Forty minutes have passed, but Napoli's relentless attack shows no signs of stopping och.

  The fans iands are utterly captivated.

  When was the st time they witnessed such a ferocious offensive dispy?

  The emotions of the fans rise and fall with the rhythm of the game, drawing gasps and cheers in waves.

  Arrigo Sacchi, seated in the chairman's box, watches as the Napoli pyers orchestrate attack after attack. Listening to the astonished excmations of the Napoli fans, he too is filled with excitement.

  It has been many years sialy saw such electrifying attag football!

  Even Carlo Ai, whom Sacchi holds in high regard, hasn't pyed with such aggression; his style leans more towards defensive terattacks.

  Of course, Ai 't be bmed for this. The aging roster of A is a reality he has to tend with what more could he do?

  But Napoli is fually different.

  Although Frosinone is not a particurly strong oppo, the fact that Napoli force this Serie B team into such a dismal state demonstrates the effectiveness of their tactics.

  Did you know?

  After 40 minutes of py in the first half, Frosinone had only managed a single shot.

  How did they get that shot?

  During a rare terattato Napoli's 30-meter zoheir Veriker Maggiotta couldn't wait any longer and fired off a hurried shot.

  It was at the 33-minute mark.

  In other words, Frosinone was kept from taking a single shot in the first 30 minutes of the game by Napoli's relentless pressure.

  And what about Napoli?

  First, Hamsik opehe sg, followed by i.

  Then, the young Swiss-Croatian midfielder Rakitic smashed a le shot past Frosinone's goalkeeper.

  (Note: Rakitic held dual Swiss and Croatian nationality, but during his youth career, he pyed for Switzernd. So in 2006, Sacchi referred to him as a Swiss youngster.)

  After Frosinone finally mao get a shot off, Napoli responded almost immediately with an attack. Vargas delivered a pass, and Gervinho finally found the .

  It wasn't easy.

  The Ivorian teenager had squandered several golden opportunities before finally capitalizing on one.

  4-0!

  Napoli had essentially sealed the victory in the first half!

  Yet the team kept pushing, still looking to sore.

  Even from the stands, Sacchi could sehe passion and energy of the pyers on the field, along with their insatiable hunger for victory.

  "This kid is something else!" Sacchi muttered to himself.

  As he said this, his eyes shifted to the figure in front of the home team's ben the sideline.

  Sacchi had mixed feelings about Gao Shen coag Napoli. He wasn't against it, but he wasn't particurly supportive either.

  The reason was simple: this newly-promoted Serie B team didn't match Gao Shen's current standing aation. If he wao move, it should have been to Juventus or at least a mid- to lower-tier Serie A team.

  But Gao Shen's lofty demands were never going to be accepted by those teams, so he chose Napoli.

  De Laurentiis was a gambler, but this time, he got it right.

  After watg just the first half, Sacchi could clude that this Gao Shen-led Napoli was the real deal.

  Their style was unmistakable!

  That kind of suffog high-pressure pressiheir oppos gasping for breath.

  i, Gervinho, Sanchez, Hamsik these four were very active up front, c a lot of ground and showing great coherence.

  The moment Frosinone's pyers gained possession, Napoli's pyers were immediately pressing them.

  When had they ever entered such a team?

  o dawdle; as soon as they regained possession, they would unch a quick terattack.

  That's what struck Sacchi the most.

  Many teams like taer regaining possession.

  For example, A revolves around Pirlo as the pymaker, with Seedorf providing support.

  Or Benitez, whom Gao Shen deeply respects, at Valencia would have Aimar leading the attack, supported by Albelda and Baraja. At Liverpool, it would be Gerrard and Xabi Alonso.

  But Gao Shen clearly didn't operate this way.

  Whained possession would initiate the attack.

  Everal defenders like Bonucd avaro would start the offehe moment they got the ball.

  Of course, the advantages of this approach are obvious. If you rely on one or two pymakers, the oppo focus their defense on them. For example, against A, the strategy is to ralize Pirlo, a sensus among teams. This forces the team to liberate Seedorf and Kaka.

  But if anyone initiate an attack, it bees impossible to defend against.

  However, this strategy demands a lot from the team's tactid even more from the pyers.

  At the very least, your pyers o have the ability tahe offense, right?

  But look at the pyers Gao Shen brought in: Gervinho, i, Sanchez, and Hamsik in the front; Biglia and Rakiti midfield, both with excellent passing ability.

