i want to be king

Chapter 908 Playing against Barcelona?court death!
Monaco is actually quite small.

It is not far from the Grimaldi Conference Center to the hotel where you stayed in Manchester.

This is the first time for Manchester City to participate in the UEFA Super Cup. Although Soriano and Begiristan had already prepared and contacted Monaco in advance, it was a pity that Barcelona took the lead.

Their relationship with Monaco is obviously better.

As a last resort, Manchester City can only live further away, find another team in Monaco, and Beausoleil borrows the venue.

Just like Monaco's training ground is located halfway up a mountain, Beausoleil's training ground is located on another halfway up a mountain, but the scenery is not as beautiful as that of Monaco's training ground, basically you can't see the sea, the training facilities are relatively simple, and the security is even more useless.

Fortunately, City only need one training session in the afternoon.

When Su Dong and Begiristan returned to the hotel near the Monte Carlo Casino, the team had already finished training.

As soon as Guardiola heard that the two had returned, he immediately asked someone to invite them over.

Not only Guardiola, Estiat and Torrent are there.

Seeing the frowning of Guardiola in the center, Su Dong and Begiristan looked at each other, and they both expressed helplessness.

In private, the players gave Guardiola a nickname, Mr. Tangled.

why?

Because he is so entangled!

Many times, many things, he has to repeatedly struggle.

To put it bluntly, this is called meticulousness, and to consider all possible things that may happen, but to put it bluntly, this can also be said to be indecision, so Guardiola's on-the-spot command is also quite poor.

Obviously, the reason for his entanglement this time is not the draw that just ended.

Although it was an extremely bad signing, the first game is still far away and does not need to be considered for the time being.

There is only one thing that can make Guardiola so entangled, and that is the next European Super Cup.

……

Many people will not understand Guardiola's complicated feelings for Barcelona.

He is the legendary captain of Barcelona, ​​but in the twilight of his career, he was ruthlessly kicked out by Barcelona at the age of 30, so that he was later reduced to Serie A, and even almost had no ball to play. The next few years were basically mixed.

It can be said that Guardiola's feelings for Barcelona are love and hate.

After retiring, Guardiola began to work as a coach. After obtaining the coaching certificate, he entered the Barcelona youth team to coach. It was the opportunity created by Begiristan and Soriano.

Later, Barcelona was turbulent and determined to change coaches. Guardiola once became the number one favorite of Barcelona's head coach, which gave him hope. He wanted to show his ambition in Barcelona.

But the reality is extremely cruel. At that time, Barcelona's management did not give him such a chance at all. They would rather be accused by many celebrities including Cruyff, and choose Mourinho, who is not in harmony with Barcelona's traditional style.

Guardiola continued to coach the youth team, and finally decided to leave 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 Begiristan who trusted him, and Su Dong who has always supported him.

But from the beginning to the end, he was under tremendous pressure. It was not until last season's Triple Crown that he was slightly relieved.

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.

A game decides the outcome!

He attaches great importance to this game, but it is precisely because of this that he is nervous, apprehensive, anxious, uneasy...

He is such a sentimental and complex person!

……

"I still remember that when we were playing for Bayern Munich, Beckenbauer, Rummenigge, Hoeness and Heynckes, we sat together and discussed tactics against Barcelona, ​​and finally summed up two ideas."

Su Dong relieved Guardiola's anxiety somewhat, because he didn't want Guardiola to make wrong decisions because of anxiety and pressure. This is not a good thing for Manchester City.

"The team's tactics are always formulated around the characteristics of the players. Whether it is offensive or defensive, the head coach just makes choices based on his own ideas. Therefore, Barcelona must play pass and control the ball. Opponents need to make choices based on this."

"One is to defend and counterattack. By strictly guarding against dead defense to limit Barcelona's pass and control space, compress Messi's offensive space, and then limit Barcelona's pass and control attack, and then wait for opportunities to counterattack and create murderous opportunities."

Needless to say, basically in the past few years, all teams facing Barcelona have adopted this tactic, even during the most difficult time for Barcelona.

Because since Rijkaard's time, Barcelona has always been one of the strongest teams in European football.

"The other one is confrontation. In the past few years, many media and fans have been asking, why no team dares to play confrontation with Barcelona? And everyone's answer is only two words, court death!"

Guardiola and Begiristan and others all nodded.

