After the 20th round of the Bundesliga, some subtle changes have occurred in the standings.
Bayern Munich, which has also won three consecutive games, still tops the list, with 16 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss, with 51 points. Their record of scoring 51 goals and conceding only 7 makes them stand out among the rest.
Especially the number of goals conceded is really terrible. It took 20 games to concede seven goals!
And if you exclude the three goals conceded in the 1:3 loss to Hamburg, it is equivalent to only conceding four goals in the other 19 games...
This is the dominance of New Universe Team.
Of course, Hamburg is closely followed, with 13 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses, with 44 points, scoring 40 goals and conceding 18 goals, which is good enough.
In fact, if such points were placed at the same time last season, it would rank first in the Bundesliga!
At that time, Dortmund, which ranked first after 20 rounds, had 13 wins, 4 draws, and 3 losses, with 43 points, one point less than Hamburg currently this season.
But there is no way, who makes Bayern's performance so stable this season.
The league is like this. Not only do you have to perform well, but you also have to look at how your opponent is playing. After all, you can't win everything.
Just like the 2018-2019 Premier League, in the end Liverpool scored 97 points but could only finish second because they met Manchester City with 98 points.
This is indeed unfair, after all, this score can easily win the championship in most seasons of the five major leagues.
But they can only accept this fact and work harder next season.
Talking back to this season's Bundesliga, although Hamburg still cannot catch up with Bayern, with their excellent performance since the start of the second half of the season, they have begun to leave behind the teams behind by a certain amount of points.
After all, Bayern is stable, but other teams are not!
After 20 rounds, Dortmund once again returned to the top three, ranking third with a record of 11 wins, 6 draws, 3 losses and 39 points.
Leverkusen's performance declined, falling to fourth with 37 points.
Then there is Frankfurt with 36 points.
The scores of the teams at the bottom have dropped to another level, namely Mainz with 30 points and Schalke 04 and Monchengladbach with 29 points respectively.
As a result, the next 21st round of the Bundesliga, the game between Dortmund and Hamburg, has become a key battle between the second and third places.
Although Hamburg is still 5 points ahead of Dortmund, if they lose, this gap will be reduced to 2 points in an instant.
With more than a dozen rounds left in the league, the 2-point gap can be said to be negligible.
Of course, what attracts the attention of media reporters even more is that this will be another battle between two famous coaches, Pan Yi and Klopp.
In the first round of this season, the scene of the two sides exchanging words before the game is still vivid in my mind.
In particular, Pan Yi used a move to "build the plank road openly and cross the Chencang secretly". He said he was going to fight Uncle Zha in an offensive battle, but he turned around and counterattacked and stole two of his opponents. It can be regarded as a classic moment in the history of the Bundesliga. This also led to Klopp not being so convinced when he lost, and even the post-match press conference ended hastily.
So, what passionate moments will happen between Pan Yi and Klopp this time?
Of course we as media are looking forward to it.
……
"Of course we will play against Dortmund."
At the press conference before the game, reporters heard familiar words again.
As if "yesterday reappeared", Pan Yi began to talk about the current situation of both parties again, and issued a declaration of war:
"The last time I faced Dortmund, I focused on defense because they were really stronger than me at that time."
"But it's different now. We are second in the league and they are third. Our lineup is stronger, but they have not improved."
"In other words, we are the truly strong team now! We will also prove this on the field and completely suppress our opponents offensively."
"We did this when we faced Frankfurt in the last round, and we can do the same this time!"
"What, you said I said the same thing last time, but didn't do it?...Okay, guess what I will do this time?"
Obviously, Klopp is not prepared to guess.
"I will still stick to my usual approach, which is to put myself first and not care what the other party does."
"Hamburg's signings in the winter transfer window are obviously very successful, and the team's strength has also been enhanced. The three consecutive wins are the best proof."
"But that doesn't mean they are invincible. They also won two games in a row at the beginning of the season. Didn't they start losing later on?"
"Now they are ahead of us. In my opinion, this is only temporary. As long as we defeat Hamburg, we can get back on the right track and we will all find our own position in the standings..."
Obviously, Klopp is still very confident in defeating Hamburg.
Playing at home, and Dortmund's recent form is also good - they also have three consecutive wins after the winter window!
Especially the 3:2 victory over Leverkusen in the away game not only allowed him to overtake his opponent in the standings, but also greatly boosted the team's morale.
However, he verbally said "I am the main one", but it is impossible not to look at the opponent at all.
An excellent head coach always studies the opponent's tactics and then makes targeted strategies.
Just like playing FM games, go to the Internet to download a divine formation, and then play it from beginning to end for a year without making any adjustments? It doesn’t exist.
