Chelsea's playing style could not create Ajax's panic tactically, which reduced the game's offensive and defensive confrontation to a level and turned it into an actual confrontation of the players' individual abilities.
The center-back combination of Heitinga and Escudo certainly could not restrain Hazel Bank and Crespo, but with the joint defense of De Jong and Galasek, Ajax's defense was enough to withstand the impact of Chelsea's frontline.
Qin Xiong was in trouble.
Although Lampard's annual salary was 75 times his, it did not mean that Lampard was 75 times better than him. But if he could earn the Premier League's top salary, the club was certainly not stupid with a lot of money.
Lampard was a typical B2B character. He could follow Qin Xiong like a shadow when he was defending inside the midfield area.
Qin Xiong could only get rid of Lampard when Lampard plugged in to assist and switched between offense and defense. If it was a positional play and a frontal attack, Qin Xiong would find it difficult to get rid of Lampard's close tackle.
In the 14th minute of the game, Lampard stepped forward to assist with a long shot that was blocked by Heitinga with his body. Maxwell received the bouncing football on the flank and quickly handed the ball to Qin Xiong.
Qin Xiong dribbled the football and seized the time to launch a quick attack forward. He tried to challenge Makelele, even if it was at the cost of wasting a quick attack opportunity. He had to try!
The price was worth it!
It allowed Qin Xiong to figure out the strength of the offensive and defensive matchup, as well as lay the game idea for the next game and even the next game at Stamford Bridge.
Makelele lowered his center of gravity and was ready to start at any time. He was steady, just like his compatriot Vieira, giving people a sense of calmness.
Qin Xiong suddenly stopped in front of him and pretended to pull the ball to the right. Makelele also moved to that side. Qin Xiong suddenly kicked the ball back to the left side of his body with his right foot, ready to break through from the other side.
Eh?!
Makelele not only kept up with his rhythm, but also decisively intercepted with his foot!
Qin Xiong used his body to block the ball and then forcibly rushed past from the left side.
What shocked him was that Makelele was more agile and faster than Vieira. Not only did he quickly recover his body's center of gravity after a failed steal, but he could also keep up with Qin Xiong and carry out a second steal, sticking close to Qin Xiong's body!
He was simply pestering her!
Qin Xiong was stuck close to his body and could not rush forward at all. He was about to lose the ball. He had already lost his balance when he was hit and squeezed by Makelele's clever move. As his body fell, he kicked the ball to the left and passed it to Snede.
Then he staggered and fell. The referee did not say anything and did not think that Makelele had committed a foul.
Lampard returned to his position from the front field while Qin Xiong was entangled with Makelele and finally fell to the ground. When Makelele saw it, he immediately assisted in the defense of the side. His horizontal defensive movement was better than Vieira's. It could be said that the French team had the strongest coverage of the midfield of all the combinations in the world with these two defensive midfielders. Makelele was horizontally and Vieira was vertically. They were all defensive midfielders, but their coverage was unprecedentedly wide.
Snede also tried to control the ball and play one-on-one with Melchiot, but after Makelele came to intercept, Snede was directly intercepted and lost the ball without any suspense.
Qin Xiong's mind was very clear as he stood up and ran back.
It could be said that Chelsea's defense was a typical close-range tackle in the Premier League. It was a pestering attack that made it impossible for the opponent to control the ball leisurely. It was beyond the scope of a technical collision. They would use more of their bodies to fight and block. The ball could pass, but the person must stay!
Ranieri, who was supervising the game on the sidelines, was relieved.
When he studied Ajax, he was extremely wary of Ajax's ability to control the ball. Qin Xiong, the core of the midfield, was bound to be a key figure.
If Qin Xiong had been playing the game in the way he had just played, Ranieri could simply sit back and relax.
The close-range tackle in the Premier League made the local space very narrow. Even a ball-control master would not be able to adapt to the barbaric and unreasonable way of fighting of the Premier League teams.
There was a typical failure in Chelsea's formation: the Argentinian wizard, Juan.
His two years at Manchester United could be called a failure. When he came to Chelsea, he was injured. It was not without reason that it was difficult for a technical player to gain a foothold in the Premier League. Unless your ability really reached an extraordinary level, such as Dennis Bergkamp.
