Chapter 43 New Tactics
It has been one day since we returned from Bournemouth. All the matches of this round of Premier League ended on this day. Now we can take a look at the standings.
Vitini is now paying special attention to the league standings.
He rarely did this before.
After all, Tyne's goal is to avoid relegation, and there is no result in the first half of the season.
If you really want to pay attention to points, you still have to wait until the final sprint of the season.
But now he cares so much about the league standings, of course, because his idol's words gave him a restlessness and expectation that he didn't have before.
He has to see how far behind Tyne is from fourth place in the league after 23 rounds of play?
The league standings are easy to check, and it didn’t take much effort for him to find Tyne’s position in the Premier League standings for the 2036-2037 season:
Twelfth.
Compared with the previous round of league, the ranking has not changed.
But compared with the idol before his debut in Tyne, he has improved a ranking.
Although this round of league play has ended and the ranking has not continued to rise, it is not without good news:
Sedham, who is ranked one place in front of Tyne, has been tied with points—— They were held to a 1:1 draw at home by Brighton and White Mountain.
The two teams now have 27 points together, and Sedham are ranked 11th in front of Tyne only by virtue of their goal difference.
In addition, the two teams ranked tenth and ninth, Witton Hill and Hurlingham FC, lost at the same time in this round of the league. Their points have not changed for a long time, they are all 28 points, which gives Tyne a chance to catch up.
Hellingham FC is even more miserable. The team led by Kofi Rost is experiencing three consecutive losses... Not only did he not prove himself by defeating Wang Lie, but he fell into the whirlpool of negative news. , became a clown in the field of public opinion who lost his wife and lost his troops.
I hope that at this time, he can understand to some extent what the king felt when he was besieged before!
When Vitini saw the ranking of Hurlingham FC, he thought with a little joy in his heart.
Then he continued to look up the standings.
The eighth-placed Shuslow and seventh-placed Kensington also have the same number of points - both with 34 points.
Sixth place Brighton White Mountain has 36 points. Coincidentally, fifth place Waltham also has 36 points...
From Tyne From twelfth to fifth place, the maximum point difference between the eight teams is only nine points.
If Tyne really wants to participate in the European competition next season, this is good news.
As long as they can get seventh place, they can participate in the UEFA Champions League next season, and Tyne and seventh place are now seven points apart.
If you want to play in the Europa League, it's nine points.
It’s not an exaggerated score difference, it’s not impossible to achieve.
Only the Champions League.
Soft United are now ranked fourth, with 43 points, and the point difference with Tyne is still 16 points. There are still fifteen rounds left in the league...
The mobile phone is placed On the coffee table, the real-time league standings are displayed.
Vitini crossed his arms, sat on the sofa, and looked down at his phone.
He just swiped his finger on the screen of his mobile phone and brought Sofos United, fourth in the league, to the top of the screen.
At the bottom of the screen is Wolverhampton, who are fifteenth in the league, with only 23 points.
Count two columns from bottom to top, and you can see Tyne.
Although it is not at the bottom, there is no difference.
This small mobile phone screen is a ladder list.
And Tyne, where he is, has to fight his way up from below.
And it’s not as simple as defeating the opponents above to level up.
As long as Soft United keeps winning, the point difference between Tyne and Champions League qualification will always be 16 points and will not be narrowed...
It’s too difficult, It's rare to make people want to give up.
Two of Tyne's next three games were against strong opponents, one against Scorsese at home and one against Clayton Athletic away from home, neither of which was easy to beat.
If he loses these two games... Vitini can't even imagine how bleak the future will be.
Looking at the mobile phone screen on the coffee table, Vitini frowned. Even a fan like him would inevitably have a trace of doubt about his idol when faced with such a situation:
Can we really do it?
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"I'm going to start Dean next game," McNeil told his coaching staff.
Everyone, including assistant coach Varro, was surprised.
"His performance as a substitute these past few times has been very mediocre..." Varro reminded McNeil.
"Of course I know, but I don't have a better candidate, Cesar."
Then McNeil explained the tactics he planned to use against the Scossians:
"The Scorsese are stronger than us, so we can certainly use our home court advantage to try to suppress them first. But if that doesn't work, we must quickly give up the idea of pressing high up the pitch, because our defense will be easily penetrated by the Scorsese. "
After hearing what he said, the others looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
Tyne's defense is notoriously bad. Although it has improved after McNeil coached the team, it is just tinkering like a tinker, and there is no radical change.
You may still be able to cope with weak opponents.
Facing a strong enemy like the Gaussians, a weak defense will in turn drag down the team's offense.
They can fully imagine that if they use a high-position press against the Scorsese, if they cannot seize the opportunity first, once the Scorseses recover, the space behind the defense will be fully utilized by the Scorsese.
Based on their understanding of Tyne's "mercenary", if the Scorsese score first, Tyne, who plays against the wind, may really collapse.
Even at home.
