Chapter 1 In the League, After Defeating Bayern Munich, Dortmund Will Go to Arsenal's Home Field to Challenge

Dortmund has already qualified from the group ahead of schedule, but Arsenal has not.

With seven points from four group matches, they are only three points ahead of Marseille in third place.

And in this round of group matches, Marseille will face the weakest team in the group, Olympiacos, at home. Is there any suspense about the victory?

If Arsenal cannot defeat Dortmund at home, their second place in the group will be in danger.

The worst result would be that they lost to Dortmund at home, while Marseille defeated Olympiacos at home.

Arsenal and Marseille would have the same points, with Arsenal only ranked second based on the head-to-head record.

In the last round, they have to beat Olympiacos away to ensure qualification.

Some people may think that beating Olympiacos away is not a problem. But in football, who can say for sure? Moreover, it is an embarrassing fact that a seeded team has to fight to the death with the weakest team in the group away from home to qualify.

So, in order to avoid this fact, the best solution is to defeat Dortmund at home in this round of group matches.

Before the match, Zhou Yi and Arsenal were once again linked together.

Because before the first match between the two sides, including Wenger, Arsenal's management said that they had not signed Zhou Yi and had nothing to regret.

As a result, Zhou Yi led Dortmund to defeat Arsenal at home.

So, will this embarrass Arsenal's management?

Wenger refused to answer this question: "I am more focused on the upcoming game."

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This is the first time Zhou Yi has set foot on London soil since becoming a Dortmund player, but it is a pity that Sun Pan is no longer in London, otherwise he would definitely have asked Sun Pan to treat him to a meal.

Sun Pan said that he was far-sighted. The reason he did not stay at Chelsea was because he did not want to treat Zhou Yi to a meal.

Zhou Yi could only roll his eyes at him.

Zhou Yi was very relaxed about the game against Arsenal.

It's not because Dortmund has already qualified for the group stage, but because he doesn't know what tension is. A carefree person often doesn't understand what tension is.

In the pre-match simulation, although Dortmund was challenging Arsenal away, they did not have any obvious disadvantages.

This opponent is not worth being nervous about.

But when the game started, the development of the situation was somewhat unexpected.

Twenty-five minutes into the game, neither side had scored, and the game was deadlocked.

For Arsenal, this is a deadlock, and they want to try to break through this stalemate.

But for Dortmund, there is nothing wrong with this.

But in the twenty-sixth minute, Dortmund's main defensive midfielder, Sven Bender, had to be substituted early due to injury!

The person who replaced him was the team's captain, Sebastian Kehl.

Since his physical condition declined, it has been difficult for Kehl to be a regular starter for Dortmund. Most of the time, he is a substitute, or he doesn't even have many opportunities to come off the bench.

In the thirteen rounds of the league this season, he has only appeared in four league games, all as a substitute, and has not started once.

Dortmund's midfield configuration is generally Sven Bender and Zhou Yi in the middle. If Zhou Yi needs to be substituted early, the replacement will depend on the situation. If they need to strengthen the defense, they will replace him with Kehl. If they need to strengthen control and continue to maintain pressure on the opponent in attack, then they will bring on Gundogan.

Now that Sven Bender is injured, they can only replace him with Kehl, because Kehl is the only one left in the midfield who can defend.

Although Kehl has stepped up, it has still had a great impact on Dortmund's midfield defense.

In the thirty-eighth minute, Arsenal, playing at home, seized the chaos after the substitution of Dortmund's midfield defense and scored a goal.

"Arsenal! Van Persie! He scored the first goal for the team!" The British commentator was very excited.

The Arsenal fans in the stands were even more excited, cheering and jumping.

"Now it seems that Sven Bender's injury has had a great impact on Dortmund..." Marcel Reif felt sorry for the goal conceded.

After scoring the goal, Arsenal planned to take advantage of the victory, but Dortmund retreated across the board to defend, and finally held on until the end of the first half, preventing the opponent from scoring another goal.

Losing one goal means there is still a chance to play in the second half. If they concede two goals, the hope of winning the game will be very slim. It would be good to be able to draw with the opponent.

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During the half-time break, Klopp rearranged Dortmund's midfield, asking Kagawa Shinji to retreat a little deeper and connect with Zhou Yi. The purpose of this is to allow Zhou Yi not to have to frequently advance and still be able to organize the attack.

