Champion’s Heart

Not long after the game started, Zhou Yi saw the football style of Freiburg U19.

It is true that the three lines stand very close together, and the back line is pressed very high.

This style of play with tens of meters behind them seems dangerous, but in fact, they relied on this tactic to reach the final of the Youth German Cup this season.

Why?

If there is no system, Zhou Yi may not be able to experience the power of this tactic until the finals.

But with the system, he has already experienced it many times in advance.

He knew very well why this tactical play, which seemed to have a lot of space behind him, was so powerful.

The Freiburg U19 style of play requires that each player is not far apart, three lines, and the distance between each line is kept very tight.

The integration of the three lines is like a cage, which traps the opponent in it, and the active high position press makes it difficult for the opponent to send the football out of the cage.

As soon as their opponents get the ball, even at the front of their own penalty area, they will be pressed by Freiburg players. In the process of the opponent's pressing, there will be many mistakes.

And these mistakes will immediately translate into Freiburg's attack.

Borussia Dortmund's U19 coach Yebala has repeatedly emphasized to his players that Freiburg are a very good defensive team, and they are.

But Zhou Yi has a different view from his head coach. He doesn't think this is a proof of Freiburg's excellent defense, on the contrary, he feels that Freiburg is a team that is better at attacking.

Freiburg led by Streich played not defensive football, but offensive football.

Why is there such a perception?

On the one hand, Zhou Yi consulted some real Freiburg U19 data on the Internet, and on the other hand, he obtained the data after repeated matches with Freiburg U19 in the virtual system, and then analyzed and summarized.

In the virtual system, Freiburg U19 can create an average of 11 scoring opportunities per game. This statistic is very impressive. Compared with his Dortmund U19 virtual team, Zhou Yi only averaged 13 scoring opportunities per game.

But know.

Dortmund has himself and Gotze, but what about Freiburg U19?

I haven't heard that they have players with good offensive playmaking ability.

What are they relying on?

Relying on this high pressing.

In Freiburg's 442 formation, the defense begins with the top two forwards harassing the opponent's central defender with the ball. As soon as the ball is passed, all players start to press forward to press the opposing player they are facing. At the same time, they will maintain a tight position near the midfield, compress the space and isolate opponent players through purposeful and continuous running, so that the opponent does not have much time and space to organize attacks, and it is difficult to penetrate them. Orderly formation.

This collective pressing style of play will give Freiburg a lot of opportunities to counterattack on the spot in the frontcourt, which is why they create so many scoring opportunities.

But after playing against this team dozens of times. Zhou Yi also understands that the Freiburg system does not run smoothly every time, and the cage they weave is not so airtight and difficult to fly.

As long as it is a system composed of people, there will definitely be loopholes.

Although Freiburg can create an average of eleven scoring opportunities per game, their probability of converting these scoring opportunities into goals is very low, only 12%.

The reason is that Freiburg lacks forwards with excellent scoring ability. Because their two forwards need to shoulder more defensive harassment tasks, they have less energy in scoring. In addition, Zhou Yi checked their lineup and found that it is not without forwards who can score. But sitting on the bench.

why is that?

Doesn't Freiburg's head coach Streich know this?

Zhou Yi analyzed and analyzed, and felt that this was Streich's helpless choice-Freiburg's collective oppressive play required players to maintain a high degree of concentration, be aware of the positions and movements of teammates and opponents at any time, and move accordingly. The two forwards have to constantly pull and change positions, cruising in a wide range, which requires a lot of their running ability. And the forward with excellent scoring ability just has poor running ability. If he is allowed to start, although he can score, it will affect the operation of the entire system. In the end, not only will he not be able to score, but he will also drag down the team.

This is actually the same as Dortmund's Schneider. Schneider's scoring ability is still good, especially the frontal scoring ability facing the goal.

But why was he still taken down in this game?

Because he will paralyze the entire Dortmund tactical system after playing, so he can only make a choice.

Freiburg's scoring ability is relatively weak, which means that Dortmund has time and opportunities to score.

Now it's time to see who has a higher success rate.

in this regard. Zhou Yi believes that his teammates, whether it is Kinchek, or Gotze and Mark, they all have good scoring ability.

Among them, Gotze and Kinchek have the best scoring ability, followed by Mark.

But the one who has improved the most is Mark.

Zhou Yi still remembered the first time he saw Mark. Mark's shooting data is so miserable that he can't bear to gamble, it's not as good as himself.

That was seven months ago.

But Mark really made a radical change in these seven months. Maybe I watched it every day, and I didn't think there was any change in Mark, but after these seven months, when I looked back at Mark when I first met him, Zhou Yi was surprised by the changes in his friend.

