Chapter 20: The Question of Time
In 1905, the Sevilla Club was founded in Seville, Spain's second largest city.
Sevilla have won only one league title and three Copa del Rey titles in the club's 100-year history, and in the 90s, the old powerhouse had Sooke, Zamorano, Maradona, Simeone and Reyes, but they still failed to make a breakthrough.
After Sevilla were promoted to the second division in 2001, their record has been very stable, always staying within 10, and in recent seasons there have been signs of climbing, and in the 05-06 season the team finally broke out, first in the UEFA Cup, all the way to the final to win the trophy, and then the icing on the cake to win the UEFA Super Cup.
For the team, it was an unprecedented glory.
Since the start of the 05-06 season, Sevilla have maintained the top results in the league, and they have been third, fourth and fifth in the league for consecutive years, and they have qualified for European competitions every year.
In this way, Seville has also become a force in Spain's 'third pole'.
Sevilla FC continued to perform well last season, finishing fourth in La Liga, qualifying for the Champions League, and also winning the Copa del Rey, so they have a new season ahead of the rest of the team - they will qualify for the UEFA Champions League and face defending champions Barcelona for the Spanish Super Cup.
In the summer, Sevilla's strength has not changed much, they have very little "blood loss", Adriano transferred to Barcelona for 9.5 million, Squealaki joined Arsenal, loaned Demur, Prieto, Crespo, Stankovicius as a substitute, Alexis (5 million), Guarente (5.5 million), Chigarini (300,000), Dabo (free) joined, Alfaro and Chevanton returned on loan, and Fabiano, Canute, Navas, Negredo and other midfielders have not lost.
The media's comprehensive assessment of Sevilla is that "the strength is stable and rising." โ
Unfortunately, in August, Sevilla suffered from a double game in the Super Cup and Champions League qualifiers, and they lost the Champions League qualification and lost 3-5 to Barcelona in the Super Cup.
The new season has not yet started, and Sevilla has already suffered a heavy blow!
Many Spanish media outlets have described head coach Antonio Alvarez's record as "a good hand played to the match", and at the same time, they believe that the countdown to coach Alvarez's departure has begun.
Antonio Alvarez certainly doesn't want to be out of class, Sevilla have had a great run since he took over in March, but the pressure was high after the team lost the Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup in August.
So Alvarez put his hopes on the league.
As long as he can lead Sevilla to play well in the league, then the lost Champions League qualification and the Spanish Super Cup will not be a problem.
Therefore, the victory or defeat in the first round of the league is very important for Sevilla.
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For Wansheng, the first round of the league is a game to test the team's preparation, and the opponent is Sevilla, which is not weak but not too strong, and it is still a good opponent.
For Alvarez, the first round of the league is directly related to the manager's position, and he has to fight hard to win.
Alvarez has an advantage, one is that Sevilla FC finished fourth in the league last season, which is much better than Atletico Madrid, and the team is also united, at the same time, he believes that Atletico Madrid, which has just undergone a big change, is definitely not as united as Sevilla, and second, the first round is a match played at the Pizjuan Stadium, and it is definitely beneficial for the team to sit at home.
With these many advantages, Alvarez began to let his mouth open.
Speaking to the media, Alvarez said that Sevilla can definitely win because they have a lot of advantages and have a mental advantage over Atletico Madrid, "We beat Atletico Madrid 4-1 at home last season and now we can beat them as well. โ
Then Alvarez talked about Wan Sheng, and he had an 'old-timer' attitude, "His ability to lead the team is not bad, but this is Spain, not England, and he should put away England's set." The first thing young people need to do to stabilize their mentality is not to think about the championship, but to improve the team's results little by little......"
Alvarez's words didn't even sound right to the media who came to interview them.
What does it mean to be 'not incompetent'?
As for 'you old' lost the Champions League qualification and Super Cup record in a month, are you still qualified to comment on Wansheng's 'ability is not bad'?
I don't feel blushing when I say this!
However, the media doesn't think Alvarez is too much at all, they like the manager to have a war of words, the more intense the better, the environment in Spain is a lot worse than England, but this season is different, because Mourinho is coming, Wan Sheng is coming, plus Pep Guardiola, who coaches Barcelona, Spanish football has become lively.
