Chapter 349 Mazari's Method

Changsheng recommended Wang Qiang to Lotito the next day and asked them to talk.

Lotito was very interested in the olive branch thrown by the well-known Chinese company Wanda Group.

The two quickly got together.

Changsheng had no control over what they talked about and how they talked.

He still had a game to play.

In the Italian Cup quarter-finals, Lazio's opponent was Naples.

It was quite difficult to challenge this team away, especially in the Italian Cup, which was the most likely to win the championship.

In the league, even Naples knew that resistance was futile. Lazio's strength would destroy the suspense of the game from the beginning, so Naples didn't have to fight Lazio to death in the league.

The game between Naples and Roma was the "Italian Sun Derby", and the game with Lazio was not a derby.

However, the Italian Cup was different. The Italian Cup was directly related to honor.

There was no hope for league honors. Even without Lazio, it would be difficult for Naples to win the league championship.

The Italian Cup is an exception. Cup competitions in various countries are considered "hotbeds of upsets", and the Italian Cup is no exception.

Those small teams, especially mid-level teams, are most likely to win the championship and enter Europe in the Italian Cup.

If Naples wants to win the championship, it must defeat Lazio.

Fortunately, this game is at their home court. If it is an away game, Naples will not struggle.

Since it is their home court, there is no reason for Naples to give up.

They are still very strong in their home court.

The fans of Naples are quite enthusiastic. In terms of attendance, Naples's San Paolo Stadium will not lose to Lazio's Rome Olympic Stadium.

This is also the only thing they can rely on.

Before entering the semi-finals, the Italian Cup is a single-elimination system. So as long as they can beat Lazio at home, Naples can enter the semi-finals.

The Italian Cup quarter-finals with Naples. It will definitely be very intense.

However, home advantage alone is not enough. If Naples wants to beat Lazio, it still needs to rely on appropriate tactics and correct strategies.

Naples' head coach has been replaced by Mazzarri.

Speaking of Mazzarri, there is a story between him and Changsheng.

When he was still coaching the Reggina team. He met the ever-victorious Lazio on a narrow road.

Lazio was competing with Mancini's Inter Milan for the league championship.

Pisa with Reggina can also be regarded as a key game.

As a result, Lazio almost didn't win. They were tied 2:2 before injury time.

If Lazio can't win, it will be caught up by Mancini's Inter Milan.

In the end, because of Lucarelli's own goal, Lazio was lucky to beat Reggina 3:2 away.

After the game, Changsheng also comforted Lucarelli who scored an own goal and praised Mazzarri's performance.

After a few rounds of the league, it was Reggina's turn to face Inter Milan.

In this game, Reggiana tried their best as always, and finally they tied the powerful Inter Milan!

This game was decisive, because of this draw, Inter Milan was widened by Lazio again.

It eventually led to their defeat again.

This is the story between Mazzarri and Changsheng.

One game. An own goal. A word of consolation, and finally exchanged for Lazio's league championship.

Therefore, Mazzarri is one of the few coaches in Serie A who has not exchanged insults with Changsheng.

Of course. This does not mean that the relationship between Mazzarri and Changsheng is good.

In fact, the relationship between Changsheng and Mazzarri is very ordinary, except for that time. The two did not communicate with each other.

However, in the environment where everyone is full of prejudice and disgust towards Changsheng, not quarreling can be regarded as "good relationship".

However, Mazzarri does not think that such a relationship can allow his team to escape the disaster with Lazio.

He has played against Lazio more than once or twice, and he knows Changsheng's character very well.

This coach is definitely the kind of person who does not recognize his relatives.

If we really talk about relationships, isn't Changsheng's relationship with Guardiola better than his relationship with him?

But what happened to Barcelona after they met Changsheng?

Not only did they lose badly on the field, but they also suffered humiliation from Changsheng off the field.

Changsheng faced Barcelona as if he was facing a mortal enemy.

In fact, they were indeed mortal enemies...

Mazzarri had played against Lazio many times, and he had tried many ways of playing. Of course, he lost in the end.

There was not even a draw.

But those were league games, and the situation was different from now.

Now it's the Italian Cup.

This is a game that determines the outcome!

And what about the league?

You can't win this game in 90 minutes, either you lose or you draw.

Although a draw is also amazing, for ambitious people, a draw is really nothing to be happy about.

The advantage of a cup game is that a game must be decided no matter what. If it can't be decided in 90 minutes, then 120 minutes. If it still can't be decided in 120 minutes, then it will be a penalty shootout. Anyway, there must be a result.

