Beast King Costa

Chapter 299 The second half, confrontation!

In the last 10 minutes of the first half of the game, because Diego retreated from the midfield to stalk David Silva, did Benfica have a reliable response point in the frontcourt, even if the counterattack was successful in the backcourt, Many offensive routines cannot be opened.

Valencia's players are very good, and they all know that Diego is very lethal. Now that Diego has entangled David Silva in the midfield, they don't pass the ball to David Silva anymore. Don't give Diego the opportunity to steal the ball from David Silva's feet and fight back.

Since Joaquin had already successfully attacked the winger once, Leonardo Bastos also intentionally asked his teammates not to pass the ball to him, and mainly ran with Joaquin, and did not give Joaquin a chance to catch the ball.

As a result, the last time of the first half of the game was a little quiet.

That is to say, Marchena passed a long pass to the head of Fernandez Moriente. Fernandez Moriente passed the header to the center. David Villa followed up with a blast shot, which could cause damage to Benfica's goal. Except for threats, other attacks are basically fired from the outside.

Benfica can't even counterattack...

Although Nuno Gomez is powerful, he can't play a single arrow. He always needs a big man at the front to help him open the way, so that he can fully display his spirituality in the frontcourt.

After Diego retreated to the midfield in order to defend, Nuno Gomez basically played the role of accompanying runner in the frontcourt.

Even if Pettit or Carter Solanis had a chance to steal and gave the ball to Nuno Gomez, Nuno Gomez couldn't escape under the double-team of Albiol and Ayala. Defensively, to attack David Navarro, the last link in Valencia's defense.

Not to mention threatening the gate guarded by Luis Motta.

"Beep……"

After 2 minutes of stoppage time in the first half, the referee blew his whistle.

The first half ended with a score of 2-0!
"Bat Legion" Valencia, as the home team, returned to the locker room with a two-goal advantage!
The referee's whistle didn't even stop, and Benfica head coach Fernando Santos had already walked towards the tunnel with a dark face and returned to the locker room.

"Hey……"

Looking at the back of Fernando Santos, Rui Costa on the bench shook his head helplessly.

I saw Rui Costa muttering to himself: "It would be great if Gustavo Manduka was still in the team at this moment! The left midfielder position is not so tricky!"

"Gustavo Manduka!!!"

"That's right! Let Manduka play the best in our left forward position!"

"Ah... what a pity! Manduca was talked to by coach Santos a long time ago, and then he was loaned to the Greek League."

"Ah! What a pity! Even if Coach Santos thinks that Manduka can play the position of the left midfielder, he will have to be transferred in the winter window before he can be recalled."

"We have already signed up for the Europa League. Even if Manduca returns in the winter window, he will not be able to represent the team in the Europa League."

……

After being reminded by Rui Costa, the players on the bench suddenly remembered that Benfica's main lineup also had this winger who was arranged by Ronald Koeman to play as a center last season.

However, Gustavo Manduca is quite unlucky - Fernando Santos did not even give him a chance to express himself, and directly excluded him from the first team in the new season due to his poor performance at the center position last season. off the list.

If Fernando Santos is willing to keep Gustavo Manduka, Gustavo Manduka can be placed directly on top of the left midfielder at this moment!

With Gustavo Manduca's strong body, considerable speed, and above-average wing passing skills, the two wingers of Benfica's current 4-4-1-1 formation It’s completely balanced!
There is no such thing as the so-called "I still need to continue to investigate the main candidate for the team's left midfielder" problem.

"Hey, forget it..."

Rui Costa sighed and stood up slowly: "Since Manduka has been rented out by coach Santos, no matter how serious the problem is at the moment, Manduka will not be able to come back immediately. Everything still needs to be tapped internally!"

After that, Rui Costa looked at Paul Jorge and Manu, the two potential main candidates for the left midfielder: "You have to work hard! The full midfielder position requires a balance of offense and defense. Bastos has too many advantages and disadvantages. Obviously, it is obviously impossible for him to continue playing as a wide midfielder. Next, the position of the wide midfielder still depends on the competition between the two of you."

Manu nodded with a serious face, "Boss Rui, I understand!"

Paul Jorge also nodded, but he didn't say anything.

From the subjective point of view of Fernando Santos's selection, Manu is obviously the leader in the main position of the left midfielder. Judging from the few warm-up matches during the preparation period, Fernando Santos likes to use Manu very much. How many chances for Jorge.

