Chapter 174: Different types, different paths

"In the first half, we played perfectly, and we will continue to do this in the second half!"

Keegan said enthusiastically in the locker room: "With enough protection at the front of the penalty area, we will not lose the ball... As long as they do not make a breakthrough on the two wings, there will be no threat to our goal! Henry's breakthrough on the wing is good, but Anelka does not play any role in the penalty area. They want to cross the wings and do whatever they want. Just be careful not to let them cut in. At the front of the penalty area, be careful of their long shots and direct passes. Stephen, stare at Zidane, David and Paul will assist you on the wings."

Gerald nodded. He started in both games and performed well, and had completely occupied Ince's position. The successful defense against Zidane in the first half also allowed Gerald, who was only 20 years old, to gain endless confidence!

"As for the offense, I'll leave it to Tiger and others! If you have the chance, I'll pass it directly. If you don't have the chance, I'll pass it directly. Alan, the first point of competition is left to you. Michael, your speed is the best way to restrain the French team's defense. Isn't the French team's defense stable? When they press the assists, I see if their defense is so stable!"

Tiger nodded and said he knew. Although doing so may reduce the number of times Tiger receives the ball, Tiger believed that he could still create many scoring opportunities as long as he had a few opportunities. However, he had a little doubt - will Zidane really have no way to deal with this kind of defense?

Looking at the first half, Zidane's performance was not good, he didn't get so many balls, and he had almost no successful breakthroughs. Will such a famous midfielder have only such a little ability? At least Tiger feels that if he was in Zidane's position, he wouldn't have been mediocre in the whole first half. Although Zidane has different characteristics from him, he will definitely not be like that in the whole first half - he made many pass mistakes, which also affected the French team's overall offense.

Keegan has not considered this, but even the best player may be at a loss in the face of excellent defense - this is how Ronaldo was in the 1998 World Cup final. England's retraction in the first half guaranteed the number of players in the backcourt and compressed the French team's offensive space. It seems to be a matter of course to achieve such results.

However, he added: "If Djokav comes on the court, then you should also pay attention to this person. Although he is not young, he can cooperate with Zidane in the midfield perfectly. He may be the core of the second offense. Everyone should pay attention to this. If he comes on the court, David, you and Gary go to defend him, and he is used to acting on the left."

Beckham and Gary Neville nodded, and after thinking about it carefully, Keegan felt that there was nothing missing, so he waved: "Okay, everyone have a good rest. I hope that in forty-five minutes, we can celebrate the victory together!"

In the French team's locker room, Le Maire did not rush to arrange tactics, but asked Zidane: "Zidan, how are you in your condition?"

After taking a sip of water, Zidane said calmly: "No problem."

A simple sentence immediately made Lemayer feel relieved - Zidane is not a targetless person. Since he said it was okay, he didn't need to worry.

"We will attack in the second half." Lemayer first said nonsense, and then began to make specific arrangements: "In the second half, we still focused more on Zidan's feet, and he would organize the attack. Thierry, you have more activities on the wing in the first half, so you can do this first. When their attention is all focused on your breakthrough on the wing, boldly return to the middle to receive Zidan's pass. Nicholas, don't always be in the penalty area. The effect of rushing from the outside to the inside will be better. Patrick, you can also move the position forward appropriately and put pressure on their midfield to reduce the burden on Zidan."

"What should I do with their Tiger?" Vieira asked a question. Tiger did not perform badly in the first half when facing him, which made the midfielder a little dissatisfied.

"If England continues to use the tactic of shrinking defense, then their offense will not be problematic..." Lemayer smiled slightly: "Marcel and Laurent will deal with it. As for the passing on the ground, Lilian and Didier will deal with it... Lilian, your position in the second half is mentioned in the midfield. Anyway, their left offense has no threat, and there is not enough number of people to threaten you. You go to the midfield and join Didier to cut off the ground pass to Tiger. Lilian, you are following Tiger, and Didier will be responsible for making up for it. As long as Tiger cannot get the ball at his feet, then they will not have any threat!"

Lemayer saw it very accurately. A player like Tiger can have a threat if he has a ball under his feet. If England attacks a lot, no matter how good the defense is, he will not be able to get the ball, because he is not a player who is stupid enough to stand in front and wait for the pass. However, in this case, when the distance between Tiger and his midfield teammates is relatively long, as long as they cut off the connection between them and Tiger, Tiger's threat can almost be ignored!

