Chapter 176: Defending the Title
For Atletico Madrid fans, they are quite looking forward to the start of the Spanish Super Cup - this summer the team has not made much moves, but the transfer value is not low at all, they are happy to see this situation, after all, this kind of transfer practice means that the team will be stronger and stronger, and the management will be more and more rational, which is much better than in previous years.
So they are looking forward to the Super Cup, Atletico Madrid played two warm-up matches before, but the opponents are Madrid's local C team or even an amateur team, there is almost no gold, just let the players adapt to the rhythm of the game, such a game, even if the opponent is beaten to a dozen to zero, there is nothing to see, but the Spanish Super Cup, will be a test for the emerging Atletico Madrid.
On 20 August, Atletico Madrid appeared at Zaragoza's home stadium, La Romarda, and more than 1,000 Atletico fans went to watch the match away from home – but they were not able to see a victory.
Dick sent a four-four-two formation in this game, among the three new signings, Jorgensen and Stam both appeared in the starting lineup, Stam and Thuram partnered in the central defence, Jorgensen and Camoranesi formed two wings, Dick only sent Makelle and Baraja in the midfield, and then sent Cruz and Jadel in the front line, the main tactic is to create opportunities for the two center forwards after the two wings break through.
However, Zaragoza did a good job of defending the high-altitude ball, and did not give Atletico many opportunities for high-altitude bombing, and in the midfield, they used active scrambling to make it difficult for Atletico's midfield organization to play, and Atletico did not create many chances throughout the first half, but shortly after the start of the second half, Jorgensen made a series of wonderful breakthroughs after winning the ball on the side, and then passed the ball to Baraja, who was inserted into the attack, and Baraja received the ball on the edge of the box and dribbled laterally to get rid of two defenders, Then he opened the scoring for Atletico with a powerful shot.
Dick nodded and slapped his face on the back of the goal – Jorgensen's character was on full display in the process.
Atletico Madrid's two main wide players before, Vicente's most powerful weapon is his speed, his lightning breakthrough is the most headache, but as a Spanish player, his foot skills are a little worse, and his ability to break through in a small area is not strong, and what about Camoranesi? He is a very well-rounded wide player, but also can play in the middle, run actively, fight fiercely, run and shoot well, and also have a good pass, but like Vicente, his ability to break through in a small range can only be regarded as average, so Atletico Madrid also suffered a lot of losses in the face of the bucket formation last season, and many times it was the center's unreasonable point grabbing and luck to break the opponent's bucket formation.
And Jorgensen's characteristics are not the same as these two, his speed is faster than Camoranesi, but slower than Vicente, the accuracy of his crosses is better than Vicente, but not as good as Camoranesi, but although he is a Dane, his foot skills are quite good, whether it is the handling of the ball in the run, or the breakthrough in the stationary are quite good, perhaps because his idol is Michel Laudrup, his technique and short passing ability are quite good.
So when it comes to the national team, Denmark's two flanks are occupied by two other speed maniacs, Romerdal and Glen Shire, and Jorgensen often appears behind the two strikers, Sander and Tomasson, relying on his skills and short-passing ability to create chances – a position that was also previously played by Michel Laudrup......
The introduction of such a player may not be able to make any changes in Atletico Madrid's main force, but it is of great help to the overall tactical arrangement, and in many cases, Jorgensen can bring great help to Atletico as long as he can play his characteristics.
However, the lead did not last until the end, and in the following time, Zaragoza began to launch a frantic counterattack, and in the 79th minute, Paraguay international Akula, who performed very well in this game, assisted to help local striker Jordi equalize with a header!
In the end, the score was 1-1, and Dick's three successive substitutions in the second half may have been a big reason for their equaliser, especially Marchena coming off the bench to replace Makelele, but it was because he didn't keep an eye on Akula that he passed a crucial assist, which made Marchena look a little deflated at the end of the game.
"It's okay, there's always a little bit to pay for getting used to a new position." Dick didn't get angry after the game, but patted Marchena on the shoulder and said, "As long as you know where you made a mistake, that's enough...... You'll have a lot of chances ahead and I hope you can show what you can do in both the centre-back and the midfield. ”
Dick knows that Marchena's ability is relatively limited, although he was a regular international for Spain later, but he has not been able to perform at a higher level, with Thuram, Stam and Makelele, it is enough for him to contribute as a substitute, and if he himself fights and improves a little faster, he may be able to replace the oldest Stam in the future......
The draw was a bit of a disappointment for Atletico fans, but they were not worried about losing the Spanish Super Cup, after all, they had a goalless draw on the road, so are they afraid they won't be able to win the game when they return home?
