Grass roots glory

Chapter 97: Motivation from Zhou Tiancheng

Schalke quickly achieved a counter-kill, Slomka took the strategic advantage and took the lead at home, but a one-goal lead was not enough for them to sit back and relax. Facing an opponent like Atletico Madrid, this was the last Dangerous score.Once they are successfully attacked by the opponent because of laxity in a certain link, the situation will be unfavorable to them.After Slomka was briefly excited, he immediately called captain Westerman over and gave a brief explanation. Then Westerman returned to the court, ran to Zhou Tiancheng, and relayed the next strategy: "Zhou, the coach said Control the ball more, don't blindly play long passes, wait for them to attack, and then we will look for opportunities to counterattack."

Zhou Tiancheng frowned. He felt that the coach's tactics were a bit conservative. If it were him, he would choose to take advantage of the ebb and flow of momentum at this time, to attack a wave, and look for opportunities to expand the results. But since the coach arranged this way, he could only To express his obedience, he nodded slightly: "OK, I got it."

The home fans and some of the commentators who favored the home team felt that Schalke might continue to pursue the victory. As a result, the home team increased the horizontal uniform speed. The cheers inside were also weaker than before.But the fans also need a period of time to rest their throats.

About 10 minutes after Schalke took the lead, the scene was lacklustre. The German commentator Marcel Leif simply started to deliberately chatter, not only for self-regulation, but also to relieve the emotions of the fans in front of the TV. Tian Cheng is the main target.

"It must be admitted that Schalke's youth training star-making ability and Slomka's internal potential selection vision are very unique. In this starting lineup, goalkeepers Neuer, Höwedes and Zhou Tiancheng have successively proved This point. Zhou Tiancheng, in particular, was very effective in his first two appearances on behalf of the first team. Unfortunately, Schalke will meet their old enemy Dortmund in the fourth round of the Bundesliga. It's a real litmus test, and if he can continue to perform like this, his rookie season will be worth looking forward to."

Next door to Marcel Leff's on-site commentary booth, Spanish commentator Juan Picci did not have such a good leisurely mood. He spit in front of the microphone and urged Atletico Madrid to be more active: "This kind of scene can no longer continue. !We can't let Schalke play as they please like Barcelona."

Aguirre obviously also realized that the intensity of the midfielder is not enough. The 31-year-old Portuguese midfielder Maniche needs to take on more important tasks in the offensive passing organization. Such an "old" veteran can only take care of one end , The defensive role is limited, and the full-time defensive Spanish midfielder Cuevas is also 32 years old. It is also difficult for him to fight against the three tough guys in the Schalke midfielder.

Realizing his mistake, Aguirre adjusted quickly and had the quality of self-reflection. He removed Cuevas in the 10st minute of the first half and replaced him with Argentine Zhong who had just joined on loan from Valencia. Field Ewo Banega.

Banega is only 20 years old this year. He works as a defensive midfielder. His characteristics are flexible running and precise position selection.In terms of attributes, it overlaps with Cuevas, but it is obviously a younger force.Aguirre also has enough trust in young people. He was just loaned to the team a month ago, and he was given a chance in the Champions League.

Banega was very surprised by his appearance. At the beginning of the year, he moved from Boca Juniors to Valencia with a high price of 800 million euros, and then moved to Atletico Madrid on loan. As the absolute main force of Boca Juniors, he has already played in South America. The game has proved himself, and now he is also eager to display his talents in the Champions League.Young talents from all over the world land in Europe, all chasing the dream of being the king. Banega also hopes to impress everyone. In the future, whether it is in Valencia or Atletico Madrid, it is more hopeful to compete for the main position.

However, he quickly realized that it is not an easy task to make a difference in the European arena. Zhou Tiancheng, who is also a rookie season like him, can beat him in partial confrontations.Banega is characterized by being aggressive and ruthless in fighting, and has outstanding predictive ability, but this is also Zhou Tiancheng's strengths, but Zhou Tiancheng has the body of a central defender, and he is not at the same level as Banega at 1.7 meters four. With such an obvious gap under the same circumstances, Banega couldn't restrain Zhou Tiancheng, so he can't be blamed for not working hard.

However, this game is a little regrettable. Schalke's strikers seem to have lost their shooting boots collectively. The threat created by Zhou Tiancheng playing behind the opponent's central defender is no less than five times in the game, but none of them can be converted into further advantages. .But fortunately, the front was wasting opportunities like this, and the defense was still solid. In the final stage, Atletico Madrid replaced the Spanish European Cup champion Luis Garcia to attack. Schalke stumbled and turned the 1:0 advantage into victory without any risk.The moment the referee Kakir blew the final whistle, Slomka gently wiped the sweat from his forehead, but with a smile on his face.

