[Football] Bad Boy Batty

【Brazil Team-Tactical Analysis Room】

A few days before arriving in Russia.

Tite and his most trusted assistant Edu were there, watching videos of each player's club matches. This was the umpteenth time they had watched it since they were preparing for the World Cup, and each time they watched it they had a new experience.

What is being played repeatedly now is the Champions League final that just ended, the overhead kick from Batistuta.

“Maybe I should have listened to them and improved Batistuta’s tactical position.” Tite shook his head and sighed, “Look, he knows no one is watching him, so he’s quite relaxed. What a genius idea.”

"Yes, Romario was right. Brazil can't rely on Neymar alone to win." Edu fully agreed with his friend's praise for Batistuta, but soon he showed some concerns. "Bati is only 19 years old after all. Although he has talent and spirit, he lacks experience and is not mature mentally."

“He’s already been to two Champions League finals,” Tite said, shrugging. “I guarantee he has more experience in big tournaments than even half of the guys on the team, not to mention he’s won one of his two finals, a 50 percent win rate.”

"That's right, but I still hold my opinion that Neymar should be the core," Edu said. "Neymar participated in the 2014 World Cup and his performance over the years is obvious to all. The players trust him, which is something Batistuta cannot make up for with talent."

Yes yes, it's true.

Titt nodded.

"Then how about we use two cores?" He stood up and turned around twice with his hands behind his back. "Everyone knows that Neymar is the core of this Brazilian team. They will definitely deploy according to his characteristics. When they surround Neymar, they can't keep an eye on Batistuta, and if they go to target Batistuta, they have to let Neymar go. This is almost unsolvable!"

"In the best case scenario, yes," Edu replied, "but can they really be that selfless? I mean - Neymar needs the ball, and so does Batistuta. When one side starts dribbling past the other, the other side will definitely be anxious."

hiss--

Yes, this is a point that needs to be addressed.

Tite pursed his lips and looked at the paused screen. He took the remote control and played the video of last season's Champions League match. It was Batistuta's goal, the one that everyone talked about and won him the Puskas Award, the one that dribbled past six players and scored.

It's true that Batistuta is a genius, but he does need the ball.

His dribbling and passing are top-notch, as is his shooting, but running without the ball is more important in a club. What is the World Cup about? To put it in an extreme way, it is about individual ability, of course, the average individual ability of the team.

In the club, the players spend every day together, through a lot of training and life together, making them become a family, but the national team is different. Before the World Cup, most teams only have one month to train.

For teams like Brazil, many players will have to participate in the Champions League final, so they will have even less time to train together and develop tacit understanding.

Brazil is lucky to have talented players like Neymar and Batistuta, but how to make good use of them is a problem that he, as the head coach, has to solve.

When Neymar gets the ball, Batistuta can lurk behind the center forward, in the ribs, which is his favorite position for scoring. When Batistuta gets the ball, Neymar can go up the wing, whether it is cutting inside, crossing from the bottom or passing back with an inverted triangle, it is a great threat.

Marcelo and Alves can assist in defense, and Jesus can also be in front. During the time when Aguero was injured, Jesus almost became Manchester City's most powerful center forward. As for the false No. 9, there is Firmino in the Liverpool trident, and he can also be in front.

Overall, this is the strongest Brazilian team in recent years.

"Our ideal situation now is to have an offensive system with Neymar as the core and Batistuta as the auxiliary," Tite said. "I love Batistuta. He is the best among the younger generation in terms of both physical fitness and technology, but compared with Neymar, his organizational ability is much weaker."

"And he has a bad temper and gets angry easily." Edu added, "That's my second worry. Batistuta became famous too early, earlier than Neymar. At the end of last season, his value in Europe was over 100 million. If the opponents are smart, they will definitely study him, which means they know Batistuta's impulsive personality-"

"If they try to provoke him, he might become the first red card recipient in this World Cup," Tite continued.

Edu gave his friend a 'you know what I mean' look.

Tite sighed, prayed to God as usual, and then pinched his nose. Sometimes he really wanted to call Guardiola and ask him if he had instructions for Batistuta, but considering the crazy look of the other party who was caught on the sidelines from time to time, it was highly likely that he didn't have any.

and……

Speaking of Batty's bad temper.

