Chapter 9: A major surgery for Real Madrid
The history of football tactics is like a tragic history of the new wave constantly beating the old wave.
The innovators of the past slowly became mainstream, and were replaced by a new round of innovators, which in turn promoted the development of football tactics.
At the turn of the century, many fans will remember the madness of the Bundesliga, Florentino's Galacticos, Manchester United's iron-blooded treble, and the afterglow of the Serie A Mini World Cup.
But few fans will remember that there was once a less-than-remarkable small team that reached the Champions League final for two consecutive seasons.
Although they lost to the giants in the end and became a synonym for tragedy, this team was undoubtedly the most impressive in the past few years since the turn of the century, and also played the role of a tactical innovator in European football.
This team is from La Liga and is called Valencia.
Since Italian head coach Ranieri took over as Valencia coach, he brought the Italian defensive system framework to the team. The subsequent Argentine head coach Hector Cuper took Valencia's achievements even further.
Many fans remember Cooper because of his coaching during his time at Inter Milan, especially his feud with Ronaldo.
Conservative, stubborn, and unkind, this should be the stereotype of Cooper among all fans.
Even when Gao Shen searched for Cooper on the Internet before, a photo of him with white hair, black glasses, and an extremely stubborn expression would always pop up. This undoubtedly deepened the understanding of Cooper among later generations.
But in fact, whether he was coaching Real Mallorca or Valencia, Cooper was a veritable tactical innovator.
Based on Agnelli's foundation, he created a 4-4-2 midfield diamond formation for Valencia, which greatly stimulated the tactical development of European football. Including Ferguson, they all followed Valencia's diamond midfield.
Cooper's style of play not only helped Valencia reach the Champions League final for two consecutive seasons, but also cultivated a group of outstanding stars, such as Gerard, Mendieta and so on.
With this set of ideas, he won the favor of Inter Milan chairman Moratti, which led to his later feud with Ronaldo.
So Cooper's tactical innovation is just to adjust the players' positions?
This is indeed the case for ordinary fans, but in fact, this is a revolution in tactical concepts. It represents that European football has officially made a big step forward from the original free man and man-marking tactics to the concept of zone defense outlined by Sacchi.
Previous football tactics emphasized ball possession and players, but now a third element has been added, which is space.
When in possession of the ball, how to expand the space as much as possible, mobilize the opponent's defense, and create more gaps for offense; when defending, how to compress the space as much as possible, maintain a tight defensive formation, and reduce the exposure of one's own gaps.
As a single defensive midfielder, Gerard grew up under Cooper's system and was favored by Barcelona, who introduced him at a sky-high price. Unexpectedly, he got lost in the confusion of Camp Nou.
Mendieta subsequently moved to Lazio, where he had great difficulty adapting and his career went into free fall.
This is definitely not a coincidence.
If Cooper had been leading the European tactical revolution during his time as coach of Valencia, then his successor, Benítez, took this innovation a step further and promoted it to become a consensus throughout Europe and even the world.
Four, two, three, one, double defensive midfielders, high pressing and oppression!
Benítez clearly saw that the single defensive midfielder in the 4-4-2 diamond formation was not enough to protect the space on the two flanks of the back line. At that time, there were many wingers like Zidane and Nedved in European football, who had strong attacking capabilities on the flanks.
So he withdrew a striker and adopted a double defensive midfielder formation. After Valencia sold Gerard , they introduced Baraja. Together with Albelda trained by the team, this gave Benítez the most classic double defensive midfielder combination in European football in the past decade.
With four lines, the control of space has reached a new level. They can attack in front and defend in retreat. With this style of play, Benítez led Valencia to win the La Liga title and led Liverpool to the Istanbul Miracle in the Champions League final.
Even next year, in 2007, Liverpool will reach the Champions League final.
It can be said that the 4-2-3-1 style of play is very advanced at the moment.
Looking back from 2006, the 4-3-3 formation currently used by Chelsea coach Mourinho was very advanced, but it placed very high demands on the players and was not suitable for most teams at all. Generally, only strong teams used it. However, the 4-2-3-1 formation was different in that it had very strong universality.
At least, Real Madrid can't play 433 now.
Once upon a time, Real Madrid also wanted to adopt a double defensive midfielder strategy.
Whether it was Florentino's introduction of three defensive midfielders who performed very well in La Liga, including Makelele, Flavio and Celades, or the later famous players such as Gravesen and Pablo Garcia, they all proved that Real Madrid was not unable to see the trend. Then why is Real Madrid's defense still so bad?
The answer is simple: superstar.
So the question is, why do superstars have such a big influence on Real Madrid's tactics?
Is it just because the superstars don't actively participate in defense?
Yes, but also no.
It is now 2006, and the World Cup in Germany is about to begin .
