Father Green

Chapter 285: Europa League Knockout
Despite winning the League Cup, Charlotte did not agree with the club's high-level idea of ​​holding parades and celebration banquets. After all, the season is now in its final sprint, and Southampton still has many important games to play.

On the second day after winning the League Cup, Charlotte led the team to ice and snow Russia. Their opponent in the first knockout round of the Europa League was the Russian powerhouse Zenit St. Petersburg.

Fortunately, he sent all young players to the final of the League Cup before, otherwise the youngsters would not be able to bear the Europa League expedition to Russia.

In the game against Zenit, Charlotte naturally played the main force. Only Pogba and De Bruyne sat on the bench. After all, they played more than 10 minutes in the previous game against Bradford.

Charlotte is most afraid of playing against teams like Russia and Ukraine in the winter, because the away factor is a kind of torture for him.Unfortunately, the more Charlotte worried about something after the game started on this day, the more likely something would happen.

In the first half of the away game, Southampton did not play well. The weather was too cold for the players to open their bodies, and the quality of the lawn was very poor. The Saints players were not used to it at all.

On the contrary, Zenit, who played at home, took advantage of the home court to suppress Southampton bit by bit. In the end, just 2 minutes into the second half, Hulk used his physical advantage to squeeze Wanyama away. A very high quality pass.

Zenit's head center Kozakov did not adjust after taking the ball and shot directly.Lovren's defense was half a beat slow, he did not interfere with the opponent, and finally the football flew into the goal guarded by ter Stegen.

Charlotte smiled helplessly on the sidelines. Wanyama's muscles didn't even warm up. He was very uncomfortable playing in such a icy and snowy place for the first time, so he gave Hulk a chance. If it is up, it is impossible for Hulk to squeeze Wanyama away so easily.

At the same time, Lovren also had this problem. Why is his movement slower than Kozakov?It was not because his muscles were too stiff, and he finally moved his body a little in the first half. As a result, after a 15-minute intermission, his body muscles cooled down again.

At the same time, Charlotte is also complaining that this gang of fighting nations likes to play tricks like the rotten country, for example, there is no heating in the locker room of the visiting team.
Everyone has this common sense, that is, in the particularly cold weather in winter, the hands are very stiff, and naturally it is difficult to be flexible whether it is playing games, typing or even writing.

After the opponent scored a goal, the weather was not good, and the gloomy sky began to dance with little snow.

"Damn it!!" Charlotte cursed secretly, he already had a bad premonition in his heart.

Sure enough, when the game lasted 8 minutes, the light snow on the turf began to melt under the trampling of the players, and the turf became more and more slippery, which greatly reduced the accuracy of Southampton's passing.

Southampton is based on ball possession and passing and cutting tactics. When the passing accuracy plummets and the players run and slip easily, their power will naturally drop several levels.

Charlotte turned her head to the assistant coach and asked, "Are the snow boots I prepared before?" The snow boots he was talking about were naturally not the kind of mid-tube thick shoes with fluff, but sneakers. Sneakers used by middle and high school professionals in snowy and rainy venues. The studs of this kind of sneakers are longer, sharper, and have a firmer grip, making it difficult for players to slip when exerting force.

"Get ready!" Wilkins shouted at the jersey administrator, telling him to stand on the sidelines and prepare the players to change their shoes.

Naturally, the referee will not stop the game and wait for Southampton to change their shoes. They can only go to the sidelines to change their shoes one by one. The embarrassing scene of hitting one less person within a time limit.

Danny Rose is smart, he gets caught up on the wing and delays the opponent's attack, and at the same time kicks the ball on the opponent's foot and flies out of the touchline.

Danny Rose didn't throw it out immediately with the foul ball, but hesitantly faked it-he was waiting for the last two teammates to change their shoes.

Danny Rose's behavior was complained by Zenit players, and the referee showed Danny Rose a yellow card.

Seeing that the players often made mistakes in passing and receiving the ball, Charlotte could only make tactical changes. No.70 minutes, he replaced Lallana with Pogba.

"We play high balls. You go up to take over the position of Lallana's midfielder. But don't limit yourself here, you can rush up to form a center forward, and let your teammates hit the high ball on top of you and Mauro."

