Chapter 757 Su Dong's Core Team
As the team training camp was about to start, Su Dong invited several of his close friends to gather at Ronnie's home in Cheshire in advance.
Pepe, Marcelo, Toni Kroos and David Silva all brought their wives or girlfriends to the appointment. Su Dong was responsible for entertaining these four old friends, while Wang Chuqing accompanied the female family members.
As night falls, everything is quiet.
Five people sat on the balcony on the second floor, drinking water and drinks and chatting about the upcoming new season.
Su Dong took the initiative to mention that Guardiola wanted him to take over as team captain, but he said he was still considering it and had not made a decision yet, and wanted to hear everyone's opinions.
"Please feel free to speak your mind and share your ideas," Su Dong said sincerely.
Pepe is Su Dong's best friend, so he was the first to express his opinion. "What else is there to think about? Frankly speaking, I think, given the current situation of the team, if you don't take the captaincy, who will? Does anyone else have the ability and prestige to do so?"
Pepe's words were also recognized by Marcelo and Toni Kroos.
Both players are young players, and they came to Manchester City because of Su Dong, especially Toni Kroos, who was recommended to Guardiola by Su Dong. Before joining Manchester City, Toni Kroos even made a special call to Su Dong.
The two had a very good relationship during their time at Bayern, and after arriving at Manchester City, they were further tied together.
Su Dong turned and looked at David Silva. In fact, what he cared most about was the Spaniards' opinions.
On the one hand, David Silva had been in Manchester City for a year and was very familiar with all kinds of situations. On the other hand, Su Dong had been separated from him for several years. Although their relationship had always been very good, they had been separated for so long that he didn't know what David Silva was thinking.
Beckenbauer said that Su Dong's top priority now is to build his own core team, so that others will naturally come to him, and slowly, he will become the core of the locker room.
But the team is not assembled casually. On the one hand, they must be absolutely reliable and be considered as one's own confidants. They can even be used as an example to scare the monkeys when necessary. Of course, if they are killed in public, they must find ways to make up for it in private, or even take precautions in advance to avoid being deserted by their friends and relatives.
On the other hand, the core team must also be able to lead by example.
As Beckenbauer said, the other players in the locker room will not look at what you do, or how you do it, but will look at the people gathered around you, what they are doing and how they do it, and use this as a criterion to judge whether you are worthy of attachment.
To put it simply, Su Dong and his core team must not only lead by example, but also play a core role in the team's technical and tactical level, so that others can be convinced.
Needless to say, Pepe is absolutely trustworthy, and Toni Kroos is also a very diligent person. He is relatively low-key in private and speaks a bit bluntly, but he seldom accepts media interviews.
Marcelo is a bit eccentric, but he is very good at livening up the atmosphere and can be considered an indispensable lubricant in the locker room.
David Silva is relatively low-key, but has outstanding strength. Before Su Dong arrived, he was the most powerful star in Manchester City, and now he is the second star after Su Dong.
Su Dong trusted David Silva, so he invited him, but now, he must further clarify David Silva's thoughts and whether he supports him to be the captain.
When David Silva saw Su Dong looking at him, he was also thinking about this question in his heart.
"I agree with what Pepe said. At present, no one in Manchester City is qualified to be the captain except you, so I think you deserve the title of captain, but the team's problems are also very difficult now."
Su Dong heard David Silva's recognition and support for him, and also felt his sincere support for him.
"Please analyze it for us." Su Dong said.
David Silva nodded, and after careful consideration, he began to introduce.
At present, Manchester City’s locker room is actually quite messy, almost a mess.
During Mark Hughes' time, Robinho made some noise, which caused chaos in the locker room. Captain Richard Dunn was unable to control Robinho at all, so Robinho ran away several times, which shocked the locker room and fans.
This is totally unprofessional!
After Richard Dunne was sold to Aston Villa, the Manchester City dressing room was divided into a number of different groups.
Zabaleta, Kompany, Gareth Barry and others have served as the team's on-field captain, but these people lack the influence in the locker room to make everyone obey, so that the team's captaincy has always been undecided.
"Gareth Barry was the captain when he played for Aston Villa, but his current position is not secure. Similarly, due to the requirements of youth training qualifications, there are many players from the youth team in the first team, such as midfielder Michael Johnson and Micah Richards. The former is extremely talented, but after a serious injury, he can hardly play now."
