On February 11, in the 22nd round of the league, Atletico Madrid challenged Valencia away.
In the first half of the season, Atletico Madrid once beat Valencia at home. Atletico Madrid's winning rate against strong teams this season is not small. Valencia, Real Madrid, and Barcelona have all lost at their feet. However, they have lost in other teams.
However, they seemed to have lost too many points, so they were unable to take a big advantage. Valencia's recent situation is not very good either. Their points have been surpassed by Barcelona, which has recovered and they have fallen to fifth place, behind Madrid.
The competition reached eleven points.
However, Dick knows that even if a team like Valencia is not in good form, they are still a team that is difficult to beat. The big reason for their big victory in the first half of the season is because their team still lacks a break-in.
, so he seized the opportunity, and now, facing Valencia, which has finished running in, it is not easy for Atletico Madrid to get three points at Mestalla.
In five days, Atletico Madrid will welcome Inter Milan. Fortunately, the game against Valencia is on Saturday, so that they can have enough rest time. It is precisely because of the five days of rest that Dick
I just want to win this game and continue to follow Real Madrid or take advantage of Real Madrid to be distracted from the more important Champions League and seize the opportunity to surpass them - Real Madrid has now been undefeated for twelve rounds.
They have won eleven of the twelve rounds of the league, and it is about time when their form begins to decline. At this time, Atletico Madrid cannot relax!
So during this week, Dick became very busy. He was constantly observing the current state of Valencia - Valencia's current lineup has been fixed at 442, and goalkeeper Canizares is
The absolute main force in the defense, Ayala has also begun to officially integrate into the team. His defense with Pellegrino, Angonoma and Carboni has officially become the top defense in La Liga. Although
In the previous league, they had tragic losses to Deportivo La Coruna, Real Madrid and Barcelona. However, they basically only conceded one goal in each game, and their defensive performance was still quite good.
The positions of the four midfielders have also begun to become fixed. Albelda has grown rapidly and has become the iron gate in front of the defense. Aimar, who joined in the winter, has become their attacking midfielder and performed well.
Mendieta and Killy have also begun to show their performance last season. The combination of these four may be slightly weaker defensively, but much stronger offensively.
Coupled with the dexterous forward Juan Sanchez and the powerful center Kalu, Valencia's current main lineup is not particularly famous and does not have enough stars, but they are all standard strength players. Such a team is quite good.
Hard to beat.
After three consecutive defeats, they defeated Mallorca with difficulty in the last round and regained their confidence. The game against Atletico Madrid is the last game of their devilish schedule. Next, they will also usher in the Champions League game.
——This is something Dick can take advantage of.
The Champions League match is earlier than the UEFA Cup match. Valencia’s Champions League match is on Tuesday, a full two days earlier than Atletico Madrid’s UEFA Cup match. In other words, Atletico Madrid is in this match.
can afford it, but Valencia cannot afford it in the game...
Recently, Dick has accumulated three status investigation cards in his hand, one each for beginner, intermediate and advanced. Dick plans to use one intermediate card this time to see his luck.
Soon, he knew the recent status of his eight players.
Molina and Hector are both in good condition. It seems that being the captain and the main player has improved their condition a lot. Belleron's condition is normal, Jardel's condition is also normal, but Wesson
Te's condition is excellent, and his goal card success rate is as high as 93%!
The other three people shown are all substitutes, Sandy is in sluggish condition, Marchena is in good condition, and Mora is in average condition...
"Well, this kid Marchena is in good condition. It seems like we can give him a chance..."
Gamarra's performance this season is also quite stable, without many outstanding points, and there is no obvious decline in form. However, as Thuram is also a relatively stable defender, he and Gamala together
It would be a waste of Thuram's strength to play. If Marchena's condition and performance can be better, his partnership with Thuram will be a way to improve the team's strength.
In terms of characteristics, Marchena is a physically excellent central defender, young and courageous, brave and fearless, while Thuram often played that kind of stable central defender when he was at Parma, because Cannavaro was his partner.
He is a brave type, often flying to save or attack, and Thuram protects him quite well - Cannavaro later transferred to Inter Milan and his performance was average. A big reason for this was because there was no Thuram around him.
Defenders like Lahm help, whether it is Materazzi or Cordoba, they are the same type of brave central defenders as him. Even if three people play together, it is a bit awkward - I really can't blame Cooper for this.
His vision for hiring people was accurate, because he asked Moratti for Nesta at that time. Only a stable central defender like Nesta and the two brave central defenders of Inter Milan can complement each other.
