Chapter 254: "Interceptor" Chu Zhongtian

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Fifteen rounds of league play have seen Ibisevic score twelve goals as the team's top scorer. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info scored twice and scored a hat-trick. The German media chanted that "Super Ibi" was back, and the Italian media also reminded Allegri to focus on the Bosnian shooter during the match. In recent seasons, Bosnia-Herzegovina's players have erupted like a drug, first by Ibisevic, then by Salihovic, and then by Dzeko in Wolfsburg.

In this game, Hoffenheim discharged the forward combination of Ibisevic and Van Nistelrooy, which was enough to attract the attention of AC Milan, and Ibisevic is in good shape at the moment. In the pre-match Bundesliga derby in Ba-Württemberg, Ibisevic had just scored twice and scored five goals in three league games. Van Nistelrooy is the second-highest scorer in the Champions League, behind only legendary scorer Raul. These two people, one has the state and the other has experience, and the combination is really a headache.

That's why Milan's media have alerted Allegri to Hoffenheim's striker.

Allegri did pay attention. In the Bundesliga this season, Hoffenheim scored 45 goals in 15 rounds, which is the most attacking team in the entire European continent, and among these 45 goals, the three strikers Ibisevic, Van Nistelrooy and Obasi scored a total of 23 goals, more than half of the team's total goals, and the strikers are the main force of Hoffenheim's score. How could Allegri not be paying attention?

The day before this game, Rangnick announced the starting list in advance, anyway, Hoffenheim's starting list is only 11 people, and the media can guess it. It's better to announce it in advance and be more confident. As soon as Allegri saw Ibisevic and Ruud van Nistelrooy pairing, he knew it had to be taken care of. Both of these are the kind of powerful strikers with strong individual ability, they are not fast, but they have strong impact, and the disadvantage of individual speed can be compensated for by the speed advantage of Hoffenheim's overall advancement. They don't need to sprint long distances with a football, and Hoffenheim's midfielders rarely give them the kind of super long passes that are 15 to 20 meters in advance, allowing them to use their speed to chase the ball and get rid of the defenders' defenses, they just need to run to the right position and then sprint forward five to ten meters to receive the ball and form a single knife. Hoffenheim's midfield has been able to get to this point because of a chu zhongtian, and Salihovic is just a good passer, but not a master of controlling the tempo and scheduling.

Allegri demanded that the team's back line must be guarded against Ibisevic and Ruud van Nistelrooy, and he guessed that Hoffenheim's midfield, although strong, was strong in passing organization, and it was the forwards who could really shoot and complete the fatal blow. Rangnick has Ibisevic, Ruud van Nistelrooy under his command, and there is an Obasi on the bench, so it can't be a decoration, right?

If he thinks so, that's exactly what Rangnick wants.

Rangnick knows that Hoffenheim have caught the attention of the whole of Europe with their attacking power this season, and as a forward duo that has scored more than half of the team's goals, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ibisevic and Obasi are naturally well-known and will be on the radar of the opposing manager.

In that case, let them be the target to attract the opposing defensive firepower, and the real killer is reserved for the midfielders who come in from behind. In fact, Rangnick's tactic is not new, and in world football, such attacking tactics are often used in the back row. But although it is not new, it works well. Football tactics are meant to combine limited tactics into infinite possibilities.

In this game, Ibisevic and Van Nistelrooy were at the front, running back and forth at any cost, pretending that Hoffenheim was going to attack the front line, and at the same time, the front could firmly hold the back line of AC Milan in front of the goal, providing a wide space for Chu Zhongtian and others who were inserted behind the midfield to play. It's a lot of work.

For this tactic, Rangnick focused on training the team's midfielders to shoot, whether it was a long-range shot or a powerful shot into the penalty area, and tried to avoid missing the target in the game. You must know that there are not many opportunities for such tactics, once the other party understands Hoffenheim's tactics, they will quickly make corresponding adjustments, Allegri is not a waste, how to say that he is also the coach who coaches AC Milan and is now ranked first in the Serie A standings, and once beat Mourinho to win the honor of Italy's best coach of the year selected by his peers, and his strength is actually not weak. AC Milan's performance was so poor before mainly due to the fact that he had just taken over the team, coupled with injuries and tactical constraints, before losing to Real Madrid and Hoffenheim successively. But it's strange that AC Milan have been like this for a few years, starting quite badly, and then after losing a few important games, they suddenly caught up and were able to catch up in a good position in the end. This may be the characteristic of a team with a lot of veterans - slow heat. Slow heat in the game and a bit slow in the middle of the season.

Ten minutes into the game, AC Milan gradually took the initiative on the pitch, after all, this is their home stadium, and they deserve to be better than the visitors. They got more and more shots, each of which cheered the Milan fans at the San Siro stadium, and if they only listened to the sound and didn't look at the picture, it would make the TV audience think that AC Milan had smashed the Hoffenheim goal into a sieve.

