"Be careful of De La Pena! He's the soul of RCD Espanyol's midfield! Restrict him and don't give him an easy chance to take the ball, "Li Ang said, glancing at Carlos. As the team's strongest defensive barrier in the midfield today, Li Ang handed the task of defending against De La Pena to Carlos.
Li Ang did not notice the nervous Benzema. In fact, he put Benzema on the team's 18-man roster today mainly to let Benzema feel the atmosphere of the game up close. Benzema had almost no chance to play because even if the striker was injured, there was still the veteran Michael Pijla on the bench. Unless there was no one else available, it would not be Benzema's turn to play.
Therefore, even if Li Ang noticed Benzema's nervousness, he would not say anything. This was exactly what he wanted Benzema to feel on the bench, to feel the game up close.
"This is our home ground. Although we won against Zaragoza in the away game, we haven't won at home in the new season. RCD Espanyol is nothing to be afraid of. Show them what we're made of, guys!" Li Ang grinned and clenched his fists.
Seeing the manager full of confidence, the atmosphere in the locker room warmed up.
*****
The game had already begun.
Li Ang sat in the technical area. Although he seemed to be relaxed in the locker room, he knew that this game was not easy. It could even be said that it was more difficult to win.
If he remembered correctly, RCD Espanyol's performance in the 20042005 season was exceptional. They were the dark horse of the season. At the end of the season, they were only one point behind another dark horse, Real Betis, and ranked fifth in La Liga.
However, Li Ang had stayed up late for several days in a row for this opponent. He felt that his analysis and research were more thorough. In other words, he felt that he had grasped RCD Espanyol's pulse and found RCD Espanyol's weakness!
On the field, after De La Pena took the ball, he got rid of it beautifully, making Carlos, who was guarding him, a little embarrassed. However, Carlos then strode forward and directly hit De La Pena with his body. Carlos used a tactical foul to stop RCD Espanyol's attack.
Li Ang narrowed his eyes. As he expected, De La Pena was RCD Espanyol's most threatening player today. However, Carlos's tactical foul was timely and clever. The referee would not give a card for such a foul, but it was able to stop the opponent's attack very well.
De La Pena, who was now 29 years old, made his debut very early. He was basically the main force when Ronaldo played for Barcelona. He could be seen in many of Ronaldo's goals.
In the first season of the famous Dutch manager, Louis van Gaal, in the first half of the 19971998 season, when Guardiola was injured, Van Gaal's 3-3-3 lineup was still in the run-in period. The team's attack was weak. At that time, De La Pena's support, balls, and iconic straight passes were the main sources of the team's offense. De La Pena's many direct assists helped Barça finally break through the opponent's defense in a dull battle.
However, after the start of the second half of the season, De La Pena's strong core awareness and Van Gaal's tactical thinking had been in conflict. Van Gaal's requirement for the number 4 position was to be nailed in the center circle, to organize the control and push in the backfield, while De La Pena was more inclined to participate in the attack forward, especially when De La Pena occupied the attacking midfielder position to carry out the key plan and the last pass. As a result of this conflict, Van Gaal soon banished De La Pena to the bench, preferring to use Celades, who had mediocre personal ability but adhered to Van Gaal's tactical discipline. Later, Van Gaal promoted Harvey, and there was no place for De La Pena.
*****
To put it more bluntly, De La Pena was not a European team player. He was talented, but he required his teammates to keep up with his thinking and play football with a strong sense of randomness. For a manager like Van Gaal who strictly controlled the flow of the game, it was basically intolerable. He was also incomparable to Harvey in terms of off-the-ball movement and defense.
In terms of personal ability, De La Pena was slightly better in terms of small skills, but his physical fitness was terrible. As an attacking midfielder, he could only contend and not fight head-on. If he moved back, his lack of teamwork and lack of defense would be more obvious.
Therefore, Li Ang specially arranged for Carlos to "take special care" of De La Pena. Sporting de Gijón's "Little Gattuso" was a very good weapon against De La Pena.
In Li Ang's eyes, De La Pena was the sharpest weapon for RCD Espanyol, but also the most fragile one!
In terms of offense, RCD Espanyol mainly relied on two players, De La Pena and Tamudo in the front line. However, as long as De La Pena could not play a role, Tamudo in the front line could not do much.
If Sporting de Gijón handled this well, they could turn RCD Espanyol's strongest point into RCD Espanyol's Achilles' heel!
*****
Benzema sat on the substitutes' bench. The young French boy watched the game with surprised and nervous eyes. For him, this was the first time he had been so close to a First Team game. For a 16-year-old child, this was a dreamy feeling.
Of course, he was still nervous. To be more precise, there was a mixture of nervousness and excitement.
He secretly glanced at the manager Li Ang in the technical area. The child was wondering if the manager would send him on the field. Would he? Would he?
The game was going smoothly. Although it could not be said that Sporting de Gijón had taken control of the game, they were constantly trying to threaten RCD Espanyol's goal.
Sporting de Gijón and RCD Espanyol were fighting in the midfield. RCD Espanyol's midfield core, De La Pena, was caught in a hand-to-hand battle with Carlos. However, this was obviously not De La Pena's strong point. Without De La Pena's organization, RCD Espanyol's offense could not be launched.
When the opponent's offense could not threaten the defensive line for the time being, it was time to show their offensive strength.
Before the game, Li Ang told both Ribéry and Mata that their idea for this game was to constantly break through the flanks and torture RCD Espanyol, especially Ribéry on the left. Li Ang's task for him was to use Ribéry's speed and breakthroughs to break down RCD Espanyol's right back, Pochettino.
Li Ang was very familiar with the 32-year-old Argentine veteran, Pochettino. In fact, many China fans were also very familiar with this person. The fans who watched the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan would definitely remember this Argentine defender. In that World Cup, Pochettino was Argentina's main defender. But in the group stage game against England, he stretched out his leg and tripped Owen in the penalty area, causing the England team to be awarded a penalty kick, which Beckham won in one fell swoop. And it was this penalty kick that caused Argentina to lose to England and fail to break out of the group stage. Pochettino was also once regarded as the culprit for Argentina's early elimination.
The Argentine veteran was "old" and his slow turning speed was his shortcoming. Li Ang asked Ribéry to frequently break through Pochettino's defense, which was obviously full of malice.
The match had been going on for 30 minutes, and Pochettino was panting heavily. He felt exhausted. Although he had only played for 30 minutes, he felt as if he had played for half of the match. Not only was he physically exhausted, but he was also mentally exhausted.
Sporting de Gijón's small player with a horrible scar on his face frequently broke through from his side, like the tide, wave after wave, endless and endless … This made him a little breathless.
PS: Third update, everyone, weakly asking for guaranteed monthly votes in December.
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