Football’s First Defender

Sunday, Zenit manager's office! Advocaat is always willing to think about how the team can play better in the office alone after the game!

In the fifth round of the Russian Super League on Saturday, Zenit defeated the visiting Dynamo Moscow 3-0 at home, and finally stopped the decline of 3 games (there is a first round of the Russian Cup)! And what makes Advocaat even more gratified is that the defensive problem has finally improved. This game completed the first zero-block opponent of the new season!

You must know that this is a Russian league with an average of only 2.2 goals per game, but Zenit conceded 7 goals in 4 league games!

Unlike the youth team, which has invested huge sums of money, Zenit's first team, which is aiming to win the championship this season, encountered Waterloo in the opening stage of the Russian Super League!

It was also a coincidence to catch up with the scheduled schedule, because the Russian Cup entered the knockout round in March at the beginning of the season. Before and after the opening game, Raminsk Saturn and Zenit will play three consecutive games within 10 days. Zenit will play two home games first, play the cup first and then the league. After the league is over, they will go to Raminsk to play the second round of the Russian Cup!

Zenit, who accepted the game 1-0 in the first game, was completely targeted tactically in the next two games, and encountered a full block from Raminsk. Two 1-1 draws allowed Zenit to advance to the Cup 8. Strong, but failed to start the league journey with victory as expected!

Fortunately, in the second round, the away game faced the weak Rostov!

Zenit's offensive players finally showed their powerful firepower, scoring 3 goals in the away game. The offensive players played heartily and took away the victory! However, Advocaat's 433 total attack and total defense strategy seems to have failed exceptionally. The good performance on the offensive end has not been effectively combined with the defensive end.

Rostov actually scored two goals for Zenit at home, putting great pressure on Zenit's defense. Even if it weren't for the performance of the goalkeeper, the home team might not be able to complete a 3-goal comeback!

There is obviously a disconnect between offense and defense, or the players cannot fully implement Edvocaat's tactics! In order to achieve the offensive tactics before the game, the players moved forward and sacrificed their defensive positions, resulting in a huge loophole in the defensive system!

This is even more obvious after the national team match day!

Sparta Moscow, the traditional giants in Russia, defeated Zenit twice in 4 days!

At home, Zenit lost the third round of the league 1-3, 1-2, and the first round of the Russian Cup with 8 goals and 4 goals!

In the next fourth round, in the away game against Amcar, there was still a problem with the defense when besieging the opponent. In the first half, the opponent succeeded in a counterattack, which put Zenit into more trouble after being unable to attack for a long time. Fortunately, Zenit The score was equalized in the second half, and the two sides shook hands 1-1!

But the defensive problem has become Edvocaat's biggest headache now and the most urgent problem to be solved!

As a traditional Dutchman, Advocaat does not intend to change the offensive concept rooted in his bones. His work for more than half a year has obviously made Zenit's offense better and better. Even in the whole of Russia, Zenit Nite should be the team with the best offense!

Just like in the fifth round of the league that just ended, Zenit relied on the home court and played smoothly on offense. The players used their lives to defeat their opponents directly on offense. Because of the suppression of offense, they directly denied their own defense. In the end, Dynamo Moscow, which is also regarded as one of the powerful players, was defeated!

This convinced Advocaat that his tactical concept was not wrong. When the tactics can be played perfectly, Zenit can completely dominate the Russian Super League. After all, after 5 rounds, Zenit is only 3 points away from the top of the list. difference.

In fact, the scoring efficiency of the Russian Super League is too low. In the Russian Super League with 16 teams, the points of the final champion team hover around 60 points all year round!

A large number of 0 to 0 and 1 to 0 scores are flooded in the 30 rounds of the Russian Super League, which makes the Russian Super League always look very dull compared to the mainstream European leagues!

In terms of defensive concept, Russia is the same as Italy, first do not concede the ball, and then talk about the rest. However, the Italian league has rich tactics to break the chain defense on the opposite side. But when it comes to the land of Russia, tactics and so on may be a joke!

In the end, what tactics come down to long-range shots, competing for the top with long passes!

Then it depends on the luck of the offensive players!

Advocaat hopes that his arrival will not only bring Zenit the long-awaited championship trophy, but also lead a technical football reform in the Russian Super League!

After more than half a year of leading Zenit in the Russian Super League (taking over in the middle of the 2006 season), the club also bought three disciples from the Korean national team and some players from other countries that they think are suitable for their own tactics. But now, Advocaat found that he still underestimated the football in Russia.

Regardless of whether the opponent is strong or weak, what Zenit faces is always a tortoise shell, and many of them are still thorny tortoise shells.

