Super Marshal

Facts have proved that Gao Han guessed Zidane's intention correctly.

After the start of the second half, Chinatown indeed pressed higher. The front three even forced Barcelona's defense. Kante and Isco were positioned closer to Barcelona's 30-meter area, trying to be more threatening. area to win the ball.

The changes in Chinatown caused Barcelona's defense to encounter a lot of trouble and seemed to be overwhelmed.

At this time, Illarramendi, as a deep-lying midfielder, not only firmly protected in front of the defense, but also showed a threat in terms of passing the ball. The pass was faster and more accurate, allowing the team's frontcourt offense to be more effective. promoted.

This also forced Barcelona to retreat again and again.

It appeared on the court that after the start of the second half, Chinatown suddenly dominated the scene, overwhelming Barcelona through the half, and had the momentum to eat up its opponents in one go.

This is undoubtedly a double-edged sword. It may hurt the enemy, but it may also hurt yourself.

Just when everyone was worried, Illarramendi once again took the ball in the deep position of the midfield and sent the ball into the right side of Barcelona's penalty area with a long overhead pass, trying to find Gullie. Zman.

This kick was very accurate, but Pique reacted quickly and intercepted the ball before Griezmann. However, under Griezmann's harassment, he had to choose to pass the ball back. To the goalkeeper.

Morata rushed towards Valdez immediately, forcing the Barcelona goalkeeper not to let the ball stay at his feet. Before the ball came, he directly stepped forward and passed the ball to the left.

As soon as the ball arrived, Griezmann pressed over and Alba immediately cleared the ball into the frontcourt.

Pedro withdrew from the left into his own half and headed Alba's clearance ball back to the midfield to Iniesta.

As soon as Iniesta received the ball, Kante was forced to his side. This shocked the Barcelona players. They quickly turned around to protect the ball and took it back. But without taking two steps, Griezmann took another step. Surrounded, two Chinatown players attacked from behind.

There were no suitable points for the ball around, and the passing routes were blocked. Iniesta wanted to take the ball out by himself, but unexpectedly, Kante shot out diagonally, fell to the ground and shoveled the ball. Lose.

After Griezmann got the ball, he directly kicked it to the right side of the penalty area.

Morata ran over to respond. Before Pique could get close, he suddenly accelerated, stretched his body, and passed directly with his right foot.

The ball landed at the edge of the small penalty area. Hazard made a diagonal cut from the left rib, and Isco made a forward cut from the outside of the penalty area. Both Chinatown players rushed to where the ball landed.

This scene made the entire Brock Stadium scream in surprise.

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"Chinatown intercepted the ball and formed a counterattack, which was very fast."

"Morata, cross from the right..."

"Isco, no..."

"Azar..."

“The ball went in!!!!”

"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!"

"Eden Hazard!"

“In the fifty-fourth minute of the second half, Chinatown took the lead in knocking on Barcelona’s goal!”

"This is a goal-scoring goal from Belgian player Hazard."

"Oh my God, Morata's pass was very comfortable. Isco didn't have time to catch up in the middle, but Hazard was very timely at the back point and got ahead of Alves. Throw the ball into the goal."

"There's nothing Valdez can do about such a close shot!"

"One to zero, Chinatown took the lead in scoring in the second half."

"This is definitely a painful blow to Barcelona. After the start of the second half, they played too passively."

"Let's review the goal just now."

"Iniesta was a little too sticky with the ball. In this case, dribbling too much is often very dangerous, but he did not pass the ball out immediately, and Kante successfully intercepted the ball."

"Kante, this French midfielder, used to play for Paris Saint-Germain, but he became truly familiar with him after moving to Chinatown. He is known as the new Makelele and has been praised by Makelele, who is currently the assistant coach of Chinatown. I believe that Kanter may be even better than him in the future."

"There is also Griezmann, whose aggressive pressing is also quite threatening, and Morata's movement is also very smart, but we should not forget the man behind this attack, Illarramendi."

"The long overhead pass just now was fast and urgent. It went directly across the midfield and into Barcelona's penalty area. This pushed forward the pressing pressure of Chinatown's entire midfield and frontcourt."

"It should be said that Barcelona's defense was torn apart too easily."

"Busquets' performance this season is indeed good, but the protection of the defensive line has always been his weakness. This was not very obvious when Barcelona could firmly control the ball in the past, but now he is having this problem. Exposed and even exploited by opponents.”

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After Hazard scored, everyone in Chinatown went into a carnival.

Cantarero looked at Gao Han with even more admiration.

Whether as a head coach or as a bystander, Gao Han's vision is impeccable.

"There are only two paths in front of Martino now."

Gao Han looked at the visiting team's coaching bench at the stadium. Martino looked a little angry after losing the ball. He kept shouting at the players on the field, but the noise was too loud and it was difficult to hear clearly in the stands, but it was okay to think about it. Not a nice thing to say.

