Today's game started in a quintessential Chelsea style.

Just as Pan Yi did when he was still at Chelsea, when the Blues faced weaker opponents, they often came up to press and attack aggressively, trying to score as soon as possible.

And such a start is obviously expected by everyone, after all, York City is indeed a little too weak compared to Chelsea.

Just over a point, Eden Hazard tried to burst into the box on the right and was brought down by Westerman, giving Chelsea a well-placed free-kick, only to be easily denied by Isaksen.

After that, Chelsea continued to keep the pressure on York City, especially high up front, very hard.

Chelsea's two wing-midfielders, Gnabry and Eden Hazard, pressed the two full-backs today, causing a lot of headaches for Tomiyasu and Alphonso Davies.

In the fourth minute, when Kenhiro Tomiyasu dribbled forward, he was chased by Gnabry all the way and successfully completed a steal near the halfway line of York City's half.

After the ball was cleared, Gnabry and N'Golo Kante quickly completed a wall-to-wall link-up and drove straight into the ball himself.

However, Alonso was in good time to block Gnabry on the inside and keep the ball out of the line.

Chelsea deliver quick corners and Lukaku heads in front of goal in the box.

York City goalkeeper Isaksen reacted quickly and lifted the ball out with one hand for another corner.

This time, it was De Ligt on YorkCity's side who grabbed the first drop and pushed the ball straight out.

N'Golo Kante on the perimeter fired a long-range shot that went high.

A minute later, in the fifth minute, Lukaku held Westermann on the edge of the penalty area with his back to him, and then after receiving Gnabry's cross, he stopped the ball and turned and hit the goal with his foot straight away, just wide of the right side of the goal.

In the seventh minute, Hazard broke Alphonso Davies on the right side of the penalty area, volleyed from a tight angle on the right side of the penalty area, and slid out again.

In less than ten minutes, Chelsea had three or four dangerous shots on target.

Chelsea's wave of attacking after the opening kick-off made York City's goalmouth a lot of noise, and also made the fans in Wembley Stadium scream.

Anyone could tell that Chelsea wanted to seize the initiative from the start.

However, both the players and the coach of York City have clearly expected such a scenario, and they did not fight Chelsea for such initiative, but stayed firmly inside and outside the penalty area.

The price of this was that York City did not even have a single threatening attack in the first ten minutes.

——

Arteta, as usual, stood in the coach's command area and watched the players on the pitch play.

He sighed a little frustrated after seeing Hazard's shot go wide again.

When he turned around and walked back, he shook his head and smiled bitterly at the assistants in the coach's box: "This team is really in the style of Boss Pan, and it is very tenacious to play, and it seems that it is not easy for us to break their goal." ”

Most of these aides were also Pan Yi's old subordinates, and they certainly knew what Arteta meant.

Steve Holland nodded and said, "But the ability of our players is above them, and I believe they won't be able to hold it for long!" ”

Arteta nodded, too, but he didn't know the bottom of his mind.

As Pan Yi's personal disciple, he knows how powerful Pan Yi is.

Not to mention Pan Yi, even Scaloni, who is now commanding next door, has improved a lot in the past two years.

Under the direct guidance of Pan Yi, Scaloni now has a better understanding of football, whether it is ball control or defensive counterattacks.

At least in the past ten minutes or so, York City's defence can be said to be airtight, and Chelsea's attacking threat is there, but it is difficult to form a fatal blow.

In today's FA Cup final, Pan Yi must have been involved in the team's tactical design, but it is the head coach who will finally implement and implement it in the team's training and games.

It is precisely because Scaloni's current ability to allow the players to show their tactical intentions on the pitch without compromise, that York City is so difficult to deal with now.

And Arteta is also clear that York City's strength is definitely not just their defence.

Whether it is Tottenham, Arsenal, or Manchester United, their final loss is due to the negligence of the attack on York City, and they are successful in sneak attack.

From York City center forward Baker, to Lin Liangming and Kulusevski on both wings, they must be controlled, so that York City's counterattack will be difficult to play effectively.

Arteta, on the other hand, also practiced early in training sessions with a combination of frontcourt punches like York City, and it seems to be working well so far.

In the 12th minute, York City had a counter-attack.

Baker dropped back to catch the ball, while Lin Liangming and Kulusevski were on his flanks, ready to receive his ball.

