Chapter 1 Let Barcelona Despise Them

Letting Barcelona despise them was a trick cooked up by Chen Hero and Cassano. As the head coach, you can't expect to rely on such small tricks to make a living.

So, if you want to compete with Barcelona on their home turf, you have to work hard in terms of both strategy and tactics.

Strategically, what kind of goal does Napoli want to achieve on the road? Is it an away goal? Or a victory? Or a draw? Or an acceptable defeat?

First, you have to determine the strategy, and then the tactics.

Strategically speaking, no matter how individualistic or arrogant Mazzarri is, he can't be arrogant enough to say that he wants to defeat Barcelona at the Camp Nou. So the goal he set for the team was to get a draw at best, and an acceptable defeat if that wasn't possible.

Secondly, it was about getting an away goal. Whether it was a draw or a defeat, it would be even better if Napoli could score. Returning to their home stadium in the next round with an away goal in hand would allow Napoli to play more calmly and have more tactical leeway.

After the strategy is determined, comes the tactics.

Facing a strong team, and away from home, Napoli would of course not choose to go head-to-head with Barcelona at the Camp Nou. Therefore, unsurprisingly, Napoli will play a defensive counter-attack.

The lineup has been slightly adjusted, from 433 to 4321. Mazzarri arranged three defensive midfielders in the backcourt to defend against Barcelona, while allowing the two wingers, Cassano and Arshavin, to cut inside, with Chen Hero alone at the front. It can be said that Napoli almost abandoned the flanks with this formation. The purpose of doing so was to compete with Barcelona in the center of the midfield.

Of course, Barcelona has Xavi in the middle, and Messi also often cuts inside, but their wings are just as strong. What should we do? Mazzarri's countermeasure was to leave the wings open in the midfield, but to strictly defend when reaching the thirty-meter zone.

There is a limit to working hard on defense, because Napoli is not good at defense, and even if they defend to the death at the Camp Nou, it is estimated that it is impossible not to lose a goal. So the solution to the problem must fall on the offense.

Napoli has extremely strong offensive power. Chen Hero, Arshavin, Hamsik and Cassano make up Napoli's attacking lineup.

In the attack, Hamsik's position should be slightly forward, protruding from the three defensive midfielders and turning into a 4231.

In this way, he can give full play to his organizational skills.

Considering that they may be on the defensive most of the time, Mazzarri also asked Chen Hero to actively retreat, meet his teammates, and maintain a reasonable distance from Hamsik, Arshavin, and Cassano.

This retreat is not a simple turn around and run back, then turn around and run forward. Therefore, this requires Chen Hero to have a relatively high running ability. He must not only have the stamina to run, but also be able to run to the correct position.

Fortunately, Chen Hero has been training with Inzaghi for almost half a season, and has gained some experience, which can be regarded as a small achievement. It has been shown in usual games and training, so Mazzarri asked him to do so. Otherwise, he would definitely prefer to use the simplest and least technical style of play, which is long passes and crosses, directly passing high balls to the frontcourt, allowing Chen Hero to use his head to compete for the header.

However, the current tactics also make full use of Chen Hero's heading advantage.

As we all know, Barcelona's defense is very poor in aerial defense. After Pique came, they had some aerial defense power.

But relying on Pique alone... is useless, and besides, Pique's strength is not heading.

After carefully studying Pique's game videos, Mazzarri concluded that if Napoli wants to score, they can make a fuss about heading.

When preparing for this game, he asked Chen Hero.

"What do you think about comparing your heading with Pique..."

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Hero said in an awesome tone.

"Completely crush!"

Mazzarri grinned, frozen there.

"Completely crush, hehe!" Chen Hero repeated with a thumbs up, still smiling.

"Okay, I got it..." Mazzarri conceded.

He didn't think there was anything wrong with Chen Hero saying this, because Chen Hero was really the best heading player he had ever seen in his coaching career. Chen Hero is first-class in judging the landing point of high balls, using his body to block, jumping ability, heading skills, and impact in front of the goal... no, he is super first-class.

More importantly, after Chen Hero jumps up, he can even see the ability to stay in the air that is more prominent in NBA basketball players!

Having this ability means that he can hit the ball more easily than his opponents.

So, according to Chen Hero's characteristics, high balls have become one of the main means of Napoli's attack.

Especially when they can't open up the situation, it is not ruled out that Cassano and Arshavin will pull to the wing during the attack, and then cross the ball, allowing Chen Hero to use his header to deal with Barcelona's defense.

