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Chapter 390 Pressure
Lannick was not as familiar with Long Bisheng as Ning Xi was, but he also observed that Hoffenheim's performance in these games had a direct relationship with Long Bisheng. When he scored or assisted, Hoffenheim would win at least one draw, and a few disastrous defeats were when he did not perform well.

So in the next league game, he removed Long Bisheng from the main lineup and replaced him with the young Trazino.

Now that the substitutions worked, Rangnick naturally had no need to adjust. So in the eighth round of the league three days later, Rangnick continued to use this striker partner, but Trazino showed the fluctuating and unpredictable state of the young players. The biggest upset in this round of the league, they overturned Hoffenheim with a goal at home!

This is Hoffenheim's third league loss this season. After eight rounds, they ranked fifth with four wins, one draw and three losses. Obviously, this result does not satisfy the club and fans. The media are speculating, could it be that Rangnick's time in Hoffenheim is coming to an end?
Rangnick has indeed felt the pressure, and this pressure does not only come from the club—his current situation in the team is not as bad as the newspapers say, but it is not as good as the fans think. The club has no intention of replacing him as a meritorious coach.

If they lose at the beginning of the league, they can catch up in the following games, but there are only six group matches in the Champions Cup. If they can't get the points needed for the top two in these six games, then this season's European competitions will be over, and they can only wait for the next year.

Rangnick is under a lot of pressure now, especially on the forward line. Long Bisheng did not perform well a while ago. Trazino can be used as a surprise player in a few games. As the main force, he is obviously not the kind of super genius who can score frequently in the top league at the age of 20. Maxwell is a winger, and he is more threatening on the wing. Apart from Ibisevic, Hoffenheim can't find a trustworthy forward, but Ibisevic is just one person after all...

Three days later, it will be the Champions League game. They challenge Lyon away. No one is optimistic that they can take three points from Lyon's Gerland Stadium. For Hoffenheim, which lost the first two games, if they lose this game again, it can basically declare the end of their Champions League journey this season.

In the history of the Champions League, it seems that there is no team that has lost the first three games of the group stage. Now the group is ranked first in Newcastle, which has won two consecutive victories. Lyon lost the first game.

Now there is only one way for Hoffenheim-at least three of the remaining four games must be won to give them a chance to qualify. That is to say, they must win this game, even if it is a draw, it will not be of much use.

Thinking of Hoffenheim's ambitions before the start of the season, and looking at the predicament two months later, the feeling in the hearts of Hoffenheim fans is like drinking water, knowing whether it is warm or not.

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Hoffenheim appeared in Lyon in a state of "sad soldiers". There is an old saying in China that "sorry soldiers must win". If the European media knew this sentence, they would definitely think that Hoffenheim is mourning now, but winning may not be.

In an interview, Rangnick did not show his strong self-confidence, but was extremely low-key: "We are just newcomers in the Champions League. We are completely unfamiliar with this game. The opponents we met in the Champions Cup are all the best teams in Europe. I think although we lost in the first two games, we gained valuable experience. Don't forget that even a Ligue [-] giant like Lyon cannot guarantee every Champions League group stage."

Except for the last sentence which slightly showed Rangnick's edge, the rest of the words seemed to be begging for mercy to Lyon: "What do you think of the game the day after tomorrow? Lyon is a strong team with the Champions League experience that we lack the most, and it is home. We will try our best in the game."

In the eyes of local reporters in Lyon, the head coach is polite and cowardly. They are very satisfied. Such an opponent will not be too difficult to deal with. They lost to Alkmaar in the away game, but we won Alkmaar in the away game. Now it is our home game. Why should we lose the game?
Although they are in a group with a strong team like Newcastle, as long as they win this game, it will not be too difficult to qualify as second in the group.

But they forget that a football game is not a simple arithmetic problem. A wins B, and B wins C, but it does not mean that A will definitely win C. If someone really thinks this way, then he must be an extremely naive guy.

Lyon's head coach, Claude Puel, is certainly not a naive guy. Although he succeeded the meritorious coach Palin as Lyon's head coach, although he has only won one league title in the past few seasons, his performance in the Champions League is much better than that of his predecessor. The reason for doing it.

He has studied Hoffenheim carefully, and finally came to the conclusion that this is a capable team, but it really lacks experience in the Champions League. If they hadn't been too aggressive in the first game and wanted to win Alkmaar in an away game, then they could at least take one point from the DSB Stadium, maybe three points. This mentality defeated them in three consecutive cities.

If it is not for lack of experience, Puel believes that if Hoffenheim is lucky, it may be able to score four points in the first two games, instead of being shaved as it is now.

Thanks to this... Lyon can now play a little easier in this game.

Maybe next season, when they have the experience of participating in the Champions League, they can surprise the world in the Champions League, just like what they did in the Bundesliga three years ago, but this season, their more realistic goal is to keep the chance to participate in the Europa League. The team will immediately become bleak.

But what does this have to do with him?Now Ligue [-] and Bundesliga are eyeing the status of Serie A as the third European league. You must know that the top three leagues have four Champions League spots, and there are only three left in the latter... They are very happy to see the opponent's strong team fall.

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Puel thought that Hoffenheim might break out in this game, so he made detailed arrangements for several important Hoffenheim players-he asked the main midfielder Mathieu Bodmer to stare at Hoffenheim's midfielder Eduardo, and let the experienced veteran Baumsson deal with Hoffenheim's top scorer Ibisevic. Breaking through with the outside ball, and his breakthrough ability is really not very good. Can such a striker pose any threat?It may be a big threat inside the penalty area, but outside the penalty area...

Such a striker actually scored [-] goals in his first season in the Bundesliga. Has the level of the Bundesliga dropped to this point now?As for the fact that Long Bisheng won the top scorer in the Asian Cup, Puel simply ignored it. What is the top scorer in the Asian Cup?How high can the football desert cup competition be?

When he got Hoffenheim's roster before the start of the game, Puel was relieved. It was exactly the same as the starting lineup of the previous games.

Compared with the confident Puel, Rangnick looked worried and absent-minded when shaking hands with Puel. For him, this game was a battle of life and death!If he loses, he will not only lose his way to the Champions League this season, but also his future in Hoffenheim!
This kind of pressure is not as great as usual. Perhaps under this kind of pressure, Lannick will appear faint in the game.

(End of this chapter)