When Milos Vukovich heard the head coach read his name, he raised his head in surprise and looked at the head coach Parotti.
Parotti ignored his reaction and continued to read the names in the starting lineup.
Vukovich looked around again, especially at Joaquin Vela.
Bella also looked at him.
The two looked at each other, Bella smiled slightly at him, and then withdrew her gaze.
So Vukovic confirmed that he was indeed starting again.
He understood that head coach Parotti chose to continue to trust him at this critical moment.
At the same time, he also knows that such trust is not unlimited.
If he still can't put in a convincing performance, I'm afraid he will have to say goodbye to his starting position.
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"I just got the Pirates' starting lineup."
In the visiting team's dressing room, Sevilla Navigator head coach Pierre Brunt said to his players:
"The good news is that Vukovich is still starting. So we have to make some adjustments and make more use of the space behind Vukovich in the offense!"
The team's captain, Pablo Becker, nodded.
He is the team's organizational core and determines the direction of the team's offense.
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"...In this game against Sevilla Navigator, Parotti did not return Joaquin Vela to the starting lineup as people speculated before the game, but chose to continue to trust Vukovich. Although in
In the previous games, the performance of the Serbian international was quite average, even disappointing..."
At the home game between Madrid Pirates and Sevilla Navigator, commentator Alvarez Sanchez was introducing a noteworthy situation in the game.
"The navigator obviously noticed this, so when attacking, he focused on the area where Vukovich was..."
Vukovich was in a trance, not knowing whether he was in a real game or in a dream.
Because since the start of the game, he has become the key target of Sevilla Navigators' attack.
It can be clearly felt that the Navigator's attack is targeting him.
Especially after he attacks, as long as the Navigator gets the ball, he will immediately pass the football into the space behind him.
For this reason, he had to desperately return to defense and sprint back and forth at the speed of offensive advancement.
After returning to defense, he must immediately keep an eye on threatening players, which is completely different from the intensity of returning to defense when he plays as an attacking midfielder.
When he played in Vesseldorf before, he didn't have high requirements for defense. He could return to his defensive position and get into a good posture, which was already an excellent performance.
There are not many opportunities for physical confrontation with opponents.
If the opponent wants to break through him, he will only intercept it symbolically, and then leave it to his teammates behind him who are responsible for defense.
That's not the case at all now.
If he passes the opponent's attack now, he will directly face the defender.
He must do his best to stop the opponent from here.
In a sense, he has no way out - if he doesn't perform well in this game, he will be removed from the starting lineup.
It is certainly impossible for the head coach to continue to start himself in the key Champions League battle against the Turin Bulls.
You have to play this game as if it is your last game.
He thought about that dream again.
But we can't let the dream... come true!
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Navigator's forward Dani dropped back to receive the pass, and Vukovich immediately got on the ball without daring to relax at all.
Dani originally wanted to easily get rid of Vukovich and then break into the penalty area.
But before he started, he felt an impact force crashing into him - Vukovich's whole body was pressed against him.
Dani was shocked. He didn't expect Vukovich to be so tough.
Fortunately, his foot skills were delicate enough to hook the football back the moment it was hit, otherwise he might have lost the ball just now...
Vukovic's first attempt at the collision was unsuccessful, and he tried to stretch his foot to steal the ball again.
Instead, Dani seized the opportunity and shook him away!
But Dani did not succeed in bringing the football into the penalty area, because as he just shook Vukovich away and was about to start accelerating, Pirates captain Juan Ramirez rushed over from the side and kicked him.
After a muffled bang, Dani, who was weak in strength, stumbled out, leaving the football at Ramirez's feet.
After quickly passing the football, Ramirez turned around and shouted to Vukovich: "Don't take a shot easily, just stay close to him!"
After shouting, Ramirez realized that he was shouting in Spanish and the other party still couldn't understand...
So he switched to English again, and repeated the meaning again with gestures and movements.
This time Vukovich understood, he nodded: "Understood."
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After Kyrie stopped the ball outside the penalty area, he got rid of the Navigator midfielder Victor Montero and tried to pass the ball to Hulay. He deceived the Navigator defender Poiatos in front of him to shift his center of gravity and he moved away.
After the angle, choose to shoot directly.
However, he did not fully exert his force on this kick, and the ball was held by Navigator goalkeeper Marco Duric.
Then the navigators launched an attack.
Vukovic once again ran back from the frontcourt, this time he was guarding the opponent's captain, Pablo Becker.
Facing Vukovic, the midfield master from Argentina took a fake shot with his upper body and then moved the football forward with his feet. Gu Fan
Vukovich came up, and Ka followed on the inside.
Seeing this, Becker raised his right foot, trying to pass the ball to the right.
