Grass roots glory

Chapter 219 Return to Midfield
The end of the Ruhr Derby also means that Schalke bid farewell to a devil's schedule, and the next few opponents are relatively easy.Although it is still a two-line battle, these opponents do not make them feel too much pressure.

In the third round of the UEFA Champions League, they won the weakest APOEL in the group 4-0 without bloodshed. Judging from the score, no one was surprised. This is the level comparison between the Bundesliga and the Cyprus league under normal circumstances.

However, the biggest highlight of this game is not Zhou Tiancheng's world wave brace, but Rakitic, who is active in the midfield, sent his first assist hat-trick since joining Schalke.And the way of two of the assists is exactly the same: Zhou Tiancheng passed the ball to him three times in a row at the front of the penalty area, and finally he passed it to Zhou Tiancheng with a long shot to make the final decision.

In the next eighth round, Schalke 04 beat Frankfurt 2-0 at home. Since losing to Freiburg in the fourth round, the league has won four consecutive victories.

During training the next day, Kuranyi appeared on the team's training ground. Before Magath could speak, Zhou Tiancheng asked in a low voice, "Kevin, are you alright?"

Kuranyi was a little excited: "Reuter (physical fitness coach Reuthard) said that I would practice with the team, and he felt that he could touch the ball... Ah, God, this bad day is finally over. Week , I give you a piece of advice, do you want to listen?"

"what?"

Kuranyi said very seriously: "Don't get injured, otherwise the days of recuperation will make you very uncomfortable... Can you imagine the days without football for more than a month?"

Zhou Tiancheng patted him on the shoulder: "Thank you for reminding, Kevin, but you don't need to tell me, I will protect myself. I can help you when you are injured, but I know you will never be able to play midfield."

"My feet are used for shooting. Why would I be arranged to play in the midfield? Unless there is something wrong with the devil's head, I am born to be a striker."

Zhou Tiancheng was deeply convinced: "So, you should be responsible for shooting. The position of forward is really not a human job. It is more comfortable to play in midfield."

When he first came into contact with football in China, Zhou Tiancheng played as a high center forward. Later, he changed his position because he played awkwardly. In these few games, Zhou Tiancheng was kicked out. He actually didn’t do much work as a Zhengyin big center. Even on the front line, the work of threading needles is still the main work.

Hearing Zhou Tiancheng's words, Kuranyi immediately had a black line: "Hey, you look down on the striker so much, believe it or not, I deliberately missed the opportunity you passed to me?"

Zhou Tiancheng didn't care about it: "As long as you are not afraid of the devil getting angry, I don't care. You are not the only one who can score goals."

Kuranyi immediately lost his confidence. Indeed, during this period of time he was not there, the team still scored goals and won.

Although he is not such a selfish person, when he saw this record, he still had a mixed feeling in his heart: his performance was the same when he was in the team and not in the team, and even improved, which proved that I was in the team. No one!
Kuranyi thought so in his heart, but Magath didn't think so. Although he won the game during this period, without Zhou Tiancheng's support in the midfield, he was not very satisfied with the offensive and defensive aggressiveness. He is satisfied with the preset state.

However, Kuranyi has just recovered from a long injury, and his physical condition and game feeling still need to be recovered a little bit. To be on the safe side, Magath only put Kuranyi in the 18-man list for the next away game against Stuttgart. In the starting list, Zhou Tiancheng continued to use the style of play that Zhou Tiancheng used to advance.

But today they encountered a lot of trouble.

Stuttgart coach Markus Babel arranged a 4-4-2 formation in a targeted manner after getting the starting list, and targeted German international Khedira and Serbian international Kuzmanovic in the midfield , two all-round midfielders with both offensive and defensive capabilities faced Rakitic.

Stuttgart had the upper hand at home from the very beginning. Khedira gained a clear advantage in the one-on-one physical confrontation with Rakitic. Schalke's attack was blocked in the midfield and was completely suppressed by the opponent.

No. In the 18th minute, Khedira countered on the spot in the frontcourt, blocked Holtby's ground pass to Rakitic, and then shot a long shot from outside the penalty area. Neuer blocked the first shot with his leg , but did not go far, Stuttgart's other German international Kakao cleverly followed up and shot through Schalke's goal.

Even Magath was not surprised by this 0:1. In the nearly 10 minutes of the game, the ball spent most of the time in its own half. However, he has appeared in the European arena all the year round, playing so passively, it is strange not to fall behind.

But what made him unbearable was that there was no improvement after losing the ball. Rakitic was completely subject to Khedira's close press, and the pace of the ball was obviously slowed down by half a beat. Stuttgart can already take this opportunity to block the key players, especially It is Zhou Tiancheng's passing route.

Lost in midfield, only 10 minutes into the game, Magath couldn't help but want to make a substitution.His on-the-spot command is rarely aggressive, but today's situation is a last resort. If he is scored in the first half, he wants to chase in the second half, and the pressure will be great.

And his first choice is Kuranyi on the bench.

"Kevin, I won't say much to you. You should understand your mission and convey instructions to Zhou. His substitute mission is over. Go back to the midfield to organize the attack."

……

Seeing Kuranyi on the field, Marcel Leff shouted passionately: "Kevin Kuranyi is back! A strong fighter. Many media predicted that he would miss the entire second half of the half league when he was just injured , but only 45 days later, he returned to the field. This is definitely good news, Zhou is also liberated, and returned to his midfield, the most dominant midfielder in the Bundesliga returned smoothly!"

Zhou Tiancheng stood back to the midfielder position, a little behind Rakitic, and seemed to be mainly defensive, but all midfielders in the Bundesliga would never think that he was just a pure defender.

Khedira narrowed her eyes slightly, and shouted at Kuzmanovich: "Come closer to me!"

Although he was in good form in this match, he still didn't dare to be careless in the face of Zhou Tiancheng.

And the positions of the two defensive midfielders retreated back together, facing Zhou Tiancheng, they did not dare to rush forward.

Three minutes later, Zhou Tiancheng received a cross from Rakitic, and Khedira quickly came up from the side and squeezed him with his body. Only when he used his body to fight, Khedira and Zhou Tiancheng felt safe one-on-one.

But this sense of security is also illusory... He couldn't stand Zhou Tiancheng at all, and turned around in the opposite direction, and he was dodged behind him, followed by Kusmanovic's frontal shovel, and Zhou Tiancheng was just about to speed up , Zhou Tiancheng slammed on the spot and sent a long pass like a frontcourt.

At the same time, Kuranyi has already accelerated from the double-teaming of the two central defenders, and the path of the ball is closer to his position...

(End of this chapter)