In fact, when Gareth Southgate was appointed head coach of England, a British newspaper described the public reaction as "a wail of despair".

At the time, the Three Lions had just been knocked out by Iceland at Euro 2016 and newly appointed manager Sam Allardyce had to leave after 67 days on suspicion of instigating irregularities with the player's agent.

However, Southgate's only senior managerial experience before becoming English boss was leading Middlesbrough to relegation from the Premier League and then being sacked.

With such a resume, can you be a good manager of the England national team?

Perhaps his strength is simply that he was once an England international.

However, in the first test after the "South Gate" took office, he was still qualified.

In Group F of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, England achieved an unbeaten record of 8 wins and 2 draws, thus entering the World Cup as the group leader.

As a result, Southgate, who is clear and straightforward, has become the most competent manager.

And judging from his selection and arrangement, many media believe that he is a loyal believer in Pan Yi.

Southgate's usual formation in the England national team is the 3-5-2 that Pan Yi often used when he was at Chelsea, and many of the main players are Pan Yi's former favorites.

Especially in the midfield, among them, Rice, who has risen gradually this season, has started to play in the central midfield position, and in front of him, it is Loftus-Cheek and Jesse Lingard! These three are all "Pan Yi system".

Looking at the two forwards, Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling, while Tammy Abraham was also called up as an important substitute.

In defence, veteran Gary Cahill also still plays an important role, and he often appears in central defence alongside John Stones and Chris Smalling.

Such a lineup is very effective, as evidenced by the results of the World Qualifiers.

However, this also makes Southgate always suspected of "copying homework", thinking that he is a lot of people who directly apply Pan Yi's formula.

This is not a big problem for Southgate, after all, in today's world football, there are many people copying Pan Yi's homework!

But now that he has the opportunity to face Pan Yi head-on, Southgate is still eager to prove that he can outperform the blue.

He's only in his forties this year and can coach the England national team, which is already good to be honest.

In addition to the fact that he is an England international and has no shortage of connections, the ability he has shown is of course one of the most important factors.

It's just that the so-called achievement he has achieved has completely lost its luster in front of Pan Yi - not only him, but also countless coaches who are considered to be young marshals and famous marshals have also become dim under Pan Yi's light.

Mourinho is awesome, right?

Pep Guardiola is strong, right?

Ancelotti?

Can he win the triple crown or even the seventh crown in multiple teams like Pan Yi?

Well, someone can win the treble, can they lead Sweden to win the European Championship and lead the dragon country to the World Cup!

It's an epic challenge.

Now he's ready to lead Italy to the World Cup, the last heavyweight title he hasn't won.

Under these circumstances, it is only natural that Southgate attaches so much importance to the battle with Pan Yi.

A win over Italy at Wembley Stadium would undoubtedly allow Southgate's popularity to rise to a huge level in such a high-profile situation, as well as cement his place in the England national team.

In anticipation, this friendly match, which attracted even more attention than the official competition, began!

——

"Welcome to Wembley Stadium! In this football temple of England, the Italian national team will welcome the strongest opponent since Pan Yi took office, England! ”

"England are in good form in this qualifying tournament and the fans are looking forward to a good result at the World Cup. It's just that because England's opponents in the group stage are not strong, many people also think that teams like Slovakia, Scotland, and Slovenia really can't really prove their strength. ”

Coincidentally, a lot of Italian fans think the same way. Although they beat Sweden in the play-offs as European champions, they did suffer from the retirement of several of their most decorated players, notably Ibrahimovic. ”

Of course, the more important thing is that Sweden no longer has Pan Yi. Pan Yi was abducted to Italy! ”

Sky Sports celebrity Lineker laughed as former national team legend Alan Shearer, who was invited to be his guest, also laughed.

