After being rejected, I became Shi Yijiao

Chapter 238 Football is not about fighting and killing
In another second-round group match in Group H, Ajax drew 1-1 with AC Milan at home.

After San Siro's defeat to Hamburg, Allegri seemed to have lost his nerve. He deployed a 4321 Christmas tree defensive counterattack formation in the away game.

This formation and style of play also helped the team maintain a 0:0 score until 90 minutes.

But just entering stoppage time, Ajax centre-back Dunswell took advantage of a corner kick to break through Milan's gate to give the home team a goal lead.

This is almost a lore shot!
And when stoppage time entered the 4th minute, a dramatic scene appeared.

Balotelli equalized the score!

This allowed Milan to avoid the embarrassing situation of two consecutive losses, but at the same time it also allowed Hamburg to stand out in this so-called death group.

After two rounds, Hamburg has 6 points, Barcelona 3 points, Ajax and AC Milan 1 point each.

The next four teams will have two "back-to-back" fights.

Hamburg will face Ajax, which is recognized as weaker in the group. If they can score all six points, they will have a high chance of breaking through the group directly, and they will probably be number one in the group.

Barcelona and Milan will have to play two consecutive life-and-death games at home and away.

Obviously, these two games will largely determine the final trend of this Champions League group.

However, "Gazzetta dello Sport" also believes that it has only played two rounds now, and the group situation is not very clear. Both Barcelona and Milan still have a chance.

"Ajax's away games have never been easy to play, which is why Allegri adopted a conservative style of play. And Hamburg is bound to encounter tenacious resistance during the expedition to the Netherlands, and may not be able to secure three points."

"And if Hamburg capsizes in Amsterdam, then the winner of the two games between Barcelona and Milan will have a good chance to come from behind and then decide the real top spot in the group in the second round against Hamburg."

Of course, "Gazzetta dello Sport" is not particularly optimistic about the prospects of AC Milan.

Because even if Hamburg can't secure the first place in the group in advance, although Milan and Barcelona have won and lost in the direct confrontation in the past few seasons, they have all lost in the end.

While Milan's state this season is worse than the previous two seasons, Barcelona is obviously much better-they were invincible before they met Hamburg.

Therefore, the Italian media can only hope that Milan can try to play at a better level when playing against Barcelona.

More media began to change their previous predictions for this group.

Before the game, everyone believed that in this death group, Barcelona and Milan were the most likely teams to break through. Hamburg would compete with Ajax for the third place at most to get a ticket to the Europa League. .

But no one expected that after two rounds of competition, the situation of the group had undergone surprising changes. Not only was Hamburg not in danger of being eliminated, but it also directly became the number one favorite in the group!
Moreover, Hamburg is in the Champions League and Bundesliga, including the German Cup, and the three lines go hand in hand, and none of them are pulled down.

As the head coach of Hamburg, Pan Yi's rotation on various fronts, as well as the technical and tactical abilities displayed after the rotation, are also amazing.

Sometimes, everyone even thinks that Pan Yi's rotation is very radical, and often all members are replaced.

If it is said that this is only the case against the Bundesliga team in the cup match, then Pan Yi will also often rotate more than half of the teams in the Bundesliga.

But even so, Hamburg is still playing steadily on multiple fronts and has achieved very good results.

And sometimes even if they don't perform very well in the game, the Hamburg players can always stabilize their mentality, play at a level above the average level, and finally win the game without any risk.

This is a symbol of the growth of a team.

Because it is impossible for a team to maintain the highest level of emotion and state in a long season. Players are also human beings, not machines.

There will always be ups and downs in their state, there will always be ups and downs.

But a championship team can always grit its teeth and hold on when its personnel are exhausted and its state has declined, and then steadily take away points one after another.

……

On October 10, Hamburg returned to the Bundesliga and challenged Nuremberg away.

After this round of competition, there will be another two-week international competition day, so Pan Yi still sent a half-rotation lineup.

And Hamburg still continued their good form in the Champions League in this game, and even beat their opponents with five goals in the away game!

Vardy scored another hat-trick, while substitutes Arslan and Best also scored a goal each.

What makes the generals of Hamburg even more happy is that in this round of competition, several major competitors overturned one after another.

Of course, it is not accurate to say "rollover", because this round of Leverkusen ushered in a direct contest with Bayern Munich at home!
Bayern took the lead in the 30th minute, and Kroos scored a long shot from midfield.

But Leverkusen equalized after 1 minute, right winger Sam scored.

