Night falls, north of Veltins Stadium in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
In the head coach's office in the Schalke 04 training building, Magath is studying the current situation and situation of Schalke 04 with his right assistant.
Because Magath's current situation is very bad.
How bad is it?
In the first six rounds of the Bundesliga, Schalke 04 had one win, one draw and four losses, and is currently ranked 17th in the standings.
Note that there are only eighteen teams in the Bundesliga.
This is the result of the recent improvement in the team's performance. During the four-game losing streak at the beginning, Magath was almost dismissed from class. He was the number one person in charge of Schalke 04, and his results were not good.
Well, he is duty-bound.
The reason for the current situation is the transfer of Schalke 04 this summer.
As last season's league runner-up, Schalke 04 actually went through a large-scale reorganization this summer, letting go of core players such as Kuranyi, Westerman, and Rafinha, and introducing Raul, Huntelaar,
Players such as Metzelder and Jurado.
Fifteen people were sold and fourteen were brought in. This scale is absolutely astonishing. The reorganization intensity is comparable to Gao Shen's first season coaching Manchester City, but the difference is that Schalke 04 is not Manchester City.
If you carefully study the people who sell Schalke 04, it is not difficult to find a very strange phenomenon.
Kuranyi went to the Russian Super League on a free transfer. Asamoah, Grossmuller, Vicente Sanchez and others were all transferred on free transfers, and the team's core general Westerman was sold for 700
Half a million, Rafinha was sold for only nine million euros.
Why?
Because these free transfer players are stuck at the critical point of contract renewal, Westerman, Rafinha and others are also eager to leave.
He only coached Schalke 04 in 2009. It's hard to say how much blame Magath will take for this matter.
Everyone knows that the more important a player is, the more he must renew his contract as early as possible and delay it until the last contract year. That is too dangerous and too passive.
It is precisely because of the departure of this group of people that Schalke 04 had to recruit heavily.
Fourteen people were sold for 17 million euros, and 15 people were bought. In fact, the total cost was only about 30 million euros. The net investment was about 15 million euros. For a Bundesliga runner-up
That said, it's actually not much.
But among the players bought, there are free transfer stars such as Metzelder and Raul, as well as powerful players in their prime like Huntelaar and Jurado. These are all in Europe.
He has proven his ability in football.
Some people may be wondering, why go to all this trouble?
Wouldn't it be nice to further strengthen the team based on last season?
Therefore, when the team started losing four games in a row, Magath was scolded so much that he was almost fired as an apology.
But the real reason is that Schalke 04 is burdened with a huge debt of 250 million euros!
This is the key to why the club has been unable to reach a contract extension with Kuranyi, Rafinha and others, why it is unable to invest money in transfer signings, and why Schalke 04 will let Magath take on the role.
The reason for the dual roles of manager and head coach.
From the first day Magath took over Schalke 04, he knew that this was a big gamble.
If the bet is successful, he will be a major contributor to Schalke 04, and he will once again join the ranks of Germany's top coaches.
If he loses the bet, he will become the scapegoat and end up in get out of class in despair.
And the slogan he shouted was to lead the team to win the championship in 2013!
Then the question arises. The club is burdened with a heavy debt burden and has no money. What should we do?
It's very simple, just make money.
How to make money?
Champions League!
Magath has been very clear about his goal for the new season from the beginning, which is the Champions League.
Therefore, his goal in the Bundesliga is to top ten, not to win the championship. The Champions League is his real main battlefield this season.
Why is Raul willing to join Schalke 04?
Because he knows how much Magath attaches to the Champions League, and Raul is what Magath relies on in the Champions League.
Schalke 04 wants to make money, and Raul wants to score goals and keep his name as the top scorer in the history of the Champions League. It can be said that each has his own place and complements each other.
This plan is very good and highly feasible.
After making money from the Champions League, the team's strength will be further strengthened.
Therefore, Schalke 04 drew with the powerful Inter Milan 0-0 in the first round of the group stage.
This greatly boosted the morale of Schalke 04.
But the Bundesliga was too hip, and it seriously exceeded Magath's expectations.
He overestimated the strength of his bench and substitute players.
In other words, Schalke 04 has not done enough in terms of integration.
Now, Magath's plan has reached a very critical moment.
Whether they can break out of the group stage depends on the game against Manchester City, especially at home.
According to Magath's idea, when facing Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester City at home, they must try their best to win and only strive for a draw on the road. This will ensure that Schalke 04 will qualify from the group.
But Manchester City beat Real Madrid 5-0 at home in the first round of the group stage, leaving Schalke and Schalke stunned.
