven's lack of flexibility and kept Harry Kane at bay so well that he could only finish from outside the box.

In this way, the game was dragged into a quagmire of hand-to-hand combat by the QPR, and the fierce scramble took place in all corners of the pitch, but Tottenham were unable to break through the QPR defence for nearly 20 minutes.

The rain was not light at all.

Pochettino started to get a little impatient, constantly letting his team play high and trying to disrupt the QPR's marking. But Harry Kane struggled to hold the ball comfortably under the entanglement of Steven and Ian, and his feet were not very good.

As for the core of the team, Eriksen is slammed by Mensah every time he is ready to take the ball or pass the ball, and can only pass horizontally or back.

Halfway through the first half, White Hart Lane was immersed in an anxious atmosphere. Even Tottenham fans could see that Lu's strange start made the home team's attack unthreatening.

Mauricio Pochettino kept moving between the dugout and the touchline, even crouching on the sidelines like his mentor, Marcelo Bielsa.

But the acting head coach of QPR, who has always liked to command on the sideline, sat in the coach's box and never walked to the sidelines.

The score remained 0-0.

Nicholas glanced at the girl in the dugout, she was doing a good job.

So far, Tottenham Hotspur have struggled to control the ball and form a siege situation. Christine's ferocious defence meant that Tottenham had to stay away from the QPR penalty area and get caught up in the endless tussle in midfield.

But.

There was no offensive in QPR.

They only had a long-range shot from outside Matt Phillips that hit the stands high into the stands. Patrick and Vargas were not on the field, and the director could only passively follow the opponent instead of actively attacking.

And.

In the last fifteen minutes of the first half, the players who can run again will also have a period of physical bottleneck, and the muscles will gradually enter the anaerobic phase, especially the physical burden of the defenders will be greater. Will QPR's players be able to execute such high-intensity tactics by then?

Nicholas was a little worried about his girl. He knew that such an arrangement must have taken a lot of effort, no wonder she had basically ignored him this week, presumably there was no time at all. She looked so haggard, maybe she hadn't slept much.

The game lasted thirty minutes.

The acting coach of the QPR suddenly stood up from the dugout.

Boos on the White Hart Lane Stadium. And the applause from the away fan zone was drowned out by the boos and rain.

Unmoved, as if she hadn't heard it, she walked near the sideline.

Ian looked over, she made a gesture, and then Ian Parker shouted something. Everyone began to retreat under the command of a nineteen-year-old Scottish boy.

Pochettino is well versed in the bottlenecks of physical play, and he laughed in his heart, finally about to recover?

In the pouring rain, the Argentine waved his arms and instructed two full-backs, Kyle Walker and Danny Rose, to press hard.

Tottenham were ready to launch a frantic back-to-back siege in the last fifteen minutes of the first half.

Playing to the thirtieth minute, taking the initiative to recover is Lu Ling's established strategy.

At this point in time, the players' fitness is declining and the man-to-man restriction will not be as effective.

Pochettino regained his confidence and put his hands in the pockets of his suit pants. We're going to kill the suspense of the game before Patrick and Vargas get on the pitch!, the Argentine thought to himself. We have a full runners-up from last season. (In fact, Tottenham Hotspur was third-placed, but that changed)

Nicholas in the stands sat forward. Will Tottenham's wishful thinking really work?

There, Yu Zixiang and John O'Connor, who played as wingers in the game, have yet to make any appearances.

Why did Christine put two full-backs in the winger position?

This must be another core arrangement of this starter.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

Pochettino underestimated his girls. She's definitely not a rigid manager.

Definitely not.