Chapter 1 Zhang Jun and Yang Pan Officially Join the First Team

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan had officially entered the first team, and their relationship with the other teammates was also very harmonious. In particular, Ochu. Adrianzse was initially worried that the arrival of Zhang and Yang would make him a disruptive element in the team, but unexpectedly, Ochu's performance was very satisfying. Looking at his performance on the first day he met the two competitors, one wondered if it was his nature or if he was aware of the bigger picture and put the overall situation first. Anyway, the personnel changes did not have any negative impact on the team. This was what Adrianzse was most satisfied with.

Of course, a harmonious relationship with teammates did not mean tacit cooperation. A good relationship was only a foundation; tacit cooperation still required targeted training every day. Recently, Adrianzse had been arranging training specifically for the characteristics of the two Chinese youths. Their strength was indeed outstanding, but their tactical awareness needed to be improved. After all, amateur matches could not be compared with professional matches.

Yang Pan and Zhang Jun had a tacit understanding, but their coordination with other players was still off. Therefore, Adrianzse had been conducting offensive routine drills recently, hoping to integrate the two into Volendam's tactical system more quickly.

Generally speaking, coaches divide the field into three zones to better conduct training. These three zones are the attacking third, the middle third, and the defensive third. Football is actually a game of creating and limiting space, and this is most evident in the team's and individual's offensive and defensive actions. Offense is about creating and utilizing space, passing and running, and set-piece attacks. Defense is exactly the opposite, limiting time and space, pressing and protecting, and set-piece defense. As a coach, one should teach players how to judge in two situations: 1. Judging safety versus risk; 2. Evaluating the probability of success of this tactic, that is, taking the action most likely to succeed in the current situation.

Initially, Adrianzse had Zhang Jun and Yang Pan train to create space. Football matches are won by utilizing space, and before a team can utilize space, they must first find ways to create it. Space is created through individual or team cooperation, and sometimes it is easily obtained due to the opponent's mistakes. Players with poor ball control need more space to control the ball, so the first question to ask when considering individual space creation is the player's control of the ball, which is logical. Zhang Jun and Yang Pan had Les personally supervise and guide them in the youth team, coupled with their already good foundation, so ball control was not a big problem. Passing and receiving the ball are the foundation of football and are seen as necessary means to achieve any goal. Les had done a good job in this area, so Adrianzse directly let the two enter the stage of joint training with their teammates—team-wide space creation training.

In football matches, individual performance is very important, but without coordinated teamwork, even the most brilliant individual performance is worthless. With coordinated cooperation, the role of each person can be fully utilized. In matches, there are many ways to create space by combining the awareness and actions of two or three teammates:

Using crossing to create space. The creation of space is usually related to increasing the distance between defenders, while the role of crossing is exactly the opposite. It is to attract two defenders closer together, so that space can be created on either side of them.

Crossing can be done horizontally or longitudinally along the football field. The ball-controlling player and their teammate move towards each other and cross. When they are crossing, the player without the ball can take the ball away or lure the opponent for the teammate who continues to dribble. Adrianzse told the two that three points are most important when completing a cross: 1. When you are crossing with a teammate, everyone should make a sudden acceleration. 2. If you are dribbling, you should dribble with the foot farthest from the opponent, so that you can better protect the ball. 3. You and your teammate should signal each other in advance to determine who will dribble the ball away and who will lure the opponent. If you do not signal and determine in advance, it is a pity to lose possession due to mistakes between your own teammates.

If the ball protection action is completed well, the defender will find it difficult to see the movement of the ball clearly. Coupled with the sudden change in speed, the defender will find that it is impossible to keep a close eye on the attacking player. Space is created in this way, and there is an opportunity to attack the opponent by using this space.

Creating space by moving behind. The goal of making a run from behind is to create space and utilize space. This is usually a player without the ball running from the side of the ball-controlling player and running to a position in front of them. The coordination of runs from behind is generally carried out on the wing, but it can also achieve good results in the middle.

It is very important to know when to cooperate and support the player with the ball behind the ball, and when to make a run from behind and enter the position in front. When it is not necessary to support the ball-controlling player, it is time for the supporting player to move forward. If the ball-controlling player can turn around and has space to pass the ball forward, that is the moment the player running from behind should seize. These things are easy to say, but it really takes hard training in the training ground to master them in the game. At the very least, Zhang Jun realized one thing: when he was training with Bayes to support the run from behind, he failed to grasp the timing of the run from behind. In addition, he and Bayes were not as tacit as Yang Pan, so he and Bayes did not cooperate well. Either he ran too late, and Bayes had already passed the ball, or Bayes hadn't passed the ball yet, and he ran into an offside position. Adrianzse blew his whistle tirelessly, stopped the training, explained in detail to Zhang Jun, and then blew his whistle again, and the training started again... Relatively speaking, Yang Pan was much better. In high school and college, his understanding of tactics was better than Zhang Jun, so Liang Ke chose Yang Pan as the captain, rather than Zhang Jun, the spiritual core of the team. In executing the coach's tactical intentions, Yang Pan was professional-level, while Zhang Jun was just starting out.

