The Midfield Master

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On August 15th, the second round of the 2015-16 Premier League season, Everton challenged Southampton away. Xia Ze, Everton's offensive core in the second half of last season, sat on the bench.

Before the start of the game, the broadcast camera frequently pointed the camera at Xia Ze, as if trying to explain something through the language of the camera.

After yesterday's adjustments, Xia Ze's mood has recovered, and he is quite indifferent when facing the camera and the eyes of other fans.

Southampton's head coach slowly looked to Everton's side from time to time, as if thinking about why Martinez would put Xia Ze on the bench.

With Martinez's move, a week's worth of work seemed to come to naught.

It's like hitting the cotton with your fist when you try your best. That feeling is enough to make you vomit blood.

After the game started, Southampton's players were indeed like Koeman, unable to exert energy. After all, they have practiced targeted tactics for a whole week, from how to restrict Xia Ze, how to defend after marking Xia Ze to death, how to use the opponent's space on offense, etc., they have already studied thoroughly.

As a result, the opponent directly took Xia Ze, which made the Southampton players a little bit at a loss.

Especially Wanyama, he studied Xia Ze's video for a whole week, because the head coach told him that your task is to defend Xia Ze closely, and use various methods to prevent Xia Ze from showing his strength.

Now he's on the field and the guy he's manning is sitting on the bench. Could he also be on the bench, sitting next to Xia Ze?

While Southampton's players were distracted, Everton took the opportunity to take control of the midfield.

Gibson, Cleverley, and Barry all have strong running abilities. They lined up in the midfield and used running to take control of the midfield.

Without Xia Ze's connection in the frontcourt, they quickly passed the midfield and went directly to the wing, using Lennon and Miralas's wing assault ability to threaten the opponent's defense.

Everton's attack caught Southampton by surprise.

Lukaku scored two goals in a row in the first half, giving the team a 2-0 lead and sinking Everton's morale all at once.

No one thought that Everton would become sharper after Xia Ze, the offensive core, sat on the bench.

Whenever the midfield trio launched a threatening attack, the televised footage would find Xia Ze directly after the attack.

It seems to be saying that without Xia Ze, Everton's offense is more threatening.

"Gary, Xia Ze didn't play, Everton seems to be more threatening, what do you think?" Redknapp Jr. asked Gary Neville next to him after the first half.

"I don't think this is Everton's normal style of play. The reason why they were able to get a two-goal lead so quickly today is mainly because Southampton's targeted strategy made a mistake. They didn't expect Everton to send three goals. An engineer-type midfielder, he completely lost power in the midfield in the first half. This is not because Xia Ze is a cancer of the team. In fact, Xia Ze's help to Everton's offense is still very obvious." Gary Neville replied .

"It depends on how Southampton adjusts in the second half. If they can adjust well in the second half, they can still make a difference. At that time, we can see how Xia Ze can help the team after playing."

...

In the locker room of the home team, Southampton were frowning from top to bottom. Obviously, they fell behind by two goals in the first half, which made their morale very low.

"Everyone look up, it's not the end of the world now, we still have 45 minutes to fight, don't let the fans see your low will!" Koeman immediately shouted after entering the locker room.

Up and down Southampton, if you talk about big cards, it must be his biggest card. After all, Ronald Koeman is a well-known defender in the history of football. He has won important trophies such as the European Cup champion and the Champions League champion, and he still won the championship honor as the core of the team's defense.

So he has a high prestige in the Southampton team. After he said this, the Southampton players immediately looked up and raised their heads.

"Listen, they didn't send Xia Ze in the first half, so our targeted strategy failed. I didn't make adjustments to everyone in time. This is my mistake." Koeman saw that the players had recovered, first of all He admitted his tactical error.

"There is no need to mark their midfielders in the second half. We have to get the ball back and regain the initiative!" After Koeman finished speaking, he handed over to the assistant coach to arrange specific tactics.

After the start of the second half, Southampton regained possession of the ball as expected, while Everton shrunk their defense and their defense was in jeopardy.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Martinez quickly asked Xia Ze to warm up. Although he led by two goals, such a score was the most dangerous, so he had to make changes.

"Xia Ze went to warm up, and it seems that Martinez can't sit still." Little Redknapp said.

"It's just that after the mediocrity of the previous game, can Xia Ze regain his confidence in this game and help the team stabilize the situation?" Carragher said with some concern.

"Look at what this Chinese kid can do." Gary Neville was open-minded.

Xia Ze was summoned by Martinez, and he secretly encouraged him to help the team control the situation on the field in the limited playing time.

"Fast attack!" Koeman saw that although the team was suppressing the opponent, but it was too late to get back a goal, and Xia Ze was also about to play, he was also anxious and shouted towards the sidelines.

Southampton's players also accelerated their offensive pace. However, the loss outweighed the gain. They failed to attack. Instead, because the defense line was on the stage, Everton made a counterattack. Lennon scored and expanded the score to 3-0. .

Southampton, who had been on the offensive very violently, was immediately wiped out by Lennon's goal.

In the case of three goals behind, there are only more than 20 minutes left, and it is difficult for any team to recover from the defeat.

The Southampton fans in the stands have even left the field one after another.

Seeing this scene, Xia Ze couldn't help showing a wry smile on his face, not knowing whether to be happy or disappointed. I thought it was time for me to play a role after playing, but who knows that the game has come to garbage time before the substitute comes on.

In the 72nd minute of the game, Xia Ze replaced Miralas and hit the midfielder position, while Cleverley moved to the left and became a false winger.

After Xia Ze came on the field, although Southampton continued to attack, his momentum was obviously not as strong as before, so Xia Ze hardly broke a sweat, and the whole game ended. As a result, he naturally had no chance to perform. c