Chapter 422 Tuchel's three-back idea

L'Equipe's front page headline: Fabregas transferred to French Ligue 2800 team Monaco, with the transfer fee fluctuating around million euros.

Daily Mail Special Edition - Nike has signed a 15-year, £9 million endorsement contract with Chelsea. Chelsea is currently profitable, but if the London team wants to sign Kyle Walker, it must sell another player to get no less than £2000 million.

Chelsea legend Pat Nevin: If a player must be sold to raise budget, Kurt Zouma is the most suitable choice at the moment.

Chelsea reporter Kieran Gillb: The team management raised the matter of Zouma's transfer to the new coach Tuchel. The player himself had a negative attitude towards the transfer, and Tuchel believed that Zouma's technical characteristics would play a role in Chelsea's new season.

Team Daily, July 7: Mourinho disbanded the men's football players who were in training. Currently, Wu Lei, Zhang Xizhe, Liao Lisheng, Gao Lin and other Chinese Super League players have all returned to the club.

London Evening News - The Blues players will return to the base for training on July 7, with Jiang, Hazard, Terry, Pogba, Azpilicueta and other players set to return on July 11.

Hot discussion among football experts: The match will start in less than 20 days, and Chelsea’s opponent for the China tour has not yet been determined. Are they not going to play anymore?

The Asian and European preliminaries have ended. Currently, Chinese fans are most concerned about two things: one is the transfer window of the five major leagues, and the other is Chelsea's game at the Bird's Nest on July 2.

In the past, when the five major leagues came to China to play games, they would announce their opponents several months in advance, but this time Chelsea made the sudden decision to come in May.

Chelsea management and the Chinese organizers originally planned to invite Arsenal to join them and perform a London derby at the Bird's Nest, but unfortunately Arsenal had already confirmed the entire schedule of warm-up matches in April and really could not make time to come to China.

The most likely candidate at the moment is Chinese Super League's BJ Beijing Guoan, but the problem arises again. The organizer of Chelsea's China tour has arranged the match time for July 7, while Guoan has a Chinese Super League match against Shenhua on July 22.

After playing against Chelsea, we flew to Shanghai to play against Shenhua the next day. This is totally impossible.

Obviously, this was a mistake by the organizer, a huge mistake.

[Brothers, I bought the tickets, but Chelsea didn't even have an opponent to play against. Can I get a refund now? ]

[Anyway, there are nearly 30 players coming, at worst they can just play an internal training match. Anyway, as long as Jiang Yuan and Hazard are there, the ticket will be worth it]

[Yeah, if the game really happened, I might not be able to get this ticket]

[The suggestion here is to refund the ticket directly. If this continues, what will you do if it is cancelled directly? 】

[Guoan can't come, but there is still Beijing Renhe in the Chinese League One. Let them come. It's just a friendly match, the score doesn't matter, as long as there is a game to watch]

[The Renhe schedule seems to conflict. I suggest contacting Juventus. Juventus seems to have not made any arrangements yet. Chelsea and Juventus are not much different in level, so we can arrange a match later.]

[Anyway, I have sold the tickets. This won’t work. We will have to play a real team training match then.]

[In fact, the game doesn't matter, the main thing is to watch a star. As I said, as long as Jiang Yuan and Hazard are on the field, the ticket will at least not be a loss. The advantage of playing a training match is that there will be more interaction with the fans at that time]

【RNM! Refund! 】

The organizers are very nervous now. The contract has already been signed. If the game cannot be played, they will lose at least 3 or 4 million.

There was no choice but to contact the Chinese Super League teams as soon as possible, and the result was that all teams had games to play.

Everyone wants to play against Chelsea, Guoan and Shanghai Port both want to play, and this is all money that comes to your doorstep. The problem is that there is really no time to spare.

Then contact the Football Association to see if the 18th round of the Chinese Super League can be postponed for Chelsea's trip to the Bird's Nest, so that Guoan has time to play against Chelsea.

