Chapter 124

"Deportivo La Coruna almost equalised by Real Betis after having a good start! To be fair, Deportivo created more chances than Real Betis, but wasted a lot of them. ”

When Frank said this, he subconsciously looked at Dean and continued to speak after making sure that the person next to him did not mean to refute.

'Portillo didn't play well in the first half, he missed two great chances, including a one-on-one shot, and I think Juan Dias was a little bit of a surprise, although Portillo was very good at Castilla, but since being promoted to the first team of Real Madrid, he hasn't had much of a show......

"Portillo seems to be almost five months older than Juan Dias, but his staggering on the Real Madrid bench makes me feel that he has little room for improvement. Juan Díaz is probably a little too unsafe to put Deportivo on his current striker hopes. ”

"Portillo signed a professional contract with Real Madrid in 02 and officially joined the first team, so to speak, during the first team, he is definitely the one who will be the softest, La Liga champion, Champions League winner, Club World Cup (formerly known as Toyota Cup), Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup...... It can be said that the only person in the whole of Deportivo who can mention the glory to him is Juan Díaz, and Fernando Oh Redondo and Romario are both less than them in the Club World Cup and the UEFA Super Cup......"

"But his performance is not worthy of such an achievement, and I can say that he won most of the championships lying down, and he even played less time than Juan Dias, and to be honest, I don't think he can do anything good."

"That can't be said, and Portillo can't be blamed for Deportivo being equalised." Surprisingly, Dean did not disagree with Frank's words this time, sighing and saying: "Deportivo only scored one goal in the first half, although partly it was related to Portillo's wasted chances, but it also had something to do with some problems with their centre-back combination......"

"There is a gap between Gago and Aimar, it can be said that as long as Joaquín is not blind, he can get a chance from there, Juan has not solved the midfield problem of Deportivo La Coruna, not to mention the imperfection of the combination, now Riquelme is suspended for muscle fatigue, and when Riquelme is suspended, how is he going to arrange these midfielders? Let Riquelme play as a substitute? The main player of the Argentine national team and the superstar with an annual salary of five million play as a substitute, and Deportivo La Coruna is also a little too extravagant......"

The two of them are complaining about Deportivo here, but as everyone knows, Juan is also complaining about the two of them in the locker room.

"I'm sure the live commentators outside must have started to sing about A Coruña, from Portillo at the front to Diego at the back." Juan waved his hand and looked up at everyone in the locker room, and found that although everyone had their heads down, they were indeed laughing, and after knowing that the first half did not affect them, Juan coughed lightly.

"Okay guys, the first half is over, let's not think about the performance of the first half or all that...... Of course, Sorin and Ibanez, remember that you are partners in the backline, and I don't need to say much about the things like linking up and complementing each other. ”

"As soon as Aimar goes forward, Gago has to follow him, escort, when Gago pounces, Ibanez is in charge of filling in, this is a cooperation that we have done many times in training, I hope there will be no low-level mistakes like the first half, understand?"

Ibanez and Gago nodded a little depressed at the same time, their performance in the first half was actually not bad, Ibanez twice stopped Real Betis in front of goal, and Gago had at least three beautiful tackles in the midfield, but their position was destined to be like this, one bad performance, all top performances will be wiped out.

It's no wonder that the current defenders all want to run forward and compete to be a striker.

"In the first half we played very well, and Real Betis patronized the attack, their running has consumed a lot of energy, the advantage in the second half will definitely be ours, now we just have to pay attention to some details of the attack, Gago, you played well in the first half, but pay attention to the timing of the pass, not every time you need to complete that sharp direct pass or long pass, it is also very necessary to mobilize the whole team's attack by sharing the ball."

Gago, a little dazed, nodded as Juan sighed inwardly.

Honestly, Fernando Gago is the most difficult player in the team right now.

If he can be a little more consistent, or more in the direction of Redondo, and play around him, Deportivo will not have to worry about attacking for at least the next 10 years, but defensively it will be a bit of a concern.

