Ground football: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him

September 8th, the fourth round of the Portuguese Super League.

The highly anticipated match between Sporting Lisbon and Leiria ended in a 2-2 draw.

Four rounds without a win!

Even the dumbest person can see that the five-time champions are in trouble.

This is very different from what the fans expected of them.

Everyone is expecting the five-time champions to be unstoppable this season!

Now they're firmly in the relegation zone... could this be leading Sporting Lisbon down to the Portuguese second division?

What kind of operation is this?

Is Sporting Lisbon experiencing a collective rookie wall?

It's possible, but... isn't Deng Kai a future superstar comparable to Cruyff?

If they can't even carry the Portuguese league, are they a dud?

Many teams have already played five or six games this season.

For teams that have new signings, you can generally tell the level of those new signings.

Several superstars underperformed and were categorized as "suspected flops".

This includes two players who transferred for record-breaking prices.

Veron, the White Wizard, transferred from Lazio to Manchester United.

Mendieta, arguably the best midfielder in Europe, transferred from Valencia to Lazio.

Now, MVP stalwarts, the next Cruyff, and six-time champion Deng Kai have also made it onto this list.

……

Sporting Lisbon has also been holding frequent tactical meetings recently.

As someone involved, Guardiola was very aware of what had happened within the team during this period.

Before the start of this season, the team opted for a 4-3-3 formation as its regular formation, strongly recommended by Deng Kai.

However, after several rounds of matches, this formation is considered to be unsuitable for Sporting Lisbon at present.

This formation requires two very top-class wingers who are also extremely good at cutting inside.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho meet the requirements.

Even though Ronaldinho wasn't playing his best on the right wing, he still performed admirably; his individual ability was exceptional.

This formation also requires a very strong center forward.

Drogba actually falls short in this respect.

Through the development of last season, Drogba has already developed both functionality and attacking prowess.

But not enough.

He still needs to grow.

In a 4-3-3 formation, the two wingers and midfielders can sometimes be spread out very far, which requires Drogba to have the ability to solve problems on his own.

Therefore, Drogba's subpar performance directly lowered the team's minimum standard, failing to provide the team with consistent offensive firepower.

Replacing Ibrahimovic in the starting lineup will solve the problem of offensive threats, but the tempo of the attacking third will drop significantly.

Inspired by Ronaldinho, Ibrahimovic basically became a center-forward version of Ronaldinho, and eventually even awakened Ronaldo's dribbling addiction, leading to frequent zombie dribbles and stepovers.

The 4-3-3 formation places high demands on the midfielders' running, and both Deng Kai and Kaka are fine in this regard, with Kaka being particularly attentive in his attitude.

He'll do anything if you ask him to play B2B.

However, Guardiola's defensive midfield position did not meet the requirements of the formation and tactics.

It might work in the Cruyff and Van Gaal systems, but not in Duncan's or Guardiola's future systems.

This formation requires a player who excels defensively.

Only a prime Matthäus could fill that role in this team. Even Matthäus at the end of his second stint with Bayern Munich could have done it.

But this Matthäus, whom Deng Kai dug up from his retirement site, is no good.

Pepe might be able to do it in two or three years, but right now she's still not quite there yet.

The others are even further behind.

Finally, this tactic places too high a demand on the two full-backs.

The team needs two full-backs with strong attacking ability, overlapping runs, speed, dribbling skills, and crossing ability.

Maicon fits the bill almost perfectly.

Evra is much worse.

But even Maicon had a fatal flaw: he had a problem with timing.

This is not a defect; it's normal.

Only by seeing more and gaining experience can one better grasp the timing of events.

Therefore, there is no solution to this problem.

Without two qualified full-backs, the strength of the two wingers is wasted, and the problems in the midfield are exposed.

One link after another.

"Since the two full-backs cannot meet the standards in the short term, we can only 'change our call'." Deng Kai gestured to Maksa to play a new PowerPoint presentation, which showed a 3-2-3-2 formation.

This is quite similar to Sporting Lisbon's formation last season.

They lost a winger but gained an attacking midfielder.

However, structurally, the differences are actually quite significant.

"Cristiano Ronaldo and Drogba will play as the two strikers, with Ibrahimovic as a regular substitute and Wu Xudong as a supplementary striker."

"Ronaldinho, me, and Kaká, the three attacking midfielders."

"We've piled five guys up in the front line with only one goal: kill the enemy or get killed by them!"

"If Ronaldinho and Kaká have enough stamina, they can move to the wings to play as winger and broaden the tactical range. But in that case, it will be difficult for them to have the stamina to participate in defense."

"Therefore, we need two strong defensive midfielders. Initially, I suggest pairing Matthäus with Guardiola, with Yaya Toure and Veloso as the main rotation options."

"If we're going to attack, bring on Yaya Toure. If we're going to defend, bring on Veloso. If we're going to concede a goal, bring on Deschamps."

Deschamps: ? ? ?

Deng Kai joked: "Of course, all of our defensive midfielders can theoretically also try to play as substitute attacking midfielders, so we won't be short of players in midfield, which will be our biggest advantage."

"For a three-man defense, I suggest Pepe, Vidic, and Barzagli start, with Evra, Fonte, Maicon, Wu Xudong, and others on the bench."

Subsequently, the assembly voted by show of hands to approve Deng Kai's proposal.

Only Matthäus objected; he didn't want to start because he was too tired and felt physically exhausted.

After all, he had just broken up with Marin and found a supermodel girlfriend in Portugal.

In the early stages of dating, it takes a lot of physical energy, you know.

Considering that Matthäus was also born in the Year of the Dog, he might very well retire if he disagrees.

Deng Kai had no choice but to compromise, leaving Matthäus's position to Yaya Toure, Deschamps, Pepe, and others in the starting lineup in search of the best possible combination.

Fonte, the person pouring water for the meeting, was secretly pleased.

He strongly supports Pepe becoming the starting defensive midfielder.

Because this would make him one of the starting three center-backs.

Hahaha!

An excited Pepe even poured a cup of tea for Matthäus, who had voluntarily withdrawn from the competition.

Matthäus: "I think Maicon deserves more development. You were thinking of playing with two defenders, right? Maicon is very fast when he gets up there... Ah, hot..."

Fonte deliberately poured boiling water onto Matthäus's crotch, staging a scene of "pants having gravity."

However, the things discussed at this conference are unlikely to be directly applied in the next game.

The team has only changed the formation used in training, but it won't be usable in the short term.

It's not that the players are unfamiliar with the tactics or unsuitable; in fact, the players are more suited to this style of play, which is very similar to their style last season.

The reason he can't play is because the next match is a Champions League group stage game.

Even with all the money in Kai's pocket, he still won't be able to play this time.

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