Actually, no, Hoffenheim was indeed a little embarrassed during this time, but it was still in their expectations. Rangnick cautioned his players that it can be very difficult to play away from home, especially at the San Siro. So their whole team is mentally prepared to be pressed by the other party here for a while.

But you can't always be beaten, Hoffenheim is good at attacking, not that they can't defend at all, but once they hold for a long time, they will inevitably be full of flaws, and when the time comes, they will be overstretched in defense, and they can defend here, but they can't defend that side. So Hoffenheim had to find a way to fight back, which was quite in line with their characteristics - fast!

It only takes a few sharp counter-attacks to make AC Milan relent.

All they need now is opportunity.

Rangnick was right before the game, they do have to be patient in the game, they really need to be patient in a situation like this.

Andrea Pirlo orchestrated his team's attack, and he distributed the ball to the wings. Zambrotta rushed up, he was a left-back, but with Hoffenheim under siege, he was more of a left wing-back.

AC Milan pressed so high, is it really bullying themselves to be able to blow up Hoffenheim at home?

Chu Zhongtian was defending while carefully observing the opponent's movements, and he noticed that Zambrotta had rushed up. Zambrotta is thirty-three years old, and his age will never allow him to rush like this for the entire race. In the 2006 World Cup, he was full of glory, rushing left and right on the wing, almost single-handedly covering Italy's wing corridor. In recent years, as he has aged, his form has declined, and his assists on the wing have not been as sharp as before. It's rare for him to come forward with such a crazy assist.

It seems that Allegri is asking his team to score as soon as possible.

But it's also Hoffenheim's chance.

They couldn't wait for the opposition to finish an attack before counter-attacking, AC Milan had a lot of experience, and they quickly returned to their second half to set up their defense, knowing that their average age was older than Hoffenheim, and the players' physical strength was not dominant, so they did not use the extremely exhausting full-court pressing tactics like Hoffenheim. Therefore, the only way to play their quick counter-attack is to intercept their ball and use Hoffenheim's overall speed to give AC Milan a lightning blow while they are not yet able to move quickly from attack to defense.

It's one way to get the ball close to your body, but the position of Andrea Pirlo, the core of AC Milan's attack, tends to be relatively deep, and when you go up, there will be a gap behind you, who is Pirlo? How could he not take advantage of such an obvious vacancy?

So the best way to defend is not to go up and grab the ball, but to pre-judge where the AC Milan guys will pass the ball and then get stuck in their passing path and intercept the ball in the middle of the game.

That's interception.

Interceptions are not the same as tackles. A steal is more about rushing up and wrapping up the opposing player with the ball, and then pulling the ball directly from the opponent's feet. But with the development of modern football tactics, the offensive core has gradually moved back, and the effect of doing so has become smaller and smaller, and the risk that the defender has to take is also greater and greater - just like Chu Zhongtian feared, when you rush up to steal the opponent's organizational core, you may not have run in front of the opponent, and the void left behind you will be used by the opponent, resulting in a series of loopholes and gaps, just like a hole in a piece of cloth, which is torn bigger and bigger.

Another reason why steals are getting harder and cheaper is the change in the rules. Modern football is far more physically reliant than ever before, but the rules are increasingly restricting physical contact. A lot of 'reckless' duels are whistled for fouls, and the current penalty scale doesn't encourage ferocious tackles, so Mascherano – the classic tackle-making midfielder – was the most card-picked in the Premier League last year.

In such a situation, the importance of interception is highlighted. Modern football tactical changes have made the reliance on fast short passes within 30 meters in front of the goal more than any period, although many teams do not have a classic forward midfielder, but the pass that organizes the offensive solution most of the time still has to be completed in the front of the goal 30 meters, the two sides have piled up a large number of troops here, and naturally need a quick short pass penetration to open up the situation, and the slow will only lose the ball.

Under such a tactical change, tackles have become interceptions. The number of passes increases, and it also increases the chance of intercepting passes, increasing the chance of the opponent conceding a pass. You spend less time with the ball, less chance of straight tackles, and less chance of dropping the ball at your own feet.

However, the interception is far less exciting than the tackle, which is so obvious. A tackle won't get the fans jumping up and cheering, but there is nothing like cheering a crucial tackle in the stands in England anywhere else.

Another reason why interceptions are more useful than tackles is that intercepting a pass is better than picking up the ball and then stealing, because you don't have to risk giving the opponent a free kick in a dangerous position and taking a card, and you get the ball right away. In the case of a tackle, the ball may roll to the feet of another player. And after interception, there is also a greater chance of launching a quick counterattack, which can quickly switch from defense to offense. This is very useful for Hoffenheim these days, where all they need is to get the ball behind the opposition as quickly as possible, and interceptions are obviously more reasonable than tackles.

Emphasis on interception is also one of the development directions of tactics in world football, taking the Premier League as an example, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are using interceptions more in games than tackles, and the average number of successful tackles per game is decreasing.

