From coaching Real Madrid

There is a saying circulating in Italian football: defense never goes out of style.

At first glance, many people will sneer at this sentence, but when you deeply understand the history of the development of football techniques and tactics, you will find that this sentence is actually very reasonable.

In the words of the Chinese ancestors: everything changes but remains true to its origins.

The football world is always changing. Sometimes the wings are prosperous, sometimes the center is strong, sometimes 442 is played, sometimes 433 is played...

But no matter how the world changes, defense is indispensable on the football field.

Because the essence of professional football is winning or losing.

Some people say that the 2006 World Cup was Italy's revenge for the 2000 European Cup.

In the European Cup for two thousand years, Germany has been inactive and has outdated tactics; England has been a perennial favorite but has been absent all the time; the golden generation of the Netherlands and Portugal both performed very well, but in the end it was Italy, which relied on defense to win, and made it all the way to the finals.

But Italy lost to France 1-2 in the final.

Six years later, the two teams met again in the World Cup final. Zidane was no longer the same Zidane, but Italy was still the same Italy as before.

Relying on an almost impenetrable defense, Italy managed to win the World Cup despite being devastated by the Calciopoli scandal, boosting the morale of Italian football.

Does this mean that Italian football will always be strong?

Neither.

In fact, Italian football has gradually declined over the years, especially in youth training, where the supply of talent has been weak.

Even at the tactical level, which Italy is most proud of, they are still criticized.

Ancelotti used Pirlo as an attacking midfielder and was unanimously praised, but the 4321 Christmas tree formation he tried also encountered doubts and failures. The reason was simple: tearing.

The offense and defense were completely torn apart.

This point sparked heated discussions as early as the 2000 European Cup, and it is still discussed today.

And everyone knows how much impact the team's tactics will have after the separation of offense and defense.

Overly paranoid conservatism will also bring about another problem, which is the training of players.

Taking centers as an example, Italy has the most centers that can break through the opponent's defense, such as Toni, Iaquinta, etc.

These types of centers spend more of their energy and physical strength on the task of breaking through the opponent's defense, resulting in their contribution to the defensive end being little or almost nothing.

And this is a consequence of the separation of offense and defense, and the tendency of tactics to be defensive.

Even in AC Milan's Christmas tree formation, the only ones who are really involved in the attack are the three in front.

Everyone knows that Italian football has reached a dead end. This was especially obvious in the Champions League last season. Even if Italy won the World Cup, it still could not change this situation.

The key question is, how to change?

…

4231 or 4321 are essentially the same, a five-midfield configuration.

The former was first created to freeze a super number 10 like Maradona. Because a single midfielder cannot stop a superstar like Maradona, two people are needed.

And the extra person was taken from the front line.

Therefore, in the earliest days, the 4-2-3 formation was for defense.

But as time has passed and the football tactical environment has changed, especially in Spain, after constant updates and iterations, 4231 has been given a different tactical mission from the past.

"On the defensive side, using an integrated pressing system, all fronts move forward together and win the ball back as close as possible to the opponent's goal. This is the Netherlands' total offense and defense."

This is the starting point of the high pressing tactics.

But then there is another problem. When the team adopts high-position pressing, high forwards like Tony and Iaquinta become useless because they cannot provide the team with strong pressing in the frontcourt.

.

They can score goals, but they can't defend, they can't even support, they can't make the ball, and they can't become a tactical fulcrum.

The existence of this type of high center forward not only cannot help the team, but also drags down the team's overall tactics.

Therefore, all teams that adopt high-position pressing will choose another type of center, the support center.

This type of center is very active on the defensive end. They will immediately engage in counterattacks when switching from offense to defense. More importantly, they are good at playing the ball and creating space for their teammates.

Yes, they don't score many goals, but their tactical role is very important, even indispensable.

…

Gao Shen spent more than half an hour going over the tactical changes and the rise of the supporting center with Pellet from front to back.

He hopes that Pellet can clearly understand why he is doing this and what he should do.

"Actually, when I was at Ajax, from Petersson to Ronald De Boer, and later to Kluivert, none of these players had a particularly high scoring efficiency. Only Kluivert was relatively

Better, he was also praised by Van Gaal as the representative of the perfect center."

"You can see that these centers are not good at scoring goals, but more of a fulcrum. Even people like Litmanen, Bergkamp and others have also played the role of supporting centers. They often play the role of support center.

played an important role.”

