Chapter 13 He looks a bit like Ferguson!
From mid-July to the end of July, in just over half a month, Yang Cheng arranged a total of 5 warm-up matches.
The opponents are all teams from surrounding areas.
2 amateur teams, 1 English League 3 team and 2 English League 1 teams.
As a result, the Bayswater Chinese embarrassingly achieved an "impressive" record of 5 games, 1 win, 2 draws and 2 losses.
Two of the games against English League One teams both ended in disastrous defeats.
One game is 2:5 and one game is 1:4.
The poor results in the warm-up match almost destroyed all the good atmosphere brought by the training camp.
The players were originally very confident in the head coach's style of play and thought it was very advanced and the scene was beautiful.
And they have already mastered this style of play through two weeks of training.
But when it came to the actual game, they found that they were still in a mess.
Even against amateur teams, it is difficult for them to perform as well as they did in training.
Not to mention facing a strong English League One team.
Yang Cheng and the coaching staff were not surprised by this result.
This was what he had guessed when arranging the warm-up match.
Because this time the two English League One teams are West Ham United in the same city and Reading in west London.
The Hammers are a relegated team from the Premier League.
Although a number of famous players such as Defoe, Joe Cole and Kanute were sold in summer transfers, the Hammers are still strong.
The midfielder Carrick, who Yang Cheng admires very much, is in today's Hammers.
Reading is also very strong. It ranked 4th in English League One last season, entered the promotion play-offs, and almost won the right to upgrade to the Premier League.
Moreover, fans familiar with the Premier League must remember that a few years later, Chelsea was defeated twice in one game, and Cech, who was once qualified to be the best goalkeeper in the world, fell.
The opponent is Reading.
The playing style of this team is very rough and very aggressive.
Yang Cheng deliberately arranged these two opponents, hoping to use them to test the team and expose more problems.
In the warm-up match, winning or losing and results are not important.
The key is still the next League Two.
But after every warm-up match, Yang Cheng will arrange for everyone to conduct a post-match review to make adjustments and improvements based on the problems exposed in the match.
After 5 warm-up games, the main lineup of the Chinese team has gradually become clear.
The goalkeeper position belongs to Joe Hart.
Although he is only 16 years old, his body has grown up and he is performing well.
There are some changes in the defense line.
The left wing belongs to Tony Capaldi, the right wing belongs to Steve Jenkins, and Koscielny occupies one of the central defenders.
There is no doubt about it.
But the other central defender was a bit beyond Yang Cheng's expectations.
From a technical and tactical perspective, Yang Cheng prefers Luke Chambers, who is a better passer, or even the younger Alex Baptiste.
But after several warm-up matches, the partnership between Roger Johansson and Koscielny turned out to be the best.
Roger Johansson's technique is relatively rough and he makes many passing mistakes, but his physical confrontation is very good.
This is really a killer weapon in the lower leagues.
In the midfield, Huddlestone is deep and Modric and Martin Roland are in the middle. This is also the least controversial.
Andy Holdsworth and Lee Williamson both performed well, but they could only serve as substitutes.
Here, Modric's rise to power is somewhat reluctant.
The Croatian's technique is very good and his passing is quite accurate, but his body is too thin.
Whether he was playing for Reading or West Ham United, he performed in a mess.
But Yang Cheng still has full trust in him.
In the three midfielders, Huddlestone is the deepest one, while Martin Roland and Modric can both go up and down. They press up when attacking and retreat when defending.
But during the tactical review meeting after playing West Ham United and Reading, Yang Cheng made adjustments.
Martin Roland takes on more offensive tasks, while Modric is relatively deeper.
This allows Modric to try to avoid getting into hand-to-hand combat with his opponents.
On the forward line, Jonathan Steed gained an advantage in the competition with Lambert.
But how to arrange the two wings surprised Yang Cheng.
According to his previous life, Ribery had the best results when playing on the left.
But the current French winger has not yet fully matured, so Yang Cheng prefers to put him on the right, hoping to use Ribery's speed and breakthrough on the right to tear open the opponent's defense.
But after five warm-up games, Yang Cheng found that something was not right.
Ribery and Steve Jenkins did not work well together.
Steve Jenkins is slow and does not have a wide range of activities. He mostly stays in the backcourt to defend.
In the 433 formation, the distance between the winger and the full-back is already relatively large.
Ribery once again took on the team's offensive burden.
Therefore, the cooperation between Ribery and Jenkins, who plays on the right, is very problematic, especially in defense.
In the game against West Ham United, the Bayswater Chinese's right wing was blocked by England international Sinclair on the left wing of West Ham United. Four of the five goals were scored. Attacked from this side.
Martin Devaney moved to the left, and there were also many problems in cooperating with Tony Capaldi.
The characteristics of the two are very similar.
After the warm-up match, Yang Cheng had a review with Brian Kidd.
The English suggested that Ribery return to the left and move forward, while Martin Devaney went to the right and retreat appropriately.
Yang Cheng was convinced.
……
August 9, afternoon.
In the first round of League Two of the 2003/04 season, Bayswater Chinese faced newly promoted Grimsby Town at home.
