Football Feast, Starting From the Acquisition of European Clubs

   Chapter 305 Preparations

   It's not that Chen Ran didn't think about using Chiellini and Thiago Silva as a center back, but considering that it is only the beginning of the season, there is still a more brutal schedule waiting for Crystal Palace.

As the only full-time center back substitute in the team, Pepe will not only be a waste of time if he doesn't use it, but also if someone gets injured at the center back and is forced to use the unprepared Pepe, I'm afraid it's more likely to make mistakes. .

   In fact, there is no problem with Pepe's personal ability, but sometimes it is easy to short-circuit the brain and make some unbelievable actions.

  So, Chen Ran borrowed the way Real Madrid dealt with Pepe in his previous life, and hired a psychologist specially for him.

   Judging from his performance after he played last season, the effect is not bad, at least the number of short-circuits in the brain has been greatly reduced.

   Therefore, in the last Premier League match against Fulham, Chen Ran used Pepe and Thiago Silva to partner with the central defender in advance.

   Pepe was in charge of taking the initiative to attack and destroy, while Thiago Silva was in charge of dragging and defending. The performance of this pair was very good, which also gave Chen Ran the confidence to continue to use this pair.

   For the orders issued by Chen Ran, Ronaldo still faithfully implemented them.

  Although Cristiano Ronaldo does not like the task of defense, once he does, with his super personal ability, Schalke 04 right back Rafinha immediately feels great pressure.

  Cristiano Ronaldo crushed Rafinha in all directions, both technically and physically. Even in the competition speed, Cristiano Ronaldo is not at all disadvantaged.

   As soon as Rafinha crossed the center line, he felt like a piece of tape was stuck on his body, and he couldn't shake it off.

   Not to mention breaking through with the ball, under the interference of Ronaldo, Rafinha is now very difficult to connect the ball.

   And Cristiano Ronaldo immediately turned around and launched a counterattack after stealing the ball from Rafinha's feet.

   As Rafinha pressed for an assist and left a large space behind him, the entire Schalke 04 defense on the right side was useless, which gave Ronaldo a great opportunity to take advantage of his speed.

   Seeing Ronaldo dashing all the way with the ball, Rafinha behind him tried his best but still couldn't close the distance.

  Schalke 04's central defender Bolden had to leave the task of defending Jan Kohler to his partner Korstakic, and ran to the right to make up for the defense.

  Bolden is 189CM tall, with excellent headers and strong frontal defense ability, but it is really difficult for him to intercept Cristiano Ronaldo.

   Facing Bolden who was rushing towards him, C Ronaldo directly played a good heel knocking the ball. While switching the ball to the inside, it also caused Bolden to fall a somersault.

After    successfully cut inside, Ronaldo dashed the ball directly into the penalty area of ​​Schalke 04.

   At this time, Schalke 04's central midfielder Kobyashvili rushed back from the midfield in time, blocking Cristiano Ronaldo and his own goalkeeper Neuer.

Seeing someone from Schalke 04 return to the defense in time, Ronaldo did not choose to continue to break forward. Instead, he flicked the ball to the right, and after passing Kobyashvili, he started to dribble the ball horizontally in the penalty area of ​​Schalke 04. Be prepared to look for opportunities to open doors.

   Schalke 04's defender is not a fool, and soon discovered Ronaldo's intentions.

   Another central defender, Korstakic, who was marking Jan Kohler, wanted to come up to intercept Cristiano Ronaldo’s moving line, but was blocked by Jan Kohler with a cross.

   With his huge body, Jan Kohler forcibly played a pick-and-roll tactic for Ronaldo in the penalty area of ​​Schalke 04.

   Seeing that his teammates created such a good opportunity for himself, of course Ronaldo couldn't just let it go.

   turned the ball to the right again, after bypassing Jan Kohler and Korstakic, Ronaldo's eyes suddenly opened up, and he saw Schalke 04 goalkeeper Neuer directly.

   Just when Cristiano Ronaldo was about to kick to the goal, Schalke 04 left back Westermann rushed over in time to make up the defense, and blocked it again between Cristiano Ronaldo and Neuer.

   In desperation, Ronaldo had to cancel the plan to hit the goal and dribble the ball to the right again.

   And although Westerman is a left back, his height has reached 190CM.

   After Cristiano Ronaldo dribbled the ball around Westerman's huge body again, the angle left for him to shoot was already very small.

