The most exciting part of a focus battle is, of course, the bayonet confrontation between the two strong teams.

Previously, Manchester City and Chelsea's attacking attempts were more subtle, and the focus of the competition was also in the midfield.

Manchester City want to control the tempo and take the initiative in midfield.

Chelsea are blocking layer by layer, just not letting Manchester City get their wish.

Chelsea don't have to keep the ball, but they want to control the pace of the game.

After fighting like this, the battle between the two sides in the midfield was very exciting, and the pace of the game was also very fast.

But there were not a few attacks on the opponent's defensive third.

Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola were clearly very focused on their hinterland today, and they did a good job of tactical protection.

Until Milner failed to attack and was found by Leon to play a threatening long ball counterattack, Guardiola didn't worry too much.

At that time, Fernandinho dragged on the back of the midfield and did not lose his position, and also looked at Kroos, who wanted to go inside to receive De Bruyne's pass.

On the other side of midfield, Hazard had been involved in the return defense and had not yet been plugged in in time, and Fernando was able to drop back in time to occupy his position.

Therefore, Manchester City do not have any defensive problems on the front of the penalty area.

Besides, Leon didn't participate in this attack.

He was too far back on the counter-attack with a long ball, and by the time he ran into the heart of the city, Chelsea's counter-attack might have been finished.

As long as Leon doesn't plug in, Guardiola feels that it is acceptable to be beaten back by Chelsea once in a while.

He didn't expect it, and neither did the defenders of City's entire backline.

De Bruyne was in the middle of nowhere, more than 30 meters away from the goal, and he said that the cross was crossed!

You know, the person who dared to be so willful and so confident in this position in the Premier League before had to be David Beckham ten years ago!

But Ibrahimovic really completed a non-stop volley with a very high difficulty!

You can't score a goal like this on the training ground.

Pep Guardiola watched the scene of the goal, and the first feeling in his mind was absurd.

He thought that the only players in the Chelsea squad who could break the tactical plan and force the tempo to change the situation of the game were Leon and Eden Hazard.

Among them, Leon is of course Chelsea's number one threat star that the whole Manchester City team should pay attention to and be vigilant against.

Hazard's words, in fact, are fine.

Arrange the full-backs to target him 1-on-1, and then let the midfielders be ready to take care of him at any time, and the probability of him breaking out is much smaller than that of Li Ang.

Ibrahimovic is of course a big threat, but his current style of play is more like a post-grabbing centre-forward, with threats in the box.

It's hard for Pep Guardiola to make a specific defensive set-up for him.

There is no need for that, and he has the current Premier League number one centre-back Kompany on his hands.

When it comes to confrontation and marking, Pep Guardiola is completely reassured by Kompany.

But his general confidence was shattered at this moment by the brilliant passing combination of De Bruyne and Ibrahimovic!

Two Chelsea players who are not on his target list are the winners and losers on the pitch at the moment.

And Leon and Hazard haven't made a big effort, Manchester City is already behind by one goal?

A feeling that the game was about to get out of hand made Guardiola feel flustered for the first time in a long time.

It wasn't until the assistant's concerned reminder came that he came back to his senses from the chaos of his thoughts.

"Why don't you let Sergio [Aguero] warm up first? So we're in the second half..."

The assistant coach of Manchester City gave his advice with some concern, not that he should adjust his tactics and change the formation immediately.

By allowing Aguero to warm up early, City could also have more options for adjustment at half-time.

When you think about it on a tactical level, that's fine.

But Pep Guardiola still turned down the offer of assistant coach with a clear head.

'We have no problem with our tactics, don't put a psychological burden on the players on the pitch, what they need now is not tactical adjustment, but trust.

After saying this, Guardiola's eyes were a little complicated.

trust, he can indeed continue to trust his disciples.

But can the current Manchester City players still trust his tactical ideas unconditionally?

……

Chelsea's celebrations are over, but the seething Stamford Bridge stadium hasn't cooled down.

After high-fives and encouragement to his teammates, Li Ang and his teammates looked at the sidelines for the first time.

Jose Mourinho had just finished a brief discussion with Holland, still holding the tactical board in his hand, but his eyes were already on the pitch.

"Change the location! Leon, you and Tony switch positions, and then we play tactic No. 2! ”

Mourinho made a change of position gesture on the sidelines before holding out two fingers towards Leon.

