One Thousand and Nineteen Keep!

Before coaching Chelsea, Di Matteo's coaching resume was not very bright.

In 2008, he coached Milton Keynes in League One and finished third in League One that season, but lost to the opponent in the play-offs for promotion to the Championship and missed the chance for promotion.

Although he failed to lead Milton Keynes to the British Championship, Di Matteo won the opportunity to coach West Bromwich Albion, a famous Premier League lifter, with a good performance of the season. team.

The so-called lift is that West Bromwich Albion travels frequently between the Premier League and the Championship.

Di Matteo led the team to the Premier League in his first season in charge, which earned him admiration, even after being promoted to the Premier League, although there are sad memories of a 6-0 away defeat to Chelsea in the first round. , but then the team quickly adjusted, once occupying the sixth place in the Premier League, beating Arsenal and drawing Manchester United away.

During that time, Di Matteo became famous and won the attention of the entire British and even European football.

But the good times didn't last long. West Bromwich Albion's relatively open style of play, but the seriously insufficient lineup made this team seriously lacking in stamina. Di Matteo coached West Bromwich Albion until two years a year. The month is over.

Last summer, after failing to apply to coach Birmingham, Di Matteo accepted Boas's invitation to become the Portuguese's chief assistant coach at Chelsea and officially returned to Stamford Bridge.

What no one thought was that Di Matteo, who was not favored by coaching Birmingham, was fired because of Boas after half a year. Instead, he became the head coach of Chelsea and led the team to the Champions League. finals.

Destiny is something that is really confusing.

Don't look at Di Matteo's coaching resume is not obvious, but his career is called the top line in Europe.

From Lazio to Chelsea, the Blues even offered Di Matteo a sky-high price of $6.8 million, which was the highest transfer fee in Chelsea's history in 1996. Even in the Premier League at that time, it was quite The high transfer fee shows that Chelsea attaches great importance to Di Matteo.

Having played for a big team for a long time, Di Matteo can be said to be well-informed, and he deeply believes in the survival rules of a big team coach.

As the head coach of a big team, especially a giant team, professional ability has never been the most important, because these can be handed over to assistants, as if Ferguson has been training and preparing for many years.

What is the most important thing for a head coach of a giant team?

manage!

To be able to hold the players on and off the court, to be able to handle the boss.

There is no problem with Boas' professional ability, and he can handle the boss, so he became Chelsea's head coach at a young age, but the problem is that he can't stabilize the players, so he was dismissed.

As for whether it was the so-called veteran team committee in Chelsea that engaged him, does it matter?

Di Matteo is very aware of this, even he has experienced it all, so the first thing he did after he became Chelsea's head coach was to stabilize the core veterans of the team committee and persuade them to support Own.

The next results are clear at a glance. When the players used their lives up and down, Chelsea made rapid progress in the Champions League.

Of course, in the Champions League knockout stage, Di Matteo also has his own set of tactics, that is, defense and counterattack.

Since the knockout stage, Di Matteo's Chelsea have basically adopted such a set of tactics, and the result is really effective, reaching the Champions League final all the way, facing Manchester City directly.

How to play against Manchester City?

As an Italian, Di Matteo decided to continue what he did best.

...

"Shou!"

On the morning of the game, in the hotel conference room where Chelsea stayed, Di Matteo solemnly announced his tactics for tonight.

This is the only way out for Chelsea.

strictly speaking,

This was not surprising, so there was not even a sound of surprise in the conference room, and everyone took it for granted.

Today's Manchester City is no longer the Manchester City of two years ago. It is only natural to play Manchester City and adopt defensive tactics.

"When we played against Bayern Munich, we had a lot of problems in the midfield, the main reason was that Bayern adopted a double-backed midfielder, that is, four-two-three-one, which is the same as us, so Lampard played alone. It was a bit difficult to play against the two midfielders, so our double midfielders had to go up one."

Heynckes is an old fox, he sees through this in the game, so let Robben and Ribery switch to cutting tactics, let Thomas Muller be more of a transition with the ball, and see if it's Mick Er or Meireles go up, whoever goes up, Thomas Muller will pass the ball to which side, and Bayern will focus on attacking that side.

This made Chelsea very passive and the scene was extremely embarrassing.

But now, Manchester City's tactics will basically remain unchanged. Busquets will definitely be delayed. David Silva and Tony Cross will team up in midfield, which is in line with Chelsea's midfield layout.

