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Chapter 179 New Lineup

"Hey, brothers, I'm back!" Nick greeted his teammates in Hu Hansan's tone.

The Borussia Mönchengladbach players surrounded them, including those teammates who had just joined the team.

"Captain, why have you grown taller again?" Dex said with an unbelievable expression on his face, Nick had indeed grown taller again.

Before leaving the United States, Nick took a test. Now he is 196cm tall and weighs 220kg. His body is muscular, quite strong, and his speed has changed again. Nick only needs 100 seconds 10 to run 10 meters at full speed. After some professional training, Nick can participate in the Olympic 100-meter race.

"It's a little bit long, and the league will start in a few days. How is the training going?" Nick changed the subject. The Bundesliga is the second-earliest league among the five major leagues (the first is the Ligue 8).Borussia Mönchengladbach will play at home against Stuttgart on August 11.

"Come here, come here, you've all met our captain." As a native of Borussia Mönchengladbach, Dex was the captain of the team when Nick was away, so he immediately asked all the newcomers to come over to 'see' His Royal Highness.

Butters flashed his big bald head and grinned: "Hi Captain, I'm Fabian Butters, please take care of me in the future."

Butters has a very cheerful personality. Nick suddenly reached out and touched Butters' bald head, saying: "Fabian, welcome to the championship team. You are a world-class goalkeeper. You will be proud to come to Borussia Mönchengladbach."

When Butters heard it, his heart immediately felt warm. Nick's words were so satisfying. He not only flattered himself, but also implicitly pointed out that Borussia Mönchengladbach will not lose its value. This is a championship team and it is worthy of Butters.

Trezeguet then smiled and said, "Hi, Captain Nick. I'm David Trezeguet. I'll trouble you in the future."

"Haha, David, you are simply a born finisher. I hope you can bring the good luck in the European Cup to Borussia Mönchengladbach and attack the city for the team." Nick's expression of "I like you" made Trezeguet very satisfied.

The newly joined teammates then introduced themselves one by one. Except for Miku who was a bit shy, the other teammates were awesome, including Japanese player Junichi Inamoto and Korean player Choi Yongsu.

"Okay, I'm very glad that you can join Borussia Mönchengladbach. It's only by chance that we can get together in Borussia Mönchengladbach. I hope that in the next season, we can create brilliance together. This season we finally return to the Champions League, which will increase your chances to shine in front of the world. If you can win the championship, honor, money and beautiful women will not be a problem. So, do I need to say more?" Nick said seriously at last.

"Captain, don't worry! We will definitely win the Triple Crown!"

The teammates roared in unison.

Coach Karl is very satisfied with Nick's return. After returning from Asia, the team has been in recovery training. There are more international players in the team. This is happiness, but it is also an annoyance, because they play too many games and are prone to physical problems.

With Nick coming back, the team finally has a backbone, and Karl can formulate new tactics for the team's new season with peace of mind.

There is no doubt that Nick is still the first core of the team. As long as he plays, other teammates must play around Nick.

And if Nick is not there, the second core of the team will be Ortega or Micoud, both of whom are excellent playmakers and have a strong ability to read the game.

After half a season of adaptation, Ortega has completely changed his original way of playing football and has begun to develop into the role of "passing master". Micoud also proved that his title of "Zidane II" in Bordeaux team was not blown out. He is excellent in dribbling, passing and long-range shooting.

After this period of training, the teammates have already admired the two of them very much. If you want to mix in Borussia Mönchengladbach, you can't do without two brushes.

It's just that the two will not play at the same time. They will fight on the third front. The two will not worry about not having a match. The key is to see whose state is better.

The third core is Li Yihuan. Due to the maturity of Malouda this season, Karl intends to push Li Xunhuan to the front line to play as a left winger. In the counterattack, Li Yihuan is an absolute master. Once he falls into a positional battle, Li Yihuan's ability to cut inside is also outstanding.

In this way, the main lineup of the team has begun to emerge, but Karl is still experimenting with the formation. He can play 3-4-3, 4-3-3, and 5-3-2 (3-5-2). Due to Li Yihuan, Madavikia, Malouda, Dex and many other good wing players, Borussia Mönchengladbach's formation may change at any time.If Romedal, Overmars, and Iriye can be bought, there will be even greater variables.

On August 8, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Offenbach played a warm-up match.

Offenbach is a Bundesliga team. Nick still has a little impression of this team in his previous life. It seems that there is a Chinese international who once played for this team.

Carl's lineup is: Butters (goalkeeper); Metzelder, Friedrich, Hausweiler (defender); Nick, Malouda, Madavikia, Ortega (midfielder); Li Yihuan, Trezeguet, Larsson (forward).

In actual combat, Trezeguet was at the forefront, while Larson was cruising on the right, while Nick and Ortega mostly passed the ball to both sides to give full play to the speed advantage of the two sides.

However, the quality of crosses from the side still needs to be improved. Offenbach's strength is not strong, but it took 40 minutes for Borussia Mönchengladbach to receive Li Yihuan's side sweep from Trezeguet and grab a goal.

In the second half, Karl replaced Ortega with Micoud and Larson with Dexters. Madavikia returned to the position of right back. The team changed to 4-4-2, but the players suddenly found the feeling.

In the 50th minute, Micoud suddenly slanted to the left on the penalty area line. Li Yihuan stepped in and took the ball and cut inside to hit the goal. Although the Offenbach goalkeeper made a pounce, he was helpless in the face of Trezeguet's supplementary shot. Borussia Mönchengladbach took the lead by two goals.

In the next game, Offenbach players began to stare closely at Micoud, and Monchengladbach's frontcourt organization was blocked.

Although Nick didn't bother to put on a show in front of the Bundesliga teams, he still used the oblique long pass from the backcourt to directly find Malouda and Dex on the two sides.

Nick's pass is very accurate, and the speed advantage of the two is very prominent, which allows Trezeguet in the middle to have a lot of shooting opportunities.

In the 59th minute, Nick passed a diagonal pass to Malouda, and Malouda passed it straight to Li Yihuan. After Li Yihuan took the ball, he directly passed a well-placed over-the-top ball. Trezeguet headed the ball from between the two Offenbach central defenders, 3:0.
This kind of offense made the Offenbach players hard to defend. They defended the middle, but the side leaked out again.

Borussia Mönchengladbach's speed advantage and outflanking advantage in the center are fully reflected, and Trezeguet's ability is very suitable for the characteristics of Borussia Mönchengladbach.

The final score was 5:0, and Borussia Mönchengladbach won the game without bloodshed. Although it does not explain how strong Borussia Mönchengladbach is, Karl is still satisfied with the team's new lineup. If there is no accident, the team will follow this lineup to play in the league and the Champions League.

(End of this chapter)