Not only have the north and south stands of Bayswater Stadium not yet been built, even the east and west stands have not been completed.
So, the capacity is only 5,000 people at most.
When Yang Cheng walked into the stadium, the east stand directly opposite was empty. It is a rare sunny day in London today, but it is somewhat embarrassing to see it scattered in the empty East Stand.
There are quite a lot of people sitting in the west stand.
According to the information obtained by Yang Cheng, the number of fans present today reached 2,500.
Thanks to Brian Kidd.
He is now the nominal head coach of the team, and the British fans still buy into his account.
In addition, there is a lot of transfer signings in the summer, so fans still have expectations.
Yang Cheng also has high expectations for this game.
He hopes that the team can win this newly promoted team at home and get off to a good start.
Moreover, he lined up his strongest lineup.
Goalkeeper: Joe Hart;
Defence: Tony Capaldi, Koscielny, Roger Johansson and Steve Jenkins;
Midfield: Huddlestone deep, Martin Roland and Modri Odd in the center;
Forwards: Ribery, Jonathan Steed and Martin Devaney.
Yang Cheng’s tactics appear to be 433, but are actually irregular.
Dewani is positioned further back, a bit like a right midfielder, closer to Jenkins.
The entire left path is pressed forward, and the position is further forward.
But there are also great hidden dangers.
Both Koscielny and Roger Johansson are the kind of central defenders who stand relatively forward and are relatively aggressive.
And Huddlestone in midfield is not a purely defensive midfielder.
In addition, the Bayswater Chinese have just gone through a reorganization, and the players do not have a tacit understanding of each other. In particular, there are problems with counterattack and positioning after losing the ball in the midfield.
So, when the game reached the 27th minute, Grimsby Town's midfielder sent a long pass behind the defense and landed in front of Dutch center Lawrence Ten Haulf.
Although Koscielny reacted immediately and chased back desperately, even though he was very fast.
But Haulf took the initiative. After catching up with the spot, he directly headed the ball to Michael Boudin who came up from behind Koscielny.
Pudding didn’t stop the ball and pushed the ball directly into the goal, opening the scoring for the newly promoted team!
……
Snap!
Yang Cheng clapped his hands vigorously, feeling very disappointed with the first goal conceded in the first game of the new season.
Before this goal, the Chinese team completely controlled the game and the ball.
“Most of the time, Koscielny is trustworthy. His physical strength is excellent, his marking is tight, and he is fierce in tackles. The key is that he is fast and has excellent recovery ability.”< br>
Brian Kidd was also a little disappointed with the goal conceded.
"But he is too aggressive, especially when paired with Roger Johnson, it is simply..."
Yang Cheng smiled helplessly.
He suddenly remembered Ramos and Pepe in his previous life when he first coached Real Madrid.
The magical combination of two reckless men.
"The two of them are too close to form an effective complementary match." Yang Cheng said.
But there was nothing he could do.
He had been aware of this problem before, so he wanted to arrange for Luke Chambers or Alex Baptiste to partner Koscielny.
But the effect is not even as good as Roger Johnson.
If possible, Yang Cheng would be willing to find a calm partner for Koscielny.
But for now, Roger Johnson is the best choice in Yang Cheng's hands.
"Give them more time."
Yang Cheng turned to Brian Kidd and smiled, "The growth of a central defender is always accompanied by pain and torture."
Brian ·Kid couldn't help but smile.
Sometimes, he is also very strange.
Yang Cheng is obviously so young, but his words give people the feeling that he has a lot of coaching experience.
Sometimes it's even a bit like...Ferguson.
……
Just 5 minutes after Grimsby Town opened the scoring, the Chinese team’s left wing showed a threat.
After Ribery tried to break through with the ball, he passed it to Tony Capaldi who came in from behind.
Capaldi passed the ball from the left, and Jonathan Steed, who followed up from the center, broke through the opponent's defense and headed in from close range, successfully equalizing the score!
After the game changed sides in the second half, in the 51st minute, Martin Roland took a corner kick opportunity and assisted French central defender Koscielny to score a header, redeeming himself and taking the lead.
2 to 1!
If we say, the goal conceded just now made Koscielny a backdrop.
So now this goal has ignited the emotions of the fans at the scene.
The Bayswater Chinese took the initiative throughout the game.
It's just that because the team was new and not familiar with each other, there were a lot of mistakes during the passing and cutting process.
In the 84th minute, a pass was missed near the center line. The midfielder did not have time to counterattack and was penetrated through the defense line again.
Forward Ryan Anderson scored the second goal for Grimsby Town.
2 to 2!
In the end, both sides shook hands and settled in a draw!
After the game, Yang Cheng greeted the players walking off the court with applause.
This surprised the players.
Being tied at home by a newly promoted team, this is not a good start for the Bayswater Chinese who are aiming to upgrade.
But Yang Cheng knew it very well.
This is already a good start.
The league is long.
He believes that his team will gradually enter a good situation as the games accumulate, as each problem improves, and as the players become more understanding!
By then, no one can stop the Bayswater Chinese!
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(End of this chapter)