As a goalkeeper, carry the team forward

Chapter 134 116 Knockout

For this game, the club's high-level means to give up strategically.

Only Jose, he is not willing to admit defeat without a fight.

Regarding Jose's insistence, although Paul Lambert did not express his position, he silently arranged for all the main players to start, which has already explained everything.

Thursday 2 February at 20:21 local time.

Villa Park Stadium, the match between Villa and Naples officially started.

The starting lineups of both sides were announced before the start of the game.

Vera side.

Goalkeeper: Jose.

Defenders: Bertrand, Clarke, Vlaar, Lowton.

Midfielders: Delph, Westwood.

Avant-garde: Weimann, Bacuna, Abanglaho.

Center forward: Benteke.

Baker returned from injury and sat on the bench.

As for Naples, Benitez also sent a 4231 formation.

Goalkeeper: Rafael Cabral.

Defenders: Revier, Britos, Enrique Adriano, Maggio.

Back midfielder: Inle, Djemayili.

Avant-garde: Insigne, Hamsik, Callejon.

Center forward: Higuain.

At the end of last season, after Benitez dismissed get out of class from Chelsea, he quickly coached Naples. Now that the 24 rounds of Serie A are over, Naples ranks third with 15 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses.

Compared with the same period last season, although the ranking has declined, the performance win rate has hardly changed, which is frighteningly stable.

Villa got the kick-off right.

After the start of the game, the sky suddenly began to rain heavily, which affected the performance of both players.

Villa took the lead in completing the first wave of offense.

Unfortunately, Weiman's shot missed.

Naples' counterattack failed to form a shot in the end.

In this game, Benitez's strategy was too obvious, that is, to keep a clean sheet and then return to the home court to make plans.

Therefore, Naples has possession of the ball, but they will not attack easily. They choose to fall in the backcourt more of the time.

Naples does not attack or shoot, which makes Jose have no chance to save.

However, the rain in the sky was getting heavier and heavier, and Jose had to jump back and forth on the goal, otherwise it was too cold.

As for Villa's attack, every time Rafael bravely resolved it, making Benteke and the others return without success every time.

According to statistics after the game, the Villa team completed 20 shots in the whole game, and 10 shots hit the target, but they couldn't get a goal.

In contrast, Naples, with a ball possession rate of 47%, only completed 7 shots, and only [-] shots hit the target.

Jose made all the saves with ease.

The first round match between the two sides ended 0-0.

The final promotion quota will be reserved for the second round a week later to decide whether to live or die.

For such a result, Benitez expressed his satisfaction, after all, after returning to the home court, they have a greater advantage.

Forget about the second leg against Napoli next week for now.

Because three days later, Villa will play an away game against Newcastle United in the league.

Newcastle United is currently ranked tenth with 37 points, and it is not impossible to enter the European war.

At 04:30 pm local time, the weather was fine and the temperature was between 6 and 11 degrees.

Although it is still cold, but finally there is no need to fight in the rain.

Newcastle United get the kick-off first.

But it was Villa who completed the first wave of offense.

Unfortunately, Ahmadi's shot failed to threaten Newcastle goalkeeper Krul.

Newcastle United's counterattack.

Anita made a direct pass and the ball reached Tiot's feet.

From 25 yards outside Villa's penalty area, Tiot volleyed directly to the upper right corner.

Jose holds the ball out of the baseline with one hand.

Newcastle United won the first corner of the game.

...

In the first half, neither side achieved anything.

Villa's game seems to be returning to the rhythm of no goals and no goals.

In fact, it does.

Among Villa's frontcourt players, except for Benteke, all the rest are out of shape.

On the other hand, Newcastle United, whether it is Remy or Cisse, or De Jong who came off the bench, can find opportunities to kick and shoot.

If it weren't for Jose's brave performance, Newcastle would have taken the lead early.

Just when the Villa fans thought it would be another dull draw, Newcastle United got a good chance to score.

In the 92nd minute, De Jong, who came off the bench, took the ball in front of the penalty area.

Facing Villa's defense, De Jong suddenly shot with his right foot from the edge of the penalty area.

Jose flew in to save De Jong's shot.

However, the ball failed to roll far and was finally obtained by Remy.

Facing Flarer's interception, Remy directly dunked Flarer.

From 12 yards inside the penalty area, Remy took a strong shot and the ball rolled towards the lower right corner of the goal.

At this time, Jose just got up from the left side of the goal.

Seeing that the ball is about to cross the goal line.

Jose moved.

After José gained a second, he finally blocked the ball on the goal line.

The blocked ball was finally kicked out of the penalty area by Baker.

Villa escaped Remy's lore.

After this campaign, Villa won 4 rounds of the league, 5 games in all competitions, and failed to score in more than 400 minutes.

The discussion about whether to let Jose take a free kick was once again discussed by the fans.

For the discussion of the fans, Paul Lambert also thought about it seriously, but in the end he still couldn't make up his mind.

For him, who has a conservative coaching personality, any risky things are well thought out.

Of course, another reason is that Jose never took the initiative to ask for a free kick.

...

Four days later, on February 2, at 27:22 local time.

In the second round of the Europa League 1/16 final, Naples' home game against Villa officially started.

There are many fans who follow this game.

Without exception, almost all fans are optimistic about Naples' final promotion.

After all, as Champions League-level players, they are now in the Europa League, which can be said to be a blow to dimensionality reduction.

There are not many changes in the starting lineups of the two sides.

For Villa, Baker started and Clarke came on the bench.

And Naples.

The starting goalkeeper was replaced by Liverpool veteran Reina, midfielder Pandev got the chance to start, and Hamsik sat on the bench.

Naples kicks off first.

The competition in the midfield was extremely fierce. In the end, Naples was slightly better, but Higuain's shot failed to threaten Jose.

9 minutes.

Villa got a chance to counterattack.

Passing through the midfield quickly, he advanced to the opponent's penalty area in a blink of an eye.

Benteke makes an oblique pass to the right side of the penalty area.

Abanglahuo took the first step and got the ball.

At 12 yards on the right side of the penalty area, Abanglaho faced the attacking Reina and chose to shoot from the far corner.

It's a pity that the height is not enough, and was intercepted by Reina halfway.

Villa missed the lead opportunity.

...

In the 14th minute, Naples cooperated with the pass in the penalty area of ​​Villa.

Insigne took the ball from the side, passed it directly into the penalty area, and the ball reached Higuain's feet.

Higuain took the ball with his back, and under the defense of Vlaar and Baker, he had no chance to turn around and shoot.

In desperation, Higuain took aim at Insigne on the right.

Half-turning and passing the ball with his left foot, Higuain passed the ball to Insigne under incredible circumstances.

On the left side of Villa's penalty area, the unmarked Insigne took the ball to face Jose and volleyed directly from the far corner.

The ball is fast and the angle is acceptable.

(End of this chapter)