"Did you ?"
In the morning, during Valdebebas' first coaching meeting, Gao Shen asked his assistants with concern.
He sat in his office chair, turning gently left and right, looking a little distressed.
His idea was stolen!
Members of the Real Madrid coaching staff already knew Gao Shen's plan, and he wanted to attack AC Milan right from the start.
This requires the team to have good physical fitness to support the team's frontcourt pressing and oppression. This is also the project that Buenaventura has been focusing on for some time.
But no one expected that Mancini had some problem and changed the formation and adopted the same tactical style as Lyon. What's worse, Inter Milan played the same way as Lyon and messed up the attack.
This is really interesting.
Lyon and Inter Milan both adopted similar tactical play, and the results were indeed very good, suppressing AC Milan's offense, but their own offense was not very good. What about Real Madrid?
Ancelotti has been beaten like this by two teams in three consecutive games. Will he make targeted adjustments?
"I'm confused." Buenaventura also sat in his seat and looked at Gao Shen. "Logically speaking, this derby game is not that important, but Ancelotti still played with the main lineup."
"I evaluated the situation of AC Milan's game last night. I dare say that the consumption was very high. This will definitely affect their Champions League in the middle of the week, so I don't understand why Ancelotti did this?"
Gao Shen and others also nodded.
If this was a battle for the Serie A title, it would be understandable, but this is a game that cannot be said to be insignificant. At best, it is a game that determines whether or not to play in the Champions League qualifiers.
Is it worth it to affect the team's first round of the Champions League for such a game, for the so-called city derby?
"Maybe, it's really just for the city derby?" Maqueda guessed.
"In the first derby between the two sides, AC Milan lost 2-3 to Inter Milan. Ancelotti wants revenge, but also doesn't want to waste more time playing two Champions League qualifiers next season. I think it's understandable."
Many people listened and thought it made sense, and nodded.
Gao Shen smiled slightly, "Then he either looks down on us and thinks he can easily crush us; or he doesn't want to fight us to the death in the first round, and wants to concentrate all his forces on his home field in the second round."
There are only these two explanations. Otherwise, why would they fight Inter Milan to the death before the first leg?
"In fact, that's what happened to AC Milan last season," Lucas said.
Gao Shen looked at Lucas and nodded slightly, encouraging him to continue.
In fact, all of this was included in his report early in the morning.
"If you still remember, AC Milan insisted on fighting on two fronts in the Champions League semi-finals last season. At that time, they were the leader of Serie A. As a result, after beating PSV Eindhoven 2-0 in the first leg of the semi-final, they almost lost the second leg."
"If Kaka hadn't assisted Ambrosini to score a goal in the extra time, AC Milan would have lost the game, not to mention reaching the final. Of course, if they hadn't reached the final, there would have been no Istanbul miracle."
"Three days after losing to PSV, they lost 1-0 to Juventus at the San Siro, giving up the league lead and eventually losing the title race, leaving them empty-handed."
What Lucas meant was simple: Ancelotti had a history of doing this.
He always wants too much, but ends up with nothing.
It's hard to say whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, because if he wins the bet, he will be a legend.
Of course, the cost of losing is also high, and everyone will use this as an opportunity to attack him.
By the way, Ancelotti adopted the 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree formation at that time.
Moreover, the lineup configuration was almost exactly the same as it was later.
Isn’t it interesting?
Now Ancelotti is forced to play with two strikers because the results of using the Christmas tree lineup of 4-3-2-1 last season were not satisfactory. Even the 4-3-2-1 was used several times this season, and the results were not very ideal.
But who could have thought that the next season, Ancelotti would win the Champions League with this much-criticized 4-3-2-1 formation.
But now, he is still playing with his double striker.
…
It was a 4-4-2 formation, but AC Milan actually made obvious adjustments in this game.
For example, replacing Inzaghi with Gilardino, who has better running ability, on the one hand makes use of Gilardino's body, and on the other hand, it also gives full play to his running ability and actively creates pressing pressure in the frontcourt.
As for the midfield, they all formed a small diamond midfield, but when playing against Inter Milan, AC Milan's small midfielders were obviously more compact and concentrated their forces in the middle, which made AC Milan's effect of curbing the opponent's central attack very obvious.
Inter Milan had no way to deal with AC Milan's center.
Whether it is Lyon or Inter Milan, they are both teams with weak offensive capabilities, but Real Madrid is different.
