Chapter 84: Dilemma
Director Zhang is right, Mancini really wants to use the two double strikers to attack Roma's defence, and wants to turn the advantage into a threat in the box.
In the first half, Gyuli was red carded, Spalletti did not make substitution adjustments, he made up Perrotta to Gyuli's position, Totti retreated deeper and more frequent, and nothing else changed, or tried to counter Inter Milan's advantage of one more person through midfield passing, but his plan was not successful, and Inter Milan firmly grasped the initiative after Gyuli left.
Spalletti still did not make adjustments in the second half, and after Inter Milan adjusted to 442, Spalletti urged his players to strengthen the frontcourt pressing and relieve the pressure at the back.
In the 53rd minute, Totti's right rib went straight into the penalty area, Maxwell made a mistake with Pizarro's press, and Perrotta pushed a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner from 10 meters in front of the goal.
Roma equalized, this goal Maxwell made a mistake that was too undeserved, but this is the case on the football field, catching the opponent's mistakes to create their own goals and winning.
However, they did not be happy for long, in the 57th, 60th, and 68th minutes, Crespo, Cruz, and Figo scored one after another, rewriting the score to 4:1, and Inter Milan had a big lead over Roma.
Playing like this, Spalletti completely gave up the game, and there was still a Champions Cup in midweek, and he replaced Ciciño, Mancini Jr. and Totti in advance to save the Champions Cup in midweek.
And Mancini's side also used up the last substitution, replaced Solari, replaced the veteran Figo, well, Zhang Yuanzhen became a water cooler caretaker in this game.
The final score of this game was also fixed at 4:1, and both sides had to stay for the Champions Cup in the end.
Roma's striker tactics are okay to play in Serie A, but in the European arena, it is really not enough to see against strong teams, not that Spalletti's ability is not good, but the strength of the players is limited, they were bloodied by Manchester United last season, once they lose a few more goals, they can't stop at all, and they are a thousand miles, there is one less person in this game, and it will collapse in just a few minutes, if it is not for Inter Milan to stay strong, the score is likely to be greater.
Winning over Roma and dominating the top, Inter Milan relaxed a lot, but Mancini couldn't relax, because the Champions League match will be ushered in at the Meazza Stadium on October 1, this time the opponent is PSV Eindhoven, PSV Eindhoven was at home in the last game 2: 1 defeated CSKA Moscow in the same group, ranking first in the group, while Inter Milan is third with 0 points, after the last away loss to Fenerbahce, Inter must win PSV Eindhoven at home, otherwise the outside world can really beat Mancini to death.
But Mancini is struggling with the fact that it is not easy to put together an 18-man squad now, with a broken backline, injuries and suspensions affected by last year's fights, a serious shortage of defenders, and the biggest reliance on the forward line, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, was injured in the Roma game. The remaining Crespo and Cruise are of similar type, Suazo is not in good shape, and Zhang Yuan is now also considering whether to be included in the squad.
And Zhang Yuan is already looking forward to it, Ibrahimovic's injury made him realize that his opportunity may be coming, if he can grasp this opportunity, can he really occupy a position, it has been more than a month since the start of the season, Zhang Yuan only played as a substitute once, he is indeed a little anxious in waiting.
Recently, Raiola was very dissatisfied with Zhang Yuan's situation, and found Blanca in the hope that Blanca could put pressure on Mancini and increase Zhang Yuan's chances of playing, but Blanca just said that he must find Mancini, in fact, it was just a reminder in Mancini's ears not to touch the bottom line, what Mancini needs most now is the pressure brought by Zhang Yuan, and he listens to it, everything is still based on results, and whether Zhang Yuan can play or not depends on whether the timing is appropriate.
On the evening of September 29, Inter Milan flew back to Milan overnight, and rested the next morning, the players fought continuously, although the time was tight, Mancini still let everyone have a good rest in the morning.
During the afternoon training, Zhang Yuan saw that Ibu also participated in the training, but it was not the training of the whole team, but he did some simple recovery training accompanied by the coach, and finished early and went home.
Zhang Yuanxin suddenly became cold, it seemed that Yibu's injury was not serious, and he was able to recover after a night's rest.
Ibrahimovic is now a veritable thigh for Inter Milan, with 11 goals now scored in the league and Ibrahimovic alone has contributed six, more than half of them, and he has two assists.
