On the first day of the national team training, Aldridge had individual conversations with each player. At the same time, the coaching staff also observed the players closely through training to further understand the players' characteristics.
This information and data will help Aldrich formulate a more detailed tactical framework. 4321 is just a number. How to play on the field is another matter.
Just like Aldrich placed Beckham in the right midfielder position, can't Beckham be active on the right wing when attacking?
Formation is dead. The initial position is more important as a defensive responsibility and area setting. It is imprinted in the players' minds and plays a role in the game. When defending, it returns to the position and is connected with other positions. When attacking, it can be aware of other areas.
situation, and make immediate decisions to handle the ball in the blink of an eye.
After the first day of training with a lot of content, the second day began with lineup running-in and tactical drills.
The convenience of coaching the national team is that the players' abilities are at a level above the level, there are basically no major flaws, and there are no language communication problems among the players.
At first, the players were allowed to practice the tactics on their own while Aldrich waited and watched, but the effect was very poor because the players did not seem to understand the essence of the tactics.
Aldrich brought the players together, and with their professional qualities, they could understand with just a little guidance. The rest was the result of actual training.
"You may think that 442 is more balanced and more offensive than 4321, and it seems to be the case. When 442 attacks, there are at least 5 players who can attack, while 4321 seems to have only 3 players in the frontcourt. Come, let's take a look.
Tactics board.”
Aldridge drew a 442 parallel midfield positioning diagram on the tactical board.
"442, when attacking, combine the sides and center, and move forward more points. It seems that there are more people attacking and more choices in the direction of attack. But what is the problem? In this formation, players can easily be targeted, and players in front of them can be targeted.
After the player dies, the players behind him rush forward, which can easily lead to overlapping positions and increase defensive pressure in the backcourt."
These international players who play 442 every day should have a deep understanding of this, and there is nothing to discuss in detail. They are more interested in how 4321 attacks!
The players looked at Aldridge curiously.
"Come and see 4321."
Aldrich drew a 4321 position diagram, and then drew a five-point attack arrow.
Double attacking midfielders, single forward, left back, right defensive midfielder. Five-man attack.
Aldrich asked: "We can attack like this, invest five offensive players, make full use of the width of the field, and at the same time make a triangle pass in the process from back to front, achieving the effect of tearing apart the opponent's defense layer by layer.
"
The players looked at each other and looked flatly. Indeed, 4321, five players attack, and 442, five players attack, with changes and unpredictability in terms of position and area, making more use of the width of the field, and because the players change from defender to defender.
As long as the forward can play with speed, continuous impact will be more difficult to mark.
Aldridge erased the attack arrows on the left back and right midfielder, and drew attack arrows on the roles of the right back and left midfielder.
"We can still attack like this and still maintain five offensive players."
When Aldridge redrawn the offensive player's arrows, many England internationals sighed.
They already understood what Aldrich was trying to say.
To put it simply, 442 has a fixed offensive routine. The midfielder looks for the wide midfielder. The wide midfielder looks for the striker, or the wide midfielder initiates, passes to the midfielder, and the midfielder passes again. This routine has been so rigid that everyone has studied it thoroughly.
, based on this formation and combined with the personal abilities of the England international, it is difficult to derive a more powerful offensive routine.
McManaman wondered: "In fact, we have seven players with offensive capabilities!"
Aldrich nodded and said: "Yes, there are seven players, three in the frontcourt, two midfielders in the backcourt, plus two full-backs, but the point is, during the offense, only two players can be put into the backcourt.
Players move forward, and in order to achieve a defensive balance, only one player can move forward from the left or right wing. If the defensive midfielder moves forward, the full-back cannot move forward. At most, he can move forward to provide support according to the situation."
This kind of tactical arrangement is based on defense.
If Beckham steps forward to participate in the attack, then Lampard and right back Neville on the other side cannot over-press. In the same way, Lampard steps up to participate in the attack. In order to ensure this side, Ashley Cole
If the defense doesn't expose a big gap, he can't get in.
442 is very balanced. The 4321 created by Aldridge is essentially balanced in terms of numbers during transitions between offense and defense. However, the distribution of attack points can be flexibly changed, and there is no positional conflict in the change, and there will be no full-backs rushing up to cause the situation.
Squeezing the space for the wing forwards to move and simply supporting, but unable to increase the direct threat in front of the goal.
Aldridge explained patiently: “Part of the focus of this tactic is the change in the offensive and defensive transition in the midfield and backcourt. Among the three midfielders, the middle one is mainly defensive, and the other two have to take on the responsibility of switching from defense to offense.
The ball initiates the task. For example, Lampard gets the ball from the left side of the midfield and he faces
There was a defensive player suppressing him in the past, preventing him from dribbling the ball forward, or even if he moved forward, he had no comfortable space to get the ball. So at this time, what he has to do is to distribute the ball to who? Ashley on the left wing -
Cole has to pull forward and rush forward, and Beckham on the other side also has to attack forward as a connecting point.
, this can maintain a passing distance with a stable success rate. After Lampard instigates the offensive, he cannot continue to move forward and still stays behind to prevent the left wing from being counterattacked and exposing a large space. The second part is the midfielder.
