Chapter 39: Defensive Striker (2-in-1 Chapter)

The team has yet to play, but the fanatical Milan fans have already started a carnival in the stands, and many fans have come to the stadium with their families for the last game before Christmas, hoping to receive a victory from the team as a gift before Christmas. Pen | fun | pavilion www. biquge。 info

From the stands, they chanted "Milan! Milan! While dancing and entertaining themselves, some fans set off fireworks, and the red smoke instantly surrounded the stands of the San Siro Stadium.

"CCTV, CCTV, good evening to all viewers and friends, welcome to the fifteenth round of the Italian Football League, AC Milan home game against Brescia, I am the host Huang * Jian * Xiang, today I will explain this game for you with Zhang Lu Zhang Guide."

"Good evening, audience friends, I'm Zhang Lu."

CCTV also attaches great importance to this game that countless Chinese fans have paid attention to, and sent the most popular commentary partners by Huang * Jian* Xiang and Zhang Lu.

"I believe that many fans are paying attention to Brescia's Chinese teenager Zhang Shu, Director Zhang, what do you think of Zhang Shu, a player?" Taking advantage of the free time before the start of the match, Huang *Jian* Xiang asked his partner. Generally speaking, in the game, Huang Jianxiang will be responsible for commenting as a professional host, while Zhang Lu, who has a deep knowledge of football theory, will be responsible for analysis and commentary. The two cooperate tacitly, which can be called the trump card commentary of CCTV Sports Channel.

"Hehe, Zhang Shu, this player, judging from the previous information, has not received any professional football training, but I watched the video of his last game, I can see that his skills are very good, and he is different from our other foreign players, Zhang Shu is very young, only sixteen years old, if he can always receive high-level training and games abroad, his achievements will be very, very great." Director Zhang said as he pondered his words.

For overseas Chinese players, CCTV media is still very supportive, almost will not say that they have anything bad, and the audience also likes to hear them tout their country's overseas players.

It's okay for your own people in the country to scold, but when you go out, you have to support them and fight for us Chinese. Most of the cute Chinese fans have such rustic ideas.

"Okay, let's take a look at the starting line-ups of both sides today, Milan set up a 4312 formation today, goalkeeper Dida, Simic on the back line, Nesta, Maldini, Kaladze lined up, three midfielders Gattuso, Pirlo and Seedorf. Rui Costa in front, Shevchenko and Filip Inzaghi in the front two forwards. ”

"AC Milan have gone through three games in the last two weeks and although they have won all three games, the team has paid a huge price. In this game, Serginho and Rivaldo were sidelined with ankle injuries, and Gattuso has just returned from injury. ”

"On the Brescia side, goalkeeper Sereni, defenders Martinez, Petrozzi, Dainelli and Seric. Apia and Matuzallen at the back, Bacchini and Filippini at wings, and Baggio and Taray at the forwards. Zhang Shu, who has attracted the attention of Chinese fans, sat on the bench. ”

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Zhang Shu looked curiously at the smoky court. Some fans threw fireworks into the stadium, and the people on the lawn loomed in the fog, and Zhang Shu couldn't even see the figures of the people on the other side of the stadium.

"Milan fans really know how to play." He sat on the bench and gloated. The kick-off time was long past and the referee was still waiting for the security guards to clear the fireworks thrown into the stadium by the fans.

"These fireworks aren't fun." Schop, who was sitting on the bench with him, turned his head to remind him. "Especially if you score a goal, don't go near the stands, it's not good to be hit by that thing."

"Rest assured, rest assured." Zhang Shu was perfunctory, but looking at his indifferent face, he knew that he didn't take his teammates' reminders to heart at all.

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Although he was full of confidence before the game, Ancelotti is now filled with a mood called anxiety.

Judging by the performance at the beginning of the game, AC Milan was unexpectedly suppressed by Brescia at their home stadium.

Six minutes into the game, Brescia won a corner kick from the left, Baggio took a corner, and after the AC Milan defender cleared the ball, Brescia also returned from injury Brazilian midfielder Matuzallen volleyed wide from outside the box.

In the 17th minute, Appia made a direct pass, Tareh stopped the ball with his right foot at the edge of the penalty area and turned to volley with his left foot, Nesta's tackle interfered with Tare, and the ball flew out of the bottom line against the post.

