Afternoon.

The training ground was lively.

Aldous and Frederick were there, and Zhang Yang called Boehly over to help.

Standing on the first-team training ground, Boehly looked very excited, when he was a player, he only joined the youth team, and he was still the most marginal player, and after becoming a coach, he was only at the bottom, and it was very good to be able to train the youth team.

Standing on the first-team training ground, he has a feeling of reaching the pinnacle of life!

Boehly and Masterson said, "I didn't expect to be standing here!" First team training ground! So many first-team stars! I'm also an assistant coach. ”

"You're just a handyman!" Masterson rolled his eyes.

The pair had known each other a few years earlier, at Millwall's youth team, and he didn't mind helping Boehly point out the situation.

"So what? It's also better to do chores here than to go to the junior team! "This is the first step, I will have more opportunities in the future, maybe one day, the club will consider my ability and give me a formal first-team assistant coach contract!" ”

Masterson patted him on the shoulder and said, "I'm sure when I retire, your dream will definitely come true." ”

"Thank you, though...... Why? ”

"When the time comes, I may become the head coach and then hire you as an assistant coach!"

“……”

Burleigh rolled his eyes.

"Come here!"

Several coaches beckoned everyone over, and Zhang Yang stood in the middle and began a simple training explanation.

"Today we're going to start tactical training. As you know, we haven't had tactical training for half a month, and that's because of the intensive schedule, but also because I'm not familiar with the team, and yes, I admit it, I'm just a rookie learning to be a coach! ”

Many of the players laughed.

These laughter does not mean to look down on, but everyone thinks that Zhang Yang is very hearty, and he will say anything, if he is experienced, people will not believe it.

"But I went and asked Wise, and he gave me a lot of advice, and I summarized and revised it and decided to get everyone used to a new set of defensive and offensive methods." ”

"Then I started to explain, and everyone had to listen carefully and remember to understand. In the next few days, even a month, two months, maybe longer, we will have to get familiar with it. ”

Zhang Yang began to explain.

Boehly helped to set up a large tactical board, and then talked about it from both offensive and defensive aspects, and the content framework was formation positioning and running routes.

The tactics are actually quite simple.

Wise gave a general account of the team's tactical coordination, and Zhang Yang made changes based on the contents.

Needless to say, the attacking style of the two wings is the most traditional, simple and practical way for the full-backs to break through with the ball, or to cooperate with the players in the middle, and then cross from the wings.

That's not much to say at all.

If you make the coordination of the wings more complicated, it involves the overall movement of the team, and it becomes a very complex system, which is not something that can be thought of in a short period of time.

Even if you think of it, it is impossible for the players to get familiar with it in a short time.

Zhang Yang is talking about the middle lane.

The attack in the middle is more complicated than the wing, the player's movement is a problem, two forwards, two central midfielders, plus the occasional defender, several players have offense and defense, how to run in the offensive position to form a greater threat, is what every coach is studying.

Zhang Yang didn't do in-depth research, he just wanted to give the team one more point that could create chances, which was to take advantage of David Livermore's long-range shooting ability.

It's not easy to put a player into the tactical system.

There are eleven players on a team.

If one goes up, one must come down, the formation of the back four cannot be changed, Millwall's defense is already very average, and no matter how difficult it will be to work as a 'tinker'.

The middle of the midfield cannot be changed.

There must be a central player in the middle who can lead the attack, and the midfielder is also very important, as the midfielder can not only help the team form a barrier in defence, but also bring the necessary support in attack.

Then you can only start from the front.

Cutting off a striker is what Zhang Yang has always considered, in the past few games, the double striker has not brought much effect, often one striker plays well, and the other plays very average.

Take Kevin Gere and Neil Harris, for example.

When Kevin Gere was playing well, Neil Harris seemed to be unable to find anyone on the floor.

The reverse is also true.

Zhang Yang thought for a long time and watched a lot of game videos, and finally came to the conclusion: the team's tactics were too simple, resulting in a serious overlap in the positions of the forward players.

In the formation 'theory', the two striker positions do not clash because they are left striker and right striker.

Kevin Keele also has a 'center' concept.

But the team's tactics are very simple, the striker players are rushing to the front to look for opportunities, in the front of the goal, in a very narrow area, where can you still distinguish the 'left and right forwards'?

This striker has a chance, the other striker doesn't.

As for the fit?

In the vicinity of the opposition penalty area, it would be nice for the strikers to get the ball and cooperate with each other, maybe their level should be raised two notches.

In short, the limitations of the strength of the players and the team's tactics have led to the fact that the two strikers can only play one and a half roles.

It's still acceptable to cut off a striker.

However, the change of formation, the advance of tactics, or the new players, can play the role of at least half of the striker, whether it is offensive or defensive, as long as it can play a certain role, then the change is worth it.

Zhang Yang's final choice was to cut off a striker and add a midfielder.

This becomes a 4231 double back formation.

This change undoubtedly increases the defense, but whether it will affect the offense depends on whether the offensive end can make up for it.

Zhang Yang hopes David Livermore can make a difference.

If his long-range shooting ability is a little more improved, then he can pose a considerable threat to the opponent and attract enough defensive attention even if he is not good.

In this way, the transformation effect is there.

