Crossing the English Channel, climbing onto the Europa mainland, crossing most of Belgium, and coming to the eastern city of Liege, it was a heavy rain that welcomed Tottenham Hotspur.

As Belgian football, which once created outstanding and brilliant in European football, has gradually declined over the years. If it weren't for the rise of younger generations such as Kompany, Hazard, and Fellaini, Belgian football would have long been forgotten by the majority of fans.

This can be seen from the Duflasen Stadium, which is known as the top Belgian Standard Liege team in the League One. I don’t know if it was because of heavy rain, or the original drainage system and hardware facilities of this stadium were not very good. The Duflasen Stadium in this game looked as bad as the swamp.

The muddy and slippery turf is obviously very unfavorable to Tottenham Hotspur. Even though Ye Qiu had long considered the team's two-line battle in this game, and also considered rainy days and away factors, so there were adjustments in lineup and tactics. However, the players still made frequent mistakes in the game, and even exposed problems in defense several times.

Fortunately, in front of the motherland Jiangdong elders, Kompani performed very diligently, and his partner with Thiago Silva also ensured that Tottenham Hotspur would not conced. As long as he held it, Tottenham Hotspur's offense would work sooner or later.

By the 23rd minute of the first half, David Silva hit the ball from the left and passed the back point. The unguarded Cavani directly volleyed with his right foot on the right side of the post, which led to Tottenham Hotspur's first goal to break the Belgian Standard Liege goal.

But after scoring the goal, the game was still very difficult. Tottenham Hotspur still calmly controlled the situation of the game, slowly looking for the feeling of ensuring the success rate of passing and receiving on heavy rainy days and slippery turf. Then, through this slow and effective ball control, the situation is slowly guided to the side that is favorable.

But the situation in the second half changed, and Liege began to push forward a large-scale attack, and accompanied by crazy pressing, it was obvious that the car and horse were going to use the start of the second half to play Tottenham and Hotspur were caught off guard, especially considering that Tottenham played in the first half as if it was walking on thin ice.

Away, Champions League away, the opponents in every game are not a light to save money

If Thiago Silva hadn't been able to fly over the goal in the 49th minute, Tottenham Hotspur would have been pierced through the goal, but immediately afterwards, Fabregas was injured after a physical contact with the opponent.

"David" Ye Qiu was soaked like a cock-duckling cock, but he grabbed Beckham who was about to play on the sidelines. "Their physical condition is better than us now, so we can't directly fight them head-on now. Retreat first, let them press forward and attack, we counterattack, and consume their physical strength."

After Beckham nodded and agreed, he quickly ran to the court.

Tottenham Hotspur has been playing double games for one week since the first round of the Premier League in mid-August. In September, the two-week national team match day was ushered in. The players' physical condition was indeed much worse than that of Standard Liege.

As a former star, the Romanian head coach of Liège, Laslo Bologni, naturally knew Tottenham's weaknesses, especially this North London team had just fought with Manchester United in London, and after returning to London on the weekend, he would come to Chelsea without stopping. If he still didn't know how to seize the opportunity to attack, then he would be in vain.

Therefore, from the beginning, Standard Liege's purpose was not to draw, but to win at home, because they had to obtain the right to qualify from the group, so they took advantage of Tottenham's two-line battle and the physical fitness problems of long-term doubles to swallow their opponents in one breath.

Moreover, Laslo Bologni is also very smart. After the game, the effect is not very obvious, because Tottenham Hotspur's physical fitness is still very good at this time, and he has an absolute advantage in both technology and strength, so he chose to arrange the attack at the beginning of the second half. After the consumption of the first half, Tottenham Hotspur's sharpness was almost worn out.

It can be said that this heavy rain also helped Laslo Bologni's great favor

Thinking of this, Ye Qiu looked at the front of the home team coach's seat, holding an umbrella and a pair of frameless glasses, Laslo Bologni, who is in his early fifties. This person is not simple.

Ye Qiu has experienced a lot over the years and is very clear that European football is a crouching tiger, hidden dragon, and real great people may not be familiar with them, and they may not even have the chance to appear in the five major leagues. So many times, second- and third-rate leagues may create a surprise for you at any time. Whether it is the players here or the head coach here, there is no shortage of such strength.

Laslo Bologni may be such a person.

However, Ye Qiu was also not vague. After some chaos after the start of the second half, he quickly stabilized the team's position through adjustments. Especially under his targeted arrangement, the team generally retreated appropriately and maintained a compact formation, allowing Standard Liege to press forward to play.