Lampard is up front, responsible for suppressing Busquets, Mikel and Meireles are behind, responsible for dealing with David Silva and Toni Kroos, three-on-three, plus Chelsea will take strict measures. Defensive tactics, the situation is in Chelsea's favour.

"Mata is responsible for assisting Ashley Cole to mark Sanchez. This Chilean winger is very strong. He can cut inside the bottom and has excellent skills with his feet. He is also very fast. Ramirez and Ivano on the right. Vic is in charge of marking Di Maria, he is faster and sharper, he is very good with the ball, and he has to be careful with Marcelo behind him."

From the point of view of the lineup configuration, Di Matteo's thinking is very clear. His right-sided Ramirez and Ivanovic are mainly defensive and resist the attacks of Marcelo and Di Maria. Pressure, and his left side is to counterattack when he finds an opportunity, so he puts Mata on this side.

Everyone knows that although Manchester City's right-back Zabaleta has attacking ability, he is not as strong as Marcelo.

For defense, there are actually many things that need to be arranged.

For example, the two central midfielders of Manchester City, David Silva and Toni Kroos, are very flexible in their positions and have a wide range of movement. They even appear directly on the flanks in many cases. Marking in the back midfield caused trouble.

Previously, Chelsea had targeted Mikel and Meireles to conduct targeted drills in response to this point. Now, the actual combat test is just around the corner. A game, who knows the outcome?

Since intensive defense is adopted, Chelsea's compact positioning is crucial. These are also repeated before the game. As the Italian head coach, Di Matteo has good achievements in this regard, and he now emphasizes the most mentality. .

"We will be in a state of passive beating without the ball for a long time, but we are not too unfamiliar with this situation, because the two games against Bayern Munich and even before we played against Barcelona The game is played like this, we can adapt to this kind of scene."

From Ranieri to Mourinho, and later Hiddink, Ancelotti and other famous coaches, this round, although Chelsea has played very well, but it has always been inseparable from the inheritance passed down over the years. Solid defense.

This is the foundation of Chelsea's foothold in European football, and it is also the magic weapon of the team.

"I believe that everyone knows that the more in this situation, the more we need to maintain a stable and patient mentality. Before playing Bayern Munich, we left too many neutral spaces for our opponents. Although there are tactical factors, But we also have problems with execution, and that requires our attention."

"Manchester City is a stronger and more fearsome team than Bayern Munich, with more attacking power and more lethal penetration. Let's not be fooled by their so-called heritage. They are European football this season, and even the world football team. One of the strongest and best teams in the altar, and even one that can be eliminated entirely."

For Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, whether it is Di Matteo or others, it is basically a compliment.

Even Ferguson, the sworn enemy, and Arsenal, who have been humiliated by Manchester City's many victories, basically give a thumbs up when they mention Manchester City.

Di Matteo said that, Chelsea's players are not disgusted, because they know very well that Chelsea is no longer at the top.

Why does Boas purge old players?

Is it because Chelsea is no longer at its peak?

Drogba, Lampard, Terry and other veterans, don't they know the team's problems?

No, they know.

The reason why they oppose Boas is because Boas refuses to give respect to these veterans.

Even if your head coach does not give us respect, then we will make you respectable.

In the end, Boas was basically unable to change the situation. He was fired sooner or later, and the club management's cost considerations.

Now, Di Matteo told the players the horror of Manchester City, just wanted to warn the players that Chelsea can only have a chance to beat Manchester City, a formidable opponent, only if they are united, and only if the players and the manager work closely together.

You know, in the past two seasons, Chelsea have never won against Manchester City.

Although the Champions League final has never been superstitious about past records, Manchester City does have an advantage on a psychological level, and Chelsea can only have a chance if they work hard.

The whole meeting lasted for more than an hour, and Di Matteo had been repeatedly emphasizing defense. He only briefly mentioned how to counterattack and attack, and did not explain in depth.

Whether it is against Di Matteo or against Chelsea, the most important task in this Champions League final is defense. As for how to counterattack and how to attack, this is not something that can be considered before the game.

Di Matteo has arranged several targeted counter-attack lines in the previous training, and then it will depend on the players on the spot and what kind of tactics Manchester City will play in the game.

Both teams are very familiar with each other, and basically there will be no surprise soldiers. The key is to look at targeted tactics.