Chapter 248: Grand speeches at the beginning, nonsense in the middle After the game, Luigi Galando, a columnist for Gazzetta dello Sport, published a column commenting on Inter Milan's game as soon as possible. "Obviously, Mancini is the core of Inter's transformation. He chose to take Capello's hard line in terms of technical processing and selection, which is of course a compliment. The so-called toughness means that the formation design is more solid. The appearance of three defensive midfielders has greatly enhanced the strength and control of Inter Milan's midfield. It not only reduces the pressure on the back line, but also allows the full-backs on both sides to have more opportunities to assist. Secondly, the tactical design is more oppressive. Inter's control over the midfield allows them to attack directly from the midfield without having to slowly advance from the back. The opponent's counterattack will most likely be intercepted in the midfield, and then immediately turn into Inter Milan's offensive round. Fiorentina faced such a situation in the first half of the game. Inter Milan's midfield was like a desperate steel wall, blocking all their attacks. For Inter Milan players participating in the attack in the frontcourt, the area of the field seemed to have shrunk by half. Their attacking opportunities doubled while their running distance remained the same or even decreased. The third point, and the most important one, is to liberate Lin Feng. As we all know, Lin Feng is a player with outstanding offensive ability, but during the opponent's offensive rounds, he will also actively participate in defense, and sometimes even retreat to his own penalty area to participate in defense.
But human energy is limited. When Lin Feng wastes a lot of physical strength and energy on defense, his role on the offensive end will inevitably decline. With the support of Mancini's new tactics, Lin Feng does not need to come back to participate in defense every time. He is fully liberated and can focus more of his energy on offense. So, we saw Lin Feng's creativity on the offensive end and the huge threat to the opponent's goal. Inter Milan was able to break away from the habitual 442 formation and successfully launch the 442 system based on the established 4312 system, which increased the tactical options. Inter Milan's performance this season is worth looking forward to. Although it is too early to judge whether Mancini's reforms are successful, it is at least a good start for Inter Milan and Mancini himself. We also observed that in this game, Mancini did not stand nervously on the sidelines like he had done in previous games. Most of the time he sat calmly in the coaching seat and watched the game. Mancini is transforming from a young football coach to a famous football coach. However, in the domestic league where there are few opponents, even if Inter Milan plays dominantly, it doesn’t mean anything. The new season of the Champions League will be their biggest test.” In addition to being a columnist for Gazzetta dello Sport, Luigi has also written a best-selling football novel and is very well-known in Italy. After his article was published, it immediately attracted a lot of attention. Although after watching it, many people do not necessarily agree with his judgment that Inter Milan is invincible in the league. But everyone agrees that Inter Milan's goal this season should be on the Champions League. The reason is very simple. You are the Serie A champion. If you are easily eliminated by other teams in the Champions League, it will not only be a loss of face for Inter Milan, but also a loss of face for the entire Serie A! …… Luigi had just mentioned the Champions League when the Champions League came. Affected by the Calciopoli scandal, the start time of Serie A this season is generally half a month or even more than a month later than other leagues. Therefore, when the first round of Serie A games ended, the new season's Champions League group stage had already begun. Compared to last season, Inter Milan's luck this season is not very good. They were divided into Group B in the Champions League, with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich and Portuguese Super League giants Sporting Lisbon in the same group. Although the third team, Spartak Moscow, is not very strong, it has a very terrifying weapon - the terrifying home field! The winter in Moscow is really a nightmare for Europeans. Even Napoleon praised it! Not only is the distance far, but it is also extremely cold in the winter. Add to that the artificial turf and the temperature below zero degrees Celsius. If you are unlucky, there will be rain, snow and cold wind, which is simply unbearable.
