Chapter 4 (31)

In mid-May, Wuhan had already entered the height of summer. The red sun sprinkled enthusiasm almost from morning to night, and everything on the earth was embraced by it. Lawns, trees, roads, buildings, and people, all things exposed to the sun, are tormented in the heat of this fire. The sky, which had brought some hope at noon, had now retreated under the ravages of the sun, and the dark clouds in the southern sky in the afternoon were now only a thin cloud like a light veil on the horizon, which seemed to struggle intermittently. It seems that the long-awaited rain and cooling down is still out of reach. What's even more instructive is that the latest notice from the provincial meteorological station has been released on newspapers and television, and this kind of hot weather will continue for some time.

It's quiet in the Yafeng base. The dutiful base security guards sat in the gatehouse, turned the fan up to the maximum, pulled the cuffs of the uniform's pants all the way to the knees, leaned listlessly in their chairs, licked their dry lips from time to time, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and waited anxiously for the time of the shift change. On the road from the base gate to the office building, not even a single shadow could be seen. The smooth concrete pavement shimmered with a blinding white light, and everything that could be seen through the white light became distorted and blurred. The small tree, which had been transplanted only last autumn, hung its branches and leaves, waiting helplessly on both sides of the road for the evening to come. The knee-high bushes retain their greenery, but it is a pale and grey green. Every morning and evening, a gardener dragged a long rubber hose to water the meadow, and even the strength to breathe seemed to be deprived by the hot weather, and almost all the blades of grass were lying on the muddy soil that lacked moisture. Occasionally, a car would drive by, and someone might look in the direction of the car from the back door of the closed glass window of an office building, but these curious people will immediately be in awe of the fiery world outside, and feel good that they don't have to run around in the sun – and there's nothing better than an air-conditioned room......

In this steamer-like world, everything seems to stand still, except for the cicadas, who don't know where they are hidden, still singing songs that only they can understand.

From time to time, other sounds would join the chorus of the cicadas, which was a whistle from the training ground behind the base, but this whistle was obviously not as beautiful as the cicada's song, neither the long and pleasant sound of the cicada's song, nor the ups and downs of the cicada's song.

Finally a whistle was no longer a short, coherent and rapid sound, it lasted for several seconds, as if the whistle-blowing person was also looking forward to the moment—the whistle was so long that it gave a feeling of complete relief.

"It's finally over." The moment the assistant coach blew the whistle, Wei Honglin immediately ignored Gao Jinsong's entanglement, he cheered, and then sat on the ground, lay down on his back, and shouted, "Leave me alone, just bury me here." I'm going to sleep in this meadow! ”

His last sentence made the corners of the mouths of several nearby team members tugg. But no one laughed. They are so tired that even the simple thing of laughing becomes extravagant.

Gao Jinsong, who easily obtained the ball, was indifferent to Wei Honglin's jokes. In the turmoil of the club's change of manager, they have taken a-for-tat position, and it is clear that their friendship has also been affected by this incident - they have not even spoken much since Cheng Dexing took over the team.

Gao Jinsong aimed at the direction of the goal and kicked it from afar. The bare-backed No. 2 goalkeeper was already seated on the goal line, and he didn't even glance at the flying ball, grabbing and taking off his gloves while cursing and muttering hometown slang that no one understood. Looking at the fierce appearance of gritting teeth on his face, it is estimated that he is either cursing God or venting his dissatisfaction with his teammates - in the group training just now, the goal he guarded let the red vest side representing the main force pour six in succession. He ignored the ball bouncing past him and threw a glove that had been pulled off with great difficulty to the ground.

Seeing the ball roll into the goal, Gao Jinsong sat down on the grass. He flattened his long legs and propped his hands on the lawn, trying to make himself as comfortable as he could. His chest slumped together like a bellows, and his mouth was panting.

On such a poisonous day, such two sets of confrontation exercises in succession, everyone was tossed to exhaustion. Now, only a handful of team members can still support their bodies, they dragged their tired legs, moved to the edge of the field, fished out a bottle of water, poured a few sips, and just like Wei Honglin, they didn't care about lying on the hot grass, pouring all the remaining water from the bottle on their heads, faces and bodies.

A few team members who did not participate in the group practice walked back and forth and handed out drinks to everyone.

Cheng Dexing, who had been directing training at the venue from start to finish, also walked into the field at this time, and with the help of an interpreter, he loudly praised Franco, who had performed well - the Uruguayan scored three goals of his own in the confrontation, and also had a beautiful assist.

