Capdrella assisted. He hooked the football into the penalty area. The Uruguayan striker, Pandiani, competed with Pepe for the header, and the latter successfully headed the football out.
Subsequently, Dorado's clearance ball did not go far. The football was received by Mauro Silva, and Deportivo launched a second attack.
Mauro Silva passed the football to Sergio, who took the opportunity to push the ball after receiving it, and the football rolled directly into the penalty area!
Luque charged out from behind the crowd.
Hierro's old age and slow turning was exposed this time. By the time he finished turning, Luque had already left his defensive range. Seeing that Luque was about to receive the ball to form a one-on-one, Valencia, who was attacking, was one step ahead and pounced the football under him.
Luque reluctantly jumped over the Sporting de Gijón goalkeeper who fell to the ground. He waved his hand in annoyance. If only his speed was faster …
Li Ang broke out in a cold sweat on the sidelines. Deportivo La Coruña's attacks came in waves and were suffocating.
After Pandiani and Luke left the penalty area, Valencia kicked the football to the front with a long kick.
Mauro Silva rushed in front of Ribéry and headed the football back. The possession of the ball was once again at Deportivo La Coruña's feet.
Albertini saw the situation in the midfield. He gestured to the goalkeeper, Valencia, to make him use less of such big kicks in the future. Use your hands to throw the ball and launch an attack on the ground.
Such a kickoff was simply giving the possession of the ball to Deportivo La Coruña.
*****
Deportivo La Coruña's offense came again. Their two flanks, Pablo on the right and Capdrella on the left, pressed near Sporting de Gijón's penalty area.
Victor and Pablo did a running combination, and the football went to Mauro Silva's feet. He used his personal skills to dribble past Marcos and pretended to shoot, but the football was diverted to Bellerón, who plugged in from the back.
Deportivo La Coruña's midfield core, under Modric's interference, swept a shot, and the football was slightly over the crossbar. The Sporting de Gijón fans broke out in a cold sweat.
Bellerón was a little annoyed that he missed the shot. He stood up and clapped his hands hard.
Li Ang looked down at his watch. The match had been going on for almost 20 minutes. Deportivo La Coruña's offense was getting fiercer and fiercer. Other than the unsuccessful counterattack, his team had not been able to score more than half of the game.
He turned his head to look at Deportivo La Coruña's technical area, only to see Irueta constantly waving his hands on the sidelines. He was urging the team to continue to press and attack.
Irueta seemed to want to bite him to death?!
Li Ang began to realize this. After Deportivo La Coruña took the initiative on the field, they seemed to be planning to use offense to defeat Gihon. Perhaps they were even planning to end the battle in the first half of the match?!
Li Ang shook his head subconsciously. He did not know why La Coruña was so confident. It was true that Deportivo La Coruña was stronger than Sporting de Gijón. Even Li Ang himself admitted that the home team had a higher chance of winning this game. However, if they wanted to end the battle in the first half of the match, were they not worried about Sporting de Gijón's counterattack at all?!
Li Ang did not think that Irueta would be so arrogant.
However, as he continued to observe the game, he noticed that Deportivo La Coruña was attacking from all sides. The two full backs, Pablo and Capdrella, were almost always in Sporting de Gijón's half of the field. Mauro Silva was constantly pressing Sporting de Gijón's penalty area.
In the entire half of Deportivo La Coruña's half, there were only two center backs. One center back stayed in the half, while the other center back, Martin César, was simply doing nothing near the center circle.
*****
Li Ang felt a sense of humiliation. Although he did not want to admit it, the fact was that Deportivo La Coruña was so arrogant. They were indeed planning to defeat Sporting de Gijón in one go!
This made Li Ang feel humiliated and unhappy.
At the same time, he felt helpless.
He had devised an offensive strategy for the team because Li Ang knew that it would be difficult to defend the goal against Deportivo La Coruña's offense, so it would be better to attack.
However, the reality was that Sporting de Gijón's formation was being suppressed, and they were being surrounded by their opponents. His offensive strategy was completely ineffective. From the beginning of the game, Deportivo La Coruña had kicked off, and Sporting de Gijón had been suppressed.
Li Ang was reflecting. He had not thought things through before. In the face of a strong opponent, his strategy of attacking first had failed.
At the same time, Li Ang was angered by the passive situation on the field and the opponent's arrogance.
Deportivo La Coruña's attack was very bold. It seemed that Sporting de Gijón's only counterattack had been successfully stopped, which gave Deportivo La Coruña a lot of confidence. They believed that this opponent was no longer a threat to them. Now, they were pressing on with all their might. Mauro Silva, who had been restraining himself and focusing on defense, was also in high spirits.
