The two sides did not wait too long in Bucharest. Soon, the day of the game arrived. Atletico Madrid and Southampton left their hotels almost at the same time and headed to the competition venue.
This stadium is quite majestic. After all, in European competitions, stadiums that can accommodate more than 50,000 people are not particularly large. At least compared with the home stadiums of Atletico Madrid and Southampton, this stadium is larger.
a lot of.
Fans from both sides who had entered the stadium early began to shout loudly. For Southampton, this game is the last worthy game, but for Atletico Madrid, they still have the final round of La Liga to fight for -
- They are currently ranked fourth, but they are only one point ahead of fifth-place Malaga. If they are not careful, they will still lose their qualification for the Champions League.
Everyone knows how big the income difference between the Champions League and the Europa League is.
For Simeone, this game is very important, but the next game is equally important.
"Are we going to compete for the top four in La Liga in a few days? It's really hard work." Ji Ya said when shaking hands with Simeone.
Simone smiled and didn't say much.
It is actually difficult to influence him with words at this time. In the dilemma, any head coach will play the games he can play first at this time.
"Players from both sides came out! Southampton sent out their entire main lineup this season! Goalkeeper Navas, defenders Klein, Blind, Lovren and Font! Midfielders Matuidi, Dembele and
Vidal, forward Willian, James Rodriguez and Klose! And Atletico Madrid is not to be outdone. The goalkeeper is Courtois, who is on loan from Chelsea, and the defenders are Juanfran and Felipe.
The South American combination of Godin and Miranda in the center, Gabi and Suarez in the midfield as double defensive midfielders, Turan and Adrian on the wings, Diego as an attacking midfielder, and Falcao as a forward!"
"Both sides actually have a lot of South American elements. Needless to say, Atletico Madrid's forwards and midfielders are all South American players, as well as their center back partners, and Southampton's two wingers and midfielder Vidal are also from South America.
, This allows them to have sufficient technical elements in the frontcourt. Although Klose is not good at technology, he is a very good assisting center. Atletico Madrid's Turan and Adrian are also very skilled, presumably.
This game will be a wonderful technical battle.”
The commentators commented on this game one after another. From the data point of view, this game will definitely be exciting because the offensive capabilities of both sides seem to be excellent.
Both sides showed their characteristics from the very beginning of the game.
Their real characteristics, not some false characteristics that appear from the data.
Southampton, who took the first kick off, quickly launched an attack. Their attack was very fast, but Atletico Madrid's defense was also very fast. When Klose received the ball, Miranda was already entangled strongly.
Coming up, the Brazilian defender was quite fierce in defense.
Klose did not struggle with the opponent. This is not what he is good at, so he quickly distributed the ball. Vidal took the ball and was immediately pressed by Gabi. Vidal also quickly kicked the ball to the wing.
, William made a pass, and James Ronaldo, who was in the back post, volleyed and shot away due to the interference of Juanfran.
"You're right, these guys' defense is really strong." Benelli took a deep breath.
In the series of attacks just now, almost every Southampton player received very effective and strong interference when they got the ball. Although their attack was successful in the end, there was a slight difficulty in passing the ball.
The ball will be intercepted midway.
This is indeed surprising.
"It's okay, they can't always do this kind of defense, so we have to pass the ball and consume their physical energy... There is no need to rush in a final like this." Noriya said.
On the field, it was Atletico Madrid's turn to launch an attack. During the interception by Southampton's midfielder, they quickly passed the ball to Turan in the frontcourt. Turan, who switched to the left, took the ball and passed it.
, Adrian, who penetrated forward, nodded the ball over the goal.
"Their offensive rhythm is really fast and clean," Benali said.
"Yeah, so I said their tactics are a bit interesting, and maybe they will surprise everyone next." Ji Ya laughed.
After each attack after the opening, Southampton soon began to slow down the pace of the game.
They began to pass the ball constantly and look for opportunities through passing the ball. Atletico Madrid also looked very patient and started to defend in its own half.
"Maybe it's because Atletico Madrid's defense just looked so fierce. Southampton's ball-control offense has begun... Many teams are now learning Barcelona's ball-control offensive tactics, but few can learn anything very similar. Southampton
It can only be used occasionally in some games to see how their ball-control offense goes."
Simone, who had been sitting firmly in his seat, couldn't help but turn his head and look at Ji Ya. He was not surprised or worried, but he felt that he was about to sleep when the other party brought him a pillow...
…
Isn't it a coincidence that I'm worried about not having a good opponent to try out my pressing tactics?
Although it is a bit funny to test new tactics in such an important game, his pressing tactics are exactly the tactics that are useful when facing Southampton's possession tactics. Even if it is an experiment, it should be tested in such an environment!
So he watched Southampton's possession attack coldly for five minutes. After launching a passing attack and failing, he called a player and said a few words to him.
Atletico started to attack, and this time it was also very fast. Turan passed the ball to Diego, and Diego passed the ball into the penalty area. Lovren jumped in front of Falcao and pushed the ball out. Turan followed up with a kick.
Long shot, the ball was confiscated by Navas.
Simone stood up.
Now is the time to press in the frontcourt.
If Southampton launches an attack with a long pass, ignore him.
If Southampton wants to organize the ball from the backcourt to the frontcourt, they should run faster and press like crazy!
Simeone has been thinking about this defensive tactic for a long time.
The basis is to separate the high-position press, a full-court pressing tactic that needs to be practiced to a certain extent as a whole.
The frontcourt presses the frontcourt, and the backcourt presses the backcourt.
The advantage of this is that everyone does not need to join forces. The full-court pressing tactic that became popular in the 1990s is actually very demanding. At the same time, to put it bluntly, it relies on one's own overall strength, and then in each area.
Press the opponent at every stage to gain a greater advantage.
Such tactics will not be effective when a weak team is against a strong team. If the whole field is pressed hard, they may collapse early.
The tactics Simeone is thinking about are based on how to deal with strong teams more efficiently when he is weak!
