Chapter 17: Smashing the Field
Castile, who were once again in the lead, were unforgiving, still holding the home team at bay without even a decent attack.
In the 37th minute of the first half, Enzo burst into the box and was tripped by Sokuelamos' left wing-back Larytgui, and the referee awarded a penalty and pulled out a yellow card as a warning. After a brief discussion on the pitch, the players ceded the penalty to Mbappe, and the Frenchman had already scored two goals before and another penalty would complete his hat-trick. Mbappe lived up to the kindness of his teammates and fired the ball into the middle.
At half-time, the visitors led the home side 3-1 thanks to the first hat-trick of Mbappe's career, who was just three and a half months away from turning 17.
In the locker room, Li Mudi, who was relieved, praised the team's performance, asking everyone not to care too much about the world wave, and continued to insist on passing and controlling the play in the second half, and the midfield should be boldly pressed. In the end, he patted Mbappe, who was already too happy to find the north, and asked him to keep up his efforts and not be complacent.
I don't know if Xiao Li launched some unknown trick skills, the French kid scored two goals in a row with an overhead kick in the second half, plus goals from Alvaro and substitute Muñoz, Castilla won 7-1, and the home fans who were present when the players left the stadium booed wildly.
After this round of matches, Castilla has 9 points and is one of only four teams to win all three games, scoring 13 goals and conceding 1 goal, ranking first in the 2nd division of La B with an absolute goal difference.
Although it was close to Madrid, in order not to add to the fatigue, the team stayed overnight in Socuerramos and then returned. Because of this big victory, the players were very happy, and they made an appointment to go out together to relax and relax, which the coaching staff acquiesced. And our poor classmate Li Mudi was alone in the room, beating his chest and feet, and he wanted to cry.
In the next few days of training, it was found that the head coach focused on Abnell and almost coached him one-on-one. This was the envy of the other players, but the Brazilian left wing-back was so tired that he wanted to lie down and sleep until the next day after each training session. Fortunately, Li Mudi's cautious eyes were enough to vent for three days, and it didn't make Abnell have the urge to stop playing and return to his hometown.
September 19, windless, 23 degrees Celsius. Castilla host their fourth opponent in the league, Real Unión Club S.A.D. This is a nationally broadcast match, so the kick-off time has been changed to 20:00 on Saturday.
There are many teams in Spanish football whose names are given by the Spanish royal family because of their outstanding achievements at a certain time, and the same is true of the Royal Union. Based in the Basque Country of Irún, the club, originally known as Racing Irún, has won the Copa del Rey four times in 1913, 1918, 1924 and 1927. In 1915, it was given the title "Royal" by the then King Alfonso III of Spain and renamed the Royal Union. In the first and twentieth years of the twentieth century, Real United was indeed a strong team, but in the last 30 years, it has completely sunk into the third division, only one season in West C and West B respectively, and the time spent in the four groups of La B League B has been exchanged, and the results are very stable. Real United had a good first three rounds of the season, sitting sixth in the standings with two wins and one loss. Striker Jorge Galán is a very versatile player, with 15 shots, speed, explosiveness, 14 off-ball running and teamwork, and is qualified to rank in the top 10 in this league in terms of ability alone; Central defender Esnaola and striker Mgaka are both very strong team backbones; In addition, the core of the midfield, Mikel Alonso, is the older brother of legendary midfielder Xavi Alonso, and his mental attributes are also very good. The average age of the players on this team is 28 years old, which is the largest of the 20 teams in this group, so they are very experienced and difficult to deal with.
At the pre-match press conference, Real United head coach Aitor Zulaika was very arrogant when answering reporters' questions about how he thought of Castilla's current performance, and said in a disdainful tone: "Real Madrid's three consecutive wins in the reserve team don't mean much, two promoted horses and a lift with no historical glory, but any team with a little strength will easily win when they meet this kind of role." ”
"But your team has only won two games, and it's two defeats in a row this month." The reporters of the Marca newspaper are gone, and they have to find the right place to let go of their mouths, and this is not something that others can just go wild.
