242 The Soul of the Defence

At the Triglia training base in Rome, Capello looked at the players on the court with his hands wrapped around his chest and held his last training session to Milan City.

The Serie A this season is very intense, but it does not include the two strongest teams in recent years, Juventus and AC Milan, which have been in trouble since the beginning of the season.

Juventus had 2 wins and 1 draw in the first three rounds, and the draw was 2:2 away with AC Milan, which was a good result; but the Ross and Blacks had a relatively bad record, so they only achieved a record of 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss, and even fell into the middle of the league. On the contrary, teams like Atlanta and Inter Milan and Roma tied for the top of the league with three consecutive victories.

Among them, Roma is in the best form this season!

2:0 home wins Bologna, 4:0 away wins Lecce, 3:0 home wins Vicenza. Roma has almost three incredible victories in the first three rounds of this season, especially the trident composed of Crespo, Delvicio and Toti, who joined the team at the beginning, is known as the frontcourt trident that is not at all lost to Inter Milan.

In everyone's eyes, Roma has become the most champion team with its outstanding performance in the first three rounds.

But is this really the case?

Capello returned to the three-back tactic this season. Samuel's joining greatly strengthened Roma's defense line and stocked up 5 players in the midfield, which allowed Roma to always oppress and encircle the opponent in the midfield, and then complete the massacre and invasion of the opponent.

This is a new tactical concept derived from Capello's tactics last season and his own understanding. It is also his goal to make his football creed that puts defense first more in line with the Romans' tradition of offensive football.

Or it can be said that this is a compromise with reality and an attempt to himself!

He wants to use this result to tell everyone that his team can also play offensive football!

But when I encounter Inter Milan, can I fight like this?

He was unsure because he knew that Inter Milan had already gained a better understanding of this tactic. In many aspects, Inter Milan was even better than Roma, especially their midfield and frontcourt siege and attack tactics this season. It was obvious that the players' tacit understanding and echo were better than last season.

Yang Cheng focuses on the Champions League and has performed slightly inferior in the league, but he is ahead of the Champions League. This shows the terribleness of this Inter Milan!

But from his arrangement of substitute players against Leeds United, it can be seen that he is keeping his strength against Roma and he will do his best in this game!

No one said anything explicitly, but Capello and Yang Cheng both regarded each other as their strongest opponents to win the championship this season, so they both longed to win this game and were racking their brains to think of countermeasures.

Capello seemed to be watching training while standing on the sidelines, but in fact he was comparing the advantages and disadvantages of Rome and Inter Milan in his mind.

Finally, he came to a conclusion: the offense is similar, the midfield is similar, and the defense is inferior.

It is all a combination of Trident, Ronaldo, Van Nie and Baggio, and it may not be much stronger than Crespo, Delvicio and Toti, especially when the Roman Trident is in a state of being in full swing.

In terms of midfield, just from the perspective of personnel, Roma does not have the advantage, but they have more people and 5 midfielders, which directly leads to Roma being at a disadvantage in the defense line.

Capello had a headache, especially for Roma's midfield organization in this game. Although Assonsan performed well in the first three games, he was not a strong team, and his pressure in the midfield was not strong, which allowed him to perform more freely, but Inter Milan would definitely not give him such a chance.

This is one of Rome’s biggest flaws!

Once the midfield fails to operate, the entire market will be frozen!

"He must have what I can think of!" Capello sighed.

Sensi has invested too much in the forward line this season. Crespo and Casano directly spent 100 million of them, but the midfield organizer Capello wanted is far away. If there was a player like Emerson at this time, he would be much easier, and the defense line is not without hidden worries. Although Brazilian Zago is only 31 years old, his condition has declined a lot.

Roma's defense is currently iron-clad, but that is based on the strong strength of Samuel and Zebina, as well as the outstanding performance of midfielder Tomasi.

And I know very well that the opponents in the first three rounds of the league were not enough to bring too much offensive pressure to Roma, and the test of this set of defense was far less than Inter Milan, which caused the illusion that Roma is now unstoppable!

Attack or defend?

