Aldridge was not surprised that England's tactical set-up for the game was well known and even anticipated.

For England, it is impossible to play a shocking surprise effect every game.

In particular, their offensive routines are based on space, and only in the context of playing Argentina and the opponent taking the initiative to give them space, the England team can play unpredictably and changeably.

In fact, there are no secrets to speak of, even though England and Senegal shocked the outside world in the group stage, but in the knockout round, it is impossible to have any major changes of their own, and they are deeply studied by the opponents and know each other.

Therefore, the tactical tricks have changed from "strange" to "real" confrontation.

As the Chinese art of war says: win with the right and the odd.

The current war is the righteous soldiers of both sides.

It's hard for anyone to kill their opponents by surprise.

With Senegal's strength, even if they put on a dense defense, they can only focus on limiting the opponent's invasion of one level of the area, because this is a knockout game, they have to attack, not attack, to hope for a penalty shootout?

Therefore, they either lay heavy troops in the back line, or hoard defensive forces in the midfield line, and want to put on a double striker and play a defensive balance in the backfield, which is self-defeating, Mei Chu is still very clear about this, so he chooses to concentrate his forces on the back line, after all, that area has the highest threat.

England seemed to foresee this, taking advantage of long-range shots from the perimeter from the opening moment, never piling up troops at the front line of the attack.

It is not difficult to foresee this, just look at the line-up of Senegal, 5 rear.

And think about who you are. Irving!

Does the back line dare to give Owen space for anti-offside and space for speed impact?

Therefore, Aldrich's tactical choice is based on knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent. It's not just a matter of going your own way. And this is the coaching experience and ability, before the game started, the battle between the coaches has already quietly begun.

The Senegalese fans in the stands cheered on their team with enthusiasm, even if their team gradually fell into the back foot from the opening kick-off, and there was no threat on the counter-attack!

England's defensive cuts are very ferocious and very well placed!

Diouf and Kamala were divided, fighting alone when fighting a counterattack. The England team intercepted layer by layer and entangled to the end.

Mei Chu stood on the sidelines and had to sigh that the young marshal next door was outstanding!

It's tougher than he thought.

It was not so difficult to fight France.

The French team has the arrogance of a double champion, and the England team is more like a mud leg that doesn't want to die, and even Xiaobei does the dirty work decently, it's hard to imagine how this world-famous superstar was impressed by the young marshal and was willing to do it.

Senegal's counter-attack was unthreatening, except for Kamara and Diouf who were cut off from their teammates by England's front-court return and back-of-court defenders after half-time, and most importantly, Senegal couldn't go up!

Why is this happening?

Mechu watched the game for 20 minutes. I figured this out.

McManaman!

The player, known to England fans as the Curly Dog, has yet to score a goal, but he is undoubtedly the best player in the England squad. There is no one, because he is the most flexible and critical point in Aldrich's tactical deployment.

McManaman's sideways and control the ball on the flanks are not only to attract defenders, but also to bring Senegal's midfielders back to the defence!

His control of the ball invisibly changed the overall shape of the game, and this rhythm grasp can be called a classic.

The counterattack is about playing fast, but Senegal put on a dense defensive back 5 formation, and it no longer makes sense for England to pursue fast because there is no obvious gap.

McManaman's task, in addition to attracting firepower to set up batteries in the midfield, is also to reshape the overall situation of the game.

Withdraw the entire Senegalese formation!

If they don't, England will blindly pursue speed, maybe Senegal's midfield line has not retreated back, their back line has successfully defended, and then the midfield players will directly turn around and counterattack, their attacking starting position will be very advantageous, quickly push up, and it will be more difficult to mark.

Mechu found this, because McManaman controlled the ball on the side and protected the ball, not in a hurry to get out of the ball, so that Senegal's overall formation was withdrawn, so Senegal even if it counterattacked, it was also launched from the backfield, and this group of players' experience and ability are not the top after all, when pursuing fast, the first time to pass the ball to the first line, Diouf and Kamara fell into an isolated situation, if the patient organization, England quickly retreated, the midfield defense will become flawless, with Senegal's positional combat ability, the more complex the attack, the easier it is to make mistakes!

Mei Chu felt the absolute pressure brought by the young marshal at this time!

It is an invisible reign of terror, and Senegal is confined to passion.

Diouf was cut off again and again, fell in the confrontation, got up and tried to make contact with Kamara, but after repeated mispasses up front, the Senegalese Lions of Teranga seemed to be struggling, struggling to survive the torrential bombardment of England.

Frank Lampard shoots from distance, Scholes shoots from distance, Beck shoots from distance, Ashley Cole shoots from distance, McManaman shoots from distance

After 35 minutes, England had a whopping 12 shots on goal, but none of them had a shot from inside the box!