"Will Jiang Yuan play?"

Interim Chairman Song Kai looked at the report handed over by Director Liu and asked this question.

“Contractually required”

Director Liu helped Song Kai turn to the third page of the Chinese version of the report, which stated that Jiang Yuan would play for at least 30 minutes.

Song Kai stamped the document without even looking at it: "Director Liu, what do you think? Just postpone the match between Guoan and Shenhua. You can let the competition department arrange this matter."

Chelsea vs. Beijing Guoan. This match will not only promote Chinese football, but the Chinese Football Association can also get a share of the ticket revenue by virtue of its affiliation with Guoan. This is a deal that will not lose money in any case.

Several key figures gave the results of the discussion, and the competition department started it directly. As a result, they found a problem and decided to postpone the match between Guoan and Shenhua, but Shenhua disagreed.

Shenhua's meaning is that postponing the schedule is something that must be considered carefully and they will not agree to it.

unless……

Unless they are allowed to play against Chelsea!

Song Kai was also in a dilemma. In order to avoid complaints from Shenhua, they decided to postpone the 18th round of the Chinese Super League to August. As a result, Shanghai SIPG, Evergrande and Taishan all jumped out.

Haigang and Evergrande even directly stated that Guoan's level this season is not good, and it may not be very exciting to play against Chelsea, but if they come, they are confident that they can control the net loss within 5 goals.

There is a bit of pretentiousness in this, but if you think about it carefully, if you want to play Chelsea, it is indeed a better choice to take out the best team in the Chinese Super League this season, at least it will be a little more acceptable in terms of face.

"Um, Chairman Song..."

Director Liu thought about it carefully, and finally took a step forward: "The organizers mean that the 18th round of matches have been postponed anyway, so why not let the men's football team play against Chelsea?"

"No, absolutely not!"

Song Kai's first reaction was to refuse.

Letting the Chinese men's football team play against Chelsea is simply a joke.

Song Kai is a person who cares about his reputation. When Chelsea beat the Chinese men's football team 10:0, the Chinese national football team will be criticized online. If nothing unexpected happens, some people will start to reflect on themselves.

"I feel that the attitude towards football in China has improved a lot now..."

Director Liu said.

Although there are still many people cursing the men's football team and the Football Association, at least you won't see comments like "No Chinese can play football" on Weibo anymore.

Although football stars cannot bring improvement to the entire team, they still have a strong control over public opinion. Now everyone has to think twice before scolding the Chinese national football team. If someone who doesn't understand football also scolds Jiang Yuan, he will probably be attacked by the Chinese national football fans the next day.

I can only hold my anger if you curse other fans, but if you even curse the Premier League Golden Boot winner, I will definitely send you a private message.

"Chairman Song, everyone is here to watch the players in this friendly match. Chelsea + China, double satisfaction in one match. Besides, listen to me..."

Director Liu accepted the gift given by the organizer, and he had to say a few more words in front of Song Kai.

"Chelsea vs. Chinese men's football team, Chairman Song, think about it this way. If this is done, will the fans shout 'the Football Association is awesome'?"

"We can do what other football associations can't do, and we don't even have to discuss it with Chelsea. There are no games to play, so they will definitely not refuse."

"..."

Song Kai sat in his office chair and listened to Director Liu's speech.

Chelsea plays Chinese men's football team...

The Football Association is awesome...

……

At Labor Park in DL City, LN Province, there are still four days before the next China League One match between Dalian Yifang and Hangzhou Greentown, and second-hand ticket transactions are taking place in Labor Park.

Huang Yanfeng, a reporter from "Football News", sneaked in and noticed a bald uncle in his 40s among the many fans who were selling tickets through the Damai.com APP. The uncle was not selling Dalian Yifang's home tickets, but paper tickets for Chelsea's China tour on July 7.