This is the biggest problem that has troubled Capello the most!

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On November 2, Meazza Stadium, in the 4th round of Serie A, Inter Milan played against Roma at home.

"Cafu, Brazilian frontman Kafu quickly stepped forward on the right. His speed was very fast. Inter Milan's left back Zambrota quickly stuck on it, and the two started a fight on the side..."

Beep! Referee Corina ran over and blew the whistle of Zanbrotta's foul!

Kafu, who was lying on the ground, was pulled up friendly by Zanbrotta, and both of them looked at each other and smiled.

"Roma got an indirect free kick opportunity on the right side, which is also the first time the most threatening scoring opportunity in the whole game, because since the opening, Inter Milan, who played at home, did not play very positively, but instead organized offense and defense steadily. Roma was also patiently looking for opportunities. Both sides played in a stalemate and failed to create effective opportunities!"

"I believe this time, Roma will definitely make good use of this opportunity for free kicks in the frontcourt!"

"Cafu drove the ball out, back point, oh, no one from Rome came to the back point to respond, Buffon easily got the ball!"

"It's a pity. Roma's Zago stayed in the back defense, and Zebina and Samuel did not step forward, which puts Roma's number in the penalty area at a disadvantage. Crespo focuses on the front point, but Cafu punished a back point!"

Yang Cheng on the sidelines gave Buffon a thumbs up and praised the Italian goal, but when he turned around, he swept over Capello, who also walked out of the coach's seat with a serious face and stared at the stadium.

"How is it, Paul?" Yang Cheng walked back a few steps.

Paul Bayer turned his laptop and allowed Yang Cheng to see the data above.

"This is the running range of Zago, Zebina and Samuel. They usually don't leave their defensive areas, including the indirect free kick just now. They are obviously afraid of Ronaldo and Van Nie in front, and Tomasi, who have been in the position!"

After Yang Cheng called a few more data, he shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Who dares to tell me again, Capello will fight him this season!"

Paul Bayer smiled bitterly. They were indeed speculating that Capello might play more aggressively in this game. After all, Roma was unstoppable before, so although Inter Milan played at home, they started to stabilize the situation. Then who knows...

"His so-called offensive football is actually to use the strength of the players to give strong pressure in the midfield, which is your so-called midfield crushing tactic, and then force the opponent to stop, and then use Crespo, a forward who can drill water from the rock to fight. So on the scene, it seems that it is a football with a tide of offensives, but once you encounter a strong team..."

Yang Cheng ignored Paul Baier's remarks. He felt that he had been fooled by Capello and was wrong!

When he arrived at the sidelines, he called Nesta directly, "Alessandro, go 10 meters ahead! Press up!"

"Boss, attack?" Nesta asked after hearing this.

Yang Cheng nodded, "Attack, just press forward, attack his goddamn!"

It feels really uncomfortable to be deceived. Although he guessed wrongly, Yang Cheng still blamed Capello. Now he is starting to desperately win a game back!

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To be honest, Roma's starting players are still the same, but their tactics and mentality are completely different.

Especially when Inter Milan pressed up, Roma's players began to defend passively.

In the 13th minute, Nedved dribbled the ball across the left side of the penalty area and suddenly shot. The ball was like a shell. If it hadn't been to Zago and turned into a corner kick, Antonioli might not have been able to defend this time.

Baggio sent a corner kick, and the front point was the penalty, but Lucio was stuck in the position in advance by Zebina and destroyed it, wasting a corner kick opportunity.

But just 3 minutes later, the Inter Milan offensive came again.

This time, Zanetti's assault on the right, cooperated with Van Bomel, and made a cross to the bottom line. Bati headed the ball in the penalty area, but his Argentine compatriots were clever and interfering well, which made Bati's header unable to be strong and even skewed the ball.

In the 18th minute, Inter Milan interrupted the ball in the middle, Emerson handed it to Van Bomer. The Dutchman made a long pass and directly found his compatriot Vanny at the front of the penalty area. The Dutchman was very smart and did not choose to stop the ball, but headed the ball.