If any coach really does this, he will definitely die in an ugly way.
What is really called "putting me first" actually refers to keeping your basic tactics unwavering, and then making fine adjustments according to different opponents to adapt to various changes.
This is actually the current situation of most coaches in football.
Of course, there are also some coaches who like to do things differently. For example, they are very proficient in playing a certain formation in normal times, but in some important knockout games, finals and the like, they suddenly engage in some frontless formations, no waist formations, etc.
Such a huge change will certainly make opponents confused, but it will also make our own players uncomfortable, leading to even worse results - a certain bald coach is not named here.
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So Klopp still has to guess how Pan Yi will play in the weekend game.
But is what Pan Yi said at the press conference the truth?
Since he told a lie last time, he is likely to do the opposite this time, that is, tell the truth, that is, he will really fight against Dortmund.
But it is also possible that Pan Yi will use counter-logic. Since you think I will tell the truth this time, then I will continue to tell lies, and I will still focus on defense.
However, if he knows that you think he will continue to tell lies because you think he will tell the truth this time, he will still fight with you...
Klopp is going crazy.
Which level is Pan Yi in this wave?
……
On February 9, the 21st round of the Bundesliga started.
In the match between Dortmund and Hamburg at home, Klopp arranged a standard 4231 formation, but made some adjustments to specific players.
Center: Come to Wandowski.
Frontcourt: Royce, Gotze, Blaszczykovski.
Midfielder: Kyle, Shaheen.
Defenders: Bender, Hummels, Santana, Piszczek.
Goalkeeper: Weidenfeller.
The main left back Schmelzer did not play, while Subotic, Gundogan and others also sat on the bench.
This is actually a partial rotation.
This is because four days after this game, Dortmund will usher in a key game in this season's Champions League quarter-finals, heading to Ukraine to challenge Shakhtar Donetsk away from home!
So Klopp is actually struggling a bit inside.
Of course he wants to go further in the Champions League, but at the same time he also knows the importance of the game against Hamburg.
If they are defeated by Hamburg, it will be difficult for Dortmund to catch up with their opponents, and they may even be surpassed by Bayer Leverkusen, Frankfurt and other teams behind them. In that case, it will not even be possible to guarantee a place in the Champions League next season.
So Klopp thought about it and made a compromise arrangement.
That is to only rotate three to four people, and use a balanced offensive and defensive tactic to restrict Pan Yi.
Isn’t it impossible to guess whether you are attacking or defending?
Then I won’t attack anymore, I’ll just stabilize my position first, and I won’t even carry out Klopp’s signature full-court rush.
In this way, it can also save the physical strength of the main players, and strive to win the game economically without delaying the important Champions League knockout match.
Of course, Klopp also carefully studied Pan Yi's tactics, including the first round victory against him.
He was still keen on Hamburg's sharp right-side attack, so he also made targeted arrangements.
Putting Sven Bender, who originally played as a defensive midfielder and central defender and has stronger defensive ability, at the left back is a signal.
This shows that even if Klopp has to give up part of his offensive ability, he still has to suppress Hamburg's right-side attack!
……
When the referee blew the whistle to start the game, Hamburg did not look like it was an away game at all, and launched an aggressive attack on Dortmund despite the overwhelming boos of more than 80,000 fans at the Westfalenstadion.
Pan Yi actually wants to attack!
But Dortmund is naturally not afraid of this style of play.
Although their players did not press Hamburg in the frontcourt under Klopp's instructions, they still firmly blocked Hamburg's attack. The two sides played back and forth, and there were constant exciting scenes.
In the 1st minute, Dortmund midfielder Kyle fouled. De Bruyne took a free kick from the frontcourt, but Kjaer's header went wide.
In the 13th minute, Carvajal made a high-speed breakthrough from the right and sent a cross. Sun Xingmin, who was outflanking in the middle, shot an overhead shot before Santana blocked it. Unfortunately, the angle was too high and was confiscated by Weidenfeller.
In the 14th minute, Dortmund responded with a pass from Piszczek. Gotze caught the ball and broke into the penalty area after being offside, but his shot missed slightly.
The pace of both sides is getting faster and faster.
That's how the game is, sometimes you want to control the rhythm, but you just can't.
Because the game is played by both sides together, if the opponent gets up quickly, you will suffer a loss if you don't keep up, so in the end you can only follow up.
Most of the Dortmund players themselves are young men with high spirits, and their usual style of play is to press the whole court and attack quickly, so they started to fight fiercely with Hamburg while kicking, and both sides began to see red bayonets.
And the goals came quickly, and two at once!