Bang, bang, bang!

Three shots that hit the post or crossbar crumbled Senegal's defence, and the African fans in the stands began to tremble, as they saw signs that the team was on the verge of collapse, and the third shot that hit the post was actually Ashley Cole's unthreatening long-range shot, which was clearly off target, but defender Tiata met the ball and cleared the ball, causing the ball to bounce towards the goal, goalkeeper Selva did not react, but fortunately hit the post and bounced off the goal.

'Just a little bit, just a little bit, England are just a little bit away from destroying Senegal, England had a high success rate of short passes up front today. When he had the chance, he shot from a distance. Paul Scholes and David Beckham were just a fraction of a second away from opening the scoring. But England's absolute superiority was already on the cards, and we managed to limit Senegal's counter-attack! ”

While Martin Taylor was commenting passionately, Senegal erupted in one of the most threatening counter-attacks since the opening.

Carrying the banner of African football, Diouf single-handedly rushed through the bag between Ferguel and Phil Neville, at this moment, because it was a defensive counterattack, Phil Neville and Becky made a mistake in coordination, because it was Neville who assisted to take it back, and Becky was in a similar position to him. Both of them wanted to wait for the other party to grab it first, and they would break it for the second time, and it was this mistake between the thoughts that made Diouf kill a bloody way!

Diouf broke through the defensive line and dribbled forward non-stop, Bart followed Kamara who was quickly inserted in the middle, Ferdinand stepped forward to defend Diouf, who broke out with an amazing performance, stopped and smashed the ball, and turned 180 degrees to wipe Ferdinand!

Just after he passed, a long leg crossed in front of him. Diouf's ball flew off the ground and was shoveled off the touchline.

Southgate stood up from the ground with a blank face. Without looking at Diouf with a regretful face, he said to Ferdinand sternly: "Even if it is passed, don't chase him anymore, it's useless!" Make up my spot as soon as possible! It was dangerous just now, if he passed the ball, the middle would be empty! ”

Ferdinand faced the current captain of the national team, the former big brother of Millwall, he did not dare to be the slightest dissatisfied, and immediately nodded.

Just now, Southgate risked the emptiness of the penalty area to help defend, of course, this is also because it is Diouf, not other top players, if it is other players with a stronger sense of the ball, Southgate will not dare to rush to fill the position, will only move to this side, taking into account the defense on the other side.

Mei Chu saw that this attack failed to form even a shot in the end, and immediately sighed, with endless regret.

But he also knows that if a defensive system like England really allows the opponent to get an unmarked kick in the penalty area, then it must be a golden opportunity, and it is not far from scoring.

The fleeting opportunity was not seized after all.

Senegalese full-back Dave came up to send this sideline ball, he just threw the ball to Diouf, and saw Diouf trying to pass Phil Neville in the way of Ferdinand, but Phil Neville stretched out his foot and poked the ball away from him two meters away, Dave and Diouf both came to grab the ball, however, Xiaobei was faster, he was already defending Diouf, Xiaobei fancy kicked the ball to the middle behind him with his back heel, Bart did not hesitate to pass the ball to Scholes not far ahead.

The England team's defense this time, coupled with Xiaobei's heel pass, made the England fans applaud.

Senegal's frontline ball failed to attack, and they turned around and England's counter-attack erupted.

Senegal pressed up the midfield line, Scholes did not rush hard, passed the ball diagonally back to Lampard, ran forward himself, after crossing Syaf, Lampard passed the ball between Siaf and B-Diop, a simple 2-by-1 combination, Scholes rushed through Senegal's midfield line!

Immediately after half-time, Scholes passed the ball to McManaman, who was already running wide.

McManaman's running awareness, reflecting his ability to read the game, Senegal is on the left side of the front field to send a sideline ball, the formation is obviously inclined to that side, if the side of the vacancy at this time, it must be the corresponding left vacancy is the largest, however, if Senegal back to the defense, the already left-leaning formation will inevitably compress the focus on the left side, then the next offensive development of the England team is very unfavorable.

As for McManaman, he pulled off the left side of England's front line, which is the other side of Senegal's formation.

The upside of this is that the Senegalese defence has been moving from left to right, and the formation cannot be kept absolutely tight, giving England more space to cut in their teammates.

McManaman took control of the ball and didn't move any further, and the Senegalese players began to rush towards him like wolves.

Mei Chu watched in horror from the sidelines.

Without warning, he felt something was wrong.

McManaman wasn't close to the baseline and he should have kept rushing forward, but he didn't.

Suddenly, Mechu realized one of the most sensitive judgments for the coach to read the game: it was a sign of a change in the pace of the attack! (To be continued......)