thefictionvixens Chapter 76 Venables
Chapter 76 Venables
the next day.
With the short holiday over, Everton are preparing for their next opponent.
Leeds United!
The team's head coach is 59-year-old Terry Venables.
He also played for Leeds United during his playing career, and now he's essentially returning to his parent club to coach.
Venables also coached Barcelona in his early years and led the team to the La Liga title in the 1984-85 season.
What made Chinese fans aware of him was his leadership of the England national team to the semi-finals of the 1996 European Championship—the same year he also led England in a friendly match against China.
In addition, during his time managing Crystal Palace in 1998, he also brought in Chinese players Fan Zhiyi and Sun Jihai.
This shows that Venables has a high opinion of Chinese players.
Moreover, he himself has the demeanor of an English gentleman and possesses great personal charm, so he wouldn't make any pre-match boasts like Hoddle.
Therefore, Ye Xian's match against Venables lacked the intensity of the first round.
However, Ye Xian also needs to be extremely careful.
This veteran British manager's most frequently used formation at Leeds United is not the 4-4-2 formation most common in the Premier League today.
Instead, they use the same 4-3-3 formation as Everton!
Moreover, he did not use long passes and crosses as his main attacking method, but instead focused on short ground passes and ball control penetration.
As early as during the 1996 European Championship, he made good use of technical midfielders such as Gascoigne and McManaman, allowing the England team to play a technical style that impressed the world.
At Leeds United, Venables' 4-3-3 formation is even somewhat similar to Yip Hin's approach.
The same three midfielders, with Buck standing in front of the defenders to act as a defensive barrier, while also being responsible for long passes from the back to find the front three;
Bowyer pushed forward significantly, abandoning wing defense, and was essentially a fourth striker in attack;
Bambi orchestrates the offense and defense from the center.
The midfield as a whole focuses on vertical progression, with fewer ineffective lateral passes, and quickly getting the ball to the three forwards.
And these three forwards also have a tall center forward, Australian international Viduka.
The left winger is Kewell, who is also from Australia.
The right winger is Alan Smith, a future star for Manchester United.
As for Irish international Robbie Keane, he can only sit on the bench.
Former Liverpool star Robbie Fowler was also playing for Leeds United at the time, but was sidelined with injuries and unable to play.
Unlike Everton, the linchpin of this Leeds United team is Kewell.
This can be seen as an innovation made by Venables based on the characteristics of his own team.
During the game, Kewell had full lateral movement rights across the entire court.
He can move to the left wing and play a one-two with Hart, then cross from the byline;
He can cut inside to the middle, play a one-two with Viduka, and then shoot directly;
He could even make vertical runs forward, rushing into the penalty area to act as a second center forward;
It can be said that Kewell is not just a winger, but the core of the team's attack and a free attacker. All the midfielders have to actively pass the ball to him to create space for him to receive it.
This is actually somewhat similar to the freedom Ferguson gave Ronaldo in the later stages of his time at Manchester United.
Cristiano Ronaldo may appear to be a left winger, but he is actually everywhere.
Therefore, at today's tactical debriefing meeting after training, Ye Xian's main focus was to let the coaches and players understand how to break down Leeds United's midfield support for Kewell!
"Why not just send someone to keep an eye on Kewell?"
"It's precisely because he has a high degree of freedom and a large range of movement. If man-to-man marking is used, it can easily lead to him being out of position, causing the formation to become scattered and giving the opponent an opportunity to take advantage."
"So our focus should be on applying high-intensity pressure on their three midfielders, preventing them from easily passing the ball to Kewell."
"To achieve this, it's not enough for Li Tie and Gravesen to defend alone; your defensive tasks will also be very heavy."
Ye Xian looked at Alonso.
Alonso also looked intently at the tactics board, where his number 10 piece had been placed in the very center of the whiteboard.
As soon as he arrived at Everton, Ye Xian gave him the number 10 jersey, which shows his core status in the team.
"You not only need to help the team on offense, but you also need to quickly integrate into the team's overall defensive structure when the team is in positional defense."
"When the opposing midfielder gets the ball, your three positions should be like this... then like this... or like this..."
"Make sure to move around a lot to make up for the space left by your teammates when they are pulled away."
"Your small step can determine how many more steps the whole team needs to run. If you don't run, you're just pushing all the responsibility onto your teammates, understand?"
"To summarize, there are three key points to keep in mind."
"First, we need to have a clear defensive strategy and choose to block the passing lanes instead of just rushing forward to tackle. We must avoid focusing on the ball and not the player."
"Secondly, use body language effectively to force your opponent to make defensive choices that are advantageous to you."
"Third, it's crucial to maintain a cohesive defensive structure, ensuring the team stays connected with the midfield line..."
As Ye Xian spoke, Alonso nodded in agreement.
Although he is indeed the team's current attacking core, Alonso has always aimed to be an all-around midfielder.
Therefore, when Ye Xian taught him how to defend, he naturally listened carefully to his advice and absorbed it.
The main problem is that it went into too much detail!
With Alonso's intellect, he could instantly break down what Ye Xian said and then put it on the tactics board, making it clear and easy to understand.
"I understand the defense, but what about the attack?" Moyes suddenly asked. "We've always practiced against 4-4-2 formations, this is the first time we've played against a 4-3-3 that's similar to ours."
Ye Xian laughed and said, "Vinables has a lot of confidence in his players, so he dared to use Buck as the single defensive midfielder, and then Bowyer and Bambi participated more in the attack."
"But their equilateral triangle single defensive midfielder formation has a weakness, namely, it is obviously insufficient in covering and protecting the width of the field."
"We can effectively disrupt the 4-3-3 formation's overall defense by moving the opponent's midfielders and forwards, thereby achieving efficient and rapid attacks."
"Specifically, it means that after winning the ball, the full-back should quickly launch a long pass from within their own half, diagonally to the other flank where they have a numerical advantage in attack..."
Moyes raised his hand again: "But what if the player on the other side is already marked and can't get the ball? What should we do then?"
Ye Xian nodded, tapped the side of the tactical board, and said:
"That's right, Venables might figure out our strategy and send someone to guard us. After all, we're both using a 4-3-3 formation, and he knows this weakness of ours!"
"At this point, we need to increase the connection between the full-backs and the attacking third. After receiving the ball, the full-back can pass it to the center forward first, let the center forward transition, and then pass the ball to the winger who has already made a high-speed run down the flank."
"The opposing midfielders and defenders will be constantly on the move in such a defensive situation. One second the ball is in our backfield, and the next two seconds it is already in our attacking side."
"Such a wide-ranging diagonal pass will cause Leeds United's defensive focus to shift back and forth between the left and right sides. Faced with constant diagonal passes, any team is bound to make mistakes."
"Furthermore, their lone defensive midfielder will be ineffective against such a defense. Because he is alone in midfield and unable to limit our passing..."
With Ye Xian's careful explanation, Everton's coaches and players had a clear understanding of the tactics used in this match.
Just practice this for the next few days and you'll be all set!