Extraordinary coach

Although many people were surprised that Dong Fangzhuo could still make a comeback, he was not allowed to return to the national team. His name was not on the list of Lippi's first training camp that was announced later.

Dong Fangzhuo didn't think much of it. He also knew his own business, and he didn't think much about returning to the national team. At least he didn't think about it at the moment. He was already very happy to be able to return to the court to play.

In the game against Monaco, Dong Fangzhuo's performance was also remarkable. But the state he showed was actually not up to the level of the game.

Both the coaching staff and Sun Yi thought so.

Therefore, in another Ligue 1 game that was about to begin, the coaching staff did not use him as a starter. Instead, they chose a substitute striker named Le Bihan.

Although Le Bihan has C+ strength, his potential is only A-level. Such a player is just a spare tire that is better than nothing for Sun Yi. If it weren't for the lack of money, he would have been cleared out early.

After discussing with Dio and others, Sun Yi reluctantly chose this Le Bihan as the starter for the next game. However, Sun Yi still put Dong Fangzhuo in the match list.

A few days later, Sun Yi led the Nice team to the north of France and ushered in the seventh round of the French Ligue 1.

This time, the opponent of the Nice team is Nancy. A newly promoted team from the French Ligue 2 last season. The strength is relatively average. From the beginning of the season to now, their performance has been ups and downs, and their record is not very good.

It is undoubtedly a good thing that the first opponent after Balotelli's absence is a weak team like Nancy.

It makes Sun Yi less pressured to complete the ten-game mission.

Although the opponent is not strong, it is an away game after all, so Sun Yi dare not be careless. In order to deal with Nancy, he also spent a lot of time studying countermeasures with the coaching staff. He also adjusted the team's tactics without Balotelli accordingly.

In this game against Nancy, Sun Yi did not let Nice play any defensive counterattacks, but focused on offense.

With the points he and the coaching staff had, the opponent Nancy was more likely to adopt a defensive counterattack tactic.

When it came to the game, Nancy did adopt the defensive counterattack tactic as Sun Yi thought. And it was the iron bucket formation with five defenders.

When Sun Yi saw Nancy's formation in this formation, he felt a headache. Breaking the iron bucket formation has always been a big problem in football.

Before, Sun Yi had never encountered an opponent who adopted this tactic. This was the first time that Nice had faced this situation this season.

Sun Yi didn't know whether Nice could win smoothly, so he could only put his hope on Salah, the strongest player.

But Nancy also obviously studied the last game. They used the same method of double-teaming against Salah as Monaco. Moreover, because they were shrinking in their own backcourt, they had sufficient troops to call on.

Although the strength of individual players of Nancy was not as good as that of Nice, they relied on dense positioning to prevent Nice from playing the advantages of ground cooperation and breakthrough.

Even Salah was scalp tingling when facing densely packed opponents. He could hold the ball, dribble, and even achieve breakthroughs without difficulty. But after one pass, another one comes, and it feels like there is no end. This is fatal.

Salah can also pass the ball. But the space is too small, and it is difficult for him to send a fatal pass to his teammates. After other people get the ball, it is also difficult to break into the penalty area under the opponent's tight defense.

This situation also makes Salah helpless.

"More high balls!" Seeing that the ground penetration cannot get in, Sun Yi can only let the Nice team change to high-altitude bombing.

After many high balls, the Nice team has more opportunities to hit the Nancy team's penalty area. But the Nice team has no advantage in the high ball.

Le Bihan, who replaced Balotelli in the starting lineup, is also 1.84 meters tall, but his header ability is relatively average. There is no advantage in competing for high balls with the opponent's defender.

"Oh, if Balotelli hadn't been injured."

Seeing that the Nice team had no threat after many high balls into the penalty area, Dio couldn't help but slap his thigh.

Sun Yi agreed with Dio's words. If Balotelli is there, with the bonus of "Heavy Hammer Smashing the Door", it will definitely be a sharp weapon to knock open the tortoise shell of the Nancy team.

Now, Sun Yi can only watch his players helplessly as they can't do anything to the opponent. He himself can't do anything.

High balls, set-piece tactics, long shots, this is the way to deal with the iron bucket formation. And there is no absolute certainty in these methods. You can only rely on luck or have a crushing advantage in strength.

The overall strength of the Nice team has an advantage over the Nancy team, but it is far from crushing. So, Sun Yi can only see how the luck of the Nice team is now.

However, the luck of the Nice team does not seem to be very good. Obviously, they have an absolute advantage in ball possession and offense, but there are not many truly threatening offenses.

The result is a draw in the first half.

A draw is a good result for the Nancy team.

But for the current Nice team, it is a bit unsatisfactory.

And for Sun Yi personally, this is directly fatal. If the same situation happened in the second half, he would be finished.

So, he needed to change.

But how to change?

Sun Yi looked around among the players and finally set his sights on Dong Fangzhuo.

Dong Fangzhuo is about the same height as Lebihan, and has no advantage. However, in Sun Yi's opinion, he has an advantage that others do not have. That is, he has the skill of "back-to-back shooting".

Although from the last game, Dong Fangzhuo's chance of using it is not high, but once it is used, it is very threatening.

In today's situation, perhaps this ability will play a key role.

So, at the beginning of the second half, Sun Yi replaced Lebihan with Dong Fangzhuo.

Dio had reservations about Sun Yi's choice. He did not think that Dong Fangzhuo would be more useful than Lebihan in this situation. But Sun Yi insisted on changing, and he had no choice.

Dong Fangzhuo's appearance did not have any impact on both sides. Everyone knew what he was actually like, so the Nancy team did not have any targeted measures for his appearance.

After the start of the second half, Dio was soon surprised.

"Hey, Dong's high-altitude ability seems to be pretty good."

After Dong Fangzhuo came on the court, an unexpected effect appeared. He is obviously more advantageous than Lebihan in the competition for high balls. Although he is not very good in other aspects, he can jump high. This makes Nice more threatening when they are in the air and when they play set pieces.

"Yes. I forgot about it." Sun Yi remembered it. Dong Fangzhuo's jumping ability is very good.

Many old fans may know a story. It is said that Dong Fangzhuo was taken to Manchester United directly after Ferguson saw him dunking with a football.

This is a lucky coincidence!

Sun Yi couldn't help but feel very happy about his decision.

After Dong Fangzhuo came on the court, Nice's threat was indeed enhanced. But he didn't have Balotelli's "hammer-smashing" skill. His header finishing ability was still a little insufficient.

This allowed him to compete for headers, but he failed to score.

"Hey, if that skill didn't become Balotelli's own ability directly." Seeing that Dong Fangzhuo's header didn't go in, Sun Yi couldn't help but mutter.

As the game progressed, just when everyone was amazed at Dong Fangzhuo's ability in the air, he brought a surprise with his feet.