Seeing Southampton put on a defensive posture from the beginning of the game, Martino was still a little relieved. After all, Barcelona is still very strong in the midfield and frontcourt, so there is no problem. The most worrying thing is the goalkeeper Pinto.
If Southampton were defensive at this stage, this problem would not be a problem.
However, what he ignored was that Southampton's counterattack seemed to be sharper.
Moreover, their counterattack is different from ordinary counterattacks. Opportunities can be created through simple long passes and the individual performance of the frontcourt players.
This is also the biggest headache for Barcelona's defense.
Do you expect Alba and Mascherano, who are only a little over 1.7 meters tall, to mark the rushing Lukaku?
Even if Pique is barely able, he can't always move to the wing to defend. Pique on the wing is worse than an ordinary full-back.
Martino ignored this, but Noriya never gave up the idea of dealing with Barcelona.
The previous pressing tactics can't be said to be useless now, but that kind of playing method consumes too much physical energy. It doesn't matter if it's just a final, but for a two-round game, plus the game against Manchester City in between, of course it needs to be saved.
A little physical fitness.
Southampton's defense seems to have declined recently, because they have begun to adopt more of the offensive football of last season. In such an offense, Suarez has become the biggest beneficiary, scoring twice in succession recently, which is dazzling.
But in such tactics, Lukaku seems a bit lackluster.
It's also easy to ignore his big guy.
But with Lukaku's ability, no matter who ignores his threat, he will definitely suffer retribution, or in other words, very bad consequences.
After Barcelona opened the game against Southampton's defense, it was quite difficult to attack. It wasn't until the seventh minute that they created a free kick through Messi's breakthrough. Casemiro knocked him down and Messi
He personally took the free kick and hit the wall. After the ball bounced back, Fabregas followed up with a kick. Otamendi blocked it and the ball bounced out and was picked up by Navas.
Southampton launched an attack. After quickly passing through the midfield, they saw Lukaku switch to the center. De Bruyne immediately passed the ball into the penalty area. Lukaku jumped high and prepared to fight for the top. Pique did the same.
After jumping up, the two collided with each other. No one was able to touch the ball. The ball was taken by Pinto who was attacking.
Just when the game was about to continue, the referee stopped the game and ran into the penalty area.
After the fight for the top just now, Lukaku only staggered and stopped, but Pique fell on the lawn...
The stretcher rushed in and carried Pique out. Ji Ya looked over there with some surprise, and then found that Barcelona's central defender Batral on the bench was warming up urgently to prepare for the game.
"Holy shit, are you really hurt? No way, this lady is too fragile..." Ji Ya couldn't help but muttered.
"Maybe it's because I spent too much energy on Shakira." Benali whispered in a very obscene tone.
In other words, he was saying this in a low voice, otherwise the people over at Barcelona would hear it and they would have to fight...
Lukaku also looked innocent on the court. He really felt that he was quite innocent. In the fight for the top just now, his movements were very clean. He was purely relying on physical confrontation to fight for the top. As a result, Pique was injured like this. He could
What can be done?
Now Barcelona fans are desperately booing him, and he is very innocent.
However, Southampton's counterattack also surprised Martino. He did not expect that Southampton could play so simply and yet so effectively.
And now that Pique is off the field, the only anchor in the defense is gone. Can Batral and Mascherano alone withstand Southampton's counterattack?
Martino suddenly discovered this problem...
Apart from anything else, if Lukaku, who is over 1.9 meters tall, rushes forward, do you expect this defense to be able to withstand it?
What a fuss!
Just when Martino was very depressed and didn't know what to do, Barcelona's players still launched an attack according to their established goals.
After all, they have so many people in the frontcourt, so it would be a waste not to attack.
However, in the face of Southampton's complete defensive system, it is difficult for them to create opportunities.
Moreover, once Southampton players see that Messi or Neymar is about to break through, they immediately choose to foul and interrupt the opponent's offensive rhythm. Southampton's defensive players are more intelligent, and they also commit fouls like this.
It's a very tactical foul, and such fouls are often not punished very seriously.
However, Barcelona's offense was disrupted by such fouls, and the game was completely unable to show its own characteristics.
When a team's rhythm is constantly interrupted, it's actually very fatal.
It is difficult to organize the offense smoothly. Even if Harvey keeps passing the ball in the midfield, the effect is not very good - the key to this problem is that Harvey is old, he is almost 34 years old.
If he is a central defender or goalkeeper, his age is not too old, but as a core midfielder who has to run more than 10,000 meters and pass more than 150 passes in every game, at his age, he is indeed already
Not too small.
In fact, his appearances have begun to decrease since last season.
As a player who has always had a high attendance rate, in the first eleven seasons, he played more than 30 times in the league in nine seasons. In the remaining two seasons, one was due to injury and he only played less than two games.
Ten times, and twenty-nine times in another season, which is infinitely close to thirty times.
But last season he only made 24 appearances in the league.
It's because his physical fitness has declined and he can't concentrate on showing his full strength in more games. This season, this problem has become more obvious.
Without Xavi as the core, Xiaobai has been pushed to the front line again. Barcelona's ability to create opportunities in the midfield is indeed much worse.
Therefore, they can only hand the ball directly to Messi and Neymar, and create opportunities through their breakthroughs and taking the ball.
However, as soon as Neymar started to break through with the ball, he was brought down by Casemiro.
Although Casemiro received a yellow card for this, it interrupted another Barcelona attack.
It wasn't until the 23rd minute that Barcelona launched another attack. Xavi passed the ball from outside the penalty area into the penalty area. Neymar took off and shook his head to attack the goal. Under Otamendi's defense, he was unable to hold up the ball.
Powerless, Navas saved the ball easily.
There were some disappointed sighs from Barcelona fans in the stands. So far in the game, there is still no improvement in offense, which makes them all seem a little disappointed.
This is also normal. Under the pressure of Southampton, Barcelona's offense did not create many opportunities, but their offensive status will always slowly pick up.