What Su Dong said was actually right. Playing against Barcelona is really courting death.

Is Arsenal's pass and ball control good enough?
Last season, in the first round of the knockout round of the Champions League round of [-], the Gunners met Barcelona at the Emirates Stadium, and the result was a [-]-[-] victory.

But in this game, the Gunners had half as much possession as Barcelona, ​​34 to 66.

Arsenal also won by defending and counterattacking. At best, it can only be said that Wenger's team is not so ugly.

Only two weeks later, in the second leg at the Camp Nou, the ball possession rate was 68 to 32, which looked similar to the first leg.

Three to one, the shooter was directly disabled.

To some extent, Van Persie's red card is not only an accident, but also a necessity.

Just like what happened to many teams when they faced Barcelona, ​​red cards, fouls, misjudgments...all of these are actually a result of the strength of the two sides.

It was impossible for Arsenal to win because they were so pinned down that they didn't even have a shot on goal.

What is this concept?
That is to say, the mighty Arsenal couldn't even kick a single shot in the 10-minute game at Camp Nou.

With such a disparity, even without Van Persie's red card, wouldn't they still lose?
And this is based on Arsenal's shrinking defense, and they are constantly being beaten behind, so what if they are pressed out?
It will be like Real Madrid, and the score will be maxed out every minute.

Isn't that true for Manchester City against Manchester United and Arsenal last season?
In fact, this European Super Cup is now attracting the attention of the whole world.

Because Manchester City and Barcelona are the two teams with the strongest ability to pass and control the ball in European football today, and both have superstars in charge.

Everyone is looking forward to it, and want to see if Manchester City has the strength and courage to challenge Barcelona?
Because so far, no team has dared to press out, play against Barcelona and defeat their opponents!
"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 press. This is because Barcelona's ability to control the ball is too strong. Only this level of press can grab the ball."

If you can't grab the ball, you can only let Barcelona pass the ball to attack. If you don't have the ball, you can only shrink the defense.

"Secondly, just grabbing the ball is not enough, because in Mourinho's tactics, Barcelona's counter-stealing and oppressive capabilities are also very strong, so after grabbing the ball, they must be able to protect the ball and keep the ball. Avoid losing the ball soon."

It is a very terrible thing to grab the ball and then lose it.

For example, throughout the ages, the standard for measuring a good midfielder is, can you protect it after grabbing the ball?

A midfielder who can't protect the ball, no matter how good he is at grabbing the ball, is scum.

In the same way, facing Barcelona, ​​being able to grab the ball is only the beginning, and being able to protect the ball is the next step.

"Therefore, it is necessary to have a very good pass and control ability, which is not even lost to Barcelona, ​​and this has basically eliminated all current teams in European football, except our Manchester City!"

Su Dong said this very confidently, but it is not unreasonable.

Manchester City's pass and ball control is indeed very good, and Barcelona and Barcelona have their own advantages. If we really want to fight, it may not be whoever wins, but Manchester City will still be a little weaker in terms of tacit understanding.

The first 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 more difficult than the first one. I don't know how many times more difficult. Even for many teams, there is no solution.

If you want to play pass and possession, tactics alone are not enough, you also need players who can play pass and possession.

Harvey and Iniesta are the best midfielders who have played this set in the past and present. Who else is better than them?
Not to mention, there is a Messi up front.

Speaking of this, in fact, everyone knows what Su Dong means.

There is another very critical and important point. Su Dong didn't say it, but everyone knows it well.

"Third, excellent physical fitness!"

Many people think that Barcelona is playing pass and ball control, and the players are weak in body and physical fitness, but in reality?

Wrong, very wrong!
Barcelona's players are short, but it doesn't mean they are poor in physical confrontation. They play passes and control the ball, but it doesn't mean they are poor in physical fitness.

On the contrary, it is because they are a group of short players with excellent physical resistance, outstanding physical fitness and technical players with foot skills, so Barcelona's pass and control system is so terrible.

Even if Mourinho goes to coach, he can only be forced to play pass control.

In other words, if any head coach in the world came, Barcelona would always play pass control.

Unless all these players are cleaned out and a new batch is replaced.

It's not that everyone present didn't understand the three points Su Dong said, but he's focusing on them now to make everyone's minds clearer.

Looking at world football, Manchester City is the team closest to the three conditions listed by Su Dong.

none of them!

(End of this chapter)