Terry immediately followed, carrying Baker from behind when he got the ball, while David Luiz responded so that the top scorer in League One couldn't turn around and had to rush the ball back.

Linger on your foot any longer and the ball will be lost.

It didn't take long for York City to launch another attack, this time with Bekla on the wing, but Azpilicueta quickly stepped forward to carry Baker, Terry blocked the inside, and David Luiz settled in time to return to the backline, while cutting off the link between Baker and Lin Liangming.

As a result, Baker struggled to pass the ball comfortably, and when he was stabbed away by Eden Hazard on the way back to Alphonso Davies, Chelsea instigated a quick counter-attack, only to be less of a threat due to York City's very quick retreat.

It is clear that in this civil war between Scaloni and Arteta, both sides know each other, and both sides have laid out very targeted defensive tactics, just not wanting the opponent's attack or counter-attack to be effective.

As the individual quality of the Chelsea players did predominate, the Blues still had a big advantage on the pitch, but there were very few really dangerous shots on goal.

By the 20th minute, Chelsea had had seven shots on goal, but none of them were on target.

Either the chances on goal weren't good, or Isaksen was playing brilliantly.

The veteran Swedish goalkeeper, who has renewed his contract with York City for a year, has a bit of a "getting older, more demonic" feeling.

Especially after leaving Manchester City 10 years ago, now returning to English football to face these old Premier League opponents again, it seems that they have rejuvenated themselves and performed extremely well!

Such a door god, coupled with the five defenders and four midfielders lined up in front of him, really has a feeling of an unbreakable Great Wall.

Arteta also shook his head from the sidelines.

"It's going to be a tough fight!"

Scaloni made it clear that they were going to defend hard, and Chelsea had to find a way to break down the York City goal without making a big mistake in their own defence.

How easy is that?

——

In the midst of such restrictions and counter-restrictions, the time of the game flies.

There were many spectators who even felt like they had just turned on the "elevator" and the first half of the game was over.

"This game looks a bit tedious, doesn't it?"

In the Sky Sports commentary box, Lineker said to the silver-haired old man next to him.

This old man is none other than the current head coach of the Dragon Country national team, Silver Fox Lippi!

He made a special trip to the UK to watch the FA Cup final this time, and then returned to China with Pan Yi to prepare for the next World Cup qualifier.

After all, two weeks after this final, the Dragons will travel to Syria to play this crucial away game, and it is certainly beneficial to prepare early.

For Lippi, there is an absolute main player in York City, Lin Liangming, and a potential player Huang Zichang, who can be used, so it is also necessary to observe the state of the players.

Therefore, he also accepted the invitation of Sky Sports to be a guest commentator by the way.

In response to Lineker's question, Lippi shook his head and said, "No." On the contrary, I felt that the game was very technical. ”

"Oh?" Lineker retorted, a little confused, "Really?" Do you rate this game so highly? ”

Lippi laughs: "It even reminds me of that Champions League final at Old Trafford. ”

Lineker's mouth opened wide.

He knew that Lippi was referring to Juventus' 0-0 Champions League final against AC Milan in the 2002-2003 season, which took place at Old Trafford in Manchester.

The 2002-03 season did give birth to a lot of classics, the quarter-finals of the four groups of contests were all one goal, the suspense of the two groups of semi-finals was also maintained until the last moment, sudden death is the main theme, the final will be the extreme.

The two teams from Italy are destined to be "more important than the content" of this final, in fact, it is indeed an "Italian" final.

In the 120 minutes, Juve had only one shot from the woodwork, Antonio Conte hit the crossbar, and Milan's attack was also in vain, with Shevchenko's goal disallowed for offside by Rui Costa.

Italian football is at its peak, which is doomed to the end requires the bonus of will and luck, and the two sides can only go to penalty shootouts.

Gianluigi Buffon saved Seedorf and Kaladze's penalties, while Dida was even more brilliant when he denied Juventus three times.

In the end, Shevchenko walked up to 12 yards, and with a blank face, he deceived Buffon and allowed Milan to win the championship!

Forty years ago, Maldini's father lifted the Champions League trophy as Milan captain, and now, Maldini, who has long since become a red and black totem, has also replicated a feat.

With the story of Maldini and his son, Milan is on the top of Europe again after nine years, and they will start another prosperous era, although they have been the backdrop on more than one occasion in this golden age......

