When the players of the two teams walked into the stadium under the leadership of the referee and amid the roar of Manchester City fans, Gao Shen and Mourinho stood side by side at the entrance of the players' tunnel.
There was actually not much embarrassment when the two met, because they both knew that many things were not each other's problems.
In other words, this is the current situation of professional football.
"When did you shave your hair?" Gao Shen asked curiously.
Mourinho chewed gum stubbornly. After listening to Gao Shen's words, he raised his head slightly, as if he could still see his hair, but in fact he couldn't see anything because he had given himself a short haircut.
"You shaved it in the hotel at noon, isn't it handsome?" Mourinho asked with a smile.
"Ha, handsome. Among all the shameless middle-aged people, you are the most handsome."
As long as the adjectives and definitions are given enough, men all over the world are handsome.
"But seriously, you should dye your hair." Gao Shen suggested.
Mourinho reached out and scratched his hair as a reflex, "What are you dyeing? This is my trophy!"
Gao Shen smiled again, a little speechless.
Mourinho's hair is a lot grayer, even a big one.
Pressure is really terrible, especially coaching Real Madrid, the pressure is extremely high.
Mourinho, if you say he is arrogant, is not entirely true.
When you really get to know him, you will find that there is a sense of unconfidence in his bones.
Passing and controlling the ball is now the mainstream trend in European football. No matter which team you are, you must pay attention to it.
The reason is very simple. If your ability to pass and control the ball is too poor, people will catch you in a high position and press you. If you can't pass the ball, you will die.
When Gao Shen was in Serie A, didn't he rely on this set of unreasonable tactics to beat the Serie A team to the point of crying?
Therefore, in recent years, central defenders who can pass the ball have been particularly popular, and they are also very, very expensive.
Why?
Now that the central defender knows how to pass the ball, I won't be afraid of you pressing me.
In fact, I wish you could force me out so that I can hit you from behind.
But a central defender who is good at passing the ball is destined to be difficult to become a standard player, and his price is the biggest obstacle.
Mourinho can't help but show a sense of caution whether he is arranging his troops or employing people.
This is a nice way of saying it, but a bad way of saying it is conservative.
Just like tonight, he used Coentrao on the left instead of Marcelo.
This is of course because Manchester City has Robben on the right, but Marcelo has stronger attacking power and better skills.
In the midfield, Khedira started, partnering Xavi Alonso.
Previously, Mourinho used Coentrao to partner Xavi Alonso, and sometimes even used Pepe or Ramos.
The center backs are Carvalho and Pepe, and the right back is Ramos.
This is a very obvious lineup that can defend and counterattack.
There is almost nothing new.
The front attacking combination is Cristiano Ronaldo, Adebayor and Di Maria.
Real Madrid still uses a four-man formation, with the German midfielder No. 10 playing as an attacking midfielder.
Adan serves as goalkeeper.
"Do you also want to teach me a lesson?" Mourinho suddenly turned his head and looked directly at Gao Shen, with a hint of provocation in his eyes.
It felt like, as long as Gao Shen said a positive answer, he would immediately start a fight with Gao Shen.
Gao Shen snorted and smiled, "I'm not as free as you think. Now that it's me, I'll do the same thing!"
We are really forced into the situation Mourinho is in now. To be honest, there is really no good way except to ban Casillas.
This is what must be done. Maintaining the authority of the head coach is more important than anything else.
But Gao Shen did not tell Mourinho that if it were him, he would never let things develop to this situation.
As long as things don't develop to this situation, he doesn't need to choose between blocking Casillas and maintaining the authority of the head coach. Instead, he will have more time and space to change the status quo.
To put it bluntly, Mourinho should not have launched the so-called "war" against Barcelona in the first place.
Real Madrid is not as strong as Barcelona, this is obvious.
Some people may object, but this is the truth.
Not only is he not as good as he is now, he is also not as good as he was in his previous life.
Do not believe?
By comparison, in the seasons when Real Madrid won the Champions League, how many league titles did they win?
How many games did you win against Barcelona?
Strength and weakness are never necessarily related to the outcome of the game.
When you are not as strong as your opponent and your results are not as good as your opponent's, forcing yourself to fight against Barcelona, an enemy that is difficult to defeat, is very bad and will end up hurting yourself.
What's more, Mourinho's biggest problem now is himself.
He needs a comprehensive upgrade of himself, from tactical concepts to management methods...
"You, don't play the tragedy card with me before the game starts, I won't show mercy." Gao Shen changed the topic and said with a smile.
Mourinho laughed and said, "Do I still need your mercy?"
"Keep talking tough. I'll buy you a drink after the game. You'd better not run away!" After Gao Shen finished speaking, he stretched out his hand, shook Mourinho's hand, turned and walked out of the player tunnel, turning towards the home team's coaching bench.
Mourinho looked at Gao Shen's back with a complicated expression, and his heart felt like an overturned saucepan.
A really special girl has all the tastes!
