star coach

Chapter 52 The Broken Game

In the semi-finals of the German Cup, Hoffenheim's big gift package made a grand debut, facing Stuttgart at home.

Stuttgart has long wanted to knock down Hoffenheim. In Magath's view, Hoffenheim can be called a noisy neighbor in the past two years.

In the past two years, under the coaching of Jiangshan, Hoffenheim's popularity has greatly increased. Jiangshan led the team to upgrade unbeaten.

What's even more surprising is that Jiangshan keeps showing brilliant ideas in the game. Whether it is formation changes or substitution scheduling, they are all remarkable. After every classic game, it can cause heated discussions in the German media.

"Today, we are going to let your team go home. For the first time in the DFB-Pokal, you made it to the semi-finals, which is not bad." Magath shook Jiang Shan's hand, "However, I don't want to give you a decent farewell."

"It depends on your ability. Of course, with your strength, if you fail to beat the three of us, you will be laughed at if you say it."

"Don't try to provoke me, Bayern suffered this loss, I will not be fooled." Magath said with a smile.He scolded Jiang Shan in his heart, "Little fox, you really are treacherous."

Jiang Shan also smiled, "Then you defend well, we are going to attack." He also scolded Magath in his heart, "Old fox, you really are treacherous."

The starting lineup came out, and Jiangshan did not change the formation this time, and used the most commonly used Christmas tree formation this season, 4321.

Captain Dorante was at the front, while Kuranyi and Didick were in ambush behind him. The midfielder was still a trio of Rahn and Hitzl, Tiger and Kai.

Compared with Stuttgart, Hoffenheim's lineup is quite shabby.For Stuttgart, the goalkeeper is the young Hildebrand, who is expected to enter the German national team. After more than half of this season, they have conceded less than 20 goals in the Bundesliga. If the team's offense is not good, they can even enter the Champions League.

On the back line, the main players Schinkel, Stranzl, Mera and Babel all played, and the midfielder even put out a lineup of Sordo, Meissner, Heert and Hleb.The forwards are partnered by Shobic and Frannes. Both of them have low conversion rate and relatively poor offensive ability.

Of course, this is for the Bundesliga team. If the Desnan United team can get one of the two, it will definitely become the core and kill the Quartet.

At the beginning of the game, Hoffenheim launched a strong strangling tactic in the midfield, preventing the Stuttgart team from easily organizing an attack.

Dorant's task is very heavy. He must not only become the fulcrum of the frontcourt, but also obstruct the opponent's offense and become the first line of defense. If he hadn't worn the captain's armband, Dorant would definitely ask for a salary increase.

In just a few minutes, Magath put away his contempt for Jiang Shan, "Sure enough, I still underestimated him. This guy's defensive skills are almost comparable to Italian coaches."

"Today's game is not easy!"

The two sides kept going back and forth in the midfield, strangling and counter-strangling, did not create many good opportunities, played for half an hour, the score was still 0:0.

What frustrates the fans the most is that the game is too ugly.Not to mention the fragmented rhythm, a complete offense cannot be kicked out.

Stuttgart is a little better, and can create threats with the personal ability of the players. What about Hoffenheim?Simply, a bunch of villains!

The formation of the whole team is kept very compact, but they just don't make it easy for the opponent. It seems that everyone has turned into a reckless man, grabbing the ball when they see it, and surrounding them if they can't grab it, leaving no gaps.

For such a situation, Jiangshan is also very helpless. The strength of the players is not enough. Lahm, Pandel and others have not fully grown up, and they can't eat at all. Durante is very active in the frontcourt, but facing the combination of Stranzl and Mera, he is powerless.

Didick has a lot of speed, can't play, there is no way, who made them just amateur players?In the past two years, Jiangshan has made great progress, and he still cannot be compared with the top players in the Bundesliga.

Kuranyi is a bit better. He has a good combination of speed and technique. Cooperating with wide players can create some threats. However, today Lahm and Pandel are restricted, which makes Hoffenheim's offense unable to open up, and the frontcourt threat is not great.

Stuttgart seems to have found the weakness of Hoffenheim's formation, constantly attacking from the wing, frequently hanging at a 45-degree angle on the ribs, threatening Hunt and Insdom.

Both of them are good at frontal defense, and their turns are slow, but now they are unable to use their strength when encountering an opponent who is shuttling back and forth, just like wooden stakes.

If it wasn't for Lahn and Hitzlsperger's frequent retreats to help them defend, the team's gate would have been breached long ago.

Magath is very satisfied with the team's performance and continues to attack, there will always be opportunities.Hoffenheim defended intensively today, and it was difficult to bomb, so they needed to pass patiently and look for opportunities.

Rahn cut off the oblique pass again and passed it to Kai's feet without looking at anyone.Kai suffered a few times, but this time he finally learned how to be good. He didn't waste time in dribbling. He kicked a coquettish outside instep and passed a 30-meter long ball.

Dorante retreated to near the arc of the middle circle, stopped the ball with his chest, leaned on Helter, and made a difficult ferry movement.After the ball hits the ground, it is sent directly to the frontcourt.

Kuranyi was very fast, sent the ball forward, accelerated past Meissner who was returning to the defense, and killed to the edge of the penalty area.

Taking advantage of the lack of positioning of the defensive players, he kicked and shot, the ball fell to the ground, and there was a rebound.

But the speed of the ball also dropped. Hildebrand judged the right direction, flew sideways, and kicked the ball out of bounds. Hoffenheim's counterattack failed to form a goal.

Jiang Shan sighed, it's a pity, the best opportunity so far since the start of the competition, so it's gone!
Magath felt complacent, "As expected of Hildebrand, you are still very calm! I promoted you, there is nothing wrong with that. Quack..."

At the end of the first half, neither side could score a goal. For Hoffenheim, Wiese was also rarely busy, but with his super fast reaction and the help of the goal post, he managed to keep the goal.

In the second half, Jiangshan took the lead in making personnel adjustments, replacing Didick with Staval, and asked him to help defend.Didick was completely restricted in the first half, and his performance stinks like shit, Jiangshan couldn't stand it.

After Staval came on the field, Hoffenheim's defense went up to a new level, and the side defense also became thicker, but there were fewer troops who could attack. There was no way, Staval could only defend well, and his offensive ability was poor.

The game time was passing by a little bit, and the two sides still failed to score.Magath's face became more and more ugly, and he didn't want to have another penalty shootout.

Jiangshan's preparation for the penalty shootout is better than any German coach.In the third round of the German Cup, Hoffenheim faced Bayern and won through a penalty shootout. Thinking about it now, it is still shocking.

Jiangshan also doesn't want to enter the penalty shootout, which consumes too much energy, and who can guarantee the success of the penalty shootout every time?He commanded Kay to move forward, and the formation gradually changed to 4312, strengthening the breakthrough in the middle. At the same time, Ram stepped up his assists to help attack the Stuttgart defense and look for opportunities.

Stuttgart's left midfielder has hidden dangers. Helter and Hleb don't cooperate tacitly. Babel mainly plays as a central defender. He is placed in the position of full-back and frizzy.

He wanted to rip it out of here.

(End of this chapter)