From coaching Real Madrid

The history of football tactics is like a sad history of the waves behind constantly beating the waves ahead.

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

At the turn of the century, many fans will remember the craziness of the Bundesliga, Florentino's Galacticos, Manchester United's Triple Crown, and the afterglow of the Serie A Mini World Cup.

But few fans will remember that there was once a small and inconspicuous team that reached the Champions League finals for two consecutive seasons.

Although they lost to the giants in the end and became synonymous with misery, 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 a tactical innovator in European football.

This team is from La Liga, called Valencia.

Valencia was coached by Italian head coach Claudio Ranieri, who brought an Italian defensive system framework to the team. The subsequent Argentine head coach Hector Cooper took over and made Valencia's achievements even further.

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

Conservative, stubborn, and unkind, this should be the stereotype that all fans have of Cooper.

Even when Gao Shen used to search for Cooper on the Internet, a photo of him with white hair, black frames, and an old-fashioned image with an extremely stubborn expression would always pop up. This undoubtedly continued to deepen the understanding of Cooper by those who came after him.

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

Based on Agnelli, he created a 4-4-2 midfield diamond position for Valencia, which greatly stimulated the tactical development of European football. Everyone, including Ferguson, imitated Valencia's diamond center position.

field.

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

He himself also relied on this set of concepts to win the favor of Inter Milan chairman Massimo Moratti, which later led to the dispute with Ronaldo.

So Cooper's tactical innovation is just an adjustment in player positions?

It may seem like this to ordinary fans, 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.

Move forward.

In the past, football tactics emphasized possession of the ball and people, but now a third element has begun to be added, which is space.

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

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

Mendieta also subsequently moved to Lazio, but felt extremely uncomfortable and his career plummeted.

This is definitely not an accidental phenomenon.

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

Four-two-three-one, double midfielders, high position pressing and pressing!

Benitez clearly saw that the single defensive midfielder in a four-four-two 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.

An attacking midfielder like Wade is very capable of attacking the ribs.

So, he withdrew a forward and adopted a double defensive midfielder style. After Valencia sold Hérard, they introduced Baraja, plus Albelda trained by the team, which just gave Beni

Tesla has 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. You can attack forward and defend when you retreat. Benitez relied on this style of play to lead Valencia to win the La Liga championship and led Liverpool to perform the Miracle of Istanbul in the Champions League final.

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Even next year, 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.

Looking at it from the perspective of 2006, the four-three-three currently used by Chelsea coach Mourinho is very advanced, but the requirements for players are very high, and it is not suitable for most teams at all. Generally, only strong teams use it, but

Four, two, three and one are different, and its universality is very strong.

At least, the current Real Madrid cannot play 433.

There was a time when Real Madrid also wanted to adopt a double midfielder style of play.

Whether it was when Florentino introduced Makelele, Flavio and Celades, three midfielders who performed very well in La Liga, or later Gravesson and Pablo Garcia.

Famous players such as Real Madrid have proven 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 do superstars have such a great impact on Real Madrid's tactics?

Is it just because the superstars are not actively involved in 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 did Zidane perform so well in the World Cup in Germany, but did not perform well in Real Madrid?

Is he deliberately conserving energy at the club?

Whether there was any deliberate effort or not, this is probably only known to Zidane himself. However, Zidane plays completely different roles in Real Madrid and in the French national team.

In the World Cup in Germany, France adopted a 4-2-3 formation, with Makelele and Vieira as the double defensive midfielders. Zidane did not play on the left side of the frontcourt, but as an attacking midfielder.

The 4-2-3-1 formation is very balanced and can especially stimulate the role of the attacking midfielder. Zidane is very comfortable in this tactical system. He even does not need to worry about defense at all because there are two defensive midfielders behind him.

It can be said that in this style of play, Zidane's strength is fully utilized.

Can Real Madrid play?

Comparing France's World Cup lineup, Ronaldo versus Henry at the forward, Raul versus Malouda on the left, Robinho versus Ribery on the right, it doesn't seem incomparable, right?

Even in the defensive midfielder position, Graveson is a famous player in the Premier League, Pablo Garcia is a famous player in La Liga, and there is also a guest midfielder named Beckham who is a good long-pass player. You can try it no matter how you look at it.

So why don't Real Madrid try?

The answer is simple, he is still a superstar!

First of all, Ronaldo's range of activities and personal abilities are no longer as good as they used to be, and he is simply unable to exert the threat of Henry; secondly, Roberto Carlos loves offense and is best at one-stop service on the wing, and everyone knows that if they want Carlos to exert his full potential

If he is a threat, then space must be left for him in the frontcourt.

Then the problem arises. When Carlos moves forward, the player on the left side of the frontcourt will move towards the center, which will occupy the attacking midfielder's range of activities. If that's the case, it doesn't matter. The key is that if Carlos moves forward,

The attack after the break was unfavorable and the opponent counterattacked. It was difficult for Real Madrid's defense to organize an effective defensive system.

Because Real Madrid is still playing the old game of zone marking, and the defense emphasizes the individual performance of the players rather than the team's system operation, because Carlos cannot come back, and because superstars such as Ronaldo, Zidane and Robinho are not active

Return to defense.

If one or two players don't return to defense, the team can still make up for it, but if the frontcourt players don't return to defense, how can they make up for it?

Therefore, in the past few years, Real Madrid's defense has been riddled with holes. Even if the defenders are replaced one after another, and the midfielders are bought one after another, the effect remains the same, with no effect at all.

If the defensive system does not change and the overall tactical concept does not change, any change will be in vain.

…

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 wants to start solving this problem.

He chose to read Benitez's book series. The first was about Benitez's tactics and team formation, especially the improvements after taking over Valencia and the transformation after taking over Liverpool. These are all very valuable to the current Gao Shen.

When Gao Shen read these two major cases in the library all night and chewed 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 terminally ill.

This kind of situation can no longer be cured by taking medicine and injections, but requires a major surgery that hurts the muscles and bones.

Especially defense, the entire defensive system must be innovated.

If the defensive system is not innovated, no matter how many superstars are introduced, it will be useless.

From Samuel to Woodgate, and the next World Footballer Cannavaro, they even specially hired the famous Italian coach Capello, who is known for his conservativeness. This improved Real Madrid's defense and won the league.

Champion, but still not stable enough.

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

This is exactly what Gao Shen wants to do.

Real Madrid's problem has never been in offense, but in defense.

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

Real Madrid has no shortage of good players, like Graveson, who is the core of Everton's midfield. Many people think he is a reckless man. Yes, he looks quite fierce, but in fact, he has many strong abilities.

Passing and organizational skills.

Pablo Garcia is also a famous player in La Liga. The fact that he is noticed by Real Madrid is proof of his strength.

What Gao Shen needs to do now is to formulate a suitable set of tactics to 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 also 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 has decided to fight the superstars led by the Brazilian Gang, the team's offense will be affected no matter what. In this case, it is better to actively weaken the offense and strengthen the defense.

After deciding on the tactics, the next step is to select the lineup.