Chapter 208: Magic Bird's new tactics, midfield free man? !
During the four days that the team left Rome, Chen Xiaoliang was not idle.
In order not to aggravate the symptoms of the viral cold, I went for a morning run with Cesco as usual, 10 kilometers in 55 minutes, and maintained a pace of 5 minutes and 30 seconds.
For professional football players, their usual training focuses more on shuttle runs and sprint-jog-sprint training under confrontation and rhythm changes . Simple long-distance aerobic running is not the main training subject.
However, for Chen Xiaoliang, such training accumulates training points, while for Cesco, it is a real exercise to train his endurance.
Of course, without a system, Cesco's efficiency and extent of improving his endurance through such extra training alone can be imagined.
It is more used to regulate muscle activity, promote circulation, and keep the body in motion during the off-season.
Ever since the incident with the ignorant Blackfoot gang in Naples, David would always run with them.
At first I rode a bicycle, and then I ran for a while.
Compared with the two, David, who was originally slightly fat, is the one with the most significant exercise results...
After finishing a lap, David would just get home. He would either accompany Helena to the city to buy things, or take a rest and act as an amateur gardener.
Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco did simple ball training to maintain their ball feel.
As the saying goes, keep your fists ready and your songs on your lips, and the same is true for professional players.
After lunch, there is a simple lunch break, and then an hour and a half of muscle exercises, the same length as the club's training.
Although it is not possible to directly increase Chen Xiaoliang's strength, his persistent exercise day after day has made the lines of his muscles clear and visible.
However, football players' demand for muscles is mainly for exerting force, while also increasing the protection of muscles to bones, ligaments and other parts.
If you want to become a bodybuilder, excessive muscle mass and weight will affect your flexibility and endurance.
After the project is completed, the two will take a shower, change clothes, and then look at the various analytical materials sent by the club's performance analysis team and coaching team together.
There are videos, pictures, and charts.
Some record your own performance, some record your teammates' performance, and some analyze your opponents.
This project is what Chen Xiaoliang is most interested in, but Cesco is not very enthusiastic about it.
But the good thing about Cesco is that even if he is not interested in something, as long as he knows that it is right, he will force himself to learn and accept it.
A recent video sent by the scout team and the analysis team fascinated Cesco, who had never been interested in these things, and he asked Chen Xiaoliang to play it for him repeatedly.
That is the analytical data of the team's new striker Cody Gakpo, who is a possible opponent of the team in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals, PSV Eindhoven.
Cesco was born on May 31, 2003, while Gakpo was born on May 7, 1999, making him four years older than the former.
Gakpo's father is a Togolese with Ghanaian ancestry, and his mother is Dutch. He joined the PSV Eindhoven youth training camp at the age of 8 and is another authentic youth training masterpiece of this veteran Dutch team.
But unlike many current talents, such as Pedri and Gavi of Barcelona, Haaland and Bellingham , Mbappe who emerged out of nowhere that year, and Chen Xiaoliang, Gakpo's scouting reports before he was 20 years old did not write too much about his potential, but instead he had real data of 10 goals and 4 assists in 11 starts for PSV Eindhoven's second team in the Dutch Eredivisie.
What really attracted the attention of European football was his performance in the first team this season.
In 35 appearances, 33 of which were starts, he has scored 16 goals and provided 13 assists.
He is 187cm tall and his main foot is his right foot, but he is equally skilled with his left foot. He can play as a winger, an inside forward, and also a center forward.
The key thing that shocked Chen Xiaoliang and especially Cesco was that the height of 187cm and excellent physical fitness did not affect Gakpo's dribbling skills and passing ability at all.
And what attracted Cesco the most were Gakpo's many unreasonable shots.
He can shoot directly from outside the penalty area, volley, or shoot with the inside of his foot;
He can also score in the penalty area, or even assist his teammates with a back-heel pass in front of the goal;
He can also force his way past the opponent outside the penalty area and then shoot.
If Cesco can do the first two points and is no worse than Gakpo, the third point will be difficult.
It is difficult for Cesco, who is only 195cm tall, to suddenly cut inside, change direction, accelerate continuously and shoot.
Liverpool head coach Klopp and Arsenal head coach Arteta have both publicly praised Gakpo and expressed their intention to bring him to the Premier League.
In today's world where fame is needed early, Gakpo, who has just become famous at the age of 23 and has been spotted by major European clubs, is undoubtedly a late bloomer. However, one item in the club's analysis report touched Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco's hearts:
"The Dutch national team coach Van Gaal has confirmed that he will take Gakpo to Qatar to represent the Netherlands in the World Cup, and given his form, he is likely to play as the main striker."
World Cup, main force.
Seeing these words, a Red Countryman and a Slovenian fell silent at the same time.
After a while, Cesco said, "Brother Liang! If I meet them, I will definitely score more goals than this guy!"
Chen Xiaoliang laughed: "Okay! Watch me knock him down so badly that even his own mother won't recognize him!"