Turam's reaction and speed are also top-notch! With him entangled Tiger, it is almost impossible for Tiger to get the ball comfortably, not to mention Deschamps' interception in front! These two people can cut off the connection between Tiger and his teammates. As for the high-altitude ball, Deselli and Blanco's height advantages are obvious. Blanco is experienced and Deselli has not yet begun to decline. With these two people, England's long passes in the backcourt can almost be cut off by them. No matter how outstanding Hiller's jumping power is and Irving's speed is, it is impossible to get any chance under the defense of both of them!

To put it bluntly, England's flaws were too big - the players in their frontcourt all needed enough support to perform well. No matter how good Tiger's personal skills were, his explosive breakthrough could only be used in short distances. After all, his 100-meter-long meter was only twelve seconds. Although Hiller was a standard center, he was not a coolie center. He needed the support of shells from both wings to play his scoring ability. Irving was relatively thin, and France's backcourt was not lacking in defenders with excellent speed and strength. As long as someone entangled him, it would be difficult for him to easily get a one-on-one opportunity.

In terms of midfield, England cannot compare with France. The conservative tactics adopted by Keegan after taking the lead can only make England beaten by France, and automatically give up the initiative of the midfield!

Keegan's idea is theoretically correct, avoiding the most powerful midfielder in France and wanting to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses through counterattacks, but in actual games, there will be huge flaws!

Le Mail's headache now is how to break through England's defense. After all, England's lineup is quite good at defending. One of the two central defenders is experienced and the other is extremely physically excellent. He can pass the ball from the ground to the space. Among the Neville brothers on both wings, Gary Neville's defense is extremely stable. Although Philip Neville seems a little frizzy, the French team's attack on the right is average. Gerald is young, has good physical fitness, has fierce pressing, and has a good sense of defense. With the retreat defense of Beckham and Scholes, it is really not easy to score in this defensive lineup.

But since Zidane said he was fine, there would be no problem - this is why Le Mail asked Zidane first.

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The second half begins.

England, which was the first to kick off, completed an attack, but what England fans did not expect was that this was one of England's few threatening attacks throughout the second half.

After Tiger passed the ball back, England's midfielders rushed through the half. Tiger took the ball in the middle, attracted enough defensive power and then divided the side. Beckham passed a cross with excellent landing points from the right. Hiller grabbed the first point between the two central defenders and headed the ball slightly above the crossbar.

This attack made England fans cheer while sighing. It was just a little short. It seems that if we continue to play, England may expand its score advantage at any time...

The English players are basically thinking this way, but the next attack by France has changed many of them.

The first thing I felt was that "it's different from the first half!" Gerald. After Zidane got the ball, he immediately pushed up. Zidane couldn't even hold the ball under his press in the first half. After he forced it up this time, Zidane still easily held the ball on the spot. Gerald's two consecutive steals were flashed by him as if he was strolling around!

Tiger, who was watching Zidane's movements near the midfield, also frowned. His ability to control the ball on the spot was already top-notch. However, Zidane's few ball controls made him feel something different.

His ball control is often prepared for breakthroughs, while Zidane's ball control is prepared for passing...

After Gerald failed to steal again, Zidane, who was originally half-turning to the goal, turned halfway and passed the ball. At the same time, Anelka just pulled out of the penalty area and successfully received Zidane's pass, and then shot a long shot at the front of the penalty area!

Without anyone interfering, Anelka's long shot was quite high. Himan barely blocked the ball and Henry rushed forward to prepare for a supplementary shot. Fortunately, Campbell got the ball in front of him and drove the ball out of the sideline.

"This guy seems a little different..." Gerald wiped his sweat and thought to himself.

Lizarazu ran up and threw the ball into the court. Vieira, who was in the forward, got the ball, then turned around, protected the ball under Beckham's press, and then passed the ball across to Zidane.

Zidane received the ball before running, and Gerald chased after it from behind. However, Zidane just made a fake move to catch the ball, but let the ball roll over directly. Then he quickly ran back and caught off guard. Gerald rushed over and took two steps. Zidane stopped the ball and then passed the penalty area!

Henry rushed out of the crowd. Fortunately, Ximan attacked in time and hit the ball with both fists. Scholes, who retreated to the middle, got the ball. Seeing that Tiger had started running, he immediately passed the ball directly to Tiger.

Tiger received the ball before running, but Toram ran equally with him, then fell to the ground and tackled the ball in advance, and shoveled it out before Tiger got the ball.

Tiger staggered for a moment, watched the ball be obtained by Deschamps in front, and then started to organize the attack again.

"Have they replaced me to defend me?" Tiger thought to himself. Although Vieira did not stare at him, the guy who was replaced this time seemed to be more troublesome - Toulam, who frozen Ronaldo's defender in the World Cup! Although Ronaldo's condition seemed not very good at that time...