Lying on the grass, Franco was probably embarrassed to accept the manager's praise like this, and he sat up. Cheng Dexing stopped him from standing up with a gesture, squatted beside him, and discussed something with him with great interest.

Wei Honglin drank the water, rested for a while, and gradually gained some energy, left and right to see if no one was paying attention here, and asked: "I heard you say a few days ago, your eldest sister is coming to Wuhan, why haven't you seen anyone yet?" ”

These cold words made Gao Jin, who was tilting his head and drinking water, loosen his heart. It took him a while to understand that Wei Honglin was talking to him, so he said, "Early." He wiped the sweat on his cheeks and chin with his hand, glanced at Wei Honglin a little strangely, paused and said, "I called them last night, and I will go to the provincial capital this Saturday." The flight to Chongqing that Guan Mingshan booked for them is next Thursday, and they will stay in Chongqing for a few more days, and it will take at least ten days to get to Wuhan...... "Wei Honglin is fine, why is this for?"

Wei Honglin hurriedly explained: "My wife wants to go to Shanghai with your sister. …… She asked me two or three times. ”

Gao Jinsong nodded, accepting Wei Honglin's lame excuse.

In fact, both of them knew in their hearts that the so-called going to Shanghai together was just Wei Honglin looking for an excuse, and his purpose was just to resolve the estrangement and estrangement caused by the contradictions between the two in recent days

Gao Jinsong's cold response made Wei Honglin a little unable to get off the stage. He had to hide his embarrassment by drinking water.

Cheng Dexing and Franco's conversation seemed to be very attractive, several nearby team members walked over to participate in the discussion, and the voices gradually became louder, occasionally people can be seen raising their arms and gesturing, loudly expressing their opinions, and the people next to them sometimes nod their heads in agreement, and sometimes shake their heads in disagreement. More people moved closer to that small circle. This looks more like a less formal summary of the training.

Gao Jinsong still didn't speak. He wiped the sweat from his chest and back with a crumpled vest while staring at the goal.

Wei Honglin frowned and didn't speak.

He didn't plan to come to Gao Jinsong to reconcile at this time. In his opinion, as long as Gao Jinsong does not leave Wuhan Yafeng, this unhappiness between him and Gao Jinsong will always be resolved and forgotten one day, why should he be in a hurry? But head coach Cheng Dexing doesn't think so. Director Cheng thought that on the eve of such a crucial game, before his first game in charge of Wuhan Yafeng, there could not be any unstable factors within the team, especially when this unstable factor also involved the main players such as Gao Jinsong and Wei Honglin, and he could not let it go. So he found Wei Honglin and tactfully pointed out to him that as a veteran player and one of the captains of the team, Wei Honglin should take the initiative to make up for and repair the gap between him and Gao Jinsong that he thought was caused by contradictions and misunderstandings. In order to get the two main players to devote themselves wholeheartedly to training and games as soon as possible, Cheng Dexing even did not hesitate to use valuable training time to let Wei Honglin wear a blue vest symbolizing the substitute to defend Gao Jinsong - if Wei Honglin can't reach a tacit understanding with Gao Jinsong, then intensifying the contradiction and making the contradiction public is sometimes a means to solve the problem.

But Cheng Dexing's painstaking arrangement did not work. Gao Jinsong and Wei Honglin have been training together for almost a year, they are very familiar with each other, Gao Jinsong's adaptability is stronger than Wei Honglin, and Wei Honglin, who is rare to play as a central defender, is not his opponent at all. Fortunately, the referee was reminded by the head coach in advance and turned a blind eye to Wei Honglin's actions, if it was put in the official game, I was afraid that he would have been thrown into the locker room with a red card. But even so, Gao Jinsong didn't reason with him......

Just when he was sitting on the ground with a water bottle searching his stomach and looking for a reason to break the embarrassing deadlock in front of him, Gao Jinsong suddenly said thoughtlessly: "Zhou Jian's man-ball division just now was very exciting, I think Xiao Chi was a little stupid at that time......"

This time it was Wei Honglin's turn. He hesitated several times before he reacted, and hurriedly said: "He can finally play the main force, can he still perform without working hard?" He regretted it before he finished speaking. What is he not good to say, he has to say this? What Zhou Jian squeezed out was Li Xiaolin's left forward position, Gao Jinsong and Li Xiaolin have been very close in the past two days, if his unintentional words provoke Gao Jinsong's resentment, there is really no way to end this matter......