And if he is only allowed to participate in the attack as a member of the team, his cooperation in this regard seems to be a little poor, which makes him have to find his place all the time.

But Recoba was good today, apart from that missed header...... You can also expect a little bit of his performance in the second half.

When he shifted his gaze to Morientes, Juan's eyes unconsciously softened for a moment, he didn't expect that his little friend would be so compatible after arriving in Deportivo La Coruna, scoring goals in both games, and scoring twice in the first game, which has to be said to be a big surprise.

"Morrow, continue to play your strengths in the second half - pull the side, break through, share the ball, whatever it is, as long as it can make your space bigger, so that you can play more and shoot from a distance when you have a chance, I miss your long-range shot a little bit."

Morientes smiled and nodded confidently, "Got it, boss." ”

He suddenly called this, Juan was still a little unaccustomed to it, and he was stunned and touched his nose before looking away. As for Juan Bellerón, Fernando Redondo and Pablo Aimar, he has nothing to say, and their performance in the first half can be said to be completely in line with Juan's requirements, showing a very high level at both ends of the pitch and he couldn't ask for more......

Finally, Portillo.

When Juan looked over, he saw that Portillo was a little depressed.

He can be said to have grown up in La Liga, from the beginning (. The point is also very high, that is, the world's top two giants, Real Madrid, and his friends around him are geniuses.

When he first arrived in A Coruña, he knew that he was in a new place, and although there were many competitors around him, he was not without opportunities, and he was not without talent, so it can be said that as long as he continued to work hard, his future would be bright.

It was at this time that Morientes came.

It can be said that Portillo's entire youth years have been pressed under two shadows, one is called Raul and the other is called Morientes.

Even if Morientes moves out for various reasons and comes back to sit on the bench with him, it is still a shadow, because he knows that it is not his ability that puts Morientes on the bench, but some strange gossip.

Now that he's playing with Morientes in the same club again, his shadow aftermath has come out, and it's really not a very common thing for him to go back and score.

That goal, you can go in with a little click, he has scored a lot of goals like this in the first half of the season, but now he is nervous in such a situation......

Portillo knows better than anyone how cruel it can be.

He's played at Real Madrid, or rather, he's only played at Real Madrid, and he knows what happens to every player who makes a mistake – when they're not a big player, there's only one consequence for making a mistake or not being able to stay in shape.

Rotation, substitution, benching.

His heart was sinking a little bit.

Just as he was nervous, Juan stood in front of him.

"Javier."

As soon as Portillo looked up, he was poked by Juan.

？！！

Before the Spaniard could cover his head and grin, he heard Juan say very easily: "What are you afraid of?" ”

Portillo opened his mouth and didn't say anything for a while, but his gaze shifted to Morientes to the side.

Morientes was unconscious, and he was now fully relaxing himself to regain his strength.

"Don't be nervous about Javier, although La Liga is higher than La Liga, but don't forget how terrible your goal rate is in La Liga, Real Betis is actually a top level in La Liga, desperately fight to draw with Castilla, remember what you have to do, just move forward."

Porti was stunned.

He didn't expect that Juan didn't mean to replace him, but encouraged him, which made him a little incredible, and more importantly-

"Boss," he whispered a little crying, "I'm the one who played in La Liga, right?" ”

"Who have you ever kicked that?" Juan glanced at him, "I didn't even play that, did I?" ”

"Well," Portillo smiled helplessly, "Chief, you have a point...... I'm going to do well in the second half! ”

"That's it, don't overthink it!" Juan patted his little friend on the shoulder, and then clapped his hands: "Ready to play, we just wasted a little more opportunity in the first half...... I'm ready to see how you guys perform in the second half and let's go back to Deportivo La Coruna with a win! ”

That was the end of Juan's speech, which made the Deportivo crowd a little uncomfortable, and Morientes looked around and noticed that his teammates had strange expressions on their faces.

