Many fans like to say that the Italians have turned defending on the football pitch into an art.

The art of attacking players on the football field is largely the on-the-spot play of the player's individual strength, or the team's passing and receiving with the transmission and penetration to achieve, this art is clear at a glance, but defense and offense are completely different, how the Italians transform defense into art, I believe few people can say why.

As Vialli once said, the Latins and the Anglo-Saxons have different personalities and thinking, the former is more rational and likes to get to the bottom of everything, and the latter is more blind and likes to do things according to their feelings.

Italians' sanity obviously extends to the football field, so what they advocate is a rational football tactic, such as cutting everything that can happen on the football field, and then putting it under a microscope to analyze it, as if in a laboratory.

Ye Qiu can even say that modern defensive tactics are almost all established on the basis of Italian defense, including the chain defense of the year to the high-pressure hybrid defense of Saki later, as for what parallel position, shallow saucer position, or the relatively rare kind of positive triangle position after one person in advance and three parallel drags, etc., it is just a different use of it.

The Italians have the rationality to take into account everything that can happen on the football field, all the changes, what to defend in what situation arises, what changes the opponent will make, what kind of measures we will take, these are all included in them.

So, to talk about Italian defence is really like talking about a huge, incredibly complex, and at the same time ever-changing structure, and it's hard to fully grasp it without years of immersion.

The art of Italian defense, like Leonardo da Vinci's paintings or Michelangelo's sculptures, is described stroke by stroke, knife by knife, without the slightest fancy, and you cannot afford to cut corners

So some people say that the head coach from the Netherlands must not be bad in terms of tactics, at least he can be independent, and the head coach from Italy does not need to worry about his defensive attainments at all, because this is their forte.

When Ye Qiu met Mauro Tasotti, the two immediately sparked a spark in tactical thinking, they once had a very in-depth discussion on defensive formations, and they analyzed all common and uncommon defensive formations.

The advantage of parallel standing is that it is easy to create offside, and the various positions of the defense line are closely linked, which is suitable for the kind of team with poor activity ability, but excellent prediction ability and strong sense of position.

The advantage of shallow saucer standing is that the side defense is better, especially when encountering in-cut wingers, which is more beneficial to the defense of the ribs, but the problem is not small, the shallow saucer position has higher requirements for the side players, the fullback and midfielder drag back to cover the area is relatively large, the physical requirements of the players are relatively high, and strong tactical execution is required.

These two most typical defensive positions actually represent two different ideas, one is Italian tactics, which pay attention to a rigorous sense of position and tactical order; The other is Dutch football, with a wide area coverage and blurred locations.

Therefore, the defenders cultivated in Italian football are often the kind of defenders with a strong sense of position and excellent tactical awareness, but with weak mobility, even a player like Cannavaro, it is difficult for him to move and press on a wide range of activities like Thiago Silva of Tottenham Hotspur now.

Dutch football is basically an up-and-down defender with a weak sense of position, but strong mobility and large area coverage.

Of course, this is only a theoretical statement, specifically, Italy has also produced a lot of defenders with excellent mobility but poor positional sense, while the Dutch series has also produced defenders with excellent positional sense, there is no absolute.

There are many teams that are now adopting a central defensive combination that is undoubtedly a combination of up and complementing, such as Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, Chelsea's Taga Cannavaro or Carvalho, Tottenham Hotspur's Thiago Silva and Kompany, all of which are two types of combinations.

The purpose of this is to maximize the complement of each other's strengths and weaknesses, taking into account the two different characteristics of the defensive concept, that is, fusion.

Ye Qiu has always emphasized integration, integrating different tactical ideas and different tactical concepts

At first glance, many people think, wow, it's so awesome, but it's easy to say, but it's very difficult to do.

It's like a lot of people say that offense and defense should be balanced, how to balance? Do you say it with your mouth?

Obviously impossible

Offensive and defensive balance is to allocate your personnel reasonably in every attack and every defense.

Therefore, Ye Qiu often said that the best head coach is actually a master of human resource allocation, and he is now reading some books on human resources all day long, which is the reason.

For example, in an attack, if you want to achieve a balance between offense and defense, then you have to arrange a few players to attack with all their might, several players to coordinate the front and back courts, several players to defend with all their might, what kind of way the players to attack, what kind of running route, what kind of matching routines to attack, and what kind of position the defenders have to take to ensure that the opponent can respond in time no matter which angle the opponent launches a quick counterattack.

This is a very cumbersome, but at the same time very elaborate layout.

In the same way, if you want to integrate different tactical ideas and concepts, then put aside those things in the overall situation, what individual play, what teamwork, what sense of position, etc., all of them, go directly to the lowest level, and dig out the most primitive and basic things inside.