After the shot, Talay and Nesta collided, and Talay fell to the ground in pain, and slow motion showed that Nesta hit the ankle of his supporting leg.

Mazzoni on the sidelines stood nervously on the edge of the command area, and the current Brescia forward line was full of injuries, and if Taray was injured again, he really couldn't even line up the starting lineup. Thankfully, after a short period of treatment, Talay was back on his feet.

Carlo Ancelotti has already seen that Milan's players are too tired after a week of double-ties, and although Carlo Ancelotti hid almost all of his main players in the Coppa Italia a few days ago, Rui Costa, who deserves the most rest, has not been rotated. The Portuguese looked quite tired in this game, surrounded by the Brescia midfield, completely unable to perform at all, and in Rivaldo's absence, AC Milan, who relied too heavily on Rui Costa's organisation, looked unable to find a way to attack.

This situation must be changed. Carlo Ancelotti took advantage of a dead-ball opportunity to call Seedorf to the sidelines. After the resumption of the game, Milan turned the heart of their playmaking into Andrea Pirlo in the central midfield position.

The change was immediate, with Brescia's midfielders Appia and Matuzaren able to keep an eye on the out-of-form Rui Costa, but Pirlo was further down the pitch and they couldn't have rushed to Milan's half to defend Pirlo. And Brescia has no forward midfielder, and Baggio, who has no defensive ability, takes on the work of the front midfielder and the striker alone, and it is completely unrealistic to let Baggio limit Pirlo.

Under Pirlo's organization, Milan finally regained their attacking fluidity, and in the 27th minute, Pirlo stepped forward with the ball and passed the ball to Seedorf next to him before Matuzallen could grab it. In the face of his teammate's pass, Seedorf did not stop the ball, but directly used a heel to pass the ball to Rui Costa, who ran out of the gap, and Costa received the backheel pass from his companion and also did not stop the ball and crossed directly on the left, and the ball flew to the penalty area of Brescia.

Shevchenko got on the ball before Petruch and fired with his instep from outside the front post, but Petruch was denied off the line.

"During this time, Milan's attack has started." Huang Jianxiang said. "Pirlo was put in the midfield position by Carlo Ancelotti this season, many people thought that Pirlo couldn't play in the midfield, but I didn't expect his performance in the back midfielder to be really good, can you help us analyze it."

"Hehe," Director Zhang habitually laughed twice. "Andrea Pirlo is actually different from the kind of midfielder we know as we know, he plays a small role defensively, and Ancelotti has helped him to protect him by deploying two midfielders with a wide range of movement, excellent running and active defense. He mainly used long passes from behind to mobilize and organize the team's attack. And it is difficult for opponents to defend against him, you look at Brescia, Baggio's defensive ability can basically be said to be non-existent, so that Pirlo can control the pace of the game without pressure. I think Ancelotti's innovation is very meaningful and maybe creates a new football concept. ”

"Okay, let's take a look at this corner first, the ball is out, Tare! The ball was pushed out of the box by Tare, who came back to help the defence. Huh? We saw Talay fall in the box. What's going on, let's take a look at slow motion. ”

The ball was kindly kicked off the touchline by the Milan players and the Brescia team doctor quickly ran into the box.

Slow-motion shows that the right foot that he had previously hit by Nesta stepped on the foot of Milan defender Kaladze who came up to assist as he scrambled for a header to land.

The team doctor quickly beckoned the stretcher to the field and carried Talay to the sidelines.

"How's it going?" As soon as the team doctor returned to the sidelines, Mazzoni immediately asked anxiously.

"At the moment it should just be a sprain and I've done emergency treatment for him. But to be on the safe side, it's best to go to the hospital for a detailed examination after the game to see if there is any damage to the bones. But he won't be able to play again in this game. ”

Mazzoni's mouth opened, but he couldn't say anything. A dark cloud crept up his face. Brescia is really unlucky, almost all injuries are concentrated in the front line, the original configuration of four forwards is more than enough for Brescia who only needs to play on a single line, the only thing to worry about is probably Baggio's fragile knees. As a result, the aging Baggio was not injured, but the other three young strikers were all on the injury list.

The big problem now is that Brescia doesn't have a center forward.

