Guangzhou Evergrande, which was one goal behind, can now be said to have used all its strength.
In the 38th minute of the first half, Goulart once again used his personal ability to break through on the right and get a chance to shoot. His long shot once again went slightly over the crossbar.
Seeing Goulart continuously attacking his left wing on the court, Zhang Sheng began to worry.
It seems that the combination of Yu Bo and Xiao Yunfan is indeed difficult to resist Goulart's attack. Ben Alpha's absence not only weakens the offensive threat on the left a lot, but now even the defense is starting to become tight.
Thinking of this, Zhang Sheng adjusted the positions of the players on the field. Zhou Zhou and Xiao Yunfan swapped their positions and simply let Pato's side attack harder, while Zhou Zhou came to help Yu Bo defend.
The effect of this adjustment is quite obvious. After Zhou Zhou played as a left back, although the Longteng team basically gave up the offense on the left, the defense became much more stable. Zhou Zhou, a defensive full-back, is really
of stability.
This change of positions not only silenced Guangzhou Evergrande's right-side attack, but also dealt a blow to Guangzhou Evergrande's left-side defense.
In the 42nd minute of the first half, Zou Zheng, who had been tortured by Pato for half the game, had a physical problem. After seeing Pato suddenly speeding up, he also wanted to speed up to defend. Unfortunately, his speed did not pick up. Instead, he
I used too much force and strained my muscles.
Zou Zheng's injury this time caused Pato to completely lose the defensive pressure. When Pato, who was unguarded, was about to dribble the ball into the penalty area, Zheng Long, who was chasing after him from behind, grabbed Pato's jersey.
Pull him to the ground.
This foul did not escape the eyes of the referee Abdullah. He rushed over and gave Zheng Long a yellow card for this tactical foul, and also gave the Longteng team a free kick in the frontcourt.
Zheng Long was very excited when he got this card. He kept asking the referee to argue. As the captain, Zheng Zhi quickly came over and pulled him away. These West Asian referees in the AFC Champions League are no better than those in China. They never take out red cards.
We will take it into consideration that if Zheng Long really gets another card, then there will be no need to play the game.
Duan Xuan, who saw this scene, also asked strangely: "Zheng Long's foul is very obvious. What's there to argue about? Aren't you afraid of getting another card?"
Xu Yang gave Zheng Long an explanation: "I just saw Zheng Long pointing at Zou Zheng who fell to the ground, as if he was complaining about something. Did Zou Zheng have physical contact with Pato just now?"
When the slow-motion playback was played, the two commentators saw that when Zou Zheng accelerated, he suddenly stopped running. Instead, he held his thigh and jumped a few times before sitting on the ground.
At this time, Duan Xuan realized that Zou Zheng was injured: "Oh, Zou Zheng must have pulled it now."
"Yes. I pulled it, I pulled it. It should have been pulled hard enough that I can't stand anymore." Xu Yang also said worriedly, "I guess Zheng Long just complained to the referee that one of his teammates was injured, and Pato didn't stop attacking.
."
Duan Xuan shook his head and said: "Pato himself accelerated the ball, how could he stop suddenly. Zou Zheng was injured this time at the wrong time. The national team game is coming soon. This injury will definitely make him unable to catch up.
."
"I guess he is too tired." Xu Yang said regretfully, "Zou Zheng has been the main left back this season. And I just looked at the yellow card list. Zheng Long got this yellow card. In the next game
The AFC Champions League is about to be suspended. Before the game, we said that Guangzhou Evergrande’s players had too many yellow cards, and now it’s even more troublesome.”
Zou Zheng's injury really hurt the morale of Guangzhou Evergrande. The team's offense is now improving, but we have injured a general. It's not the right time.
Zhang Sheng on the sidelines also shook his head silently. Historically, Zou Qingshi was injured in the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League. It was just a minor injury. He went to participate in the national team training without much rest. The next Chinese Super League
, the AFC Champions League and the Club World Cup overwhelmed him. In the Club World Cup match against Barcelona, he suffered a fractured fibula and a displaced ankle. He had to rest for nearly a year after surgery before returning, and his condition was not as good as before.
It seems that the strain in history was a sign that Zou Zheng's body had reached its limit.
Thinking of this, Zhang Sheng felt a little lucky for Zou Zheng. Although a strain is a very troublesome thing for football players, it is much better than an injury such as a fractured fibula or a displaced ankle, which can ruin a professional player's career.
