Four Hundred and Thirty Stacks of Centers

On the afternoon of November 30th, at the Meazza Stadium in Milan.

In the fourteenth round of Serie A, Naples challenged Inter Milan away.

When the players of the two teams were brought into the stadium by the referee Roberto Rossetti, the whole stadium of San Siro frantically boiled up.

Although it is said that Inter Milan is a deadly enemy in the same city against AC Milan, and it is an Italian derby against Juventus, but in the past two seasons, Inter Milan's most troublesome opponents have been Gao Shen and his Naples.

Especially in the Super Cup before the season, Inter Milan lost to Naples at the San Siro.

Mourinho made harsh words before the game, and wanted to reverse Naples at Meazza and reach the top of the Serie A standings.

This is not just a league game, but also the top battle of the Serie A leaders this season, or a confrontation between the two sides in the past three years, and even a contest between the north and the south of Italy.

Today, the Meazza Stadium is also full of guests.

In addition to the high-level opponents, there are also political and business celebrities from Milan, as well as Italian football professionals. Even Lippi, the head coach of the national team, is sitting in the stands, obviously looking forward to this game.

Compared with Mourinho's high profile before the game, Gao Shen seems to be much lower profile.

This also made many people start to speculate, is he not too sure about winning this game?

Yesterday afternoon, before Naples left for Milan, Gao Shen announced the roster at the pre-match press conference. When interviewed by the media, he only spoke some official phrases, not much real dry stuff.

The only thing that is more valuable is that Gao Shen once again reiterated that Naples will stick to their own style of play.

"We don't change our tactics depending on the opponent, that's not our style."

And the facts have proved that there are really no surprises and surprises on both sides.

...

"You are exactly what I thought."

This is what Mourinho said when he smiled when he saw Gao Shen before the game.

What he's talking about is Napoli's starting lineup.

Tonight, Naples is playing a four-three-three lineup, which is Gao Shen's main lineup in the Champions League.

Goalkeeper: Handanovic.

Defense: Vargas, David Luiz, Bonucci and Lichtsteiner.

Midfield: Biglia, Thiago Motta and Rakitic.

Forwards: Di Maria, Cavani and Sanchez.

At present, Gao Shen more often uses four three three in the Champions League, and four two three one in Serie A.

The reason why 4231 is used in Serie A is mainly determined by the current lineup of Naples.

There is only one Thiago Motta, and the other players play in the fourth position, which has not been very high-level.

For Mourinho's words, Gao Shen has reservations.

He didn't believe that Mourinho could really guess his decision, or that Mourinho should have guessed two or three plans, and Gao Shen's formation tonight was one of them.

In fact, he also considered using 4231, but found in training that if the two center forwards retreat, one central defender will keep up and work together with Thiago Mota to limit the effect.

Whether it is physical fitness or strength confrontation, Thiago Motta is not much different from the central defender.

He can really play central defender.

Therefore, after several considerations, Gao Shen finally chose 433.

But there is really no suspense, but Mourinho's Inter Milan.

Goalkeeper: Cesar.

Defense: Maxwell, Samuel, Lucio and Maicon.

Midfield: Muntari, Cambiasso and Zanetti lag behind, Stankovic jumps forward.

Forwards: Ibrahimovic and Adriano.

This is the lineup that Mourinho had when he played Juventus, not a single player changed.

However, the difference is that Crespo and Cruise are on the bench, as well as Figo, Mancini and Moutinho.

Mourinho put only one defender on the bench,

That's Cordoba.

"Are you trying to risk your life?" Gao Shen asked with a laugh.

Mourinho looked at Gao Shen and nodded slightly, as if to say: It's okay, you can understand it that way.

"You know? Jose, I've always felt that you belong to the type who either don't gamble and are terribly conservative, or risk everything and don't want to die. And this kind of person usually dies very badly."

"You fart!" Mourinho scolded with a smile.

Gao Shen said this when they were playing cards together before.

"I never talk nonsense, just wait and see, with your substitute lineup, I guess you won't be able to use it tonight." Gao Shen didn't think it was disobedient, how could he not know Mourinho's character?

In fact, this guy has only one idea. Once he falls behind, he will play as a center forward.

One is not enough? I will change two!

Gao Shen has no doubt that if Inter Milan falls behind, Mourinho can really pile up all four centers.

This is definitely Mourinho's traditional art.

In fact, this is also what Gao Shen said, the basis for Mourinho's inability to train offense.

The starting point of all Mourinho's tactics comes from his character, which is risk aversion.

People who are risk-averse usually don't like those players with outstanding creativity, and they don't use these players well.

Because creativity is often linked to risk.

…………

…………

The start of the game was a typical Napoli start.

