Before you know it, De Bruyne has been in Hamburg for almost a year and a half.

Sometimes, he would remember the first time he met Pan Yi.

De Bruyne, who was 21 years old at the time, widened his eyes and listened to the young manager, who was not a few years older than him but already famous, talk about his future there, and to be honest, there were still some doubts in his heart.

But after Pan Yi told him completely and clearly about the team's future plan and ensuring his core position in the team, De Bruyne was still moved, so he followed the dragon coach to Germany and Hamburg.

And no matter how optimistic he is about this transfer, he can't imagine that he will become the assist king of the Bundesliga a year later, and follow Hamburg to the Bundesliga runner-up.

It was one of the most improved and even leaps and bounds of De Bruyne's career, so to speak.

Who would have thought that a year ago, Kevin De Bruyne was just a young player who couldn't play at Chelsea and went out on loan?

And all of this is obviously thanks to Pan Yi, the head coach.

At the awards ceremony at the end of last season, De Bruyne said in an interview:

"Our boss has really helped me a lot. He knows what my characteristics are, where I fit in and what kind of help I can give to my team-mates. ”

"He's a very special football coach! He has a pair of eyes that are different, as if he can see what makes each player different. ”

"He is also able to bring out the potential and strengths of each player and combine them into a complete set of rational tactics. I'm happier than I've ever been in Hamburg because I was the best version of myself under the guidance of Boss Pan Yi. ”

De Bruyne is definitely not blowing the manager's rainbow fart, this is really his heartfelt words.

When he came to the team, Pan Yi tailored the 4231 formation for him, and put De Bruyne in the forward position in the middle of the midfield, as the core of the whole team to deliver shells to the front.

It's his favorite position and it's what he does best.

He also gave Pan Yi his own answer to his trust: 16 assists in the season, winning the title of assist king!

Then, in his second season at Hamburg, after more reinforcements joined the team, Pan Yi decided to switch to 433 and let De Bruyne start playing the right position of the three midfielders.

At first, De Bruyne was a little uncomfortable and didn't understand much.

We played 4231 well, and the results were good, why did we change to play 433?

In response to De Bruyne, including many other players, Pan Yi also held a special meeting to answer questions.

Under Pan Yi's explanation, everyone slowly understood and accepted.

First of all, Pan Yi asked everyone to confirm the team's positioning this season, that is, Hamburg is now a strong team!

The 4231 formation is a formation that maximizes the role of the front waist on the basis of ensuring the defensive intensity, but in today's football world, with the deepening of everyone's understanding of space theory, the offensive means of the front court are more diversified, and new roles such as in-cutting wingers and wing forwards are more popular, which squeezes the living space of the single front waist.

As a result, although 4231 is still used more in mid-stream teams and lower leagues, its use rate among big teams has been declining.

The reason is simple:

Under the space theory, when attacking, it is necessary to open the formation to make the court space larger, which is most directly reflected in the use of the wing space, and there will always be players on the side when attacking, opening up the overall offensive width.

The task of opening up the width is initially given to attacking players such as wingers or wing-backs, but attacking players from strong teams are often so talented that it is a bit of a waste to just let them cross from the side.

In order to allow the attacking players to show more talent, the "simple" task of opening up the width of the formation is left to the full-backs.

A bit like Bayern's Arjen Robben or Hamburg's Mohamed Salah, their talent is certainly not just a winger, they tend to attack with the likes of those who tend to pull in the middle, occupy the space in the ribs, and leave the wing space for the full-backs in the back row.

If this adduction is not tightened, the movement space of the front waist will be squeezed out. Think of the position of the traditional forward waist and Robben's incision, which overlap in space.

Therefore, teams often choose to remove the forward midfielder and add a midfielder or striker to occupy more space on the field, so that the field is bigger and more space when attacking.

And the front waist gradually disappeared, and the 4231 that relied on the front waist naturally gradually became less popular - which is why the retired Kaka sighed in an interview: "The classical front waist has completely disappeared, and there is no more No. 10 position!" ”

Pan Yi made this judgment and decision based on his own perception of the future development trend of football and the characteristics of Hamburg's current squad.

Behind each backfoot winger is a full-back with a strong assist ability to take on the task of opening up the width of the attacking formation.

And now in the Hamburg lineup, Son Heung-min has Robertson behind him, and Salah has Carvajal behind him.

They can also hug the side and assist, and they can adduct defense, if you don't make good use of their abilities, it's just a tyrannical thing!