In the 16th minute, Dortmund broke the deadlock. Hummels' clearance ball in the backcourt was passed directly to the opponent's penalty area. Wandowski received the ball and got rid of the defender and calmly shot it. Dortmund led 1-0 at home! But just 2 minutes later, Hamburg equalized the score.
Robertson made a cross from the left, and Vardy took advantage of Dortmund's defensive line to gain a foothold and score.
After the goal, the two sides fought even more intensely, and the two sides continued to go back and forth. The fans in the stands and in front of the TV were also dizzy and cheering.
In the 19th minute, Blaszczykovsky missed the ball after receiving a pass from Royce.
In the 20th minute, Sun Xingmin took advantage of the Dortmund midfielder's error in returning the ball and broke into the penalty area. However, after dunking Weidenfeller, his shot from a small angle hit the post and bounced out.
In the 21st minute, Paulinho tackled Blaszczykovsky in the Dortmund penalty area and received a yellow card.
In the 25th minute, Hamburg counterattacked from the left. After receiving Robertson's pass, Sun Xingmin dunked the defender and took a long shot with his left foot from outside the penalty area.
The ball drew a strange arc and went straight to the far corner of the goal. Weidenfeller had no reaction. Hamburg went ahead 2-1!
"goalllllllllllll..."
Amidst the passionate shouts of the TV commentator, Klopp's face was dull for a while in the TV camera.
He didn't expect that Hamburg's offensive would be so fierce, and they scored two goals in just 25 minutes of the game.
What he didn't even expect was that Hamburg's two goals were both launched from the left!
In this game, Klopp made a defensive deployment specifically for Hamburg's right-side attack. His original intention was to focus on the right and put it on the left.
Although Robertson, the left back that Hamburg introduced in the winter window, performed well in the last round of games, he is only 18 years old after all, and it was only his first time in the last game, so his condition is definitely unstable.
So Klopp still focuses on the right wing.
But what I didn’t expect is that the current burger is really so difficult to deal with?
The attack on the left is also so sharp, not even much worse than the right.
So how can we prevent this?
Including the double midfielder composed of Paulinho and Casemiro, and the midfield formed by De Bruyne, both defensive hardness and offensive organization seem to be stronger than in the first round.
Although Dortmund also scored a goal, it was scored by Lewandowski's personal ability, which is a bit different from Hamburg who mostly used exquisite coordination to score goals.
Klopp realized for the first time, is Hamburg really stronger than Dortmund now?
So what Pan Yi said at the pre-match press conference was all true, because he already had the confidence to have a real offensive battle with Dortmund at the Westfalenstadion.
This time, it seems that Pan Yi didn't think so much about which floor he was on, he was really just on the first floor!...
Soon, Dortmund suffered another blow.
In the 28th minute, Wandowski turned around and shot in the penalty area but Navas confiscated it.
In a subsequent attack, Lewandowski raised his foot too high during the fight and directly kicked Rudiger down. De Bruyne, who was nearest, stepped forward to reason and caused a conflict between the two sides.
There was a push between Wandowski and De Bruyne, and the referee finally gave Wandowski a direct red card, while De Bruyne received a yellow card.
This is how young people kick themselves in the head.
Especially the Dortmund players, who were at home today, but fell behind despite the cheers of 80,000 fans, and their mentality could easily lose balance.
Although Lewandowski scored a goal, the next few attacks were blocked by the Hamburg defenders, and his footwork became more and more unsatisfactory, which also made the Polish forward start to feel restless. p>
So it finally led to such an ending, and he was sent off early!
Pan Yi was very happy to see this scene.
The original intention of the tactics he adopted tonight was to attack with force. He took advantage of Dortmund's mentality of losing sight of the other when fighting on two fronts, and took advantage of their weakness of not adjusting their positions enough to run in. The opening was to attack with force!
The only way to attack aggressively is to give them a chance to slowly adapt and adjust on the field, and kill them with one axe!
But Dortmund is capable after all, especially a star like Lai Wan, who will seize the opportunity to score a goal if he is not careful.
Fortunately, the Hamburg players' mentality and technical performance will not be too affected by losing the ball, and they quickly equalized the score and took the lead.
After bringing the game into their own rhythm, Hamburg played better and better, while Dortmund played more and more anxiously, forgetting the tactics ordered by the head coach.
This is of course what Pan Yi is happy to see, and Laiwan’s red card is even more unexpected.
Who would have expected that the other party would give such a big gift?
Football matches are inherently composed of many accidents and surprises.
One goal ahead, one more player to beat, and the one missing is the opponent's number one star, this game looks stable...
But on the other side, in front of the home team’s bench, it’s a different scene.
Wandowski's red card almost made Klopp go berserk.
