Chapter 129 The head follows the butt
On January 5, the Alvalade Stadium was brightly lit, as bright as day.
The stands were packed with people, the noise was deafening.
Sporting Lisbon's performance this season was not ideal, especially at the beginning, where they were defeated repeatedly, which made the fans very dissatisfied.
Especially losing the Champions League qualifiers and the Super Cup has caused Bologna, the double-crown coach, to face a crisis of confidence.
Fortunately, as the season progresses, young players such as Sudon, Ronaldinho, Quaresma, Tonito and Pepe have gradually taken on important responsibilities. Although there are still competitions for the main position between Sudon and Nikulai, overall, it is still stable.
The team ranked second in the Portuguese Super League, reached the round of 16 in the UEFA Cup, and advanced to the Portuguese Cup. The three fronts are making progress in parallel. The team is in good condition, which also makes the fans of Sporting Lisbon have higher expectations for the team.
For example, the Portuguese Super League should not just be satisfied with second place.
Try harder and pull down the leader?
This is what Green Lions fans can expect when they walk into the Alvalade Stadium.
The team is seven points behind in the league. If they fail to beat Porto in this game and allow the opponent to continue to expand their lead, then as the outside media said, the Portuguese Super League championship will lose suspense early and will become Porto's possession.
This is what the home fans are most reluctant to see, but it is what some away fans who follow the team on the long journey south are looking forward to.
Even though Porto did not have many fans traveling to Lisbon, and were arranged in a remote corner by Sporting Lisbon, which put them at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers and as it was an away game, they were not intimidated. Instead, they cheered with great passion.
There is still some time before the game starts, but Porto fans are already shouting slogans in unison.
"Porto, champions!"
The fans of Sporting Lisbon were also annoyed and began an organized counterattack.
The scene was in chaos and the noise was deafening.
…
Players from both teams lined up in the player tunnel waiting to play.
They are all Portuguese Super League teams and have many acquaintances with each other.
What surprised Su Dong the most was Pepe, who seemed to know a lot of people in Porto.
Deco, Dellei, and winger Clayton are all Brazilian players, and Pepe and Deco are brothers.
According to Pepe, they both left Brazil through the same channel. It was because of Deco's successful precedent that they, his fellow students, followed suit and landed in the Portuguese Super League.
At first, they were chatting happily, but gradually, their voices became louder.
Especially Pepe, it seems that he returned to the team after saying something harsh.
"What's the matter?" Su Dong asked Pepe curiously.
"Nothing." Pepe shook his head, but soon thought of something, "You have to be careful in the game later. Carvalho and that guy named Jorge Costa play dirty and rough football with a lot of tricks."
Mourinho's team is rough and aggressive in defense, which Su Dong experienced last season.
"Don't worry, I'm not someone you can mess with." Su Dong smiled confidently.
Pepe snorted coldly, "I've already told Delray that if they dare to kick you, I will retaliate against their genius. I will kick them the same way they kicked you!"
Su Dong was stunned when he heard this. It turned out that they were arguing over there because of this.
When it comes to ferocity and brutality, if Pepe says he is second, I guess no one would dare to claim to be first.
Every time this guy appears on the field, he seems to be ready to fight his opponent. He tries his best every time and fights for every ball. His movements are very rough and barbaric. He often gets cards and often causes his opponents to curse at him.
But it's strange.
When Pepe was in Maritimo, Sudon and Ronaldo hated his fouls, but when he came to Sporting Lisbon and fouled the opponents, they felt it was quite enjoyable.
The Porto genius mentioned by Pepe is Postiga. This striker was promoted this season, but his performance is not as good as McCarthy. There have been voices in the Porto team saying that they want to buy back McCarthy from La Liga.
Quaresma, the two talented new Portuguese stars who were very powerful last season, continued to move forward steadily, while Postiga fell behind a bit and was even slightly overtaken by Ronaldo.
Professional football is like this, it’s like rowing against the current, if you don’t move forward you will fall behind.
…………
…………
Led by referee Lucio Baptista, the two teams slowly walked onto the field.
At this moment, the Alvalade Stadium was filled with cheers.
The stadium broadcast announced Porto's starting lineup like a dish.
Although Mourinho often uses a 4-3-1-2 double striker formation, in the Portuguese Super League, they still use the 4-3-3 the most. This is obviously because Mourinho has strong enough confidence in the strength of his team.
In the Portuguese Super League, which other team can force Porto to use three defensive midfielders?
The goalkeeper is Baia, the defense line is Valente, Carvalho, Jorge Costa and Paulo Ferreira, the three midfielders are Deco, Costinha and Maniche, the frontcourt is Dellei on the left, Postiga in the middle, and Capucho on the right.
This is basically Porto's main lineup this season.
