The away dressing room at the Bernabéu.
When Martino, Roura, Rubi and the others walked in with Fàbregas, Barcelona's starting eleven looked up and realized a substitution was coming.
Agüero, the one most likely affected, was the first whose expression changed.
Fàbregas can play in midfield and attack, but he operates mostly through the middle.
The midfield iron triangle is the core Barcelona do not touch, and among the front three, Neymar is the rising star and ssi is the ace, neither of whom will be moved. That leaves Agüero.
What is more, Fàbregas has often played as a false nine.
Hardened by the Premier League, Fàbregas is not afraid of physical duels. More importantly, his passing and combination play are excellent.
By comparison, while Agüero can receive with his back to goal and is stronger in finishing and direct attacking, he is not as good as Fàbregas at linking left, right, and the midfield.
Sure enough, Roura signaled for Agüero to hit the showers.
Barcelona had to adjust for the second half.
After Agüero left, Martino asked for the tactics board and began to analyze the first half.
A 0-2 scoreline is bad, but it is not ti to despair.
Martino believed one important reason for the two goals conceded was the lack of threat in Barcelona's attack.
Football is dynamic. When Barcelona's offense is not threatening enough, Real Madrid settle their shape and naturally commit more to counterattacks. Then conceding becos inevitable.
From any angle, Barcelona must solve their attacking problem quickly.
But Martino still did not intend to change parts of the first-half approach, such as the dium and long passing.
It is an effective way to change the tempo, and Barcelona have many excellent passers.
What Martino wanted was to reconnect the team.
Neymar is new and has strong individual ability, but his chemistry with the team is not there yet. Martino clearly instructed him to stay on the left and keep creating danger.
At the sa ti, he asked the entire midfield and front line to feed Neymar as much as possible to create more one-on-ones with Carvajal. He believed Neymar could take Carvajal.
"If Real Madrid co to double you on this side..."
Martino drew a large circle on the tactics board outside the left of Real Madrid's penalty area.
"Neymar, try to switch it to the other side and Alves will et you there."
This was a targeted adjustnt based on the first-half pattern.
Everyone nodded.
Neymar's individual quality is beyond doubt, and he can create chances one-on-one against Carvajal.
"Cesc."
After placing Fàbregas's marker, Martino turned and pointed at him.
"When you go on, you can engage Real Madrid's two center-backs more directly, but I have a special role for you."
As he spoke, Martino pulled Fàbregas's marker back and set it in the space between Ramos and Xabi Alonso.
The ssage was clear. He wanted Fàbregas to find opportunities between Real Madrid's left center-back and holding midfielder.
"Your dropping off will draw Ramos's attention, and then ssi can cut diagonally into the space you create, or run in behind Ramos. The two of you will cross positions."
Not only the players, but Roura, Rubi and the rest were impressed.
Martino's success in South Arica was not without substance.
This might look unusual, but it made a lot of sense.
The positional interchange between Fàbregas and ssi could maximize ssi's threat. At the sa ti, Fàbregas's dropping off would effectively support Xavi and Iniesta.
Fàbregas's final pass is a real weapon.
At that point, Real Madrid's defenders would have a headache.
If they track him, gaps appear. If they do not, once Fàbregas gets ti to receive and play, the combination among him, ssi, and Neymar could cut Real Madrid open.
Roura and Rubi exchanged glances, both filled with admiration.
Martino had clearly worked this out during the ga from what he saw. It was no small thing and very imaginative.
Many people do not realize that head coaches, like players, need imagination.
If Barcelona could really create a threat through ssi and Fàbregas, they would definitely draw Real Madrid's defensive attention. Then the pressure on Neymar's side would ease, and chances would co.
"Alright, everyone, believe , we are not done yet."
"In the second half, we must pull one back, even level it, then return to Camp Nou to avenge our previous defeat."
Martino finished with a passionate rally.
Barcelona's players were encouraged, and their confidence returned.
…
In his previous life, Gao Shen t all kinds of people, and gradually he sumd up so experience.
People have different personalities, which lead to different behaviors.
So are very aggressive, always trying to break through their ceiling. So are extrely conservative, always careful to avoid pitfalls and sticking to the rules.
Of course, in life, these two extres are not common. Most people fall sowhere in between.
