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The 6-2 win over Hannover 96 was not the first time Hoffenheim had won by a big score, having previously beaten the stronger Borussia Dortmund 4-1. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info but this still surprises many people, because the saying "Hoffenheim is just a flash in the pan" is still very marketable. They feel that the big win over Dortmund is already a performance of this team's shit luck to the extreme, how can it be possible to win by a big score?

The score of 6:2 gave those people a hard slap in the face.

But the slap is not over.

October 26, the ninth round of the league. Hoffenheim host Hamburg.

It's a battle for the top two in the league, and whoever wins will be at the top of the league. Pre-match media predicted that Hamburg should be able to beat Hoffenheim away from home as they were in fine form having just won the UEFA Cup group stage in midweek. Although Hoffenheim defeated Hannover 96 in the last round of the league, Hamburg is not Hannover, and the strength is much stronger, as long as there are no accidents, Hamburg should be able to beat Hoffenheim.

Despite the return of former goalkeeper Ozcan from injury, Rangnick did not start the game, instead allowing Haas to continue to start. It can be seen that Rangnick is already very unhappy with Ozjan. Ozcan always made mistakes, which Rangnick criticized many times, but he never got to correct it, and Rangnick simply gave up on him. Now there are rumours that Rangnick has his eye on German goalkeeper Hildebrand, who is not a regular player in Valencia.

The opponents in this match were much stronger than in the previous round, but the result once again surprised everyone - 4:0. The home team has the score in front and the away team in the back...... Hoffenheim beat Hamburg at home!

For 45 minutes of the first half, the crowd could not see Hamburg's shooting or attacking at all, they were suppressed by Hoffenheim and could not even get past half time. Hoffenheim were able to threaten Hamburg's goal with every attack. Obbasi scored first in the seventh minute and Ibisevic scored his tenth goal of the season in the thirteenth minute. In the 36th minute, Obsi scored twice and scored another goal to lock the score at 3:0.

Hamburg woke up in the second half and improved slightly. Rangnick, on the other hand, is a rare requirement for the team to play a solid counter-attack. The previous Hoffenheim gave the impression that they were attacking in addition to attacking, whether they were ahead or behind, they were always attacking. But today Rangnick asked the team to play a defensive counter-attack.

This may be a sign that his tactics are becoming more diverse......

Hoffenheim, who played a defensive counter-attack, also performed well. They were entangled with Hamburg for 45 minutes, attacking and defending each other, not only successfully holding the advantage of these three goals, but also using the counter-attack to score a goal against Hamburg. This counterattack was instigated by Chu Zhongtian again.

Hamburg, on the other hand, had a number of shots on goal in the space of the second half for 45 minutes, but none of them were on target.

When they beat Hamburg, they surprised a lot of people again. Because despite Hoffenheim's recent performances, everyone feels that the gap between Hamburg and Hoffenheim should not be as big as four goals......

After this match, many German media praised Hoffenheim's big victory, and even touted it as meaty.

Although the score of 4-0 did not look as big as 6-2, Hoffenheim's opponents in this game were stronger than the previous one, and also won by four goals, and Rangnick's side have yet to let their opponents score against them. There is also an interesting contrast - Hoffenheim is a small town or small village of only 3,000 people, and Hamburg, which they defeated, is a large city with a population of more than 1.7 million.

The German media used to refer to Hoffenheim as a "country team", even though the team was not really a "village".

The "New Kaiserslautern Miracle" has already been tapped to Hoffenheim in the media, praising the country team's victory over Hamburg in the big city.

The Kicker covered the match with the headline "Hoffenheim Flying High": "...... Hamburg's defence was simply unable to stop the home side's frenzied attack, and they were three goals down in the first half. Although Hamburg's performance improved slightly in the second half, it was no longer able to recover. ”

Sport Image's post-match headline, "Hoffenheim steal top spot", wrote: "After a suffocating frenzy of attack, Hoffenheim tore apart the opposition's defence, and the promoted horses dwarfed Hamburg in front of them." Hoffenheim taught Big Brother a lesson and took the top spot on their own for the first time in the club's history. Hamburg, who won the UEFA Cup in midweek, were collectively out of sorts, especially at the back. The head coach of the national team, Loew, was also present in the stands. Although there is only one German international in either team, Loew is still interested in the Bundesliga top game, and Hoffenheim's modern attacking style of play may also inspire him. ”

As you can see from the media reports, they were all impressed by Hoffenheim's performance.

Hoffenheim's performance was really good, Hamburg had dominated the standings for three consecutive rounds, and Hoffenheim had been pressed under Hamburg throughout. This is the best result for a Hamburg club since 1983. But Hoffenheim dominated the game and they managed to win out in just half a game. In the face of Hoffenheim's frantic pressing, Hamburg's team had a 25 per cent pass error, almost twice as high as Hoffenheim.

