Chapter 331: Is This the Rhythm of Competing for the Championship?

Torino still didn't make much of a fuss about possession, but almost every attack went straight to the opposition's vital point, much to the discomfort of the visiting players.

After the restart, just as Sampdoria was about to launch a layered attack, Ranocchia, who suddenly stepped up, completed a successful combination with Muthiss, and cut the ball directly from the feet of Ramirez, who was looking for a breakthrough in the middle. The ball was picked up by the retreating Immobile, who made a dummy on the left flank, deceived Paraguayan midfielder Barreto, who wanted to come up to the defence, and then dribbled forward at high speed, and knocked the ball down the middle after attracting the attention of the opposition defence.

The follow-up Barcelona sent a delicate through ball without stopping, Belotti successfully countered offside, but due to speed problems, he could not control the ball in the best place, and when he could get up, he had come to the left sideline of the small penalty area, and the angle was already very small. However, Red Babe still resolutely got up with his left foot and shot into the far corner, the ball flew against the ground and flew in front of the left palm of Pugioni, who fell to the ground to save, and then hit the inside of the post and bounced close to the net. 2-1, just 75 seconds after the equalizer, the Red Bulls took the lead, and the home fans at the scene were boiling.

Li Mudi on the sidelines also hugged and celebrated with his colleagues around him, and deliberately walked outside the sideline, applauded the players on the field to show praise, and reminded them to pay attention to the opponent's sneak attack, and strive to score another goal while maintaining a solid defense, so as to completely put the victory in his pocket.

On the other side, Giamboro couldn't sit still, and came to the sidelines to invite Uruguayan midfielder Torreira, who seemed to have been hit by two goals in a row, and gave him a lecture. Sampdoria, who kicked off for the second time in two minutes, changed their previous tactics, no longer rashly attacking, and began to pour their feet at the back, trying to attract the home team's players to press and look for possible openings behind them. However, Torino still strictly followed the manager's pre-match arrangement, and before the ball entered the midfield area, only two strikers did a brief harassment, and did not put much effort into pressing in the high position. Only when the opponent wants to continue to pass forward, will he use the advantage of numbers to launch a resolute press.

As a result, the pace of the game suddenly changed from a fast rush in the first fifteen minutes to a tug-of-war that tested the patience of both sides, and before the referee blew the whistle at halftime, no one took advantage of it, and the score of 2-1 was maintained until the first forty-five minutes.

Due to the good situation of the team, the fans in the stadium kept their spirits high during the intermission, and they continued to shout slogans and sing the team song in unison with the live DJ, and the atmosphere was very hot. And the largest high. The tide part turned out to be a close-up of the two Asian female faces on the big screen, which drew enthusiastic cheers from the more than 25,000 home fans at the scene, who were naturally Li Mudi's mother and girlfriend.

The current Torino coach is an idol and even a hero-level figure in the hearts of all the team's fans, and is deeply loved by the local general public (in general, the elite are Juventus fans, a situation very similar to the supporter divisions of Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid), and even his fan group has been built up in two, which is exaggerated enough. And Li Mudi's family situation has also been basically excavated by the media and omnipotent netizens very cleanly, and his parents and girlfriend are also familiar to fans, which is why today's scene of love and Wu appeared, and it has become a big topic after that.

Fast forward a quarter of an hour, and when the player made his second appearance, Giampaolo was the first to change his moves, replacing right-back Jakopo Sala with Polish Bereskineski, who had been average in the first half, and his intention to make a difference on the flanks was clear. The home team has not made any adjustments for the time being, and it is still dominated by me, looking for opportunities and fighting for a lethal blow on the basis of a solid defense.

After the restart, both sides did not lazy on the defensive end, although they each had a few statistics on goal, but it was not too good chances, except for Cassie who took a long-range cold shot from Quagliarella into his arms, the rest of the shots were off target, and no one could see the possibility of scoring.

In the 66th minute, Gianpaolo redeployed his squad again, replacing Stelliniฤ‡, who had been injured in the scramble with left-back Nikola Muru, who had been brought in from Cagliari for 6.3 million euros this summer. Five minutes later, Poland international Linetti came on to replace Ramirez, who had become ineffective after completing the opening assist, and was ready to launch the final attack in the remaining 20 minutes.

At this time, Li Mudi also began to turn over the hole cards in his hand, and Las Diarra came out to replace Fabas to strengthen the defensive ability of the midfield. Youngster Manuel Pellegri replaced Belotti and Boyer replaced Immobile, and all three substitutions were used up in three minutes, and the team's formation was changed to 3-5-2. Boyer came on the pitch instead of standing up front, covering almost the entire front area with his aggressive movements, and his dynamism created plenty of opportunities for wing-backs Silvestri and Bareka to step up and assist.

In the 83rd minute, the visitors' corner kick was headed over by Ranocchia, and Torino immediately launched a counter-attack, with Barcelona dodging the angle and smashing it straight to the left. With the help of Boyer's containment on the wing, Barreka, who was inserted at high speed, rushed forward near the middle, forcing the Samp players to retreat in a hurry. When he was about 15 meters away from the penalty line, he suddenly curled a left-footed ball diagonally into the penalty area, and the ball just bypassed the Argentine veteran Silvestre and collided with Pellegri on his right leg, which was in the air, and rushed towards the away goal.

In the face of this sudden ejection, Samp goalkeeper Pugioni was obviously a little unprepared, although he subconsciously made a fall to the ground to save, but there was a mistake in judgment, allowing the ball to drill under his armpit. 3-1, Torino completely sealed the victory, and Pellegri also scored his first goal since joining the Red Bulls, which was also his second goal in the league, and he is still the brightest star among the players after 01.

