After the Deutsche Telekom Cup, Hamburg played two more warm-up matches, but both ended in defeat.
The 1:3 loss to West Ham United in the Premier League was okay, but the 0:4 loss to Tresden in the German Bundesliga was a bit unsettling.
Especially the last game was directed by Pan Yi himself!
Although this game was not broadcast live on television, everyone who watched the game at the scene was puzzled by Pan Yi's formation.
In this game, although in terms of personnel arrangement, Hamburg looks a bit similar to the 433 when Pan Yi was in Milan, but from the actual position of the players, it looks like a 253?
In other words, Robertson and Carvajal, the two full-backs, are positioned a bit too far forward and have reached the midfield position.
Moreover, they are not wing-backs like some three-back formations, nor are they wide midfielders in traditional formations, they do not stand on two sides at all.
When attacking, these two full-backs even stood directly in the defensive midfielder position, even further forward than the orthodox defensive midfielder Casemiro!
It's not just the two full-backs, but also the players in other positions. Wu Lei sometimes plays as a left winger, sometimes as a right winger, and sometimes Sun Xingmin and Wu Lei even run to the same side.
This made Hamburg's entire tactics look like a mess, at least in the eyes of the onlookers' media and fans, it was really disorganized.
So after the game, some media expressed doubts, thinking that Hamburg's pre-season preparations this season felt a bit too childish. If they don't get into shape as soon as possible, how can they compete with Bayern in the league?
Under such a warm-up performance, Pan Yi's wild words of vowing to win the Bundesliga championship now seem so harsh.
The media also compared Bayern's preseason performance with Hamburg.
Since Guardiola officially took over Bayern Munich on July 1, 2013, he has played five warm-up games, namely 3:0 Brescia, 6:0 Grobaspaci, 4:0 Rostock, and then
4:0 Hamburg, 5:1 Monchengladbach in the Telecom Cup.
At almost the same time that Hamburg had just lost to the German third team, Bayern had a warm-up match with Pep Guardiola's old club Barcelona, and the result was a 2-0 victory.
In other words, Guardiola led Bayern to play a total of six games, winning them all, scoring 24 goals and conceding only 1 goal!
This shows that Guardiola has quickly brought Bayern's players out of the game!
In such a comparison, the gap between Hamburg and Bayern seems so huge.
As these two opponents will compete in the German Super Cup in a few days, the suspense of victory seems to have disappeared from the beginning.
…
Of course, not all media are negative about Pan Yi and Hamburg.
For example, the local media in Hamburg.
They had already "suffered losses" at the same time last season when Pan Yi first settled in Hamburg.
At that time, Hamburg also performed poorly during the warm-up match, and later even lost to the German third-division team Karlsruhe in the German Cup, which caused the local media to sneer at Pan Yi and wish he could just go back to the Dragon Kingdom.
.
But everyone knows what happened later.
The Hamburg media was slapped in the face and finally welcomed Pan Yi back to his loyal Hamburg.
Therefore, this time, many local media, including the Hamburg Morning Post, expressed cautious optimism.
A reporter wrote in a column:
"Pan Yi never attaches great importance to warm-up matches. This is the stage for him to practice the team and try various tactical routines and teamwork."
"I saw at the scene that after losing to Tresden, Pan Yi didn't have any displeasure on his face, and he even smiled and took photos with the opposing players."
"Perhaps, only in games that Pan Yi really values, such as the Super Cup, can we see Hamburg's true strength this season..."
But no matter which side the media is on, this German Super Cup game is particularly interesting.
Hamburg faces Bayern Munich again, Pan Yi meets Guardiola!
Last season, Hamburg was the only team in the Bundesliga that did not fall behind when facing Bayern Munich.
3:1 at home and 1:3 at away, which is exactly a tie.
At the same time, Hamburg is also the only team that can defeat Bayern Munich.
It can also be said that Hamburg vs. Bayern is a duel between the two strongest teams in the Bundesliga. After all, it is the champion versus the runner-up!
For Guardiola, this is also the first time he has faced Pan Yi's challenge.
After all, although Pan Yi's AC Milan played against Pep Guardiola's Barcelona twice in the 2011-2012 season, Pan Yi was just an assistant at the time.
Now, both of them can stand in the position of head coach and have a real battle!
One is the super-famous coach who currently has the best leadership performance in world football and led Barcelona to win six championships;
The other is the youngest head coach in the world, who led an equally young team to the Bundesliga runner-up;
No matter which angle you look at it, this is a show not to be missed.