Seeing that everyone agreed with his point of view, McNeill continued: "...So in this game we should be prepared to face the fierce attack of the Scorsese and play defensive counterattack. When defending, we cannot If Wang stays in front alone, it will be difficult for him to catch the ball, and it will also leave us with one less person to defend, which is very dangerous. He must return to defend, but with his current explosive power, he can defend behind the scenes. It is almost impossible to quickly counterattack..."
Everyone nodded again, expressing agreement.
As Wang Lie got older, his experience and consciousness were all there, but his body functions declined significantly.
Physical fitness is not bad. You can slow down the decline as much as possible through extensive training, and you can also ensure that you can play the entire game through reasonable distribution of physical fitness during the game.
But the speed is gone, even if it is really gone, it will be difficult to get it back no matter how hard you practice.
Wang Lie has lost his speed now, especially his starting speed. The few steps he takes out are really slow...
During the training in the team, everyone sees it, but he just goes out. Out of respect or fear for Wang Lie, this issue was not discussed openly.
Wang Lie, who had lost his explosive speed, found it difficult to get to the front every time during counterattacks.
In the match against Helinhan FC, Wang Lie participated in two counterattacks, and it was so hard to run.
Vitini had to slow down to wait for him, so that a quick counterattack was impossible.
Hellingham FC is not strong enough yet, but when playing against the Scotsmen, if a very good counterattack opportunity appears, how can they slow down and wait for Wang Lie to come up? Then the chance is really gone.
Therefore, if you insist on letting Wang Lie be the offensive terminator, there will be big problems.
"...So when we defend, Wang has to be in the low post, and when we counterattack, he also has to start from the low post to participate in the attack. I hope to give full play to his experienced characteristics, launch the attack from him, and give the two wingers Deliver artillery shells. Then contain the Scorsese defensive forces in the middle and create more opportunities for our two wings..." McNeil walked to the 80-inch smart display in the conference room and opened it. Tactical board software, and then use a capacitive pen to write and draw on the tactical board to explain his ideas to everyone.
In his offensive tactics, Wang Lie, as the center, did not rush to the front, but trailed behind. Instead, Vitini and Dean The represented chess pieces took the lead, and they formed an inverted triangle with Wang Lie.
Varro suddenly realized: "Don't use Wang as the offensive terminator, but as the initiator. His experience, vision and passing ability are indeed quite suitable for this job."
In fact, in After Wang Lie's physical function declined, there was discussion in the media and on the Internet about whether Wang Lie should retreat from the forward position and switch to midfielder.
Supporters believe that Wang Lie has experience and awareness, as well as a good passing ability. It is completely possible to transform and play midfielder. There are many examples of midfielders who can still start in the top leagues at the age of 37 or 8. Even in wealthy clubs, they can be stable rotation players.
Opponents believe that playing as a midfielder is completely different from playing as a forward. It requires not only vision, awareness and passing ability, but also good ball control and ability to escape.
The latter two points happen to be what Wang Lie does not have. As a forward, his skills are sufficient, but as a midfielder, he is a bit rough. After losing speed, he has no ability to get rid of the ball. The modern football system also has high speed requirements for offensive midfielders, because they must maintain The ball advances.
A classical attacking midfielder who has no speed and can only pass the ball has basically no room for survival in today's football tactical system, let alone he is still thirty-seven or eighteen years old...
However, McNeil did not want to fix Wang Lie in this position. It was just a temporary measure, and he only wanted Wang Lie to make a cameo during the counterattack.
After he launches a counterattack, he still has to actively run forward and participate in the attack.
It’s just that you don’t have to wait for him to be the terminator of the counterattack. He can completely participate in the team’s second offensive - if there is one.
And if the team fails to counterattack and is forced to fight a positional battle, then Wang Lie, who did not catch up with the first wave of attacks because he was not fast enough at this time, will be able to play his center forward well. function.
Finley Hughes, the coach in charge of offensive training, expressed his opinion: "I don't think Wang is the problem in this tactic, the problem is Dean, his attitude and state..."
McNeil said: "But we don't have a better option than him on the right wing."
This is also true. Finley Hughes shook his head helplessly and stopped talking.
When Sonny Dean officially announced that he would leave the team at the end of the season, Tyne Club did not intend to immediately introduce players in the transfer market to replace him.
However, there are fewer players to choose from in the winter transfer window, and even fewer suitable ones.
Those who are willing to come to Tyne will be looked down upon by Tyne. The players that Tyne is interested in either don't want to come, or the other club won't let them go, and Tyne can't continue to spend money. After the new general manager Will Foster took office, Tyne Club has no idea about using them. His "money ability" has been very restrained. On the one hand, it is to repair relations with other clubs, and on the other hand, it is also to operate and develop the club in a more healthy and sustainable manner.
The result is that Dean has to continue to be used before the end of the season, and he cannot really be sent to the reserve team to stay until his contract expires, as the fans hope.
It's just that Dean, who has already been beaten, lacks subjective initiative in both training and competition, so his performance is naturally not much better.
McNeil looked around again and saw that no one objected anymore, so he decided: "Let's train like this first and see the effect. Of course, we also need to prepare some backup candidates as plan B."
