Chapter 703: Small Changes, Big Effects (Second Perspective)
On the last day of November, Werder Bremen headed to Borussia Park to challenge Borussia M?nchengladbach.
This team's dominance in the Bundesliga dates back much earlier than Bayern Munich. In the 1970s, they became the first team to win the league title consecutively and achieved the feat of winning three consecutive titles.
Even now, the club still retains the pride of champions within, especially when facing the newcomers Bayern, they often unleash a strength surpassing themselves, as if telling Bayern, "You are just nouveau riche!"
Facing Werder Bremen, the home team players also showed tenacious fighting spirit. Although they were slightly inferior in strength, they managed to hold onto their goal despite being completely controlled by the away team.
At this time, the results of Huang Hu's recent intensive training began to show. Not only did head coach Schaaf often give him guidance, but during leisure time, players like De Bruyne and Haylovi? also spared no effort to accompany him in mutual growth.
When Werder Bremen advanced to the frontcourt, Fritz sent a through ball to De Bruyne, who, under tight defense, stopped the ball and carried it to the right, then passed it to Haylovi? nearby.
With no immediate opportunity to advance, Haylovi? passed back to Fritz. The German feigned a dribble inward but actually flicked the ball with his right foot towards the sideline, then, after adjusting his angle, passed it directly to Harlovic.
Between the back-and-forth passes, the Bosnian winger found himself in a vacant position due to the defensive shift, but at this moment, including Huang Hu, the other five attacking players were all within the opponent's coverage.
After receiving the ball, Haylovi? immediately pushed towards the penalty area. At the same time, Huang Hu, who was in the right wing area, did not advance as usual to prepare for a goal-scoring opportunity but started to retreat, forming a crossing run with the Bosnian winger.
This seemingly simple change played a crucial role. M?nchengladbach defender Stranzel, who was closely marking the Chinese youngster, noticed him retreating from the danger zone. If he continued to closely mark Huang Hu, it would inevitably leave space for Haylovi?'s forward movement.
Given the choice between two evils, Stranzel made a quick decision to abandon marking Huang Hu and instead moved to block Haylovi?'s path.
In order to stop the Bosnian winger's breakthrough, Haan also rushed towards him at full speed. As a result, Haylovi? made a long pass forward, using his speed to bypass Haan and directly confront Stranzel.
Suddenly, Selke in the middle started a diagonal run behind Stranzel, instantly alerting the M?nchengladbach defense. Toni Jantschke closely followed him, which could be seen as both stopping him and allowing Selke to draw away the defender.
Seizing this opportunity, Huang Hu, who was in a deeper position, keenly ran towards the top of the arc. Haylovi? timely passed to him, and with no one marking him, the Chinese youngster pushed the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.
The away team finally broke the deadlock and took the lead!
Even Huang Hu himself didn't expect to be able to shoot so easily in this situation. A simple retreat and advance, surprisingly tearing open the opponent's dense defense without the need for strenuous efforts to fight for a goal-scoring opportunity.
Perhaps there were many other key details involved, such as Haylovi?'s acceleration to get rid of his marker, Selke's sudden diagonal run to take away the defender. But overall, the Chinese youngster's crossing run played an important role.
"To gain, one must first give." Sometimes, taking a step back doesn't mean giving up, but rather sounding a stronger offensive horn.
For some reason, a proverb Huang Hu once learned suddenly popped into his mind. During his time at the Genk Youth Academy, there was a teacher specially teaching children Chinese. He found it boring at the time, but now it seemed enlightening.
"It seems that I can study military strategy in my spare time. Maybe it will give me new insights and understanding on the football field."
This goal was the only goal of the match, and Werder Bremen also secured three points with it.
In the subsequent match against Hannover 96, Huang Hu still adhered to his flexible running strategy. Although he did not score this time, he successfully helped Selke create space and assisted him in scoring, helping the team win 3-1.
However, there were also mistakes sometimes, either running to awkward positions or having difficulty connecting with teammates.
These were all trivial matters. The Chinese youngster firmly believed that through continuous practice and intense competition, he would surely comprehend the essence of better positioning.
In the final match of the Europa League group stage, head coach Schaaf sent out a rotated lineup to play. With the team already advancing and leading, allowing the main players to rest was a wise move.
In the end, they lost 0-1 to Besiktas, but Huang Hu got a chance to play in the second half. However, he failed to turn the tide again.
As a result, Besiktas edged out Werder Bremen by just one point to take the top spot in the group.
On the other hand, the group stage of the Champions League has also concluded, and the eight third-placed teams have confirmed their spots in the Europa League.
After the draw, Werder Bremen's opponent in the round of 32 knockout stage is Fiorentina from Serie A. They are also Europa League participants, topping their group ahead of Guingamp, PAOK, and Dinamo Minsk.
This opponent is not too difficult to deal with, after all, the era of the "Seven Sisters of Serie A" is long gone, and Fiorentina is no longer as formidable as they used to be.
It is worth mentioning that in the round of 16 draw for the Champions League, La Liga once again occupies three spots, with Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid.
The Bundesliga has performed exceptionally well, with both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund topping their groups, while Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke 04 also advanced as runners-up.
Premier League teams Arsenal, Manchester City, and Chelsea have all advanced, with Juventus barely making it as the last team from Serie A. Ligue 1 has Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco.
In addition to clubs from the top five leagues, there are also Basel from the Swiss Super League, Porto from the Portuguese Primeira Liga, and Shakhtar Donetsk from the Ukrainian Premier League entering the round of 16.
In the knockout stage of the Champions League, Real Madrid will once again meet Schalke 04. The general consensus is that they can easily defeat their opponents and enter the quarterfinals without any suspense.
This is because they have maintained a winning streak since the first round of La Liga, and no opponent can stop Real Madrid's dominance, including Atletico Madrid, who caused them a lot of trouble last season, and the newly formed Barcelona under a new coach.
With 15 league matches, 6 Champions League group stage matches, and 1 Copa del Rey match, Real Madrid's winning streak has been extended to 22 games, second only to Ajax's record of 26 consecutive wins in the 1971-1972 season.
And the undisputed hero behind Real Madrid's impressive record is the Chinese superstar Wang Feng. So far, he has scored 29 league goals, 11 Champions League goals, and 3 cup goals, showing a trend of once again scoring over 100 goals in a season.
It's hard to imagine that he is a 31-year-old veteran!
It is widely speculated that Muller's interference in his continuous winning of the European Best Player awards has made Wang Feng very angry. Therefore, he wants to prove to the world with his performance that he is still the best player in the world.
And with the FIFA awards ceremony approaching, the Chinese superstar also wants to campaign for the Ballon d'Or.
Unfortunately, the voting process for this year has not been extended. When the deadline came in early November, FIFA immediately announced the closure of the voting channel, as if afraid that everyone would change their minds.
Coupled with Bayern Munich's unprecedented support for Muller, from the head coach to the players, they spared no effort to provide him with opportunities to perform on the field, so it is still uncertain who will be elected in the end.
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