I don’t know what Tang Long and Mancini talked about during halftime.
I only saw the two whispering in the corner of the locker room, speaking softly.
Even assistant coach Herrera was sent away by Mancini to the side.
A minute before going back on the field, Mancini announced a decision to everyone.
The Inter player’s eyes were first confused, then suddenly shocked!
This was, without a doubt, the boldest decision of the season so far, and the most unprecedented tactical deployment for Inter Milan.
Assistant coach Herrera anxiously said to Mancini, "Boss, don’t you think this adjustment is too bold? We’ve never tried this style of play in training, and it’s a national derby, after all. We should focus on steadiness. If Juventus beats us badly, it will be hard to explain to the media."
Tang Long refuted him:
"Precisely because it’s the national derby, I have to fight with my back against the wall. Otherwise, given the current situation, it’s just a question of whether we lose by one, two, or three goals. There’s no turning back."
"Tang is right," Mancini said excitedly, addressing the whole team, "At Juventus’ home field, I want to do something unexpected. In the second half, keep going!"
The second-half match began as the players from both teams streamed out of the tunnel.
The Inter players looked grave, their nerves extremely tense.
While on the Juventus side, they were all relaxed and at ease.
Goal scorers Morat and his partner Tevez were chatting and laughing without a hint of tension.
Allegri, too, walked out chewing gum, humming a tune.
He even flirted a bit with the Juventus female staff at the entrance of the tunnel.
In short, the mindset of both teams was visibly different.
However, once the game started.
Commentator Huang Jianxiang first noticed a change.
"During halftime, Juventus did not make any personnel adjustments, I’m not worried about Juventus; they are the leading side and at home, they can play steadily."
"I’m worried about Inter, Mancini must make some tactical changes, otherwise it’s like a frog in warm water, slowly dying."
"Inter has changed two players, and the formation has changed too!"
"From the initial 4231 to a 4312!"
"That’s right, three defensive midfielders! Two forwards!"
If the formation change made Huang Jianxiang’s eyes light up.
Then when the broadcast camera focused on Tang Long’s position, Huang Jianxiang’s jaw almost dropped to the ground!
"Am I seeing this right!"
"Tang Long has been moved up to the forward line!"
"He left the attacking midfield position and formed a two-forward line with Icardi!"
"The original attacking midfield position has been taken over by Kovacic!"
"The defense line hasn’t changed, and the three defensive midfielders became Gualin, Medel, and Hernanes!"
"This change gives me a totally fresh perspective!"
"Especially with Tang Long moving up to the forward line, I’ve simply never heard of such a thing!"
"It seems Mancini is going all in!"
In the live broadcast room.
Seeing Tang Long pushed up to the forward line, the netizens watching the late-night broadcast exploded!
-[Oh my gosh, Tang Long has actually moved up to play forward!]
-[Strictly speaking, it’s a shadow forward or a number nine and a half position. Based on the layout on the field, he’s standing behind Icardi, see, he’s constantly moving around Icardi!]
-[Whatever shadow forward, striker, or number nine and a half, Tang Long has played attacking midfielder and defensive midfielder, but never up in the forward line!]
-[What’s Mancini thinking? Isn’t this abandoning Tang Long’s organizational skills? Icardi can score, so why push Tang Long up?]
-[I don’t favor this change. Besides Tang Long never playing forward, the key is that after changing from 4231 to 4312, Podolski and Shaqiri were subbed out, so Inter’s wing attack threat is significantly reduced.]
-[Yeah, now they can only rely on Yuto Nagatomo and Santon on the wings. That Nagatomo, I don’t have much faith in him, it was his fault for the goal in the first half.]
-[In my opinion, Mancini’s going back to the old 4312 tactic, Inter Milan started the season with this tactic, then changed to 4231 later on.]
-[All this talk about formations, tactics—it’s nonsense! Formations are static, people are dynamic.]
-[Exactly, the key is how Tang Long performs as a forward? I’m quite looking forward to his performance, haha, this match, it’s going to be exciting!]
The reason Tang Long moved up to the forward line was because of his suggestion to Mancini during halftime.
Based on the situation on the field, he judged that since he couldn’t shake off Juventus’ defensive midfielder Marchisio within a short time.
Then the best strategy was to move away!
I moved forward from the attacking midfield position to the forward line.
In doing so, I also left Marchisio’s defensive scope.
Marchisio was bewildered!
Should I continue marking Tang Long?
If I keep marking him, as a defensive midfielder, should I fall back to the center-back line to mark Tang Long? Then my defensive midfield position would be completely vacated!
Inter has changed to three defensive midfielders, making their midfield numbers very dense.
If Marchisio leaves the defensive midfield position, then Juventus’ defensive midfield will have only Pirlo and Pogba left.
These two, one is physically weak, with mediocre dueling and heading abilities.
The other has ingrained tendencies to push forward and loves to charge forward.
As a result, Marchisio was internally conflicted.
Being a natural defender, he subconsciously retreated, abandoning his marking of forward Tang Long.