Creating space by increasing depth and width. Football is a confrontational sport. The relationship between the two sides in the game is confrontational, which determines whether one side is attacking or defending.

When one side defends, its goal is to try to limit the time and key space available to the attacking players. When one side retreats and converges towards its own goal, it concentrates its forces in the key space near the penalty area. When the retreat is completed, the defending players will find that they are very close to each other.

When a team launches an attack, creating space and time is the top priority. This can be achieved by increasing depth or width, or both. In the meantime, every player must think quickly and run reasonably.

When creating space, quick thinking is as important as reasonable running. It is only possible to think quickly when players are fully focused. There is a tendency for psychological relaxation to occur after teammates exchange possession of the ball. If this happens, the initiative will be immediately given to the opponent. However, if the players can stay focused at all times, they may be able to continue to control the ball and seize the initiative.

To give a simple example, when a defender cannot turn around and clear the ball under the pressure of an opposing forward, and does not want to give the opponent a corner kick for nothing, the best way is naturally to pass the ball back to the goalkeeper. But passing the ball back to the goalkeeper also involves a certain risk. Examples of goals conceded in football matches due to mistakes in coordination between the defender and the goalkeeper are not uncommon. One reason is that the defender has not implemented the tactical requirement of creating space by increasing depth and width. After the defender passes the ball back to the goalkeeper, the forward who has been pressing him will naturally shift his target and pounce on the goalkeeper, and effectively pressing the goalkeeper will cause the goalkeeper to panic psychologically. The goalkeeper is usually the person with the worst footwork in a team, and in this case, it is easy to make low-level mistakes. At this time, the defender who passed the ball back should pull to the wing to create the width needed for the goalkeeper to pass the ball. After all, when the forward goes to press the goalkeeper, he loses the care of the defender, and the goalkeeper can calmly pass the ball to the foot of the defender who has pulled to the wing. The defender can then calmly decide whether to make a long pass, dribble the ball himself, or make a short pass.

From the above, it can be seen that increasing depth and width is actually everywhere. Only by using it reasonably can your team get more opportunities. If every player on a team can spread out after gaining possession of the ball, it will pose a difficult problem for the opposing defense to mark and protect.

In response to the characteristics of this tactic, Adrianzse repeatedly emphasized the following six training requirements in training:

1. Players should not only run to different spaces at different angles, but also be able to see the ball in their running.

2. The player's positioning should make it more difficult for defenders to mark and protect each other.

3. Attacking players who are preparing to receive a pass from a teammate should have as wide a field of vision as possible in their position.

4. The choice of pass is very important, and you should try to consider the players who are penetrating forward—not necessarily the ones with the largest space.

5. The quality of the pass is crucial. The space that has been created will be lost due to poor ball control and low-quality passes.

6. If space has been created, the next step is to utilize the space. If the players continue to pass the ball back or across, the opportunity to utilize the space will be missed. Therefore, after creating space, players should think about how to utilize the space and quickly advance forward to get a shot.

When conducting this training, Zhang Jun truly realized Les's good intentions, especially the fourth and fifth requirements emphasized by Adrianzse, which are the foundation of this tactic. Les tirelessly trained them in passing and receiving the ball to lay the foundation for them. If the foundation is not solid, nothing can be built on it. In this training, because of the solid foundation in front, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan made rapid progress. They have been able to make some wonderful running and passing combinations with several teammates.

Creating space through diagonal runs. Diagonal runs, as the name suggests, are diagonal runs relative to the football field. These runs can be in any of the following directions: diagonal runs from the middle of the field to the wing, which usually refers to runs from the inside to the outside; diagonal runs from the wing to the middle, which usually refers to runs from the outside to the inside.

The purpose of diagonal runs is to create space or utilize space that has already been created. Sometimes this type of run requires a short distance and depth—10-15 yards, and sometimes this type of run will be a long distance and shallow depth—40-50 yards. The first type is more similar to the aforementioned increase in depth, and the run must be in a very steep diagonal direction. The latter is similar to creating width, because of the offside rule, forwards often have to make diagonal runs with shallow depth and different distances.

