The Godfather of Football

There was thunder and heavy rain outside, which was unusual for Barcelona in early July.

Guardiola was sitting by the window in the café of the Princess Sofia Grand Hotel. He tilted his head and looked at the window glass which was blurred by the heavy rain. He could not see everything outside at all. He could only vaguely see that the fog lights were turned on. Vehicles come and go.

At this moment, his mood was very calm, and even he himself didn't know why.

He is very relaxed now and spends his free time with his family, his children, or walking in the park. However, all these have become undesirable as he leaves the position of Barcelona's head coach. The media paid attention.

Or it should be said that few fans care about what a former Barcelona head coach is doing.

This is a normal thing for people to have cold tea after walking away. For Guardiola, who has already suffered a lot, it is too normal.

As a professional player, Guardiola is not a head coach who likes to expose his life in front of the media. Even Mourinho is the same. But after all, it was the flag of Catalonia, and Guardiola cannot After wandering around, I came to the cafe of the Princess Sofia Grand Hotel. It was undoubtedly a wonderful thing to sit here, read a book and think about things.

Now, he finally understands why people in Barcelona like to come here so much, because here, you don't have to worry about being peeped, harassed, or paid attention to.

Just like Guardiola, he can sit here for a long time and no one will bother him. Even his cup of coffee placed on the table in front of him, which has been cold for who knows how long, the waiter will not No one came up to ask, do you want to change it?

This is the attraction of the café at the Princess Sofia Grand Hotel!

Sitting here, looking at the heavy rain outside the window, Guardiola is not in a hurry because he has just enjoyed relaxation, but he knows what he wants in his heart. Even if he says he wants to rest, in fact he knows Waiting for myself.

He left Barcelona, ​​a whirlpool full of interests, power, emotions, and countless complex fetters. He wanted to go to a place that was more professional and could give the head coach more room to play and at the same time give the head coach enough respect.

Obviously, it can't be Chelsea!

"Pepe!" Someone came next to me at some point.

Guardiola turned his attention to his side and saw that it was Cruyff. He immediately stood up from the chair. The action of standing up pushed the chair away and made a noise. Fortunately, there was no one in the cafe, only them. Master and apprentice.

"Sir!" Guardiola called Cruyff respectfully.

"Can I sit down?" Cruyff pointed to the table opposite Guardiola and asked with a smile.

Guardiola nodded. He knew that this was a chance encounter, because Cruyff often came here to drink coffee. Perhaps Cruyff had the same idea as him and simply wanted to find someone who would not be harassed. A place where you can quietly think about some issues or clarify some ideas.

If something really happened, Cruyff would call him directly and ask him to go to the White House instead of coming here to see him in person.

Sometimes Guardiola also finds it interesting that the two masters and apprentices still retain some of the habits of the past, as if it was very natural. But in fact, Guardiola's coaching performance is not inferior to that of Cruyff. , his status in the team is not inferior to that of Cruyff, but he still treats Cruyff with respect from the bottom of his heart.

Perhaps, he knew very well that the most admirable thing about Cruyff was not his personal charm or his style, but his thinking and understanding of football.

"There are two big news out there today, do you know?" Cruyff sat down, called the waiter, ordered a cup of this cafe's unique latte, and then asked with a smile.

"I don't know!" Guardiola shook his head. Although he said he didn't know, he actually had a little guess in his heart.

"The first thing has to do with you!" Cruyff laughed. "Some media broke the news that before Abramovich decided to invite Mourinho, he offered you a sky-high contract. The world's No. 1 One year's salary, and a power almost comparable to Ferguson's at Manchester United, but you refused without hesitation."

Guardiola smiled bitterly. He knew this must be one of the things because a reporter called him and asked him.

"I heard it was because of Ferguson?" Cruyff asked with a tentative smile. He was also very gossipy.

Guardiola shook his head vigorously, "No, no, Sir Alex Ferguson didn't say much. It's mainly my own problem."

Cruyff smiled, "I'm very surprised, because I know your personality. You are so strong that you won't just give up. You said you wanted to rest, but that's just to give Russell a face. You still long to coach in your heart." , because you still have too many things to achieve, right?”

Guardiola sighed. This gentleman knew him too well and nodded: "Yes, but..." He shook his head.

Cruyff indeed knew him very well. When he heard that he did not continue, the Dutchman did not ask further questions. Instead, he took a sip of coffee and waited silently for Guardiola, the sentimental Catalan. After the struggle is over, he will take the initiative to speak.

Sure enough, more than ten seconds later, Guardiola tried to ask: "Sir, if you come back to coach, are you sure you can beat Tottenham Hotspur?"

This is indeed a very real, or too real, problem.

Cruyff was not angry at all. Given his status in Catalonia, such a question was an offense. However, the person who asked this question was his most proud disciple, so he just regarded it as two people. If he cannot tolerate and accept the academic discussion between master and apprentice, then he is not Cruyff.

"No!" Cruyff's answer was also very honest.

