long live football

After the New Year, Manchester United's schedule gradually became denser. In addition to the fixed four Premier League games every month, the UEFA Champions League will also restart from February. In addition, there are FA Cup, League Cup and other events in England. .

The FA Cup and the League Cup are organized by the English Football Association and the English Football League respectively based on knockout matches, and all football clubs in England compete regardless of level.The League Cup has always been regarded as tasteless by most wealthy clubs, but the FA Cup is still regarded as the top cup by most conservative England fans.

Generally speaking, when the schedule of certain competitions overlaps, the team will send the main players to participate in important games, and substitute players to participate in less important games. In other words, they will choose to give up to get the most benefits. When the World Cup encounters the Champions League, the main players must choose to recharge their batteries to prepare for the Champions League, because the latter is much more important than the former.

The intensive schedule means increased training tasks. Players must get enough exercise in normal times in order to maintain sufficient physical strength and tacit cooperation in the game.

If Carl faced full training supervision as soon as he came to Manchester United, he would have been unable to grasp the overall situation. Fortunately, he was lucky to have a proficiency period.

The first-team players crawled on the turf concentratedly, put their left and right legs on the backboard for a few minutes in turn, and then bounced their legs, pedaled bicycles while lying down, or did some other static stretching exercises.

Karl directed them to warm up: "Creep your legs...Okay, switch to the other side... Step forward... Press your body down, go down a little more... Squat...Jemba, don't stick your ass up!" Get up and keep your back straight."

The other players laughed enthusiastically. Although the young player from Cameron was a little embarrassed, he still adjusted his posture obediently.

After simply stretching the players' bodies, the next training is star running, which is a training method that requires players to change directions, slide and run at variable speeds in a fixed area, aiming to exercise their physical coordination and sensitivity.

Similar warm-up activities lasted almost half an hour, and the pace was very slow, but it was necessary.Because warming up is a process of adjusting one's physical and mental state, and preparing for the next competition. The movements don't need to be too intense, which is unnecessary consumption of physical strength.

After the warm-up is over, the highlight of the training is ushered in: the confrontation match.

One way is to split the 29 into two groups and have a real 90-minute match.

But Karl doesn’t use this method often. He thinks the effect is slow. The method he is more accustomed to is to divide the first-team players into four groups.Every two groups of players are combined at once, occupying half of the court respectively, and at the same time start a confrontation match. All the confrontation matches in all official games have: scrambling, stealing, defense, attack, shooting, and because a dozen or so people can only play in half a field. Activities on the court can effectively improve the ball feel of each player in a small space, and it is also very helpful for their ability to press urgently.

Matches can last 10 minutes, 10 minutes, or longer.After the end, those who perform poorly go directly outside the court to rest, and the people on the court can come to disrupt the number of groups and start over, or there can be a big confrontation between a dozen people and a dozen people on the court.

This time of day is also the time when Karl feels the most painful, because his eyes have to stare at the two halves at the same time, not only to see, but also to observe.The stunts of every famous star are not obtained in a flash of inspiration during the game, but are discovered by themselves or their coaches during training, and after thousands of experiments, they are finally formed.

Although Carl no longer needs a notepad to help him adapt to the team after getting his work done, he still carries it everywhere and writes down things anytime, anywhere, such as a new idea about training, a new idea about tactics The perception of the player, or the comment on which player, later this even became a habit that could not be changed.

Carl has a flamboyant handwriting, not exactly the kind of compliment.For faster shorthand, he uses one word to express a certain meaning in many places. Sometimes he thinks that writing in English is too tiring and long, so he changes it to Chinese characters or German.So when the members of the Manchester United coaching staff became interested in his notepad, they took a look at it, and no one recognized what was written in the notepad.

Mr. Joyce, the coach of the youth team, said to Carl with a happy smile: "It is actually a dangerous habit for coaches to carry notepads with them, because many tabloid reporters in England have tried their best to get them, so that they can peep at the ball." The team's training and tactics. But Carl, it doesn't matter if you lose your notepad, because probably no tabloid reporter knows what you wrote! Haha!"

……

"I've heard a lot of interesting things these days." When the group match started, Walter Smith suddenly appeared on the training field and said to Carl in a rather strange tone: "All kinds of rumors about you."

"Oh? What's it all about?"

"Your identity, some people say that you are a relative of the Lord Sir, and some people say that you have a close relationship with the Glazer family. In short, your origin is rendered very mysterious. Who told you that you are not a local? The reporters of the Evening News did not dig out What news about your family background." Smith looked at Carl: "Why, you don't seem to be surprised at all?"

Carl immediately smiled and said, "I've also heard a little bit of this kind of gossip."

"Do you think it's funny?" Smith asked in an inquiring tone, "Or you..."

"No, no, no, I have nothing to do with the Glazer family." Carl stuffed his hands in the pockets of his windbreaker, shrugged and said, "But I won't explain to them either."

"why?"

Carl slightly raised his chin and looked towards the court: "Don't you think my orders are getting smoother?"

Smith suddenly realized: "Ah, I see."