It can be said that Ye Qiu and Mauro Tasotti are using a method similar to the Italians to elevate defense to an art, and analyze the team's offensive and defensive system into a set of offensive and defensive coordination routines in a way that cooks down the cow.

Many people say that Tottenham Hotspur's attack represents free play, art and flamboyance, and imagination, but they may not know that Tottenham Hotspur's simplest wing attack, the simplest left winger to get the ball, can be coordinated by different players, and at least twelve different combinations can be played on the left side of the penalty area.

If you add in the transfer of the ball to the middle, the change of the coordination route will be twice as much, and if you add the players on the right side and finally complete the score, etc., then there are dozens of different combinations in total.

So, do you think these routines are very useless and rigid?

Wrong, because the design of these routines is not to say that the left winger crosses and the center striker points the ball forward.

All the routines are designed according to the reactions of the defenders, and then they are designed for purpose

Perhaps it is difficult to explain it clearly, take this attack by Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium.

When the opposition midfielder three put pressure on Cesc Fabregas and David Silva, the two central midfielders dropped back and pulled back to pass the ball to Thiago Silva, and the Brazilian centre-back crossed to Kompany, who crossed diagonally to Ribery on the left.

Because David Silva and Cesc Fabregas have just pulled back, the gap between Ribery and Messi in this area has come out, and it depends on the judgment of the backfield players according to the situation on the field.

Ribery took the ball, faced Sagna, and after trying to force a break between Sagna and Squeiraci, attracting the attention of two players, he was divided into the left, and Marcelo was seen rushing up quickly, and the Brazilian full-back was unguarded in front of him, and he easily received the ball and crossed.

In the middle of the penalty area, Cavani used his body to block Koscielny behind him, but at this time Koscielny blocked between him and the goal, and he had no chance to score, what should I do?

The header was ferried, so Cavani rubbed his scalp against the net and rubbed it off the back post.

Messi faced to the left, his chest met Cavani's ferry, and Klich went up as soon as possible, blocking between Messi and the goal.

In this case, Messi received the ball on the right side of the penalty area with his left foot, and the most likely time was to cut inside and hit the goal with his left foot, and Klich couldn't stop it alone, so Koscielny chose to leave Cavani's area a little away from Cavani for the first time to help defend Klich.

Cavani also made a split second decision, retreating to the top of the arc of the penalty area, turning and facing the goal.

At this time, it is very interesting, Alexander O Song and other midfielders who were supposed to protect the penalty area were just pulled back by Fabregas and David O Silva and others, and on the way back to the penalty area, Cavani pulled out, and there was no obstacle between him and the goal, because Alexander O Song was blocked by him

Squealaki and Sagna were on Ribery's side, with Koscielny and Klich going to watch Messi.

In words, the whole process is long and complicated, but in fact, on the pitch, the unguarded state that appears on Cavani may only be less than a second.

Messi chose to pass the ball and gave Cavani back, but instead of passing to the top of the penalty area, it passed to Cavani and the middle of the goal, near the penalty spot, and then Cavani blocked the Alexander O Song who was back on the defending, rushed forward, and volleyed directly near the penalty spot, and the ball drilled into the lower right corner, Fabianski couldn't prevent it at all

The whole attacking combination is the result of the iconic Tottenham Hotspur passing and receiving combination, which may seem complicated, but if Arsenal's defensive ability is better, Tottenham Hotspur's combination can be more complicated.

For example, when Cavani retreats, Squealer realizes that the threat is also coming to block, then Messi will choose to pass diagonally with his left foot to Squeerage to find Ribery, and if Sagna is better and even Ribery is blocked, then Messi will pass back to Fabregas, because Fabregas also followed Alexander O Song and others into the 30-meter area of Arsenal, and then Fabregas went to find Cavani who had rushed to the goal according to the situation, or Ribery.

Of course, there are a lot of assumptions, but all the strains are aimed at the weaknesses and holes of Arsenal's defence.

You can have no weaknesses, no loopholes, I pull, keep pulling, help you pull out holes, because as long as your players have moves, there will be holes.

Tottenham Hotspur's entire offensive and defensive system is actually composed of a series of fine tactical coordination routes, and the players have mastered and familiarized themselves with these coordination routines, and then they use or even change them according to the changes that occur on the field.

It's true on the offensive end, and it's the same on the defensive end.

When the game resumed, Arsenal tried to fight back, but soon the ball fell back into the hands of Tottenham Hotspur as they found that when they struggled to get rid of the entanglement of their front-court players, the ball entered Tottenham's half, or the 30-metre area was lost.

Tottenham Hotspur's midfielders have a clear division of labour and many are aware that Messi and Ribery rarely struggle with defence, partly to conserve their fitness and ensure their investment in attack, but also to delay and cut off the opposition's attacking passing routes.

