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Chapter 386 The Nightmare Begins

Everyone knows that victory in the transfer market can boost the morale of the team, especially snatching a player from a competitor is something that can make both the club and the fans happy.

It's just that if you want to actually gain benefits, you have to win on the court.

Hoffenheim immediately had the chance, with a week before the season began, they faced the league's biggest rivals, Bayern Munich, in the Super Cup.

In addition to the introduction of Kolarov, Hoffenheim also introduced several players who are not well-known but can increase the thickness of the bench lineup, but in this Super Cup, their lineup is not complete.

Since he joined the club for less than a week, Rangnick did not allow two Chinese players, Li Jie and Long Bisheng, to appear in the main lineup. Rangnick replaced Li Jie with Wosa.

In the end, at the Allianz Arena, Hoffenheim lost [-]-[-]. Rangnick was not dissatisfied with this score. Although he lost the game, against the elite Bayern, losing two goals is not a shame.

Mostly, in this defeat, Rangnick was sure of two things.

First, Li Jie is indeed an indispensable person in the team's defense line. Although Wosa has excellent physical fitness and excellent physical fitness, he will always make mistakes in the game. It is no problem to be a substitute, but when playing the main force, especially against strong teams, his mistakes will be fatal.Comper is a typical German defender with excellent jumping and header, but Li Jie needs a backup defender who is also excellent in header and not slow to turn.

Second, Hoffenheim can no longer lack the impact of Long Bisheng. Neither Ibisevic nor Trazino can replace Long Bisheng's role in the game. Ibisevic has rich experience and excellent scoring ability.

With excellent physical fitness and stable condition, Long Bisheng is the main player. Ibisevic and Trazino take turns as his partners. Quietly, Long Bisheng's position in Lannick's heart has changed greatly.

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After merging with the team, the main task of Li Jie and Long Bisheng is to restore physical fitness and get familiar with new teammates. In this regard, Li Jie has to do a little more, because in fact Hoffenheim’s main lineup is just replaced by Kolarov. Li Jie is the core responsible for organization and coordination of Hoffenheim’s defense.

It's just that on the training ground, their state is not very good.

This is also a very normal thing. After all, they only rested for half a month throughout the summer, and played more than 20 days in the hot Qatar. Li Jie and Long Bisheng played almost all six games of the Chinese team.

Fortunately, they had established their main position last season. If they joined Hoffenheim this season, it would take at least one or two months before they could make an impact on the main lineup, based on their reporting to the team more than half a month late and the physical condition they showed during the training camp.

This is why there is such a seemingly unbelievable thing as the "World Cup Syndrome"—as long as he is a player, his state will have highs and lows. This is particularly obvious for some players. When they perform well, they are world-class players. Everyone will forgive this situation, after all, players are not robots.

A player who showed excellent form in the World Cup, but his performance will definitely decline after that-especially when the transfer matters involve too much energy for them, coupled with the lack of tacit understanding with new teammates and other reasons, it often takes half a season to gradually recover.

Fortunately, Long Bisheng and Li Jie did not have this reason, so although their performance in the pre-season training camp was not very good, and their physical condition was not at their best, they were still put in the starting list by the head coach Rangnik in the first round of the Bundesliga on August [-]th.

Hoffenheim's opponent in this round is Cottbus, who narrowly escaped relegation last season. Although it is an away game, Hoffenheim, who played with the main lineup, still occupies the absolute initiative on the court.

Kolarov made a perfect debut in his first game in the Bundesliga. With his excellent assist ability, he used his strong body and excellent forward awareness to set off a gust of wind on the left. His breakthrough and forward penetration caused a lot of trouble for the opponent's defense. In the No.204 minute of the first half, he made a two-for-one cooperation with Salihovic on the left. The ball was scored six meters in front of the goal.

In the second half, Long Bisheng made a forced breakthrough and created a free kick 25 meters away from the goal. Salihovic generously gave up the opportunity of this direct free kick to Kolarov. Kolarov, known as the "New Mikhainovic" in Serie A, did not let go of this opportunity and extended the score to [-]-[-] with a beautiful direct free kick!

In the second official game played for Hoffenheim, there was an excellent performance of one pass and one shot. Kolarov made a good start with his outstanding performance!

With the final score locked at [-]-[-], Hoffenheim got off to a good start in the league. What made them happy was that Bayern, the biggest opponent in the league, was tied [-]-[-] by Hamburg at home, and the first game of the league was a draw!

And Wolfsburg only beat Cologne by one goal at home. Hoffenheim ranked second in the league, only behind Schalke Zero Four who won by three goals.

In the second round, Hoffenheim continued their progress. In the case of Borussia Mönchengladbach's tenacious blocking at home, Long Bisheng scored the only goal of the game with a supplementary shot in front of the goal in the second half. Hoffenheim won two consecutive victories. Jumped to the first place, and alone occupied the first place in the standings!
This result is really wonderful. Competitors encountered troubles at the beginning of the season, and Hoffenheim, which had the least change in the main lineup, won two games in one go. If they can perform better, they may regain the dream of occupying the first place in the standings in the first half of the 08-09 season!
Maybe this time, the lead will be maintained until the end of the season?The fans of Hoffenheim couldn't help thinking this way, and they still insist that if Ibisevic hadn't been injured suddenly that season, neither Wolfsburg nor Bayern Munich would be able to surpass them!Not to mention that Hoffenheim failed to even enter the European arena after that season!
In the first round of the DFB-Pokal a week later, Hoffenheim, who used all their substitutes, still defeated the C-level team Brunswick [-]-[-] in the away game and entered the next round.

For a while, Hoffenheim, who had won three games in a row, was in the limelight in the Bundesliga.

Public opinion agrees that Hoffenheim, who has been working hard for three years and has built a main lineup that is fully competitive in Europe, is the time to produce results this season, whether in the European arena or in the Bundesliga. They are capable of creating better results.

Not to mention in the European arena, this is the first time for Hoffenheim to play in the Champions League. No matter what the result is, it is a historic breakthrough. In the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim’s best result in history is the runner-up last season. If you go further, then it is...

The ambitious Hoffenheim intends to continue to win like this, but they were dazzled by the victory, but they did not expect that a nightmare was waiting for them.

On September [-]rd, in the third round of the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim challenged Leverkusen away.

When the 10-minute game ended, the players of Leverkusen celebrated this great victory excitedly, while the players of Hoffenheim were full of confusion, disbelief and pain on their faces...

The electronic display above the Bayer Stadium showed the final score of the game, four to one, with the home team ahead.

Leverkusen played the most perfect game since the start of the season. Augusto, Toni Kroos, Kissling, Helmers, Leverkusen's offensive line tore Hoffenheim's defense line to pieces. In the first half, they had a four-goal lead. They played like crazy. If it wasn't for Li Jie's rescue of a must-go goal in front of the goal, if it wasn't for Hildebrand's two threatening shots, the score would have expanded.

Eduardo's wonderful long shot in the second half just saved a little face for Hoffenheim.

From the three-game winning streak to the three-goal fiasco, there was only one week between them.

Sometimes there is only a thin line between heaven and hell.

What is wrong with us?All Hoffenheimers are thinking.

PS: After a month of rest, the sprint begins!Robbery monthly pass recommended ticket, everything!Two chapters per day this month!At least!If there are too many monthly tickets, it will definitely explode!Long Bisheng has finally started to make his mark on the highest stage of the European League!You have been waiting for a long time, and I have been waiting for a long time!A hearty career starts now!
(End of this chapter)