Chapter 101 Falling Apart
On the evening of August 14, 2002, at the Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon.
Su Dong, wearing a dry casual outfit, sat in the stands of the stadium with all his teammates from the first team who were not on the match roster, watching the fierce game in the stadium.
This is Sporting Lisbon's first game of the season.
Head coach Boloni deployed a 3-4-3 formation, with a small diamond formation in the midfield and the front trident consisting of new signings Tonito, Nicolaj and Quaresma.
Yes, the two best performing forwards last season, Jardel sat on the bench, and Su Dong simply sat directly in the stands.
From this it is not difficult to see the status of Nikulai in Boloni's mind.
Although Jardel was very powerful last season, Nikulai could replace him in minutes if given the chance.
He is the center forward that head coach Boloni values the most and trusts the most.
Su Dong was a little envious of Nikulai.
Looking at the preparations and warm-ups throughout the summer, it looks more like Boloni is preparing to help Nicolae integrate into the team.
At the end of last season, Bologna focused on practicing the trident of Ronnie, Sudon and Quaresma, but now it has become Tonito, Niculai and Quaresma, with Ronnie sitting on the bench.
It is obvious that Nikulai replaced Sudong in the tactical puzzle of Bologna.
In addition to envy, Su Dong was more dissatisfied.
Because Nikulai's performance was not ideal, it can even be said that he is not suitable to play as a single center forward.
Facing the tall and fast central defender combination of Materazzi and Cordoba, Nicolaj couldn't even hold the ball.
Tonito and Quaresma on the two wings also did not perform well due to the freezing of Inter Milan's two full-backs Coco and Zanetti, which led to a stalemate for Sporting Lisbon on the field.
The 3-4-3 formation looked like it was going to be an offensive one, but in reality the offense was a mess.
Not long into the second half, Boloni replaced Tonito with Ronnie.
In this way, the Romanian head coach's tactical intentions become even more obvious.
He just wanted to use the trident, but he turned Su Dong into Nikulai.
But the effect is still very poor.
It was not until the 70th minute that Jardel replaced Quaresma, but the attack still did not improve.
Fortunately, Inter Milan also did not perform very well, Vieri and Caron did not pose a big enough threat, and finally the two sides shook hands and made peace with a 0-0 draw at the Alvalade Stadium.
Sporting Lisbon has nothing to be happy about as they failed to score a single goal at home.
Especially when the team's offense is lackluster.
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"I'm not saying that, but that guy's playing style is totally different from ours."
After the game, Ronnie returned home and was so angry that he cursed at Nikulai in front of Su Dong.
"There were several times when I gave clear enough hints and shouts, but he didn't give me any feedback. Quaresma and I had no idea what he was thinking, and he never told us what he was thinking, and the same thing happened with Tonito."
"It was like we knew nothing about him and the most ridiculous thing was the coach asked us to pass the ball to him."
"Then the question is, with Materazzi and Cordoba attacking from both sides, how do we pass the ball to him? What kind of ball should we pass? Can he catch it?"
Faced with Ronnie's three soul-searching questions, Su Dong could only sigh.
He knew very early on that what Boloni valued most was Nikulai, and he was mentally prepared.
But in fact, when he was not selected for the final list, he felt really bad.
He clearly realized that the reason why Boloni valued him at the end of last season was simply because Boloni had no choice because his most trusted player Nikulai was injured.
Now that Nikulai has returned, Su Dong is naturally no longer his first choice.
It was at this moment that Su Dong truly experienced the indifference and cruelty of professional football.
There is really no warmth at all!
However, today's Eastern Sudong is no longer the Eastern Sudong of the past.
Even without mentioning the impression he made among Sporting Lisbon fans, even if it was the contract, Boloni could not leave him in the stands or on the bench, so Su Dong was now holding back a strong desire in his heart, just waiting to see when Boloni would let him play.
He has never been a guy who would accept defeat or resign himself to his fate.
As long as he is given the opportunity to play, he will do everything he can to seize it.
Su Dong believed that as long as he performed well, even if Boloni wanted to suppress him, it would be difficult to do so.
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In the middle of the week, the Portuguese Super Cup was held at the Bofim Stadium in Setubal.
Defending double champion Sporting Lisbon faced Porto led by Mourinho.
This time, Bologna adopted a double-forward tactic, with Jardel and Nicolaj starting together, and the team returned to a 4-4-2 formation.
Obviously, Boloni hopes that the team can continue the performance of last season, continue to suppress Porto, and make a good start for the new season.
Su Dong was included in the roster this time and sat on the bench.
The game was very bumpy, especially near the end of the first half, when center back Beto committed a foul and was directly sent off with a red card, causing Sporting Lisbon to have to play with one less player in the second half.