   At this time, Schalke 04's goalkeeper Neuer has long been ready for battle. Ronaldo knew that even if he forced the goal now, it was estimated that it would be difficult to break the opponent's goal.

  So, he simply pushed the ball to the right and passed it to the right midfielder Ribery.

   Just now, Schalke 04's left-back Westermann had already tucked into his own penalty area in order to prevent Ronaldo's shot. Now Schalke 04's left side is a lot of space.

After   Ribery received the ball, he slanted directly into the penalty area of ​​Schalke 04 from the rib.

   Westerman wanted to intercept Ribery's breakthrough in the past, but was stopped by Cristiano Ronaldo, who had just passed the ball, learning Jan Kohler's pick-and-roll tactics.

   After seeing that no one was blocking, Ribery charged straight towards goalkeeper Neuer with the ball.

   found that the situation was not good, and the central defender Korstakić, who was in charge of marking Jan Kohler, had to leave Jan Kohler and rushed over to intercept Ribery.

  Ribery raised his right foot and made a move to hit the door.

   was so frightened that Korstakic hurried a sliding shovel, blocking the hole in front of Ribery.

   But Ribery played a fake shot, and with a flick of his right ankle, he directly passed an inverted triangle.

The tactical literacy of Schalke 04 players is indeed very high, because Korstakic intercepted Ribery and left Jan Kohler in an unmarked state. Both Kobyashvili and Bolden rushed to Jan Kohler's. Want to defend around.

   This time, the overlapping positions of the two made Modric, who had just rushed to the front of the penalty area of ​​Schalke 04, no one to take care of him.

   At this time, Ribery's inverted triangle pass just came over.

   Of course Modric, who is very confident in his long-range shooting skills, will not be polite, there is no pause, and the ball is a volley.

"boom!"

  The ball flew straight to the upper right corner of the Schalke 04 goal like a shell out of the chamber.

   At this time, Neuer, who had moved to the left post of his own goal in response to Ribery's kick just now, was rushing back desperately.

   Seeing Modric's shot, Neuer couldn't care that his position was not yet in place. Immediately jumped up and rushed towards the upper right corner of his own goal.

  Although Neuer had tried his best, he took off a little to the left, and in the end he could only watch the ball fly into Schalke 04's net in front of him.

   "GOAL!"

   With Modric's volley, Crystal Palace led Schalke 04 1-0 at home.

   "Haha, boss, I didn't expect Ronaldo to mark Rafinha to have such an effect. Your adjustment really kills two birds with one stone."

   Seeing that Chen Ran has just made adjustments, Crystal Palace scored a goal quickly on the field, whether it is Guardiola, Southgate and Simeone, all of them are amazed.

   The skill of this on-the-spot commander, you can't accept it.

   This goal was launched after Cristiano Ronaldo stole the ball while defending Rafinha’s assist. Seeing the miraculous effect of his adjustment, Chen Ran was also secretly proud.

   On the Schalke 04 side, the head coach Mirko Slomka was obviously not willing to return to Germany with the result of the loss.

   Under his loud cries, Schalke 04 players launched a more violent offensive.

  Crystal Palace, for Chen Ran, the team is in a difficult period now, it doesn't matter if the game is good or not, as long as it can win.

   After seeing Schalke 04 step up the offensive, he called Guardiola to his side.

   "Josep, you go to inform the players on the field, and then shrink the formation to play a defensive counterattack. Then tell Cesc Fabregas and Modric to pass the ball to Ribery on the right."

   "Schalke 04's left midfielder Pandel is 185cm tall and left back Westerman is 190cm, allowing Ribery and Maicon to take advantage of their speed to attack the opponent's weakness. Do you understand?"

   "Okay, boss."

   After limiting the offense of Schalke 04 Asamoah and Rafinha and stabilizing the defense of Crystal Palace on the left, Chen Ran decided to come to a "way of the other side, and the other side of the body".

  Since Schalke 04 chose to attack Chiellini, he would attack the opponent's Westerman side.

   Chiellini has a tall, fast and wonderful Cristiano Ronaldo to help. Chen Ran would like to see if Westerman can stop the alternating attacks of Ribery and Maicon.

   As soon as Chen Ran adjusted the focus of the attack, Schalke 04 immediately felt the pressure.

