Chapter 95 This is my Atletico Madrid!
As we all know, on the football field, the closer to the goal, the denser the defense, and the higher the requirements for offensive players, including technology, physical fitness, awareness, etc.
This is easy to understand.
The further forward the position is, the greater the defensive pressure and the more physical confrontations there will be.
But the space on the court is fixed there, and it depends on how the players use it.
Playing behind the defense requires speed; staying in the penalty area requires not only a strong body but also excellent skills.
If fans watch the game enough and pay a little attention, they will find that back-to-the-basket retreats are actually used more often.
Not only the center forward, but everyone in the entire frontcourt needs this skill.
The further forward the position is, the more difficult it is to retreat with your back to the goal, but the greater the tactical value.
Just like Xavi of Barcelona, the training he received in the youth team since he was a child was the traditional number four position, which is Guardiola's defensive midfielder position. Last season, in Van Gaal's tactical system, he was also a defensive midfielder.
Why?
Because Xavi's ability to handle the ball with his back to the basket is not strong.
A similar situation also happened with Xabi Alonso.
Few people know that in Yang Hao's previous life, in the next two or three years, Xavi had tried to play as an attacking midfielder and core midfielder, but the results were very poor, and this is the reason.
Taking the ball with your back to the attacking direction and taking the ball in front of the attacking direction are completely different tactical environments, and the technical characteristics required are also very different.
Xavi, Xavi Alonso, Busquets, Pirlo and others, they all lack the ability to take the ball with their backs to the attacking direction. This is why Pirlo did not play well in the attacking midfielder position, and was activated instead when he retreated to the defensive midfielder position.
There is no question of which is better or worse, but rather a question of whether the choice is appropriate.
But it can also be seen from these that a player who can take the ball with his back to the basket and turn around to plan an attack in a densely defended area has great tactical value.
The most typical ones are center forwards Drogba and Benzema.
In the current Atletico Madrid team, Deco is the only midfielder who has this ability.
If Deco can play, Yang Hao will play 4231. If Deco is absent, Yang Hao will play 433 with three defensive midfielders.
But at this point, another problem arises: how to break through the defense? How to advance the ball?
It’s impossible to always play long passes, right?
Adriano is only 18 years old. It is impossible for Yang Hao to use him to death, right?
In the past, many fans emphasized triangle passing, which is actually not in-depth enough.
Any three players on the court can form a triangle, so what is the tactical significance of triangle passing?
In the match against Real Oviedo, Yang Hao noticed some scenes that could particularly answer this question.
So he cut out the video and put it in the review meeting the next day to explain it to all the players.
At that time, Gravesen got the ball in his own half, facing the direction of attack. The defensive player who was originally marking Deco immediately pressed towards Gravesen.
Yang Hao pressed pause here.
"I hope you can think about it carefully. If you were Gravesen at this moment, what would be your first reaction?" Yang Hao guided the players to think.
He hopes that every player will not only understand what he says, but also truly understand the tactical concepts he wants to instill.
"I believe that the first reaction of most people is that Deco's position is vacant, right?"
Yang Hao's question received unanimous nods from the vast majority of players.
This is a normal reaction.
"Well, let's see what the result is."
When Yang Hao pressed the continue button, everyone found that Gravesen really passed the ball to Deco, but the ball was blocked by a defensive player in the middle. Deco barely got the ball, but another defensive player around him came up immediately.
The end result was that Deco was forced to pass back.
The attack was thus declared a failure.
Yang Hao pressed pause, but didn't say anything. He let everyone think for themselves.
After about a few dozen seconds, he asked, "Did you notice that this seems like a trap? The opponent's defense, I can't say it's intentional, but it's obvious that they've prepared for gaps."
Now everyone nodded.
Because before the ball reached Deco's feet, the players pressing towards Gravesen guessed that the Dane would pass the ball to Deco, and the players near Deco also knew that Deco would receive the ball, so they all took action at the same time after Gravesen passed the ball.
This doesn't even need to be rehearsed; it's a natural reaction.
"Look at the other paragraph."
The time in the picture has changed, but Gravesen still has the ball, and Oviedo's defenders still leave Deco behind and press the Dane. The whole situation looks very similar to the previous one.
But after the previous experience, Gravesen was smarter this time. He did not choose to pass the ball to Deco, but passed the ball in front of Baraha, letting Baraha receive the ball.
Baraha's sudden forward movement was obviously beyond the expectations of the opposing defensive players, so the player who had defended Deco closely last time rushed towards Baraha at the first moment.