After a pause, he laughed again, "Is that why you refuse to go to Chelsea?"

"Not only, but also because I feel that it is difficult for me to feel enough respect at Stamford Bridge!" Guardiola answered frankly.

Cruyff nodded, "That's right. Only a character like Mourinho can survive at Stamford Bridge, but it's difficult for you!"

"I might go to Bayern Munich in a year!" Guardiola sighed.

Cruyff was a little surprised, but soon understood, "It's a very good idea, a risky attempt. German football is the second football kingdom after Dutch football that has the ability to play total offense and total defense. Bayern Munich has perfect structure, healthy finances, deep foundation, and their leadership is very familiar with football, and the team has been developing according to the laws of football.”

When he said this, Cruyff nodded in agreement: "If it is to go to Bayern Munich, it is indeed better than going to Chelsea. At least I think that if this team is well-trained, it is fully capable of dominating Europe and becoming a A top team that won’t lose to Barcelona.”

An important choice for Guardiola to coach the team is that it must have the potential to surpass his Barcelona team. This is a manifestation of his strong personality and his resilience to not admit defeat.

If you can’t transcend yourself, why continue coaching?

"They started contacting me in the summer of 2011, but I didn't make a decision at that time, and they contacted me not long ago. Heynckes' contract ends in one year, and I may take over at that time. "

"That's great!" Cruyff smiled and raised his coffee cup towards Guardiola, as if to celebrate.

"However, I have been thinking about a question recently, how to beat Tottenham Hotspur?" Guardiola expressed his confusion, or a doubt that has troubled him for a long time.

Cruyff just took a sip of coffee, put it down again, looked at Guardiola seriously, and thought for a moment, "Listen, Pepe, Tottenham Hotspur is special, just like Barcelona." "As special as Real Madrid is in La Liga, it surpasses all current teams in many aspects."

"But I know very well that you have always said that on the football field, it is impossible for any team to cover all areas unless they are supermen, so any tactic has advantages and disadvantages, and as long as there are disadvantages, then There must be the possibility of being exploited by opponents. In other words, Tottenham Hotspur cannot have weaknesses.”

Cruyff couldn't help but nodded, "You are right, Tottenham Hotspur does have weaknesses and shortcomings, such as Pirlo as a single defensive midfielder, and other aspects, but they are exploited by their opponents. In other words, there are too few opportunities available!”

After a pause, Cruyff continued: "Some people say that Ye Qiu advocates offense. This is true. He is proud of offensive football, but this does not mean that he does not value defense. In fact, he has always What he has been pursuing since then is not just offense, but a balance between offense and defense. He even wants to achieve perfection in both offense and defense at the same time.”

"This is impossible!" Guardiola laughed and shook his head.

"Yes, but this was his original goal, a fantasy, but then he woke up, so he was thinking about how to make the offense and defense the strongest at the same time, even if it was just the strongest on the surface, so he A very interesting thing happened, that is, he changed the direction of thinking about the problem very creatively. ”

"I don't understand!" Guardiola shook his head.

"We often consider a probability issue when designing tactics. As Beckenbauer said, tactics are the probability of the head coach winning. Good tactics have a higher probability of winning. In the same way, tactics are also what the offense can break. The probability of the opponent’s goal, and the tactics are also the probability of the defense being able to prevent the opponent from scoring a goal.”

"Every set of tactics will have weaknesses, and according to the normal thinking logic of the head coach, this weakness should be made up for. For example, at Tottenham Hotspur, Pirlo's single midfielder is a problem. Vidal can completely retreat, but Ye Qiu doesn’t do that. Instead, he lets you know that he has this weakness, but he tries to find a way to prevent you from taking advantage of it.”

"Look at him playing against Newcastle. In the first game, Ibrahimovic played a huge role, but in the second game, the Swede's role was restrained. And in the first game of this season, if you look at it again, if Newcastle If you stick to the same routine as last season, he will die miserably, because once you take advantage of this weakness, he will improve it in a targeted manner. He will even improve when you take advantage of it, which means you are helping. He makes up for the shortcomings.”

“He doesn’t want the strongest and most perfect tactics, he wants tactics with the strongest self-healing ability, the strongest adaptability, and the strongest learning ability, so he said that failure is a panacea and winning is arsenic, because failure can make He and the team have become stronger."

Guardiola couldn't help but look at his teacher when he heard this, "If you really say that, is it impossible to defeat Tottenham's tactics?"

"It's possible, how can it be impossible?" Cruyff thought it was funny that his beloved disciple still didn't understand, "When Redknapp played Tottenham in the first game, if his tactics were adjusted faster, he would have won that game. In other words, when you have the ability to take advantage of Tottenham's weaknesses, before he makes targeted adjustments, or you follow his adjustments and make adjustments again, then you have the strength to defeat him, but it's very difficult, very difficult!"

