Chapter 1 Shortly After the Match Started

Not long after the match began, Zhou Yi witnessed the football style of Freiburg U19.

Their three lines were positioned very close together, with the defensive line pressing very high.

This style of play, with tens of meters of space behind them, seemed dangerous, but in reality, they had relied on this tactic to reach the final of the German Youth Cup this season.

Why?

Without the system, Zhou Yi might only have been able to experience the power of this tactic in this final.

But with the system, he had already experienced it many times in advance.

He knew very well why this tactic, which seemed to have so much space behind it, was so powerful.

Freiburg U19's style of play required each player to be close to each other, with the distance between each line kept very tight.

The three lines combined were like a cage, trapping opponents inside. Aggressive high pressing made it difficult for opponents to get the ball out of the cage.

As soon as their opponents got the ball, even near their own penalty area, they would be pressed by Freiburg players, creating an unprecedentedly tense atmosphere, making it difficult for the players in possession to handle the ball calmly and composedly. In the process of being pressed, many mistakes would occur.

And these mistakes would immediately be converted into Freiburg's attack.

Dortmund U19's coach, Yeballa, had repeatedly emphasized to his players that Freiburg was a team with a very good defense. Indeed, they had conceded the third fewest goals in the U19 league's southern division.

But Zhou Yi had a different opinion from his coach. He did not think this was proof of Freiburg's excellent defense. On the contrary, he felt that Freiburg was a team that was more adept at attacking.

The Freiburg led by Streich did not play defensive football, but attacking football.

Why did he have such a perception?

On the one hand, Zhou Yi had consulted some data about Freiburg U19 in reality on the Internet, and on the other hand, he had obtained data after repeatedly playing against Freiburg U19 in the virtual system, and then analyzed and summarized it.

In the virtual system, Freiburg U19 was able to create an average of eleven scoring opportunities per game. This data was very impressive. Zhou Yi compared it with his own Dortmund U19 virtual team, which only averaged thirteen times per game.

And it should be known that Dortmund had himself and Gotze, while Freiburg U19?

He had not heard that they had players with excellent offensive organization skills.

What did they rely on?

They relied on this high pressing.

In Freiburg's 442 formation, the defense started with the two forwards harassing the opponent's center backs who were in possession of the ball. As soon as the ball was passed out, all the players would start to press forward against their respective opponents, while at the same time they would maintain tight positioning near the midfield, compressing space and isolating opponents' players through purposeful and constant running, so that the opponents did not have much time and space to organize their attack, and it was also difficult to penetrate their tight and orderly formation.

This collective pressing style of play allowed Freiburg to get many opportunities to counterattack on the spot in the frontcourt, which was also why they created so many scoring opportunities.

But after playing against this team dozens of times, Zhou Yi also understood that Freiburg's system could not always run smoothly, and the cage they weaved was not so airtight that it was impossible to escape.

As long as it was a system composed of people, there would definitely be loopholes.

Although Freiburg was able to create an average of eleven scoring opportunities per game, their probability of converting these scoring opportunities into goals was very low, only twelve percent.

The reason for this was that Freiburg lacked forwards with excellent scoring ability. Their two forwards had to shoulder more defensive harassment tasks, so they had less energy for scoring. In addition, Zhou Yi had examined their lineup and found that it was not that they did not have forwards who could score, but they were sitting on the bench.

Why was that?

Didn't Freiburg's coach Streich know this?

After analyzing it again and again, Zhou Yi felt that this was Streich's helpless trade-off - Freiburg's collective pressing style of play required players to maintain a high degree of concentration throughout the game, always be aware of the position and movements of teammates and opponents, and move accordingly. The two forwards had to constantly pull and change positions, and roam over a wide range, which required a high level of running ability. And the forward with excellent scoring ability just happened to be bad at running. If he started, although he could score, it would affect the operation of the entire system. In the end, he would not only be unable to score, but also drag down the whole team.

This was actually the same as Dortmund's Schneider. Schneider's scoring ability was still good, especially his ability to score directly in front of the goal.

But why was he still taken down in this game?

Because after he came on, he would paralyze the entire tactical system that Dortmund was currently playing, so they could only make a trade-off.

Freiburg's scoring ability was relatively weak, which meant that Dortmund had the time and opportunity to score.

Now it depended on whose success rate was higher.

In this regard, Zhou Yi believed in his teammates, whether it was Ginczek, Gotze, or Mark, they all had good scoring ability.

Among them, Gotze and Ginczek had the best scoring ability, followed by Mark.

But the one who had made the most progress was Mark.

Zhou Yi still remembered how terrible Mark's shooting stats were when he first saw Mark, even worse than his own.

That was the data from seven months ago.

But Mark had really undergone a complete transformation in these seven months. Maybe if you saw him every day, you wouldn't feel that Mark had changed, but after seven months, looking back at the Mark he first saw, Zhou Yi was surprised by his friend's changes.

