From coaching Real Madrid

Coaching for a full season and putting out fires in the middle are two completely different concepts.

Although it requires a specific analysis of the specific situation, in general, it is indeed easier to put out the fire midway.

Because it has a clear concept and knows where the problem lies, as long as it is solved, there is less pressure on performance.

But the full season is different.

The moment you get the schedule, you need to start formulating a detailed season strategy.

After Gao Shen came back from South America, he immediately locked himself up in his house in the Bay Area of ​​Naples. He watched videos with the coaching staff every day, studied the schedule, made plans, and designed training programs.

In the evening he will read in the tactical library. He has now finished reading Benitez's book and is studying Van Gaal.

This is also a head coach that is worth studying. He has even profoundly influenced countless head coaches, including famous coaches such as Bielsa and Guardiola.

The Ajax team coached by Louis van Gaal is also the goal that Gao Shen is now trying to learn from.

Gao Shen heard many voices outside, but he didn't think about paying attention to it. He even asked Carlo not to come forward to clarify. It was not necessary. If he had this kind of time, it would be better to watch more videos and study his opponents more.

Whether it's a mule or a horse, you still have to pull it out and run around to find out.

Whether you have real materials or not depends not on your words but on your achievements.

…

There is a very important point in the season guide, which is the schedule.

In the past two years, the Coppa Italia has frequently changed its competition format. Now it consists of teams from the middle and lower reaches of Serie A, Serie B, C1 and C2, forming 64 teams and playing a single knockout tournament directly from the first round.

Until the top eight were decided.

Starting from the fourth round, that is, the top 16, the top eight teams officially joined last season's Serie A, and the competition format has also become a two-round home and away matchup.

In terms of time, the first three rounds all started in late August, and three games were played within one week.

This is very fatal.

A single knockout match is very contingency. For a newly formed team like Naples, the error tolerance rate is extremely low. This requires the team to make very detailed preparations for the season. It is necessary to prepare the team's information before the start of the game.

Adjust the status.

After playing the first three rounds of the Italian Cup, the first round of Serie B came in September, and Napoli was at home to face Treviso, who had just been relegated from Serie A.

When a newly promoted team meets a relegated team, even though it is at home, it goes without saying how great the challenge is.

Not to mention, in the previous three rounds of cup competitions, it is entirely possible for Naples to encounter strong Serie A teams.

Judging from the league schedule, Juventus, the number one opponent in Gao Shen's eyes, is scheduled to play at home in November.

Relatively speaking, the preparation time for this game against Juventus is quite ample.

In addition, Serie B has a winter break of more than 20 days from late December to mid-January, which is also a very important adjustment.

But if the cup can reach the quarterfinals, the winter break will be three or four days shorter than other teams.

However, this is not worth considering for the time being.

…

From a technical and tactical perspective, Gao Shen's requirements are very clear: press and press from a high position, and switch between offense and defense at a fast pace.

These requirements are very high for players' physical fitness and cooperative combat capabilities.

But Gao Shen also put forward higher requirements.

He wants every player to run an average distance of no less than 10,000 meters in the new season.

This number is really astonishing.

Not only is Buenaventura under pressure, but Carlo and Borrell are also under pressure.

Today's mainstream running is not so outrageous. If you can run ten kilometers, you are either a defensive midfielder or a full-back. Who can ask the entire team, except the goalkeeper, to run an average of ten kilometers like Gao Shen?

Regarding this number, the profoundness is not without purpose.

"Zidane told me that as early as 1998, during the World Cup in France, players from many teams, including France, ran between 9 and 14 kilometers, and some averaged around 10.5 kilometers. .”

"Of course, we can't use World Cup data to ask the league, but I think this is a standard worthy of reference. I can even predict that in the next four years, the running data of the entire European football will increase significantly. Ten kilometers will be It won’t be rare.”

Even Barcelona, ​​which is the best running team now, actually runs less than ten kilometers per game except for the goalkeeper. The reason is that they run as a whole. They seem to run a lot, but the actual running distance is not large.

But during Guardiola's coaching, this kind of overall running will be more and the running distance will be longer. The result is that players will pass more and more times.

Passes are all run!

This is the most basic.

Therefore, teams in the next few years will have dense passing lines, while current teams' passing lines will be sparse.

To put it bluntly, it is caused by the running distance.

Why does Gao Shen dare to make such an assertion?

Because the defense is becoming more and more rigorous.

