ps, Sorry, I forgot to set up automatic updates. Also, yesterday's chapter title was written incorrectly. It should have been Chapter 104, Unexpected Appearance. I have asked the editor to modify it, but it may take a while to refresh...

Chapter 104 Unexpected Appearance

When Wagner ran onto the field, he saw Zhou Yi looking at him. He gave a thumbs-up in return.

Seeing his thumbs-up, Zhou Yi smiled.

He knew that Mark was fine. His biggest concern before was that Mark would overthink things and affect his performance.

After Mark came on, Dortmund's formation underwent some minor adjustments.

After all, Götze and Mark play different positions, so simply having Mark replace Götze wouldn't be a good choice.

After the adjustment, Zhou Yi moved slightly to the left, but not all the way to the left wing. He was more like an attacking midfielder leaning to the left.

Mark, on the other hand, roamed behind Lewandowski, his position not fixed.

It seemed that Dortmund's formation had become asymmetrical, as if tilting to the right, which made people worry about whether Dortmund's attacking power on the left wing would be weakened.

But Klopp wasn't worried about such a problem.

Before this game, the team's left back was out due to injury, and the starting left back for this game was Großkreutz.

When Großkreutz first debuted in the youth team, he played as a forward, but after coming to Dortmund's first team, he played as a winger. Back when Götze hadn't emerged yet, Zhou Yi's midfield partners were Großkreutz and Kuba. The two of them were on the left and right.

But from some point on, Großkreutz could play more and more positions. When the team suffered injuries and there really wasn't a suitable candidate, Klopp would always think of having Großkreutz temporarily fill in.

"Big Cross," a die-hard fan who was utterly loyal to Dortmund, would never decline by saying that he was not suitable for these positions. Anyway, he would play wherever the coach told him to. As long as he could contribute to Dortmund, he wouldn't care about personal gains or losses.

Now he has played different positions such as forward, left winger, winger, and defensive midfielder. Before this game, Owomoyela was injured, and he was once again remembered by coach Klopp, who put him in the left back position.

And Großkreutz is actually a player who is stronger in attack than defense, so even if he plays as a left back, he sometimes can't suppress the passion in his heart and rushes up to play like a left winger, which is a position he used to be very familiar with.

And Zhou Yi leaned slightly to the left, but didn't go to the wing, which was equivalent to leaving space for Großkreutz to sprint, making it easier for him to insert and attack along the left wing corridor. At the same time, Zhou Yi's leaning over also made it easier to respond to him and add more changes to his attack.

So, in fact, such a position not only did not weaken Dortmund's attack on the left wing, but strengthened it.

It's just that many people haven't seen through this point.

Everyone just felt that Dortmund's formation after this adjustment was very strange, and didn't understand why Klopp did this.

In such an important game as the Ruhr derby, would letting the team suddenly play this strange formation be an important reason for the team to lose the game?

If the team loses the game in the end because the players are not adapted to this tactic, will Klopp take the responsibility?

Outsiders couldn't understand this adjustment and were full of doubts. But for Dortmund players, there was nothing to be unaccustomed to.

Actually, it's easier to understand if you change the way you think about it—when attacking, Großkreutz inserts and becomes a winger, and Dortmund's formation becomes 352.

In the first half, Großkreutz mainly played as a defender, and occasionally he would rush forward because he couldn't suppress the passion in his heart. After participating in the attack, he had to quickly return to defense, and it was difficult to organize multiple waves of attacks on the left.

But now Klopp used this adjustment to tell Großkreutz that when the team is attacking, he only needs to boldly insert forward, seek cooperation with Zhou Yi, and play creatively, and cannot just simply go straight up and down.

Sure enough, after the game restarted, Großkreutz consciously went forward more often, and he didn't have to worry about losing the ball after going forward, causing a huge gap behind him to be used by Schalke 04. Because there is Zhou Yi. If he encounters difficulties and it is not easy to continue forward, he can completely pass the ball to Zhou Yi and let Zhou Yi make the decision.