There is one statistic that shows the difference between the two teams in the game: Hoffenheim had 23 shots on goal in the whole game, well ahead of Hamburg's 13. In terms of shooting efficiency, Hoffenheim had four goals and one shot at the post, and seven shots were also scored by Hamburg's Frank. Rost swooped out.

Hamburg's defender Mattheeson (joris_mathijsen) said after the game: "I don't know what they ate before the game, it was they who were so wild on the pitch, Hoffenheim clearly played better than us, they ran like a bunch of savages......

And Hamburg's head coach Martin. Joel was impressed by Hoffenheim's midfield core No. 8 Chu Zhongtian. When he was still in charge of Tottenham Hotspur, he led the north London side to play against Chu Zhongtian. That time, it can be said that his team was almost completely defeated by Chu Zhongtian alone in a dominant situation, and he has paid attention to Chu Zhongtian since that time. There was a time when it was rumored that he was interested in buying Chu Zhongtian to go to Tottenham.

Unexpectedly, the mountains did not turn around, and after a few years, the two sides met again in the Bundesliga. This time was no exception, and Joel's team lost to the team led by Chu Zhongtian again.

In this game, Chu Zhongtian was in a very forward position, not a midfielder, but a frontcourt free man. Using his excellent fitness and tackling skills to constantly press Hamburg's players in midfield, Hoffenheim's players in the midfield carried out a pinch-and-grabs on Hamburg's players, and a player who was easy to play with the ball was always caught by multiple Hoffenheim players. As a result, the Hamburg players could only kick the ball off with big feet, and there were naturally many such passing errors. Hoffenheim's midfielders, on the other hand, find the forward trident through quick passes as soon as they get the ball – Obasi, Ibisevic and Demba. Ba, the three goals scored were won by speed.

Match Martin. Joel stood on the sidelines and was completely puzzled by this Chu Zhongtian. I haven't seen him for a few years, and Chu Zhongtian has become more mature and powerful......

Although none of these three goals were directly assisted by him, Hoffenheim would never have won so easily without him stirring up the Hamburg midfield like a blender.

So at the post-match press conference, when the media asked him to talk about which Hoffenheim player he was most impressed with, he blurted out without thinking at all: "No. 8, Chu." ”

Originally, reporters thought that he would score two goals in this game and be voted the best of the match Obasi. Who thought that as soon as he came up, he said Chu Zhongtian.

Joel explained: "His performance in midfield was key to Hoffenheim's ability to beat us and I was very impressed with him. I think he's a very good player and he has the potential to become a world-class player. ”

This evaluation is quite high, and it is also the highest evaluation that Chu Zhongtian has received since his debut-specifically referring to the evaluation from his opponents.

Although Chu Zhongtian helped the team win the League Cup when he was in Metz, everyone does not think that he can be regarded as a "world-class star", at most he is considered a quasi-first-class star. Because he has never proven himself in the best league in Europe, and more importantly he has never proven himself in the Champions League, what is world-class talking about a player who has not played in the Champions League? It's a laugh to say it.

The root of many Chinese fans' dissatisfaction with Chu Zhongtian's transfer to Hoffenheim is also because Hoffenheim is not eligible to participate in the Champions League - most Chinese fans have a "Champions Cup complex", so they want their country's players to participate in the Champions Cup, to play well in that high-level football competition today, to prove their ability, and at the same time to give them a sense of satisfaction.

※※※

Hoffenheim overtook their rivals to move up to top of the league after the game against Hamburg, and they regained top spot after losing first place in the third round of the league.

For a while, the team attracted everyone's attention, and rumors about the players were also spread in the media.

Salihovic, for example, was recently lured by Berlin Hert. Some media reported that Hertha Berlin is now interested in Salihovic and wants to bring the veteran back to the capital.

Salihovic lived in Berlin for sixteen years and played for Hertha Berlin for seven years. But in just two seasons playing for the first team, he played just five games in total. In 2006, he moved to Hoffenheim, who were still in the southern German regional league for 250,000 euros.

Now his contract with Hoffenheim expires in July next year. Hertha Berlin hopes to take him away from Hoffenheim at no cost.

There are many rumours in the media that Salihovic and Hertha's two players, Albert (patrick_ebert) and Shahed (sofian_chahed), are close friends, so there are rumours that he is willing to return to Hertha Berlin with these two friends.

As soon as the matter was revealed by the media, it attracted attention among Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim fans went out of town to unfurl banners outside the training ground while the team was training, begging Salihovic not to leave the team. And in the dressing room, there was also talk of Salihovic.

