487 Smothering

Four hundred and eighty-seventh suffocation

After the end of the game with Osasuna, it was followed by the third round of the league, Atletico Madrid's away game against Valencia.

If Atletico Madrid won the first game for granted, then challenging Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium is probably the game that people will focus on watching along the way.

In fact, many media believe that the strength of Valencia this season is a bit behind compared to last season.

Especially in terms of personnel, in the summer transfer window of this season, Valencia has transferred an astonishing 16 players!

Major players such as Mata, Joaquin, Isco and Fernandes were all sold. Obviously, the biggest loss to Valencia was Spain international Mata, the Asturian who was Valencia's best player last season, with eight goals and twelve in the league. assist.

In terms of transfers, Valencia cleared sixteen players, but only six players were introduced: Piatti (Almería 0, Diego Alves (Almería), Parejo ( Getafe), Canales (Real Madrid), Rami (Lille) and Pereira (Sporting Lisbon).

And for Valencia manager Unai Emery, this is his fourth year in charge. Speaking of which, there are not only four managers who have managed for more than four years in the history of this club founded in 1919, including Emery.

Emery arrived here from Almería in 2007 and led Valencia to sixth place, a big improvement from the tragic performance of the Koeman era a year ago. They even lingered in the relegation zone that year, finishing 10th. Emery led the team to Champions League qualification for the next two years, but chairman Llorente felt his performance was only worthy of a contract extension. year. However, Llorente was not satisfied with the team's position in the league, especially since Valencia slipped to fourth place this season, and the rise of Atletico Madrid made Llorente jealous.

For Emery, the pressure on him now is also quite large.

In four years of coaching, Valencia has not brought you a single trophy.

In terms of the league, Valencia's heart of champions has been extinguished. Last season, due to the rise of Atletico Madrid, Valencia also saw the hope of competing for the league title - Atletico Madrid can do it, why can't Valencia?

Originally, Valencia's management and fans had nothing to do with the league title, because no matter what, they couldn't compete with Barcelona and Real Madrid.

However, the success of Atletico Madrid last season,

It made Valencia's executives feel that since a team like Atletico Madrid that has been down for more than ten years can win the championship, there is no reason why Valencia can't think about it.

This invisibly put a lot of pressure on Emery.

Emery believes that since the team is going to compete for the title, why should they sell Mata and others?

From Valencia's signing strategy, we can't see the ambition of this team. While selling people, they demanded to win the championship!

Doesn't this require the cows to be milked again and not let the cows graze?

Emery is a little pessimistic about the team's prospects this season, but in any case, he can't show pessimism in front of the players. On the contrary, he has to stimulate the players' desire to play, especially this game!

In his position to pursue his political affairs, Emery can't just let it go this season because he didn't sell people at the top. His professional ethics can't allow him to do such a thing.

........

In fact, for the Valencia team, Gao Bo dare not underestimate.

But considering the Champions League game four days later, in this game, Gao Bo made a little rotation!

There are two personnel adjustments on the back line. Juanfran is still playing at right back, while the combination of center back is Godin and Lucio's partner, and left back is Sandro.

In midfield, Kante, Gabi, Modric, three players started.

In the frontcourt, it is Mane, Aguero, Griezmann!

Compared to the start of the previous game, Atlético de Madrid has four personnel adjustments!

In the home team's dressing room, Emery was given the starting line-up for Atlético de Madrid.

"Have they stayed for the Champions League?"

One of Emery's aides frowned as he spoke next to him.

Stay strong....

Emery thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"Their starting set is also very good, Gabi and Kante, two players who are more defensive in midfield..."

"They're going to play on the counter-attack away?"

"Maybe, I won't know until the game!" Emery put down the information in his hand and looked up.

"But no matter what they play, we just play our own way!!!"

......

When it came time for the game, Emery noticed that Atletico Madrid's formation had changed.

It's not 433, Gao Bo arranged a 4231 formation on the road!

Gabi and Kante have double midfielders behind Modric, while Mane and Griezmann are on both sides of Modric!

Emery looked at Gao Bo not far away.