The communication between the two was very short, but Li Ang quickly made a reassuring gesture to Lao Mubi.

"Let's play back to No. 2, Tony, you retreat and organize, we switch positions, Kevin, you know, pay more attention to my movement later......"

With Leon clearly and clearly conveying tactical instructions in place of Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea players on the pitch quickly completed the change.

And Chelsea also went straight back to the 4231 formation they are most familiar with.

In terms of attack, Chelsea are the most formidable with 433 formations right now.

However, considering the importance of midfield balance, Mourinho still chose the 4231, which is more secure and can play a counter-attacking effect.

The changes at Chelsea have fallen to Pep Guardiola and to countless fans in front of the television.

And they all know that Chelsea, who have already achieved their tactical goals in advance, are about to become the toughest bone on the field.

The defense is tough and difficult, and on the counter-attacking end, there is Li Ang, a midfielder who is best at advancing with the ball in football right now.

Mourinho moved Leon forward, and the fans understood what the idea was.

Pep Guardiola certainly understands, but he has also experienced this tactical dilemma many times, and he can still be calm and not be fooled in the face of the tactical traps played by Chelsea's open cards.

James Milner sounded the alarm for all the City players on the pitch with a single mistake, plus Pep Guardiola kept shouting from the sidelines.

In the second half of the first half, there was no player for Manchester City to lead his regional team-mates to risk pressure and give Chelsea an easy chance to counter-attack.

However, City's ability to finish has dropped dramatically since they started without a striker, making it difficult for them to threaten Chelsea's goal with an easier attacking approach.

After all, whether it was Aguero or Dzeko at the front of Manchester City's formation, they all had a core target to threaten the pass.

The ball passes, and even if there are few chances, the two strikers can still pick up a few shots, which can also add a lot of pressure to the Chelsea defence.

But now Dzeko has left, and Aguero has not started this game.

Manchester City, who used the strikerless lineup, looked somewhat embarrassed when the score was down.

The 1-0 scoreline was maintained until half-time, with Chelsea at home already upsetting the balance of the game in the first half.

Although in the first half of the game, Manchester City's statistics were better than Chelsea's in terms of possession and shots.

But fans who watched half the game understood that Chelsea had once again stifled Manchester City's performance.

And whether it is on the defensive end or on the offensive end, Leon's performance today seems to have once again broken through Manchester City's tactical limitations.

This result has really made Manchester City and Pep Guardiola's supporters feel powerless.

Leon's importance to the functioning of Chelsea's attacking and defensive systems cannot be overstated.

Manchester City can't hold him back, which is equivalent to not being able to stop the smooth operation of the whole Chelsea team.

And it seems that Leon didn't consume too much physical energy in the first half, if Chelsea started a large-scale offensive in the second half, and Leon played his form, how should Manchester City respond?

Many Barcelona fans who paid special attention to this game seemed to have seen the tactical embarrassment of Barcelona against Chelsea more than half a month later.

And they are also very worried that Mourinho and Leon will once again adopt the full-field defense tactics of Messi without martial arts.

Compared with last season, Barcelona this season seems to be less dependent on Messi.

Because Neymar has ushered in a burst of form after adapting to the intensity and rhythm of La Liga, and the current personal data is also very luxurious.

But to be honest, fans who have watched all the Barcelona games this season understand that Neymar's outburst is largely due to Messi's willing tactical sacrifice.

On the offensive end, Messi took the initiative to help Neymar pull away the defenders, and even went to the middle many times to attract firepower, giving up a lot of the right to fire after being diagonally inserted into the middle from the sideline.

Such a tactical sacrifice has completed Neymar's outburst, and Messi's personal data has dropped significantly this season.

But when it comes to fighting tough battles, Barcelona still has to rely on Messi, and it can even be said that Messi can't stand up, and Barcelona basically sends it.

At present, there are few teams in football that can rely on the defensive tactical system to greatly limit Messi's play.

But Chelsea happen to be the best in the middle, and Leon doesn't have a superstar yet.

In the past, he could blow himself up one-on-one with Messi on the defensive end, and dragged Messi to death with a dead face so that Real Madrid could suppress Barcelona.

