The Godfather of Football

Mancini put down the Daily Mail in his hand. He had just bought it on the way to Carrington. The column on the front page from Craig Brown was very prominent. It was the first article Mancini read after receiving the newspaper. After reading it, he gently put the newspaper on the desk and turned his chair silently.

The furnishings in his office are quite good, even luxurious. Perhaps Manchester City wants to use this conscious luxury to cover up the lack of trophies and championship atmosphere, because even now, Manchester City has not even won the second place in the Premier League, let alone the championship.

Facing the large window behind him, outside the curtain is the gray sky of the suburbs of Manchester, and the training ground is surrounded by a whole row of dense trees. There is no wall, only a narrow road connecting to the outside.

Compared with the perfection and advancement of Manchester United's Carrington training base, although Manchester City's training base is also called Carrington, it seems much simpler and has fewer venues, because it is close to a remote area, and Manchester City's youth training has not been particularly ideal, so the entire training base is used by the first team.

Two standard-sized venues, plus the two-story office area where Mancini is now, and another two-story player recovery area, this constitutes this simple training base.

Frankly speaking, if it was Manchester City at Maine Road before, they might be very satisfied with this training base that cost two million pounds to build, but for Manchester City, which is now rich and powerful, and any player picked out is worth more than 10 million, this training base seems too petty.

The club has proposed an idea to build a first-class training base in the southeast corner of the City Stadium, just at the south end of the Asda Manchester City Super Mall, along the entire Ashton Canal. This will be a super first-class training base that is no less than Tottenham Hotspur's Theobald, and Manchester City will also have its own youth training team in the strict sense.

After Mansour took over Manchester City, he has indeed been investing in the past few years, and his future plan for the team is also very clear, that is, not only to build a star-studded Manchester City that can compete with Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and other giants, but also to ensure that the team has a first-class youth training team in Europe.

The club's ambition is indeed very big, and it is also very supportive of Mancini's work. If you want money, you give money, if you want people, you give people. Last season, the team was able to finally enter the Champions League qualifying zone and win the FA Cup. Mancini's work has also been unanimously affirmed by Mansour and Mubarak and others. I hope that this season will continue to work hard.

With the joining of Nasri, Clichy, Savic and others, and the presence of top stars such as Yaya Toure, Balotelli, Dzeko, Aguero, De Rossi and Maicon in the team, Manchester City is getting stronger and stronger, and the thickness of the bench is getting better and better, which makes Manchester City's performance in the Premier League rise with it.

Many people even raised doubts last season, thinking that Mancini's performance in Manchester City was not outstanding, which was the result of the team's overall strength. With such a lineup configuration, if it was given to top coaches such as Ye Qiu, Ferguson, and Mourinho, they would have won the championship long ago, and even the Champions League would have been expected.

You know, the league is played with overall strength. As long as your overall strength is not bad and you lose fewer points, it is hard to say whether you can win the championship, but the ranking will definitely not be bad. The real test of a team is still in those strong dialogues and the performance in the European arena.

In this regard, Mancini is a weak point!

In fact, whether in Inter Milan or Lazio, where Mancini really rose to prominence, his coaching record in European wars is not worth writing about, and even in many strong dialogues, his performance is not satisfactory.

If it is said that once or half a time, it is understandable, but all along, from Lazio to Inter Milan to Manchester City, Mancini has never been convincing in this regard, and he has never been able to get rid of the role of bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

Standing in front of the window of the office, Mancini looked at the gray weather outside. He felt that the room was heated. London, or England, began to cool down again. The damn winter is coming again.

Manchester City did have a good start this season. They won 4:0 at home against Swansea and won a lot of applause, but Mancini was questioned in the second round against Bolton, because when they were leading 2:0, Manchester City was quickly chased by Bolton to 3:2, and in the last half hour, Bolton launched a crazy counterattack against Manchester City.

But what is more important is Mancini's reaction. His three substitutions were all with the obvious intention of strengthening the team's defense. Even though he explained in the post-match press conference that he did not think about defending, in fact, Bolton played better in the last 30 minutes.

So, when Mancini said that he did not think about defending, a reporter on the spot shouted with a mocking tone, "If it was Ye Qiu from Tottenham Hotspur, he would definitely replace Zabaleta with Modric, not Zabaleta with Modric!"

This sentence caused a burst of laughter at the press conference. Obviously, in the eyes of this group of reporters, Mancini's substitution represented a kind of cowardice and weakness.

But they never thought that they were on the road, and Bolton was not a weak team. In the 60th minute, they were chased from 3:1 to 3:2 by the opponent. The opponent's morale increased greatly, but our side was a little weak. Strengthening defense in this situation is undoubtedly a very pragmatic attitude. Is this also wrong?