"Hamburg Morning Post" believes that another reason why Pan Yi has a small probability of winning is that Bayern is currently affected by injuries to a certain extent.
Main goalkeeper Neuer has a shoulder injury and will need more than a week to recover.
Ribery, on the other hand, was not used to the intensity of training, resulting in a slight strain on his leg muscles, and his return date has not yet been determined.
Golden boy Gotze, who just transferred to Bayern this summer, is also missing due to injury. He was injured before the Champions League final last season.
On the other hand, in Hamburg, although the team's morale seems to be in doubt due to the consecutive defeats in the warm-up matches, at least everyone is strong and feels like they can participate in the marathon.
But because of this, it is difficult for Bayern to predict Hamburg's starting lineup.
"In the preseason, all Hamburg's first-team players have appearance records. It seems that Pan Yi has not determined his main lineup yet."
In Bayern's conference room, members of the coaching staff are analyzing the opponent's data.
Chief assistant coach Grande said: "The goalkeeper is relatively certain. It must be Navas, the main player last season."
"On the defense line, there is no suspense about the two full-backs, but at the center back position, they have introduced Van Dijk from Milan this season, which may have an impact on the original main center back combination."
"Whether Pan Yi will use Kjaer + Rudiger, a combination with better coordination and more experience, or there will be new changes, it is difficult to judge now."
"In the midfield, they seem to have more players to choose from. Kante, Paulinho, Casemiro, including Makoto Hasebe, are all likely to play. And..."
At this time Guardiola interrupted him and asked: "What formation do you think Pan Yi will use? 4231 or 433?"
Grande hesitated and said: "He doesn't seem to have clearly determined the main formation... When he uses the 433 formation, last season's assist leader De Bruyne will also appear in the central midfielder or even on the right side of the midfield.
The position on the side makes it even more difficult to judge his staffing."
Guardiola smiled: "It's hard to judge the formation, so let's judge whether he will mainly attack or defend in this Super Cup."
"Well... they should be able to attack." Grande thought for a while and said, "Although they lost many warm-up matches, they all adopted an offensive posture in the game without exception. Combined with what he said in the interview
His comments at the time, his desire to play a good offense this season may be true."
Guardiola nodded slightly: "I think so too. I feel that he is similar to me in some ways, that is, he tends to attack and play beautiful football. Of course, he is also very pragmatic.
If the situation requires him to defend, he will not hesitate to set up the bus!"
When saying this, Guatu couldn't help but touch his bald head.
His original Cosmos team, which had Haberbume, was badly hit by Milan's defensive counterattack.
"He has introduced several old Milan players this season and his strength has been improved, so I also feel that he is very confident in his lineup, so he is really likely to play against us." Guardiola continued,
"Then we will start from this aspect to guess Hamburg's starting lineup."
"At the center back position, Van Dijk's ball-playing ability is better than Kjaer's, so there is a high chance that he will replace Kjaer in the starting lineup."
"In the midfield, Pan Yi has many choices, but there is a combination that he will give priority to when playing 433. That is Casemiro at the back, with Kante and De Bruyne in front."
"This combination takes into account both defensive hardness and offensive smoothness. Next to Kanter, De Bruyne can also use his accurate passing characteristics. Pan Yi will never give up this advantage!"
Before talking about Hamburg's forward line, Guardiola suddenly asked: "What do you think is the comparative strength of the midfielders of our two teams? Or, can we seize control of the midfield?"
Everyone present looked at each other, and no one was in a hurry to answer.
Casemiro + Kante + De Bruyne.
Two seasons ago, everyone would have said without hesitation: "Who are these three? Comparing the midfield with Bayern?"
But now, these people have proven their abilities in the Bundesliga, Serie A, and even the Champions League, and they really don't dare to draw conclusions so easily.
In the current Bayern formation, Guardiola prefers to use Thiago + Kroos to form a double midfielder. Most of the six consecutive wins in the warm-up matches were achieved with this defensive midfield combination of 4231.
This combination is definitely world-class in terms of offensive attributes such as ball control and passing, but if we look at defense alone, the effect may not be clear.
Everyone knows that Pan Yi's Hamburg attaches great importance to the midfield.
Even Guardiola's old enemy Mourinho said in an interview with reporters that Pan Yi's tactics perfectly interpreted the saying "He who wins the midfield wins the world."
If you can suppress Hamburg's midfield, you will definitely be able to suppress Hamburg's offense.
