Chapter 58 I’ve decided!
Gao Shen once heard a question: Why is football the world's number one sport?
He believes the best answer is: football is like our society.
Extending from this, football tactics are like people's philosophy of life in this society.
Offense or defense? Aggression or prudence?
The development of football tactics is also very similar to the evolution of human society.
In the earliest days, everyone on the court had a fixed division of labor and position. Everyone was within their own scope of responsibility, working together with each other in a clear and distinct manner.
The Netherlands' all-out attack and defense overturned this pattern. It completely broke the boundaries and unified offense and defense.
If a steal happens in the team's penalty area, it is a successful defensive action , but if it happens in the opponent's penalty area, it is a very threatening offensive action.
In the same way, I have seen many discussions before, which are the controversy over Guardiola's Dream Team III. Is possession football offensive football or conservative football?
When Gao Shen was still a football fan, he once thought about a question: Why are Mourinho, Capello and others good at defense? Why can't they use creative players? And why do many head coaches choose to take the initiative even though they know they don't have many chances and they may lose badly?
When fans discuss these things, they often mention a word, football concept, or football philosophy.
How did it come about? How does it work? How does it affect the players?
Why is it that the same player is lifeless under one head coach but can shine under another?
Gao Shen read Lippi and Capello's books in the tactical library, and after comparing them with some books by other coaches, he began to have a certain understanding of this issue.
Football philosophy is a philosophy of life, and behind both is actually the character of a head coach.
It's like investing, some people like taking risks, high risk, high input and high output, so they like to gamble; some people are born risk-averse, they don't want to take even the slightest risk, so they always keep their money in the bank.
Back to the football field, if we draw the tactical concept as an axis, the origin is balance, one side is offense and the other side is defense.
Starting from the origin, the further you move towards the offense, you will find that the team formation is more chaotic and disorderly, and the greater the risk, but the stronger the creativity, the more goals will be scored; conversely, the further you move towards the defense, you will find that the more orderly and tighter the team formation is, the lower the risk and the stronger the defense, but the creativity is getting weaker and the fewer goals will be scored.
In a football game, attacking is taking a risk, which has high risk but high return rate; defending represents order, which has low risk but low return rate.
There is a saying that goes: Goals are scored by adventurers. The more a team likes to take risks, the more motivated they are to launch attacks and the more goals they will score.
The simplest example is Real Madrid.
In the past, during the Galacticos era, there were many superstars. In order to maximize the abilities and creativity of the frontcourt superstars, the team adopted very risky tactics. As a result, the offense was very smooth and sharp, but the price paid was that the defense was very fragile and risky.
Therefore, when choosing team tactics, every head coach will make different choices based on his own personality, preferences and philosophy of life, whether to encourage risk-taking or embrace order.
Different choices will have a profound impact on every aspect of the head coach's job, from selecting the team, to transfers and signings, to the team's overall tactical construction, to the individual tactical arrangements for each player, to the season strategy, deployment of troops, and on-the-spot command, etc.
It's like the influence of personality and philosophy of life on a person, which is everywhere.
This way it can be explained clearly.
Why does the same player lackluster under one head coach but shines under another?
Maybe it’s just because the former head coach advocated order, so he always emphasized positioning, distance, defense and pass success rate, and required everyone to abide by the rules; the latter head coach encouraged risk-taking, he allowed players to run more in the open space, even if the formation was messed up, pass more threatening balls, even if the pass was lost, and get forward to participate in the attack, even if they were hit from behind...
After Gao Shen understood this, he felt as if he had suddenly been enlightened.
More importantly, he saw from the books of Lippi, Capello, Ferguson, Benítez and others that these were the principles that the world's top football coaches had already understood, and they were even more aware of their own problems than outsiders.
They did not choose to subvert or abandon their own ideas, but instead worked hard to explore further based on their own ideas.
They are all trying to find a way that allows offense and defense to be compatible, and adventure and order to coexist.
Throughout the history of football, all great dynasty teams have done this without exception.
…
In the tactical library, Gao Shen sat silently.
He was also thinking about what his football philosophy was.
From a personality perspective, he is a pragmatist without much idealism, so after coaching Real Madrid, he felt that defense could lead to victory, so he chose to focus on defense.
Overall, he should be adventurous, but at the same time he values order.
If he were to choose, his favorite team would probably be Real Madrid during Ancelotti's first coaching stint.