Regardless, the draw managed to slow down both of Hamburg's main rivals.

And Dortmund was defeated by Borussia Mönchengladbach in the away game. The score of 0:2 is actually not a surprise ending.

But in this way, Hamburg will dominate the Bundesliga standings!

After eight rounds, Hamburg has seven wins and one tie with 22 points, while Bayern has 20 points, Dortmund and Leverkusen both have 19 points and rank second to fourth.

These four teams have also begun to draw a larger point difference for the teams behind, because Borussia Mönchengladbach, ranked No.5, only has 13 points.

……

During this period of time, the 2014 World Cup qualifiers have basically come to an end, and only a few continents have entered the play-off stage to determine the final few places to participate.

Therefore, most of Hamburg's international players are going to participate in some international friendly matches that are not very intense.

The only player who will participate in the official game in October is the Egyptian international Salah.

The Egyptian national team entered the stage of the final top ten match in the African zone, and their opponent was the Ghana team.

As a result, the Ghanaian team, whose overall strength is superior, swept Egypt 6:1 at home, and one foot has already set foot on the journey to Brazil.

Although Salah tried his best and scored a goal, he was still alone and lost to the Ghana team led by Muntari, Gyan and others.

……

On October 10, the ninth round of the Bundesliga, Hamburg played against Stuttgart at home.

In this game, Pan Yi rested some players who played more on the international match day, but the team still played a high level in the game.

When the game progressed to the 17th minute, Mitrovic was at the front of the penalty area, and after holding Stuttgart's central defender Schwab with his back, he returned the ball to Makoto Hasebe, and turned around and moved forward quickly.

Hasebe sincerely sent a through ball to the back of Stuttgart's defense.

The two central defenders of Stuttgart were about to join hands to intercept Mitrovic and tackled the ball at the same time. As a result, the ball bounced happily between the two bodies, but the ball accidentally fell to Wu Lei on the other side. .

Of course, such a cheap Wu Lei will not let it go, he easily pushed and scored.

1: 0!

The whole People's Park stadium erupted in cheers.

After being scored by the opponent in this way, the Stuttgart players were all very frustrated.

Moreover, this unexpected conceded goal also disrupted their pre-match deployment, so it was difficult to continue to play defensive counterattacks.

But this is just the beginning.

After Hamburg broke the deadlock, it gained momentum and continued to attack Stuttgart fiercely.

First, Lin Zhijian made a low shot in the penalty area, which was directly confiscated by the opponent's goalkeeper.

Then Mitrovic heeled and Paulinho followed with a header that went over the bar.

Then Wu Lei got a single-handed chance, shot in the penalty area, was saved by the goalkeeper, and then the line referee raised the flag to signal offside first.

Although it failed to score, the continuous offensive made Stuttgart's front door jittery.

In the 40th minute, Hamburg got a corner kick. Charhanoglu passed the ball directly to the outside, and Paulinho shot from a long distance!

The ball was blocked by Schwab and changed direction, the goalkeeper was helpless, Hamburg 2: 0 Stuttgart!

Despite the suspension of national team competition for two weeks, after the resumption of the war, Hamburg still looked unstoppable.

In the second half of the game, Pan Yi made some adjustments to the team's tactics to make everyone play more smoothly.

This is because on October 10, that is, four days later, Hamburg will travel to the Netherlands to challenge Ajax.

At that time, there will be another burst of fatigue, so let the players try not to be too tired as much as possible on the premise of winning the game.

However, this also gave Stuttgart a chance to breathe. In the 62nd minute, they were assisted by Takato Sakai to score Gentner and scored a goal.

But Hamburg did not panic because of this, and continued to fight steadily.

At the end of the game, taking advantage of the opportunity of all the players in Stuttgart, right back Dick Maier hit a midfield lob, once again broke the goal of Stuttgart, and also fixed the final score at 3:1.

The victory of this game also allowed Hamburg to continue to lead the standings with a 2-point advantage.

The top three behind also won this round and continued to chase after them.

……

10 October, Amsterdam Arena.

In the 10th minute of the game, the home team used an attack from the right, and the left back Blind passed the ball into the penalty area, causing chaos in the hinterland of Hamburg.

Van Dijk wanted to drive the ball out of the danger zone with a big kick, but what he didn't expect was that the clearance kicked impartially on the head of Vardy who was actively returning to defense, and then bounced to Kanter's leg on the side up, flying towards the goal.