"I don't have decades of work experience like you, and I also have prestige in the club. I am young, not even as old as Giggs, and I don't know much about football. If these boys don't fear me in other places One point, when they see through me, I won't be able to command them." Carl said rationally, "Maybe you think I'm a bit of a sham, but when I subdue them, these boys will know that their acting assistant coach Auston He's just an ordinary kid."

Smith smiled: "You are not evil at all, Carl, you are a cunning boy."

The confrontation match on the training ground entered a fierce stage. Ruud van Nistelrooy shot the ball into the blue team's goal for the third time within half an hour.

Carl looked at it for a while, then suddenly said, "He's very good."

"Who?" Smith looked at the situation on the court, and suddenly said: "Ah, you said Van Nistelrooy? He is indeed very good, and he is in very good condition. With him here, I don't have to worry about the team's offense."

"No, I'm talking about Ronaldo."

"Little Ronaldinho?" Smith disapproved: "He is too independent."

"Don't you think his talent is excellent?"

"But his overall view is very poor. During the game, he doesn't know what passing is. He only knows that he blindly takes the ball and shoots, and his relationship with his teammates is not good." Smith shrugged: "Perhaps Sir Alex is going to let him As a striker, but let me say, we already have a 'King of the Small Box' Ruud van Nistelrooy, he is in his prime again, and he was the top scorer in the Premier League last season! Why do we need to create a dual core? Ronaldinho has such excellent physical condition, tall and healthy, wouldn't it be better to play in midfield?"

From Smith's tone, Karl can conclude that he will probably not let Ronaldo start until Ferguson returns from injury.At least not starting as a striker.

Karl moved his lips, but they still didn't open.

He thinks that Cristiano Ronaldo might be more accomplished than Ruud Ruud?

But you can't say this to Smith, you will be laughed out of your teeth.

why?

Because the current Ruud van Nistelrooy set a new record for the transfer amount of the Premier League in 2001, won the Premier League Golden Boot and the Champions League Golden Boot, and has become one of the greatest players in the history of Manchester United. Dutch".His fame has spread all over the world, even Real Madrid is eyeing him, and Chelsea has offered him a transfer price of 6000 million pounds.

And what about Cristiano Ronaldo?He is a Portuguese boy who has just entered the top five European leagues. His most eye-catching performance before was in the Portuguese national youth team. Since he transferred to Manchester United this summer, he has only played twice for the team and scored one goal in half a year. That's it, except for fans of the English Premier League, other leagues haven't even paid too much attention to him.

But Carl just had that intuition.

Because in Cristiano Ronaldo, he can see a burning vitality, a vigorous fighting power.

That's something he rarely sees in other people.

Even Manchester United first-team players.

……

At the end of the group match, Carl replaced the players who did not perform well, and let the remaining players play 11 vs. 13 big group confrontation.

Most of the players who were replaced looked unhappy, because everyone knew that if you performed well enough, then you must be on the court at the moment.

Two or three people went back to the locker room to rest, and some people sat on the sidelines and continued to watch.

Karl is still standing on the sidelines, maintaining his benchmark figure.

After a while, when he looked back at the seats outside the court, he found that Ronaldo was the only one left.

He walked over and sat next to him.

Ronaldo glanced at him with a surprised expression, and couldn't help but move to the side.

Karl felt the other party's "self-centered resistance to everything" atmosphere, but he did not choose to get up and leave to let Ronaldo stay quietly, but continued to sit down because he had something to say to the other party.

I don't know how many minutes passed, until Karl felt that the people around him were no longer acting like a hedgehog, and he said quietly: "Do you know why I replaced you?"

After a while, Ronaldo replied: "I don't cooperate well with my teammates?"

Carl's voice was faint: "Cooperation? I don't think you have cooperated with other players at all."

Although Carl may not feel it himself, when he speaks without emotion, his tone does sound extremely severe.

The young Portuguese was startled and felt a little sad in his heart.But the rebellious factor inherent in his character immediately became active. Ronaldo stiffened his neck and retorted without admitting defeat: "It's not my fault."

"I know."

"I said no...what?" Ronaldo was taken aback: "You said you knew?"

"When you're playing or training, no one passes you the ball, right? Even if you're closer to your teammates at the moment, they will choose to pass the ball to someone else."

Ronaldo said angrily: "That's right!"

"But." Carl: "You never seem to pass the ball to others?"

Ronaldo was silent.After a while, he asked in a toneless voice, "Do you want me to pass the ball more?"

Judging from the voice, the young Portuguese was probably extremely reluctant.

"I'm telling you this not to mean that I want to reform you." Carl said with a smile: "You are 'Mr. Ten Million Pounds', and I dare not attack you without the order of the Sir."

Ronaldo shrugged, with a very indifferent expression - so what about Mr. Ten Million Pounds?The club spent 1224 million pounds to buy him, but the chances of him getting the starting lineup are still very few.

"Mr. Smith doesn't like me." This was the first time he chose to open up to Carl.

"But BOSS likes you." Carl smiled and said, "You are the player introduced by BOSS himself, and he often asks about your training in the ward, so don't worry, you will become the team's regular starting lineup sooner or later. It's just a matter of time."

Carl's identity added a certain amount of gold to his words. After experiencing a little depression, Ronaldo's expression immediately became radiant again.