The characteristic of Greek league teams is a strong defense and a weak offense.

And Athens Aek relied on its watertight defense to slowly grind its way into the Europa League's top eight.

They were able to eliminate their opponents thanks to their defense, coupled with sudden long-range shots and free kicks.

They haven't scored a single goal from inside the penalty area!

So, from the very beginning, after Norwich kicked off, the Athens Aek players quickly retreated to their own half to defend, wasting no time.

And Norwich's team engine, Zhao Gang, was naturally given special attention.

As long as Zhao Gang crossed the halfway line, two midfielders would close in to defend.

Obviously, the Athens Aek coach had a vivid memory of Zhao Gang's performance against Arsenal in the previous Europa League match.

Those two long-distance lobs had an element of luck, but they had to be defended to the death!

And two defenders could also cut off Zhao Gang's receiving and passing.

Although doing so would increase the defensive pressure on the other players, this team was originally based on defense, and the players' defensive cooperation, cross-runs, and supplementary defense were very tacit.

As the Greek Super League champion last season and the runner-up this season, Athens Aek didn't come to Carrow Road thinking about winning!

They wanted a 0-0 draw, and then fight to the finish back home!

Five midfielders, two of whom were dragging behind, were practically indistinguishable from defenders.

Two midfielders marked Zhao Gang, and the remaining one organized the attack.

Zhao Gang strolled around, received a pass from a teammate, and passed it back to Phillip without even stopping the ball.

Seeing that Zhao Gang didn't choose to pass forward, the two Athens Aek defenders relaxed slightly.

Phillip received the ball, ready to look for an opportunity.

He was originally a midfielder who was good at controlling the game. Before, he cooperated with Wright, but now that Wright is injured and Zhao Gang has retreated, Phillip chooses to break through and pass the ball more often.

When Phillip got the ball, he looked ahead and saw nothing but Athens Aek players…

These guys didn't even have one player past the halfway line!

Even the forwards were standing behind the halfway line.

These players weren't thinking about scoring!

It was the first time Phillip had seen such a strange sight on the Europa League stage.

Before, they were the weaker side in defense, thinking about how to defend and then counterattack.

These guys were even more cowardly than Norwich's previous tactics, and they weren't even thinking about getting the ball and counterattacking!

They parked three buses in front of the goal!

This situation made Phillip feel a little overwhelmed for a while.

The other side is taking the initiative to show weakness and give up the attack, treating us as a strong team?

They aren't even making a symbolic attempt to steal the ball?

Phillip cooperated with the defenders, passing the ball a couple of times, and found that the opposing forwards were really just like two patrolmen, strolling around in their own half, not coming over at all!

Farke frowned as he watched the situation on the field.

The Athens Aek players were defending their half to the death, and their stamina was extremely abundant. Once the Norwich players crossed the halfway line, the Athens Aek players would be like they were injected with chicken blood, frantically besieging and pressing, defending desperately.

Making it impossible for the ball to cross the halfway line smoothly and form a relatively smooth attack.

And since Athens Aek wasn't attacking, Norwich had no chance to counterattack.

Hoolahan's speed and Zhao Gang's passing were difficult to display.

Of course, Zhao Gang saw through Athens Aek's tactics.

Norwich used this tactic often in the past to look for counterattacks.

But at least Norwich still placed a forward in front to tear apart the defense.

Athens Aek was preparing to directly play a tactic with ten defenders.

This coach is really something!

If Norwich couldn't break the deadlock, then Athens Aek would basically defend to the death and wouldn't attack easily.

Even if they did attack, the full-backs probably wouldn't assist, only letting the forwards and attacking midfielders run, stealing one if they could, and giving up if they couldn't.

The defenders wouldn't cross the halfway line and allow Norwich to easily break through the defense.

However, it might not be so easy to completely hold on to the score.

Set pieces and tall center forwards are good ways to break down a bus.

Especially since Norwich has Ospina and Mendi as two high points, and also has Zhao Gang, a free-kick expert.

Zhao Gang strolled around in midfield, with two defenders less than a meter away from him.

Zhao Gang had never encountered this scene before.

Before, he had only encountered one person marking him, but this was the first time he had seen two people closely watching him at all times, not even paying attention to their teammates' passing.

It felt like a group of amateur enthusiasts who didn't understand tactics would play like this.

Little did they know that this was a tactic that the Athens Aek coach had come up with because he had no other choice.

Seeing Zhao Gang's passing and shooting, he could only think of this way to deal with it.

Even the midfielders of top teams like Arsenal can't defend against him, so what can Athens Aek rely on to defend?

Once Zhao Gang finds an opportunity, there will be big problems!

So they could only resort to this strategy.

And it has to be said, the effect is not bad!

Halfway through the first half, it was very difficult for Norwich's ball to even get close to the dangerous area.

As long as Norwich had a chance to attack, the Athens Aek players would keep tackling, assisting, and kicking the ball away whenever they had the chance.

Their stamina and tacit understanding made Hoolahan and Ferhmann sigh and shake their heads non-stop.

"This… this Athens Aek's tactics are really… They didn't do this when they were playing in the Champions League!" Shen Jian looked at the situation on the field.

He had previously predicted that the strength of Athens Aek and Norwich was almost equal, and that it was very likely to be an evenly matched game.

But unexpectedly, Athens Aek directly acted like a tortoise with its head pulled in!

No matter how Norwich's players pass the ball in midfield, don't even think about me going out to press and counterattack.

We'll just pile up in our own half, and if you come over, we'll swarm you.

If you don't come over, we will never go out!

"Hey! This style of play, they're not thinking about winning at all! When they were in the Champions League, they could still counterattack against Bayern, but now that they're in the Europa League, against Norwich, they're not even counterattacking!"

"They really don't want to lose, and they're not thinking about winning!"

"Then at this time, it will test Norwich's ability to attack!"