Barcelona West, head coach's conference room at Ciudad Gamper.
Martino is intensively studying the game between Real Madrid and Real Betis with his assistant team.
Martino, who was a professional player, played in the Argentine domestic league when he was playing football, but on March 1, 1991, he was loaned to Tenerife in La Liga at the time.
Interestingly enough, his first game in Tenerife was to go to Camp Nou with the team to challenge Barcelona away.
Martino, who plays as an attacking midfielder, played the entire game, and the only thing left was a yellow card.
In the remaining three months, Martino played 15 games for Tenerife, 13 starts, 2 substitutes, scored one goal and received 6 yellow cards.
Such data were not enough for him to stay in La Liga, so he returned to Argentina after the season.
After retiring, Martino coached many teams, but never coached in Europe.
Whether he is playing football or coaching, he seriously lacks experience in European leagues. This caused a huge response when Barcelona chose him as head coach. Almost everyone questioned how such a person could be worthy of the job.
Barcelona?
But Barcelona management still chose Martino.
In order to make up for Martino's weaknesses, Barcelona has equipped him with a strong coaching staff.
Among them, there are as many as four assistant coaches, including former Vilanova assistant coach Jordi Rula, and two partners of Martino for many years, Jorge Bautasso and Adrian.
Corea.
But the most crucial one is Joan Francesco Ferrer, nicknamed [Ruby].
The 43-year-old Rubi is already well-known in Spanish football. Although he has always coached in low-level league teams, he became famous in the professional circle last season.
Because last season, he took Girona, which was still struggling to avoid relegation before taking over, to the fourth place in the Spanish Second Division. He also passed the first round of the promotion play-offs and lost to Almeri in the final.
Ya.
Although he ultimately failed to break into La Liga, Rubi's coaching ability was recognized by Spanish football.
Under this circumstance, Barcelona warmly invited Rubi to serve as Martino's right-hand man.
There are cases like this in Barcelona's past.
For example, Rijkaard partnered with Tencart during the Dream Team II. The former lacked experience, but the latter just became famous in the Eredivisie. The cooperation between the two parties created the dynasty of the Barcelona Dream Team II.
The Barcelona management, headed by Rosell, hopes that Martino and Rubi can recreate the legend of Rijkaard and Tenkat.
In addition to the four assistant coaches, there are other members of the coaching staff at various positions, as well as two game analysts, Alex Garcia and Jordi Melero.
In order to ensure the stability of Martino's coaching at Barcelona, the Barcelona management took great pains to equip him with a luxurious coaching staff.
…
The Barcelona coaching staff gathered together to watch the match between Real Madrid and Real Betis.
Then Alex Garcia and Jordi Melero were responsible for analyzing Real Madrid's formation and tactics for this game, and the most important aspects were two aspects.
One after the other.
The back is defense.
In the game against Betis, Gao Shen asked the two full-backs to press very high and actively participate in the front attack, so Casemiro, Ramos and Varane were basically the three players behind to defend.
But there are levels within it.
Casemiro is responsible for sweeping in front of the defense and protecting the two central defenders. However, since the full-backs are positioned very high, once Real Betis gets behind the full-backs, Ramos and Varane will pull wide and play a similar role as a winger.
The role of the defender.
At this time, Casemiro will retreat to the central defender position.
"To a certain extent, Real Madrid's defense switches back and forth between three defenders, four defenders, and even five defenders. It is very flexible and layered."
As for the front, Real Madrid's frontcourt trident in this game is Cristiano Ronaldo, Dzeko and Isco, but judging from the game process, in fact, the positions of these three players are not fixed, and they are always changing positions and rotating.
For example, Isco often appears on the left rib and even outside the left corner of Barcelona's penalty area.
Ronaldo and Dzeko also frequently adjust their positions and are not fixed, which makes it very difficult for defensive players to defend.
The simplest thing is to defend Isco or Dzeko the same way you defend Ronaldo, which is obviously not feasible.
The reverse can also be true.
Through this kind of cross-positioning of players, Real Betis players suffered a lot.
"We can fully foresee that at the Bernabeu, Gao Shen will arrange Ronaldo, Benzema and Di Maria to serve as the front three. Their personal abilities and cooperation will be better, and our defense will be better.
A big test.”
Martino had been listening silently. He waited until the analysts had finished speaking before he spoke: "In Argentina, we call this flow, flow and rotation. In Bielsa's tactical concept, flow is a very important thing."
Important link.”
Since Bielsa became successful in Argentina, almost all the new generation of Argentine coaches have been deeply influenced by him because his football is so crazy.
