Chapter 84 This Atletico Madrid is so fierce!
When Evra passed the ball past Mauro Silva, the entire Calderon Stadium was stunned.
Which stone did this short black boy come out of?
Isn’t it too fierce?
But who is Mauro Silva?
La Liga's top defensive midfielder, who is very experienced, immediately turned around and chased after him. He took advantage of the opportunity when Evra slowed down after catching up with the ball and used his hands and feet to entangle Evra.
The French boy had to pass the ball to Vicente in front.
The Spanish left winger stopped the ball and faced Deportivo La Coruña's right back Pablo.
At this moment, the players of Deportivo La Coruña were clearly aware that the opponent they were facing this time was not an easy opponent.
This is the case with Lucio, Evra, and probably Vicente in front of us as well.
Vicente first made a realistic feint on the left side of the penalty area, pretending to dribble the ball into the penalty area. After tricking Pablo into taking a small step back, he suddenly dribbled the ball to the bottom line.
But the Atletico Madrid youngster did not really go to the baseline. He just opened a gap and immediately passed the ball with his left foot.
"Be careful..." Pablo hurriedly warned.
He instinctively wanted to call for a mid-point, but looking at the passing line...
Front point!
Damn it, Donato!
The ball was not passed very far back, but fell into Donato's defense zone.
The veteran is only 1.78 meters tall and does not have the advantage of grabbing high balls. Vincent's casual cross was obviously intended to hit this spot.
What's even more terrible is that Pandiani made a fancy move and actually ran behind Donato to meet the opponent. Using the advantage of the run-up, he jumped up, overpowered Donato, and headed the ball into the goal from close range.
Goalkeeper Songoo tried hard to save the ball, but it was too late.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
"In the 8th minute, Atletico Madrid took the lead and broke through Deportivo La Coruna's goal!"
"This is the first official goal of the season, from Uruguayan center forward, Walter Pandiani!"
Pandiani turned around excitedly and rushed out of the court, running all the way, shouting and venting his emotions.
This was his first game after joining Atletico Madrid, and he scored a goal with his best skill, header.
The most important thing is that his teammate Vincent passed the ball so smoothly that it was very easy for him to pass the ball.
Pandiani turned around and hugged his teammates who were running towards him.
"Atletico Madrid played very steadily after the opening and were clearly trying to find their own rhythm."
"But no one expected a quick counterattack from the left. Evra successfully intercepted the ball and passed it to Vicente. A beautiful cross from the wing created this fatal opportunity!"
"It's quite surprising."
"Before this game, everyone felt that Atletico's overall strength had declined significantly compared to last season. But tonight, in this game, although it was only a short 8 minutes, we can see that Atletico's defense has improved significantly, especially the back line."
"Last season, when Atletico faced Deportivo La Coruna, they were completely torn apart by Roy Makaay, but today, in the direct dialogue after the opening, Makaay was unable to gain an advantage."
"Lucio and Evra, the two young players on the defensive line, have left a very deep impression."
"Of course, there was also Vicente who provided assists from the left, and Pandiani who provided the assist in the middle."
"Pandiani's decisiveness and composure helped him seize the first chance of the game and score a goal."
"Judging from his performance in these eight minutes alone, Pandinha is capable of replacing Hasselbaink."
…
The moment the team lost the goal, Irueta suddenly felt a sense of weightlessness.
He suddenly realized that he seemed to have guessed wrong, and very wrong.
Before this game, he knew the strength and potential of Pandiani, Vicente, Joaquin and Deco, but he ignored Lucio and Evra.
Especially Evra.
A striker suddenly switched to play as a left-back and ended up scoring the first official goal of the season.
This made Irueta's mind a little confused.
He even felt a little uneasy.
Something is wrong!
From the beginning till now, nothing is right, and there is an inexplicable weirdness.
Irueta was very wise and he immediately understood the source of his panic.
unknown!
He didn't know much about the Atletico Madrid team transformed by Yang Hao, especially the players.
"He seems to have integrated the team quite well." Melo said in disbelief.
Irueta nodded mechanically. Yes, it was going well.
In Irueta's opinion, this was an almost impossible task, but Yang Hao did a pretty good job.
How did he do it?
You know, many famous coaches such as Sacchi and Ranieri encountered various big troubles and difficulties when reorganizing the team, and even suffered Waterloo.
But what about Yang Hao?
Although it was only a short 8 minutes, it was obvious that Atletico Madrid played in an organized manner.
But soon, Atletico's next transformation shocked Irueta even more.
Yang Hao was seen walking to the edge of the coach's command area. He first applauded the players' performance, and then signaled the team to start pressing forward actively.
When the game resumed, Irueta saw that his opponent's entire team was pressing forward.
…
Fight to support war.
This is Yang Hao's strategy.