Shearer said: "We, as Englishmen, to be honest, hope that Pan Yi can come to coach our national team. After all, he has been coaching in England for two years, and now he is the owner of an English club, and there are many of his favorite players in the national team...... No matter how you look at it, it fits. Of course, Southgate is doing well now. ”

Lineker still has a smile on his face: "You don't have to make amends for Southgate. You directly said that he is not as good as Pan Yi, and I believe that he himself will not have any objections. In fact, in this world now, there should be no coach who dares to pat his chest and say that he is stronger than Pan Yi, right? ”

Shearer laughed: "But there is no doubt that Southgate must be holding back his strength in this game and wants to defeat Pan Yi in the arena." We can all see that England's tactics are very similar to those of Chelsea at the beginning, and it will be up to Gareth Southgate to come up with something new. ”

Lineker nodded: "Even he used a lot of the youngsters that Pan Yi used during his time at Chelsea, including Rice, who is now doing well in York City. This also made the game a game between young people, because Pan Yi also brought a lot of young faces to the Italian team. ”

'But Southgate didn't use York City's top scorer Baker. Shearer said, shaking his head himself, "But England's forward line is really good right now. Harry Kane is the Premier League's top scorer, while Raheem Sterling has been consistent since his move to Manchester City, and with the likes of Tammy Abraham and Rasford as young strikers, it doesn't seem to be much needed for such a striker. ”

'You're the all-time top scorer in the Premier League, I trust your analysis.' Lineker smiled, "But what the actual situation is, it still depends on today's game." Today both sides are looking to prove that their teams have what it takes to do well at the World Cup...... Okay, now that the players are ready to enter the field, let's take a look at the situation first! ”

——

In the tunnel of the players, Rice was greeting his YorkCity team-mates.

"You two boys, wait a minute, we're going back to the club to fight side by side."

Italy's starting midfielders today are Tonali and Barella, who are also good friends of Rice, so Rice joked with them.

"That's one yard to one yard, our boss said, we must kill you England today!" Barrera looked serious.

"Cut...... Come on! Rice pouted.

The "negotiations" between the two sides broke down in an instant.

But that's the norm among professional footballers.

No matter how good the relationship is when you are in the club, many times when you go to the national team, you have to do your best.

For example, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo were twin stars at Manchester United, but when England played Portugal in the World Cup, the two would be red-faced and unpleasant.

Although today's game was just a friendly match, the managers of both sides wanted to win and sent the main lineup, which is obviously a real game.

The training and competition time of the national team is already relatively tight, and it happened to meet such a good opponent again.

At this moment, the referees standing at the front began to move, and the players of both sides entered the stadium amid the earth-shattering cheers of the fans in the stadium.

Before that, when Pan Yi walked into the stadium, he had already received a huge cheer - even louder than the last warm-up match - both England and Italian fans gave their own applause to the handsome world No. 1 coach.

Needless to say, Italian fans, Pan Yi's achievements after leading the national team are obvious to all;

On the England side, although Pan Yi only led the Chelsea club team before, and now he is only the owner of a Championship club like York City, he has gained a lot of prestige in England in the past few years.

People are all Mu Qiang's creatures, and if they are Guardiola in Pan Yi's previous life, they are also respected wherever they go.

Not to mention that Pan Yi has also cultivated so many young talents for the England national team, allowing them to quickly complete the replacement of the old and the new.

Soon, several of Pan Yi's old subordinates in the England team also came to Pan Yi's side to pay their respects, Harry Kane, Lingard, Loftus-Cheek, Abraham, Gary Cahill, Rice......

Even a few old rivals such as Kyle Walker, John Stones, and Raheem Sterling.

After all, every player knows how rare a coach like Pan Yi is!

"Mr. Pan Yi, you really live up to your reputation."

When shaking hands with Pan Yi before the game, Southgate first looked at Pan Yi for a long time before saying in a tone that was difficult to describe.

Probably there is a feeling that the "master" is in front of you, but you can't recognize each other?

There is another mentality of "watch me punch and kill the master today"?

But Pan Yi can be loved by so many players, especially from his own players, Southgate's heart is still a little sour.

