Once upon a time, if those reporters or football commentators wanted to praise Tottenham Hotspur, it was very simple. They just needed to praise the team's offense and let you praise it, even if you praised its offense as if it were a flower.

But this time the situation changed significantly, because everyone found that in the first leg of Barcelona, ​​Tottenham Hotspur performed the best in their defense. In fact, in the past season, Tottenham Hotspur's defense has always been quite steady.

Barcelona's football godfather Cruyff commented in his post-match column, believing that one of the important reasons why Barcelona failed to perform well on the offensive end is the failure of the propulsive pass.

"We have a ball possession rate of nearly UU% in this game. At first glance, our ball possession time and pass success rate are better than Tottenham Hotspur, but if we pay attention to other data, we will find that we are not as good as our opponents in terms of shooting times, threatening passes, or even in the number of times we have scored into the opponent's 30-meter area."

"One of the important reasons for this huge gap is that our possession rate is more piled up by crossing and back-passing. In the past, we were able to create threatening propulsion passes, such as straight passes. We did a very bad job in this game and we couldn't pass through Tottenham Hotspur's defense through effective penetration."

"Ye Qiu is very familiar with and understands Barcelona's tactics. Although Tottenham Hotspur was based on defense in the first half of this game, he did not shrink the defense line. Instead, he compressed our ball space through effective midfield and frontcourt retreat, forcing our players to be in a difficult situation of being attacked from both sides."

"In the game, I also noticed that Tottenham Hotspur's defense is highly varied and targeted, with blocking, pressing, and standing. They can effectively organize a targeted and elastic multi-level composite defensive system in a very short time, at extremely fast speed and tacit understanding of the running position."

"This defensive system makes our players feel uncomfortable, especially Van Persie, who cannot get effective passes, and after finally getting a pass, he cannot give a threatening pass. Our midfielders Xavi and Iniesta are also strictly controlled by their opponents, which makes it impossible for us to form an effective offensive threat in the game."

"I noticed that there are a lot of people who would accuse Tottenham of becoming conservative, but what I want to say is that this is not a conservative and negative tactic, but instead, it should sound the alarm bell, that is, is our excessive, unnecessary possession, already familiar with our competitors and cracked by them?

"And we must also be clear that in the past, we always said that Tottenham Hotspur was a team that was stronger than defense. This season, Tottenham Hotspur's offense is still extremely sharp, but their defense has made great progress and improvement, which means that the team's combat effectiveness is better than ever before."

"It can be said that this defeat at White Hart Lane Stadium has clearly seen the progress of Tottenham Hotspur, and also shows that although we have made progress compared to the progress of our opponents, the progress is not much and we are lagging behind our opponents."

At the end of the column, Cruyff also advised Guardiola, "The second leg is only one week, and we have absolutely reason to believe that after a week, the Tottenham Hotspur we are facing is still a very difficult team. At that time, will we have enough ability and enough ways to break through their defense?"

Regarding Cruyff's questions, it is also a common question for a lot of Spanish journalists and fans, and even football reporters and fans around the world. Guardiola said in an interview that he firmly believes that the team can defeat his opponent at the Camp Nou Stadium.

After finishing the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals knockout match at White Hart Lane Stadium, the winners and losses were decided one after another in several other games. Among them, Ye Qiu was most concerned about the game between Bayern Munich and Manchester United, and Van Gaal's team reversed Manchester United at the Allianz Stadium with the goals of Robben and Olic.

What was eye-catching in this game was that Manchester United broke through Bayern Munich's goal less than a minute after the opening. Although they were eventually reversed by Bayern Munich, Manchester United's overall performance was still quite good. With Manchester United's strength, returning to Old Trafford Stadium and a away goal, the possibility of advancing is still quite high.

However, Ferguson's team welcomed Chelsea, who is currently ranked second in the Premier League standings in the Premier League standings.

Goalkeeper Van der Sar, defense line Rafael, Vidic, Brown and O'Shea, midfielder Giggs, Scholes, Fletcher, Park Jisung and Valencia, and single striker Irving.

I believe that the first feeling of all those who have won this starting list of Manchester United is that Manchester United intends to use him to get rid of Chelsea?

In contrast, Ancelotti has shown all the main players in this game.

The goalkeepers are Cesar, defense line Jerkov, Alex, Terry and Ferreira, midfielders are Maluda, Barak, Essin and Ashavin, and the double strikers are Drogba and Anelka.

Although it was a away game, the Blues are strong. In recent times, Ancelotti's team has been eliminated from the Champions League and can concentrate all its energy on playing in the Premier League, making Ancelotti's team perform very well in the Premier League, frequently defeating opponents with big scores, showing their good competitive state.

