Ground football: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him

"It's Drogba again! Duncan is still looking for Drogba; it seems he has a lot of confidence in him."

"You know, Drogba was completely shut down by Stam last time!"

"Drogba has created an opportunity! What happened? Stam hasn't caught up with Drogba!"

"However, Duncan's pass was too deep, so Drogba couldn't shoot directly. If it had been too shallow, Drogba wouldn't have had time to get past Stam."

Turning speed!

Lazio coach Roberto Mancini frowned.

Stam has almost only this one weakness, but it's surprising that Deng Kai has been able to exploit it.

Don't think that the slow turning speed is an easy weakness to exploit. Stam can completely make up for this disadvantage with his physique. He can suppress the opponent's speed by giving the opposing forwards a little bit of contact.

And Nesta is there to cover for you from behind.

However, Deng Kai targeted Stam twice in a row, each time with increasing sharpness.

And then there's Drogba. With his beast-like physical strength, he's incredibly fast. He's practically a tank that can run on the track. Where did Sporting Lisbon find such a player?

boom!

Drogba leaped high and headed the ball back.

This time, the ball was powerful and fast, giving Stam a chance to block it, but he didn't expect Drogba to handle it that way. Stam thought it was a ball at his feet, so he missed the opportunity to block it.

Sporting Lisbon's right attacking midfielder Yaya Touré has a keen sense of attack; as Duncan passed the ball, he also made a run into the space behind Drogba.

Facing the oncoming ball, Yaya Touré raised his right foot and swished it across the table.

If it weren't for his height and long legs, this kind of soccer ball, which is close to the abdomen of a normal person, would be very difficult to handle.

Simone glided past Yaya Toure on his left.

Simeone also thought Yaya Toure would handle the ball on the ground, but he didn't expect that the guy was so skilled with his feet that he could volley the ball directly.

The ball flew past Simeone and laterally toward the edge of the penalty area.

boom!

Deng Kai, with a powerful volley, unleashed a devastating shot without stopping the ball!

They even used the outer instep!

Beckenbauer-style pass and shot!

Swish!

Footballs are not only fast, but they also have an arc.

Peruzzi made a high-quality save, but the ball was nothing short of a miracle, sailing right over his fingers and into the net.

"Goal! One to one!"

"A terrifying run-up and shot! Deng Kai's outside-of-the-foot shot was absolutely amazing!"

"This is the power of the outside-of-the-foot king in the Portuguese league!"

"Lazio absolutely cannot let Deng Kai's long-range shot go! The three attacking midfielders and two center forwards formation is too impactful on the middle. With Deng Kai's delicate maneuvering, they always manage to get opportunities to shoot from the middle."

"Whether it's Cristiano Ronaldo, Duncan, or Drogba, they all have a beautiful long-range shot."

"It is said that the long-range shots of new signing Kaká and even Yaya Touré are reliable."

"Therefore, Lazio absolutely cannot give Sporting Lisbon another chance at the edge of the penalty area!"

"Even with what is arguably the world's strongest central defensive pairing, they still need to send extra players here!"

"Simone is taking on too much defensive responsibility, so he's often unable to get to the position where he's most needed. Mendieta should find a way to help Simeone share the burden!"

Lazio's players have also noticed the problem, and Simeone is communicating with Mendieta.

Seeing this, Deng Kai said to Kaká and Ronaldo during the goal celebration, "Mendiego is in a dilemma. Lazio has him completely contained. He's so restricted now that he almost doesn't know how to play."

"Attack him from behind, and push him around more often."

Kaka and Ronaldo didn't understand the beginning, but they understood the end, and they nodded repeatedly.

On the sidelines, Maxa asked in bewilderment, "Mendieta has played in several positions at Lazio, but why does he seem to fall short in all of them? It's a far cry from his performance at Valencia."

"At Valencia, he performed at the best level in Europe, and was even the best in the world at right winger. If he moved to attacking midfield, he would be comparable to Veron and rival Zidane."

"This is by no means his true level; this mediocre performance... is too hard to believe."

Trigra glanced at Maxa: "Looks like you've put in a lot of effort, reading plenty of those football tabloids. As a lifestyle blogger, you're actually asking such professional questions."

"Lazio did let Mendieta try almost every position, but that doesn't mean Mendieta got a lot."

"For Mendieta, position isn't important; what's important is freedom. Like Ke, he wants the entire midfield and attack."

"But Lazio, or rather Serie A, won't give players that much space. Their defense, positioning, and tactical requirements all impose considerable restrictions on players' positions."

"This feeling of constraint is like a woman who doesn't like wearing a bra being forced to wear one, especially a small one. No matter what brand you switch to, it won't be comfortable, not even Victoria's Secret."

"Look, now Lazio's teammates are making Mendieta participate in defense again."

"Mendieta and Duncan seem to be the same type of player, well-rounded in all aspects, with particularly outstanding imagination. Mendieta's six-dimensional chart can even fully cover Duncan."

"But Duncan is a player who can be broken down. When you want to use his 80-point playmaking ability, he can perform at 80 points. When you want to use his 60-point defense ability, he can perform at 60 points."

"When you need him to cover, he can cover. When you need him to drive, he can drive. In short, whatever you need, if he has it, he can provide that for the team."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!

"Mendieta's attributes, on the other hand, cannot be separated. He can perform at a 90-point level in organization, a 70-point level in defense, with stronger coverage, dribbling, shooting, etc. ... but only within a system where he is comfortable."

"When you can't provide him with that kind of environment, you only want him to have 70 points of defense? Sorry, he can probably only provide 40."

"You want his coverage, breakthroughs, and organization in isolation? Then you'll get data values ​​that are far lower than his actual level."

"He is a typical system player, and may even be the best system player in the world."

The players' agile movement on the field is essentially about using their strengths to exploit the weaknesses of their opponents.

If things are fixed, then the possibility of flexible response is lost.

If the player doesn't have any particularly outstanding strengths, then it's easy for them to use their weaknesses against the opponent's strengths.

At Valencia, Cooper provided Mendieta with a complete tactical system that allowed Mendieta to fully utilize his strengths against weaker opponents.

This even reduced Claudio's tactical importance.

But Lazio's idea is to change the core but not the shell.

They hope Mendieta will adapt to their already well-established tactical system.

This slight difference directly caused the collaboration to fail for both parties.

Maxa nodded: "So what kind of player is Kai? A non-system player?"

Triglav shook his head: "A complete system player!"

[P.S.: I had insomnia last night and didn't fall asleep until 3 AM. I got up at 7 AM this morning to take my sister to Chengdu for her studies, and then slept until now. I'll try to update five chapters today, but the later chapters will probably be later.]

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