What is an attacking defensive midfielder?

Chapter 135 Football Tactics Originating in the Former Soviet Union

"Go Leipzig!"

"Come on, Goodman! We're all falling behind!"

"We've fallen behind too quickly!"

Hao Ren walked to the sidelines and gestured to the home fans in the stands, "We're only down by one goal, what's the rush!"

"Oh!!"

Wow!!!

Clap clap clap!

The fans in the east stand immediately resumed their cheers.

They still trust Grandpa Niu too much!

However, gaining the trust of the fans is one thing, but winning the game is another.

Wolfsburg were also very cunning, immediately retreating to a defensive posture after the game resumed, determined to carry their lead into the second half.

With a 1-0 lead going into the second half, beating Leipzig will be a piece of cake, right?

Torres delivered a cross from a 45-degree angle!

Inside the restricted area!

boom!

Sebastian headed the ball away.

Kimmich ran over to get the ball.

Gustavo and Dost attacked from both directions!

"Give me!"

Klosterman ran up.

Seeing this, Kimmich pulled the ball back and turned right in front of Dost, then passed the ball from his right foot to his left.

One more acceleration!

Kimmich broke free from the double-team of the defenders!

Seeing that things were not going well, Gustavo stepped on Kimmich's foot.

boom!

"what!"

Kimmich curled up on the grass, his hands tightly clutching his ankles.

Hao Ren rushed over immediately, blocking Gustavo's path: "What do you want to do? What do you want to do?!"

Hao Ren pushed Gustavo away.

Of course, Gustavo wasn't having it either, so the two of them pushed each other several times until their respective teammates arrived.

YellowCard: Gustavo (VFL).

"The referee showed Gustavo a yellow card, and Leipzig's team doctor has entered the field."

"Judging from this situation—hiss, Kimmich doesn't seem to be doing very well—"

Generally, being stepped on only causes short-term pain that will subside on its own.

But Kimmich has been lying on the grass for some time now, which has inevitably caused concern among fans.

Hao Ren bent down, placing one hand on Poulsen's back, and watched as the team doctor examined Kimmich's injury.

"How is it?"

"I feel alright."

The answer to Hao Ren's question came not from the team doctor, but from Poulsen.

"You're not a doctor!"

Hao Ren gestured to Paulsen to be quiet and let the doctor answer.

"Hmm—I just checked, there's no fracture. We can just spray some pain reliever if it hurts."

"Are you going to continue?"

The team doctor confirmed with Kimmich and received a positive reply.

"Then we'll spray you some pain reliever."

After confirming that Kimmich was unharmed, the Leipzig players slowly stood up and gathered together to discuss their next tactics.

Trailing by one goal is definitely not an option, so the team's current plan is to equalize the score before the end of the first half.

After some thought, captain Poulsen made his decision: "Give the ball to Gudman and Marcel (Sabitzer) as much as possible. Their defensive midfield lacks protection, so we will be more effective attacking through the middle."

"You can do it, Goode, right?"

Paulsen confirmed with Hao Ren and received an affirmative answer.

"It might be a little tiring, but you know, I don't care about that."

"Ha ha!"

Several Leipzig players bumped fists with each other, getting ready.

Before the team prepared to take the set piece, Hao Ren specifically glanced in Gustavo's direction.

—

Gustavo could sense obvious hostility in Hao Ren's eyes.

Is this guy planning to avenge his teammates?

Hao Ren's eyes were sharp, that's true, but he was actually examining his system.

[Mission Progress: Assists (2/4) / Steals (8/12)]

2 assists or 4 steals.

For the average person, it would probably take about two games.

But since it's Mr. Goodman, one game is enough!

"Kein Weg ist zu weit, Kein Kampf ist zu hart! (No journey is far, no battle is difficult!)"

"Wir steh「n füreinander, Wir steh「n wie ein Mann! (We support each other, we are one!)"

RBL!

Boom!

"RBL!"

Bang bang bang!

"The energy of the Leipzig fans here—my goodness, haha!"

"Let's not even talk about Leipzig being a new team; their fans are just as good as those of established Bundesliga powerhouses like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund."

