A few days before the game, Li Gang said in an interview with the outside world: "I am looking forward to the on-court showdown with Zhang Sheng."
"Learning from him? Yes. When I was still at Guangzhou Evergrande, I often discussed various aspects of coaching the team with him in private. But I will not give up easily on these three points." When a reporter asked
Li Gang had previously said that when he asked Zhang Sheng for advice on coaching issues, Li Gang seemed very sincere, but his tone was also full of confidence.
When Hebei China Fortune's starting lineup came out before the game, everyone still saw Li Gang's caution.
Because the absolute core of the team, Mbia, the fulcrum of offensive and defensive balance in Li Gang's tactics, was injured and unable to play, Li Gang arranged a 5-4-1 formation, making it clear that he would play defensive counterattack at the Longteng team's home court.
Of course, their team does have players who can rely on defensive counterattacks - Lavezzi and Gervinho.
As Messi's backup in the Argentine national team, Lavezzi has enough strength. Although he is not tall, he is fast and has strong impact. More importantly, he has a wonderful passing skill.
I think back when he was in Serie A, he was known as the little overlord of Serie A. He could pass all the defenders three times and then jerk off. Maybe his shooting skills were his only weakness.
Not to mention Gervinho. All fans who are familiar with the Premier League know his nickname of "Hot Bird". He is as good as Messi, shoots Heskey, carries the ball to the end of the world, and shoots to the ends of the earth.
This is the fans' concluding remarks to Gervinho.
As an extraordinary maniac, Gervinho is fast and extremely beautiful with his feet. Although his shooting skills have been complained about, his experience in Arsenal, Roma and other wealthy clubs has made him the top and most famous in the Chinese Super League.
One of the biggest foreign aids is not an exaggeration.
With these two top breakthrough experts, coupled with a forward with excellent shooting skills like Deng Chaoqun, Li Gang does have the confidence to play defensive counterattacks with peace of mind.
Compared with Hebei China Fortune in history, they appear to be stronger. The arrival of Wei Zhimin has given their full-backs a strong impact; Yao Tian, as a young player, is better than Jiang in history.
Ning is much better, although the two players have exactly the same type; as for Zhu Xuhe, Hebei China Fortune's midfielder has an additional offensive and defensive balance piece.
Except for the lack of top domestic players at the central defender position, this is a team of local players at the national foot level.
Hebei China Fortune's current good results are not without reason. Li Gang's words before the game were not full of confidence.
It was not until the actual game that Li Gang discovered that sometimes the tactical ideas are good, but the details are more important.
The Longteng team's 3-5-2 formation and pressing style of play in this game made it impossible for Lavezzi and Gervinho in front to get the ball.
Because Mbia was not on the court, Li Gang played Kakuta in this game, hoping that he could rush up the left wing. As a result, midfielder Li Xing in the center could not hold his position at all.
Under Nie Jiang's impact, Li Xing had to knock down his opponent and received a yellow card just eight minutes into the game. Under such circumstances, Hebei China Fortune's game became even more difficult.
Li Gang originally thought that if the midfielder could not pass the ball, he would ask the two full-backs to pass the ball more long. However, under the pressure of the Longteng team in the frontcourt, the two full-backs could not even pass a good long pass.
It is more difficult to hold the ball firmly.
It has to be said that there are too many factors that lead to the unqualified basic skills of domestic players.
Previously, Zhu Xuhe was helping to defend on the right, and right back Gao Zhunyi still had enough time to pass the ball. As for Wei Zhimin, he simply did not have the ability to pass the ball long.
Now under the pressure of the Longteng team's frontcourt, Micro Motion Wings must make an action the moment they get the ball. However, China's domestic players are more accustomed to looking up at their teammates after getting the ball, and then
Adjust your position and pass the ball.
After the two full-backs were unable to play the ball, Li Gang could only place his hope on the three central defenders.
The three central defenders of Hebei China Fortune in this game are Dewey, Jin Yangyang and Yawai Gulum. Unfortunately, the first two have difficulty even defending well without passing the ball. Gulum is a double player between Australia and Turkey.
He has a nationality that is “on the outside” and has good physical fitness, but it is difficult to expect him to pass the ball.
Under such circumstances, the entire formation of Hebei China Fortune was completely out of touch. Gervinho, Lukaku, Yao Tian and Lavezzi in the frontcourt were waiting for the ball to participate in the attack, while the defensive midfielders and defenders behind were suppressed.
