Chapter 63 First, we have to attack, and second, pass the damn ball to Kane

Chapter 63 First, we have to attack, and second, pass the damn ball to Kane

Chapter 63 First, we have to attack, and second, pass the damn ball to Kane
Confident, flamboyant, and domineering.

Li Chen's words silenced the English players present.

After three days of initial interaction, some English players who had never worked with Li Chen before have already realized that Li Chen is indeed a man of his words.

So now that he starts to emphasize team discipline, if anyone dares to disobey his decisions or rules during the World Cup, the consequences will be self-evident.

Li Chen looked around at the players who were listening to his speech attentively, and continued to remind him with satisfaction:
"If you want to make a difference in this team and bring England the glory it has long missed, you must discipline and demand more of yourselves than usual.

England fans all over the world are now focusing on you 26 people. We won't talk about holding back. You have to remember that we have to fight for victory from the first group match! Until the final battle, you must have this awareness, understand? "

"understand!"

"Got it, boss!"

All the English players at the scene responded to Li Chen at the top of their lungs, and for a moment the momentum was quite strong.

Li Chen nodded and looked at the players again, then signaled them to start warming up under the guidance of the physical trainer.

He himself took over the tactical content to be practiced today from Carrick and reviewed it.

"They are like a group of high school students facing a rigorous exam. To be honest, Li, I didn't expect that we would have such a start in the national team."

Carrick said this with some emotion as he looked at the English players who were warming up seriously on the training ground.

This group of England internationals is very different to those of their era.

There is no leader in the team, or rather, there is no leader with obvious temperament.

Carrick sees the young players who are always criticized by the media as just "good kids" who have done something slightly out of line.

At least compared to many international players of their era, these young players are not troublemakers at all.

Gathering and throwing parties were things they were tired of at that time. Just think about how much Rooney spent on partying when he was in his teens...

Of course, Carrick didn't want to tell Li Chen that the current group of England internationals are no longer so difficult to manage.

He was just lamenting the difference in times.

I was also impressed that their temporary coaching team was able to take over the entire British national team so smoothly.

"They have no choice, and everything depends on results. Don't think these guys are easy to manage now. After the first group match, if the results are not satisfactory, you will know what it means to make trouble."

Li Chen finished reading the tactical content and felt that there was no problem, so he slapped the tactical book back into Carrick's arms.

He is very happy with the current relationship between himself and the players in the England national team.

The communication is smooth, and there are channels for exchange and feedback, but it is not overly familiar - even the players who played under Li Chen in the past or now have to achieve this level on the surface.

Because Li Chen does not want to be a "close friend" of these players, he wants these players to stay mentally focused and moderately tense as much as possible in the next month.

They cannot be allowed to be in a too relaxed environment for preparation and socializing, so he must be dignified and keep a distance from these players.

In the following tactical drill session, Li Chen spoke directly and mercilessly, criticizing some of the young English players who did not meet his requirements, causing them to lose their balance.

This includes Sancho, who has been playing awkwardly under Ten Hag in the new season and has performed far worse than last season.

"Do you need me to teach you what organizational awareness is? How long do you want to stick with the ball?
Damn it! If you keep playing like shit, Jaden, I make sure you don't get a single minute of playing time under me!"

Li Chen's merciless scolding and criticism made Sancho turn pale.

But this kid didn't dare to show Li Chen his displeasure.

Because if Li Chen had not gone against the crowd and kicked Mount out at the last minute and allowed him to be selected for the national team, he would not even have the chance to come to Doha now.

It can be said that after Li Chen took over and saved him midway through last season, he once again forced him into the World Cup roster.

For such a favor, let alone scolding him in public, even if Li Chen hit him a few times he would just take it obediently.

The current situation of Sancho being criticized made several other English players who had never worked with Li Chen before feel nervous.

In this situation, they all understand that the training ground is not the time for them to take the initiative and highlight their technical expertise.

Since Li Chen only wants to see the actual results of the tactical drill, they will just play their tactical roles obediently.

Over the next three days, the England national team, which was in closed training, managed to transform themselves into a team that was more like Serie A under strict tactical discipline.

Li Chen has very high defensive requirements for the entire midfield.