"That's absolutely true. After all, many fans here have watched Leipzig rise all the way up from the fourth division. Their cohesion needs no further proof!"

"Dant, find Gustavo!"

"Hao Ren, go for it!"

boom!

Hao Ren kicked the ball away from Gustavo.

Gustavo was forced to jump to avoid Hao Ren's tackle.

Although he wasn't injured, he lost possession of the ball because of it!

Kimmich, come up here!

"Don't rush, don't rush!"

Hao Ren gestured for Kimmich to wait a moment, then quickly got up from the grass and rushed towards where Poulsen was.

Kimmich passed the ball to Hao Ren.

Hao Ren drew attention and pressured the opponent.

Then pass the ball to Poulsen!

A very beautiful passing combination, with Poulsen making a decisive cut inside.

Hao Ren was right next to him, providing cover!

Ricardo was about to defend Poulsen one-on-one, but his teammate stopped him.

Because once Ricardo runs toward Poulsen, the Leipzig captain will immediately pass the ball to Hao Ren!

Depend on!

Seeing that his plan had been exposed, Hao Ren immediately rushed to the top of the arc and took his position.

At the same time, Sabitzer came from behind!

Received a pass from Poulsen!

Sabitzer stepped on the ball with his left foot and gently flicked it to the left.

The ball came to Hao Ren's feet!

"Oh!"

Guilavoji dove in front of Hao Ren, but failed to stop the latter's pass.

Wow!

Inside the restricted area!

Polsen!

boom!

Poulsen's shot hit Benaglio's hand, the ball bounced off the grass, and then into the net.

"TOORRRRRRR!!!"

"Goal!"

"Yusuf Poulsen! This is his first league goal since recovering from injury!"

"In the 35th minute of the first half, Leipzig equalized!"

Poulsen quickly turned around in the penalty area and pointed at Hao Ren with his index finger.

Hao Ren was making the same gesture at him.

"Sauber!"

Two Leipzig forwards—well, Leipzig's defensive midfielder and Leipzig's striker—were locked in a hug!

Wolfsburg is still too inexperienced. Why didn't they just park the bus when they were leading by one? Playing like that is just giving Leipzig a chance.

[Another assist from Hao Hao, the King of Football!]

[Sure enough, I told you Wolfsburg shouldn't have sold De Bruyne. They couldn't even beat Leipzig with De Bruyne, and now he's gone.]

[De Bruyne? He was neutralized by Mr. Goodman last season.]

[They've already said they're the biggest dark horse, and Wolfsburg still doesn't know what to do? This coach is really incompetent, maybe I should take over.]

"roar!!!"

Poulsen's fierce roar successfully intimidated the Wolfsburg fans in the away stand.

The camera focuses on Hecking, the head coach of Wolfsburg.

Of course, he also has another very impressive title:

One of the most invincible suitors of King Goodman!

Like other coaches such as Hasenhüttl, Hecking first offered Leipzig a contract for Hao Ren, and then got thrashed by Hao Ren in an official match.

Judging from his expression, this guy is a bit angry right now.

Perhaps he wanted to teach his players a lesson at halftime!

"Beep, beep!"

boom!

Hao Ren kicked the ball away, and at the same time the referee blew the whistle to end the game.

[Mission Progress: Assists (3/4) / Steals (8/12)]

Hao Ren opened the task interface and checked it, and keenly noticed something was wrong.

Damn it!

This steal wasn't counted against him!

Hao Ren gritted his teeth, looking somewhat annoyed on camera.

"This is what we were talking about before, Hao Ren, he has a very strong desire to attack."

"As long as the race isn't over, he'll keep running, even if he's exhausted."

"Yes, most Leipzig fans are very happy with the score of 1-1, but we can see that Hao Ren is clearly not satisfied."

hiss----

It seems like these two CCTV commentators came with a mission.

I'm somewhat neutral; I'll think about it some more if I'm not sure!

"Our on-the-spot adjustments were excellent, and our decision to attack the mid lane was the right one."

Rangnick praised Poulsen's decision.

At that moment, the Leipzig captain was sitting in his seat, raising an eyebrow at Hao Ren.