This unexpected bounce caught Hamburg goalkeeper Keylor Navas off guard, and he could only watch the ball roll into the goal.

1:0, Ajax scored the first goal at home, leading Hamburg!

……

On the sidelines, Hamburg head coach Pan Yi, who was one goal behind, did not panic, but signaled the players to stabilize their mentality and continue to play at their own pace.

The overall strength of this Ajax team is not very strong, and there is a lack of star players in the team.

Except for the Dutch international Blind and the national goal Cillesen, there are indeed no outstanding stars in the Ajax team.

Even Blind and Cillessen are far behind Barcelona in terms of star level, and they are not even as good as the current AC Milan players.

And the current Ajax coach Frank De Boer, when facing the momentum of Hamburg, even in the home game, he put on a cautious counterattack posture, using 4-1-2-2-1 This is a bit like a Christmas tree formation to face.

This formation is based on defense in the middle, and the offense mainly relies on the through pass to the striker in the counterattack, and uses two full backs to open the side channel. This is the same as the basic idea of ​​the 4321 Christmas tree tactics used by Pan Yi before. .

And the goal just now was initiated by the left back Blind, and then caused confusion and formed Hamburg's own goal.

Although part of the reason for this goal was the inability to completely suppress Blind's cross, the two central defenders in the middle of the road had actually blocked the landing and successfully cleared the siege.

It was just a bit of bad luck that led to this goal.

As long as the Hamburg players are not more active in defense, there will be no such goal!
So for such a goal, Pan Yi will not be too harsh on his players.

As long as the Hamburg players don't be impatient and play their own things according to the tactics arranged by the coach before the game, there is a good chance to equalize the score and even overtake.

After all, this Christmas tree tactic is indeed a bit outdated now!

Although the assist ability of the two full-backs in Ajax is still good, but due to the accelerated pace of football games today, it is difficult for the full-backs to be able to do everything in offense and defense. There is a large area of ​​vacancy.

In order to make up for such gaps, this formation has very high requirements for midfielders. Not only must they have comprehensive skills and be able to suppress opponents in offense, but they must also have good awareness and can complement the two full-backs when defending. Location.

But now Ajax obviously lacks such a comprehensive player.

Moreover, they did not have Kaka, Seedorf, Rui Costa and other No. 10 players who could revitalize the midfield like AC Milan in the An Pang era, so they actually had a lot of flaws when they played the Christmas tree formation. of.

For this kind of flaw, Pan Yi, who is a master tactician, of course can't understand it all too well. After all, he is also the one who has played this formation well.

So it doesn't matter if one is stolen, just call back slowly!
……

As a result, the scene became "peaceful".

Under Pan Yi's instructions, Hamburg is finding its own game rhythm and is not in a hurry to advance.

And Ajax has a goal in hand and is afraid of Hamburg's strength, so even if it is a home game, they dare not be too aggressive.

After all, the opponent is the team that defeated AC Milan and Barcelona!

In the face of these two teams, Ajax first lost to Barcelona with four goals, and then drew with Milan, so there is still a gap in strength.

This is why De Boer put up this defensive counterattack formation.

As a result, the two sides continued to fight back and forth in the midfield, but rarely pushed the ball into the danger zone.

This situation lasted until 40 minutes.

When the halftime is about to end, it is often the time when the players on both sides relax.

Especially the two full backs of Ajax, because their players are mainly accumulated in the middle, they rely heavily on their forward and backward penetration when attacking on the side, so their physical fitness has also declined, and their concentration will also decrease.

At this time, Hamburg's right-wing Shuangsha Carvajal and Salah played wave after wave of attacks.

Since it is difficult for Ajax's midfield to give strong support to the wing, Blind, like Adriano in Barcelona in the previous game, had to face a one-two situation frequently.

And this situation is often very dangerous!Especially what you have to face is Hamburg, a duo who has already cooperated very well!
I saw Carvajal once again took the ball to attack along the right side of Hamburg. When Blind came to defend, he immediately passed it to Salah who was running forward close to the right line, and he ran quickly to the neutral position. .

When Salah took the ball, he didn't return the ball to Carvajal immediately. Instead, he slammed a defensive player with his feet, cut inward horizontally, and after attracting the attention of the opponent's midfielder, he distributed the ball. It was given to De Bruyne in the middle space.

De Bruyne is already standing at the top of the arc of the penalty area at this time. Once he gets the ball, he can obviously pose a threat to Ajax's goal.