Ancelotti is a very interesting head coach. From his debut to the time he coached Juventus, he was known for his extreme conservatism. He was even so conservative that even the Juventus fans, who were known for their conservatism, could not stand it.
One can imagine how conservative Ancelotti was during that period!
Who would have thought that after joining AC Milan, Ancelotti began to let himself go, first putting Pirlo in the back position, then four number ten jerseys, and then a Christmas tree, directly completing the transformation of his coaching career.
Of course, Ancelotti is not perfect, such as the second half of the Istanbul Miracle.
Gao Shen will not blindly learn from Ancelotti or others. He will continue to learn in the tactical library, learn from the strengths of various schools, absorb all the knowledge, and finally find a path of his own.
…
…
The next morning, the coaches of Real Madrid's first team also arrived at Valdebebas early.
They have to hold another meeting before the team returns to decide on the tactics for tonight's face off against Deportivo La Coruña, especially the starting lineup, which must be decided in the morning.
Gao Shen arrived earlier than everyone else.
Although he has officially signed a contract with Real Madrid, Gao Shen still works with all the coaches instead of using the separate head coach office left by Carlo.
At first I did it just to show off, but then I got used to it and became too lazy to do it anymore.
Gao Shen gathered everyone together only after all the coaching staff members had arrived.
"I've decided. We must try our best to get all three points against Deportivo La Coruña tonight!" Gao Shen made no secret of anything and directly stated his thoughts and arrangements without even a hint of negotiation.
Maquida was a little surprised and wanted to say some words of advice, but after seeing Gao Shen's determined expression and recalling what Gao Shen had said to him before, he had to swallow back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.
He thought it was a bad idea because it was too risky.
But he also knew that Gao Shen had made the decision, and he only needed to obey orders and assist Gao Shen in making arrangements, nothing else was needed.
"Beckham is in good shape, let him play, Cassano will go forward, Raul will play on the left, Guti will still play as attacking midfielder, Pablo Garcia and De La Red will be the double defensive midfielders, and the back line will be Raul Bravo, Helguera, Ramos and Arbeloa. We will play with this lineup."
Center forward Negredo was not arranged to start, which was obviously still in preparation for the away game against Torino in the middle of the week.
Everyone knows that a team playing against Italy cannot do without a center forward.
After seeing Gao Shen make the decision, everyone stopped saying anything. After all, they were just employees and all the pressure was on the head coach and had nothing to do with them.
Lucas was very happy because he felt that Gao Shen had listened to his advice.
Buenaventura also seemed inclined to be proactive, as you could tell from his expression.
After all, he is someone that both Bielsa and Guardiola value, and deep down he tends to take the initiative.
This is also the reason why Gao Shen wants to take over Deportivo La Coruña.
No one can guarantee what will happen in the future. Now that the opportunity has arisen, seize it first and then consider other things slowly.
If you are always worried about gains and losses, and are afraid of taking risks when doing big things, you will never achieve great things.
…
Before the morning meeting, Gao Shen talked to the starting players one by one, and also talked to Callejon and others who were originally scheduled to start, telling them the fundamental reasons for his adjustments, hoping that they could understand.
Later, at the team's tactical meeting, Gao Shen explained his ideas to everyone.
He believes that Barcelona's away draw gives Real Madrid a very good opportunity to further narrow the gap.
As long as Real Madrid can beat Deportivo La Coruna, grit their teeth, survive Turin in the Champions League match in the next midweek, and beat Barcelona at the Nou Camp in the national derby at the weekend, all the pressure will be on Barcelona.
"I know it's difficult, but nothing is easy in this world. Each of you has played football for so many years. To be able to play to this day and to be able to wear this jersey, you have also experienced countless hardships. No one knows better than you the importance of not fearing difficulties and daring to challenge your own limits."
"It's true for one person, and even more so for a team!"
"What's more, we are behind our opponents and we have no choice. We have to work twice or even three times as hard as our opponents to have a chance to catch up or even reverse the situation."
In the conference room, every Real Madrid player was listening patiently, and many of them resonated and nodded.
"I always feel that a team like ours should naturally strive to win every game. In the dictionary of a team like ours and players like ours, there should be no so-called strategic compromise or giving up."
"I always believe that we have the ability to win every game and every opponent, no matter who he is!"