But interceptions are easier said than done, and how many people are able to be in the right position at the right time and stop the opposition's pass? The essence of interception is positional sense, which is ball quotient. Be in the right place at the right time. And in this regard, Chu Zhongtian has a natural advantage.

Another person who has outstanding ability in this area is the Frenchman Makelele, who has retired from military service. The Frenchman's artifact role has been widely spread in football, he is actually an interceptor, he will never press rashly, he will only be ready to finish the opponent's attack in the middle of the game.

At Hoffenheim, the steals are now more in the hands of Sana, the kid is a natural killer, and his aggressive tackles look like they're going to take your nickname, and at worst it's a leg, but that's actually a deterrent.

With Sana as a bodyguard, Chu Zhongtian's role in defense is that of an interceptor. His bug-like ability and excellent positional sense, as well as his undead physical fitness, often allow him to appear in key positions and make key interceptions.

At the same time, he has an advantage over Makellele, who is not good at attacking, and after he stops the ball, he must be handed over to other midfield teammates, who are responsible for organizing the attack, and the team has an extra procedure when switching from defense to attack, and the speed of the attack will inevitably be affected.

But in Chu Zhongtian's body, there is no need for this procedure, he is both an interceptor and a creator. In defence, he becomes an interception machine, and once he stops the football, he immediately transforms into an offensive playmaker, and the football can go directly from his feet to the most threatening area, without having to turn another hand from him, and sometimes he may have to turn several hands, and when the football passes, the previous threatening space has already been filled by the opponent's defense...... He doesn't believe that AC Milan's players will only pass the ball from behind, and if you want to break Hoffenheim's goal, you always have to pass the ball in the 30-meter area, and when the time comes, too many passes and too dense spaces are good opportunities for him to intercept.

※※※ The game went on for fifteen minutes, and the statistics of the game so far were played under the TV screen, AC Milan had the upper hand with six shots on goal, while Hoffenheim did not achieve anything other than the two dangerous shots in the opening game, and it was AC Milan who were completely pressing Hoffenheim during this time.

However, in terms of the number of dangerous shots on goal, Hoffenheim were not at the bottom and they were tied with AC Milan. AC Milan has more shots, and there must be fewer dangerous shots in it, otherwise Hoffenheim's goal would have been passive a long time ago.

Pirlo was afraid of the defensive ability of Chu Zhongtian and Sana, and did not go too far ahead. But as the game went on, the score was still 0:0, and he had to move his position forward. After all, if you are too far away from the opponent's danger zone, the pass will always be inaccurate, and the error of the long pass to the football can be required to be in a large range, but the short pass must be more accurate, especially in the penalty area and at the front of the penalty area. Pirlo knows this, so he has to be cautious. Of course, his long passes are accurate, but there is no guarantee that he will be accurate to the feet of the target he wants to pass every time.

It's better to lean on, and it's safer to pass short.

Fifteen minutes later, the score was still 0:0, Chu Zhongtian noticed that when AC Milan attacked, Pirlo did not pass the ball in front of the center circle, but pressed into the 30-meter area, and he did not retreat after passing the ball, but ran to respond. This was the signal that he was going to be further involved in the offensive organization.

Chu Zhongtian and Sana glanced at each other and didn't say anything, but the tacit understanding made Sana already understand what he was going to do, and he nodded.

Chu Zhongtian quietly leaned over, he wanted to fight a counterattack, he wanted to let AC Milan know that Hoffenheim was definitely not a soft persimmon that was difficult to pinch even if it was an away game!

Pirlo received the ball back from Ibrahimovic, who had just tried to break through with his skills, but his footwork did not work under Hoffenheim's tight defence.

Pirlo received the ball and decided to cross diagonally to the middle of the box, where Seedorf was there. Seedorf has the ability to shoot from distance, but he can also play short balls and pose a big threat wherever he gets the ball.

But when he passed the ball, he got a kick out and cut it off!

"Chu! He's got the ball! Pirlo's passing intent was too obvious! He made a mistake! ”

Commentators only blame the passer's mistakes when faced with brilliant interceptions, but do not mention the interceptor's credit, which is why many people think that the person who is always in the right place to stop the ball is just luck, not ability.

Because of the continuous siege of AC Milan, several of their lines have been compressed very tightly, so there are large swaths of space behind them.

Isn't this an opportunity?

"Oops...... Pirlo saw that the football "passed" to the feet of Chu Zhongtian, and immediately knew that the situation was serious. He didn't return to the defense but immediately pounced, hoping to cut off the opponent's ball at the first time, even if he couldn't break it, he had to interfere with him at the very least, and he couldn't let him pass the football to the front at the first time. Everyone is a midfield commander, and Pirlo knows too well what Chu Zhongtian will do next.

Pirlo, who pounced on it, was still a beat slower, Chu Zhongtian broke the ball with his left foot, followed by a direct diagonal long pass with his right foot to send the football to the side, Quaresma plugged in at high speed, and received the ball at the moment before the football rolled out of the sideline!

"It's coming! Hoffenheim's quick attack!! ”

(To be continued)