In the following 45 minutes, Porto launched a fierce attack on Sporting Lisbon, and finally defeated Sporting Lisbon 2-0 with goals from Dellei and Postiga.
…
After the game, Sporting Lisbon, which had performed poorly for two consecutive games, was heavily criticized.
The first to be affected is head coach Boloni.
In an interview with the media after the game, the Romanian coach said that the season had just begun and the team was still in the process of running in.
"Sudon? Yes, he played very well against Porto in the Portuguese Cup final last season, but I have to consider that he is only 17 years old and we have one less player on the field than our opponents. At this time, we need stability more."
But Boloni's argument is unconvincing.
Su Dong's agent Mendes said in an interview with the Morning Post reporter that Su Dong is ready for the new season.
"Since the Portuguese Cup final in May, Sudon has been secretly training in Madeira. He works harder than anyone else to improve his abilities, and the coaching staff speaks highly of him. He has made great progress and he is eager to get a chance to play and show the fans the results of his training."
Mendes also mentioned the current situation of Sporting Lisbon. He believes that the team's offense does have problems.
"Suggestion? I would suggest, why not consider Su Dong?"
Mendes' remarks were rather tactful, but they also vaguely pointed out the problems of Sporting Lisbon.
That is, for two consecutive games, Su Dong did not get a minute of playing time, while Nikulai, who played the full 180 minutes, performed terribly. So how did he get the starting position? After the Morning Post published Mendes' interview, Boloni found Su Dong as soon as possible.
The Romanian coach did not mention anything about the news reports. He just told Su Dong that he had been paying attention to Su Dong's training and expressed his recognition of his progress.
"You know, whether it's against Inter Milan or Porto, they are crucial games of the season and we can't afford to lose, so I want to use a more mature lineup and style of play."
Su Dong was unable to comment on the head coach's deployment in person, he just solemnly stated that he was ready.
"I feel that I am in good shape. As long as I can play, I will never let you down!"
But even so, Boloni still did not make any promise, but only said that he would arrange for Su Dong to play at the right time.
Obviously, he still believed in Nikulai.
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This weekend, the second leg of the third qualifying round of the Champions League will be held.
Sporting Lisbon once again lined up a 3-4-3 formation to face Inter Milan away.
Boloni did not play conservatively, he wanted to attack because he knew that with the score at 0-0 in the first leg, Inter Milan would be passive with just one away goal.
But sometimes, things are just so strange.
The more you want to score a goal and the greater the pressure, the further away you are from scoring.
Recoba, the super genius from Uruguay, put on a brilliant performance in the first half, with one pass and one shot, giving Inter Milan a two-goal lead.
Boloni had no way to retreat, so they replaced Jardel early in the second half and tried to launch a fierce attack, but it did not achieve any results. Instead, their goal was in danger several times, and they finally had to give up the risk.
In the end, they lost 0-2 away from home.
With an aggregate score of 0-2, Sporting Lisbon was eliminated by Inter Milan and was forced to play in the UEFA Cup.
When the news reached Lisbon from Milan, the whole of Portugal was in mourning.
This season, there are two Portuguese Super League teams competing in the Champions League, Sporting Lisbon and Boavista.
As a result, both teams were eliminated in the third round of qualifiers and failed to enter the first round of the group stage.
Among them, Boavista suffered heavy losses in the summer transfer window, and losing to Auxerre in Ligue 1 is understandable. And as the defending champion of the Portuguese Super League, it is also natural for Sporting Lisbon to lose to Inter Milan.
The crux of the problem is that Sporting Lisbon played too weakly.
Especially the team's offense.
Why Nikulai?
This time, not only the Portuguese media and Sporting Lisbon fans were restless, but even several veteran players in the team were vaguely dissatisfied.
Captain Barbosa said in an interview that the team's offense has problems, which need to be solved as soon as possible because the Portuguese Super League is about to start.
Albertini, who just joined the team, also publicly stated in an interview with the media that the poor attack was the main reason why Sporting Lisbon failed in the Super Cup and the Champions League qualifiers.
"It was a huge blow to the morale of the team."
Everyone knows that Albertini joined Sporting Lisbon because he wanted to play in the Champions League, but now he has been eliminated in the qualifiers, which is indeed a bit difficult for him to accept.
More importantly, after playing against Inter Milan, the team's top star Jardel angrily criticized head coach Boloni for nepotism and publicly stated that he would leave Sporting Lisbon and move to Bolton in the Premier League.
“Maybe this isn’t the best time, but I hope to be trusted more.”
In an instant, the defending champion Sporting Lisbon fell apart.
(End of this chapter)
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