Football’s First Defender

Before and after the Club World Cup, the four consecutive league games without victory made Chelsea's previous winning streak and the good situation of the league formed by three kills against the three giants disappeared. The gap has come to 4 points, even before Arsenal was almost killed in the championship suspense. Taking advantage of the devil's schedule in December, both Chelsea and Manchester United had a chance to lose the chain, and completed the overtake of Chelsea with a wave of winning streak , Chelsea are now in third place in the league with 36 points.

In the 20th round of the Premier League two days later, facing the mid-range team "Farmer" Fulham, Chelsea could no longer tolerate a loss.

Due to continuous battles in various competitions and two long-distance flights to and from Asia, many of Chelsea's players are still not in their best condition. At such a critical moment, Ancelotti resolutely chose to change his lineup, using daily During the training, a few players who were in fairly good condition completed the change.

Ashley Cole and Ivanovic, who were in poor form in the last game, were placed on the bench in this game, and Ancelotti directly changed to three central defenders.

The coaches of the Italian department have good tactical skills, and during normal training, they will also focus on practicing some new tactics. Although after the start of the new season, due to the busyness of various competitions, this season does not have too long to practice other tactics, but the three-central defender formation, Ancelotti still conducted a lot of drills during the summer training camp. Just to be able to choose one more lineup. Therefore, at this critical moment in the league, according to special circumstances, Ancelotti occasionally tries to change formations, and the players are acceptable.

Carvalho, who used to be the absolute main central defender of Chelsea, won the trust of Ancelotti in this game. Together with Yang Feng and Terry, he formed a three central defender.

Carvalho is in the center, and Terry and Yang Feng, who are more athletic, are separated on the left and right.

The 352 lineup is to rely on the three central defenders to continue to strengthen and stabilize the team's defense when the full-backs are in poor condition.

In the 352 formation, the core of the team is actually the choice of two full-backs. They must not only have excellent assist ability, but also have excellent running ability, and can return to the defensive position after attacking.

However, because the defensive ability of Chelsea's three central defenders is too strong, Chelsea's choice of full-backs can be less strict on their defensive ability. As long as they have the energy to run back to their positions, the focus is still on the offensive end. Can it work.

Zhirkov, this game finally got the chance to start, as the left midfielder.

Malouda's breakthrough on the wing is a bit straightforward. A person relies on his own pure personal ability to pose a limited threat. When there is no Ashley Cole to help him attract the attention of defenders, Malouda is in the right position. The ability to dodge and maneuver on the sidewalk is obviously not as good as Zhirkov's.

For the position of right midfielder, Chelsea has never had an orthodox player reserve for this position. However, Joe Cole, who has returned from injury, can still play this position on behalf of him. He can rely on his own technical ability to perform at a good level.

The defensive midfielder is the preferred defensive midfielder Mikel when Essien is slightly injured and unable to play, while Lampard and Ballack are still in the front position.

Double forwards, because Anelka is also affected by injuries, Drogba's partner in this game is Kalou, Chelsea put up a 352 formation for the first time this season, hoping to get rid of the previous decline in the league at home.

The formation of three central defenders is obviously that Chelsea's defensive ability in the middle has been further strengthened. Under the defensive system of three central defenders, Chelsea's already strong defensive line of central defenders has become more dense and impenetrable.

Fulham not only became more difficult to penetrate in the middle, but also looked for opportunities to pass from the side, and the probability of the pass being controlled by Chelsea players became higher.

Of course, the 352 formation is too heavy for the offensive and defensive tasks of the two full-backs, and as full-backs, there are no full-backs behind them to supplement the defense, so on the defensive end, the whole Chelsea team , all need to pay more attention to the defense of the wing.

However, in the final analysis, this is the first time that Chelsea has used a lineup of three central defenders in an official game this season. Although Chelsea also experimented with three central defenders several times during the summer preparations, the players still need to use it suddenly. Constantly running in the game.

However, Fulham, which ranks ninth in the league, has been unbeaten in 8 consecutive games, and just defeated Manchester United 3-0 at home in the last round, so the "farmers" who are in hot form will not easily win in the away game. surrendered.

At the beginning of the game, Chelsea's unfamiliar 352 formation exposed a huge problem of defensive incomprehension.

After Zhirkov stepped forward to participate in the offense, he did not return to the defensive position in time. After Fulham completed the defense, it directly hit the counterattack behind Zhirkov. Originally, for this ball, Terry was originally responsible for covering the defense, but Mikel habitually moved in a wide range, and Terry's defensive position was too heavy.

When Dempsey received the ball from the right and counterattacked, he accurately caught the opportunity of the Chelsea defenders to reposition. Before Terry and Mikel formed a double-team, he calmly knocked the ball across the middle. At this time, Dempsey Kerr's mid lane area is left undefended. Lampard rushed back to defend, but he couldn't catch up with Fulham's follow-up midfielder, Hungary international Zoltan Guerra.

Without any hesitation, Zoltan Guerra directly took the ball forward and kicked the goal near the penalty area. "A cloud-piercing arrow", Zoltan Guerra opened the scoring for Fulham.

In just 4 minutes of the opening, Fulham made a fantastic start, and Chelsea may be approaching the bitter fruit of five league games after falling behind!

Chelsea, who conceded a goal, could not make any major adjustments in the opening 4 minutes. They could only continue the pre-match arrangement and patiently look for opportunities on the offensive end!

The configuration of five midfielders made Chelsea's ball possession rate extremely high. Chelsea passed the ball through the midfielder and constantly mobilized Fulham's defense.

But Fulham, which has already scored a goal, is an iron barrel formation. It ignores Chelsea's mobilization of the ball from the outside. It can be said that under such circumstances, Chelsea has an empty ball possession rate, but still cannot create. There are too many favorable offensive opportunities.

Chelsea had 70% possession of the ball. Under the overall suppression, they created 8 chances to hit the goal in the first half, but only 1 shot was on target.

Facing Fulham's "bus" in front of the door, Chelsea's two wingers, relying on only one person on each side, have no way to create good offensive opportunities.

And the few long-range shots in the middle were almost all blocked by the dense crowd in front of the Fulham penalty area. Although Chelsea's offense seemed to occupy the initiative, there were almost no high-threat shots. opportunity.

Joe Cole's chance to pass the ball on the right side is not bad, but Zhirkov's side is really tangled, with one man in front of Fulham and one man behind him. Erkov's offense was greatly disrupted.

And in the Fulham penalty area, the same dense crowd made it possible for Drogba and Kalou to find the pass in the penalty area, and the chances were never returned. Chelsea's offense, for a while, did not see much. hope...