Chapter 9 Performing a Major Surgery on Real Madrid

The history of football tactics is like a sad reminder that the back wave keeps killing the front wave.

The innovators of the past slowly became the mainstream and were replaced by a new round of innovators, which in turn promoted the development of football tactics.

At the turn of the century, many fans will remember the madness of the Bundesliga, Florentino's Galactico, Manchester United's triple crown, and the afterglow of the Serie A World Cup.

But few fans will remember that there was once an unremarkable small team that reached the Champions League final for two consecutive seasons.

Although they all lost to the giants in the end and became synonymous with tragedy, this team is undoubtedly the most impressive in the past few years since the turn of the century, and it also plays the role of an innovator in European football tactics.

This team is from La Liga, called Valencia.

Coaching Valencia from Italian coach Ranieri brought the Italian defensive system framework to the team, and the subsequent Argentine coach Hector Cooper took Valencia's achievements further.

Many fans remember Cooper because of his coaching at Inter Milan, especially the grievances between him and Ronaldo.

Conservative, stubborn, and unreasonable, this should be the stereotype of Cooper by all fans.

Even when Gao Shen used to search for Cooper on the Internet, a photo of an old-fashioned image with white hair, a black frame, and an extremely stubborn expression would always pop up, which undoubtedly deepened the understanding of Cooper by latecomers.

But in fact, whether it is coaching Real Mallorca or Valencia, Cooper is a veritable tactical innovator.

On the basis of Agnelli, he created a 442 midfield diamond position for Valencia, which greatly stimulated the tactical development of European football. field.

Cooper's style of play not only helped Valencia reach the Champions League final for two consecutive seasons, but also cultivated a group of outstanding stars, such as Herald, Mendieta and so on.

He himself also relied on this set of ideas to win the favor of Inter Milan chairman Moratti, which led to his later grievances with Ronaldo.

So Cooper's tactical innovation is just to adjust the player's position?

Ordinary fans seem to be so, but in fact, this is a revolution in tactical concepts. It represents that European football has officially moved from the original free man and man-to-man tactics to the concept of zone defense outlined by Sacchi. step forward.

The previous football tactics emphasized ball power and people, but now a third element has been added, which is space.

In the state of possession, how to expand the space as much as possible, mobilize the opponent's defense, and create more gaps for the offense; in the defensive state, how to compress the space as much as possible, maintain a tight defensive formation, and reduce the exposure of one's own gap.

As a single midfielder, Herald grew up under Cooper's system, and was favored by Barcelona, ​​and was introduced at a sky-high price. Unexpectedly, he was lost in the confusion of the Nou Camp.

Mendieta also moved to Lazio later, and he was greatly uncomfortable, and his career plummeted.

This is definitely not an accidental phenomenon.

If Cooper has been leading the European tactical revolution during his tenure in Valencia, then his successor, Benitez, has taken this set of innovations a step further and promoted it to become a consensus throughout Europe and even the world.

Four two three one, double midfielder, high position press and oppress!

Benitez clearly saw that the single midfielder in the 442 diamond position was not enough to protect the space of the two ribs of the defense. At that time, there were many players in European football like Zidane and Ned With a midfielder like Wade, they have a strong offensive ability against the ribs.

Therefore, he removed a striker and adopted a double midfielder style of play. After Valencia sold Herald, he introduced Baraja, and the team trained Albelda, which happened to give Benitez formed the most classic double midfielder combination in European football in the past ten years.

With four lines, the control of space has reached a new level. Front can attack and retreat can defend. Benitez relied on this style of play to lead Valencia to win the La Liga and lead Liverpool to stage the miracle of Istanbul in the Champions League final. .

Even next year, that is, in 2007, Liverpool will reach the Champions League final.

It can be said that the four-two-three-one style of play is very advanced at the moment.

From the standpoint of 2006, the four-three-three that Chelsea coach Mourinho is currently adopting is very advanced, but the requirements for players are very high, and it is not suitable for most teams. Generally, only strong teams use it. Four two three one is different, its universality is very strong.

At least, the current Real Madrid can't play four-three-three.

Once upon a time, Real Madrid also wanted to adopt a double defensive midfielder.

Whether it was Florentino who introduced Makelele, Flavio and Celades in one breath back then, three midfielders who performed very well in La Liga, or Gravesen and Pablo Garcia later Such famous players all prove that Real Madrid can't see the trend clearly, so why is Real Madrid's defense still so bad?

The answer is simple: superstar.

So the question is, why does the superstar have such a great influence on Real Madrid's tactics?

Just because the superstars aren't active on defense?

Yes, but also no.