※※※
“In order to deal with our next round opponent Scorsese, the team needs to make some adjustments to the offensive tactics...”
Before the start of training, all The players are now in the conference room accepting assistant coach Varro's explanation and lecture on the new tactics.
Let them figure out what they are going to play next, so that the training effect can be effective.
Varro used the tactical board on an 80-inch smart TV screen to explain new tactics to everyone.
Sonny Dean, who was sitting in the back, thought that after he made it clear that he refused, head coach McNeill would still forcefully promote Wang Lie's idea.
But as Varo explained, Dean first widened his eyes in surprise, and then frowned and narrowed his eyes, showing a puzzled expression.
Judging from what Varro explained to them, in this set of offensive tactics, Wang Lie will change from the original terminator, core, and protagonist to a passer and supporting role.
At least if the counterattack goes well, Wang Lie will definitely not be the one who ends the attack and threatens the opponent's goal.
Who will be the terminator?
Looking at the two frontmost chess pieces on the tactical board, although there were no numbers or names on them, Dean knew very well:
The one on the left must be that stupid bird of Vitini. And on the right side...if he can play, it will be him.
He originally thought that after rejecting McNeil and Wang Lie, he would not have the opportunity to play for Tyne again - in the last away game against Bournemouth Athletic, he simply did not even make the squad. None entered. He felt at the time that it was "revenge" from the head coach...
But I didn't expect that the head coach has come up with something new, and it's almost as if it was tailor-made for him.
Out of sight of Dean, Vitini stared at the content on the tactical board, his nostrils dilated with excitement, and his breathing became heavier.
He also saw that this was to make himself the sharp knife and spearhead of the team during the game.
Once the counterattack can start, he can run and break through as much as he wants without caring about whether Wang Lie is in place.
It’s not that he doesn’t respect Wang Lie, but to be honest, in order to match his aging idol, he really has to control his speed and rhythm.
It's as if it is a super sports car with a thousand horsepower and a torque of 1,300 Nm, and a top speed of more than 400 kilometers, but it can only reach a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour on the highway.
Safe and compliant, but somewhat of a waste of performance.
Both Dean and Vitini felt that this tactic was tailor-made for them, but they also had doubts at the same time:
What would Wang Hui think?
Obviously in this tactic, Wang Lie's scoring opportunities were equally divided by them.
In the past, Wang Lie was favored by all the stars in tactics. He was the core of the team's offense. In the end, the ball would always come to his feet, and most of the time, he would complete the shot.
Now Wang Lie has become a supporting role, responsible for helping Vitini and Dean.
Can he... accept it?
The two people secretly glanced at Wang Lie at the same time.
Actually, it's not just the two of them, many players in this room are taking a peek at Wang Lie at this moment.
We are not fools. They can more or less imagine what this tactic will look like after it is formed, relying on their own experience.
In full view of the crowd, Wang Lie did not appear to be out of the ordinary. He just looked at the tactical board without changing his posture.
Like an old monk sitting still.
However, in view of the various legends Wang Lie left to everyone before, no one can guarantee that Wang Lie has no objection to this arrangement...
What if he feels unhappy? ?
What they didn't know was that after McNeil reached a consensus with the coaching staff, he went to Wang Lie for a private chat and told Wang Lie his idea.
Of course he hopes to get Wang Lie's cooperation.
After all, as the team's captain and number one star, if Wang Lie doesn't cooperate and insists on asking him for the right to fire, then this tactic won't work.
Just like Sonny Dean disagrees, Wang Lie’s idea for McNeil won’t work.
As the head coach, McNeil can also forcefully promote his own tactical design, but in doing so, he offends Wang Lie, and the originally harmonious unity situation is completely destroyed.
At the same time, he also lost Wang Lie's trust, and it became impossible to get Wang Lie to trust him again.
If the two sides are at odds with each other, the team's performance will naturally not be better. If the team's performance is not good, his head coaching position will not be guaranteed.
Wang Lie and McNeill did have a frank exchange of views and discussed the pros and cons of this tactic. During the process, he expressed some concerns to McNeil, but ultimately accepted the head coach's arrangement.
After all, he really can’t tell McNeil that he can become younger as long as he scores goals, so you should let the whole team feed me the ball crazily so that I can become younger as soon as possible, so that I can too In turn, I will help you...
Let’s not say this. Believe it or not, McNeil’s request is unlikely to be realized. If the whole team really feeds him the ball crazily, he might be able to Score a few more goals, but the team's performance cannot be guaranteed. After all, it is always easier to defend against Wang Lie than to defend against a team. Any head coach, as long as his brain is not wet, knows what to do.
And his personal goals are important, but more important is the team's results.
His goal is to go to a bigger stage and participate in the Champions League next season.
If in the end the team fails to reach the top four in the league and qualify for the Champions League, then what if he is ten years younger?
There is absolutely no use for it!
So when it comes to helping the team win, Wang Lie and McNeil are completely in agreement, and he has no reason not to cooperate.
(End of this chapter)