I believe Pique will personally experience the power of Chen Hero's header at that time...

※※※

Pique is experiencing it firsthand.

Napoli's almost flattering goodwill towards Barcelona before the game, whether Guardiola believed it or not, at least the Barcelona players were enjoying it.

Barcelona was the undisputed king of Europe last season. They won six championships last year - the domestic league, the Copa del Rey, the Champions League, the European Super Cup, the Spanish Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup. They created an unprecedented "sextuple crown".

This is the pinnacle that a club can reach.

Barcelona players felt that they had already ruled the world. It was natural for other opponents to show fear or praise them when they saw them. So they didn't think there was anything wrong with Napoli's performance. Maybe they were a little too flattering... but it doesn't matter, our ability to withstand it is pretty good.

So before the game, the Barcelona players who were playing at home were very relaxed, and even joked that since Napoli was so friendly to them, they might as well win a few goals less at home... Of course, this was just a joke. When they really get to the field, Barcelona will not be soft if they have the opportunity.

But ten minutes into the game, it seems that the question is whether Napoli will be soft...

"Napoli! Arshavin crosses from the wing... Here it comes again!"

In the attack, Arshavin and Cassano will still return to their winger status, pulling to the wing to cross the ball, just like Arshavin is doing now.

As the commentator exclaimed, the football was kicked into the air by Arshavin before Abidal could get there, flying straight towards the goal!

And Chen Hero?

He spread his arms and flew up with the football!

Yes, he flew up, not jumped up.

Pique jumped up with him, but was still pressed under Chen Hero.

In terms of jumping ability alone, Pique is no match for Chen Hero.

"Damn..." Seeing that the opponent was above him again, Pique felt angry!

This is the second time he has been suppressed by the opponent when competing for the header!

The game has only started for ten minutes. Before this, Napoli had already had a chance to score with a header. At that time, Chen Hero pressured him to jump up and compete for the header, but the football was slightly higher than the crossbar.

Here it comes again this time, and he lost again...

"Header!"

With the commentator's loud shout, Chen Hero headed the ball towards the goal!

This time it was goalkeeper Valdes who saved the team. He flew up and pushed the football out of the crossbar with a single palm!

"Whoa——!" A huge gasp sounded in the stands, and the home fans were frightened.

Chen Hero, who landed, clenched his fists and waved them in front of his chest, his face full of regret.

At this time, you can't see any flattery towards Barcelona on his face at all...

※※※

"This is Napoli's second threatening attack in the first ten minutes! The first one also came from Chen Hero's header! It seems that Napoli is planning to make a fuss about headers..."

"What is unexpected after the start of the game is that Napoli is actually in the dominant advantage... Their offense is quite sharp, especially in the air. Pique is responsible for defending Chen Hero, but judging from these two defenses, he may be a little struggling..."

The commentators exclaimed with wide eyes, unable to believe that this was the situation in the first ten minutes.

They thought that Barcelona would definitely establish an advantage from the beginning, firmly control the rhythm of the game, and pass the ball around. In this way, Napoli could only run behind the Barcelona players.

In fact, that's what Barcelona did in other games. Especially at home.

Who would have thought that at the beginning of this game, the visiting team Napoli took the lead and used a concise and efficient attack to attack Barcelona's defense, while increasing the defensive effort in the midfield, pressing Xavi, and sending De Jong to follow Messi closely, cutting off his connection with other Barcelona players.

After only ten minutes, Napoli was actually in the dominant position on the field.

Just ten minutes into the game, the technical statistics of possession rate were displayed on the screen. Everyone was surprised to find that Napoli actually tied with Barcelona in possession rate!

※※※

Valdes jumped up after rolling on the ground for a circle, spread his hands and shouted at Pique: "Gerard! Gerard! Focus, the game has been going on for ten minutes!"

Pique waved his hand at him: "I know, I know... Damn it!" He mumbled the last curse, not letting others hear it.

Okay, maybe I really wasn't focused enough...

He raised his hands and patted his temples, using this method to make himself clearer and concentrate.

Okay, kid, you can forget about heading the ball into the goal over my head next time!

The two are similar in height, Chen Hero is 1.93 meters, and Pique is 1.92 meters, but Chen Hero has a clear advantage in weight.

But Pique doesn't think this is the reason why he lost to Chen Hero twice in a row.

Goalkeeper Valdes's words are the correct answer.

When I get serious... you're in for a treat!