"Micah Richards is a Manchester City youth player, and now there is Trippier, as well as Wright-Phillips and Adam Johnson. These local players do not have the strength to occupy a place in the starting lineup, but they are all local players."
In any team, local players are a core force that cannot be ignored.
This is especially true in the Premier League.
This is also why local household registration books are so valuable.
"Both Zabaleta and Kompany joined the team later and have weak foundations, but both have strong personalities and are interested in becoming captains. And from the current perspective, after the failure to introduce Maicon, Zabaleta's right-back position is relatively solid. Micah Richards and Trippier will be substitutes, and Kompany will also be the main center back."
"What about Bridge at left back?" Marcelo asked with concern.
"I personally think it will be hard for Bridge to compete with you, but you can't ignore him. After all, you are a newcomer and he has been in the Premier League for many years, so this summer training camp is very important."
Marcelo nodded, agreeing with David Silva's analysis.
"Moutinho, Di Maria, and even Sanchez, these are all arranged by Mendes. I think these are relatively easy for us to get. I will talk to Busquets, there will be no problem."
When David Silva said this, everyone suddenly understood.
If it is true as he analyzed, Sudon, Di Maria and Sanchez will occupy the frontcourt, David Silva and Busquets in the midfield, and whether it is Toni Kroos or Moutinho, they will all support Sudon. Gareth Barry is not very competitive in this regard.
On the defensive line, Pepe and Marcelo will definitely support Sudon, leaving Kompany, Zabaleta, and goalkeeper Joe Hart.
"In the past two days, the team introduced Jerome Boateng from Hamburg, who is also an old acquaintance," said Pepe.
Toni Kroos immediately took over the conversation, "I'm more familiar with him, I'll talk to him."
From this perspective, players who support Su Dong occupy the vast majority of the locker room and starting lineup.
Su Dong suddenly wondered if Begiristain had considered this when he was building the team. "David's analysis is good!" Su Dong gave David Silva an appreciative smile, and the latter quickly waved his hand modestly, "But we must be clear that we do not fight for power and profit, and we will never suppress dissidents. We have only one goal, which is to unite all teammates who can unite, twist the team into a rope, form core competitiveness, and avoid being a mess."
"Here, I can say that if there is someone more suitable than me, I am willing to support him with all my strength!"
Pepe, David Silva and others looked at each other, obviously there was no more suitable candidate.
"If I really become the captain, I still hope to be able to organize more teammates, especially teammates like Kompany, Zabaleta, Gareth Barry, Phillips, Adam Johnson, etc., to create a united whole."
Beckenbauer told Su Dong that in addition to having confidants, he also had to be able to unite those capable teammates, whether they were main players or substitutes. These capable players should be valued because they would be needed to perform in the game.
…
The great leader once said that we should make more friends and fewer opponents.
Su Dong has always been practicing this concept, whether he was at Sporting Lisbon, Valencia, Barcelona or Bayern, he did so, and now, he still has to do so.
But at the same time, he also needs to do something to make all the players in the locker room believe that he stands with them and can fight for their benefits and rights, so that they will believe and rely on him.
So, Su Dong asked David Silva about some internal matters of the team, such as what demands are there in the locker room? There are so many demands, and everyone's interests are different, but there are also some common points.
For example, as David Silva mentioned, Manchester City did a poor job in receiving players, especially some players who had just transferred in. This is something that Su Dong should seize the time to appeal to the club and ask them to better help the transferred players so that they can integrate into the team as soon as possible and concentrate on training and competition.
Another pain point is the team's upcoming training camp in the United States.
This time in the United States, the team will train for more than half a month, which is a long journey. David Silva suggested that Su Dong could propose that the players can bring their families with them, but Su Dong believed that this was unlikely because Guardiola also attached great importance to training and it would not be appropriate to bring families.
"I suggested to the club that we could arrange for the players' families to visit the United States during the training camp, and the expenses would be borne by the club." Su Dong adopted a compromise strategy.
David Silva thought it was a great idea.
Afterwards, he made several more suggestions, some of which Su Dong thought were feasible, while others were difficult to implement.
But after David Silva's analysis, Su Dong had a preliminary understanding of the team's locker room.
Next, he plans to visit the players one by one.
Let’s start with the players who have the potential to be in the starting lineup.
(End of this chapter)
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