Maybe this injury would really allow him to escape that disaster.
Zhang Sheng still likes this full-back who has a rare high education among domestic players (graduated from Qingdao University of Science and Technology), overseas experience (lived in New Zealand for three years since childhood), strong English skills, and a fierce playing style. If he
Without that serious injury in history, maybe there would be a better future.
After Zou Zheng was carried off the field on a stretcher, Li Xuepeng was substituted. However, Evergrande's offensive momentum was obviously greatly reduced. In addition, there were only a few minutes left in the first half, and both sides also slowed down the tempo in a tacit understanding.
In the end, the Longteng team relied on Pato's magic touch and entered the halftime break with a score of 0:1.
In the midfield lounge, the players from both sides had completely different mentalities.
Because the Longteng team was ahead, everyone seemed very relaxed. The players, who had changed into new jerseys, were eating bananas, drinking water, and chatting. The physical coaches asked everyone about their physical conditions one by one.
Only Zhang Sheng was still considering the possibility of Guangzhou Evergrande's tactical changes in the second half, discussing various countermeasures with He Lijun and Xuerle.
In the Guangzhou Evergrande locker room at this time, just as Zhang Sheng expected, Scolari made new adjustments to his tactics - making Paulinho more flexible.
Since Paulinho came to Guangzhou Evergrande, although he has scored several key goals, generally speaking, he has participated more in the game as a "deep-lying defensive midfielder". Look at him
As you can see from the few goals scored, all goals were scored from free kicks and corner kicks.
Take the goal in the AFC Champions League as an example. The goal with amazing footwork came from a direct free kick in the frontcourt; in the Chinese Super League, the goal with Guizhou Renhe came from the penalty area after Guangzhou Evergrande's free kick.
Shooting, the goal against Beijing Guoan came from a corner kick in the penalty area; in the Club World Cup, Paulinho's goal against the American team still came from a corner kick, and in the match against Hiroshima Sanfrecce
The goal still came from a corner kick.
The only goal scored in open play was in the game against the Dragons, and that was the result of Scolari specifically telling him how far he was required to shoot.
Therefore, although Paulinho's goals are crucial, they are not goals in sports battles. His greater role is to erect a solid barrier in front of Guangzhou Evergrande's defense.
Even in the last life-and-death battle with the Dragons, Paulinho still showed restraint in offense. The same was true in the first half of this game. Paulinho would have intervened, but after doing so, he chose
Most of them are long shots. As a standard B2B player, he only managed one of them.
Now in order to score goals, Scolari chose to take a risk - letting Paulinho use all his offensive abilities and participate more in the offensive cooperation in the frontcourt, even if this will affect the quality of his team's defense in the middle.
If it falls, he won't be able to care so much anymore.
However, Scolari finally gave an encouraging reminder: "Don't forget to defend, I believe you can take care of both ends!"
Paulinho was the happiest when he heard Scolari's arrangement. This means that his status in the team will be higher, because most of the work of delivering the ball from the midfielder previously belonged to the captain.
Zheng Zhi’s responsibility.
While Scolari was arranging tactics, Duan Xuan and Xu Yang were also discussing how Guangzhou Evergrande should reverse the situation.
Duan Xuan clearly raised his doubts about Scolari's tactics in the first half: "This game is Guangzhou Evergrande's home court. Although their offense seems to be very fierce, we should pay attention to it.
Paulinho doesn't actually participate in many frontcourt attacks. He plays when he has the chance. If he doesn't have the chance, he would rather stay in the defensive midfielder position. This is a bit conservative."
"This should be related to the goal conceded in the last league match against Longteng." Xu Yang said, "After Longteng scored, although Paulinho pushed forward and attacked to get back, the gap behind him was repeatedly blocked by Longteng.
The team took advantage of it. If it weren’t for the bad luck of the Longteng team in that game, the result of the game would definitely not be a draw. Because the Longteng team’s offensive counterattack was too fast.”
"But it's very difficult to score goals without taking some risks." Duan Xuan retorted, "Although the Longteng team has scored the most goals this season, in fact, they pay more attention to defense than everyone thinks. Among them,
As a foreign midfielder, Rock Gill is not without the ability to play the ball and organize offense, but he rarely does this. This is of course related to the fact that several players in the frontcourt of the Longteng team are too strong and do not need him to go up. I think
It’s more likely that coach Zhang Sheng has demands on him and doesn’t want him to rush forward. Now if Guangzhou Evergrande wants to score goals, it must completely unleash Paulinho’s offensive energy.”
