After it was firmed that Napoli would face Juventus ihird round of the Coppa Italia, Juventus sent out a message in their "circle of friends".

  "Asking about how to deal with Napoli"

  Juventus' tacts immediately started replying.

  From Ascoli's head coach, Texel, to the pyer Paolucci, to various other individuals, including some media reporters, all left their ents in Juventus' circle of friends, each their clever strategies.

  All the feedback was finally collected and put into the hands of coach Deschamps and the Juventus coag staff.

  After careful s and analysis, Deschamps and his staff finally had a clear uanding of Napoli's current situation under Gao Shen's ma this season.

  What shocked them was that Napoli, under Gao Shen, ying a pletely different style of football pared to his time at Real Madrid.

  "Goodness, how is this possible?"

  When he was coag Real Madrid, Gao Shen was known for his servative style. Many Real Madrid fans disliked him because of this cautious approach, going so far as to bel him the "2.0 version of Capello."

  Everyone khat Capello's style could be dht frustrating to fans, keeping things tight to the point of anger.

  Who would have imagihat Capello 2.0 would employ aggressive, attag football at Napoli?

  Was Gao Shen going mad?

  When Deschamps first saw the scoreline of Napoli's games, he made some guesses, but he thought a 6-0 result against Frosinone was uandable. It proved that Napoli wasn't weak, especially after spending over 16 million euros on pyers.

  However, the 2-0 victory over Ascoli in the seatch was the one Deschamps took most seriously because it held more weight.

  Initially, Deschamps assumed the game must have been closely tested, but it turned out he was wrong.

  "We only managed four shots iire game, none of which were on target. In some sense, we couldn't even string together a proper, threatening attack. The tempo of the game was pletely thrown off."

  "Napoli pys a somewhat strange football. They even mao intercept our passes, nearly making oalkeeper score an own goal..."

  Deschamps could fully imagine how heartbroken Ascoli's head coach, Texel, must have been when he said this.

  Damn, what kind of football is this?

  However, based on the information provided by Ascoli, Deschamps and his coag staff could basically deduapoli's tactibsp;

  High-pressing tactics!

  European football coaches have been familiar with this strategy for years because Liverpool's Benitez pyed such a tactibsp;

  But acc to Texel, "Napoli's tactics differ signifitly from Benitez's. Although both teams use high-pressing tactiapoli is faster, not only when transitioning from defeo attack but also from attack to defense."

  "Each of their pyers has a wide range of activity and ce, but their formation is very pact. Sometimes, when they press up to our penalty box, their back line has already crossed the halfway line. Normally, the space they cover is about 30 meters or even smaller."

  "There are several pyers in this team that need special attention. i, the tall Uruguayaer forward, is like a mad dog. He keeps running, keeps pressing, keeps intercepting. The most crucial thing is, he is very difficult to handle he's strong, teically good with his feet, fast, and charges like a tank."

  "Then there's the bck pyer with the strange hairstyle I 't remember his name exactly. Anyway, that guy is really strong, really fast, and he's great with the ball. He's sharp when dribbling and o be watched closely."

  "There's a young Slovakian named Hamsik. He's like Lampard...no, his sg ability is like Lampard, but he looks a bit like Nedved. His passing and his te runs are very threatening."

  "The weakest point in their front line is the right side, a 17-year-old kid. He is very young, but he pys with so muergy, desperately fighting for every ball. His ability to dribble past oppos is very strong, much like the guy with the weird hairstyle. You 't defend against him one-on-one."

  "There's also a midfielder with golden hair who seems to be Swiss. He's good at long shots. Be careful, don't give him any space outside the box. In the game against us, he hit the crossbar twice."

  "There's also a Peruvian pyer on the left fnk. His runs forward are very threatening. He's quid defends well. This kid is definitely oo watch out for."

  "And their ter-backs..."

  ...

  Deschamps was left speechless after reading Texel's analysis of Napoli.

  He really wao call Texel and ask, **"Fod's sake, are you saying Napoli is a team of World Css Pyers?"

  With a great pyer in every position, how does this team still o be in Serie B?

  Does Texel even uand what it means to be a successor to Nedved?

  If there were such a pyer, Juventus would snatch him up immediately!

  And those two who 't be stopped one-on-one, how much is a pyer like that worth? They'd turn up at Napoli?

  After reading these reports, Deschamps shook his head vigorously. "Isn't this a bit exaggerated?"

