Chapter 353 Reversal

The Swedish center staggered and almost fell in the penalty area due to the shoves from Rami and Victor Ruiz behind him.

But he did not fall to the ground. Instead, after standing firmly on his feet, he opened his arms excitedly.

He didn't need to look, even with his eyes closed he could tell that the ball went in!

He rushed out of the penalty area and out of the stadium. He could feel the cheers from the entire Mestalla Stadium getting louder and louder.

From the stands, more and more fans are shouting his name!

Some people are calling for Zlatan, some are calling for Ibrahimovic...

This feeling is so wonderful!

He rushed to the bottom of the stands where the Southampton fans were, and suddenly he raised his arms and shouted!

Suddenly, the shouts from the stands poured down like a waterfall, sweeping him away!

At this time, Southampton players rushed up one after another and hugged the Swedish center tightly!

It’s tied!

Finally tied the score!

"One to one! Southampton equalized the score!"

"Eleven players huddled together on the sidelines to celebrate. Southampton's performance was impressive!"

"At the critical moment, Ibrahimovic led Southampton to equalize the score!"

"The situation is very favorable for Southampton now!"

"Southampton's head coach Bielsa stood on the sidelines and shouted loudly. He should be telling his players to keep up the good work and strive to break Valencia's goal again!"

The camera turned and landed on the home team coaching bench.

"This is Unai Emery, the head coach of Valencia, and he doesn't seem to have much of a reaction."

By the time the players were called back by the referee, the Saints fans in the stands of the Mestalla Stadium were still not satisfied. More and more fans stood up from their seats and kept shouting, Saints!

The momentum is growing, and the voices are becoming more unified.

The Mestalla Stadium seems to have become Southampton’s home ground!

Yang Huan's hand felt a warmth.

Before he knew it, the cold iron railings had been warmed by the temperature of his hands.

With a soft chuckle, he turned and walked back to his seat.

Valencia chairman Manuel Llorente, who had looked confident of victory just now, was now anxious and restless.

Seeing Yang Huan’s smiling face, he was so embarrassed that he didn’t dare to look at anyone.

"Don't worry, Mr. Llorente, the game has just begun!"

There was a flash of anger in the eyes of the chairman of the Bat Army, but he was cursing the Valencia players in his heart.

This is outrageous. I was just taking the lead, but now I’m caught up by others!

If this happened on an away field, it would be fine, but now we are at home!

If I really get beaten by a team from the English Championship, how will I put my reputation aside in the La Liga in the future?

Wouldn’t those competitors laugh at you?

But before Manuel Llorente could respond, Valencia's attack was interrupted just after it crossed the center line.

It's Stroman again!

"Stroman performed well on both offense and defense in this game!"

"This is the fourth time the Dutchman has won the ball for Southampton in this game!"

The game had only been going on for more than 20 minutes, and Stroman was able to regain the ball four times. His contribution was indeed outstanding.

Ibrahimovic's goal just now started from him blocking the ball.

Stroman intercepted the ball and passed it to Toni Kroos.

The German was in a relatively forward position and as soon as he got the ball, he was immediately entangled by Valencia players and had to knock it back again.

At this time, Stroman had already retreated to the open space. After receiving the ball, he turned around and made a long pass with his left foot!

Still look for Neymar on the left.

At this time, the frontcourt is three on three.

"Opportunity! Southampton three on three!"

But as soon as Charlene Lahiri finished her words, Neymar tried to dribble the ball himself, but was intercepted by Miguel and Albelda.

Valencia's defense was obviously more attentive this time.

Seeing Albelda's long kick clear the ball, Gary Cahill judged the landing point.

"I'll do it!"

The England center back rushed up quickly, jumped high before Soldado, and headed the ball back directly.

He and Varane should bear the main responsibility for the team's first goal conceded just now.

If they hadn't missed a man, Valencia wouldn't have been able to score that goal!

This made Gary Cahill feel guilty and he strongly wanted to help the team win this game.

Therefore, he kept reminding himself in his heart that he must not make mistakes again, absolutely not make mistakes again!

With his back to the direction of attack, Stroman stopped the ball that Gary Cahill headed back with his chest.

Albelda soon appeared behind him.

The Dutchman had good physical fitness and turned to the left to block Albelda who was approaching.

The Spanish veteran was unable to reach the ball at the Dutchman's feet and had to stand still.

But Stroman skillfully moved the ball forward two steps with his left foot, and suddenly passed the ball straight to the ground with his left foot.

It turned out that Stroman had been observing the situation and noticed that the gap between Miguel and Rami was a bit large, while Neymar pointed behind Miguel, indicating that he could start quickly.

The Dutchman's pass was very powerful and fast, and it went straight between Miguel and Rami into Valencia's penalty area.

But Neymar is also very fast!

Miguel had been keeping an eye on Neymar, but when the Brazilian rushed up, by the time Miguel turned around and caught up, he was already at least a body length behind.

