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The promotion play-off final between Wimbledon Athletic and Reading has attracted a lot of media attention, with everyone rushing to report on the team's promotion process and their storied history. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

But for the people at the Wimbledg, the game was more like a gathering of old friends.

Since the day before the game, there have been a lot of people coming to Boss John's bar, and many of these people have not been seen in a long time.

For example, the first group of players who had played for Wimbledon before.

When they played for Wimbledon, they all developed a very strong friendship with the fans at Wimble's Bar. At that time, the team was an amateur team, and the relationship between the players and the fans was much closer than it is now, of course, not that the relationship between the two is very distant now, but at least the players nowadays do not come to the fan-run bar on holidays or after training to have a drink with other fans.

The distinction between fans and players is now very starry, with fans enjoying the performances of the players and the players enjoying the cheers of the fans. At that time, players and fans were more like friends.

"It's so nostalgic...... "Joe. Shirin looked around at the bar's furnishings. "It's almost the same, more than ten years have passed, and it's still exactly the same as before."

Boss John brought him a glass of wine and said, "We people here are more nostalgic, ha! ”

"Actually, even if you don't call me, I'll come to watch the game, at most we won't be able to sit together. It's like a dream when we think about it now, we said we wanted to go back to the top league more than a decade ago, but we didn't think we would achieve it so soon......"

Joe. Shirin grabbed his glass and walked to the photo wall, where he porked at the photos and even found himself in a pile of photos.

The day before the game, everyone gathered at the bar to discuss how to go to the stadium tomorrow, what things to prepare, what slogans to shout and what songs to sing when the time came.

They don't seem to be worried about whether their team can be promoted, in terms of strength, Wimbledon Athletic is more than Reading, and even they feel that Chu Zhongtian alone can deal with Reading...... "How can we celebrate after upgrading?" ”

"Drinking, of course! Ha ha! ”

"Then I'm going to have a drink! If you don't get drunk, you can't go home! ”

"Hey, John, will your wine be free then?"

"Rest assured, it's all free! Everyone drink openly! ”

"Oh oh! You are truly our great benefactor! ”

※※※ The fans are already preparing to celebrate in advance, and the atmosphere in Wimbledon is not relaxed at all.

It's the last game of the season and the more time it gets, the more you can't relax.

Chu Zhong was naturally afraid that the players would have the idea of underestimating the enemy, and his worry was definitely not unnecessary - because in terms of league standings, Wimbledon Athletic is higher than Reading, and in terms of league record, Wimbledon Athletic has beaten Reading both home and away this season.

Wimbledon seems to have no reason at all to lose to Reading.

There are no serious injury problems in this team at the moment, the main players are there, the manager is back, and the morale of the team is high...... With so many positive factors, is it still possible for the team to lose?

Chu Zhongtian's answer was "yes".

It is still possible to lose the game - and if the team is proud of the opponent, the pressure to increase the price can also become a distraction for the team.

After all, all the team's efforts this season are for this goal, and seeing that the goal is about to be achieved, everyone will have pressure in their hearts. Sometimes this pressure can be counterproductive and cause the team to play erratically.

In order to avoid this situation, Chu Zhongtian paid special attention to the thoughts of his teammates.

Although Russell has returned, they have already said that Russell is still the head coach externally, but within the team, Chu Zhongtian still performs the duties of the head coach until the end of this season.

Russell was the head coach in training, and Chu Zhongtian was the head coach during the game.

In terms of psychological adjustment, Chu Zhongtian has to shoulder the responsibilities of a head coach.

It's like what Eames did to them, but it's different. They were so weak at the time that they couldn't raise their fighting spirit against the mighty Chelsea. In order to boost the fighting spirit, Eames proposed the spirit of the Berserk to cheer everyone up. The problem that the team is facing now may be pride, and it is a bit out of place to bring up the spirit of madness.

Psychological adjustment is really a very technical job, and Chu Zhongtian has deeply experienced it in the half season he has been the head coach. If you use too much force, you are afraid that the players will be restrained, and if you use too little force, you are afraid that it will not work.

It's really hard to master. Because the results of psychological adjustment are not something you can see right away, and when you see the results, it's often too late to adjust...... However, Chu Zhongtian now has an advantage that he is one of the players on the field, he can use his actual actions to influence his teammates, and it is easier than the head coach to observe the mental state of his teammates. In addition, he has a final line of insurance - even if the other players are not in the right mental state, he can turn the tide and decide the outcome of the game on his own...... The disadvantage is that this trick does not work every time...... At the tactical meeting on the last night before the game, Chu Zhongtian stood in front of the tactical board and re-explained the specific tactics for tomorrow to the players. He's already said it once, and he's going to re-emphasize it this time, hoping to make a better impression on the players and avoid situations where they don't know what to do in the game.

"Our main tactic in this game was to attack, not to defend and counter-attack. Reading will certainly play a counter-attacking game. What we have to do is we have to control the midfield, that's the number one goal and the whole team has to act with that goal. As long as we can control the midfield, there is no threat on the counter-attack. ”

Chu Zhongtian had experienced a similar match. It was the 2014 World Cup qualifier in Brazil, where China hosted Laos. In terms of the strength of both sides, the Chinese team won Laos, but the result was more than 20 minutes into the opening game, Laos led the Chinese team 2:0, and the two goals scored were all scored by defensive counterattacks.

