Chapter 710 I'm back!
Some people say that if you want to be a qualified head coach, you must first become a qualified gambler.
What this means is that in certain games, the head coach has to use a gambling, life-risking approach to change the situation, such as Benítez in the Istanbul Miracle and Ferguson in 1999.
The only difference is that these people all won the bet, so they achieved success, went down in history, and became world-known coaches.
But Mancini was unlucky. Looking back at his past attempts to gamble his life, he ended up losing his life time and time again.
After Hazard scored the first goal for Southampton in the first half, Galatasaray did not collapse. Instead, under the instructions of head coach Mancini, they immediately stabilized the situation and maintained the score of 0-1 until the end.
But the problem occurred in the second half.
Before the game started, Mancini replaced a midfielder with Dutch winger Amrabont.
Obviously, this is a gambler-style substitution. Mancini is gambling his life with Bielsa!
Since it is a gamble of life, there must be corresponding tactics, so Galatasaray played more actively and proactively after the second half.
But Southampton were no pushover and quickly seized an opportunity in the back-and-forth offensive battle.
Varane made a long pass from the backcourt to the frontcourt, but German central defender Ballta made a mistake in clearing the ball with his head and the ball fell to the left.
Suarez quickly moved forward, facing the ball, and without waiting for it to land, he pushed it forward and sent the ball behind Xie Zhu.
Of course Ibrahimovic would not miss such a God-given opportunity. Like a heavy tank, he knocked Xie Zhu away, broke into the penalty area, received the ball and shot hard, breaking Galatasaray's goal again, 2-0!
But the Italians and Turks still don't believe it.
Even when trailing by two goals, they continued to attack Southampton.
Perhaps, they think that they are going to lose anyway, losing by two goals is a loss, losing by three goals is also a loss, and maybe there is still a chance if they take a chance.
But what kind of team is Southampton?
Southampton’s characteristic is that they become stronger when facing stronger opponents!
Less than seven minutes after Ibrahimovic scored, there was another counterattack. Modric took the ball from the midfield and passed it behind him. Hazard made an offside run into the penalty area. After receiving the ball, he dribbled past the goalkeeper and made a lob pass to the back post after going to the baseline. Suarez rushed over and headed the ball into the net!
Three to zero!
But just two minutes after the third goal, Hazard made another forced breakthrough on the left and was tripped by Eboue. The referee showed him a yellow card without hesitation and gave him a serious warning, giving Southampton a good free kick opportunity in the frontcourt.
Toni Kroos took the penalty, and Ibrahimovic got the first point in the penalty area and headed the ball, but the ball hit the opponent's body and bounced to the ground. Suarez, who came in from behind, took advantage of the opportunity and pushed the ball in front of the goal, scoring again, 4-0!
The whole audience suddenly became silent!
All the fans were staring at what was happening on the field in amazement. It was like a nightmare!
This is hell, but it is hell for all Galatasaray fans!
Afterwards, Southampton followed the manners of a visiting team and began to slow down the pace of the game. After all, the score of 4-0 was enough to ensure that the team would advance to the quarterfinals in advance, so the Saints did not intend to continue pressing the home team.
Bielsa also made substitutions one after another, for example, replacing Modric with Kovacic, replacing Pogba with Kaka, and then simply replacing Suarez who scored twice with Sanchez.
In this way, Southampton's frontcourt became a combination of Hazard, Ibrahimovic and Sanchez, while the midfield became a combination of Kovacic, Kaka and Toni Kroos.
This is also a move that Bielsa is considering to save strength for the Premier League.
But what was unexpected was that Galatasaray took advantage of Southampton's substitution and suddenly launched an attack.
On the Southampton side, many substitute players came on the field, eager to prove their strength and were quite active, especially on the right side where Sanchez and Kaka were, who created several threats in succession as soon as they came on the field.
Whether Sanchez is breaking through, cutting inside, or entering the penalty area to score on the right, his threat is no less than that of Azarenka on the left, especially with Kaka behind him who is also eager to prove himself again.
But Sanchez was a little impatient. He broke into the penalty area twice and threatened Galatasaray's goal both times, but one time it turned into an anti-aircraft cannon and the other time he missed the opportunity to pass the ball, resulting in Southampton's attack failing.
Both of these attacks came from Kaka's passing plan.
Perhaps seeing that Sanchez's mentality was a little unbalanced, Kaka chose to cooperate with Ibrahimovic next.
After the Swedish center forward pulled out of the penalty area, he received a pass from Kaka and turned to pass to the left.
After Hazard quickly inserted himself into the game, he passed the ball across the baseline to the front of the goal. Kaka, who had just passed the ball to Ibrahimovic, had already rushed to the front of the goal silently.
The ball is here, the person is here, just push it gently, and the ball is there!
"Wow!!!!! Kaka!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
After the Brazilian superstar scored a goal, he excitedly rushed into the goal, picked up the ball, hugged it tightly to his chest, bent down to give it a kiss, then turned around and rushed out of the stadium.
Anyone can see that Kaka is very excited and thrilled!
It's been too long since he scored in the Champions League!