From the data point of view, Mark's shooting value had become fifty-nine. From forty-four to fifty-nine, an increase of fifteen points. This was related to Mark's more diligent and attentive shooting training. In addition to the physical strength training, he would also give himself shooting training, which were all the reasons for the growth of his data.

However, just looking at this number, it was still not considered too outstanding.

But sometimes the things that data express are very one-sided. Shooting is not just about looking at the data.

Since Mark started playing for Dortmund U19, he had scored a total of seven goals. The number of goals was not too many, but not too few either. This was a normal level for Mark. He couldn't compare with the eighteen goals in U17, because too many of those goals in U17 were Zhou Yi's nanny assists, and Mark hardly had to exert any effort when shooting.

And in U19, Mark had to constantly confront the opponent's defenders in front, and at the same time he had to constantly pull and run to create some offensive opportunities for Ginczek and Gotze, which all affected his number of goals.

Then why could Mark still squeeze out Schneider, who could score more goals than him?

Because Mark was not the kind of person who regarded goals as if they were grass.

Zhou Yi also had this illusion at first, possibly because Mark's excellent off-ball running and ability to find gaps in the data misled him.

It made him think that Mark was an Inzaghi-style forward.

But later, with Mark's step-by-step changes over these seven months, Zhou Yi realized that Mark was a number nine and a half.

He was not a center forward like Schneider who could stand at the front and bombard the opponent's goal with headers. Although he could play as a single center forward in the front, if that was the case, his ability to score goals would be greatly limited. What did he do when he was a center forward?

Passing the ball and making the ball for his teammates.

Because he had an excellent ability to find gaps, he could run to the gaps and also find the gaps, so when he could not run to the gaps, he could pass the ball to the gaps. This was somewhat similar to Zhou Yi, but his position was closer to the goal than Zhou Yi's.

In the Ruhr derby in the U19 Western League, didn't Zhou Yi score the goal that Dortmund eventually defeated Schalke 04 with, with an assist from Mark?

He saw the gap, and Zhou Yi saw it too. Zhou Yi ran towards the gap, and he passed the ball towards the gap. The goal appeared naturally.

Mark was more flexible than a center forward like Schneider, both in terms of running and body shape. If there was another center forward next to him, he could capture the record and score.

And when he couldn't score, he could also integrate into the team's offensive system and use his running, pulling, and passing to help other teammates get opportunities.

Some players are system players, who must be in a specific system to perform well.

But Zhou Yi didn't think Mark was. Mark was the kind of person who could go to any team, no matter what tactics the team played, and he would have a place.

He could play as a forward, or retreat to play as an attacking midfielder, or even as a number nine and a half between the forward and the attacking midfielder. If he played as a double forward, he would have more opportunities to shoot and score. If he played as a single forward, he could provide ammunition for the midfielders who came up from behind. If he retreated to play as a number nine and a half, he could connect the attack and contribute to the team's entire offensive system, like a screw, maybe not outstanding individually, but the whole team would benefit.

What a good player this is... Which coach wouldn't want him?

In fact, Mark had also had a wrong understanding of himself before, thinking that he was just a forward waiting for his teammates to feed him the ball in front of the goal, and was unwilling to run a few more steps. He thought he was the second Inzaghi.

But after Zhou Yi arrived and he was promoted to U19, he realized his previous mistakes.

When he realized his mistakes and corrected them, his changes came.

And Yeballa was willing to give him a chance to prove himself again. In the end, he came off the bench in the Ruhr derby against Schalke 04, scored two goals and assisted one goal, perfectly proving his tactical value.

It also laid the foundation for Yeballa's concept of the Dortmund U19 trident in his heart.

Among the three, Zhou Yi has excellent passing ability and an absolute ability to find gaps, and can be used as the core commander role in the trident. Gotze can break through, shoot, and pass, and has the most comprehensive ability, and is the most important arrow figure in the trident. And Mark, with the most outstanding tactical awareness, is willing to make wedding clothes for others, and can cooperate well with Zhou Yi and Gotze. He is willing to make sacrifices for the team. These factors make him an indispensable lubricant for the trident. Without him, the trident would not work at all. With him, the trident would be transformed into a revolver that can threaten the opponent's goal - any of the three can be transformed into a bullet to take the opponent's life.

It can be said that Mark has enriched the possibilities of the trident routine.

Mark may never be able to be a prolific goal scorer, but his position in the team will not become unimportant because of the few goals he scores.

For example, in this final, without Mark, it would be more difficult for Zhou Yi to win against Freiburg.

And now, he believed that Mark would support him and help him, and he also believed that Mark had the same trust in him.

They had practiced this kind of fast passing and cutting cooperation for more than a month, wasn't it used on this kind of opponent in this kind of game?