Chapter 1495 The pressure of gambling
After two national team games, Hulay returned to the club.
After returning to the club, he immediately ushered in the first "Madrid Derby" of the season.
However, due to the influence of the national team match day, neither the Madrid Pirates nor the Madrid Kings were in good condition in this game, but the Madrid Pirates were in worse condition.
So the first derby of the season ended with the defeat of Madrid Pirates - they lost 1:2 to the Madrid Kings away from home.
Hu Lai started in this game and played the entire game. But he also failed to lead a team in poor overall form to win the game.
To the relief of Hulay fans, he scored a goal in the game and helped the Madrid Pirates save a little face.
This is also his ninth goal in the Madrid derby.
And this is only his fifth Madrid derby. If this momentum continues, it won't be long before he surpasses the "King of Madrid Derby" Cerrados, whose number of goals in the same city derby is 17.
After losing the game, head coach Parotti said at the post-match press conference that he was also helpless: "The players have just finished participating in the national team competition and have to return from all over the world to participate in the 'Madrid Derby'. I hope they can still It's difficult to play well in this game... Hu? Hu is good, he has no problem even with flying. After traveling tens of thousands of kilometers and playing two national team games, his physical fitness was fine, so I let him start and played the entire game. And everyone saw that he scored goals. Considering what he did in the past week. After what we have experienced, this situation is already very good, but unfortunately, we are unlucky..."
The Chinese team's away game against Thailand is on September 5th, while the Madrid derby is on September 9th, three days apart. Since there were no flights from Bangkok to Madrid on the night of September 5, Hulay departed from Bangkok the next day, September 6.
By the time he got home, it was already the evening of September 6th, Madrid local time—the whole day was spent on the road.
He will return to the team for recovery training on September 7th, pre-match training on September 8th, and the game on September 9th.
Even the jet lag hasn’t completely reversed yet.
Under such circumstances, Hu Lai was still able to start and score a goal. There is really nothing to criticize about this performance.
It can only be said that this city derby came at the wrong time. After all, football matches are not decided by Hulay alone. He performed well, but if his teammates are not in their best condition, they will face an opponent of the level of the Madrid Kings. , there is no way to lose in the away game.
No one wants to lose, but the objective situation is here, and Hu Lai is definitely not responsible for the loss.
It's just that Hu Lai is famous now. As the team's number one star, winning or losing depends on him. It is impossible to say that winning the game is your fault, Hu Lai, and losing the game has nothing to do with you.
And if it must be said, losing is the responsibility of every player. As a member of the team, how could Hu Lai have no responsibility?
Although you scored one goal, if you could score one more goal, wouldn't the Pirates have to lose? If they could score two more goals, wouldn't the Pirates win?
So there will definitely be criticism against Hu Lai after the failure.
Parotti's words belonged to the post-match press conference, defending Hulay in advance and giving him support and affirmation.
This may not change the public opinion environment in which Hu Lai is in, but it can show goodwill to Hu Lai and avoid some false rumors such as "Pirates generals are at odds" after the game.
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After the game, Melli fans were elated, because Melli was the biggest contributor to helping the Kings win at home - he had a goal and an assist to help the Kings defeat the Pirates 2:1.
Because Melli also participated in the Argentina national team game, and he was still in such a state after returning, Melli fans almost blew him away.
This is also Melli's first club game this season. "Marca" simply printed the title "Return of the King" after the game, and combined it with the photo of him showing the European Ballon d'Or trophy before the game, explaining what " King".
"...After Kabangca transferred to Catalonia, he performed very well, making people exclaim 'Wolf is coming'; Hu scored with his first touch of the ball after coming off the bench in the last round of the league, which fully proved his condition. How good... The outstanding performance of the two of them seems to have made people forget about Melli. Due to participating in the Olympics, Melli missed the first two rounds of the league, but this Madrid derby let people know who is the young player. The leader in!
"Melli was very active throughout the game, as if there was a perpetual motion machine in his body. He could pass, pass, break through, shoot... he could do everything, completely tireless! He was reminding those who sang for Kabangka and Hu The person who sings the praises - I, Melly Banega, am the winner of the European Golden Globe Award! ”
The Champions League group match in midweek also proved that Melli's recent form has been extremely good - in the home game of the Madrid Kings against the Swiss giant Basson, Melli scored twice and assisted one goal, helping the team 5:1. Defeating the opponent, winning a good start to the new season of the Champions League, and also taking the first step, a solid step, to defend the title.
In contrast, the decline of Madrid Pirates continues:
They were tied 3:3 by the Greek team Piraeus in the away game...
Although Piraeus is a Greek giant, the strength of the Greek giants is also weaker than that of the Spanish giants.
The Pirates scored two goals in this game, one of which was scored by Hulay, and the other was scored by center back Riva Moreno from a corner kick.
The remaining goal was an own goal scored by a Piraeus player.
After the game, the Greek local media were still a little unconvinced, claiming that Piraeus scored four goals in the game but could not win the game, and regretted that they could not defeat Madrid Pirates at home.