Zuleka pouted and smiled: "That's because we played the Copa del Rey before the last round of matches, and we fought for 90 minutes against the strong La Liga team U.D. Almería SAD, and we fought hard for 90 minutes to lose by one goal. And then in the third round of the league, we were attacked by the opponent by 1 goal because of physical reasons, and in terms of strength, we are still much stronger, if we play in equal physical condition, they are not opponents at all. ”
Immediately, other reporters continued to ask malicious questions: "So what do you think of Castile manager Li Mudi?" ”
'I didn't comment because I didn't see anything about the manager in the game. They have a few players with good skills, but they don't have a tactical routine at all, and they make too many meaningless passes every game. Being able to dominate possession and get some goals that wouldn't have happened was because the opponents we faced were too weak and there were always holes. We're not going to be that useless, and I'm going to show everyone what a team can do to win a title, and I'm going to make some players understand who is a worthy coach. ”
In just 10 minutes, Li Mudi never said a word except for answering a question at the beginning, and the press conference became a "Zulaika show of the week", which made the Marca newspaper reporters very angry and some tabloid reporters excited. Our rookie coach quietly watched him pretend to be B, thinking about how to slap this old thing in the face during the game for a while.
Back in the dressing room, Li Mudi asked his colleagues what was going on with this Zulaika, and after hearing the scene of the pre-match press conference, Solari said: "This person is indeed a bit arrogant, but he usually doesn't make such a big fuss. This time, you should have something to do with Peperu, when the parent team made an offer to Levante, Real United had already applied for a loan on him, and it seemed that it was about to succeed. Peperu received our transfer request just as he was about to say yes, and as you know, very few people can turn down Real Madrid's call. ”
"There's a reason for that." Li Mudi nodded, then pulled the corners of his mouth and said: "But the dignity of Castile cannot be trampled on, as the coach of the team, I was sprayed by such a stupid X, the so-called king is humiliated, the king is humiliated, and the king is humiliated, this game must give me a hard slap in the face, and he will be found all over the ground." ”
"......" the Spanish coaches said they didn't understand the oriental idioms.
With about an hour to go before the start of the game, Li Mudi used this month's scouting tool opportunity to check the information of Royal United in detail, admitting that this team is indeed very strong. And Zulaika has a few attributes that are much stronger than herself, it seems that you have to plan it in detail, otherwise it will be embarrassing not to be slapped in the face or anything.
Castilla starting line-up: goalkeeper Yáñez, right wing-back Filip Ringhardt, centre-backs Hector and León, left-back Abnell, centre-midfielders Odegaard and Fabas, midfielder Enzo, right winger Cedras, left winger Left, centre-forward Kylian Mbappe. Fran caught a cold, and Toro and Alvaro took turns on the bench.
Royal United were in their usual 4-3-3 formation, with a few key players starting all but Mgaka had a calf muscle discomfort and was injured.
The referee blew the opening whistle and the visitors kicked off first.
Real United are also possession-minded teams, with statistics after the first three rounds showing that they have averaged 58 per cent possession, second only to Castile's 63 per cent. In particular, the average age of the midfielders is nearly 9 years older than here, so they have a lot of experience. So in the first two minutes, the home team players didn't even touch the ball once, which can be regarded as treating others in their own way.
Ten minutes later, the situation on the pitch was clear. The two teams use a similar tactical style of play, but the away team players have an overwhelming advantage in strength, mental quality and game experience. The home team lost the rhythm of possession of the ball in the past, and the midfield and the forward line were so disconnected that they could barely complete a decent combination.
"It looks like he's been targeted!" Li Mudi, who was standing on the sidelines, shook his head slightly, and after Yáñez barely saved Garland's powerful shot, he saw through the FM system that the morale of Castile's players had dropped from more than 90% before the start of the game to below 70%, and if he didn't make changes in time, he would probably collapse.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of football out of the bottom line, Li Mudi reached out to summon Enzo over and instructed the team to abandon the normal tactical play, retreat three to five meters with all the staff, and switch to defensive counterattack. Let Mbappe be firmly nailed to the gap in the opponent's backline, the two wingers increase their running without considering physical problems, Odegaard and Enzo's passing should be more concise, there is no need to pursue overall passing, pass the ball behind him when he has the opportunity, and let his teammates give full play to the advantage of speed.
As a result, a scene that almost everyone had not imagined before appeared in this game, and Castile, which has always been elegant and gorgeous, actually put up a bus! With Real United in full control of the ball and gradually pressing, Mbappe, who was at the front, actually came to the vicinity of the halfway circle, which made the 8,400 home fans fall silent, and later there are bursts of boos from time to time.
This is here to smash the field! But you're just so cowardly?