Atlanta's short period of intensive schedule in February is actually only an appetizer, and the real intensive period should be counted from the continuous schedule in mid-March, and from mid-April until the start of the season in May.

The long period at the end was an extremely terrifying schedule. There was a longer offseason between these two intensive schedules, which was also the last precious time for them to arrange everything properly and reasonably.

Atlanta is bound to face more two-front battles in the future, and it is very likely that the games on both sides will be more important. In this situation where neither side can give up, how can we make the current lineup more reasonable and have a certain degree of success?

The depth of the bench has been put on the agenda.

After suggestions from several key players in the team and final discussions with the coaching staff, two lineups with relatively different but capable players were finally decided. The first lineup naturally included the new players.

The current optimal lineup, and the second lineup is the earlier lineup. Although it is slightly inferior in offensive and defensive capabilities, the stability is not bad at all. No matter which lineup appears,

Li Zhaodu is the player with the highest participation rate among them, and will also be the one who is the most tired. Fortunately, his own physical fitness and physical fitness are also the best in the team, so he can basically cope with it.

However, any adjustment in formation and tactics will eventually be tested in actual combat. Although this offseason has given the players sufficient rest, it has not yet been long enough for them to practice both lineups to a mature level.

, the next stage of the competition has started again.

The first game to arrive is the first leg of the Europa League round of 16. Atlanta will face Red Bull Salzburg at home on March 8. The opponent is the team of kings from the Austrian league, but its strength is not as strong as the European giants at this stage.

It is still an obviously weak one among them. Despite this, the entire Atlanta team still dare not show any contempt and sent out the strongest lineup to face the enemy. Even though their own strength is already stronger than their opponents and they are playing steadily.

, with Li Zhao's two goals and Ronaldinho's goal, Atlanta finally won the first round with a score of 3-0, which was a good start for the new journey.

It's just that this good sign doesn't have much practical effect. The next journey is the real devil's journey. In the next week or so, they will experience four consecutive away games.

The intensive schedule of the first stage completely pales into insignificance.

Since the 26th and 27th rounds of Serie A, which were supposed to be held earlier, were postponed to March 14th and April 3rd, after a two-day break, the 28th round of away games was played first.

Against Bologna, which was in the middle and lower reaches, Gasperini still adopted the starting lineup from the previous game. However, Bologna's strict defensive strategy made him somewhat miscalculated. In addition, most of the players in this game were frustrated.

The state was only average, so they were unable to open up the situation for a long time. In the end, it was thanks to Li Zhao's free kick at the last moment that they were able to pass the 1-0 danger.

Although Atlanta finally won the last game, the unreasonable use of the lineup paved the way for subsequent games. And this is just the beginning. After another two days of rest, the next step is

The make-up matches of the previous 26th round of the league.

Faced with such consecutive away games, the main players felt a little exhausted physically and mentally, so Gasperini really wanted to use the second lineup to face the enemy. However, this time they faced the worst team.

It was a game that could not be lost, and the opponent was also the biggest obstacle to winning the league - Juventus. After some struggle, the desire to win still took over, so they could only let the main lineup continue to work hard.

In the first three meetings between the two teams this season, Atlanta has won all of them and seems to have a natural psychological advantage. However, encountering them under current circumstances is the worst situation, and the progress of the game is also very good.

proved this.

The players did try their best throughout the game, but they were unable to perform to their true level when they were exhausted physically and mentally. Even though Dyna made many desperate saves throughout the game, it was difficult to stop him because of the back-up failure.

The continuous conceding caused by the sluggish state of the defense resulted in a 1-3 defeat in this contest. If it weren't for Wang Ziyi's header at the last minute to help Atlanta save some face, they would have lost even more ugly.

, and the thirteen-game winning streak became their best record when the winning streak was ended. At least this season, they no longer need to worry about this goal, and it is impossible to surpass it again in the remaining games.

Although Atlanta was still at the bottom with a 5-point advantage, which allowed Atlanta to firmly occupy the league leader's position, the loss in this battle quickly narrowed the gap between the two teams in the standings. If they lose another game, it will be

There is a possibility of overturning.

However, as the saying goes, misfortune never comes singly. On the morning of the second day after finishing this league game, Atlanta had to rush to Salzburg, Austria, to play an away game in the second leg of the Europa League round of 16.

Faced with such an extremely unreasonable back-to-back away game, Gasperini finally had to use the second lineup this time.

But some players in the second team also play important roles in the rotation. Although the competition is not as intense as the main players, they have also experienced these two games with the team, so their condition at this time may not be good.

Where to go? Considering the huge lead in the first round, so this time when formulating tactics, they simply adopted a relatively safe defensive counterattack style. Gasperini looked at Li Zhao who was also very tired, and thought

They asked him to take a good rest, but Li Zhao still insisted on going with him, and was eventually placed on the substitute list for this game.

Compared with the passive beating in the first round, Salzburg became extremely aggressive this time at home. Gasperini obviously underestimated the opponent's fighting will and ability. In addition, his own players

We were collectively out of shape, so after the game started, we were completely suppressed by the opponent in turn.

However, Atlanta's goalkeeper in this game was the former team's second goalkeeper Gollini, who was also inferior in ability, so he made constant mistakes in the game. He had already conceded two goals in a row before the first half was over.

