Chapter 95 Kaka was stimulated, Lin Feng's rookie wall Upon learning that Lin Feng won the Serie A Player of the Month award for August, Kaka next door was greatly stimulated. Feeling the pressure, Kaka performed his iconic solo move in the fourth round of Serie A, when AC Milan played against Lazio at home. In the 23rd minute, after Milan intercepted the ball in the backcourt, Kaka ran all the way with the ball, passed several opposing defenders in succession and broke into the penalty area. Facing the goalkeeper, he calmly shot the ball and steadily scored. After scoring the goal, Prince Milan pointed to the sky with both hands. And in the stands behind him, countless Milan fans stood up and applauded, cheering for their prince! Since the start of the new season, Kaka has scored 3 goals in all fronts, and his form is very hot. But no matter what, the guy next door performed better and scored more goals in one game than him in 4 games. Kaka must not stop scoring goals and must be in his best condition to face every game. While AC Milan won 2:0 against Lazio at home, Inter Milan, playing away, defeated Chievo 1:0 economically and took all three points. The goal for Inter Milan was scored by their defender - Rocky Samuel.
Although the game was not very exciting, Mancini was very happy. What’s the use of a good-looking scene? Points are real! More importantly, including this game, Inter Milan has kept their opponents scoreless for three consecutive games. What does this mean? This shows that his tactical reform of the team has begun to show results, and the defensive problems that plagued Inter Milan last season are expected to be completely solved. The outside world has always criticized him for only being able to attack but not defend, but now, Mancini has proved to the outside world with practical actions that he can actually defend as well! I'm an Italian, how can I not know how to defend! Mancini, who led the team to victory, has temporarily been exempted from criticism from the media, but the media were not polite to Lin Feng, who performed mediocrely in this game. "Inter Milan's newcomers are facing a goal drought after failing to score in two consecutive games!" "Lin Feng hits the rookie wall after being targeted by his opponents!" "One game proves that there is still a gap between Lin Feng and Kaka!" Including the last game, Lin Feng has not scored a goal in two games. In fact, this is not a big deal for the players. After all, everyone has bad form sometimes. Even the top strikers in football cannot guarantee that they can score in every game. What's more, Lin Feng is not a striker, but a midfielder, and it is more difficult to score goals from the midfield position. But due to his explosive performance at the beginning of the season, the outside world had too high expectations of him, as if it would be abnormal if he didn't score. Not only media reporters but even some Inter Milan fans have this idea. Therefore, after Lin Feng's "poor" performance, the outside world changed from extremely praising him to completely belittling him. "I've said it before, it's impossible for him to gain a foothold in Serie A with his strength. Those previous games were just luck!" "He was able to score goals before because his opponents didn't take him seriously or even ignored him. Now that everyone has started to take him seriously, his performance has plummeted immediately. This shows that he is not as strong as the media boasts!"
"Just wait and see. The Serie A Rookie of the Month award for August is the last time he will win it. He will definitely never get it again!" "Haha, still thinking about the best newcomer in Serie A? If he continues to be so depressed, I wonder if Mancini will keep him on the bench!" …… Because his Italian is not good enough to use the Internet, Lin Feng cannot see the online criticisms for the time being. But this does not mean that he does not know what is happening outside, because even on domestic forums, there are many voices that are pessimistic about Lin Feng. However, unlike the blind criticism and denigration in foreign countries, only a minority of domestic fans criticize him. Most fans were expressing their concerns, comforting other fans, and some even tried to give Lin Feng advice to help him out of his predicament. "It is normal for young players to hit the rookie wall. After all, no one can always maintain their best form." "Yes, after playing many games, the excitement at the beginning will quickly fade away. At this time, if there are some fluctuations in physical and mental strength, it will easily affect the performance on the field." "After all, the intensity of Serie A matches is much greater than that of the German 2nd Division. In addition, Lin Feng has played full games in the past few games, which probably consumed a lot of physical energy. He has accumulated considerable fatigue both physically and mentally. I think it's better to take a break and relax." "I think what Lin Feng needs to do now is to learn more from the veteran players in the team about how to maintain their form. These veteran players have played for many years and should have accumulated a lot of similar experience." …… Lin Feng patiently read all the proposals from these people. Some of them made sense, but some had basically no reference value. His physical energy was indeed consumed a lot, but it was not to the point where he could not hold on. As for mental fatigue, it did occur. The continuous and intensive games made him a little tired, but not to a serious extent. Lin Feng felt that there were two main problems: One is the focus of other teams. Perhaps it was because his performance at the beginning of the season was so explosive that all Serie A teams realized his threat. These teams began to target him and came up with various ways to limit his performance. It is difficult for any player to fully display his or her strength when being targeted by the opponent. What’s more, there is a newcomer like Lin Feng who doesn’t have much competition experience. The second problem is that Lin Feng’s position in Inter Milan is somewhat unclear. His speed is indeed a big advantage, but this overlaps with Adriano to some extent. Therefore, when counterattacking, teammates would habitually look for Adriano and would not think of him first. During positional warfare, the opponent's compression of the attacking midfielder's position leaves him with a lack of space to sprint, greatly reducing his deterrent power. In addition, Inter Milan's organizational core is Veron and Cambiasso in the defensive midfielder position, and Lin Feng does not have much ball possession in the frontcourt, which further reduces his presence. If these two problems cannot be solved, his condition will probably continue to be depressed. ……
