According to Bielsa, the tactical evolution of European professional football over the past few years has been focused on improving two levels, one is running ability, and the other is offensive and defensive conversion efficiency.
A player, in a football match, spends most of the time running without the ball.
Therefore, the improvement of running ability can greatly enrich the team's tactical methods.
During Guardiola's peak year or two at Barcelona, the players' running ability was quite astonishing.
What matches this is that under the amazing running, Barcelona also did a very good job in frontcourt pressure and on-the-spot counterattack, and the offensive and defensive conversion efficiency was extremely high.
Therefore, Barcelona during that period was almost unstoppable and invincible.
But everyone knows that this kind of large-scale running consumes a lot of players and is difficult to maintain for a long time.
Therefore, Guardiola later hoped to reduce the number of players by increasing the ball possession rate and increasing his own ball possession time. consumption.
But in this way, the ball possession time is longer, but the efficiency is lowered.
So it gradually evolved into another situation, which is what many fans say, brushing the ball possession rate.
Moreover, the excessive pursuit of reliable ball control has led to the team not daring to easily try vertical passes and long-distance passes at the moment of transition between offense and defense.
Because of the high risk, Barcelona can only use short passes.
In such a fiercely competitive European football world, with the overall improvement of running ability in recent years, a way of restraining Barcelona soon emerged.
First came Mourinho's Inter Milan, then Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid These teams all have one thing in common, that is, while their running ability is not inferior to that of Barcelona, their offensive and defensive conversion efficiency is quite high, and their counterattacks are quite sharp.
Especially Real Madrid.
Whether it is Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká and Benzema, or later Gareth Bale, they are almost all introduced and organized around the purpose of breaking down Barcelona with quick counterattacks.
From Pellegrini to Mourinho, and then to Ancelotti, no matter how Real Madrid's head coach changes or where the player lineup is, even the best head coach can't change Real Madrid's style. , that is defensive counterattack.
But the difference between Real Madrid and other teams is that they are Real Madrid, so they can attract a group of top players who can run, defend, have excellent skills, and have high tactical execution.
Just like Benzema, Modric, Di Maria, etc., are all players of this type.
When this group of players with excellent technical skills actively run in a wide range on the court and play defensive counterattacks, the role of extremely fast wing counterattack weapons such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, can be maximized.
It can be said that if the current Real Madrid coached by Carlo Ancelotti encounters the Barcelona coached by Guardiola, assuming that both teams perform to their due level, Barcelona will undoubtedly lose.
But in addition to Real Madrid, including Barcelona, the technical and tactical level of European professional football is also developing at a rapid pace.
While Real Madrid is racking its brains, thinking about how to stimulate the strength of superstars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, several teams with very unique styles have emerged in European football.
That is Heynckes' Bayern Munich, Klopp's Dortmund, Simeone's Atletico Madrid, and Bielsa's Southampton.
Klopp's Dortmund and Simeone's Atletico Madrid both have a very typical characteristic, which is that they can create maximum opportunities for their opponents in the widest range of the entire field through active wide-range running and excellent tactical execution.
Pressing and pressing.
If Barcelona under Guardiola pressed in the frontcourt and Real Madrid pressed in the midfield and back, then Dortmund and Atletico Madrid pressed in the full court.
What’s interesting is that these two teams are both weak and unable to build a lineup of outstanding players like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Therefore, they can only adopt this relatively civilian style of play. .
If I use an idiom to summarize it, diligence can make up for weakness.
However, it is precisely this kind of tactical thinking that came from the two teams' poor thinking, but it has produced very good results in their own leagues and even European competitions, and has also achieved very good results, which has given those wealthy teams a lot of hope.
Big warning.
Therefore, you can see that Bayern Munich, under the coaching of Heynckes, after many failed attempts at tactical changes and successive defeats to Dortmund, decisively learned Dortmund's style of play and relied on players who were better than Dortmund.
With technical strength, Bayern Munich played more accurately and sharply.
It must be said that when Heynckes was coaching Bayern Munich, his achievements at the tactical level were actually not high.
It can even be said that many attempts failed.
However, during that period, the players were in good condition and performed well on the field. , so Heynckes’ team succeeded.
What really determines the gap between Bayern Munich and Dortmund that season is the two wing superstars Franck Ribery and Robben.
After Barcelona experienced the shabby Vilanova era, Enrique also began to follow the path of Heynckes.
Bielsa's Southampton can be said to be a step further based on Guardiola's Grand Slam Barcelona.
Utilize Ibrahimovic's amazing power in the frontcourt to greatly enrich the team's offensive routine.
In the midfield, Modric and Toni Kroos formed a double defensive midfielder, resolutely adopting frontcourt pressing tactics.
But Southampton is not obsessed with possession of the ball, but plays more directly and penetratingly in offense.
