Chapter 829 Revenge on Arsenal
When many fans mention the Premier League, their first impression is often the four major families, followed by the devilish schedule.
The Premier League is the only one of the top five European leagues that does not have a winter break.
This year's Christmas schedule will see Manchester City play four games in just ten days starting on the 26th. This is a huge challenge for any team. Every team must make adequate preparations for the Christmas schedule in advance, and Manchester City is no exception.
After the 16th round of the Premier League, Guardiola convened a coaching staff meeting. Sudon, Kompany and Zabaleta attended the meeting as representatives of the locker room.
The main topic was the Christmas schedule.
Guardiola's top think tank, Olympic water polo champion Manel Estiart, was the first to reflect on last season's Christmas schedule, believing that Manchester City did not actually play well, and that last season's Christmas only saw two games in three days.
It's difficult, but not too difficult.
This season is obviously different. We have to play four games in ten days, and the difficulty increases exponentially.
More importantly, the team not only has to consider the Christmas schedule, but also the period after Christmas.
There is no winter break in the Premier League. Even after finishing the Christmas schedule, there is no way to rest, but instead one must continue to participate in the second half of the season. This is a huge test for any team.
Estiart started from the players' psychological war-weariness, the intensity of the schedule, and the difficulty of adjusting the club's existing lineup, and explained the pressure the coaching staff was under regarding this year's winter break schedule.
To sum it up in one sentence, it’s difficult, very difficult!
But no matter how difficult it is, Manchester City must hold on.
"We have summarized the season journey of the Premier League champions in the past few years. If we have to say there is a pattern, there is actually only one: play well in the Christmas schedule. Those who play poorly in the Christmas schedule will basically find it difficult to win the championship."
Estiart must have done some statistical work before saying this.
After learning from the lessons of last season, how will Manchester City cope with the Christmas schedule this season? Guardiola and his team have to make some adjustments from multiple aspects, from physical fitness to rotation mechanism to the team's technical and tactical skills, because no player can persist in playing four games in ten days.
More importantly, after the Christmas schedule, there will be the following winter break schedule, and there will also be an FA Cup.
Buenaventura is in charge of physical training. He has also made arrangements for this and insisted on rotation. He also hopes that after the seventeenth round, the team will start to make adjustments to recharge the players' physical fitness.
"In the 18th round, we will play against Everton at home, which will also be a tough battle." Su Dong reminded.
Although Everton is currently ranked 15th in the Premier League, everyone familiar with the Premier League knows how strong Moyes' team is.
If you only look at the Premier League rankings and think that Everton is a bottom team, then you are really too arrogant.
"We have studied it. It's a bit risky, but it's worth it. We are confident that we can beat Everton at home with rotation," Guardiola said seriously.
These must have been carefully considered and deliberated by the coaching staff.
Domenech Torrent, another right-hand man of Guardiola, said that the team will strengthen the testing of various physical indicators of the players during the Christmas schedule, including analysis of injury recovery, fatigue levels, etc., and will even intervene in the psychological analysis of the players and the management of the locker room.
This is a systematic project.
As the saying goes, the outcome of a game is actually determined the moment the players step onto the court.
This is definitely not a joke, it's true.
Many fans only see the lineup and starting lineup, and at most analyze the players' tactical execution, running data, etc., but these are actually only part of it, and can even be said to be the result.
If a player doesn't run much, it may be because he is too tired or injured. If a player's tactical execution is not in place, it may be because he is dissatisfied with the head coach or has conflicts with his teammates. If a player is in a low state, it may be because he misses home...
All of this happened before the game, and was determined the moment the players stepped onto the court.
But the media and fans often don't care too much about these things, they only see the players' performance on the court.
Domenech Torrent said that the club encountered some problems during the winter break last season and is learning lessons this season, but this is far from enough because many players in the team are experiencing the Christmas schedule for the first time.
To give the simplest example, different players have different levels of acceptance of the same devilish Christmas schedule.
Some players are very traditional. They are used to spending Christmas with their families. Now, they can't spend the holiday with their families. Not only that, but they have to leave for away games early in the morning the day after Christmas. Who can accept this? Some players are less traditional and are more accepting of the Christmas schedule.
But these two types of players will be put in the same team and fight side by side.