Chu Zhongtian is not deaf or blind, he hears these things in his ears and sees them in his eyes. He didn't think it was a good atmosphere. So he took the time to talk to Salihovic and told him that if he didn't bother to deal with the media, he should at least explain it to his team-mates in the dressing room. Is there really such a thing? The team had just achieved good results, and someone came to poach it, which made everyone panic, as if the Hoffenheim miracle would only last for one season, and after that season the team would fall apart.

As captain, he has the power and qualifications to maintain the team's dressing room.

Salihovic also feels that there is more and more discussion about him now, which is not a good thing.

So he accepted the suggestion of Chu Zhongtian, the captain.

At the end of a training session, he explained to his team-mates that it was just a rumor, that he did have a good relationship with Albert and Schached, but that he had never talked to them about returning to Hertha Berlin. His contract does expire next year, but his agent is in talks with the club and he is not in a position to disclose the details. But staying in Hoffenheim shouldn't be a problem.

"I love Hoffenheim and I think it's great to stay here. We've got a great team and we're doing well right now, so I can't think of any reason for me to leave here. My agent is in talks with the club to renew his contract and I hope it will happen soon. My wish is to stay in Hoffenheim. ”

Salihovic explained the recent rumors, and everyone accepted his explanation, and the matter was settled.

The team continues to prepare for the game.

However, this incident is a wake-up call for Rangnick - Hoffenheim are doing well at the moment, so he must beware of those who fancy his players and try to dig into his corners. Salihovic's contract is being negotiated at the club and he has already told Hope that he must keep Salihovic, who is an important player in the squad.

Hope was still thinking about something else - whether to offer Rangnick a longer contract? Rangnick has proven his coaching ability with actual results, and in order for the team to have a long-term plan, it is necessary to renew his contract, which must be at least five years.

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On October 29, in the 10th round of the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim defeated Bochum 4-1 away.

Bochum scored less than two minutes into the game, only to have Hoffenheim retaliate frantically. From the beginning of the second half, Hoffenheim scored three goals in five minutes to make the score 3:1.

In the final moments, Hoffenheim scored another goal, 4:1. But by this time Bochum was powerless to resist.

Bochum is no match for Hoffenheim at all, and even from the scene, Bochum and Hoffenheim are not teams of the same grade. They lost without a temper at all. Bochum's head coach Kohler (marcel_koller) told reporters after the game: "We did make some mistakes, but Hoffenheim made perfect use of our mistakes, which is remarkable and they deserved to win......

Karlsruhe did not stop Hoffenheim from continuing their progress, with Hoffenheim winning cleanly 3-1 to the cheers of more than 20,000 fans at home. Ibisevic scored his thirteenth goal of the season in the game to continue to top the scorers' charts.

Karlsruhe were last season's dark horse team, but they lost convincingly against this season's dark horse Hoffenheim.

Karlsruhe coach Becker (ralf_becker) could only sigh that he had met Hoffenheim: "Against a team like Hoffenheim you have to give it your all from the start, to stay solid at the back and not to make mistakes, but unfortunately we can't do that. I must say that Hoffenheim's performance fully deserved to win this game. ”

Five wins in a row!

When Chu Zhongtian said in an interview with reporters that they would win the next games one by one, some people felt that he was talking big. Now these people have all been slapped in the face, and they have to desperately praise the team that slapped them.

"Hoffenheim are definitely a 'phenomenal' team!"

"Who is stronger at Bayern, the dark horse?"

"The terrifying frontcourt trident!"

"Ibisevic! Football Jesus! ”

……

Hoffenheim have achieved what others thought was impossible before, and after 11 rounds of the new Bundesliga season, they have scored 32 goals, ranking first in the Bundesliga's goal charts and the most attacking team in the Bundesliga.

Such a performance has put them in the top position of the league, and no one dares to question it. The voices that had previously expressed doubts about Hoffenheim were now all gone.

Even the Chinese fans, who were not optimistic about Hoffenheim before, have to take a fresh look at the team. They had hoped for Hoffenheim to be relegated, but judging by Hoffenheim's results so far, the team may have to wait another season for relegation......

Not only that, but Chinese fans are beginning to fantasize about whether this team will win the league championship and win the right to participate in the UEFA Champions League in May next year.

Of course, it doesn't matter if you don't win the league, as long as you can qualify for next season's Champions League. The fans are not demanding, they have to be able to participate in the Champions League, right?

If this is the case, then Chinese fans will be able to see Chinese players in Europe's top arenas - Chu Zhongtian is not the first Chinese player to play in the Champions League, but he is definitely the Chinese player with the most high expectations.

(To be continued)