"It's crazy!" Mendy's eyes were glazed as he looked at the sheer volume of documents sent from Italy every day.

The team-mates nodded approvingly, and Heidward left for Covicciano, surrounded by the mountains of Italy, after finishing their friendly match with Southampton. The base, the cradle of Italian coaches, is located in the mountains north of Florence and is a secluded residential village with luxurious villas and wide roads, and although not a tourist destination, it has played an important role in the history of Italian football.

The stadium is used by the Italian national team at all levels, and there is also a huge museum where shoes, trophies and famous jerseys are quietly displayed, and the future of Italian football is also nurtured here.

Covirciano also has seven lecture halls and a huge library, where coaches must obtain their "diplomas" before starting Serie A.

The 2012 UEFA Coaching Exam was held here, and coaches from all over Europe were required to complete 26 theory exams, 13 practical exams and a month-long practice at their clubs over the course of a week. If all of this is passed, the official B-level qualification will be obtained in February this year.

Of all the coaches who came to take the exams, there were many who were managers, but there were really no professional managers, especially those at the Championship level. So Hydward's exam was different from everyone else, and then there was Mendy's exclamation at the beginning.

Usually the exam time will last about a week, but Hydward, who went through the back door, applied for a compressed exam time, he wants to end the trip in Italy in about three days, and then go back to England to prepare for the warm-up match against Real Madrid, Real Madrid's number one star Ronaldo suffered a small injury some time ago, and he will start this game to find his form, especially in the game played in England.

Edward asked the players to video with him every night, and then told them some details about the exam, although they are young, but there are only advantages and no disadvantages to getting into coaching courses early, including improving the understanding of on-field responsibilities, the clarity of tactical intentions, and even some people will have to do this in a few years, and the head coach will give them a sample first.

The most serious learner is Mahrez, who does lack this knowledge, and perhaps Mahrez has realized that his lack of tactical understanding will also become a major obstacle to his progress and even joining the big clubs in the future. In terms of technical ability, there is no one in the Portsmouth team who has his ability, and he is also outstanding, Mendy Mane and they rely on their explosive power to start quickly, and Mahrez is dexterous, especially with a lot of change of direction feints, his offensive means are varied, and his backfoot ability is not too good but at least it is not pitted. Such players are difficult to defend on the court, and the next generation of players in the five major leagues are generally born by practicing sprinting or weightlifting, and not many people are willing to carefully sculpt their own small skills, and more rely on superhuman physical talents. This kind of player is more of a good role player when he arrives at the big clubs, and the odd soldier on the bench may amaze for a season, but when the coaches study him thoroughly, he will soon fall off the altar. Mahrez is different, he is a player with a high ceiling, as long as he does not practice himself, usually above the level, Hydward's positioning of him is that he needs to grow into the second-in-command of the Champions League-level team, or even the absolute core, in order to achieve this step, the first is to improve the tactical understanding, and the second is to put some energy into how to defend, not to play so lazy.

"Boss, what's on that wall?" The sharp-eyed Mendy discovered something new.

Edward turned around and saw a picture frame full of Italian, as well as a few pictures and autographs, his foreign language did not include the most beautiful language in the world, but he still recognized some names of the same European language family, and the signature was the current AC Milan head coach Allegri.

The Italian coach has a knack for dissecting formations, tactics and player roles, and on the wall hangs an excerpt from a 32-page essay Allegri wrote when he was studying for his certificate.

Hydward found an English "original" and translated the above words: "Of the three players in the midfield, the central playmaker must have a strong sense of position and be able to pass the ball forward quickly when [the team] is defending and counterattacking." The player to his right must be good at running, have good aerial play, and be able to help the team's defence. Left-sided players should have better skills and have the ability to break through opponents and push forward, assist teammates or score goals themselves. ”

Not only is Allegri's masterpiece in this original book, but Antonio Conte, the current Juventus coach with great attention to detail, also wrote a 44-page essay on "4312 formation and video teaching" when he was an "apprentice", which was also included in it.

Conte wrote: "Videos are very useful when teams are trying to find out what mistakes were made in a game, so that the team can train in a targeted manner. Certain players are less receptive to criticism, but if you show them videos of their mistakes, they have no excuse. ”

Both are representatives of the world of coaching in Italian football today, and it is not difficult to understand why Italian football has been successful in the past three decades when it comes to the long papers on theory, innovation and analysis written by Italian coaches at the Coviciano training ground.

Of course, not all Italian coaches are as good as they are written, at least not one in the future, and it is heart-wrenching that the manager did not maintain the last glory of the team when Italian football lost the tradition on which it depended.

Hydward flipped through and indulged in it, these Italian coaches who are active in all corners of the five major leagues are now exploring a new tactical revolution to solve the problem of the Italian national team's weak forwards, they face a national team that has been slightly declining, with a very clear sense of crisis, you can't pin your hopes on Balotelli, there is no shortage of smart people in the football world.

They set their sights on a retro formation like 352, and further improved the flow of the game by setting up the role of attacking full-back, helping the team to dominate the numbers in all positions of the pitch in attack.

Hydward was not particularly interested in these formations, in his eyes any formation was in front of the 901 armored bus, and he was interested in some of the ideas and ideas that inspired him.