In the sports section of Marca published on the morning of the game on the outlook of Real Madrid's first round of the new season, Cassano's resurgence was the focus of all comments. It was believed that Cassano could at least play well under Capello. If he could exceed his value, it would naturally be good to see.
But when the game entered the 33rd minute, Cassano missed two chances that could not be said to be 100% goals for a striker of his level, but at least he should have been able to play a threatening shot. All the football reporters who were paying attention to the game had already thought about how to write the player's comments after the game. At least the illusion of Cassano's resurgence was worth writing about so far.
The Bernabéu fans also expressed their dissatisfaction with Cassano's play. They might have hoped that the team could bring on Robinho to try it out.
Villarreal CF escaped disaster one after another and they stabilized their emotions. The midfield core, Riquelme, had a ball of fire in his heart. He could not forget that he was absolutely suppressed by Qin Xiong in last season's European Championship.
But he also knew that it would not end well for him to go head-to-head with Qin Xiong. He still understood his own capabilities.
So, he took the initiative to go to the front flank to support and then create opportunities for his teammates.
Real Madrid's defensive line rigidly contracted the defensive line in order to avoid being hit by the opponent in the ribs for passes and cuts. As a result, the outside of the backfield was almost in an undefended state. This allowed Villarreal CF to easily start the ball on the flank and play the passing tactic on the flank to flourish.
In the 37th minute of the game, Forlan received Riquelme's pass at the top corner of the penalty area and almost scored with a header. Casillas bravely blocked his determined header with one hand.
Two minutes later, Nihart suddenly retreated to the front waistline to receive Carney's cross pass from the flank and then kicked a cold shot. Casillas' line of sight was blocked and he did not react. Fortunately, the football brushed the outside of the column and bounced out of the end line.
In the 40th minute, Qin Xiong had an interaction with Ruud van Nistelrooy in the attack in the front field. Ruud van Nistelrooy's back was facing Villarreal's penalty area when he passed the ball back. Qin Xiong plugged in and touched the ball, then directly kicked a long shot.
The football flew towards Villarreal CF's goal like a cannonball. The goalkeeper, Vieira, made a world-class save and pounced the ball out of the end line!
There was a burst of applause from the stands.
From the beginning of the game until now, Qin Xiong's performance was seen by the fans. He did not have a gorgeous performance, but he always inadvertently created a strong threat.
Real Madrid, which had yet to take shape, needed someone in the midfield to stabilize the overall situation. This stability might not allow Real Madrid's offensive and defensive system to make a qualitative leap, but it could prevent the team from falling apart!
Capello also saw the problem with the team on the sidelines.
His tactical plan had failed!
Real Madrid wants to fight back at home?
On what basis?
Villarreal would not attack aggressively. How would they give Real Madrid a chance to fight back?
As a result, Real Madrid did not know how to attack in a positional battle.
If there was no Qin Xiong, the team's offense would not be organized at all. They would just attack wherever they went and most of them would end up with no results.
However, even though Qin Xiong was trying his best to control the overall situation, the problem was still very obvious. In a situation where there was not much space, they could not grasp the opportunity that was hard to come by. After Cassano missed two good opportunities, Villarreal's vigilance became even stronger.
"At the end of the first half of the game, Real Madrid and Villarreal tied at 0: 0 at Bernabéu. Through the first half of the game, we found that Real Madrid's rear defensive line seems to be more stable than before, but it has not reached the level of being watertight. However, their offense does not seem to have improved much compared to before. The team's offensive thinking is not clear. There is a lack of connection points in the front and the flanks. It almost depends on the star players to play casually. Under such circumstances, Real Madrid has created several good opportunities, but they were squandered by themselves. Let's see what kind of adjustments Capello will make at halftime. Villarreal's only lack of improvement in the last kick in the counterattack!"
Walking into the locker room, the atmosphere in the Real Madrid team was heavier.
In the first 45 minutes, some of the veteran players should be able to feel that the team had not been reborn.
And it was obvious that they were tired playing on the field!
Some players even felt that it was a kind of torture.
For example, Carlos and Salgado were not allowed to assist, and the rule was that they could not rush past half of the field. It was as if they could not breathe smoothly.
Most of the attacking players in the front field also felt isolated and helpless during positional warfare.
Capello lectured during the halftime interval, and the first thing he said was how to improve the defense and how to adjust it. Qin Xiong listened very carefully. Although Capello also vaguely criticized him for not making more restrictions on Riquelme's play, Qin Xiong accepted it calmly. But he also noticed that many players in the locker room were not interested in Capello's words.
Defense, defense, defense!
Oh my God!
This was Bernabéu. They wanted to attack, they wanted to be gorgeous, and they wanted a crushing victory!
How should they attack?
Capello did not come up with a specific policy. He just let the players imagine for themselves, such as "work hard," "be more calm when the opportunity arises," and so on.
After the halftime interval, the starting players walked onto the field.
Raúl deliberately walked to Qin Xiong's side and said naturally, "You feel good on the left wing?"
Qin Xiong nodded and said, "Yes, it's more comfortable to cut inwards along the right foot. I've deepened and improved in this aspect in the past two years."
Raúl thought about it and said, "Then we can switch positions under the right circumstances in the game."
Qin Xiong thoughtfully looked back at Capello, who was walking at the back of the team, and then turned to Raúl and said, "No problem, let's try it. I'm just afraid that if this offense doesn't work, I won't be able to complete the defensive task assigned by the manager."
Switching positions between the players on the flanks and in the middle could be done at will in a purely offensive situation.
But a football game was carried out smoothly. Once the offense was ended, the opponent would start to attack, and you would have to defend.
If Qin Xiong ran to the left wing of the front field to attack and did not succeed, it would cause him to be unable to become the defensive point in the midfield at the first moment of the switch between offense and defense.
In this regard, Raúl said solemnly, "Don't worry, according to the situation on the field, we can directly switch defensive tasks."
Qin Xiong thought about it and did not suspect that Raúl was talking nonsense.
In the past few years, Raúl was often forced to sacrifice offense to defense. He could no longer score 20 goals in a season like he did ten years ago, and he could also give out 20 assists. His goal scoring had dropped significantly over the years, which was inseparable from the sacrifices he made. Bernabéu's Lord of the Rings only scored five league goals last season!
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