Chapter 908: Playing against Barcelona? Seeking death!
Monaco is actually very small.
The distance from the Grimaldi Forum back to the hotel in Manchester is not far.
This is Manchester City's first time participating 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 had to live further away and borrow a venue from another Monaco team, Beausoleil.
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 that of Monaco's training ground. You can hardly see the seaside, the training facilities are relatively simple, and the security is non-existent.
Fortunately, Manchester City only needs one training session in the afternoon.
The team had already returned from training when Sudon and Begiristain returned to their hotel near the Monte Carlo Casino.
As soon as Guardiola heard that the two had returned, he immediately asked someone to invite them over.
Not only Guardiola, but also Estiarte and Torrent are there.
Seeing Guardiola in the center with a frown on his face, Su Dong and Begiristain looked at each other and expressed helplessness.
Privately, the players nicknamed Guardiola Mr. Tangled.
Why?
Because he was so conflicted!
Many times, he has to worry about many things over and over again.
To put it nicely, this is called meticulousness, considering all possible things, but to put it bluntly, this can also be said to be indecisive, so Guardiola's on-the-spot command is also quite poor.
Obviously, the reason for his entanglement this time was not the draw that had just ended.
Even though that was an extremely bad draw, the first game was still a long way off, so there was no need to consider it for now.
There is only one thing that can make Guardiola so conflicted, and that is the upcoming European Super Cup.
…
Many people don’t understand Guardiola’s complicated feelings towards Barcelona.
He was the legendary captain of Barcelona, but at the twilight of his career, he was ruthlessly kicked out by Barcelona at the age of 30, so that he later fell into Serie A and almost had no ball to play. He basically just muddled through the next few years.
It can be said that Guardiola has a love-hate relationship with Barcelona.
After retiring, Guardiola started coaching. After obtaining his coaching certificate, he joined the Barcelona youth team. It was Begiristain and Soriano who created the opportunity for him.
Later, Barcelona was in turmoil and decided to change coaches. Guardiola once became the number one favorite to be Barcelona's head coach. This gave him hope and he wanted to realize his ambitions in Barcelona.
But the reality was extremely cruel. The management of Barcelona at that time did not give him such an opportunity at all. They would rather be criticized by many celebrities including Cruyff and choose Mourinho, who was incompatible with the traditional style of Barcelona.
Guardiola continued to coach the youth team and eventually decided to move to England to start a business in Manchester City.
Compared with other head coaches, Guardiola's entrepreneurial history is very lucky, because he met Soriano and Begiristain who trusted him, and Sudon who always supported him. This made Guardiola not be dismissed in the end despite the controversy.
But from the beginning to the end, he was under tremendous pressure, and it was not until last season's treble that he breathed a sigh of relief.
During that painful time, he always had a belief in his heart.
It is not enough to just prove himself to everyone, he has to prove his strength in front of Barcelona! The European Super Cup gave him such an opportunity.
One game decides the outcome!
He attached great importance to this game, but precisely because of this, he was nervous, uneasy, anxious, and uneasy...
He is such a sentimental, complex and changeable person!
…
"I still remember that when I was playing for Bayern Munich, Beckenbauer, Rummenigge, Hoeness and Heynckes sat together and discussed tactics against Barcelona. In the end, we came up with two ideas."
Su Dong has alleviated Guardiola's anxiety to some extent, because he doesn't want Guardiola to make wrong decisions because of anxiety and pressure, which is not a good thing for Manchester City.
"The team's tactics are always formulated around the characteristics of the players, whether it is offense or defense. The head coach just makes choices based on his own different ideas. So Barcelona must play passing and controlling the ball, and the opponent needs to make choices based on this."
"One is defensive counterattack, which limits Barcelona's passing and possession space through strict defense, compresses Messi's offensive space, and then limits Barcelona's passing and possession offense, and then waits for opportunities to counterattack and create killing opportunities."
There is no need to say this. Basically, in the past few years, all teams facing Barcelona have adopted this tactical style of play, even during Barcelona's most difficult period.
Because since Rijkaard's time, Barcelona has always been one of the strongest teams in European football.
