Pulis had no idea that Crystal Palace had such a huge technical advantage. He tried to let the midfield line put pressure on the opponent, but his 4-4-2 formation made him suffer too much in midfield control, and there was no way to contain Crystal Palace's guidance.

But he's not particularly worried about his defense.

The "Pulis-style play", as Pulis is known, essentially has two distinct elements: when not in possession, Stoke City drop deep and remain compact laterally, thanks to the unusual

Pulis regarded his midfield four as a second line of defence, describing his two rows of four as a "back eight".

One of my favorite training techniques involves the midfielders moving together laterally to prevent the opponent's through ball from penetrating the gap between them, and forcing the opponent to move the ball to the wing, where if the opponent crosses,

Pulis has tall, strong center backs who are good at heading the ball to fight for the top and defend crosses.

At the same time, Stoke City adopts a straight-line style of play when possession of the ball. Pulis likes to use tall forwards. They are not prolific shooters, but they can compete for long passes and header the ball to teammates. Sometimes he arranges for an extra

The forwards are on the wings, just to add more height to the team, and while Stoke City have always been excellent at set pieces, their style of play is fundamentally a lower level that revolves around physical contact and dead-ball tactics.

League game strategy.

Wen Sheng strongly suspected that Pulis was a victim of Charles Hughes's POMO (Position of Maximum Opportunity Theory) doctrine.

The game was very boring. Stoke City fans seemed to be used to this scene. Their team was besieged by technical teams, and their boos from time to time seemed weak.

"Sure enough, they are a tough nut to crack. They are even harder to deal with than Liverpool!" Parish muttered, "If I were the boss, I would have fired Pulis a long time ago!"

"This is their own home ground, and they played so ugly!" Parish was quite angry when he saw Stoke's tight defense. It would be wonderful to fight for the fourth place and then go to the Champions League. Parish also had this idea recently, but

It's not easy to tell the team.

Wen Sheng is not in a hurry at all. Although three points are important, the game strategy must be correct. Don't not get a fucking point, which will be boring.

We can't be too hasty about fighting for the fourth place, right?

In the 20th minute, Delap finally got a chance to use his advantage. Stoke City counterattacked, and Hills destroyed the ball out of the sideline. Delap's powerful grenade finally came into play.

"Attention two o'clock! Two o'clock!" Wen Sheng reminded the players loudly on the sidelines.

Delap took a few steps back, took a few steps, and immediately threw the ball to Kenvini Jones. Jones stood in the penalty area and held Benatia tightly. His big body is indeed quite powerful. Benatia

Tia was blocked behind him and couldn't stretch her legs.

Unfortunately, the ball was not a header. Jones's foot skills were not very good. As soon as the ball was stopped, it was intercepted by Kante who returned to his position. Stoke City did not even have a shot.

Wen Sheng clapped his hands with satisfaction to encourage him. Damn it, no wonder Delap is a nightmare for Premier League center backs. His throws are quite accurate and far away.

"Better, I'll hurt your stupid hand and see how you throw it!" Wen Sheng cursed secretly.

Haha, after five minutes, Delap actually strained his hand. He exerted too much force and had to receive treatment on the sidelines.

Seeing this scene, Wen Sheng couldn't help but laugh.

Damn it, could it be that my curse is really so effective?!

"Look, look, Delap is injured!" Lawrence ran from the coaching bench to Wen Sheng to announce the good news.

"I cursed just now! What a spirit!" Wen Sheng said with a twisted face.

Lawrence was still calmer and didn't laugh, but when he returned to the coaching bench, he couldn't hold back his laughter.

Delap was indeed injured, but he could still play. In the 31st minute, they got another foul ball in the frontcourt. Delap tried and found that he really couldn't throw the ball into the Crystal Palace penalty area like just now, so he had to

After a substitution and a throw-in, Wen Sheng finally determined that this old guy was finally useless.

Well, Pulis has nothing to do, one of the offensive tactics has been abandoned.

Crystal Palace's control was still very good, but the offense followed Wen Sheng's instructions and focused on penetration, but it did not go smoothly. Stoke City's defensive strategy focused on the center. They were not afraid of Crystal Palace's crosses and mainly defended their opponents.

Of penetration, Pulis also has something in his belly.

Before the game, Wen Sheng accused Stoke City of being rough and defensive, but in fact they were okay today. Crystal Palace advanced slowly, giving them time to calmly deploy their defenses, which also made them less rough. Therefore, from the correct response strategy

From the above point of view, Wen Sheng is right.

45 minutes passed quickly, Clattenberg blew the whistle, and the two sides fought to a 0:0 draw.

Crystal Palace only completed 5 shots in the first half, while Stoke City at home only completed 3 shots, which is extremely rare.

The defense composed of Benatia and Van Dijk did not give the opponent a good chance.

Kenvenie Jones spent 8 million pounds from Stoke City this season to transfer from Black Cat Sunderland. In Sunderland, he was originally a tactical center, and his scoring efficiency was not very high. After arriving at Stoke City, he was a tactical center.

The effect is even more obvious. What Pulis values ​​​​is his physical fitness. He has played more than ten rounds of league games this season, but he, a center forward, has not scored a single goal.

However, he was not attacked by the media at all. There was no way that everyone knew that he was under Pulis, so whether the striker is a striker or not is another question.

As for the other center forward, Fleur, he is similar to Jones. He came to Stoke City a few seasons ago. The season with the highest scoring record in the team was the 2007-08 season. He scored 15 goals in 42 games.

That was during his Championship period, and it was also his first season at Stoke City. Since then, he has gotten worse every season. Last season, he only scored three goals in more than 30 games.

That's all.

One problem can be seen from these rules. Pulis has been criticized by public opinion for not being able to attack at all, and it is not the reason. It is a nightmare for forwards to encounter him.

As long as the tactical role of their center is eliminated and the two points are protected, Stoke City does not pose such a big threat.

Crystal Palace did quite well in this regard, and Stoke City only completed 3 shots, which is nothing to be surprised about.

But this alone is definitely not enough. It is true that the offensive pace is slow to reduce mistakes, but the inability to create opportunities is really disappointing.

Wen Sheng was unwilling to give in, and neither were the players.

"They will definitely be unable to control us in the second half. Unless they foul, Clattenburg will be blinded!" Wen Sheng made final remarks to his guys when arranging tactics in the midfield.

"Our rhythm is fine, but what we need is patience! It's impossible not to cross. It's difficult for us to penetrate them in the middle, so crossing should also be one of the auxiliary options!"

"Don't pass the ball high when passing the ball! Ding Ding, when you pass the ball, you have to pass it towards their waist so that they can't easily clear the ball!"

"Allen, Dries, when you are running, you must form a complete outflank in the middle and back points. Prince, in the second half, you will reduce your support for Ding Ding with the ball. You need to go to the middle to grab points, inverted triangle, do you understand?

Inverted triangle pass! I need you to shoot!"

"After the formation is pressed, Sean should not worry too much. He should support the frontcourt and free Prince. Do you understand?!"

Generally speaking, Crystal Palace played more cautiously in the first half, leaving no opportunity for the opponent to counterattack on either wing tactically. However, at the same time, in order to cope with the control requirements, Boateng had to retreat to get the ball and make a simple transition.
Chapter completed!