Champion’s Heart

After defeating Bayern Munich in the league, Dortmund will go to an away game against Arsenal.

Dortmund has already qualified from the group early, but Arsenal has not yet.

With seven points from four group matches, they are three points more than third-placed Marseille.

In this round of the group stage, Marseille will face Olympiakos, the weakest team in the group, at home. Is there any suspense about victory?

If Arsenal fails to defeat Dortmund at home, their second place in the group will be in danger.

The worst result was that they lost at home to Dortmund, while Marseille defeated Olympiakos at home.

Arsenal and Marseille have the same points, and Arsenal only ranks second based on the results of the two sides.

In the final round, they have to defeat Olympiacos away from home to ensure qualifying.

Some people may think that beating Olympiacos away from home is not a problem. But when it comes to football matches, who can say for sure? Moreover, the highly seeded team actually had to compete against the weakest team in the group on the road in order to qualify. This in itself is a very embarrassing fact.

So in order to avoid this fact, the best solution is to defeat Dortmund at home in this round of group matches.

Before the game, Zhouyi and Arsenal were linked again.

Because before the first match between the two sides, Arsenal's management, including Wenger, said they had nothing to regret for not signing Zhou Yi.

As a result, Ren Zhouyi led Dortmund to defeat Arsenal at home.

So will this embarrass Arsenal's management?

Wenger refused to answer the question: I am more concerned about the next games.

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This is the first time Zhou Yi has set foot in London after becoming a Dortmund player. It is a pity that Sun Pan is no longer in London, otherwise he would definitely ask Sun Pan to treat him to dinner.

Sun Pan said that he was simply calculating. The reason why he did not stay at Chelsea was because he did not want to invite Zhou Yi to dinner.

Zhou Yi could only roll his eyes in return.

For the game against Arsenal,

Zhou Yi was in a very relaxed mood.

It's not because Dortmund has qualified for the group stage, but because he doesn't know what nervousness is. Heartless people often don't understand what nervousness is.

In the pre-match simulation, although Dortmund was challenging Arsenal away from home, there was no obvious disadvantage.

This opponent is not worth being nervous about.

But when the game started, the development of the situation was still somewhat unexpected.

Twenty-five minutes into the game, neither side scored a goal, and the game reached a deadlock.

For Arsenal, this is a stalemate and they want to work hard to break through this stalemate.

But for Dortmund, there's nothing wrong with that.

But in the 26th minute, Dortmund's main midfielder Sven Bender had to be replaced early due to injury!

The person who replaced him was the team's captain Sebastian Kyle.

Since Kyle's physical condition declined, it has been difficult for him to play the main role in Dortmund. Most of the time he is a substitute, or he does not even have many opportunities to come off the bench.

Thirteen rounds of the league have been played this season. He has only played four times in the league, all as a substitute and never as a starter.

Dortmund's midfield configuration usually has Sven Bender and Zhou Yi in the middle. If Zhou Yi needs to be replaced in advance, who to replace depends on the situation. If you need to strengthen defense, replace Kyle. If you need to strengthen control and continue to maintain offensive pressure on the opponent, then replace Gundogan.

Now that Sven Bender is injured, Kyle can only be replaced, because the only person left in the midfield who can defend is Kyle.

Although Kyle is on top, it still has a great impact on Dortmund's midfield defense.

In the 38th minute, Arsenal, playing at home, took advantage of the confusion after Dortmund's midfield defensive substitutions and scored a goal.

Arsenal! Van Persie! He opened the scoring for the team! the British commentator was very excited.

The Arsenal fans in the stands were even more excited and cheered.

Now it seems that Sven Bender's injury has a great impact on Dortmund... Marcel Leif felt sorry for the conceded goal.

After the goal, Arsenal planned to pursue the victory. Dortmund recovered its defense across the board and finally made it to the end of the first half without allowing the opponent to score another goal.

If you concede one goal, you still have to kick in the second half. If you kick two goals, the hope of winning is very slim. A draw with the opponent is considered good.

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During the halftime break, Klopp rearranged Dortmund's midfield and asked Shinji Kagawa to retreat deeper and connect with Zhou Yi. The purpose of this is to allow Zhou Yi to organize attacks without having to advance frequently.

