Chapter 17: Things Going the Other Way

The match between Manchester United and Lazio inspired Mourinho, who incorporated Ferguson's tactics into his own defensive tactics.

Of course, this Manchester United is definitely not the Manchester United that copied the mad dog tactics, but the Manchester United in the first round.

Manchester United at that time was different from other teams. They did not use high defense to intercept Lazio, but formed multiple lines of defense in their own half, forcing Lazio to slow down layer by layer, and finally let them stop completely.

According to Lazio's characteristics, Lazio who can't run is much less threatening.

So when the game started, Lazio quickly found out what their opponents were going to do.

In the backcourt, Lazio's players can kick the ball at will, even if they keep kicking the ball for ten minutes, so that the opponent can't even touch the shadow of the football. But as long as Lazio crosses the center line, they will encounter Inter Milan's stubborn resistance.

The advantage of Inter Milan doing this is that they will not disperse their forces when defending, and they can concentrate their forces on the main battlefield to curb Lazio's advancement.

Like other teams, they always want to use high defense to intercept Lazio, and try to use counter-grabbing, siege and other methods in the front court to force Lazio to not send the ball to the front court.

This trick may be useful against teams that generally pay attention to ground cooperation, but they all forget that Lazio not only controls and cooperates on the ground, but also has speed!

Their overall advancement speed is very fast!

High defense is equivalent to leaving a huge gap behind you, and then telling Lazio: "You pass directly behind us! Guaranteed to hit one by one!"

In fact, it is also true. When encountering those teams that defend them in high positions, Lazio will frequently use straight passes and hit them behind.

The effect is very good.

No one in Lazio has an absolute speed that is very fast, but with their tactics, the speed is very fast.

Inter Milan's defense in this game is to not give Lazio space behind. It prevents them from passing those threatening straight passes and behind-the-back balls.

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When the game starts, as Changsheng said, Inter Milan will strive to score first, so they will launch an attack at the beginning of the game.

At this time, most teams will ask their teams to maintain a solid defense,

try not to lose the ball, and then try to score goals after this period.

But Changsheng doesn't do this.

He wants to do the opposite.

Just as he told his players before the game. If Inter Milan intends to score first and launch a fierce attack at the beginning of the game, this is a great opportunity for Lazio!

Because it can be imagined that most of the time in this game, Inter Milan will shrink their defense in order not to lose the ball.

So there are few times when they can press out to attack.

And the beginning of the game is definitely a good opportunity for Lazio. Inter Milan presses out to attack, and there are more spaces behind them.

Of course, Lazio also presses out. There are certain risks in attacking against Inter Milan, but Changsheng believes that this risk is worth taking for victory.

Moreover, Inter Milan certainly can't think that Lazio will take advantage of their pressing attack to counterattack them...

Most teams will choose to retreat to defense when facing the opponent's attack.

But Changsheng only thinks about attacking.

This is the real way to treat offense as defense.

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So when Inter Milan attacked at the beginning of the game, they were surprised to find that Lazio on the opposite side did the same!

When they thought they would besiege Lazio. Lazio threatened their goal with the same sharp attack...

The moment before, Cambiasso had just completed a shot attack. The next moment it was Cavani's headed goal.

Mourinho stood on the sidelines, watching the game on the court with a serious expression.

I asked the team to attack aggressively, thinking that Lazio would definitely shrink its defense. During this period of time at the beginning, Lazio could not threaten their goal.

But who would have thought...

Lazio took advantage of the gap left behind by their attack!

Mourinho is now very conflicted. Should he interrupt this offensive plan? Let the players retreat to defend and not give Lazio any chance?

Or should he persist and try to score a goal against Lazio within ten minutes of the opening.

As long as Inter Milan can lead Lazio, no matter how many goals they lead, Mourinho is confident that he can maintain this goal lead at home.

By studying the video of the first round of the game between Manchester United and Lazio. He has already gained some experience.

But if they don't score, they shrink their defense... Isn't that what Lazio wants? In the standings, Lazio is the leading side, and they are three points ahead of Inter Milan. If neither side scores in this game and it ends in a 0:0 draw, then Lazio is still three points ahead of Inter Milan, which is the result Lazio wants to see, but not what Inter Milan wants!

In other words, in this game, Mourinho will not accept any other results except winning.

Mourinho thought about it and decided to take a gamble.

Don't take it back for the time being, and try to score a goal first.

He wants to see whether his team will score first or Lazio will score first.

He believes that after continuous fighting, the entire Lazio team is exhausted. In such a high-intensity game, whether in terms of state, performance, or psychology, they are not as good as his own team.