And Zhou Yi is like a magnet. After getting the ball, he will attract all the surrounding Schalke 04 defensive players. In this way, the obstacles Großkreutz originally faced no longer exist. He can continue to rush forward, and Zhou Yi can pass the ball to him. At the same time, his continued forward insertion may also attract Schalke 04's defensive power, creating some space for Zhou Yi to develop the ball in other directions.

That's how it was at the beginning. Großkreutz inserted forward. After encountering obstacles, he passed the ball to Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi naturally attracted the attention of other Schalke 04 players, including Yang Muge. They all wanted to get closer to Zhou Yi, and the left wing was relatively empty. Großkreutz decisively inserted forward, and Zhou Yi also decisively passed the ball, causing Großkreutz to break through.

After getting the ball, Großkreutz can either break through himself or cross. No matter what he does, he can threaten Schalke 04's goal.

After doing this a few times, Schalke 04 found that the Dortmund offensive, which had made substitutions, not only did not weaken, but became stronger.

They had to re-examine this wing. After Götze was off the field, not only was this side not abandoned, but it became more active!

The commentators, standing high above, saw it even more clearly. Marcel Reif said, "I didn't expect Großkreutz to become active instead. He has repeatedly sent high-quality passes on the wing. The cooperation between Zhou Yi and Großkreutz on the left is making Schalke 04 very uncomfortable!"

In another attack on the left, Großkreutz received a pass from Zhou Yi and pretended to send the ball directly to Lewandowski in front of the goal with a forty-five-degree cross, tricking Schalke 04's defenders into retreating collectively. But he suddenly pulled back and changed to breaking through!

This surprised Schalke 04's defenders, who rushed towards him again. Facing the two Schalke 04 defenders rushing up, Großkreutz looked up and saw Mark, who was quietly retreating and pulling to the arc of the penalty area. His not-so-tall figure looked not very conspicuous hidden in the crowd.

So Großkreutz no longer hesitated and sent the ball directly, pushing it horizontally to Mark.

"Mark Wagner!!" Marcel Reif shouted when Mark got the ball, because there was a large space next to Mark.

The Schalke 04 defenders in front of him were all taken to the front of the goal by Lewandowski, and the Schalke 04 midfielders behind him were attracted by Zhou Yi. He was in a place similar to a "no-man's land."

This was a great opportunity. Mark adjusted and shot directly from long range!

The shot ball passed through the crowd in the penalty area and flew towards the near corner of the goal.

Schalke 04's goalkeeper, Unnerstall, was blocked by his defender teammates in front of him, so he reacted half a beat slower. When he pounced, he couldn't reach the ball.

But fortunately, the ball did not fly into the goal, but flew out of the baseline, brushing the post!

"Dangerous! Mark Wagner took a cold shot from outside the penalty area! He almost equalized the score for Dortmund! He got such a good opportunity shortly after coming on the field. Judging from this shot, his condition seems to be good!"

The TV broadcast quickly gave Mark a close-up. Mark in the camera was very annoyed that he couldn't score. He held his head in his hands and sighed up to the sky. But then he didn't forget to give a thumbs-up to Großkreutz, who passed the ball to him, indicating that his pass was good.

Turning around, he saw Zhou Yi giving him a thumbs-up.

"Nice shot, not powerful, but the angle was very tricky!" Zhou Yi praised his performance in the shot just now. He was not saying polite words without substance, but really hit the nail on the head about the advantages of Mark's shot.

Some people would choose to shoot with great force at that time, but shooting with great force when there are so many people in the penalty area is easy to hit someone. To avoid the crowd, it is easy to kick outside the range of the goal frame. Mark chose a clever shot, not fast, but the angle was very tricky and cunning. Schalke 04 goalkeeper Unnerstall not reacting immediately was proof of that.

Being able to kick such a ball fully shows that Mark's brain was not blank when shooting, he was not panicking, and he wasn't shitting his pants. He carefully considered and finally chose the best method.

With this shot, he can be sure that Mark is in good condition today. Zhou Yi is full of confidence in his next performance.

This is the Mark he is very familiar with. He doesn't have an advantage in height, he doesn't have an advantage in strength, and he doesn't have an advantage in speed, but he can still score goals. Why? Because he runs smartly and kicks smartly.

Mark used to be always unconfident, thinking that he didn't have any talent, but in fact, he is much better than he thinks.