Ye Qiu, Ye Qiu, Ye Qiu, Ye Qiu, you bunch of bastards know how to talk about Ye Qiu all day long, that damn Chinese is right no matter what he does, and everything I do is wrong, they are all conservative. !

Thinking of this, Manic turned back and looked at the newspaper on his desk. That guy named Craig Brown was about to praise Tottenham Hotspur to the sky. What kind of pop culture? Symbols, what innovations, what changes football closures, fuck me!

Sitting back in the office chair, Mancini still looked very angry. He didn't understand why those fans and reporters must be so harsh?

When coaching Inter Milan, Mancini already felt tremendous pressure, but when coaching Manchester City, he found that the pressure was even greater, because when he was coaching Inter Milan, Italy was going through the Calciopoli. At that time, Inter Milan was in Serie A. The league is almost invincible, and you can win with your eyes closed.

But today's Premier League is different. It has gathered the world's top coaches such as Ye Qiu, Ferguson, Wenger, Benitez, etc., as well as famous local coaches such as Redknapp, Ranieri, and Villas-Boas. The competition between European veterans and young players is fierce. If you are not careful, you may be devoured by your opponent.

This kind of pressure, almost like a mountain, is a kind of torture for anyone.

Mancini even discovered that his hair had turned a lot whiter at some point.

Just when he was angry, there was a knock on the office door, and his two right-hand assistants, David Platt and Brian Kidd, walked in. Neither of them were simple figures.

Among them, David Platt has a brilliant career. He has played for Manchester United, Aston Villa, Juventus, Sampdoria, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest. He was also the first player Wenger won in the Premier League. The main player of the team during the Premier League championship, he was also once regarded as a popular candidate for the head coach of the England national team.

David Platt and Mancini were teammates in Sampdoria. After the latter came to Manchester City from Inter Milan, he invited David Platt to his side in 2010 to assist him in managing the Manchester City team.

If David Platt is Mancini's own man, then Brian Kidd is Manchester City's own man. He has played for Manchester United, Arsenal, Everton and Manchester City, but the most famous It was he who served as Ferguson's assistant for twelve years, including Beckham, Scholes, Giggs and others who were all promoted during his tenure as Ferguson's assistant.

He left Manchester United in 1998 and missed Manchester United's peak Triple Crown period, so few fans will still remember him. After leaving Manchester United, he ushered in another glorious period, that is, to Leeds United's O'Reilly As an assistant coach, Leeds United was at its peak when Brian Kidd joined the team.

After several twists and turns, he joined Manchester City in 2009 and joined Mancini's coaching staff.

Obviously, Brian Kidd is the kind of assistant coach who cannot take charge of his own role, but at the same time has strong football ability and can help a head coach complete his work.

Another advantage of these two right-hand men is that they are both Manchester natives and are considered their own in the eyes of the fans.

"It's so unlucky to meet Tottenham Hotspur when it breaks out!" David Platt, who is familiar with Mancini, complained as soon as he walked in. Whoever encounters Tottenham Hotspur at this time, Obviously they won't feel relaxed and will complain.

Of course, such words can only appear between the three of them and cannot be spread out. Otherwise, the consequences will be disastrous.

"What are you going to do?" Brian Kidd is like this. Someone has to tell him what to do at the critical moment.

Perhaps this is also an important weakness and shortcoming that makes him unable to coach alone.

"What do you think, David?" Mancini looked at David Platt.

The latter was sitting opposite him, separated by a desk, and he could clearly see the hesitation on his face.

"To be honest, if we just talk about offense, we can still compete with them, but if we add defense..."

David Platt’s meaning is very clear. Facing a team like Tottenham Hotspur, especially this Tottenham Hotspur who just slaughtered Manchester United 8:0 away from home, any team You can only make a choice, either attack or defend, choose one of the two. It is impossible for any team to defend Tottenham Hotspur's offense and still be able to compete with this team.

Of course, we will talk about it when Tottenham Hotspur are not in good condition, but now their guns are still smoking, whoever goes up will die!

Mancini looked at Brian Kidd again, "What do you think, Brian?"

Brian Kidd smiled bitterly. In the past, Ferguson would never ask him what he thought, and would only tell him what to do. But Mancini is obviously different. He prefers to discuss, "Maybe we should be braver!"

"That's impossible!" David Platt shook his head vigorously. "If we play against each other, it will play into Tottenham Hotspur's mind. Manchester United started the game against them and lost four goals in twenty minutes. A goal, oh my god, four goals in twenty minutes, and it was against Manchester United!”

To be honest, this game was too shocking to the entire Premier League, and even all the teams in Europe.