"Indeed." Xu Yang thought for a moment and nodded. "If we can't win at home, the second round will be difficult. It all depends on Scolari's arrangement."
After the start of the second half, Guangzhou Evergrande's tactics indeed changed. Paulinho moved forward on the field, and accordingly Guangzhou Evergrande's overall formation also moved forward.
This tactic of Guangzhou Evergrande is extremely risky, because whether it is behind Paulinho or behind the entire defense, there is so much space that Duan Xuan is worried: "Evergrande is really fighting hard here. Overall,
The formation is so high. It would be too dangerous to be hit from behind."
"Indeed. Nie Jiang and Pato on the Long Teng team's forward line are both fast enough." Xu Yang agreed with Duan Xuan, "Once counterattacked, it is very likely to lose the ball."
However, what the two of them thought of did not happen, because the Longteng team had two huge weaknesses that were exposed. First, the team had too little tactical practice on long passes and lobs, and they also had good long pass abilities.
There are too few players.
When Guangzhou Evergrande pressed forward across the board and attacked the middle, the Longteng team still used its old tactics - short passes and coordination, and advanced layer by layer.
Now Guangzhou Evergrande's double foreign aid center keeps retreating to harass and press. Paulinho's first interception in the midfield and Zheng Zhi's second interception in the midfield made the Longteng team's positional warfare counterattack tactics completely useless.
Can't get up.
For example, in the eighth minute of the second half, Paulinho made a mistake in cooperating with Goulart in the frontcourt. Roque Gil intercepted the ball midway. Paulinho immediately chose to counterattack and responded to Roque Gil.
Several teammates, Lin Feng is flanked by Elkeson who comes back from the penalty area to press, and Tao Wentao is flanked by Zheng Zhi. Yu Bo's running route is not very good. He stands behind Huang Bowen. As for Pato on the right
, was stared at hard by Zheng Long and Li Xuepeng, especially Zheng Long. He knew that he would not be able to play in the next game. Now he simply broke the pot and kept moving his hands and feet against Pato because the referee was against him.
The second yellow card for the same player will definitely be issued more cautiously. As long as Zheng Long's actions are not too bad, the referee will not take out the card.
After Roque Gill took a look and saw that he had no chance to play the ball forward, he could only pass the ball crosswise to Xiao Yunfan who came from behind to meet him. In these few seconds of pause, Guangzhou Evergrande's midfielder
The defensive formation was already in place, and the Longteng team's counterattack lost speed.
In the 15th minute of the second half, Rock Gill and Lin Feng teamed up to intercept Paulinho's ball. Lin Feng was just about to pass the ball when he was pulled to the ground by Huang Bowen who came over. Of course, Huang Bowen received a yellow card.
The Longteng team's counterattack was gone.
Of course, this is not without cost. For example, this time Huang Bowen received a yellow card. He will not be able to play in the next game because he accumulated two yellow cards.
Duan Xuan also mentioned this matter: "Before the game, we said that Guangzhou Evergrande had too many yellow cards and the next game would be more difficult. Now it is really like this. Neither Zheng Long nor Huang Bowen can play in the next game."
"I don't think Evergrande is afraid." Xu Yang explained, "Evergrande's reserve of player talent is far better than any other Chinese Super League team, except for the Longteng team, which is constantly replenishing youth training players.
Strong. Like Zheng Long can't play, Gao Lin can take his place, and the team's strength has no impact; Zou Zheng is injured, and Li Xuepeng has a different player style at most; Huang Bowen can't play, but Yu Hanchao can definitely take over.
Among the substitute players, they also have players like Liao Lisheng and Gao Jun who can play on both left and right sides. None of these players are famous. Guangzhou Evergrande has gathered all the international players it can hoard."
When Guangzhou Evergrande let go and worked hard on the court, their strength at home was really terrifying. Now on the court, the Longteng team was suppressed very hard. Evergrande's foul tactics made the Longteng team's pass pass
The coordinated play style is extremely destructive.
At this time, it was Zhang Sheng's turn on the sidelines to start making tactical adjustments.2289