It is impossible to transport the shells within the thirty-meter area of the stadium.
Once such a disjointed formation occurs, it is expected that the ball will be conceded.
In the 19th minute of the first half, Ben Arfa easily got rid of the defense of Gaozhunyi on the left and directly inserted into the gap between China Fortune Fortune's right back and right center back.
Gulum's defense not only failed to intercept Ben Alfa's ball, but instead allowed the latter to cut inside and shoot successfully. China Fortune Fortune's goalkeeper Yang Cheng had no idea that Ben Alfa would shoot from outside the penalty area. When he started to save,
The football had already bypassed his fingers, drawn a complete arc, and flew into the net.
After losing the ball, Li Gang had to make adjustments to his tactics on the field. The offensive line retracted under his command, hoping to get closer to his midfield.
This approach really made the situation on the Hebei China Fortune team look better. Several offensive players were able to get the ball, but they were too far away from the Longteng team's goal.
Li Gang's original intention was to make full use of the Dragon Teng team's tight compression and large space behind them to counterattack, so several offensive players pressed higher. The current situation is that after retracting, the offensive players fell into the Dragon Teng team.
Amid the team's layers of defense.
Lavezzi and Gervinho are indeed very capable. As soon as they get the ball, they can create a breakthrough on the court. However, the defense level of the Longteng team is extremely clear. These two powerful foreign players can break through one layer.
But they were unable to break through the second and third layers of defense, which had excellent overall defense.
What's more, Hebei China Fortune is not the kind of team with extremely smooth short-pass coordination. This team changed four foreign players and introduced eight domestic players before the season. It can be said that the whole team has undergone a major change. I hope this will happen.
The team below can play extremely skilled coordination, which is a no-brainer based on the general abilities of domestic players.
The current situation on the court is that the Longteng team relies on the overall coordination of passing and receiving to stretch Hebei China Fortune's defense line, while China Fortune Land Development relies on a few foreign players to fight alone in the front.
Later, Lavezzi and Gervinho even took a few long-range shots to vent their frustration.
Li Gang was extremely anxious at this time. He stood on the sidelines and kept making gestures to the players on the court, asking them to press out of the formation. Then he subconsciously turned his head and looked at Zhang Sheng, who was also the head coach.
Zhang Sheng was too quiet at that time. The latter was sitting on the coaching bench, chatting with two assistant coaches, and pointing at the situation on the field from time to time, obviously discussing something.
"If Zhang Sheng encounters my situation, what should he do?" Li Gang couldn't help but think of this question at this time.
Soon he thought of how Zhang Sheng had switched between three central defenders and two central defenders.
Now the Longteng team puts Chavez at the front, and Nie Jiang, as another forward, retreats very deep. The 5-3-2 mentioned by Zhang Sheng is actually a 5-3-1-1 formation.
However, Hebei China Fortune Fortune adopted a defensive lineup of five defenders too conservatively, but it was actually very suppressed. Is it necessary to play six defenders and seven defenders?
Thinking back to the situation when the Dragons faced a single center in the match against Guangzhou Evergrande, Li Gang had some concerns.
Li Gang on the sidelines made adjustments on the court. He moved Gao Zhunyi from the defender to the midfielder position. This was completely imitating Zhang Sheng and Ma Yongli's swing tactics between the center back and the midfielder.
Hebei China Fortune's on-field changes were quickly discovered by Zhang Sheng.
Micro Motion's forward position and midfielder Li Xing formed a double midfielder pattern, and the former specifically targeted Nie Jiang's position. Wherever Nie Jiang went, Micro Motion's wing ran to wherever he went, following step by step.
This change has had a certain effect. With the help of Micro Motion Wings, the pressure on Hebei China Fortune's single midfielder Li Xing has been reduced a lot.
China Fortune Land Development also gradually pushed out the formation. The two full-backs slowly started to establish contact with several attacking players in the frontcourt.
At this time, the situation on the field became a little better, and it was no longer a one-sided offensive and defensive drill.
"You are very understanding." Zhang Sheng sighed in his heart, "Defense does not mean that putting one more person on the back line can do things better. Multi-layered and flexible defense is the right way. Li Gang can see it.
Already."
After seeing the adjustments on China Fortune Land Development's side, Zhang Sheng also made corresponding changes. De Paul stepped up his assistance to Ben Alpha and began to attack China Fortune Land Development's right wing.