In order to suppress Tottenham Hotspur, Standard Liege must take crazy battles, and its physical energy consumption must be greater than that of Tottenham Hotspur, especially in this heavy rainy weather, the consumption is many times more than usual, so Standard Liege's tactics are difficult to last, and the situation was soon re-controlled by Tottenham Hotspur.

After more than twenty minutes of crazy attacks in the second half, Standard Liege was basically no longer able to do it. Tottenham began to consciously counterattack. Beckham's long pass accurately found Hazard, who came on the bench. The latter quickly formed a breakthrough cross on the left, and Cavani headed the ball in front of the goal, scoring twice, 0

This is also the last goal of the game. After this, neither side can score again.

It was not until Cavani scored the second goal that Ye Qiu's heart was truly let go, because he knew that these three-pointers were finally obtained, without any danger, but it fully reflected one thing, that is, there is no absolute overwhelming advantage on the football field.

In the words of Chinese ancestors, the right time, place and people are in harmony, and one of the three may lead to a Waterloo.

At the post-match press conference, Standard Liège head coach Laslo Bologni not only did not have the awareness of being inferior to others, but seemed to be very angry about the loss of this game, believing that the heavy rain became the biggest obstacle to his defeat of Tottenham Hotspur.

"Tottenham Hotspur is indeed a very strong team. They took advantage of our two mistakes, one of which was because of the lack of concentration on the defense line, missed Cavani, and the other was a counterattack. They seized these two opportunities that were not considered opportunities and scored two goals, which I think is very regrettable.

But soon, Laslo Bologni said again, "But this happens when playing against powerful opponents. Even when facing very difficult and complex environments and situations, they can play their strength well, maintain the overall formation compactness and tactical order, while we are very young and lack experience in this area."

"Anyway, this game is a good learning opportunity for us. He told us clearly what the gap between us and the strongest team in Europe is."

Ye Qiu himself also gave a high evaluation of Standard Liege. There are two Belgian players in Tottenham Hotspur. He believes that Belgian football will usher in a revival, especially the new generation of players led by Kompany, who will have the opportunity to show their strength in European football. Standard Liege's performance in this game proves this.

Ye Qiu also gave a high evaluation of Laslo Bologni, believing that he caused a lot of trouble for himself and the team in the game, and once made him feel a little unstoppable, but he was very happy that his players finally endured the pressure from the home team, suppressed the home team's counterattack well, and successfully scored three points.

"We often say that everything is difficult at the beginning. The first three-pointer in the Champions League group stage, I think this has great significance for us this season. I believe this will be a very good start."

Otherwise, why do people always say that there are unexpected situations in the world?

It was just across the English Channel, with heavy rains on the other side, but the wind was bright and sunny on the other side.

On the night after playing Standard Liège, Tottenham Hotspur returned to London from Belgium. After the disbandment, the training class the next morning was cancelled, but everyone had to return to the training base on time to report to prepare for this key game with Chelsea after two days of preparation.

Every time he encounters Chelsea, Drogba, the Côte d'Ivoire elephant king, inevitably appears in front of Thiago Silva. He can't forget how he was ridiculed and questioned by everyone outside when he first entered the Premier League.

Even though things have been a few years, Drogba seems to have signs of a decline in recent years. On the contrary, Thiago Silva himself, with his strong strength and stable performance, has steadily jumped to the ranks of the world's top central defenders, but he still has never forgotten the shame he encountered in Drogba back then.

Driving on the way to the Theobord training base, the rare sunshine along the way failed to make even a slight smile on the Brazilian's face, but instead looked even stiffer, because he was about to welcome a monster that no one in the world could stop.

Didn’t someone say that? There are usually only two situations to defend against Drogba. One is that Drogba is in a bad state, and the other is that you are in a state that you are in an overstatement, and no matter which one, you can’t control it.

Of course, this is a pure joke. Although Drogba is strong, he is not that strong.

After successfully passing the security check at Theobord training base, Thiago Silva's BMW was soon parked in the parking lot of the first team training building. At this time, the parking lot had already parked with other teammates, all BMWs.

After getting out of the car, I grabbed my handbag and went straight into the locker room of the training building.

After changing their clothes, the teammates had arrived one by one, and a group of people gathered together in the locker room and talked.

"There is a notice outside, and the meeting will be held after lunch break." Thiago Silva casually explained to his teammates.

Yaya Toure is closest to him, and they were teammates in Ajax for many years, so he obviously guessed Thiago Silva's mind now, patted Thiago Silva on the shoulder, "It's okay."

Although the morning training class was suspended, the lunch and lunch break had to continue, so the players arrived at the Theobord training base on time. After lunch together, they returned to their respective dormitories to rest. They had a beautiful sleep. It was already afternoon when they got up.