The more low-scoring leagues, the higher the shooting efficiency of forwards produced. This is the so-called survival of the fittest. Forwards who waste opportunities will not gain living space in Russia and Italy.

Forwards in low-scoring leagues, their survival criterion is to seize every shot opportunity that is hard to come by!

Looking at the scorer list at this point is an alternative manifestation. Take a look at Russia's top scorer for each season going into 2000.

The top scorer in 2000 was Lokomotiv Moscow attacking midfielder Dmitry Roskov with just 15 goals.

The top scorer in 2001 was FC Moscow (also called Moscow Torpedo) striker Dmitry Vazmizin, scoring 18 goals.

In 2002 it was CSKA Moscow's Dmitry Kirichenko, who scored just 15 goals.

In 2003, it was Dmitry Roskov again, but only 14 goals, which is a terrible low number!

The top scorer in 2004 belonged to ex-Zenit player Aleksander Kerzhakov with 18 goals in a single season.

In 2005, Dmitry Kirichenko won the Golden Boot again with 14 goals.

In 2006, Pavlyuchenko of Sparta Moscow had the last laugh with 18 goals in the Golden Boot competition.

Some people will always say that the Russian Super League is a league in which strikers collectively do not wear shooting boots, and even midfielder Dmitry Roskov can win 2 golden boots!

The reason for this situation is very simple. Midfielders can rely on long-range shots to ensure the number of shots per game. What depends on the shooting accuracy! As for the striker, facing the iron barrel every day, sometimes he may not even get a chance to shoot in the penalty area. This is the cruelty of the Russian league!

So in Russia, if you want to play happy football, it is impossible! As long as you are happy, you can only go to the reserve team or other teams to be happy!

However, in the eyes of other Russian Super League strikers, Zenit is now a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered. Everyone wants to use its defense, which can be called the biggest gap in the Russian Super League, to let Zenit face Zenit. Your own goal account is updated.

Advocaat is now deciding whether to stick to his own tactics, focus on offense, and rely on offense to score more goals. Or change yourself, adapt to the rhythm of integrating into the Russian Super League, slow down the attack appropriately, and stabilize your defense!

Although this is a bit deviated from my own philosophy, but in terms of performance, it should be more stable!

The main reason for the entanglement is that the central defender on hand cannot rely on himself!

Whether it is Skrtel, Norwegian international Eric Hagen, or South Korean international Lee Ho, they are all traditional central defenders who are suitable for playing in positional battles. Now, Zenit mostly occupies the scene The advantage is that it cannot prevent the opponent's counterattack!

Advocaat was planning to stick to a few more rounds. If the defense is still not guaranteed, then he can only sacrifice the offense, or buy a suitable central defender in the summer transfer window. Anyway, Zenit has money and what is lacking is the team's honor !

In this case, the report from the head coach of the youth team handed over by the director of youth training gave Advocaat a glimmer of light in the darkness.

"Yang, Feng, a Chinese!"

As the former head coach of the South Korean national team, Advocaat knows and understands the current football strength of that big eastern country. He is a young man who is not even a national footballer. Before he read the report, he thought that this person could not bring the team. help!

However, after seeing Yang Feng's monthly medical report changes since he joined the team in the New Year, Advocaat was still impressed. Comparing the first physical examination and the most recent physical examination, it can be seen that Yang Feng's physical fitness has improved significantly, his body fat rate has dropped rapidly, and his muscles have also grown rapidly! All kinds of body data have also been increasing. It seems that professional football training has made this young man reborn!

At the age of 19, he was 1.84 meters and 75kg. The physical examination predicts that although the body develops earlier, should the height stay at about 1.89 meters in the end? The qualified height of a central defender...

Yevgeny's report is very detailed. Apart from Yang Feng's physical data, there are a lot of descriptions about Yang Feng's games. Even the round performances in many youth leagues are introduced in great detail, emphasizing Yang Feng's abnormal judgment ability, and Yang Feng's overall view of the game, as well as his ability to learn and command are also excellent. In just a few months, he can become the core of the youth team's defense from an amateur player.

It is precisely because of Yevgeny's strong recommendation, the transfer department also has inquiries about Yang Feng from other teams, and local newspapers have reported various news about youth league superstars. I played a youth team game, even though my first team was going to face Dynamo Moscow in the evening!

However, this game was worth watching. Advocaat still has the figure of Yang Feng in his mind now. He stood in the top position in advance every time, and responded calmly every time he faced a counterattack. He chose the most reasonable method to solve the threat of the opponent's counterattack. Yang Feng, who is the benchmark for defense, and his immovable stability left a good impression on him!

"I hope my decision is not wrong, you don't want to be Pavon back then!"

"Hello! I'm Advocaat, help me find the youth team coach Evgeny!"