Chapter 498 Avengers Alliance
If you look through Heynckes' coaching record, it can be described as full of ups and downs.
He started coaching at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Within a few years, he brought the team a UEFA Cup runner-up and a German Cup runner-up, making him a famous coach in Germany. He was able to coach Bayern Munich for four years and a hundred days, winning two league titles and two Super Cup titles. Many people believe that during his coaching tenure, Heynckes consolidated Bayern's dominance in German football.
After being sacked by Bayern, Heynckes coached Athletic Bilbao, Frankfurt, Tenerife and Real Madrid successively. In that season at Real Madrid, he reached the peak of his coaching career and won a Champions League title.
But he was fired after winning the championship.
After that, Heynckes coached Benfica for a short time, but was not successful. After returning to La Liga, he coached Athletic Bilbao again and the results were also mediocre. However, he was invited back to the Bundesliga in 2003 to coach Schalke 04. After one season, from 2004 to 2005, Schalke 04 only played three games, with one win and two losses, and Heynckes was fired, becoming the shortest-lived coach in the Bundesliga that season.
The reason given by Schalke 04's general manager Assauer was that many players in the locker room complained to him, believing that Heynckes worked very hard but his ideas were outdated and he had lost the trust of the players, so he was forced to fire him.
Two years later, in the summer of 2006, Heynckes once again coached his hometown team Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Heynckes was once a hero of this city. Even when Borussia Mönchengladbach applied to host the World Cup, Heynckes was the city's ambassador, responsible for traveling around Germany. This resulted in a huge portrait of him being hung outside the Pokerk Hill Stadium, which was warmly welcomed by Borussia Mönchengladbach fans.
Borussia Mönchengladbach's performance this season is also very strange. In the first eight rounds of the league, they won all four home games and lost all four away games. Their best result was fifth in the league, but since the eighth round, Borussia Mönchengladbach has not won a single game.
But this time, Heynckes was not fired. Instead, he resigned on his own initiative, citing three death threats he had received. The most serious of these threats even required the police to protect him on his way to the stadium.
Under such circumstances, it was obvious that he could no longer continue coaching at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
So, after the winter break, he announced his resignation.
…
Looking at Heynckes' resume, his performance since coaching Real Madrid can be described as lackluster.
But if you carefully study the teams he took over, it is not difficult to find a problem, that is, the timing of his taking over is generally not very good, and most of them are mid-level or even lower-level teams.
For example, when coaching Borussia Mönchengladbach this season, if you look at the team's roster, you will find that the team has suffered a wave of injuries, with many injured players, which has made Heynckes' lineup stretched.
Everyone knows that the mid- and lower-level teams have an obvious characteristic, which is that their lineups are relatively thin. They can often only put together a strong main lineup and focus on one front. If they are distracted when fighting on two fronts, their results will immediately decline.
This is the case with Celta Vigo in La Liga, Everton in the Premier League, and so on.
On one hand, the team was hit by a wave of injuries, and on the other hand, there was tremendous pressure from the outside world and even death threats from extreme fans. It was said that even his wife was in danger, so Heynckes chose to resign.
Su Dong had talked to Heynckes before, and Heynckes had told him that he really admired Barcelona's ball control style of play. Perhaps because he had coached in La Liga for too long, Heynckes was no longer used to the German football environment, which made Su Dong a little worried about his coaching.
In comparison, Van Gaal seems to be more reliable.
Although Van Gaal also had a Waterloo at Barcelona, he quickly proved his ability again by coaching Alkmaar.
Is Heynckes a bad talker? Hoeness repeatedly stressed that there is absolutely no problem with Heynckes' ability and ideas.
The Bayern giant told Su Dong that the thing he regretted most was firing Heynckes, which was a very serious mistake. He believed that what Heynckes was best at was integrating the team and treating each player differently.
"He is particularly good at formulating tactics to maximize the abilities of his players."
Not only did Hoeness praise Heynckes, but Beckenbauer also highly praised him, which gave Su Dong some confidence.
But what really made Su Dong build up his confidence in him was after he met him in person.
…
When he met Heynckes again, the German coach did not prepare any materials carefully, nor did he give a long speech to sell his ideas. Instead, he sat down directly and explained his views on the problems Bayern Munich is facing now in an impromptu manner.
Heynckes believes that Bayern's current problem is not defense, but offense and midfield organization.
This is consistent with the judgment of the Bayern Big Three.
So far this season, Bayern has conceded 19 goals in 17 rounds, ranking third in the Bundesliga, more than Nuremberg's 16 goals and Schalke 04's 17 goals, the same as Stuttgart and Bielefeld, and three goals less than Werder Bremen, which is currently ranked first. It can be seen that the defense problem is not very big.