Although there are three midfielders in the midfield, Deco's position has always been very forward, more like a front midfielder.
There is not much suspense on Sporting Lisbon's side either.
The goalkeeper is Thiago, who has gradually replaced Nelson this season. The defense is Rui Jorge, Andre Cruz, Pepe and Queroga. The three midfielders are Rui Bento, Albertini and Barbosa. The frontcourt is the trident combination of Ronaldo, Sudon and Quaresma.
There is not much suspense about the offensive lineup, the key lies in the midfield.
Boloni's deployment of troops is also very consistent with his usual conservative and cautious characteristics. He took off Tonito and adopted a three-midfielder style of play, which is equivalent to indirectly telling everyone that Sporting Lisbon's overall strength is not as good as Porto.
Of course, this is also a recognized fact.
…
With Baptista's whistle, the game officially began.
Porto showed an aggressive momentum from the very beginning, which is also the biggest change since Mourinho took over as coach.
In terms of mental outlook, Porto is now much more aggressive than last season.
They were like hungry wolves, attacking Sporting Lisbon.
The forwards press forward, the midfielders press forward, the defense pushes forward...
This is Porto's high defense! On the one hand, the team's overall strength is the best in the Portuguese Super League, and on the other hand, it is the most advanced high-defense pressing tactics in Europe. The combination of the two, plus Mourinho's more sophisticated and scientific training system, has enabled Porto to show amazing stability and combat effectiveness in the Portuguese Super League.
To some extent, this season's Portuguese Super League teams were beaten like chickens and dogs when they met Porto.
So far, after fifteen rounds of the Portuguese Super League, no team has even defeated Porto, and the same is true for the Portuguese Cup.
Even in the UEFA Cup, Porto only lost two games, both of which were strategically giving up away games after winning the first leg against their opponents.
So, in a sense, no team has really beaten Porto so far this season.
The strong confidence built up through long-term victories and Mourinho's aggressive tactics made the entire Porto team unstoppable.
Even Su Dong had to admit that in terms of football, Porto is indeed the best team in the Portuguese Super League.
But as an opponent, Sudong’s task is to defeat Porto.
…
From the beginning of the game, Su Dong felt Porto's ubiquitous restrictions on him.
He dropped back, with Carvalho always following him and Costinha always around him.
Since Porto had the advantage in the midfield, Sporting Lisbon's midfield could not press forward at all, so the single defensive midfielder Costinha looked more like cooperating with Carvalho, working together to freeze Sudong.
And for all the high balls, Jorge Costa always rushes up first.
This veteran, who is 1.88 meters tall, has good jumping ability and more importantly, is very experienced and can predict the ball's path and landing point quickly.
The two central defenders and a defensive midfielder formed a triangular prison, trapping Su Dong inside.
Ronaldo and Quaresma, who have performed brilliantly on the wing this season, also encountered trouble tonight.
Especially Ronnie on the left.
Paulo Ferreira played for Sporting Lisbon last season. This player is really good at defense and very comprehensive, which means that Ronaldo, who sticks to the ball, cannot gain any advantage against him.
The same thing happened with Quaresma against Valente.
On one hand, Sporting Lisbon's attack was targeted and contained, while on the other hand, Porto's attack was targeted at Sporting Lisbon's left side, which is Rui Jorge's side.
Rui Jorge is not very old and mainly focuses on assists. Defense is not his strong point, so Mourinho will focus on arranging Capucho to attack Sporting Lisbon's left side tonight.
But Porto also encountered a problem, which was their lack of support in the middle.
Postiga could not replace McCarthy, Dellei was marked by Queiroga, and Deco's back-up was Porto's most important scoring method this season, but Milan's old captain Albertini personally marked the Brazilian midfielder, Rui Bento and Barbosa supported from the side, which made Sporting Lisbon's defense very solid.
The tactics of both teams are highly targeted, not only against the opponent as a whole, but also including restrictions on core players in local areas.
This made the game rather dull and neither side was able to get any good opportunities.
But the competition remains fierce.
In the 14th minute, Rui Jorge fouled Capucho while defending and was shown a yellow card.
Three minutes later, Jorge Costa fouled Su Dong while marking him and also received a yellow card.
In the 22nd minute, Pepe fouled Deco while defending and received another yellow card.
When the two teams are unable to break the deadlock, they can only fight to see who will make a mistake first.
The dull game entered the second half and there was still no improvement.
Rui Bento fouled Costinha while defending him and received another yellow card.
In sixty minutes, Sporting Lisbon received four yellow cards, while Porto only received one, which shows the situation.
The yellow card is like handcuffs. Once you put on the handcuffs, your performance will naturally be restricted.
Everyone can see that Sporting Lisbon's situation is becoming increasingly unfavorable.
(End of this chapter)
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