After the first round of the Champions League group stage, the Turin Bulls, who defeated Ribesborg 1:0 at home, temporarily ranked first in this group. Madrid Pirates and Bierevs ranked second and third. Ribes from Sweden Fort is last.
In the fourth round of the league the following weekend, Madrid Pirates shook hands with Samir Sports at home 2:2.
In this game, Carey opened the scoring for the team, and Kamara also scored his first goal after joining Madrid Pirates.
But Samirspor performed very well. They fell behind twice in the game and equalized twice. In the end, a draw was forced by all members holding on to the bus.
After four league rounds, they had one win, two draws and one loss, ranking ninth with five points.
The team's performance did not reflect everyone's expectations, especially the new players.
Among the several important signings, except for Ismail Kamara, whose performance was normal, the remaining two were not very satisfactory.
Vukovich's problem is defensively.
After moving to Madrid Pirates, he needs to take on more defensive tasks than when he played in Vesseldorf. This was something he wasn't quite comfortable with.
He used to play in Vesseldorf and was the team's core organizer. His position was closer to the opponent's penalty area and he was responsible for the final pass. He was a typical attacking midfielder.
But when he came to Madrid Pirates, the head coach asked him to move back and play as a central midfielder. He must not only attack and organize, but also take into account defense and protect the back line.
He has not yet adapted to the change in his new position and responsibilities.
So the performance was a bit stretched.
There were problems with position selection in defense, and the defensive attitude was not positive enough. As a result, the Madrid Pirates' midfield defense made many mistakes.
In addition to Vukovich, Drew's performance was also unsatisfactory.
After coming to Madrid Pirates with a sky-high transfer fee of 98 million euros, it was a huge pressure and burden. His performance in the game did not meet people's expectations of him, or it did not meet his worth. ——Everyone originally thought that after the "billion-dollar central defender" came to the team, he would immediately show his super abilities and talents and become the anchor of the Madrid Pirates' defense.
The Madrid Pirates lost 1:2 away to the Madrid Kings in the same city derby. It was Drew's first game on behalf of the Pirates, and it was also the first game he started.
The center back who had frozen Melli in the World Cup had high hopes from Madrid Pirates fans, but when he met Melli again, he was in a very awkward situation. Melly's goals and assists in the game all came from Danny Drew.
After the game, Danny Drew even received the lowest rating on the team, and there was a lot of criticism against him.
The Dutch media defended Drew, saying that he still needs to adapt to the way Spanish football is played. For example, when defending, the frontcourt players will not be too involved in defense to help the defender share the pressure, so the center back must bear more pressure. He has to solve a lot of problems on his own and can't rely on his teammates to help.
The Spanish media bluntly criticized Drew's performance as expected. The top talent from the Netherlands was like a primary school player in front of the top talent from Argentina - this was said very seriously.
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It wasn't until the fifth round of the league in midweek that the Madrid Pirates won again.
They defeated the Phoenicians 1:0 away from home.
Hu Lai scored the only goal for the team.
Although they won the ball, it still attracted ridicule from many people: "The battle between the ninth and tenth leagues is so fierce, the victory or defeat can be decided by one goal!" - As of the last round of the league, the ranking of Madrid Pirates ninth, and the Phoenicians tenth.
They were mocking the defending champion of the league for having such a hard time beating the Phoenicians. You must know that the Phoenicians ended up ranking 17th last season, barely able to avoid relegation.
In sharp contrast is the city's archrival King Madrid.
Their performance in the first two rounds of the league was also unstable, with one win and one loss. However, since defeating Madrid Pirates 2:1 at home in the third round of the league, the team has been on the fast track.
In the fourth round of the league, they defeated newly-promoted club Kvette Athletic 8:2 in an away game. In the fifth round of the league, the Madrid Kings defeated Aher 5:1 at home, plus they swept Bassoon 5:1 at home in the Champions League group stage. They have scored 20 goals in the last four games and won four consecutive victories in all competitions.
Melly has scored in these four games, scoring a total of eight goals, including six in the league and two in the Champions League. Although he missed the first two rounds of the league, he came from behind and ranked first in the scorer list.
This performance indeed corresponds to the headline of "Marca":
The king returns.
The two teams in Madrid seem to be avenging their past humiliation and returning to the top. The other branch seemed to have not yet found the right direction and was struggling to move forward in the quagmire.
Under such circumstances, Madrid Pirates are about to face another "devil's schedule":
On Saturday, September 23, in the sixth round of the league, they will face the feuding Sevilla Navigators at home, ranked third in the league.
On September 27, Wednesday, the second game of the Champions League group stage was against the Turin Bulls, the biggest competitor in the group, at home.
September 30th, Saturday, the seventh round of the league, an away challenge to Valentia, currently ranked first in the league.
It seems that the future of Madrid Pirates is not optimistic at all.
Back when gamblers were playing hard at the gambling table, they now have to endure tremendous pressure.
It's impossible to leave the table midway. You have to either swim upstream and make a desperate comeback, or kneel down to the end and lose everything.
This is gambling. (End of chapter)