Chapter 386 Sheffield United’s extravagant use of centers

Author: The first foodie in darkness

While Pochettino was still confused and down, Speed ​​was already laughing in his heart.

Surprised or not? Unexpected?

Sex Prius motherfucker!

Speed ​​felt extremely satisfied that his tactical layout could deceive everyone-including his own fans.

No one could have guessed that he used Felipe Luis as a centre-back.

After all, in Felipe Luis' career previously, his position was basically fixed at left back, and sometimes he occasionally played as a left winger.

But will this transformation and the occasional tweak in positioning faze Sheffield United's coaching staff?

What they are best at is doing this kind of work!

Felipe Luis has the physical conditions to play as a left center back.

His confrontation ability is good, he is tall enough, and the key is that he is fast enough. He is quite good in assisting defense and attacking and fighting.

Moreover, in the three-center-back system, not every defender is required to be tall and powerful, with strong aerial dominance.

With Lescott holding back and Stones' good header ability, Felipe Luis's deficiencies in this area are not a problem.

After all, the construction of a line of defense is ultimately about forming a complementary and powerful system.

The sweeping attacks of Felipe Luis and Stones, coupled with Lescott's solid frontal defense and super header ability, are the perfect complement to each other.

Moreover, Sheffield United's coaching team has intentionally allowed the three of them to work together many times in previous training sessions to enhance tacit understanding.

Sheffield United haven't used the three-centre-back system in a game for a long time, but that doesn't mean they have given up.

Maguire, Stones, and Vertonghen also often practice and practice together.

What Speed ​​wants is this kind of "backhand" of tactical reserves.

The outside world may think that Sheffield United has lost certain tactics and formations, including their own fans, and everyone can speculate and conclude this way.

But they themselves will not give up exploring different tactical systems because of this.

It can be taken out and used when necessary. This is the most basic and arguably the most stringent requirement of Speed.

Fortunately, Felipe Luis did not disappoint the Sheffield United coaching staff who were looking forward to him.

His good training performance proved that he can play well in a three-center-back system.

And in addition to being reassuring in defense, his superb ability to hold the ball and advance will become a weapon for Sheffield United to "break the game" at critical moments.

Speed's boldness no longer needs to be proven to the outside world.

He just dares to employ people and transform suitable players.

Although today's tactical arrangement surprised all the fans, after coming back to their senses, these fans felt that it was not unreasonable.

It was Speed ​​after all!

He transformed Matic, who played as a central midfielder, into the number one defensive midfielder in the Premier League today.

Moving deeper into Drinkwater's position, he transformed from a slightly mediocre central midfielder into one of England's best organizers.

And Dembélé, De Bruyne, Matt Ritchie, Matthew Lowton

There are too many examples of Speed ​​successfully transforming players.

Not long ago, the head coach of the Belgian national team personally thanked Speed ​​at a press conference.

Because Speed ​​helped him cultivate a De Bruyne who can truly be called an "all-round tactician".

In the past, De Bruyne basically only played as a full midfielder and winger in Belgium. Who would have thought that after more than a season, De Bruyne would be able to play from the attacking midfielder to the organizational midfielder position?

After such "miracles" have happened so many times, fans have become accustomed to it.

Who can question Speed's vision and training methods now?

There are too many successful examples, and to try to discredit them is to bring shame on oneself.

This will make it even more difficult for anyone to question Speed's decision to play Felipe Luis as left centre-back.

And when the race officially started, almost ten minutes later, many of the guys who were still waiting to see Speed ​​flip over were also convinced.

Because Felipe Luis's performance was not passable or good, but his performance was quite outstanding and eye-catching!

In just the first ten minutes, Felipe Luis handed over one effective interception and two successful steals!

Although there is also the reason why Southampton started the game aggressively, leading to some offensive mistakes.

But in the final analysis, it is because Felipe Luis can stand on this line of defense and has excellent strength!

Pochettino stood on the sidelines, his chubby face now more wrinkled.

Sheffield United couldn't catch Sheffield United's defensive weakness, and was ignored by Speed. Now, the "surprise troops" sent by Speed ​​easily resolved several offensive attempts.

No matter how you look at it, this game will not be easy for Southampton.

