Rebirth 1994: Football Situation

Chapter 582 Europe 2003 Long way to go
Yugoslav football used to be a pivotal force in European football. Even after Croatia and other countries split off, they still had players like Savicevic, Mijatovic, Mikhainovic, and Kovacevich. Qi, Milosevic and a large number of stars, but the continuous turmoil in the country has almost completely shattered their football foundation. The lack of funds, lack of training of excellent coaches, and lack of infrastructure have made Yugoslavia's reserve forces suffer When it came to the devastating blow, after Stankovic and Djukic, Yugoslavia—now they are called Serbia and Montenegro—basically no very good players appeared. Although the foundation is still there, the Serbia and Montenegro team has completely It is impossible to compete with teams from other European football powers.

Although Partizan Belgrade eliminated the Swedish champion Dejugarden in the second qualifying round, they also passed the test extremely thrillingly, with [-] to [-] at home and [-] to [-] away. In the third round, although it is said that "Europe has no underdogs", the domestic leagues of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, the top three in Northern Europe, are all average. As long as players perform well, they will immediately transfer to other leagues Go, playing against such a team is so difficult, it seems that the strength of the guerrillas is average.

The number one star of the Guerrilla team is their No. [-] midfielder Cilic. Although this midfielder who has stayed in Barcelona for three seasons is not very successful, his technical skills are very solid and he is a typical player. As one of the best midfielders in the world, Mateus paid great attention to the role played by the midfield core on the field, and Serbia and Montenegro players generally have good skills, so the team's tactics It also focuses on technical flow, paying attention to the control of the midfield and rhythmic offense.

It is a pity that this kind of attack requires players to have extremely high tactical and technical skills. Although the technical skills of Serbia and Montenegro players are not bad, after all, the foundation is there, but whether the skills can be used depends on the level of the opponent. of.

The Guerrilla Stadium used to be one of the best stadiums in Europe. It can be seen from the fact that more than 7000 seats in this stadium are all seats, but now the stadium looks extremely dilapidated. During the Yugoslav War, this stadium There have also been air raids nearby, and many seats are no longer available, and even the walls around the stadium have cracks in many places.

Matthaus formed a four-four-two formation in the game, and it was a typical diamond-shaped midfielder four-four-two. Cilic served as the attacking midfielder, and Mourinho also formed a four-four-two formation. , the four defenders from right to left are Kufuor, Woodgate, Lucio and Bernard, the midfielder is partnered by Speed ​​and Janus, the right is Dyer, the left is Robert, and the forward is Shearer Partner with Bellamy.

This lineup is basically based on the old foundation left by Robson last season. The entire midfield is full of old players, and only the positions of central defender and right back have been changed. In the first game of coaching Newcastle, Murray Neo chose to be steady.

But even so, Newcastle's offensive ability is quite good. In any case, Newcastle relied on its strong offense to rank No.3 last season. Whether it is Shearer, Bellamy, or Dyer and Robert, are all very capable players, especially Robert, the French winger reached his peak last season, even the main left winger of the French national team, Arsenal star Pires did not perform as well as him.

After the start of the game, Newcastle's offensive players proved that their offensive ability is not only in the Premier League, but also can occupy a place in Europe. Two wingers with fast speed and excellent breakthrough ability frequently attacked from the two wings. Their speed and dexterity made the lack of The experienced defenders of Serbia and Montenegro were in a hurry.

Shearer in the middle is the opponent's key target, but he uses this to firmly contain the opponent's two central defenders. Behind him, Bellamy is like a poisonous snake, waiting for the opponent's defense to reveal a flaw. .

No.17 minutes, Robert crossed after a breakthrough from the left, and then suddenly distributed the ball to Bellamy at the front of the penalty area. Bellamy immediately dribbled the ball into the penalty area. The heavy hit on the goal post bounced back to the penalty area, and the defender immediately cleared with a big foot.

Five minutes later, Newcastle made a comeback. This time, Robert made a beautiful breakthrough on the left, then cut into the penalty area obliquely, and cleverly passed the ball to the back point. Shearer keenly appeared at the ball's landing point and made a beautiful kick. A poke shot helped Newcastle open the scoring!

