On the evening of August 14, 2002, Alvalade Stadium, Lisbon.
Su Dong was wearing dry casual clothes and sat in the stands of the stadium with all the teammates of the first team who were not included in the match roster, watching the game in full swing in the stadium.
This is Sporting Lisbon's first game of the season.
Head coach Bologni arranged a three-four-three formation, with a small diamond position in the midfield, and the front trident was new aid Tonito, Niculai and Quaresma.
Yes, the two best forwards last season, Jardel sat on the bench, and Su Dong simply sat in the stands.
From this, it is not difficult to see the status of Nikolai in Boloni's mind.
Despite Jardel's majesty last season, as long as there is a chance, Nikolai will replace him in minutes.
He is the center that coach Boloni values most and trusts the most.
Su Dong was a little envious of Nikolai.
Looking at the preparations and warm-ups throughout the summer, it seems more like Boloni's preparations to help Niculai integrate into the team.
At the end of last season, Boloni focused on practicing the trident of Ronnie, Sudong and Quaresma, but now it has become Tonito, Niculai and Quaresma, with Ronnie sitting on the bench.
superior.
It is obvious that Niculai has replaced Su Dong in Bologna's tactical puzzle.
In addition to being envious, Su Dong was more dissatisfied.
Because Nikolai's performance was not ideal, it can even be said that he is not suitable to play as a lone center.
Facing the tall and fast central defender combination of Materazzi and Cordoba, Niculai couldn't even hold the ball.
Tonito and Quaresma on the wings were also frozen by Inter Milan's two full-backs, Coco and Zanetti, and did not perform very well, which led to Sporting Lisbon reaching a deadlock on the court.
The three-four-three formation looks like an attack, but in fact the offense is a mess.
Not long after the second half, Boloni replaced Tonito with Ronnie.
In this way, the Romanian head coach's tactical intentions become more obvious.
He just wanted to use the trident, but he just turned Su Dong into Nikolai.
But the effect is still very poor.
It wasn't until the 70th minute that Jardel came on instead of Quaresma, but the offense still failed to improve.
Fortunately, Inter Milan also did not perform in a good state, and Vieri and Caron did not pose a big enough threat. In the end, the two sides shook hands with each other in a zero-0 draw at the Alvalade Stadium.
Sporting Lisbon was not happy at all when they failed to score a goal at home.
Especially when the team's offensive performance is lackluster.
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"I'm not saying that, that guy's football is completely different from ours."
After the game, when he returned home, Ronnie was so angry that he cursed Nikolai in front of Su Dong.
"There have been times where I've made obvious enough hints and calls, but he hasn't given me any feedback. Quaresma and I have no idea what he's thinking, and he never tells us what he thinks," Tony said.
The same goes for Tuo."
"We seemed to know nothing about him, and the most ridiculous thing is that the coach asked us to pass the ball to him."
"Then the question is, with Materazzi and Cordoba flanking him, how do we pass the ball to him? What kind of ball should he pass? Can he catch the ball?"
Facing Ronnie's three questions about his soul, Su Dong could only sigh in response.
He knew very early on that what Boloni valued most was Nikolai, and he was mentally prepared.
But in fact, when he was not selected for the squad, he was in a really bad mood.
He clearly realized that at the end of last season, the reason why Boloni valued him was simply because Boloni had no choice and Niculai, whom he trusted most, was injured.
Now that Nikolai is back, Su Dong is naturally no longer his first choice.
It was also at this moment that Su Dong truly realized the indifference and cruelty of professional football.
There is really no warmth at all!
However, the Su Dong of today is no longer the Su Dong of earlier times.
Even without mentioning his impression among Sporting Lisbon fans, even with the contract, Boloni cannot leave him in the stands or on the bench, so Su Dong is holding back a lot of energy in his heart, just waiting to see when Boloni will let him go.
He goes up.
He has never been a guy who accepts defeat.
As long as he is given a chance to play, he will make every effort to seize the opportunity.
Su Dong believed that as long as he performed well, even if Boloni wanted to suppress him, it would be difficult to suppress him.
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In midweek, the Portuguese Super Cup was held at the Bofim Stadium in Setubal.
Defending double champions Sporting Lisbon face Mourinho's Porto.
Boloni adopted a two-forward tactic this time, with Jardel and Nikule joining forces, and the team returned to a 4-4-2 formation.
Obviously, Boloni hopes that the team can continue the performance of last season, continue to suppress Porto, and get a good start to the new season.
Su Dong entered the squad this time and sat on the bench.