This resulted in the older Henderson and Foden, who was not very effective in returning to defense, being quickly excluded from the starting midfield roster by the coaching staff.

Sean Longstaff, Rice and Bellingham became the fixed midfield trio used by Li Chen.

If nothing unexpected happens, Li Chen will use such a three-midfield combination in his first match in the World Cup group stage.

With these three players as the starting pair, there is no need to worry about the defensive intensity and the ability to advance the offense through the middle, but the level of organization on the offensive end may be a little lacking.

But Li Chen has Maddison, who has successfully transformed into a winger, so he and the entire England coaching staff are not worried about this issue.

With Madison set to take up a starting position in the front trident, the starting lineups for the other two front positions will also be very clear.

That's Kane and Saka.

Madison on the left took the ball and organized the attack, Kane was in the middle and tried his best to score, while Saka on the right was the super explosive point.

It also requires a comprehensive balance.

On the defensive line, Li Chen does not intend to move the starting central defender combination of Maguire and Stones.

The two performed quite well under Southgate and cooperated well.

In addition, the midfield's defensive coverage ability is outstanding, so Li Chen is not worried that Maguire will make any outrageous mistakes under the opponent's targeted pressure.

Luke Shaw starts at left back and Ben White starts at right back. This starting duo of full-backs are of suitable age and ability.

Trippier, Kyle Walker and Dan Burn give Li Chen more personnel options and more tactical fallbacks.

Li Chen is confident that he can use his full-backs to help the team create more advantages in the knockout stage, which emphasizes tactical changes.

Li Chen has no intention of changing Pickford's starting goalkeeper position. He still follows the idea instilled in him by Mourinho that stability is the most important thing for defense and stability is above all else.

Adjustments and changes should be made more in the midfield and frontcourt, as the defense line cannot be easily adjusted.

On November 11th, the England team, which finally semi-opened its training ground, attracted many media reporters to interview them.

However, under Li Chen's ban, the players of the British national team did not disclose any training content to the outside world. At most, they smiled and said hello to the camera.

Carrick was once again pushed out by Li Chen to act as his spokesperson, and he said some routine nonsense that was not very meaningful.

The English media, which did not get much substantive interview content, could only make a fuss about the expressions on the players' faces. Some so-called industry experts jumped out again and analyzed the current preparations of the England team.

The only thing that reassured English fans was that the vast majority of English players behaved calmly and without much nervousness in front of the camera.

This is not good news for the Iranian team, which is still hoping to take advantage of England's temporary change of coach.

Queiroz, the head coach of the Iranian national team, praised Li Chen's coaching ability at the pre-match press conference.

He then made it clear that he would lead Iran to play the tough style of West Asian football and would never retreat on the field because of the fame of the British national team.

In contrast, Li Chen did not express so much determination, but just calmly expressed that he was quite satisfied with the team's recent training situation.

Finally, he made the usual speech, expressing his hope that he and the Iranian team would provide fans with a good viewing experience.

This calm attitude, which seemed to show that Iran was not regarded as a major opponent, immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of Iranian fans.

Many Iranian fans even posted on social media that Li Chen did not respect Asian football enough, which made other fans laugh and cry.

At nine o'clock that evening (Qatar time), after the grand opening ceremony, host Qatar and their opponents Ecuador made their first appearance, opening the audio-visual feast of this World Cup.

But the final result was not good at all for the host.

Qatar did not have a single shot on target in the entire game and ultimately lost 0-2 at home.

The Saudi prince, who anxiously spread his hands at the scene, became the talk of the fans that night and the next morning.

Because the content of the game was really boring, not many fans talked about it, and it was not really that exciting.

Fans around the world are looking forward to the three games on November 11st.

Several strong teams in current football will appear, including England, Senegal and the Netherlands.

Among them, the match between Senegal and the Netherlands has been long awaited by fans.

The King of Africa versus the Uncrowned King of Europe, this is definitely a powerful dialogue.

But in terms of topicality, the performance of England after the temporary change of coach has attracted more attention from the media.

The match between England and Iran will also start on November 11st.

At 4 p.m. local time in Qatar, the Khalifa International Stadium was already packed.

This renovated stadium uses an advanced cooling system to keep the players' body temperature at around 24 degrees.

