Chapter 285: No Accidents
But the Torino coach here really doesn't have a good way, if it's just a difference in strength, it's really nothing. Even though Napoli have shown what it takes to challenge Serie A supremacy Juventus, this season's Red Bulls have been in the limelight of Lee Moody. The coaching is also very good, even if it is a slight advantage, but with the momentum of the home team, it is not a fight, but the mentality of the players has a problem at this time, which is not something that the head coach can easily solve.
Although the two games that ended yesterday were definitely great news for the Torino team, they also weakened the team's fighting spirit to the death to a certain extent. After Fiorentina's win and AC Milan's draw, both teams have 59 points, and even if Li Mudi's team loses today, they still have 67 points, and with six points left in the league to fight for, they have already secured a place in the top six, that is, they have secured a ticket to next season's Europa League, the difference is just to go directly to the group stage or play a play-off round.
After several months of nervous tension, it is natural for the team to suddenly relax when they finally get their wish, which is human nature, and Li Mudi can't blame them for anything, after all, he is also a lot more relaxed after learning the results of those two games, and it is difficult to recover to the mentality of trying his best before. But the player's relaxed spirit means that he can't get into the game 100 percent, and even Belotti, who wanted to break the Serie A single-season goal record, has slowed down on the field, let alone expect much fighting spirit left.
In this state, against the White Dolphins, who vowed to get three points, it would be hellish if they were not suppressed, so the Torino coach really had no good way at this time, and could only continue to encourage his players on the sidelines to get excited as soon as possible, hoping to alleviate the current extremely passive situation. However, it did not have much effect, and the home team players were still in a state of lack of effort or concentration, and in the eyes of Napoli they were like meat on a cutting board, which could be cut and fried at will.
However, it has to be said that even so, the impatient visitors failed to take the opportunity to change the scoreline, and perhaps one of the important reasons for the failure to win the title this season is that they have not really transformed into a top club like the old lady who will not easily miss any opportunities.
In the 22nd minute, Insigne and Mertens switched positions and received a pass from Hamsik in the middle and chose to kill the goal himself, but finally failed to find a chance to get up under the bag of two defenders, and was cleanly cut off by Ranocchia. Callejon, who had run out of space on the right side, expressed some dissatisfaction with his teammates not being able to wait for the opportunity to pass the ball, but fortunately, the two sides reconciled after exchanging two sentences, and there was no problem of infighting.
In the 26th minute, the Torino team launched a rare attack, Zampa Costa suddenly stepped forward, after receiving a timely ball from Barceli, met the interception of Gulam, he cleverly completed a one-two with Benassi who came to answer, and sent a high arc of crosses before bursting to the bottom line. Belotti judged the landing point with precision, and directly from the back post of the penalty area volleyed a right-footed volley, but unfortunately it hit the Napoli central defender Albiol who rushed to block. The ball changed direction and slowed down dramatically, and Reyna held it firmly in front of goal, and the home team's first shot on target was also in vain.
Five minutes later, the visitors responded strongly, attacking from the back and the ball was passed to Hamsik up front after seven kicks. He and Mertens completed a quick second N connection, and then received a cross from the Belgian striker and dribbled into the penalty area, and in the face of Rossettini's interception, he quickly distributed the ball to Insigne, who responded on the left side of the small penalty area, who kept the ball and directly rubbed the ball with his right foot and toe the ball to the back of the goal, but failed to master the footwork, and the ball was much higher than the crossbar.
Although they failed to score, the Napoli players' style of play was very entertaining and was unanimously praised by the TV commentators. The home defenders, who were stumbled past like wooden stakes, still looked listless, much to the disappointment of Torino's supporters.
At this time, Li Mudi hopes that football games can also be like basketball or ice hockey, where there are unlimited substitutions, so that he can replace all the absent-minded players on the field in one go. Unfortunately, this was impossible, so he had to continue to watch his own poor performance, but there was nothing he could do.
Fortunately, Maurizio Sarri's side have not always been able to play a smooth attack, and in most cases it will take a lot of energy to find holes in the bucket formation against the home team, and the efforts of a few Torino players such as Ranocchia and Las Diarra have never been able to change the scoreline. When the referee blew the whistle for halftime, Napoli, who had 60% possession and shot statistics and led 2-4 in 7-of-1, could only look forward to another breakthrough in the second half with a 0-0 result.
In the dressing room, Li Mudi made a rare criticism of a number of underperforming players, accusing them of not performing in the first 45 minutes of the game for not meeting the qualities that a professional player should have. But instead of making any substitutions, they are pressuring them to be disqualified for the rest of the season, no matter who they are, and how many of them, will be disqualified for the rest of the season, that is, they will be suspended for at least two league games, hoping to force them out of their normal form.
This trick seems to have had a certain effect, and the Torino players, who have slightly improved their momentum and mentality, did improve their performance in the first fifteen minutes of the second half, and once formed a parity with their opponents on the field. However, the shooting boots of the frontcourt players seemed to be thrown into the dressing room, whether it was Boyane's strong shot after cutting or Belotti's point-grabbing push, they were all within the range of the away team's goal, and this also consumed the morale that the home team had managed to build, until they were kicked off the cliff by the opponent, and it was all gone.
In the 58th minute, Insigne's cross after breaking through on the left side was blocked by Zampacosta, and Ghulam's corner kick went straight to the middle of the home team's penalty area. Unfortunately, the Napoli captain, who had a header of 15, couldn't get it on the right post, and the visitors missed the goal again.
