In the last few minutes of the first half, Leeds City obviously slowed down their pace after taking the lead and did not "attack to the end".
This made the Alvara fans in the stands, including Joao Valente, breathe a sigh of relief - they were really afraid that Leeds City would get red-handed and score another victory at the last moment before the end of the first half.
This game can end early.
In fact, it's not that Leeds City doesn't want to attack, it's just that they really don't have the ability to continue to maintain the previous rhythm of the game.
Their players aren't tireless robots either.
It is necessary to adjust the rhythm appropriately, slow down the speed, and take it easy.
There is nothing wrong with making some adjustments after taking a two-goal lead.
Leeds City's self-adjustment allowed Alvara to take a breather in the final minutes of the first half, but they had no energy left to counterattack.
After all, they had been stunned by Leeds City's fierce offensive.
Now I just hope that the first half of the game will end as soon as possible so that they can really get a chance to breathe.
Head coach Moya did not stand on the sidelines and use gestures to instruct the players to continue attacking. Instead, he sat on the coach's chair, frowning and thinking hard.
I'm thinking about how to adjust during halftime.
So the last few minutes of the first half became "garbage time".
Until the end of the first half, the score did not change again.
2:0, Leeds City, playing away from home, entered the halftime break with a two-goal lead.
There are still forty-five minutes left for Alvara.
They must make changes and adjustments in the second half to save the crisis in the second half.
There is a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Alvara head coach Ricardo Moya - the league lost the league title last season and missed the Champions League. This season he can only participate in the Europa League. As a result, the performance in the Europa League
It was not satisfactory either. They didn't even get first place in the group stage. They could only finish second in the group and meet Leeds City, who had been eliminated from the Champions League group stage, in the quarter-finals.
In addition to the Europa League, the league has also been overtaken by the rival Portuguese in the same city. It is currently ranked second in the league, six points behind the first place Portuguese.
Such results naturally cannot satisfy the proud Alvara club, nor can they satisfy the fans.
If he is eliminated from the Europa League again, Moya's life will not be easy...
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"You have to cheer up! This is our home court! This is our home court!" Ricardo Moya paced back and forth in the locker room, trying to boost the morale of his players.
"Take it easy, take it easy...Look at the best, we are already two goals behind, so what do we have to lose? Get rid of your habits from the away goals rule era and put these two
Forget about the ball, we have a full forty-five minutes to equalize the score, and if we're lucky, we can even do something else! Like come back and win!"
"And Igor, you have to pull out more in the second half and then push back to mess up Leeds City's defense! Although their two central defenders have excellent air defense capabilities, they are slower in turning. As long as you take them
If they are pulled out, the space behind them will be difficult to cover..."
"When Igor brings out the opponent's central defender, Lecinho, you have to push forward resolutely! Get behind them and get into the penalty area! In the second half, you have to be more aggressive and dare to foul when defending. When attacking, you have to be more aggressive.
Be more decisive! Don't be intimidated by the Frenchman's speed, you are also very fast! Even if you compete with him for speed, you may not lose! Like the emergency stop in the first half... it is completely unnecessary!
That only means you are afraid of him!"
Moya began to make adjustments and arrangements one by one. He had to give it a try, not only to preserve the team's hope of advancing to the Europa League top 16, but also to preserve his own hope of continuing to coach this team.
He also knows that his situation is not very good now...
In fact, at the end of last year, when he led the team to only second place in the Europa League group stage, news came out that he was going to step down.
At that time, the senior management of Alvara Club came out to support him and said that they would not consider changing the coach.
But Moya himself knew very well that this was just rhetoric used to fool people.
After all, it is impossible for the club to admit the fact that "we have not found the right candidate yet, so now we have to let Ricardo Moya continue to make do with coaching."
Alvara originally wanted to coach Manuel Bogges, the famous Portuguese coach who is currently unemployed. This coach who has won the Champions League has also led the Portuguese national team to the quarterfinals in the World Cup.