Football skills and tactics are all spiraling. When your defense reaches a certain level, you must find a way to restrain it.

what to do?

You build your defense into an iron wall, then I will move as much as possible, through more running and more pulling, to create cracks in your iron wall.

More importantly, my running can also effectively seize advantageous space, which is beneficial for both offense and defense.

Cruyff once said: Facing an attack on a two-way ten-lane road is a failure of defense; facing an attack in a narrow alley that only allows one person to pass, that is an excellent defense.

Sacchi once said something similar.

They are all explaining the most fundamental truth, which is that pressing is one of the most basic rules of football. Compressing the space on the court is the key to victory, and compressing space requires running.

Gao Shen will convey this concept to the coaching staff now, and he will also convey it to the players later.

After losing the ball, counterattack on the spot and at the same time compress the opponent's offense as much as possible into a narrow alley that can only allow a single person to pass.

Running is the basis of everything.

"This is a major trend. Only by adapting and doing our best to improve ourselves, the team, and our training level and quality can we ensure that the team plays the highest level of competition on the court!"

…

As a fan, Gao Shen actually did not have a thorough understanding of the so-called rules.

But after becoming a head coach, especially after reading the coaches' books in the tactical library, he discovered that rules are actually very important. Even a very inconspicuous rule change may subvert the existing tactics.

For example, in 2005, FIFA made changes to the offside rule.

Fans who are familiar with the 2005 World Youth Championship must remember that when China scored the second goal against Germany, a German offensive player was obviously in an offside position. However, because he did not directly participate in the attack, instead

It was the player who stepped in from behind who scored a single goal, so this time it was a successful counter-offside.

If it was before the rule changes in 2005, this would have been an offensive offside.

There is no doubt that this offside rule was enacted to encourage offense, but for the defensive side, it is a disadvantage, especially for all teams that adopt high pressing and pressing, this is simply subversive.

Based on the original offside rule, the team must be able to effectively control an area of ​​about 40 meters in the stadium, but with the implementation of the new offside rule, this data will be expanded to 60 meters.

In other words, a team that presses and presses from a high position can effectively control the area 20 meters longer than before.

Then you can calculate, how big is the area? How much distance does this require the players to run?

Why does Guardiola's Barcelona have to run so much?

In addition to the need for passing and pulling, the more important thing is to effectively control this 60-meter area to prevent the opponent from successfully launching counterattacks and attacks. Otherwise, hit behind and hit each one accurately.

And this will also have another impact, that is, there will be more space in the midfield.

With more space, players' physical contact will be reduced, and technical midfielders can gain more advantages. Therefore, a midfield configuration similar to Barcelona's Habaib will have more areas for activities.

At the same time, with more space, the previous tactics of lining up the midfield like 442 will not work because there is space in front of and behind you, which is unreasonable, so it is replaced by 4231

, the birth of multi-line formations such as 4321, 433, etc., they will further subdivide the midfield.

All of this is based on effectively controlling this sixty-meter area, which requires more running.

…

Gao Shen explained his ideas to the core coaching staff very clearly, because next they need to implement these into training and instill them in the players through training.

A new era in European football has begun.

A very important reason why Gao Shen does not use high defense in Real Madrid is that the running ability of Real Madrid players is insufficient.

All teams with insufficient running ability blindly adopt high defense, and the final result is that the defense line is beaten into a sieve.

Therefore, if Naples wants to adopt a high-position defense, it must be able to do so. The running distance of the players can effectively control the 60-meter area. This is the basis for the team's effective defense.

Otherwise, Gao Shen would not consider adopting a high-position defense, and everything would have to be torn down and rebuilt.

"Lorenzo, I believe you can do it, and our players can also meet your requirements. Of course, this requires our support in terms of training level, hardware facilities, eating habits, etc." Gao Shen said confidently.

Encouragement.

Everyone immediately looked at Buenaventura with sympathy in their eyes.

how to say?

The requirements for proficiency are indeed too high.

Among the six people present, I am afraid that only Gao Shen himself firmly believed that Buenaventura could do it.

Because, before he crossed over, Buenaventura did do it, and did it very well.

"You bring me new challenges every time, and the difficulty becomes more and more difficult each time." Buenaventura said with a bitter smile.

Everyone also laughed.

Who says it’s not?

When he first coached Real Madrid, he was asked to adjust the team's physical fitness in half a month. Now, the requirements are even more outrageous.

With such a boss at the stall, there is nothing we can do.

But it is also a challenge to improve yourself.