Baraha handled the situation very cleverly this time . He did not pass the ball to Deco immediately, but waited until the opponent got closer and Deco turned around before he passed the ball in front of Deco, giving Deco enough lead time so that Deco could face the direction of attack directly.
Although the attack failed, Yang Hao was very satisfied with it.
After everyone had watched it, he specifically rewound back to the moment when Baraja passed the ball and pressed the pause button.
"Did you notice? This time, Deco is really extra."
This is the true meaning of triangle transmission !
"When one of the opposing defenders leaves his position, our opposing player will have space."
"We know this, and our opponents know it too."
"This makes it impossible for us to directly exploit this point. Instead, we have to create an offensive situation that is most advantageous to us. This requires someone to join in, form a triangle, transfer the ball, disrupt the defense, and further open up the space."
"From the beginning to the end, Deco was our target and the starting point of our attack, but we couldn't pass it directly to him. We had to pass it through a player first, whether it was Baraja on the right or Evra and Vicente on the left."
"Our goal was clear: to lure the second defender out of position and open up the defensive space. When we passed the ball to Deco, he could easily launch the final attack!"
The several videos captured by Yang Hao are very convincing, and they are all from the game that just ended.
The players could naturally understand it, and even further understood the tactical concepts that Yang Hao wanted to express.
"In our tactical style, the extra player doesn't have to be Deco, and he doesn't have to be in the middle. He can be in the front court, midfield or back court, or on the left, center or right."
"Every one of our players can be a 'Deco', but at the same time, we must also actively be 'Balaha', because only in this way, when you play the role of 'Deco', there will be 'Balaha' who will step up to help you transition."
“This is our whole!”
…
Not a single word of what Yang Hao said to the players in Majadahonda would be leaked to the outside world.
Although the team attaches great importance to its relationship with fans and opens to fans regularly, similar tactical training sessions are strictly confidential.
No one knows what happened in Atletico Madrid's review meeting, nor does anyone know what Atletico Madrid is training for.
The only thing we know is how Atletico Madrid performs on the field.
After defeating Real Oviedo 4-0 at home, the outside world's expectations of Atletico Madrid have increased.
But just when the momentum was so good, Atletico Madrid set out on a long journey to Slovenia.
Despite having an overwhelming advantage on the road, they lost 0-1 to Olimpia Ljubljana away.
This was Atletico Madrid's first European game in recent seasons, and they suffered a defeat away from home. This was also Yang Hao's first defeat since he coached Atletico Madrid.
Many media and fans who followed the game noticed that Yang Hao sent out all the substitutes in this game, none of the main players came, and Kiko was directly put on as the center.
But even so, relying on its own strength advantage and tactical advantage, Atletico Madrid had the upper hand on the field, but it just couldn't score a goal. Instead, it was ambushed by the opponent in the second half and lost the away game.
After Atletico Madrid suffered the defeat, the Spanish media also reversed their previous praise of Atletico Madrid and began to criticize Atletico Madrid. Some of them expressed their concerns, after all, all the pressure is now on the second round.
Some media outlets are even more eager to create chaos and are fabricating the so-called Atletico Madrid crisis theory.
Not only did they lose the first leg of the Europa League knockout stage, but more importantly, in the second round of La Liga, Atletico Madrid will be traveling to challenge Valladolid.
This team has been Atletico's nemesis for several consecutive seasons, especially at the José Zorrilla Stadium in Valladolid, where Atletico has lost for three consecutive seasons.
Moreover, Valladolid performed well last season and was very competitive. In the first round, they drew 1-1 with Mallorca coached by Aragones away.
The score was a draw, but Mallorca scored a goal in the first 3 minutes. Judging from the overall performance, Valladolid obviously played better.
In this situation, Atletico Madrid not only had to be distracted by the UEFA Cup, but the key was that they also lost away, which made everyone pessimistic about Atletico Madrid's second round of La Liga.
Some media believe that fighting on two fronts is a huge test for a team like Atletico Madrid, and Yang Hao and his team have no experience in fighting on two fronts.
Ljubljana's defeat exposed Atletico Madrid's crisis.
Valladolid's head coach, Argentine Francisco Ferraro, even said in a high-profile manner, "We have made all preparations and are waiting for Atletico's arrival!"
Ecuadorian Footballer of the Year center forward Ivan Cavides, who was on loan from Celta Vigo, said that he was in excellent form and couldn't wait to score a goal in this game.
"I have a feeling this will be a game for the home fans!"
