January 20th, the 19th round of Serie A.

  Napoli against Lazio at home for the sed time in four days.

  As soon as referee Gianluca Rocchi blew the whistle to start the game, Napoli unched a fierce offensive against Lazio, just like they did ialian Cup match three days earlier.

  Laziled to hahis onsught and soon ceded a goal again.

  But this time, after winning possession, Napoli didn't immediately initiate a terattack. Instead, they opted for a patient approach, carefully trolling the ball.

  When Thiago Motta dropped back to receive a pass from his teammate, he raised his right hand high, signaling his teammates to stay calm and posed.

  Napoli began to push forward slowly, while Lazio hurried back to defend.

  As they reached the front third of the field, Napoli first attempted to break through on the right fnk with Sanchez. However, Lazio's left-back Korov held his ground, giving Napoli no openings. Forced to pass the ball back to Thiago Motta, the team then shifted their attack to the left, hoping Di Maria could make a breakthrough.

  Ihird mihis attack led to the game's first shot on goal.

  i took a long shot from outside the penalty area, but it sailed over the bar.

  Lazio's goalkeeper Ballotta took a goal kick, but David Luiz won the aerial duel, heading the ball down. Thiago Motta seized the sed ball, trolled it, and quickly passed to Bonucci.

  Under pressure from Tare, Bonucci returhe ball to Motta, who moved left and passed tas in open space.

  Lazio was forced to retreat quickly to reestablish their defense.

  Napoli, however, tiheir slow and steady adva.

  At this point in the game, everyone realized Napoli's strategy had shifted.

  …

  Lazio was using a 4-3-1-2 formation, with only one lineup ge from the cup match.

  Napoli, oher hand, had made signifit adjustments.

  They had shifted to a sophisticated 4-3-3 formation.

  Lineup:

  Goalkeeper: Handanovic.

  Defense: Vargas, David Luiz, Bonucci, Lichtsteiner.

  Midfielders: Biglia, Thiago Motta, Parejo.

  Forwards: Di Maria, i, Sanchez.

  Before the game, Gao Shen had a direct versation with Thiago Motta, inf him that he wasn't part of the cup mat. Gao Shen wanted him to focus on the league game instead.

  Tonight, Napoli's tactics were clear: trol the ball.

  They aimed to exploit their strengths in ball possession and teical skill, using possession to draw their oppos bato their half.

  This tactiot only saved Napoli's energy but also allowed them to leverage their teical and ball-trol advantage.

  Gao Shen was hoping that Lazio would take the bait and press forward for the ball.

  If Lazio pushed up, gaps would appear in their defense, providing Napoli with sg opportunities.

  What worried Gao Shen most was if Lazio chose to sit bad defend passively, as that could pose difficulties.

  Napoli's biggest at the moment was managing their stamina, as they couldn't afford a war of attrition.

  That's why Gao Shen had built up the hype before the game, using psychological tactics to provoke Lazio, hoping that coach Rossi and his pyers would adopt a mgressive strategy uhe pressure.

  But judging by the game so far, it seemed that Rossi was being quite servative.

  Would Lazio tio defend tightly without pressing forward?

  Gao Shen wasn't oo go into battle without fidence, and he had specifically paired Parejo and Biglia in the midfield for this purpose.

  When the game reached the 15th minute, Parejo attempted a pass outside the penalty area but was blocked by Lazio midfielder Mutarelli. However, Parejo maain trol of the ball.

  After stopping the ball, the Spanish midfielder quickly turo evade the defeook a step forward, and preteo aim for i, only to send a sudden through pass into the right side of the penalty area.

  Sanchez cut in from the right, caught up with the ball, and fired a low shot.

  Unfortunately, the angle was too tight, and goalkeeper Ballotta was able to save it by diving to the ground.

  Although it didn't result in a goal, Sanchez gave Parejo a thumbs-up from afar in appreciation.

  The beautiful pass also drew warm appuse from the crowd at Stadio San Paolo.

  "Well done, Daniel!" Gao Shen cheered loudly.

  Even though they didn't score, it served as a warning to Rossi, telling the Lazio coach: "You 't win by just defending, so you'd better obey."

  …

  Sanchez's shot nearly drove Rossi insane.

  He rushed to the sidelines, shouting instrus at his pyers.

  He felt the earlier pse was due to a defensive issue in the midfield that a young pyer had exploited.

  But after berating his pyers aurning to his spot, Rossi felt a twinge of fear.

  He had to admit that the pass was both beautiful and clever.

  It had deceived Lazio's defenders, nding perfectly in a spot to cause maximum trouble.

  "Damn it, that guy's so lucky!" Rossi muttered, gng at Gao Shen who was enthusiastically cheering for Parejo from the Napoli dugout.

  Creativity and midfield anization were sorely g throughout Serie A.

  During the summer transfer window, both Inter Min and A had vied for Emerson, one of the few creative midfielders in Serie A.

