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Chapter 388 The fig leaf that was torn off

Ralph Lannick left Zurich with a sullen face.Originally, he should be in a good mood. As long as he is not intentionally satirizing other people or angering him, chatting with Pei Wei often feels like a spring breeze. The same is true for Lannick. After feeling the sincerity shown in Pei Wei's words, he was originally in a very happy mood.

But after the lottery results came out, his face darkened.

As expected, Hoffenheim was ranked in the third tier, and finally in Group A. The first team in Group A is Newcastle, the second team is Lyon, the former overlord of Ligue [-], and the fourth team is Alkmaar from the Eredivisie.

All teams from the six major leagues. Lyon and Alkmaar were the runner-up teams in Ligue [-] and Eredivisie last season. Hoffenheim was the runner-up in the Bundesliga. Unfortunately, Newcastle is also the Premier League champion...

For this grouping, the European media agreed that it was Newcastle's luck. For the other three teams, this group was a standard group of death. Their chances of winning against Newcastle were not too high, and even if they faced the other two opponents, they would not be sure of winning...

As for the final outcome of this group, I am afraid that the most likely thing is that Newcastle will be the best, and the other teams will be entangled together. The final decision to qualify for the group may be a victory, a draw, or even a goal difference...

The judgment of the media is correct. Being assigned to this group may be the most unfavorable for Hoffenheim. Their lack of experience in the Champions League means that they will not have any advantage even when they compete with Lyon and Alkmaar.

However, the first game of the group stage will be played on September [-], and they will face Alkmaar away. Before that, there is still a league game to play, and Rangnick still has time to adjust.

Hoffenheim lost five players on the training ground. They were Bosnia and Herzegovina internationals Ibisevic and Salihovic, German internationals Marin and Beck, and the newly joined Serbian international Kolarov.

The effect of the training is not bad. At least in the team training, the gap left after the left back assists the front field is not so big. Although Kolarov is not as good as the experienced Simunić in defense, the full back assist has increasingly become one of the most important offensive methods in modern football. A full back who cannot attack will not have much future.In the same way, a team with a poor full-back offense can easily be disintegrated by the opponent.

Even if the performance is temporarily affected, Lannick still needs to let the wings fly, especially when Long Bisheng, the high center forward, plays an increasingly important role in offense.

After nearly half a month of adjustment and rest, Long Bisheng seems to have returned to his excellent form of last season, scoring goals in training, and even a few wonderful goals after passing the defender outside the penalty area.

In the fourth round of the home game against Stuttgart, Long Bisheng showed his excellent ability to grab points and confrontation in front of the goal. He scored twice in the first and second half, but Hoffenheim failed to win the game. They were tied [-]-[-] by Stuttgart at home and fell to fourth place in points.

For this result, the Hoffenheim players did not complain, because they had already set their sights on a game three days later-the first Champions League game in Hoffenheim's history will start in three days!
On the road - something that displeased Hoffenheim fans, who felt that the historic game should be played at home - unfortunately, for UEFA officials, this was just an ordinary Champions League match.

In terms of history, Alkmaar is far inferior to Hoffenheim, which was founded in 1899. Alkmaar, who has less than 50 years of history, can only be regarded as a teenager in front of Hoffenheim, but in terms of performance, they are much better than Hoffenheim. The two Eredivisie championships are enough to make them proud.

In the eyes of the Chinese, their jerseys and stadiums are ridiculous. The English abbreviation of their home stadium, De Hoot Stadium, is "DSB", and there is also a DSB logo on the jersey, which means "big SB" on the Chinese Internet. People often exclaim in the photos of their jerseys, thinking that this jersey is too individual.

But in this game, SB's is Hoffenheim.

After Van Gaal left, Alkmaar never won the Eredivisie league championship again, but under the leadership of the famous Dutch coach Ronald Koeman, they can still enter the Champions League every year.

In this game, Alkmaar played at a very high level. They made full use of their home advantage and their rich experience in the Champions League. They used excellent defense and the same wide range of pressing to make Hoffenheim's good frontcourt.

In another game, Newcastle's Messi and Ribery each scored a goal and defeated Lyon [-]-[-] in the away game, so that they ranked first in the group relying on the number of goals, Alkmaar ranked second, Lyon third, and Hoffenheim unfortunately came to the bottom.

Hoffenheim, which has lost three consecutive games, began to feel the pressure, and the reporters who were bragging about their breakthrough in the Bundesliga and the Champions League some time ago changed their tone and began to criticize Hoffenheim for their inaction in the transfer market before the start of the season.

Rangnick doesn't care about the reporters who follow the wind, but he also knows that there is indeed something wrong with the club, and his previous thoughts were a little too optimistic.

Although Long Bisheng scored twice in the last game, his performance in this game was not good. Although he was still active in running, he withdrew from the penalty area and took the ball to pass people. It seemed a little too much. Without his restraint in the penalty area, Ibisevic could only be submerged in the opponent's defenders, unable to exert continuous pressure on the opponent's goal. It is strange to score.

But in the league three days later, Long Bisheng's performance returned to the level of the second half of last season. He scored a goal in the game, assisted Ibisevic with a header, and caused countless troubles for Dortmund's defense. He helped the team beat Dortmund [-]-[-] at home and returned to the second place in the league, second only to Wolfsburg with three wins and two draws.

After winning the game, the praise came back to Hoffenheim, but Hoffenheim seemed to be addicted to the roller coaster ride. Just a week after the big victory over Dortmund, they lost to Werder Bremen without temper. The score of [-] to [-] made them fall to the fourth place again.

The fans wondered, and the players didn't know what was going on. They performed well during training, but why did they suddenly perform so poorly in this game?I don't understand, I really don't understand...

In this case, Hoffenheim ushered in the opponent in the second game of the Champions League group stage, and also the most powerful opponent in the group stage, Newcastle from the Premier League.

Before the start of this game, the fans of Hoffenheim are still very confident. First, this game is their home game. Although the team’s performance has fluctuated a lot since the beginning of this season, they have not lost at home.

Newcastle shattered their illusions with a performance.

In this game, Newcastle proved why they are the best team in the Champions League in the past eight years. The luxurious offensive line caused Hoffenheim's defense to be torn apart time and time again.

Gerrard's long-range shot opened the door to victory for Newcastle, and then Messi and Drogba's goals stabbed Hoffenheim twice. Hoffenheim couldn't even score a face-saving goal. The final score was [-]-[-].

This is Hoffenheim's worst loss at home since it was promoted to the Bundesliga. In addition to the pain, Hoffenheim fans can't help but think-what is our problem?

Why did they start with three consecutive victories and their state fluctuated so much during this period of time? Why?
The fans are thinking about this question, the players are thinking about this question, and Rangnick is also thinking about this question.After Newcastle mercilessly tore off their last fig leaf, everyone began to face up to this problem.

(End of this chapter)