Chapter 48 Red Card and Penalty
After Coach Schaff finished explaining the tactics, he looked at his players carefully.
"I know it's difficult. You have to withstand the opponent's crazy attack and save your energy for the counterattack in the final stage, especially the offensive players who play the whole game!"
As Shafu spoke, he looked at Lin Quan and asked, "Lin, do you still have the strength to run?"
Lin Quan nodded. Although it consumed a lot of his physical energy, he still had the backup of the system's physical potion.
If it doesn't work, you can spend a few points to buy a potion of physical strength, which can be used for exactly 30 minutes! "Well, then I won't replace you. The team needs your breakthrough ability to change the score. In the second half of the game, you should pay attention to the allocation of physical strength to ensure that you have the strength to sprint in the final stage. Do you understand?"
Lin Quan nodded heavily. He clearly felt the expectation in the coach's tone! Fifteen minutes later, the game resumed.
The crazy goals in the last stage of the first half allowed Dortmund players to completely recover from the confused state at the beginning of the game.
They firmly believe that they are invincible at home and the enemy cannot stop their offensive!
So, at the beginning of the second half, Dortmund players continued to firmly implement their frontcourt pressing tactics.
This kind of running without sparing physical effort, probably only a team like Dortmund that has been working hard all year round can implement it! The players of Werder Bremen were obviously not good enough and could not outrun them at all.
Of course, this style of play also has great limitations.
As the players get older and suffer more injuries, the execution of this tactic will seriously decline.
Moreover, after other opponents in the league gradually adapted to this style of play, they quickly developed targeted tactics.
Therefore, after a few seasons at its peak, if the team's tactical style of play cannot be further improved and changed, the team's performance may plummet.
Historically, Dortmund's performance began to gradually decline after the 12-13 season, and in the 14-15 season it even became a relegation team.
If the team had not recovered in the final stages, getting 13 points in six games and getting out of the relegation zone, they might have really been relegated.
This kind of exploitation of one's own physical strength and potential can easily lead to injuries for players. Take Dortmund's summer new signing Reus as an example. After joining Dortmund, he began to suffer frequent injuries and missed several national team games due to injuries! A large part of the reason is caused by Klopp's tactical play.
Just like this season, Liverpool is full of injuries.
Klopp is a good coach, but he is not suitable for all players.
Like Lin Quan, he thinks he is not suitable for Klopp's tactical style of play, and the same goes for Simeone of Atletico Madrid.
On the field, Dortmund's players worked very hard in pressing and running.
But the opponent no longer cooperated with them. Werder Bremen did not speed up with them like they did at the beginning of the first half, nor did they attack them head-on.
Instead, they set up an iron bucket formation, stockpiled a large number of troops in their own half, and used dense defense to limit the opponent's attack.
Dortmund’s offensive firepower is indeed very strong, but when the opponent sets up a solid defense, they have no better solution.
There were too many people in the penalty area, and Werder Bremen replaced several players with plenty of energy.
The players' active fighting made their attacks fail many times, so they began to try long shots from outside the penalty area.
Long shots and set pieces are common means of dealing with dense defenses.
Since Werder Bremen dares to set up a solid defense, they will not be unprepared for this.
They use zone defense to limit the opponent's passes and ensure that there are always defensive players around the opponent's most threatening midfielders and frontcourt players to interfere with their shots at any time.
With their shots disturbed, Dortmund players fired several consecutive shots but failed to threaten Bremen's goal.
Klopp on the sidelines couldn't sit still anymore. The opponent's tactics were simply disgusting.
He wanted to ask Schaff: What's the point of defending when you're behind? If the score continues like this, we'll be the winners!
Are you just willing to accept a failure?
If the leading team at this time is Barcelona, then if the opponent dares to set up a solid defense, it will be a victory for Barcelona.
They can use passing the ball to delay time and wear out the opponent!
But passing and controlling tactics is not Dortmund's style, and they have no such tactical alternatives.
So Klopp can only ask the players to be more patient. They are leading the score now, and it is the opponents who should be anxious.
If it wasn't his home court, he would have wanted his players to retreat to their own half and launch a defensive counterattack.
However, looking at the opponent's situation, if they really retreat, the opponent may not attack them.
