Facing Rome's compressed biscuit cans, who is the knife to open the can?

As a striker during his playing days, Mancini was not a conservative coach at heart!

To call him cautious was merely a necessity.

Who wouldn't want to play beautiful, attacking football?

Who wouldn't want to win the reputation of an attacking tactical master by using exhilarating offensive tactics in front of tens of thousands of fans?

After arriving at Inter Milan, Mancini's implementation of a cautious style was a compromise he had to make based on the existing personnel.

Even so, the desire to play attacking football remained in his heart.

In fact, during Mancini's first stint at Inter Milan in the 2006-2007 season, the team played exactly that—attacking football.

That year, they retained the Serie A title with a club-record 97 points.

In all 38 Serie A matches, Inter Milan blasted in a staggering 80 goals!

That was an average of over two goals per game!

In the defense-oriented Serie A, this was an extremely rare phenomenon.

In the seven years since 2007, no other Serie A team has been able to break the record of 80 league goals in a single season.

"I want to win the Serie A Golden Boot!"

"I want to become the youngest Golden Boot winner in the century-long history of Serie A!"

Therefore, when Mancini returned for his second stint in November 2014 and held a one-on-one talk with Icardi in his office.

The Argentine striker's bold declaration instantly captured Mancio's heart!

Mancini had emphasized more than once to his long-time assistant coach Herrera:

"A team that wants to win the championship must have a powerful striker who can score 20-30 goals in a single season."

During Mancini's first stint at Inter Milan, that man was Ibrahimovic;

After coaching Manchester City, that man was Aguero.

And on his first day back at Inter Milan, Mancini decided that this man had to be the center-forward, Icardi!

Mancini had a sharp eye for talent, and his ability to build a team was world-class.

Although Icardi had only scored 9 goals the previous season, and despite the fact that the over-thirty Inter Milan main striker Palacio had still managed to score 19 goals throughout the season.

The sharp-eyed Mancini concluded that the one to carry the banner for Inter Milan's forward line in the future would not be Palacio, but Icardi!

Although Mancini did not show it on the surface, nor did he publicly compare Icardi and Palacio in front of the media.

But the idea of building the team around Icardi had been germinating in his heart since the first day he arrived at Inter Milan.

Especially after he participated in a few training sessions with Inter Milan, his conviction only grew stronger.

Icardi's sense of smell in front of the goal was absolutely top-tier in Serie A!

To achieve success coaching Inter Milan, Icardi would be Mancini's most important chess piece in the future.

"Press up, press forward!"

Mancini issued a brief yet firm instruction from the sidelines, signaling his players to intensify their attack in the remaining minutes.

Assistant coach Herrera suggested with some trepidation:

"Boss, we are already leading 3-0, and there are only 5 minutes left in the game. This is Roma's home turf; if we keep attacking, I'm afraid the opponent's play will get rougher..."

"Why are you being a coward?" Mancini gave a disdainful laugh. "Totti, with his hot temper, has been subbed off. The other Roma players can't stir up any trouble. We just keep playing!"

After receiving Mancini's instructions, all three lines of Inter Milan pressed forward.

Icardi was the happiest of them all.

A single goal was not enough to satisfy his ambition.

Hernanes had scored one, and Palacio had scored one; Icardi would never be satisfied with just being on par with them.

"Tang, keep feeding me! You provide the ball, and I'll put it in!"

Tang Long naturally wouldn't pass up this chance to crush Roma.

The Red Wolves had already been beaten, and they were a man down after Totti was subbed off.

If he didn't strike the opponent hard now and pad Icardi's stats, when would he?

In the 2nd minute of stoppage time, Inter Milan utilized their numerical advantage in positional play, and Roma was once again firmly compressed inside their own penalty area.

No matter how Inter Milan's midfield probed back and forth in the 20-meter zone in front of the penalty area.

Roma just huddled inside and refused to come out.

Hernanes, who was in charge of orchestrating, appeared very patient.

Whenever the ball came to his feet, he was always keeping an eye on the movement of the opponent's defensive line, attempting to find a gap.

"Look here!"

Icardi looked up at the Brazilian midfielder, then immediately surged forward!

However, even though he had crossed the offside line, he still didn't receive the pass from Hernanes.

Icardi glared at his teammate, but all he received in response was a smiling face and a hand pressing downward, signaling him not to be impatient.