"Sir, are you selling this ticket?"

Huang Yanfeng walked over and prepared to interview the uncle.

"Of course. Why roll the ball when there is no opponent? At the beginning, they said that Guoan and Chelsea would roll the ball, but now there is no news. Chelsea can only roll the training match in the Bird's Nest."

The uncle showed the ticket in his hand to the camera. Huang Yanfeng leaned back after seeing it. "It's still priced at 688, not cheap!"

"That's right, but I'll definitely lose money if I sell it now. Give me 500 and I'll sell it."

Hearing what the uncle said, a young man who was watching the show nearby suddenly came over and said, "Are you sure it's 500? I want this ticket."

"sure!"

The uncle's eyes lit up. He hadn't even bought a high-speed rail ticket yet, and he almost thought he was going to lose this game ticket!
I bought the ticket for 688 and decided to sell it for 500. Even though I would lose 188, it was still within an acceptable range.

"This……"

Watching the bald uncle and the young man complete the transaction, Huang Yanfeng said embarrassedly: "Actually, I wanted to buy this ticket."

"Hey, you should have told me earlier. I should have let you compare prices."

The uncle received the payment through WeChat, put his phone back in his pocket, and looked at Huang Yanfeng in front of him: "How much are you willing to pay?"

Huang Yanfeng thought about it carefully and gave an answer: "For tickets priced at 688, the average price in the scalper market is 2700-2900, which is within this range."

"Kid, are you here to make fun of me?"

The uncle curled his lips and said, "3000 yuan to watch them play for 90 minutes. You mean the member box ticket?"

"No, the membership is priced at 1600. I said 688. 688 is the price now."

As he spoke, Huang Yanfeng casually opened Baidu and then looked at the hot search list.

1. Chelsea’s opponents in China tour are the Chinese men’s football team.

2. Chelsea vs. Chinese national team, Jiangyuan derby to be staged at the Bird's Nest on July 7?
3. The contract stipulates that Jiang Yuan will have at least 30 minutes of playing time, but it is still unclear which side Jiang Yuan will play for.

4. The Football Association's brilliant move reversed the Bird's Nest ticket market
5. Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior 2" is about to be released, and the box office is expected to exceed 30 billion yuan
"Fuck"

The uncle suddenly realized something was wrong and turned to look at the young man who had just bought the ticket from him. The young man saw the uncle suddenly looking at him and ran away.

"RNM! Give me back my money! I want my money back!"

"RNM!"

……

July 7, Chelsea Cobham training base.

After completing their national team duties and holidays, Chelsea players began to return to base to report.

drop!Drip!

In the parking lot, a Mercedes GTS was blocking an Audi R8. The R8 driver kept turning the steering wheel but couldn't get around it.

Azar leaned out of the car window and said, "Jiang, fuck, can you let me park in the parking space first?"

“Hahaha, okok!”

Jiang Yuan drove the car backwards, and Hazard, who had gained space, turned the car around, pointed his butt at the parking space, and slowly moved in. Next to Hazard was a Cullinan and a G-Class, which belonged to Terry and Zouma respectively. By looking at the cars, you can tell which players have already started training and which players are still stuck in the parking lot.

Jiang Yuan drove in and thought there were no cars on the road in the middle, so he easily completed the reverse parking.

boom!
After closing the car door, Jiang Yuan walked out of the driver's seat. Hazard was waiting for him at the front of the car: "Oh, you didn't even step on the accelerator to hit me. Unbelievable."

"You should have told me earlier, I didn't think of that."

Jiang Yuan laughed and pulled his backpack out from the passenger seat through the car window.

The security at Cobham base is quite strict, so Jiang Yuan doesn’t have the habit of closing the car windows in the morning.

"haven't seen you for a long time"

Jiang Yuan hugged Hazard while carrying his backpack on his back, with the shoulder strap directly thrown on the Belgian's butt.

"Let's go see the new coach first."

