Capítulo 93: High Pressing
After scoring, the stadium became as quiet as a mouse. Lin put a finger to his lips, ran to the side of the pitch, and faced the Schalke 04's South Stand, making a shushing gesture.
This was clearly a response to the taunts from the Veltins-Arena fans and their jeers. Lin had been irritated by the jeers since he entered the arena, received passes, and made plays.
"Why are you so quiet now that I've scored? Look down on me, do you?"
"Come on, jeer at me. I'm not used to not being jeered at!"
The Schalke fans were furious! They not only jeered but some even threw things onto the pitch from the stadium stands.
Paper, beverage bottles, melon rinds, key rings, coins... Huh? This coin was a 2 euro coin, who's so generous?
Lin pretended to pick up the coin in front of him, further enraging the home fans. A burly fan was so mad that he even started dismantling the stadium seats, apparently planning to pelt Lin with them.
Lin was startled and quickly fled before his opponent's plan succeeded.
The Veltins-Arena fans were furious, their anger reaching levels that could almost pierce through the stadium roof, aggravated by their team's conceding and the opponent's provocation.
The goal scored by the opposition was unacceptable to them!
Were the two defenders secretly working for the other side, or did they buy the opponent's victory to play in a fixed match?
Apart from this explanation, they couldn't find any other reasonable explanation to believe that their defense was not deliberately ineffective.
But some people reacted differently:
"Worthy of Lin, his feints are just too convincing, I really can't stop him!"
Although Uchida was in a sorry state after being beaten, there was no sense of defeat on his face. Instead, after witnessing the opponent's strength with his own eyes, he felt a strange excitement, like that of an over-enthusiastic fan.
There were quite a few Japanese and Korean players playing in Europe, such as Shinji Kagawa, who was bought by the Premier League giants Manchester United a few months ago, making him Japan's pride.
But, Uchida felt that compared to Lin, his national team mate Shinji Kagawa was far behind!
Shinji Kagawa was not the absolute core of the team at Dortmund, he was at best sharing the core position with players like Gotze and Lewandowski. On the other hand, Lin was the absolute core at Werder Bremen. The goal just scored further proved his judgment.
In the national team's training, he could freeze Shinji Kagawa. But faced with Lin, his well-prepared defensive strategy seemed useless. It was like a decoration in the face of the opponent, it was ineffective.
How could an Asian achieve this level?
Uchida had only admiration in his heart, no jealousy!
...
After the goal, the situation on the pitch changed dramatically.
The home team, Schalke 04, which was behind, was in disarray. The fierce back and forth between the two sides may have looked thrilling, but since no one scored, it meant that everyone was still on equal footing.
But now, Werder Bremen took the lead.
The balance between the two teams was broken!
After Lin disrupted the balance of the game, the Schalke 04 players tried to launch a massive attack to equalize the score.
But as they strengthened their attack, their defense became precarious.
The tactics Coach Schaff had designed for today were to defend and counterattack after taking the lead, to lure the opponent into an attack and then take advantage of the opponent's defensive weaknesses in the backfield, using the speed of the wingers to counter-attack.
This tactic might not work well in a positional war.
But in the opposing team's pressing, it was very effective.
In the 38th minute, Schalke besieged Werder Bremen's goal but failed to score. After Werder Bremen thwarted the opponent's attack, they began a quick counterattack.
Junuzović quickly gave the ball to De Bruyne after intercepting it in midfield. De Bruyne's long pass of over 30 meters found winger Eliya in the front.
Elia accelerated along the wing, and Schalke's players chased after him like madmen.
The Dutch player had a fast pace without the ball, but was slightly slower with the ball.
Seeing that he was about to be trapped by the opponent, Lin rushed over just in time.
Elia quickly passed the ball to Lin, who made a few steps and then swiftly passed the ball to Hunter after drawing the attention of the defending players.
Hunter received the ball at the edge of the penalty area, accelerated into the penalty area, and took a direct shot.
Unnerstall made a great dive, leaping high to deflect Hunter's shot over the crossbar.
