Chapter 17: Su Chao rises the power of the Red Country!
Because it was on the other side of the field, Gerrard and assistant coach McAllister did not see clearly what happened, but Chen Xiaoliang's instantaneous movement and the way Ethan Hahon covered his feet and did not roll after falling to the ground, Gerrard knew that he was really injured and not acting.
But he still asked McAllister to wait because the referee made a gesture to watch the VAR (video replay system) after communicating with the linesman.
The St. Mirren coach stared at the fourth official and put pressure on him, knowing full well that if Rangers had a player sent off at this point, the one-goal deficit could be quickly reversed.
The referee was panting, watching the slow motion video over and over again for more than a dozen times, then turned around and ran back into the court.
The entire audience held their breath and focused their attention on the referee's hands.
He just spread his hands in front of him and waved them, which did not mean he was committing a foul.
Cheers broke out from the surrounding stands!
"So he just missed it on purpose!"
"What a beautiful shovel!"
"Damn, you should be more aggressive, this kind of defense will be more powerful!"
The home fans were excited and talked about the game.
The St. Mirren players were extremely angry and came up to ask the referee for an explanation.
The referee clearly told them that Chen Xiaoliang was the first to tackle the ball, and his subsequent actions were normal and there was no additional foul. Ethan Hahong's ankle was dislocated by the ball.
Hearing this, Ethan Hahon, who was being carried off the field on a stretcher, covered his face in even greater pain, while the Rangers players were overjoyed!
No one expected that after Chen Xiaoliang lost his position, he could catch up and tackle the opponent's most active attacker! This is far more valuable than a steal!
Barisic patted Chen Xiaoliang on the back.
"Well done, Chen! I really thought you were going to be sent off!"
Chen Xiaoliang looked at him and said, "You kept backing away, attracting the attention of that person, so I was able to clear the ball."
"Sure, Chen! It seems like we have a good understanding of each other!" Barisic laughed.
With just such a smile, the golden light of the system flashed on Barisic.
Although Chen Xiaoliang knew that only he could see this light, he was still very surprised.
"Could it be that the tacit understanding value system has taken effect?"
He couldn't help but glance at Barisic again...
This glance gave him a feeling that he could predict what position and posture Barisic would use next...
Barisic found that Chen Xiaoliang was looking at him with a strange look, and he was staring at him without even moving his eyes.
"Hey, hey, hey, what the hell are you thinking about?"
Chen Xiaoliang came to his senses after hearing his shout. He quickly returned to his seat, but he couldn't help feeling nauseous .
The player who replaced Ethan Hahon was a white guy named Jamison. He was very young and rushed into the game without any warm-up.
And because it was an unexpected injury, this substitution also used up St. Mirren's last substitution slot.
This means that no matter what happens next, St. Mirren will no longer be able to change its tactics through substitutions.
Davis saw his hopes of playing dashed, and he chewed gum angrily on the bench, cursing the referee as an idiot in his heart.
After the game restarted, St. Mirren tried to attack from the right several times without giving up. Jamison was immediately intercepted by Chen Xiaoliang after receiving the ball several times.
At the same time, with the help of tacit understanding, Chen Xiaoliang can always find Barisic's position as soon as possible after stealing the ball and pass the ball to him immediately.
Without the defensive pressure, Barisic pressed forward further.
Gradually, St. Mirren saw that they had lost opportunities on the right and moved their attack direction to the middle. After all, on the left, they were facing Rangers captain Tavernier and the Nigerian international Aribo, who was good at both offense and defense. Both of them are among the best players in the Scottish Premier League .
As a result, they ran into the encirclement of the 433 formation arranged by Gerrard in the middle.
"Steven, do you feel that... after Chen came on the court, Barisic became special..." McAllister said excitedly.
"What's special?" Gerald asked puzzledly.
“Saucy…”
McAllister made the serious-looking Gerrard laugh.
Indeed, he also found that after Chen Xiaoliang came on the court, his running positions with Barisic became more and more coordinated.
It didn't seem like the first time they worked together in a formal match. It was quite similar to when he first played football and cooperated with Xabi Alonso in midfield.
Chen Xiaoliang always has trouble controlling the landing point of his headers, but after each header, Barisic can immediately determine the second landing point.
When Barisic dribbled forward, Chen Xiaoliang was always able to get the ball back every time he lost it.
This kind of making up for each other's weaknesses is simply you know my strengths and I know your depth.
Chen Xiaoliang was also amazed at the effect of tacit understanding. When the ball was dead, he secretly called out the panel and aimed it at Barisic. Only then did he realize that every successful cooperation, such as stealing, passing, assisting, and filling in, could slowly improve the tacit understanding between the two.
A tacit connection also appeared between them, evolving from the initial orange to yellow and green.
Jamison, who replaced Ethan Hahon, was a mediocre player. He not only gave himself several steals, but also increased his tacit understanding every time he intercepted the ball and passed it to Barisic.
Chen Xiaoliang felt that he had a reaction to Barisic not only psychologically but also physically...
At the same time, in addition to the waves of cheers in the stadium, several Red Country students studying in Glasgow were using their mobile phones to live broadcast the game on the Fighting Cats APP.
They named the live broadcast room "The Rise of the Red Country Power in the Scottish Super League"
As Chen Xiaoliang successfully intercepted the ball continuously, the number of people in the live broadcast room increased. In a short while, it exceeded 10,000 people, and the barrage of comments was overwhelming.
[Fuck! This guy doesn't look like he can play football, but he's so fierce in stealing?! ]
[Yes! When Durant was in the Celtics, he would have been a main player long ago if he had such strong defense]
[Can you please stop talking about the national football team? It's annoying. Let's just focus on watching the game, okay? ]
[Gerrard has a good vision. He actually found such a good seedling]
[Gerrard himself can’t do this kind of defensive ability]
[What Gerrard, that kick just now was at Vieira's level, okay? ]
…
After St. Mirren focused its attack on the middle, they never played any decent cooperation under the siege of Rangers, but instead left a lot of space for Rangers' two flanks.
Chen Xiaoliang also focused on defending the wing and also took on the ball-stealing in the middle.
Although his jumping ability of 10 is only average, when facing mid-level Scottish Premier League teams, with his height of 183cm and superb ability to predict the landing point, he can ensure that every ball is headed.
What's more, St. Mirren's midfielders and forwards are generally not tall, and seeing that every time Chen Xiaoliang competed for a header, Barisic could accurately find the second landing point, they knew that they could not gain any advantage with high-altitude balls, so they greatly reduced the number of long passes.
In this way, Chen Xiaoliang alone formed an impenetrable line of defense at the front of the penalty area.
In the 69th minute, Kent's shot was saved and Rangers got the first corner kick opportunity of the second half.
Captain Tavernier stepped forward to take the penalty.
Chen Xiaoliang originally wanted to stay in the backcourt to defend, but Barisic waved and shouted at him to go into the penalty area to compete for the header.
He couldn't help but glance at Gerrard on the sidelines, and after getting a slight nod, he ran into the penalty area happily.
I was thinking excitedly: "If I can score a goal by chance, that would be awesome!"