What's wrong?

Juan was the first to walk out of the locker room, and the audience breathed a sigh of relief, Morientes looked left and right, and finally couldn't help but come to Redondo's side: "Big guy......"

Redondo wiped the sweat from his face and glanced at him, and Morientes immediately relented.

- Well, there are still very few cheeky people like Raul and Juan, and he doesn't dare to talk to Dongge!

However, Redondo was in a good mood, and said directly: "You don't care about them, just continue to play." ”

"Okay." Morientes nodded obediently and stopped talking, and Redondo looked at him for a few moments before sighing.

"Juan was in a good mood since you came, and he didn't curse anyone today."

Morientes blinked: "Did he always curse before?" ”

"Nope." Redondo was straightforward, he had never been scolded anyway!

"I'll just say, Juan isn't that fierce." Morientes smiled with a sigh of relief, and the people around him didn't look good.

Big guy, don't spread rumors at will!!

Juan Díaz is usually fierce or not, we all know in our hearts!!

But to be honest, they're really a little unaccustomed, and after Juan laid out two sentences, the next thing is mainly to praise them, is that really okay?

Usually in the middle of the field, he doesn't say that, but to arrange it well!!

With such fears, they started the second half, however after three minutes, all the players of Deportivo opened their mouths wide - cheering loudly!

Just three minutes into the second half, Belleron won the ball in midfield and passed to Aimar, who passed diagonally to Gago, who was already running on the sideline, and Gago dribbled forward, and when he dribbled the ball, Aimar also broke diagonally in the direction of the penalty area.

In the penalty area, Portillo ran out of the box and was on the line of the penalty area ready to respond.

This kind of running distracted the attention of the Real Betis backline, and after Gago got the ball, he did not force the ball, but raised his foot to distribute the ball to Portillo who was receiving at the edge of the box, and then cut forward himself.

Portillo controlled the ball at his feet, withstood the Real Betis defenders who were constantly interfering behind him, and then raised his foot to pass the ball back.

The follow-up Gago met Portillo's return ball, raised his foot and shot directly from outside the penalty area!

The football cannonball flew to the far corner of the goal, and Real Betis, despite stretching out their arms, could only watch the football fly in front of their hands and then plunge into the far corner of the goal!

“Goooooooal！！！ Fernando Gago!! In the first three minutes of the second half, Deportivo quickly widened the score gap!! Frank took a deep breath and said, "I'm starting to feel like something was wrong with my words in the first half......

"How?" Dean raised an eyebrow with a smirk, and Frank coughed lightly.

"On the surface, it looks like a goal between a few of Deportivo stars with their individual ability, but the performances of Portillo and Fernando Gago really make people sigh - is this really individual ability?"

Dean smiled and took over the conversation: "Look at the slow-motion replay." ”

Now it happens that the replay of slow motion is being done on the big screen, when Portillo is retreating to get the ball, Deportivo La Coruna attracted the attention of the Real Betis players from three directions, allowing Gago and Portillo to easily complete the collision with the wall, although Gago's long-range shot is actually of high quality, but after passing with both feet, his shot was not disturbed, and he was still relaxed and happy, what does this mean?

- This at least shows that Deportivo have a masterful accuracy in their overall ability to contain the opposing team!

Half a season's run-in has allowed Deportivo La Coruna to weave a fine and dense net as a whole, and as long as it falls into the net, there is almost no possibility for people to move.

In such a recap, Frank opened his mouth for a long time and couldn't say a word, while Dean coughed lightly and said slowly: "Taking 10,000 steps back can always let the stars play their individual abilities, which is also a manifestation of the manager's ability." ”

"Well, you're right." Frank muttered.

As the score widened, Deportivo LaCoruna's attack began to stabilize, and their midfield, which was not very well connected, gradually stabilized, and the Real Betis players felt that it was becoming more and more difficult to create chances like they did in the first half.