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Mourinho guessed correctly, Lazio's entire team is now very tired and their state is ups and downs.

They can't even guarantee to be in good form throughout this game.

But because of this, the period at the beginning of the game is particularly precious to them.

Because their physical fitness cannot guarantee a high-intensity fight throughout the game.

If you get into a tug-of-war with Inter Milan, you will definitely be the unlucky one in the end.

Chang Sheng knew this very well and allowed Lazio to attack Inter Milan at the beginning of the game.

Of course, if it was Lazio before, I am afraid that Inter Milan would be pushed back soon, and it would become a situation where Lazio besieged Inter Milan.

But now, because of the influence of state and physical fitness. Lazio was unable to completely suppress Inter Milan, which actually gave Inter Milan hope, making Inter Milan mistakenly think that they could attack Lazio, so they would not retract their defense for a while.

Wasn't Mourinho deceived?

Of course, this situation cannot continue forever, so it is not Inter Milan who must score first, but Lazio...

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Inter Milan's attack broke into Lazio's penalty area. Ibrahimovic originally planned to take a shot, but Jose Passarella blocked it with his foot. The two sides exchanged a kick and the football bounced away.

Chiellini kicked the football away before Cambiaso came up to shoot.

The football fell to midfield and Cavani headed it towards Candreva.

Lazio launched another attack.

After receiving the ball, Candreva did not continue to dribble or anything, but directly sent the football to the wing.

On the right wing, the young Azpilicueta jumped in at high speed and participated in the attack.

He received a pass from Candreva, but this time he missed it. But keep dribbling the ball!

"Lazio's counterattack!"

the narrator shouted.

Mourinho, who was standing on the sidelines, suddenly smelled an uneasy smell in the air, and he became a little anxious.

He shouted toward the court: "Get back to defense quickly!"

Azpilicueta dribbling the ball forward does not violate Lazio's tactical discipline, because there is no enemy in front of him, so why should he not dribble the ball?

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Inter Milan's left back Maxwell quickly pounced on and intercepted Azpilicueta inside.

Azpilicueta saw this and stopped dribbling.

But he didn't pass back or cross either.

He sent a through ball directly!

The football bypassed Maxwell and passed to the ribs of the penalty area!

Cazorla moved in at high speed from there, with Samuel closely guarding him. Rushing towards the football!

In fact, Cazorla is already very tired in the Lazio formation. It's not just Gotze who is tired, many people are tired.

After all, Gotze did not play in the last game against Bayern Munich. He stayed on the bench for 90 minutes and got a chance to rest.

And Cazorla didn't have any chance to rest.

As a swingman and jack-of-all-trades in the forward and midfield, his role is particularly important when the team is short of manpower. He needs to play multiple positions, so he plays almost every game without any rest time.

If someone is needed in the midfield, he goes to the midfield. He was needed on the front line, so he went to the front line again.

There was no chance to rest at all, so Cazorla was also very tired.

But Cazorla knew that now was not the time to shout thunder.

In the Champions League, Lazio will most likely be eliminated.

If the league allows Inter Milan to reverse course after leading for most of the season...that is absolutely unacceptable!

So Cazorla has been gritting his teeth and persisting.

Including this offense.

In order to avoid Maxwell's interception, Azpilicueta passed the football deeper.

In order to catch up with the ball, Cazorla must sprint with all his strength.

This makes him feel even more tired...

But this is a good opportunity, and you must not give it up just because you can’t run!

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Samuel has been stuck on the inside of Cazorla. On the one hand, he is naturally not allowed to cut inside, and on the other hand, he is not allowed to shoot directly.

This angle is not too far away, Cazorla has the ability to shoot and the possibility of scoring goals.

In order to avoid being scored by the opponent here, Samuel will definitely not relax.

But what he didn't expect was that Cazorla didn't even think about shooting!

Cazorla is very aware of his physical ability. It took a lot of effort for him to catch up with the ball. Under such circumstances, it is simply difficult for him to make a shot that requires high accuracy. He cannot guarantee the final result of the football. Will fly into the goal...

Such a good offensive opportunity would be absolutely unforgivable if it was missed because of you!

So Cazorla didn't shoot, but crossed with all his strength!

Of course, before crossing the ball, he made a fake shot. Samuel stretched his legs and a gap appeared between his legs.

Cazorla's cross ball went under Samuel's crotch!

"Cazorla...crosses the goal!!"

Amid the exclamations of the commentator, Cavani hit the horse.

Then a flying shovel came in and shoveled Cazorla's cross into the goal!

The shouts at Meazza suddenly stopped.

Inter Milan, who wanted to score first, conceded the goal first! (To be continued...)