It’s not that far from the Grimaldi Conference Center back to your hotel in Manchester City.
This is the first time that Manchester City has participated in the European Super Cup. Although Soriano and Begiristain were well prepared and contacted Monaco in advance, unfortunately, Barcelona got there first.
Their relationship with Monaco is obviously better.
As a last resort, Manchester City could only live further away and find another team in Monaco, Beausoleil, to borrow the venue.
Just like Monaco's training ground is located halfway up a mountain, Beausoleil's training ground is located halfway up another mountain. However, the scenery is not as beautiful as the Monaco training ground. You can hardly see the seaside. The training facilities are relatively simple and the security is ineffective.
Fortunately, Manchester City only needs one training session in the afternoon.
When Sudong and Begiristain returned to the hotel near the Monte Carlo Casino, the team had returned from training.
As soon as Guardiola heard that the two were back, he immediately invited them over.
Not only Guardiola, Estiarte and Torrent are there.
Seeing Guardiola's frown in the middle, Su Dong and Begiristain looked at each other and expressed helplessness.
Privately, players have nicknamed Guardiola, Mr. Tangled.
why?
Because he is so confused!
Many times, he has to repeatedly struggle with many things.
To put it nicely, this is called meticulousness, considering everything that may happen, but to put it worse, it can also be called indecision, so Guardiola's on-the-spot command is also quite poor.
Obviously, the reason for his confusion this time was not the draw that just ended.
Even though that was an extremely bad draw, the first game is still far away and there is no need to think about it yet.
There is only one thing that can make Guardiola so entangled, and that is the next European Super Cup.
…
Many people don't understand Guardiola's complicated feelings for Barcelona.
He is the legendary captain of Barcelona, but in the twilight of his career, he was ruthlessly kicked out by Barcelona at the age of thirty, so that he was later relegated to Serie A and almost had no ball to play. In the following years, he basically spent the next few years hanging around.
It can be said that Guardiola has a love-hate relationship with Barcelona.
After retiring, Guardiola began to engage in coaching. After obtaining a coaching certificate, he joined the Barcelona youth team to coach. It was the opportunity created by Begiristain and Soriano for him.
Later, Barcelona was in turmoil and determined to change coaches. Guardiola once became the number one favorite for Barcelona's head coach. This gave him hope and he wanted to show his ambitions in Barcelona.
But the reality was extremely cruel. At that time, Barcelona's management did not give him such an opportunity at all. They would rather be criticized by many famous players, including Cruyff, than choose Mourinho, who was not in harmony with Barcelona's traditional style.
Guardiola continued to coach the youth team, and eventually decided to leave England and start a business in Manchester City.
Compared with other head coaches, Guardiola's entrepreneurial history is considered very lucky because he met Soriano and Begiristain who trusted him, as well as Su Dong who always supported him. This made Guardiola even though he was full. It was controversial, but in the end the get out of class was not dismissed.
But from beginning to end, he was under tremendous pressure. It wasn't until last season's Triple Crown that he breathed a sigh of relief.
During that painful period, he always had a belief in his heart.
Just proving himself to everyone is not enough, he has to prove his strength in front of Barcelona!
The European Super Cup gave him such an opportunity.
One game determines the outcome!
He attaches great importance to this game, but precisely because of this, he is nervous, uneasy, anxious, and uneasy...
He is such a sentimental and complex person!
…
"I still remember that when I was playing for Bayern Munich, Beckenbauer, Rummenigge, Hoeness and Heynckes sat together and discussed tactics against Barcelona, and finally concluded two ideas.
."
Su Dong somewhat alleviated Guardiola's anxiety because he didn't want Guardiola to make wrong decisions due to anxiety and pressure, which would not be a good thing for Manchester City.
"The team's tactics are always formulated around the characteristics of the players, whether it's offense or defense. The head coach just makes choices based on his own ideas, so Barcelona must play passing and controlling the ball, and the opponent will
Choices need to be made based on this.”
"One is a defensive counterattack, which restricts Barcelona's passing and ball control space through strict defense and compresses Messi's offensive space, thereby limiting Barcelona's passing and ball control offense, and then looking for opportunities to counterattack and create murderous opportunities."
This goes without saying. Basically, in the past few years, all teams facing Barcelona have adopted this tactical approach, even during Barcelona's most difficult period.
Because since the Rijkaard period, Barcelona has always been one of the strongest teams in European football.
"The other one is confrontation. In the past few years, many media and fans have been asking, why no team dares to compete with Barcelona? And everyone's answer is only two words, seeking death!"
Guardiola, Begiristain and others all nodded.
What Su Dong said is actually correct at all. Playing against Barcelona is really looking for death.