Hao Ren shrugged, but still gave Paulsen a thumbs up in the end.

To be fair, Youssef has done a very good job as captain.

"Our goal for the second half is, of course, to score more goals. We beat Wolfsburg last season when we were still in the 2. Bundesliga, so I don't need to say more this season."

"We must win! There's no reason to lose!"

While seated, Hao Ren ate a banana, then suddenly remembered something and asked Klosterman, "Where's Kevin?"

Seeing that his teammates didn't react, Hao Ren added, "It's that slightly dull-looking blond guy with slightly rosy cheeks. He has freckles on his face, but they're not very noticeable."

"Oh, De Bruyne!"

Klosterman realized, "I don't know either, they must be gone?"

"Of course I know he's gone, otherwise I would have seen him today. Hmm—do you know where he went?"

"I don't know."

Klosterman shook his head, while Hao Ren sighed in disappointment.

"De Bruyne went to Manchester City, what happened, Goode?"

Kimmich noticed their conversation.

"Manchester City — well. It's okay, just a bit of a shame. I think that guy is pretty interesting. I really enjoy playing against him."

"Good, when you say 'interesting,' are you referring to his ball skills, or to him as a person?"

"I think so."

Hao Ren shrugged: "But there's nothing we can do about him going to Manchester City. Yeah, he really should go to a better club. Hopefully, we'll run into him again."

How did we end up facing Manchester City?

"I wasn't talking about this season! There will always be opportunities, Chicken Bro!"

The game has entered the second half!

Wolfsburg made no substitutions.

For Leipzig, after asking Kimmich for his opinion, Rangnick decided to keep the latter on the field.

If your foot gets stepped on by a sneaker, as long as you don't break a bone, there shouldn't be any problems!

"Wolfsburg at this moment—oh, I get it, they're putting Leipzig under pressure."

"It's the classic strategy: attack where the opponent is weak!"

Leipzig's defense once again became the target of attacks.

Sebastian had just received the ball when Kruse and Dost charged straight at him.

They wanted to find Hao Ren to provide backup, but he was blocked by Gustavo.

*Smack!*

Left with no other option, Sebastian kicked the ball forward.

"Oh!"

"Shh!!!"

The boos from the away stands made the Leipzig players on the field look grim.

The opponent will relentlessly exploit your weaknesses.

What should we do?!

"Good, retreat! Retreat! And KC (Kimmich) is still here!"

Rangnick greeted him, once again calling Kimmich "Chicken Bro."

It would be a lie to say that Rangnick wasn't worried about Wolfsburg's strategy of exploiting weaknesses.

Everyone is afraid of having their weaknesses exploited.

Especially cows, which are large mammals!

Not long after the start of the second half, Leipzig quickly changed their formation, switching from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-2-2.

The two attacking midfielders are Sabitzer and Werner!

A double defensive midfield setup would be even more impressive.

KFC combo!

"Hao Ren is chasing after them!"

"Hao Ren is having trouble keeping up!"

"Hao Ren's speed is still a bit lacking!"

"Träsch, pass the ball!"

Outside the penalty area, Kruse received the ball and unleashed a long-range shot that flew directly into the stands.

Oh!

so close!

The fans at the scene were absolutely terrified.

The good thing is that Wolfsburg's strikers were very unreliable today!

"Leipzig's double pivot formation is definitely more defensively solid than a 4-3-3. But we must remember that Hao Ren and Kimmich, the so-called 'KFC duo,' are both relatively slow."

"Yes, that's why Leipzig is very afraid of this kind of fast sprint through the middle, which is also one of the many attacking tactics that Wolfsburg adopted in the second half."

The camera focuses on black and gold.

The away team's coach, who had a sullen face in the first half, now had a serious expression.

As Leipzig's reputation grows in the Bundesliga, more and more tactics are being developed to counter them.

High pressing in the attacking third + dribbling through the middle.

These two tactics targeted Leipzig's penalty area and defensive midfield respectively, effectively pinning them down!

Wolfsburg is having beef today!

[What a load of rubbish! Leipzig hasn't even started yet. Do they even know what a dark horse is?]