As Gago continued to run back and forth and often dropped back to help Aimar defend, Deportivo gradually stabilized on the right flank, and after the defence was solidified, Deportivo began to play slowly, gradually suppressing Real Betis and constantly trying to create chances.

In the eighth minute of the second half, Morientes broke through to create a free-kick, and he and Belleron stood in front of the ball at the same time again, and finally Morientes curled the ball against the wall, Belleron followed up with a follow-up shot, and the ball was saved off the line.

A few minutes later, Denilson and Juan Sorin collided and fell to the ground, and Sorin quickly got to his feet, while Denilson was a little unsupportive and was replaced by Benjamin after more than ten minutes of play.

Benjamel is a young man, Juan Sorin goes up to defend him, whether it is height or strength can eat him to death, if you have to say, the most eye-catching scene after Benjamel came on the field is to receive the ball in the penalty area and pass back, but unfortunately his teammates are not strong, Ricardo Oliveira's long-range shot was blocked by Diego López.

The situation on the field was very favorable for Deportivo La Coruna, and the defensive aspect began to gradually ease up, Juan Sorin and Capdevilla were waiting in the penalty area, and the other two were fighting fires everywhere, although Gago was frizzy, but he was particularly suitable for the position of scavenger -

Juan had to say that although this person and Redondo's style of play are very similar, the difference in personality makes the two of them take a very different path.

Redondo has been wondering lately, if he has admitted his "second" too early, can he choose another one?

"Well done!" Juan applauded calmly from the sidelines, for whom Deportivo La Coruna couldn't have been better.

After stabilizing their own backline, Deportivo La Coruna's attack began to become more ferocious, like a tiger released from a cage, their attack had already made Real Betis unable to parry, and now it was fatal to make another trip.

Juan saw that Real Betis wanted to fight back on the field, and decisively used a substitution, he replaced Aimar with Quaresma, and Gago, who did not need to assist in the defense, came to the left.

In the 72nd minute, Gago dribbled forward along the left side, attracting the attention of the opposing duo and passing the ball to the side, Quaresma did not pass back to Gago, who continued to cut forward, but raised his foot directly to pass the ball into the box.

Portillo, who used his body to grab the favorable terrain in the penalty area, never let go of this opportunity this time, and he stretched out his foot to poke the ball rolling over, and the ball flew directly into the door of Real Betis!

"Three to zero!! Deportivo La Coruna, after a calm first half, burst into the second half with the aggression they deserved!! ”

To Frank's cheers, Portillo ran to Quaresma and hugged him tightly in his arms.

He felt exactly the same as before for this goal just now, his teammates took the ball on the side, and he squeezed in front of the goal to grab the point, after he occupied the favorable terrain, a high-speed pass had come, and the goal was so simple!

Seeing that Deportivo La Coruna had taken the lead, it stands to reason that the average coach should have been ready to give up the game at this time, but Ferrer just didn't follow the usual path, he changed two players in a row, replacing Joaquin and Assunsan to strengthen the attack.

Juan also made another substitution, with young David Silva coming on for Andrade and Deportivo starting to strengthen their defence.

David Silva and the team met late, his sister got married, and Juan did not rush him to join the team or anything, but let him train with the team at ease, slowly regain his form and get acquainted with his teammates again.

In Juan's mind, David Silva, like the children in A Coruña, is a guarantee for the future, not a force to be used now.

However, for David Silva himself, of course, he hopes to quickly become the main force of Deportivo La Coruna, but because there are so many bigwigs in the team, he basically didn't rest much in the first half of the season, all of them were in the cup, and he still took it for granted if he wanted to play the main force rashly, so he was also very patient and quietly waiting for his opportunity to play.

After coming off the bench this time, his task is to defend with Fernando Gago, Real Betis's counterattack is quite ferocious, and this defensive task, although he is not familiar with it, is okay, especially when his partner is very strong.