I believe many fans will have a question, why did Zidane perform so well in the World Cup in Germany, but not perform well in Real Madrid?
Did he deliberately hold back his strength at the club?
Whether he deliberately held back or not, perhaps only Zidane himself knows, but Zidane plays completely different roles in Real Madrid and in the French national team.
At the World Cup in Germany, France adopted a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Makelele and Vieira as the double defensive midfielders. Zidane did not play on the left side of the frontcourt, but as an attacking midfielder.
The 4-2-3-1 formation is very balanced, and can especially stimulate the role of the attacking midfielder. Zidane is like a fish in water in this tactical system. He doesn't even need to worry about defense because there are two defensive midfielders behind him.
It can be said that in this style of play, Zidane's strength was fully utilized.
Can Real Madrid play?
Comparing France's World Cup lineup, with Ronaldo versus Henry as the striker, Raul versus Malouda on the left, and Robinho versus Ribery on the right, it doesn't seem like it's impossible to compare, right?
Even in the defensive midfielder position, Gravesen is a Premier League star, Pablo Garcia is a La Liga star, and there is also a long pass expert Beckham who plays very well as a defensive midfielder. It seems possible that he could give it a try anyway.
So why doesn't Real Madrid try?
The answer is simple, still a superstar!
Firstly, Ronaldo's range of activities and personal abilities are not as good as they used to be, and he can't pose the same threat as Henry; secondly, Roberto Carlos loves to attack and is best at playing one-on-one on the wing, and everyone knows that if you want Carlos to pose a threat, you have to leave space for him in the frontcourt.
Then the problem arises. When Carlos moves forward, the players on the left side of the frontcourt will move towards the middle, which will occupy the attacking midfielder's range of movement. If that were all, it would be fine. The key is that if Carlos' attack is unfavorable after moving forward and is counterattacked by the opponent, it will be difficult for Real Madrid's defense to organize an effective defense system.
Because Real Madrid is still using the old zonal marking strategy, defense emphasizes more on individual player performance rather than team system operations, because Carlos cannot come back, and because superstars such as Ronaldo, Zidane and Robinho are not actively returning to defense.
If one or two players don't return to defense, the team can still make up for it, but if the frontcourt players don't return to defense, how can they make up for it?
Therefore, over the years, Real Madrid's defense has been full of holes. Even though the defenders have been replaced one after another and the midfield defensive players have been bought one after another, the effect remains the same and there is no effect at all.
If the defensive system and the overall tactical concept don't change, it will be useless no matter who replaces him.
…
Gao Shen is very clear about the problems Real Madrid is facing now.
Before traveling through time, he was a football fan. He only knew that the problem was with the superstar, but why was it the superstar?
He doesn't understand.
Now, he understands a little bit, so he is going to start working on solving this problem.
He chose to read Benítez's series of books, first of all about Benítez's tactics and team formation, especially the improvements after taking over Valencia and the transformation after taking over Liverpool, which are very valuable to Gao Shen now.
After Gao Shen finished reading these two cases in the library all night and chewed them over again and again, although there were still many parts he didn't understand, his overall tactical attainments had reached a new level, and he had a clearer view of Real Madrid's current problems.
Real Madrid is sick, and very sick.
This kind of situation cannot be cured by taking medicine or injections, but requires a major surgery that will break your bones.
Especially in defense, the entire defensive system must be innovated.
If the defensive system is not innovated, it will be useless no matter how many superstars are introduced.
From Samuel to Woodgate, and the subsequent World Footballer of the Year Cannavaro, Real Madrid even hired the famous Italian coach Capello, who was known for his conservatism. This improved Real Madrid's defense and helped them win the league title, but it was still not stable enough.
Capello's success in Real Madrid is precisely because he adopted a double defensive midfielder formation.
This is exactly what Gao Shen wants to do.
Real Madrid's problem has never been in offense, but in defense.
In other words, how to better organize defense while ensuring offensive threats.
Real Madrid is not short of good players, like Gravesen, who is the core of Everton's midfield. Many people think he is a reckless man. Yes, he looks quite fierce, but in fact, he has many strong passing and organizational skills.
Pablo Garcia is also a famous player in La Liga. The fact that he was noticed by Real Madrid is itself a proof of his strength.
What Gao Shen needs to do now is to develop a suitable set of tactics to integrate this group of players and form combat effectiveness.
4-2-3-1 is the tactic that Gao Shen wants. He believes that this is also the most suitable tactic for Real Madrid at the moment.
Although this will sacrifice some offensive power, it will be exchanged for solid defense, which will make Real Madrid more competitive.
What's more, since Gao Shen has decided to fight to the death with the superstars headed by the Brazilian gang, the team's offense will be affected anyway. Instead of this, it is better to actively weaken the offense and strengthen the defense.
After deciding on the tactics, the next step is to select the lineup.
