coach legend

Chapter 148: A bleak start

With the whistle of the referee, the first round of the Blackburn Premiership in the 98-99 season officially began.It was also the first Premier League game in George's coaching career.

George has high hopes for this game, and everyone is willing to make a good start in their first time.Now that George has just entered Blackburn, many people are using a magnifying glass to pick out George's faults.Even Blackburn fans mostly don't trust George. At this time, only results can make them change.

George has carefully studied what is now West Ham United, a very typical English club.

George's hoarding of five players in the midfield is definitely not because of conservativeness.It has something to do with George's idea of ​​transforming Blackburn.George put Deco, Micoud, and Pires in the midfield, three players with outstanding skills.Just hope to use their excellent skills to control the ball and play a kind of pressing football.

England's style of play has always been to go through the midfield quickly and solve problems up front.But George wants to do the opposite and control the midfield.As long as the midfield is controlled, then the team's victory will be at hand.

English clubs have never set up the position of midfielder. This has something to do with the characteristics of English football.Even if there have been some outstanding attacking midfielders, after arriving in England, they will eventually be disgraced.Because they are not adapted to English football, unable to adapt to the rhythm of English football.

But George doesn't think it's the fault of those front midfielders, nor is it their poor adaptability.It's that after those midfielders are bought, once they can't adapt to English football in a short period of time, those clubs will soon give up these midfielders.

And they will not design a formation for those outstanding attacking midfielders that can give full play to their strengths.Still playing their football habits, it will be more difficult for those players to show their strength.

Of course, as each team pays more and more attention to defense in the future, the front midfielder will lose more and more positions.But at least in the current world football, the design of the front waist is still very common.

However, the game did not develop according to George's vision. George's requirement for the team is to control the ball first.Don't rush to attack, and don't retreat.It is to let the Blackburn midfielder control the rhythm of the game. Once the rhythm of the game is controlled, the following development will be logical.

but……

"Pirres, oops... Pires lost the ball again. I don't know if he is in a bad state today or he hasn't adapted to English football." Martin Taylor shook his head. "I've seen some Metz games before, Pires shouldn't be like that."

"Not only Pires, but Micoud conceded several times. Neither of them have adapted to English football."

George also frowned on the sidelines, blaming himself for underestimating the Premier League.During the training camp, George saw that although Blackburn had a short cooperation time, both Pires and Micoud had very high golf quotients.The cooperation between the two is very tacit.

Even in the warm-up match, the performance of the two was the best in the team.Especially Pires, his performance is no worse than that of Duff on the right.On the left side of Blackburn is like a fish in water, whether it is dribbling, passing or even shooting is very good.

But George overlooked one point, that is the difference between the warm-up match and the Premier League.When the warm-up match was arranged, it was just to test the tacit understanding of the team's cooperation.Forget the differences in English leagues.

English football, especially the Premier League, can be described as fast in one word, not just fast in rhythm.In defense, England players are willing to use physical collisions, and they are also ruthless and fast.They will not give the offensive side the opportunity to pass and control the ball calmly. They often defend and grab the ball as soon as you get the ball.

Pires, Micoud, including Deco and Makelele have never played in England.In particular, Pires, Micoud and Makelele are all from the French league, and there are many skilled players in the French league.But the rhythm of their game and English football are two very different styles of football.

Pires, Micoud and Makelele were suddenly very uncomfortable with England's way of playing football.

Especially Pires and Miku, they both have a habit.Of course, this habit was developed in Ligue [-]. They would pause after taking the ball to check the situation on the field.Anyway, their movements are very chic, but in such a fast-paced game in the Premier League, they can obviously feel half a beat slow.

They just got the ball, and as long as they stop, the opponent's players will come forward.And the kick is very fast, they rarely encounter this kind of scene in Ligue [-].They just move slower and they lose the ball.This is definitely not because the skills of the two of them are not good, on the contrary, the skills of the two of them are definitely the top in the Premier League.