Last season, he was already a superstar in the Premier League, but he could still go to the defensive end to "chat" with Messi when he was paired with Barcelona.

This season, Chelsea look stronger and more comfortable playing as a technical team, how can we not make Barcelona fans feel weak?

In a way, Manchester City and Barcelona are indeed quite similar now.

If Manchester City can really buy Messi from Barcelona, then there is nothing wrong with calling them the new Barcelona.

So it's normal for the rivalry between them and Chelsea to be seen as a rehearsal for a big battle between Chelsea and Barcelona.

Now the Barcelona fans are feeling bad along with the Manchester City fans.

However, in the second half of the game, the situation was tilted further in Chelsea's favor, and it was still unavoidably tilted!

Manchester City were able to avoid the game for the time being, but after the 60th minute of the second half, they also had to face reality.

A draw in this game is a failure for Manchester City, and a loss is a failure within a failure.

The points gap of 4 wins was opened by Chelsea so early, and when it comes to the real second half of the league, Manchester City is still fighting for the Premier League title!

Pep Guardiola is not an impatient and emotionally charged man – except in the dressing room – but now he has had to make a tactical decision that seems a little more impatient.

As soon as the game passed the 60th minute of the second half, Manchester City sounded the horn of attacking in advance!

Sergio Aguero also replaced James Milner as City's killer after a thorough warm-up.

Manchester City, who have returned to their normal 433 formation, are obviously going to give up everything and compete for the last chance to counterattack in this round of games.

Villa and Jovetic also warmed up on the sidelines on the Manchester City side.

At this time, Mourinho was still unmoved, and he had no intention of adjusting his tactics.

Li Ang also has firm eyes on the field, and his heart is like iron.

In City's quick campaign, Leon dropped straight into his own half and formed a back three with Nemanja Matic and Kroos.

The three of them seemed to have merged into a huge reef in the sea, and they didn't move even if the waves were raging and lapping!

Nemanja Matic and Kroos held on to the flanks of their own half, while Leon was on full fire and increased his horsepower to intercept and sweep.

Cesc Fabregas, who retreated to the midfield position, was repeatedly brought to the ground under the aggressive pressure of Leon!

The referee on duty naturally gave City plenty of opportunities for set-pieces up front.

But looking at the current situation of "many high-ranking people" in the Chelsea penalty area, Fabregas, who took the free kick, did not have much confidence in his heart.

Without Dzeko, the whole Manchester City team is really getting closer and closer to the current Barcelona.

There are only two high points anyway, Barcelona is Piquet's plus Busquets at the back, and Manchester City is Mangala and Kompany on the back line.

In this case, it is really not advantageous to play set-piece tactics.

Even without Maguire, Chelsea were able to easily put together four highs with the advantage of the top ball.

Coupled with the brother and daughter-in-law with strong header ability, it is not too easy to deal with Manchester City's high-altitude bombardment!

Anyway, after two or three attempts to play set-pieces with lobs into the Chelsea penalty area, the entire Manchester City squad and the coaching staff on the sidelines gave up on the idea of scoring goals in this style.

Pep Guardiola felt the passage of time and for the first time truly regretted selling Dzeko.

For the first time, his stubborn tactical philosophy seriously considered the possibility of bringing in a big centre-forward.

This kind of player is to be used in this desperate situation, and you can usually use it, but you really can't do without it!

In addition to regretting, Guardiola turned his head to look at the stadium, but happened to see Leon's two consecutive tackles, directly bringing down Fabregas and Fernandinho's exciting scene!

The Manchester City players in the stadium were clearly emotional, and they surrounded the referee in dissatisfaction.

But Leon didn't care about it, rolled over and got up from the turf, and then waved his arms vigorously at the home stands, encouraging the Chelsea fans at the scene to cheer wildly!

Before Guardiola could make any moves, his assistant coach rushed to the fourth official to complain.

The referee eventually showed Leon a yellow card, but there is no doubt that Chelsea's defensive momentum has been completely ignited by the full force of the team!

Mourinho shook his fists excitedly on the sidelines, constantly encouraging his disciples.

Pep Guardiola stood not far from his side and pursed his lips in silence.

Although he doesn't want to admit it, Guardiola knows it very well.

For the first time, he felt so envious of his old friend.

Very envious!

(End of chapter)