Atlético de Madrid had used the same starting midfield before, but with Modric behind him, Kante and Gabi escorted him as his flanks.

Now that Modric has pushed to the position of the attacking midfielder, the positions of the two wingers have moved back slightly.

What is Gao Bo paying attention to?

......

In fact, Gao Bo is still thinking about the Champions League.

In this game, Atletico Madrid needs to win the "economy". The so-called economy means that first of all, the main players cannot consume too much physical energy, and at the same time, avoid injuries as much as possible.

In the away game, facing a strong team like Valencia again, Gao Bo's arrangement seems to be a bit too big.

But Gao Bo doesn't think he is too big!

Because after thinking about it for a long time, he finally decided to exchange the orange card from last season's "Unbeaten Season" mission reward.

[Competition Card (Orange): The team's long-range shooting rate is increased by 15%, and the accuracy of side passes is increased by 15%! ! 】

For Atletico Madrid, in fact, they are not afraid to face their opponents and pull out a head-to-head opponent. However, if there is a team that cannot get out of the penalty area, even if Atlético de Madrid's passing movement in the frontcourt is flexible, I am afraid it will be difficult to find opportunities from the dense iron barrel formation.

Long-range shots and crosses from the flank are undoubtedly two powerful tools for breaking through dense defenses, but in normal times, these two skills are also very powerful.

If you want to win your opponent economically, it may be more effective to use some simpler methods.

The new card makes Gao Bo's tactical arrangement more inclined to long-range shots.

When Valencia defended, they naturally formed a dense formation, while trying to squeeze Atletico Madrid's passing space in the midfield as much as possible.

......

The advantage of 4231 is that it is a relatively balanced formation, both in offense and defense, and each player has a clear division of labor.

Valencia, who is playing at home, is actually very good at short-pass penetration in the middle, so Kante and Gabi locked the middle in the midfield, which is also a targeted deployment.

In fact, the same is true in the game. Valencia's midfield penetration cannot penetrate the defense of Kante and Gabi at all.

On the one hand, Atletico Madrid made a rotation in this game, on the other hand, in the game, they also adopted a relatively labor-saving way of playing. When defending, stand still, take the ball and slowly move to the front of your feet, as if you are not in a hurry to counterattack.

The scene of the game was very dull, but this was intentional from Atlético Madrid. They controlled the ball and were not in a hurry to attack. Instead, they slowly induced Valencia's players, and then used Griezmann and Mane on both sides. The individual ability to attack Valencia's back line.

The first goal is a long-range goal! ! In this game, Gao Bo emphasized the need to strengthen long-range shots before the game, and in the game, long-range shots really worked!

Modric got a chance to shoot at the top of the arc in the penalty area. This kick was of very high quality. The football went straight to the dead end, and the goalkeeper had no way!

In fact, before that, Atletico Madrid tried a few long shots.

At that time, Emery thought that the other side was not paying attention to the performance of the league - maybe Atletico Madrid's players wanted to think about the league in midweek.

As a result, Modric scored with one kick... This made Emery think his team was out of luck.

And Valencia's attack is through the wing, the middle is closed by the two gates of Kante and Gabi, and Valencia can get some opportunities on the wing.

However, after Atletico Madrid scored, they controlled the ball at their feet, forcing Valencia to pay more running and pressing to get the ball back.

The result was not ideal. Atletico Madrid played more leisurely after taking the lead. Until the end of the first half, Valencia failed to get a few opportunities to attack.

In the second half, the game remained the same.

Emery is also a little helpless in the face of such a situation, Valencia is completely lost in the midfield!

That's because even if they grab the ball, it's hard to keep the ball under control as they did last season, and Valencia's control has dropped a lot without Mata.

In this way, the second goal of Atletico Madrid also came!

Still a long shot!

This time it was Griezmann, who took the ball from the flank and shot inside, scoring Atletico Madrid's second goal of the game!

After that, Gao Bo began to dispatch troops. He replaced several players who had the opportunity to play in the Champions League to let them feel the atmosphere of the game.

Atlético de Madrid slowly controlled the rhythm, and in the end Valencia could only accept a dull defeat at home.