Ball. Seeing that the situation was already in danger, Gasperini had no choice but to urgently replace the original No. 1 goalkeeper Berisha who was still recovering. This forced substitution finally prevented Atalanta from conceding any further goals for the time being.

The team was able to survive the rest of the first half with difficulty.

After the start of the second half, Salzburg continued to put pressure on the away team at halftime. Although Berisha was in really good condition today, it was difficult to stop the opponent's continuous attacks. By the 73rd minute of the game, Atlanta's goal was still

It was broken again, but it is not easy for the team's defense to persist until this time and maintain such a score. Perhaps the total score of 3-3 gave the home team players the idea of ​​​​relaxing a little, so the subsequent offense instead

It wasn't that intense anymore, and Gasperini replaced Li Zhao on the field at this time.

Li Zhao's physical condition is pretty good at this time. Although his appearance cannot provide direct help to his own defense, it can greatly disrupt the opponent's line and make the home team more hesitant when attacking, which can be regarded as an indirect relief.

It relieved a lot of defensive pressure on our side. And its effect didn't end there. Compared to the sporadic counterattacks that were less effective before, Atlanta's counterattack from this moment on really looked like what a strong team should look like.

In the 82nd minute of the game, Salzburg's defense also made a fatal error. Midfielder Shamas Seko's back pass was obviously too weak, but this opportunity was accurately caught by Li Zhaozhao.

He rushed to grab the ball before the opponent's defender, and then calmly pushed the ball into the far corner of the goal when facing the opponent's goalkeeper.

1-3, although Atlanta was the lagging side in this game, Li Zhao's goal seemed particularly precious. Although Salzburg scored again in injury time, the score of 4-1 at home showed that the score was 1-3.

It seemed that it had fully avenged the previous away humiliation, but Atlanta still relied on its weak away goal advantage to become the winner that successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.

Although the final result was not bad, the two consecutive away games still made everyone in Atlanta feel ashamed. The 29th round of the league on March 18 was their last away game at this stage.

After this battle, there will be nearly two weeks of rest, not to mention that the opponent in this round of the league is Verona, a team recognized as a weak team in the league, so although the players are now physically and mentally exhausted,

They were tired, but they still used their last remaining strength to fight with all their might.

In the face of Atlanta's rekindled fighting spirit, Verona, which was second to last in the standings this season and was almost certain to be relegated, did not last long before surrendering early, but Atlanta had no intention of stopping.

It vented the frustration of the previous two losses and ended with a 5-0 victory over the opponent. However, Juventus was defeated by another mid-to-lower team that was on the verge of relegation in this round of road trip.

The team tied the game and thus returned a large amount of points that they had managed to catch up with previously.

In any case, Atlanta finally had a good opportunity to rest and adjust after ending this devilish schedule. Although the whole process seemed bumpy, they finally managed to persevere without any danger. Now what they have to do is

The most important thing is to take advantage of this rare rest time to further improve the two lineups, and summarize the lessons learned from previous failed games, in the hope of doing better and persevering in the last wave of crazier and longer devilish schedule.

In addition to the overall technical and tactical drills of the team, in order to promote the improvement of the personal technical level of the players, mutual guidance is also essential, and Li Zhao also showed some of his unique skills without any secret.

Teaching. Although these stunts are relatively simple in his current arsenal, they are still very demanding for ordinary players. Some people's understanding ability is sufficient, but their physical fitness is not up to the level of performing the skills.

However, some people are just the opposite; after all, there are only a few people who can do both, plus some other talent limitations, so you can imagine how many people can eventually do these actions as well as him.

And know it.

But there are still people in the team who can meet all these requirements, such as Wang Ziyi and Leonard. This may also have a lot to do with their own abilities and talents and their extremely high matching with Li Zhao. This

Together, the two of them have mastered nearly 70% of the skills in Li Zhao's current arsenal. It can be said that except for the two most difficult skills to master in the arsenal, Xuanji Refraction and Trisolaris Meteor, they have dabbled in all the others. It's just that

There is still some shortcomings in proficiency, but given time, it will become a great thing.

On the other hand, Li Zhao's current comprehensive ability value has reached 99 points through the latest evaluation of the system, which is close to the peak of top stars and has initially explored the edge of legendary star strength. However, he still feels that his efforts are not enough.

He wants to further improve his abilities in all aspects, so as to reach the same level as the two most powerful stars in the world as soon as possible and surpass them. And he always feels that even the legendary star rated as the highest level by the system

It is still not the limit of a football player, and it seems that there is some kind of hidden secret door that he is not aware of. At this stage of his life, if he wants to continue to seek rapid breakthroughs in ability values, it is obviously not possible to rely solely on continuous mechanical training, and

It is impossible to create new killing moves in a short period of time, so we can only start from some of our own shortcomings and other unknown areas.

Originally, his biggest shortcoming was heading, but through continuous improvement, now, although his heading is not outstanding, it is above the average of players of the same level, and it is no longer considered in a practical sense.

shortcomings, and for a while I couldn’t find a new clear target to start with.

Just when he had no clue, he suddenly thought of his grandfather and the "Ju Jing" he had studied with him. It just so happened that his old man had just arrived at his home in Bergamo City for two days, and his grandfather and grandson had indeed

I haven't seen him for quite a while. After finishing today's morning class, he applied to the head coach for a trip home. In view of Li Zhao's self-discipline and his status, Gasperini usually satisfies some of his reasonable requests.

requirements, and the same is true today.
Chapter completed!