The day before the team returned to Rome, the two watched another Italian Cup semi-final, in which AC Milan also took the lead 2-0.
After the main team returned to Rome, Chen Xiaoliang and several other injured players who had colds also passed the physical examination and resumed training with the team.
But Matic still seems to have discomfort in his hamstring and can only rest and observe for a few more days.
Mourinho did not look good. He lost the away game badly. He was very depressed that he could not score even though he had the upper hand.
He said bluntly at the post-match press conference that what the head coach can do is to coordinate scientific training and develop the most targeted tactics to allow the players to control the game.
But it is the players themselves who really win the game on the court.
This kind of public criticism of players is nothing new for Mourinho, but the media still seizes on it and does not make extensive coverage of it.
As a result, a large number of Mourinho's personal fans, based on their own analysis, went to the social media of the players they thought did not play well and left messages to criticize them. This also led to the players remaining silent during training, for fear of offending the head coach again.
As the two largest teams in Rome, Lazio, representing the wealthy class, and Roma, representing the working class, have always looked down on each other.
However, these two teams cannot cause much waves even in Serie A, let alone in Europe. Therefore, the Rome derby is far less famous than the Milan derby and other city battles .
They are often given the reputation of being a fight between weak teams by fans of the top teams.
But in terms of the wins and losses and the intensity of the games, the Rome derby is no worse than other derbies.
Last season, Lazio finished 6th and advanced to the Europa League, and Roma finished 7th and advanced to the European Championship. The season before that, Lazio finished 4th and advanced to the Champions League qualifiers, and Roma finished 5th and advanced to the Europa League. In the 18-19 season before that, Roma finished 6th and advanced to the Europa League, while Lazio finished 8th and did not advance to the European competition. It can be seen that the strength of the two teams has been very close in recent years, and the outcome of the derby is difficult to predict.
Lazio has been slightly ahead of Roma in the past two years, so it has been mocking Roma for being a younger brother.
But things are completely different this season.
Roma, ranked second, is 14 points ahead of Lazio, ranked sixth, which is something that has not happened in many years.
Moreover, in the Europa League round of 16 qualifiers, Lazio, who finished second in the group, lost to Porto, who dropped out of the Champions League group in third place, in two rounds.
Their early elimination brought them a wave of ridicule from Roma fans.
On March 25, when the buses of both teams slowly drove into the entrance of the Rome Olympic Stadium in the afternoon, fans had already gathered in groups outside the stadium.
The outstanding results, coupled with Mourinho's personal reputation and Chen Xiaoliang's rapidly increasing influence, led to huge changes in the number and traffic of fans on both sides of the game.
Lazio's fans are still mainly local Romans, but Roma's jerseys are already spread across many countries around the world.
Before the game, Mourinho made a rare direct threat to the players:
"We have nothing to lose!"
"They are now five points behind Milan. Their opponent today is Cagliari, who are at the bottom of the rankings. They will definitely win."
"If we lose today, the gap will be 8 points!"
"Yes, our progress to this day has indeed exceeded many people's expectations, and the results are much better than expected!"
"But now that we've come this far, why not fight for the championship?! If you still want to fight for the league championship, you have to win today's game!"
"If we lose, we will be eight points behind with eight games left. We will also face Napoli and Inter Milan, as well as Fiorentina who just lost a game. This point gap is almost impossible to catch up!"
"Because of your negligence, we lost the first match of the semi-final a few days ago. Falling behind by 2 goals means you may have said goodbye to the Italian Cup!"
"And in the semi-finals of the European Cup, whether it is Leicester City or PSV Eindhoven, we will face the two strongest teams!"
"One wrong thought will make us lose everything this year!"
"I know many of you here have never won a championship, while some of you have won some minor leagues and cups."
"Forget all that. What you have to compete for now is the championship of the top five leagues, as well as the intercontinental championships across Europe!"
"Only by continuously winning championships can you change your confidence and temperament! And thus change the image of the entire club! Only then can opponents naturally feel fear when they see us!"
"Everyone who makes a living in football knows that if the team doesn't play well, I will be fired. But I also want to tell you that if any of you don't play well, you will also have to get out!"
"Today's opponent is not as strong as us! I will never allow us to lose the ball at the beginning of the game again!"
"You, me, everyone, there is no way out!"
After that, he turned to give a speech to some individuals, while Forti took the tactical report and reiterated the tactical requirements of tonight to some players.
When the starting lineups of both teams were announced an hour before the game, some Roma fans were confused by the formation diagram listed by the broadcaster.
The three defenders are still the same combination, with Binya continuing to play as the right wingback and Malacia on the left. This combination has basically become the regular starting lineup after Celik was injured;
The double defensive midfielders Veretout and Cristante;
There is no problem with these. The problem is that behind the single striker Cesco, two central midfielders, Pellegrini and Chen Xiaoliang, were deployed for the first time, and in the official formation diagram, they were separated on the left and right.
