Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Marseille, Benfica, Atletico Greece, these are the teams that emerged from the knockout round of 16 of the Champions League this season.

In terms of strength, even if Atletico Greece defeated Lyon in the round of 16, they are still the weakest of the eight teams, because Lyon is no longer as strong as it swept the Ligue 1 in the past.

But it is a pity that the weakest team in the quarter-finals has cheapened Real Madrid's rich and handsome man for nothing, so that Real Madrid fans almost get carried away with the joy of being escorted to the semi-finals, and in the same semi-zone as Real Madrid, Marseille and Bayern Munich will compete with each other.

In the other half, Barcelona also drew a very good draw, they met Benfica, this team can almost be said to be the bottom of the eight teams, the draw of the La Liga duo can be said to take advantage of the advantage, and the hapless Tottenham Hotspur drew AC Milan in the draw, forming the only strong dialogue in the quarter-final matchup.

Death in the Premier League, death to Tottenham Hotspur, this suddenly became the front page headlines of major European newspapers the next day, almost everyone felt that Tottenham Hotspur encountered Serie A teams in a row, and it was obvious that they were going to be eliminated.

As the saying goes, the Premier League is Serie A, Serie A is La Liga, La Liga is the Premier League, this is a consensus of many fans.

In fact, this is not accurate, to be precise, the British style of play is more restrained Italian style of play, and the Italian style of play is the Kexi style of play, and the Western style of play restrains the British style of play, which itself is a kind of mutual restraint.

Tottenham Hotspur is obviously not a British style of play, the current more British style of play is Manchester United and Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal are more technical, and even if Tottenham Hotspur has introduced more power and balanced offensive and defensive players this season, the team still attaches great importance to interspersed and pulling and passing and receiving cooperation, rather than power play.

Italy's rigorous stance is to restrain this kind of interspersed pulling and passing and receiving cooperation, they are like a wall, immobile like a mountain, let you run, let you cut, let you pass, as long as he is not moved to stand there, you can only do it hard, so the Italian style of play is more restrained this type of play.

And having AC Milan and Tottenham Hotspur have a strong conversation can not only increase the attention of the quarter-finals, but also increase the media hype stunt, such as Andrea Pirlo's reunion with his old club.

A year ago, Pirlo was forced out of Milan by Allegri and Galliani using intrigues, and now, Pirlo is back with Tottenham Hotspur for revenge, which is simply the football version of the Count of Monte Cristo!

Therefore, as soon as the draw results came out, almost all the media around the world fried the pot and hyped this game, because he was not only the only strong conversation in the Champions League quarterfinals, but also the most gimmicky highlight.

As if predestined, Tottenham Hotspur beat Bolton Wanderers 3-0 in the FA Cup at the weekend with an all-substitute line-up, only to be held to a 0-0 draw by Chelsea a week later at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea have not been in good form this season, and as we entered the second half, Roman Abramovic announced a change of manager, removing Villas-Boas and assistant coach Roberto Di Matteo came on to make it difficult for the Italian head coach to defend Tottenham Hotspur with a reinforced concrete defence.

Even though Chelsea are very, very embarrassed in terms of statistics, as Di Matteo said, 'we got a point from Tottenham Hotspur and that's a pretty good result!' ”

I don't know when it started to take points from Tottenham Hotspur has become a very luxurious thing, and you can even show off like Di Matteo.

It was also Tottenham's seventh draw this season, and Manchester City also narrowed the gap between themselves and Tottenham Hotspur to four points with a narrow 2-1 win at Stoke City in this round.

After a heavy draw at Chelsea, everyone realised that Tottenham Hotspur were in trouble.

So there is a very interesting phenomenon, the media are on two sides, one is to fall into the ground, thinking that Tottenham Hotspur from 1:1 to 1:0 to 0:0, obviously getting worse and worse, this north London team is in trouble, the unbeaten gold is likely to be broken anytime and anywhere, and may even lose the league title.

There is a lot of media that are afraid of the chaos in the world, calling for Manchester City to cheer up, and it is better to win the last few rounds to pull Tottenham Hotspur down and completely collapse this team with ambitions to build an unprecedented fourth consecutive title in the English top flight.

There are even some people who believe that if Tottenham Hotspur collapses, not only in the Premier League, but also in the Champions League, there may be a Waterloo, because Allegri's style of play has many similarities with Di Matteo, both are Italian managers, and the reason why Allegri does not look down on Pirlo is that he hopes to form a power midfield combination.

However, there are also many who believe that the current situation of Tottenham Hotspur is not telling, and the biggest problem for the north London team right now is that they have played too many games, and some media statistics have shown that Tottenham Hotspur have played the most official games in the whole of European football so far this season.

The Premier League teams themselves suffer from this kind of schedule, because there is one more cup competition than other leagues, and there is less winter break, and the Premier League teams are rushing to play while others are resting, which has led to a sluggish performance of Premier League teams in Europe this season, and Tottenham Hotspur's poor performance until March is a reflection of this long schedule.