The ball passed over Zago's head and fell straight behind him. Ronaldo suddenly accelerated and directly passed through Zago and Zebina's defense and cut into the penalty area. However, Antonioli quickly reacted this time and attacked in advance, saving Ronaldo's ball that had not yet stopped, so as to Paul's goalkeeper!

After that, Inter Milan began to take turns to attack Roma, and the home team's momentum was completely pulled up by the cheers of the fans on the scene, especially when Inter Milan frequently created opportunities, the fans on the scene were extremely excited.

Capello frequently adjusts the situation on the court, but more on the offense against Inter Milan.

Kafu and Candela, the two wingers, began to protect their wings more. Zambrota and Sanetti, who frequently stepped forward in defenses, while Tomasi, Zago, Zebina, Samuel and others controlled the middle and frozen Inter Milan's frontcourt trident.

As Capello expected, when Inter Milan pressed to play, Assonsan was tragically crushed by Inter Milan's midfield. This Brazilian player, who is good at free kicks, was limited by Inter Milan's midfield and had no room for play. As for Tomasi, he was exhausted from defense and could not help him at all.

Later, there was no choice but to let Toti retreat and respond.

When Yang Cheng saw this situation, he immediately signaled Baggio to beat Roma's central defender Zago!

For a time, Ronaldo and Van Nie frequently rushed behind Zago from the ribs, and Baggio, Nedved and Van Bomel also actively passed the ball to the back of the Roma defense.

It has to be mentioned that Samuel, an Argentine star who was a left-back, came to Rome and was transformed into an excellent left-center-back by Capello. When Inter Milan started to attack, Zago performed very embarrassedly, but he performed very much.

If it weren't for his frequent replacement and return to defense, Roma's goal would have been pierced by Inter Milan several times!

At this time, even if Capello signaled to hold on to the midfield and frontcourt, there was no way, because Inter Milan crushed and Roma could not stop the tide of offensive, let alone push Inter Milan out of their half.

"The goal will be back sooner or later!" Yang Cheng was very confident about this.

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Lucio was sent to this game with a high defensive task, and Crespo is the player he should be careful about.

Yang Cheng has a very high opinion of Crespo, "Even if your defense is a wall of iron, Crespo can chisel a passage on it. He can be said to be the most impactful forward in football today and will not lose to Vieri!"

Therefore, Lucio began to be careful in defending Crespo, especially when he saw Inter Milan's attack not being able to open up the situation for a long time, he couldn't help but be more careful, because he knew that the more this time, the more likely he was to be counterattacked by his opponent.

Sure enough, when Inter Milan attacked and arrived in the middle, Tomasi got into the position in advance, and after breaking the ball to Baggio, he quickly handed it to Toti. When the latter turned around and got rid of Emerson who was pressing forward, he swept straight behind Lucio without hesitation.

At this time, Lucio stood a little far ahead because he wanted to prevent Toti from getting rid of Emerson and he wanted to assist in the replacement. Therefore, when Toti passed the ball, Lucio immediately called the bad guy and immediately turned around and chased him back.

Zanetti entangled Crespo. Whenever Lucio moved forward, he would pay attention to making up for him, but Crespo quickly passed the ball to the right and handed it to Candela, the left forward who was in the lead.

After the Frenchman received the ball, Zanetti saw Lucio return to defense and immediately threw Crespo up and followed him, but Candela went straight to the bottom line and made a cross!

Crespo rushed up directly, and he was about to form a near goal post and headed the ball!

But at the critical moment, Nesta showed the calmness and wisdom of a top central defender, but more importantly, his courage. He and Crespo hedged at right angles, and neither side slowed down, but the Italian jumped up early and shook his head and pushed the ball out.

But he was knocked away by Crespo, who could not hold back, and fell heavily to the ground.

Lucio stopped the ball in his chest and he happened to see Nesta flying, but he didn't hesitate too much because he knew that this was a very good opportunity.

If he stops and doesn't attack, he will waste Nesta's desperate battle!

The ball came to Emerson's feet, and the nearest Thomassi immediately entangled him.
To be continued...