Facts have also proved that Pan Yi's decision was correct.

Hamburg have played incredibly beautiful football this season, almost invincible!

At that time, although De Bruyne understood why Pan Yi was moving from 4231 to 433, he was still not very clear about his new position.

So Pan Yi opened a small stove for De Bruyne, and also transmitted him a new term: "pseudo winger"!

Pseudo-winger, Mezzala.

The word comes from the Italian word and is actually a combination of two words, Mezza and Ala winger, which means half winger.

This type of midfielder is often found in a three-midfield system with a single midfielder, and their role is to penetrate deep between the opponent's back line and the midfield defence, occupying half of the field to link up the team's midfield.

In Pan Yi's 433 formation, when attacking, De Bruyne and another midfielder (Paulinho or Kante, who are not necessarily pseudo-wingers) will step forward to receive the ball on the ribs, two wingers will open up space on the wings, and two full-backs will step forward to become full-backs.

The result is that a triangular passing route is formed in any part of the midfield, isolating any of the opposing markers.

At the same time, if the player is very good at positioning, the wing-back, wing-midfielder and winger close to the wing can also switch positions to get rid of the opponent.

Therefore, pseudo-wingers need to have certain abilities in attack, organization, and defense, and of course they are mainly organization-oriented. And this is also De Bruyne's greatest characteristic.

Moreover, it is not just the midfielder who isolates the opposing team, but the passing from the side of the ribs allows the player to pass at a smaller angle;

However, compared to the frontal pass, when receiving the ball from a sideways position, it does not require too much adjustment to pass the ball, and the passing team will be better at receiving it. This is also one of the advantages of the role of pseudo-winger.

In fact, in world football, in addition to Iniesta, Xavi, and David Silva of Spain's golden generation, the best position to play pseudo-wingers is De Bruyne when Pan Yi was in Manchester City in his previous life.

In other words, Pan Yi arranged the most suitable position for De Bruyne in the future for him a few years in advance!

Therefore, when De Bruyne relieved his inner doubts and familiarized himself with this position according to Pan Yi's guidance in training, he immediately felt great!

He is more comfortable as a pseudo-winger than the midfield position, which is constantly pressed by two wide players.

He can lean into the middle of the midfield and continue to play the role of the original playmaker of the forward midfield, sending through balls to the strikers;

He can also play on the side and play as a winger or full-back to get down the bottom cross;

He can retreat to his own ribs, launch long-range guidance from the back, and pose a threat to the opponent's penalty area with long passes;

He can also cut in the back row of the middle and attack the opponent's goal with a sharp long-range shot!

In this way, De Bruyne found that his talent was truly unleashed!

For Pan Yi, he just used the experience of watching football in his previous life, combined with systematic tactical knowledge, and used De Bruyne in advance according to the way Guardiola used it in the Manchester City era;

But for De Bruyne, he has found his own piece of the biggest world!

He knows very well that this is all due to Pan Yi, this amazing head coach is really amazing!

Not only De Bruyne, but all the players in the team seem to be moving towards the road of stardom under Pan Yi's careful carving.

With a greatly improved performance, they have gradually made a name for themselves in European football, and have even attracted the attention of many big teams.

This was unthinkable before.

De Bruyne is really grateful for Pan Yi's trust and cultivation!

And in return for the manager, De Bruyne always gives his best every game.

At every opportunity, De Bruyne will be brave and never compromise any tactical arrangements of the manager!

……

"Pass the ball!"

At the People's Park Stadium, Hamburg's match against Ajax was already in the 15th minute, and De Bruyne shouted at Vardy in front of him.

Ten seconds earlier, De Bruyne had been standing at the back end of the centre circle, just above Hamburg's backfield, and had played a long pass to Mohamed Salah on the right.

Then when he saw Salah dribbling towards the box and Jamie Vardy was already pressing down the opposition centre-back in the middle, he recognised the opportunity and didn't hesitate to step forward.

That's his mission! One of the duties of a pseudo-winger!

Salah, on the other hand, took a lateral step before kicking the ball a half-high ball just over the head of a defender and past Jamie Vardy.

After Jamie Vardy blocked the opposition centre-back with his body, he chested the ball and tried to turn and kick the goal.

But the opponent was prepared, so Vardy immediately protected the ball.

At this point, De Bruyne was already quick to step forward and shouted out to Jamie Vardy.

After more than a year of cooperation, the two men have become very familiar with each other, and Vardy didn't think much about it at all, and immediately pushed the ball gently and kicked it back to the right side of the arc.