Fernando Gago's previous Argentine league has also been attack-oriented, even if Boca Juniors is strong, he will always face the opponent's stormy onslaught, he is used to this situation, so this time compared to usual, he can be said to be handy.

In Real Betis's crazy counterattack, Juan Sorin, Andrade, Fernando Redondo and Capdevilla laid down a defensive line at the front of the penalty area, plus Fernando Gago and David Silva's defensive ability is also quite weak, in the following time, Deportivo not only withstood Real Betis's counterattack, but also almost caused a lot of trouble to the opponent.

David Silva's performance was quite eye-catching, and in just 20 minutes on the field, he contributed three steals and three fouls, and handed in a pretty good answer.

When the final whistle blew, Deportivo La Coruna beat Real Betis 3-0!

Deportivo La Coruna, who won this victory, are still quietly entrenched in the top position of the league, and in second place is Real Madrid, who have come from behind with a new manager, and overtook Barcelona with a record of seven consecutive wins.

Behind them were Barcelona, Valencia, Villarreal and Sevilla, who won 1-0, while Atletico Madrid were surprisingly held to a 2-2 draw by Athletic Bilbao and finished in seventh place.

"We are victorious, and we are gratifying." In his post-match press conference, Juan chose this quote as his opening statement.

"Questions? I don't think we have any problems, there are new players in the squad for this game, and there are players who haven't played much in the last season, so we need time to get used to it, and Deportivo La Coruna is not the strongest at the moment. ”

"What do you think of Real Madrid's seven-game winning streak? Sorry, I'm not the manager of Real Madrid. ”

"Isn't the game going to look good? Honestly, the three points we got are the most important thing, and also, is it really not a good game, you speak with a good conscience, it's really not good? ”

"Fernando Redondo is a man and his age is here, so Deportivo can't ask him to be the heart of the field every game, because we all know that the core will get more attention on the pitch."

"The core of this game is that there is no core!"

"I have to say that there is one...... Juan Bellerón, who has the strongest overall coordination in the game, has no substitute for Laco's captaincy. ”

"Sell Belleron? Nonsense! Deportivo La Coruna won't sell its captain even if he has no money! ”

Regarding the issue of the league, in fact, everyone is not very concerned, after all, Deportivo La Coruna will go to Arsenal in the next game!!

"As a newcomer to the Champions League, what are your Champions League goals?"

Juan said without thinking: "Of course it is to win!" ”

After a pause, he continued: "I have fond memories in England, Arsenal are very strong, they have the best strikers – Thierry Henry, Bergkamp...... With the addition of talented players such as Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Ljungberg and Vieira, it can be said that this is the most desirable opponent for Deportivo La Coruna, we love to play against strong opponents, and only by defeating strong opponents can we taste the beauty of victory. ”

The media reporters at the scene didn't know whether they should scold this person for speaking wildly first, or whether they should accuse him of disrespecting his opponent and disrespecting Real Betis, but most of them are not stupid, and they can remember that in the first half of the season, the head coach of Real Betis once said that Deportivo La Coruna was bad, especially for Juan Dias.

Yes, this master has always kept it in mind, and the backhand is a pair of double kills, and the hit is speechless.

The reporters in the audience also had old fritters, and immediately stood up and asked, "Is this your psychological warfare?" You want the Arsenal people to hear your crazy words, and then at the weekend at Highbury, Arsenal press so your team can play with the speed to play the opponent on the counter-attack, so you can easily take away the win, right? ”

Juan raised his eyebrows and smiled: "Today's reporters, they are really good at psychological warfare, may I ask where they are high?" ”

The other party immediately replied: "Don't dare, this is a reporter from The Guardian, please answer my question truthfully." ”

"The Guardian, England." Juan nodded, "Since it's from England, you should know who I learned from." ”

The reporters let out a low laugh - who doesn't know that Juan Díaz has drawn Alex Hair Dryer Premier League No. 1 Tearing Big Player and King of Psychological Warfare Ferguson?