The central defender Dunswell in the penalty area rushed out immediately, fearing that De Bruyne would get a long-range shot.

And behind him, Carvajal, who had passed the ball and advanced forward, suddenly changed direction and slanted into the ribs of the penalty area from near the baseline, like a sharp knife, just inserted into Dunswell's goal that location.

De Bruyne also understood, he just made a fake shot, and then sent a through kick to the right rib of the penalty area.

When Carvajal caught up to get the ball, there was no Ajax player within three or four meters around him.

As soon as he stopped the ball with his right foot, he made a slight adjustment and volleyed directly!

The ball passed past goalkeeper Cillessen and went straight to the far corner of the goal.

"Goallllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!"

"In the 42nd minute, Hamburg tore through Ajax's defense through the wonderful cooperation of several players on the right, and Carvajal equalized the score, 1:1!"

"After falling behind in the opening score, the Hamburg players were not in a hurry, but looked for opportunities very patiently. This fully shows that this team has matured day by day and will not become impatient because of a momentary lag."

"This also shows that they already have the mentality of a strong team. Only with this kind of strong self-confidence can they not care about conceding goals and firmly believe that they will definitely score goals!"

"And in this attack, Hamburg once again played their strong right offensive advantage. I can even say that the combination of Salah, De Bruyne and Carvajal is currently the sharpest in European football. A line of attack!"

"Pan Yi obviously also saw the weakness of Ajax's formation on the wing, so he resolutely asked the players to attack on both sides, and finally achieved results."

"Of course, I believe that Pan Yi's goal is not just to get one point. This goal is just the beginning. Their team is still attacking!"

……

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again.

After 60 minutes into the game, De Boer was a little restless.

He didn't want the three points he got into one point, so he replaced a midfielder Duarte, but replaced a striker Lucas Anderson, and changed the formation to 442 to strengthen the offense.

After all, although I am a little afraid of the strength of Hamburg, if Ajax does not win a victory at home, it will be difficult to play the following games.

After the first round, if only two points are scored after playing two home games, Ajax's journey in the next three games will definitely be more difficult, and qualifying is even more wishful thinking.

So De Boer can only bite the bullet and launch the final onslaught.

Hamburg, on the other hand, responded calmly.

Pan Yi also gradually made substitution adjustments, substituting Sun Xingmin, Robertson and others who performed so well today, and replacing them with Wu Lei, Jansen and others to continue to maintain the running support ability of the personnel.

And such a substitution also had an effect in the final stage of the game.

This time, it was a left-sided combination with plenty of energy.

They took advantage of the huge gap exposed after Ajax pressed the offense. After Wu Lei and Jansen hit the wall consecutively, Wu Lei dribbled the ball into the small penalty area and succeeded in shooting from a small angle!
1:2, Hamburg overtook the score!

At this time, the timing on the display screen above the stadium has reached the 90th minute.

At the last moment, Hamburg retreated across the board.

In the end, relying on the team's strong defensive foundation, Hamburg kept the score of 1:2 to the end.

……

The Hamburg media, including the German media, are very satisfied that Hamburg can take all three points from Ajax in the away game.

Although the score is not as encouraging as it was against Milan or Barcelona, ​​​​getting points is the most important thing.

In this way, Hamburg has already scored nine points after three games!
In another game, AC Milan sat at the San Siro Stadium and played a 1:1 tie with Barcelona from afar.

Mr. Golden Ball Kaka and Messi of both sides scored a goal for their respective teams.

In this way, the point gap between Hamburg and the three opponents in the group has further widened.

Hamburg 9 points, Barcelona 4 points, AC Milan 2 points, Ajax 1 point.

As long as Hamburg wins Ajax again at home in the next round, they can secure a qualifying spot!

This is really a group of death that is not scary at all!
Hamburg is happy here, while the media in Spain and Italy are starting to worry about Barcelona or Milan.

If they want to advance, they must do their best in the second round of the next round.

In fact, Barcelona is better. Even if they draw, they will have the initiative to qualify.

But AC Milan can't do it. If they don't win again, they basically have to act according to the faces of others.

And this "face" largely depends on Hamburg.

The Milan media are also speculating and building momentum, thinking that if Hamburg can qualify early, maybe Pan Yi will use the substitute lineup in the latter part of the group stage, which also gives Milan a chance.

Considering the deep relationship between Pan Yi and Milan, who said that this will never happen?

Football is not fighting, football is a human accident!

(End of this chapter)