Chapter 7 Team Gathering

It was Solari who had just received news from the team that Lee Mudi had recommended him as assistant coach for Castile and that it had already been approved. Because I am still on vacation, I will first find out the specific thinking of the team manager in the new season by phone, so as to prepare in advance. When Li Mudi was in the U19, Solari had not yet returned to Real Madrid, but because the U19 training ground was adjacent to Castile and they were all friends of Zizou, the relationship between the two was still very good. After a brief chat, the call ended when Li Mudi returned to the apartment.

Sitting in front of the computer desk in the apartment, Li Mudi re-sorted out the situation of the team, and made a detailed plan for the problems to be faced and the plans to be implemented after the gathering. Except for a pasta meal at the cafeteria at noon, I stayed in the apartment and tried to make the pre-season preparations as detailed and efficient as possible. Of course, it was inevitable to have a drink with Zheng Xiaoyang at night, and it was not until noon the next day that he woke up and took a taxi to the airport with Xiaoyang. Zheng Xiaoyang is returning to the Catalan region, while Li Mudi is planning to return to Mallorca for his final vacation before the new season.

Mallorca, a world-famous tourist destination, is located in the eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula and is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, 80~300 kilometers away from the Spanish mainland. Located in the Mediterranean Sea, the island covers an area of 3,640 square kilometers (75 kilometers from north to south and 100 kilometers from east to west), and is full of sandy beaches, steep cliffs, and fields with olive or almond trees. With more than 300 days of sunny weather every year, it is known as the "paradise of the Mediterranean". The capital city of Palma is home to nearly half of the population of the Balearic Islands, where the Mallorca Museum, Elmdina Palace, and Belleville Castle are all famous tourist attractions.

Located in the southwest of Mallorca, just 19 kilometres from the city of Palma and close to the Mediterranean Sea, the farm inherited by Li Mudi grows mainly pasture and potatoes. Since my parents didn't know much about the farm, they hired two professional farmers. Although the income situation is not ideal, the quiet and serene environment still makes the family feel very comfortable.

Pizza and steak are good to eat occasionally, but if you eat Li Mudi every day like Westerners, you can't stand it, and Spain's unique seafood dinner is not blessed to enjoy because of the special habit of not eating seafood, so you have to enjoy the delicious food of the Celestial Empire at your parents' place before the season starts.

Catch hares on the farm, see beautiful women on the beach, connect with colleagues by phone and email, and don't be too happy on vacation in Mallorca!

On July 12, 2015, the day of the team's staff gathering, Li Mudi came to the office building with a relaxed body, and under the leadership of Mr. President, the first staff meeting of the new season was held.

In addition to the four remaining staff members such as Li Mudi and Solari, new offensive coach Rafa Pozo, physical trainer Ramón Orellana, scout Santiago Aragón, scout Manuel Benavente and team doctor Dani Sánchez have been added.

After a morning of exchanges, the status of Li Mudi's leader has been recognized by everyone to a certain extent, and the lunch dinner has made the atmosphere of the whole team very good, and everyone's enthusiasm has been encouraged.

The next day, as the coaches and trainers discussed their plans, the two scouts were given the first two tasks of the new season: scouting Mbappe and a list of strikers who played in the lower leagues.

Mbappe's information, sorted out with the help of the system assistant, has been sent to the chairman, Mr. Francisco and Zizou, respectively. The reason why we need to use professional scouts to do a more long-term investigation is to get more detailed information, after all, the things given by the system are too data-based, and they can only be displayed in combination with specific games and training videos; The second is to cover up the function of the system, after all, without using scouts and not personally observing, but can get detailed information about players, this bug is too big.

The strikers on that list are all used as spare tires after Mbappe can't be successfully introduced, with a potential of around 130-140, and his value is not high, so the transfer difficulty is very small. However, Li Mudi is still trying his best to get the French striker, for which he has been in contact with Zizou for several days, and has received the news that Lafayette will make a decision before the players gather on the 15th.

The two days of waiting were so long, but fortunately Zizou brought the good news in the morning: Galeries Lafayette had tentatively agreed to contact the managers of the Monaco club and Mbappe.

The reason for the lack of clarity is mainly due to first-team coach Rafael Benitez. Bei Shuai had no concept of the French teenager before, and as soon as he took office, he encountered an application from the reserve team to bring in players, and others would feel a little inexplicable if they were replaced. Fortunately, Zizu communicated in time and told him the news that Li Mudi found out on the FM system that Liverpool was also paying attention to Mbappe, so Bei Shuai reserved his attitude towards the transfer before he heard the exact information.

