Chapter 239: Utilitarianism is paramount

To be honest, the starting line-up that Li Mudi fielded in today's game was indeed quite surprising, and he cut the team's super attacking power, which was the second highest in Serie A before the start of this round of league games, by at least 50%. Although Baccelli and Benassi can enhance the defensive ability of the midfield through tireless running, they are not outstanding in their individual breakthrough ability, and they are not at a high level in the position of standing on the wing, and when Belotti and Jesse cannot get rid of the entanglement of the home team's defenders, the two midfielders who are known for their passing ability cannot perform well.

However, the Torino coach also has a hard time arranging this, Falke's recent form has been a bit bad, and he has not been able to adjust in the previous training; When the team takes the initiative, Rajadzic's ability to control the ball can bring a lot of help, but he always seems too sticky in the defensive counterattack, and missed opportunities often occur; Cerci's form still needs to be restored, and he can't exert any energy in the competition with strong teams for the time being, so he can only play double strikers on the front line.

In order to strengthen the defensive intensity in the front area of the penalty area, Li Mudiyou had to put the two midfielders on the field together, so if you want to play the traditional 4-4-2, Barceli and Benassi will have to be substitutes, but in that case, the Torino team will lack the starting point of attack, and all the attacks will have to count on the crosses from the two wings, because their in-cut is all unreliable. After much deliberation, the Torino boss decided to take the plunge and see if there could be any unexpected sparks between the two playmakers, a winger and a super finisher, while solidifying the defence. Unfortunately, by the half-hour mark, his expectations had not been met.

In the first 30 minutes, the two teams had a 7-1 ratio of shots on goal, with only centre-back Rosettini barely getting his first shot on goal with a header from a corner, and the ball running in Torino's half for the vast majority of the rest of the day. Lazio had a high 66 per cent possession rate, and it was only recently that the ratio of possession between the two sides returned to around 3-2 after the visitors had been beaten down by their head coach at the behest of their manager.

He Shishi, the commentator of the Celestial Empire CCTV Sports Channel, was constantly discussing with the guest Zhang Lu how the red bull could adjust and then reverse the extremely passive situation of the scene, and the comments of the Italian broadcaster became more and more unpleasant. Today's commentator, former Blue Eagles captain Tommaso Rocchi, who has not been able to find a job since losing his job in the Hungarian league last summer, has made a strong criticism of the Turin team's bus tactics today, and the 39-and-a-half-year-old man still has not changed his youthful temper, and has degraded the Torino manager's coaching level as worthless on live television, believing that the latter has lost the belief in winning and is only thinking about how to go home with a point from the Olympic Stadium in Rome.

Although his words still sound quite reasonable, after all, whether it is from the field or the data, the Torino team seems to be rushing to get a draw. However, if Li Mudi could hear Roki's comments now, he would definitely feel very aggrieved in his heart, he really didn't come to Rome City with the intention of being a turtle with a shrunken head. However, there was a huge mistake in the pre-game tactical arrangement, which led to the situation that the team can only be firmly suppressed by the opponent at present.

The Torino boss was already working with his aides on how to make changes to his line-up after half-time, although the team's defence has been so good that the opposition has not found any chance to take advantage of it. But if it continues, no one knows how long the Torino players will be able to hold out, and the top priority is to strengthen the impact of the front without disrupting the stability of the backfield, so as to contain the Lazio defense and not dare to let them attack too unscrupulously.

So in the last ten minutes of the first half, Baseli and Benassi began to take turns to appear in the forward position when they controlled the ball, and the rest of the man would protect him behind him with the two midfielders.

In the 30th minute, Lulic's cross hit Silvestri's leg and bounced into the middle, Anderson rushed to Akwa's foot to break the ball with his back to the goal and cleverly passed the ball with his heel, as Mobile stepped in to face the Ranocchia defence, and very calmly chose to go diagonally to the right front and kick a curling ball. The ball slipped under Ranocchia's blocked right leg and headed straight for the bottom right corner of the Torino goal, but Joe Hart's reflexes were quick enough to stab the ball between his fingers and slow it down. In the end, the ball was blocked by Rosettini in front of goal, and was picked up by the England goalkeeper who got up quickly.

Two minutes later, Romelu Junior crossed from the left and Parolo desperately fired a low left-footed shot wide of the left-hand post from the edge of the box, and he collided with Las Diarra after the attack, but the referee did not say anything.

In the 37th minute, the Torino team finally completed a multi-player combination by inverting the foot, and finally Benassi split the side to Bareka on the left, who beat Serbia international right-back Dusan Basta (Dusan Basta) after the cross, Belotti in the middle jumped high and beat the 189cm Dutch international De Vriyi to head the goal, but unfortunately the opponent interfered and the ball was deflected a little.

In the 42nd minute, Anderson counter-attacked and distributed the ball to Immobile on the left side of the penalty area, who adjusted and dodged the angle and shot angrily into the far corner, the ball rubbed against Rossettini's calf and deflected off the right side of the goal. Li Mudi was very unhappy with the mistake of the visiting players, and he waved on the sidelines to signal that Barceli had been careless in handling the ball before, reminding everyone to continue to maintain their previous attention.

In the 44th minute, after Lukaku tackled Jesus at the back and received a yellow card, the fourth official on the sidelines held up an electronic display card, and the first half of injury time was as long as Biglia and Radu took a long time to deal with the injury. The Torino team took the opportunity to launch a counterattack and almost achieved the fatal blow. Jesse received a pass from Barcelona near the top of the penalty area and hit the goal directly but was blocked by 22-year-old Dutch centre-back Esley Hoedt, the Spanish winger immediately sent a cross, Belotti hit the goal directly in the middle, the ball grazed the left post and hit the billboard behind the goal, and the home goalkeeper Strakosha did not react at all. If Red Beibei's kick hits the target, I believe the score on the field has been rewritten.

