The other Espanyol players were so angry that they almost vomited blood.
But Roco is the main defender of the Spaniard, and he often assists and headers goals. If he makes such a mistake, everyone can only complain in private, and no one dares to accuse him in public.
Captain Xavi Lopez also went over to comfort Rocco and told him not to blame himself too much, as everyone makes mistakes.
However, such a loss of the ball not only has a huge impact on morale, but also the midfielders and forwards are hesitant when returning the ball, fearing a mistake in the backcourt.
Levante was almost frightened by Zhao Yang's two shots at the beginning. As Lerma scored, Levante's nervousness was wiped away, and the confidence that they had when they were their nemesis suddenly emerged again.
Confidence can often burst out with great energy. Just like the Spaniard's current record, it is because the Spaniards become more confident as they play, not because they already have the strength of the top four.
At the beginning, the attack between Levante and Espanyol was still a bit reluctant, but after the goal, the two sides really fought an offensive battle. Both sides had opportunities to shoot and the time of possession of the ball was almost the same.
Levante also took advantage of the Spaniard players' eagerness to equalize, arrogating the defense and causing the Spaniard to be offside three times.
The Spaniard's best chance to score came in the 24th minute. Zhao Yang broke through and scored the ball in the middle, and then ran to the front point to outflank.
Zhao Yang successfully attracted the attention of Levante players, leaving Caicedo, who was outflanking in the middle, almost unmarked.
Caicedo jumped high and shook his head to attack the goal.
At such a close distance, goalkeeper Martinez couldn't react in time, but the ball flew close to the left goal post and flew out of the baseline.
Caicedo was extremely upset, holding his head in his hands and squatting in the penalty area.
Levante then accelerated its offensive and responded to Caicedo's shot.
Center defender Navarro advanced into the Spaniard's penalty area and headed the ball towards the goal. The ball flew past the right goal post and flew out of the baseline.
Trailing in the score and unable to gain the upper hand, the Spaniards played more impatiently. Since Zhao Yang was being targeted, midfielder Asensio had to frequently attack with the ball, tearing apart Levante's defense.
35 minutes into the game, another accident happened.
When Asensio broke through with the ball, he was tackled by Levante midfielder Lerma who scored the goal.
Although Asensio made dodge movements, he still couldn't completely avoid it and was tackled and knocked over several times.
The referee ran over, showed Lerma a yellow card, and awarded a free kick.
The Espanyol players saw Asensio hugging his legs and screaming, and they were dissatisfied with the penalty. They all went over to put pressure on Pigskin, trying to get the referee to give Lerma a red card.
However, the referee did not believe that Lerma's flying tackle could constitute a red card and insisted on his decision.
At this time, the Espanyol players saw Asensio sitting up on his own and thought he was fine, so they stopped arguing with the referee.
However, after Asensio got up and took the free kick he created,
Suddenly he sat on the ground touching his thigh again.
There was no confrontation, and something must have gone wrong now.
The team doctor quickly came on stage and carried Asensio off on a stretcher.
After Asensio went down, he never came up again. Soon Gerard Moreno replaced Asensio after a brief warm-up.
With Asensio around, the Spaniards couldn't do anything to Levante. Now that Asensio is off the field, the Spaniard fans are silent. They even had a premonition of failure.
The players on the field were all a little depressed, but Moreno, who had just come on the field and was eager to perform, was excited.
After Moreno came on, Zhao Yang returned from the forward to the midfielder. The Spaniard switched to a two-forward mode, except that the midfield organizer was replaced by Zhao Yang.
Zhao Yang's organizational skills are not good, and his passing skills and vision are average. Letting him play in the midfield is actually not very effective.
It's just that now the Spaniard is lagging behind and needs to strengthen its attack, so Sergio puts Moreno on the field.
The Spaniard has never played a three-forward tactic. Moreno and Caicedo are pure forwards, so Zhao Yang can only retreat.
In the first round of the Copa del Rey, Zhao Yang was kept in the dark for most of the game, just for the next two games. If he loses this game, Zhao Yang will probably be criticized by the media and fans after the game.
After Asensio was injured and came off the field, Zhao Yang felt that he had greater responsibilities. He kept raising his hands to ask for the ball and used his breakthroughs to create opportunities for his teammates to score goals.
Without Asensio, Levante was more confident in surrounding Zhao Yang with heavy troops. As soon as Zhao Yang got the ball, at least two people went to double-team him, and there were also players who cut off Zhao Yang's passing line.
Zhao Yang's dribbling ability is indeed good, but he is not able to dribble continuously in a small area like Messi. When faced with the opponent's encirclement and encirclement, he broke through several times and was either fouled or the ball was stolen. Occasionally he succeeded.
Looking up, I saw that there were opponents players on the passing line to Caicedo and Moreno.
Zhao Yang did not dare to ask for the ball again. When his teammates passed the ball, he also chose to pass back more often and cooperate with his teammates.
Zhao Yang's retreat into the midfield had no effect, and the Spaniard's offense was not as good as it was before Asensio came off the field.
However, Levante played better and better, even overwhelming the Spaniard in the last few minutes of the first half.
Fans from both sides in the stands were stunned, and they all wondered if Levante, which had beaten fourth place in the league, was the deputy squad leader who was last in the league.
Head coach Sergio was scratching his head anxiously on the sidelines, but there was nothing he could do. Originally, Moreno came on, but Zhao Yang retreated because Asensio was accidentally injured. He didn't know the effect. There were only five or six minutes left in the first half.
, Sergio, who had little experience, didn’t know how to adjust, so he could only make do with it and wait until halftime.
Lewandowski was particularly excited to watch the game, and there were many shots. However, they only scored 10 goals in 13 rounds. The forward ability was really in short supply. In the first half, they were full of luck and the opponent's core was eliminated. They were not able to expand.
score.
It was hard to wait until the referee blew the whistle to end the first half. Sergio finally let go of his heart that was about to rise in his throat. He quickly discussed with the assistant coaches how to make tactical adjustments in order to give full play to Zhao Yang and the two players.
The role of a forward.
The tactical coach carefully observed the game after Zhao Yang retreated. He believed that even if Zhao Yang retreated, he could not stay away from the penalty area. Zhao Yang who stayed away from the penalty area was actually invalidating his martial arts.
Because opponents can double-team and foul unscrupulously, they don't have to worry about being punished by Zhao Yang's free kicks, and they don't have to worry about Zhao Yang's powerful shots at any time.
After repeated discussions with the assistants, Sergio decided that since the situation was so passive now, he could risk experimenting with three forwards, leaving only three midfielders, with Zhao Yang positioned between the center and attacking midfielder.
In fact, this is not original. This is how Messi is used by the city's rival Barcelona. Sergio just took it and applied it. As for the effect, anyway, now the Spaniard's playmaker Asensio is injured, so he can only be a dead horse.