If Inter Milan wants to qualify from this group, they will not only need to go head-to-head with top teams like Bayern, but also have to overcome the impact of distance and bad weather, and also have to be wary of Sporting Lisbon's counterattack. It is precisely because Inter Milan is in the group of death that the outside world is so worried and believes that this season's Champions League will be a big test for Inter Milan. For Inter Milan, it is very difficult to qualify as the top of this group. If they fail to get first place in the group, they may face the favorites to win the championship in the knockout stage, and Inter Milan may be eliminated in the round of 16. This means that Inter Milan has very little room for error and cannot make any mistakes. They must try their best in every game. Compared with Inter Milan, the groups of the other two Serie A teams are slightly better. Roma is grouped together with Valencia, Shakhtar Donetsk and Olympiacos. There are no particularly strong teams or giants in the same group. For Roma, as long as they perform normally, it will not be difficult to qualify, and even getting first place in the group will not be a difficult task. As for AC Milan, which advanced from the play-offs, their Group H was called the "guaranteed group" by fans. The other three teams in the group were Lille from Ligue 1, AEK Athens from the Greek Super League and Anderlecht from the Belgian First Division. These three teams cannot possibly threaten AC Milan no matter how you look at it. The game hasn’t even started yet, but many Milan fans have already predicted that they will be first in the group. But these days, we really can't underestimate the team from Greece. After all, they are the champions of the last European Cup. If Lin Feng's Inter Milan was placed in the death group, then Chen Tao's Werder Bremen had almost been sentenced to death. Due to the low points in the Champions League, Werder Bremen was classified into the third tier of teams. If they are unlucky, they may face two powerful and top teams. Unfortunately, this is what actually happened. In this season's Champions League group stage, Werder Bremen was placed in Group A, which included two top teams, Barcelona and Chelsea. It is a great blessing for them to have last season's La Liga champions and Premier League champions serving them at the same time. But if they could choose, Werder Bremen definitely wouldn't want such a blessing. So in Chen Tao's words, they are fighting for honor in advance. "Brother Chen, don't be discouraged. Just like when you played against Bayern in the Bundesliga, you need to show your courage and fighting spirit and do it!" "Yes, even if we can't qualify in the end, we must not let these two top teams advance comfortably!" "If the King of Hell comes, he will knock out two of his teeth!" Inspired by his friends, Chen Tao stepped onto the court with high morale. Ninety minutes later, Werder Bremen lost 0:2 at Stamford Bridge and ran away in disgrace. I can’t kick it, I really can’t kick it! Damn, Chelsea's defense is human? Is there any team that can really break through this goal? Chen Tao was targeted very badly in this game. His physical confrontation ability was not strong, and the person sent by Chelsea to defend him was Essien. After the game, Chen Tao was dumbfounded: Who am I, where am I, and what am I doing? In fact, this cannot be entirely blamed on Chen Taocai. After all, after Miku left, he became the mainstay of Werder Bremen's midfield. If the opposing coach is not a fool, he will definitely target him in this situation. Essien is called the African buffalo. With his terrifying physical strength and running and intercepting abilities, which attacking midfielder would not be afraid of him? Lin Feng felt that even if it was him, it probably wouldn't be any easier. On September 9, Inter Milan came to Lisbon again. More than half a month ago, they played a friendly match with Sporting Lisbon here and defeated their opponents. Now coming here again, Inter Milan players have confident smiles on their faces and seem very optimistic about the upcoming game.