However, they soon reassured themselves of the long-coveted pill, and a minute later, Benasi's pass was mishandled by interference and was cut off by right wing-back Hisaj who was waiting to receive the ball, and Napoli immediately launched a quick counter-attack. On the right side of the pitch, Allan sent a through ball to Mertens in front of him, and the Belgian international dribbled the ball to a step inside the penalty line after successfully countering offside, attracting the attention of three Torino defenders and then suddenly sending a wonderful cross, so that Insigne, who was following up at high speed on the left, received the ball near the penalty spot, and there was no one to defend within three meters of him.
I saw him shoot directly into the near corner without stopping the ball, due to the suddenness of the incident, Joe Hart did not react at all, the ball flew into the net in the bottom corner accurately, 0-1, Napoli finally took the lead after the first hour of the game.
This goal not only dealt a serious blow to the mentality of the Torino players, but also dissipated the anxiety caused by the visitors' previous inability to score a goal, allowing them to completely relax their nerves and gradually return to their normal state. After that, the White Dolphins finally regained the super firepower of the entire Serie A, turning the game into their offensive show, pressing the home team to a fat beat in the half.
After seeing the score rewritten, Li Mudi wanted to replace Boyer, who was active and contributes to the defensive end, with Falke, who was excellent in attack, but before he could make a final decision, Napoli used a very threatening attack to dispel the idea of weakening the defense.
In the 62nd minute, the visitors attacked from the back again, and the ball came to the right side of the front after more than 10 consecutive passes. Mertens received Callejon's cross from the top of the arc outside the penalty area, shook off Las Diarra who came up to press with a slight flick of the ball, and took advantage of the situation to volley with his right foot, which was saved sideways by Joe Hart. Callejon was caught between Boyer and Barreca before the pass, but still delivered a sharp pass, and if he was replaced by a strong attacking and defensive Falke, the Torino side would likely be completely blown up.
However, in the case of being beaten passively in an all-round way, the physical consumption of the players is extraordinarily large, such as Boyer and Benathy, the two members with the largest activity area, FM shows that the physical condition of the two is about to fall below 60%, and they can no longer play above the average level of strength on the field. Since Akwa was sent off in the last round of the Torino derby and suspended for this round, there are no special defenders in the midfield to replace, in order to suppress the opponent's offensive that is already going crazy, Li Mudi decided to change the formation and see if he can find a sneak attack in the case of a solid defense.
In the 64th minute, Torino made two substitutions together, with Farke and Vallejo coming on in place of Boyer and Benasi. The players' positioning changed from 4-2-3-1 at the start to 3-4-2-1, with Bareka and Zampacosta referring to the wing-back position, and falling back leaves five players at the back, who can be used as wing-backs for a little while. Belotti, who had a bad foot wind, also played more of a bridgehead role up front, giving the two Spanish wingers who were ambushing him on either side of him the opportunity to play to his speed advantage.
However, for this tactical style of play, Maurizio Sarri, the best manager in Italy today, is naturally prepared, and he signaled that the team's back line is no longer as high as before, leaving too much space for the home team's wingers to sprint. Then, in order to replace the attacking tactics set up in the back field before the game, he replaced Brazilian defender Alan with Poland international Zielinski, who has excellent passing ability, and put the responsibility of organizing the attack into the hands of the midfielders. With Hamsik and Zelinsky in the middle, the tactics of the frontcourt trident in turn immediately became powerful, and the red bull was like losing his armor and had no power to fight back.
In the 71st minute, the visiting team launched a counterattack after the ball broke off in the middle of the field, Mertens and Insigne played a delicate combination, and Insigne made a pick pass to Mertens on the left side of the front. The Belgian striker burst into the box from the left, flicked the outside of his right foot to the outside of Rosettini's block, and then fired a right-footed blast into the near corner with great consistency. Joe Hart was distracted, reacting very slowly, and when he made the save, the ball hit the net behind him. 0-2, this goal also basically announced the disillusionment of the Torino team to get a point.
Being scored from the near corner, no matter how bad the team-mate's previous defense was, the goalkeeper's responsibility cannot be shirked. Although he doesn't like Joe Hart's neuroticism and the superb aura of being attacked into the world, Li Muddy still regrets the rapid decline in his form, and at the same time sincerely feels that the future of the England national team is still very bleak, and if there is no reliable goalkeeper in charge, their history of more than 50 years of indifference in the tournament may continue.
In the 75th minute, Napoli made a comeback, Hamsik and Zielinski on the right side of the ball in succession to draw the attention of the Torino players, and then a beautiful wide shift from the Slovak star caused the sudden insertion of Gulam to form a flat situation. His low cross from the left caused a lot of confusion in front of the home goal, and Mertens, who was outflanked in the middle, was squeezed and interfered with by Ranocchia and couldn't hit the ball, but the action of the shot caused Joe Hart to make a knee-jerk save and lose his centre of gravity. At the back post, Callejon tackled the ball into the empty net, and the score was rewritten to 0-3.
Conceding two goals in four minutes left the Torino boss completely speechless, and the morale of the players plummeted, and it looked like they were almost throwing their hands up in surrender. Although I want to scold them, the game is not over yet, and according to the current situation, I am afraid that I will still concede the goal in the remaining ten minutes. A 0-3 loss at home is ugly enough, but if he loses more, I'm afraid that even if the club's top management and fans don't say anything after qualifying for next season's European competition, Li Mudi will be embarrassed to coach again.
Substitution! Centre-back Febas came on to replace Jesse, who was already a little out of action, and the two wing-backs dropped back to either side of the defence as the home side's formation changed to an odd 5-3-2 again. It was a very ugly bus tactic, but it worked well, the visitors never found a good chance to open the net after that, and the Torino side also took advantage of the number of people in the back to get a lot of time on the ball, and the game was finally settled at 0-3, and the Red Bulls' biggest defeat of the season came here.