Coupled with the players' excellent running ability and skilled skills, the Saints' overall control has become quite strong.
But since last season, Bielsa has been thinking about making changes.
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The first is that the defense line is no longer pressed.
With the changes in football tactics in the past few years, almost all teams, especially the rich and powerful teams, have become quite mature in their regional defense system.
Especially in the Champions League, their defensive capabilities are far from what they were three or four years ago.
Before, Southampton had Ibrahimovic in front, who could press high.
But now, the Swedish center has left the team, and the backbone of high-position pressure is gone.
If we continue to use high-position pressure, in the end, the opponent will only succeed in sneak attacks and counterattacks.
The signs were already showing during the International Champions Cup.
Therefore, Bielsa's strategy does not adopt high defense, but adopts full-court pressure similar to Dortmund and Atletico Madrid.
More importantly, Southampton's players' running ability has been significantly improved this season.
This is the culmination of many years of significant investment by the club in the past.
What the improvement in running brings is that although the team's defense line has moved back, the overall control has not declined.
On the contrary, the frontcourt players have gained more space and can use their active running and cooperation with each other. , enriching the team's offensive methods.
Also because of his improved running ability, Bielsa dared to sell Modric, weaken the midfielder's ball control, use a faster and more direct method to quickly pass through the midfield, and comprehensively improve the team's offensive and defensive conversion efficiency.
Therefore, Di Maria and Fabregas were introduced.
Anyone who is familiar with the characteristics of the two players knows that although they are both very skilled, one is a explosive attacker, and the other is a final pass and back-up scorer.
Neither is Modric's type of ball handler.
To put it simply, what Southampton is pursuing now is an integrated football team that is faster and more efficient than Dortmund and Atletico Madrid, with more precise passing and receiving coordination, richer offensive methods, and stronger players' personal abilities.
Field pressure.
Judging from the current performance of the team, Bielsa's transformation is very successful.
However, if the Argentine madman leaves the Saints after this season, who should take over?
Who can lead this Southampton team and move forward?
This question hardly bothered Yang Huan because from beginning to end, he only identified one person.
That is, at this moment, Guardiola standing in front of him To put it bluntly, he is the person closest to Bielsa's football philosophy and the person most suitable to take over the Saints.
Moreover, unlike Southampton's strong people and strong horses, Bayern Munich's lineup has obvious problems.
Xavi Alonso, Lahm, Franck Ribery and Robben, the team's tactical pillars, are all old.
But Bayern Munich's metabolism is progressing slowly.
Therefore, to a certain extent, it is difficult for Guardiola's tactics to be perfectly executed at Bayern Munich.
Even during this period of time, his work at Bayern Munich was indeed quite outstanding.
Therefore, when Yang Huan heard Guardiola's sigh, he immediately smiled and asked lightly: "Have you ever considered leaving Munich?"
This simple sentence shocked Guardiola and looked at Yang Huan in disbelief.
Master Huan nodded lightly, "Marcelo decided to move behind the scenes and specialize in tactical research."
Guardiola understood that what Master Huan meant was that Bielsa had decided to move behind the scenes, and Southampton would need to find a new head coach to take over the team.
But Master Conghuan took the initiative to come to him and told him this, which made his meaning very obvious.
This is Master Huan’s invitation Asking yourself, Guardiola was indeed very excited when faced with the invitation from Southampton and Master Huan.
Even though Southampton has only been on the rise for a few years, everything they have done is shocking.
More importantly, Master Huan has shown his heartfelt trust and unconditional support to Bielsa in the past few years.
This is something that any head coach dreams of.
Southampton's current lineup configuration is definitely more in line with Guardiola's requirements than Bayern Munich, and it is easier to achieve results.
Coupled with the relaxed coaching environment that the Saints management has always given to the head coach, it is difficult to It's revolting.
What's more, the Premier League has introduced famous European coaches in recent years.
Each team's tactics are very different, the overall strength is strong, and the competition is so fierce.
As a head coach, being able to compete with opponents with different playing styles is definitely an excellent opportunity to stimulate your own progress and confirm and improve your tactical concepts.
As you can see, Bielsa's tactical concepts have made rapid progress in the past few years in the Premier League.
Therefore, Guardiola is really tempted, but
Yang Huan saw Guardiola's hesitant look and knew better.
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He smiled slightly and said: "Pep, I hope you understand that this is not a temporary idea, but the result of careful consideration and consultation with the team.
You, are We have set a goal.”
At this point, Master Huan laughed and said, "This is how I do things.
As long as it is a goal that I have set, I will definitely try my best to achieve it."
"And, today, I can also promise you here that as long as you and the team need any player, I will try my best to get it for you, even if it is Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi."
"So" Yang Huan looked at Guardiola deeply, "How about you think about it carefully":