Isn't this a kind of NTR?

"Hopefully today is a good game." Pan Yi and Southgate don't have any friendship, so they don't have anything to greet, so what they say is more official and polite.

In fact, when Pan Yi was a fan in his previous life, there were still many people who thought that Southgate was incompetent, and they also thought that it was because of his existence that England, which was full of talents, had not been able to win any championships.

But Pan Yi still feels that this evaluation is still biased.

Although they didn't win the championship, but once they finished in the semi-finals of the World Cup, and once they finished runners-up in the European Championship - they still lost on penalties - they can't say that such results are bad.

If you compare it to the previous results of England, this is already the best in recent decades.

It can only be said that the requirements of England fans are still a little too high.

But today, Pan Yi has the opportunity to inspect the condition of the South Gate on the spot.

Hearing Pan Yi say this, Southgate nodded, then let go of his hand, watched Pan Yi walk towards the away team's coach's box, shook his head, and also turned around and walked to his position.

"He's younger than me, but how can I be like a schoolboy in front of him...... Is this the momentum of the strong? No, I'm going to show you, I, Gareth Southgate, am definitely not a weak person to be slaughtered! ”

As he sat down in his seat, Southgate thought to himself.

Now, his desire to defeat Pan Yi has become even stronger!

——

Bonucci wears the captain's armband and is shaking hands with the opposing captain, Gary Cahill.

When Buffon did not play, Bonucci was the captain of the Italian team, which was also confirmed by Pan Yi after he joined the Italian team.

Whether it's the age or seniority of the starters on the pitch, Leonardo Bonucci has the qualifications.

Another reason is that Bonucci's ability to play the ball at the back is very much in line with Pan Yi's tactical requirements, and his chances of starting now are higher than that of his partner Chiellini at Juventus.

Just like today, Pan Yi used another defender with strong ball ability, Bastoni, which is also to help the Italian team's defense complete the replacement of the old and the new as soon as possible.

On the England side, after John Terry withdrew from the national team, Southgate recruited a large number of young players, and in the same "home alone" situation, it is only natural that Gary Cahill, as one of only two or three veterans in the team to start, will serve as captain.

England's starting line-up today is still a 3-5-2, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, three centre-backs Smalling, John Stones, Gary Cahill, Rice in midfield, the first two in the triangle are Loftus-Cheek and Jesse Lingard, Kyle Walker on the right, Ashley Young on the left, and Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane up front.

Judging by the composition of the players, England seems to be still above Italy.

After all, most of their starters are from big teams in the Premier League, such as Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, etc., that is, Pickford from Everton, and Rice from York City have slightly worse backgrounds.

On the Italian side, due to the recent decline of Serie A, many players seem to be less star-studded, and with a number of players from Championship teams like York City, they naturally seem to be worse than England.

After guessing the edge, Italy got the right to kick off.

Amid the cheers of many Italian fans who came to Wembley Stadium to watch the game, Italy immediately launched a fierce attack after kick-off.

Of course, Pan Yi knows this England team very well, after all, many of them are players under him in the past.

They are not weak in defence at the back, including the ability of midfielder Rice to complement the defense, but the two wing-backs and the two central midfielders have hidden dangers.

Loftus-Cheek prefers to plug in, while Jesse Lingard is an attacking midfielder himself.

Ashley Young is a winger, while Kyle Walker is a versatile player on the right but can be aggressive at times.

Therefore, the tactics arranged by Pan Yi are not particularly complicated, that is, to put pressure on the opponent from the midfield and suppress their defensive line!

England's two strikers are very individual, but Harry Kane's speed is not fast, and Sterling's running and breakthrough are very distinctive, but the shooting is a bit spicy, so Pan Yi is not very afraid of England's counterattack.

So immediately after kick-off, Italy's two full-backs whirlwind through the half, leaving only the two centre-backs and midfielders Barella and Verratti behind.

Chiesa Jr. controlled the ball in midfield, faced Ashley Young and Jesse Lingard who came to defend him, and immediately stretched out his foot to pass the ball to Verratti, who came back to pick up.

Verratti picked up the ball with his back to England and then lifted his foot to distribute the ball directly to DiMarco, who cut in on the left.

DiMarco dribbled forward and Kyle Walker came to defend him, and DiMarco knew the opposition was fast, but he was more confident in his technique.

After making an inward feint, DiMarco immediately slid the ball near the touchline and sped past Kyle Walker!

As Di Marco broke through Kyle Walker, there was a huge cheer over the visitors' stands!

However, although DiMarco got rid of Kyle Walker, he immediately fell into the point of being caught between Kyle Walker and Rice.

Especially Rice, Dimaco knew that Rice's reaction and turn were fast, plus there was a Kyle Walker behind him who was relentlessly chasing, and if he hesitated a little, he might lose the ball.

So after catching up with the ball, Di Marco did not continue to move forward, but made a sharp stop, and then crossed the ball to Verratti, who came up to pick up.

Verratti returned the pass, Tonali took the ball and immediately made a wide shift to pass the ball to Insigne on the right.

At this point, Desiglio stepped in from the flank, attracting the attention of the opposition defenders and giving Insigne plenty of space to take the ball.

Known as the "New Zola", Insigne is very skilled at his feet and has a good passing skills.

He first stopped the ball lightly at his feet, then looked up at the situation in front of him, and immediately raised his right foot and passed a high ball!

I saw that in the middle of Wembley Stadium, the ball drew a trajectory visible to the naked eye, and quickly flew to the front of the penalty area, and the Italian center Scamacca, who had run in place, jumped up at the top of the arc of the big penalty area, and then headed the ball!

Although England's backline is of good height, Scamacca has a good sense of grabbing points, as early as the moment of Insigne's pass, he used a turn-and-run to drill into the blind spot of Smalling's perspective and hit the ball.

This has actually been transformed by Pan Yi.

Although Scamacca has a height in the early days, his core strength and physical strength are not strong, so he participates in the midfield more often away from the penalty area, and he has practiced a lot of foot control, passing, and trying the ball, even more frequently than shooting.

It could even be said that he was more of a weakened version of Ibrahimovic, or like Dzeko.

Pan Yi is asking him to strengthen his body more so that he can be a bridgehead in the penalty area - just like Pan Yi asked Lukaku to do when he was at Chelsea.

Today, Scamacca is one of the biggest killer features that Pan Yi has put in front.

This time, he grabbed the first landing spot and accurately flicked the ball to Tonali, who was plugged in.

Tonali lifted his foot to unload Scamacca's header, flicked it sideways, and then immediately got up with his right foot and volleyed hard from the edge of the box!

The shot was quite powerful, and although the angle was a little right, Pickford didn't dare to slack off, flying to the ground and hitting the ball with both fists, and Gary Cahill immediately cleared the ball with a big foot and the ball went off the touchline.

Desiglio ran over to take the throw-in, he threw it directly to Verratti, who came to receive it, Verratti passed back to Insigne, who was about to cross, but raised his foot to the edge of the box a little further back in the middle.

Chiesa, who was inserted on the left, received the ball and did not stop the ball and took another long-range shot, which was still of high quality, but it was a little off the line and flew directly out of the bottom line.

Although there were no goals, Italy had two quality shots in the opening game, which still excited the Italian fans in the stands, and the kind of attacking force they loved.

"The tradition of Italian football is to defend", while it is true, but really, what fan likes to watch their team defend all the time without attacking?

And the changes Pan Yi made to the Italian team are exactly what Italian fans like to see!

It's a bit like the Italian team led by Prandelli at Euro 2012, when they played beautiful attacking football on the pitch and got a lot of support.

Now, Pan Yi's team is playing more beautifully, and it is more able to win, and of course it is more popular.

Today is to see if this kind of offensive football can break through the defense of the English!

(End of chapter)