"In fact, these are just obvious factors. We can take preventive measures in advance. The real trouble is still on the court. The players will have different ideas." Torrent said worriedly.
To put it simply, players think differently from each other.
Since the schedule is very tight, the team will definitely adopt different tactics according to different opponents, equip different lineups to play, and make large-scale rotations, but a problem will arise.
Suppose, when encountering a weaker team, the head coach decides to just win and the whole team plays at a leisurely pace.
The main players certainly hope so, because they consume a lot of energy, but do the rotation and substitute players think so? They finally get a chance to play, and they will try their best to show and prove their strength, so they will be very active.
On the field, the eleven players, including the goalkeeper, form an interlocking system. In this system, when one link is out of control, it will inevitably lead to the surrounding areas and even the entire system out of control.
It appears in the game that when a certain player performs very hard and actively, others will naturally follow suit.
However, the practice of substituting and rotating players is contrary to the strategy formulated by the team before the game.
Therefore, sometimes, the media and fans are very happy when they see a certain player shine and lead the team to victory, but in fact, the head coach may be secretly complaining in his heart, calculating how much energy his main players have consumed.
Sometimes we even have to replace the outstanding player early in the halftime or in the second half.
Why?
He was happy to work hard alone, but the other players were exhausted. How could they play in the next game? This was true for the substitutes and the main players as well.
The human mind is the most complex and elusive.
It's like this for one person, and it's even more troublesome when there are so many players on a team.
Why is Ferguson always able to turn things around during Christmas and the winter break?
It is because of his strong control ability that he can ensure that every player in the team listens to him.
Who doesn't accept it? Just ban him! Under this absolute authority, Manchester United players, whether they are the main players or the substitutes, will only listen to him.
The authority and control that Ferguson has at Manchester United is something that no other team or head coach can possess.
Just like Ancelotti refuted the media not long ago, saying that he is not Ferguson, this is the difference! …
After the meeting, Su Dong rubbed his brows and left the meeting room.
He felt a headache just by listening to it. As the head coach of the team, Guardiola has to worry about many things. "I don't understand why the Christmas schedule is so troublesome. Why has the Premier League never thought about reforming it?" Su Dong asked Zabaleta in confusion.
The Argentine came to the Premier League in 2008, and it has been more than two years.
"In fact, the Premier League has always stated that they are not opposed to reforming Christmas and the winter break, but the reason why there has been no progress is not only because of commercial considerations as many people have said, but also because of the characteristics of the UK."
"If you look closely, you will find that around Christmas, not just football, but all kinds of sports events in the UK will be arranged during the Christmas period. There will be no rest, and even more efforts will be made. This is to send a Christmas dinner to the fans. It is a tradition in the UK, and the fans also like this arrangement very much."
Su Dong suddenly understood something.
Every rule needs to be based on a certain social foundation.
Football fans welcome the holiday at Christmas, and they also like to take their families to the football stadium to watch a game of their favorite team during the Christmas holiday. This is also a traditional program for British fans to celebrate Christmas.
If Christmas and the winter break are cancelled, it will not only cause losses on a commercial level, but the fans will probably not be happy about it.
Due to various factors, the Christmas and winter breaks of the Premier League were not cancelled, but became more and more intense.
This is just like the domestic film market, where blockbusters always crowd into the National Day and Spring Festival periods. That's the reason.
Su Dong now understands the reasons for the Christmas and winter break in the Premier League.
Guardiola gave their three captains and vice-captains the task of managing the locker room, calming the players' emotions and paying close attention to the players' psychological changes during Christmas and the winter break.
In the four games on Christmas Day, the opponents are away against Newcastle, at home against Aston Villa, at home against Blackpool, and away against Arsenal.
The most watched one was the last away game against Arsenal, which was also Manchester City's first game in 2011.
The first game of the year, coupled with the grudges between the two sides in the first leg, all these made this game very important to Manchester City. Guardiola and the coaching staff also placed this game at the top of their priorities when making arrangements.
In a strong dialogue, we must grab points! Even if Manchester City has a certain lead, they must not be careless.
What's more, for Manchester City, the most important thing is not just three points, but also revenge!
Who can forget the red card four minutes into the first leg and the penalty in the final stages of the first half?
(End of this chapter)
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