Although Juventus led by Lippi lost in this final, they still played a classic offensive and defensive duel with Milan!

Although from the perspective of the fans, the game was a failure, it was dull, it was extremely boring, and there was not even a goal.

But if you analyze it from a professional point of view, this is definitely a classic tactical duel, both sides are in place for the deployment, and they don't leave too good opportunities for the opponent in the game, so they can play 0-0.

It's just that now Lippi compares the battle between York City and Chelsea to the classic battle between Milan and Juventus, which Lineker did not expect.

You know, it was the Champions League final, it was Milan and Juventus, who had countless stars back then!

And now the two teams in front of us, Chelsea is not enough, they can indeed be compared;

But Yorktown?

It's just a League One team!

Feels a lot worse, right?

And judging from the scene, it is not the same as the original Champions League final.

At that time, Milan and Juventus could be said to be chess opponents, both sides were careful in attack and defense, and did not give the opponent any good chances.

But the two teams were clearly not at the same level today, with Chelsea firmly in control and the attacking opportunities and the level of threat they had to play better.

York City have only had three shots on goal so far, all of which have come from counter-attacks, but they have defended very well and have been able to maintain their current 0-0 scoreline.

"I'm not talking about the pitch, or which team has the advantage of the pitch and it will have a higher winning percentage than the opponent." Lippi explained: "In the first half, both managers pushed the limits of the resources they had at the moment, and because of that, they kept their opponents to a minimum. That's why I appreciate it. ”

Lineker understood.

As a well-known former star, he certainly knows that the essence of football tactics is all about scoring goals and stopping opponents from scoring goals.

And now in this game at Wembley Stadium, it is clear that both sides have a very clear tactical purpose.

The weaker side of York City are on the defensive, doing everything possible to prevent Chelsea from scoring, and then counter-attacking when they have the opportunity to try to break Chelsea's goal.

Chelsea, on the other hand, have the advantage of players, taking the initiative to attack, trying to break through the York City defense by all means, but at the same time, they must also guard against their own long-term attack, being counterattacked by the opponent, and threatening their own goal.

This creates an interesting stalemate on the pitch.

What's more, both managers have worked the details.

Scaloni has set up Chelsea's defence tightly, whether it is a back five or a midfielder, and York City has been able to defuse the opponent's attack well in the face of Chelsea's wave of attack.

However, Arteta's side also failed to give York City a chance.

Lin Liangming and Kulusevski, who have been in excellent form this season, including two wing-backs, Alphonso Davies and Tomiyasu, have been firmly suppressed by Chelsea players and have been unable to plan a threatening attack.

The mute on both flanks made it difficult for York City to press the attacking line into Chelsea's position, and there was little threat on the counter-attack, so there were just three shots on goal.

Baker, who had shone in the previous games, was a direct dumb fire in this game.

Mikel Arteta allowed his players to limit York City's attacking staff at the first opportunity to prevent Baker from having an easy chance to get the ball.

As a result, no matter whether Baker pulled the side or retreated, there were Chelsea players around him to encircle him, and the passing line was basically cut off, making it difficult to threaten.

It may seem a bit dull on the pitch, but in the eyes of a world-class coach like Lippi, the stakes are very high.

"It's hard to imagine that two young coaches like this can have such high tactical attainments." Lippi sighed, then laughed at himself, "And I didn't really figure it out until I was almost 50." ”

Lippi said that he was almost at the time when Juventus was in charge, and he really became a world-class coach, and he was able to freely use various tactics on the pitch to limit opponents.

Of course, this is a very difficult thing to do, and it is also a process that requires slow "leveling".

In fact, Lippi was officially appointed as the head coach of Sampdoria FC's youth team as early as 1982, but Lippi's coaching debut ushered in a 5-0 defeat, and in the next three years, Lippi's Sampdoria youth team did not make great progress.

Then, he coached in many clubs in Serie C, and then slowly grew up in several teams in Serie B and Serie A, and finally won the favor of Juventus and became a famous coach.

And compared with many of his peers, Lippi is lucky, he has survived after all.

And how many like him started training from the youth team, but in the end they didn't make it through? I can't even count them.

And it is really rare for people like Scaloni and Arteta to be the head coach of an important club just by staying with Pan Yi for a year or two after retiring, and then being able to have such a deep understanding of the most advanced tactics in the world today.

"So, Pan Yi is the real god."