Clearly, unless there was a clear gap, the Brazilian midfielder would never easily send a through ball.

"Too conservative, I was in such a good position!"

Icardi couldn't help but spread his hands and complain to Tang Long.

On the sidelines, Herrera stood beside Mancini with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Boss, look, AS Roma's formation is very compact right now, sitting very deep. It's hard to penetrate with this kind of passing. Hernanes wants to lure them out, but AS Roma won't fall for it. After all, losing to us by three goals at home is already the limit of what their management can tolerate."

"Hmm, they are like a compressed biscuit tin, packed very tight."

"I reckon this score will hold until the end of the match."

"Not necessarily. No matter how tight the tin is, there's always a knife that can pry it open."

"But Hernanes isn't even playing dangerous passes anymore; his distribution has become too conservative."

"Herrera, the person who opens the tin doesn't necessarily have to be Hernanes."

In Mancini's view, Hernanes was an excellent passer.

Especially in controlling midfield transitions, he was truly top-tier in Serie A.

However, he was not perfect.

Having coached for many years, Mancini knew well that to break through AS Roma's compressed backline, relying solely on probing distribution outside the penalty area would not lead to a substantial breakthrough.

The most critical factor was a sudden change in tempo!

To pry open this tightly compressed tin, one had to wait for an unexpected, fatal strike.

Mancini had a vague expectation.

The person to deliver this fatal strike would not be Hernanes, nor Kovacic, nor Inter Milan's two wing-backs, Jonathan and Nagatomo Yuto, and certainly not the rough-footed defensive midfielder Medel.

If he had to pick one person, Mancini would bet on Tang Long!

This was the intuitive judgment of a former top Serie A striker.

Time reached the 94th minute.

The final minute of regulation time.

Inter Milan launched their final wave of attacks.

Icardi was anxious; he had yet to open his account for a second goal.

Tang Long was also anxious, because Hernanes hadn't passed the ball to him for a long time!

Ever since Tang Long's cross from the wing had accidentally led to a penalty.

Perhaps because he hadn't followed his instructions, Hernanes, who controlled the midfield possession, rarely passed the ball to Tang Long anymore.

Time ticked away second by second.

The referee already had his whistle in his mouth, checking his watch.

He could blow the final whistle at any moment.

Tang Long had a flash of inspiration; he ran to the edge of the penalty area and shouted at Hernanes:

"The Prophet, look over here!"

Hernanes was facing away, originally planning to pass the ball to Jonathan on the left and wait for the match to end.

But hearing someone shout his nickname, he quickly turned his head and saw Tang Long waving at him. "The Prophet, The Prophet, give me the ball!"

People in the workplace like to be flattered, and professional players are no different.

Hernanes was instantly amused.

Good lad, this young Chinese kid actually knows my nickname!

It seems the reputation of the Football Prophet has even spread to China, thousands of miles away?

Heh heh heh~

I really am famous far and wide.

Thwack!

Facing the incoming ball from Hernanes.

The AI inside Tang Long's brain was running at high speed!

The space left for Tang Long was indeed very small.

Two AS Roma players were pressing out from behind him, closing in on Tang Long at high speed.

They were looking to seal off Tang Long's space to turn immediately!

As long as Tang Long couldn't turn in front of the penalty area.

He would only be able to pass the ball back.

Once he passed it back, and they exchanged a pass or two, the whistle in the referee's mouth would blow, and AS Roma would have successfully defended the 0-3 scoreline, avoiding the humiliation of losing by more than four goals at home.

The ball was about to make contact with Tang Long's foot, but the brainwave prompt remained silent, offering not a shred of feedback.

Had it malfunctioned?

"Beep, beep, beep!"

"According to big data analysis, the opponent's rear defense is densely packed. If the host receives the ball and attempts a forced through-pass after turning, the probability of connecting with the forward is only 2.23%."

"Prompt: You may choose to dummy the ball; there is a 35.45% chance of creating unexpected chaos."

A massive amount of AI analysis flooded into Tang Long's mind in mere milliseconds.

Just as the soccer ball was a single centimeter away from touching Tang Long's trapping foot.

He spread his legs with a forceful motion, leaving exactly a foot of space between them!

The soccer ball slipped right through his legs!

Inside the penalty area.

A lurking blue-and-black figure, hunched over like a hunting leopard, darted out...