Therefore, Li Ang saw a scene like this. Sporting de Gijón was surrounded, and the players from both sides were entangled in front of Sporting de Gijón's penalty area. In the midfield, there was a large area of empty space. Deportivo La Coruña's midfield was completely defenseless at this moment!
*****
What was Sporting de Gijón's signature magic weapon?!
If one had watched Sporting de Gijón's matches against Real Zaragoza and Athletic Bilbao this season, they might have said that their attack was as beautiful as a painting.
However, if one had watched the process of Sporting de Gijón's promotion from Segunda División to La Liga last season, especially the process of Sporting de Gijón winning the Copa del Rey last season, one would know that their signature magic weapon was defensive counterattack!
Even though Li Ang had started to practice the LION tactic in the team this season in an attempt to play beautiful and win games, their signature magic weapon, defensive counterattack, had not been lost!
In the current situation, it was clearly the time for defensive counterattack to come into play.
Deportivo La Coruña's empty backfield only needed one counterattack to tear apart their defensive line! Li Ang had a deep understanding of this!
However, the problem now was that Sporting de Gijón was completely suppressed and could not counterattack at all!
At this moment, during a dead ball, Li Ang called Albertini's name.
The latter looked to the side of the field and saw Li Ang's hand gesture. Albertini was shocked, then looked at the manager's determined eyes and nodded.
Then, a very subtle change occurred on the field.
Sporting de Gijón's defensive line began to shrink further.
The result was that Sporting de Gijón was even more passive on the field. Deportivo La Coruña was almost constantly looking for opportunities in front of Sporting de Gijón's goal, passing, organizing, and shooting. They were pounced on, blocked, and then continued to organize attacks.
The attacks were like the waves, endless and oppressive!
The stormy waves beat against the precarious wall, and the sky could collapse at any time!
*****
"Sporting de Gijón is very passive. Their goal could be lost at any time!" Dagestino said.
"What is Manager Li Ang doing? He has to make changes," González said.
"Manager Li Ang can't do anything. When the gap in strength between the two sides reaches a certain level, the manager can't do anything," Dagestino said.
In the live broadcast room of CCTV, Duan Xuan said worriedly, "Sporting de Gijón is in danger now. This is the gap in strength. As a newly promoted team, the gap between them and their opponents is too big."
At this moment, the camera zoomed in on the side of the field. Li Ang, who had been shouting impatiently on the sidelines, returned to the technical area and sat down with a gloomy face.
"Manager Li Ang can't do anything. The opponents are too strong," Liu Jianhong said.
This game was the first time that CCTV had broadcast a Sporting de Gijón game this season. Many fans stayed up late to watch the game, but what they saw was Sporting de Gijón being attacked by their opponents like a child being beaten by an adult. At this moment, none of them could lift their spirits.
"Forget it, I'm not watching."
"What are they doing?"
"They can't do anything about it. That's Super Laco. They have Bellerón, Mauro, and Pandiani. Who else does Sporting de Gijón have?" There were also fans who defended Li Ang and Sporting de Gijón. In other words, rather than defending, it was more appropriate to say that they were discouraged.
Some fans who stayed up late to watch the game turned off the TV, while others forced themselves to watch a little longer. If they continued to play so sullenly, they would have to go to bed first.
*****
Deportivo La Coruña was completely crazy. They could no longer care about defense. Manager Irueta had told them before the game that they had to score in this game. Scoring was the most important thing. As long as they scored the first goal, they would be able to completely seize the initiative. Then, more goals would come. They wanted to use Sporting de Gijón to establish their dominance.
Sporting de Gijón was completely suppressed. Deportivo La Coruña's players felt as if they were facing a wall. This wall was already full of holes and was on the verge of collapse. As long as they put in a little more effort, it would collapse with a bang! Then, it would be time for them to run wild!
So now, everyone's mind was filled with goals, goals, goals …
As for defense?
On the one hand, it was because Sporting de Gijón was completely suppressed. Their goal was not threatened. On the other hand, perhaps they also knew that if they went all out, the rear defensive line might be somewhat threatened. However, they thought that they could score at any time and would not give Sporting de Gijón any chance!
To put it bluntly, it was a matter of who scored first. If Deportivo scored first, the game would be in Deportivo La Coruña's orbit.
So, they were so focused on breaking Sporting de Gijón's goal that they temporarily neglected the safety of their own goal …
Deportivo La Coruña's manager, Irueta, was also a manager. Of course, he saw that his own half of the field was empty. However, he was confident because he saw the opponent's defensive line shrink again. Irueta naturally did not know that this was deliberately done by Li Ang. He thought that this was a sign that the opponent could not hold on any longer!
In the face of Deportivo La Coruña's indiscriminate bombardment, no team could withstand it!
Irueta felt that success was in front of him!
It was within reach!
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