Compared to the temperature in England this month, the temperature at Khalifa Stadium today is enough to make the England players feel warm.

This will naturally be more conducive to their performance - as long as the temperature control system of the stadium is not malfunctioning.

After completing the pre-game ceremony, the starting players of both teams quickly took their positions on the court.

England's clear decision to play in a 433 formation today immediately piqued the interest of the fans watching the game.

After all, in the eight national team warm-up matches in the past year, the England national team basically played in 343 and 4231 starting formations.

The only game in which they used a 433 starting formation was a 0-4 loss to Hungary.

It can be said that under Southgate's command, the British national team really does not understand the essence of the 433 formation.

Now that Li Chen has taken office, he has decisively adjusted the tactical formation. I don’t know if he can still play the magic he had at Manchester United and Newcastle...

Iran coach Queiroz decisively gave up control of the midfield.

Although he would like to take advantage of the change of coach in the England national team, he is well aware of the huge gap in strength between the Iran and England national teams.

Iran's tactical style, which adopted a 541 starting formation, was also very pragmatic.

The goal is to steal the chicken. If a head-on fight fails, then using a defensive position to steal the chicken might give us a chance to maintain a draw.

Seeing this, the England team took over control of the midfield without hesitation.

Li Chen also waved his hand, directly signaling the full-backs on both wings and the two central midfielders to press forward.

Longstaff, who has abundant physical strength and strong running and covering ability, was arranged by Li Chen to the end of the formation. He and Stones provided defensive coverage for the entire team.

Maguire also boldly stepped forward at Li Chen's signal.

England quickly pushed their front line into Iran's defensive hinterland, almost organizing an attack outside Iran's third defensive zone!

Compared with the period when Southgate was the coach, it was obvious that Li Chen had specially trained the team's flank attack after taking office.

Luke Shaw and Ben White, who were pushing forward, had very outstanding personal abilities and were basically used as wingers by Li Chen during all-out attacks.

At this time, Saka and Madison, who are in an inward position, can focus more on running through the flanks and passing the ball.

Rice and Bellingham, who came in from behind to attack, were the two battering rams in Li Chen's tactics, attacking behind the Iranian defense line again and again.

In the past, Kane would make many tactical sacrifices on the offensive end and retreat more often to receive the ball, but today he stayed obediently in the Iranian penalty area.

His deterrent power made the three Iranian central defenders dare not easily expand their defense line.

This makes Iran's midfield defense quite difficult.

Queiroz wanted to gain fame and fortune by taking risks, but he didn't expect that as soon as he gave up the midfield, England, with a drastic change in style, launched a continuous and fierce attack.

If he had known this would happen, he would have definitely placed more emphasis on strangling the midfield and would never have made it so easy for England to organize their offense.

Just as he was hesitating whether to adjust the tactics first, Madison on the field suddenly received the ball and turned forward. Rice, who was supposed to attack behind the Iranian defense at this time, turned into a passing master and sent a through pass!
Madison seized the opportunity and did not choose to stop the ball, but directly chose to pass the ball on the ground without stopping!

Bellingham made a feint after cutting into the middle of the penalty area, drawing the defensive attention of two Iranian central defenders.

As the ball rolled smoothly to the back of the penalty area, Kane, who had gained enough space to kick the ball thanks to the movement of his teammates, pushed the ball into the Iranian goal!
Just in the eighth minute of the game, the England team used continuous siege to tear open Iran's defense!
Kane, who was waiting for the goal today, did not disappoint Li Chen's trust. He scored the first goal of this World Cup for England with his first shot!
Seeing the goal, Li Chen stood up from the coaching seat, smiled and applauded.

He looked happy, but not excited.

Because for him, England should have put in such a suppressive performance in today's match against Iran.

He also did not make too many tactical adjustments against the Iranian team.

The players played the content of the tactical drills in the past few days.

And they also successfully completed the tactical tasks set for them before the game.

"First, we need to attack continuously. The two wingers and two central midfielders can frequently switch positions and hold the ball. You are both the main attacker and the organizer with the ball.

Secondly, get that damn ball to Kane, if you can do that we can score against Iran in the first half!"

(End of this chapter)