Because Kagawa Shinji is there to be the connector - before Mark was injured, this task was completed by Mark, and he has always done it very well.

If Zhou Yi does not have to advance frequently, he can stay in the backcourt to participate in... defense.

"Yes, your main task in the second half is defense." Klopp said to Zhou Yi, who was a little surprised.

Not only Zhou Yi was surprised, but everyone else was also very surprised.

Does Klopp know what Zhou Yi is good at and what he is not good at?

Everyone knows that organizing attacks is what Zhou Yi is good at, while defending is mostly just for show, mainly relying on Sven Bender.

Faced with the surprised and doubtful gazes of everyone, Klopp did not explain too much, but just said to Zhou Yi: "You know what to do, Zhou Yi. In fact, you have an advantage in defense."

Everyone was even more surprised and looked at Zhou Yi - Zhou Yi's defense is so bad, what advantage does he have? He has no strength, no speed, and he may be knocked away by someone in defense. How can he defend?

Amid everyone's doubtful gazes, Zhou Yi's expression gradually became serious. He didn't think the coach was talking nonsense. He felt that Klopp must have his reasons for saying this.

So, what advantages do I have in defense?

Zhou Yi frowned and thought hard.

He began to replay the games he had played in his mind, whether real or virtual, trying to find his defensive characteristics.

Although Zhou Yi has always been the core of the organization, he still has to participate in the defense, but he does not participate in the defense to a great extent, and it is enough to appear in that position. Klopp does not require him to become a tackling king like Sven Bender. Sometimes, defense is actually about appearing in the correct position, which can play a defensive role...

Thinking of this, Zhou Yi suddenly had a flash of inspiration in his mind.

The correct position!

Yes, position!

Zhou Yi understood what his advantage in defense was.

Sense of position.

This advantage, which he fully embodies in offense, is also useful in defense!

No one stipulates that defense must involve direct physical contact with the opponent. As long as you can disrupt the opponent's attack or force them to change their original attacking route, this is actually a successful defense.

As long as they don't directly threaten the goal.

So, he doesn't need to directly steal the ball from the opponent's feet, nor does he need to defend against the opponent's breakthrough one-on-one.

He only needs to appear in the correct position at the correct time, and then make the correct action to complete a defense...

Going a step further, Zhou Yi thought of his game against Inter Milan last season in his replay. In the first group match against Inter Milan, Dortmund, who had one less player from the start, were beaten like dogs in the first half. But in the second half, Dortmund launched a counter-attack frenzy. One of the key goals was because he directly stole the ball in the backcourt and launched the attack, which was eventually scored.

How did he defend and steal the ball at that time?

There was no physical contact with the opponent, but he was stuck on the opponent's passing route, and then he directly intercepted it when the opponent passed the ball...

This kind of defensive method is not difficult for Zhou Yi, because it is easy for Zhou Yi to judge the opponent's passing route. He has a "God's perspective." He can easily find all the possible passing routes of the opponent, and then through the experience constantly accumulated in virtual games, he can guess the opponent's passing with great accuracy.

But Zhou Yi had never thought of using his talents in defense before.

Because he himself has fallen into a misunderstanding, that is, he feels that with his physical condition, with his position and playing style, he is not good at defense. Even if the coach requires defense, it is mostly just a perfunctory job, and there is no subjective initiative in defense.

And now, he has been awakened by Klopp in one word.

He realized that defense... is not as difficult as he imagined!

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Klopp noticed that Zhou Yi, who had been frowning, suddenly relaxed and his eyes lit up.

He knew that Zhou Yi must have figured it out, so he grinned and smiled.

He felt relieved.

Why let Zhou Yi defend?

Because after Sven Bender was injured and left the field, Kehl, who does not play often, was not in good condition either, and the goal conceded in the first half was for this reason.

If you don't want to lose to Arsenal away from home, the first priority is to prevent conceding more goals.

If Zhou Yi can play a greater role in defense, it can certainly effectively improve the success rate of Dortmund's defense.

Secondly, the biggest advantage of Zhou Yi participating in the defense is that if he can steal the ball, he can directly launch an attack without having to go through another pass. A true integration of offense and defense.

This can save a lot of time and is sudden enough to catch the opponent off guard.