"The other is to attack head-on. Over the past few years, many media and fans have been asking why no team dares to play head-on with Barcelona? And everyone's answer is just two words: seeking death!"
Guardiola, Begiristain and others all nodded.
What Su Dong said is actually absolutely correct. Playing a head-on game against Barcelona is really seeking death.
Arsenal's passing and ball control are amazing, right? In the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 last season, the Gunners faced Barcelona at the Emirates Stadium and won 2-1.
But in this game, the Gunners had only half the ball possession of Barcelona, thirty-four to sixty-six.
Arsenal also won by defensive counterattack. At best, we can only say that Wenger's team did not defend that badly.
Just two weeks later, in the second leg, at the Camp Nou, the possession rate was 68 to 32, which seemed similar to the first leg. Arsenal still wanted to repeat the same trick and adopt the same approach as the first leg, but what was the result?
Three to one, the gunman was directly crippled.
To some extent, Van Persie's red card was both accidental and inevitable.
Just like what many teams encountered when facing Barcelona, red cards, fouls, misjudgments...all of these are actually the result of a contest of strength between the two sides.
There was no way Arsenal could win because they were so suppressed that they didn't even have a single shot on goal the entire game.
What does this mean? It means that the powerful Arsenal couldn't even take a shot in the 90-minute match at Camp Nou.
With such a huge gap, wouldn't they have lost even without Van Persie's red card? And this was based on Arsenal's defensive contraction and continuous attacks from behind. What if they pressed forward? They would be like Real Madrid, and the score would be blown away in minutes.
Wasn't it the same for Manchester City vs. Manchester United and Arsenal last season? In fact, this European Super Cup is now also attracting 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 was looking forward to seeing if Manchester City had the strength and courage to challenge Barcelona. Because so far, no team has dared to go out and play against Barcelona and defeat the 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 too strong. Only this level of pressing and pressing can snatch the ball."
If they can't get the ball, they can only let Barcelona pass and control the ball to attack. Without the ball, they can only shrink their defense.
"Secondly, it is not enough to just steal the ball, because in Mourinho's tactics, Barcelona's ability to counterattack and press is also very strong, so after stealing the ball, you must be able to protect the ball and keep the ball to avoid losing it again quickly."
It is very fatal to lose the ball after grabbing it.
For example, throughout history, the standard for measuring an excellent defensive midfielder is whether he can protect the ball after grabbing it.
A midfielder who can't protect the ball is just a piece of trash no matter how good he is at stealing the ball.
By the same token, facing Barcelona, being able to grab the ball is just the beginning, being able to protect the ball is the next step.
"So, we need to have excellent 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 us Manchester City!"
Su Dong said this with great confidence, but it actually makes sense.
Manchester City's passing and ball control are indeed excellent, and they each have their own advantages over Barcelona. If they really fight, it is not certain who will win or 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 much more difficult than the first one, so much more difficult that for many teams, it is simply unsolvable.
If you want to play passing and controlling the ball, tactics alone are not enough, you also need players who can play passing and controlling the ball.
Xavi and Iniesta are the best midfielders in history who can play this game the best. Who is better than them? Not to mention that there is Messi in front of them.
Having said that, everyone actually knows what Su Dong means.
There is another point which is also very critical and important. Su Dong did not say it, but everyone knows it.
"Third, excellent physical fitness!"
Many people think that Barcelona is a ball-control team and that their players are weak in physique and fitness, but what is the reality?
Wrong, so wrong! Barcelona players are short, but that doesn't mean they are bad at physical confrontation; they play passing and controlling the ball, but that doesn't mean they are bad at physical fitness.
On the contrary, it is because they are a group of short players with excellent physical confrontation, technical players with outstanding physical fitness and footwork, that Barcelona's passing and controlling system is so terrifying.
Even if Mourinho takes over as coach, he will be forced to play passing and controlling the ball.
In other words, no matter which head coach in the world comes to Barcelona, he will play the passing and controlling game.
Unless all these players are cleared out and replaced with a new batch.
Everyone present understood the three points Su Dong mentioned, but he emphasized them now to make everyone's minds clearer.
Looking at the world football scene, Manchester City is the team closest to meeting the three conditions listed by Su Dong.
No doubt about it!
(End of this chapter)
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