Although the media in England are not very optimistic about Boas, in his home country Portugal, everyone is still very supportive of him.

There are even Portuguese media who forcibly linked Manchester City's three defeats to Porto this season with Boas, and they cheered for Boas, hoping that Boas can avenge the team he coached before!

Porto's elimination from the Champions League group stage this season is a foregone conclusion, and while criticizing Porto for their own performances, some media have turned their anger on Manchester City.

They believe that Manchester City's defeat of Porto in the UEFA Super Cup completely shattered Porto's fighting spirit and confidence, which was one of the reasons why Porto did not perform well in the subsequent Champions League.

Porto has no hope of seeking revenge on Manchester City, but Villas-Boas, the coach who went out of Porto, can still avenge Porto!

※※※

'Villas-Boas said he found a way to beat Manchester City, are you worried about that?' Benitez was also asked this question by good journalists during the interview.

"No, I have confidence in the team." Benitez is very confident.

It's really easy to have confidence in coaching this team for a long time - is there anything in the world that this team can't do?

However, Benitez's answer is not just because he has confidence in charge of Manchester City, his confidence comes from his knowledge of Villas-Boas's tactics and his knowledge of Chelsea.

Chelsea, coached by Villas-Boas, obviously has a good hand, why has the table been so volatile this season, why can Chelsea win 4:1 against Swansea, 5:1 against Bolton, 3:1 against Everton, but also lose 1:3 to Manchester United and 3:5 to Arsenal?

What is it about this team that makes such a contrast?

Benitez is well aware.

Because Boas's tactics are fundamentally problematic.

Villas-Boas, a coach who is not very good at tweaking the team's defence, opted for a pressing style of play when he was in charge of Chelsea. It's not wrong to play with oppression, but it depends on who you use it for.

He allowed centre-backs like John Terry and Alex to take the initiative to lose their defensive positions, push forward and press the defence, which was tantamount to providing good space for opponents to counter-attack.

That alone can give Benitez the confidence that they can beat Chelsea.

In addition to the slow turn, the slow central defenders David Ruiz and Ivanovic are often counter-attacked by opponents because they are too sticky and rough on the ball. This, combined with the long absence of a qualified midfielder in front of the centre-backs – with a long-term injury to Essien – to protect them has led to Chelsea, who are known for their defensiveness, conceding goals......

The most important thing is that Boas is still very stubborn, only admits death, and obviously sees that this set of tactics is not suitable for Chelsea, and he has gone all the way to the dark, and there is no meaning of adjustment at all.

Pressing play can certainly be effective against weak opponents, who are too weak to threaten Chelsea's goal, and Chelsea who are besieging opponents tend to score a lot of goals, so they can win against weak teams.

However, once they encounter a stronger opponent, the empty space behind their backline becomes a field for the opponent to gallop.

That's why against Arsenal, who play attacking football, Chelsea will concede five goals without scoring three.

Manchester City is good at playing defensive counter-attacks, what is the favorite tactic for defensive counter-attacks? Oppress.

As long as you dare to press up, we will dare to fight you back.

Benitez's confidence came from this.

Unless Villas-Boas adjusts his tactics in this game, not pressing, but slowly maneuvering with Manchester City, there may be other possibilities.

But did Boasken make adjustments?

Benitez didn't think he would do that.

As a young and promising young coach, Villas-Boas enjoyed great success at Porto, with the Treble winning the Treble all of Europe turning their attention to him, and the Portuguese media touting him a little flustered, and Villas-Boas, who had barely experienced defeats, arrived at Stamford Bridge to take over Jose Mourinho's side. For a while, he seemed to have become a world-class coach, able to be on an equal footing with coaches of the level of Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti.

Such an experience will inevitably lead to a person's blind confidence in himself, how can he make adjustments?

He only thinks that his pressing style of play is the best, and the results are inconsistent because the players are not faithfully implementing my tactical intentions, and it is the players' fault, not mine.

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Everyone is watching Manchester City's match against Chelsea, and it seems that they have forgotten that there is actually a Champions League group stage in midweek, which is also the last Champions League group stage.

Maybe it's forgotten, but even if you really forget it, it doesn't matter.

Because this Champions League group stage is completely meaningless.

Manchester City, who qualified first of the group ahead of schedule, challenged Atletico Greece away, and no matter how the game was played, it made no difference for Manchester City.

However, Chelsea are keeping an eye on this game, as Manchester City are playing away from home and they have to fly to distant Cyprus, almost the easternmost point of the European continent. Then fly back to play against Chelsea.

It would be even better if such a long flight could make City more tired, and it would make the City players in poor shape or even injured.

But Benitez didn't go as Boas had hoped, as he let almost all of his main players rest in Manchester and didn't make the 20-man squad at all. He then led a "second-tier team" of substitutes to beat Atlético Greeks 1-0 away.

To disappoint Villas-Boas, Manchester City's main players didn't go, the people who went were not injured, and the state was okay.

And it was clear from the game that Manchester City were holding on and not giving it their all, and they were clearly preparing for a league game against Chelsea......

