Chapter 70: How to deal with Barcelona
Every time Gao Shen came over for dinner, Carlo would ask his wife to prepare a delicious meal.
Gao Shen went to the city to buy a bottle of good wine as a gift, just like last time.
At first, the three of them were eating together in the courtyard. Mrs. Carlo left soon, leaving Carlo alone, slowly sipping the wine that Gao Shen had given him, while Gao Shen sat aside, drinking boiled water to keep them company.
Carlo watched Gao Shen drink water every once in a while, shook his head and sighed: "Your biggest shortcoming is that you don't drink."
Gao Shen chuckled and without saying anything more, filled Carlo's glass with wine.
In fact, there are many things Gao Shen can’t tell Carlo now.
This is not just because Carlo is not an employee of Real Madrid. Even towards Maqueda and Lucas, Gao Shen still has many secrets, and the trend is increasing.
Just like today's conversation with Ronaldo, Raul and Ramos, it is impossible to tell others about its profoundness.
Come to think of it, he was really curious about how a big mouth like Mourinho could hide so many secrets.
Wouldn't it be possible for him to just speak out of turn once in a while?
…
"I heard that two female fans blocked you this morning and asked for your autograph?" Carlo suddenly asked with a smile.
Gao Shen smiled slightly, nodded, and briefly recounted what happened in the morning.
This was the first time that Real Madrid fans blocked his door and asked for his autograph, especially female fans, which was something to be proud of.
"Is she pretty?" Carlo asked jokingly.
"It's okay." Gao Shen didn't think much about it.
"It seems that it is not to your liking." Carlo noticed.
Gao Shen smiled and did not answer, which was considered as his agreement.
"At 25, it's time to find a girlfriend."
Gao Shen chuckled and said, "Just take care of yourself and don't worry about my affairs."
Carlo also laughed out loud, "It can be seen from the newspapers these past two days that the fans can actually see what you have done in Real Madrid. Although the media reporters are still reluctant to admit it, many fans know it and they understand it."
In fact, the media's impression of Gao Shen is quite contradictory. On the one hand, they hate him because he refused to attend press conferences before and after the game, which was obviously a challenge to them. But on the other hand, Gao Shen's achievements are real.
Conservative, one to zero, these things actually depend on what the media says.
If they want to promote Gao Shen, they can completely emphasize the current difficulties and chaos of Real Madrid, highlighting how difficult it is to achieve such results now. Gao Shen's adoption of this tactic is also adapted to local conditions. Anyway, it is of this type.
In fact, some media now take this attitude.
But another part of the media is still accusing and criticizing.
Don't think that the two sides are contradictory. In fact, they are not, because the writers of the two reports are likely to be in the same newspaper, in the same editorial office, at two adjacent desks, and they are two reporters who have a very good relationship and wrote the reports after discussing it out.
But no matter what, it proves one thing, that is, Gao Shen is gaining more and more recognition.
"You really do better than me. You are more decisive and skillful than me, especially in team management." After two glasses of wine, Carlo took the opportunity to speak out some of his true feelings.
"Actually, it's all because of your good teaching." Gao Shen filled his glass again and said with a smile.
"Don't flatter me. I don't have any of your skills myself, so how can I teach you?"
Gao Shen smiled, but didn't know how to respond.
"You know, if it were me, I probably wouldn't dare to fight on two fronts at the same time like you do. It's too difficult. If you're not careful, you might get nothing on both fronts." After saying that, Carlo let out a long sigh.
It seems like he is lamenting the profound youth and courage, but also seems like he is sighing at his own age and conservatism.
"I just think that since we have such an opportunity, we should work hard for it. There are always too many regrets in life, and the fewer the better," said Gao Shen.
What he didn't say was that he was also a time traveler.
He always felt that since God gave him the opportunity to travel through time and space and let him become the head coach of Real Madrid by accident, he had to take this gamble.
If he doesn't dare to gamble, it would be really cowardly.
"That makes sense!" Carlo praised with a smile, "But it takes courage."
"No more talking. Come, I'll have a drink with you. I wish you a great success in Barcelona!"
Gao Shen picked up the cup of boiled water, clinked it with Carlo's, and drank it all.
He actually understood it very well, because the better the results and the better the performance of his team, the more depressed Carlo felt, but Carlo couldn't say anything.
Sometimes, that's just the way things are in the world.
Ever since Gao Shen proposed last time that he hoped Carlo could return to the Bernabeu, and Carlo did not give a clear answer, Gao Shen never mentioned it again, because he knew that the timing was not right. He mentioned it, but he got only one answer: rejection!
In other words, as long as he is still in Real Madrid, Carlo will never come back.
…
…
From Carlo's house back to the rented house, Gao Shen was thinking about his conversation with Carlo all the way.
Regarding Barcelona, Carlo's idea is the same as Gao Shen's. Real Madrid can only adopt a defensive approach, and attacking is suicidal.
