Scaloni's tactics for York City today were simple, counter-attacking.

It is even more defensive, and is not ready to invest too many troops to attack for the time being - commonly known as "swinging the bus".

This is a wise choice in the light of the strength of the two sides.

The game is to be won, but no matter how strong the morale is, you can't be reckless.

So, from the very beginning of the game, the players of the three lines of York City fought and retreated, and in the end, most of them retreated to their own half and set up a bucket formation.

And York City's defensive hardness is also very high.

In the second minute, Lamela won the ball on the right flank, and Kulusevski and Alphonso Davies flanked him one after the other, preventing him from getting the ball out easily.

Lamela was forced to pass back to Moussa Dembele in the middle, who picked up the ball...... York City midfielder Rice leaned in and tripped his opponent just as he tried to dribble and turn over.

Moussa Dembele got up from the ground and glared at Rice with a pair of angry eyes, while Rice, who kept retreating towards the defensive line, looked at him with a blank face and deliberately showed a hint of a smile, which annoyed Moussa Dembele.

That's the main strategy of York City today.

That is to give Tottenham the intensity in the midfield, on the confrontation.

In a situation where the overall technical ability is really inferior to theirs, it is clear that it will not work without active defense and physical confrontation.

After all, whether it is Moussa Dembele or Eriksen, they are both very good dribbling and passing skills, and it is likely that if they are given a little space, they will tear through the York City defence.

'From the first few minutes of the game, you could see that Tottenham had the absolute initiative on the pitch. York City were pressed by Tottenham in their own half from the first minute after the opening minute, and even striker Baker returned to defend near the penalty area. It seems that York City is going to defend this game to the end! ”

Tottenham's side used Vicente Jensen as the arrow, and players such as Son Heung-min, Alli and Lamela took turns to attack the York City defence.

In particular, Son Heung-min on the left flank, who was very active with his speed, got rid of Tomiyasu's defense on several occasions and created a threat, but fortunately, York City's veteran Swedish goalkeeper Isaksen continued his recent good form and did not concede a goal.

As a young player who has not yet been selected for the Japanese national team, Tomiyasu Kenhiro still seems a little difficult to face Son Xingmin, an "old Jianghu" who has been galloping in the European arena for several years, and has temporarily fallen behind in such an "East Asian confrontation".

"Son Heung-min broke through with the ball and got to the edge of the box...... Knock on the door!! Isaksen reacted quickly and saved the ball. Tottenham's 20-year-old Alli judged Isaksen's landing point after hitting the ball and made up for it! ”

"It's Isaksen again, the experienced veteran who used his foot to block the ball out of the net, and the returning De Ligt kicked the ball off the line to form a corner!"

'Eriksen takes a corner but it gets too close to the goalkeeper and Isaksen gets the ball away before Aldveld!'

'Obviously, York City was defensively based today and did a good job, but the Tottenham players were very individual and they bombarded York City's goal indiscriminately, and they got good chances on several occasions, but York City's former Sweden international Isaksen showed great courage and repeatedly defused the crisis for the team.

Scaloni saw this thrilling scene in the dugout, and he couldn't sit down for a moment.

He came to the sidelines and waved his hand to Declan Rice, Alonso, including Westermann and De Ligt in the back, to establish a tight defensive line in the middle and not let the Tottenham players face the goal easily.

You must know that the attacking players in the front of the Tottenham players are very good in terms of breakthrough and shooting ability, and a small chance can be directly converted into a goal.

York City's two wing-backs, Lin Liangming and Kulusevski, were also called to come back to defence.

From the pitch of the game, they don't look like a wing-back and more like a full-back, and now York City looks like they have eight defenders on the defensive.

Of course, there are pros and cons to this kind of iron bucket array.

The advantage is that there are more defensive players, the defensive line is more compressed, and there is less space for Tottenham players.

The downside is that the two wing-backs of York City have been able to move forward, giving Tottenham's two full-backs more room to move forward.

The likes of Danny Rose and Kyle Walker are the ones who like to assist, and now they are stepping forward more frequently.

In the fifth minute, Walker sent a sharp cross to centre-forward Vicente Jensen in the box after a burst of action, but it was fortunately pushed out of the box by De Ligt, otherwise it would have caused York City to concede.

In Tottenham's frantic attack, York City's defense is crumbling, as if it will be swallowed up by this wind and wave at any moment!

There is a big man surnamed Gao in the Dragon Kingdom who once said: The bigger the wind and waves, the bigger the fish.

But this rule doesn't seem to be fully followed on the football field.

Don't look at Tottenham, the wind and waves are very strong, but you just can't catch the small fish of Yorktown.