  Vargas on the left and Bonuc the ter also have distinctive passing skills.

  Clearly, Gao Shen's signings were not made haphazardly; he chose pyers that fit his tactical requirements.

  God knows where he found so many pyers!

  Moreover, he dismantled and rebuilt Napoli's eructure in just one summer. This requires not only a sharp eye for talent but also financial bag from Napoli, as well as tremendous ce on his part.

  And now, he has built a team that nearly crushed their oppos within the first half.

  Sacchi really wished he could peek ihe young man's head and see what he was thinking.

  How did he pull this off?

  ...

  Unlike Sacchi, who was full of praise but someerplexed, De Laurentiis didn't uand the teicalities.

  He didn't grasp the finer details, but what he knew was that Napoli pyed phenomenally tonight.

  Wave after wave of attacks, leaving the oppo with no ce to retaliate.

  A shot almost every two minutes, and every minute creating danger in the front third what could be more thrilling for fans than this?

  Eveer, Napoli's defense remained rock solid.

  "Pierpaolo, admit it, I made the right bet!" De Laurentiis ughed heartily.

  Marino, who khe game well, also found the first half genuinely impressive.

  You could already see the outline of Gao Shen's tactical iions from this first half.

  Aggressive, attag, high-pressure football!

  Wasn't this exactly what Gao Shen promised wheook over Napoli?

  "To be ho, it's unbelievable. In the previous warm-up games, they looked quite disjointed," Marino admitted with a wry smile.

  He wasn't wrong.

  As someone who worked at Udinese for many years, he uood the role of warm-up games. But some of Gao Shen's methods appeared quite unorthodox.

  For instance, he used Pellè not as a goal-scorer but as a pyer to test aerial balls and link up py.

  And then there were the two fnks, where Gervinho and Sanchez were often tasked with finishing in the box rather than just crossing.

  Bonucci, David Luiz, and avaro as tre-backs were enced to make long passes, and even goalkeeper Handanovic was asked to participate more in ball distribution and defense anization.

  Gao Shen's methods were pletely different from those of mainstream coaches, going against the pyers' usual styles, leading to a chaotic adaptation period.

  The most typical case was Arturo Vidal, a Chilean pyer. In Colo Colo, he was a tral defender. But after arriving in Naples, Gao Shen tried him in multiple roles: c Hamsik's position, pying box-to-box, sometimes even stepping in as a right-back.

  Look at that it's just eous.

  Marino even half-jokingly thought that Gao Shen might one day experiment with putting a goalkeeper up front as a striker.

  stant trial and error led to chaos in Napoli's early tactics.

  But who would have thought that after the warm-up matches, after a closed training camp at Fort Volturno, Gao Shen would bring out a team that pyed su incredible first half?

  Four-nil could it get aer?

  If Napoli's finishing had been sharper, they could have easily doubled the score.

  "Is he really a magi?" Marino murmured.

  De Laurentiis, grinning from ear to ear, patted Marino on the shoulder and ughed loudly. "I don't know if he's a magi, but I'm sure he's a genius! A rare talent!"

  De Laurentiis didn't know about others, but he had only one way to deal with talent put them to good use!

  ...

  The first half ended with Napoli leading 4-0.

  During the halftime break, Gao Shen heaped praise on his pyers but also pointed out areas that needed improvement based on the first-half performance, encing them to keep up the iy in the sed half.

  After the break, Napoli tio press Frosinolessly.

  In the 51st minute, i made a cross. Sanchez, after trolling the ball and dodging the defenders, broke into the right side of the penalty area. When he could have gone foal himself, he chose to pass.

  Gervinho was there to meet it and calmly slotted it home 5-0.

  Less than ten mier, Rakitic made a sudden steal, and after a quibination with Hamsik, the tter sent a through ball. i, after shrugging off the defenders in the penalty area, bsted a shot with his left foot to scain 6-0!

  Following this, Gao Shen made a series of substitutions and tactical adjustments.

  Pelle, Vidal, and Piá came on to repce i, Rakitid Gervinho. Despite the ges, Napoli tio domihe game, though their pace slowed siderably to serve energy for the uping cup mat Wednesday.

  While they tio create numerous ces, they couldn't capitalize on them in the same way as earlier. Pelle, in particur, had four shots but couldn't find the back of the .

  In the end, Napoli's anding lead was never iion, as they secured a resounding 6-0 victory over Frosinone.