mtl008 Chapter 1020 Keep!
Chapter 1020 Keep!
Chapter 1020 Keep!
Before coaching Chelsea, Di Matteo's coaching resume was not impressive.
In [-], he coached League One's Milton Keynes. He finished third in League One that season, but lost to his opponent in the play-offs to the British Championship and missed the opportunity to upgrade.
Although he failed to lead Milton Keynes to the British Championship, Di Matteo won the opportunity to coach the British Championship team West Bromwich Albion, which is a famous elevator team in the Premier League.
The so-called lift means that West Bromwich Albion frequently travels back and forth between the Premier League and the British Championship.
Di Matteo led the team to the Premier League in the first season after coaching, which won him admiration. Even after being promoted to the Premier League, although there were sad memories of a [-]-[-] away defeat to Chelsea in the first round, the team quickly adjusted and once occupied sixth in the Premier League, beating Arsenal and drawing away to Manchester United.
During that time, Di Matteo became famous and won the attention of the entire UK and even European football.
But the good times didn't last long. West Bromwich Albion's relatively open style of play, but a serious lack of lineup, made this team seriously lack of stamina. Di Matteo was dismissed from get out of class when he coached West Bromwich Albion until February of [-].
Last summer, after failing to apply to coach Birmingham, Di Matteo accepted Villas-Boas's invitation to serve as the Portuguese's chief assistant coach at Chelsea and officially returned to Stamford Bridge.
What no one expected was that Di Matteo, who was not favored by coaching Birmingham, was fired half a year later because of Villas-Boas and replaced him as the head coach of Chelsea, leading the team to the Champions League final.
Things like fate are really confusing.
Although Di Matteo's coaching resume is not obvious, but his career can be called the first line in Europe.
From Lazio to Chelsea, the Blues even offered a sky-high price of 680 million US dollars for Di Matteo. This was the highest transfer fee in Chelsea's history in [-]. Even in the Premier League at that time, this was considered a very high transfer fee. It shows that Chelsea attaches great importance to Di Matteo.
Having played for big teams for a long time, Di Matteo can be described as well-informed. He deeply understands the survival rules of big team coaches.
As the head coach of a big team, especially a wealthy team, professional ability has never been the most important thing, because these can be handed over to assistants, as if Ferguson has not even cared about training and preparation for many years.
What is the most important thing for the head coach of a giant team?
manage!
To be able to stabilize players on and off the court, you must be able to handle the boss.
Boas has no problem with his professional ability and can handle the boss, so he became Chelsea's head coach at a young age, but the problem is that he couldn't stabilize the players, so he dismissed get out of class.
As for whether it is the so-called veteran team committee in the Chelsea team who messed with him, does it matter?
DiMatteo is very aware of this, even he has experienced all this personally, so after he took office as Chelsea's head coach, the first thing he did was to stabilize several core veterans of the team committee and persuade them to support him.
The next results are clear at a glance. When the players work hard, Chelsea has made rapid progress in the Champions League.
Of course, in the knockout stage of the Champions League, Di Matteo also has his own set of tactics, that is, defense and counterattack.
Since the knockout rounds, Di Matteo's Chelsea has basically adopted such a set of tactics, and the results are really effective. They reached the Champions League final all the way and directly faced Manchester City.
How to play against Manchester City?
As an Italian, Di Matteo decided to continue what he does best.
……
"Shou!"
On the morning of the game, in the conference room of the hotel where Chelsea stayed, Di Matteo solemnly announced his tactics for tonight.
This is the only way out for Chelsea.
Strictly speaking, this is not surprising, so there was not even a sound of surprise in the conference room, and everyone took it for granted.
Today's Manchester City is no longer the Manchester City of two years ago. It is reasonable to play defensive tactics against Manchester City.
"When we played against Bayern Munich, we had a lot of problems in the midfield. The main reason was that Bayern adopted a double midfielder tactic, that is, four two three one.
Heynckes is an old fox. He saw through this point in the game, so he asked Robben and Ribery to adopt an inside tactic, and let Thomas Muller take the ball more to transition, to see if Mikel or Meireles went up. Whoever went up, Thomas Muller would pass the ball to which side, and Bayern would focus on attacking that side.
This made Chelsea very passive and the scene was extremely embarrassing.
But now, Manchester City's tactics will basically not change, Busquets will definitely lag behind, David Silva and Toni Kroos will basically join forces in the midfield, which is in line with Chelsea's midfield layout.