Tottenham players had a couple of pretty good chances, but they just couldn't convert them into goals.

Either goalkeeper Isaksen played brilliantly, or the defenders did well to block the gunshot.

Among them, Alphonso Davies and Alonso twice rescued the team at the critical moment, blocking the shots of Ali and Son Heung-min off the line.

It was in such an absolute disadvantage that York City stubbornly stuck to the last fence, which made every attack of Tottenham seem to be able to inflict the final blow on York City at any time, but every time it turned into a futility in the end.

"We can see that York City is clearly going to follow through with the bucket tactics. Now they haven't even left a single player up front, and even striker Baker has returned to the edge of the box to defend. Is York City really planning to abandon the offensive and defend to the end? Lineker smiled wryly.

It's been 20 minutes now, and in that time, York City have only had a pitiful 20 per cent possession.

This means that Tottenham's possession rate has reached a terrifying 80%!

And the difference in the number of shots between the two sides is really very large, Tottenham have a total of 15 shots on goal in such a short period of time, almost one shot on goal every minute, and York City not to mention shooting, not even Tottenham's penalty area.

It has to be said that it was a one-sided game, at least from the opening 20 minutes.

So Lineker, who is a "Pan Yi fan", is inevitably a little disappointed.

"Although before the game, I thought York City should not be able to play the all-main Tottenham Hotspur, but I didn't expect the scene to be so ugly."

"In my impression, Pan Yi's team sometimes uses defensive counterattack tactics when encountering strong opponents, but it doesn't seem to use this kind of iron bucket formation."

However, the York City fans at the scene did not seem to care about their passivity on the field. They enjoyed the game even more, and even if it was a foul in their favor, they would give them a round of applause. ”

Alan Shearer, who was playing with Lineker today, said with a smile: "Actually, in my opinion, both the performance of the York City fans and the team is understandable. ”

"Don't forget, Tottenham are now third in the Premier League, BIG6 in the Premier League, and are one of the strongest teams in English football."

"As for York City, no matter how good they are, they are only in League One, and the gap is still very big."

'So I don't think there's any problem with Scaloni's defensive-based style of play, and the York City fans obviously understand that.'

"For them, winning or losing is not so important, the important thing is that 20,000 people are happy together today, and they can see the stars of the Premier League teams live!"

Lineker coughed and smiled and said, "Thank you for the reminder." Maybe it's because of Pan Yi, and because of York City's performance in the last round, that I overlooked that. ”

"Although Arsenal were not all the main players in the last round and were affected by Xhaka's red card, York City really didn't play like a League One team.

'After all, for a team like Arsenal or Tottenham, against a team from League One, you don't have to give it your all.

"But judging from today's opening 20 minutes of the game, it is true that the Premier League is the Premier League, and the English League is only the English League! The gap between these three levels is still very large. ”

"If you look at it this way, Scaloni can only choose a defensive style of play, otherwise, it is very likely that Son Xingmin will break the net."

Alan Shearer nodded: "At the moment, if York City rashly attack, the risk is too great. Rather than that, it's better to stay the course. ”

But Lineker shook his head: "But the FA Cup is not a knockout system, and today it will not be a penalty shootout. Even if they hold on to 0-0, but the next round of replay will be at White Hart Lane, could it be that York City has given up the home opportunity and feels that it is more likely to win on the road? ”

Alain Shearer said: "Not necessarily. I see that although Tottenham are playing lively, York City has not done a good job defending, especially against Tottenham's two wings. ”

At the same time as Alan Shearer said this, Son Heung-min took the ball on the left and was about to start accelerating, but Alonso, who came out of the side of the diagonal stab, forced him to the ground, causing a foul, but at the same time interrupted Tottenham's attacking rhythm.

"Tottenham's Lamela on the right can run, but he doesn't have enough impact. The attacking power of Son Heung-min's partner Danny Rose on the left side is obviously more threatening, so York City pays attention to the help protection of their right side when defending. ”

"Alonso's presence at the back is often here, and with the return of Lin Liangming and Tomiyasu Kenhiro, this has led to Tottenham's left side barely being a threat."

"The right side can't burst up, and the left side is restricted, which makes Tottenham's left and right wings can't fly, so it also causes Tottenham's attack to be thunderous and rainy, which seems to have an advantage, but in fact, there are not many who can really threaten the York City goal."

"You see Isakson does make a lot of saves, but many times it's because Tottenham's shots are relatively hasty, so the angle and power of the shot are not enough."

As if to confirm Alan Shearer's comment again, Tottenham launched another attack on the field, Lamela on the right took the ball, but Lin Liangming quickly posted it.