Before the caddie could throw the ball into the pitch, the half-time whistle sounded and the Lazio players returned to the dressing room in a cold sweat, while the Torino side regretted missing the golden opportunity. Overall, though, the home side dominated the first half, but they never found too many good chances to finish the killer blow.

In the away team's lounge, Li Mudi made a rare apology to everyone, saying that it was his own line-up problems that caused the team's embarrassment in the first half, and that the lineup would be adjusted in the second half. Because the attitude of the head coach of his own side has been placed so low, it is difficult for Barceli to be substituted to have any small emotions, while Zampacosta went outside to warm up early after the assistant coach explained the tactical ideas.

The Torino boss changed his team's formation for the next 45 minutes to 4-5-1, with Zampacosta playing as a right midfielder, Jesse being fixed on the left, and Benassi returning to a central position higher forward than in the first half, close to a midfielder. This not only does not weaken the number of defenders in midfield, but also frees up the attack on both flanks, which should theoretically be much more reliable than the previous formation. As for the defensive performance, Li Muddy focused on the defenders and the two midfielders in the first half, saying that they fully followed the pre-match arrangements of the coaching staff and left no good chances for the opponents, and encouraged them to continue to work hard to complete a beautiful clean sheet.

While the players from both sides are returning to the pitch, the commentator on Italian television is still telling the audience about the history of the two teams in recent years, and since 2014, Lazio have been unbeaten in seven consecutive league and cup competitions against Torino, with four wins and three draws. Judging from the performance in the first half of today, perhaps the Red Bulls' dream of ending the winning streak is still too far away, and Roki is even more confident that if some unexpected events do not happen, the Blue Hawks will have a good beef feast.

However, less than 40 seconds after kick-off, the Lazio players voluntarily kicked the ball off the sideline and made a substitution gesture to the sidelines. It turned out that Dutch central defender De Vrij seemed to have a knee problem and had to ask for an early departure. A helpless Miha had to replace Brazilian defender Wallace, who had played for Monaco, and this was the second time that the home team made a substitution due to injury in this game, and no one was happy to be replaced.

However, this did not have much of an impact on the Lazio players' desire to win, and they continued to launch wave after wave of attacks in an attempt to knock on the opponent's goal as soon as possible. However, the visitors failed to play the quick counter-attack planned by the manager after changing the formation, because the midfielders were always suppressed in their own half, making them too far away from Belotti at the front, and the two wings Zampa and Jesse also put a lot of energy into participating in the siege, and could not support the red Bebe at all. So the Torino team not only failed to fight back, but it looked like it was not as good as the performance in the last ten minutes of the first half, which also became a lever for Roki to ridicule Li Mudi's cowardice and utilitarianism.

Ten minutes after the kick-off of the second half, the home side finally waited for a hole in the opposition defence, and they managed to capitalise on one of them to make it 1-0. In the 54th minute, Lukaku Jr. suddenly accelerated to overtake De Silvestri after the assist, and chose to invert the triangle after the bottom and crossed the low ball, and Parolo, who followed up in the middle, was near the small penalty area line, and grabbed Benassi's front of the shovel, but unfortunately it missed the left post. It was the first time so far that the home side had scored so close to goal, and the negligence of the Torino defenders caused Li Mudi to storm on the sidelines.

However, before the visitors could make adjustments, Lazio scored. In the 56th minute, Basta, after receiving a team-mate's ball, sent a cross unmarked on the right, the ball touched Rosettini's toe in the flight and changed direction and went straight to the goal, Joe Hart rushed to the ground to save but could only block the ball near the back post, as Mobile was alert to cut forward and stabbed the ball into the empty net before Bareka could block. The stadium was in full swing, with more than 50,000 home fans cheering deafeningly and the joy of the goal spread across Italy and Thailand through the broadcast screens.

While the Lazio players gathered on the pitch to celebrate, the Italian broadcaster's commentator was also educating everyone about the extra significance of the goal. It was Immobile's 19th goal in all competitions this season and the record for goals scored by a player in a single season since president Claudio Lotito took over the Blue Eagles in 2004, which is joint first with Rocchi and Pandev. Lazio have 10 league games and more than one Coppa Italia to play this season, and it is just around the corner for Mobile to break the record and dominate the all-time honours list.

In the face of this conceded goal, Li Mudi felt that his team's luck was still a little bad, Basta's cross was not a big threat, there were six Torino players in the penalty area at that time marking the opponent's three attackers, and if there is no change of line, from the flight trajectory of the ball should be controlled by Ranocchia to the first landing point. In terms of danger, the goal was nowhere near as big as Parolo's tackle two minutes earlier, but it was a bit of a frustration that it was conceded because of it.

However, this is not the time to discuss who Lady Luck prefers, and it is imperative to convey the new tactical arrangements to the players, so as not to let the opponent seize the opportunity to make another move and kill the game completely.

A conceded goal with a strong surprise color can't say anything, so at the defensive end, it is still necessary to stick to the previous arrangement, resolutely not to let the home team get the opportunity to kick in the penalty area, and the cross from the two wings can still be placed on the secondary defensive target to a certain extent, Li Mudi does not believe that Lazio will have such good luck. As for the offensive end, it will be strengthened, if you continue to be beaten passively, even if you can block the opponent's offensive, you have to accept the outcome of losing by one goal. Torino still wanted to try to equalize the score, and taking at least one point was the guarantee task of the day, so the audience then witnessed a fast-paced offensive and defensive battle that lasted for about a quarter of an hour.