This is true even for Edinson Cavani, Cesc Fabregas and David Silva, all of whom play a role in delaying and disrupting.

Suppose that when Arsenal get the ball, they have many, many attacking routes, and when he passes to Arteta, a left central midfielder, the attacking route is missing a large part, and at this time Cesc Fabregas chooses to block it head-on, then Arteta basically has only two options, two wings or a return pass.

But if Messi and David Silva follow Arteta closer to Arteta at this time, then he has only a safer choice, passing to his left side, that is, the right side of Tottenham Hotspur.

At this time, it depends on his choice, when he chooses to pass to Rosicky on the left, Marcelo and Yaya O Toure, who has already been ambushed on one side, immediately force up into a corner and block Rosicky on the side.

Although the Czechs relied on their ability to pass the ball out, Thiago Silva intercepted the ball halfway through the game, not only completing a defense, but also getting a quick counter-attack.

This kind of defense is not physically demanding, but the effect is very obvious.

Of course, there is a premise, that is, the players must have enough tacit understanding with each other, and at the same time be familiar enough with the team's routines, otherwise, it will be difficult to achieve unified action.

Arsene Wenger sat in front of the home team's dugout, looking calm in a Nike down jacket, but it could also be interpreted as helplessness, as he found that his side had been knocked on the back of the net by Tottenham Hotspur just 14 minutes into the first half.

Looking up again, he found that the Arsenal fans did not react at all, and even the disgruntled boos were sparse, which showed that they were not paying much attention to football, or that they were probably even enjoying Tottenham's wonderful goal, forgetting that they were Arsenal fans.

How many of the fans who came to the Emirates Stadium were Arsenal hardcores?

This is a question that Arsene Wenger has had in recent years.

"Let Chamak be careful, don't move too much, and restrain your emotions, Philip Dodd will not be polite," Wenger said to his assistant coach Pat Rice, who nodded and immediately walked to the sideline to convey Wenger's meaning.

Chamak made too much action when he retreated to defend once, tripped Yaya O Toure, and was shown a yellow card by the referee, and the offensive pressure brought by Tottenham Hotspur was too great, coupled with the first goal conceded at home, so that the current Arsenal players are obviously a little less calm.

Arsene Wenger himself knows that with the current Arsenal lineup, it is very difficult to challenge Tottenham Hotspur, who are in full swing, but he never imagined that his team would play so badly at home, and in the first ten minutes, it was almost a one-sided situation.

"We should make some adjustments, and if we continue like this, I'm afraid we won't be able to stop it," Pat Rice walked back a little worried.

Arsene Wenger raised his head, glanced at his right-hand man, and then glanced at the bench not far away, where he had substitutes such as Theo Walcoat and Lansbury on the bench, but from any point of view, they were not going to be better than the starting line-up on the pitch, both offensively and defensively.

It can be said that Arsene Wenger now has very limited resources in his hands, and Arsenal's bench depth is even the weakest among several strong teams in the Premier League, which also leads to Arsenal's lack of combat effectiveness.

In the past few seasons, everyone said that Arsenal's performance in the first half of the league does not count, and the real start of the league is after the winter break, which is talking about the depth of Arsenal's bench, because in the period around the winter break, the fitness and injuries of players are at their most dangerous, and Arsenal has always started to decline from this period.

For example, there used to be a typical February phobia, which meant that Arsenal's February was always bad.

"Let them retract to half-time and stabilize the situation first," Arsene Wenger made all the adjustments he could.

With little change in the existing squad structure, there are actually very few changes he can make, because Arsenal's problem right now is midfield and defence, not attack.

With Arsenal's retreat, Tottenham Hotspur began to actively press up, but they played more patiently, and Arsenal's morale was affected, after all, from the beginning of the sworn enemy pressed a fat beating, but the result is that you don't dare to beat back, you have to see him hide, this kind of wretched spirit is indeed enough to hit morale.

But Wenger's approach is understandable, he is at an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength, coupled with the gap in player condition and morale, so that he must ensure that the situation is stabilized, otherwise, Tottenham Hotspur will play a big score, then he will really be finished.

Wenger thinks so, because he has enough knowledge and familiarity with the strength of his team and the strength of his opponent, but Ye Qiu is also very familiar with it, and knows the strength of both sides of the enemy and the enemy, and it can even be said that in Arsenal's team, he only values three players, Alexander O Song who defends, but he can't stop Tottenham Hotspur alone.

Arteta is a playmaker who is difficult to support the overall situation, Nasri's personal ability is good, but he is also not a sharp knife that can create a threat, as for the Moroccan striker Chamak, who was praised for free at the beginning of this season, Ye Qiu feels that he may be okay to play a weak team, but he has encountered strong teams such as Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United......

So, when Ye Qiu saw Arsenal retracting, he immediately signaled the team to press up and continue to strengthen the attack