Chapter 259: Rijkaard's Decision

The white handkerchief fluttering from the stands at the Bernabéu declared the defeat of Real Madrid.

The score was finally fixed at 0:2. According to international practice, the home team is in front and the visiting team is behind.

Valencia took all three points from the Bernabéu and another victory over Real Madrid.

After the game, Chang Sheng also fueled the fire of Real Madrid at the press conference.

"Since Del Bosque was sacked, Real Madrid have been in a quagmire. Queiroz is a good assistant coach, but definitely not a good head coach. A man who has never coached the first team has risen to the sky and became Real Madrid. The head coach of Madrid. Such a ridiculous thing may only happen to Real Madrid!"

"Real Madrid paid the price for their naivety. I don't think Real Madrid have a chance of winning the league this season. Although there are still 14 rounds of the league until now, I can see the future."

His words made headlines in the Madrid area media after the game. Both "Marca" and "Aspen" carried out special reports and comments on Chang Sheng's words.

Some people think that Chang Sheng is arrogant and arrogant, and he will be punished.

But there are also people who agree with Chang Sheng's point of view.

They felt that although Chang Sheng's words were a bit harsh, they made sense.

Queiroz is indeed inexperienced, he is an excellent assistant coach, so he can put Real Madrid's training plan in order.

It's a pity that competing for the league championship in a football game is not just about training well.

As a head coach, Queiroz has two fatal flaws.

First of all, as an assistant coach, his on-the-spot command ability is very poor with no experience as a head coach. A game that could have been won was ended in a draw because of his poor and chaotic adjustments, and a game that could have been unlost was turned into a loss because of his impromptu command. It is really a luxury for Queiroz to practice with a giant team like Real Madrid and accumulate experience.

Second, Queiroz is not qualified enough to shock the superstars in the Real Madrid dressing room.

It was previously believed that the arrival of Queiroz could help Beckham better integrate into the team. Moreover, his experience of working next to Ferguson is also considered to have learned a lot of experience in managing the locker room. But they ignored that although Queiroz has studied with Ferguson for many years, he is not Ferguson after all, and his style is completely different from Ferguson.

His background as an assistant coach has already made many Real Madrid players look down on him. Coupled with the fact that he has no meritorious experience that can be used at all, the superstars are even less fond of him.

In addition, even if he has followed Ferguson for many years at Manchester United, he may not have experience in managing the Real Madrid dressing room. Because the dressing room of Real Madrid is very special. You can’t find a second team like Real Madrid in the world football that gathers many world superstars. These superstars are aces in any team. The aces in the game are now gathered in the dressing room of Real Madrid, how to deal with the relationship between them?

Queiroz, who had no experience in this area, couldn't handle it at all.

This is no longer Chang Sheng's nonsense, but has been proved by facts.

Counting on such a head coach to compete with Changsheng is indeed a bit reassuring.

But what if they are worried?

A coaching change in the middle? I'm afraid it's worse than what Queiroz did.

Is it necessary to watch that bastard Chang Sheng lead Valencia farther and farther like this?

※※※

Valencia's victory over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu is hardly news.

Although Chang Sheng said that he believes that Real Madrid will not win the league championship, there are still many people who think that Chang Sheng is talking nonsense, or that they are simply enjoying the feeling of humiliating their opponents after defeating them.

His words cannot be trusted.

Chang Sheng doesn't care whether they believe it or not, time will prove his right.

After the game against Real Madrid, it was the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final.

In the first round, Valencia beat Zaragoza 2-0 at home. In that game, Valencia was half of the main force and half of the substitute, but this game was often victorious but did not dare to make any big claims.

Now that they have decided to win the Triple Crown, Chang Sheng naturally has to take his opponents seriously. Not to mention that this game is still an away game. In Spain, it is normal for the same team, the same lineup, and the same tactics to perform completely differently at home and away.

La Liga has many home dragons and away worms.

Chang Sheng made adjustments to the lineup. Although he did not have all the main players, he still had 80% of the main players to ensure the strength of the team. At the same time, fine-tuning individual positions ensured the physical strength of the team. Depleted of stamina due to continuous fighting.

With such a lineup, Valencia and Zaragoza finally shook hands with each other 1:1 in the away game.

Valencia eliminated Zaragoza with a total score of 3:1 and entered the final of the Copa del Rey.

Another Copa del Rey semi-final was played the next day.

Although Real Madrid lost 0:1 to Sevilla in the away game, they still eliminated their opponents with a total score of 2:1 and entered the final.

This is really not friends not getting together, Valencia and Real Madrid meet again in the Copa del Rey final.