What's more, Tottenham Hotspur have just come under the devil's schedule and all the players are going through a back-to-back of strong conversations, which has led to a slip in their performances since March, which is no surprise.

The media that support Tottenham Hotspur believes that judging from Ye Qiu's performance in the past few years, coupled with the fact that he is likely to have a clear plan at present, the current situation of Tottenham Hotspur is not beyond Ye Qiu's expectations, because the north London team has not had any serious injuries and has a full squad.

Therefore, they all believe that Ye Qiu will definitely be able to lead this north London team out of the trough.

After playing against Chelsea, the entire Tottenham Hotspur squad travelled to Milan City to take on AC Milan away.

Before rushing to the away game, Ye Qiu not only announced the team's eighteen-man squad at the pre-game press conference, but also answered some questions from reporters, and was inevitably asked about the current situation, he said that the team has no problems at present.

"I can understand the behavior of some people who need to concoct some news to get attention and boost their sales, but I would say that none of this is going to happen!"

Regarding the upcoming away game, Ye Qiu also said that he knew that the game was very difficult.

'It's certainly not going to be an easy game at the San Siro, it's a very difficult team, but my players and I are ready to deal with it and I'm sure we can get out of the San Siro!"

But soon, the reporter asked another question, and that was about Allegri's cage theory.

In his pre-match press conference, the AC Milan manager jokingly said that he had compiled an iron cage for Tottenham Hotspur, "We will try to make Tottenham Hotspur's stars disappear completely in this game, as if they were in an iron cage!" ”

Ye Qiu smiled after hearing this, "Then please see how we successfully escaped from the cage of San Siro!" ”

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Some people say that Italian managers are very tactically literate, because they are immersed in the very tactical football environment in Italy, and those who can stand out are basically tactical masters.

Allegri does have the traditional characteristics of a typical Italian manager, that is, he can also see the food and tailor the food, but he also has a strong disadvantage of a new manager, that is, he is good at only one tactic.

It must be mentioned here that many fans are struggling with the so-called 442 or 433 positions, and they will think that a certain manager is only good at a certain tactical formation, which is completely unreasonable, because when it comes to the game, any tactics will be disrupted, so the core concept of a manager is the essence.

It's like Ye Qiu, from Ajax's debut to Chelsea to Tottenham Hotspur, he has always used 433, but some people will say that Ye Qiu's tactics are not good? Or is Ye Qiu only good at using 433?

People who really understand football will not say this, because Ye Qiu's tactical concept has improved a lot over the years, from the youth of Ajax when he was just starting out, to the domineering of Chelsea, and then to the mature introverted and strategic strategy of Tottenham Hotspur, it can be seen that he has made great progress at the tactical level.

Tottenham Hotspur doesn't pay attention to formation at all, Franck Franck Ribery, Cavani and Messi run around during the game, and even Ramsey, Vidal and Pirlo in midfield are often out of their area, they don't have a fixed position, but everyone can quickly understand their responsibilities after running to a position.

This is very much in line with the essence of all-offense and all-defense!

Allegri actually has his advanced place, that is, his core idea is actually similar to Ye Qiu, especially in the midfield, he is to use some offensive and defensive players in the midfield to attack and suppress the opponent, and then use the opponent's loopholes in the offensive and defensive conversion to play his own counterattack and attack.

Of course, you could also say that this is a mainstream way of thinking right now, especially after Tottenham Hotspur's drastic overhaul this season, which has pushed this versatile midfield to a whole new level.

But the difference between Allegri and Ye Qiu is that he believes in strength more, while Ye Qiu is trying to find a balance between strength and technology, of course, this cannot be said that Ye Qiu is more clever than Allegri, but Ye Qiu has the resources and ability to do this, and Allegri has no way.

The core concept of football is not better than anyone, and the coach is not necessarily more clever than the grassroots, otherwise, Bielsa is not worthy of so many people's admiration, so the biggest difference between the famous coach is that they have successfully practiced their own ideas, or used their own ideas to practice and succeed, while other managers may not, such as Bielsa.

Allegri's ability to build a defence is undeniable, and this game not only emulated the tactics of fellow Italian Chelsea firefighting boss Roberto Di Matteo at Stamford Bridge a few days earlier, but also borrowed from Alex Ferguson.

Ferguson's tactic is to start with a round of attack, play a dozen game momentum, frustrate Tottenham Hotspur's spirit, and then organize a tight defensive posture, so in the first ten minutes before the game, Tottenham Hotspur could not find their own rhythm, even though Pirlo is very familiar with the stadium, but under the restrictions of AC Milan's wolf-like midfielders, Tottenham Hotspur still failed to control the situation.