Therefore, in Paul Jorge's view, he is probably playing the role of accompanying runner in the new season.

Unless Manu, a guy who only knows how to keep his head down, regardless of his teammates in the middle, directly sends a cross to the opponent's central defender is injured, or he is completely distrusted by the head coach, then he has a chance Up?
However, the specific situation is more pessimistic than Paul Jorge thought...

After returning to the locker room, Fernando Santos said nothing about the defensive black hole Leonardo Bastos on the left.

Not to mention the substitution adjustments made at the left midfielder position in the second half of the game.

Obviously, Fernando Santos still trusts Leonardo Bastos to play in the left midfielder position.

Even, Fernando Santos also pulled Leonardo Bastos to talk about the offensive organization of the second half of the game, allowing Leonardo Bastos to take the ball boldly and provide the top team Ge transported shells.

Hearing these words, Diego was a little stunned - the old man Fernando Santos, is he stupid? ?The wing defense hasn't even been replenished yet, but the emphasis is on offense during the halftime break?And continue to let Leonardo Bastos, a guy who was intercepted by Joaquin while holding the ball, organize wing attacks? ? ?

Is he stupid?

I saw Diego replied with some anger: "In the second half of the game, I need to continue to retreat to the center to consolidate the team's defense! My retreat to mark David Silva is very effective. Unless, Coach Santos, you find a mark The method of living in David Silva cut off the direct connection between David Silva and David Villa, otherwise, I would not be able to go back to the striker and charge for the team!"

"hiss……"

Listening to Diego criticizing Fernando Santos so directly, everyone couldn't help but gasp.

Everyone is worried that Fernando Santos will directly withdraw Diego's main position because of the crime of "disrespecting the head coach".

At that time, Benfica's offensive end can be completely finished.

Fernando Santos was stupefied for a while at first when he was so insulted by Diego, and then he nodded slowly. He, a stubborn old guy, agreed with Diego's point of view in a rare way!

"Yes!"

I saw Fernando Santos nodded solemnly: "Valencia's offense is much stronger than I imagined! Whether it is the direct connection between David Silva and David Villa, or the assault from Joaquin's wing The cross, and even the one-high-one-quick combination between Fernandez Morente and David Villa were far beyond my expectations before the game. So! Now the defensive problem is very tricky! Very tricky!"

"Yes! David Silva in the middle is indeed much better than we imagined!"

"Genius midfielder! It's really not in vain!"

"Joaquin the winger is really good! He really deserves to be a Spanish international! I really can't handle it!"

"Coach Santos, the wing defense problem is too difficult! It's really too difficult!"

……

After Fernando Santos also admitted that Valencia's attack was far from what was expected before the game, the players finally dared to speak out.

Fernando Santos also listened carefully to the players' suggestions, and even asked the assistant coach to record them on the tactical board.

After the players expressed their inner thoughts in the first half of the game, Fernando Santos said slowly: "Now! If we want to win the game, we can't put too much energy on the defensive end It’s time to fill in the gaps. After I fell behind 0 to 2, I thought about it for a long time. I think that in the second half of the game, the focus should be on the offensive end! Instead of shifting the focus to Valencia’s offense because it was beyond our expectations. Defensively.”

"Offensive end???"

"Yes!"

Fernando Santos looked at Diego: "Diego! In the second half of the game, the frontcourt combination of you and Nuno may need to focus more on scoring goals-since the defense can't handle it, the team can only Break the boat! Put the focus completely on the offensive end and see who scores more goals!"

"Ah! Coach Santos can have the mentality of a strong man breaking his wrist!"

After listening to Fernando Santos' explanation of the strategic arrangement for the second half of the game, Diego finally recovered his eyes - it seems that everyone misunderstood Fernando Santos.

I saw Diego swearing: "Okay! In that case! In the second half of the game, I will not fight with David Silva! I will focus all my energy on fighting with Albiol and Aya from Valencia." La, David Navarro's head-to-head confrontation! Go fuck him! Help the team lead the score 3 to 2!"

"Perhaps it is difficult to win 3-2. After all, Valencia's offensive end in the second half of the game will still be very scary..."

I saw Nuno Gomez added with a smile: "But no matter how many goals Valencia scored, we scored at least one more goal than them! There is absolutely nothing wrong with it!"

"Damn it! In the second half of the game, overtake the score!"

"Overtake the score!!!"

(End of this chapter)