Neither Pender nor Westerman is a player who is good at speed. Ribery and Maicon sprinted back and forth with two small steel cannons. After a few rounds, Schalke 04 was destroyed. The two players on the left were breathless with exhaustion.

   Seeing that his adjustment took effect again, Chen Ran returned to the bench with great satisfaction and sat down.

   Now, let's see how Schalke 04 coach Mirko Slomka responds.

   At this time, Mirko Slomka also saw the dilemma of his left lane. But after turning around and taking a look at his bench, he was completely lost.

  Because, among the backline players of Schalke 04, only Rafinha is a small man who is known for his speed, and all the others are tall men with a height of about 1.9 meters.

   There was no suitable candidate for the back line, so Mirko Slomka had to turn his attention to the midfielder.

   Picking and choosing, Mirko Slomka finally selected the Croatian midfielder Rakitic who was just introduced in the summer transfer period.

  Although Rakitic is only 19 years old now, his all-round performance in midfield makes Mirko Slomka think that this kid will definitely become a star in the future.

  After weighing it carefully, Mirko Slomka decided to take a gamble, maybe this little Croatian guy will surprise him.

So, after a simple warm-up, Schalke 04 replaced Ernst with Rakitic as the center midfielder on the left. Mirko Slomka obviously wanted to use Rakitic to strengthen Defense on the left.

After Rakitic played, it really worked. Although he was only 19 years old, his technical ability was far from reaching the peak level, but as a rookie, Rakitic, who cherished every opportunity to play, immediately ran with all his strength, which greatly relieved him. Defensive pressure on Westerman and Pender's side.

   On the sidelines, Chen Ran, who saw this scene, shook his head speechlessly. This Schalke 04 is really talented.

  In this way, after Crystal Palace limited Schalke 04's right-sided offensive, Schalke 04 also stabilized its left-sided defense. The situation on the field has returned to equilibrium.

   However, Chen Ran said that he is not in a hurry, only Crystal Palace can continue to maintain the lead, and he has no problem with this balanced situation until the end of the game.

   Until the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, the score on the field was still 1-0 ahead of Schalke 04 by Crystal Palace.

   During the intermission, in the Crystal Palace locker room, looking at the drenched players, Chen Ran gave everyone some ancestral blood as usual.

   Then, he turned to look at Jan Kohler, who was wiping sweat.

   "Yang, how about you take a break in the second half of the game? The day after tomorrow is the Premier League against Everton, and the team will have to rely on you to score goals."

   "Haha, boss, I'm fine."

   Seeing that the boss values ​​him so highly, Jan Kohler smiled and nodded in response.

   "Frank, you also come down for a rest in the second half of the game, and save some energy to prepare for the next day's game."

   After comforting Jan Kohler, Chen Ran turned to look at Ribery, who had only a pair of underwear off and was changing into a clean jersey.

   "Huh? Oh, okay, I'm fine too."

  Although it is a thorn, in front of the boss Chen Ran, Ribery is still relatively honest.

After    got Ribery, Chen Ran walked to Messi.

   "Leo, your task after going up in the second half of the game is the same as Frank's first half, which is to stare at Schalke 04's left-back Westerman. Understand?"

   "Okay, boss, I see."

  Messi, who just joined Crystal Palace in the summer, has not yet fully integrated into the team. Hearing Chen Ran call his name, a shy smile appeared on his face.

   "Edin!"

   "Boss, here I am."

   Hearing Chen Ran calling out his name, Dzeko immediately stood up from the corner excitedly.

   Just now when Chen Ran informed Jan Kohler that the second half of the game was resting, the two backup strikers, Dzeko and Cavani, knew that they had an opportunity to play.

   After all, this is the Champions League game, which is still very attractive for young players like them.

   "You are too tall, sit down and talk."

  Chen Ran made a downward gesture, which instantly made the locker room burst into laughter.

   "You'll replace Yang as center after you go up in the second half, understand?"

   "Understood, boss."

Just when Chen Ran was busy deploying troops, at Schalke 04, after seeing that he was replaced by Rakitic in the first half of the game, the effect was good, the head coach Mirko Slomka Very satisfied with the current lineup.

   In addition to reminding the players to strengthen the left-sided defense of Ribery, no substitution adjustments were made.

   The fifteen-minute half-time interval passed quickly, and the second half of the game was about to start again.

   (end of this chapter)