Chapter 22 Sudden Changes

In the case of a two-goal gap, Klopp showed strong decisiveness. After only half an hour of the game, he decisively decided to use two substitutions. Paraguayan striker Valdez came on and replaced right back Tinga , In addition, Jakub Blaszczykowski, nicknamed "Kuba", replaced Owomoyela on the Polish winger. As to why Blaszczykowski has the nickname "Kuba", there is actually no special meaning. It's just that the transliteration of his name into Chinese is more fluent, and Chinese fans are used to calling it that way.

Such substitutions are obviously desperate. Dortmund's formation on the field is closer to 3-4-3. Hajnaur's position is slightly withdrawn. Egyptian striker Zidan moved from forward to left winger. On the right winger, Valdez, who came off the bench, was in the center.

Klopp tried to change his tactics and launched an offensive along the flanks, avoiding the three-man barrier in Schalke's midfield in the middle. Left back Schmelzer and Leonardo Dede, who played as a guest on the right back, both increased their assists strength. A few minutes after the substitution, Dortmund's attack on the left was extremely active, aiming at Rafinha on the right of Schalke, then plugging in the space left by the assist and beating fiercely. Although the scene has improved, the commentators expressed their incomprehension when Klopp put on Valdes. Marcel Leff said bluntly: "Dortmund's wing attack has begun to improve in the past few minutes, but why did Klopp replace Nelson Valdes? To play a wing cross, he is only one meter tall Seven or eight, no matter whether it is against Hewedes or Westermann, they will only be crushed. Maybe it would be better to replace the Argentine Kolimowitz? He is 1.92 meters tall and even more powerful for high-altitude bombing. Be direct."

Slomka saw that the opponent's two substitutions were very directional, and immediately asked Rafinha to return to his original right back position. The line of defense is the priority.

Having learned from the experience and lessons of the Ruhr Derby in the previous two seasons, Slomka knows very well that the 2:0 score seems to be worry-free, but it is actually a layer of window paper. The key is not to allow Dortmund to regain a goal in a short time.

However, the charm of strong dialogue is that it is not only the players on both sides that determine the trend of the game, but the head coach's on-the-spot adjustments have a more obvious impact on the overall situation. Klopp's two substitutions, everyone is guessing that it was wrong to replace Valdes to play a wide cross, but few people think that the most distinctive feature of this Dortmund team under Klopp's command is running. Zidan, Kuba and Valdés all have speed advantages, and they can intersperse with each other. In addition, Hajnaur and Shaheen take turns to pass the ball from time to time. It was exposed that Hewedes and Westerman's frontal defense was reassuring enough, but facing the opponent's continuous lateral dribbling and passing behind, the flexibility of both of them was a problem, and it was difficult to make mistakes. Zhou Tiancheng wanted to return to the back line to help, but the opponent was obviously afraid of him, and the pace of passing the ball was very fast, so it was impossible for him to block everything.

In the 40th minute of the first half, Shaheen made a direct pass from outside the penalty area. Rafinha made an interception error and missed the ball. Between Neuer and Höwedes, Höwedes was just about to stretch out his feet to clear the siege, but his movement was a little slower. Valdés caught up from the side and rear, rushed to the ground in front of him, and shoveled. Although Neuer saw Valdés, he made reminders and prepared to save, but the distance in front of the goal was short, and his arms were not enough to cover the entire goal. The ball rolled straight into the dead corner on the left.

Dortmund quickly pulled back a goal, and Klopp clenched his fists and roared wildly. Obviously, he also needs to vent the depression accumulated since the beginning.

Slomka was scratching his hair in distress. Westerman just looked at the coach's bench at this time. Slomka gestured anxiously, shrugged, and returned to the coach helplessly Xi, although he couldn't hear what he said clearly, but this action was intriguing.

Marcel Leff said with a smile: "Slomka probably wants to scold hell! Ha! Klopp saw the opportunity to equalize the score, and the change effect was obvious. In the last few minutes, Schalke must go all out!"

In the Beijing studio, Duan Xuan's attitude was not so neutral. He said: "The suspense of the derby is back, which is a good thing for the game itself, but the next step is to test Schalke 04 and Zhou Tiancheng's impromptu choices Now, Dortmund's offense does not go along the middle, how should he position next?"

Slomka called Zhou Tiancheng to the sideline alone, and said to him: "Zhou, close to the front of our penalty area, and then we will talk about defense first."

Zhou Tiancheng nodded, his thoughts coincided with Slomka's. After leading the end of the first half, this psychological advantage is still there.

Schalke 04 concentrated on defending with all their strength. There were six players around the penalty area participating in intensive defense. Dortmund's passing and cutting cooperation was difficult to work for a while.

One minute of stoppage time in the first half, Schalke saw the lead in their pockets, never thought that Dortmund seized a set-kick opportunity at this time, Shaheen was 33 meters away from the goal and directly pierced Noord with a free kick. Goal behind Ill.

Proudly going to the Schalke Stadium was like being pressed on the mute button in an instant, and there was no sound at all. Neuer threw the ball out of the goal helplessly, looked at Zhou Tiancheng, and smiled wryly.

Zhou Tiancheng regretted taking part in the wall, Shaheen's shot happened to hit his shoulder and changed direction, which caught his goalkeeper by surprise.

"Sorry, my fault. Come on, we will lead again."

Zhou Tiancheng took the initiative to take responsibility and comforted Neuer, but he secretly made up his mind in his heart that he would never participate in the wall again. It is also uncertain whether this situation will happen again, and it may be that the pot will be even bigger.

At the end of halftime, Dortmund's players and coaching staff returned to the locker room excitedly as if they had escaped death and won the victory, while the Schalke 04 players also learned their lesson and exchanged in twos and threes when they left the field.

The camera turned to Slomka for the first time, but he had already walked quickly into the passage, with his back turned to the camera, and the expression on his face could not be seen. But in fact, everyone can think that after a short period of sudden changes, from 2:0 to 2:2, the roller coaster process, the superiority of the leading party will definitely be hit hard.

In fact, many people have tilted the balance of victory to Dortmund at this time, and feel sorry for Schalke. This team is really not good at playing key games.

At the half-time summary, Marcel Leff thought of Shaheen's set-piece goal in stoppage time, and commented meaningfully: "Three of the four goals scored by both sides are related to Zhou... Haha! It seems God is still fair."