If the other team didn't attack, and both teams parked their buses in their own half, how ugly the game would be, and the fans at the scene would boo loudly! Klopp had to save face, anyway, the score was ahead, so there was no need to do so excessively.
If the team can score one more goal, the outcome of this game will no longer be in doubt, and there will be nothing to worry about then!
Klopp expected his team to score another goal, but his expectations were dashed.
Under the united defense of Werder Bremen players, Dortmund attacked for more than 20 minutes but failed to break the opponent's goal again.
In these twenty minutes, they possessed the ball for more than 70% and took 17 shots, 12 of which were long shots, almost as if they were besieging the opponent's goal.
Unfortunately, although there were many shots, less than half of them were on target, and not a single shot resulted in a goal.
After a long period without scoring any goals and the effect of the previous motivation wearing off, Dortmund's players began to reach a bottleneck in their physical fitness, and their running speed and enthusiasm on the field began to decline significantly.
In the 55th minute of the game, seeing that the opponent's physical strength was declining, the intensity of the pressing in the frontcourt decreased.
The players of Werder Bremen finally started to counterattack!
They instantly picked up the tempo of the game, changed their previous defensive stance, and began to attack Dortmund.
The Dortmund players were obviously frightened. Their opponents had been pinned to the ground and rubbed by them for more than 20 minutes, and they had almost become accustomed to thinking that their opponents would not fight back.
As a result, as soon as they slacked off for a moment, their opponents launched a frenzied counterattack.
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This made the Dortmund players feel a little uneasy! "Is this your tactic? You don't dare to fight for the whole game, but only fight for the first five minutes and the last five minutes?"
Dortmund head coach Klopp was the first to react and guessed the opponent's intention.
When he thought of the opponent's sharp counterattack at the beginning of the game and the two goals lost, his heart skipped a beat and he immediately realized the danger!
"Quick, retreat and don't let the opponent counterattack!"
If Werder Bremen can still launch the same terrible counterattack as in the first half, Dortmund's goal will be in danger!
They were only leading by one goal. If the opponent scored, both teams would be back to the same starting line!
There is not much time left in the game now. If the game is tied, they may not have time to score another goal to reverse the score.
If that happens, they will be dragged into a penalty shootout by the opponent!
So, is this your real purpose? Klopp turned his head and looked at the opponent's coaching bench. Over there, Werder Bremen's coach was already standing on the sidelines, looking at the field with sharp eyes, watching the team's counterattack.
Klopp's guess was very accurate, Werder Bremen really wanted to drag the game into a penalty shootout.
After a whole game, they had very little physical strength left, which could only support them to complete a high-quality counterattack.
If this goal was successful, then inspired by it, they might be able to muster up the remaining courage, defend hard, and hold out for the last few minutes of regular time.
If this counterattack fails, they will be unable to change the score and can only accept the result of losing.
This counterattack opportunity was the result of the team's best efforts in defense in the second half, preventing the opponent from expanding the score.
Otherwise, once the score difference exceeds one goal, even if they launch a counterattack, it will be of no avail.
So, you must not miss this opportunity!
The football quickly passed from Werder Bremen's backcourt to the frontcourt and to De Bruyne's feet.
He was pulled by Dortmund's No. 5 player and tried his best to pass the ball before falling to the ground.
The moment he fell to the ground, he saw the No. 10 player in the green jersey sprinting at full speed in the frontcourt.
Lin, it's up to you, you must score a goal! Lin Quan didn't want to let De Bruyne's assist go to waste, so he took a walk for more than ten minutes in the second half to save his energy for this fatal blow.
And now, it's time to use them!
After receiving the ball, he lay sideways to avoid the interception of Dortmund's No. 7 Leitner, and rushed into the penalty area and passed the defending Günter.
There was no defensive player in front of him, only the goalkeeper! So Lin Quan decisively raised his foot, aimed at the goal and prepared to shoot.
At this moment, a figure rushed out from the side and behind, fell to the ground and tackled the ball before Lin Quan could shoot.
The ball was kicked away and Lin Quan fell in the penalty area.
The entire audience couldn't help but stand up and look at the referee, wondering how he would make the decision.
The referee rushed into the penalty area immediately and pointed to the penalty spot.
Penalty!
(End of this chapter)