"Luton is making a substitution!"
The commentators quickly noticed Matt on the sidelines.
"Gao Bo is preparing to bring on the tall striker Matt Schmidt! It seems he's preparing to strengthen the attack!!" Wrightkinson said from the sidelines.
"Matt is replacing... Carl Jenkinson!! Matt replaces Carl Jenkinson!!" Wrightkinson was a little surprised, "A striker replacing a defender?!"
"The match has only just reached fifty minutes, and Gao Bo has made a very bold substitution, bringing on a striker! Replacing a defender!!!"
"This substitution is indeed very bold, to the point where I feel it's a bit of an all-or-nothing gamble. If Roma had scored that penalty, perhaps such a risky substitution could be understood, after all, they would be two goals down. But right now, they are still only one goal behind. Making such a substitution at this moment, isn't it a bit too early?" Redknapp also expressed some doubt about Gao Bo's substitution.
Regardless of what the commentators thought, Luton quickly completed the substitution.
Matt came on, and Carl Jenkinson came off.
Gao Bo hugged the right-back, who was making his first start in the Europa League, on the sidelines.
"Well done, Carl!" Gao Bo patted Carl Jenkinson on the shoulder, "But we need to attack now!!"
After coming on, Matt quickly relayed Gao Bo's latest instructions to the pitch.
Luton surprisingly changed their formation to a three-man defense.
Geoffrey, George Parker, and Alex Sandro formed the defensive line, the midfield consisted of Adam White, Drinkwater, Kanté, and Kevin Keane!
Matt and Vardy formed a two-man strike force, with Griezmann behind them.
This formation looked like a variation of a 3-5-2, with Griezmann's position pushed forward, making Luton temporarily field a strange 3-4-1-2 formation!
A strange formation purely for attacking!
Of course, Ranieri didn't know what kind of attacking tactics Gao Bo was going to employ, but he knew that this move by Gao Bo was entirely for the sake of fighting for everything!
So early?
Ranieri looked at the time on the big screen.
It was the fifty-fourth minute of the match!
Young people just can't sit still...
Ranieri was inwardly smug, but didn't show it on his face. He walked to the sidelines, waving his arms vigorously.
"Well played!! Let's keep playing like this!!"
"Pay attention to defense!! Juan!!!"
Roma's players also quickly retreated.
Ranieri looked at Luton's three defenders. With such a weak defensive line, if Roma got a chance to counter-attack, wouldn't it be easily pierced?
Gao Bo, of course, knew this, so he had now used almost all his cards on the offensive end.
For this, he even swapped out a blue card, the card that increased counter-attacking efficiency. Now that the team was pushing forward to attack, and Roma had also retreated to defend,
Even if Luton wanted to counter-attack, they wouldn't have many opportunities.
So, after equipping Adam with the card that improved crossing accuracy, Gao Bo also used a green card to boost Matt's heading ability, and in addition, two more green cards were equipped.
[Match Card (Green): Dribbling ability increased by 15%, designated player "Antoine Griezmann" used]
[Match Card (Green): Long-range shooting ability increased by 15%, designated player "Antoine Griezmann" used]
Including the one time he had switched Schmeichel's card to a save card earlier, Gao Bo had now used up all his card switches for this match, he had five cards, so he could only switch cards five times!
For Gao Bo, this was a real gamble and a risk.
Although Luton now had six points, if they lost this match, in the next round of the group stage they would play Roma away. It wouldn't be easy to win that away match, so after losing this match, Luton would likely face two consecutive losses in the group stage.
If that happened, then Luton's chances of qualifying would be in danger! Especially when Basel and Roma both had nine points, and Luton only had six, they would have to win both of the last two rounds.
In that case, there could be some other changes in the group qualification situation.
Gao Bo would not allow such changes to occur. He was going to gamble in this match!
Either lose! Or... win!!
...
When the match resumed, Ranieri couldn't sit still.
He had been looking at the space behind Luton earlier, but now he had no time to pay attention. Because at this moment, Roma's penalty area was under siege from Luton's onslaught.
Luton's frantic attack made Ranieri tremble. Was this still the attacking ability that a third-tier league team could unleash?
When Matt Schmidt once again overpowered Mexès to flick the ball into the middle, and then Vardy in the middle shot directly, only for the ball to hit Juan's leg and go out for a goal kick, Ranieri completely lost his composure.
"Defend!! Pay attention to defense!! Stay sharp!!!" Ranieri gesticulated wildly on the sidelines, then pointed to the flanks: "Stop their crosses! Don't let him cross easily!!!!"
Luton's previous attack came from Adam's sudden change of direction on the flank followed by a direct cross!
Gao Bo was very satisfied with this attack on the sidelines. This attacking routine was very simple, but combined with Matt's aerial ability and Adam's ability to break away and cross from a standing position, this simple tactic could often play a huge role.
Roma's defense on Adam's side immediately became more vigilant. The winger Taddei also came back to participate in the defense, and even their center forward Vučinić had returned to their own half. Now Roma only had Ménez left upfront.
Gao Bo's eyes narrowed. It wasn't enough! They had to score early, otherwise, Roma's counter-attacks would always make Gao Bo uneasy!
It was difficult for Adam to cross easily from his side, but Luton immediately changed the direction of their attack.
The focus of the attack shifted to Griezmann's side. Adam took the corner kick from the left, and the ball flew directly into the penalty area.
The goalkeeper got to the ball before Matt and punched it out with a single fist. Then people saw Griezmann outside the box standing in the path of the flying ball. He looked ready to volley!
At this moment, the goalkeeper had just come out, and Roma's goal was empty!!
"Stop him quickly!!!"
Ranieri felt his back was wet with sweat. At this moment, De Rossi rushed forward. Ranieri was just about to breathe a sigh of relief, but he quickly tensed up again!
Griezmann faked a shot and then dribbled past!
He easily stopped the aerial ball with his left foot towards his right foot, dodging De Rossi's tackle and simultaneously dribbling past De Rossi!
"Griezmann!!!!!!!!!!"
The commentator's voice rang out.
The fans in the stands also stood up, ready to cheer at any moment.
But at this moment, Brighi also came over to cover, sticking out a leg, trying to block Griezmann's shot.
Griezmann indeed made the full motion of shooting, but this was still a feint.
He pushed the ball forward with his right foot, bursting into the penalty area!
Then he shot again!
This time it was a real shot!!!
Gao Bo jumped up on the spot, and at the same time, the ball flew into the net!!
Gao Bo's gamble was very successful!!
In the sixty-sixth minute of the match! Luton equalized the score!!
The players celebrated on the pitch, and the fans in the stands were also cheering.
"Should we continue attacking? Shouldn't we focus on defense first?" While celebrating, John also voiced his concern.
"No!!" Gao Bo shook his head firmly.
"We continue attacking!!!"...