Chapter 510: The suspense is gone
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As mentioned earlier, Juventus, who have countless reasons to win in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid in midweek, will have reservations in the league this weekend, so no one will have any doubts about this.
And their opponents are Parma, who are fifth from bottom in the table, so it seems a bit unreasonable not to rotate a wide range of starting line-ups.
But even so, Allegri still maintained an incomprehensible cautious attitude, he retained Benatia and Cancelo in the backline, and also sent Mandzukic in the front, with Cuadrado and Bernardeschi forming a forward trident, the strength is still not to be underestimated.
It's just that this set of squads that could get a European place in Serie A has not been able to play the predicted result at the Tardini Stadium on April 20, although it has an absolute advantage on the field, but it has been in a state of no score, which makes their supporters anxious.
The home team's Parma squad is also under the watchful eye of Italian football, especially the Red Bulls, as as many as five of them are inextricably linked to the league leaders.
Goalkeeper Scufet, who was loaned out of Udinese last summer but has been bought out by Torino, is considered the latter's future squad. The talented goalkeeper showed composure and sophistication far beyond his years in the face of Juve's world-class stars, repeatedly using good anticipation to defuse the opponent's extremely dangerous attacks in advance, and also saved Barzagli's close-range header in a corner kick defense just before the end of the first half, which was the biggest contributor to Parma's ability to concede a clean sheet today.
Senegalese centre-back Beyer, who has become the heart of the team's defence, is on loan from Torino and, after negotiations between the two teams, has reached a buyout deal to officially become part of Parma when the transfer window opens next season.
The 1.87-meter-tall defender was introduced by Li Muddy from Novara two years ago, and although his potential value in the FM system is only 123, and his future development is very limited, his ability distribution is very good. Headers, marking, tackles, and positional awareness are all key elements of a central defender above 12 (after nearly two years of growth, various ability values have improved, and now they are all around 15), to paraphrase the fashionable phrase of first play, he is an extremely affordable defensive stalwmant.
Although Parma spent about 3.5 million euros to bring in Beye, the Torino boss reluctantly nodded to the deal, but from a value for money deal, it was still a very good value deal. Even if you ignore all the performances he has had before this season, his excellent performance in defending Mandzukic today alone is worth every penny the club has paid for him.
In this game, the home team did not lose the goal, and also from the Torino team academy youngster Frédéric Guilaudo, playing as a left-back, although he was a little miserable in the opening stage by the opposite Bernardes, the young man who was considered by Li Mudi to have the potential to grow into the next Bareka still managed to hold on with tenacious willpower.
His speed ability is relatively outstanding, he can barely keep up with the black and white Beibei, and at the same time, he quickly accumulated basic experience in dealing with the opponent's play many times, and the improvement is very obvious. After that, they were able to finish off the left side of the defence against the visitors' other attackers, without allowing Juventus to create too many chances from his defensive area.
After introducing the heroes of the defensive end, let's take a look at the stars on the offensive end, because if there is only a good performance at the back, Parma will only force a 0-0 at most, and they can win this shocking upset, and the players in the midfield also enjoy half of the military merit.
Coach Bert Daversa is an attacking coach who has often used 4-3-3 in the lower leagues, but after promotion to Serie A, he changed his main formation to 4-2-3-1 due to the fact that his team was often at a disadvantage, but still required the team's front court to be able to threaten the opposition goal.
Therefore, in the summer of last year, Parma's transfer strategy did not focus on strengthening the back line like other promoted horses, but also took into account the reinforcement of the attacking end. However, due to financial constraints, he was unable to find a suitable playmaker in midfield, so he asked his allies for assistance, and thus loaned two talented young talents, Maximilian Egerstein and Deria Balic.
It is these two 22-year-old midfield stars who have propped up Parma's attacking line this season, and their ability to switch between midfield and central midfielders at will allows them to not only coexist on the pitch, but also the combination of the two has formed a combination of one plus one greater than the sum of its s .
With these two playmakers in the back, homegrown striker Seravolo, who was on loan from Benevento last season and bought out last summer, has scored 12 goals in the first 34 league games of the season, which can be described as an excellent performance.
In today's game against Juventus, although the opponent did not send all the main forces, it was only a rotating lineup, and it was also a rare opportunity to press the home team into the opponent's penalty area, and it was difficult to intercept the Juventus defenders through the occasional sporadic counterattack, let alone form enough threat to Juve goalkeeper Perrin.
However, Egerstein and Balic have not given up hope of scoring goals, and while they try to participate in the team's defense with their defensive ability, which they are not good at, they have been patiently waiting for opportunities that may or may not arise. It wasn't until the Bianconeri were unable to score in the second half that they replaced Cristiano Ronaldo and Pjanic and other main players one after another, and strengthened their offensive input, that they finally seized an opportunity that could hardly be described as a good opportunity to break through the Juventus goal in one fell swoop and help Parma achieve a significant victory.
It was a counter-attack in the 77th minute, when Eggstein sent in a delicate diagonal pass under pressure from Marchicio, and Rugani's foul tackle failed to intercept it, giving Balic a chance to get his feet on his feet at the top of the box. The Croatian youngster's powerful long-range shot rubbed against Benatia's toe and then changed slightly, leaving Perrin unable to make the save and regrettably losing the point.
It was also the only shot on target for the home side in the game, and luck played a big role in winning the game.