In the previous five-back situation, Zhang Sheng relied more on breakthroughs from the wing to hit the connection point between the opponent's center back and full-back. Chavez was responsible for attracting the opponent's center back away, and then let Ben Alpha and De Paul
Shooting directly, now that the opponent has one less central defender, the corresponding defensive pressure on Chavez will be reduced a lot, and he can make good use of Chavez's impact characteristics to find the center fulcrum.
As for Micro Motion's man-to-man defense against Nie Jiang, Zhang Sheng is not worried. If Nie Jiang cannot even solve Micro Motion's defense, it would be a disgrace to his reputation as the strongest forward in the country.
The corresponding changes in the Longteng team caught Hebei China Fortune a little unprepared.
After Ben Arfa and De Paul got the ball, although they made breakthroughs, they mostly used feints to deliver cannonballs into the penalty area.
In the 31st minute of the first half, De Paul and Ben Arfa took advantage of the space left by the full-back of China Fortune Fortune to counterattack.
The two passed the ball in succession, throwing off the full-back's defense and attracting the attention of the left center-back.
Next, De Paul's pass accurately found Chavez, who overwhelmed Gulum and hit the goal with a powerful header.
China Fortune Land Development's goalkeeper Yang Cheng almost gave up resistance. As a result, Chavez's header hit the lintel and bounced off the baseline. China Fortune Land Development escaped a disaster.
Next, at the 37th minute, another pass from Ben Arfa found Chavez. This time Chavez took a trick and made a slight concession in the middle, allowing the ball to pass behind him.
Xia Gulumu was caught blind, but what he didn't expect was Gao Zhunyi who had been following Nie Jiang.
Nie Jiang kept running back and forth on the penalty area line. When Ben Alpha's ball came over, Nie Jiang turned around and accelerated into the penalty area. At this time, Chavez just let the ball over, and Micro-Zhunyi was lagging behind.
Nie Jiang took half a step and failed to keep up. Nie Jiang faced the incoming ball and pushed it easily. The ball changed direction and flew directly into the net.
After the Longteng team's winger got in touch with the center, the two centers cooperated dexterously, and Nie Jiang widened the score gap, making the score 2:0.
Li Gang seemed helpless about the ball. He had arranged his own tactics, but the strength gap between the players was too large, and there was nothing he could do about conceding the ball.
Secondly, speaking on a deeper level, it is still an issue of trust in local domestic players.
The Longteng team's Zhang Sheng's trust in Nie Jiang is absolutely no worse than that of any foreign player. Sometimes Zhang Sheng even specifically tells the foreign players to let them play for Nie Jiang.
And Nie Jiang's strength has indeed made several foreign players trust them. Under such circumstances, the Longteng team has indeed formed a whole. Compared with Hebei China Fortune, several foreign players do not trust domestic players from the bottom of their hearts. This
Including Li Gang himself.
After 2:0, the Longteng team slightly weakened its offensive intensity, while China Fortune Land Development could no longer maintain a high-tempo run due to the decline in physical fitness. The two sides ended the first half with this score.
In the second half, the Longteng team continued the offensive of the first half. In the 53rd minute of the second half, Nie Jiang succeeded in shooting from the penalty area, extending the score to 3:0.
At this time, Li Gang was completely disappointed with the foreign player Kakuta who replaced Mbia on the field. He replaced Kakuta with Zhu Xuhe. The number of foreign players on the field for Hebei China Fortune was the same as that of the Longteng team.
Although this substitution was forced by Li Gang, the effect was a bit unexpected. Although Zhu Xuhe played awkwardly on the left as a right-sided player, he was very involved in the game and was focused on getting the ball and shooting past people.
Kakuta, who scored the goal, was more stable. The most important thing is that, as players from the Longteng team, Zhu Xuhe and Wei Zhimin got in touch. In the attack on the left, Wei Zhimin no longer handed the ball over, Kakuta took the lead.
The ball was thrown away, and then Wei Zhimin and his teammates worked hard to get the ball back, which was a useless tactic.
Gradually, with the exhaustion of physical energy, Tao Wentao and Xiang Tiange's right attack corridor was no longer as relaxed as it was in the first half. Zhang Sheng also made his own substitutions. Tao Wentao was replaced by Xiong Jian and continued to strengthen the right wing.