Diagonal runs by players in the frontcourt position can cause many problems for the defending players. Defending players prefer attacking players to make linear runs back and forth, which is more helpful for defending players to mark, protect, and retreat to the goal. Diagonal runs are another opposite that the defending side does not want to encounter. It brings problems to the defending players, which is to lead them out of the normal line of defense, and have to decide how far to leave the line of defense, when to mark the opponent, when to block space, and how to protect each other.

Excellent diagonal runs by forwards can often create space that can be used by teammates running from behind. In Volendam, because Adrianzse set up two forwards, we will take the two forwards as an example. Two forwards make diagonal runs in opposite directions in the game, which can separate the two central defenders who are marking them. This is called a "separation run". The two central defenders are forced to leave their defensive positions, and a vacuum zone will appear in the middle. At this time, the midfielder must quickly seize this opportunity and run from the midfield to the front of the penalty area. This run cannot be a straight run, and the defending players in the midfield will not notice the attacking players making diagonal runs due to the angle of view. This is called a "blind spot run". The area behind the defending players is easily attacked by "blind spot diagonal runs". This is mainly due to the fact that defending players in this type of position tend to seek and fail to take care of their opponents, putting themselves in a position where they are facing away from the opponents and failing to observe their actions. When a midfielder is making a diagonal run, the player with the ball should quickly pass the ball to the path of his run, that is, the vacuum zone created by the separation run of the two forwards. The offensive situation is thus opened.

Diagonal runs are one of the most commonly used and effective tactics in attack, and are also a skill that forwards must master. Therefore, Adrianzse arranged a lot of related training for Zhang Jun and Yang Pan in this area.

Creating space with one-touch play. Throughout high-level football matches, players must have accurate direct passing ability. The closer you are to the opponent's goal, the more important the team's ability to accurately and quickly perform one-touch play.

Some may mistakenly think that one-touch play is too difficult for general players. The general idea is to start with simple and easy things, such as two touches or three touches. This thinking will lose sight of the purpose and starting point of one-touch play, because the purpose of this exercise is to focus on improving the player's ability in the following aspects:

1. Field of vision. Young players always look down in matches, and rarely pay attention to what is happening on the field and the running of the surrounding players. Sometimes this is attributed to the player's excessive focus on the ball and insufficient observation of the situation on the field. Two touches allow you to observe first and then control the ball, and then look up again before passing the ball. It is very likely that during the time you observe the ball and then observe again, the situation on the field has changed, often leading to wrong roles and slow rhythm of play.

The biggest advantage of one-touch play is that it can prompt players to pay attention to the situation on the field and make decisions in advance before the ball reaches their feet. In unrestricted matches, the fact tells you that playing the ball directly will not necessarily bring results, but in many cases, one-touch play is particularly valuable and necessary.

2. Decision-making speed. Football matches are, to some extent, a game of decision-making. Of course, making the right decisions is also equally important. In order to think more deeply and quickly about problems than your opponent, the ability to make quick decisions is crucial. One-touch play can cultivate the player's ability to think quickly and make decisions as early as possible. Because, in fast-paced one-touch play, you don't have time to slowly think about each step before making a move. By that time, the ball has already reached the opponent's feet.

3. Ball speed. Undoubtedly, one-touch play is the fastest method of passing the ball. Speed often makes it easy to obtain space and better angles, and thus also obtain more time to observe the situation on the field, which is very beneficial. In other cases, it is best to get the ball out as soon as possible. Defenders will react to the movement of the ball, so if a series of one-touch plays is used, the point of attack will constantly change, and the speed of the ball will be faster than the defender's reaction. The result is that it creates more space for the attackers.

4. Movement of attacking players. Defenders must not only react to the movement of the ball, but also react to the actions of the attacking players. When the fast movement of the players is combined with the movement of the ball, the difficulty of making decisions for the defending players is greatly increased.

One-touch play can encourage attacking players to move quickly into position to help their teammates get the ball out, and it can also prompt players to quickly run to the next position after passing the ball.

This is why one-touch play should be regarded as an indispensable part of football teaching.

Adrianzse knows this very well, so he arranged one-touch play training content after all the above training in training. One-touch play is a comprehensive technical and tactical play style that combines all the skills of players' diagonal running, exchanging positions, running from behind, and passing and receiving the ball.

Zhang Jun initially thought that one-touch play was the golden goal they scored against the High School Affiliated to USTC in the final that year when he was in the second year of high school, but he realized in training that one-touch play does not necessarily require many players to keep passing the ball from the backcourt to the front of the goal without stopping the ball. That is super one-touch play, which not everyone can master... One-touch play occurs most often in the frontcourt and midfield, a small number of one or two people passing and running in response, quickly tearing apart the opponent's defense with small-scale cooperation, forming an opportunity to break through the defense and score.

