Manchester.

Carrington Training Base.

Manuel Pellegrini is holding a meeting with his coaching staff to study the details of the build-up to the clash with Liverpool.

"In this game, how to defend Jiang Chenxi will be the key for us to limit Liverpool's attack." Kidd, a member of the coaching staff, said.

Born in Manchester, Kidd made over 200 appearances for Manchester United as a player and spent three seasons for Manchester City in the late 70s. After retiring as a player, Kidd joined United's coaching staff and was an assistant to Alex Ferguson for 10 years before becoming Blackburn Rovers boss in 1998.

Kidd joined City in 2009 as part of Roberto Mancini's coaching team and is the only coach to remain with Manuel Pellegrini since he took over. Manchester City FC strongly believes in Kidd's values, and the good relationship with the players has helped Pellegrini integrate into the team more quickly.

……

"I studied the footage of the Liverpool and Southampton games, as well as Jiang Chenxi's previous games at Borussia Dortmund." Coaching staff member Ruben Brown. Dias said, "One thing worth noting is that Jiang Chenxi has made great progress compared to before, especially his physical confrontation ability, he doesn't seem to be physically strong, but he is not afraid of confrontation. ”

"Yes, the Chinese have made rapid progress for more than a year." Coaching staff member Fernando. Arsay said.

Reuben. Díaz and Fernando. In the 2012/2013 season, Malaga was eliminated by Basel in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and they were very impressed by the game in which the Chinese were the number one contributor to Basel's promotion, and in that direct competition, Jiang Chenxi's performance also beat the European Golden Boy winner Isco, who was still in Malaga at the time.

"Strong ability to grab points, good archery, sensitive sense of smell, excellent judgment of landing points, excellent card position, not afraid of confrontation." Saying that, Dias shrugged, "Honestly, such a player is simply an all-around killer in the penalty area, with no obvious shortcomings. ”

……

Pellegrini did not speak, he listened quietly to the discussion of his assistants.

Pellegrini was nicknamed "The Engineer" because he had a certificate in civil engineering and because he was good at tactical analysis.

Pellegrini became famous at Villarreal, and his elegant personality and skillful coaching philosophy made him promoted to the industry of a coach in the Yellow Submarine, but his misadventures in coaching Real Madrid made him questionable for a while, and later in Málaga, Pellegrini once again earned respect with his excellent coaching record, and in the summer of 2013, Pellegrini joined Manchester City from Malaga in La Liga, and led the team to win the Premier League title and League Cup in his first season at Manchester City. Finally achieved his dream of winning the Super League and won the Premier League Manager of the Month three times.

For Jiang Chenxi's 'old rival', Pellegrini was deeply impressed, when he was in Malaga, his Malaga was a dark horse in the Champions League, if it hadn't met Basel, a more dark horse, Málaga would have been able to reach the quarterfinals at least.

Hearing that his assistant was quite jealous of Jiang Chenxi in his words, and even a little helpless, Pellegrini shook his head dissatisfiedly, he knew that in the battle with Basel back then, the coaching staff still had lingering fears about this Chinese star.

What's more, as Dias and Arsay said, Jiang Chenxi is more difficult to deal with now than it was back then, generally speaking, when players transfer to the Premier League, the first thing they have to face is the fast pace of the Premier League and tough physical confrontation, which takes a period of adaptation, many players are unable to adapt to such a fierce confrontation environment and flee the Premier League in a hurry, but these do not seem to be a problem for Jiang Chenxi, at least from the performance of Liverpool and Southampton's substitute appearances, Jiang Chenxi's performance is very good.

……

Pellegrini knows what the coaching staff is saying.

However, he didn't think that what Jiang Chenxi said about Dias had no shortcomings.

"You have all studied Jiang Chenxi's game data, have you noticed that in all of Jiang's goals, he rarely scores outside the penalty area." Pellegrini said.

"Yes, except for the occasional long-range shot from outside the penalty area, Jiang's goals are basically point-grabbing points in the penalty area." Dias said.