"Nowadays, support centers have become very popular. I used Negredo to play this role when I was at Real Madrid, so Raul's goal rate went up immediately. And at Chelsea, Drogba is the leader in this aspect.

.”

"When Benitez coached Valencia, he first had Carew and then Mista. After arriving at Liverpool, he has been looking for a supporting center, such as Baros and Crouch."

"Barcelona's Frank Rijkaard has always been dissatisfied with Eto'o, because Eto'o can score goals, but his support is never ideal. He is also looking for a support center."

"Of course, there are other teams and other head coaches, many of whom have this tendency, especially in the Netherlands and Spain. I can even tell you with great certainty that the support center will play an increasingly important role in the future.

The tactical role is just like Drogba's role at Chelsea."

When Gao Shen said this, his expression was extremely determined.

This is something he has seen and experienced with his own eyes.

If nothing else, in a few years, who will need centers like Toni, Iaquinta, and Trezeguet?

Even if he is as strong as Eto'o, wouldn't he have to stay aside in front of 433?

Centers like Diego Milito, Benzema, and Drogba are the mainstream.

Pellet undoubtedly fits this direction.

Over the years, Pellet has been confused and has never figured out what kind of player he should be.

This was the first time that someone had so systematically and completely explained to him the past and present of the support center, and it also pointed out a path and direction for Pellet's career development.

"Boss, what do you think I should do?" Pellet asked with concern.

Gao Shen knew that he was moved, and immediately laughed, "You want to be the core of our frontcourt offense."

Pellet raised his head in disbelief and looked at Gao Shen with disbelief on his face.

Do you want to use him as your core?

"The tasks when defending, I have just said, counterattack on the spot, consume the opponent's central defender, etc. Once you grab the ball and switch from defense to offense, you have to quickly move to a favorable position and become our team's

The first point of attack.”

"After you win the first point, there will be teammates around you to launch an attack. Your task is to distribute the ball to your teammates reasonably. After completing this step, the next thing you have to do is to respond or score a goal.

"

Through Gao Shen's words, Pelley clarified his position in Gao Shen's tactical system.

He also believed what Gao Shen said about the future of the supporting center, because there were so many cases before him, and he had no reason not to believe it, not to mention that he had no choice now.

Over the years, he has been running into obstacles everywhere and has never been able to find his place.

He is tall and strong and has excellent skills with his feet. These are his advantages and the reason why many coaches have high hopes for him. However, he has never been able to show it and he has scored very few goals.

Now, the route Gao Shen planned for him may not be his way out.

Besides, Gao Shen is the head coach, so Pellet can't resist his arrangement, can he?

"I understand, and I will try my best to do a good job." Pellet promised.

…………

…………

Negotiating with Pellet is just the beginning.

Gao Shen will next need to communicate with the coaching staff to arrange some targeted training programs for Pellet to help him get familiar with his new role as soon as possible. One of them is one that Ajax often uses when training players.

Five versus three.

As the name suggests, five players versus three players, the five-man side attacks with the ball.

This seems unreasonable, right?

Don't worry.

The five-man side is spread out, with four on the outside and one standing in the middle, surrounded by three defensive players.

If you want to maintain the ball, the middle person in the five-man team must not only move actively, but also observe the positions of opponents and teammates around you at all times, kick the ball out, and transition the ball out as quickly as possible, while the four people on the outside must also actively run.

Neutral to prevent the middle person's passing route from being blocked by the three parties.

This is a relatively rough training method, and the coaching staff still needs to make adjustments based on Pellet's habits and technical characteristics, but the overall training idea is like this.

The purpose of this is to train Pellet's ability to transfer the ball under high-pressure defensive tactics.

Even, to a certain extent, this is the basic skill of a supporting center.

When Gao Shen brought the idea to an internal meeting of the coaching staff for discussion, Carlo and Borrell also gave many suggestions for modifications, especially Borrell, who is an expert in this field and has been immersed in Barcelona for many years.

I even know something about the training of Van Gaal and Kluivert back then, so naturally I am more familiar with it.

Therefore, Gao Shen simply handed over this task to Borrell.

"Whether we can kill Juventus depends on you, Rudolf!" Gao Shen said earnestly.

Borrell and others all had wry smiles on their faces.

Working for Gao Shen is still very stressful.

But the speed of progress and sense of achievement are also full.