As Hazard walked out of the parking lot, he said: "Germans should be stricter. This is my intuition."

“I’ve already met him.”

"Ok?"

Seeing Hazard's puzzled look, Jiang Yuan explained: "Yesterday, I stopped by once when the plane just arrived yesterday afternoon. I had dinner in the cafeteria."

"Hard-working child"

Azar exclaimed.

"Come on, kid? You're the one who came to my mouth."

Jiang Yuan walked over and made some simple gestures with Hazard. Hazard was only 1 meters tall, which was relatively short in Chelsea Club and even in the entire Premier League.

Take Chelsea for example, Hazard is only taller than Kante!

Jiang Yuan's teasing was met with a roll of the eyes from Hazard. They met Pogba, who was brought by bodyguards, at the exit of the parking lot. Pogba saw Jiang Yuan and the other man, told the bodyguards to remember to pick him up in the afternoon, and then got out of the car directly.

"long time no see!"

"long time no see!"

……

As always, the transfer window came to the training ground with many new faces, but also many disappearing ones.

Matic, Begovic, Traore, Chalobah have all left, Falcao's loan has expired, and Remy's contract has expired and he has left the team as a free agent. More than half of the summer window has passed, and Chelsea has already lost many people.

Of course, since some people leave, there must be new people coming in. Manchester City goalkeeper Caballero joined Chelsea for free. In addition, many players returned to Chelsea when their loan expired.

"Jiang, Eden, and...Paul!"

When Caballero saw Jiang Yuan and his group walking into the training ground, he walked over from the door and shook hands with every player, including a special hug with Jiang Yuan.

clap clap!

Caballero patted Jiang Yuan on the back twice: "You scored 2 goals against me last season"

"Ha ha ha ha"

Caballero stepped back, and Jiang Yuan reached out again to shake hands with him: "But we are together now."

"But you still shot me during training."

"Hahahaha!"

Hazard pushed Caballero back onto the grass: "This is your chance to improve, mate!"

Beep——! !

When the whistle sounded, the Blues players gathered on a piece of grass in the middle. Tuchel and Zsolt Loew from his coaching team stood in the open space in front of the players.

"Good morning everyone, we have been doing rehabilitation training in recent days, and the recovery effect is still good, so I am considering increasing the intensity of training in the next few days."

Tuchel spoke English, although not very fluently and with an accent, but for the Blues players who were proficient in English, it was no problem to understand what Tuchel said.

"But each of our players will return at a different time."

Tuchel looked at Jiang Yuan and Hazard and said, "So our training today is separate. Some players will start formal training, and some players will recover first. Zsolt and I will lead you in training separately. Of course, there is also Rozovic. Rozovic is mainly responsible for the rehabilitation training."

Jiang Yuan glanced at Rozovic who was standing on the side with his arms around each other. The Russian did not follow Chelsea to China because he was not a member of Mourinho's team.

Lozovic stayed at Chelsea even longer than Mourinho, who returned for the second time!

After arranging the specific training tasks, the three coaches led the players to do some simple warm-up exercises and started training while warming up.

Jiang Yuan discovered that Tuchel and Mourinho were very different, the biggest difference being…

"what are these?"

Jiang Yuan and Hazard, who were participating in rehabilitation, stared at each other in surprise because they saw Zesot Lov asking a worker to walk into the field with a large bag filled with all white footballs.

Jiang Yuan and Hazard were not shocked because the team bought a new ball, but because the ball was a smaller size.

"Is this the ball we're going to use?"

Jiang Yuan pointed to his chest and asked. Tuchel nodded: "A smaller ball can help you practice your foot feel. Don't be surprised. You will get used to it soon."

Jiang Yuan and Hazard next to him looked at each other. Neither of them had experienced this kind of training, so they didn't understand.

But since Tuchel said so, just do it.

“There will be more such training in the future.”