Fortunately, Gao Jinsong didn't care about his words, and said: "But it's rare to see him with his left foot - Xiao Chi must have been the same as me at the time, maybe his head was ......also straight and confused" He turned his face away, smashed Chi Yuwen who was still lying in the grass barley not far away with the lid of a water bottle, and asked, "Zhou Jian has passed you, why didn't you break him and fight?" ”

Chi Yuwen sat up and said very honestly: "I really didn't expect Brother Zhou to have this ability, I was dizzy when I was patronizing, and when I thought about it, I couldn't catch up." ”

Wei Honglin smacked his mouth and said: "No way, speaking of which, Zhou Jian is also chasing ducks to the shelves - only Li Xiaolin is a natural left-foot......ed general on the team" He can't wait to swallow back what he said now-Gao Jinsong ignored his previous sentence, and he still led things to the fire with every word?! He wondered if the sun above him had sunburned him stupidly.

Hearing him say this, Gao Jinsong turned his head again, as if he didn't know him, looked him up and down, and said with a smile after a long time: "It's hot, drink more water......

"Ri (son) himself!" Wei Honglin smiled and muttered a swear word to Gao Jinsong, which is often said by Wuhan locals, and lay down on the grass again. He knew that the invisible gap between him and Gao Jinsong had now been filled in by two people. At the very least, it will no longer be an obstacle to their friendship until other, more intense conflicts erupt. Of course, there can be no other fierce conflicts between them, the change of manager has passed, and besides, one of them is a striker and the other is a midfielder, the positions do not overlap, there is no entanglement of interests, what bullshit conflict can there be......

"When your eldest sister comes, tell me, and I'll treat them to a meal—come to my house."

Gao Jinsong didn't say anything.

He has also been looking for an opportunity to reconcile with Wei Honglin in the past two days. Yan Liangcheng is a good coach, but he has never given himself such high praise in front of the public like Cheng Dexing; Cheng Dexing's personality may be as unbearable as Li Xiaolin said, but there is no doubt that he appreciates himself very much, and he even hinted that one day, he can become the leader of the team...... Just imagining himself leading Wuhan Yafeng to gallop across the A-A arena would make him tremble with excitement, if he could still hold up the trophy that symbolizes honor, facing the overwhelming cheers and flashing arcs...... Oh, let the damn turn to the devil! To hell with the blue sky of Shenzhen, Tianhe of Shaanxi and the provincial city of Mingyuan! His top priority is to stay in Wuhan and stay in Yafeng! He wants to make up for his relationship with Wei Honglin - he wants to show Cheng Gui and the club through this incident that he respects the club's decision and also respects Cheng Dexing's authority as a head coach. He will not betray Yafeng, and he will not live up to Director Cheng's expectations of him!

In fact, he now has an opportunity to show his position and his abilities. He is sitting here talking to Wei Honglin, not entirely because he needs to bridge the gap between the two people, he still needs time to clarify the context of the whole thing, there are some key points that he has not thought clearly, or rather, he has not fully grasped the tactical points of the head coach.

The reason for the matter is the new formation "4-4-1-1" designed by Cheng Dexing for Yafeng, and the problem is also in this formation that seems to have a lot in common with Yafeng's traditional tactical style.

Until now, Gao Jinsong has not understood what role Franco plays in this tactical system. According to the formation, Franco is the shadow striker behind him, but in the tactical class before training and in training, Cheng Dexing's positioning for Franco is very vague, it seems to be a forward midfielder, and it seems to be a striker, and it seems to be a shadow striker. However, Franco himself liked the ambiguous position, which was in keeping with his range of motion and aggressiveness, showing his skills in training, scoring three goals in a row with overhead kicks and an assist......

He told Wei Honglin the problem that puzzled him. He didn't mean to do it. In his opinion, this is a natural thing, such discussions have become their habit, and their friendship began with this topic of football, and then gradually strengthened. The history of this habit can be traced back to last autumn when they participated in the finals of the second division in Chengdu, as teammates in the same dormitory, at first it was just because they couldn't find a topic of common concern, and then gradually developed a habit. The characteristics of the opponent, the gains and losses of the game, the rationality of the tactics, etc., are all the things they discuss, and they often start from their own understanding, discuss for a long time, sometimes even heated arguments, and sometimes no one convinces the other, but in any case, both of them feel that they have benefited a lot from this discussion.