I don't know if Real Madrid, which was just defeated by Valencia at the Bernabeu, will want to defeat Valencia in the King's Cup and succeed in revenge.

Anyway, this time Florentino learned his lesson and did not apply for the final at his home court after the result of the match came out.

Instead, the Spanish Football Association allowed the final to be held at Camp Nou, Barcelona's home court.

Maybe he thinks beating Valencia at Camp Nou is also a good choice.

Barcelona have no objection to the FA's arrangement, and while they are unhappy with both finalists, they would probably prefer to support Valencia if a comparison had to be made. After all, Valencia has Guardiola in the middle, and the tense relationship between Changsheng and Barcelona is mainly aimed at Barcelona's top management, and has nothing to do with ordinary Barcelona fans.

Of course, more Barcelona fans actually think this way-this Copa del Rey final has nothing to do with us, we don't care who wins and who loses!

These people will not go to watch the game live, let alone wait in front of the TV for the start of the live broadcast of the game.

※※※

The twenty-fifth round of the league is the last round of the league before the restart of the Champions League.

This makes those people who are always victorious in black feel excited-they have a sense of honor that they are witnessing history.

When the Champions League starts, Valencia will face the unfavorable situation of fighting on the third line. This is not a good thing for Valencia, but a downright bad thing.

There is a league game on the weekend, and the Champions League will be played in the middle of next week.

Valencia's opponents are not bad.

The opponent in the eighth-finals of the Champions League is Stuttgart from the Bundesliga.

In the league their opponent is Barcelona.

The only good news is that both the league and the Champions League are at home, avoiding the pain of traveling.

In the early stages of Rijkaard's coaching of Barcelona this season, Barcelona's results were not very good.

After seven rounds of the league, Barcelona's ranking fell to eleventh. It seems that it is the same rhythm as last season-going towards the goal of relegation.

Since then, Barcelona has been wandering between fifth and twelfth in the league.

Halfway through, Barcelona ranked eighth.

For the giants, such a ranking can be regarded as very bad. You must know that Barcelona was the team that competed for the championship in previous years.

Such ups and downs in performance and results well reflect Rijkaard's wavering psychology.

On his first day in Barcelona, ​​Rijkaard felt the pressure.

This pressure comes not only from competitive performance, but also from Barcelona's tradition.

When he came to this team on the first day, he heard many people say -taka, the tradition of Barcelona.

From the top of the club to the ordinary fans, everyone thinks that Barcelona is the originator of -taka. The ever-victorious Valencia just imitated their tactics and achieved great success unexpectedly.

Since imitators can be successful, then we Barcelona should also be successful.

So Barcelona's -taka is destined to be the best tactic in the world. When Rijkaard came to Barcelona, ​​he had to play -taka and win as beautifully as Changsheng.

Everyone asked Rijkaard to do the same.

Rijkaard also felt that it was no problem to do so when he knew little about La Liga.

Barcelona is the originator of -taka. Their understanding and execution of tactics are obviously more profound than Valencia. This kind of football is integrated into their blood and bone marrow. Definitely stronger than Valencia.

Since Chang Sheng can use this tactic to succeed in Valencia, why can't I?

The smug Rijkaard then began to implement the -taka tactics in Barcelona.

It stands to reason that the team should start to win beautifully. But the reality is quite different.

Riquelme and Xavi are behind the midfield, and they can't cooperate anyway.

According to Rijkaard's understanding, -taka should be a fast-passing football.

But when the football reaches Riquelme's feet, it will habitually slow down the rhythm, so the team's offensive rhythm is messed up.

That's all, the defensive problem is what Rijkaard can't bear.

If you play 433, there are only three players in the midfield, and there are few defensive options. Xavi and Riquelme are the kind of players who don't defend.

Although Enrique is very responsible and willing to return to defense, he is not a full-time defensive player after all, and his defensive ability is limited.

In this way, Barcelona's midfielder does not have a player who can defend.

The result of not having a full-time midfielder in the midfield is that the enemy's offense can always easily hit in front of Barcelona's back line and directly face their central defenders.

Barcelona suffered such a loss more than once.

As the season progresses, Rijkaard always feels that Barcelona's tradition-taka is not as good as they say, otherwise why can't they always win?

But if you give up -taka, I am afraid it will lead to a backlash from the club's top management and fans.

Barcelona fans can be proud of this tactic.

After much deliberation and wavering, Rijkaard finally made a decision—not to give up -taka completely, but to make adjustments on the existing basis and maintain -taka's tactical style, but the things inside are completely different .

First and foremost, strengthen the team's defense.

And strengthening the team's defense starts from the midfielder.

(to be continued)