Bab 267: Chapter 267: Punch the Old Master to Death

On the evening of August 29, at the San Paolo Stadium in Naples, the third round of the Coppa Italia was underway. Naples faced Reggina at home, and the atmosphere was electric.

Gao Shen stood by the home team's dugout, his face reflecting a sense of bewilderment. The game had already started, and both sides were engaged in a back-and-forth battle. However, Naples, leveraging their home-field advantage and superior high-press tactics, clearly suppressed Reggina.

This wasn't a surprise to Gao Shen, his team was well-versed in this style of play. What truly puzzled him was the tactical setup used by Ulivieri, the veteran coach of Reggina. The highly respected, grandfatherly figure in Italian football opted for a strange formation, somewhat resembling a 3-4-2-1.

The back three defenders weren't unusual in Italian football, even in 2007. However, it was the rest of the formation that baffled Gao Shen. The midfield consisted of four shallow-positioned players, with the flanks more like wing-backs and two defensive midfielders ahead. In front of them were two attacking midfielders, and further up was a towering Danish striker, nearly 1.9 meters tall, named Tulberg.

Gao Shen couldn't figure out the purpose of this tactic.

Was Ulivieri aiming to attack? The midfield and defense suggested a more defensive posture. But if it was meant to be defensive, the wide players lacked the dynamic ability to track back and forth like Carlos or Cafu. The setup seemed outdated and ineffective.

"What's he thinking?" Gao Shen muttered.

Carlo, standing next to him, shrugged and smiled bitterly. "I don't get it either."

"Is this some kind of Italian stubbornness?" Gao Shen asked, half-joking.

"Maybe." Carlo laughed, but Gao Shen shook his head, unconvinced.

"I think this is more than stubbornness. It's a refusal to let go of outdated ideas," Gao Shen replied.

He respected persistence when it involved holding onto valuable things. But when people clung to things that were clearly obsolete, it became stubbornness. Since coming to Italy, Gao Shen had seen this more and more in the way many in the football world approached tactics. It reminded him of why Sacchi had once said Italian football was stuck in its ways, clinging to its traditions even as the game evolved around them.

Gao Shen believed the key to success was to face the facts and move with the times.

...

Napoli was playing their usual 4-3-3 formation. Thiago Motta sat deep in midfield, with Biglia and Vidal supporting from ahead. Up front, Di Maria, Pelle, and Callejon formed the attack.

Biglia had been the standout in midfield, playing a vital role. He was stable and reliable, particularly given that Rakitic was still developing, and Vidal hadn't fully adapted to the dual-pivot role. Meanwhile, Parejo, Nainggolan, and Pastore were still settling in. This left Biglia as the glue holding everything together.

His consistent performances had not gone unnoticed. He'd recently been called up to the Argentine national team for their upcoming friendly against Australia. Cannavaro, another standout player, had earned a call-up to the Italian national team for the first time, with his brother Fabio Cannavaro injured. The thought of the two brothers playing together on the national stage was a nice story for the media.

As the game progressed, Gao Shen studied Reggina's formation and saw a potential weakness. He immediately signaled his team to press higher and harder. Di Maria and Callejon, on the flanks, were instructed to push the Reggina defense even more aggressively, exploiting space behind their full-backs. At the same time, David Luiz and Bonucci were to look for long ball opportunities.

In this system, long passes were like guided missiles, capable of launching attacks from anywhere on the pitch. It was an essential part of Napoli's arsenal.

Thirty minutes into the game, Bonucci controlled the ball in the back and moved forward after receiving a pass. He saw Di Maria making a run behind Reggina's defense and sent a precise long pass over the top.

Di Maria raced forward, outrunning the Reggina right-back. With a clever touch, he controlled the ball and burst into the box, leaving the defenders in his wake. He pulled off a quick fake and whipped a cross into the six-yard box.

Pelle, Napoli's towering center-forward, muscled his way in front of the Reggina defender and stabbed the ball into the net. The San Paolo erupted as Napoli took a 1-0 lead.

Pelle sprinted to the sideline, celebrating wildly. He was thriving in this system under Gao Shen, providing a physical presence up front and scoring important goals.

...

Napoli continued to press Reggina relentlessly. Their high-press tactics had become their trademark, and few teams in Italy had found a way to counter it.

Gao Shen watched as Ulivieri paced the sidelines, clearly frustrated. The veteran coach had spent the past year studying ways to counter Napoli's style but was failing to find a solution. He had even planned to present his findings at an upcoming coaching summit but now, watching his team get dismantled, he felt uncertain.

The concept of high pressing wasn't new. Benitez had used it in his early days, but it was usually applied in localized areas or with small groups of players. But Gao Shen's version was different. Napoli's press was not just about winning the ball back. It was about smothering the opposition, suffocating their ability to play. Every player pressed in unison, from the forwards to the defenders, leaving no space or time for the opponent to breathe.

Ulivieri and other Italian coaches had tried various methods to counter it, long passes to bypass the press, playing out from the back, quick transitions but nothing worked consistently against Napoli. They were too organized, too relentless.

The common belief had been that Napoli's intense pressing would tire them out over a long season. But last year, they played 42 games in Serie B, plus the Coppa Italia, and never showed signs of fatigue.

Ulivieri, a seasoned tactician, was at a loss. His methods, deeply rooted in decades of Italian football, were failing him. He watched as Napoli's younger, fitter players overwhelmed his team. It was like trying to stop a tidal wave with your hands.

...

Just before halftime, Napoli struck again.

David Luiz, spotting another opportunity, sent a diagonal ball over Reggina's defense, this time to Callejon. The winger sped down the right flank, beating the full-back and sending a low cross into the box.

Reggina's defense scrambled to clear it, but in their panic, Cascione, Reggina's midfielder, inadvertently bundled the ball into his own net.

The stadium fell silent for a moment, then erupted in cheers as Napoli doubled their lead. Cascione, meanwhile, fell to his knees in despair. In his debut for Reggina, he had scored an own goal.

Even Gao Shen, ever the competitor, couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the young midfielder. He had seen this happen to the best of players. It reminded him of Woodgate's infamous debut own goal.