Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 567 Facing Atletico Madrid
After the defeat, Pellegrini, unusually, lost his temper in the locker room, especially regarding the defense. The team's defense in this game was simply a mess, so it's no wonder that the usually good-tempered Pellegrini lost his temper.

However, he also knew that it would be difficult for the team to maintain a very good performance throughout the season.

It's also important to identify the team's problems after losing a game.

However, the team still canceled the holiday.

After a week of continuous training, they faced Elche away in the tenth round of La Liga.

Elche's performance this season remains poor, and they are currently hovering in the relegation zone. In Pellegrini's view, this is an opponent they must defeat.

Unfortunately, Granada still failed to defeat their opponent.

This was a very, very dull match.

After Elche scored a quick goal in the opening blitz, they immediately adopted a tight defensive formation, essentially a 10-0-0 formation. Their defense was extremely aggressive, and they pressed very hard. Faced with this impenetrable defense, Shan Yongzhuo had no good solutions.

In the first half, Shan Yongzhuo wasted three skills.

In the 76th minute of the second half, Shan Yongzhuo finally equalized the score with a free kick, but that was the end of it.

The final score was 1-1.

After the match, Granada's players were in a rather depressed mood.

Their eight-game winning streak at the start of the season made them a bit complacent, as they thought they were a top team in La Liga.

However, the two consecutive winless rounds have dealt them a significant blow.

So far, Granada has 8 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in 10 matches, which is actually quite good, but it can only rank them third in the league.

In this round of matches, Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 2-1 at home, winning the El Clásico.

Atletico Madrid, on the other hand, thrashed Real Betis 5-0 at home.

Both teams that stumbled in the previous round bounced back immediately in this match, quickly widening the gap with Granada.

"Elche has helped La Liga teams find a way to beat Granada!"

After the match, Spanish media also reported on the game, praising Elche's defense extensively.

They believe Granada's weakness has been fully exposed: the other players are of limited ability and lack offensive capabilities, making them unable to share the pressure with Shan Yongzhuo.

If Shan Yongzhuo is not in good form, or if he encounters a united defense like Elche's, he will find it difficult to perform well without the support of his teammates.

After all, it has been a long time since the entire football world has seen Shan Yongzhuo play the full match but only score one goal.

However, Shan Yongzhuo didn't care about these reports.

Having been in European football for several years, he's become quite the seasoned veteran, knowing some things that can't be said aloud.

That is, after all, he is an Asian player.

The fact that an Asian player has achieved such success in Europe is somewhat unsettling to Europeans who have traditionally looked down on Asian football.

They wouldn't feel this disgusted even if a Latin American player displayed unparalleled strength in Europe.

After all, in their subconscious, Latin American football, although it is still a little behind Europe, is still on the same level as Europe.

But Asia...

It's somewhat disheartening that an Asian player can dominate Europe and leave the rest of the continent helpless.

In the past, Shan Yongzhuo was so invincible that he was able to lead the team to eight consecutive victories even after arriving at a small club like Granada, which led them to praise and extol him.

And now, Granada does indeed seem to be in trouble as they predicted.

This made them very happy.

This shows that Shan Yongzhuo is not invincible; he also needs the support of his teammates! This means that the European powerhouses don't need to be so afraid of Granada!

Therefore, Shan Yongzhuo simply laughed off these comments.

However, after the match against Elche, the team had no time to relax, as the eleventh round of the league was just four days away.

In this round, Granada will travel to Madrid to play against Atletico Madrid away from home.

Atletico Madrid currently boasts a record of 9 wins and 1 draw, leading Granada by 3 points in second place in the league.

Pellegrini is taking this match very seriously.

In recent years, under the leadership of head coach Diego Simeone, Atletico Madrid has grown into the third strongest team in La Liga, after Barcelona and Real Madrid, making them the most formidable team in the league.

They are tenacious, aggressive in their tackling, and constantly produce very skilled strikers.

From Torres to Falcao, and now Diego Costa, Atletico Madrid produces phenomenal strikers—this is a consensus in European football.

Pellegrini was somewhat unsure of himself when facing Atletico Madrid.

The overall squad is simply not as good, so Pellegrini can only pin his hopes for victory on Shan Yongzhuo.

Shan Yongzhuo is also taking this match very seriously.

In his memory, Atletico Madrid ultimately defeated Barcelona to win the title this season, and they reached the Champions League final next season, so their strength should not be underestimated.

In this match, Pellegrini fielded the strongest lineup he could.

His preferred formation remains the 4-4-2.

In goal, Fernandez replaced veteran Rode.

In defense, Blind, Shawcross, Van Dijk, and Nyom lined up in a row.

The midfield consists of J. Romero, Nainggolan, Ziyech, and Oquez.

Up front, Shan Yongzhuo partners with Harry Kane.

However, in terms of the forward line arrangement, Shan Yongzhuo appears to be in a 4-4-2 parallel formation, but after the two discussed it, Shan Yongzhuo's position was slightly moved back, similar to a midfielder or attacking midfielder.

By dropping back to link up with the team's midfielders, he made the entire formation look more like a 4-4-1-1.

Shan Yongzhuo had no problem with this.

This positioning means he needs to run more, link up play more, and make runs forward at the right time to try and score.

This requires him to take on more responsibility; it's almost fair to say that the burden of attacking falls on his shoulders.

But there's nothing we can do about it.

For a long time, the midfield composed of players like Yaya Toure and Silva was strong enough, especially the flexible midfielders like Silva and Nasri, who were transformed into attacking wingers by Mancini, who could provide great support to Shan Yongzhuo even against strong teams.

However, Granada does not possess such capabilities.

Atletico Madrid's midfield is very strong, with a high level of tackling ability. Therefore, Nainggolan can only be used as a defensive sweeper, and the organization of the attack relies more on Ziyech alone.

As for the two flanks, these are Granada's weakest points, and they are basically unreliable.

Therefore, Shan Yongzhuo had to retreat to support Ziyech.

Ziyech, Shan Yongzhuo, Harry Kane.

Pellegrini has pinned his hopes on this central axis.

(End of this chapter)