Chapter 145 The Biggest Weakness

In the twenty-seventh round of the Eredivisie, Ajax played away to Alkmaar.

In the 64th minute of the second half, the Eredivisie giants, whose main players were rested, scored a goal first by Wesley Sonk, but they were equalized by their opponents in the final stage of the game. In the end, the two sides shook hands one-to-one.

Vermaelen started and played the whole game, with good and bad performances, the goal conceded was related to him, but the performance was solid throughout the game.

But PSV's situation is clearly worse than Ajax's.

Hiddink's team challenged Willem II away from home. The first half was also tied at zero to zero, but Willem II took the lead shortly after the second half. Then Hovland was sent off by the referee for a malicious foul. Eindhoven once scored a goal, but eventually returned with a 1-3 away game.

After this round of games, Ajax's lead has further expanded, and Eindhoven has somewhat given up catching up, but the head coach Hiddink still gritted his teeth and refused to let go, repeatedly saying that the team still has chance of reversal.

Time has entered April, the Eredivisie ushered in the twenty-eighth round of the game.

Eindhoven started a day earlier than Ajax and took away a 4-0 victory away from the away game against Warwick. Kežman scored twice and Park Ji-sung scored a goal.

Ajax ushered in Groningen at home this round.

After changing sides in the second half, Van der Vaart, who came on as a substitute, scored the first goal, but was quickly equalized by Groningen.

Yang Yang came off the bench in the 80th minute and created a corner kick when he forced a breakthrough on the right. Sneijder took the corner kick and assisted Heitinga to score, and finally sealed the 2-1 victory.

This victory brought Ajax one step closer to the Eredivisie title, and also greatly boosted the team's morale.

After playing Groningen, Ajax began to fully prepare for the Champions League knockout stage in the week.

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"Now, everyone out there thinks we've lost."

In the quiet tactical conference room, Ronald Koeman looked at the players in front of him solemnly.

Yang Yang sat opposite him, and from the head coach's face, he read one thing, determination.

In fact, Ajax really has no way out. The away game is two to four, forcing the team to break the boat and let it go. Only in this way can they have a chance to reverse, otherwise they will only be eliminated.

Technical director Van Gaal also attended this tactical preparation meeting. It is said that he had just held a meeting with the coaching staff for more than an hour. It seems that a consensus should be reached. Since he walked into this conference room, he has always been standing. On Ronald Koeman's side, he didn't say a word, but he expressed his support for the manager.

"As I said before, I was responsible for the loss two weeks ago, you all did a great job, it's my responsibility, and now I hope you can continue to believe that I can lead everyone at home and win A victory."

Ronald Koeman has a high prestige in the team, and everyone nodded in unison.

"The away defeat looked tragic, but the two goals gave us hope, and from those two goals, we could see a lot of things, including the weakness of Real Madrid's backline, including how they played against the backline. Protection is not good, and there are a lot of advantages in this game in our favor."

Speaking of which, Ronald Koeman switched the PPT on the back screen, which listed several major advantages of Ajax. The first is the absence of Real Madrid players in this game.

Raul Bravo was injured by Yang Yang's pendulum swing. It was widely known all over the world, and the injury of Real Madrid's left back was not optimistic. It was said that he injured his ankle. The season is hard to play again.

However, a substitute was injured, but Robert Carlos, who was suspended for accumulating yellow cards in the last round, will return, but no one knows how much the Brazilian left-back can play. After all, his recent defense and state have never been reassuring. .

"What I really want to say is Beckham."

Some of Beckham's stats were switched on the screen behind Ronald Koeman.

"Many people have always focused their attention on Real Madrid's offense, but I think everyone must keep in mind that the midfield is the most important part of professional football today. Whoever lives in the midfield wins."

"After Makelele left, Real Madrid has always been a weak spot in the midfield. They lacked a player to give enough protection to the front of the penalty area. Beckham ran a lot, and the passing, especially the long pass, was very obvious. , he transformed into a late midfielder, which is very useful."

"However, he received a yellow card in the last game, and this game will accumulate yellow cards to suspend the game. This will be a very big blow to the defense of Real Madrid's midfield. We speculate that Queiroz has only two coping strategies."