It is now 2006, and the World Cup in Germany is about to begin.

I believe many fans will have a question, why Zidane performed so well in the World Cup in Germany, but did not perform well in Real Madrid?

Did he deliberately save his energy at the club?

I am afraid that only Zidane knows whether he has intentionally kept his strength. However, Zidane plays a completely different role in Real Madrid and in the French national team.

In the World Cup in Germany, France adopted a four-two-three formation, with Makelele and Vieira as the double midfielders, and Zidane did not play on the left side of the frontcourt, but on the front midfielder.

The four-two-three-one formation is very balanced, especially able to stimulate the role of the midfielder. Zidane can be said to be a fish in water in this tactical system, and he doesn't even need to worry about defense at all, because there are two midfielders sitting behind him.

It can be said that in this style of play, Zidane's strength has been brought into full play.

Can Real Madrid play?

Comparing France's World Cup squads, Ronaldo vs Thierry Henry up front, Raúl vs Malouda on the left, Robinho vs Ribéry on the right, it doesn't seem impossible, does it?

Even in the defensive midfielder position, Gravesen is a famous player in the Premier League, Pablo Garcia is a famous player in La Liga, and there is also a long-passing master Beckham who plays a very good cameo as a defensive midfielder. You can try it no matter how you look at it.

So why didn't Real Madrid try?

The answer is simple, still a superstar!

First of all, Ronaldo's range of activities and personal ability are not as good as they were back then, and he can't play Henry's threat at all; Threat, then the frontcourt has to leave space for him.

Then the problem arises. When Carlos advances forward, the players on the left side of the frontcourt will close in the middle, which will seize the range of movement of the front midfielder. The attack after the insertion is not good, and the opponent counterattacked. It is difficult for Real Madrid's defense to organize an effective defense system.

Because Real Madrid is still playing the old style of zone marking, and the defense emphasizes the individual performance of the players, rather than the team's system, because Carlos can't come back, because Ronaldo, Zidane, Robinho and other superstars are not active Back to defense.

If one or two do not return to defense, the team still has a way to make up for it, but if the frontcourt players do not return to defense, how can they make up for it?

Therefore, in the past few years, Real Madrid's defense can be described as riddled with holes. Even if the defenders are changed one after another, and the defensive players behind the midfielder are bought one after another, the effect is still the same, and there is no effect at all.

If the defensive system does not change, and the overall tactical concept does not change, it will be useless to change anyone.

...

Gao Shen is very aware of the problems Real Madrid is facing now.

Before time travel, he was a fan, he only knew that the problem was with superstars, but why superstars?

He doesn't understand.

Now, he understands a little bit, so he has to start to solve this problem.

He chose to watch Benitez's series of books, first of all about Benitez's tactics and team formation, especially the improvement after taking over Valencia and the transformation after taking over Liverpool, which are very valuable to the current high level.

When Gao Shen finished reading these two cases in the library all night, after chewing them over and over again, although there were still many things he didn't understand, his overall tactical attainments had reached a higher level, and he could see Real Madrid's current problems more clearly.

Real Madrid is sick, and dying.

This kind of situation is no longer curable by taking medicine and injections, but requires a major surgery that hurts muscles and bones.

Especially for defense, the entire defensive system must be innovated.

If the defensive system is not reformed, it will be useless to introduce more superstars.

From Samuel to Woodgate, and the next World Footballer Cannavaro, he even hired the famous Italian coach Fabio Capello, who is known for his conservativeness, which improved Real Madrid's defense and won the league title. Champion, but still not stable enough.

And Capello's success in Real Madrid is precisely because he adopted a double midfielder.

This is exactly what Gao Shen wants to do.

Real Madrid's problem has never been offensive, but defensive.

In other words, how to better organize the defense under the threat of offense.

Real Madrid does not lack good players, like Gravesen, he is the core of Everton's midfielder, many people think he is a reckless man, yes, he looks fierce, but in fact, he has many strong players Passing and playmaking skills.

Pablo Garcia is also a famous player in La Liga. His ability to be favored by Real Madrid is a proof of his strength.

What Gao Shen needs to do now is to formulate a set of suitable tactics and integrate this group of players to form combat effectiveness.

Four-two-three-one is the tactic that Gao Shen wants. He believes that this is the most suitable tactic for Real Madrid at the moment.

Although this will sacrifice part of the offensive power, it can be exchanged for a solid defense, which will make Real Madrid more competitive.

What's more, since Gao Shen decided to fight against the superstars headed by the Brazilian Gang, the team's offense would be affected anyway. In this case, it is better to actively weaken the offense and strengthen the defense.

The tactics are decided, and the next step is the lineup selection.