At this time, Lineker, who is the famous "Pan Blow", couldn't help but blow: "By Pan Yi's side, whether it is a player, a coach, or even a staff, his work ability will be rapidly improved...... It really makes people suspect that he is a football encyclopedia in his own right, and anyone can get the answers they want from him. ”

Lippi smiled: "I have been working with him in the Dragon Country national team for a while, and I know this very well. I can only say that if there is a so-called genius in the field of coaching, then I think it should be like Pan Yi. ”

Lineker couldn't help but nod his head.

Of course, there are geniuses in football, such as Messi, otherwise it is difficult for you to explain how a five or six-year-old child can have such a good foot feeling.

But in the field of coaching, there are actually very few, and some people even say that there is no genius in this area, which requires time and experience.

Even if he is like Pep Guardiola, who has shone in world football in recent years, he still needs time, such as Manchester City this year.

But Pan Yi is different.

In just a few years, he has gone from an unknown just graduated boy to a world famous handsome.

And he, not even any experience of a professional player!

What's even more commendable is that he is always able to pass on his knowledge and experience to others, and then give birth to more top football coaches......

Nagelsmann in Hamburg, Inzaghi in Milan and Scaloni and Arteta in the spot.

It is conceivable that in a few years, maybe the world football world will be full of Pan Yi's disciples and grandchildren, and the duel between various giants will become "Pan Yi's sect infighting".

"So, in today's game, which of Pan Yi's apprentices do you think will win?"

Lineker turned the conversation back to the game.

Although he has been blowing Pan Yi all the time, he is still the commentary of this game after all, and he can't go too far off topic.

'Chelsea are certainly the stronger side in terms of the quality of the two sides, but does Mikel Arteta have the means to break down York's walls?'

Lippi also shook his head: "I don't know, in fact, the game is up to now, and there are no big secrets between the two sides." ”

"York City is all about defending and counter-attacking, as long as Chelsea don't make major mistakes themselves, then it's hard for York City to have a chance to score tonight, after all, Chelsea's defense has always been solid."

"Chelsea had the ball close to 70 per cent, which was both snatched by Chelsea and conceded by York City on their own initiative. So Arteta's strategy now is to keep pulling, keep running, and force York City to fight for attrition. ”

Lineker nodded: "Chelsea's bench has the advantage. ”

Their bench depth is clearly unmatched by Yorktown.

In addition to this set of starters, York City can really be used as a surprise soldier, and only Armand is the only one, and most of the other players are still at the level of League One and League Two, which is embarrassing.

Chelsea is different.

On the bench, there are even B seats, Mbappe, Nemanja Matic, Goretzka, Van Dijk and other stars who have already made a name for themselves in European football.

If York City bottoms out under Chelsea's constant onslaught and both sides have to make substitutions, Chelsea's advantage will obviously grow.

"Yes, Chelsea have an advantage, so they force York City to fight hard. Scaloni also knew this, but he had no choice but to hold on, and if he couldn't fight, he would lose. ”

Hearing Lippi say this, Lineker asked: "So what do you mean, in the end, Chelsea will win?" ”

"Not necessarily." Lippi said, glancing at the rostrum of the stands, which was the direction in which Pan Yi was sitting, "Now Pan Yi is the owner of York City after all, and he still has to help his team." We were all thinking about the situation of a fair duel between his two apprentices, but if this master joins the battle, it will be difficult to say whether the outcome will be ......"

Lineker laughed: "Then I understand. ”

can often be surprisingly successful, which is actually what Pan Yi is most talked about.

Everyone found that Pan Yi not only has a unique vision for selecting people, but the key is that he can always bring unexpected surprises when arranging troops, and even some of the same players can give surprising performances in different combinations.

Just like York City's current 5-4-1, who knows what will become of Pan Yi if he intervenes in the second half?

'Now it's just a matter of seeing if Arteta can calm down.' Lippi couldn't help but glance at Pan Yi again, "He must know that his master Pan Yi is a cunning fox, and this fox is probably waiting for Chelsea to make a mistake." But sometimes the changes on the pitch can make people lose their minds. ”

"Over the past few years, Pan Yi has proven countless times that he has the ability to patiently wait for his opponent to make mistakes and seize opportunities." Lineker also concluded in time:

"Then let's see if Chelsea or York City will be the first team to break the game in the next second half!"