Chapter 34 Who is the traitor?
Compared with Real Madrid's old sports city, the hardware facilities in Valdebebas are considered world-class.
Not to mention anything else, this conference room provided for first-team players is equipped with all kinds of advanced equipment, which is rare among major European clubs.
At this moment, Real Madrid players are sitting in this spacious and bright conference room, waiting for the arrival of the head coach.
Although everyone finds a seat to sit down, the general situation in the locker room can be seen from the players' choice of seats.
The local group headed by Raul and Guti sat in the front, foreign players such as Zidane and Beckham sat in the front and slightly back, while Brazilian players such as Ronaldo and Carlos all sat in the last row, and their sitting posture seemed very nonchalant, as if this meeting had nothing to do with them.
In fact, everyone in the locker room knew that this meeting had nothing to do with the Brazilian gang.
The relationship between acting head coach Gao Shen and them has not eased, so how could he arrange for them to play?
Just the day before yesterday, chief assistant coach Maqueda had a conversation with Ronaldo and Carlos, and conveyed some of the head coach's intentions. The game against Arsenal is crucial, and public opinion outside is also very concerned about Real Madrid's internal situation, so he hopes that the Brazilian players, especially Ronaldo and Carlos, will not speak in the media during this period.
Everyone knows that these two have always wanted to put pressure on the head coach, and now there is a strong call for Ronaldo and Carlos to play as the main players. If the two come forward at this time and say something in the media, the situation of the acting head coach will become even more passive.
After Maqueda finished speaking, Raul also conveyed his opinions through Zidane and Beckham, and hoped that the Brazilian gang would focus on the overall situation before the final battle and not disrupt the team at critical moments.
Zidane and Beckham also expressed similar opinions.
So, these two days, there has been a lot of public opinion outside, but Ronaldo, Carlos and the Brazilian players have been very low-key.
They are certainly not cowards and of course they want to make a scene and fight for a starting position, but they have to consider that if they really fall out, they will be completely isolated in the locker room.
Therefore, they could only endure this.
Because of this, they used this method to carry out silent protest during meetings.
If there wasn't a training session in the afternoon, they would definitely miss it.
…
Gao Shen walked in with a thick notebook.
Glancing at the people in front of him, he smiled slightly and raised a USB flash drive in his right hand. "I just got some materials from the scout team. I'm sorry it's a little late."
No one cared.
In fact, strictly speaking, Gao Shen was not late, they just arrived a little early.
While his assistant Lucas was fiddling with the multimedia system, Gao Shen faced the Real Madrid players directly.
"There are a lot of media and fans gathered at the gate now, which is a place I really don't like."
Gao Shen spoke casually as if he was chatting about family matters.
"We all know that the British media is omnipresent, but they actually pay more attention to the private lives of players. The most outrageous situation is that they will even install cameras directly at the doorsteps of players' homes for 24-hour monitoring. So many people say that the British media always praises players to an unreasonable height and then tries every means to destroy them."
Even Beckham and Woodgate from England agreed with Gao Shen's words.
This is a consensus in English football.
"Our situation at Real Madrid is different. Since the year 2000, our club's management philosophy has been completely different from other clubs. From a management perspective, we have introduced a formal company system, which is very good. Everyone can feel the benefits and efficiency of this on a daily basis."
This is indeed a very big contribution brought by Florentino, which fans generally don't know.
"But the club's business strategy means that we have to be exposed to the media spotlight all the time. They even use a magnifying glass to dig out our secrets bit by bit. In front of them, we are like being stripped naked. There is no privacy at all, not only for individuals, but also in the locker room."
How did the secret of Guti and Ronaldo's fight leak out?
Ronaldo called Florentino to force him to step down, how did the news leak out?
The local gang and the Brazilian gang were fighting in the locker room. Who leaked the news?
Many people would think that there is a traitor.
Who is the traitor?
Employee? Coach? Player?
One? Two? More?
This is the philosophy of Real Madrid.
Florentino's business philosophy is the eye economy, trying every means to attract the attention of the world, which requires the use of the media, including operations and the introduction of superstars, all to achieve this goal.
The benefits of doing this are obvious. Real Madrid quickly turned losses into profits in a very short period of time and became the most profitable giants in the world. But the disadvantage is the excessive media coverage, which leads to the lack of secrets within the locker room and among individual players.
Now every word Gao Shen says may be known to the media in a few minutes, and everyone present, even everyone in Valdebebas, may be a leaker.
In his previous life, Mourinho said he wanted to dig out the traitor, but how to do it?
Does Real Madrid management know?
Know.