Pogba took Charlotte's order and set foot on the court. In the next time, everyone saw Southampton playing a long pass and a long pass.
Wilkins leaned closer to Charlotte's ear: "The No. 29 striker is good, with solid skills and strong physical fitness."

Charlotte understood what her assistant meant, and Wilkins had taken a fancy to that Hulk.It is true that Hulk is a very good striker, but Southampton must not be able to afford the salary that the opponent asks for. Many teams in the European League have contacted Hulk, especially the mid-upstream teams in the top leagues of Italy and Spain. They all looked for him, but in the end he chose to join Zenit in Russia, which does not have much influence in Europe.You must know that his previous club was Porto, the super giant of the Portuguese Super League. Whether it is the influence of the league, the popularity of the team, and the overall competitive strength of the team, Porto is much ahead of Zenit. Choosing Porto means almost Every season there is a Champions League to play.

From Porto to Zenit, it was definitely downhill.Why?Quite simply, the weekly salary given by St. Petersburg is much higher than those of La Liga and Serie A teams.

"Dean, although he can save a lot of trouble by getting a Portuguese passport. But... to be honest, we can't afford his salary. His weekly salary in Zenit is about 12 pounds. Our highest How much is the weekly salary? Moreover, Russia’s tax rate for football players is 13.00%, and our England’s is 40.00%! So how much weekly salary do you want to poach the other party? And the most important thing is that he only went from Porto to Zeny last summer Te, do you know how much transfer fee European black shops charge? 5000 million euros!!" Charlotte shook his head, he had never considered Hulk.

No way, I can't think of it. Compared with it, players like Sturridge, Harry Kane and Icardi are simply the price of cabbage.

Wilkins' mouth opened wide in an "O" shape!

In the No.80 minute of the game, Charlotte replaced Aubameyang with De Bruyne, because the Belgian's passing ability is much better than that of the Gabon international. Aubameyang's personal characteristics It is fast, explosive, high impact, and good shooting skills, but the passing ability is relatively average.

Charlotte's continuous adjustments finally paid off when the game was about to stoppage time. Rodriguez found Pogba in a cross from the wing. Pogba pushed the football down, and Icardi followed up. Ground shovel shot.

One to one!Southampton returned to England after scoring an away goal in Russia.

This score is acceptable to Charlotte, after all, Russia's away game is enough to give everyone a headache.

After returning to Southampton, the Saints immediately faced the No.20 opponent in the eighth round of the league on the weekend, and the current deputy squad leader in the league standings-Queens Park Rangers.

Queens Park Rangers, who currently have only [-] points, are ranked last in the points. Although their results are not ideal, they are only four points away from Wigan Athletic outside the relegation zone. There are still [-] rounds left in the league. Under the circumstances, they still have a great chance of relegation success.

Of course, they have to work hard to grab every point from now on, and at the same time pray that Reading, Aston Villa and Wigan Athletic lose in front of them
Playing very hard in Southampton, Russia, so Charlotte made some adjustments in this game.The only players who started the game against Zenit were the beastly waist Wanyama with excellent physical fitness and the goalkeeper Ter Stegen who didn't consume much. They started in this league.

The rest of the main players have all had a chance to rest, which is something that can't be helped.Before that, I played double games a week, and even played three games in eight days when I was the most tiring.Then it was the national team match day, and after returning, it was another double match a week.
Players can't stand it even if they are hard-working, so they can only choose to rotate.

Queens Park Rangers, who urgently need points to relegation, adopted a safe defensive counterattack tactics in this game. After all, they are facing the current league leader Southampton, and it is an away game.

In the No. 30 minute, Sturridge scored a goal for Southampton, temporarily leading the Queens Park Rangers.At the same time, the Saints also maintained the advantage of this ball until the No. 708 minute of the game. In the No. 708 minute, in an attack by the Queens Park Rangers, French striker Remy equalized the score for the Queens Park Rangers.

In the end, Southampton ended the game with a score of [-]-[-] in the second game. At the same time, Manchester United seized the opportunity to beat Canary Norwich [-]-[-], biting Southampton's tail.

In the current standings, Southampton temporarily leads the Red Devils Manchester United by one point in one game less. If Southampton loses in stoppage time, then the Red Devils Manchester United will stand up and sing.

But now Charlotte's mind is not on the league, because immediately after the end of this league is the second round of the Europa League knockout round.