[Chen Xiaoliang plays as a winger? Or right midfielder? ]
[Is Mourinho trying new tricks again? 】
[Strengthen the wing attack? Let Xiaoliang pass the ball? ]
[The above post clearly said that they wanted to strengthen the wing defense and not give Immobile any chances, but they couldn't see it when it was so obvious]
…
Many "tactical masters" in the barrage were analyzing Mourinho's tactical intentions, making the scene very lively.
On the Lazio side, except for the goalkeeper being replaced by the No. 1 Albanian Strakosha from the old Spanish goalkeeper Reina, the list and positions of the remaining 10 players are exactly the same as the first encounter in the first half of the season.
Veteran coach Sarri's performance this season is not as good as expected, but this is also related to the fact that the top four teams have a significantly higher winning rate this season than in the past. The increase in the winning rate of these teams means a decrease in the winning rate of other teams. In addition, the team did not pay a high transfer fee and sold its star player Correa to Inter Milan. The fact that the team can reach the sixth place in the league is understandable to the fans.
After both sides chose their sides, Pellegrini won the coin toss over Immobile, and Roma kicked off first!
After the kick-off, Chen Xiaoliang's positioning confused the "tactical masters" again.
Pellegrini, who is marked on the left side of the formation diagram, is clearly cruising behind Cesco, playing the role of a number nine and a half. When he retreats, he acts as a front midfielder to organize the ball, and when he goes forward, he can attack the goal as a striker;
And Chen Xiaoliang did not appear on the right side, but...
He's everywhere?!
He controls the entire midfield in front of the two defensive midfielders. Whichever side the ball is passed to, he will move over to help coordinate and receive the ball. Similarly, no matter which direction Lazio attacks from after stealing the ball, he will also move to the corresponding area to assist in defense.
Sarri sat in the coaching booth, frowning slightly under his black-framed glasses.
When he was concentrating, he would put the tip of his right middle finger on the tip of his nose and smell the tobacco tar that adhered to his fingers and penetrated into his skin.
As a heavy smoker who smokes at least two packs a day, when he cannot smoke during the game, he can only relieve his strong craving for cigarettes in this way.
Even the veteran coach couldn't help wondering: "What is Mourinho doing? Has the retro trend spread to football recently? Has he started playing as a free man?"
Just 23 seconds into the game, Veretout made a low long-range pass to Pellegrini, which was intercepted by Lazio midfielder Lucas Leiva. Lucas Leiva passed the ball to Milinkovic-Savic on the right to prepare for a counterattack. Immobile, just like in the previous match, took the initiative to move to the wing and exchange positions with the nominal right winger Felipe Anderson.
Milinkovic-Savic passed the ball and Immobile received it and dribbled diagonally towards the penalty area.
This was the first time for Malaysia, a newcomer to the country, to face off against the three-time Serie A Golden Boot winner.
A newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger. It doesn't matter whether you have the Golden Boot, Silver Boot or Straw Boot. He pushed, pulled and kicked, and with Veretout coming to double-team him, Immobile saw that there was no space to dribble the ball, so he turned around and wanted to pass the ball back to Milinkovic-Savic.
As soon as the ball was kicked out, Chen Xiaoliang rushed back quickly and intercepted the ball from the middle.
Before Milinkovic-Savic could get the ball, Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball back to the defensive midfielder Cristante on the other side, raised his finger and pointed to the right side, then immediately moved forward.
How could Cristante not understand? He immediately gave it to Binya.
The Uruguayans waited on the wing for the ball to be transferred to them, and then moved forward after receiving it.
Left-back Hysaj, Lazio's only new signing last summer, gradually retreated while calling on the midfield to intercept.
Midfielder Alberto rushed forward to block Bigna, but when Bigna saw him leave the center, he immediately twisted his body and knocked the ball sideways.
Chen Xiaoliang, who had just made a forward run after passing the ball, ran up like the wind!
If the teams that had played against each other before generally did not have dedicated personnel to mark Chen Xiaoliang outside the penalty area, it was because statistical data showed that he rarely took long shots, then Lazio was definitely an exception!
In the second round of the league, the 40-meter super long shot in the countdown of the game and the 2021 Puskas Award, like a meteor across the sky, repeatedly appeared in the minds of Lazio coaches in their dreams at midnight.
Anyone may think that Chen Xiaoliang can't take long shots, but Lazio definitely won't!
Milinkovic-Savic returned to defense at full speed, but Chen Xiaoliang's speed of dribbling the ball was really beyond the reach of this all-around midfielder. The only slight weakness of this Serbian hexagonal midfielder might be his short-distance burst and maximum speed.
Fortunately, there is Lucas Leiva, Gerrard's former Liverpool teammate, the 35-year-old Brazilian veteran who is known for his toughness. He is responsible for passing the ball and defending in the back, and he rushed towards Chen Xiaoliang at the first time!
This is the moment Chen Xiaoliang has been waiting for!
Just as Lucas Leiva was about to close in on him, he scored one point towards the left side.
The red Roma number seven shoots the ball!
A meteor streaked across the Olympic Stadium again!
At this time, only 45 seconds had passed since the start of the game!