On the 15th, the players assembled. Except for a few players, most of them were promoted from the reserve team or from the U19 last season, so they are old acquaintances with Li Mudi, and the atmosphere between them is quite harmonious. After introducing the new staff and players, Li Mudi did not make an impassioned and generous opening speech, of course, he did not have that style, but simply talked about some arrangements during the preparation of the new season, and let the coaches start to lead the players to conduct physical examinations and recovery training.

Taking advantage of the time of the player's physical examination, Li Mudi combined with the FM system, and after discussing with Solari, he determined six warm-up matches, namely: home against Athletic Bilbao B on July 26, away against S.D. Huesca (S.D. HuescaSAD) on August 1, away against Mallorca on August 8, away against Villarreal B on August 14, and home against Eibar Economy (S.D. EibarSAD) on August 18, A.D. Parla away on August 22. The six teams, both in Division A, Division B and Division B, can test the true strength of the team and help the coaching staff find loopholes.

Originally, Li Mudi planned to play against the Barcelona B team, and the two teams were in the same division of La B B, but they were divided into two groups, and they couldn't meet in the official competition this season. Li Mudi plans to abuse his sworn enemy in the last warm-up game when the technical and tactical training is relatively formed, so as to improve Real Madrid's sense of identity with him, I have to say that this is really a bit underwhelming! It's a pity that when the invitation to the warm-up match was sent out through the FM system, it was politely rejected in an instant - obviously, Li Mudi's coffee table is not only full of cups, but also a lot of bowls!

Just returned from vacation, the physical condition of the players has not entered a tense state of play, and some people have not met the physical examination standards because they have played too crazy. Li Mudi sternly warned those players who were not highly professional, ordering them to adjust their form within a week, otherwise they would be greeted by a fire sale or a snow hiding.

This week's training is still focused on recovering physical functions and adjusting the state, and the tactical class is only 40 minutes a day. It's not that Li Mudi has a big heart, but the main formation that Real Madrid has been using for more than ten years is 4-2-3-1, and the perennial tactical system is roughly the same, but the specific matching style of play has been somewhat adjusted. The coaches and players of this squad reserve team are very familiar, and Li Mudi just explained some of the tactics he requested, and the process went very smoothly.

In addition to the tactical class, Li Mudi only discussed the tactical arrangement and targeted training for individual players with the coaching staff, and delegated other subjects to other coaches, and the daily training supervision work was also handed over to assistant coach Solari. Li Mudi is still quite self-aware, and when he studied for the coaching certificate, he only had some talent in tactics and offense, and only knew a little bit about other aspects. Rationally gather the strength of the team and give full play to the strength of everyone in the team, Li Mudi believes that this should be the advanced embodiment of modern football concepts.

As coaching is not a heavy burden at the start of the season, Li Muddy shifted his focus to transfers. Zizou and two scouts are in frequent contact every day to compile reports on Mbappe and several potential players and send them to the Real Madrid office.

On the 18th, Bei Shuai confirmed that they were indeed interested in Mbappe through Liverpool's old connections, and then affirmed Mbappe's potential through the report provided by scouts. After Lafayette held an impromptu meeting and learned that the Frenchman and his agent were eager to join, Real Madrid officially made a transfer offer to Monaco FC - two million euros.

After learning from Qi Zu that Lafayette was very interested in Mbappe, Li Mudi crossed out the other striker spare tires that he had prepared. Even if the offer of two million is far from Monaco's bottom line, the whole world knows that unless the players themselves are unwilling, as long as Galeries Lafayette wants to buy a player, there is no player that cannot be bought.

A week later, the FM system showed that all the players were in good shape, and the team's training focus shifted to tactical drills.

Combined with the technical characteristics of the players in the team, Li Mudi set up a set of tactics that focus on attack, emphasize front-court pressure, and require the midfielder to pass more through the ball on the basis of the regular playing style of the first team. In the FM system, it is displayed as: multiple passes, more pressing, pressing the goalkeeper, taking turns to plug in, and maintaining possession.

This style of play requires a lot of strength from the players, because there is no full-time defender in the midfield of the team, resulting in poor interception ability, Li Mudi hopes to use the front court to exceed the opponent's passing ability to achieve a complete suppression effect, leaving the football in the opponent's half.