Football Feast, Starting From the Acquisition of European Clubs

   Chapter 116 Italian Giants

  In China, thousands of miles away, with Crystal Palace winning game after game, the popularity of Crystal Palace Post Bar is increasing every day, and now it has become one of the most popular Post Bars.

   "Haha, Crystal Palace won again, 11 consecutive victories. There is no one before, and it will be difficult for anyone to come in the future."

   "Don't jump to conclusions, Crystal Palace can continue to win, and the 11-game winning streak is not the end."

   "Yes. I think Crystal Palace can challenge the record of Arsenal's unbeaten title last season."

   "Ahem, just a reminder. I checked the Premier League schedule, and Crystal Palace's opponent in the next round is Arsenal, who is currently ranked second."

   "Damn it! Just a heads-up, is it so exciting?"

   "Crystal Palace can't handle it now. After all, Arsenal were the Premier League champions last season, and they are now closely behind Crystal Palace. It's hard to say who wins and who loses."

   "What happened to Arsenal, didn't Crystal Palace beat Arsenal to win the League Cup final last season?"

   "That's right. The princes and generals, would you rather have a seed? The champions will take turns, and they will come to my house this year."

   "No matter who wins in the end, this game must be very intense."

   "That's for sure. This game must be watched, maybe it will be the key to determining the Premier League title this season."

   "What do you need to say? If you can kill Arsenal, then Crystal Palace will have a 90% chance of winning the Premier League this season."

   As the fans worried, Chen Ran is also having a headache for the next match.

   The situation is more dangerous than the fans know.

   is done, naturally everything is fine.

  If they don't play well, then Crystal Palace may have a continuous winless situation.

  On November 5th, the second game of the UEFA Cup group stage will start again, and Crystal Palace will host the Italian giant Lazio at home.

  On November 7th, just one day apart, in the twelfth round of the Premier League, Crystal Palace will face Arsenal directly at Selhurst Park.

  On November 11th, in the fourth round of the League Cup, Crystal Palace will also go to Old Trafford to challenge Manchester United away.

   If last week's race was considered a devil's race, then this should be called a **** race now.

   Three games in six days, and the opponents were all strong teams, which made Chen Ran's scalp tingle when he saw it.

   It would be great if Crystal Palace played against Arsenal in this league match with Manchester United's League Cup match. Chen Ran was daydreaming in his heart.

   After all, it was in his plan to give up the League Cup, so that he could concentrate on playing the other two games that he had to win.

   In this situation, against Lazio, Chen Ran will definitely go all out to win the opponent.

  So just one day later, in the league match against Arsenal, the Crystal Palace players can still play a few percent of their fighting power, Chen Ran is not sure.

  Although Arsenal will also participate in the Champions League match, their group stage match against Greece's Panathinaikos at home will be played on November 3.

   In other words, Arsenal have two more days of rest than Crystal Palace.

  Chen Ran is very suspicious that Crystal Palace has been treated unfairly, at least in the arrangement of the schedule.

   For a moment, Chen Ran had the idea of ​​venting his dissatisfaction with the FA through the media.

   But immediately, his reason stopped the thought.

  Because Chen Ranke is not just a simple head coach, he is also the owner of Crystal Palace Club.

   and the FA publicly tear their faces, which is absolutely not good for Crystal Palace Club.

   In someone else's territory, when one's own strength is not strong enough, it is best to keep a low profile first.

   It is not unreasonable why the "Gou" way in the previous life was prosperous.

  Since the schedule cannot be changed, Chen Ran has to start from himself.

   So he called Guardiola, Southgate and Simeone over.

   "Guys, you must know the schedule for the next week."

  Chen Ran glanced around at the three of them, saw that they were all listening to him attentively, and nodded with satisfaction.

   "Although it is very difficult, our goal is still to strive for victory."

   "I'm here to give you the bottom line: In the League Cup game against Manchester United, I have no requirements for results, which can be used to train substitutes and young people."

   "But the UEFA Cup game against Lazio, and the Premier League game against Arsenal, these two must be won."

   Guardiola, Gareth Southgate and Simeone looked at each other, and finally Guardiola bravely stood up.