  Assistant coach Pezzotti was also stunned. "I guess Texel exaggerated a bit, after all, he lost."

  "Yeah, he's coached all his life, and now he's lost to a 25-year-old rookie. He 't accept it, so he's trying his best to talk them up. It's a bit much."

  He didn't believe it.

  Or rather, he didn't fully believe it.

  If Gao Shen had the ability to put together such a team at Napoli in such a short time and develop such tactics, how could Juventus have allowed such a gem to slip away?

  Real Madrid wouldn't have let such a talented coach go!

  "But ohing is certain," Deschamps said, not pletely dismissing Texel's points but taking them with a grain of salt. "paring this with other reports, it's clear that Gao Shen's Napoli pys a pletely different style from his Real Madrid days it's mgressive and forward-minded."

  "Yes, that's exactly what he said during his first press fere Napoli," Pezzotti added.

  Deschamps sighed. From a 6-0 thrashing in the first game to a solid 2-0 win in the sed, Napoli had kept a sheet and scored eight goals.

  Even if we disregard the first game, defeating Ascoli 2-0 especially given Texel's impression that Napoli still had more to offer in the sed half suggested Napoli was no pushover. Their attack was indeed formidable.

  Of course, that's in parison to a team like Ascoli.

  Deschamps had fiden Juventus; their defense was at least upper mid-table Serie A level.

  "So, what's the pn?" Pezzotti asked.

  As the assistant coach, his job was to help the head coach execute his vision.

  "Napoli's pyers cover a lot of ground, and they run hard. We'll take a defensive approach first, stabilize our formation, and then ter-attack," Deschamps replied without hesitation.

  That was his tried-and-true approabsp;

  Pezzotti agreed with the strategy. "But how do we ter-attack?"

  In a defensive-terattag setup, defense and terattack must plement each other. If there's only defehout terattag, it's doomed to fail, and vice versa.

  Juventus' biggest issue right now was their ck of pa transitioning to a terattabsp;

  Everyone khat pulling bato a tight defensive formation maximized defeability, but the downside was that the team was far from the oppo's goal when they regained possession. To be a threat, they needed speed.

  If they regained possession, slowly advanced, and only got he oppo's penalty area after the opposition's three lines were already ihen they'd be forced to attack a set defense.

  However, Juventus currently cked pyers with the necessary speed to execute quick ters.

  That was why Deschamps had wao sign Savio.

  The Argentine was not only fast but also highly skilled.

  Trezeguet was a high-sg target man; Zayeta was also a high target man. Del Piero had never been a speedster, and he was getting older. Bojinov was quid teically good but too young at only 20 years old.

  "Should we go with a four-four-two?" Pezzotti suggested.

  Deschamps shook his head. "No, if we py 4-4-2, we'll lose the midfield battle."

  Ohe midfield battle was lost, the back line would be exposed to Napoli's attacks.

  Moreover, Napoli adopted a high-level pressing and a 4-2-3-1 formation, which is particurly hy.

  Pezzotti uood that Deschamps still wao stabilize the defense first and aimed to use a 5-4-1 formation.

  With four backs and five midfielders, only one person remains up front.

  Trezeguet, Sarayeta, and Piero are not suitable, so Bodinov is once again the risk-taker. Who to choose?

  "Try Bodinov!" Deschamps gritted his teeth.

  Since Gao Shen dared to use a group of young pyers iwe Napoli, why shouldn't he dare to take this risk?

  ...

  ...

  The day before the third round of the Coppa Italia, the Italian Football Association suddenly annouhat the TV broadcaster had decided to broadcast only one game of the third round: the focus match between Naples and Juventus.

  Ohe news was released, it immediately sparked enthusiastic respohroughout Italy.

  From the beginning of the season, the war of words betweewo sides had been noticeable enough. Now, Gao Shen is leading Napoli to face Juventus, coached by Deschamps, at home. This is a showdown full of highlights, and it is a single knoatch.

  Such a high-stakes game not only attracted fans from both sides but also Italian fans and many fn viewers.

  Especially sihe league has not yet started, this focus battle is undoubtedly more eye-catg.

  Everyone wants to see how Juventus, relegated to Serie B, measures up. They also want to see if the prodigy who has promised to build a strong Serie A team within three years lead Napoli to defeat Juventus and advance further in the Coppa Italia.

  But no one expected that before this highly anticipated duel, Napoli would suddenly suffer a signifit and painful blow. Not only the eeam but even Gao Shen was furious and cursing.