The question is how to defend it?
Carlo did not have a very good targeted defensive strategy for this, but only mentioned Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Deco and Iniesta, as well as Barcelona's two full-backs who often made assists from behind.
Carlo couldn't come up with a good plan on how to defend, so Gao Shen had to figure it out on his own.
So, after returning to the rented house, Gao Shen took a shower, hid in bed, and went straight into the tactical library.
In addition to reading Rijkaard's book, he also specifically looked at another person, that is, Barcelona's chief assistant coach Ten Cate.
Nowadays, Ten Cate's name is not particularly well-known, and not many people even know him. But after he left the team this summer and Barcelona's performance began to plummet, everyone began to notice Ten Cate's contribution to this Barcelona.
Some even say that although Rijkaard was the head coach, it was Ten Cate who truly created Barcelona.
Outsiders have no way of knowing whether these claims are true or false, but Ten Cate’s contribution is unquestionable.
Gao Shen read Ten Cate's book carefully, especially the part about Barcelona in the past three years. He actually found some interesting things in Ten Cate's book.
In the first half of Rijkaard's first season as Barcelona coach, despite having Ronaldinho, Barcelona still performed very poorly. No one expected that after the introduction of Davis during the winter break, Barcelona would completely rise and finally surpass Real Madrid to rank second in La Liga, second only to Valencia which won the championship.
In Gao Shen’s previous life, many fans even believed that Davis was the hero of Barcelona’s rise in the second half and played as a defensive midfielder, but from Ten Cate’s book, Gao Shen discovered that this was actually a misunderstanding of the fans.
As early as after Davis joined, Rijkaard had been adjusting and polishing Barcelona's tactics, but he had not found the right candidate, especially in midfield. Cocu and Xavi were under too much pressure.
After Davis joined the team, he and Xavi moved forward, while Cocu moved back, forming an inverted triangle in the midfield. His tireless running, covering and pressing greatly relieved Xavi's pressure, which also directly activated Barcelona's entire midfield.
There is a landmark event to prove this. After Barcelona decided to send Davis away, Ten Cate blasted Vice President Rosell in the media, which led to Barcelona's subsequent introduction of all-round midfielder Deco.
Deco is very versatile. He is the midfield commander in Porto, but in Barcelona's midfield, he forms a dual core with Xavi. His arrival can be said to be based on Davis, further establishing Barcelona's style of large-scale running coverage and pressing based on passing and controlling the ball.
Another equally interesting thing is that Ten Cate actually doesn't like Eto'o at all. He likes Kluivert. He thinks Kluivert is the center forward who is most suitable for Barcelona's 4-3-3 formation, but Eto'o is not.
In Ten Cate's understanding, Eto'o is a striker but not a qualified center forward, because the most important task of the center forward in the 4-3-3 formation is to connect the two flanks and become a fulcrum for getting the ball in the frontcourt, but Eto'o can't do any of them.
If Ten Cate's preference for Kluivert can be regarded as a preference for Kluivert as the Dutch head coach, then in Gao Shen's memory, after Guardiola took office, he would rather spend a huge price and add Eto'o to Inter Milan to exchange Ibrahimovic, which is undoubtedly the most powerful proof of Ten Cate's thinking.
Putting aside Ibrahimovic's adaptability issues, from a purely technical and tactical perspective, he is indeed the strongest and most powerful center forward candidate based on Ten Cate's ideas, even better than Kluivert.
Ten Cate believes that with Eto'o as a striker, he can only score goals and it is difficult for him to effectively connect the two wings. Getting the ball and passing the ball in the frontcourt are not his strong points, which will cause Barcelona to rely more on Ronaldinho to get the ball.
Originally there was a Messi, but now Messi is seriously injured, so we can only rely on the Brazilian superstar.
When Gao Shen saw this, he began to understand what Ten Cate meant, especially when Guardiola later moved Messi directly from the right to the middle, which was undoubtedly the best proof.
Italy ignores the flanks because they feel that no matter how strong the flanks are, they must be played through the middle.
By the same token, today's offense relies on pulling left and right to create space. No matter how strong one side is, it is easy to defend.
But everyone knows that the two flanks are too far apart, so there needs to be a player in the middle to connect and link them. This player must be able to hold the ball stably, such as Kluivert, Benzema of Real Madrid later, and Messi who moved to the middle.
Only in this way can the two flanks be connected and a more powerful threat be formed.
But now, Barcelona's Eto'o does not have such ability, so he can only rely on Ronaldinho and Messi's cutting inside and relying on their personal abilities to forcibly connect the two wings.
But now, Messi is seriously injured.
Thinking of this, Gao Shen suddenly felt that his luck seemed to be quite good.
Although Messi was seriously injured before he came over, he was still helping himself anyway.
He has found a way to deal with Barcelona.