To tell the truth, it is not safe to have a one-goal advantage in an away game. In contrast, the greatest success is a zero-block opponent.And all of this is largely inseparable from Zhou Tiancheng's performance.In the post-match press conference, Slomka was full of confidence in the second round in his words. He said: "Although the Calderon Stadium is difficult to overcome, it should be natural for us to win this round of the series. We have Better overall, but there are also outstanding individual players who can change the game. For example Zhou, today our winning goal came directly from his long ball instigation. Although he just joined the first team this year, he has proved that he can bring the team. Come to the most critical help."

This is the UEFA Champions League, and the reporters sitting in the audience are from all over Europe. Although Zhou Tiancheng has attracted a little attention in the Bundesliga, but at the European level, his popularity is almost zero. Push it in front of all the media and become the central figure.

Naturally, all kinds of questions were aimed at him, the biggest hero, Zhou Tiancheng was helpless.He knew that the coach was thinking highly of himself and deliberately pushed himself to the front row.But Zhou Tiancheng is not used to being surrounded by all reporters like a giant panda. He prefers to play low-key and simply lead the team to victory.

What made him even more speechless was that after the game, many media deliberately exaggerated his one-on-one victory over Aguero, which caused the club's press officer to come to him in the past few days, hoping that he would accept interview requests from several media at any rate, but Zhou Tiancheng politely declined due to the relatively heavy task of the recent competition and did not want to be distracted.

Originally, he thought that if he integrated into the team's skills and tactics, he would be able to adapt to the first team, but now he gradually began to understand that for an excellent professional player, he has to learn to deal with off-court factors, at least the media cannot avoid it.

Zhou Tiancheng was thinking that he might have to ask an old fritter like Westerman for some tips on how to face reporters, otherwise he would subconsciously feel reserved when facing the camera, which would be too out of style.

……

After the UEFA Champions League qualifying round, back to the league, there will be two focus games in the second round of the Bundesliga. Dortmund will face Bayern Munich at home. As the two clubs with the most brilliant records in the history of the Bundesliga, the confrontation between the two teams The gimmick of being dubbed the German National Derby naturally attracted countless people.Another group of strong dialogues is the confrontation between the runner-up and the third place last season. Schalke challenged Werder Bremen away.

The whole team paid special attention to this away game. All the old players still remember the 1:5 away game defeat last season. The defeat in that key game somewhat affected the morale of the championship in the final stage.It also caused Schalke to fail to play well in the last few games, and was overtaken by Werder Bremen in the standings, losing the place to directly advance to the Champions League group stage.Judging from the final result, it was completely the butterfly effect of last season's big defeat.

So Slomka is not afraid to expose his scars. Before heading to the away game, he said: "The failure last time was just a coincidence. We are going to revenge this time, so what is our goal?"

"Return him a 5:1!" Zhou Tiancheng replied before everyone else.He didn't pay attention to everyone's eyes at all, and they all conveyed the same meaning: Brother, are you serious?
Slomka glanced at Zhou Tiancheng unexpectedly and approvingly, and then raised his voice and said to everyone: "Very good! Everyone must have such confidence. We will give back all the previous humiliation! This belongs to Everyone's battle. Ivan, the next game will give you a chance to show off your talent."

Rakitic, who was suddenly named, was a little confused, pointing at himself, and didn't react for a long time.

"Ivan! Aren't you part of the team? You don't want this opportunity?" Slomka snapped.

This time Rakitic was convinced that the goddess of luck had finally taken care of him, and his face was suddenly filled with a pleasant smile.

Slomka went on to say: "This is the right attitude. Ivan, you will be around to help him in the next game. I hope you can enter the rhythm of the Bundesliga as soon as possible."

Rakitic glanced at Zhou Tiancheng. Although Zhou Tiancheng was smiling, Rakitic felt depressed instantly.

Let me do it?
Everyone is new, why are you better than me?
I will prove it!
Rakitic secretly clenched his fists.

Slomka is well aware of all this, but he deliberately ignores it. As long as it does not hurt the peace, young players must be encouraged to be competitive. Healthy competition can promote mutual improvement.

In fact, Slomka did not intend to arrange Rakitic to start the game in this game.Kobyashvili has four more games to miss, having experienced Champions League intensity and Kristajic is showing signs of fatigue.Slomka can only find another way in the midfield, which is an objective reason.

Subjectively, it has something to do with Zhou Tiancheng. Due to his outstanding performance, Slomka has an extra level of expectation for the players who have not yet played in the team, and is more willing to actively use them.

Maybe, another similar surprise will appear!
PS: [-]-word chapter, one update

(End of this chapter)