The real problem is offense.
"Since the departure of Ballack and Ze Roberto, Bayern's midfield creativity has declined significantly. Despite the introduction of Van Bommel from Barcelona, the Dutch midfield cannot make up for Bayern's midfield problems."
"Magath tried to use Schweinsteiger as a front midfielder and let him be the core of the team's organization. Schweinsteiger also said that his idol is Zidane, but in fact, we have all seen Schweinsteiger's performance."
Beckenbauer nodded, "He is not suitable for attacking midfielder."
"Yes, he is very comprehensive. He can attack and defend. His long and short passes are very high. He is also very diligent in defense and has a high level of game input. However, his footwork is not delicate enough and it is difficult for him to hold the ball in a densely defended area. Therefore, we see that when he plays as a front midfielder, he seems very shy and does not fully play to his strengths."
"But on the wing, he also lacks speed." Hoeness is not satisfied with Schweinsteiger's current performance.
Not only Hoeness, many people think that Schweinsteiger's problem is very contradictory.
Originally, they wanted him to replace Ballack, but found that he couldn't do it. He lacked speed and impact on the wing, which was very embarrassing.
"Maybe we can try Barcelona's number four position, or retreat like Pirlo." Su Dong suddenly said.
Everyone present was stunned.
Beckenbauer and others are all famous football players who have played for many years. Beckenbauer himself is a very great head coach, and Heynckes also has rich coaching experience. After Su Dong said this, they immediately understood.
Ancelotti moved Pirlo from the attacking midfielder to the defensive midfielder, which can be said to have opened a new door for European football.
If Pirlo can do it, why can't Schweinsteiger do it? "It's worth a try!" Beckenbauer nodded with a smile.
…
Heynckes said that he highly admired Barcelona's tactical style of play and even believed that Rijkaard had not yet tapped the full potential of this style of play, but he believed that this style of play was not suitable for Germany.
"This is my constant reflection over the past few years, from coaching Schalke 04 to Borussia Mönchengladbach. We have our own characteristics and advantages, execution and discipline, which are our advantages. I have talked to Loew and Klinsmann, and they are also thinking about this issue. I think there is still a young head coach in the Bundesliga who deserves attention."
Beckenbauer, Hoeness, Rummenigge and others looked at each other and laughed.
"Joseph, are you talking about Klopp from Mainz?" Hoeness asked with a smile.
"How do you know?" Heynckes was surprised.
"He is indeed a very thoughtful head coach. We have always been paying attention to him. Due to the overall strength of Mainz, many of his ideas cannot be realized. This is really a pity. He is a very interesting young man." Beckenbauer also praised.
Su Dong was very surprised when he heard it from the side.
Mainz is currently the bottom team in the Bundesliga, but it is quite surprising that the Bayern Munich Big Three praised a head coach who is at the bottom of the ranking and is likely to lead the team to relegation.
Of course, what is even more surprising is that Borussia Mönchengladbach, where Heynckes had just been sacked, was ranked only two places higher than Mainz and was also in the relegation zone, but he still sat in front of the Bayern Big Three and gave them instructions.
"I guess Klopp must be very grateful to you in his heart now, Joseph." Hoeness said with a smile.
"Why?"
"Didn't Kickers previously conduct a survey to see who would be the first head coach to be sacked in the Bundesliga this season?"
Heynckes immediately burst into laughter and waved his hands.
In that questionnaire, Mainz's Klopp was the number one favorite, but unexpectedly, the first person to be sacked was Heynckes, which relieved Klopp of a great embarrassment.
…
The atmosphere of the entire meeting was quite relaxed and pleasant, and the conversation was very frank.
There was neither the tension of an interview nor the seriousness of a superior evaluating his subordinates. It looked more like a group of colleagues chatting about topics of mutual concern, discussing each other's knowledge and understanding of football.
Although Su Dong did not have the opportunity to interrupt, he still benefited a lot.
Especially this kind of opportunity to experience up close the understanding of football by legendary superstars such as Beckenbauer is quite rare.
Heynckes said that he could not promise what kind of results he would achieve after coaching Bayern, but he would try his best.
"I will position myself as an Avenger. I want to prove my ability to everyone again, get rid of the bad impression of the past few years, and let the world know me again. Even though I am 61 years old, I don't feel old."
Avenger? Su Dong was quite fond of this name, and immediately said with a smile that he was also an Avenger.
"Then let us two Avengers form an Avengers Alliance!"
Heynckes smiled and shook the hand that Su Dong extended, very hard.
(End of this chapter)
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