Time slowly ticked down to the 65th minute.

[Mission Progress: Assists (3/4) / Steals (10/12)]

With his positioning shifted back, Hao Ren's steal frequency increased rapidly.

At the current pace, completing the task before the end of the competition shouldn't be too difficult.

However, Hao Ren was clearly not satisfied with this.

Leipzig needs a win!

boom!

Kimmich took a free kick, but it flew directly over the crossbar.

"Depend on!"

"It's alright, it's alright, come back quickly, Chicken Bro!"

"They've retreated to defend!"

"A long pass from Naldo's backfield!"

"Give it to Draxler!"

"Draxler dribbles the ball and then passes it towards the byline!"

Klostermann kept a close eye on the player with the ball.

The Leipzig defender wasn't in a rush to defend; he was waiting for his teammates to provide support.

Mr. Goodman is on his way!

Now is the time!

Klostermann suddenly stepped forward, and the ball was punched away.

Kruse, who was standing nearby, got the ball.

"here!"

Draxler moved towards the penalty area, and Kruse cut inside and passed the ball.

Snapped!

Hao Ren kicked the ball out of bounds!

[Mission Progress: Assists (3/4) / Steals (11/12)]

"pretty!"

Orban specifically came out and gave Hao Ren a fist bump.

However, judging from the footage, Hao Ren's condition was not very good at this time.

The pressure on him to provide support is immense!

"Gulasic, pull out your big foot!"

Hao Ren was near the center circle, next to Gustavo who was marking him.

The ball was clearly flying towards him, so he needed to prepare to stop it.

Klosterman tried to run over to help, but he figured it was too late.

Depend on!

Hao Ren gritted his teeth, first nudged Gustavo beside him with his shoulder, and then raised his right foot.

Snapped!

With a backheel pass, Hao Ren, standing with his back to goal, successfully flicked the ball to Forsberg on the left wing!

Wow!!!

"My God, what a pass!"

"Forsberg broke right past the defender!"

"Wolfsburg's defense has been breached!"

Knowing he had just pulled off a spectacular play, Hao Ren felt a surge of satisfaction, but he didn't forget to move forward to provide support.

He's still one assist away from being able to get one more!

Forsberry!

Snapped!

A cross from the left wing found Werner in open space.

Werner is looking for Poulsen!

Snapped!

Poulsen passed the ball back, followed by Sabitzer's powerful shot.

"Holy crap!"

Hao Ren stood still.

Well, he's still running too slowly.

"T0OOORRRR!!!!!"

"Sabitzer scores!"

"2:1!"

"That was a beautiful fast break from Leipzig!"

The situation on the field suddenly reversed, and the stadium instantly became agitated.

[Replay]

"Gulasic—oh, Hao Ren's outside-of-the-foot crossover, haha! So clever."

"Yes, Hao Ren's pass was indeed the key to Leipzig's goal."

"Coach Liu, I don't know if you know something. Two years ago, didn't we all say that Hao Ren was selected by the Leipzig coach because of his outstanding one-on-one defensive talent? Actually, it's not just defense. A coach friend of mine at Evergrande Football School told me that Leipzig also valued Hao Ren's talent."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"Yes, we usually use the word 'spirit' for wingers and attacking midfielders. Although Hao Ren is a defensive midfielder, his performance on the field at that time certainly deserved the description of 'spirit'."

"He has the physique and football IQ. Leipzig's assessment at the time was that Hao Ren had the ability to be a starting player in the 2. Bundesliga, which is why they decided to make the move."

According to the commentator, Leipzig initially bought Hao Ren as a cheap young player to help the team get promoted from the 3rd division to the 2nd division.

Unexpectedly, Hao Ren exploded into form as soon as he entered the 2. Bundesliga, leading the team to promotion to the Bundesliga in just one season.

This guy can even score C in the Bundesliga!

As a transitional player/financial manager, Hao Ren is actually a hidden super lottery ticket!

Leipzig, don't panic, Grandpa Niu is the Dragon King War God!

boom!

[Mission Progress: Assists (3/4) / Steals (12/12)]

Current status: Completed.