That was the best result of the Portuguese national team in the World Cup in the past twenty years.
The biggest problem is that Boggs is the legendary Portuguese coach, and the Champions League title he won was led by this team.
The Portuguese were Alvara's mortal enemies in the same city.
When the Alvara club officially announced their intention to invite Boggs to coach through "rumors", they just wanted to see everyone's reaction to the matter. Not surprisingly, they were opposed by almost all Alvara fans.
——They would rather the team perform poorly, and they would never accept the result of being coached by a meritorious coach from their mortal enemy.
There was also strong opposition from Portuguese fans, who even went to the door of Boggs's house to ask him not to coach his arch-rival Alvara.
In the end, the matter will be over when the Alvara club comes forward to clarify the rumor that asking Burgess to coach the team is false.
But this bought Moya time.
If he can lead the team to good results at the end of the season, he can still continue to coach in Alvara.
The league is a long marathon. In the remaining half of the season, anything can happen. Affected by the ups and downs of the team's status, it is difficult for Moya to guarantee that he will lead the team to win the championship.
But in comparison, the Europa League is easier.
After all, it is a cup competition. Although there are more surprises, it also means there are more opportunities.
So since the winter break, Moya has set the goal of leading the team to win the Europa League.
According to the rules set by UEFA, the winner of the Europa League is eligible to participate in the Champions League next season. Therefore, even if his performance in the league is poor, as long as he can win the Europa League, Moya can still implement the strategy of "saving the country through curves"
.
Compared with the Champions League, the competition in the Europa League is slightly less fierce.
Unexpectedly, Alvara received a heavy blow in the knockout round.
Leeds City was ridiculed as "the weakest seeded team" in the Champions League, which seems to be really weak.
People overlook that they are only the weakest among the seeded teams. Even if they fail to advance to the knockout rounds in the Champions League, they will still be a big catfish in the Europa League.
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After Moya's adjustments, Alvara fans could clearly see the changes in the team after the start of the second half.
"They are more aggressive than they were in the first half...but are they not afraid of conceding goals again?"
Joao Valente asked this question after watching the game in the stands for a few minutes.
This is also a question that many Alvara fans have.
Xia Xiaoyu said: "Because we have no better way besides continuing to attack and attacking more violently... At this time, we must choose to take risks."
"But chasing two goals in a row...it's still difficult!" Valente lamented.
"It's better than doing nothing."
"But what if we concede another goal before we score?"
"Then there's nothing we can do." Xia Xiaoyu spread his hands, "But the game is not like that. You always have to make various choices. Every choice is like gambling. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you win.
It's normal to lose when gambling. If you don't dare to gamble because you are afraid of losing, then you can only accept the result of losing the game 0:2. And if we can score a goal, even if we lose the game 1:2, it will be okay.
Better than 0:2. At least we only need to recover one goal in the next round."
Valente sighed: "You're right, Xia. I'm a little worried about gains and losses..."
He was indeed a little worried about gains and losses.
Especially after witnessing Leeds City's crazy attack in the first half - at halftime he even despaired that Alvara would be unable to win the game, and the suspense of victory had ended early.
"Okay, let's keep cheering for Alvara!"
Valente took a deep breath, regained his fighting spirit, followed the other Alvara fans in the stands, clapped his hands rhythmically, and sang the song they sang just after the first half started:
"Alvara! Alvara! OLEOLEOLE!! Alvara—!"
"Alvara! Alvara! OLEOLEOLE!! Alvara—!"
Xia Xiaoyu grinned when he saw this.
This friend he met in the reserve team is really simple-minded, and his few words made him optimistic again...
But as a defensive midfielder, what's wrong with being simple-minded?
Xia Xiaoyu did not sing along with his friends, but just clapped along with the rhythm to cheer for his home team.
Brother Hu has scored a goal, and he still hopes that Alvara can complete the reversal at home and win the game...