After all, Sheffield United is now making it extremely uncomfortable for Southampton on the offensive end just by doing a good job in defense.

Then if Sheffield United starts to exert its strength on the offensive end and Li Mo performs again, should Southampton continue to invest a lot of troops and energy in the attack, or should they shrink the formation and limit Li Mo's threat?

This is a troublesome question.

Pochettino rubbed his temples, feeling really hard to make up his mind.

His on-the-spot adjustments are not considered a strong point. No matter how entangled he is, he must consider the development of the situation a few more steps. Otherwise, if an unexpected situation arises later, he may mess up his position first.

Speed ​​does not worry about gains and losses like Pochettino.

After he saw that the back line was indeed playing its due defensive role and was stable, he directly made a tactical gesture to signal the team to slowly press forward.

Felipe Luis was a little eager to try when he saw this. He was very satisfied with his performance today.

However, compared to destroying the opponent's offense on the defensive end, he actually prefers to attack forward.

This is the nature of Brazilian players, even the goalkeeper has a forward-looking heart.

Fortunately, after these few months of training and beating, his temperament has become much calmer.

Knowing that it was not his turn to move forward at this time, he patiently cooperated with his midfield teammates to control the ball and slowly advance forward.

Barry and Dembélé became the protagonists on the court here.

They pressed the rhythm and did not rush to attack immediately. Instead, they constantly interspersed moves during the forward pressing process, distributed the ball, and allowed teammates on both wings to test Southampton's defensive strength.

With at least five people involved in protecting and transmitting the ball in the midfield, Sheffield United played very smoothly, which is also what Speed ​​wants to see.

After all, Southampton is a team with a very balanced midfield among the opponents Sheffield United has encountered recently.

On the defensive end there are Schneiderlin and Wanyama, and on the offensive end there are Ward-Prowse and Lallana.

Coupled with the versatile Jay Rodriguez, Southampton can perform well on both offense and defense as well as in ball control.

The opponent is very young, but Speed ​​will not despise him just because of his youth.

He recognized and even valued the strength of Southampton, the new disruptor in the Premier League, so he chose the safest tactical approach.

Five midfielders, three central defenders, focusing on defense and control first, and then attacking. This is a very typical Speed-style tactical arrangement.

Li Mo and Berbatov are also very familiar with this style of play, and they both actively drop back to help the midfielder sort out and transfer the ball.

A good technical foundation means you can be so "willful".

If it is just a counterattack, then Speed ​​can definitely play in the double forward combination of Li Mo and Vardy.

But when it comes to control and cannibalization, Li Mo and Berbatov are naturally the most suitable.

You think they are center forwards, but they can retreat at the same time and play the role of attacking midfielder or even central midfielder.

When the opponent gets used to the retracement of these two forwards, once Sheffield United speeds up and rushes up the wings, these two technical forwards who were calm before will instantly turn into powerful battering rams!

Again, if one of these centers is a treasure, if two of them come together and cooperate with each other tacitly, it will not be too happy for the head coach's tactical arrangements and hidden moves!

Many times, the offensive comparison is not simply the stacking of crosses and the increase in the number of forward penetrations, but the quality and threat.

Speed ​​knew it, Li Mo and Berbatov knew it, and all the Sheffield United players on the field knew it.

They don't need to rush long passes or go out wide.

Be patient, calm and confident, they don't need too many offensive opportunities.

With two super centers in front, a perfect opportunity often appears, and that's enough!

With such a calm attitude, Sheffield United rarely played a delicate attack today. The tacit cooperation between Li Mo and Berbatov in the frontcourt and their excellent footwork to get rid of defensive players made commentators from various countries even more excited.

Full of praise.

"It's really rare to have such a tall and powerful body with such delicate footwork! What's even more rare is that Speed ​​has gathered two such big centers, which makes the teams that are currently short of centers see it and fear that

I’m going to drool~”

"Isn't that right? There is a shortage of good centers in European football now year by year. If you say that if you push forward ten years, we can see that almost all the giants will have a center that they can rely on. Now, right?

As strong as Real Madrid, they have been looking for a center for several years. Even Higuain and Benzema have not made Mourinho completely satisfied.
To be continued...