But ten minutes later, Tottenham Hotspur found a rhythm and stabilized again, but at this time AC Milan had begun to shrink the defense, they even did not hesitate to give up possession, once they found that the ball was not played well, they did not fight, the first time was to retreat, first set up the defense in front of their own 30-meter area.

I have to admit that if the Italian team is all defensive, any team will have a headache.

When AC Milan tightened their defence, they set up their defence at the edge of the penalty area, but if necessary, they could even retreat into the penalty area, even to the penalty spot, and then use three tight lines to compress Tottenham.

In the face of this tactical play, Tottenham Hotspur's attack has been slow to find an effective attacking method, because Allegri has almost turned the area of 30 meters in front of his goal into an unbreakable iron cage, almost giving you any gaps, tightly blocking your every running route and passing and receiving route, so that you can't attack if you want to.

Tottenham Hotspur took advantage of the ball and occupied the ball, and even Tottenham Hotspur's possession rate once rose to 65, which Ye Qiu felt a headache. 7%, they're just letting you get the ball, you're putting your foot backwards, you're pushing into the hinterland, but only in the hinterland, and further on, it's an iron plate.

Another point is that AC Milan will do almost everything to put pressure on Tottenham Hotspur at home this time, even on the turf.

As early as yesterday afternoon, when the team arrived at the San Siro Stadium for familiarization training, Ye Qiu noticed that the quality of the turf at the San Siro Stadium was too poor and too dry, so in the morning, when the representatives of both clubs had a meeting with the referee and UEFA representatives in accordance with UEFA regulations, they put forward the proposal of the other party to water the field before the game.

AC Milan agreed, but judging by the game, they did not do so, and even at half-time, when Tottenham Hotspur sent representatives to protest, they still did not water the field.

"This time Galliani doesn't even want to do the festive exercises!" Ye Qiu stepped on the turf under his feet, not only dry, but also obviously long, stepping on the soles of his feet, there was really a little bit of poetry and painting of wind and grass and low cattle and sheep.

The San Siro pitch also has significantly longer turf, at least four centimetres longer than the grass at Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane, for the simple reason that the grass is not conducive to passing because of the resistance.

Mauro? After hearing this, Tasotti also shook his head helplessly, "Perhaps, this is also what Allegri said, part of the iron cage, now many teams meet us, and they have their own magic weapons and secret weapons!" ”

It's also a tactic when a weak team meets a strong team, just like Everton, damn Moyes, every time a strong team comes to Goodison Park, he will go to the field and pour water into the field, and then turn on the floor heat, so that the whole Goodison Park stadium is always in that kind of wet, as if it has just been fished out of the washing machine.

As for AC Milan, he also has his own weapons, he has two consecutive away games before, so for this Champions League knockout game, it can be said that he will do everything, at least he obviously let the grass grow desperately, and do not take care of it.

Boateng, Ambrosini, Nocerino and Van Bommel, AC Milan this time lined up a combination of four macho midfielders, coupled with a typical Italian defence, with Nesta and Mexes in the central defenders, Antonini and Abate's two wings, Allegri has indeed created an unbreakable iron cage in the midfield.

With Cassano and Pato on the forward line, it is not difficult to see that Allegri has the ambition to counter-attack, and even in the second half of the game, he still has no intention of replacing the two strikers.

AC Milan have Van Bommel in midfield, a midfielder who has averaged 10 long balls per game this season. 4 times, the success rate of long passes is as high as 86. 4%, although the number of successful long passes is not as good as Pirlo's 11. 7 times, but the success rate is higher than Pirlo's 84. 2% is higher, and Van Bommel can improve the defensive hardness and intensity of the midfield, which is really something that Pirlo can't give.

It's not that Van Bommel is better than Andrea Pirlo, it's that he's better suited to Allegri's tactics.

"Allegri is not dead, he is not dead, we still have a chance!" Ye Qiu never believed that there was an iron cage in this world that he couldn't break.

"What do you mean...... "Mauro?" Tasotti guessed Ye Qiu's thoughts a little, but it wasn't very clear.

"Let them get out!" Ye Qiu said with great certainty.

Mauro? Tasotti was a little surprised, the away 0:0 result is not good, but at least it is not bad, but if AC Milan is allowed to attack, the risk will be greater, although it may be a goal, but what if you can't score a goal, but are scored?

"Are you afraid?" Ye Qiu thinks this is Mauro? Another weakness of Tasotti is that he has the usual caution of Italian coaches, which can be said to be a strength, but also a disadvantage.

Mauro? Tassotti pursed his lips and didn't say anything, but he acquiesced.

"We have to keep this momentum, 0:0 and 0:1, it's not much difference for us, but this momentum is the most powerful weapon and chip we can swallow our opponent in the next game!"

In the words of Ye Qiu's hometown, if you lose, you don't lose the battle!

"And I'm sure there are people who are even tired and still thinking about how to score and win."