Grass roots glory

Chapter 320 The biggest problem of the season emerges

In the locker room before the game, Magath glanced at the 18 people in front of him. Most of the eyes were excited, but at the same time he also noticed that several new players were a little nervous. Stop touching his bald head with his hands, he doesn't want to let people see that people who are almost 30 years old are still so poor in mental quality.

But he is really nervous. This is his first time to play overseas. He has been playing in the mid-range teams of Ligue [-]. He can't touch Bayern's opponents at all. The deep-rooted concept in his mind still stays in Bayern. Is the Bundesliga overlord.

Among all the newly joined players, perhaps the least nervous one is Atsuto Uchida. He is sitting on the bench in the locker room with a stern face, waiting to play. On the surface, he looks the same as Zhou Tiancheng, as if he is used to such big scenes. .But in fact, he has no experience in Europe at all. He has been playing for Kashima Antlers in Japan's J-League before.Being able to have such a psychological quality has nothing to do with the experience he has just experienced in the World Cup.He was the starting right back in the three pre-season warm-ups, and he is still the starting game today. It can be seen that Magath intends to let him replace Rafinha who left the team, giving him ample opportunity to perform.

The pre-season warm-up does not reveal the main frame of Schalke's new season, so almost all German media focus on this game. The official game of the new season is always more valuable than the warm-up.

For the start of this game, Magath continued to use the most commonly used 4-3-3 formation, but the overall face of the lineup changed drastically. The defense line Papadopoulos and Hewedes partnered as a central defender, and Metzelder guarded the left. On the road, Atsuto Uchida started at right back; in midfield, Kluger was absent due to a tendon injury, and Magath released a trio of Zhou Tiancheng, Baumjohn and Jurado, focusing entirely on offense. Garth's request was very clear, the midfielder was close to the press with high pressure, and he put on a positive attitude to attack instead of defending...Since Van Gaal took the initiative to show weakness, Magath certainly had to accept this opportunity.The trio in the frontcourt is also a new combination. The biggest change is that Hao Junmin serves as the starting right winger, Farfan is moved to the left wing, and Raul is used as the starting forward in the frontcourt.

Hao Junmin got a chance in the first official game of the new season. Chinese reporters saw a positive signal. If Hao Junmin can seize the opportunity, perhaps his status in the team will no longer be the same as last season I can't go up or down.

But no one expected that before Schalke's attacking fist was punched out, Bayern was punched heavily behind him.

"Kroos! Kroos! Toni Kroos—only 1 minute later, Schalke is probably still adapting to this unfamiliar field, but they are already behind. Papadopoulos didn't block in time, giving space for his long shot..."

The Bild reporter at the scene was stunned, is this really the case?Van Bommel did not play with the team, perhaps because of this moment.

It almost started with a disadvantage, and many commentators were sweating for Schalke's new lineup.Marcel Leff was outspoken and commented on the conceded goal: "Is Magath's most important criterion for employing people is to look at the qualifications of the players? Although Papadopoulos has rich experience, he is definitely not as familiar with the team. Joel Matip, the Greek defender's incoherent advance and retreat for a moment is the biggest reason for this conceded goal. This kind of formation ability, coupled with the report card of the Champions League champion coach, is not very convincing."

It’s not that the Schalke executives haven’t thought about changing the champion coach of the tactician type to suppress the field, but considering the potential impact of the stability of the lineup and the pressure of public opinion...Of course, the most important issue is money, at least for now Without such an urgent need, the club's executives are naturally unwilling to pay the liquidated damages for the termination of the contract.

However, as the game progressed, not only the players on the field, Magath was outside the game, and he could feel the pressure even more.Bayern took the initiative to shrink the line of defense, lowered their posture much, and did not invest too much energy on Zhou Tiancheng. Instead, they deployed intensive defenses in front of their own penalty area, leaving only Thomas Muller as a strong impact point in the frontcourt.This made Schalke very uncomfortable.Magath's high-position pressing tactics were also based on Bayern's main possession of the ball, but Magath did not expect that Bayern would be so low-key that they were willing to give up possession, but was caught off guard.Facing the opponent's highly coordinated and intensive defense, Schalke had difficulty finding the loophole to tear the opening, and stormed around the penalty area, but the strength of the attack was pushed back by the opponent like a spring, which made him quite uncomfortable.

Off the court, the reporters watched the situation on the court and talked about it.

"Having been a reporter for so many years, it's really rare to see Bayern so low-key. But it must be said that Van Gaal's tactics today seem to be very right."

"Bayern is not ashamed to play defensively against Schalke. The old concept has to be changed. Schalke is the champion of the Champions League. It is a normal choice to play defensively against such a team."

"It seems that Magath hasn't really allowed Schalke to play in the way of a strong team. If they can't effectively break through the dense defense, Schalke may have a hard time this season. Raul and Jiang alone are not enough to break the dense defense. .”

This is also the reason for Magath's frowning.In the new season, Schalke can be said to be the most dazzling team in the entire Bundesliga and even the Champions League. Many teams will adopt a shrinking defense when facing them. It does not even rule out that league rivals like Bayern and teams in the Champions League are also I will follow suit. If this problem is not solved well, the team may encounter great difficulties in the new season. This is an urgent problem that must be solved, but it is the biggest problem. At least countless giants with tactical masters and stars all over the world will not be able to get it. There is no way that can be completely effective.

Magath glanced at the bench, and finally gave up the idea of ​​replacing Van Nistelrooy immediately. Although the current situation can increase the success rate by replacing the high point, Van Nistelrooy has experienced a high-intensity season. Not very good, veterans are generally slower to heat up.

Magath now desperately hopes that Huntelaar can appear on the bench, but the progress of the club's signings is beyond his control.Schalke and AC Milan have reached an agreement on the transfer fee of Huntelaar long ago, and it has been confirmed by many authoritative Italian media. personal treatment.

If there is Huntelaar, with his bomber attributes, this problem is not too difficult, but it is really difficult to solve now.

Magath stared at the field. At this time, perhaps only the new No. [-] that he had the most high hopes for could give him a glimmer of hope to get out of the predicament.

(End of this chapter)