Riverside Stadium, Middlesborough, United Kingdom.

Now, the game on the field has reached the 30th minute of the first half, Middlesbrough leads 2-0, this score was not expected before the game, maybe the media and fans who support Chelsea can take this as a mistake, after so many games, it is normal to have an occasional inconsistency in performance, especially Thiago, a new transfer this year. Mendes, his performance was really underwhelming.

While there is some truth to this idea, it cannot overshadow the strength of Middlesbrough and the strength of Steve. McLaren, England's new young coach at the beginning of the 21st century, has the tactical ability to use tactics.

In this regard, Wang Li on the field has a deep understanding.

With the excellent performance of Wang Li's Chelsea team, more teams will focus on him before the game, and a player like this who scores more than two goals in a game and is almost a goal machine, if he is allowed to play at will, then the game is almost doomed. In the previous game, many teams chose to let 1 or 2 players mark Wang Li all over the court - it turns out that this kind of close marking is more than worth the loss!

First of all, if two players are sent to defend Wang Li closely, even if they are defended to death, the team has become 9 to 10 from the beginning, which seems to be one less person to participate. And as a quasi-giant team, Chelsea, all three fronts are star players, plus a tactical master manager Jose Mourinho, how easy is it to win with one less man!?

Moreover, after so many games, although each game was defended by 1 or 2 players, in fact, Wang Li's goal efficiency did not decrease at all, and this result seems to indicate that the tactics of close defense did not play a role at all.

If you look at Southampton's tactics, you can see that the promoted side have not studied Wang Li much at all, but they have only conceded two goals thanks to their tight crowding tactics, and it is arguably the most successful team against Chelsea since the start of the season.

And now, Stephen. McLaren reworked a tactic, let's call it a triangle defensive tactic.

This tactic is very simple to say, it relies on one player to steal the ball close to Wang Li, while the other two players are slightly farther away to defend, but do not step forward, just to prevent Wang Li from making a sudden breakthrough and can block his passing route.

These three defenders are not fixed, so they are not full-court marking, and it is only when Wang Li gets the football that the three players in the vicinity of Middlesbrough form this kind of three-round encirclement on their own.

In this way, after Wang Li gets the ball, if he chooses to forcibly break through the close defense player, it is easy to be directly detected by the other two players who make up the defense, and if he chooses to pass, he is blocked by the other two players Most of the passing routes, coupled with the continuous harassment of the close defense player, it is not easy to play.

It's a tactic that's easy to say, but if you look at the chemistry of the Middlesbrough players, they've been practising it for at least a long time. Maybe it was Wang Li who gave Mr. McLaren too much 'pain' last season, and this time it was his tactics that he formulated specifically for Wang Li, and now, this tactic has achieved good results!

Yes, because of this tactic, Wang Li has encountered a lot of trouble from the opening to the present, Middlesbrough does not limit his reception, but when he got the ball, he tried to attack twice, but they all ended in failure, so that now, when Wang Li gets the ball, he can only helplessly choose to pass back, this kind of triangle defense, so that he is angry, and has to admire the ability of the opposing coach.

On the sidelines, of course, the head coach Mr. Mourinho also discovered Wang Li's dilemma, and he didn't think of any good way to crack the tactics arranged by Middlesbrough against Wang Li for the time being. In fact, it is a bit of a fuss to target one player with such tactics, even a world-class superstar player will be treated as a close defense by two players in a game.

Wang Li, on the other hand, was targeted by the opposing head coach and arranged tough tactics - this may also be something to be proud of!?

However, although Mourinho can't think of any way to change Wang Li's situation for the time being, he can use the way to adjust his tactics to make Chelsea's attack more threatening: every time Wang Li gets the ball, he will get the opponent's three players to wrap up, which shows that in McClaren's tactics, the right side is the key defensive area!!

Mourinho chewed gum and walked to the side of the pitch to call in Frank, the center of the attack. Frank Lampard whispered to him before the format on the pitch immediately changed.

Chelsea made a change to focus on the left flank and utilised Joe. Cole and Geremi's footwork, constantly making long passes to the penalty area, creating opportunities for Drogba in the penalty area!

From this moment on, Joe. Cole frequently sought breakthroughs from the left, Middlesbrough's left wing-back Zenden had no choice, and left-back Southgate followed the manager's instructions but often had to support the central defence, which made the left side very empty.

