Chapter 301: Pogba's debut
Some people say that Juventus is a habit, what is Juventus's habit, to maintain its dominant position in the country! It cannot be ruled out that the top management or head coach Conte has also expressed a similar attitude on some occasions, but for the time being, Juventus is essentially trying to go hand in hand, and the Champions League is obviously not the big cake they want to give up, at least qualifying is the bottom line. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info
But the opponents in the Champions League are much more difficult to deal with, unlike in the league, where everyone knows the roots, most of the opponents in the Champions League are unknown, especially the more inconspicuous teams are likely to overturn.
They are not necessarily better than their opponents in the league, but they have a sense of mystery.
Zhang Yuan didn't care about criticism from the outside world, and when he was a guest on a TV station, he said categorically: "We will definitely be able to qualify!"
In his opinion, in fact, Juventus's performance during this period is still quite good, overcoming many difficulties and achieving good results, the two consecutive draws in the Champions League are not the end, there are still three rounds of the game What's so scary?!
In the league, Roma and Napoli drew with Fiorentina, and the gap between them and the second place was opened by three points, which is quite good.
Not only Zhang Yuan thinks so, but the whole Juventus team basically thinks so, Conte's roar is still the same, but the atmosphere in the team is still very relaxed.
This weekend, Juventus will travel to Catania, who are relegation teams, but before the game, the media put this game as the focus of a possible upset, Juventus will go to Denmark in midweek, and then go to Sicily at the weekend, Juventus' form will definitely be affected.
At the pre-match press conference, the reporters threw a question to Carrera, will you rotate this game?!
Carrera was vague and said that it might or may not happen, which is a really ambiguous answer.
In fact, Conte has long made up his mind not to rotate, which is where he is criticized, but Juventus's current situation is like this, and if he wants to win the game, Conte seems to be much more cautious.
Conte announced his starting line-up the day before the game, and the only surprise was that he used Paul Pogba to start this game, replacing Marchisio, and Vidal, who had been in poor form in the previous games, was not substituted as predicted.
"Paul, now your chance has come! But it's time to prove you! Don't you usually brag about how good you are, give me a little dazzling performance this time!" Zhang Yuan encouraged Pogba.
Pogba's mood is excited, he has been on the bench at Juventus for a while, most of it is in garbage time, sometimes sitting until the end of the game, and even not being able to enter the squad, there is still some resentment in his heart.
At this time, it was often Zhang Yuan who enlightened him: "Brother, you have to have confidence in yourself, gold will always shine, and you will always have a chance to start!"
Pogba didn't make any big noise, he worked hard in training, and he was also humble to learn from the seniors in the team, and everyone liked this hip-hop teenager.
"Zhang Yuan, you have to help me this time!" Pogba pleaded.
"How can I help you?!" Zhang Yuan smiled dumbly, "On the court, you'd better give full play to your strengths and characteristics, don't be afraid!
Pogba wants to prove himself by scoring goals, but Zhang Yuan does not agree, the consequences of not listening to the coach's arrangement are very serious, Zhang Yuan does not get complete freedom in some games, and he must obey Conte's arrangement.
There is a reason why Conte did not change Vidal but replaced Marchisio, Zhang Yuan can still see a little clearly, Vidal is a real B2B midfielder, excellent defense, and if he can be given the opportunity to step forward in attack, it is a big threat, but Marchisio is not, and neither is Pogba.
Both of them are inferior to Vidal defensively, with Marchisio having some organisational ability and Pogba being physically and technically better.
That's why Conte would rather be replaced by an in-form Vidal than an in-form Vidal, and he understands that the midfielder has to have some guarantees, and he chooses to trust Vidal.
"Paul, you are a midfielder, you look at what Claudio and Arturo usually do?!You don't have to do it in their way, you can play your characteristics, and you can break through in the midfield, but you need to pay attention to the overall situation and grasp the timing of passing! This is your advantage, and you don't want to think about it, we are now missing a change point in the midfield!" Zhang Yuan analyzed.
What he said was the truth, Vidal and Marchisio lacked in breakthrough and relied more on movement, and Juventus still had a big lack of attacking reasons, one is Conte's style of stability, and the other is the lack of change in midfield.
Pogba listened like a primary school student, Zhang Yuan kept telling him, and after finishing speaking, he finally said: "Forget it, don't listen to me, my ideas may not be in line with Coach Conte's intentions!
He really thought wrong, Conte really didn't give Pogbar a face, he actually attaches great importance to Pogba, he thinks this young man is really good, but sitting in his position, the most important thing is to produce results, and promoting young people is secondary, so many times I don't dare to use Pogba too early, of course, from another point of view, this way is not hesitant to be a kind of protection.
If Pogba doesn't perform well and gets criticised and dampens the youngsters, it's a big sin.
Judging from the previous substitute performance, Pogba seems to be in the middle of the rules, and did not play his own characteristics, this game is really the rotation is urgent, because the next week is still a double game, if the rotation causes a wave of injuries, it is not a joke, Marchisio did not play this game because of the discomfort of the leg muscles, Conte just let him rest, Pogba also got the opportunity to be on the top.
Conte wanted to see how the young lad would face his debut and what kind of senses he would bring to himself.
Catania are notoriously tough at home and are famously home dragons, and this season Montella was promoted to Fiorentina but did not take away that attribute, playing eight league games, four of them without losing a home game and winning three games.
Of course, in contrast, they are away bugs again, with four away games without a win and three defeats.
After Montella, Catania brought in Rolando Malan, who played as a central defender but never played for a Serie A team. The nine seasons at his peak were all devoted to Chievo, but at that time the flying donkey had not yet been promoted to Serie A. After retiring from football in 1997, Malan began his managerial career, leading Serie B side Varese to a fourth-place finish in the league last season, but unfortunately lost to Sampdoria in the play-offs and failed to be promoted.
It was this experience that Catania boss Pulvirenti fell in love with him, and Malan finally had the opportunity to coach a Serie A team at the age of nearly 50.
Judging from the previous situation, the coach is still very level, but it has not been able to change the problem of Catania's away bugs, but then again, Catania's strength is already weak, and he only spent a total of 3 million euros in the summer, so he can count on being strong with such an investment.
As a newcomer like Malan doesn't care about such investment to join Pulveranti's arms, other coaches have no unconditional conditions, especially in transfer investment.
After the start of the game, Catania did not shrink the defense, Malan discharged the 352 formation today, this formation is the formation that Malan is used to, the same five midfielders, but their way is slightly different from Juventus, Malan set up a forward midfielder in the formation, the purpose is very clear is to force Juventus in the midfield to compete for possession, as we all know, the battle for possession is mainly concentrated in the middle.
After the opening, Juventus was unusual, and immediately began to attack, which is also one of Conte's coping strategies in this game, Juventus as a whole must be at a disadvantage in terms of physical fitness, Conte wants to score as soon as possible and avoid fierce battles.
And Malan's idea is surprisingly consistent with Conte's idea, and he also wants to attack and take the lead.
Both teams played 10 minutes of attacking football, and Pogba was brilliant in those 10 minutes.