But the question is, can Bayern really suppress the combination of Casemiro + Kante + De Bruyne?
Seeing that everyone was not talking to each other, Guardiola smiled and said: "Don't worry. I will ask Muller in the frontcourt, including Robben, to assist in the midfield fight. And Shaqiri, who replaced Ribery, he
He is physically strong and will not suffer any disadvantages in confrontation."
"Speaking of frontcourt personnel, Pan Yi may also make some adjustments to the offensive line after introducing Salah. There should be no doubt that Vardy will continue to start, but which two people will be chosen among Sun Xingmin, Wu Lei and Salah?
It’s not easy to confirm the position of winger on both sides.”
"But what I can confirm is that if he chooses 433, then these two wingers should play as reverse inside forwards. At that time, we must pay attention to cutting off their inward routes to prevent sudden shots."
Seeing that everyone finally started to nod, Guardiola clapped his hands at the end: "Then let's prepare according to this arrangement. We must do our best to win this championship at the People's Park Stadium and give the new season a good start!"
…
"Come here for a moment."
After the training, Mitrovic was about to walk to the locker room, but was stopped by Pan Yi who was standing at the door of the coach's office.
"Boss, what's the matter?" Mitrovic ran towards Pan Yi.
Among the current very young Hamburg first-team players, he is still the youngest, half a year younger than Calhanoglu and Robertson in the same year.
At the same time, he is also a true newcomer to this team.
All the players have been under Pan Yi for at least a year! Only he is new here and has not played a formal game under Pan Yi.
So he still felt a little reserved.
But fortunately, everyone in the team is very good to him, especially Pan Yi, who has always cared about his growth and often chats with him.
——Of course, Pan Yi is not just looking for Mitrovic alone.
Because Hamburg has mostly young players, and young people often face a lot of temptations after becoming famous.
Although Pan Yi knows that the people under him have a very good professionalism, what will happen if the timeline goes wrong?
So Pan Yi will also stay vigilant and find time to supervise them.
On the other hand, these young people often don't know how to take care of themselves, and they also need someone to help them in the team.
Pan Yi often leaves some things to captain Westerman, the older Navas and others to help, but "talk therapy", Pan Yi's traditional art, still leaves him to do it himself.
——As an aside, Navas's mental attributes in the FM game are also excellent. He is a "team example" and a good example for young players. This is also the purpose of Pan Yi signing Navas.
One of them.
In short, Pan Yi's concern made Mitrovic feel warm, and it was Pan Yi who personally went to Serbia to bring him from the guerrillas to Hamburg, which made his heart always full of gratitude to Pan Yi.
After all, not everyone has the opportunity to play in the Bundesliga at such an age!
And during his time in the team, he gradually felt Pan Yi's lofty status in this Hamburg team.
Everyone mentions him, whether in person or behind his back, with words of praise and admiration, even adoration! This includes ordinary fans.
This is enough to show that Pan Yi's influence in Hamburg is really deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Therefore, when Pan Yi told him about the position of substitute last time, he also agreed very much and believed that Pan Yi was sincerely considering him.
So what does the head coach want to do with him today?
"When we play Bayern in the Super Cup, will you be the main center forward? Is there any problem?"
When Mitrovic walked into the coach's office, Pan Yi spoke.
And this sentence immediately stunned Mitrovic.
"Ah?" The tall Serbian center didn't know what to say for a moment, his head was buzzing, "But... but you didn't mean that I would be a substitute this season..."
"The substitute must have the effect of being a surprise player." Pan Yi said with a smile, "I want you to be the starter this time, just to surprise Bayern."
Mitrovic scratched his head and said nothing.
He still didn't understand Pan Yi's intention.
Of course he is eager to play and be a starter.
But during training, he could also feel the obvious gap between himself and main center Vardy.
Especially in terms of speed, movement and shooting, Mitrovic is really inferior to himself.
So he not only listened to Pan Yi's words, but also truly felt that he could not compete with Vardy now.
If nothing else, Vardy was the team's top scorer last season and won the Bundesliga Bronze Boot. As for him, he only played in a small league like Serbia for two years and had no experience in one of the five major leagues.
How good and capable is he that he can start directly against the Bundesliga overlords?
Pan Yi stood up and patted Mitrovic on the shoulder: "You have to have confidence in yourself."
Pan Yi himself has confidence in him.
After getting along with each other for a month, Pan Yi discovered that Mitrovic is a smart and open-minded player.
According to the analysis report given by the coaching staff after every game and every training session, he can always accept and improve his technical flaws.