But since they have chosen this path, they have to bear such a price, so instead of thinking about protecting the players, they are fanning the flames. This results in the players not only having no secrets, but also being under great pressure.
As long as a game is not played well, the media will immediately attack, and even poor performance in training will immediately become the focus of public opinion.
Let me ask, under such abnormal pressure, who can play well?
Everyone present, from Raul, Ronaldo, Zidane to Beckham and even the young players from the youth training camp, all benefited from the club's management philosophy, but they were also victims at the same time.
Because of this, they could empathize with Gao Shen's complaints and even agree with them from the bottom of their hearts.
"Okay, let's have a meeting."
After seeing Lucas finish setting up the multimedia system, Gao Shen decided to stop.
…
The focus of this meeting was to discuss tactics against Arsenal.
After analyzing the intelligence Gao Shen obtained from the Real Madrid scouting team, he came to a more reliable conclusion, which is that Wenger is very likely not to adopt the 4-4-2 tactics, that is, the Gunners do not intend to attack Real Madrid.
What he wants is a balance between offense and defense.
"He knew we were going to attack, but he was confident in his defense, so he didn't plan to defend, but wanted to withstand our attack and then break our goal through their counterattack."
"If he scores one more goal, we're done for!"
The conference room was silent, but after hearing Gao Shen's words, many people nodded in unison.
It was already difficult to play at home with a score of 0-1. If Arsenal scored again, Real Madrid would just surrender.
"So I boldly guess that he will adopt the 4-2-3-1 tactics. This is the starting lineup that the coaching staff and I have deduced."
Arsenal's tactical position appeared on the big screen behind him, 4-2-3-1, goalkeeper Lehmann, and the back line of defense was Flamini, Senderos, Kolo Toure and Eboue. This is Arsenal's most stable back line at present.
The double defensive midfielders are Gilberto Silva and Fabregas, the three players in front are Reyes, Hleb and Ljungberg, and the single striker is Henry.
This is a highly speculated lineup, but the possibility of replacing Reyes with Adebayo cannot be ruled out.
Ljungberg performed very well in the derby at the weekend. Wenger would never let him be on the bench because it would dampen the players' enthusiasm. In the derby, Ljungberg played as a left midfielder. As for Hleb, he is also a player that Wenger has high hopes for this season. He has always played on the wing, but during his time in the Bundesliga, he played as an attacking midfielder.
So now, Gao Shen is not very clear about what positions Ljungberg and Hleb will take.
But Reyes should play on the left.
"We all know that Arsenal's organization will start from Fabregas, so we need Zidane to suppress Fabregas and also to contain Gilberto Silva, which requires very active running."
"Henry and Reyes are both good at cruising on the left, so when we don't have the ball, I need Beckham to retreat from the right to the right defensive midfielder in time, thus forming a three-back defensive mechanism to protect our defense line."
"Arbeloa can follow Henry out, Ramos can share the pressure on the right side in time, and De La Red must be able to return to the center back to make up for the defense in the middle."
Gao Shen used PPT to continuously demonstrate his defensive ideas on how to freeze Arsenal's attack on the left, especially the players' coordination and positioning.
When there is the ball , it is 4-2-3-1, and when there is no ball, it must be able to quickly cut back to 4-3-1-2. This point of Beckham is crucial, because if he does not come back, once there is a problem with the defense on the right, De La Red needs to return to the back line to fill the position, and there will be a gap in front of the penalty area.
In this targeted training session this afternoon, Gao Shen asked the coaching staff to arrange group tactical training, which put the defense line that is about to start, as well as the double defensive midfielders, Beckham and other players together, focusing on practicing the team's positioning and cooperation when defending, while arranging players to play the role of Arsenal's left-wing attack.
It can be said that as long as Arsenal's left attack is defended, the possibility of preventing Arsenal from scoring goals will be very high.
In addition to the key layout of the right-side defense, Gaoshen also has targeted arrangements in other defense areas.
Regarding the issue that the outside world is most concerned about, what kind of tactics Real Madrid will adopt in this game, Gao Shen also gave all the players a hint in this game.
"We are in an awkward situation now. If we want to advance, we have to attack, but Arsenal and the whole world know that we will attack. The Gunners have set a trap at Highbury, waiting for us to step into it."
"If we rely on defense and wait for Arsenal to make mistakes, this tactic is too conservative and negative. Arsenal probably won't give us such an opportunity easily. We seem to have a choice, but in fact, we have no choice."
"So, in this game we must not let Arsenal lead us by the nose, we must control the tempo !"
Everyone present realized that Gao Shen had already made a decision.
This will definitely be a difficult decision with an unpredictable outcome.