At this time, Joe. Kerr was definitely the brightest man in the audience, he used his skills to show off his footwork unscrupulously, causing a burst of anger among the fans in the audience, but there was nothing he could do.

During this time, Chelsea mainly attacked the left side, although occasionally the football will still pass to Wang Li's feet, but more often, he will still choose to pass to his teammates, so that there are more and better opportunities, so Wang Li is also a little idle, he also frequently inserts into the penalty area, looking for opportunities to score.

The opponent's triangle encirclement tactics can indeed create a lot of trouble for Wang Li in the open area, but in the case of crowded people in the penalty area, it has no effect at all, there is no space for breakthrough and passing, and the first choice to get football is to shoot!

On the sidelines, McClaren turned his head to look at the Chelsea bench, the figure wearing a suit and tie but with messy hair and a crooked tie, but a trace of admiration flashed in his heart, and the game only 30 minutes later, the form took a sharp turn.

Steve. McLaren hasn't been able to think of a countermeasure, but the situation on the field has changed dramatically!

In the 41st minute of the first half, it was still Joe. Cole dribbled the ball down the flank, and he took the ball directly to the left side of the penalty area, and in the face of Southgate's defence, he did not choose to break through again, but kicked the ball to Grami, who was following him.

Graemy got the ball, and without even thinking about it, he hoisted into the penalty area.

At this time, in the Middlesbrough penalty area, Wang Li was a little behind the big penalty area line, and Drogba was surrounded by the opponent's two-meter players standing on the small penalty area line, and the landing point of the football was between Drogba and Wang Li.

Wang Li also has a defender next to him, and when the football is about to land, Drogba and Wang Li have already run here.

In an instant, three players jumped at the same time! - Drogba, Wang Li, Parnaby!

But obviously, Wang Li's skills are superior, although the other two have a height advantage, but the light skill of the Xiaoyao faction's 'Flying Yao Technique' is by no means comparable to the physical advantage of ordinary people.

Wang Li, who was in the air, saw the football flying in his direction, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he was about to shake his head and attack the goal directly!

He feels very good now, the ball is less than 9 meters away from the goal, at this time goalkeeper Schwarzel, standing a little to the right of the goal frame, the football is basically going to score in the left corner!

However, things often don't go smoothly, Middlesbrough's defender Riggett reacted in an instant, directly stretched out his big hand, grabbed Wang Li's waistband, and dragged him to the grass, however, he himself was not better, in the process of body falling, Wang Li pressed one hand on Riggett's shoulder, and directly took the latter as a cushion after falling on the grass...... After falling to the grass, Wang Li found an embarrassing thing, his upper body was lying on the ground, but his legs were on the body of this tall defender, of course, this was nothing, more importantly, at this time, his left leg was on the opponent's thigh, and his left foot stopped between the opponent's legs - those few cold spikes told the people nearby, as long as Wang Li gently stretched his legs......!!?

"Oh, I'm sorry, you're alright!" Wang Li stood up a little embarrassed, and reached out in a friendly way to pull Riggett up.

Fortunately, although Riggett also thought of that scene just now, and even subconsciously covered his lower body with both hands, he was not hurt. After he reacted, he was in no mood to lie on the ground anymore, to win the sympathy of the referee, and hurriedly held Wang Li's right hand and stood up, "No problem, thank you!" ”

At this time, Riggett was still in a state of reluctance.

However, the referee apparently ignored the goal and saw it so clearly that he showed a yellow card directly to Rigget and awarded Chelsea a penalty.

In fact, this kind of penalty is a bit light, like the dangerous action of Riggett just now, there is no doubt that it should be a red card, maybe this is on the riverside stadium, of course the referee has to be a little biased towards the home team.

There was no one to fight for the penalty in this ball, and the offensive soul of the team was Frank. Frank Lampard stood directly in front of the ball and fired a powerful volley into the corner of the net to get a goal back for Chelsea.

At this time, on the Chelsea bench, Mourinho chuckled, turned to Clarke and said: "Chase back a goal in the first half, and it will be much easier in the second half." ”

Clark nodded and said, "Yes, sir, one goal behind and two goals, there will be a big difference in the mental state of the players. ”

"So, what do you think McLaren will do in the second half?"

Clark thought for a moment and said tentatively: "Will he defend with all his might to keep a one-goal advantage?" ”

Mourinho smiled and didn't say anything, he stood up, looked up at the pitch defense, then spit out the gum still in his mouth, and turned towards the players' tunnel.

(To be continued)