Chapter Seventy-Three: Invitation to War
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Taking advantage of the home field, Celtic launched an extremely resolute offensive from the beginning of the game, after a short period of temptation.
The home team also understands the importance of this game, although the group stage is a total of six rounds of round-robin matches with three teams, and a win or loss is not enough to determine the final qualifiers, but the opponents of this game are obviously different, they are Celtic's biggest rivals on the way to qualify, and the result of their game is likely to directly affect the final qualifying situation, at a critical time, maybe the game between the two will be worth six points, so to speak, who can take the lead in the direct dialogue, Then you will have the initiative to qualify from the group.
In the first round of the group stage, Celtic were surprised to be held to a 0-0 draw away from Aalborg, the weakest team in the group, which made their situation look very awkward. For Celtic and Villarreal, two teams aiming to qualify for the other place in Group E, if they want to successfully fight the encirclement, they must not only ensure that they remain as unbeaten as possible in the matches against their direct rivals, but more importantly, they must ensure that they can steal points as much as possible on the "point boy". If your rivals are able to steal six points from the two games against Aalborg and you yourself fail to win both games, you are likely to lose out at the starting line. This is extremely detrimental to the competition for a place in the qualifying places.
Obviously, Celtic are now in a disadvantageous position, and the three points they were aiming for turned into a point, which puts a lot of pressure on them, and if Villarreal beat Aalborg twice in the latter games, then even if they can win the second leg against Aalborg, it will only be able to get four points, which is a two-point gap.
Don't underestimate the difference between these two points, maybe at the last moment, it will determine the fate of who can finally qualify for the two teams.
Therefore, Celtic is desperate to smooth out this possible two-point difference, and the way to erase it is undoubtedly to beat Villarreal, get three points, and suppress the opponent's points at the same time.
Celtic's offensive was extremely fierce, quite a kind of unyielding posture, Villarreal was a little overwhelmed by the home team's crazy three-board axe, but in this game Mr. Ruben accepted the advice of the main coach Pellegrini, to stabilize the main, arranged two midfielders, Mavuba replaced the starting position of Van Bizhuang, and Senna guarded the team's midfield together.
This provides the hardest barrier for the submarine's defensive line, with these two full-time sweeping defensive midfielders in front to protect, Villarreal's defenders were a little embarrassed at first, but after surviving the opponent's ferocious attack, they slowly stabilized their position and seemed to be more and more comfortable.
Once the defense is solid, the next thing to think about is the offense.
In this game, Villarreal's formation is 4-2-2-2, the personnel of the back line have not changed, and Cazorla in the front field is as a central midfielder, connecting the front and back, in the last round of La Liga just past, Cazorla's performance in this position is extremely outstanding, so in this game, he is still playing the role played by Riquelme before, taking on the responsibility of connecting the three lines in the front and back of the team. Bruno Fernandes continued to start as a central midfielder, with Forlan and Nyhart up front.
Without Van Bizhuang, a player with a strong impact, Villarreal's attacking power in the front court was inevitably affected, but the three players at the front have good speed and foot skills, which are extremely suitable for defensive counterattacks, especially in the case of the home team's fierce attack, a quick counterattack to seize the opportunity can often bring a lot of threat to the opponent.
Villarreal launched several swift and rapid counterattacks under the dispatch of Cazorla, and the Celtic goal suffered a lot of tests, although they failed to score in the end, but they gradually contained the onslaught of the home team, Villarreal's defense was solid, and the counterattack was even sharper, which made the home team start to throw a mouse bogey, and did not dare to attack with all their strength unscrupulously.
Throughout the first half, the game was spent in a fast pace, Celtic attacked, and the away team Villarreal used a quick counterattack to threaten the opponent's goal, from the perspective of the field alone, the home team has a certain upper hand, but the advantage is not obvious, Villarreal is not without the ability to fight back, on the contrary, they through a few quick counterattacks, the threat created is even stronger than the home team.
The two can be said to have fought up and down, and they are on par.
At the end of the first half, the score remained at 0-0 and neither side was able to score.
At the beginning of the second half, the tempo that had gradually calmed down in the first half suddenly accelerated, but this time, it was Villarreal who took the lead in attacking, and they suddenly picked up the pace in order to catch their opponents off guard.
A succession of fast attacks kept Celtic scrambling for a while, with Villarreal getting a succession of shots, all of which were narrowly denied by the home side.
After seeing that the sudden blitzkrieg could not establish the lead, Villarreal took the initiative to slow down the tempo and switch to possession and foot tactics.