As long as we keep polishing the team, making adjustments and improvements during the game, the team's overall competitiveness will continue to improve and the players' strength will gradually burst out.
Taking advantage of the momentum of scoring the first goal at the start of the game, Yang Hao decisively signaled the team to press forward and adopt a high-pressure tactic.
He wanted to give it a try to see if this tactical style could hold up against the powerful Deportivo La Coruña.
As it turned out, there was some chaos at the beginning, which gave Deportivo La Coruña several opportunities to counterattack.
But gradually, Atletico's tactics began to take effect.
Whether it was Pandiani who was at the front, Deco who was lagging behind, or Vicente and Joaquin on the two wingers, they were all actively engaged in pressing and oppressing the frontcourt.
Their coordination was still a little unfamiliar, but they could vaguely see the structure.
Behind them are the tough double defensive midfielders of Gravesen and Baraha.
Both players are capable of both offense and defense, can move up and down the field, have good passing skills, and are very good at running. This resulted in Deportivo La Coruña being greatly restricted when facing Atletico Madrid's high-pressure defense.
What Irueta was not very satisfied with Dejaminha was that as a Brazilian player, he was a bit sticky with the ball and participated more in the attack, but he did not do enough to connect the two flanks.
This problem was fully exposed in the game.
That is, when the ball reached the frontcourt, the two flanks of Deportivo La Coruña were completely separated.
Both wingers had to hold on to the wing tightly, and it was difficult for them to move towards the center and form a combined force.
More importantly, after Flavio transferred to Real Madrid, Deportivo La Coruña's originally solid and stable double defensive midfielders began to have problems.
In Yang Hao's previous life, many people mentioned Deco and thought he was an all-around midfielder with both offensive and defensive capabilities.
If you dig a little deeper, you will find that Deco's goal efficiency is quite high when he plays as a number ten.
But what is his most precious thing?
It’s efficient!
Deco's dribbling speed is actually quite fast, and his footwork is very delicate, but he rarely uses flashy showmanship. Every move he makes seems to be very purposeful.
This is true both on defense and offense.
He always knows exactly what he should do in the game.
He is a good runner, but few people notice that he runs very smartly, which enables him to always grab the ball for the team, appear in the best position at the first time, and immediately instigate a counterattack after receiving the ball to help the team complete the offense and defense transition.
His passing is very stable, but few people know that every pass he makes, even in the frontcourt, always gives his teammates enough lead time and is just right, so that when his teammates receive the ball, they can not only control it comfortably, but also connect with the next step.
In Yang Hao's previous life, Barcelona godfather Cruyff once said that Deco's passing was an extremely rare skill. Even in the history of world football, such players were rarely seen.
So much so that in Cruyff's eyes, the soul of Barcelona's Dream Team II was not Ronaldinho, but Deco.
But Deco's disadvantage is that he is a midfielder. More importantly, his qualities are impossible to quantify. Neither the media nor the fans can see them at all.
It is the same successful pass, but whether the ball is passed in advance or not cannot be reflected in the data and the fans cannot see it at all.
Moreover, in Barcelona's 433 tactics, the presence of Ronaldinho restricted Deco's performance on the offensive end to a certain extent.
Yang Hao now puts Deco in the number ten position of the 4231 tactics, giving him enough tactical freedom.
He believed that Deco would definitely reward him with his performance on the court.
…
Throughout the Calderon Stadium, all the fans sitting in front of their TVs watching the live broadcast were stunned.
Before the game, everyone was wondering how many goals Atletico Madrid would lose?
Will Deportivo La Coruña slaughter Atletico Madrid in Calderon like they did last season?
Even Atletico Madrid's own fans were nervous and worried.
But when the game really started, everyone was stunned to find that Atletico Madrid not only scored first, but also pressed Deportivo La Coruña on the field.
Super Laco was actually pressed into Atletico Madrid's half and kept attacking.
There was even a period of nearly 10 minutes when the ball could not cross the center line.
This is simply outrageous!
That’s the defending champion of La Liga!
And what about Atletico Madrid?
They barely avoided relegation last season and underwent a restructuring this summer. They are regarded by countless people as the scum of the relegation favorites.
As a result, Atletico Madrid pressed Deportivo La Coruña.
Who would believe it if they didn't see it with their own eyes?
The attack continued until the end of the first half. Joaquin from Atletico Madrid dribbled past Romero on the right and crossed into the penalty area from the side. Pandiani, who followed up in the middle, pushed the ball, but it was saved by goalkeeper Songoo and went out of bounds.
Deco took the corner kick and sent it accurately to the middle. The tall and strong Lucio headed the ball into the goal like an onion in dry land, scoring another goal for Atletico Madrid.
2 to 0!
Last season, Atletico's set-piece defense was their weak link, but now, Atletico is actually scoring .
At this time, the game time just jumped into 45 minutes.