For some reasons, Nesta was snatched away by AC Milan. In order to supplement the defense, Inter Milan made the wrong decision to buy Cannavaro, which affected subsequent results.
Cannavaro, who performed mediocrely at Inter Milan, began to perform well after moving to Juventus - the reason is very simple. At Juventus, his partner was replaced by Thuram - that's it.
Just a little difference, and then he and Thuram Buffon formed the strongest defensive triangle in the world!
So in fact, Thuram is the more important person than Cannavaro. Cannavaro was always of this type before he was thirty years old. After that, his physical fitness declined and his experience increased.
, began to gradually transform into the experienced captain. In the national team, he also cooperated with Materazzi and finally helped the Italian national team win the World Cup.
From this point of view, it is not inappropriate to let Thuram be a man-marking central defender who sweeps up the front, and let Gamarra hold back, but it is a waste of Thuram's talent.
So Dick plans to try and let Thuram and Marchena partner as central defenders. Even though Marchena is far inferior to Cannavaro, he can let Thuram display all his strength and talents. In comparison,
Look, it is also more beneficial to Atletico Madrid. After all, Gamarra is not young, and Marchena is still young.
Looking at this game alone, Marchena is better than Gamarra, because he can mark the opponent's high center Kalu, even if the strength and height are slightly different, the difference will not be too much, Tula
Thuram can be released to protect the back line to prevent the dexterous Sanchez from causing too much damage. Moreover, after Thuram is released, his role will not only be this, but also can more effectively support the overall strength of the entire back line!
The defensive problem has been solved, but Dick needs to think more about the offense.
On the surface, Valencia's midfielder is a single defensive midfielder. It would be better to attack from this aspect. After all, no matter how good Alberda is, he cannot solve all the problems. However, if Dick really wants to focus on attacking the center,
That will definitely break the head - because in fact, Mendieta and Kili are not traditional wingers, and their defensive ability is not bad. Although Aimar's defensive ability is not good, the two of them will shoulder the responsibility.
More defensive responsibilities, protecting Albelda, so Valencia's lineup looks like 442, but it is actually a lineup similar to 4312, except that the positions of Kili and Mendieta are
They are quite lively and their range of activities is also quite large - that is to say, Mendieta and Kili are now at their peak, with excellent condition and strong tactical execution ability, which allows Valencia to continue to maintain its results this season.
Go down.
The middle road is actually unworkable, and it is not easy for Jardel to deal with Ayala and Pellegrino. Dick naturally focuses on Vicente - it was Vicente who played against him for the first time.
Center used his speed to solve Valencia beautifully, and now that he is in such excellent shape in this game, it is the right thing to take advantage of him.
Although the man guarding Valencia's side is Angonoma, an experienced French midfielder, after all, he is not young, and he is very big and has considerable flaws in speed. If given to Vicente,
If there are more balls behind him and he can run, the thin Vicente can use his speed and dexterity to defeat Angonoma!
"There are still nine goal cards, there are a lot of them, just use them..." Dick thought in his mind.
He used two of them in the two games against Real Madrid and Barcelona, and then used two of them as an experiment after the revision. Now there are nine left. Dick feels that he is a model of shrewd management - and one more thing is
In the final analysis, he values the league more. He has never used goal cards in competitions such as the UEFA Cup, which are more accidental, because he knows that the league is the foundation. For Atletico Madrid fans, although they envy the same city
Their rivals are very impressive in the European arena, but they value the league more!
It has already won nine league championships, and winning it again will be double digits! It has successfully become a team alongside Real Madrid and Barcelona! Atletico Madrid fans desire the league championship more than anything else - in fact, the same is true for Dick, allowing a
A team that has only had nine league championships has won its tenth league championship, so no matter what, I can write a mark in the team's development history.
Normal games are for accumulating experience and confidence, but in important games like this, you must win and accumulate your own capital - so he used the goal card against Barcelona, and he used the goal card against Real Madrid. Now
At this critical moment, facing a strong opponent like Valencia, he also has to use goal cards to ensure his winning rate!
And what's different from before is that his use of goal cards now seems to be more technical - based on the player's status and the opponent's characteristics, he designs targeted tactics, and then uses goal cards to improve them.
Success rate... Hehe, this is much more exciting than simply using a goal card and waiting for the goal to appear!
After all, the uncertainty of football is the most attractive thing - and Dick is not exempt from this. In his heart, he is still a fan, otherwise he would not have such a bad taste of making history before.