Take buying a house as an example.
Gao Shen once had a colleague who missed the best ti to buy for various reasons. When prices were at their peak and he had little money, he maxed out loans and borrowed everything he could to buy a small three-bedroom in a core area with a good school district.
Later, when prices dropped due to the mask issue, he accepted it.
In his words, he was willing to take the loss. More importantly, he wanted the school spot and had no intention of selling.
Gao Shen also had a friend who held his cash for more than ten years, waiting to buy. He went from the core area to the riverside, from riverside to the new district, then from the new district to the suburbs.
He watched as the money that could have bought a ho in the core area shrank to the point he could not even afford one in the suburbs.
Almost every ti he would lant that if he had another chance, he would never be so cautious.
But every ti an opportunity ca, he still hesitated, afraid of buying high and losing. He always nitpicked and never found one that felt right.
Gao Shen is different from both.
He is neither aggressive nor conservative.
Once he had saved enough for a down paynt, he started looking. He did plenty of howork, including studying prices and rents in popular communities and their occupancy rates. He concluded prices would rise.
So he acted decisively and bought across the river near the core area when there were no new builds in the core.
Prices did surge afterward, but Gao Shen never believed they would keep rising.
Nothing in this world is absolute.
This is what a asured character looks like.
When acting, he prepares as much as possible, assesses the situation, and seizes the opportunity. He is neither greedy for quick success nor timid.
Specifically, in the second half of the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Barcelona at the Bernabéu, after taking a 2-0 lead into halfti, Gao Shen synthesized information from all sides, especially the input from his staff, and guessed that Martino would attack in the second half.
He had prepared well for it.
But he did not expect Martino to replace Agüero with Fàbregas and change the team's approach.
In the 51st minute, Barcelona launched another long pass.
This ti Xavi hit a long ball directly to the right side of the final third for ssi.
ssi controlled it, cut inside, slipped it to the overlapping Alves and ran toward the middle, with Marcelo tracking him closely.
When ssi received the return from Alves, Xabi Alonso also arrived, but ssi threaded his way past Real Madrid's defenders and returned it to Alves.
Alves then swept a long diagonal, finding Neymar on the far side.
The Brazilian chested it down, imdiately cut inside under close pressure from Carvajal, and accelerated the attack.
While cutting in, Neymar quickly slipped a pass into the area.
Fàbregas took it with his back to Pepe and quickly laid it back to the right edge of the box.
At that mont, ssi burst onto it, took Fàbregas's layoff inside, and struck first ti with his left foot.
The ball arced into the top left corner of Real Madrid's goal.
Blind spot.
Iker stretched desperately, but he had no chance.
1-2.
Barcelona pulled one back.
The entire Bernabéu gasped.
This attacking sequence from Barcelona was excellent and quite different from before, with more long passes.
This was also part of Martino's change.
It was clear the Argentine was trying to transform Barcelona.
Gao Shen stood on the touchline. After seeing Barcelona score, he imdiately made a change.
In the 55th minute, Gao Shen replaced Carvajal with Arbeloa.
It was a move to strengthen the right side defensively.
Carvajal defends well, but he is still a bit raw and at a disadvantage against Neymar.
Arbeloa's defending works against all kinds of opponents. Even ssi struggles to get joy out of him.
…
After the substitution, Gao Shen made a series of tactical tweaks and Real Madrid gradually steadied themselves.
Barcelona's attack began to fade.
But Gao Shen also had a contingency.
Especially after Real Madrid stabilized, Barcelona's issues began to show.
Modric had been suppressing Iniesta throughout. Iniesta had avoided him early on, but in the second half he started to take him on.
In the 58th minute, when Iniesta tried to dribble through, Di María and Modric double-tead him.
Iniesta lost balance as Di María closed while he was dribbling, and Modric cleanly poked the ball away.
Iniesta went down, but the referee did not blow.
Modric burst forward, reached the ball before Busquets, and was about to launch a counter in the final third.
At the critical mont, Busquets committed a tactical foul.
The referee blew decisively.
(To be continued.)
***
For every 200 PS = 1 extra chapter. Support on P/treon to read 30 advanced chapters: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves
(Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)
Reviews
All reviews (0)