After Neymar caught up with the ball, he did not stop and crossed it with the inside of his left foot.

The ball fell to the front of Valencia's small penalty area and bounced after landing.

Ibrahimovic had been lying in wait in the penalty area for an opportunity. As soon as he saw Neymar pass Miguel, he turned around and rushed towards the goal.

The ball arrived, and the person arrived at the same time!

Diego Alves didn't dare to attack and watched Ibrahimovic rushing towards him.

Teammate Victor Ruiz fell to the ground and slid, trying to intercept the ball, but it was too late.

He was about half a second slow!

Which angle will the Swedes attack from?

Diego Alves stared at Ibrahimovic, watching his every move, guessing in his heart.

But time did not give him much time to judge. Ibrahimovic rushed up and shot directly with his right foot.

Without any tricks or hesitation, the Swede shot directly into the lower right corner.

Diego Alves judged the direction correctly, but the angle of the shot was too tricky!

"goallllllll!!!"

Charlene Lahiri stood up from her seat and cheered excitedly.

She couldn't shout out a goal as long as John Motson or Andy Gray.

But at this moment, she was definitely more excited than her two predecessors!

"Ibrahimovic, Ibrahimovic, in the 33rd minute, he scored a goal for Southampton! 2-1, Southampton completed the reversal!"

The live TV camera was always on Ibrahimovic and never left for a moment.

The Swede excitedly rushed to the left and hugged Neymar.

Strowman also rushed up quickly from behind and they hugged each other.

"Southampton's performance was very, very good. Ibrahimovic was very calm in front of the goal, and Neymar almost made Valencia's Miguel useless on the left!"

"There is another player who must be mentioned, that is Strootman. This Dutch midfielder performed well on both offense and defense in this game!"

Soon, the live TV broadcast began to replay the entire goal-scoring process.

"We saw that Stroman's straight pass was very sharp. It directly tore through Valencia's defense and found the most fatal weakness of the Bat Army. Albelda had no way to deal with him!"

Judging from the replay, Stroman's through ball was just right.

Both the angle and the strength are impeccable!

It was precisely because the ball was given so comfortably that Neymar was able to cross the ball directly after rushing up.

"It can be said that Strootman was crucial to Southampton's goal!"

"In the past season, Southampton has performed very well on all fronts, almost invincible!"

"But it also exposed a lot of problems, such as the configuration of the midfield. After having two midfield stalwarts, Strootman and Vidal, although Toni Kroos joined, the organization and overall view of the midfield are quite outstanding."

"But in terms of creativity, especially penetrating passes, Southampton is still a little lacking, and the control is not satisfactory. After all, there is no way to ask Strootman and Vidal to complete the tasks that players like David Silva can complete."

"So, Southampton has always given people the impression that it is too strong but not delicate enough!"

"From Bielsa's adjustments over the past two seasons, we can clearly feel that after the Argentine madman completed the establishment of Southampton's overall tactical framework, he gradually turned to the pursuit of delicate footwork."

"The introduction of Toni Kroos is a reflection of this idea!"

Charlene Lahri noticed that Valencia consciously tried to hold on to the ball after play resumed.

This makes the pace of the game a little slow.

So she continued to talk about some topics related to Southampton.

"I remember having a one-on-one interview with Bielsa before the League Cup final.

“At that time he said something that left a deep impression on me.”

"He said that the reason why Barcelona's treble is great is that they use their achievements to tell everyone the trend and trend of football and tell everyone the direction to work hard in."

"That is, as the overall formation becomes more compact and tactical execution improves, the individual ball-holding space will be greatly compressed."

"In the future, football will attach unprecedented importance to individual ball-holding skills, especially those of midfielders."

"Because without sufficient personal ball-holding skills, you simply cannot gain a foothold in the opponent's tight and compact defensive system that is full of tactical execution, let alone skillfully completing a pass like Barcelona players."

"Bielsa mentioned this question again when answering why Southampton signed Toni Kroos instead of a defensive midfielder. He believes that the era of midfielders like Essien and Gattuso is over and they can only survive in the fans' beautiful memories. Such players will not be allowed to appear in future top teams."

"The reason why he used Toni Kroos as a defensive midfielder and Javi Martinez as a central defender was based on this concept."

"In his view, defense relies on an orderly whole, rather than relying on individuals as in the past."

"At the same time, his philosophy is that defense and offense are integrated, just like a rubber band. Defense is pulling back, and losing a goal means that the rubber band is broken. But if you defend and gain possession of the ball, the rubber band will bounce forward. The further you pull it back, the harder it will bounce back."

"The resilience of this rubber band depends on the execution ability of this team!"

"From what he said, we have every reason to believe that his transformation of Southampton is still continuing!"

"At least, the Saints are still a long way from being the top team in his mind."

Just as Charlene Lahri finished her words, something suddenly happened on the court.