It’s been so long that many people may have forgotten about it and no longer look forward to it!
But now, he is back!
Although this is not St. Mary's Stadium, he can still hear the voices of those supporting him!
It was very faint, but he heard it clearly!
Yang Huan in the stands also applauded loudly after Kaka scored a goal.
"It's not easy, it's really not easy!" Yang Huan said to Platini with emotion.
Platini, who was a player himself, certainly knows better than anyone that it is not easy for Kaka to return to the field and perform like this.
Especially in the Premier League in January and February, Kaka performed quite well.
Southampton's schedule in December and January this season is devilish. In just two months, they have to play the Champions League group stage, the domestic League Cup, the FA Cup, and eleven Premier League games.
As a result, Southampton, who had already won the top spot in the group, played with all substitutes in the last group match of the Champions League and ended up with a draw.
After that, the League Cup and FA Cup were also played with all substitutes and young lineups, and they won both games steadily.
But in the eleven league games, they encountered five strong opponents: Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Chelsea and Arsenal. Among them, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Chelsea are all concentrated in the Christmas schedule, which is quite cruel.
What's the result?
Except for the draw with Tottenham Hotspur after Christmas, Southampton won all other games!
Especially in the New Year's Day home game against Chelsea on January 1st, Southampton relied on three goals from Ibrahimovic, Kaka and Oscar to win 3-0 at home.
Later, when playing against West Bromwich Albion, Southampton was in poor form. At the crucial moment, Kaka, who came on as a substitute, scored the winning goal for Southampton. With this goal, Kaka showed everyone his long-distance running style at his peak.
Then at the end of January, Southampton played against Arsenal at home. After scoring twice and the Gunners equalized the score twice, Kaka scored another winning goal at the crucial moment. Southampton finally defeated Arsenal 3-2 at home!
After entering February, the condition of Southampton's main lineup generally improved, and the teams they met were not strong. The team was ruthless when bullying the weak teams, and even had big scores one after another. Kaka's performance also declined.
But with his amazing performance in January, Kaka can definitely announce his return to everyone!
But tonight, in Istanbul, the city where he once created his glorious peak, he used a Champions League goal to shout to all the Champions League fans, I'm back!
"It seems that Kaka is going to be resurrected in Southampton!" Platini laughed.
As a former professional player and a player from Serie A, Platini has a very good impression of Kaka.
Yang Huan nodded, feeling somewhat emotional in his heart.
So far this season, the Premier League has played 26 rounds, and Southampton has achieved an impressive record of 23 wins, 2 draws and one loss, with 71 points, far ahead of the standings.
Currently ranked second in the standings is Arsenal, with only 56 points, while Manchester City is ranked third with 54 points. Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are tied for fourth, both with 53 points, but Liverpool has a higher goal difference.
Villas-Boas is also controversial now. With a lineup like Tottenham Hotspur, he played very poorly on offense, scoring only 36 goals in 26 league games, 40 less than Southampton, 32 less than Manchester City, and 30 less than Liverpool.
If it was just the offense that was bad, it would be fine, but Tottenham Hotspur's defense conceded 32 goals, not only losing to the teams ahead of them, but even to the teams behind them such as Chelsea, Everton, Manchester United, etc.
Everyone also concluded that with such poor performance, Boas would be sacked after the end of this season.
Hamad and Daniel Levy also called before, and Yang Huan also said that Boas must be dismissed.
Therefore, Tottenham Hotspur has now quietly started the coach selection process and is secretly contacting several potential candidates. Without exception, they are all famous coaches in Europe.
Southampton were leading second-placed Arsenal by as many as 15 points, and February wasn't even over yet, but almost everyone thought that they had already won the championship. However, only Yang Huan knew that this was actually a matter of luck.
Among the players who performed well in the Christmas schedule and in January, Kaka is needless to say, and Oscar was not originally in Southampton's plan. If it weren't for Joorabchian's self-recommendation, the Brazilian midfielder probably would not have come to Southampton.
Nastasic and Kovacic were almost sent to Inter Milan during the winter break.
But it is the outstanding performance of these players that has formed a strong complement between the main lineup and rookies such as Ravelle Morrison and Pogba, ensuring that Southampton can stably survive the winter break and the devilish schedule.
Yang Huan really couldn't imagine that if Kaka was seriously injured and unable to recover, if Oscar didn't come, if Nastasic and Kovacic were really sent to Inter Milan, then Southampton might collapse during the winter break.
So, even though Yang Huan was very reluctant to admit it, he still had to admit that there was some luck involved.
But at the same time, he also believes that this experience is very valuable to everyone in the team.
At least, everyone in Southampton has a better understanding of the difficulty of the winter break and the devilish schedule.
Just when Yang Huan was feeling scared, things changed again on the court.
Oscar made a precise through pass and sent the ball to Ibrahimovic's feet in the penalty area.
The Swedish center forward, who was closely guarded by the opposing players, made use of his strong physical fitness and exquisite footwork to make continuous moves in the penalty area. After creating a gap, he volleyed the ball and scored again.
Six to zero!
Galatasaray is finished!
It's completely over!
There's no need to even fight a second round, the winner is already decided!