After the goal, Shearer raised his right hand and ran on the field, followed by his teammates, Newcastle's flag bearer, Newcastle's captain, Newcastle's symbol Newcastle scored the first goal in the official game of the new season ball!
Mourinho sat firmly on the coach's bench, and did not show any impulsive gaffe. In his opinion, this goal is completely natural. This is also a successful embodiment of Newcastle's combination of side and center tactics, but Mourinho knows that just With this simple tactic, it is not enough for Newcastle to go further in the league and the Champions League.

Although Newcastle won No.3 last season, they lost all their tempers against the top two Manchester United and Arsenal, especially in the two games against Manchester United. Newcastle scored a lot of goals and entered Manchester United at home. Two, scored three away to Manchester United - but in the away game, they were scored five goals by Manchester United, and at home they were even more humiliatingly scored six goals by Manchester United - they are also better than the last winner in terms of points Manchester United lost as much as 48 points, and the [-] league goals conceded are also the most among the top five.

Reforming defense is the first thing Mourinho has to do, but this does not mean that he does not pay attention to offense. For a mature team, offense and defense are integrated. Strengthening defense does not mean weakening offense. A coach who takes care of one end but not the other will never be an excellent coach.

In the next game, Newcastle continued to put pressure on the opponent on offense. Left back Bernard and Lucio, who is good at attacking, also frequently stepped in. For a while, the gate of the guerrilla team seemed to be precarious, as if they were about to be attacked at any time. Newcastle scored another goal.

But in a passive situation, the Guerrillas evened the score. In the No. 301 minute of the first half, they broke through Newcastle's midfield with a beautiful quick counterattack. Cilic made a beautiful through pass for striker Boya Creating a one-handed chance, Boya easily swayed Shay, who was attacking, and poked the ball into the goal before Woodgate and Kufuor returned to the defense.

Mourinho shook his head. Just now, Lucio failed to return to the defense in time after he put in the assist, which caused a hole in the defense line, but he didn't mean to blame Lucio. Lucio himself is a defender. One of the alternatives, his offensive ability is even better than his defensive ability. If he just wants a solid defensive defender, Mourinho will not ask Pei Wei to buy Lucio.

In fact, the one who made a mistake in the conceded goal just now was the veteran defensive midfielder Speed. This veteran who was originally an attacking player and then turned into a defensive midfielder is after all 33 years old. It is inevitable that the physical fitness is poor. The initiator of the conceded goal was Cilic, and Cilic was guarded by Speed.

After entering the locker room at the end of the first half, Newcastle's players were generally not too emotional, and they were equalized by the opponent when they had such an advantage. This is a bit unacceptable anyway.

"Everyone must think that the opponent was lucky in the first half. Indeed, we created many more opportunities than them in the first half, but the opponent almost seized the only chance and scored a goal... If we had been better defensively, they wouldn't have had a chance, and that's the difference between zero and one."

Mourinho looked at the players and smiled slightly: "Now you understand the importance of defense... We scored a lot of goals last season, but conceded more goals... If we can make conceded goals become If it is less, then we will not only fight for the Champions League qualification in the last ten rounds of last season, sometimes the gap between the champion and the non-championship is only a little bit."

"In the second half, while maintaining the offense, strengthen the defense... Gary (Speed), you don't need to focus on the offense in the second half, just pay attention to the defense. The midfielder is the first barrier in front of the defense. Your battlefield is the place a little behind the center circle arc, you just need to defend there. Others... the tactics are the same as before. Alright, now let’s rest and prepare for the second half of the game.”

This is Mourinho's usual practice during the halftime break. He quickly explained the tactics of the second half when the players' minds were still on the court, and then let them have a good rest. In his opinion, the halftime break In addition to giving the coach a time to adjust tactics, the main function of the game is to let the players have a good rest. He doesn't want the players to be distracted to think about tactics during the rest, which will be very tiring .

Fifteen minutes passed quickly, and the players walked out of the locker room and onto the pitch at Mourinho's gesture.

Mourinho was the last one to go out. At the exit of the player tunnel, he accidentally saw Pei Wei.

"It's a long way to go to revamp Newcastle's defense, Jose."

PS: I have been a little confused about the update these days, and I have included all the necessary chapters every day... This chapter is the update of the 380th vote. It seems that it is impossible to pay off the debt this month, so I can only download it. The month is over...

(End of this chapter)