   "Boss, after the match against Lazio, there is only one day off. We are really not sure what the physical condition of the players will be."

   "Yes, boss. After all, Lazio is an old and strong team. Although it encountered an economic crisis before and sold a lot of stars. But after changing a new owner this summer, the team has regained stability. We can't take it lightly."

  Simeone, the former Lazio player, still knows his old club relatively well, so he also stood up to remind Chen Ran at this time.

   "Don't worry, I won't underestimate the enemy." With that said, Chen Ran turned to look at Simeone, "Diego, you have played in Serie A for many years, and you are most familiar with the football style there. You will introduce it to everyone later."

   "Okay, boss."

   After explaining Simeone, Chen Ran looked at Guardiola again.

   "Josep, after you go back, edit the video of Arsenal's game this season, and I will use it in the pre-match preparation meeting."

   "Understood, boss."

   Finally, Chen Ran explained to Southgate again.

   "Gareth, you are the captain of the team. The next week's games are very important to us. You should pay more attention to the physical and mental conditions of the players. If anything goes wrong, report it to me immediately, understand?"

   "Boss, don't worry, the locker room will be handed over to me."

  Southgate patted his chest with a thud, assuring Chen Ran.

  The current Lazio is not the Lazio in its heyday.

  Because the former boss spent money recklessly, the team fell into a serious economic crisis, and even entered a state of trust for a time.

   Just this summer, the new boss Claudio Lotito changed his predecessor's business style after acquiring Lazio and strictly controlled unnecessary spending.

While    helped Lazio recover, it also caused the team's strength to decline sharply, becoming a mid-level team in Serie A.

   Stars such as Stam, Nesta, Nedved, Vieri, Veron, Crespo, Stankovic, Mikhailovic, etc., have now left the team.

   One of the things that made Claudio Lotito famous is that he bought nine players for 1.3 million euros on the last day before the end of the summer transfer period.

  The 1.3 million euros were spent on half of the ownership of striker Rocky, and the other eight people, all of which were not spent.

   Yes, you heard that right, this is Lazio now.

   However, because it was the first time to play against a veteran team outside of England, Chen Ran sent all the main lineup for safety reasons, and still adopted Southgate's twin-tower tactic.

  Because Chen Ran has carefully studied Lazio's current lineup, their main central defenders, Negro and Cotto, are 182cm tall and the other 184cm tall.

   On the Crystal Palace side, Tony is 193cm and Crouch is 201cm. Such an obvious height advantage, wouldn’t it be a pity not to make good use of it?

  Chen Ran's idea is very simple, try to directly smash Lazio with a header.

   striker Tony, striker Crouch

   Left midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo, center midfielder Modric, center midfielder Simeone, right midfielder Ribery

  Left-back Chiellini, centre-back Gareth Southgate, centre-back Vidic, right-back Maicon

   Goalkeeper Cech

   Lazio's current head coach is Delio Rossi, who has never left Italy either as a player or as a coach.

   But Crystal Palace's 11-game winning streak in the Premier League started, he still heard.

   In order to prepare for this game, Delio Rossi also specially looked for the game video of Crystal Palace to study carefully.

   Then, he discovered that with Lazio's current strength, it would be very difficult to compete with Crystal Palace.

   However, Delio Rossi did not retreat to defend, but he still gave Lazio the usual 442 formation.

   Forward Di Canio, forward Inzaghi Jr.

   Left midfielder Cesar, center midfielder Gianni Keda, center midfielder Liverani, right midfielder Zauli

   Left-back Seric, center-back Cotto, center-back Negro, right-back Otto

   Goalkeeper Peruzzi

   Selhurst Park was overcrowded again on the day of the game.

   Even fans who did not buy tickets ran outside the stadium to cheer.

   Once upon a time, when did Crystal Palace have the opportunity to play against these famous European clubs?

   Even for a declining giant like Lazio, it was the first time that Crystal Palace fans had the opportunity to have such a close encounter.

   And the warm atmosphere of Selhurst Park also surprised Lazio players.

   Frankly speaking, as Lazio players who play in Rome's Olympic Stadium, which can accommodate more than 82,000 people, they are very disdainful of Selhurst Park, which can only accommodate more than 26,000 people.