To be honest, sometimes, he would even rather quarrel with Gao Shen.
In this case, he can still scold Gao Shen in public.
But now, he feels that he is a spare tire, but he has a good relationship with the real owner and is embarrassed to scold him. What's going on?
"Half of the white hair on the labor and management side is because of you!" Mourinho said viciously.
…
Real Madrid's formation is really cautious.
Obviously, last season's disastrous defeat at the Etihad Stadium made Real Madrid cautious.
On the other hand, Manchester City took the initiative from the beginning of the game and pressed Real Madrid.
Gao Shen reversed their previous steady start and played more aggressively at home, with the momentum of defeating Real Madrid in one go.
This makes Real Madrid become more careful.
Gao Shen still had a four-three-three lineup for this game.
Goalkeeper: Neuer.
Defence: Felipe, David Luiz, Kompany and Zabaleta.
Midfielder: Rakitic, Fernandinho and Yaya Toure.
Forwards: Gareth Bale, Suarez and Robben.
The starting of Rakitic and Yaya Toure allowed Gao Shen to dare to use his entire midfield and frontcourt.
Because he believes that these two midfielders can provide Manchester City with strong enough pressure in the midfield and frontcourt, and coupled with the trident in the frontcourt, they are enough to contain Real Madrid's midfielder and backfield.
Facts have also proved that this is indeed the case.
On the one hand, Real Madrid is cautious and conservative, on the other hand, Manchester City is proactive.
In the first two minutes, Robben took the ball on the right, accelerated and broke through Coentrao, then cut into the penalty area and sent a cross. Yaya Toure came in at high speed and shot angrily from the front of the penalty area, hitting the goal.
The first shot of the game.
Then, when Robben dribbled the ball from the right and rushed into the right corner of the penalty area, when he got rid of Coentrao and wanted to cut inside, the Portuguese fell to the ground and failed to tackle, but he was forced to pull Robben down.
The referee did not award a penalty kick or foul, nor did he award Robben a diving penalty.
Two consecutive attacks came from Manchester City's right wing, which put Real Madrid's left wing under tremendous pressure.
One of the important reasons why Robben was able to press forward and attack as much as he wanted was that Zabaleta was supporting him behind him.
From this point it is easy to see the difference between Gao Shen and Mourinho.
Mourinho's full-backs rarely push forward. Even if they do, they can only play one from either side.
But now Gao Shen is different.
His full-backs often get forward.
Then the problem arises. Mourinho does not dare to let the full-backs advance easily, just to ensure the stability of the defense.
After Gao Shen lets the full-backs advance forward, how to ensure the stability of the defensive line?
Relying solely on pressing from the midfield and frontcourt?
This is definitely not enough.
The answer lies in position four.
Looking back from 2021, it is not difficult to find that almost all powerful teams will be equipped with a fourth position.
The fourth position here does not have much to do with Barcelona's heritage, but everyone is aware of a possibility.
The season when Bayern won the Champions League, the fourth position was Javi Martinez.
Real Madrid won the Champions League, first with Xavi Alonso, and later with Casemiro.
Liverpool wins the Champions League, and Fabinho is in the fourth position.
If a strong team is like this, then what if it’s not a strong team?
I still remember what Gao Shen once mentioned about Southampton. Under the coaching of Pochettino and Ronald Koeman, the Saints were able to achieve consecutive successes in the Premier League. One of the important reasons was Schneiderlin.
The thing that Schneiderlin was criticized the most for later at Manchester United was that he always retreated too deep and was too close to the central defender.
This is the role of number four.
So why do this?
Very simple, free up the full backs!
Therefore, Atletico Madrid's head coach Simeone later said that full-back is the most important position in European football.
Real Madrid has Carvajal and Marcelo, Bayern has Alaba and Lahm, Liverpool has Robertson and Alexander-Arnold, Barcelona has Alba and Alves, and Juventus also has Alex Sandro and Lichtenstein.
Na...
Found it?
Both sides are full-backs whose offensive ability is stronger than their defensive ability.
What about defense?
What should the defense do when the full-backs press forward?
The answer is that the deep-lying midfielder in the fourth position retreats and forms a three-centre defender with the two central defenders, holding on until the full-backs retreat.
As for the benefits of full-backs joining the attack, I believe everyone knows it without further explanation.
The current trend is not particularly clear yet, but many people have been studying Gao Shen's style of play and transformation in Manchester City.
Then more and more people will follow, and eventually it will become a trend again.
Of course, another issue will be involved here.
That is, when the full-backs press forward and the fourth position retreats to the defensive line and becomes three central defenders, what roles do the other two midfielders in the fourth, third and third position play?
But while Gao Shen was standing on the sidelines thinking, goalkeeper Neuer kicked a goal kick.
The German goalkeeper kicked the ball straight into the frontcourt.
Suarez had blocked Pepe with his body and fell backwards, trying to grab the first point, but Pepe still headed the ball back, but the ball was still at Manchester City's feet.