From the data point of view, Mark's shooting value has become fifty-nine. From forty-four to fifty-nine, an increase of fifteen points. This has something to do with Mark working harder on shooting training during training. In addition, in addition to additional physical strength training, he will also give himself additional shooting training, which is the reason for his data growth.

But just looking at this number, it is still not too good.

But sometimes what the data expresses is very one-sided. You can't just look at the data for shooting.

Mark has scored a total of seven goals since he started in Dortmund U19. The number of goals is not too many, but it is not too many. For Mark, this is a normal level. It can't be compared with the 18 goals of U17 morale. That's because too many balls in U17 are assisted by Zhou Yi's nanny, and it is almost effortless for Mark to shoot.

In U19, Mark has to constantly confront the opponent's defender in front, and at the same time he has to constantly involve movement. Create some offensive opportunities for Kinchek and Gotze, which have affected his number of goals.

Then why can Mark squeeze out Schneider, who can score more goals than him?

Because in fact, Mark is not the kind of person who treats goals like nothing.

Zhou Yi also had this illusion at the beginning, probably because Mark's excellent off-the-ball running position and ability to find gaps in Mark's data misled him.

Make him think Mark is an Inzaghi-style striker.

But then, with this July time. After Mark changed step by step, Zhou Yi discovered that Mark was a number nine and a half.

He is not Schneider's kind of center forward who can hit the opponent's goal with a header. Although he can play a single center forward in front, in that case, his ability to score goals will be greatly restricted. What did he do when he was a center forward?

Pass the ball to teammates, make the ball.

Because he has an excellent ability to find the space, he can run to the space, and he can also find the space, so when he can't run to the space, he can pass the football to the space. This is somewhat similar to Zhou Yi, but his position is closer to the goal than Zhou Yi.

In the Ruhr Derby in the U19 Western League, the goal that Dortmund finally defeated Schalke 04, Zhou Yi scored, wasn't it Mark's assist?

He saw this gap, and Zhou Yi also saw it. Zhou Yi ran to the space, and he passed the football to the space. The goals came naturally.

Mark is more flexible than a center like Schneider, both in terms of running position and size. If there is a center next to him, he can capture the record and score a goal.

And when he can't score a goal, he can also be integrated into the team's offensive system, using his running, pulling and passing to help other teammates get opportunities.

Some players are system players and must be in a specific system to perform well.

But Zhou Yi thinks that Mark is not. Mark is the type of guy who goes to any team and has a place no matter what the team plays.

He can play forward, or he can retreat to play midfielder. He can also play the No. 9 and a half between the striker and the attacking midfielder. If he plays as a double striker, he will have more chances to score goals. If he plays a single striker, he can provide shells for the midfield teammates who plug in behind. If he retreats and plays nine and a half, he can attack in series. Contributing to the team's entire offensive system is like a screw. Maybe the individual is not good, but the whole team benefits.

What a player this is...what head coach wouldn't want it?

In fact, Mark also had a wrong perception of himself before. He felt that he was a forward waiting for his teammates to feed him the ball in front of the goal, and he was unwilling to take a few steps. He felt that he was Inzaghi second.

But after Zhou Yi arrived and was promoted to U19, he realized his previous mistakes.

His change came when he realized his mistakes and corrected them.

And Yebala is willing to give him another chance to prove himself. In the end, he came off the bench in the Ruhr Derby against Schalke 04, scored two goals and assisted one goal, perfectly proving his tactical value.

It also established the concept of Dortmund's U19 trident in Yebara's heart.

Among the three, Zhou Yi has excellent passing ability and excellent ability to find space, so he can play the role of the core commander in the trident. Gotze can shoot and pass, and has the most comprehensive ability. He is the most important arrow figure in the trident. And Mark, with the best tactical awareness, is willing to make wedding dresses for others, can cooperate well with Zhou Yi and Ge Ce, and is willing to make sacrifices for the team. These factors make him an indispensable lubricant for the Trident. Now, the trident didn't work at all. With him, the trident turned into a revolver that could threaten the opponent's goal no matter who it was—any of the three could turn into a bullet and take the opponent's life.

It can be said that Mark has enriched the possibilities of the trident routine.

Mark may never be able to do the kind of golden boots with many goals, but his status in the team will not become unimportant because of fewer goals.

For example, in this final, without Mark, it would have been even more difficult for Zhou Yi to win against Freiburg.

But now, he believes that Mark will support and help him, and he also believes that Mark has such trust in himself.

Isn't this kind of fast passing and cutting cooperation that they have practiced for more than a month used on this kind of opponent in this kind of game? (To be continued.)