As long as the two of them keep their spirits up, few people will really be able to grab their ball.They're just not used to the fast pace of the Premier League, and it's too fast for the two of them to adapt, so they steal the ball.

For a while, Pires and Micoud became the players who conceded the most goals, even Klose at the front did not concede as many goals as they did.Klose has been in England for three years and is no stranger to English football.So after taking the ball, they will deal with it as soon as possible.

George has almost nothing to do off the court, because this situation cannot be resolved in a short while.They need time to adapt to the English style of play, and they need time to adjust to the way they have played for a long time.

Now there are Romedal, Gudjohnsen and Hargreaves on the bench, and only Romedal can go to the wing to fight.And midfielder Hargreaves George does not intend to enable so soon.

What Micoud and Pires need now is time, they need time to adapt to the Premier League.George must give them this time, and they cannot be replaced just because they are not performing well now.

"Hold on, hold on. Don't be led by them, play according to your own style of play." George hurriedly pulled Sagnol on the sidelines. "You tell John and Robert not to worry. Just follow the usual training and kick as you like."

George originally wanted to find Hendry, but unfortunately Hendry could not speak French.And Pires and Micoud are not good at English now, so George asked Sagnol to spread the word.

But the effect is still the same, and finally survived the first half.During the intermission, George has been encouraging the players, especially Pires and Micoud, who often concede the ball, did not blame too much.

But the effect was mediocre. Less than 10 minutes into the second half, Makelele didn't handle the ball cleanly and was intercepted by Lampard.Then it was handed over to Steve Lomas who inserted in the back. Lomas inserted into the penalty area and shot a low shot. Flores was caught off guard and the ball rolled into the gate.

Shocking cheers broke out in Upton Park for a while, and George could only sigh on the sidelines.

The most commendable thing about Makelele's future is his position and his decisiveness.He rarely concedes the ball in his position, and he is still not used to the pace of the Premier League.

Later, although George made personnel changes, he was still unable to change.In the end, Blackburn lost [-]-[-] away.

"Congratulations, Coach Redknapp." George rarely congratulated a winner with such grace, especially when the loser was himself.

But George didn't blame anyone for this failure at all. This is a process that a new team must go through.

"It's not like you." Redknapp laughed loudly, but there was absolutely no pride after victory in this smile.Although it was a smile, it didn't make George feel that it was a humiliation.

"Then what do you think I should do?"

"You should have turned around and left with a sullen face. Then you should not even attend the press conference."

"Haha, am I such a person?"

"Of course, you go out and ask a reporter. That's what they'll say about you."

George and Redknapp couldn't tell that they were a pair of opponents who had just finished the match. Instead, they looked like old friends who hadn't seen each other for a long time.

But there is one thing that Redknapp is really right. When talking to Redknapp, George is very normal.Talking and laughing with Redknapp, he didn't look unhappy at all.But after turning around, George was still very dissatisfied.

A coach who really doesn't care if he loses the game is not a coach.George was very angry in his heart, but he would not show him.Because today's failure is only because the team's formation time is too short.

Therefore, in the subsequent press conference, just as Redknapp said, George said he was not feeling well, and Evan Sawyer was asked to go to the press conference instead of George.

Redknapp was on the verge of laughing when Evan said George was unable to attend the press conference because he was unwell.When we first met, George was still alive and kicking, and suddenly said that he was unwell.

A reporter also asked this question, and Evan shrugged. "I'm not a doctor, you can ask the doctor."

The reporters below were stunned, but they actually had a lot of questions to ask George.And he wanted to give George, who didn't show face to the reporter, a little bit of color, but George didn't give them this chance.

The reporters below were secretly thinking about how to ridicule George, a defiant young coach, in tomorrow's newspaper.

Redknapp was not very interested in seeing George not coming.After answering some questions casually, he left the press conference.

(End of this chapter)