   However, the full attendance and the unstoppable singing on and off the pitch have made the Lazio players who have been turbulent in recent years envious.

   With the referee's whistle, the match between Crystal Palace and Lazio officially started.

   Lazio's two flanks, whether left-back Seric or right-back Oddo, faced Ribery and Ronaldo, and were quickly suppressed to death.

  According to Chen Ran's request, one ball after another was sent into Lazio's penalty area from two flanks.

   Once the ball was passed into the penalty area, the height advantages of Tony and Crouch were immediately revealed.

   Neither Negro nor Cotto can handle these two tall men, especially Tony. The two of them can only rely on their rich defensive experience and use some small moves and tricks to barely support.

The goal guarded by    Peruzzi was suddenly bombarded.

   This time, not only the Lazio players on the field, but also the coach Delio Rossi who was standing on the sidelines was surprised.

   Is this Crystal Palace's tactics so simple and rude?

   As expected of the England team.

   Delio Rossi on the sidelines also knew that the situation was not good, and adjustments were needed at this time.

  However, he now has no other players he can handle.

   Stam, the mainstay of the team's defense, also went to AC Milan this summer.

   Negro and Cotto on the field are already the best defenders in Delio Rossi's hands. The strengths of the others were too different from theirs, and Delio Rossi was afraid that it would be a bad thing to replace them.

  Crystal Palace's bench, Chen Ran watched the game and glanced at Lazio's bench from time to time.

   However, Lazio's head coach, Delio Rossi, has remained silent.

what happened?

   Could it be that Crystal Palace's offensive wasn't ferocious enough?

   Looking back, Chen Ran saw the group of substitute players sitting on the Lazio bench.

   Except for Pandev, Rocky and Manfredini who are a bit famous among the offensive players, the others are unknown.

   took another look at Delio Rossi, Chen Ran now probably understands why he didn't make any adjustments.

   This Delio Rossi, he really has no one in his hands.

   After discovering this secret, Chen Ran can be regarded as emboldened.

   This also strengthened his confidence in continuing to adopt the twin-tower tactic. After all, there are more than just Tony and Crouch in Crystal Palace.

   Throughout the first half, the two teams that used the same 442 formation played completely different styles of football.

   If Lazio is still infiltrated in the middle, and the side and the middle are combined, then Crystal Palace is a typical British style of play, one long pass after another hoisted into Lazio's penalty area from the side.

   At the 43rd minute of the game, Lazio's players were a little tired after the intense offensive and defensive confrontation in the first half.

   When Ribery on the right passed the ball into the penalty area again, Lazio's right back Odo was a little distracted and was grabbed by Ronaldo from behind.

"boom!"

   A heavy tomahawk header, Cristiano Ronaldo smashed the ball into the Lazio goal guarded by Peruzzi.

   "Goal"

  Chen Ran's header tactics finally paid off, and Crystal Palace led Lazio 1-0.

   Seeing the scene where the Crystal Palace players hugged and celebrated, Delio Rossi shook his head, turned and walked towards the player tunnel.

   At the same time, the referee also blew the whistle for the end of the first half of the game.

   During the intermission, Chen Ran didn't make any adjustments except to fight chicken blood.

   On the Lazio side, Delio Rossi replaced the 36-year-old veteran Di Canio with the 21-year-old Pandev, and then replaced Inzaghi with Rocky.

  Other people may not know Pandev and Rocky at this time, but Chen Ran is very clear that these are two very powerful players, and they are still two football evergreens.

   Maybe the strength of the two of them cannot be compared with those of the top superstars, but their fighting spirit and hard work can make up for them a lot of deficiencies, which is what many coaches like.

   In the first half, Di Canio was old and didn't run much. And little Inzaghi's talent as a player is obviously not as good as a coach.

   So the entire first half of Crystal Palace's defense was not really tested.

   And as soon as Pandev and Rocky came on, Southgate and Vidic immediately felt the difference.

  These two guys are running around like two small steel cannons, running at all costs, trying their best to fight for every ball.

   Lazio's attack came alive immediately.

   (end of this chapter)