Chapter 400: A Thousand Miles Horse Meets a Great Master

Yang Huan noticed that among the many sticky notes on the wall, there were four notes in a row below Menotti and Bilardo.

There were four letters written crookedly on these four notes.

It’s not English, it should be the Spanish that Bielsa often uses.

"What is this?" Yang Huan asked curiously.

Bielsa pointed at the notes, pointed at them one by one, and read them out one by one.

But Yang Huan didn't understand Spanish at all, and he couldn't understand anything he heard.

"This is permanent focus, which is the most important criterion for me to select players!"

Concentration, this is indeed the type of player Bielsa prefers.

According to Bielsa, your technique can be rough, your strength can be weak, and even your condition can be very bad, but you cannot be unfocused in games and training. The focus here obviously does not just mean concentrating on the game, but also means devoting your whole body and soul to the game with all your strength.

As he spoke, he pointed to the second label.

"This is fluidity. From Michels' total attack and defense to Van Gaal's Ajax, Dutch football has always emphasized the versatility of its players. Their best tactics are the 4-3-3 and 3-4-3 mixed tactics, which are quite flexible and can be varied in many ways depending on the opponent."

"The key point of Sacchi's football philosophy is to occupy the advantageous space on the field and maintain a flat formation with the front and back lines not exceeding 25 meters. In this framework, forget about fixed positions, and players operate around the four major elements of space, ball, opponent and teammates."

Yang Huan was stunned. What an amazing tactical concept!

But if you think about it carefully, over the years, football tactics have been focusing on details, constantly deriving more and more positions, and constantly subdividing the roles and positions of players on the field.

But from another perspective, in recent years, football tactics have also been moving towards positional blurring.

For example, a false striker, a wing midfielder, or a central midfielder, aren't these positions blurred?

When the location becomes blurred to a certain extent, doesn’t it just mean forgetting the fixed location?

When a team is flexible and can adopt different tactics according to different opponents, and the players forget about fixed positions and play around space, the ball, opponents and teammates, then won't this team be invincible?

Bielsa did not take into account Yang Huan's shock, but pointed to the third note.

“This is a wheel!”

After a pause, he continued: "Many people say that Uruguay's Oscar Washington Tavares is a defeated general. He has changed teams one after another during his coaching career, but he has never been able to produce convincing results."

When he said this, Bielsa rarely revealed a look of admiration and sneer.

Even though it was very light and fleeting, for a man as proud as him, being able to show a look of admiration was in itself an extremely difficult thing.

As for the sneer, it was probably a sneer at the fact that people often judge victory or defeat based on results.

Yang Huan knew that Tavares was the head coach of the Uruguayan national team. He was the meritorious coach who helped Uruguay reach the top four in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. In the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the team was eliminated in the round of 16.

The team that defeated Uruguay was Colombia, led by the famous Colombian coach Pekerman.

But Tavares' most convincing achievement was in 2011, when he led the team to win the America's Cup.

It was in that America's Cup that Tavares proved his coaching ability.

"Tavares is a typical pragmatist, but he has revealed the true meaning of football, the four basic elements of football, defense, offense, how to switch from defense to offense, how to switch from offense to defense, but the key is how to make the team rotate smoothly in these four stages!"

"As long as they can do that, they are a great team!"

Yang Huan couldn't help but give a thumbs up and give a thumbs up.

This is simple to say, isn't it? It's concise and to the point?

But he was able to explain the core essence of football, which is extremely complicated and tedious, in a simple and profound way. If you say that this person has no talent, Yang Huan would not believe it even if you kill him, because an incompetent person would never say such a thing!

This is how things are in this world.

It’s just like those pianists we see who, when given a music score, can play the music effortlessly without any practice.

Is it easy?

Yes, it is very easy.

But you have to understand that behind the ease of doing it is the result of their countless hours of hard practice day and night, which has enabled them to become skilled and qualified pianists.

If you were anyone who has never learned piano, could you do it?

"The last one is also the most crucial one. Only after you have achieved the first three, you are qualified to pursue it..."

“…Improvise!”

Bielsa stared at the notes on the wall, as if he was lost in his own thoughts.

"If the aestheticism pursued by Menotti is impossible, then the routines and dogmas pursued by Bilardo are possible. Looking at today's football, which team is not practicing routines? Which team is not practicing tactical formations?"

"Even Barcelona, ​​which is known as the most creative team, and the most talented players such as Zidane, Maradona, Messi, etc., don't they show their improvisation within the dogmatic routines and tactical formations?"

“Only when you have done what is possible, are you qualified to pursue the impossible!”

Yang Huan strongly agrees with this.

Modern football is becoming more rigorous and meticulous, and the role of the team is becoming more and more prominent.

Without the team, without a whole team, it is impossible to win.

Team cooperation often requires routines and tactical formations.

What do you practice during training?

