Mourinho slapped his thigh, took the tactical board in his hand, and walked quickly from the sidelines to the dugout.

But he kept muttering in his heart, "Okay, you guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes has also learned badly!" ”

Pep Guardiola really pulled out something new at home against Chelsea, a situation Mourinho didn't expect at all before the game!

In the past, Guardiola's pass-and-control style of play did have many times when he would do long periods of possession in his own half.

But this is the first time Mourinho has seen this kind of play in which he unites midfielders, wings and defenders to control the ball together in an area of almost 30 meters on his own side to avoid the opposition's high pressing!

The key is that Guardiola's style of play counterattack initiation point is really novel.

Instead of relying on the winger to advance, not relying on the long pass to find the fulcrum of the center forward and then radiate the front attack, but the full-back to insert from the back forward, and then seek the opportunity to pass.

Even the final final blow was delivered by the right wing-back and completed by the left wing-back.

Facing Chelsea for the first time with this tactical style of play, the back line was almost broken through by Manchester City!

If it weren't for Leon's desperate pursuit, he boldly made defensive moves at the last moment.

If Kolarov, who was barely marked at the time, managed to finish his shot in the box, Mourinho really didn't know if Cech would be able to defend himself.

After a quick analysis of Guardiola's style of play, Mourinho and Holland also quickly adjusted the position of the players on the tactical board.

And Guardiola didn't have much excitement and joy on his face at the moment, but he was very unhappy, standing on the side of the pitch chattering.

If a reporter can approach Guardiola at this time, then he will be pleasantly surprised to find that all that leaks from Guardiola's mouth is a complaint about Leon!

Indeed, in the duel with Mourinho's team, since the 11~12 season, Guardiola's team has suffered many losses from Leon.

At the beginning, it was Leon's marking restriction on Messi on the defensive end, which made Barcelona lack the most powerful explosive point and offensive firepower output.

At the back, Leon has gradually grown to be able to break through Barcelona's midline defense from the middle of the pitch, feed the forward group of Real Madrid forwards, or he can step forward to create a threat by himself.

And now, Leon is constantly making trouble for Pep Guardiola's Manchester City at both offensive and defensive ends!

If it weren't for Leon's convulsive outburst in the last meeting, scoring two world-wave long-range shots, Manchester City would not have been tactically passive for a whole game.

After patting his head and letting out a sigh of relief, Guardiola also stood on the sidelines again, applauding his disciples constantly to show encouragement.

The new style of play he developed almost overturned Chelsea when it first came out, and Guardiola is still very satisfied with the tactical effect.

Although he also knew that Mourinho would definitely limit it immediately and make tactical adjustments in response.

But no matter what Mourinho chooses later, as long as Manchester City does not have too strong desire to take the initiative to attack today, then Chelsea will not have a good way to take Manchester City.

After all, if Chelsea wants to break the deadlock as soon as possible, they must take the initiative to press forward in the face of Manchester City, who have recycled their formation, to seek more attacking opportunities.

As long as Chelsea press forward, Manchester City will always have the possibility of counter-attacking on both wings.

Zabaleta and Kolarov are both full-backs with a strong desire to attack, and both of them have enough skills to support this style of play.

Of course, in Guardiola's mind, the most suitable tactics for him are, of course, his disciples in Barcelona.

Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets' drop-back organisation were absolutely consistent in their control of the ball.

If Manchester City's right-back is Alves and left-back is Alba, then a quick counterattack will only be sharper!

It's a pity that you can't dig it, if you can really dig it, Guardiola still wants to dig Messi directly.

Wait for him to build a season's tactics at Manchester City. You can compete with Chelsea in the Premier League!

After thinking about it for a while, Guardiola also sighed and shook his head, returning his attention to reality.

The game soon resumed, and Mourinho had not yet had time to make tactical changes, but the Chelsea players on the pitch were on their own to become more vigilant against City's counter-attacks on both wings.

Frank Lampard didn't dare to step forward easily at this time, and he honestly stayed in his own half and played left and right with Nemanja Matic, blocking City's counter-push route.

Leon is capable of grabbing and is very physical, but he has no problem in the face of the drag-back possession of Cesc Fabregas, Yaya Toure and Fernandinho.

In the past, defensive pressing and ball interception were also done because the opponent had the desire to attack forward and deliver the ball forward.

If the opponent wants to take the initiative to attack, then there will naturally be flaws, and they can be exploited.

But now City's style of play is to concentrate three point keeping midfielders in front of their back line, as well as two wing-backs who drop back to assist with the ball.

In the case of not taking the initiative to attack, there are too few opportunities for Leon to steal.

This can't help but remind Li Ang of a tactic that Mu Shuai occasionally played when he was at Real Madrid.

That is the desireless and desperate defense tactics after the lead, saying that if you don't attack, you really don't attack, after all, there is no offensive and defensive conversion, so how can the opponent catch the mistake and counterattack?

The tactics that Pep Guardiola is designing now are similar to Mourinho's no-desire and no-go tactics.

Jose Mourinho then made tactical changes and Chelsea's attacking approach changed dramatically.

Leon and Frank Lampard took turns in City's half, and the three strikers in front of them put pressure on City's defence.

However, in the mid-line, Chelsea have maintained two midfielders to assist the full-backs in containing City's counter-attacks down the flanks.

Leon and Frank Lampard could be inserted into the City half together when necessary, with Nemanja Matic and David Luiz at half-line and the wide players in defence, with John Terry alone behind.

Such a tactical arrangement is to win steadily, and Guardiola only looked at it for a while and understood Mourinho's intentions.

After Mourinho secretly scolded Guardiola for becoming cunning, Guardiola also continued to complain that Mourinho was still too conservative as before.

Both sides put a lot of effort on the defensive end, and neither was willing to risk handing the knife to the opponent in order to gain the advantage steadily.

So after a thrilling and exciting period in the opening stage, the game quickly entered the patient competition between the two teams.

Manchester City waited for Chelsea to press forward and attack, but Chelsea invested a limited amount of attacking power, sticking to the middle line and wings, just not giving Manchester City a chance to counterattack.

After the stalemate played the entire first half, not to mention the rest of the neutral fans, the Chelsea and Manchester City fans in the scene yawned a little.

However, Mourinho and Pep Guardiola are both more acceptable to such a half-time situation in their hearts.

If this round of the league is after the 30th round of the Premier League and Manchester City are six points behind Chelsea, it may be that Pep Guardiola's tactical choice will be completely different.

But now the league has only reached the 24th round of the Premier League, and there are still 14 rounds of league games to go until the end of the season.

Therefore, Manchester City can afford to spend and do not need to rush into a direct showdown with Chelsea.

Last season, before the end of La Liga, Pep Guardiola wanted to use this method to avoid opening up the points gap with Real Mara.

It's a pity that he fell out directly with the Barcelona senior management in the winter window because of the problem of recruitment, otherwise if he continued to lead the team in the second half of the league, Real Madrid might not be able to easily win the championship in advance.

"You're as confident as ever..."

When the game was played in the 60th minute of the second half, Mourinho was still unmoved, as if he was about to finish the game at his current pace.

Guardiola couldn't help but shake his head and mutter.

Jose Mourinho doesn't seem to care at all that if he draws with Manchester City in this round of the league, Arsenal will take the opportunity to close the gap on points.

In other words, Mourinho is convinced that his team will be more consistent and will be able to score more points against other top-eight teams in the Premier League.

Therefore, in a direct dialogue with Manchester City or Arsenal, Mourinho is not in a hurry to make a hammer deal, and directly knocks the competitor to the ground.

He still prefers a safe victory, and prefers to win the long league championship with a steady cycle!

Pep Guardiola would love to take the opportunity to knock Chelsea to the ground.

But he also knows very well that the current Manchester City team is far from meeting his tactical requirements, and he still needs a season or two to find more suitable players and practice his tactics even further.

Prior to this, in the face of Mourinho, who built the team faster, played more utilitarianly, and had Leon as the core of attack and defense, Guariola knew that he could not fight hard.

He resisted the urge to go on a desperate fight against Chelsea after the 70th minute of the second half.

So the surprise became the commentators from various countries and countless neutral fans.

Because today they once again saw Pep Guardiola who forcibly changed his tactical philosophy.

Even if they all knew, Guardiola's choice of such tactics was only accidental.

But such scenes are still too rare.

Leon also knew that Mourinho would not take risks when he didn't want to, so he didn't pretend to be smart enough to take his teammates on the pitch to test Manchester City's attack.

In the final 20 minutes of the second half, Manchester City stopped possessing the ball in front of their own penalty area, and they also tried to penetrate in midfield.

But against Chelsea, who had now switched to full defensiveness, City's attack did not work.

Leon also honestly pulled Nemanja Matic and Ramirez, who came on as a second-half substitute, to seal all possibilities for Manchester City to attack from the middle.

The game ended in a 0-0 scoreline, with no winner or the end of the game, with both Manchester City and Chelsea losing.

Arsenal, who beat Crystal Palace, were the only winners, as they not only overtook Manchester City by two points, but also closed the gap between themselves and Chelsea to four points.

Such a result is near-perfect for Arsenal fans.

And Chelsea and Manchester City fans complained on the Internet and posted a few complaints, but they were also able to accept the draw in their hearts.

Only England's major sports media continue to slam Manchester City and Chelsea's conservatism, complaining that they didn't play as well as they should have in this big game.

But it's too hard to see too many beautiful attacking scenes in a game where Mourinho is determined to be conservative.

Pep Guardiola didn't want to give it a chance, so the result should be expected by the media.

Like most of the practitioners within Sky Sports, in fact, after watching the first half of the game, they also know that this so-called big war can't make any waves.

But after the game, it should be criticized or criticized, after all, they rely on public opinion to eat.

After analyzing the tactical choices of the two head coaches, it is not enough to attract too many fans' attention, or it is necessary to create some topics.

This time, though, they didn't have to wait long.

Five days later, in the 25th round of the Premier League, which continued. Liverpool kicked off the big game with a 5-1 slaughter of Arsenal that shocked the whole of England.

In the afternoon, Manchester City took over the baton from Liverpool and swept the Canary Norwich 6-0!

And Chelsea, who came on a little later, were not to be outdone, crushing the Magpies and Newcastle 5-0!

Ibrahimovic and Eden Hazard scored in succession, Leon scored a brace with an overhead kick and John Terry scored his first league goal of the season!

At this moment, all kinds of British media suddenly boiled again.

Isn't this the topic coming!

Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea played strongly, causing a lot of heated discussions among Premier League fans.

Only the world where Arsenal was injured was reached~

(End of chapter)