Compared to the excited Li Ang, the Leganés manager, Esaldo, was silent. He frowned and stared at the situation on the field. After a while, he returned to the technical area and sat down. He did not make any adjustments.
Li Ang glanced over there. He understood Esaldo's consideration. The first half of the game would end in a dozen minutes. The Leganés manager wanted to wait until the end of the first half to make any adjustments.
With a two-goal lead, Li Ang did not ask the team to speed up the pace of the attack. His plan was very clear. He wanted to play a tug of war with Leganés in the first half of the game. He wanted to not concede the goal and use the opportunity of a set piece to find a goal.
Now that the basic strategic goal had been achieved, Li Ang did not want to take risks in the next game. That would give Leganés an opportunity to take advantage of Sporting de Gijón's loopholes.
This was the beginning of Li Ang's maturity. If it had been two months ago, he might have impulsively asked the team to suddenly exert force and strive to score again in order to end the game in the first half. That would have been a huge risk.
Therefore, in the next half of the game, Sporting de Gijón took a two-goal lead and deliberately slowed down the pace. The game returned to the way it was in the first 15 minutes of the game. The two teams engaged in a tug of war in the midfield.
Li Ang was not afraid of such a tug of war. His team's defense was one of the best in the Segunda División. Even the league leader, Levante, could not score against Sporting de Gijón, let alone Leganés, whose offensive ability was far inferior to Levante's.
Just like that, until the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, the score did not change again.
Almost at the moment the whistle blew, the Leganés manager, Esaldo, left his seat and went straight to the players' tunnel.
The Leganés manager's face was gloomy. He walked into the tunnel without saying a word.
On the other side, Li Ang heard the whistle and got up to high-five his assistant manager, Scott Terry, before happily walking back to the locker room. His tactical plan had all been realized. The team did not concede the goal and ended the first half with a two-goal lead. This was the best result.
Dagstino looked at the scene in the technical area and smiled. "Sporting de Gijón's performance in the first half is more mature than before."
"Yes. In fact, Sporting de Gijón didn't have much of an advantage in the first half, but they managed to take a two-goal lead. This is a sign that a team is starting to mature," González added.
If Li Ang had heard what the two commentators said, he would have been very happy. This was exactly the effect he wanted. It was a sign that a team was starting to mature.
*****
In the home team's locker room at the El Molinon Stadium, the Sporting de Gijón players were in a good mood. Everyone was discussing the first half of the game. Some players were even surprised that they could easily lead their opponents by two goals.
It was different from the previous game in which they defeated Zaragoza 3-1 in the Copa del Rey. It was also different from the game in which they defeated Aravés by three goals. In those games, Sporting de Gijón played the defensive counterattack strategy well. They were more passive on the field and relied on sneak attacks to succeed.
In today's game, the two sides were in a tight struggle in the midfield. It looked like Sporting de Gijón had no advantage. Neither side had a good chance. However, they took advantage of two free kicks and scored two goals!
The players' reading of the game was the most direct. They began to discuss it. The team's performance in the first half of the game made them interested and feel relaxed.
Li Ang listened to the players talking and laughing. He did not say anything to stop them. In the face of a direct opponent to avoid relegation, such a relaxed state of mind was a good thing for him.
If it had been when he had just taken over the team, Li Ang would never have allowed the players to relax when facing Leganés. That was because the team was under the shadow of consecutive losses. They needed to win, they needed to have a spurt of energy, and they needed to be nervous!
Now it was different. Li Ang had won the players' respect and trust through game after game. The team had also gradually regained their confidence through these three months of games.
At this time, in the face of a direct opponent like Leganés, Sporting de Gijón would go all out in the game and relax off the field. This showed that the players were becoming more confident and mature, which was a good thing.
Li Ang was thinking about the second half of the game. Although he was satisfied with the first half of the game and was confident in winning the game, he knew that he could not be careless. As long as the game was not over, anything was possible.
This was a battle to avoid relegation. Leganés would definitely not be willing to be relegated. They would definitely go all out. Their manager, Eskind, would definitely not give up. He would definitely make some changes in the second half. Li Ang was thinking about the possible changes that Leganés might make. He had to have enough contingency plans himself.
Eskind would definitely ask Leganés to step up their offense. They were two goals behind. If they wanted to escape death, they had to step up their offense.
Li Ang decided to deal with the changes by sticking to the status quo. In the midfield, he relied on the defensive toughness of Marcos and Carlos to contain Leganés. They would strangle Leganés' offensive line, just like they had done in the first half of the game. It was just that the defensive strength had to be strengthened.
In terms of offense, Sporting de Gijón adopted a defensive counterattack strategy. Anyway, with two goals in hand, Sporting de Gijón was not in a hurry. It was Leganés who was in a hurry. What Sporting de Gijón had to do was to take advantage of the possible loopholes behind Leganés' offense, seize the opportunity to score again and give the opponent a fatal blow!
When they were two goals behind, Leganés might still have the courage and morale to fight back!
However, if they were three goals behind, they would probably be in despair!
What Li Ang hoped was that the team could seize the opportunity to give Leganés another blow and make the opponent despair!
Li Ang conveyed his tactical instructions to the players: increase the intensity of the midfield fight. Do everything possible to make the opponent fall into a quagmire in the midfield. At the same time, emphasize the speed and efficiency of the counterattack.
The players nodded. Defensive counterattack was what they were best at during this period of time.
"I only have one request. Win the game, and win it steadily!" Li Ang finally said. "Let the opponent have nothing to say. Let them feel despair. We want to use this game to tell everyone that Leganés is not worthy of being our opponent! Our current ranking is just an accident of the * * * *! "He said viciously.
There was a burst of cheers in the locker room. Everyone was excited by the coach's words.
*****
"Aren't you afraid that they will be proud?" Assistant coach Scott asked Li Ang in confusion. He did not understand why Li Ang kept emphasizing the strength of Sporting de Gijón today.
"Proud? Isn't it good? " Li Ang looked at the players who had already run onto the field. He said seriously, "When we start to get used to winning, and when the strong desire to move forward urges us to move forward, we can be proud! Only a proud team will cherish the glory and work harder! "
"What I need is pride in the bones. We have to straighten our backs and have the courage to face all strong opponents. Pride is right for opponents who are not as good as us! However, pride is in the heart. As long as we have the right attitude, as long as we don't act arrogantly and don't play football, it will be fine! "
"A team needs to have that kind of pride!" Li Ang said. His eyes were deep. He knew what he needed. His team was not a team whose goal was to avoid relegation. His team wanted to be famous on a broader stage. A team that was satisfied with the status quo, worried about gains and losses, did not dare to despise the opponent, and had no pride, had no future!
He was not afraid of the team being arrogant and underestimating the opponent because he was the manager!
Just like the captain of a huge ship, he would control everything. Whether it was a reef or a storm, he would handle it well.
When the wind is gentle and the sun is bright, we will enjoy the sun and the sea breeze. When the storm is raging, we will brave the wind and waves and move forward!
PS: Second update.
My body is getting better … I weakly asked for a monthly vote. When I was sick, I did not dare to ask for a monthly vote.
The monthly votes list has been continuously rising … I will give everyone a surprise in the last few days of the month.
We can only fight.
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