Everyone in Barcelona looked at Martino, waiting for him to continue. Many people took out pens and papers, ready to record at any time.
"I have repeatedly watched the four derbies of the century last season, and I found that they all have a common feature, that is, we pushed Real Madrid too tight. In fact, this is not an accident."
Martino paused and continued: "In the past, almost all games between Gao Shen and Barcelona were like this. We had the right to possess the ball and used the advantage of passing and controlling the ball to pressure the opponent."
"We have to admit that it does look exciting to press the opponent in the half and stimulate everyone's adrenaline, but we must also clearly see that when we face a top team like Real Madrid,
Against a fast team, when we still adopt the half-court siege method, we will be very dangerous behind us."
Martino's words surprised all Spanish coaches, including Lula and Rubi.
Possession of the ball has always been Barcelona's lifeline.
"You mean, we don't pursue possession of the ball?" Lula asked anxiously.
"No, no, no, you misunderstood, Jordi, we still have to control the ball, but we should not press our opponents in the half court, or even within the thirty-meter area. Facing a team like Real Madrid, this is very dangerous.
the behavior of."
"We should move the ball control area from the outside of the opponent's 30-meter area to near the midline. This has many benefits. For example, when switching from offense to defense, our midfielder can rush to the back line of defense faster. For example, in front of us
The offensive players can get more space to penetrate."
"Of course, more importantly, the gaps exposed behind us will be smaller, and it will not be so easy for the opponent to take advantage of it."
At first glance, it sounds reasonable, but if you think about it carefully, it is very problematic.
"Retreating to the midline, as you said, has many benefits, but it will also bring about a problem, that is, our offensive starting point is in the midline, further away from the opponent's goal." Ruby analyzed.
This idea is actually not new. In other words, any head coach with some tactical literacy can think of it. The key is to make choices.
Barcelona's best offensive method is passing the ball forward, because Barcelona plays a small and quick game and is good at interspersing in a narrow range. Their favorite offensive and defensive method is short passing, and they "pass" the ball into the opponent's goal through short passing.
But once you retreat too far from the goal, it will cause a problem.
Originally, it only took one kick to pass within a thirty-meter area, but now it requires at least two kicks.
Each more pass means more risk and the speed is slower.
"You are right, Ruby, so we need to try to add more mid-to-long-distance passes in the offense and play a faster rhythm." Martino analyzed.
Lula and Ruby looked at each other, both of them expressing "Sure enough" expressions on their faces.
If the distance is longer, increase the passing distance.
But the problem that comes with it is that the players are no longer closely connected to each other and are more likely to be cut and isolated.
This is no problem at all in Argentina or South America, or even in non-top leagues in Europe.
Including in the Portuguese Super League and the Eredivisie, there is really no problem playing like this.
Because the player's personal ability will be very dominant.
But in La Liga, especially the Champions League, playing like this is not possible.
When players are cut and isolated and forced to solve problems alone, the result is that the team's offense is completely disintegrated.
The defensive intensity of the four major leagues, even La Liga, is unimaginable in other leagues, especially South American leagues.
"Tata, I have to admit that your idea makes sense, but Barcelona has Barcelona's tradition and some of our own persistence. I think you should think about it more carefully," Lula said.
He can't tell Martino face to face that you don't understand the defensive intensity of La Liga at all, and you are not familiar with the European League at all, right?
If he really wants to do this, then he, the assistant coach, will have to pack up and go home immediately.
But that’s true, isn’t it?
Once the distance between Barcelona players is lengthened and the contact is alienated, can Barcelona still play football?
Medium and long distance passes?
Once the distance is lengthened, the passing accuracy and catching success rate will inevitably decrease. At what cost, have you ever thought about it?
"I understand, I understand, Jordi." Martino chuckled and comforted his assistant, "But I think you should use a more creative way of thinking to look at the current problems of our team."
"If adhering to Barcelona's traditions and concepts is useful, then why were they beaten so badly by Real Madrid last season? Why have they been unable to defeat Gao Shen and his team in the past few years?"
Martino's rhetorical question went straight to the core of the problem, more like soul torture.
Barcelona invited him to coach. In addition to Messi, a very important point is that they hope that a head coach who is not a direct descendant of Barcelona can bring more non-Barcelona inertial thinking to the team and inject more vitality.
If Barcelona's traditions and ideals must be taken into consideration in everything, how can they take the initiative to seek change?
Isn’t that just continuing to be complacent?
Both Lula and Ruby were speechless.
But they all had a very ominous premonition.
I hope we are being too careful!
The two of them looked at each other, saw each other's thoughts, and prayed secretly.
