However, Li Yi, who was very sure before and thought he had a chance to return to his hometown, was completely disappointed after finishing the day's training and specifically asking Friedman to find out about the club's upcoming schedule!
Because, it is said that it is a trip to Asia, but in fact, this trip to the Far East of the Crystal Palace does not include the Chinese country that Li Yi thought it would definitely include!
The country of China has a population of 1.3 billion, and not only is it rich in people, its economic development in recent years has also surprised the world. It can be said that any action in Europe and the United States that wants to make money should be carried out.
In Asia, one must go to China.
This is what Li Yi was extremely sure of before. However, after repeatedly questioning Friedman and confirming that the only destination for this trip to Asia is the United Arab Emirates, what else can Li Yi say? Even if he is valued by the club again,
Li Yi doesn't think that Mansour will change the team's entire offseason schedule because of his one or two words.
Moreover, even if Mansour is willing, Li Yi will not do it. After all, if he really wants to do this, Li Yi will appear to be too arrogant!
After two days of simple technical and tactical drills, Friedman and a team of Crystal Palace players took a plane to start a trip to Asia that left Li Yibi disappointed!
The first stop of the Crystal Palace is Mansour’s base camp - Dubai!
Here, Crystal Palace played against Al Ain, Al Ghazira, Shabab, and Arsenal Club, the four top clubs in the UAE League, on July 12, 19, 23, and 26 respectively.
There were several fairly fierce confrontations.
Asian teams, no matter how strong they are, are just that, let alone a country like the United Arab Emirates whose domestic league is not too developed![
Therefore, although the above-mentioned four teams are all considered to be the best in the UAE League, and there are many teams that are league champions and runners-up, in the end, Crystal Palace, whose personnel is not fully integrated, is not a big deal to win against its opponents.
Difficult stuff!
Four friendly matches with weak opponents, for the Crystal Palace, the actual training significance is not that they are very strong. The only benefit, perhaps, is that through this kind of reckless games, it can help Friedman decide the new season.
The team’s starting lineup!
No, just before the four friendly matches were over and all Crystal Palace players were preparing to return home, Friedman already had a rough definition of the team’s starting lineup for the new season!
New season, new atmosphere, the team owner spent a lot of money to buy many practical stars! Although he was surprised that he was not fired, but as long as he did not get fired, Friedman, who was so dedicated to his career, felt that
In the new season, there are definitely many more things to consider than players such as Li Yi!
First of all, after spending the summer's most exaggerated transfer fee of more than 200 million euros from the five major European leagues, although Mansour did not say anything clearly, Friedman quite simply rejected his previous choice of formation for the new season.
My favorite is 532!
Of course, abandoning this formation is partly due to Mansour's relationship, and more importantly, it is the current status of Crystal Palace!
Last season, Crystal Palace had just been promoted to the Premier League, and no one would look down upon them as a new team in the Premier League. At this time, it would be no problem for Friedman to play in a super iron formation of 5 defenders, and then attack the opponent on counterattack!
But what about now? Don’t forget, even if you don’t count Mansour’s investment in the summer, Crystal Palace is still the defending champion of the Premier League!
You said, if you are the defending champion, you can just play against a strong team. If the team playing against Crystal Palace is a weak team, will they stupidly pounce and let you counterattack? This is obviously unrealistic!
Therefore, rather than saying that it is to please Mansour, it is better to say that the change of formation is caused by Friedman, in order to better welcome the new season!
After a little tangle, in the end, Friedman already had two plans for the new season's formation!
The first set of plans - 442 two-wing flying formation!
Goalkeeper: No. 1 Diego Lopez.
4 defenders: left back No. 5 Zabaleta, 2 center backs No. 4 Vincent Kompany, No. 6 Lescott, and No. 2 right back Alves.
Four midfielders are positioned in parallel: No. 11 Gareth Bale on the left, No. 14 Modric on the right, and No. 10 Sneijder and No. 42 Yaya Toure in the middle.[
At the front are the two-high combination of No. 9 Li Yi and No. 20 Llorente.
Of course, with such a rough starting lineup in mind, it does not mean that the main positions of these people mentioned above will definitely be stable!
Perhaps, the main positions of most of them are really stable, but there are still a few positions that Friedman needs to continue to work on.
First, let’s look at the defense. Zabaleta is a versatile backcourt player who can play left, right, or center back. Originally, it wouldn’t be too surprising for him to play left back! It’s just that if this left back
The defender's position originally belonged to Bell, so it's hard to say!
After all, Bell's ability to attack and defend well, with superb speed and quick reactions in the Premier League last season has been well known to everyone! At this time in 2008, although Ashley Cole's decline in form was not as exaggerated as it was after 2010,
However, in front of Bell's head, in front of the world-class left back, many media have added a definite article to Bell without authorization, that is - the world's number one left back!
Although Bell is not very mature now due to his age, just because the media with good intentions are willing to call Bell the number one left back in the world, his ability is already evident!
Therefore, giving up Bell's defense and moving Bell to the midfield position is a very risky thing for Friedman. Because after changing Bell's position, Bell played well.
Forget it, if he doesn't play well, or even not much better than when he played left back, Friedman's change of tactics will most likely be the trigger for his dismissal!
After talking about the left back position, let’s look at the midfielder. Even if the number of midfielders in the new season has changed from 3 to 4, and many new faces have appeared, I doubt that the biggest midfielder in Friedman’s lineup is
The change is still in Modric!
As the midfield engine and offensive core of Crystal Palace in the first two seasons, Friedman had to choose the easier one in order to allow Modric to coexist with the team's newly acquired Sneijder.
Modric, who was even more convinced, was "assigned" to the right wing!
As we all know, in football matches, there is a huge difference between wing players and central players in terms of playing styles and playing methods! Therefore, although Modric is a very good player, whether he can
Being competent for the job on the wing, all of this has yet to be verified in the new season!
As for putting Modric and Sneijder together in the middle of the pitch?
Well, Friedman tells you that it’s not that he has never thought about this choice, but Friedman only thinks about this idea and forgets it.
After all, whether it is Modric or Sneijder, they are both strong offensive and defensive players, or even no defensive players. If they are both placed in the center and serve as the core of the team at the same time, will there be incompatibility?
Let’s not talk about the problem. First of all, considering the team’s defense, Friedman would not dare to do this!
Because, if you really do this, you can just improve the goal difference on the weak team. If you really encounter a strong team, you will definitely be blown away and even the scum will be left!
After talking about the first set of 442 plans, the next step is that Friedman followed the trend of the five major European leagues in the past two years and copied Mourinho's example -
4231 formation!
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