Ground football: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him

Yin Bu came on as a substitute in this match, but only played for fifteen minutes.

His face looked extremely pale.

October 17th, the sixth round of the Portuguese Super League.

Pinto will start again.

Quaresma dribbles past his opponent on the wing, creating a corner kick.

In the 14th minute, Viana took a short corner, Duncan crossed the ball, Barzagli's header was blocked, and the clearance fell to Matthäus. Matthäus' long-range shot deflected off Ronaldo and into the net.

Matthäus passively assisted Ronaldo.

In the 41st minute, Deng Kai's through ball broke through the opponent's defense, and Pinto was fouled in the penalty area, winning a penalty. Quaresma converted the penalty.

The second half began with the teams switching sides.

In the 63rd minute, Quaresma crossed from the byline, and after switching positions with Pinto, Ronaldo headed the ball into the net, scoring his second goal.

In the 67th minute, after a series of complex passes in midfield, Deng Kai broke into the penalty area.

Deschamps grew up following Zidane around and learned to make brilliant passes from him.

A through ball found Deng Kai in the penalty area, who controlled the ball and curled a shot into the net.

But... although they won, the score of the match was four to three.

Sporting Lisbon narrowly defeated their opponent, Farenz.

Compared to the big wins at the beginning of the season, the recent narrow victories clearly reveal some information.

Winning the game couldn't mask the decline; Sporting Lisbon's youth revolution may be unsustainable!

As the season progresses, Portuguese league teams are gaining a better understanding of Sporting Lisbon, and the "youth revolution" strategy may become less effective!

Consecutive goals conceded, shaky defense! Sporting Lisbon's backline is in serious trouble!

Fonte doesn't deserve to start! Barzagli and Terry lack experience; a defense that's too young ultimately can't be relied upon!

Deschamps is weak and outdated, Matthäus alone cannot fill four major gaps, Sporting Lisbon's defense has serious problems!

Schmeichel's magic is gone; his form has declined drastically, making a clean sheet unlikely again!

The media seized the opportunity, causing Sporting Lisbon fans to start criticizing their own defense.

However, during internal discussions at Sporting Lisbon, adjustments were made time and again to the attack.

"Pinto is better suited to playing as a shadow striker. Although he seems to have the ability to pass and receive the ball and his organizational skills, the environment is too harsh for him to stand firm."

"Moreover, when he enters the penalty area, the visual impact and actual damage he causes to the opponent's defense are not as strong as Drogba's."

"It's not that Pinto necessarily has to learn Drogba's style of play; he can't learn that anyway. The main problem is that our attack has speed and technique on the wings, and the midfield has organization and the ability to suddenly accelerate. What we lack is a bridgehead that can hold its ground deep in the opponent's defense, as well as a strong header to supplement our attack."

"While Ronaldo, Quaresma, Duncan, and Viana can all do these things once they enter the penalty area, positioning is crucial. Sometimes there's a big difference between you cutting into that position and you already being in that position."

"Moreover, if there is no way to get out of the penalty area while the four lines are penetrating into it, then the opponent's penalty area will just be a solid block."

"The deadly threat appears to be the four players making runs into the penalty area, but all of this is based on the premise that the center forward can first draw the opposing defenders out of the box."

Trigra's words had nothing to do with defense.

It's as if they didn't see the condemnations published by those media outlets.

Matthäus and Deschamps both participated in the coaching staff's discussions, which was one of the conditions for them joining the team.

Deschamps raised his hand and asked, "But our main problem right now is on the defensive end. We score a lot of goals. I admit that part of it is my fault. When facing players who are very fast or very strong, I often don't have any particularly good solutions."

Maxa laughed at that moment.

He had seen this question before and knew the correct answer.

"What are your thoughts, Mr. Maxa?" Matthäus also felt that today's discussion had strayed from the main point.

Maxa took a sip of tea, glancing at Coach Kai as he went. He noticed that Coach Kai didn't seem to mind his plagiarism—or rather, his remarks—so he said, "There's a Chinese saying: 'Treat the head when it hurts, treat the foot when it hurts; but if you treat it and the problem persists, there will be plenty of other issues.'"

"We've talked about defense and offense many times before. I'll go over it one last time, so please remember to take notes and don't come to my office after class to ask me these simple conceptual questions."

"Our goal tally looks high, but does that mean we're the same in attack as before?"

Maxi turned the screen on and showed everyone the data report he had summarized: "Did you notice that our number of attacking initiations, number of passes in the penalty area, and number of shots all declined after Drogba's injury?"

"In other words, the team has had significantly fewer opportunities."

Deschamps raised his hand: "But doesn't this also show that our forwards are more efficient? Besides their individual abilities and improved teamwork, could it also be related to the reduction in the number of attacks?"

"What I mean is, while there may seem to be fewer chances, each one is actually more refined, increasing the probability of our forwards scoring. Just like Arsenal, they get the ball into the opponent's goal through constant passing."

"They pursue at least ninth-down attacking opportunities, and many opportunities to launch an attack from seventh or eighth down are disrupted in the process. But that doesn't mean they're wrong."

"Because if you don't try so many seventh and eighth gear opportunities, you won't have so many ninth gear opportunities."

Maxa nodded: "What you said makes some sense, so the situation on the field and the opponent's statistics are very valuable at this point. This is the key difference between people who watch football and those who don't in their understanding of the strength of a team and its players."

"Take a look at this set of reports now."

"Before Drogba's injury, our opponents launched fewer than ten attacks per game. They brought the ball into the attacking third and created a real threat fewer than five times."

"Except for corner kicks, the number of shots on goal is less than four."

"But after Pinto started, the opponents' statistics improved significantly. So that's why our strikers' attacking efficiency improved; we got more opportunities similar to counter-attacks... or rather, opportunities to counter the opponent's counter-attacks."

"We have more opportunities to exploit their out-of-position situations, and this type of attack is inherently more efficient than attacking their solid defensive formations."

Deschamps trusts Maksa's stats, but he still doesn't understand what they have to do with today's main topic: defense.

Looking at Deschamps' conflicted expression, Maxa suddenly realized why he had won Keith's heart.

It turns out that having such a brilliant person by your side brings such a satisfying sense of accomplishment.

Deschamps, Deschamps, I'm determined to fool your apprentice!

I like playing football on the ground: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him.