"Which two?" Cantarero asked concerned.

Gao Han raised the corner of his mouth and said, "Either strengthen the defense in the midfield and make the team play more concisely, or continue to pass and control the game, but the backcourt defense needs to be strengthened, especially Busquets."

Simplicity means efficiency.

Zidane's arrangement of double midfielders in this game seems conservative, but in fact it is to deal with Barcelona's weaknesses. This is where the French coach is more flexible. He hardly adheres to any tactics or formats.

However, when the team needs it, he will press forward without hesitation, just like the adjustment during the half-time break and the sudden attack in the second half. It was definitely a wonderful move and caught Barcelona a little off guard.

Sure enough, when the time was approaching sixty minutes, Martino asked two players to walk to the sidelines, ready to substitute at any time.

One is Cesc Fabregas and the other is Rakitic.

This actually made Gao Han look at him with admiration.

"Everyone says that Martino lacks personality, but everyone knows that Rakitic is the biggest personality at this time."

So far this season, Martino's coaching performance is not unsatisfactory, but it has still attracted countless criticisms. One of the important reasons is his use of Rakitic.

The Croatian cannot integrate into Barcelona's passing and control system, but his comprehensiveness can better balance Barcelona's midfield.

Martino has always trusted Rakitic, but he has offended many people because of this.

Taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity, Barcelona replaced two players in one breath, one was Pedro and the other was Iniesta. This also showed Martino's attitude. He hopes that the team will become more balanced. , which is also more concise.

But to some extent, this is also his opening of war against many local players.

"Courage is commendable, but..." Gao Han shook his head helplessly.

When a team's locker room forms such a force that even Guardiola can't shake it, Martino's fate is entirely conceivable.

After Iniesta and Pedro came off the field, they walked directly to the tunnel without even looking at Martino.

If Barcelona's internal contradictions were not obvious after losing to Ajax, then in this game now, the contradictions have become obvious.

Cantarero also knew in his heart that Martino was just a poor scapegoat.

"It is estimated that he will only be able to work until this season at most. Maybe he will not be able to survive the winter break as the media said."

Gao Han nodded slightly.

Martino is a very capable head coach, but it is a pity that he coached the wrong team at the wrong time. This is a tragedy.

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After Barcelona replaced two players in a row, Chinatown also followed suit.

But unlike Martino's substitution, Zidane replaced Kante, who played the entire game in midweek and was almost physically exhausted, and replaced him with Koke, and the team as a whole played more controlled football.

Martino's substitutions were also very effective. Fabregas made the team's offense burst with vitality, while Rakitic stabilized the midfield and protected the defense. Both substitutions basically reached Martino's level. expectations.

But it is a pity that after Zidane's substitution, the offense became sharper and more dangerous.

On the contrary, in Barcelona, ​​many players, including Xavi and Busquets, behaved a little sluggishly and not excited enough after the substitution, perhaps due to excessive physical exertion or dissatisfaction with the head coach's substitution. , which made the game easily dominated by Chinatown.

The score of one to zero remained until the end of the game.

In the end, Chinatown relied on Hazard's key kill to beat Barcelona 1-0.

When the referee's whistle sounded at the end of the game, the entire Brock Stadium suddenly burst into joy.

All the fans cheered wildly, and the players in Chinatown also celebrated wildly.

Defeating Barcelona 1-0 means that Chinatown has returned to the top of the La Liga standings after more than a month with three points in this game.

Due to the other two games played the day before, Atletico Madrid defeated Elche 2-0 away from home, and Real Madrid defeated Valladolid 4-0 at home. Both Madrid teams won.

In other words, after the fifteenth round, Chinatown relied on its two-point advantage to overturn Barcelona and reach the top. Atlético Madrid relied on its three-point score in this round to once again catch up with Barcelona. The two teams are tied with four points. Ten points, but since the two teams have not played a game yet, according to the goal difference, Barcelona ranks second, and the Sheets Legion is forced to settle for third.

Real Madrid scored 34 points and ranked fourth.

If the loss to Ajax in the Champions League shook Barcelona's advantage of qualifying as top of the Champions League group, then they lost to Chinatown in this round. After two consecutive losses, Barcelona also gave up the top spot in the La Liga standings. .

But more importantly, the contradictions within the Barcelona team were fully exposed in this game.

In particular, Iniesta and Pedro's attitude towards Martino after they came off the field, combined with various rumors from the media and fans before the game, have told everyone very clearly that Barcelona this season is suffering from internal and external troubles.

On the contrary, in Chinatown, Zidane's formation and on-the-spot command in this game are admirable. He scored three points and reversed Barcelona to top the list, which can be said to be well-deserved.

Next, we will look at the top spot and see if Chinatown can sit there for how long.