Lampard stands up front and is responsible for suppressing Busquets, Mikel and Meireles drag behind, responsible for dealing with David Silva and Toni Kroos, three-on-three, plus Chelsea will adopt tight defensive tactics, the situation is in Chelsea's favor.
"Mata is responsible for assisting Ashley Cole to mark Sanchez. This Chilean winger has good strength. He can go down and cut inside. He has excellent skills and fast speed. Ramirez and Ivanovic on the right are responsible for marking Di Maria. His speed is faster and sharper, and his dribbling ability is also very good. At the same time, he must be careful of Marcelo behind him."
Judging from the lineup configuration, Di Matteo's thinking is very clear. Ramirez and Ivanovic on his right side are mainly defensive to withstand the offensive pressure of Marcelo and Di Maria, while his left side is to counterattack when he finds an opportunity, so he put Mata on this side.
Everyone knows that although Manchester City's right back Zabaleta has offensive ability, he is not as strong as Marcelo.
For defense, there are actually many things that need to be arranged.
For example, Manchester City's two central midfielders, David Silva and Toni Kroos, are very flexible in their positions and have a wide range of running. In many cases, they will appear directly on the wing, which brings trouble to Chelsea's two delayed midfielders.
Before, Chelsea had targeted Mikel and Meireles to conduct targeted drills on this point. Now it is time for the actual test. After all, no matter how good the training is on weekdays, if you don’t fight a real fight on the court, who knows the outcome?
Since intensive defense is adopted, Chelsea's compact position is very important. These have been repeatedly rehearsed before the game. As the Italian coach, Di Matteo has good attainments in this area, and what he emphasizes the most now is mentality.
"We will not get the ball for a long time, and we will be passively beaten, but we are not too unfamiliar with this situation, because the two games against Bayern Munich, and even our previous game against Barcelona, we played like this, and we can adapt to this situation."
From Claudio Ranieri to Mourinho, and then Hiddink, Ancelotti and other famous coaches, this round has come, although Chelsea have played very well, but they are still inseparable from the solid defense that has been passed down over the years.
This is the foundation of Chelsea's foothold in European football and the magic weapon of the team.
"I believe that everyone knows that the more we are in this situation, the more we need to maintain a stable and patient mentality. Before playing Bayern Munich, we left too many gaps for the opponent. Although there are tactical factors, we also have problems in execution, which requires us to pay attention."
"Manchester City is a stronger and more terrifying team than Bayern Munich, with stronger attack power and more deadly penetration. We should not be fooled by their so-called background. They are one of the most powerful and best teams in European football and even world football this season. They can even be eliminated."
For Guardiola's Manchester City, whether it is Di Matteo or others, they are basically full of praise.
Even Ferguson, who is the mortal enemy, and Arsenal, who have been humiliated by Manchester City's many victories, basically give a thumbs up when they mention Manchester City. This is what Manchester City achieved by relying on solid results.
When Di Matteo said this, the Chelsea players were not disgusted, because they knew very well that Chelsea were no longer at their peak.
Why did Villas-Boas clean up old players?
Isn't it because Chelsea's peak is no longer there?
Drogba, Lampard, Terry and other veterans, don't they know the team's problems?
No, they know.
The reason why they opposed Boas was because Boas refused to give these veterans face.
Even if your head coach doesn't give us face, then we will make you face.
At the end of the matter, Boas was basically unable to change the situation. It was only a matter of time before he was fired, and the cost considerations of the club management.
Now, Di Matteo told the players that Manchester City is terrible, just to warn the players that Chelsea can only have a chance to defeat Manchester City, a powerful opponent, only if they are united and the players and the head coach work closely together.
You know, in the past two seasons, Chelsea have never won against Manchester City.
Although the Champions League final has never been superstitious about past records, Manchester City does have an advantage on the psychological level, and Chelsea can only have a chance if they work hard.
The entire meeting lasted for more than an hour, and Di Matteo kept repeatedly emphasizing defense. He only briefly mentioned how to counterattack and attack, and did not explain in depth.
Whether it is against Di Matteo or against Chelsea, the main task of this Champions League final is defense. As for how to counterattack and how to attack, this cannot be considered before the game.
Di Matteo has arranged several targeted counterattack lines in the previous training, and then it will depend on the players' performance on the spot and what kind of tactics Manchester City will play in the game.
The two teams are very familiar with each other, basically there will be no surprises, the key depends on the targeted tactics.
(End of this chapter)