On the evening of August 29, at the San Paolo Stadium in he third round of the Coppa Italia was underway. Naples faced Reggina at home, and the atmosphere was electric.

  Gao Shen stood by the home team's dugout, his face refleg a sense of bewilderment. The game had already started, and both sides were engaged in a bad-forth battle. However, Naples, leveraging their home-field advantage and superih-press tactics, clearly suppressed Reggina.

  This wasn't a surprise to Gao Shen, his team was well-versed in this style of py. What truly puzzled him was the tactical setup used by Ulivieri, the veteran coach ina. The highly respected, grandfatherly figure in Italian football opted for a strange formation, somewhat resembling a 3-4-2-1.

  The back three defenders weren't unusual in Italian football, even in 2007. However, it was the rest of the formation that baffled Gao Shen. The midfield sisted of four shallow-positioned pyers, with the fnks more like wing-backs and two defensive midfielders ahead. In front of them were two attag midfielders, and further up was a t Danish striker, nearly 1.9 meters tall, ulberg.

  Gao Shen couldn't figure out the purpose of this tactibsp;

  Was Ulivieri aiming to attack? The midfield and defense suggested a more defensive posture. But if it was meant to be defehe wide pyers cked the dynamic ability to track bad forth like Carlos or Cafu. The setup seemed outdated and iive.

  "What's he thinking?" Gao Shen muttered.

  Carlo, standio him, shrugged and smiled bitterly. "I don't get it either."

  "Is this some kind of Italian stubbornness?" Gao Shen asked, half-joking.

  "Maybe." Carlo ughed, but Gao Shen shook his head, unvinced.

  "I think this is more than stubbornness. It's a refusal to let go of outdated ideas," Gao Shen replied.

  He respected persistence when it involved holding onto valuable things. But when people g to things that were clearly obsolete, it became stubbornness. Sining to Italy, Gao Shen had seen this more and more in the way many in the football world approached tactics. It reminded him of why Sacchi had once said Italian football was stu its ways, ging to its traditions even as the game evolved around them.

  Gao Shen believed the key to success was to face the facts and move with the times.

  ...

  Napoli ying their usual 4-3-3 formation. Thiago Motta sat deep in midfield, with Biglia and Vidal supp from ahead. Up front, Di Maria, Pelle, and Callejon formed the attack.

  Biglia had beeandout in midfield, pying a vital role. He was stable and reliable, particurly given that Rakitic was still developing, and Vidal hadn't fully adapted to the dual-pivot role. Meanwhile, Parejo, Nainggon, and Pastore were still settling in. This left Biglia as the glue holding everything together.

  His sistent performances had not gone unnoticed. He'd retly been called up to the Argeional team for their uping friendly against Australia. avaro, aandout pyer, had earned a call-up to the Italian national team for the first time, with his brother Fabio avaro ihe thought of the two brothers pying together oional stage was a ory for the media.

  As the game progressed, Gao Shen studied Reggina's formation and saotential weakness. He immediately signaled his team to press higher and harder. Di Maria and Callejon, on the fnks, were instructed to push the Reggina defense even mgressively, exploiting space behind their full-backs. At the same time, David Luiz and Bonucci were to look for long ball opportunities.

  In this system, long passes were like guided missiles, capable of ung attacks from anywhere och. It was an essential part of Napoli's arsenal.

  Thirty minutes into the game, Bonucci trolled the ball in the bad moved forward after receiving a pass. He saw Di Maria making a run behind Reggina's defense a a precise long pass over the top.

  Di Maria raced forward, outrunning the Reggina right-back. With a clever touch, he trolled the ball and burst into the box, leaving the defenders in his wake. He pulled off a quick fake and whipped a cross into the six-yard box.

  Pelle, Napoli's t ter-forward, muscled his way in front of the Reggina defender and stabbed the ball into the he San Paolo erupted as Napoli took a 1-0 lead.

  Pelle sprio the sideline, celebrating wildly. He was thriving in this system under Gao Shen, providing a physical presence up front and sg important goals.

  ...

  Napoli tio press Reggilessly. Their high-press tactics had bee their trademark, aeams in Italy had found a way to ter it.

  Gao Shen watched as Ulivieri paced the sidelines, clearly frustrated. The veteran coach had spent the past year studying ways to ter Napoli's style but was failing to find a solution. He had even po present his findings at an uping coag summit but now, watg his team get dismantled, he felt uain.

  The cept of high pressing wasn't new. Benitez had used it in his early days, but it was usually applied in localized areas or with small groups of pyers. But Gao Shen's version was different. Napoli's press was not just about winning the ball back. It was about sm the opposition, suffog their ability to py. Every pyer pressed in unison, from the forwards to the defenders, leaving no space or time for the oppoo breathe.

  Ulivieri and other Italian coaches had tried various methods to ter it, long passes to bypass the press, pying out from the back, quick transitions but nothing worked sistently against Napoli. They were taoo relentless.

  The on belief had been that Napoli's intense pressing would tire them out over a long season. But st year, they pyed 42 games in Serie B, plus the Coppa Italia, and never showed signs of fatigue.

  Ulivieri, a seasoacti, was at a loss. His methods, deeply rooted in decades of Italian football, were failing him. He watched as Napoli's younger, fitter pyers overwhelmed his team. It was like trying to stop a tidal wave with your hands.

  ...

  Just before halftime, Napoli struck again.

  David Luiz, spotting another opportunity, sent a diagonal ball gina's defehis time to Callejon. The winger sped down the right fnk, beating the full-bad sending a low cross into the box.

  Reggina's defense scrambled to clear it, but in their panic, Case, Reggina's midfielder, iently buhe ball into his ow.

  The stadium fell silent for a moment, theed in cheers as Napoli doubled their lead. Case, meanwhile, fell to his knees in despair. In his debut fina, he had scored an own goal.

  Even Gao Shen, ever the petitor, couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the young midfielder. He had seen this happen to the best of pyers. It reminded him of Woodgate's infamous debut own goal.