Champion’s Heart

Klopp's substitution adjustment was considered by Schalke 04 to be a desperate move and a completely erroneous adjustment. Replacing Shaheen is no problem, but replacing Hummels is definitely questionable.

If we want to strengthen the control of the midfield, shouldn't the normal approach be to replace a forward and replace him with a midfielder?

Defense is the foundation of everything. Replacing a defender now is equivalent to weakening the defense. So what's the point of strengthening midfield control?

Of course, it's not surprising that Klopp made such an adjustment, because he himself is such a coach who is easy to make all-or-nothing decisions and is a complete gambler. Sometimes, he can win, but there is no gambler in the world who can always win.

Just because Klopp won his bet before, it doesn't mean he can win this time.

In the view of Schalke 04 head coach Jens Keller, Klopp’s adjustment is an opportunity for Schalke 04 to seize the relatively empty opportunity in their defense and strive to score another goal. There is no suspense about the outcome of the game.

Keller replaced the fired coach Stevens before the winter break and became the team's head coach. Before that, he coached Schalke 04's U17 team. Schalke 04 club stated that Keller is not an over-coach of the team and he will continue to coach until the end of the season.

Stevens was dismissed due to poor performance in leading the team. When he was dismissed, Schalke 04 had even fallen out of the Champions League and was winless in six consecutive games.

Keller's main task after taking over the team is to get the team back into the Champions League and qualify for next season's Champions League. For Schalke 04, although participating in the Champions League will make them perform poorly in the league, qualifying for the Champions League is related to huge financial revenue, which is money that cannot be given up easily. In addition, if you can participate in the Champions League every year, it will also be beneficial to the development of the team's strength. Look at Dortmund today, which is a good example for them. Dortmund can participate in the Champions League every year. They have also won two consecutive championships in the domestic league. The team's strength has improved by leaps and bounds.

Keller also knows that the responsibility on his shoulders is heavy. He only came to this club in July last year and signed a two-year U17 coaching contract with Schalke 04. The Schalke U17 he led had very good results in the youth league. By the time he coached the Schalke 04 first team, the U17 he led had won all 13 games in the Western League. Moreover, due to the U17 youth team and Schalke The 04 first team adopts a similar formation, and the handover between Keller and Stevens will not be too difficult.

When coaching U17, Schalke 04U17 led by Keller scored 77 goals in thirteen games. The offensive firepower was very strong, and in the youth league, he faced the Dortmund youth team. In the Ruhr area derby, he led the team to defeat Dortmund 4:3. What Schalke 04's first team failed to do, he achieved in the youth team, so he can be regarded as a coach with experience in winning Ruhr derbies.

Now the Schalke 04 first team he leads leads Dortmund by two goals in the Ruhr area derby, which seems to prove that his coaching experience in the Schalke 04U17 youth team is useful.

So he also made adjustments in response to Dortmund's adjustment.

That is to strengthen the offense. In view of the fact that Dortmund only has three defenders, let Schalke 04 attack more fiercely, strive to score another goal in the shortest time, and then shrink the line and start to defend.

The three-goal lead could not be defended until the end of the game.

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After receiving the latest instructions from the head coach, the Schalke 04 players continued to attack Dortmund's goal after the start of the second half. At the same time, they used their mad dog-like pressing in the midfield and frontcourt to maintain their advantage on the field.

Especially for Zhou Yi, it is not just Yang Muge. If there is a chance, other Schalke 04 players will also come to help Yang Muge defend Zhou Yi.

When Zhou Yi was so guarded that it was difficult to turn around,

Dortmund's offense naturally couldn't be organized.

This was a problem with Dortmund's build-up in the first half.

But the situation in the second half was a little different from the first half.

Because Shaheen came on.

When Zhou Yi was trapped in a tight siege, he didn't need to look for passing targets and paths everywhere like in the first half. Now he only needs to lock in a Shaheen. The opponent surrounded him and he passed the football to Shaheen.

Searching for just one passing target is far less difficult than searching for many passing targets.

Therefore, in the second half of the game, Schalke 04 players, including Yang Muge, found that it was not as easy as the first half to stop Dortmund's attack.

When the football was still passed to Zhou Yi, Yang Muge rushed towards Zhou Yi. In addition to him, Hogel also rushed towards Zhou Yi, intending to double-team him.