Even Alvarez wanted to shake his majesty and stick a stick...... That's so much fun!
Alvarez certainly doesn't know much about Wan Sheng, so he dares to say that if he changes to the manager of a Premier League team, even Mourinho must be considered when speaking, because they all know that this young Chinese has some skills in 'saliva'.
When Wan Sheng heard Alvarez's words, he was surprised and asked, "Isn't he crazy!?" โ
"Yes, it's possible."
"I heard that he just lost the Super Cup, which is interesting, but I was optimistic about Sevilla a few days ago because they beat Barcelona 1-0 in the first leg and then lost 4-0, haha...... If I were him, I would stay at home and not go out, because I would be afraid that people would laugh at me, but I am not him, and I don't have so many years of 'experience'......"
When Wansheng said 'experience', he meant that Alvarez had a thick skin.
Everyone can hear it.
Many people laughed, but Wan Sheng's words were not finished, "I don't understand how the person who just lost the Champions League qualification and the UEFA Super Cup has the qualifications to teach others, but I also want to tell him that when he is old, he must stabilize his mentality and think in advance about how to deal with the fans who are dissatisfied with him after losing this game!" โ
Wan Sheng's tone was almost as if he had won, and he began to 'consider' Alvarez's position after the game.
This made the media in Seville very unhappy.
Although they were not happy with Alvarez's results, they still wanted Sevilla to win.
To this young Chinese, it made Sevilla seem to have lost!
After they reported on Wan Sheng's words, Sevilla fans were also very dissatisfied, and some fan associations even organized a trip to Atletico Madrid at the Pizjuรกn Stadium, telling them that this is Sevilla's territory.
Wan Sheng didn't care at all.
He will never be merciful to those who strike his opponents.
Sevilla is his opponent, Alvarez is his opponent, and he will be a desperate blow to the opponent, as for what the opponent thinks and thinks?
What does that have to do with him!
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Finally, the day of the competition came.
Sevilla FC are playing with Atletico Madrid with the belief that they must win, because they are currently in a crisis, the club and the fans are unhappy that they have lost the Champions League and the Super Cup, so they must use the victory to alleviate the crisis.
It's also about head coach Alvarez's position.
Alvarez has only been leading Sevilla for half a year since March, but he is still very prestigious in the team, including star players Navas, Fabiano and others, all hope that Alvarez can continue to coach Sevilla, so they must win.
So Sevilla fought fiercely.
Judging by the opening ten minutes of play, it was no surprise that Sevilla finished fourth in the league last season, using home advantage to keep Atletico Madrid at bay.
Sevilla's attack was fierce.
Their offense is very Spanish football-like, passing, penetrating, fast breaking, constantly squeezing Atletico Madrid's space to create an advantage, and they also invest a lot of troops in attack, and pressing on the spot has also caused Atletico Madrid a lot of trouble.
Sevilla FC are playing with the mentality that they have to win.
Any team will have a headache against Sevilla's hard-hitting attack, as they will have to defend themselves to prevent the opposition from taking the lead too early.
Atletico Madrid is not the type of team that plays counter-attacking defensively.
Like Sevilla, Atletico Madrid are also good at attacking, and even say that they have a more attacking tendency than Sevilla, as evidenced by Atletico Madrid's abundance of 'efficient goalscorers'.
But after the arrival of Wansheng, it was different.
Atletico Madrid has completely changed and is no longer the same team as last season.
The squad has changed dramatically, and after nearly a month of running-in, this Atletico Madrid team has long since changed.
Wan Sheng knows the strength of the team best.
If Alvarez still looks at Atletico Madrid with old eyes, then Wan Sheng doesn't mind letting him lose badly......
After Wan Sheng coached Atletico Madrid, many Spanish media believed that Wan Sheng would bring Manchester City's set to Atletico Madrid, and at the same time, they also felt that Manchester City's set would not work in a short time, because the Spanish football environment is different from England, and Spanish teams are much stronger than England in terms of ball control and attack.