It was a splendid save. Unnerstall used his towering physique to its fullest advantage. A slightly shorter player could have easily given up facing such a shot.
After missing this opportunity, Hunter knelt and sighed in frustration. He had previously missed a similar chance in the first half.
To everyone's surprise, the little goalkeeper had thwarted him again! This guy, who had seemed clumsy as a bear when facing their own teammates, was unexpectedly agile against them.
After this missed opportunity, both sides were unable to change the score in the remaining time, and the first half ended quickly.
In the second half, Schalke 04 changed their defensive strategy.
They employed an aggressive pressing tactic, with several forwards hounding Werder Bremen's backline players like mad dogs, aiming to contain their attack in Werder Bremen's half.
This tactic put immense pressure on Werder Bremen's defense, limiting their passing options.
They had to be more cautious with their passes, as any mishap could lead to an immediate counterattack by the opponents.
Under such high pressing, Werder Bremen struggled to launch effective attacks, as the opponents' defensive line was pushed forward, nullifying their long passes from the backline.
This change in tactics put Werder Bremen in a disadvantageous position.
In the 55th minute, Schalke 04's Jones intercepted the ball in the midfield and passed it to Huntelaar, whose long-range shot was saved by the goalkeeper.
Mielitz wanted to launch a long pass to their forward, but upon assessment, he decided against it as the forward was in an offside position. Passing to him would gift the ball to the opponents.
So, he had to pass the ball to the defender and organize the attack from the back.
However, this pass was anticipated by Schalke's midfielder Neustädter, who intercepted it.
Schalke immediately launched a counterattack!
After conceding the goal, Werder Bremen's defenders fell back, but the opponents were quicker.
Huntelaar, who had stealthily slipped into the penalty area, received the ball at that moment.
Werder Bremen's defender Schmidt tried to intercept but Huntelaar unexpectedly let the ball go past him, distracting the defenders.
Then Draxler, a substitute in the second half, charged into the penalty area like a speeding tank and scored into Werder Bremen's goal.
The score was now 1-1, and Werder Bremen's 20-minute lead had evaporated.
After Draxler' goal, Veltins-Arena erupted in jubilant cheers.
The enthusiasm of the Schalke fans soared, dispelling the somber atmosphere that had prevailed.
They were extremely excited, vigorously pumping their fists, shouting at the Werder Bremen players on the field:
"Sluts of Bremen, it's our turn to counter-attack, get ready to be defeated clean!"
On the sidelines, Schaaf, seeing Schalke execute the high pressing tactic, felt uneasy.
Werder Bremen's lone pivot and the limited options of the passing outlet made them vulnerable to interceptions by the opponents.
He wanted to make adjustments upon identifying the issue but, before he could, the opponents scored.
Schaaf regretted not acting immediately upon identifying the problem. He promptly reshuffled the lineup, adding an extra midfielder in place of a forward and pushing the midfield line back to decrease the distance between the defensive lines.
By increasing the number of players in the backend, they aimed to limit the opponents' pressing and, in their attacks, focus on the wings, bypassing the midfield for the combination between the full-backs and wide midfielders.
The high pressing tactic was indeed very potent, benefiting teams that executed it well.
However, it demanded high physical exertion from the players. Unless it was a team that played with high energy like Borussia Dortmund, the general team's physical condition did not support such a strategy.
Moreover, Schalke had recently battled with Arsenal in the Champions League, and their physical fitness was not as good as Werder Bremen's.
Employing such a tactic now was truly a curious decision!
Despite the Schalke team's current success, they would regret it when their physical strength depleted.
For Werder Bremen, a draw on Schalke's territory would be acceptable.
They didn't have much desire for the championship title, as long as they could eke out a draw against Schalke 04, continuing to assert their dominance on the scoreboard.
However, Schalke would definitely not be content with this score.
They would certainly intensify their attacks and change the score.
And that, in a nutshell, is Werder Bremen's chance.
Just wait, after eighty minutes, when you can't run anymore, we'll split the difference!
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