After Zhou Yi got the ball, he did not pass the football immediately, but made an adjustment. While he was adjusting, Yang Muge and Hogel came forward. Among them, Yang Muge stood behind him and pushed him, while Hogel was behind him. Waiting for an opportunity.

Zhou Yi, who was surrounded, passed the football out, and he passed it to Shaheen, who was connecting him not far away.

Because he himself attracted two Schalke 04 players, Shaheen did not even have a Schalke 04 player around him.

Shaxin caught the ball! The ball was chosen beautifully! Duan Xin shouted.

After receiving the ball, Shaheen turned around and took the football forward. Then before other Schalke 04 players came forward, he made a long diagonal pass and sent the football to the other side of the field, where it fell to the front goalkeeper. Dortmund striker Lewandowski's feet.

After Lewandowski got the ball, Gotze had already moved forward at high speed, so Lewandowski passed the football to Gotze. In the end, Gotze completed a high-quality shot, and the football was blocked by Sha. Erke 04 goalkeeper Hildebrand saved the bottom line and Dortmund received a corner kick.

After Hildebrand saved the ball from the bottom line, the TV broadcast cut to a close-up shot of Shaheen. He was regretting that Gotze did not score with this kick and was holding his head in his hands.

Marcel Leif said with emotion: Shahin's long pass just now found Lewandowski very accurately. This scene really made us feel like we were back to two years ago, and Shaheen was also there at that time. Wearing a Dortmund jersey and frequently sending long passes like this on the pitch...

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Dortmund got a corner kick. When they were beaten by Schalke 04, any frontcourt set-piece they could get was worthy of serious consideration. So Dortmund players who were good at headers crowded into the penalty area and prepared to fight for it. top.

Zhou Yi, on the other hand, did not join in the fun. He did not have an advantage in height or strength, and his jumping was not very good. It was meaningless for him to run into the penalty area except to cause chaos. So when it comes to corner kicks, if he doesn't take the kick, then he will wait for the second shot outside the penalty area.

This corner kick was handed over to Shaheen to take the penalty, and he had just sent a precise long pass.

After he placed the football, he took a look at the situation in the penalty area. It was a mess. The players from Schalke 04 and Dortmund were entangled. It was hard to separate them. Moreover, each other's hands were still moving, pulling and hugging each other... He didn't know who would snatch the ball when it was kicked in front of the goal.

The referee Gagelman obviously noticed this situation, so he blew the whistle to pause the game, then ran into the penalty area and called out the two players Hummels and Hwedes who were most obviously pulling. They came out and gave them verbal warnings to be careful not to have too much physical contact.

Both of them obviously believed that the other party was responsible, so they were both unconvinced. It was just that it was too obvious to show off in front of the referee, so they finally nodded and said they would pay attention.

But when they returned to their positions, their hands quickly touched each other. Gagelman is used to this situation. If he insists on preventing physical contact between players on both sides, then by the 90th minute, the corner kick may not be able to be taken out, so now he can only take shots in the penalty area. turned a blind eye to the chaos.

Shaheen stood far away in the corner flag area, paying attention to everything happening in the penalty area. He found that after the referee suspended the game, the situation still had not improved, and there was still chaos in the penalty area.

At this time, of course, he can still choose to kick the football to the goal area, and then pass the responsibility to his teammates who are fighting for the top in front of the goal. Let them fight tooth and nail for an opportunity that has little hope. It’s not wrong to do so. Anyway, not every corner kick can be scored, so failure must be allowed.

But Shaheen doesn't want to do this, because for Dortmund now, every frontcourt set piece such as a corner kick is a precious scoring opportunity. Why did head coach Klopp repeatedly tell himself to score in the second half during the halftime break? How to kick it?

Not because if the team loses this game, it will probably lose the league championship. So victory in this Ruhr derby is crucial.

He hopes to help the team seize every scoring opportunity.

It was a pity that Gotze didn't score a goal just now. He knew very well that the opportunities to pass the football without defensive pressure like before might become less and less in the following games.

Seize every opportunity and never give it up!

Thinking of this, he turned his attention to the outside of the penalty area. There were much fewer people there. Most of the players from both sides were concentrated in the penalty area. This made the outside of the penalty area as deserted as the suburbs of a bustling city.

Zhou Yi was there, setting his sights on Shaheen.

The two people's eyes met in the air, and suddenly a tacit understanding appeared deep in their hearts at the same time. (To be continued)). If you like this work, you are welcome to vote at Qidian.com (). Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users please go and read. )