The game went very bumpy, especially near the end of the first half, when central defender Beto committed a foul and was sent off with a red card. As a result, Sporting Lisbon had to play with one less player in the second half.
Porto launched a fierce attack on Sporting Lisbon in the next 45 minutes, and finally defeated Sporting Lisbon 2-0 with goals from Delle and Postiga.
…
After the game, Sporting Lisbon, which had performed poorly for two consecutive games, was heavily criticized.
The first person to bear the brunt is head coach Boloni.
The Romanian coach said in an interview with the media after the game that the season has just begun and the team is still adjusting.
"Su Dong? Yes, he performed very well against Porto in the Portuguese Cup final last season, but I have to consider that he is only seventeen years old and we have one less person on the field than our opponent. This
At this time we need stability more.”
But Boloni's argument is unconvincing.
Su Dong's agent Mendes said in an interview with a reporter from the Morning Post that Su Dong is ready for the new season.
"Su Dong has been secretly training in Madeira since the Portuguese Cup final in May. He works harder than anyone else to improve his own strength, and the coaching staff speaks highly of him. He has made great progress.
He is eager to get the opportunity to compete and show his training results to the fans."
Mendes also mentioned the current situation of Sporting Lisbon. He believes that the team's offense does have problems.
"Suggestion? I would suggest, why not consider Su Dong?"
Mendes' words were relatively tactful, but he also vaguely pointed out the problems of Sporting Lisbon.
That is, in two consecutive games, Su Dong did not get a minute of playing time, but Nikolai, who played for 180 minutes, performed in a mess. So how did he take on this role?
After the Morning Post published Mendes' interview, Boloni immediately found Su Dong.
The Romanian coach did not mention anything about the news reports. He just told Su Dong that he had been paying attention to Su Dong's training and recognized his progress.
"You know, whether it is against Inter Milan or Porto, it is a crucial game of the season and cannot be missed, so I want to use a more mature lineup and playing style."
Su Dong could not comment on the head coach's formation in person. He just solemnly stated that he was ready.
"I feel that my condition has been adjusted very well. As long as I can play, I will not let you down!"
But even so, Boloni still did not make a commitment, but said that he would arrange for Su Dong to play at the appropriate time.
Obviously, he still believes in Nikolai.
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At the weekend, the second leg of the Champions League third round qualifying match.
Sporting Lisbon once again deployed a three-four-three lineup to face Inter Milan away from home.
Boloni did not play conservatively, he wanted to attack because he knew that in the first round with a score of 0-0, Inter Milan would be passive as long as an away goal was scored.
But sometimes, things are just so weird.
The more eager you are to score a goal and the greater the pressure, the further away you will be from scoring a goal.
Recoba, this super genius from Uruguay, performed a wonderful performance in the first half, passing and shooting, giving Inter Milan a two-goal lead.
Bologna had no way to retreat, so they replaced Jardel early in the second half and tried to attack wildly, but to no avail. Instead, they put their own goal in danger several times and finally had to give up the risk.
In the end, the away game ended with a 0-2 defeat.
With a total score of 0 to 2, Sporting Lisbon was eliminated by Inter Milan and was forced to play in the UEFA Cup.
When the news returned from Milan to Lisbon, the whole of Portugal was devastated.
There are two teams in the Portuguese Super League competing in the Champions League this season, Sporting Lisbon and Boavista.
As a result, both teams failed in the third round of qualifying and failed to enter the first round of the group stage.
Among them, Boavista suffered losses in the summer transfer and lost to Auxerre in Ligue 1, which is understandable. As the defending champion of the Portuguese Super League, Sporting Lisbon lost against Inter Milan.
The crux of the problem is that Sporting Lisbon played too weakly.
Especially the team's offense.
Why Nikolai?
This time, not only the Portuguese media and Sporting Lisbon fans couldn't sit still, but even several veterans in the team were slightly dissatisfied.
Captain Barbosa said in an interview that the team's offense has a problem, which needs to be solved as soon as possible because the Portuguese Super League is about to start.
Albertini, who just joined, also publicly stated in an interview with the media that poor offense was the main reason for Sporting Lisbon's failure in the Super Cup and Champions League qualifiers.
"This has a huge impact on the morale of the team."
Everyone knows that Albertini joined Sporting Lisbon because he wanted to play in the Champions League, but now he is stuck in the qualifiers, which is really hard for him to accept.
More importantly, after playing for Inter Milan, Jardel, the team's number one star, angrily criticized coach Boloni's nepotism and publicly stated that he would leave Sporting Lisbon and switch to Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League.
"Maybe it's not a good time, but I hope to get more trust."
In an instant, the defending champion Sporting Lisbon fell apart.