What do you mean?

In fact, Naples aggressively pressed the attack.

Just over a minute into the opening, Sanchez tried to break into the penalty area on the right, was brought down by Samuel, and gave Naples a free kick in a relatively biased position, but was easily confiscated by Cesar.

Napoli continue to keep the pressure on Inter Milan.

Especially the high pressure in the frontcourt is very powerful.

Di Maria and Sanchez's pressure on the two full-backs caused both Maicon and Maxwell a headache.

In the fourth minute, when Maicon dribbled the ball forward, Di Maria chased him all the way, and successfully completed a steal near the halfway line of Inter Milan's half.

After successfully stealing the ball, Di Maria and Biglia quickly completed a wall-slamming cooperation, and drove straight in with the ball.

But Zanetti settled in time, blocked Di Maria on the inside, and successfully blocked the ball from the bottom line.

Naples quickly sent a corner kick, and Cavani headed the goal in front of the penalty area.

Inter Milan goalkeeper Cesar reacted quickly, held the ball out with one hand, and it was another corner kick.

But this time, Lucio grabbed the first spot and headed the ball directly.

Rakitic from the outside took a long shot and it went high.

In the seventh minute, Cavani suppressed Samuel with his back on the outside of the penalty area. After receiving a cross from Di Maria, he stopped the ball and turned around.

In the ninth minute, after Sanchez stopped the ball from the right side of the penalty area and broke through Maxwell, he volleyed from a small angle on the right side of the penalty area and slipped out again.

The wave of offensive after the opening of Naples made the Meazza Stadium screamed, and there was a panic in front of Inter Milan.

Anyone can see that Naples wants to seize the initiative from the very beginning.

Inter Milan seemed to be so happy, and did not compete with Naples, but steadily guarded inside and outside the penalty area.

But the price to pay is that in the first ten minutes, Inter Milan did not even have a threatening attack.

...

As usual, Gao Shen stood in the coach's command area and watched the players on the field play.

After seeing Sanchez's shot go wide again, he sighed a little disappointed.

When he turned around and walked back, he shook his head and smiled wryly at the assistants in the coach's bench, "Now he is making it clear that the chariots and horses are going to defend and counterattack."

Zidane nodded, "Let's see how long he can defend!"

Gao Shen smiled, this is not clear about Mourinho's current strength.

In fact, during the period from Chelsea dismissed get out of class to coaching Inter Milan, Mourinho still gained a lot of self-improvement, with plenty of battery, at least his understanding of football is one step closer.

If you really want to play defensive counterattack, he can really defend for 90 minutes.

It can even be said that the current Mourinho's ability to organize defense is estimated to be unmatched in European football.

Of course, offense is his weakness.

Facing Inter Milan's style of play, especially when counterattacking, the most important thing is to control their double centers.

The two pillars of Ibrahimovic and Adriano cannot be frozen, but they must be controlled, so that it will be difficult for Inter Milan's counterattack to be effective.

This will test the effect of the targeted training in Naples.

In the fourteenth minute, Inter Milan had a counterattack.

Imbrahimovic dropped back to catch the ball, and Adriano went to the front.

Bonucci followed immediately, and when Ibrahimovic had the ball, he caught him from behind, and Thiago Motta responded from the side, preventing the Swedish center from turning around and had to rush to the goal. The ball is passed back.

If you stay on your feet again, the ball will be lost.

Not long after, Inter launched another attack, this time with Imbrahimovic pulled wide, but this time it was Lichtsteiner who held Imbrahimovic and Bonucci blocked it Inside, Thiago Motta settled in time to return to the backline while cutting the link between Ibrahimovic and Adriano.

Rakitic also retreated in time and followed Stankovic.

This time Imbrahimovic couldn't pass the ball. When Maxwell passed back, Sanchez stabbed him first. Naples launched a quick counterattack, but Inter Milan retreated very quickly.

Obviously, both sides have arranged very targeted defensive tactics, just not wanting the opponent's offense or counterattack to be effective. On the scene, Naples has the advantage, but there are few or even no real threatening shots.

By the 18th minute, Napoli had taken seven shots, but none of them resulted in a goal.

Either the opportunity was bad, or Cesar played bravely.

This Brazilian goalkeeper really has the level of a top goalkeeper.

Gao Shen watched from the sidelines and shook his head secretly.

"It's going to be a tough fight!"

Mourinho made it clear that he must strictly guard against the defense, and Naples must find a way to break through Inter Milan's goal without making major mistakes in their own defense.

How easy is it?

Not to mention anything else, the two major centers of Ibrahimovic and Adriano are in front, who is not afraid?

Adriano is no longer at his peak?

That's still Adriano!