The Soviet Premier League and the Premier League belong to the same lineage, both are high-lifting, long-pass rushing tactical play, their impact is very strong, and they are very dominant in physical confrontation, but Villarreal does not fight hard with the opponent at all, but uses the delicate technology of the La Liga team's feet, the characteristics of exquisite passing, skillful back and forth, while controlling the rhythm, not slowly looking for the opponent's vacancy and loopholes.
In this game, Villarreal's tactical style is a lot of changes, the first half is mainly based on defense, supplemented by rapid counterattacks, and in the second half, it first unexpectedly used offense to suppress the opponent, and after finding that it was impossible to easily break the opponent's defense, it quickly changed to the tactics of passing and receiving the ball.
This change of pace made Celtic very uncomfortable, and although they did not concede a goal, their performance was not as good as in the first half, and gradually there were signs of being suppressed by the visitors.
This is the result of Villarreal's recent hard work, and Manuel Pellegrini has come up with a new routine after the team's first four league games were greatly stifled by their opponents. Last season, Villarreal was almost the main team in the world, and their attacking firepower was very strong, but after this crazy attacking routine was thoroughly studied by the opponent, it was difficult to achieve the expected results without much change.
Now, with Manuel Pellegrini's changes, the effect has gradually become apparent, and Villarreal's formation and tactical routines will be adjusted according to the situation of the game, which makes their means of attacking and defending more diverse, and also makes the opponent more difficult to prevent.
The blind onslaught seems to be very passionate and bloody, but it is also easy to target, and now it has added a variety, which is more difficult to prevent and more effective.
Villarreal gradually took control of the pitch and Celtic were gradually brought into the rhythm of the submarine.
However, despite the dominance of the field and the creation of many chances, Villarreal has never been able to score, and last season's La Liga Golden Boot Diego. Forlan has been in inconsistent form since the start of the new season and is still in the process of finding form, while Nyhart is very active, but in front of a group of tall Scottish defenders, it is difficult for him to take advantage of his thin stature.
"Let me play, Mr. Reuben."
Off the field, this is the third time that Fan Bizhuang has put forward his "appeal" to the substitute head coach Mr. Ruben. The team had a big advantage on the field, but they were unable to score for a long time, which made Fan Bizhuang look anxious.
A draw is also an acceptable result for Villarreal, after all, it is away from home, and the opponent is their most direct rival, it is not easy to get all three points. But now that there is obviously hope of victory, Fan Bizhuang naturally does not want to let this hope be disappointed.
To be able to win, of course, is not satisfied with a draw.
Fan Bizhuang also observed very thoroughly on the bench, in general, Villarreal suppressed the home team with his ability to pass well, but in the penalty area, the weak electricity of the La Liga team's physical confrontation was exposed, especially in front of a strong man like Su Chao, their ability to grab points is really not enough.
Forlan and Nihatt, including Fernandes, who often appears in the shadow striker position, are all three flexible, but not strong in confrontation, they are closely targeted by tall defenders, they can't play the characteristics of flexible running, and in the rush to the point, they can't take advantage of the slightest, which leads to the midfielders constantly feeding them the ball, but they are never able to grasp the opportunity.
Villarreal now has the upper hand on the field, and what is missing is a decisive player!
Fan Bizhuang is very confident in himself, he is not short, his jumping ability is even better, and he is also very strong in confrontation, he has confidence, he can play the role of a center forward on the fly, whether it is to grab points for himself or as a bridgehead to play for his teammates, he can create a big threat.
What Fan Bizhuang can see, as a professional coach, Coach Reuben's vision is not too bad, he can see the team's current problems, and he also knows that the team needs a center forward, but he is still a little hesitant about whether to send Fan Bizhuang to play in this game.
In all fairness, although A.T. Kearney affirmed that Fan Bizhuang's body was fine, after all, there were injuries on his body, and the wounds on his head and the corners of his eyebrows had just scarred, which looked shocking.
In a fierce match, it's easy to pull the wound again, which can lead to bleeding.
If it weren't necessary, he was unwilling to "over-squeeze" Fan Bizhuang in his heart. It's not that he's worried that the media will give him a bad name of "ignoring the player's injuries and brutally persecuting the player's career" after the game, what the media will say and say, he really doesn't care, he is more concerned about not wanting Fan Bizhuang to have any accidents.
But looking at Fan Bizhuang, who was urgently asking him for the third time, especially the fiery desire in the other party's eyes, Mr. Ruben wanted to refuse, but he hesitated and couldn't say it.