After the first leg of the Copa del Rey round of 16, there are only four days to adjust, and the 18th round of La Liga officially starts on January 7, and after Christmas, the second half of the season will be even more difficult. After a honeymoon in January, the Champions League quarter-finals kick off in February, with Atletico facing direct title rivals Valencia and a strong Sevilla side at league level. So for these six league games in January, Simeone's goal is clear.

Grab points!

In terms of strength, this goal is not difficult. However, Simeone is not entirely comfortable with the team's current form. The main players, including Antoine Griezmann, did not play in the last Copa del Rey game. After a half-month break, the question is whether the state can be maintained. Simeone believes that Wen Zhihao will try his best to recover to his best as he said, but he will actually recover a few percent, and Simeone still has some faint concerns. If Wen Zhihao can only recover to seven or eight percent, the team's overall performance will be affected, and Wen Zhihao is now an indispensable member of the team's offensive system. This season, Cork has mainly played on the wing, and Gabi's characteristics are more reflected in the defensive end. Wen Zhihao is equivalent to being used as a two. It is both the heart of the playmaking and the second firepower outside of Griezmann - and even the team's first thigh at the beginning of the season.

Facing Getafe at home in the 18th round, Simeone continued to use the main players who played in the previous game on the central axis, taking advantage of their hotter form to try to lay a good foundation in the first half.

Simeone gave Wen Zhihao enough trust to still let him start in this game, but the position was slightly moved back. Simeone fielded a 4-1-3-2 one-man midfield formation, with Wen Zhihao moving behind two strikers, Antoine Griezmann and Gameiro. The root of the team's weakness in the first half of the season was the ability to score goals. Only 26 goals have been scored in 17 league games, an average of less than two goals per game. Atletico's defensive counter-attack, which has always insisted on this season, seems to have been thoroughly studied by their league opponents. Simeone has to try to change, otherwise it will be difficult to get to the end against a stronger opponent without a lot of firepower.

It is no longer the era of AC Milan, where champions can be won by extreme defense, and there is no legendary centre-back combination like Nesta and Maldini in world football. In this era, hegemony can only be achieved by attacking. Italian football, with its defensive philosophy, is no longer up to date. Juventus lost to the Spanish Super League in the Champions League twice in three years, and the Italian national team missed the World Cup after 39 years, showing that Italian football, which advocates defensive philosophy, has not kept up with the times, and the continued decline of Serie A is not accidental, the general trend.

……

For the new role that Simeone defined for him, Wen Zhihao was not able to show any discomfort. This position is closer to his style of play at Vitesse and similar to his responsibilities for the national team. He just needs to do one thing well, feed the striker.

I have returned to my old job, and the teammates around me are so strong, and they are still sleepwalking like the last game, are you worthy of the coach's trust?

Wen Zhihao yelled as if he wanted to be self-motivated before teeing off, and rarely showed his biceps brachii in a high-profile manner, a special kind of self-motivation.

In stark contrast to the Copa del Rey match, Wen Zhihao frequently appeared in all the commentaries in the opening stage. He sent extremely hidden penetrating balls in the front court many times, accurately finding the gap in the Getafe defense, but unfortunately Griezmann and Gameiro are not very familiar with the division of labor in the new formation, Wen Zhihao passed the ball to the vacancy, but the running of the forward line did not keep up, wasting Wen Zhihao's imagination in vain.

He Wei praised Simeone's change of formation in the Beijing studio: "Simeone's change has the effect of killing two birds with one stone, and Wen Zhihao's retreat to the midfield can fully activate his expertise in organization and scheduling." Atletico's attacking approach is no longer monotonous. ”

Wen Zhihao himself also feels more comfortable playing on the court. The shadow striker position can certainly play to his speed expertise, but when the field is passive, he can only drop back or even wait for the midfielder to send the ball. After playing as a midfielder for so many years, Wen Zhihao has a strong obsession with control, and he doesn't like the feeling of putting his fate in the hands of others.

Thanks to Simeone's pre-match arrangement, the overall linkage of Atletico Madrid's midfield is in place, and the three backs behind Wen Zhihao provide him with strong support, and he doesn't even need to turn back to defense, the ball will return to his feet again and again, as long as he scans the gaps in the opponent's defense line without dead angles and guides the attacking players to run in place.

Wen Zhihao slowly found the feeling of dominating the midfield during the Vitesse period. Although Getafe is about transmission and control. At present, it can be ranked eighth in the standings, and the attack is not much weaker than Atletico Madrid, but compared with Atletico Madrid's strong midfield, it can only retreat and defend to the end.

Of course, it is only the good wish of head coach Bordalas to defend to the end, and Wen Zhihao, who is in good form, will definitely not be able to fulfill his wishes.

Atletico Madrid's first goal, Wen Zhihao showed his all-round strength. Gabi successfully counter-grabbed in the middle circle, Wen Zhihao pulled the ball to the left side and turned around at the moment of receiving the ball, just bypassing the Japanese midfielder Shibasaki who came up to scramble, and when the Getafe defenders were ready to pounce to form a second encirclement, the pass accurately found the opponent's right-back behind, and Carrasco was quickly inserted on this side.

Wen Zhihao attracted most of the attention of the opposing defence, Carrasco faced the messy and empty back, calmly dribbled the ball inside, saw the opposing central defender was attracted out, and swept the ball directly between the goalkeeper and the defender, the most difficult area for both sides to deal with. With Antoine Griezmann and Gameiro outflanked, there is no reason to let such an opportunity slip away. Antoine Griezmann poked the ball into the net with his outstretched foot.

The Metropolitano Stadium was boiling instantly, and Wen Zhihao ran over to hug Griezmann's head. The Getafe players couldn't hide their disappointment. Shibasaki Yue looked at Wen Zhihao, who had the same skin color, and felt very uncomfortable.

Asian football has long been dominated by Japan, with double-digit numbers in Europe and four Asian Cup titles giving Japanese players a natural sense of superiority against Asian opponents. However, Wen Zhihao easily passed Shibasaki and instigated the goal, causing great frustration in the Japanese midfield. When he came to Europe from Japan, he originally wanted to surpass outstanding predecessors such as Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda, but he didn't expect to teach the young Wen Zhihao a lesson first.

He couldn't believe the coach's words. China's young players are so capable that all I hear in Japan is an illusion?

……

After taking the lead, Atletico's offensive did not weaken. Although Wen Zhihao did not have a direct threat to the goal, his rhythm control in midfield and his lethal passing were the foundation of all advantages.

He Wei directly said that Simeone's style of play is tailor-made for Wen Zhihao. As a Chinese commentator, Wen Zhihao's performance was more comfortable than Atletico's overall strength.