Juan continued: "Besides, if you think about it from a different perspective, don't Arsenal attack at home stadium? Will they be conservative in the face of the young A Coruña? Sir, I'm just telling the truth, I can't say that Deportivo can be happy if they go away and get a draw, right? ”

The reporter smiled and asked: "Even if Deportivo hasn't adjusted the formation yet, you still insist that the team must win tomorrow?" ”

Juan fiddled with the microphone in front of him and coughed lightly: "I rarely give orders to the team as a whole, that they must win a certain game, or that they must win a certain opponent, because I have different requirements for the players, my standard is to judge according to their performance, some people can achieve 9 points, but only 6 points in the game, then even if we win, I will not be satisfied." ”

'So for the weekend game, I'm just going to ask the players to play a little bit better than usual, and as for the win, I'm sure if they do what I ask for, the end result will be what we want to see.'

After that, Juan unceremoniously shot back at the argument that "Deportivo didn't play well in this game and was just a narrow victory, and Deportivo was nothing without a star", and he is now starting to feel it, why is the whole Spanish football world now a little bit of the same hatred against himself?

Afraid that his results are too good to disgrace Spanish football and those older managers?

And Deportivo has been such a lineup since the beginning of last season, at most there is one more Morientes, and suddenly it started to promote Deportivo as a "star" or something, is it simply too bad, okay?

Juan didn't really care about this, those people said that everyone could see the current situation of A Coruña, which just shows that many people are watching his jokes, the more he wins, the more they expect him to fall, but so what?

Anyway, he is only at the beginning of his current team, and the contract is still very long, and there is time to make these guys speechless.

Only after a head coach leads the team to win the championship can his waist be stiff in front of other head coaches!

- A few days later, Deportivo travelled to Wembley Stadium to play at home against Arsenal.

The start of the Premier League has been very early, and when the La Liga has just finished two rounds, the Premier League has passed three rounds and is close to four, Juan Díaz spoke with Arsene Wenger a little before the start of the game, and the atmosphere was not as enthusiastic as before the draw results came out.

Ahem, because the lord was by his side at that time, huh.

Wenger's expression was very solemn, and he seemed to be very interested in this game, Juan looked at his face and smiled helplessly: "Mr. Wenger." ”

"Huh?"

'Please don't be so nervous, it's just a Champions League.'

Wenger was stunned for a moment, then smiled helplessly and nodded.

If anything, Juan is the one who should be nervous, right? After all, there has never been a coach so young in the Champions League.

After the two men finished talking, Juan straightened his collar and sat down, quietly waiting for the game to begin.

Players from both sides began to enter the field.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!! The first match of the quarter-finals of the European Champions Cup is about to begin, and Deportivo La Coruna is away to challenge Arsenal! Both teams are also regular winners, Arsenal only ended their winning streak a year ago, and Deportivo La Coruna has not stopped winning! ”

"It's really exciting to see this kind of strong conversation for the Champions League football feast, but unfortunately, today's Millwall, compared to last season's Super Laco, has changed dramatically, and we hardly see Deportivo veterans in the starting line-up, so to speak, it is thanks to the presence of former Deportivo players such as Bellerón, Capdevilla and Andrade that Deportivo has not turned Deportivo into a team that we are completely unfamiliar with and know nothing."

"Let's see Deportivo La Coruna's starting line-up!"

"In this game, Juan Díaz did not make too many adjustments, Andrade and Capdevilla in the back line partnered again, Díaz needs them to adapt to the current tactics as soon as possible, Juan sent Juan Sorin in the right-back position, Jorge Valente appeared in the left-back position, he is a versatile defender in the backline, he can play all positions in the backline, Juan Díaz does not seem to plan to let Bellerón play in this game, even if he is an iron man, he does not need to use it like this."

'In midfield, Deportivo La Coruna's four midfielders in the last league game all but Belleron appeared, and the attacking partners were Portillo and Morientes added a Quaresma, which looked to be another attacking line-up.