Heroes of the Restricted Zone

Chapter 149 There Are Threats (First Update)
Moyes studies tape of his next UEFA Cup group game opponent, Zenit St Petersburg.

Russia's domestic league is too closed, and all he gets are Zenit's games in the UEFA Cup.

Although Everton is currently ranked first in the group, qualifying is not a problem, but we still have to try our best to get a favorable ranking.

He found out that there were a few people in Zenit St. Petersburg who were quite expected. He wrote down the names and how they were, and planned to remind the team members to pay attention during the tactical meeting.

Needless to say, Arshavin, this is a player who has long been famous in Russia. Perhaps ordinary fans know nothing about him, but the professional coach Moyes has heard of his name to some extent—although he didn’t know much about him. Watching Arshavin play football...

Another threatening figure is their midfielder Domingos.The Argentine player became famous in the 2001 World Youth Championship, when he was teammate with Saviola in Barcelona.It's a pity that he was kicked and broke his leg in the World Youth Championship against the French team. Since then, this person has disappeared from mainstream football circles.Later, I heard that he went to Russia. I don’t know why he made this decision. For many people, the bitter cold place in Russia is not suitable for football sports at all. Going to Russia is tantamount to self-exile, especially so A promising player... Now he is the main midfielder of Zenit St. Petersburg and plays a very important role in the attack.

Another threatening person is their midfielder, the field captain Tymoshchuk.The Ukrainian national vice-captain has a natural charisma.His interception and running in the midfield will be a great threat to Everton's offense.And he can not only defend, but also attack. He is the key node in the conversion of offense and defense. In many cases, Zenit's offense is initiated through him stealing in the midfield.

If you want to stop Zenit's attack, you may have to start with Timoshchuk.

The final threat was their centre-back Martin Skrtel.The young central defender has already attracted the attention of some mainstream European league teams through his outstanding performance.It is said that Liverpool intends to seduce him to join.

Skrtel, who is 1.9 meters tall, has excellent air defense ability. Because he played ice hockey when he was a child, he has excellent physical fitness and excellent explosive power. He will not be at a disadvantage in physical confrontation with any forward.But he is not without weaknesses. All tall central defenders have a common weakness, which is slow turning.Smart forwards will be his nightmare.

Moss also thought about it. Almost all of his team are fast forwards, such as Andy Johnson (Andy_Johnson), James Vaughan (James_Vaughan), and Yakubu (Yakubu).

Perfect for Skrtel.

Just thinking about it, Moyes has basically decided on the basic tactics when playing against Zenit - speed.Using the speed of the forward line to continuously attack Zenit's defense line, making their tall defenders at a loss, they were rushed and couldn't find the north.

In addition, Moyes also noticed that Zenit has a big center forward. He is very conspicuous on the field because his figure is really...too big, like a giant bear.

He paid attention to this striker at the beginning. No matter what, a striker with this size will be a nightmare for the defense.In the past, Bayern Munich and the German national team had a center named Janker, who was 1.9 meters tall and weighed 91 kilograms. He was like a heavy tank on the field.Although his skills are extremely rough and slow, he has good post-up skills and a strong right-footed scoring ability. As long as he is on the field, he can cause a lot of trouble for the opponent's defense, even if he can't get in. The ball can also attract defensive firepower for teammates and create opportunities.

More threatening than him is Czech center Jan Kohler.With a height of [-] meters and a weight of [-] kilograms, as long as he is in the penalty area, even if he just stands up and cannot jump, he is a big enough threat.

Therefore, Moyes originally listed Chen Yingxiong as a threatening figure, which needs to be investigated.

Unexpectedly, after watching a few videos of Zenit in the UEFA Cup, he found that this forward has almost no other strengths except for his header. His body is not flexible enough, and his skills are extremely rough. His level is not flattering... He was even surprised - how did such a guy get on Advocaat's starting list?
The result is that this big man started almost every game in the UEFA Cup, but only scored one goal, and it was scored in the weakest team in the group like Larissa, although that goal helped the team win , but it is really not exciting, nor can it reflect his strength-it is not so much strength as luck.Fortunately, he appeared there, and then watched his amateur rounding of his thigh for a follow-up shot. It was really lucky that no defensive player poked the football away first...

And this ball reflects more of the mistakes of the defensive side Larissa's defense, rather than Chen Yingxiong's agility.

Moyes, after thinking about it, finally crossed the name "Hero" off the paper.

He felt that such a center forward who only looked strong physically and had a good header couldn't threaten his back line.