Tite muttered, "That kid is still mad at me."

"What?" Edu was stunned. "Bati? Why is he angry with you?"

"Because of the number, we gave him No. 11, remember?" Tite turned around twice more and then sat back in his seat. "He wanted No. 9, but our No. 9 has always been a center forward. I can't let him break tradition."

Edu twitched his eyebrows: "How did you know? He was in a normal mood on the day the number was announced, and he even scored a goal in the match against Austria the next day."

"A player told me that he heard it from Neymar," Tite shrugged. "He was in a normal mood because Neymar was trying to comfort him. They won the Olympic gold medal together, and Neymar also went to the World Youth Championship with Batistuta last year."

"Well, Neymar and Batistuta are both not scheming, which is the only thing that can comfort us." Edu said jokingly, "Why does Batistuta want the No. 9 jersey so much? Is it because of Ronaldo?"

“No, because Ronaldinho is still on Batistuta’s blacklist, and he wore the No. 11 shirt.” Tite sighed. “Well, I’ll talk to him again today, and have a meeting in the evening. We’ll finalize the tactics tomorrow at the latest. Without a set of main tactics, we may not make it to the knockout stage.”

Edu couldn’t agree more.

……

Batistuta is a person who holds grudges and loves to complain. Even though the head coach has talked to him and the matter cannot be changed, he is still dissatisfied with having to wear the No. 11 jersey. Even the joy of training with his teammates over the past few days cannot ease his dissatisfaction.

"Just consider it as if it's for me. I've worn No. 11, too." Neymar returned to the room with two cups of pudding. Batistuta had just finished a shower and was sitting on the bed, wiping his wet hair (they had put the two beds together on the day he arrived). The No. 11 jersey with his name printed on it was placed in front of him. The boy stared at the number with disgust on his face.

"You wear No. 11 in Barcelona, ​​not in the Brazilian team." Batistuta replied. His eyes lit up when he saw the pudding in Neymar's hand, but turned back to disgust when he put it back on the jersey. "Now when I think about the media putting my photos with Ronaldinho together after the game, I get so angry that my teeth hurt!"

Neymar didn't give the pudding to Batistuta. Instead, he took out a spoon, scooped out a piece and put it to the other's mouth, enjoying the joy of feeding him.

"Just think of it as a legacy. I quite like seeing you wearing the number I used. It gives me a feeling of crossing time and space," he said.

"How much money did Ronaldinho give you to lobby me? I'll pay you double. Now shut up." Batistuta snorted unhappily and bit off the pudding on Neymar's spoon. "I'm not going to make a scene. I'm not going to strike if I'm not allowed to change. I'm just complaining. Is that not okay?"

"Okay, of course." Neymar continued to feed the pudding. "You complain about yours, I feed mine, and we don't interfere with each other."

Batistuta stopped eating pudding and looked at Neymar strangely.

"We are going to play Switzerland tomorrow, so act normal," he said. "Remember Argentina yesterday? Messi missed the penalty and they were tied 1-1 by Iceland, Iceland!" Speaking of the World Cup, Neymar returned to his professional state in a second.

"Leo's penalty kicks are not stable. It has been like this for many years." He shrugged. "But Argentina's draw with Iceland is really unexpected, even more unexpected than Portugal's draw with Spain."

"Is that what I'm talking about? I'm talking about the whole game. Why are you always paying attention to Messi?" Batistuta threw the half-dry towel used for wiping hair on Neymar's head. He just had his hair permed the day before yesterday and he was very fond of those little curls.

"Hey! Didn't you call Aguero too?" Neymar quickly pulled off the towel and straightened his ramen hair. "At least I didn't call Leo 'dear' and 'baby'. He is my friend. He helped me a lot when I first went to Barcelona."

"Kun also helped me a lot when I first went to Manchester City. Why don't you talk about this?" Batistuta complained and lightly kicked Neymar's calf.

"Ah! You hurt me! Coach, coach! I can't play next time!" Neymar hugged his calf and pretended to be in pain on the bed. "I'm going to sue you, Batistuta. If you don't want to go bankrupt or even go to jail, take out the [vibrating particle version] and let me wear it. Then you can come up and move yourself, maybe I will withdraw the lawsuit."