Isn’t it just practicing routines and formations?

"I can easily tell you 150 defensive routines, and I can also easily teach the team 150 offensive routines, but what I want to do is to lead the team to pursue the 151st offensive and defensive routines on the basis of mastering these 150 offensive and defensive routines!"

"If my players were not human and could follow my instructions completely, then I would never lose!"

The Argentine madman's last words were spoken with great confidence.

Yang Huan got goosebumps all over his body after hearing this.

Perhaps, in Bielsa's view, those 150 routines all belong to Bilardo, to possibilities, to mechanical and dogmatic routines that can be calculated and mastered.

And the one hundred and fifty-first one he pursued was Menotti's aestheticism, which was impossible!

If the Argentine madman is just talking, then he is fooling people.

But the problem is, he not only talks about it, he also thinks about it, thinking about it day and night, and he even puts it into practice, he does it, practices it, and tries it.

This is very, very difficult!

Yang Huan even thought that perhaps only someone like Bielsa, who loves football so much that it has reached a paranoid level, would have the courage to pursue such a goal and idea.

Because that may be a goal that cannot be achieved in a lifetime.

Yang Huan finally understood why Bielsa didn't like to interfere in the team's transfers and daily management.

Because he doesn't have that much energy.

He put all his energy into thinking and exploring the 151st method of attack and defense.

Yang Huan suddenly found it quite funny.

Fortunately, he used to think that Bielsa's life was too boring and monotonous.

But now, he suddenly felt that Bielsa's life was neither boring nor monotonous.

On the contrary, he lived a more fulfilling and colorful life than anyone else.

Because he knows clearly what he is pursuing and the direction he wants to work towards.

That's enough!

"Old Bei!"

Yang Huan suddenly reached out his hand, patted Bielsa's shoulder like a brother, and couldn't stop smiling.

Bielsa seemed to be suddenly awakened, looking at Young Master Huan with surprise and a bit of helplessness.

"They all say that I am considered a madman among many football bosses, and you are also an absolute madman in the field of head coaching!"

Bielsa stared at Yang Huan with his eyes, which seemed a little dull at first glance, but shining with wisdom upon closer inspection. He might be wondering why Young Master Huan said that?

"Although we are in different positions, we are both crazy!"

At this point, Yang Huan laughed heartily with great enthusiasm.

"Then let's build a crazy team, enter the Premier League, enter the Champions League, and shake up the sky of European football. Let's let everyone in the world see the storm created by the two of us crazy people working together!"

As he said this, Yang Huan looked at the notes on the wall with confidence.

Those didn't seem to be sticky notes, but the future of Southampton.

He made a secret decision in his heart.

From now on, Bielsa will give people the people he wants and money he wants. He will give whatever he wants.

Since the Argentine dares to gamble his life, why should Yang Huan be afraid to join him in this gamble?

After hearing Master Huan’s statement, Bielsa seemed to be greatly encouraged.

It was also at this moment that he truly felt the excitement of a good horse meeting a good horse trainer.

At that moment, the two sat down directly in the head coach's office and had a very in-depth and candid communication on some of Southampton's ideas and concepts, as well as some of the team's existing problems.

Only then was Yang Huan surprised at Bielsa's ability to keep up with the times.

Yaya Gope, even though this guy is a stubborn old man, his thoughts and ideas are quite trendy and are not inferior to those of today's young people.

It was also during the conversation that Bielsa surprised Yang Huan again.

Today's head coaches like to study videos and use editing to explain tactics to players and analyze opponents.

Another thing is to read the match report to the players and summarize the detailed technical files of the opponents in the next game.

These measures are now quite popular.

Do you know when Bielsa started using this training method?

Nineteen ninety-seven!

This guy was applying for the head coaching position at Sarsfield and brought 51 video tapes with him.

After successfully applying for the job, one condition was put forward, which was to have a computer room.

He has to do his own video editing and make his own match reports.

This was something that had never been heard of or seen before!

Who would have done what Bielsa did at that time?

But these are now popular, almost every coach does this, it's commonplace!

Even now, most professional teams in the top leagues basically have a technical analysis team.

From this we can see that this guy not only keeps up with the times, but is simply a trendy guy at the forefront of the times!

Yang Huan now admires him more and more.

Yang Huan also attached importance to the various requirements and ideas put forward by Bielsa.

If the decision could be made on the spot, he agreed to it on the spot.

As for some matters that still need to be negotiated with other people, Yang Huan also expressed that he will do his best to provide support.

Although Bielsa didn't say it on the surface, he understood it in his heart.

These are the kindnesses given to him by Yang Huan. If it were any other team, they would definitely not agree.

Because this means Southampton needs to invest more money every year.

So, he was more or less touched in his heart.

When a good horse meets a good horse trainer, there is nothing to say. In one word, he will fight to the death for it!