Because Shinji Kagawa is the connector - before Mark was injured, this task was completed by Mark, and he has always done it well.

If Zhou Yi doesn't have to push forward frequently, he can stay in the backcourt and participate in... defense.

Yes, your first main task in the second half is defense. Klopp said to Zhou Yi, who was a little surprised.

Not only Zhou Yi was surprised, but everyone else was also surprised.

Doesn’t Klopp not understand what Zhou Yi is good at and what he is not good at?

Everyone knows that organizing offense is what Zhou Yi is good at, and defending him is just a show-off most of the time, mainly relying on Sven Bender.

Faced with everyone's surprised and confused looks, Klopp didn't explain much. He just said to Zhou Yi: You know what to do, Zhou Yi. In fact, you have an advantage in defense.

Everyone was even more surprised and looked at Zhou Yi - Zhou Yi's defense is so bad, what advantage does he have? You need strength but not power, you need speed but not speed. If someone squeezes you during defense, you may fly away. How can you defend like this?

In everyone's doubtful eyes, Zhou Yi's expression gradually became serious. He didn't think the head coach was talking nonsense. He felt that Klopp must have a reason for saying that.

So what exactly is my advantage in defense?

Zhou Yi frowned and thought hard.

He began to replay the games he had played in his mind, whether real or virtual, trying to find out the characteristics of his defense.

Although Zhou Yi has always been the core of the organization, he still has to participate in defense, but his participation in defense is not deep, he just appears in that position. Klopp does not require him to become a steal king like Sven Bender. Sometimes defense is actually about appearing in the right position and it can play a defensive role...

When Zhou Yi thought of this, his mind suddenly lit up.

Correct location!

Yes, location!

Zhou Yi understood what his advantage was in defense.

Sense of place.

This advantage, which he has vividly demonstrated in offense, is equally useful in defense!

No one stipulates that defense must have direct physical contact with the opponent. As long as it can disrupt the opponent's offense or force them to change their original offensive route, it is actually considered a successful defense.

As long as they don't directly threaten the goal.

Therefore, he does not need to directly steal the ball from the opponent's feet, nor does he need to defend the opponent's breakthrough one-on-one.

As long as he appears in the right position at the right time and then makes the right move, he can complete a defense...

Taking a step further, Zhou Yi thought of his game against Inter Milan last season during the review. The first time he met Inter Milan in the group stage, Dortmund, who was missing one person at the beginning, was beaten like a dog in the first half. But in the second half, Dortmund launched a counterattack frenzy. One of the key goals was initiated and finally scored because he intercepted the ball directly in the backcourt.

How did you defend and steal the ball at that time?

There was no physical contact with the opponent, but he was stuck in the opponent's passing route, and then when the opponent passed the ball, he directly intercepted it...

This kind of defensive method is not difficult for Zhou Yi, because it is easy for Zhou Yi to judge the opponent's passing route. He has a God's perspective. He can easily find all the passing routes that the opponent may have, and then through the experience accumulated in virtual games, he can guess the opponent's passing with almost no accuracy.

But Zhou Yi never thought about using his talents in defense before.

Because he himself also fell into a misunderstanding, that is, he felt that with his physical condition, his position and playing style, he was not good at defending. Even if the head coach asks for defense, it is more about dealing with errands and there is no subjective initiative in defense.

But now, he was awakened by Klopp's words.

Only then did he realize that defense... was not as difficult as he thought!

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Klopp paid attention to Zhou Yi, who had been frowning. Suddenly his brows relaxed and a bright light burst out of his eyes.

He knew that Zhou Yi must have figured it out, so he also grinned.

He felt relieved.

Why let Zhou Yi defend?

Because after Sven Bender was injured and came off the field, Kyle, who did not play often, was not in very good condition. The goal conceded in the first half was due to this reason.

If you don't want to lose to Arsenal on the road, preventing more goals is the first priority.

If Zhou Yi can play a greater role in defense, he can certainly effectively improve the success rate of Dortmund's defense.

Secondly, one of the biggest advantages of Zhou Yi's participation in defense is that if he can intercept the ball, he can directly launch an attack without passing the ball. A true integration of offense and defense.

This can greatly save time, and at the same time it is sudden enough that the other party cannot react at all. (To be continued.)