"AC Milan had 60% of the ball in this derby, but I found that a lot of their possession came from passing the ball back to the defense, which made their offense lack threat and speed."
"I think that at the Bernabeu, we should stick to our previous idea, go for it and strive to get the lead in the first leg, and then play a defensive counterattack away from home." Lucas suggested after analysis.
The first leg of the semi-finals will be held at the Bernabeu, and Real Madrid will play at home first and then away.
Gao Shen had wanted to attack at home before, but now the confrontation between Ancelotti and Mancini made him have some speculations.
Ancelotti is a well-known old fox. Would he not have thought of some profound ideas?
Judging from his strategy against Mancini, he knows AC Milan's problems very well, and he is no stranger to how to deal with the 4-2-3-1 formation. During the Miracle of Istanbul, Liverpool played the 4-2-3-1 formation.
Gao Shen had read Benítez's memories of this game in the tactical library. His substitutions were simply a result of luck, and there was no so-called partying in the locker room of AC Milan during the halftime break. These were all misunderstandings by the outside media.
At best, AC Milan players felt that victory was in their grasp.
Leading by three goals in the Champions League final would have been the same no matter who it was.
Therefore, this miracle, to some extent, also had a lot of luck involved, and Benítez was more likely to take advantage of the situation.
Interestingly, Benítez's Liverpool is also notoriously weak in attack.
Gao Shen was wondering if Ancelotti did it on purpose?
He was confident in his defense, so he allowed his opponents to press and oppress him, while he played it safe and counterattacked when he got the chance.
Given AC Milan's age, they can't play at a fast pace even if they want to, so this is more suitable for them.
Liverpool conceded three goals in the first half, Lyon lost both legs, and Inter Milan lost the city derby. Isn't it the same?
Of course, the risk is that if the defense is breached, AC Milan will be helpless.
This is really similar to Capello's Juventus.
When Gao Shen thought of this, he suddenly looked at Buenaventura and said, "Lorenzo, if Ronaldo starts, do you think he can last the first half with his physical fitness?"
Buenaventura and everyone else were all stunned. Are they going to let Ronaldo start?
Ronaldo also started in the previous match against Real Sociedad , but the intensity of the game was completely different from that of the Champions League semi-final. More importantly, this game placed very high demands on the midfield and frontcourt, and everyone had to run.
"It's hard for me to say. It depends on the players." Buenaventura was not very sure either.
Ronaldo's physical fitness is really poor.
A very important task for the forward center in the 4-2-3-1 formation is to suppress the two central defenders of the opponent. In a game, Negredo's most important task is to fight the central defenders, which is very exhausting.
Ronaldo certainly cannot achieve the same effect as Negredo, but the Brazilian has extremely strong personal abilities and a very high scoring efficiency. If he is on the court, Real Madrid's offensive power can be greatly enhanced.
This is another trade-off decision.
"We have been preparing for this match for over a week, and the players' physical fitness and condition have been adjusted. If we change our minds now, it will only mess up our formation, so..."
Gao Shen paused, looked deeply at the assistants in front of him, and spoke word by word.
"We still stick to our original plan and attack right after the opening."
Changing formations on the spot is actually a big taboo because of insufficient preparation.
Sometimes, instead of killing your opponent, you end up killing yourself.
"Are we going to use Negredo? Or replace him with Ronaldo?" Buenaventura asked with concern.
Gao Shen was a little embarrassed, "Let me think about it again."
…
Having just finished playing against Getafe, the morning training was mainly focused on recovery and adjustment.
Gao Shen, as usual, stood at the side of the training ground and watched Buenaventura's performance silently.
Now, not only Gao Shen, but everyone in the team is becoming more and more impressed with Buenaventura's abilities, because everyone's physical condition and fitness have improved visibly.
More importantly, the team's training level has improved and their competition ability has gradually improved.
Of course, everyone has put in hard work and sweat.
In the past, in order to accommodate superstars, Real Madrid's training level was very low, everyone was comfortable and lived a comfortable life, but now, every day they work hard and sweat profusely, their backs ache, and they may get injured at any time if they are not careful. Every training and even every movement requires full effort, which makes many people too much to bear.
But they all persist stubbornly.
Because they have hope and see hope.
Ever since Ronaldo talked with Gao Shen, he seemed like a completely different person. He worked hard in both games and training. He even no longer resisted the gym training, which he hated the most.
His body still looks bloated, and he is still quite far from his peak period, but his overall mental outlook and competitive state have improved significantly compared to before.
Everyone felt it, including Gao Shen.