If such a defender follows him without moving, it will be a bit troublesome to catch the ball - he may be able to speed up and run, but judging from the confrontation just now, the opponent's speed seems to be no worse than him, and black people rarely have bad physical fitness. If you continue to run like this, your physical fitness may collapse first.

Just as Tiger was still pondering, the French team had already launched an attack again. Zidane's two passes just now had brought great vigilance to England's defense. When he received the ball again, in addition to Gerald's pushing it up immediately, Scholes also immediately attacked him.

Seeing Scholes coming too, Zidane burst into laughter.

He was going to attract Scholes to do this. After Henry came to the middle, he faced the place where Scholes was guarding. Now Scholes has come, so as long as Henry gets rid of Philip Neville, he will be unattended for the time being...

A beautiful Marseille swing, Zidane dodged Scholes' pressing, and at the same time he observed that Henry had quietly come from the wing to the left side of the penalty area, while Philip Neville was still defending on the left...

With the toes on his toes, Zidane immediately passed the ball to Henry's feet!

Henry got the ball at the front of the penalty area and was unattended!

Adams, who realized the danger, rushed out of the penalty area. He knew how outstanding this Arsenal teammate was. However, Adams, who rushed out, made a mistake, that is, he was definitely not as good as Henry in terms of speed and agility. To defend Henry, he could only block him in front of him without moving, rather than pounce rashly!

Henry almost got rid of it like a horizontal sliding position, and then dodged Adams who was rushing towards him. Adams turned around and was about to continue to pounce on Henry, but Henry had already swung his left foot and shot directly at the front of the penalty area!

Adams's extended foot failed to block Henry's shot!

Campbell, who was rushing over in the penalty area, could not block Henry's shot!

The ball flew over from the two central defenders. Heman, who had performed well before, might have been blocked by two tall central defenders, but he was unable to react immediately. He did not make a save until the ball flew over the two central defenders!

So the consequence was that the ball flew past his hand and then flew directly into the lower right corner of the goal!

"gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Zidane passed the ball, Henry scored! France equalized the score in the eighth minute after the start of the second half! Sure enough, Zidane was the barometer of the French team. His condition seemed to be bad in the first half, and the whole French team also performed mediocrely. After the start of the second half, his condition was obviously much better, and he immediately assisted Henry to score the third goal in this European Championship! This cooperation is really beautiful, and it completely grasped the weakness on the England defense line!"

Keegan took a photo of the lawn, but nothing to say.

The England defenders did not make any mistakes in this goal. They didn't even let the opponent break into the penalty area, but the French team still scored, so what else can they do...

Zidane's flash brought a goal, why don't I have such a player...

Keegan, who was comforting himself, completely forgot that he actually had an excellent attacker under his command. This attacker had scored six goals in the European Championships, and one goal was also recorded in this game...

Tiger sighed, his bad premonition was indeed true - Zidane was not in good shape in the first half, and now, his condition is back!

Through one explosion and a personal breakthrough, Zidane helped his teammates create three opportunities through several organizational and passes, and then seized it once - he is indeed not the same type of player as himself, but perhaps he is better.

The direct threat to the opponent's goal is greater, while Zidane can control the entire team - perhaps French players have better skills and cooperation skills than English players, but Zidane's top level of organization and scheduling is also one of the reasons why they trust Zidane very much, and what about himself?

Through one key goal after another, I established my position in the national team, but do I have the chance to obtain such a position as Zidane? After all, the technical content of English football has always been inferior to French football...

In terms of personal breakthrough ability and scoring ability, I have almost reached the limit that an attacking midfielder or shadow striker can achieve. However, in terms of organization and dispatch, I seem to have embarked on a somewhat biased path - I really acted as the organizational midfielder to dispatch the entire team, and I seem to have only done it at Preston. Then, whether at Manchester United, Valencia or the English national team, I have been arranged to be in a higher position for various reasons, and used more goals to show my strength - at Manchester United, to play as the main player, at Valencia, to prove his worth, and to establish his own status in the national team, but as an attacking midfielder, I seem to have overlooked it.

I have said before that he is more interested in assists than shooting, but is this really the case over the past year? I was once fascinated by the control rhythm and display skills in the midfield, but what about me now? I am used to using more effective methods to score goals! Unconsciously, Tiger has deviated from his original path and embarked on another different path!

Since I have already embarked on this path, I will continue to walk on it. In this game, I want to see if I am inferior to Zidane, and if I am taking the wrong path!
Chapter completed!