On September 9, Inter Milan faced the challenge of Fiorentina, ranked second in the league, at home. Fiorentina's record in the first four rounds was three wins and one draw, with 10 points, ranking second in the standings, second only to Juventus, which has won all four games. Faced with such a strong and aggressive opponent, Inter Milan attaches great importance to it. After tasting the sweetness of defense, Mancini put defense first in pre-match preparations. Inter Milan's previous opponents were not very strong, and they even lost to the strongest team Palermo. So this round of encountering Fiorentina, a strong team, is like a test for Mancini and his team. If they can get past Fiorentina, it will prove that Mancini's adjustments to the team's tactics during this period were correct. But if they can't get through this, Mancini may need to spend more energy to improve his defensive tactics. As the focus of this round of Serie A, the match between Inter Milan and Fiorentina was scheduled as the last game. In other matches that ended earlier, the leader Juventus defeated Parma 2:1 away from home and continued to lead the standings with a record of five wins. AC Milan encountered resistance from the newly promoted Treviso on the road. Although the home team played very tenaciously, their resistance became futile in the face of the huge gap in strength between the two sides. In the end, AC Milan easily defeated their opponent 2:0. Kaka didn't score in this game, but he provided an assist. The Brazilian was in incredibly good form. Kaka seems to be really stimulated, and his performance this season is obviously better than last season! With this victory, AC Milan's ranking moved up to fourth place, once again surpassing Inter Milan. However, as long as Inter Milan can beat their opponent, they will rush to second place in the standings with a 12-point advantage and overtake AC Milan. Given that this game is so important, Mancini fielded all his main players and sent out Inter Milan's strongest lineup. At the beginning of the game, Figo used a breakthrough on the wing to cause considerable trouble to the opponent. But Fiorentina was no pushover and they quickly responded to Inter's attack with a long shot from the centre. Figo was in very good form in this match, frequently completing breakthroughs and dribbling past the defense on the wing, making things difficult for the opponent's full-back. Seeing that Figo was in such good shape, Inter Milan's formation consciously tilted to the right, and Lin Feng also took the initiative to come to the flank area in order to better cooperate with Figo. Lin Feng's joining further increased the opponent's defensive pressure. Fiorentina's formation was forced to tilt to the left to deal with Inter's onslaught on that side. As a result, they had a large space on the right side. In the 7th minute, Figo made another breakthrough on the wing and passed the ball back to Lin Feng near the penalty area line. Lin Feng could have shot directly after receiving the ball, but after seeing the movement of left winger Martins, he selflessly passed the ball. The Fiorentina defenders rushed forward to block Lin Feng's shot, but were shocked when they saw that Lin Feng did not choose to shoot but passed the ball. But it was obviously too late for them to return to defense. Martins broke into the penalty area almost unobstructed. After receiving the pass from Lin Feng, he adjusted himself and shot calmly. The football almost brushed the goalkeeper's fingertips and rolled into the goal.
The score became 1:0! Inter Milan took the lead just 7 minutes into the game. This result was far beyond the expectations of all parties before the game, even Inter Milan's own fans were completely surprised. The sudden happiness hit them hard and made them feel extremely surprised. The Meazza Stadium turned into a sea of joy in that instant. "Beautiful, an assist from Lin Feng!" "Although Lin Feng did not score a goal himself, he helped the team with a wonderful assist, which effectively responded to the doubts from the outside world!" Inside the CCTV studio, the commentator clenched his fists tightly and waved them vigorously. The criticism against Lin Feng from the outside world, especially from Italy, had already spread back to China. This made domestic fans worried about Lin Feng and extremely angry at the same time. These Italians are really too harsh on a 17-year-old player. Even the alien Ronaldo may not be able to meet their requirements. "Lin Feng is too selfless. He could have shot the ball himself just now!" "There are too many defenders near him, and the goalkeeper's attention is also in this direction. If I shoot myself, the probability of scoring is much lower. Passing the ball is the most reasonable choice." "It's reasonable, but Lin Feng needs to score a goal now. How can we make those foreigners shut up without a goal?" "Don't worry, the game isn't over yet. Fiorentina is lagging behind now. If they don't want to sit there and wait for death, they will definitely launch a fierce counterattack. When they launch a full-scale counterattack, it will be Lin Feng's turn to perform!" …… "Damn it!" After seeing the goal lost, the head coach of Fiorentina couldn't help but curse. Originally according to the plan he made before the game, Fiorentina intended to stabilize the defense first, and then look for opportunities to attack after the opponent's physical strength declined in the second half. But Inter Milan's goal in the first half completely disrupted his tactical arrangements! The ball was lost too early, putting Fiorentina in a very passive situation. There are nearly 40 minutes left in the first half. They can't just stay in their own half and not move. That would be a waste of time. But if we launch a full-scale counterattack now, it will be easy for our opponent to launch a fatal counterattack since his physical strength has not declined. If Fiorentina concedes another goal, they will definitely lose. For a moment, Fiorentina's head coach was very hesitant, not knowing whether to counterattack now. On the other hand, in the Inter Milan coaching bench, Mancini and the coaching staff were so happy to see Martins score so early! "Quick, let the players retreat and start adopting defensive tactics now!" If he had followed his previous ideas, he would definitely have let the team continue to take advantage of the situation and attack hard, continue to strengthen the offense and strive to score more goals. But now, Mancini has calmed down a lot and is not overwhelmed by this goal.
One goal is enough. What the team needs now is defense and not letting the opponent score. Fiorentina scored 11 goals in the first four games, averaging 3 goals per game, and is currently the most aggressive offensive team in the entire Serie A. If Inter Milan dares to besiege the opponent's goal, Fiorentina's counterattack will soon teach them a lesson. Mancini doesn't want to repeat the same mistake he made last season, so this time he wants to change his tactics. Aren’t you Florence very strong in attack? Then I'll give you a chance to attack, go ahead and attack! If you don't attack, we will take the three points with ease. If you attack, haha, then wait for Inter Milan's quick counterattack! Looking at Adriano and Lin Feng in the frontcourt, Mancini was full of confidence. (End of this chapter)