Chapter 666 Welcome to Hell, Gentlemen!

Benitez always appears in front of the fans in a suit. Ye Qiu once joked that the Spanish fat man can only be seen in a suit. Benitez countered that this is his attitude towards football. At least he is not like some people who have too many thoughts.

The night in early autumn is not particularly cold, and London is not as humid as Liverpool, a port city.

Benitez stepped on the grass of White Hart Lane, which was soft and comfortable. Although he was dissatisfied with Ye Qiu and Tottenham Hotspur, he still admired the field very much, because White Hart Lane was always so comfortable and always in a state of grass that was most suitable for playing football.

Of course, he would not think that Ye Qiu and Tottenham Hotspur were fair and aboveboard, mainly because these bastards had higher requirements for grass than all other teams. If the grass was too bad, the visiting team might not be injured, but they would definitely suffer.

For this game, Fatty Bei has been so busy these days that he has no time to shave. He has watched all the games of Tottenham Hotspur this season. He has to admit that he is very troubled by this North London team.

Playing Manchester United and Manchester City are two very different styles. Manchester United's defeat was mainly due to Ferguson's carelessness. After the opening, they were directly suppressed by Tottenham Hotspur and the rhythm was completely controlled. After that, Manchester United chose to go head-to-head, and the result was a crushing defeat.

Manchester City is different. Mancini consciously wants to attack Tottenham Hotspur's two flanks, obviously targeting Pirlo's single defensive midfielder, but the Italian obviously did not notice the changes in Tottenham Hotspur's defensive system in the past two years. Tottenham Hotspur is best at attacking the two flanks. Will Ye Qiu let his two flanks be exposed and ignore it?

If Benítez were to make an evaluation, this season's Tottenham Hotspur is more balanced and more difficult to deal with than the Tottenham Hotspur last season with Fabregas, David Silva and Yaya Toure.

When playing against weak teams, Tottenham Hotspur can fully unleash the powerful offensive power brought by the single defensive midfielder. They can be fearless because they have an absolute advantage in strength, so the single defensive midfielder will not be a problem, but will become an effective weapon for Tottenham Hotspur to play more fierce offensive football.

Because others have two defensive midfielders, you have a single defensive midfielder, which means you have invested one more person on the offensive end.

Of course, playing against weak teams is not a skill, but playing against strong teams is the key to reflecting the core combat effectiveness of a team.

It is a headache for strong teams to play against Tottenham Hotspur because they are very balanced and they are not afraid of you pressing out. The reason is simple. Their offense is very good. If you press out, it is beneficial to them. Moreover, their biggest change this season is that the switch between offense and defense is very fast, and the offense is very impactful.

But they are not afraid of you retreating to defense. When you retreat to defense, they will quickly switch to ball possession tactics, through back and forth, quick and concise passing and cooperation in the front court, constant running and pulling, especially the sudden change of rhythm. Even if you have no loopholes, they will do everything possible to help you create loopholes and attack them.

So, in theory, this Tottenham Hotspur has no weaknesses in offense and defense. They can fight both positional warfare and offensive warfare, and have almost no weaknesses. They can play fast and fiercely, or take a slow and leisurely ball control and cutting. More importantly, they can switch back and forth between multiple styles of tactics.

I will play whatever tactics are effective. See if you can adapt and keep up with me. If not, you are finished!

Balanced teams have appeared before, such as Ye Qiu and Mourinho's Chelsea, Ferguson's Manchester United, and Arsenal in the unbeaten season. These teams at that time were very balanced, but the problem is that these balanced teams are not as good as Tottenham Hotspur now in terms of diversification of offensive means and switching back and forth between different styles.

In other words, their balance is reflected in their ability to attack and defend, but you can't ask them to play Barcelona-style ball control and Real Madrid-style offensive at the same time. This is impossible.

But Tottenham Hotspur is not as good as Barcelona in ball control, not as good as Real Madrid in impact, and not as good as Dortmund in high-intensity pressure and active running, but it has achieved a certain balance in these multiple styles, can switch back and forth between multiple styles, and do quite well.

At first glance, you will find that they have many weaknesses, such as full-backs who are better at attacking than defending, such as a single defensive midfielder, such as defensive protection at the front of the penalty area, etc., but in fact, when you wait for the game, you will suddenly find that you can't find these loopholes because they cover them up very well.

So, it is not impossible for you to beat such a team, because there is no team that cannot be defeated in this world, and there is no tactic that will always win, but you will find that all the ways you can beat this team will not have a high success rate, or even very low, or you can only wait until their players are in a state of decline to have enough chances of winning.

Perfect?

No, this team is not perfect, but it is very balanced. It can make up for its local weaknesses and shortcomings with its comprehensiveness, and even make up for the poor condition of players in individual positions with the cooperation of all players.

In the past half month, Benítez has been thinking about a problem, that is, how to improve the chances of beating Tottenham Hotspur. He found this to be a very interesting paradox.

Theoretically, there is a way, that is to reduce Tottenham's possession rate, reduce their pass success rate, and limit their running routes.