No matter how bad Manchester United is, no matter how weak it is, no matter how affected it is by injuries, they are still Manchester United, but Tottenham Hotspur scored four goals in twenty minutes at their home court. To be honest, This is something that is almost impossible for any team to do. Who wouldn't be afraid?

"That's right, it's too risky to fight against each other, but I'm worried that if the rhythm and situation are controlled by Tottenham Hotspur during the defensive counterattack, we will be passive throughout the game, and in the end it may be difficult to even counterattack!" Brian Kidd also watched that game. He could only say that it was very shocking.

For ordinary fans, they may have an illusion that Manchester United's performance is too bad, or that Manchester United's players are in too poor condition, but for insiders, they know very well that it is not Manchester United that is too bad, but Todt. Naham Hotspur played too well.

What stimulated the state of Tottenham Hotspur players and allowed them to burst into that kind of impactful and rhythmic football style was precisely Ye Qiu's set of tactics and personnel, which made everyone have to Weigh your own weight. If it were my team, could it be blocked?

In fact, the two assistants talked a lot in front of them, but they actually said nothing.

Attacking is too risky, and defending is also risky. So should we attack or defend?

The ball was actually kicked back to Mancini's feet. The two assistant coaches raised their heads and looked at Mancini, waiting for him to make a decision, because the training in the next few days will be based on this preparation.

Clichy, Kolarov, Hangeland, Lescott, Zabaleta, Maicon, Mika Richards, Kolo Toure, plus Gareth? Barry, Yaya Toure, De Rossi and De Jong, logically speaking, there is really no reason to say that their defense is poor with such a set of tactics.

Looking at the entire Premier League, whose lineup dares to say that it is more luxurious than Manchester City's?

"When we ourselves feel that playing offensive tactics on the road is very risky, will our opponents also feel the same way? Will they also guess that we dare not play against each other on the road?"

Mancini thought of the bunch of media reporters who were like wallflowers. Aren't they all going to brag Ye Qiu as if he were a god? Didn't it mean that Ye Qiu believed in offense? Don't you think I'm very conservative? Then I will take a risk and show it to you!

"You mean..." David Platt and Brian Kidd were both obviously surprised by Mancini's words.

This is not like Mancini's usual style. He is usually more cautious.

"Yes, what I mean is, when everyone thinks that we will play defensive counterattack in the away game, if we suddenly attack in the away game, what do you think the effect will be? And even if the attack fails, we can still take advantage of it. Disrupt Tottenham Hotspur’s rhythm, then slowly look for opportunities to attack and strive for goals!”

When talking about this, Mancini also felt more and more confident the more he spoke, "You know, Tottenham Hotspur's wings are weak. Now the midfielder is not Yaya Toure. He is under our command now." , forming a double defensive midfielder with De Rossi, while Tottenham Hotspur has a single defensive midfielder, Pirlo! "

Mancini knows Pirlo very well. When he was at Inter Milan, he had many contacts and games with Pirlo. He knows very well that although this player has defensive ability and excellent defensive awareness, there must be a prerequisite. There is a sweeping player like Gattuso in front of him to sort out and block the frontal impact.

In other words, Pirlo's defense is not the kind of head-on confrontation, but more of a more clever and less confrontational way to complete it. As long as he finds a way to get the ball away from Tottenham Hotspur's two The central midfielder's defense area directly impacted Pirlo's area, and Tottenham Hotspur's defense was self-defeating.

I have to say that Mancini's analysis is indeed very tempting. After hearing this, David Platt and Brian Kidd were obviously moved and even a little excited, because there is such a person in the Manchester City team. Players, whether it is Van der Vaart or Nasri, or Aguero and Balotelli, all have the ability to attack directly against Pirlo.

"But, I always feel that it's not that simple!" Brian Kidd was a little confused.

In the eyes of the world, Ye Qiu's tactical understanding has reached a level comparable to that of Ferguson, and Brian Kidd has personally experienced Ferguson's tactical attainments at his peak. For a head coach of their type, since he dares to play Pierre Luo Dan's defensive midfielder card will definitely not expose Pirlo.

Of course, Tottenham Hotspur's tactics have only been used twice so far. The one against Everton was not obvious. The one that attracted people's attention was the one against Manchester United, so it can be studied. There are still very few places to visit and it looks very unfamiliar. Whether it is a weakness or not is not yet clear.

After hearing this, Mancini laughed, "You are too cautious, Brian. There is no perfect tactic in this world, and there is no tactic without loopholes. The thin midfield caused by the single defensive midfielder is the biggest weakness of Tottenham Hotspur!"

The Italian head coach excels in tactics, especially defense, and Mancini is no worse in this regard.

At least he has always been very confident in his ability in this area.