From joining the team to now, he has really benefited a lot from these analysis reports and has made obvious progress.
Especially in terms of foot skills and cooperation with teammates.
And this is exactly the basic requirement for the center in the 433 formation that Pan Yi is currently studying against Bayern.
The center is an important part of the 433 formation passing network!
Pan Yi's requirements for the center in this 433 formation include the following:
First, you must have certain ball control skills at your feet and need to fully participate in the team's passing and coordination process.
Second, the range of activities is wide, and "lateral movement and retreat" are the necessary movement ideas for the center.
Third, have a keen sense of smell and the ability to seize opportunities.
Fourth, it needs to have a certain fulcrum role! When the team cannot tear down the opponent's defense on the wing, the midfielder will pass the ball to the center, and the center will again distribute the ball to the left and right sides.
The current main center in the team, Vardy, can actually meet the first three requirements, and even has an absolute advantage in counterattack speed.
But in terms of the fulcrum function of the fourth point, he is much inferior to Mitrovic.
And due to Vardy's outstanding performance last season, Pan Yi believes that Guardiola has also conducted research and deployment on Vardy to prevent Vardy from having room to sprint.
In fact, including the second game against Bayern last season, Vardy's performance was relatively average. Heynckes should have had a way to deal with it by then.
So Pan Yi wanted to find another way and go up the third road!
At this time, Mitrovic will be more useful.
Now, this 19-year-old young man saw that Pan Yi was serious about what he said and didn't look like he was joking. He was a little nervous at first, but more excited!
He stuck out his tongue, licked his dry lips, and swallowed hard: "I, I am confident!"
Pan Yi asked again: "So, you are about to compete against the world's top central defenders like Boateng and Dante in the game. Aren't you afraid?"
"I'm not afraid!" Mitrovic patted his chest, "I'm ready, boss!"
At this time, his voice was full of determination, and there was no longer the hesitation at the beginning.
Pan Yi looked at Mitrovic with a smile on his face, looking very happy.
He knew that he was right about this player.
The fighting blood inherent in the Serbian nation flows in the body of this young warrior.
He also possesses a strong spiritual will and a heart that refuses to admit defeat.
As long as Pan Yi gives him a chance, he will burst out with the greatest fighting enthusiasm and apply his best level on the court!
…
Mitrovic actually worked harder in the subsequent training.
When Pan Yi arranged tactical training, he also began to put him in a group with Salah and Son Heung-min to cooperate with each other.
In the 433 formation, the left and right wingers are actually the core of the team's offense. Under normal circumstances, the left and right wingers in the 433 formation play on the wing with their reverse feet.
At present, Wu Lei's back-foot cutting skills are not very proficient, so Pan Yi chose to start with Salah in this game.
Of course, the opponent's defensive players are naturally familiar with the usual idea of a winger cutting inside to hit the goal, so Pan Yi will also ask the two wingers to choose to switch sides in a timely manner to make the opponent's defense more difficult.
Because there are fundamental differences in the dribbling routes and offensive ideas of forward-footed wingers and reverse-footed wingers!
At the same time, the connection between the center and the winger's movement and ball play are also very important components of the frontcourt offense.
Therefore, when arranging targeted training, the coaching staff also intends to cultivate a tacit understanding among the forwards and strengthen their communication and collaboration.
Of course, Pan Yi did not forget to do ideological work for Vardy.
After all, he is the original main force, and suddenly he is snatched away from the starting position of an important game by a newly arrived young man. It is inevitable that he will feel a little bit in his heart.
But after Pan Yi explained to him the tactics and strategies that would be used in this game and the role Mitrovic could play in such tactics, Vardy was relieved.
After all, he is indeed not as tall and strong as Mitrovic, so he is not that suitable to be a fulcrum center!
And Pan Yi revealed that the strategy of waiting for Bayern's physical strength to decline before sending him to use speed to counterattack also played into Vardy's plan.
So, he happily accepted this treatment and began to actively cooperate with the main team in training.
This actually reflects Pan Yi's ability to control the locker room from the side.
In some teams, sometimes players are dissatisfied with the coach.
If the coach replaces a player, or even excludes a player for tactical reasons, the player may look down on the coach.
For example, throwing water bottles, not saying hello to the coach, returning to the locker room early before the game is over... in short, it affects the team atmosphere.
But in Hamburg, basically nothing like this happens.
Everyone unites around the coaching staff with Pan Yi as the core, and works together towards the same goal - winning!