This is not surprising. Firstly, they are not unfamiliar with their opponents. They had just fought against each other not long ago, so they know the strength of each side. Secondly, they easily defeated Fiorentina in the league and showed great dominance. In addition, the Italian media kept touting that Inter Milan dominated Serie A, which influenced the players and made them feel complacent unconsciously. However, the results of the warm-up matches cannot represent the results of the main matches, and complacency will also have its price. As soon as the game started, Sporting Lisbon actively launched an attack on Inter Milan amid the cheers of tens of thousands of fans at home. Although Inter Milan fielded almost the same lineup as in the previous game, the results were somewhat less than expected. Sporting Lisbon had obviously studied Inter Milan's new tactics and knew that Inter Milan's midfield was very strong, so they consciously bypassed Inter Milan's midfield, frequently used the flanks to launch attacks, and very specifically attacked Inter Milan's right side. In this way, not only can Inter Milan's midfield be suppressed, but also Inter Milan's most active right side can be suppressed, cutting off the connection between Maicon and Figo. The wing defense was under pressure, forcing Vieira to frequently support the wing. His support did have a certain effect, but the yellow card he received while defending posed a considerable threat to Inter Milan's defense. Inter Milan's luck was indeed not very good in this game. Torres and Crespo were in average form and missed several chances in the first half. Seeing that his teammates on the front line had forgotten to bring their shooting boots, the kind-hearted Materazzi volunteered to step forward and took advantage of the corner kick to rush into the opponent's penalty area, hoping to take the lead for the team with a header. The idea was good, but when he landed, his foot slipped and he accidentally sprained his right foot. After the team doctor came on the field to check, he immediately made a gesture for substitution. Materazzi was very frustrated. It was really unlucky for him to get injured without any confrontation. What made him even more frustrated was that although it was obviously a very sad thing that he was injured and had to leave the field, the home fans stood up and applauded with glee. This is definitely not cheering for him or encouraging or comforting him, it is simply adding insult to injury. After all, the World Cup final in July was only two months ago, and the fans still remember the scene in the final clearly! Mancini, sitting in the coaching booth, already felt something was wrong. The game had only been going on for 20 minutes and the loss of a key player was not good news! Fortunately, the opponent's attack only looked powerful, but did not actually pose much threat to Inter Milan's goal. The two sides were tied in the first half and no one scored a goal. Even in terms of ball possession and number of shots, Inter Milan is still in the lead. But compared with the previous game against Fiorentina, it can be clearly felt that Inter Milan's dominance is not that strong. In the second half, the two sides changed sides and Lisbon fans soon discovered that Inter Milan began to speed up. The three-man midfield team started playing in mad dog mode, pressing and intercepting frantically, with the intention of preventing Sporting Lisbon from dribbling the ball across half court. Lisbon is not afraid either, isn't it just a matter of seeing who can run faster? Then let’s compete! With the encouragement of the fans, they ran more actively. Inter Milan's midfield was strangling them crazily, so they used running and spreading the ball to the sides to constantly pull and test the defense. As both teams continued to speed up, the tempo of the game soared. The offense and defense transitions on both sides were very fast, the ball changed hands back and forth, and no one could control the ball well. But this kind of game rhythm is not a good thing for defensive players. Players from both teams committed a large number of fouls in the high-tempo and high-confrontation game. The referee was ruthless and kept giving out yellow cards as if they were free.
When Mancini saw Vieira once again tackle the opponent to disrupt the attack, he already felt something was wrong. "Does Vieira have a yellow card?" Mancini turned his head and asked the assistant coach beside him. There were so many yellow cards in this game that he couldn't even remember who got them. "Yes, he got it when he was fouled in the first half. The referee's penalty standards are tending to be stricter now. Should we arrange a substitution and take him off?" Vieira is old, and he did not get enough rest after playing consecutive games for the national team, so his physical fitness is not actually sufficient. Mancini nodded and was about to let the substitute players warm up when he saw Vieira commit a serious foul during a fight and received a second yellow card and was sent off. Well, there's no need to replace him now. When he was sent off, Vieira finally realized that he had made a mistake. The score between the two teams is still 0:0 and the game is still evenly matched, but a draw is unacceptable to both sides, so both sides will continue to strengthen their offense. If one side is suddenly sent off at this time, the balance of victory will inevitably tilt extremely towards the other side. In this case, Inter Milan is in danger. Although Inter Milan's biggest competitor in the group stage is Bayern Munich, if they really lose to Sporting Lisbon in this game, then they will forget about competing for the first place in the group, and even qualifying for the group will be in danger. When Mancini thought about the fact that the Serie A champions were eliminated in the Champions League group stage, his face turned ugly, as if he had already seen the scene of the outside world mocking him. However, the most terrifying thing is not the ridicule from the outside world, but the anger of the big boss. He had heard that, not long ago during the Italian Super Cup, when Roma was leading, Moratti angrily called around, trying to find someone to replace him. Although in the end he gave up because he defeated Roma and won the Super Cup. But if Inter Milan really stops in the Champions League group stage, he will definitely be fired. It’s all the fault of those damn media. Why did they have to praise Inter Milan when there were so many other things to praise? They raised the expectations of the outside world so high and made me lose face! The game isn't over yet and Mancini has already started talking nonsense! (End of this chapter)