Otherwise, players with concise and practical skills like Scholes, Lampard, and Gerard would be more able to gain a foothold in the midfield.
Qin Xiong was by no means as one-track minded as Ranieri thought. He just gave it a try to let himself know.
He was now sure of one thing. It was dangerous to have too much individual possession of the ball in the midfield area.
Putting aside the fact that it was impossible for him to break down the joint defense of Lampard and Makelele in a frontal attack in positional play, Makelele alone would definitely slow down Ajax's offensive speed if he were to confront him head-on.
If he could not get past Makelele cleanly, then he should not try to do so again. Because if he went through a lot of trouble to get past the other party, then what? Ironman Lampard was bound to return to his defensive position. In terms of efficiency, it was definitely not cost-effective. It was even a losing deal.
In the nearly 20 minutes of the game, Qin Xiong also discovered that Chelsea's midfield, Lampard and Makelele, would not make too many individual dribbles to break through.
Unless there was an open safe space in front of him, Makelele would not dribble to organize the coordination. Otherwise, he would decisively and steadily pass the ball to his teammates.
Lampard did not have outstanding breakthrough skills. He was better at passing and cutting and looking for space in the front field to plug in. Because of this, Chelsea's midfield brain was more about passing the ball when it organized the attack.
Qin Xiong gestured to his teammates in the front field to withdraw their positions and completely change their playing style.
They completely abandoned individual breakthroughs and carried out the overall coordination.
The situation on the field was a tug of war back and forth, with both sides attacking each other. Chelsea's simple and crude style of passing from the flank was also very effective. Although Hazel Bank's two headers were deflected, they also showed a substantial threat.
Qin Xiong was a little excited.
This game would be a showdown between him and Lampard!
But it was not a one-on-one, who could pass the other and who could defend against the other.
It was a showdown between the midfield brain and the team commander's overall strategic organization and scheduling talent!
Interesting.
While the game of cat and mouse in the midfield area was going on, whoever could create more opportunities for their team and create more lethal killing opportunities would become the deciding point of the game!
To do this, the ball had to be fast and decisive, and the running of positions had to be wider and more active to get rid of the opponent's entanglement.
Moreover, it created an unexpected killing intent in the organization.
In the 23rd minute of the game, Qin Xiong took the initiative to run to the right side of the midfield. When Grygera passed the ball to him, Lampard was less than three meters away from him in the middle. Makelele was also ready to assist from the defensive midfielder position to defend against Qin Xiong's target area moving to the middle of the front field.
Qin Xiong stopped the ball, turned, raised his leg, and made a long pass!
The football crossed the half field from the right side of the midfield and was directly sent to the left side of the front field.
Snede retreated to receive and steadily controlled the football. Then, without waiting for Melchiot to get close, he passed the ball back to Maxwell, who followed up from behind.
Maxwell did not cross the center line and stuffed the ball straight to the left side of the front of the penalty area.
Ibrahimovic withdrew from the penalty area and waited for the ball with his back to the outside.
Makelele and Terry were going to form a pincer attack on Ibrahimovic.
Ibrahimovic was not alarmed by the chaos. In the face of the incoming ball, he calmly knocked the ball back.
On the left side of the front field, the player who came to receive Ibrahimovic's return pass was Qin Xiong!
He quickly moved from the right side to the left side. When his teammates were coordinating, he was running and was observed by his teammates.
Lampard kept a close eye on Qin Xiong's running position, but he paid more attention to guarding against Qin Xiong's forward plug. He did not expect Qin Xiong to move forward when he ran to the middle and suddenly retreat to the left side of the front field.
Lampard continued to block Qin Xiong's path to the middle, but when Qin Xiong touched the ball, he just gently pushed the ball forward. After adjusting, he sent a diagonal pass straight out!
The entire audience was dumbfounded.
Qin Xiong's ball had the effect of a scalpel. It tore apart Chelsea's defense and went straight to the heart.
The ball passed diagonally between Makelele and Lampard, but Gallas and Terry were unable to touch it. It quickly rolled into the penalty area.
The Dutch golden boy Van Der Vaart, who cut into the penalty area from the right side, rushed over!
Single stroke!
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