In fact, at the beginning of Old Trafford, Manchester United was in a passive state of being beaten. Ferguson seemed to be mentally prepared for this situation. Although he was actively adjusting, he never found an effective solution. In the 20th minute, Chelsea, Ashavin, took the lead in breaking Manchester United's goal.

After that, the two sides changed sides and fought again, but Manchester United's performance still did not improve. On the other hand, Chelsea won another goal with Drogba and temporarily led Manchester United away from home. Then Ferguson made a substitution adjustment, replaced Scholes with Nani, replaced Park Ji-sung with Weirbeck, and further strengthened the offense.

Although Manchester United scored a goal, they were unable to break through Chelsea's goal again and could only suffer a loss at Old Trafford Stadium, which almost completely lost the power to compete for the league championship.

Of course, although there was the so-called right to compete for the league championship before, you should know that it was just a right that was verbal and theoretical. It was more than ten points behind Tottenham Hotspur. Manchester United knew very well that there was no hope for the league championship.

It is precisely because he is very clear about this that Ferguson gave up the league in this game because he has to focus on the Champions League, which is his most persistent pursuit in recent years and his most realistic goal now.

In Ferguson's view, the most powerful contender for the Premier League championship this season should be Tottenham Hotspur. After all, it is 12 points ahead of Chelsea. This advantage is still quite large, but their biggest problem is the devil's schedule.

If Tottenham accidentally capsizes in the gutter, then Chelsea will become the biggest beneficiary. Ancelotti's team is currently only left to compete for the league championship. Because of this, they can concentrate all their energy on playing every league game, while Manchester United and Tottenham still need to be distracted by the Champions League.

At this point, Chelsea has taken a big advantage.

"How is the situation on the Light Stadium?" After the whistle at the end of the game sounded, Ferguson walked back to the coach's seat with some excitement and asked his assistant Perrin about the latest news.

"Tottenham Hotspur played in a very embarrassing manner. It didn't score until the 83rd minute, and Sunderland won 0." Perrin felt that this was definitely not good news, because Tottenham Hotspur won and Manchester United lost, which almost means that Manchester United can be completely desperate for the league championship.

After hearing this, Ferguson closed his eyes, but breathed heavily, as if he had completely put down a stone in his heart.

If Tottenham Hotspur loses, he may begin to regret his choice, but now that Tottenham Hotspur wins, it means that his choice is right. Whether it is a loss or a win or a win, Manchester United's hope for a league championship is very slim.

With five rounds left in the Premier League, the lead is 12 points, which is not at all safe for Tottenham Hotspur.

The second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals knockout match against Barcelona away from home in the mid-week ushered in the North London derby on the weekend, and then took a week off and immediately welcomed Chelsea. This battle is the final battle of life and death. If Tottenham Hotspur can eliminate Barcelona smoothly, after three days of playing Chelsea, the first leg of the semi-finals will be immediately ushered in.

Ferguson hopes that in that game, Tottenham Hotspur's opponent is Manchester United led by him, which is very difficult, but he has absolute confidence, because the away score is definitely not a nightmare for Manchester United.

He gave up this game against Chelsea in order to play the decisive battle between home and Bayern Munich

"Ye Qiu, Ye Qiu, although you gave me a league championship back then, don't blame me for not remembering the kindness that day." Ferguson felt very good when he thought of Ye Qiu and Tottenham Hotspur schedule.

To be honest, playing so many games in just one month is not a problem for top teams like Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, but the real problem is that playing so many games, all you encounter are strong teams that are not inferior to yours, that is a nightmare.

Fortunately, it was not Ferguson and his Manchester United who had the nightmare, but his opponent

"Good luck, Ye Qiu," Ferguson said with a little gloating smile.

Wednesday, April 7, cloudy

Ye Qiu should be one of the less popular head coaches at the Camp Nou Stadium. After all, Barcelona fans are far from the level of hatred of him to Mourinho, but they still booed the moment Tottenham Hotspur entered the stadium, especially in the stands, where remarks that humiliate Ye Qiu were everywhere.

It's nothing more than that many fans think that Tottenham Hotspur's first leg was too conservative and soft.

These days, the head coach is not easy to be a good coach. Not only do you have to win, but you also have to win beautifully. It is best to win, so that your opponents admire you, otherwise they will definitely not be convinced, but is this possible?

In this game, Tottenham Hotspur still adopted the first round defensive counterattack tactic, because Ye Qiu could feel that the team's condition was not very good. Whether it was the main players Messi, Ribery, or others, they were in very ordinary state. In this case, visiting the Camp Nou Stadium, stoking himself will only make him stupid.