But to achieve these points, you must not be conservative first, you must press out, but the problem is that after you press out, you may not have curbed their possession rate and pass rate, and they have already broken your goal. What should you do at this time?

And it is foreseeable that Benítez wants to reduce Tottenham's possession rate and pass success rate. Doesn't Ye Qiu want to? He can even imagine that Ye Qiu was probably still emphasizing this point to the players in the locker room just now.

In fact, at first glance, Liverpool and Tottenham have many similarities.

In the front court trident, Tottenham is a combination of Ribery, Cavani and Messi, while Liverpool is a combination of Mata, Suarez and Villa. Among them, Messi and Villa have similar roles, and Suarez and Villa are also close to the configuration and tactical role of Ribery and Cavani.

Of course, this is from a tactical perspective, not to mention individual performance.

The biggest gap between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur is in the midfield!

Benítez just said in the locker room that Liverpool will surely die if they cannot suppress Tottenham Hotspur's midfield!

Sometimes the head coach must make a choice, even if there is no choice, even if you cannot guarantee whether you are sure, but you must make a choice and give all the players a clear answer so that they know what to do.

The reason why Mancini lost miserably is because he did not make his answer clear.

Because of this, Benítez chose to continue to follow his usual style of play in the past, and adopted this high-intensity midfield pressure after the opening, striving to suppress Tottenham Hotspur, or at least try to curb Tottenham Hotspur's state and offensive.

One thing that must be mentioned here is that the so-called poor state is actually a relative statement.

Suppose Tottenham Hotspur was contained by Liverpool's high-intensity pressure and pressing after the opening, and played in a very uncomfortable state throughout the game, unable to make an effective resistance. Even if they showed a good state before the game, it would be useless, and they would still be said to be in poor condition after the game.

Therefore, the state is closely related to the team's performance in the game.

Benítez paced back and forth in the visiting team coach command area on the sidelines, waiting for the referee to blow the whistle. His right hand was holding the stubble on his upper lip and chin, which was a bit prickly, but his attention was all on the game.

The referee of this game was the famous Premier League referee Philip Dodd. At this moment, he stood outside the center circle of the White Hart Lane Stadium, silently looking at the watch on his wrist, holding the whistle in his mouth, while Suarez and Villa in the center circle sandwiched the ball in the middle, jumped a few times on the spot, and moved their bodies.

With Philip Dodd's whistle, Suarez quickly kicked the ball to Villa, who knocked it back, and the game began!

Although it was an away game, Liverpool did not play conservatively at the beginning. They took advantage of the kick-off opportunity to attack Tottenham Hotspur from the beginning. The trident was very close to the front, especially Suarez and Villa, who looked more like two strikers, while Juan Mata was responsible for holding the ball and organizing.

Tottenham Hotspur also has rich experience in dealing with such situations. The defense line still stood in the 30-meter area at the beginning, and the entire midfield and frontcourt retreated appropriately to keep the formation compact and orderly.

Liverpool tried to attack Tottenham Hotspur's defensive formation, but failed to achieve results twice in a row. As soon as the ball entered Tottenham Hotspur's half, it seemed to hit a copper wall and had to pass it back. As long as the trident in the frontcourt got the ball, there was no chance to turn around.

It was not until the second minute that Tottenham Hotspur really had a chance to get the ball. Ramsey wanted to pass the ball directly to Carragher and Skrtel, but Carragher intercepted the ball steadily, and the ball was once again in Liverpool's hands.

After a little organization, Liverpool launched another round of attack. This time they seemed to play more patiently. Juan Mata retreated appropriately, Gerrard passed the ball to his feet, and after taking the ball and turning around, he finally got a chance to face Pirlo. The Spaniard dribbled the ball into Pirlo's defense zone.

In a one-on-one situation, Pirlo suffered a lot and failed to effectively organize Mata's dribbling forward. When the Spaniard rushed to the front of the defense line, he directly passed the ball through the gap between Thiago Silva and Kompany that was pulled too large, and Suarez quickly inserted from behind.

At this moment, more than 30,000 Tottenham fans in the entire White Hart Lane stadium screamed in surprise, but at the critical moment, Peter Cech abandoned the goal and rushed out of the small penalty area, rushing before Suarez, falling to the ground and catching the ball in his arms, defusing a threatening attack by Liverpool.

Cech got up from the ground, the ball in his arms, and shouted to Thiago Silva and Kompany in front of him, thinking that the distance between the two teammates was a bit too far, especially Kompany, who was too far to the left.

The latter shook his head apologetically, saying that he was worried that Villa would attack Marcelo's area, and he must be careful next time.

There is no defense in the world that will not make mistakes, because the opponent keeps pulling you and moving you by passing the ball, you will definitely expose problems. The key is whether your defensive switching and movement can effectively target the opponent's attack.

Ye Qiu also frowned on the sidelines. Juan Mata could play on the left, but this time he suddenly moved to the middle, retreated to get the ball, turned around and attacked Pirlo head-on. This was a wake-up call.