In the attack, the core is Scholes, who plays in the midfield and backfield
After a friendly attack comes, Scholes must form a contact point in the middle and quickly move the ball to a more threatening area. When the offense advances to the front line, Scholes, McManaman, Irving, including from the backcourt
The players who come up with assists must form a double or triple row of offensive threats."
The international players began to discuss with each other. A varied tactical system is the foundation of the team's game. The creativity of England's own players is limited. What does it feel like when this limitation is reflected on the field?
Not to mention the opponent, even the audience can basically guess how they pass the ball, who passes it to whom, and there is nothing surprising about their movement. What about the opponent? It is easy to limit their offense.
Aldrich cannot change the player's own abilities. Then he can only work on tactical design and use strategies to provide changes.
Scholes raised his hand and asked: "Coach, what you just said seems to be most effective only when counterattacking, right?"
Aldrich smiled. The ginger head was a little bored, but his football thoughts moved quickly.
"That's right. When counterattacking, this offensive routine is the most powerful. As I said yesterday, positional warfare is not our specialty when there is not enough space. Therefore, when attacking frontally and in positional warfare,
Let’s play simpler, and this attack is simple
Duan is a strategy. The most important thing is that we removed a forward. We have more midfielders. When the opponent's offense and defense transition is excessive, we can create a lot of pressure on the opponent and quickly counterattack in the midfield.
, and then launch a counterattack on the spot, which is also one of my requirements for you."
After hearing this, Scholes thought about it carefully, and then nodded gracefully. Aldrich looked at it and found it interesting. I don't know how much this ginger head understood.
After the tactical concepts are fully instilled in the players, the next offensive and defensive drills are the stage of experimentation and running-in.
The main first team, the first substitute team, and the offensive pace slowed down. Aldridge supervised the operations on the sidelines, constantly reminding the players of their movements, and also reminded them of the essentials of defensive tactics in actual combat. In this regard, Southgate played a more important role than on the field.
Coach Bian is better. He sits on the back line and observes the situation to remind his teammates to fill their positions.
When it came to the drills and practice of theory, this group of international players truly felt the novelty of Aldrich's new tactics.
Especially the stage of planning the offensive is flexible and changeable.
The one who felt the deepest feeling was Xiaobei.
Lampard on the other side is used to this kind of changeable tactical routine. He never deviates from the same tactics. When Millwall's conventional methods cannot open up the situation, he has become accustomed to changes in the offensive point. Therefore, he
Works well with Ashley Cole on this side.
The two of them attack and defend, and they have a tacit understanding of passing and running.
Beckham, on the other hand, was full of energy when switching from defense to offense.
Launching an attack is not a dead-end routine, the key lies in the instigation phase.
When Beckham is pressed, he can pass the ball to Neville on the wing, or he can look for Lampard or a long pass to a player in the frontcourt who runs into space.
His speed is not his strong point. Although he has moved from the full midfield position to the back, his long passes can be very effective, especially in counterattacks.
Basically, when the stage of initiating an offensive is stabilized, the half-court offensive will burst out immediately. Scholes' key mid-range dispatch, coupled with the forward impact brought by players behind him, can often break through a line of defense.
Let the offensive continue to move forward.
However, in the final step, the cooperation is still not in place. It will take time for them to get familiar with each other and establish a new tacit understanding.
The substitute team feels more and more unstoppable the more they play, because they can't guard against the opponent's back-up points. Theoretically, there are four points that can be inserted into it. Which two points will rush forward is unpredictable, especially when instigating.
In the offensive phase, the player with the largest space in front has been selected to attack forward. He is flexible and threatening. He rushes up in a few seconds and is really hard to guard against.
Aldridge's tactical formation also has flaws. The biggest weakness is that when the opponent does not take the initiative to attack and defends by compressing the backcourt space and playing a conservative defensive counterattack, then even if England's late penetration can cause accidents,
But they can't tear apart the defense. In that case, they can only rely on three major attacks, dribbling breakthroughs, set kicks, and long-range shots.
Dribbling breakthroughs are negligible, as are set pieces and long shots. It has to be said that England has a slight advantage.
Beckham's direct free kicks or assists to teammates, Lampard, Scholes, and long-range shooting skills all have the ability to break the ice.
The atmosphere of the second day of training was better than that of the first day because the players were full of energy and were in high spirits like children who got a new toy in the new tactical system.
At the end of the training, Aldridge saw Gary Neville running to the edge of the woods outside the training ground, looking around and then openly taking out the bird and releasing it.
Trees will be planted next to the training ground to prevent wind and avoid affecting training.
Gary Neville is very selfless, helping water the trees at Leo's training base.
Aldridge rolled his eyes, called Scholes in front of him, and said seriously: "Paul, how accurate are your footwork?"
The 1.74 meter ginger head raised his head slightly and looked at Aldrich, who was a little more than ten centimeters taller than him, without saying a word.
"Try it."
Aldridge pointed to Neville, who was quite far away from the training ground. The other man held his head high and seemed to be whistling.
Scholes took two steps and picked up a football on the training field.
A very standard chop shot.
The ball floated through the air in a parabolic trajectory.
Aldridge concentrated on watching where the ball landed.
Boom
The ball hit Neville in the back!
Scholes turned around and pretended to talk to Aldrich.
Gary Neville, who pulled up his pants and turned around by the tree, burst out roaring.