Love reminded, then threw the ball and kicked it hard to the far goal. Both the formal training team and the rehabilitation team need to use this smaller football for circle-grabbing training.

“He likes to steal the circle and feel the ball”

Jiang Yuan told Hazard his conclusion. Compared with Mourinho who likes to play direct training matches within the team, Tuchel's training method pays more attention to small-scale cooperation between players.

“This is a good thing for us”

Hazard said, running with a smaller football with the outside of his foot, and knocking the ball off the ground as he ran.

"Why is it a good thing? We don't even know the effect of this training yet."

"You do not understand"

Hazard passed the ball to Jiang Yuan: "Isn't it easier to steal the circle than in a training match? The intensity of our training matches last season was even higher than that of regular matches, which means we have to play games every day. That would kill me."

"It's tiring to steal the laps, too. Thomas likes to steal the laps in a small area. We need to concentrate and our brains can't rest."

"As long as I don't have to run, it doesn't matter if my brain is tired or not."

As he spoke, Hazard took the high ball kicked by Jiang Yuan with the arch of his foot and kicked the ball into the sky with the instep of his foot.

"Hey! Eden!"

Rozovic's voice came: "We've just started warming up, don't shoot, you'll get hurt!"

"I know, I know, I just want to kick you"

Hazard raised his hand to signal, and then successfully unloaded the ball kicked into the air: "This smaller ball is very comfortable to kick, Jiang, you can also try it"

……

In the afternoon, after the basically low-intensity rehabilitation training ended, the players went to the cafeteria to eat after receiving massage.

Tuchel did not make a rule such as having dinner in the cafeteria, but the players had to stay during the past week.

Because of the overtime work this week, Tuchel has to instill his football philosophy into the Blues players in the conference room after dinner, during non-training time.

This is what every new coach will do, and Tuchel is no exception.

"First of all, I need to make it clear that everything that happens next is kept confidential."

Tuchel was speaking and the players were sitting on chairs listening. Tuchel did not allow the players to play with their mobile phones while he was speaking, so Pogba could only hide his phone behind the back of Ibrahimovic's chair.

He would be leaving get off work late today, so he needed to have his bodyguard wait for him in the parking lot for a few more hours.

"Zesot and I watched the game videos of the 16-17, 15-16 and 14-15 seasons. Jose (Mourinho) is used to playing in a 4231-4-- formation, with four defenders and two defensive midfielders. But I need to make it clear to you that we will not play like this next season."

Tuchel knows how to control his players, and his first sentence attracted the attention of all the players present.

Chelsea has been playing like this since 4231 became popular in the British Football League, so 4231 is 433. Now Tuchel suddenly comes up with a three-back formation, and of course the players will have some ideas.

The most nervous among them is captain Terry. He might have become a marginal figure next season, but Tuchel wants to reduce the number of defenders.

The veteran captain no longer knows whether staying for another season is the right decision.

"3421, or 352, according to the analysis done by Zsolt and I, these formations are more suitable for Chelsea at this stage. We need to send the players to the front. Paul and N'Golo will become more important in the new season's lineup. I need you to do a lot of things."

The 3-defender formation sends all the players to the midfield and front court, which seems to be a very extreme offensive style of play, but it is not actually the case.

The three-back formation can also defend, and with the help of two defensive midfielders, the three-back formation can be transformed into a stable five-back formation in a short time.

Kante will have a very heavy task at that time.

"If it's just me and N'Golo, I don't think it will work..."

After finishing the communication with his bodyguard, Pogba put his phone in his trouser pocket and expressed his concerns about this style of play to the new coach.

Tuchel responded to Pogba with a smile and a sentence: "The summer transfer window is not over yet, and it is uncertain what midfielders and defenders we will have."

"By the way, Paul, you were looking at your phone while I was talking just now. I think this behavior is very rude. If possible, I don't want to encounter this situation again. Thank you."

……

(End of this chapter)