Batistuta put on a devilish smile, pushed away Neymar's hand that was holding his calf, and turned over and straddled him.

"This is so fake, my dear Ney. I need to ask my godfather to give you some acting lessons sometime." He patted Neymar's cheek and raised his chin. "Of course I can move on my own - my fist has been wanting to hit you in the face automatically for a long time!"

"Oh - are you really willing to do that? Look into my eyes and tell me again what is moving by itself."

"What's there to be reluctant about? What if I look into your eyes? I've seen many affectionate looks!"

"Really? Who else have you seen?"

"A lot. Do you want me to count them for you? First, Kai... Hey! You still want to turn over? Let me tell you, no one has ever succeeded in turning over after being pinned down and beaten by me!"

"Unless this is the case, hi dear Barty, you are now lying in front of me."

"That was just an accident. I am taller than the average height of the team."

"What does height have to do with it? And you're only 0.23 centimeters taller."

The two tossed back and forth on the bed, neither of them was serious, changing positions every half a minute. For Batistuta and Neymar, pressing each other on the bed and looking up at each other's bright eyes were almost the same pleasure.

at this time--

Marcelo knocked on the door and came in.

"It's time. We are going to watch the match between Germany and Mexico. Are you coming?"

Oh shit!
Forgot to lock the door!
Neymar was shocked, but just as he was thinking about how to explain his action of pressing Batistuta on the pillow, Marcelo waved his hand with disgust.

"Stop wrestling like a kid. You are all adults," he said. "Adults should do adult things. Remember to lock the door next time."

With that, the Real Madrid star left their room with his disgust.

Batistuta blinked, he and Neymar looked at each other, then they both jumped off the bed and trotted to keep up with Marcelo's pace, in perfect tacit understanding, and no one mentioned why they were in that posture when Marcelo opened the door.

"Continue later!" Neymar squeezed Batistuta's hand, then held it tightly, not letting him push it away. "They will definitely be paying attention to the game later, so no one will see it."

"Go away! Don't be such a sticky candy!" Batty shook his hand and tried to break free, "You are childish or not, I have no pressure to knock you down."

The two of them followed Marcelo to the room, playing and joking. They were the last to arrive. Almost everyone was there. Everyone was holding a yellow-green hand drum in their hands to liven up the atmosphere and celebrate Germany's goal.

Neymar and Batistuta's fight continued, but soon, the German team's not optimistic situation attracted their attention.

Thomas Muller, who is said to be born for the World Cup and scored 10 goals in the first two World Cups, was in a slump and was invisible throughout the game. The defense line without captain Lahm seemed to be still asleep and was easily passed by Mexican players.

Finally, in the 35th minute, the German team lost the ball and Mexico led 1-0. The camera turned to the stands and Mexican fans were celebrating wildly.

At the same time in Marcelo's room, the Brazilian players who were watching the game were silent for a few seconds, and then burst into thunderous laughter and celebration with tambourines.

Defending champion Germany, that’s it?

"What is going on in Löw's head? Why not play Sane? He doesn't watch the Premier League games at all, right?" Batistuta complained in confusion.

The camera turned to the German team's bench, where Sane was watching the game with his chin on his hand and a serious face.

"If they play like this, we can score 10 goals against them!" Batistuta said arrogantly, waving his hands. "But I doubt whether they can qualify from the group stage now. They play like this. I think they will kill themselves before we can get revenge."

"The prerequisite is that we can qualify as the group leader." The relatively stable Thiago Silva added.

Batty acted unconcerned.

"We'll definitely top the group, no doubt about it," he said. "Serbia, Switzerland, Costa Rica, we'll win them all easily, what do you think, Ney?"

"Of course! We will win all the games and qualify!" Neymar fully supports Batistuta, "We are not Argentina, we will never be upset!"

"Tomorrow will be a test for us, come on!" Alves, the most experienced player, also stood up to support him, "The first goal is to get all three points and beat Switzerland!"

"OOOOOOOOOOOO! Take Switzerland!!"

Instigated by them, everyone stood up to cheer for their first game. It is no exaggeration to say that everyone thought the same as Batistuta, but they just didn't dare to say it directly.

They are a five-star team like Brazil, how could they be controlled by Switzerland?

Then?

Then in the second day's game they were targeted by Switzerland.

(End of this chapter)