And Ye Qiu didn't dare to be careless at all. At least he knew very well that in the past week, how to crack Tottenham Hotspur's defense has become an important issue for the Barcelona coaching staff and even all Barcelona people.

In fact, Guardiola still gave the answer.

There are two interesting changes in Barcelona's game. One is that Van Persie was pulled to the right and replaced Alexis Sanchez. This position has not been played for Van Persie for a long time, but it is not unfamiliar.

Another obvious change is that Henry returned to the starting lineup and played as a center.

But there is a saying that is right: tactical formations are dead, but humans are alive.

Although Henry plays in the middle, Van Persie plays in the right, and Pedro plays in the left, in fact, when it comes to the game, everyone will be surprised to find that their positions are often interchangeable, Pedro often cuts into the middle, while Henry frequently moves from the middle to the left side he is familiar with to get the ball, and then attacks the middle side in turn.

Although Van Persie played on the right, he actually moved almost all the way on Tottenham's right rib.

At the beginning of the game, Barcelona pulled Tottenham's defense through this fast shift, and soon used Henry to pull to the left rib and then suddenly penetrated the penalty area, attracting Thiago Silva's attention. Then Van Persie suddenly rushed into the penalty area from the right rib. After receiving Pedro's pass, he stopped the ball accurately and shot, almost piercing through Tottenham's goal.

Fortunately, Cech reacted very quickly and directly pushed the ball out of the crossbar.

Although the goal failed to score, Tottenham and Hotspur were shocked and sweated all over the place.

But one minute later, Barcelona's offensive made a comeback again, and it was still the same routine. It still created a gap through the transfer between Henry, Pedro and Van Persie. However, this time, Iniesta was disturbed by Yaya Toure when he got the ball and failed to get the ball in time, causing Pedro, who had already reached the gap, to waste a good scoring opportunity.

Two consecutive waves of attacks have achieved quite good results.

In addition to the pulling and transfer of the three-man in the frontcourt, Barcelona has another very obvious change, that is, it has strengthened the pressing force against Tottenham Hotspur. In order to achieve a better pressing effect, Barcelona's defense line directly pressed forward and leaned forward.

In fact, Guardiola's strategy is also very smart.

The first leg is behind 0, and Barcelona has only one way to go for home games in the second leg, that is, to be deadly offensive. It can even be said that defense is secondary to Barcelona now. If you cannot score a goal, no matter how good the defense is, it will be useless. Therefore, Guardiola will attack after the start.

Of course, the purpose of strengthening the counter-attack on the spot is to ensure defense, because Barcelona also has to consider another situation, that is, if they score another goal by Tottenham Hotspur, even if they score only one, they will lose even if they score three goals.

In fact, the interesting thing about the two-leg matches in the Champions League knockout stage is that no matter what the score in the first leg is, the second leg will become very complicated. So, according to common sense, Tottenham Hotspur should play snatch, because as long as Tottenham Hotspur scores another goal, Barcelona will have to score four goals to advance.

Therefore, Guardiola's attack tactics are full of multiple strategic purposes.

Ye Qiu is also very clear about the current situation. A away goal is the biggest initiative that Tottenham Hotspur has and is also a magic weapon to win. With just one away goal, Barcelona will be finished, but you know, Guardiola also knows, so he judged before the game that it will not be easy to play at the beginning, because Barcelona will desperately seize the initiative.

There is a saying that goes: soft people are afraid of hard people, hard people are afraid of being arrogant, straight people are afraid of being stupid, stupid people are afraid of being desperate.

The most difficult opponent in the world is the kind of guy who is desperate and who is willing to fight with you. So when Barcelona launches a desperate attack, presses the defense line up, blocks and presses Tottenham Hotspur, Tottenham Hotspur still inevitably falls into a passive position.

Especially when the game reached the fifteenth minute, Barcelona finally seized an opportunity after crazy attacks and pressing. After Iniesta, Pedro and Xavi made consecutive two-pass and one-to-one-slamming cooperation, Iniesta drifted past Thiago Silva who was robbing and passed directly behind him. Van Persie followed up and pushed the ball and pierced through Cech's goal.

The entire Camp Nou Stadium was completely boiling, and all Barcelona fans were celebrating the goal wildly.

The total score has reached the end. In other words, Barcelona still has a chance. As long as they score another goal, they can equalize the total score and both sides can return to the same starting line.

It seemed as if I saw this layer of hope. After the goal, Barcelona continued to launch a desperate attack, and even once they almost tied the total score. Puyol made a cross from the right, Van Persie stopped the ball and returned, Iniesta shot at the front of the penalty area, but the ball rubbed against the crossbar and went out of the baseline.

For a moment, Barcelona's offensive was like a storm, while Tottenham Hotspur's goal was in a panic and shaky way.
Chapter completed!