"Why?" Manuel Pellegrini threw out a question. However, he did not wait for his assistant's answer, Pellegrini clicked on the video material, "Whether it is in Dortmund or Basel, Jiang Chenxi is the core of the attack, and the team is also very good at playing counterattacks around him, but the final score of this counterattack, whether it is a pass after breaking through from the side or penetrating in the middle, the final goal ends with Jiang Chenxi scoring in the penalty area." ”

"I see." Dias said excitedly, "Whether it is Dortmund or Basel, their attacks and counterattacks rarely have the kind of attacks that directly hit the back and directly find Jiang Chenxi. ”

Quickly pass the ball behind him, which is considered to be the most efficient and simple and direct way to attack in the counterattack in pursuit of speed, but whether it is Dortmund or Basel, even if there is a counterattack behind the direct hit, it is also to find the side, and will not pass the ball directly to Jiang Chenxi, but after a side breakthrough or a middle penetration, and then pass to Jiang Chenxi, so that the Chinese star can complete the fatal blow.

……

"This is because Jiang Chenxi is not good at breaking through?" Kidd said.

"It's just one reason, but, not the key one." Arsay said.

"Yes, you don't need to break through directly after you, as long as the speed is fast enough." Dias said, and then he suddenly said, "Speed, that's right, it's speed!" Zhongjiang is not fast enough, which limits his counter-attacking scoring means to a certain extent! ”

"That's right." Seeing that the assistant understood, Pellegrini smiled, "Jiang Chenxi is indeed good at grabbing points, and his physical confrontation ability is not bad, but we are not afraid of such a striker!" ”

Everyone's minds were opened and they all nodded.

Manuel Pellegrini is right, Manchester City's main centre-back partners are Kompany and Demichelis, both of whom are the type of defenders who are very confrontational, especially Kompany, who is physically strong and has a strong one-on-one ability.

The only weakness of these two defenders is speed, especially Demichelis, who will struggle against the counter-attacks of speed-oriented attackers.

……

"I see." Kidd nodded, "Most of Jiang Chenxi's scores come from the penalty area, and in the direct confrontation in the penalty area, our defenders, especially the Belgians, are not afraid of Jiang Chenxi." ”

Pellegrini nodded with satisfaction, yes, it is this reason, if Jiang Chenxi has speed, Pellegrini will be worried, a shooter who is good at grabbing points and shooting at the same time has speed, Liverpool's counterattack will be more direct and more difficult to prevent, but if Liverpool's attack at Jiang Chenxi's point needs to develop more into the penalty area, they will be more targeted to prevent, Kompany defends Jiang Chenxi alone, At the same time, as much as possible, other Liverpool players will be able to send cannonballs to Jiang Chenxi, which can limit the Chinese star as much as possible.

Velocity!

Yes, speed is a major discovery of Pellegrini after careful analysis and research, which is Jiang Chenxi's shortcoming.

Speed is not a necessary ability for strikers, but it is a key shortcoming that can limit Jiang Chenxi from becoming a super shooter.

In Jiang Chenxi's body, there is no need to worry about Liverpool directly hitting Jiang Chenxi behind him, as long as he pays attention to the defense in the penalty area, and at the same time pays attention to preventing Jiang Chenxi's long-range shot.

Although Jiang Chenxi is still capable and has terrifying scoring ability, at the very least, Manchester City can defend with a purpose.

Without speed, Pellegrini has a little more confidence and confidence in the team's restriction of Jiang Chenxi.

……

The members of the coaching staff breathed a sigh of relief and increased their confidence in winning the game, and Kidd also smiled and gave a thumbs up to Pellegrini, who is worthy of the nickname 'The Engineer'.

Pellegrini smiled and waved his hand, "Inform the team to have a tactical analysis meeting in the afternoon." ”

A year and a half ago, his team was eliminated from Basel led by Jiang Chenxi, and Pellegrini admitted that Jiang Chenxi was an excellent player, but the defeat at that time was also inseparable from the lack of strength in Malaga.