"What does that '1' do? It doesn't matter if Franco is a striker or a midfielder, what matters is that he scores. ”

Wei Honglin said indifferently. In his opinion, although the assistant coach who served as the referee and the substitute players in the group confrontation were not so serious, but Cheng Dexing's new formation and new tactics are still eye-catching, the new tactics not only effectively play the inherent strengths of Yafeng, but also solve the old problem of often falling into a disorderly state once the two sides are restricted from attacking the team, and the liberated Franco is bursting with great energy and performing remarkably. He believes that with this set of formations and tactics, even if it encounters a strong opponent like Dalian Dongwei or Shanghai Taixing, Wuhan Yafeng can make the opponent rush and even lose in a sudden situation.

But he immediately understood that it was not too appropriate to say this, so he changed his words and said: "The greater Franco's range of activities, the more defensive forces will be involved, and the more opponents will be attracted, so that you will have more chances......" There was also a Chi Yuwen on the side, so he couldn't say more. He knew that Gao Jinsong was now eager to prove himself in front of Cheng Dexing. But no matter how anxious you are, running to accuse the head coach of the new tactics that you have been trying to find can't be regarded as a good way to prove yourself, right?

"Not so." Gao Jinsong immediately denied Wei Honglin's opinion. 'It's important whether Franco's position is a midfielder or a shadow striker. If he's a midfielder, we're in a '4-5-1' or '4-2-3-1', and if he's a shadow striker, I'm going to have to move up the front and leave plenty of space for him and midfield. He withdrew his gaze from a distance, stared at Wei Honglin, and said while organizing his words with a draft, "If we play '4-4-1-1', then Director Cheng may have made a mistake - Franco's ......" At this point he paused, but he immediately found an appropriate euphemism, "His sense of self-protection is too strong, and his connection with others can be easily cut off......"

Wei Honglin was silent. What Gao Jinsong said is the truth, Franco's style of play is indeed soft. But Franco can't be blamed either. There are many players like Franco who are just coming to the A-League to pan for gold, and they are not tough enough to play, they are really afraid of injuries, they are also very concerned about the opportunity to play, and in many cases, because they cherish their bodies, they would rather give up a threatening attack, or let what could have been a successful defense turn into a fatal negligence. But who is to blame? The contracts of these foreign players who are struggling in the league are almost exclusively on loan, so whether they are fringe players or amateurs in other leagues, the club should never expect them to make this their home. In addition, they have to endure the exploitation of their agents and the dirty hands that come out of nowhere, and it is difficult for them to really get the salary and bonuses they deserve as agreed in the contract, which makes them not pin their hopes on participating in more competitions and earning more appearance fees. It's really hard to expect them to put the team's honour first......

Gao Jinsong was not as far-reaching as Wei Honglin thought, he was just talking about what he saw.

“…… Even if Franco is not stared at, my situation as a center is very difficult - without Franco's left and right interspersed running and pulling, I am a fixed target, and if one or two people come up, I can only come down and find a place to cry. ”

Wei Honglin was silent. Gao Jinsong is right, no matter how capable the center is just one person, he can't complete the attack alone, even if he has the opportunity to shoot, the opportunity is also completed with the cooperation of his teammates - even if it is a sneak attack, he needs his teammates to put pressure on the opponent until the opponent's nerves are tense to the moment the strings break......

"If we're a '4-2-3-1' and Franco is the midfielder, isn't it him? Director Cheng did not make it clear on this point. Okay, so let's assume he's a midfielder – I control the header and he gets forward, what do you think he has the forward awareness and ability? ”

Wei Honglin still didn't speak.

Chi Yuwen, who had been listening to the side, interjected: "I think what Brother Gao said is very reasonable. ”

Gao Jinsong glanced at him.

Chi Yuwen shrunk his neck and immediately said, "It's Jinsong, it's Jinsong." I think what Jin Song said makes a lot of sense. ”

He has been training with the team in the first team, but he still shouted after "Brother Gao" before "Brother Gao", Gao Jinsong, who was younger than him, listened awkwardly, reminded him several times, and forced him to change his words, but he learned from Wei Honglin and they shouted "Jinsong", and he felt awkward himself, so he shouted "Brother Gao" and "Brother Jinsong" all over the place.