"First, Elguera pushes forward to partner with Guti in midfield, but as a result, the backline becomes empty, and without Elguera, Real Madrid's backline will exclude Pavin and Mejia. This will be our opportunity.”

"There is another way, that is, the midfielder arranges a partner for Guti, the most likely being Solari and Borja, but Solari is not the best candidate for the midfielder to delay the defender, so the most likely It's Borja and the front of the box will be our chance."

Everyone in the conference room heard Ronald Koeman's analysis, and it was true that Ajax had a chance.

Judging from the first round, Ibrahimovic is very dominant in the penalty area. Whether it is Elgra or Mejia, it is difficult to take advantage of him, as long as Ajax Playing around this point is entirely possible.

Now, Beckham is out, and there is a vacuum at the front of the penalty area. Whether it is Wesley Songk, Van der Vaart or Sneijder, they can create threats in this area, and their long-range shots are quite good.

"Also, on our two wings, the two full-backs of Real Madrid love to intervene in the attack, and there will inevitably be gaps behind us. As long as we seize the gaps and fight back well, I believe we will definitely get opportunities."

"Finally, as I emphasized two weeks ago, Real Madrid doesn't have an effective rotation mechanism, it's April, their superstars are already exhausted, and everyone has seen it, the Bernabeu battle. They were okay in the first half, and they started the second half well, but then what?"

At the end of that game, Real Madrid really had no physical fitness.

Of course, on the one hand, Ajax has stepped up their pressing and pressure on them, causing them to pass and receive the ball frequently, but if they are physically fit enough to deal with it, they will not have this problem.

"In the past two weeks, Real Madrid played two games, all the stars started, the first was a 5-1 home win over Sevilla, Robert Carlos played 70 minutes, Zidane played 80 minutes , the others played the full game, and two days ago, they beat Albacete 2-1 away, Guti played 67 minutes, Zidane played 80 minutes, Ronaldo played 87 minutes, and the others played the full game. All over the place."

"Why?" Yang Yang asked inexplicably.

And this question made everyone in the conference room turn to look at him, followed by a burst of laughter.

"Very good, very classroom atmosphere, right?" Ronald Koeman asked with a laugh.

Yang Yang was a little embarrassed, he did almost think he was back in the school classroom.

"The reason is very simple, Real Madrid are only one point ahead of Valencia at the moment, they are 67, Valencia 66, and Valencia has thirteen more goals than Real Madrid. Offensive ability, you can imagine how bad their defense is."

When everyone heard this, they all immediately understood.

It turned out to be a two-line battle, and the league was deadlocked.

Relatively speaking, Ajax’s situation is much easier, the league lead is obvious, Ronald Koeman is almost in turn, giving the main players enough rest time to wait for the arrival of Real Madrid.

"Guys, I want you to understand that we are not without a chance in this game, we have a chance, as long as we all work together, as long as we press Real Madrid from the first minute of the game, Don't let them easily control the game, then I believe that the final victory will definitely belong to us."

If the morale of the Ajax players was still a little low before, after this in-depth analysis by the head coach, everyone has regained their confidence. Ability to kill opponents.

Even against Real Madrid.

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"Yang, I will still make you a substitute in this game."

After the tactical preparation meeting, head coach Koeman and assistant coach Luther Carroll found Yang Yang to talk alone.

Yang Yang can't help but feel a little disappointed after hearing this. He is eager to start, just like the game against Arsenal, but he can also accept the arrangement of coming off the bench.

"It is the unanimous decision of all of us, including Luis, because we all believe that the final victory or defeat of this game will happen in the second half, and we need to save our sharpest weapon until that time, making The most threatening attack."

Yang Yang is only seventeen years old. With his current physical condition, it may be difficult for him to cope with the pressure from the audience. Therefore, the coaching staff can either choose to let him start and start the game, just like when he was playing Arsenal, or let him be a substitute in the second half. .

But it is clear that Real Madrid is not Arsenal, and the second half is the biggest weakness of the Galaxy Battleship.

"In the first half, we will try our best to defend the goal and score when we have the chance, but the first task is to not concede the goal, but the second half is the best time for us to counterattack, and I will arrange you to play, so I need you to be there. Watch the game, especially on Robert Carlos' side."

Yang Yang felt that the coaching staff valued him, and nodded solemnly, "I know how to do it."