"Tottenham's system has no fixed tactics, no fixed formation, and even we emphasize ball control, but if you look at them, they don't necessarily have to have ball control , Ye Qiu said, up to 60%, less is okay, 40% is still okay, more is okay, 70% is still okay. "

"Today's teams pay more attention to the overall, emphasizing frontcourt pressing, such as Barcelona, ​​Dortmund and Simeone's Atletico Madrid, but if you look closely, you will find that their pressing is different. "

"Barcelona, ​​Dortmund and Atletico Madrid all use high defense and midfield pressing as the core tactics of the team, and take this as the basis, while Tottenham's high defense and midfield pressing seem more like a team's means, for example, they often rush after the opening, and it doesn't matter if they don't rush. "

"There are many cases of Tottenham being attacked by opponents, but Tottenham has never lost. On the contrary, if Barcelona , Dortmund and Atletico Madrid don't press, then they are basically finished. "

"Dortmund's pressing adopts a mad dog style pressing. They are almost unreserved in pressing, and their positions are even higher. They rely purely on the physical strength and willpower of the players to press. If this team meets Tottenham Hotspur, Klopp's position as a famous coach will definitely be defeated, because Ye Qiu's Tottenham Hotspur is their natural enemy. "

"Atletico Madrid is not quite the same. Its main pressing is concentrated in the transition between offense and defense. The main purpose is to destroy the opponent's counterattack efficiency. If you can grab it, grab it, and if you can't grab it, delay it, and win time and space for the backcourt. But you have to pay attention that Dortmund and Atletico Madrid's pressing relies more on individual running. "

"Our Barcelona tactics are smarter. We rely on the system. When attacking, we advocate short passes. , this can ensure that we naturally form a close connection between players when attacking, and form a numerical advantage in a local area. Once the ball is lost, the numerical advantage formed during the attack can be immediately transformed into a numerical advantage in defense, and the offensive players will immediately become defensive pressing players, so that the players can save a lot of physical energy. "

"Therefore, when we hold the ball, the rhythm is slow, and when we lose the ball, the rhythm must be fast, because we have to compete with the opponent in the speed of attack and defense conversion to avoid being counterattacked by the opponent. Dortmund and Atletico Madrid do not have such a routine, so when they lose the ball, the players are farther away from each other, and they have to run more and consume more to make up for it. But what is better than us is that we always leave a large gap behind us. Once the attack and defense conversion is not done well, it is quite dangerous. "

"Last season, when playing Tottenham Hotspur, this point was actually done very badly. To put it simply, Dortmund and Atletico Madrid pressed the ball holder, while we mainly blocked the ball route, and the pressing of the ball holder was more symbolic, and the offensive core players usually took on this responsibility. ”

“Tottenham’s cleverness lies in the fact that they also pay attention to local teamwork in their offense, which is in line with us, but their control range is larger than ours, which is very similar to Dortmund and Atletico Madrid. When they lose the ball, the person closest to the ball holder gets close first, and the other players immediately cut the ball route, but their cutting is not mainly for the first pass, but the second and third passes. ”

“That is to say, after they lose the ball, they not only predict the opponent’s first pass route, but even the second and third passes. To achieve this, the position of the first close player is actually very critical. How he gets close, how he defends his position, and what kind of impact it will have on the ball holder are the key points. "

"Another point is that the key to Tottenham's entire tactical operation lies in the midfield. When the team loses the ball, Ramsey and Vidal must participate in the counterattack, and the other retreats to Pirlo. The two central defenders behind Pirlo must move forward and backward. In this way, Pirlo has two players in front and behind to protect him, forming a triangular coverage area, guarding the middle and forcing you to pass the ball to the side. "

"After doing this, Tottenham is not obsessed with controlling the ball, because controlling the ball is the same for them. What they want is to attack, and attack continuously, so their attack is very simple and fast. Sometimes two passes will enter your 30-meter area, and you can't defend it. "

"Their entire tactics, from the front court to the midfield to the back court, are linked one by one, from the left to the middle to the right, are also linked one by one, just like in the midfield, Ramsey and Vidal often switch positions, but no matter which side they are on, as long as the opponent takes the ball and attacks his side, he is a winger, on the other side, he moves to Pirlo and becomes a central midfielder. When attacking, they can move forward and form a front midfielder to participate in the attack from behind."

"It is precisely because of this frequent change of responsibilities and positions that they need to run and have excellent athletic ability, which Fabregas and David Silva cannot do. As for Yaya Toure, this player needs the ball. The team played with him as the core, but Manchester City formed the midfield with him as the core, but he just became the most unstable core element of Manchester City. "

"But Tottenham Hotspur does not play around anyone, and they do not have too fatal weaknesses that can be caught and exploited by the opponent, and the criteria for the players they need to select are two, stable and fast ball output and excellent running ability. "

When he said this, Cruyff sighed deeply, "This is an imperfect, but better than perfect tactical system. It guarantees the rigor and integrity of the system and the compromise between the contradictions of the adaptability of new players to the maximum extent. At least, they have much more advantages than us in terms of selection!"