Every team in Spain's top league has good skills, whether it is possession or coordination, they can play well, so Atletico Madrid's switch to Manchester City's style of play may not be able to take effect quickly, and even their players may not adapt to tactics in a short period of time, and their results will plummet.
In fact, there is some truth in what the media said.
But they would never have imagined that Wansheng has a football training master system, 'collaboration' and other training skills that can help players quickly adapt to tactics.
They also didn't expect that Wan Sheng did not follow the tactics used in Manchester City, but let Atletico Madrid adapt to the new tactics.
This match is also seen by Wansheng as a real actual battle of the 'B-TF' system, and Sevilla is just Wansheng as a target for the team's experimental tactics.
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Spectators felt that Atletico Madrid was playing very passively, with Sevilla fans cheering in the audience, and the commentator who broadcast the game live, saying, "Atletico Madrid was completely suppressed by Sevilla......
The on-site commentator at the Estadio Pizjuรกn even affirmed, "It's only a matter of time before Sevilla scores!" โ
But in reality, the Sevilla players on the pitch felt completely different.
They pressed the attack to the Atletico Madrid half, but the football was always passing around the perimeter and it was difficult to get into the heart of the box, and in Atletico Madrid's dense defence, they were close to being tackled on many occasions, and then their passing was much more deliberate.
They feel that the Atletico Madrid team in front of them is different.
Last season, Atletico Madrid's defense was very weak, even if they tried their best to retreat, they could always find opportunities, but now they have attacked many times, but they have not been able to pass the ball to the key position, and it is very difficult to score goals.
"They're playing really well defensively!"
That's how the Sevilla players really feel.
Sevilla striker Canute roamed around the Atletico Madrid penalty area for a long time, but he only received one pass and was forced by an opposition player to pass it back to a team-mate before ...... Not anymore.
Since the start of the game, Kanute has yet to get a shot on goal.
The other striker, Fabiano, was a little better than Canoute and had only one shot on goal, and under a tight defense, he kicked the ball straight out of bounds.
In fact, Sevilla had only two shots on goal after nearly 15 minutes, and midfielder Renato had a good long-range shot, but a direct shot from 25 yards out could hardly directly threaten the goal, and goalkeeper Drach held the ball firmly in his arms.
That's how Sevilla FC played in the first 15 minutes.
But they suppressed Atletico Madrid, and it can't be said that the performance was bad, they just didn't get a good chance to score.
By this time, Atletico Madrid had gradually adapted and began to look for a counter-attack.
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The 'B-TF' system emphasizes wholeness and speed.
Sevilla thought they had suppressed Atletico Madrid, but in fact, Atletico Madrid's style of play was like this, the basic theory of tactics was that the three lines were a whole, and when defending, the three lines retreated naturally as if they were suppressed.
That's how Atletico Madrid plays.
When Atletico Madrid attack, the third line will also move forward together, forming a strong impact.
Seeing the team's counterattack, Wan Sheng couldn't stop being excited.
This is the test of whether the 'B-TF' system can conquer the Iberian Peninsula, and now is the moment to test the team's offensive ability to play the 'B-TF' system.
The team pressed across the board reminded Wan Sheng of the FA Cup clash between Derby County and Manchester United more than six years ago.
I still remember that game.
At that time, Derby County had just confirmed promotion to the Premier League, and their strength was completely incomparable to Manchester United, so he could only use solid defence and 'clever surprise attacks' in the hope of getting the team to equalise.
'Clever surprise attack' is the 'arrangement' system, in which the team's offense relies on the strongest formation.
That formation can only be used as a 'killer weapon' because the defense is too weak.
Now Wansheng can put the 'killer feature' of the 'weakened version' in a normal game, and when the team presses on all fronts, the offensive ability evaluation in the 'arrangement' has reached '101' points.
This is definitely the best in the world.
The players on the field can play a specific '101' point of offensive evaluation, of course, it depends on the degree of coordination and tactical adaptation, but Wansheng believes that under the team's strong attack, Sevilla's defense will definitely be like tissue paper......
Break it with a single stab!
It's only a matter of time before Atletico Madrid scores! (To be continued.) )