The two-goal deficit was a serious blow to the confidence of the visitors' players, who were unable to regain their momentum for the rest of the day, and were a little frustrated to wear the game to stoppage time. In the end, Torino reversed their previous consecutive winning rivals 3-1 at home and also won four consecutive games of the new season, setting the team's best record in nearly 25 years.

At the same time, the results of the other kick-off games were also reported, with AC Milan winning 2-1 at home to Udinese in the upper hand, and Montella still failing to lead the team to the level expected by fans and media after a heavy defeat in the previous round; Promoted Maspar lost to Cagliari by two goals at home, and the dark horse finally began to fade, while the latter won two consecutive victories and basically got out of the relegation circle; The most gratifying thing was Napoli's 6-0 slaughter of Benevento at home, with the White Dolphins winning 73% possession and 27 shots on goal with 14 on target.

In the next two games, Chievo was held 1-1 by Atrada in the final moments, while Lazio came back 3-2 away to Genoa, and after Immobile's departure, Senegal international Keita burst onto the scene with a brace that saved his side and Mihajlovic.

After all 10 matches in the fourth round, Napoli, Juventus, Torino and Inter Milan still maintained their winning streaks, forming the first group to compete with Lazio with 3 wins and 1 loss. Benevento, on the other hand, is still hard to find, and the backline, which has performed well in the first two games of the season, has begun to be shaky, and the chances of repeating the fate of Pescara's early relegation last season still look relatively high.

In the scorer list, Dybala is the top scorer with eight goals, followed by Icardi, Mertens and Keita, who also scored five goals. The Italian national team's forward partners of the Torino team are three goals per person, the output is relatively stable, and because of the rotation of the head coach, the playing time is not as much as the people in front, so the efficiency is still very high.

At the press conference after the match of the Battle of Dusan, a reporter asked Li Mudi about his thoughts on the title race, and the latter, after a little thought, remained calm, and he responded: "Napoli, Juventus and Inter are indeed strong contenders for the league title, but we are not at that level at the moment. Although the team started the new season well, there were many other factors, such as the quality of the opponents who are not relatively strong teams in the league, Sampdoria are a good team, but today we had home advantage to help. So the results don't say much for the time being, Torino still need to be tested against the big teams, and I hope that everyone will be willing to give the team the encouragement they have now. โ€

Although the Torino coach had done his best to prevent everyone from getting hot-headed, the next day's major media still listed the Red Bulls as a strong contender for the league title, and all kinds of hype rose again, as if no one read the manuscript if they did not praise Li Doudi and his team in the article.

According to Torino Sport: "This is the best Torino team since the 1984-85 season. The newspaper also praised Li Mudi's coaching ability.

And the president of Turin, Urbano Cairo, who is not willing to be lonely, gave his opinion on the topic that has recently been circulated in the public about "the Italian Football Federation is considering moving this season's Turin derby to the capital of the Celestial Empire".

"Why not? There are a lot of competitions in European football that are currently held overseas, and the Italian Super Cup has been to the capital and Qatar, and as the two most popular teams in Italy at the moment, the Torino derby will of course be a huge success there, so there is no need to be surprised by this rumour. โ€

"Juventus are the six-time league winners, a well-deserved Serie A giant, and we have a huge popularity in the Far East because of Coach Lee, and the results of the two teams are so close this season. If you can hold a derby in the Celestial Empire, the effect will be perfect. We must be open to proposals that are in line with the modern trend of football, and while the necessary respect needs to be given to the local fans, the most important thing at the moment is to really promote the development of Italian football. We need to find an opportunity to ensure that Serie A can be promoted around the world in order to raise the level of Serie A. โ€

"Two Torino teams are close in quality? Yes, that's what I think, they have world-class strikers like Higuain, Dybala, and our homegrown international mix is not bad; Buffon is an immortal legend in football, and Cassie's ability and status are no worse than him; Allegri is one of the best managers in Italy today, and our Lee is a young version of Mourinho or even Lord Fernandes! In terms of hard power, Torino will undoubtedly be part of the first group, and there are not too many teams that can wrestle with us, with Juventus, Napoli and Inter Milan being the strongest opponents among them. โ€

"Winning this season? It's hard to say because the league is still a long one, but I think Torino have a chance because we have the ability to compete with any opponent, in any way, and I believe that at the end of the season, everyone will have the desired result. โ€

In this response, the previous part about the Turin derby going to the capital is not a big deal, although in Li Mudi's opinion this is very unreliable, but at least it will not cause too much controversy. However, the later statement that the team is capable of competing for the championship completely destroyed the team coach's strategy of "building a high wall, accumulating food, and slowing down the king", and pushed the entire Torino club to the forefront.

In just a few days, news spread online and in the media that Torino were going to win the title, with some believing it to be a self-defeating performance, while others felt that with their opening streak, there was still a slight chance, but apparently no one really considered this young team as the favourites.

However, these controversies have caused a change in the mentality of the players, in addition to veterans such as Cassie and Moretti, even people like Ranocchia who have played for Inter have not been spared (after all, he has not been able to catch up with the five-game championship period and has not had many honors), and a group of young people in their early 20s or even less than 20s are naturally too excited. They were so excited in training that they lost their ability to regulate themselves, and Las Diarra fell to the ground after being tackled in the calf by an overactive Edra during Tuesday's training match. The Frenchman was diagnosed by the team doctor that he would be out for at least three weeks, and an atmosphere of unease instantly enveloped the Torino team.