After conceding the goal, Juventus fell into a frenzied state in attack, almost all of them pressed within the opponent's half, trying to fight for at least one goal. However, the overly impatient mood and the shooting boots that seemed to have forgotten to calibrate the crosshairs still prevented them from getting what they wanted until the final whistle sounded, and lost the game in a shocking way that should not have had any suspense.
After the defeat at Stadio Tardini, the seven-game Serie A winners not only ended a ten-game winning streak in the league, but more importantly, they returned to four points in the standings with their city rivals. This is not the same as in the middle of the league, when there is still plenty of time to wait for the opponent to make mistakes, which is a huge gap with only five games remaining.
Although Juventus' opponents after Juventus are not strong, except for one Torino derby, with the warning of today's careless Jingzhou, it should not be a problem to take all three points in other games. It's just that the rest of the Red Bulls' schedule is relatively easy, even if Li Mudi can't lead the team to a point at Allianz Arena, as long as he can guarantee that he will not lose points in the remaining four games, there is no suspense about the league championship.
Excluding the derby in the 36th round, Torino still have four league games to play, namely Sassuolo, Frosinone, Bologna and SPAL, all of which are mid-table teams in the table.
And given their excellent home win record this season, the Bianconeri will only be hoping for a surprise in their two away games if they are to complete a comeback.
It's just that the strength of Sassuolo and Spal makes people feel desperate, the former has rebounded after the return of core Bernardi from injury, although it is currently ranked lower, but there is not much relegation pressure for the time being, and it seems that there is no need to fight with the league leaders; As for the latter, who are deep in the relegation zone, they will naturally treat every game that follows as a battle of life and death, but before the final round of play, it is difficult to say whether they have already confirmed relegation, and if so, what can you expect?
So after Saturday's game, most of the Italian media published an article claiming that the seven-year-long Juventus dynasty may be coming to an end this season.
But there are still a few who firmly believe that anything is possible. Perhaps the most convincing of the reasons listed is the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final in the middle of next week, where Torino will have to give their all, which will affect their commitment to the league over the two weekends before and after, and perhaps a gutter capsit.
On the other hand, proponents of the Red Bulls' success in changing the dynasty believe that even if they take 10,000 steps back, Torino will still be able to hold on to at least a one-point lead. Considering they have already completed a two-game winning streak against Juventus this season, and can continue to lead the way as long as they can secure a draw in the final derby, the Old Lady's hopes of a comeback are wishful thinking.
Just when the supporters of the two sides started a fierce war of words, the "News" used a report titled ""Torino Second Team" Resists Juventus and Helps the Parent Team Occupy the Absolute Advantage of the Championship", which attracted a lot of attention.
The article carefully analyzes the reasons why Parma was able to beat Juventus, deliberately ignoring the manager's on-the-spot command and other factors, and attributed all the credit to Turin's players such as Scuffett, Egerstein and Balic, and thus referred to Parma directly as the second team of Torino. But then there was an abrupt change in the content, and without any factual evidence, it was claimed that a small circle was forming in the league centered on the Red Bulls, of which Parma, Atlanta, Vercelli and Novara were a part.
It's just that the second half of this article didn't make any waves at all, because this kind of thing is too normal, and there are not a few brother units that are close to each other. The content about strengthening investment in youth training, which was only introduced from the first half, quickly became a hot topic in Italian football for some time afterward.
Torino's youth success has been undeniable, and while time has left them without much of their own lineage in their first team, the likes of Zacanio, Rivoya and Parigini have all proven themselves capable of establishing themselves in Serie A, not to mention Bareka having put on the senior national team.
Their U20 and U18 youth teams have dominated their respective leagues in the last three years, and they are also the biggest "supply station" for Italy's youth teams, and the Torino name is likely to replace Juventus as the country's most recognizable label in the future.
In the football manager game 2019 produced in the late autumn of 2018, a group of high-potential demons in the Torino academy are the most favored targets for players, which proves that Li Mudi's investment in this area in the past three years can be said to have been fruitful.
Under the influence of the Red Bulls, his satellite teams Vercelli and Novara, have also increased their emphasis on youth training in recent years, while Parma, who is already known as the Italian Youth Guard, has always adhered to the tradition after the club's reorganization, preferring not to make a big difference in the transfer market, but also to save enough money to improve their own hematopoietic ability.
As for Atalanta, it is a place where young talents are abundant, even the previous supernova Bastoni was poached by Li Mudi, and Mellegoni is also being chased by other Serie A giants, and they have cultivated a number of good seedlings with a potential of 150 or even 160 such as the 18-year-old talented attacker Cortinoves and the 19-year-old center Nivocaczi, which can be described as one of the best clubs in Serie A.
One of the reasons why these teams are considered a small group is their focus on the team's future sustainability. If this type of team could not get more attention from the outside world due to results and other reasons in the past, then in the case of Torino, which is very likely to win the league title, it is natural that they will no longer be in the state of almost no one in the past.
The success of the Red Bulls has been used as a basis in the Italian media to start a discussion about whether the country as a whole should invest more in youth training. The current situation of the senior national team talent is already an unavoidable major problem, and if we don't seize the time to deal with it in a targeted manner, it seems that it will be difficult for the blue team to see the possibility of rebounding in the future results.
There is no doubt that the previous focus on youth training in countries such as Germany, France, England and the current club Torino is the best solution.
Because of this big discussion, Li Mudi's reputation has been improved again, as long as he can lead the team to win the Serie A crown, he may be able to be promoted to the same level as Klopp, Pochettino and other world famous coaches by virtue of his expertise in cultivating young players and the results he has achieved.