Is Arsenal's passing and ball control good enough?
Last season, in the first round of the Champions League knockout round of 16, the Gunners met Barcelona at the Emirates Stadium and narrowly lost 2-1.
But in this game, the Gunners' possession rate was only half of Barcelona's, 34 to 66.
Arsenal also won through defensive counterattacks. At best, it can only be said that Wenger's team did not defend so ugly.
Just two weeks later, in the second leg as a guest at Camp Nou, the possession ratio was 68 to 32. It looked similar to the first round. Arsenal still wanted to repeat the same tactics as in the first round.
, but what’s the result?
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Three to one, the gunman was directly disabled.
To a certain extent, Van Persie's red card is both an accident and an inevitable one.
Just like what many teams encounter when facing Barcelona, red cards, fouls, misjudgments... all of these are actually the result of the strength contest between the two sides.
It was impossible for Arsenal to win because they were so suppressed that they didn't even have a shot on goal.
What is this concept?
That is to say, the powerful Arsenal could not even kick a shot in the 90-minute game at Camp Nou.
With such a disparity, even without Robin van Persie's red card, wouldn't they still have lost?
And this is still based on Arsenal's shrinking defense and being constantly beaten from behind. What if they are pressed out?
It will be like Real Madrid, where the score will be maxed out every minute.
Wasn't this the case for Manchester City against Manchester United and Arsenal last season?
In fact, this European Super Cup has also attracted worldwide attention.
Because Manchester City and Barcelona are the two teams with the strongest passing and ball control capabilities in European football today, and both have superstars.
Everyone is looking forward to it and wants to see if Manchester City has the strength and courage to challenge Barcelona?
Because so far, no team has dared to press out, play against Barcelona, and defeat their opponent!
"At that time, we reached a consensus that if we want to play against Barcelona, we must meet three conditions."
"First of all, the whole team must have a stable, unified and efficient pressing and pressing. This is because Barcelona's ability to control the ball is so strong. Only this level of pressing and pressing can steal the ball."
If they can't grab the ball, they can only let Barcelona pass and control the ball to attack. If they don't have the ball, they can only shrink their defense.
"Second, just grabbing the ball is not enough, because in Mourinho's tactics, Barcelona's counterattack and pressure capabilities are also very strong, so after grabbing the ball, they must be able to protect the ball and keep it.
possession of the ball to avoid conceding the ball again soon.”
Losing the ball after grabbing it is a very fatal thing.
For example, throughout the ages, the standard for measuring a good midfielder is whether he can protect the ball after grabbing it?
If a defensive midfielder cannot protect the ball, no matter how good he is in grabbing the ball, he is still a scumbag.
In the same way, when facing Barcelona, being able to grab the ball is just the beginning. Being able to protect the ball is the next step.
"So, you need to have very good passing and ball control capabilities that are not even inferior to Barcelona, and this has basically eliminated all the teams in European football now, except for our Manchester City!"
Su Dong said this very confidently, but in fact it was not unreasonable.
Manchester City's passing and ball control is indeed very good, and they have their own advantages with Barcelona. If they really fight, it's not necessarily who will lose, but Manchester City will still be slightly inferior in terms of tacit understanding.
The first one is very difficult, and there are very few teams that can do it, but there are still some, such as Arsenal and AC Milan last season.
But the second one is more difficult than the first one, many times more difficult, and even for many teams, it is simply unsolvable.
If you want to pass and control the ball, tactics alone are not enough, you also need players who can pass and control the ball.
Xavi and Iniesta are the most slippery midfielders in history. Who else is better than them?
Not to mention, there is Messi in front of him.
When it comes to this, everyone actually knows what Su Dong means.
There is another very critical and important point. Su Dong didn't say it, but everyone knew it.
"Principle 3: Excellent physical fitness!"
Many people think that Barcelona only plays passing and possession, and the players are weak physically and physically, but what is the reality?
Wrong, terribly wrong!
Barcelona's players are short, but it doesn't mean they are poor in physical confrontation. They play passing and controlling the ball, but it doesn't mean they are poor in physical fitness.
On the contrary, it is because they are all a group of short players with excellent physical confrontation, technical players with outstanding physical fitness and foot skills, that is why Barcelona's passing and ball control system is so terrible.
Even if Mourinho were to coach, he would be forced to play pass and control.
In other words, if it were any head coach in the world, Barcelona would always play pass and control.
Unless we clean out all these players and replace them with a new batch.
It’s not that everyone present didn’t understand the three points Su Dong said, but he highlighted them now, making everyone’s minds clearer.
Looking at world football, Manchester City is the team closest to the three conditions listed by Su Dong.
