The single midfielder is an obvious weakness of the 41212 formation, and in the average team, the playmaker will appear in this position, and then use excellent vision and accurate passing to control the team's attacking and defensive rhythm. It's just that Hydward doesn't have a choice, Pierce can indeed play the position of a midfielder, but in the twilight of his career, he is no longer able to get rid of the defense, which will cause him to choose more horizontal passes or return passes, making the whole team's offense and defense weak.

The most obvious change from Portsmouth's playmaker premise to defensive midfielders is that the team is split into two completely different areas, with the playmaker's position as the horizontal line, the team is split in two, and this area Reading has a lot to do.

Joel. McCanoof began to appear frequently in the area, cutting off Pierce's link to the back, and Portsmouth put a lot of energy into attacking, but found themselves unable to get the ball up front, and Icardi was forced to extend his range of motion to receive the ball away from the box, which is not his characteristic.

"Ward, our offensive style is too monotonous," Walker said with a frown as he glanced at Hydward beside him.

"Hmm"

A syllable came out of Hideward's nose, he didn't know the team's predicament at this time, but he was a little bit on the pulse of Reading manager Brian.

There are two weaknesses in this formation, one is the midfielders, the other is the full-backs, this formation is not enough on the wings, there are no wingers or full-backs, Mendy and Meunier need to face the attacking attackers on the wing, and when they press the attack, there will be huge gaps behind them for people to exploit. If Edward had been Reading's boss at this time, he would only have had to send someone to keep an eye on N'Golo Kante and press the two full-backs high and 41212 would have had a huge struggle.

What Joel is doing at this time is exactly what Hydward wants to see, the bland and inconspicuous Kante is targeted, and the player he uses to steal the ball has become the target of the enemy, which is ironic.

But the blame is also here, the Reading team who stopped Portsmouth's throat, the attacking players on either side of them did not move, Mendy and Meunier were comfortable getting the ball from Pierce every time, and then pressed them to attack in waves.

Either this is Joel's conclusion based on his own observation and experience, or this is a premeditated plan, but after a few minutes of observation and analysis, the former is more likely, and the attacking space in the middle must be greatly compressed against the midfielder's small diamond, but so far Reading does not seem to have such an idea, although they play a double back, but Jem is more of a standing defense, and does not strangle Mahrez in a targeted manner.

Hydward scribbled a few words on the standing slip of paper and walked to the sideline and shouted Drinkwater's name.

"Give Kante a little support," the note read.

The link between Pierce and N'Golo Kante was almost severed, and from the very beginning, Portsmouth had a large number of unnecessary long balls on the pitch, mostly from centre-backs and goalkeepers. The midfielders are reluctant to play short passes to the midfield, and the backline can only attack with big feet.

N'Golo Kante reluctantly accepted the sporadic cheers of the home fans, as the whole team was on the offensive and he was the only one who was "dragging his feet". Heidward knew the fans had misunderstood him, N'Golo Kante was a very smart player, he had just suffered a big loss a few minutes ago, so he wouldn't let himself suffer a second loss, he was always watching Joel like an eagle, willing to give up the pass and give the ball to his team-mates safely. With no tactical directives, Kante has already begun to try to shorten the distance between him and Pierce and expand his coverage, but doing this kind of offensive work is not his profession after all, it is completely following the strength of his heart.

On the contrary, Drinkwater played half a game and did the most on defense, he did the work that should have belonged to Kante, and just as he was becoming more and more confused about the role of the all-round midfielder, he received instructions from the manager to support Kante! What do you mean? Brother Shui was stunned.

Portsmouth's midfield is out of order, a guy who should be in charge of defending is combing the attack, a guy who is supposed to be attacking to be the No. 2 core is doing the dirty work, the scary thing is that these two goods can really do it, and Hydward needs to get the team back on track as originally arranged.

Drinkwater has a ball intelligence that most English footballers don't have, and he only thought for a few seconds before he understood the manager's intentions, which was the rhythm that allowed him to carve out a life path by Kante's side! Add some points to the Frenchman's ball and cause more problems for Reading by the way.

A good general uses soldiers like a good doctor to find the key point of the disease, and slightly modify the player's task, and the situation on the field will be very different!

………………

Take, for example, the two wings of the team.

Mendy and Meunier are two completely different types of wingers, with Benjamin. Mendy with his own strong body; The outstanding speed made Reading's right-back suffer, and this young man has the taste of a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers, and he doesn't know how to write stage fright, flying up and down, Hydward asked him to help with some defense, and as a result, this crazy boy robbed Reading half of the team alone. From Sean Long, to right-back Stephen Kelly, to goalkeeper McCarthy, to central defender Alex. Pierce, wherever the ball goes, Alex. Pierce was almost forced to make a mistake and Icardi tested McCarthy with a shot of great quality.

On the other hand, Meunier came from a field pitch and his level represents the level of Belgian field ball. This guy plays right-back is amazing - as a right-back, the cross is better than him, the dribbling must not be as good as him, the dribbling is better than him, the speed must not be as fast as him, the speed is faster than him, the header must not be as good as him, even if you cross; Shot; dribbling; The headers are better than him, and the shooting skills must not be as good as him.

In such a strange situation, the Reading players watched Meunier play on their knees, and his long-range shot was the closest he came to scoring in the entire first half, the ball bounced off the crossbar but not on the line.

After sorting out the midfield, Portsmouth played against the opponent at home to see the fans and commentators enthusiastic, the striker does not have to shuttle back and forth between the two penalty areas, what is the pleasure of that?

Glero excitedly kept yelling: "Mahrez, hit the door!" McCarthy also made a good save ....it seems that Mr. Goalkeeper has become the busiest man. ”

"A lot of people at Portsmouth are officially playing for the club for the first time and it seems that these little guys are not nervous anymore, Mendy's breakthrough! … It's successful again, the technique is really solid, he reminds me of Marcelo of Real Madrid, Pompey's army has picked up the treasure. Ruud van Nistelrooy also started to praise him because Edouard Mendy has been the most seen on camera so far, apart from the goalkeepers of both sides.

Unlike the two old gods in the commentary box, Hydward's palms have been sweating since the second half, and Mendy's uneconomical style of play, leg cramps are only a matter of time. In fact, not only Mendy, but also Mahrez, who is also performing well, is more or less close to the limit of his fitness.

The team needed to score, and it was as soon as possible, but in the face of Portsmouth's Mahrez and Valdi Gamendi's constant onslaught, Reading's old guys seemed to be dying, but each time the defence held out strangely.

Several of Hydward's minor tweaks had an effect, allowing the team's attacking power to grow exponentially, but unfortunately none of them resulted in goals, and the old boys were much more resilient than the players imagined.

PS: Thank you for the sword skills, Brother Dark Horse, 1969 Space Odyssey, book friend 2107~7439 for the tip