Ye Qiu's meetings are usually not too long because he doesn't like to hold long meetings and thinks that players can't remember them, so he likes to hold shorter meetings, usually within about ten to half an hour, and the time is usually arranged before the training class. After the meeting, go directly to the training ground to practice, practice and increase your impression.

The same is true today.

When teammates walked into the conference room one after another, Ye Qiu and the coaching staff had already arrived and were ready to draw the 44-midfield diamond position that Ancelotti had implemented at Chelsea this season on the tactical board.

The so-called tactical preparation meeting is actually to focus on some information about the opponent in the next game, as well as to conduct targeted analysis, such as the opponent's strengths and weaknesses, our strengths and weaknesses, etc., as well as what to pay attention to in the game, what may appear, etc.

In Ye Qiu's view, one of the most important reasons why Ancelotti has implemented the 44 diamond position is that Chelsea lacks a powerful assaulter who can break the balance in strategic depth, because Ashawen, who appears in the front midfielder of the diamond midfield this season, is mainly reflected in the ball holding and possession and outputting in a narrow range. Attacking is not his strength.

"Chelsea is very strong. Even now, this team is still one of the strongest teams in European football today, but his strength is in all aspects, very comprehensive, and his tactical execution is very high, and his running is very active. The coverage and running are among the best in European football today."

At internal meetings, Ye Qiu never hides his praise and praise for his opponents, because only by analyzing the pros and cons of both the enemy and us can you ask the players to defeat the opponents. Blind and careless will only cause you to suffer losses in the end.

"In the past Mourinho era, Chelsea gave people the feeling that it was not sharp enough. In fact, an important reason is that the midfield's ability to advance in depth is insufficient. Ancelotti has two solutions. One is that Drogba retreats and takes the ball back, and the other is that the full-back is driving the ball, which is all old routine."

All changes are the same. Many things at the football tactical level are actually just a few things, but different cruxs are solved in different ways, which may cause different effects. That's all.

In other words, the depth of football is to put it bluntly, there are two ways: forward retreat, midfield advancement, full-back insertion, is there any? Basically nothing, unless you want to try the freeman tactics of the Beckenbauer era

"Although the routine is old, it is very effective. Chelsea has performed very well so far this season. The diamond midfielder has activated Ashavin and Drogba, and has successfully activated the entire Chelsea midfielder, especially Barack, a very important player."

With the name Ye Qiu pointed it on the top, the players sat down, and remembered each one of them to work hard and take great care.

"But, a natural disadvantage of the diamond midfielder is that the coverage area is not large enough, because the team that adopts a diamond midfielder position will be a weakness in the defense of the two wings of the midfield, so this requires a very high demand for full-backs, because they not only need to be able to connect to the frontcourt, but also have to connect to the defense line when they move forward. This is a coverage distance of 80 meters."

All those who have played football know how outrageous the requirements for players are to cover the entire wing road for 80 meters and run back and forth. Almost no one can achieve it.

"So, when playing against Chelsea, we need to achieve two key points in the offense and defense."

"First, when attacking, we should pay attention to using their weaknesses and weaknesses in the wings of the midfield. As long as the full-back gets the opportunity, he will push forward and participate in the offense. He will use both wings to suppress Chelsea's wings."

"The second is to curb the opponent's midfield on the defensive end, but more importantly, keep an eye on Drogba to death.

Ye Qiu mentioned that he wanted to stare at Drogba to death, and everyone in the conference room naturally swept his eyes to captain Thiago Silva.

Although he and Drogba seem to be of the same weight class in size and size, in the past few years, there have been many direct conversations between them. Thiago Silva suffered a lot at first, but recently it has gradually turned against Drogba.

But Drogba is in very good shape this season, and his physical fitness is not as rumored by the outside world. Facing such an end, almost all the defenders in the world described as nightmare Ivorian monsters, everyone couldn't help but sweat for Thiago Silva in their hearts.

You should know that almost the entire Premier League central defender was ravaged by Drogba. The most tragic thing was Arsenal's Sendros, who was directly ravaged by Drogba and completely lost confidence. It is conceivable how terrifying the strength of this giant elephant is.

"Tiago, Yaya, Dmitro" Ye Qiu ordered the names of Yaya Toure, Thiago Silva and Dmitro Ziglinsky, "No matter what, I will strangle Drogba to death."

"As long as Drogba can be frozen, you will be the first to win this game."

From this sentence, it is not difficult to hear Ye Qiu's emphasis on Drogba. He even clearly regards whether he can freeze Drogba as a key link in whether he can win this game against Chelsea.

"Don't worry, head, leave it to me." Thiago Silva mustered up the courage to stand up and take on this task
Chapter completed!