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In the visiting dressing room at Stamford Bridge, Rafael Benitez drew Chelsea's starting line-up on the blackboard.

Centre-backs John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic were very far up front, almost reaching the centre circle. Behind them was a large open area.

'It's Chelsea's starting XI and when they're attacking, they're going to be very high-pitched. This is our chance, so as long as we break the ball, don't hesitate to pass it straight forward and find a point from Rong or Ibrahimovic or Kaka. ”

Benitez combined the formation on the blackboard to talk to everyone.

But he only said so much, and he didn't go on with the rest.

Because it's not necessary. It's been two seasons since the team was formed, the tactical side is very mature and everyone knows what to do.

As soon as he drew this picture, everyone would understand that there was no need to waste words at all.

Isn't that simple how to do next?

Velocity! Counterattack!

That's it.

※※※

As the players from both sides entered the pitch, the television broadcast shifted away from the players of both teams and cut to Chelsea manager Villas-Boas.

Villas-Boas sat in the dugout, flanked by his assistant coach and behind him were Chelsea's substitutes.

Chelsea's original mainstay, Frank Lampard, did not start this game and sat behind Villas-Boas. Wrapped in a thick down jacket, he sat there with a somewhat gloomy expression.

Frank Lampard and Villas-Boas are rumoured to be on poor terms as soon as Boas arrived at Chelsea, taking Lampard as soon as he arrives in order to establish his authority at Chelsea. So Frank Lampard, who was originally the main force of Chelsea's thunder, was reduced to a substitute after Villas-Boas came.

It's an interesting shot, not just for Villas-Boas, but also for the poor relationship between Lampard and Villas-Boas.

The lens language of European football broadcasting is very pure, and a simple shot can often explain a lot of things.

If Chelsea lose this game, Villas-Boas is likely to be sacked and Frank Lampard will be freed again.

However, Frank Lampard, as a Chelsea legend, has a deep affection for Chelsea and he probably does not want to see his team lose.

So the team lost, he came back, the team won, and he continued to sit on the cold bench. With such a multiple-choice question in front of Lampard, how would he answer it?

※※※

Once the game began, as Benitez had predicted, Villas-Boas did not change his tactics and Chelsea continued to play with a pressing style.

The commentators also see this very clearly.

"Boas, that's ......," John Mortenson wanted to cover his forehead. …… Stubborn! Against Manchester City, he still dares to insist on such a style of play? ”

Alain Hansen sneered beside him: "He is such a person, of course, the Portuguese journalists may be praising their heroes for their perseverance and bravery!" I still remember after Porto lost the UEFA Super Cup, some Portuguese media were very angry and said that if Villas-Boas was still in Porto, Porto would never lose to Manchester City. Now I think Chelsea fans must wish Villas-Boas was still in Porto! ”

Benitez not only adopted defensive counterattacks against Boas's tactics, but also asked the players to actively counter-attack in the midfield, put pressure on the players with the ball at the back of Chelsea, and guide them to make active mistakes, so that they can directly counterattack when the time comes.

Glory faithfully executed the manager's tactics on the pitch, and from the very beginning of the game, he actively made tackles in the front court.

With excellent physical fitness and speed, Rongguang's counter-attack in the front court is quite threatening......

As soon as Terry passed the football to Ivanovic, Glory killed Ivanovic's side, and Ivanovic was so frightened that he hurriedly kicked the football back to Terry.

And Glory changed direction, and he pounced on Terry again.

In such a situation, Terry simply did not have time to observe who was in front of him and how he passed the ball.

So he turned straight and played the ball back to goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Generally speaking, after the defender passes the ball to the goalkeeper, he can make the opposing player who is countering the opponent retreat, because then rushing over is useless except to waste his body.

But Glory is not an ordinary player, and the general rules are useless to him.

Seeing Terry turn around and pass the ball to Cech, he followed and rushed towards Cech, without slowing down at all, he swept straight past Terry and rushed towards Cech, as if he had no intention of going to Terry at all, and had been running for Cech from the beginning.

With his blazing speed, he followed the ball and ran towards Cech.

The speed and momentum of the glory greatly influenced Cech's judgment.

Faced with such a situation, he couldn't even think about it, there was only one thought in his head - I couldn't let the football stay under my feet!

So he kicked the ball in front of him, trying to pass it back to Terry. But he forgot that he was almost in a straight line with football, glory, and Terry......

This kind of straight pass is the most taboo on the pitch, because it can easily be cut off by the opposing defender......

Petr Cech kicked the ball over, but instead of rolling to Terry's feet, it was cut off by the glory of the outstretched foot!

"Cech! Oh, what a mistake!! ”

The glory of intercepting Terry's ball was not unkind, there was no such surprise as if he had known that Cech would pass the football to him, he quickly got up with his left foot and kicked the broken football towards the goal!

Despite Cech's save, the ball went around him!

And flew into the ...... The goal behind him!

Just two minutes into the game, Manchester City were in the lead!