De Bruyne rushed to the scene, and before the opposing central defender Dunswell rushed over to block, he didn't stop the ball and shot directly!

Jamie Vardy's pass was comfortable and De Bruyne's shot was on target.

The ball flew out like a cannonball, crashing directly into the right side of the Ajax goal.

It was a classic Hamburg-style combination and a concentrated example of De Bruyne's dominant role as a pseudo-winger.

“GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL！！！！！！”

"Hamburg opens the scoring! They are 1-0 up at home! ”

'Vardy made a comeback from inside the box and set up team-mate Kevin De Bruyne to score a long-range shot.

"It was a beautiful shot! Kevin De Bruyne got Hamburg off to a very good start. ”

After the goal, De Bruyne excitedly rushed to Pan Yi's side to celebrate, and Pan Yi also hugged his most proud disciple with a smile on his face.

With the home side ahead, the game is much better.

And to open the deadlock as soon as possible, this is also Pan Yi's request to the players before the game.

It was clear that the Hamburg players didn't keep their manager waiting too long.

……

This Ajax team is actually not very good to play.

Under the leadership of Frank de Boer, they were tenacious defensively, aggressive in their movements, and excellent overall in their play.

They came close to winning AC Milan at home and battled Hamburg until the 90th minute, as evidenced by that.

But defensive-oriented teams are afraid of one thing: being scored by the opponent first.

In the above two games, Ajax scored first, and then continued to shrink the defense and counterattack when the mentality was stable, so that there would be a better process and result.

So to deal with them, it's important to be able to score a goal first.

And now, Hamburg has done so after returning to their home turf.

So, it's Ajax's turn to have a headache.

Moreover, Pan Yi is not prepared to give De Boer too much time to think.

After celebrating the goal, Pan Yi waved his hand to the players, signaling them to continue to press their opponents and press the line tighter.

Now the strength of the two sides is compared, and Hamburg obviously has an advantage.

And today Hamburg is playing at home again, and now it is one goal ahead, Pan Yi naturally hopes that the team can directly crush the opponent in one go!

……

And De Boer's side were quick to make changes.

As Pan Yi expected, Hamburg's first goal disrupted De Boer's pre-match deployment, and he could only press out to attack.

After three rounds of group play, Ajax have just one point, and if they continue to lose this round and Barcelona win Milan at home, they will essentially leave the round of 16 two games early.

So, there is no point in defending anymore.

As a result, the two teams began a fierce battle against each other.

But as just said, Hamburg's quality is superior, especially the midfield led by Kevin De Bruyne, who firmly controls the tempo of the game.

Ajax looked fierce but never got their feet on their feet and never managed to control the ball and their tempo.

The game has always been under the control of Hamburg.

Therefore, Ajax's attack is often thunderous and rainy, and it is difficult to form a really effective shot.

But Hamburg is different.

Their attack is always well organized, the front court is organised, the three lines are tightly combined, and they can play a tacit game, and of course they can play a threat.

In the 24th minute, Hamburg once again pressed the defence past the midfield, with N'Golo Kante and Kevin De Bruyne both pressed into the 30-metre zone.

After receiving Casemiro's pass, Kante crossed straight to the front from the left side of midfield, and Son Heung-min burst into the box on the left rib and hit the goal horizontally.

But this time the shot was too straight and was saved by the opposing goalkeeper.

But Hamburg soon made a comeback.

In just one minute, the Hamburg midfielder broke the ball and the ball developed to the right side of the midfield.

De Bruyne received a pass from a team-mate, controlled his tempo a little, and sent a close ball to the right side of the edge of the box.

Salah cut inside from the air, stopped the ball and fired a left-footed volley into a curling shot.

Ajax goalkeeper Cillessen made a save-filled save to keep the ball out.

But the ball didn't fly too far and was headed in by Vardy, who was standing in the middle to grab the spot, and Pi flew into the Ajax goal.

2：0！

The entire People's Park stadium is boiling!

In less than 25 minutes, Hamburg scored two goals in a row!

……

Frank de Boer is very uncomfortable right now.

As a player, he was a well-known defender who won many trophies for Ajax and Barcelona and made more than 100 appearances for the Dutch national team.

But Frank de Boer's memories probably come from the semi-finals against Italy at the 2000 European Championships.

In that game, Frank de Boer missed two penalties in a row to knock out the Netherlands and earn the Italian goalkeeper "Santoldo".