After a barely managed cross, Vicente Jensen in the middle couldn't take advantage of De Ligt's and the ball was pushed out of the box.

"Another thing I think we should note is that Vicente Jensen is the bridgehead of Tottenham's attack, but in this game, the Dutchman's height and header are completely unadvantageous."

"Vicente Jensen is only a little more than 1.8 meters tall, while in the York City backline, De Ligt is 1.89 meters tall, Westerman is 1.90 meters tall, even the right wing-back Tomiyasu Kenhiro is 1.88 meters, and the shortest left-back Alphonso Davies is also 1.85 meters ......"

"Each one is taller than Vicente Jensen, and with the tight combination of these four men, it makes Tottenham's cross tactics completely unplayable."

Lineker listened and nodded slowly.

Indeed, he immediately saw another cross from Tottenham's left Danny Rose, only to be pushed out of the box by Westerman.

Although Eriksen, who was inserted in the back row, stopped the ball and launched a second wave of attacks, Rice quickly stepped forward and forced Eriksen to hurriedly shoot from distance, but it also missed the target.

"Therefore, at present, the iron bucket formation specially laid by York City for Tottenham Hotspur is still very effective, Tottenham's two wings cannot fight, and the bridgehead in the middle is controlled again, so that York City's goal is safe for the time being." Alan Shearer came to his own conclusion.

The minutes of the game passed, and it seemed that as Alan Shearer said, due to York City's desperate defense, Tottenham's attack has not been able to play, and the score has remained 0:0 unchanged.

"I think Pochettino should make a decisive adjustment at this time! Otherwise, the ball will be too ugly. Lineker watched it for a while, but still felt that the game was too dull, and couldn't help but give his opinion again.

Alan Shearer laughed: "Everyone knows that when breaking a bus, the most effective thing is to shoot from the wings and from a distance. However, now Lamela on the right side cannot break through, so York City has enough energy to defend the left side of Tottenham, which also causes the left side to be restricted. ”

"As for the long shot...... Hehe, you see, the area around the York City penalty area and the periphery of the penalty area is full of people, where does the ball go in? ”

"And what you said is ugly, this is also something that cannot be helped. As I said earlier, the difference in strength between the two sides is too wide, and York City, as the underdog, must not consider attacking, but how to avoid conceding goals as much as possible. ”

Lineker shrugged: "Let's see what Pochettino's strategy is." ”

——

And on the field at this time, Tottenham has really changed a little.

After Pochettino pointed fingers from the sidelines, Tottenham's attack was noticeably weakened and the tempo of the game slowed down.

Clearly, the young Argentine coach has also spotted his own problem, which is to push York City too hard and the formation too flat, leaving Tottenham with no other option than to cross and shoot from distance.

And as Alan Shearer said, York City defended Tottenham's two axes very well, which led to Tottenham really not having a good chance to score.

So, Pochettino just let his players relax a little bit of pressure on the opponent, give York City a chance to breathe, and then pull it out to play.

Players have more room to move in order to bring out the quality of Tottenham's strikers, especially those like Son Heung-min who need space to sprint.

However, for Pochettino's change, York City is unmoved.

"Remember, if you want to prevent it, you will die on it, and don't be deceived by their 'please enter the urn'. Be sure to hold your breath! ”

Scaloni remembered what Pan Yi told him before the game.

So he also kept reminding his players on the sidelines that they must be careful, they must continue to keep the three lines compact, and don't rush to attack.

In other words, I'd rather give up the attack than give Tottenham even the slightest chance!

This is probably the "all-out defense" mentality used in FM games.

Pan Yi's advice is of course reasonable, after all, against a strong team like Tottenham that is known for its speed, it is terrible to give them space, and it is very likely that they will seize the opportunity to score.

And once the goal is conceded, it will be a catastrophe for York City.

Because at that time, York City will press out and fight back with all its might, which will definitely give more opportunities to a fast shooter like Son Xingmin.

And the reason why Pan Yi said in a high-profile manner before the game that his team can "beat any opponent" is indeed for Tottenham to listen to.

Just let them press out and attack!

As long as they keep attacking and can't get it, both the coach and the players will definitely be impatient, and that's where York City's chance comes.

It's just that it's clear that Portino is still very calm.

Now that Tottenham are not in a hurry to attack, then York City will certainly not fall for them, so the scene suddenly became more stalemate, and the number of shots on goal began to decrease sharply.

And just like that, the last time of the first half was also worn out.

The referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half and the two sides exchanged blanks. The game was very dull and ugly, and if the second half continued as the first half, the two sides would probably not be able to decide the winner until next week's rematch! ”

Hearing Lineker say this, Alan Shearer was not impressed, and he said:

'Tottenham certainly don't want to play a replay because it affects their Premier League game too much. Pochettino must be looking for a way to step up his attack and try to break the York City goal in the second half! ”

Lineker said: "So what if York City is still so passive and defensive? ”

Alan Shearer shook his head: "I don't think York City actually wants to play a replay either, because there is no hope of going to the away leg next time. ”

"But now it'......," Lineker said again.

Alan Shearer said: "Maybe Scaloni has some kind of trick. Just like when we used to watch Pan Yi lead the team, when we thought the game would end flat, Pan Yi would always surprise us. ”

Lineker agreed: "Well, if Scaloni gets Pan Yi's true biography, then I can really look forward to the second half of the game!" ”

——

At the start of the second half, Pochettino made a substitution right away.

Lamela, who had been ineffective in the first half, came off and was replaced by Frenchman Moussa Sissoko.

Compared to Lamela, Moussa Sissoko may be slightly inferior in technique and imagination, but he is physically stronger and has more impact.

It's all about getting the Frenchman up on the right and avoiding the embarrassment of Tottenham in the first half.

Such substitutions clearly worked, and as soon as Moussa Sissoko came on the pitch, he immediately activated Tottenham's attack on the right.

He's a well-rounded player, often playing in the middle of midfield or on the right flank, and just as sharp as a right winger.

After winning the ball, he can cross the bottom or cut inside to shoot, these are his forte.

With Moussa Sissoko thinning the defensive pressure on the right, Son Heung-min on the left also felt relieved and became more active, plus behind him was Danny Rose, who was also incredibly fast and eager to attack.

At the start of the second half, Tottenham launched a couple of dangerous attacks from the right, with Moussa Sissoko, who had just been replaced, energetic and energetic, bursting into York City's defense on the left flank.

Alphonso Davies is no worse than Moussa Sissoko, but he has lost a lot of experience to his opponent and has struggled to deal with it.

Thankfully, both Declan Rice and Marcos Alonso often returned to the left to help defend, which was able to keep Tottenham at bay on the right.

But Moussa Dembele and Eriksen, who controlled Tottenham's attacking tempo, were smart enough to divert a Moussa Sissoko kick back to the left flank and hand it to Danny Ross who cut in forward when everyone thought Tottenham were going to play on the right flank.

Danny Rose took the ball and broke through to the York City half, Son Heung-min cut into the hinterland, and after making a clever one-two with Danny Rose, Danny Rose went down to the bottom line.

Vicente Jensen and Alli in the middle rushed desperately to the penalty area, De Ligt and Westerman on the York City side stared at them deadly, and Tomiyasu Kenhiro on the right side was in front of Danny Rose, occupying a position and preventing him from entering the box.

But just when everyone thought Danny Rose was going to cross, the latter made another unexpected pass to Son Heung-min on the edge of the penalty area.

Rice stepped forward, Sun Xingmin skillfully pulled out a gap, and then gently pushed the ball, and a white figure next to him roared, pulling out his leg was a long shot!

It's Erikson on the back plugged in!

Such a long-range shot can be regarded as one of his famous stunts on the rivers and lakes.

"Beautiful! Isakson made another beautiful save to save York City! He saved Eriksen's long-range shot off the line! It was a world class save! Lineker said in a lost voice.

The fans at the scene immediately exploded, and everyone shouted Isaksen's name loudly, cheering loudly for the world-class save he had just made!

Isakson, on the pitch, got up from the ground, and Westerman, the captain of the field next to him, hugged him tightly to show his gratitude. Yes, without his wonderful performance this time, York City may have lost its gates. And once a goal is scored by Tottenham, York City's defense will no longer be as resolute as in the first half, it was Isaksen who saved York City! ”

Pan Yi in the stands sat down with a sigh of relief, his face shocked.

"Damn, being a boss is more nervous than being a coach!" Pan Yi smiled self-deprecatingly.

Indeed, although he communicated with Scaloni and others before the game to prepare for the game, once the game started, it was none of his business.

So for Pan Yi, he has no sense of control over everything that happens on the field now, and can only watch.

He wouldn't be calling to interfere with Scaloni's judgment right now, after all, York City is not playing badly at the moment.

In this way, he will really feel more nervous in the stands than he was when he was a coach - after all, he can't "have everything under control".

"Hehe, it seems that it is really rare to see you so nervous, afraid of losing to our Tottenham?" Tottenham boss Levy, who was sitting on the sidelines, said with a smile that his bald head was still as bright as ever.

"It's too early to say who wins and loses." Pan Yi's face showed his trademark confident smile again, "If you don't believe me, let's move on!" (End of chapter)