"Arturo!" Ye Qiu walked to the sidelines and shouted at Vidal, and at the same time made a gesture for him to retreat appropriately. This was to tell Vidal that you were a little far away from Pirlo just now.

Ramsey also noticed this. He and Vidal were indeed a little forward and separated from Pirlo, resulting in Juan Mata getting the ball in the middle area between them and Pirlo after Liverpool passed the ball, and then turning around and attacking Pirlo head-on. This was indeed very dangerous. If it weren't for Cech's decisive attack, this ball would have been a one-on-one!

The two midfielders looked at each other, realized their mistakes, and exchanged glances.

The game restarted, Liverpool pressed hard, the trident formed a suppression in the frontcourt, Kompany just got the ball, Suarez pressed up, he didn't dare to pass it to Cech, worried about making mistakes, so he passed it to Marcelo on the left.

The Brazilian left back ran back and got the ball at the edge of the penalty area, but his back was facing the attacker, and Villa blocked Marcelo with his body.

Marcelo was small and flexible, and Villa was not bad either, and he never let Marcelo turn around and get rid of him. The Brazilian had no choice but to turn around and force a long kick. The ball was passed to the frontcourt, but Glen Johnson overpowered Ribery and headed the ball back to the midfield.

Gerrard got the ball and prepared to attack head-on, but Ramsey blocked him. The Liverpool captain passed the ball horizontally to Javier Martinez, but Pirlo left his position immediately to head it up, because he was closer to Martinez, and Vidal was waiting for an opportunity to ambush in a position a little behind.

Martinez was intercepted by Pirlo, with Ramsey next to Gerrard on the right and Jose Enrique on the left, so he turned sideways to the left and passed the ball to Jose Enrique on the left.

But he regretted it as soon as he passed the ball, because he found that Vidal rushed up quickly from behind, as if he had expected him to pass to the left, and intercepted the ball halfway, and after intercepting the ball, he quickly rushed forward with the ball.

Tottenham Hotspur completed the switch from defense to offense almost in the blink of an eye. Vidal rushed into Liverpool's half with the ball, attracting the entire midfield of the Red Army. Messi and Ribery rushed to the front. Cavani faced the attacker, but deliberately slowed down and waited for Vidal's pass behind him.

Seeing Cavani running slowly, Vidal deliberately placed himself between the two central defenders and the midfielder. He realized the opportunity and passed the ball to Cavani's right side. The Uruguayan kept looking back while running forward. When the ball came, he just controlled it with his right foot, but the whole advancement speed did not slow down.

The middle became two on two, Carragher and Skrtel faced Cavani and Messi. This was a very good opportunity. There were even many Tottenham fans in the stands who had stood up and were ready to shout for a goal.

Cavani was about five meters away from the arc. He saw that Skrtel and Carragher were consciously trying to catch up. José Enrique and Lucas were retreating quickly. The opportunity was fleeting, so he suddenly slowed down, which scared Skrtel, thinking that he was going to shoot from a distance.

Just as Skrtel rushed over, Cavani made a diagonal pass with his right foot to the right side of the arc area. When Messi stopped the ball, Jose Enrique was already in front of him, but Messi dribbled the ball to the left with his right foot, dribbled past Jose Enrique, and swung his left foot directly to shoot a curved ball.

Messi's entire shooting process was clean and neat, without any drag, and the angle of the ball was also very tricky. It passed over the head of goalkeeper Reina along an arc and fell into the left side of the goal, 1:0!

"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"

"Less than five minutes into the game, Tottenham Hotspur knocked on Liverpool's goal. This was the strongest and most powerful revenge for Liverpool's one-on-one goal just now. Tottenham Hotspur was obviously telling the Liverpool players who came to the away game with facts, welcome to hell, gentlemen!"

The entire White Hart Lane stadium was filled with overwhelming cheers. Almost everyone was crazy about Tottenham Hotspur's goal. This was a very fast counterattack goal with exquisite coordination. If it is said that on the offensive end, Tottenham Hotspur's past delicate coordination was not reflected, then on the defensive end, you can clearly see the huge net woven by Tottenham Hotspur players.

Through this huge net, they caught all of Liverpool's passes and offensive routes, cut them off, and even gave a strong counterattack!

Benítez stomped his feet angrily as he watched from the sidelines. He had just missed a good chance to score a goal alone. He was still thinking that he should have another chance, but when he turned around, Tottenham Hotspur scored in less than a minute, which dealt a big blow to Liverpool.

But Benítez is a famous coach after all. He quickly realized the problem. He knew very well that Tottenham Hotspur was best at this kind of rhythm war. Liverpool just pressed hard and launched a round of fierce attacks, but now Tottenham Hotspur has the upper hand and Liverpool must take a defensive position.

Seizing the opportunity to pursue victory has always been the creed of Tottenham Hotspur and Ye Qiu.

Just when Benítez called on the players to stabilize the defense, Tottenham Hotspur really launched a rush attack on Liverpool, and the whole situation was completely reversed.