In the post-match press conference, Dick didn't say much, but said that the team is slowly improving, and we also have important reinforcements this season, and he focused on Jorgensen's performance: "This is a player who should have entered the big club a year ago, but unfortunately he was delayed for a year due to injury...... However, a year later, he has shown his ability to do the same, and he will definitely be an important part of our squad. ”
When asked by a reporter about Stam's performance, Dick said: "A player of Stam's caliber should not be doubted because he has shown how good he is in the past days. No one can deny his quality, and the combination of him and Thuram would be the strongest centre-back combination in the world. That conceded goal? It's not a big deal to lose the goal, Thuram and Stam are working together for the first time in an official game, and it's normal to make a little mistake, but then, everyone should feel Stam's strength, he will definitely be a great value reinforcement! ”
For Dick's words, there are no reporters who have any objections, after all, Stam's reputation is not mixed, he was the main central defender of the Dutch national team before going to Manchester United, and his performance in the World Cup was also very good, and joining Manchester United after the World Cup was a great contribution to Manchester United winning the treble and the Premier League three consecutive championships, if it weren't for his autobiography that angered Ferguson, I'm afraid Ferguson would not let go of this central defender - Ferguson has a central defender plot, and his team has never lacked super central defenders, From Bruce to Pallist, then Stam, after Blank, after Blank, then Rio Ferdinand, and then Nemanja Vidic - he has a good eye for people, but he doesn't seem to be very good at developing central defenders, Brown and O'Shea have been trained by him for many years, and they are still overwhelmed, but the top central defenders he has spent a lot of money on have performed well.
With the performance of the Dutch national team and Manchester United at the bottom, even if Stam's performance is a little worse temporarily, he will not be questioned too much - this is the benefit of fame, because his performance has been very good before, even if the performance is mediocre, reporters and fans will automatically help him explain, such as not tacit enough to cooperate, not enough to adapt to the style of the new league...... This is called the status of the rivers and lakes!
Of course, if you don't perform well, you will be labeled as a "degenerate parallel import", such as Mendieta who moved to Lazio, Kaka who later moved to Real Madrid, and Torres who moved to Chelsea...... They are all considered big parallel goods because of their poor performance, on the one hand, because their value is really high, and on the other hand, because they are both offensive players, and poor performance is easy to be watched with a magnifying glass, and Stam as a defensive player, will not be bothered too much.
Three days later, at the Calderón Stadium, Atletico Madrid fans began to go through a phase from disappointment to excitement......
Zaragoza also used excellent defensive tactics to keep Atletico Madrid from having too many chances, and the score was 0-0 after the end of the first half - although this score lasted until the end, and it would be Atletico who won the championship in the end, but it was clear that it was also a very humiliating thing for Atletico to win the title in this way......
At the start of the second half, Dick replaced Cruise with Fernando Torres, whose performance no longer seemed to be magical, and at the same time replaced Vicente, the only winger of the game, with Camoranesi coming on to replace the only winger of the game, and the formation began to change to a four-four-two with a focus on the middle, leaving the two wings completely to the two full-backs.
After switching to such tactics, Atletico Madrid began to play more patiently, constantly advancing through the advantage of the midfield, although there were no fast wingers like Vicente and Jorgensen on the side, but they began to play more delicately, Torres continued to look for opportunities through his own running, and his range of activities began to become very large, in addition to pulling out of the penalty area, he also often pulled the side, so that the opponent's defenders could not mark him well.
No one could have imagined that, with the support of this tactic, Torres would be the first of several strikers who were most adapted to this tactical style of play.
Perhaps because Atletico Madrid II often played under the cover of a central striker, Torres' form was excellent under this tactic, and after Zaragoza resisted for 70 minutes, the defence finally began to crumble!
Torres took the lead in the 73rd minute after receiving a clever pass from Bellerón before the two defenders of the opposing side, but the opposing goalkeeper could no longer stop Torres' shot, and the ball flew into the corner of the goal, 1-0, and the stands immediately resounded with the huge cheers of the Atletico fans!
And eight minutes later, after a series of back and forth passes, Belleron's diagonal pass accurately fell to the feet of Camoranesi who burst into the penalty area, and the Argentine immediately shot in the penalty area, and the ball was subconsciously blocked by the goalkeeper of Zaragoza, and Torres appeared at the landing point of the ball for the first time, and scored a brace directly to meet the ball!
It was thanks to two goals from Torres in the last 20 minutes that Atletico beat Zaragoza 2-0 at home to win the Spanish Super Cup for the second year in a row!