Do you want to change formations? Mazzoni looked up at the bench. Tare's injury almost declared Brescia's defeat. Baggio couldn't play as a lone striker, his thin body didn't have any chance to get the ball in the bag between Nesta and Maldini, and the only way now was to switch on a defender and let Baggio drop back into midfield. Aim to be able to hold on to a 0-0 draw.

But can Brescia, who have given up the attack, withstand Milan's stormy attack without any worries? Mazzoni didn't have much hope in his heart.

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When Taray was injured, Zhang Shu jumped up from the bench. He ran to the sidelines and started his warm-up on his own.

The rest of the team's attention was focused on Tare, who had fallen in the box, and no one noticed him.

"Coach! I'm ready! ”

Mazzoni, who returned to the bench, was looking back and forth over the players, thinking about how to change the formation, when a voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts. Zhang Shu, wearing a training jacket, stood in front of Mazzoni, his breathing slightly panting, exhaling a cloud of white hot air in the bitter cold wind.

"What?" Mazzoni didn't react for a moment.

"I'm ready, I've just warmed up, ready to play!" Zhang Shu replied eagerly.

"But Zhang, you and Baggio overlap and you both need a center forward to draw firepower for you, and neither of you can do that for each other."

Mazzoni had no doubts about Zhang's desire to win, and he saw a blazing fire in the young player's eyes, but that didn't change his mind.

"No one else can do it either. Why not give me a try? Zhang Shu pleaded: "Dad, you see I'm all warmed up!" ”

Mazzoni shook his head: "Zhang, no. Others may not be able to recover our attack, but they can go up and defend. ”

"I can defend too! I'm actually a defensive forward. I'm terrible at breaking the ball! Zhang Shu has already begun to use strong words.

But hearing this sentence made Mazzoni's eyes light up. That's right, now Milan's attacking launch point is concentrated on Pirlo in the backfield, and the two midfielders can't defend him in a targeted manner, instead of adding a passive defender to their backfield, why not take the initiative to cut off Milan's attack from the source?

The thought filled Mazzoni's heart with excitement. Since Carlo Ancelotti developed the tactics of playing forward and backward, many teams have fallen under Pirlo's organised attack. Maybe today you can find a way to crack this tactic yourself?

Thinking of this, Mazzoni felt that there was not much hope of winning this game anyway, so it was better to let Zhang Shu try, compared to replacing a pure defensive player, Brescia, who maintained two forwards, would at least make Milan's back line dare not press unscrupulously.

"Okay, Zhang, let's try it then, do you know what to do when you get on the field?" Figured it out, Mazzoni quickly shifted his mind to how to implement this tactic. 'After you come on the pitch for a while, you're mainly responsible for defending Pirlo. I don't care what method you use, just entangle him, disrupt his rhythm, and don't let him organize the attack comfortably. ”

"No problem, Daddy!" Zhang Shucai, who got Mazzoni's permission to play, didn't care if he was really okay. Let's talk about it if there is a problem.

"Call the coach!" Igor next to him slapped Zhang Shu on the buttocks.

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The referee held up the electronic signage for the substitution and Tareh was substituted, and it appeared that his injury was making him unable to continue the game any longer. Who will Mazzoni replace? Could it be Zhang Shu? Huang *Jian*Xiang looked at the picture of the game and guessed.

"Probably not," Zhang Lu analyzed on the side. "Although we all want Zhang Shu to play early, his technical characteristics, like Baggio, need to be hidden behind the centre-forward. Brescia's two centre-forwards, Toney and Taray, are both injured and Mazzoni should be able to secure a draw with a defender. ”

But the live broadcast screen quickly focused the camera on Zhang Shu who was standing on the sidelines.

"Huh?! It's really Zhang Shu, Zhang Shu is on the field, in the 30th minute of the game, Zhang Shu replaced the injured Tare! The audience in front of the TV should be happy. ”

"Yes, it was a pleasant surprise." Director Zhang was also surprised. "Mazzoni is a surprise to everyone, is there any special tactical arrangement, let's see the next game."

Zhang Shu trotted all the way to Milan's backfield and informed his teammates of Mazzoni's latest tactical adjustments. Then he shook to Pirlo's side.

"Hey." He smiled and greeted Pirlo. "The rest of the game, it's interrupted."

"Excuse me?" Pirlo raised an eyebrow when he heard this, feeling that this statement was strange.

"If you're here to defend me, then try it." His eyes that couldn't be opened burst with fighting spirit.