Then he suddenly dunked the football to the left and turned around at the same time.
Vukovich was indeed knocked out by Becker's kick, but he immediately turned around and came back after realizing that he had been deceived.
Becker's speed was not fast, which was his weakness, and Vukovich pounced on him again in two big strides.
Becker didn't expect that Vukovich would react so quickly this time and be re-taped.
If he continues to fight with Vukovich, he will only miss the opportunity to organize an attack.
In desperation, Becker had no choice but to turn around to protect the football and then pass the football back.
"Well done!"
Ramirez's accented English shouts could be heard in the distance.
Although Vukovich still did not steal the ball from Becker, he completed a successful defense.
A defense doesn't have to take the football away from the opponent to be successful.
Preventing an opponent's forward pass and forcing the opponent to slow down...these are successful defenses.
Vukovich did not smile when he heard the praise. He just looked around to confirm the positions of the players on both sides near him, and then stood in his defense zone again, ready to face the Navigators' next attack.
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"Vukovich obviously worked harder on defense today..."
The assistant coach Valentin on the sidelines walked to the coach Parotti, covered his mouth with his hands and said.
"He probably realizes his chances are running out."
Parotti said: "No matter what the reason is, as long as he works harder in defense, our goal will be achieved. Vukovic has a strong running ability, and he can completely erect a barrier by running in defense.
, to provide protection for our back line, so that the pressure on Drew will be much lighter."
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Drew's pressure is indeed much lighter.
He could feel some subtle differences between today's game and the previous games.
Previously, because Vukovic would leave space, as a central defender, Drew had to rush up many times, act as a midfielder, and even rush to the center line to defend.
Although Drew's turn was very fast, his speed was not slow, and he was very flexible, but rushing so close and leaving a huge gap behind him... it was also very difficult for him to handle.
It is really difficult for him to run a 100-meter race with Meliby in a competition - no matter how fast he is, he can't be faster than Meliby.
Melli is fast and flexible, and he is as slippery as a loach when dribbling the ball. If he can stand still, it will be fine, but if he simply competes with Melli for speed, he will really be left behind.
There is no such problem in this game.
He doesn't need to press forward frequently because there are people in front of him.
Vukovich worked very hard on defense in this game and protected his defensive line very well.
It's like there is a filter that helps him filter out some threatening attacks.
As for the attacks that can hit him, he can handle them much more calmly because of the help of his teammates.
So Drew once said to Chen Xingyi that defense is not his business alone. He was really not looking for excuses to excuse himself, but the truth.
In football games, offense can rely on the talent of players to solve problems on their own. But defense really needs to rely on the cooperation of the whole team, or in other words, the system - if a defensive player always needs to be one-on-one with the opponent's offensive player, it means that this
There is a big problem with the defensive system of this team. No matter how outstanding the defensive player is, there is no guarantee that he will win all one-on-one defenses in the entire game, let alone all one-on-one defenses throughout the season.
Now with the support of his teammates, Drew is much more comfortable on defense.
Danny Drew doesn't care about the taunts and nicknames he gets online, but he doesn't want to continue to disappoint Pirates fans.
He also wants to be like Hu Lai, who can receive heartfelt cheers and respect from Pirates fans wherever he goes.
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Although Vukovic works hard, he cannot stop every attack of Sevilla Navigator, just like this time.
Navigator's main left midfielder Joseppe Jensen suddenly cut in from the wing, forming a numerical advantage in Vukovich's defense zone.
Becker sent a through ball in time, hitting the Pirates' rib space.
Vukovic turned around to chase, but it was too late. He could only see Jensen inserting into the space and receiving Becker's through ball.
To be honest, Vukovich was a little envious in his heart - he also wanted to play like this, stirring up trouble in front of the opponent's penalty area, instead of defending like he is doing now.
But there is no way, this is his responsibility and job.
So he gritted his teeth and chased after her.
He had just taken two steps when he saw Danny Drew rushing towards Jensen.
The Danish international swung his left foot as if he was going to pass the ball directly. After he swung it down, he dunked the football to the inside. He wanted to cut inside!
Just as he spiked the ball, Danny Drew suddenly cut in and separated the football from Jensen cleanly.
"Drew! Nice defense!"
There was a burst of cheers at the scene, and the Pirates fans did not hesitate to applaud Drew's wonderful performance.
Amidst the cheers and applause, Drew withstood the collision and push from Jensen behind him, raised his head and looked forward, and his eyes met with Vukovich's.
When Drew approached to steal the ball, Vukovich realized that he didn't have to chase back.
His body immediately decelerated and braked, and at the same time he looked towards Drew.
It was at this moment that Drew looked at him.
Both of them saw what they meant in each other's eyes.