Originally, they all thought that the game against Chelsea would consume Manchester City's strength, but who would have thought that Gao Shen would actually change the formation and use a 4321 Christmas tree to face Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea, and use a large-scale rotation to defeat Chelsea
.
This is definitely the game that best reflects Gao Shen's coaching ability as a head coach!
At least, Magath cannot do such an operation.
No, he made a mess in the Bundesliga.
And next, at home, he will have to face Manchester City, who are sending out all their main players.
This is the most terrible thing!
…
"I talked to Raul."
Magath looked at the three right-hand men in front of him. They were either old partners who had followed him for many years, or people who had partnered with him at Bayern Munich and then left the team with him. They were all the people he trusted the most.
"Raul said that Gao Shen doesn't have any usual routines for using troops. He always makes changes and adjustments according to the opponent. If I have to say it, it is that he likes to seize the initiative and does not like to be controlled by others."
"Of course, this is as long as our strength allows."
Magath didn't say it, but everyone knew that Manchester City's current strength definitely allowed Gao Shen to take the initiative.
"So..." Bernard Dreyer seemed to have guessed a little bit of Magath's meaning.
Magath adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose. Hidden behind the glasses, his gem-like eyes inlaid on his round face seemed to be shining with a faint light, "I want to attack after the opening!"
"Are you crazy?" Dreyer shouted.
The other two people also looked at each other, all looking at Magath in disbelief.
"you sure?"
"That's profound!"
What is Gao Shen best at?
The whole world knows, the opening attack!
This is Gao Shen's specialty weapon. Now Schalke 04 wants to start the game with Manchester City?
How is this different from suicide?
Play sparring?
Neither Real Madrid nor Chelsea dare to play like this!
Magath shrugged his shoulders slightly and spread his hands, "Otherwise, what can you do?"
The assistants were all silent.
Yes, what can be done?
"Defense? Do you think we can defend Manchester City's offense? Metzelder, Papadopoulos, Matip, plus Atsuto Uchida from Japan, even if these players cooperate tacitly, they can all
They may not be able to defend Manchester City's powerful offensive, not to mention they haven't developed enough tacit understanding yet."
The match against Inter Milan was zero to zero because Inter Milan's offense itself was not strong.
In the Bundesliga, Schalke conceded 12 goals in 46 rounds, averaging two per game.
With this defensive ability, who can be sure of blocking Manchester City's offensive?
Anyway, Magath doesn't have it.
Dreher and others all agreed with Magath's analysis. Schalke was indeed at a disadvantage when facing Manchester City in the fourth quarter, but that didn't mean they had to attack head-on.
"I think it's too risky for you to do this. If we fail at the beginning, we may even suffer another disastrous defeat, which may even be serious enough to affect the trend of the entire group stage. Have you ever thought about it?" Dreyer advised.
He felt that it was never a good idea to play attacking football with Manchester City.
"Please, Bernard, from the day I took over Schalke 04, you, me, and everyone, we all know that this is a big gamble, there is no way out, when we get on the gambling table, we just
I can work hard all the way to the end!”
When Magath said this, his face was full of cruelty.
Many people are confused by his round face and glasses. In fact, he is a ruthless person in the Bundesliga!
A gold belt for murder and arson, no corpses for repairing bridges and roads!
"Either I win and win the praise of the world; or I lose and be reviled by thousands of people."
Magath was obviously mentally prepared for everything he did.
Head coaches are often the ones who take the blame for unlucky situations.
But so what?
If a person wants to succeed, he needs to use a platform.
If you don't take the blame, will the club be willing to choose you?
Unless you are so awesome that you become a top coach, otherwise, you can only be a scapegoat.
The difference lies in who takes the blame.
profound?
Hum hum, he is a lucky guy who appeared by chance.
Given the situation at Real Madrid at the time, Magath was convinced that even if he were to coach himself, he would not do any worse than Gao Shen.
With the double title of La Liga and Champions League, what can't he do?
As a successful professional player, Magath, like many players-turned-head coaches, is full of pride. Especially when facing head coaches who are non-professional players, they do not recognize each other's achievements at all.
Football has always been an incalculably complex subject, and a layman will never be able to understand everything about football.
Only by personally experiencing twenty or thirty years of hard training and competition can we truly appreciate the true meaning of this sport.
"Bernard, I am not discussing with you, but telling you what I plan to do!"
Magath's tone worsened, which also showed that he was somewhat annoyed by his assistant's doubts about his decision.
If both the left and right arms are like this, how can the players perform?
"I will use a victory in three days to prove that my decision is right!"
"Just wait and see!"
Please remember the first domain name of this book:. Mobile version reading URL:
