Dick and Marriner stood side by side at the training ground. Dick smiled and said: "Well, now we finally have twenty-five players in the first team... It's time to fight on the third line."
This summer Atletico Madrid only left one player and joined three players. Last season Atletico Madrid had only 23 first-team players, and now it is exactly 25. This is also the first team of a team regulated by La Liga.
The maximum number of people you can have.
Stam paid 24 million, Jorgensen 12 million, and Haji joined for free. Dick was more lenient this time. The club's 40 million transfer fee only spent 36 million.
The remaining money was naturally returned to the club's account. Dick was not the kind of person who had to spend all the money he had. Even if it was not his own money, he couldn't waste it.
"The joining of Stam caused a big sensation. Now the newspapers are saying that you are an Italian head coach. After taking office, your two biggest investments were spent on central defenders." Mari
Na said with a smile.
"Defense is the foundation. If you don't do it well, how can you attack?" Dick snorted: "The Italian head coach... these guys are really good at knocking people out."
"But the fans are very happy, they think it is a good acquisition, especially Stam is a member of the Triple Crown, which will be of great help to our participation in the Champions League... They even think you can break the 74-year-old
Champions League runner-up record in 2018." Marriner laughed.
"Well, they are really greedy... But if I have the chance, I would also like to win the Champions League." Dick shrugged his shoulders: "I sometimes feel that fans are more discerning than reporters. Obviously, we
To buy Stam is to rely on his Champions League experience. Now that the Champions League bonuses are so large, if he can take a step forward, the transfer fee for him will not be wasted."
"They think too much. If you buy people, unknown people, they say you're wasting money. If you buy famous players, they say you spend too much. Anyway, no matter how picky they are, they are justified." Stay with Dick.
Over time, Marriner seemed to be affected, and began to unconsciously describe those reporters in a contemptuous tone.
The two were chatting, and the training time was almost here. Soon, the players began to walk out of the locker room and onto the training ground.
After looking at his watch and seeing that the time had reached ten o'clock, Dick counted the number of people. There were twenty-five people, not one of them was too late, and no one was late. This made Dick nod with satisfaction.
.
"Most of you, together with me, created a brilliant season last season. The league championship, the UEFA Cup championship. This is the most glorious season in the history of Atletico Madrid. However, this will not be the end.
, because we will impact in a higher direction this season. We have retained all the main players, and have three new players, Stam, Jorgensen and Haji. Now, whether they are the main players or substitutes, we
They have become very strong, so this season, we have to attack to defend the league championship and the Champions League championship! Atletico Madrid has only defended the league championship twice in its history, and has never won the Champions League.
Champion! What we have to do is do something that no one before us has been able to do. What we have to do is strive to be the first! Defending champion! Champions League champion! In the future we will also strive for three consecutive championships and strive to create Atletico Madrid.
The best result in history...I have never denied that I am an ambitious head coach. Are you willing to follow me, an ambitious head coach, to strive for some honors?"
"Of course I do, boss!"
Atletico Madrid players shouted in confusion, and for the three newly joined players, they were also very happy that Dick expressed his thoughts without reservation - Stam is used to winning championships.
Manchester United has won at least one heavyweight championship every season. Jorgensen is tired of being in the middle of the pack at Udinese and occasionally making it to European competitions. As for Haji, his thoughts are more
To put it simply, he has been in the European continent for nearly ten years. During his four years in Nancy, his best result was third in Ligue 1. The year he joined Sporting Lisbon, he won the runner-up in the Portuguese Super League.
In the two seasons at Coruna, he failed to catch up with Deportivo to win the championship. In Coventry, he only focused on relegation. Now he has joined Atletico Madrid at this age. He doesn't care whether he plays the main team or not.
He just wants to win one or two important championships in his career, which is why he is willing to take a low salary to play as a substitute at Atletico Madrid.
It has to be said that Atletico Madrid won two consecutive heavyweight championships last season, which made their appeal much greater.
Next, Dick introduced three new players to the old players. It was obvious that after these three people joined, Atletico Madrid became much more competitive, and the competition within the team began to become more intense.
It's intense, but considering that Atletico Madrid still has Champions League games to play this season, there will be many opportunities to play, and the players are mentally prepared for this.
There is nothing to say about what happened next. The pre-season training has just begun, so naturally there won’t be too much ball content. All players are preparing for physical fitness under the leadership of fitness coach Cabello. They are not rookies, so naturally they know
Physical reserves are of great help to the new season.
During the physical training, Dick did not appear at the training ground. Instead, he went to his office with Marriner and began to discuss the tactics and matching training content for the new season.
"Last season our 4-5-1 achieved great success, but to be honest, this tactic seemed very single. In many games late last season, if I hadn't made frequent tactical adjustments, I'm afraid it would have been used by others long ago.
See it through." Dick said directly to Marriner after sitting down at his desk.
"It's like this. There is no tactic that cannot be resolved. Although our main tactic last year was stable, it was also easy to be targeted. For example, when we conceded those two goals in the UEFA Cup final, it was because Jardel was closely guarded by the opponent.
Marking caused the offensive effect not to be particularly good. If our players hadn't quickly performed well, the final result of the game would have been very dangerous." Marriner nodded, although he directed the team
I’m not good at it, but I still have a good eye and can see the problem, but I can’t solve it better.
"Through last season's games, the players have become proficient in four or five tactics. Now it is time to train backup tactics. We now have so many excellent forwards, and it is a bit wasteful to only play a lone forward. In extreme situations,
, we can use the tactic of two centers and two wingers, and under normal attack conditions, we can also use the tactic of four midfielders and two forwards. The key is that the players need to be more proficient in attacking methods under various tactics."
"For example, last season we often used the tactic of having Jardel and Cruz form a double center, and then Belleron positioned deep and let the two wingers go up to constantly create opportunities in the middle?" Marriner asked.
"This is one of them, but of course it's not that simple. We have many unique offensive players in the frontcourt. The wingers don't necessarily have to keep crossing the ball. The center pulls out to attract the attention of the opponent's central defender.
The opponent's penalty area becomes more empty, and then the winger breaks into the penalty area to find loopholes... We will slowly practice the specific tactics through training, and you have to come up with a detailed schedule for the training content."
Ke nodded and said.
"No problem." Marina agreed happily: "In fact, the tactics are all interoperable. The formation is just on paper. When playing on the court, running more flexible and changeable will also have good effects.
No matter how the formation changes, it still depends on the cooperation between the players and their habitual running methods."
Dick glanced at Marriner in surprise, and then laughed: "Robert, can you think of this? If you study hard in this area, I think you can also coach a team on your own."
"It's easy to detect things in theory, but it's not so easy to use them in games." Marriner shrugged: "Just because I understand these things doesn't mean I can use them in practice...
People are really different sometimes.”
Hearing what Marriner said, Dick smiled. He believed this. Otherwise, there would be so many people taking coaching courses in the world, and there would only be so many famous coaches in the end. Even if we say one in a million, then
It's not an exaggeration. Every era is nothing more than an era where seven or eight famous coaches compete. There will always be some extraordinary people who are half a step ahead of everyone else, swaying on the stage of world football and letting everyone know who they are.
Everyone's eyes are focused on themselves.
"Don't worry, I won't treat you badly under my command... After all, assistants like you are hard to find... During the pre-season training, I still need to rely on you to contribute a lot." Di
Ke said with a smile.
Marriner nodded: "Of course, this is my job."
Looking at Marriner's back as he walked out, Dick laughed. He did not increase his income this summer. In the newly discussed contract details, he only added a reward for his performance in the Champions League - entering the eighth round.
If he reaches the semi-finals and wins the championship, he will get a bonus of US$1 million. If he reaches the finals and wins the championship, he will receive a bonus of US$3 million. The details of other league bonuses are the same as last season.
However, at Dick's request, Atletico Madrid significantly increased the income of assistant coaches such as Marriner. Dick emphasized that with their help, he could achieve better results. In this regard, Atletico Madrid naturally also
I won't be stingy. If I can play in the group stage of the Champions League, my income will be close to 10 million US dollars. I don't care about the bonus.
This is how European football is now. The greater the investment, the higher the chance of good results. If you achieve good results in the Champions League, you can have more income - of course, there are also huge dangers. For example, after Lazio continued to spend money
It began to go bankrupt gradually. The same example is Leeds United, which started a vicious cycle after huge expenditure risks failed. Now European football is like some stock markets, everyone is doing it to make a fortune.
There are indeed not many dreams that can actually succeed.
Dick is also taking a risk this time, but his risk has a certain degree of certainty. Atletico Madrid's current expenditure is not too small, for one goal - to win the Champions League and let the club reach the most glorious scene.