One-touch play is more of an examination of a player's tactical literacy and observation ability than a requirement for technical skills. Zhang Jun and Yang Pan do not have too many problems with passing and receiving the ball, but because they lack the long-term tacit understanding established with their teammates, their passes often look like headless flies. The teammates also lack an in-depth understanding of Zhang Jun and Yang Pan. To give a simple example: How fast is Zhang Jun's acceleration? Other teammates don't know, so when Zhang Jun runs, the phenomenon of people running past and the ball arriving later often occurs. However, this is not a difficult problem. As training progresses, everyone knows how fast Zhang Jun's starting speed is? The fastest in the whole team. And how fast is Yang Pan's 100-meter speed? The fastest in the whole team.

While Zhang Jun and Yang Pan were undergoing these difficult but necessary training sessions, while they were still desperately trying to integrate into this big team family, while they were still making phone calls to their families once a week to exchange news of safety, three more rounds of the Dutch Eredivisie had passed. Next week, because of the international match day, this week is a week with two matches. The intensive matches made Volendam, which did not have enough bench depth, feel a little overwhelmed. As a result, they lost again in three matches, suffering a four-game losing streak, without scoring a single goal, and ranking at the bottom of the league.

Adrianzse knew that his test had not passed. Although he successfully led Volendam to the Eredivisie in one season, poor results would still lead to his dismissal. Even though the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie were completely different concepts, the team's boss did not care about these things. He invested money, so he must see returns, see results, and his boss was also an impatient person...

The day after losing the sixth round, the boss, Hoens, called Adrianzse to his office and talked to him all morning, telling him that he must win at least one of the three matches, otherwise he should consider finding a new job.

Adrianzse's difficulties could not be told to the boss. In fact, it was useless to tell him. He needed bench depth to cope with the long winter. He needed excellent shooters to score goals for him. But these things cost money, and Volendam's strength was far from having that financial strength.

The boss's impatience was also reflected in his interference with his personnel work. It was agreed in the contract that he, the coach, would have the final say in the introduction of players. But this morning, Hoens, the old man, warned him not to joke with the club's money and future.

"I don't understand why you want to introduce two Chinese people? To be honest, Chinese people simply can't play football. Look at their terrible performance in the World Cup! And the two of them are so young, do you want to train them from scratch? Damn it! Throwing money in handfuls on two useless wastes with no future!" Hoens became more and more excited as he spoke. He waved his arms, spittle flying everywhere, every inch of fat on his body trembling with his激烈的动作.

Adrianzse thought in his heart, you son of a bitch can't play football! You臃肿的丑陋老胖子! But he was just saying it in his heart. He didn't want to fall out with the boss now. The results were currently not good, and it was understandable that the boss was angry.

But Hoens got addicted to saying it, and he began to give Adrianzse, the famous coach who had coached Ajax, a tactical lesson. In a certain match, he was too conservative and led to failure; in a certain match, he was too bold and led to failure; in a certain match, his substitution was inappropriate and led to failure; in a certain match, his tactical formulation was wrong and led to failure...

Adrianzse really couldn't stand such a big fly buzzing in his ear. He suddenly stood up and interrupted the boss's "grand discussion": "I want to assure you, sir, that as long as there is another failure in the remaining three matches, I will leave with those two 'damned' Chinese people!"

PS: This chapter mainly talks about tactical training. I don't know if it will make everyone feel a little boring and tired? Hehe, but I have to write even if it is boring, because this is necessary. These tactical training sessions are relatively basic learning processes for Zhang Jun and Yang Pan, and they must accept them.

In addition, spending so many words to write about tactics also wants to express a point of view. Tactics are not as you think, you must involve formations and personnel allocation to be called tactics. In fact, throughout football matches, tactics are everywhere. There are big tactics, such as defensive counterattack, total attack and defense, central penetration, wing breakthrough... There are also those detailed tactics. For example, a two-on-one is considered to be a reflection of personal skills and a reflection of the tacit understanding between two people, but it is also a football tactic.

What I have been lacking is a more detailed and systematic theoretical knowledge as the basis. Hehe, but now it's good. I bought an old book during the Spring Festival. After reading it, I suddenly realized and improved my understanding of tactics, which is also of great help to my writing.

The knowledge of tactics and training arrangements mentioned in this novel are all quoted from this book "Football Tactics and Skills" (English name: soccertacticsAndskills), author [English] Charleshughes (Charleshughes), People's Sports Publishing House.