He rushed straight to the sideline and roared at his players and the referee.
In his opinion, it was unintentional for Wandowski to lift his foot too high when the ball came to him, and it was De Bruyne's provocation that earned him a red card.
But the matter has come to this, and Klopp’s yelling is of no use, and he even received a yellow card for it.
"This bastard!"
Klopp glanced at the visiting team's coach's command area. At this time, Pan Yi was smiling, obviously satisfied with the penalty.
This made Klopp roar angrily.
But what can he do now?
Comparing his feelings, if the player who was sent off was a Hamburg player, he would also be happy.
It’s only because our players don’t control their emotions as well as the other team’s that they made such a big move...
The rest of the first half became Hamburg's offensive performance.
In the 30th minute, Casemiro's long shot from outside the penalty area was saved by Weidenfeller.
In the 35th minute, Paulinho broke into the penalty area and his shot was blocked by the defender.
In the 39th minute, De Bruyne brought the ball into the penalty area and was tackled by Santana. Since he tackled the ball first, the referee ignored it.
In the 42nd minute, there was a vacuum in Dortmund's defense on the right. Robertson made a cross pass, but Vardy, who was grabbing the spot in the middle, missed the shot.
In the 44th minute, Dortmund's rare corner kick created a murderous opportunity. Shaheen headed the ball into the penalty area. Hummels countered offside and shot over.
In the first minute of stoppage time in the first half, Carvajal broke through from the right and crossed to create chaos. Wu Lei passed back to Paulinho in an offside position. Although the latter scored, the goal was invalid.
Before the half ended, Pan Yi and the coaching staff around him had already almost figured out the basic strategy for the second half.
After Laiwan left the field, Hamburg's ball possession rate increased significantly, about 70% to 30%.
So, with such a huge advantage, Hamburg can win the game as long as it continues to play steadily and not make rash advances.
"Paulinho played really well." Nagelsmann praised.
The screen on the tablet in his hand shows that whether it is interception success rate, pass success rate, performance activity and other data, Paulinho can be called Hamburg's midfield pillar.
Even so far, he has made zero mistakes in passing, which is very rare.
What's even more rare is that he won all the head-to-head confrontations, and he also made some threatening passes and even almost scored a goal.
It can be said that he, a hexagonal warrior, has made Hamburg's midfield both offensive and defensive, allowing the team to organize wave after wave of attacks.
"Although I have said it many times, I still want to say..." Inzaghi shook his head and said, "Coach Pan Yi has such a vicious eye when buying people."
"Basically, don't sit still." Pan Yi said with a smile.
"If we continue to play like this, our physical fitness will not have too big a problem." Pintus is concerned about his professional field, "On the contrary, Dortmund will reach a small limit of physical fitness in about 75 minutes. At that time, we can
Consider letting the players rush."
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Pan Yi nodded.
He was well prepared for this.
Hamburg is now leading, which gives him more room to adjust his tactics in the second half.
If Klopp doesn't make any big changes in the second half of the game, Pan Yi will of course consider Pintus's suggestion and take advantage of the opponent's significant decline in physical strength to widen the score gap and establish the victory in one fell swoop.
……
During the halftime break, Pan Yi was very satisfied with the players' performance.
He highlighted one player by name, and that was Paulinho.
"Although there was no goal, I think this was the best game you played since joining Hamburg. You and Casemiro completely controlled the midfield..."
Of course, there is another player worthy of praise, and that is De Bruyne.
This Belgian guy, who is usually docile, immediately went to argue with his teammates when they were violated, which resulted in the opponent being sent off.
While proving that Hamburg's current team is extremely united and loving, it also made great contributions to this game.
"Keep up the good work in the second half, but you also have a yellow card, so be careful. If I see you have emotional problems, I will replace you..."
Then Pan Yi praised the scoring heroes Vardy, Sun Xingmin, and Robertson who sent two assists.
These people are doing very well!
Now the players are making progress, the entire team is making progress, and the overall strength is gradually growing.
This is why Pan Yi dared to play against Dortmund at the Westfalenstadion.
Because burgers have really become stronger!
Pan Yi finally warned:
"Remember, we have a huge advantage now, and we must play the second half carefully. If nothing else happens, we can successfully win these three points!"
Pan Yi warned him repeatedly because he knew that Dortmund was young, but Hamburg was even younger.
They are young and energetic, and so are the Hamburg players.
Now that Dortmund is trailing at home and has one less player to play, it is obvious that they will play more aggressively in the second half.
Several players in Hamburg have received yellow cards. If they are not careful in such a more intense fight, they may receive another card and end the game.
However.
Shortly after the start of the second half, as expected, the unexpected happened...