He will definitely be on the list when he recovers, as Zhang Yuan expected, after the afternoon training Mihajlovic announced the squad, Zhang Yuan failed to enter the squad, but Balotelli entered the squad.
On the evening of October 1, Zhang Yuan sat in the stands with several suspended teammates to watch the game, this game Inter Milan led PSV Eindhoven 2:0 in the first half, and both goals were scored by Ibrahimovic, Ibrahimovic did not seem to be affected by the injury in the slightest, a penalty, a header for Inter Milan to win the initiative.
The final score of this game was 2:0, and neither side could score again in the second half. With this victory, Inter Milan moved up to second place in the group, after Fenerbahce drew with CSKA Moscow in a previous match, and Fenerbahce is top of the table with four points.
The win also eased the pressure on Roberto Mancini, with Materazzi and Rivas still injured at the back, as well as Patrick Vieira, the absolute mainstay of midfield, but the next game will be played on 6 October, with plenty of time in between to give the players a breather.
On the evening of October 6, Inter Milan played Napoli at home, Napoli as a team promoted from the second division in the new season, the ambition and purpose is not relegation, they have so far three wins, one draw and two losses in the sixth place in the standings, only 4 points away from Inter Milan, and the new season has started well.
Prior to this game, Napoli held the record of 300 minutes without conceding a goal on the road, while Inter Milan held the record of scoring in 41 home league games.
In the face of Banba Inter Milan, Napoli also created some chances and caused some problems for Inter Milan, but after a short break, Inter Milan took the initiative in this game, and Cruise scored two goals to help Inter Milan win 2-1 against Napoli.
Ibrahimovic was hidden by Mancini in this game, Zhang Yuan knew that Ibrahimovic's injury had not really healed and needed to rest, and the forward partners were Suazo and Cruz, Cruise played the role of a stand-in perfectly, and two goals brought three points to Inter Milan.
Zhang Yuan continued to sit in the stands, along with Balotelli, who was in the squad but didn't get a chance to play in the last PSV Eindhoven, and he didn't make it this time.
After this game, it entered the national team competition, and the national football teams of various countries in the Inter Milan team naturally began to travel long distances again, Zhang Yuan did not get the call-up of the national team, and stayed at the Pinettina base to continue training.
Zhang Yuan's mood during this time was really bad, the main reason was that it was too difficult to play, he felt that he had played well, and he had trained seriously and hard, but these did not seem to be in Mancini's eyes, unless he had to give himself a chance at all.
Young people can't grind like this, at the beginning, he thought that coming to Inter Milan would be able to teach the veterans by word and deed, and he would make great progress, but now he found that the teaching of the veterans has improved quickly, but this is still not as fast as playing the game and accumulating experience. The way to play football is to slowly explore in the game, and find out a set of what you are good at, people are different from each other, blindly following the veterans, you can only make yourself different.
Now he secretly regrets that he came to Inter Milan, he chose Inter Milan for the benefit of Rimini, but now the problem is that he is too young, Mancini is more willing to trust the veteran who has become famous in Serie A for the sake of results, and his substitute performance is not bad, and he scored a goal, but he just can't play the game.
He thought of Raiola, and wanted to call his agent to talk about the current situation, but he couldn't pull down his face, but he came to Inter Milan insistfully, Raiola didn't listen to how he persuaded himself, and now he is a little embarrassed.
Raiola still doesn't understand that it is more important for Zhang Yuan to play the game, he is also anxious, but he is also in a hurry, there is no other way, it is only October, the winter transfer window is still early, it is too early to want to transfer or loan, you have to wait until December.
Usually Raiola often contacts Zhang Yuan to persuade Zhang Yuan to relax, train hard, and wait for opportunities slowly, all of which are to relax Zhang Yuan's heart, in fact, he also knows that when several strikers in Inter Milan are healthy, Zhang Yuan is really difficult to compete for a position.
After the national team break, the Serie A league rekindled, on October 20, Inter Milan challenged Reggina away, in the face of this weak team, Inter Milan was a little embarrassed, the national team match day and the heavy rain of the day had a great impact on the Inter Milan players, but in the end it was Suasso's goal to win the opponent with a score of 1:0, accumulating 20 points to continue to lead the standings, Zhang Yuan and Balotelli were once again unselected from the squad.