The match started quickly.
Today, Sunderland lined up in a 4-3-3 formation:
Goalkeeper: Pickford.
Defenders: Oviedo, O'Shea, Lescott, Billy Jones.
Midfielders: Larsson, Januzaj, Cattermole.
Forwards: Borini, Defoe, Khazri.
Slightly different from the 4-2-3-1 formation Zhao Zhao usually used, he moved Januzaj back a bit from the attacking midfielder position, but he was still positioned in front of the two defensive midfielders, Larsson and Cattermole.
Januzaj's position remained very important.
When the three forwards pressed high up the pitch, he needed to push forward simultaneously, ready to assist the forwards in intercepting the opponent's passing lanes.
And in attack, he had to take on the heavy responsibility of passing and organizing – after all, relatively speaking, neither Larsson nor Cattermole had Januzaj's passing accuracy and ball control.
On the other side, the visiting team Watford, as expected, played a defensive 5-4-1 formation:
Goalkeeper: Gomes.
Defenders: Mason, Britos, Prodl, Mariappa, Janmaat.
Midfielders: Cleverley, Doucouré, Capoue, Amrabat.
Forward: Niang.
In this starting lineup, from the perspective of Zhao Zhao's fans in his previous life, Watford truly lacked well-known players.
Capoue in midfield, having played for Tottenham, was relatively famous, and this Amrabat was a Moroccan international, but he was not the one who would later play for Manchester United.
His name was Nordin Amrabat, the older brother of Sofyan Amrabat, who played for Manchester United.
Besides that, perhaps only the forward Niang was relatively familiar to Zhao Zhao.
He joined AC Milan a few years ago, forming the "Wash, Cut, Blow" attacking trio with Balotelli and El Shaarawy.
However, he later failed to establish himself at Milan, being frequently loaned out, and was also loaned to Watford in the winter transfer window this season.
The problem is that the current AC Milan is not the star-studded Milan of the past; they often can't even qualify for European competitions!
So, Niang's ability was just so-so.
From this perspective, it's not unfair that Watford is on the verge of relegation this season, as their strength is clearly there.
And Mazzarri probably realized this, which is why he so resolutely adopted a defensive stance at the Stadium of Light, vowing to secure a point for relegation survival!
-----------------
As soon as the opening whistle blew, all of Sunderland's players pushed their overall defensive line forward, just as Zhao Zhao had deployed before the match.
The forward line, led by Defoe, began to press Watford's defenders, and at the same time, Sunderland's midfield and defense also followed forward.
Defoe was the first to charge towards Prodl, the central defender among Watford's three center-backs.
Although Defoe was not tall and didn't seem to exert much pressure, his speed was extremely fast and his footwork frequency was very high, which immediately put Prodl under pressure.
It should be noted that when Sunderland played against Swansea, Defoe had forced the opposing goalkeeper into an error, which led to a goal.
So Prodl dared not be negligent and quickly passed the ball to the side, not daring to keep the ball at his feet for more than a second.
Such a move, of course, was also within Sunderland's expectations.
At the same time, Khazri and Borini, on either side of Defoe, also pressed forward together.
These two fast wingers immediately joined Defoe to form three rapid arrows, piercing directly into Watford's heartland.
Behind these three arrows were Sunderland's three midfield generals.
They also blocked Watford's passing lanes to their defensive midfielders, forcing the opponent to pass the ball to their wing-backs – just as Zhao Zhao wanted.
Seeing the fast pace and fierce attack from the start, the fans in the Stadium of Light also erupted in cheers.
They were also using this method to cheer for their team!
Including many "outsiders" from all over the world, whether they came for Zhao Zhao, or were just traveling here, or even those who weren't even fans, all started shouting and cheering along.
This is the atmosphere that comes from watching a match live.
People who only watch matches on TV sometimes might not understand why a neutral fan at the stadium sometimes goes so crazy joining the cheering army.
But the truth is, once you're there, when you come to such a Premier League stadium, it's hard not to be infected by the atmosphere!
Now on the field, under Sunderland's intentional "selective" pressing from the front line, the ball had already reached the feet of wing-back Janmaat.
This Netherlands player had previously mainly played in the Eredivisie and also represented the Netherlands national team in the 2014 World Cup.
However, although he was physically strong and defended well, his speed, ball control, and passing were all average, so he failed to attract the attention of big teams.
After coming to the Premier League, he basically played for relegation-threatened teams like Newcastle and Watford.
Now Janmaat received the ball, ready to take a couple of steps forward, but found himself surrounded by a dark mass of players.
Unbeknownst to him, the opponent's Khazri had already rushed in front of him, blocking his path.
And on the other side, Cattermole and Larsson had already closed in.
Janmaat wanted to pass back to his own half, but found that Defoe and Borini were also eyeing the ball menacingly next to his central defenders, leaving him with no passing options.
He hesitated for a moment, and a foot stretched out.
Cattermole dispossessed the ball!
This midfield tough guy never held onto the ball and immediately tapped it back to Larsson.
Larsson also directly passed the ball to Khazri.
Khazri quickly surged forward along the left wing, dribbling the ball with long strides!
In the 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 system that Zhao Zhao has built for Sunderland, the positions of these two wingers, Khazri and Borini, are very flexible.
It can even be said that whether they are left wingers or right wingers might only differ when submitting the starting lineup.
But in reality, once on the field, the two will frequently interchange positions, cover for each other, and intersperse, with no fixed position at all.
The advantage of doing this is, on one hand, it makes it difficult for the opponent's defenders to mark them individually, and on the other hand, it makes Sunderland's attacking patterns more flexible, including pressing.
Sometimes the three forwards might press along three separate lines, while at other times, all three might suddenly rush towards the same side, instantly creating high pressure on one side of the opponent, and then forcing the opponent to shift the ball to the other side, to achieve the coach's tactical objective.
And now, Khazri had already run to the left wing with the ball, and Watford's players quickly came over to defend.
Khazri then made a sudden stop, pulled the ball back, bringing it to his dominant left foot, and then directly delivered a 45-degree inswinging cross!
At this moment, Defoe had already surged to the edge of the opponent's penalty area.
Although he was not tall, his positioning was excellent.
After the ball flew over, he quickly anticipated its direction, getting in front of the opposing center-back Prodl, and immediately headed the ball towards the goal!
However, because the header was from near the penalty spot, it was a bit far from the goal.
Therefore, even though Defoe's header was powerful, Watford's goalkeeper Gomes still reacted, reaching out to tip the ball over the crossbar!
Even so, he broke out in a cold sweat.
After all, it was only one minute into the match, and the opponent was attacking so fiercely and immediately had such a threatening shot!
And this shot once again ignited the passion within the Stadium of Light.
Sunderland fans also began a new round of hoarse shouts!