In fact, judging from this experience, De Boer's psychological quality is not particularly good.

And now, he is indeed a little panicked.

In the first round of the group stage, when Ajax was scored four goals by Barcelona at the Camp Nou, he did not panic so much.

Although they lost at that time, Ajax's performance was not very bad, and Barcelona mainly won the game through the role of stars, well, it was Messi's play that won the game.

But today, Hamburg does not seem to have a world-class superstar like Messi, but it gives De Boer a stronger sense of pressure.

He'd never seen such a stormy attack!

And now, his team has been pushed to a dead end.

If you want to qualify from the group, you must win all three rounds.

It was very, very difficult for Ajax, but De Boer didn't have a choice.

In the third round at home to Hamburg, he was only beaten in the 90th minute, which gave De Boer a glimmer of illusion that he might have a chance to steal one at the People's Park today.

But what he didn't expect was that from the first minute of the game, Hamburg suppressed Ajax with a frantic attack.

And now it's just over halfway through the half, and Hamburg has a two-goal lead.

How else is this kicked?

And the situation on the field has not changed in any way.

Hamburg are still chasing and creating scoring opportunities.

Vardy shoots, De Bruyne shoots, Salah shoots......

The continuous offensive was like a raging storm, and Ajax was overwhelmed and struggled.

De Boer stood on the sidelines, unable to give any more orders.

He knows that this game is no longer his, not Ajax.

He's losing confidence, and so are the players on the pitch.

They no longer have the courage to fight their opponents at the People's Park Stadium and are unable to break through from this group of death.

……

It is clear to everyone that after Hamburg take a two-goal lead at home, there will be little suspense in the second half.

Sure enough, after the two sides changed sides again, Hamburg scored two goals again, ending the one-sided goal battle with a score of 4:0.

That is, they have a terrifying four-game winning streak in such a group of death!

beat Milan 3-0 away, beat Barcelona 2-0 at home, and beat Ajax 2-1 and 4-0 home and away......

With four rounds of the Champions League group stage, the world was amazed to find that Hamburg were the best performing team in the Super Group of Death, and they also played passionate attacking football.

In fact, even if you compare all the teams that have participated in the Champions League this season, Hamburg is also one of the best.

The other two teams that have won four in a row in the first four rounds are Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid.

Bayern won 3:0 CSKA Moscow, 3:1 Manchester City, 5:0 and 1:0 Plzen.

Atletico 3:1 Zenit St. Petersburg, 2:1 Porto, 3:0 and 4:0 Austrian Vienna.

Although they all won all, compared to their opponents in Hamburg, Bayern and Atletico Madrid were obviously less difficult.

Therefore, after the game, the media praised Hamburg and Pan Yi fiercely, thinking that their strength has really impressed everyone!

In the other Group H match played at the same time, Barcelona beat AC Milan 3-1 at home.

In this way, the situation in Group H is clear.

Hamburg 12 points, Barcelona 7 points, AC Milan 2 points, Ajax 1 point.

Hamburg has secured the right to qualify from the group!

And they only need to get 1-2 points in the next two rounds to basically qualify as the top of the group.

AC Milan still have a slim hope of qualifying for another place in this group, but they must win their remaining two rounds and Barcelona will have to lose two in a row.

This almost announced that Milan had actually been eliminated from the group.

This made many Italian media outlets wail.

Who would have thought that the Champions League champion two years ago would now be difficult to even qualify for the group stage?

There is even a possibility that they will be at the bottom of the group!

Coach Allegri is of course to blame for the use of people and the formation of the line-up, but why didn't he change him sooner?

The media immediately pointed the finger at Director Galliani, believing that it was his indecision that caused today's consequences.

If the coach had been changed after losing to Hamburg in the first round, it might not be the situation it is now!

What's even more frustrating is that Milan are not only on the verge of going out of the Champions League, but also losing their league position.

Serie A has been played in 11 rounds, and AC Milan's results are 3 wins, 3 draws and 5 losses!

Sitting 11th in the table with just 12 points, it is actually just one more goal win than nine points from the relegation zone.

The newspaper "Milan Sport" lamented:

"In less than a year and a half, Milan went from a treble-winning team to almost rubbish in the relegation zone."

"In the past year and a half, Pan Yi's hamburg has grown into a force to be reckoned with in European football."

"The rise and fall here, anyone with a discerning eye can see where the key to this change is."

"God, can you give us a new Pan Yi? ……”

(End of chapter)