novelraw Chapter 577 - 394 Icardi angrily scolded De Bruyne: "Belgian mongrel, your job is to help me win the Golden Boot!
Chapter 577 - 394 Icardi angrily scolded De Bruyne: "Belgian mongrel, your job is to help me win the Golden Boot!
Manchester City and Arsenal held the UEFA Europa League final at Wembley Stadium, causing quite a stir in English football.
The main point of interest in the disturbance was the tactical battle between the two managers.
Wenger’s rogue corner kick strategy astonished everyone!
Many Premier League coaches realized that corners could be taken this way.
Originally, it was thought that the Premier League referees were the most lenient in the five major leagues, but unexpectedly, even the squeezing and blocking in the penalty area were ignored by these referees!
The coaches all gathered their set-piece coaches to start imitating Wenger’s rogue corner kick strategy.
Especially those weaker teams that struggle offensively, set-pieces often serve as a crucial weapon to break the deadlock.
With this tactic, coaches felt that there’s no need to painstakingly work on passing and cutting movements in offense, as perfecting corners means half the battle won.
Compared to Wenger, who proudly elaborated on the team’s corner strategy at the post-match press conference;
Pellegrini, on the other hand, remained tight-lipped about his tactics, dodging direct answers.
Using a smaller player to guard a bigger one?
This was unheard of in England’s century-long football history.
But no matter how much the journalists probed, Pellegrini always avoided a direct response.
His repeated evasions led to considerable skepticism from the public?
Eventually, they had to conclude that only a tactical master like Pellegrini could make such a risky strategy work!
Other teams should not attempt it lightly, lest they end up being crushed by the opponent’s tall players’ headers!
Equally shocked was Bayern’s coach Guardiola.
On that day, at midnight.
The lights in Bayern’s tactical analysis room were still on.
Guardiola and his trusted scout Raymond, who tracked Manchester City for the entire 90 minutes at Wembley Stadium during that match, were reviewing the final.
They meticulously examined each frame of the footage.
"Raymond, tell me, what was Pellegrini thinking? Could you pick up any clues on site?"
Even after repeatedly watching Manchester City’s corner defense tactics, Guardiola remained puzzled.
He couldn’t fathom why Pellegrini would employ such a tactic.
This strategy is contrary to the conventional wisdom of football development!
Even when coaching Barcelona, where players weren’t particularly tall, relatively taller players like Pique, Busquets, and Toure were key in set-piece man-marking strategies.
"I don’t get it either. If it were me, I would never use Iniesta and Messi to mark the opponent’s tall players, and Pellegrini wasn’t doing this in the first half; it just all changed suddenly in the second, easily defusing Wenger’s corner strategy!"
Raymond also told Guardiola about many on-site details not visible in the broadcast.
He told Guardiola that when Arsenal scored two goals from corners in the first half, Pellegrini looked very anxious, continuously discussing with his assistant coach;
From his furrowed brows, it was clear that Wenger’s strategy had caught him completely off guard, and Pellegrini had no preparation before the game.
"That can only mean one thing," Guardiola couldn’t help but gasp, "In just the short 15-minute halftime, this Chilean old man came up with a way to crack Wenger’s clever tricks!"
Thinking of this, Guardiola felt a wave of alarm within!
Though both South American coaches, Guardiola never took Pellegrini seriously.
In their previous encounters in La Liga, Pellegrini’s Real Madrid often lost more than won against Guardiola’s Barça.
To Guardiola, replacing Pellegrini at Manchester City next season was a perfectly normal thing.
Guardiola hoped to take this opportunity to join the Premier League, the most-watched football league in the world.
However, Pellegrini’s unexpected tactic in the second half of the English League Cup threw a cold splash of water on Guardiola, calming him down.
He couldn’t help but wonder if Bayern faced Manchester City, could our players break through this defensive system?
He also recalled that his agent once told him that Pellegrini was very unwilling to step down next season; he was determined to make a fight of it this season, and with Manchester City taking a treble under him, aiming for a contract renewal at the season’s end, Guardiola couldn’t help but feel jittery.
Raymond interjected at that moment.
"I’ve been tracking Manchester City for almost an entire season, and I know Pellegrini well; he doesn’t have enough wit to create such a bizarre tactic."
Raymond told Guardiola a detail.
When Manchester City used small players to defend against larger ones during the corner defense, there was a person, Tang Long, standing at the penalty spot, directing the movements of his teammates.
"Could it be that Tang suggested this tactic to Pellegrini during halftime?"
Tang Long’s proposed tactics?
Faced with Raymond’s speculation, Guardiola was taken aback.
He rubbed his bald head several times, pondered for ten seconds, then firmly shook his head.