  Pyers like Aquini from Roma and Montolivo from Fiorentina were also highly sought after.

  Napoli, however, had assembled a squad ri creativity and skill. Rossi couldn't help but wonder where Gao Shen had found so many talented pyers.

  Now, Rossi and Lazio were fag a difficult choice.

  If they tio sit bad defend, Napoli would keep trolling possession, using Parejo's precise passes and the wing attacks to create openings. The decision hinged on how fident Rossi felt about his team's defense.

  Oher hand, if they pushed forward, they would also be taking a big risk.

  Pressing up would open gaps for Napoli to exploit, making Lazio more vulnerable.

  However, if Lazio pressed forward, they might be able to engage Napoli in a more open battle and perhaps even unch terattacks.

  But for now, Rossi couldn't think of a better strategy.

  He had to admit that Lazio was outmatched in terms of strength and tactics, leaving them with limited options, all of which carried siderable risks.

  Until a better solution emerged, Rossi decided to maintain the current approach.

  …

  Lazio tio defend, and Napoli's possession rate began to climb.

  Gao Shen was in no rush, keeping the game steady.

  With nearly 70% ball possession, Napoli's dominance was evident. But as someone who had experiehe glory of Bara's Dream Team III, Gao Shen saw this as only the beginning.

  Seventy pert? An 80% possession rate was nothing special in his eyes.

  Gao She fiuning his team's tactics, fog primarily on stant movement from his pyers.

  Ih mihiago Motta made a precise pass to i, who held off his marker, trolled the ball, spun, and shot with his right foot. The shot was saved by the goalkeeper but clipped the crossbar.

  The ensuing er caused chaos in the box, but Napoli still couldn't score.

  Just four mier, Napoli created another opportunity.

  Biglia bined with Di Maria and Vargas on the left fnk, leading to a er kick.

  Parejo took the er, delivering the ball accurately to Thiago Motta in the box.

  The Brazilian midfielder, tall and powerful, got to the ball and headed it directly, but it again hit the crossbar.

  This was Napoli's most threatening shot sihe start of the game.

  Everyo a bit defted.

  Gao Shen tio ence the team from the sidelines, appuding Thiago Motta's performand urging the pyers to keep pushing.

  "Thiago's i form," Lucas praised.

  From metrics like passing accurad activity och, Thiago Motta roving himself as Napoli's midfield anchor.

  So far, he hadn't made a single passing error—a rarity.

  Even more impressive was that he had made several key passes that created ces.

  It was fair to say he had Napoli's midfield running smoothly, allowing the team to unch wave after wave of attacks.

  "This kid needs games like this to gradually build his fidence," Gao Shen said with a smile.

  fidence, after all, is something that builds over time.

  "It looks like Rossi's pn is to tinue defending and wait until the sed half, hoping our stamina wears down before pressing forward," Carlo specuted on Lazio's strategy.

  Gao Shen his was no surprise.

  In fact, he'd already prepared for this possibility.

  If the deadlock remained unbroken, he repared to go all out before the end of the first half or at the start of the sed half to try and secure a goal.

  After all, dragging the game out would not be in Napoli's favor.

  …

  The two teams tinued with their trol and deferategies.

  Napoli kept patiently passing and probing, while Lazio held firm.

  As the game progressed, and with Lazio's strong defenders on the wings, several of Napoli's long passes to the fnks failed to yield as.

  Instead, in the middle, Motta passed the ball ih minute, allowing i to take a long shot from over 20 meters out, though it missed the target.

  Three mier, Thiago Motta and Parejo worked together again. The Spanish midfielder sent a through pass to Di Maria, who shot with his left foot, but the goalkeeper saved it, nullifying the threat.

  Napoli created more than a dozen shots in the first half, and without exception, most of them were le shots from outside the penalty area.

  The most threatening shot was a header from Thiago Motta, but it hit the crossbar.

  This tinuous siege made Lazio more and more stable and it seemed to be as strong as a rock.

  Gao Shen also gave up the idea of attag in the final stage of the first half.

  But no one expected that in the 42nd minute of the first half, when Napoli was about to end, Saried to break through Korov on the right but failed. He was forced to stop and pass the ball back to Lichtsteiner.

  After receiving the ball, the Swiss defender ressed and immediately passed it to Thiago Motta who raised his hand to ask for the ball.

  The Brazilian midfielder always appears at the right point.

  After getting the ball, Thiago Motta didn't wait for the defensive pyers to e up, but made a long diagonal pass and transferred the ball directly to the unguarded left side.

  After Di Maria stopped the ball with his chest, Laziht-back De Silvestri quickly pressed forward. The Argearted with the ball without hesitation. Before the oppo was ready, he had cut through the oppo's defense like a sharp knife, rushed into the penalty area with the ball, attracted Sevil, and passed the ball to the middle with his left foot.

  i used his body to force his ast ter back Stendardo and directly kicked the ball, sending Di Maria's cross into the lower left er of Lazio's goal.

  ***

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