This gives those weak teams a good opportunity.

That means defending to the death.

Defend for 90 minutes, don't lose the ball, and drag it to overtime.

Then defend for another 30 minutes, don't lose the ball, and drag it to the penalty shootout.

If it drags to the penalty shootout, it's basically half the battle.

The penalty shootout has little to do with the individual strength of the players, but it tests the individual's psychological quality and preparation for the penalty.

In this regard, Mazzarri believes that his players will not lose to Lazio.

Then there is the home advantage.

During the penalty shootout, the packed Naples home stadium, the San Paolo Stadium, will inevitably bring a lot of pressure to the Lazio players. For example, Naples fans will boo and make all kinds of noises to interfere with Lazio players. Causing them to be distracted and miss the penalty.

As long as you are ready for the penalty, tell the players from the beginning to drag the game into the penalty shootout. When the game really enters the penalty shootout stage. I believe Naples's winning rate will be more than half.

Lazio players certainly didn't expect that they would be dragged into a penalty shootout by Naples away from home, and they were completely unprepared mentally.

When the game was really dragged into a penalty shootout, Lazio players would panic. They would have a mental breakdown and be nervous.

These negative emotions would affect the penalty success rate of Lazio players.

So before the game with Lazio, all the training time of Naples was also used to practice defense and penalties.

When Mourinho coached Chelsea, his team was tied 0:0 by Tottenham Hotspur at home. After the game, Mourinho commented on Tottenham Hotspur's defense: "As we Portuguese people are used to saying, they parked the bus in front of the goal."

Later, the "bus tactics" became synonymous with "defending".

Mazzari's tactics were to park a bus in front of his own goal.

Keep the score of 0:0 until the end of overtime and drag the game into a penalty shootout.

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Lazio did not expect Mazzarri to drag the game into a penalty shootout. They had thought of Napoli's defensive tactics.

Because now most teams will choose defensive tactics when facing Lazio.

Although defensive tactics cannot guarantee that they will not lose, but at least they can guarantee that they will not lose too badly...

So Lazio is now accustomed to playing against defensive teams.

They also have experience in dealing with defensive teams.

In Italy, there are not many teams that dare to attack Lazio.

If Lazio can meet such an offensive team, then the whole team will smile crookedly - finally they can score goals happily!

But such opportunities are too rare...

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In the game against Napoli, in the packed San Paolo Stadium, Lazio faced an iron wall.

Napoli completely gave up the attack and shrank its defense.

They all shrank into the penalty area and focused on defense.

The players of Naples ran without any effort and blocked Lazio's shot with their bodies.

Even if it was a foul.

They would rather give Lazio a free kick, which has a luck component. But if Lazio hits the ball directly into the penalty area because of the fear of foul, it would be dangerous.

Naples has also been specially trained in the defensive tactics of free kicks.

Anyway, during this period, the only thing that Mazzarri's team did during training was to practice defense, all kinds of defense.

And although their defense is shrinking defense, it does not mean that they are all compressed in their own penalty area. They still have layers.

Despite the small space, Naples still arranged three lines of defense inside and outside the penalty area.

The first, and the outermost line of defense, is mainly composed of forwards and midfielders, and its main function is to harass Lazio's midfielders who have the ball.

Mazzarri's idea is definitely not to hand over the ball possession in the 30-meter area. He still wants to try to interfere with the opponent's organizer and prevent the opponent from easily organizing the football.

The second line of defense is composed of the back midfielder. Frontal defense of Lazio's attack in the middle, while radiating to the wing and back line. This line of defense is very important because it will play a role in connecting the front and back, which is not used for attacking. Defense also needs to be connected in series.

The midfielders can support the defense of the striker forward and increase the defensive strength of the back line. If they shrink in the middle, the middle will be as solid as a rock, and if they disperse to the side, they will help the side defense.

In short, they can be the second line of defense, but they can also be a guerrilla team, where they are needed, they will go.

The third line of defense is naturally the back line.

The line of defense composed of two central defenders and two full-backs is the main defensive force of Naples. They are real defenders, and their task is to end all Lazio's attacks here.

Lazio's attack must end here, otherwise Naples will be in danger.

Although there is a goalkeeper behind the back line, for Lazio, if there is only one opponent's goalkeeper left in the end, then this attack is basically a success.

So Naples must avoid letting Lazio's attack directly face the goalkeeper.

To do this, they must stifle Lazio's attack at the back line.

This is Naples' last line of defense.

These three lines of defense are what Mazzarri used to deal with Lazio...