My two central defenders, Joleon_Lescott and Joseph_Yobo, are both tall, strong and good at headers, so it shouldn't be a problem to defend them.At that time, in front of his own goal, there will be no such low-level mistakes as there is no defensive player around him when he rounds his thigh to make a supplementary shot!
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When flying from St. Petersburg to Liverpool, England, many Zenit players shouted, "Britain is so warm!"

Those Liverpool people who shrunk their necks and wrapped their whole bodies in thick coats on the street would not know how to feel if they heard the excited voices of these Russians.

But for people who come from a city where the average temperature in winter is around minus [-] degrees, and the lowest temperature is over minus [-] degrees, this coastal city in the UK is really warm...

This is Chen Yingxiong's first visit to the UK.

When he and his father promoted themselves like ascetics before, they had never been to the UK because they knew that if they could not get a work permit, they would definitely not be able to represent the teams of the four British Football Associations.So the UK was not in their plans from the start.

His main areas of activity in St. Petersburg are in Eastern Europe.The farthest place he traveled with the team was Vladivostok, and the closest to the center of European football was Greece—he followed the team to an away game against Larissa.

Both the city of Liverpool and the team, Chen Yingxiong, have heard of it, and they are famous.

This is a historic port city, located on the east bank of the Mersey Estuary, with a population of nearly 50.Its unique Irish immigrant tradition and its trade with all over the world make Liverpool unique among British cities.

This point is somewhat similar to St. Petersburg's status in Russia.They are also immigrant cities, they are all close to the sea, they all have trade relations with other parts of the world, and they all look a little different in their own countries.

The city is famous in the football world for its two great teams.

One is naturally great Liverpool, they are the most successful club in the history of English football.It's just that the recent years have been unfavorable...

Another great team is Zenit's opponent Everton this time.

In English football, the red and blue duel is an eternal theme, but for those rival teams, their jersey colors are basically red and blue.Such as Manchester United and Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton.Red and blue are the most traditional colors used by England teams, which is why so many rivals use these two colors.

Compared with Liverpool, Everton is less famous in world football, but in England, they are equally famous.They are the only team to have played 100 seasons in the top flight and are one of the founders of the Football League.In the long years of more than [-] years, they have won nine top league titles in England, five FA Cup titles and one European Cup Winners' Cup title.

For such a team, the history and achievements are definitely much more brilliant than Zenit.

Compared with them, Zenit is not worth mentioning.

This is why the English media believe that there is no suspense in this group match. Everton will easily defeat Zenit at their home court, and then advance to the knockout stage as the first in the group.

And the Russian media is not very optimistic about Zenit's future.After all, it is too difficult to beat Everton away.

The current situation of this group is like this. Before the game on December [-]th, Zenit has played three games, with one win and two draws, accumulating five points and temporarily ranking second in the group.Everton played one game less, won two games and scored six points, ranking first in the group.Next is Nuremberg and Alkmaar. Both teams have one win, one draw and one loss, accumulating four points.

With two rounds left, after Zenit finished playing against Everton, their group stage is over. If they lose to Everton, the points will still be five points.And Everton will top the list with nine points, and it is almost impossible for any team to shake their position. Everton will qualify as the first in the group.

At the same time that Zenit and Everton are playing, two teams with the same points will also fight against each other. If Alkmaar and Nuremberg decide the winner, on the premise that Zenit loses to Everton, The winning team will move up to second, while Zenit will be squeezed into a very dangerous third.

If the two teams draw, all three teams have five points, but Zenit have a bye in the final group stage, and Nuremberg and Alkmaar both have a game.Nuremberg will challenge Larissa, who is the weakest in this group, in an away game, and the chances of winning are quite high.The game between Alkmaar and Everton is also full of variables. No one knows whether Everton, who has qualified ahead of schedule, will send a substitute lineup for rotation, because everyone knows that the Premier League schedule during Christmas is the most intensive. , that group match happened to be on December [-]th...

So in the last round, Zenit could only watch the other four teams fight against each other, completely unable to control their own destiny, life and death depended on other people's thoughts.

This is very dangerous.

Had Everton let Alkmaar go and Nuremberg had won Rally [-], the two teams would have finished second and third, pushing Zenit into fourth and out of the tournament.

And the root of all this is Zenit St. Petersburg's away loss to Everton in this game.

Therefore, in order to firmly hold his own destiny in his hands, Zenit must win Zenit away.

The media are not very optimistic about Zenit.

"They played too badly in the first few games, and they won a Larissa who was the worst in the group, and they still won by a narrow margin...You must know that Larissa has only scored three goals so far, of which two The first goal was scored in the game against Zenit! In the two most important opponents, Nuremberg and Alkamar, Zenit only achieved a draw, thus pushing themselves to a dead end!"

The media in St. Petersburg are very pessimistic about Zenit's British expedition...

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(End of this chapter)