Since the start of the summer training camp in Hamburg, a warm-up match has been arranged almost every few days to allow the players who have returned from vacation to get back to the feeling of the game.
The opponents arranged at the beginning were relatively weak, basically from German paper-level leagues, and even amateur teams.
What about Rosenheim 1860, Kiel Goldstein, Norderstedt... Pan Yi had never heard of it before.
Hamburg defeated all its opponents.
But when it came to slightly stronger opponents, Hamburg's performance was not satisfactory.
They defeated Seongnam Ilhwa from South Korea's K-League by one goal, drew with Los Charant of Denmark, but lost to Groningen of the Netherlands.
This made the local media in Hamburg quite critical.
But the media and fans also understand that this is just a pre-season warm-up match, and as a Bundesliga relegation team, Hamburg's loss to a mid-range Eredivisie team is not a particularly surprising thing.
Their eyes are more focused on Hamburg's first game of the new season.
That was in the first round of the German Cup, which started on August 20, with Karlsruhe hosting Hamburg.
Karlsruhe, a former Bundesliga team, has now been reduced to the Bundesliga 3, and its strength is definitely not on the same level as Hamburg.
In such a formal game against an underdog, if Hamburg loses again, there will definitely be a lot of spit on Pan Yi.
……
Pan Yi naturally doesn't care about the results of the warm-up match.
He mainly tests the tactical effects in the game, especially which players are suitable for which position, and which players can better implement his tactical intentions.
Especially those old players from Hamburg, those players that Pan Yi is not familiar with.
After all, it’s not like when he was in Milan, Pan Yi could say that he was very fond of those Milan players.
How could he not know people like Gattuso, Ambrosini, and Nesta?
But it's different here.
Even if he is the captain of Hamburg and the former German international Westermann, not many fans of the Dragon Country know him.
Including Lin Zhijian, Pan Yi had only heard of his name in his previous life and knew some of his stories, but he had basically never watched his games.
As for what position he is good at playing and what role he can play in Pan Yi's 4231, I have no idea.
So in the warm-up match, Pan Yi asked Westerman to play at center back, left back, right back, and even midfielder. Lin Zhijian even played all the positions in the center and frontcourt, including the center.
They played for half the game.
Under such circumstances, isn't it natural that Hamburg did not perform at its best during the game?
But as the warm-up matches played out one by one, Pan Yi not only gained familiarity with the players, but also realized a problem.
That is: Hamburg’s current lineup depth is still too insufficient.
Except for Pan Yi's "appointed" main lineup, the remaining Hamburg players feel inferior in ability, and their ability to adapt to new tactics is also average.
It’s still not like when he was in Milan, Pan Yi not only had Salah and Yinbu, but also Aubameyang and Inzaghi;
In addition to Gattuso, Van Dijk, Ambrosini, Nesta...
Moreover, this is before the season has even started.
As the season progresses, and after the abilities of Pan Yi's "potential stocks" begin to rise sharply, the gap between them will only become wider and wider.
In other words, Pan Yi will most likely only be able to rely on the dozen or so main players in the Bundesliga this season.
So, how to solve this problem?
Buy another person? No money anymore.
Rent?
First of all, most of the people who can match Pan Yi's requirements have high salary levels, which will also cause financial pressure on Hamburg;
Secondly, based on Pan Yi's habit of playing M games, he doesn't like to rent out players because he feels uncomfortable helping others to level up but delaying the growth of his own children...
So this season’s lineup is like this, at least until the winter window starts, or before new funds are injected.
Therefore, Pan Yi made a decision.
That is to strive to maintain the results of the Bundesliga, and the German Cup will be played with a rotating lineup, and it will be as long as it can be played.
With such a thin lineup, it is not easy to ensure the quality of single-line operations. There is no need to consider dual-line matters.
As long as we can truly achieve the goal of breaking into the top four mentioned by Pan Yi at the press conference, being able to enter the Champions League is much more important than the German Cup.
Entering the Champions League, the team's funds will be relatively abundant, and its attraction to players will be greatly increased. Then there will be another round of buying.
After enriching the lineup, we will consider two-line and three-line operations.
Moreover, even if Hamburg goes all out to compete in the German Cup, it may not be able to break through the blockade of strong teams like Bayern and Dortmund and achieve good results.
If things go wrong by then, you will be left empty-handed and you will suffer a big loss.
There is no shortage of such examples in the football history of Pan Yi's previous life.
For example, Wigan Athletic in the Premier League went all out for the FA Cup this season, and actually defeated Manchester City in the FA Cup final to win the championship!
But they were relegated from the Premier League at the same time. The following year they could only participate in the Europa League as a British Championship team and failed to qualify from the group.
Another example is the Espanyol of La Liga. In the season that Wu Lei joined, they finished seventh in La Liga, thereby qualifying for the Europa League next season.
They performed well in the Europa League group stage and advanced to first place in the group, but they suffered repeated defeats in the league and were eventually relegated...
These teams are unable to support the pressure of multi-line operations because their lineups are too thin.
Once players are transferred or injured, their strength will be greatly affected and their performance will plummet.
So Pan Yi doesn't want to repeat their mistakes.
Besides, Hamburg's ancestors are considered rich, and they actually have no desire to win the German Cup.
As long as the performance in the Bundesliga improves, the German Cup is just a cloud.
Also, you can’t expect a relegation team to go far in the German Cup, right?
Based on the above considerations, Pan Yi has already made strategic preparations for this season, including future seasons.
As time goes by, the Hamburg first-team lineup he will use this season has basically emerged.
Forwards: Sun Xingmin, Wu Lei, Vardy, Marcus Berry, Marcel Janssen, Lin Zhijian.
Midfielder: De Bruyne, Calhanoglu, Casemiro, Makoto Hasebe, Jacopo Sala, Shelbrey, Teshe.
Unlike other leagues, the Bundesliga is actually very relaxed in terms of registration.
If you like, there is no problem in signing up for 99 players, so whether it is youth training or non-European training, it is no problem in the Bundesliga. This is why Pan Yi can introduce so many players from various countries in one breath. p>
The 23-man list drawn up by Pan Yi is actually the first-team players he thinks are qualified for the Bundesliga this season.
If we just deal with the Bundesliga's single-line operations, these people are almost enough, and there is no point in having more.
Others whose performance in training and warm-up matches did not meet Pan Yi's requirements can only stay in the reserve team and youth team first.
And if there are some attrition during the season and need to be supplemented, he can just go down and promote some and put them up.
What he has to do now is to quickly improve the condition of these 23 people to prepare for the upcoming official game!