Seeing "Brother Gao" and "Brother Wei" turning their eyes to him together, Chi Yuwen was a little hesitant, but he still had the courage to say his opinion.

"Franco is definitely not good at playing in the front midfield, if nothing else, he is afraid that the injury is a big problem, and the forward insertion will definitely not be decisive. There are only one or two good opportunities in a game, and he hesitates and the opportunity is gone...... "Talking about these things in front of the two main players of the first team made him a little nervous, so his words were a little inconsistent, but Gao Jinsong and Wei Honglin both understood what he meant - he also thought that Franco was not suitable to play in the front midfield.

Wei Honglin frowned, pouted a grass from the ground, put it in his mouth and chewed it, and thought for a long time before asking in a low voice: "What do you want to explain by saying this?" Of course, he knew what Gao Jinsong wanted to explain. He just wanted to remind Gao Jinsong that these things shouldn't be worried about by him, the center! Your business is to be your arrow, whether it's "4-4-1-1" or "4-2-3-1", it's enough for you to worry about yourself!

His question made Gao Jinsong a little confused. What is he trying to illustrate? He didn't want to say anything. He just wanted to find a time to talk to Director Cheng to see if he could figure out whether Franco had a clear idea of what he had in this new tactical system.

"Maybe Director Cheng is deliberately trying to blur Franco's position and make the opponent elusive for a while." Wei Honglin said.

"Blurring his position to deceive and deceive his opponent won't even bring us to the same time, right?" Gao Jin let go of the joke. After laughing, he added, "And there is a big difference between '4-4-1-1' and '4-2-3-1', and many positions have different roles. The former's midfield should combine offense and defense, and the latter's two midfielders are mainly responsible for defense and interception and destruction; Their offensive lines are also different, the former ......"

Wei Honglin had completely lost the interest in listening, and lowered his head to take off his sneakers. In fact, his previous communication with Gao Jinsong was limited to a small range of tactical cooperation and the advantages and disadvantages of the opponent corresponding to him, and he had never discussed such a large-scale tactical system as today. He vaguely understands what Gao Jinsong is saying now, but he doesn't quite understand what these tactical combinations have to do with him - whether Franco is a shadow striker or a forward midfielder, can this have such a deep relationship with the team's offensive line and tactical intentions? A player, it's not superfluous to think about these things?

Chi Yuwen listened to it with relish, and from time to time he could ask some insightful questions. It can be seen that this is also a player who is good at using his brain.

With such a good audience, Gao Jinsong was even more energetic, and he even spread his sloppy jersey on the grass, and barely drew various graphics on it with his fingers to match his explanation. He has worked with a lot of coaches from the youth team to the provincial team to the new era until Wuhan Yafeng, and has been in contact with many tactics, except for not being a goalkeeper, he has played almost all positions, he needs to compete with others for a possible main position at any time, and often changes positions on the field, which has made him develop a good habit of diligent thinking, and almost unconsciously developed a good habit of abiding by tactical discipline - obedient children can always get the most candy. It may seem ironic, but it's true. Even in Europe, the most developed country in the field of football, the understanding and importance of tactical discipline started very late, and a complete theoretical system has not yet been formed; In China, with the increasing exchanges with international football, with the deepening of professional leagues, some coaches and football theory researchers have also tried to analyze the connection between it and football based on their own experience and materials circulated abroad, and a few people have tried to use it in practice......

In the evening, Gao Jinsong found Cheng Dexing in the garden-like green area behind the base office building, and Cheng was walking with an assistant at this time, and explained in detail his experience of the "4-4-1-1" formation he had designed.

Gao Jinsong's question interrupted him, and Gao Jinsong's understanding of the new tactical system also ruined his good mood.

"Franco is a striker and a striker." He arbitrarily explained to Gao Jinsong. Then he waved Gao Jinsong to leave, and he and his assistant still had very important things to discuss.

Until Gao Jinsong's back disappeared behind a rockery, his assistant didn't say a word, nor did he look up at them, but just concentrated on throwing the rice grains that I don't know who put on the edge of the pool into the water, so that the goldfish in the pool gathered here, scrambling to surface to find food. On the calm water, the waves are constantly lively.

Cheng Dexing came over to see the assistant feeding the fish, and also threw a handful of rice grains into the water, looked at it for a while, and then clapped his hands and said, "This young man is good, he has a little vision." ”

The assistant, who was about the same age as him, just smiled and didn't say anything.