Legend of Fengshen

Chapter 142 Unfavorable Start
After a big win over Cottbus in the last round, Schalke 04 currently has 51 points, still 2 points behind Werder Bremen in third place, followed by Hamburg, Stuttgart, Leverkusen and Schalke 04. The score difference is 4 points, and there are 5 rounds left in the league. These teams are fighting hard for a place in the Champions League, while Wolfsburg behind them is basically ruled out. Ke 04 is 8 points behind, and it is basically impossible to catch up in the next 5 rounds.

Therefore, after the last game, many German media complained for Slomka, thinking that if he survived the game against Cottbus, he might not be dismissed from get out of class. Alas, all this is fate. Losing to Werder is not good. Mei is so ugly.

Schalke 04's next opponent is Hamburg. Hamburg is a team with a long history. It has won the Bundesliga championship three times in history, and they are the only team that has never been relegated in the Bundesliga. One is the famous Bayern Munich.

The strength of the team this season is quite good. The attacking core of the team, Van der Vaart, has performed better than in the previous two seasons. He has scored 10 goals in the league. As a midfielder, this is a pretty good answer.

汉堡队的主帅荷兰人胡布.斯蒂文斯跟沙尔克04颇有渊源，此前他曾经于1996年到2002年在沙尔克04担任主教练，是队史上执教时间最长的主教练，而他也带来沙尔克04获得过德国杯的冠军，2004年还被沙尔克04球迷评选为沙尔克04百年最佳教练。

Although 6 years have passed, he is still very familiar with Schalke 04's tactics.

The previous match against Cottbus was a small test for the two new coaches of Schalke 04, so this away game is definitely a big test, so after the two-day relaxation time, the whole team is in a tense preparation atmosphere again.

In terms of formation, Buskens and Mulder still used the formation of the previous game, playing 433. Rakitic returned from injury, but now he is only participating in recovery training and has not practiced with the whole team. The chances of your friends playing may be relatively small, but everything will not be known until the day before the game.

Zhang Yuan also attaches great importance to this game, not because of the atmosphere of the team but because he wants to help his team qualify for the Champions League, preferably directly without playing the play-offs.

Winning Hamburg can widen the point gap with Hamburg, which is equivalent to kicking out a competitor. Conversely, losing to Hamburg and falling behind, then the final fate is in the hands of others.

The day before the game, Buskens announced the 18-man roster and the starting 11. Rakitic, who returned from injury, entered the roster, but did not enter the starting 11. His position was still dominated by Shi, who performed well in the previous game Tenet instead.

The match was played on April 4 at 26pm, and Hamburg's starting XI was:

Goalkeeper: Rost
Defenders: Right back Boateng, center backs Reinhardt and Mattison, left back Atuba

Midfielders: De Jong, Kompany
Attacking midfielders: Demel, Olic, van der Vaart

Forward: Guerrero
The starting lineup for Schalke 04 is:

Goalkeeper: Neuer
Defenders: Right back Rafinha, center backs Bolton and Kristajic, left back Westermann
Midfielders: Ernst, Jones, Schneider
Forwards: Altintop Jr., Zhang Yuan, Kuranyi
Buskens and Mulder gave up Pender in the choice of defenders, and used Westerman instead. The reason is nothing more than the away game, and it is better to focus on defense, and Pender Defensive ability is not as good as Westerman.

After the start of the game, the Hamburg team launched a fierce attack on Schalke 04's half. Relatively few, Hamburg's forwards Guerrero, Zidan, and Olic are not players with very good headers.

The two wings of Hamburg are more of a containment effect. Often after they get the ball, they will hand the ball to Van der Vaart after attracting the defense.

Van der Vaart, the winner of the first European Golden Boy Award, came to Hamburg as a cabbage after spending a few years in Ajax, and immediately became the core of the team's attack, similar to the position of No. 9 and a half It is his most comfortable position. He has played in this position in the Hamburg team for the past two years.

The thing that made Schalke 04 sad came in the second minute. De Jong intercepted the pass from Schneider in the midfield and went straight to Olić on the left. Olić ran with the ball. When he met Wes At the time of Terman, Olic passed the ball in time to Van der Vaart who was following up in the middle. Van der Vaart did not stop the ball and directly played a two-for-one with Olic, and then passed the ball back to the left to beat Westermann. Behind him, Olić is very fast. The stunt he is famous for is speed. Where is Westerman his opponent, he was directly left behind by Olich. This is not over. When he reached the bottom line, Westerman finally arrived, but Olic faked a cross to lure him into a shovel. Now he was completely freed. Olic made a dunk and walked into the penalty area. Bolton stepped forward to defend, and Olic again It was a fake pass that sent the ball back to the front of the penalty area. Van der Vaart rushed to meet the ball in front of Jones. The football was shot like a cannonball. Kristajic, who stepped forward to block, did not touch the ball, and neither did Neuer. The ball hit the ball, and the ball went straight into the dead corner. The Hamburg team at home started with a 1-0 lead.

Neuer yelled at his teammates, but the players of Schalke 04 were stunned for a moment, obviously they hadn't recovered yet, the goal was just like that? !
Are we behind? !

Van der Vaart ran to the corner and knelt to celebrate. His teammates surrounded him happily. Currently, the Hamburg team ranks fourth with the advantage of goal difference. If they win this ball, they will step on the dead body of Schalke 04 Third place, the Champions League is expected.

Stevens on the sidelines smiled and embraced the assistant coaches around him. He announced before the winter break that he would leave Hamburg and return to the Netherlands at the end of the season because his wife’s health prevented him from Don't stay close to home. Everyone in the Hamburg team knows the news. Since he moved to Hamburg, he has handled well with the top management and the players below. Everyone is reluctant to let him go.

Before leaving, he certainly hopes that he can lead the Hamburg team to a Champions League seat. It will undoubtedly be a good thing if he wins this game.

Compared to Stevens' happiness, Buskens and Mulder couldn't be happier at all. What the hell is going on? The buttocks on the coach's bench are still hot, and the two of them seem to be pricked by needles The same thing, jumped up!

Conceded the ball in 2 minutes? !The well-designed defense was like a fake, completely unreliable, and a Westerman with strong defensive ability was specially selected.

The remnant joy of sweeping Cottbus in the last game was instantly lost by these 2 minutes. Buskens shouted at the court: "What are you doing! Return to defense speed!"

After conceding the goal, Schalke 04 obviously has not recovered yet, while Hamburg continued to threaten the gate guarded by Neuer. After only 5 minutes, the Hamburg team threatened Schalke 04's gate again.

Van der Vaart took the ball in the middle and successfully passed Jones, who was defending, and sent a deadly through ball. Guerrero's single-handed shot from the left side of the small penalty area was bravely blocked by Neuer.

Immediately after the corner kick of the Hamburg team, the 20-year-old teenager Boateng jumped high and headed for the goal. Neuer relied on his super reflexes to throw the ball, and the ball hit the crossbar and popped out again. bottom line.

Neuer roared loudly, brothers, you have to concentrate, if you do this again, sooner or later my gate will be lost!
Zhang Yuan can't understand the current situation on the field. Schalke 04's backcourt can't resist the attack of Hamburg's frontcourt. The operation of the midfield in 04, the striker trio on his side has been completely out of touch with the midfield.

The key to this problem is that there is a problem with the coach's arrangement. Today Buskens asked the three forwards to push forward as much as possible. The pressure of the back line put the offense mainly to the midfield and the frontcourt, so that the defensive pressure on the backcourt of Schalke 04 was not relieved at all.

(End of this chapter)