Although he didn't get a second assist, Hao Ren still managed to complete his task before the end of the game.

After 4 minutes of added time, the match officially ended.

[Match results in progress————]

[League Points +15]

[Achievement: 150 LP in Gold tier (LP required for promotion: 350)]

This match between Leipzig and Wolfsburg is their last Bundesliga game in October.

This victory also means that Leipzig has achieved a perfect record in the league in October!

After the match, the Leipzig players chatted about the league standings in the locker room.

Kimmich and Klostermann huddled together, waiting for Sabitzer to operate the phone.

Seeing that there was no space to squeeze in, Hao Ren took out his phone.

2015-16 Bundesliga Standings (Round 10 completed):

1. Bayern Munich, 28 points.

2. RB Leipzig, 26 points.

3. Borussia Dortmund, 21 points.

4. Bayer Leverkusen, 18 points.

5. Schalke 04, 16 points.

"Damn, is Bayern really that ruthless?"

Hao Ren took a deep breath: "We're still two points behind them. Hmm—so Bayern are currently tied by one point."

"You won the other nine games, but not this one?"

"Good, you saw the standings at dinner yesterday. You said that yesterday too!"

"This is completely different. Yesterday we had one less game, but now we have the same number of games."

Hao Ren explained.

Only a fair comparison can reveal the true differences!

"How about that? You feel how strong Bayern is now, right? Actually, Dortmund isn't doing badly this season either. If they hadn't lost to us, they would have 24 points now."

Almas crossed his arms and started talking to Hao Ren about their league rivals.

"The main reason is that we've been on a winning streak and haven't lost a single game, so we had the feeling that we were already number one in the league, but it turned out to be just an illusion," Hao Ren shrugged.

"Ha ha!"

"It's okay, just be content. We're not even halfway there yet."

Almas took this opportunity to tell the team why they shouldn't open the champagne too early.

Teams in the same league are analyzing Leipzig's tactical details at a visible pace.

Second place in 10 rounds is nothing.

To secure Champions League qualification after all 34 rounds are truly impressive!

Dongqiudi Match Report: RB Leipzig came from behind to defeat Wolfsburg 2-1, achieving a perfect record in the league in October and remaining unbeaten in 14 matches across all competitions this season.

Hao Ren: We've been winning the league consistently, so there's a misconception that we're already in first place. Looking at the standings, I see we're still only two points behind Bayern. If given the chance, I hope to play Bayern again.

[I, Hao Qiuwang, am a real sly one. Knowing that we won't be facing Bayern Munich for the next few months, I quickly made a boastful comment.]

Hao Ren is good at interviewing, but to be honest, Leipzig's weaknesses have all been exposed now. If they play Bayern again, they might get thrashed.

[So, it's good to talk big now. Once the second half of the league season starts, Hao Ren won't mention Bayern anymore, because they'll really clash.]

Stop slandering my Grandpa Niu! All you haters, get lost!

[Will Bayern Munich crush RB Leipzig? That's hard to say. Nobody knows exactly how strong Leipzig is. I doubt even their players know.]

Four days later, Leipzig will play their second-round German Cup match at home against Hannover 96.

Leipzig fans have a lot of disdain for Hannover as an opponent.

Clearly, in the hearts of Leipzig fans, the team's unbeaten record will continue until November!

Just as Leipzig fans were celebrating their early victory in the German Cup, a news item from the UK caught everyone's attention.

442 Long Article: High-Position Press and Positional Ambiguity: A Surprise Attack? In-Depth Analysis of Rangnick's "Heavy Metal Football".

"High pressing, rapid transitions between attack and defense, spatial control, and positional blurring—Ralf's tactical approach is a major reason for Leipzig's success in the league and European competitions this season."

"Many fans are surprised by Leipzig's winning percentage. Normally, a newly promoted team shouldn't be able to maintain a three-month unbeaten streak while competing on three fronts. But according to the analysis of experts from 442, there is some reason behind this phenomenon."

"We've discovered that Rangnick's tactics originated in the former Soviet Union. This is very likely the fundamental reason why Leipzig has a perfect record against Bundesliga teams."