Zhang Yang just changed the formation and changed 442 to 4231, which didn't sound like a big deal, or let a fan who knew a little bit be able to say it.

Formation changes are not a numerical thing.

Adding a midfielder and subtracting a striker, where is it so simple? A tactical framework is holistic, and if one point is changed, there will be an impact, and other points will also be changed.

A small change, a lot of things.

For example, if there is one less striker and there is one less person in front of you when you cross from the wing, then the cross from the wing has a better chance of choosing behind.

This is only a small impact.

The offensive and defensive positions of the whole team also need to be changed, otherwise there will be a clash of positions when the players arrive on the field, or some areas will not be covered.

Wait a minute.

Zhang Yang spent nearly half an hour just explaining.

At the beginning, Frederick and Aldous were not very optimistic when they heard that Zhang Yang was going to do tactical training, which was modified from Wise's tactical advice.

If you want to do tactical planning work, Zhang Yang is too young.

Often, some 'academic' coaches have to participate in a lot of assistant coaching work, and only after accumulating some experience in tactical planning can they start to study tactics on their own.

With Zhang Yang's explanation, the views of the two changed.

Frederick still doesn't look optimistic, but he has to admit that "he did a lot of preparation.

Aldous said, "This tactic is not bad, double midfield, no matter how bad it is, it can increase our defense." ”

The players in the squad are also more convinced.

Over the next week, Millwall's entire squad spent training on tactics to familiarise themselves with the new tactics.

Since the tactics have not changed much, to not difficult training.

The only special player is David Livermore, who spends his time outside of tactical training doing more personal long-range drills, not just normal training hours, and giving him an extra two hours of training every day.

An hour in the morning and an hour in the evening.

At the end of each day's training, seeing that David Livermore was still in good spirits, Zhang Yang was lamenting that the time was cold winter - the time of dawn was too short, and he could only practice for two hours at most, and it was impossible to train under the dark night sky.

Over the course of a week, Livermore's improvement was also quite rapid.

Zhang Yang watched from a distance, the sound of football being kicked and accurately sent into the goal, all a little sad for Millwall's opponents.

This is also confirmed by the 'Divination of the Spirits'.

After changing tactics and adding David Livermore, there is an all-main starting lineup, and the strength evaluation has reached 'five stars'.

That's a big improvement!

Although it is only a set of 'five-star', changing a positional player immediately becomes a 'four-star', but it is quite remarkable, and it also proves that the strength of the team has improved.

————

Time seemed to pass in a flash.

Millwall are on the verge of a new opponent – Nottingham Forest – and the squad has been preparing for the last two days.

Zhang Yang has been looking forward to the competition for a long time.

After taking over as Millwall manager, he led the team to a packed post-Christmas schedule.

It was not an easy experience.

Millwall have a stellar record – three wins and one draw – and they have become the best team in the Championship since Christmas.

But even so, there are still many doubts from the outside world.

It was a question about his abilities.

In the Christmas game, the media did not have much skepticism, perhaps because they did not care about what happened at Millwall, and in the past week, the media discussion about the Championship has constantly mentioned Millwall, and he, the young manager, has also been frequently mentioned.

Most of it is not very good news.

That has nothing to do with Millwall's results, just questions his ability as a manager.

It's an old topic in the media.

For example, how does a young man of 22 years old be the head coach of a professional club?

Another example is his experience, he has no coaching experience, and even the most basic coaching qualifications are still in the process of studying.

Finally, there is his nationality - China, which is regarded by Europeans as a country of football deserts, let alone producing head coaches.

Chinese players have heard of it.

Coach?

Not a single one!

Zhang Yang is a little used to seeing some media questioning, but in the last week, there has been an intensification that has affected the entire team, and that is the impact caused by Braniff.

This guy is very dishonest.

Braniff said something bad about him, "Why am I being punished? That's because he doesn't like me! We didn't have a good relationship when he was an assistant coach and he was the kind of guy who likes to bring emotions to work, so after Christmas, I never got a chance to play! ”

"I don't think he's qualified to be a manager! He doesn't understand anything, he doesn't know anything, our training is all arranged by Frederick and Aldous, he just leads the team. ”

"Everyone knows that football is not just a game, and winning or losing is not just a game, and the hard work of training on weekdays affects performance. We've had good results lately, but that's not about him, it's the whole team. ”

"If you want to talk about the manager, I support Frederick!"

“……”

Braniff bombarded and erased the good results of Zhang Yang's team.

The media is still willing to report this!

The media originally questioned Zhang Yang's ability, but now with the support of the players, it has launched an overwhelming report.

Of course, there are also dressing room contradictions.

For example, "English Football" reported that "Zhang Yang has a conflict with the players, and he uses the right of the head coach to not give the players a chance to play, which will definitely affect his prestige within the team." ”

"Millwall may have a dressing room conflict! The contradiction between the manager and the players! This will definitely affect their state! ”

Other media outlets have also reported some of this.

Zhang Yang is a little used to negative media reports, and he has always told himself to be calm, but everyone wants good news in the media, not bad news.

Now Millwall will need to be in good shape to give a strong response to those who doubt.

As for what the media says, about 'his abilities'?

As long as Millwall is in good shape, always able to play well, win one, two, three, countless games, any doubts will disappear.

This is professional football!

Zhang Yang began to expect the team to win more games.