The crux of the problem is that the two backs of the Chinese team have not been able to play their due state, especially Zheng Zhi's condition is very bad, and Yang Hao has frequently conceded goals. Originally, the coaching staff didn't plan to let Chu Zhongtian play so quickly, but he was replaced at the beginning of the second half, and as soon as he went up, the Chinese team regained control of the midfield, and the offensive also hit the Lao goal in waves, scoring two goals in ten minutes to overtake the score.

Chu Zhongtian was the key in this, he controlled the midfield, allowing the Chinese team to attack and retreat and defend. When Laos counterattacked, he was able to intercept the opponent's counterattack and make the Laos team's counterattack unable to hit. And when the Chinese team attacked, he could sell a steady stream of shells in the back.

In the end, with his assist, the Chinese team defeated Laos with a disparity of 7:2, and at the same time completely destroyed Laos' hope of turning the tables at home.

Therefore, how to deal with defensive counterattacks, Chu Zhongtian's idea is to "control the midfield", and the back waist must become the most reliable barrier for the back line, and cannot lose the ball casually, otherwise it will give the opponent a chance to counterattack.

"During the game, Kut and I, as the back midfielders, have to run more horizontally and defend and stop the opponent's counterattack here......" Chu Zhongtian pulled a line on the position behind the center circle, which is the defensive area of the back midfield.

"As soon as the defender gets the ball, he has to move the ball forward and pass us." Chu Zhongtian pointed to himself and Hammons. "Try to use as little direct as possible. Reading are physically better than us, they have good headers, and we may not be able to take advantage of the direct long balls, but we can easily lose possession and give the opportunity to attack. ”

Reading are good at high-altitude balls, and Chu Zhongtian's intention is to continue to play with them with his foot skills, just like the first time the two sides met in the first half of the season. He's pretty confident in his footwork, especially in front of a "rough England dude" like Reading.

Use your possession to attract the attention of the opposition defence, creating opportunities and openings for your teammates.

"The striker should not stick to the penalty area in front, he must pull out, pull out the opponent's defenders, keep running, and the two full-backs should not hesitate to step forward!"

Chu Zhongtian drew arrows in several positions and made a gesture.

"When we defend, we have to pay extra attention to their high balls, especially to protect the second drop. Can't let the other party easily get the second landing point! ”

Anti-golf, many people think that as long as they send players who are good at fighting for golf, they can go up. But there are too few players who can fight for the first landing point every time, and the second landing point is the key to the attack through high balls, so you should also pay special attention when defending. A lot of the time, it's the players who take the ball down to see who controls the second drop. If it is controlled by the defender, the threat of this attack is removed, and you can even use this opportunity to play a quick counterattack. If it is controlled by the attacking side, it is easy to form a second attack.

It's like rebounding in basketball. Any basketball player and basketball coach understands the importance of rebounding, especially frontcourt rebounding. In football, the second drop point is equivalent to rebounding.

"Their center Eddie. Woodgate has excellent headers, but he rarely uses his headers to pass to his team-mates, and I think that may be due to his lack of skill in this area, so his headers are mostly fed back to teammates who come in at the back. We need to pay special attention to this. In addition, they should also pay attention to the ball from both wings. Reading will definitely be extra practised with wide crosses in their previous training sessions and try not to let them get comfortable on the wing! ”

It took an hour for Chu Zhongtian to talk about all the aspects he could, of course, this is only for the whole team, each player has a tactical manual, which records in great detail what the characteristics of their opponents are, and how they should deal with them...... These tactics are different for each player, and after Chu Zhongtian summarized them for them, let everyone memorize them. So that when it comes to the game, you don't know what to do.

After the tactical meeting, the team was disbanded and they had one more hour of free time before it was time to rest.

Chu Zhongtian's management of the team has been refined to every detail, including the rest time of the whole team.

For the remaining hour, there is not much freedom to move around, and many players will choose to watch TV in their rooms, take a shower or something, and then go to bed.

Tomorrow's game is so important to them that if they can win, they will be promoted to the Premier League. For many people, that's the ultimate goal.

The eve of the game was very quiet, and when the day came, Wembley Stadium was bustling with activity from the morning, with media from all over the country and the world gathering here. A promotion play-off in the Championship should not be taken so seriously, but who made Wimbledon too legendary, and Chu Zhongtian too legendary?

When he left Real Madrid to join Wimbledon a season ago, the media thought he was just trying to get back to his favourite team. There are even media who are still lamenting Chu Zhongtian's choice, because his performance in the last half season of Real Madrid has proved that he can continue to play high-level football for two to three years. But now he's joined a Championship side, apparently out of his own accord.

Chu Zhongtian did not explain his choice, but worked silently, and it was only now that everyone saw his reason.

Leading a Championship team to promotion is no worse than winning the league title.

"Won the league and the Champions Cup...... It's nothing, but moving to a Championship team and leading them to promotion as the main core and manager is a real legend! ”

Some media lamented so.

Before the final, many media wanted to interview Chu Zhongtian and listen to his mental journey this season. But none of them could be fulfilled, because Chu Zhongtian refused all interviews. Now that Russell is back in the team, Chu Zhongtian is no longer the head coach of the team, and he doesn't have to be forced to attend press conferences or anything, and reporters can't ask him more questions if they want to.

While the media reporters were still preparing for the afternoon game, Chu Zhongtian and his teammates were resting in the hotel.

In the morning, Chu Zhongtian also went to the gym of the hotel for training, and he felt very good.

Now he's chatting with Russell in the hotel's café over coffee.

At this time, of course, I can't help but recall the original years. They were both young, going to school, and playing at Wimbledon while they were going to school. They were there the day the team was formed, but those who were with them at the beginning had faded out or even lost contact.

"Gavin is also coming, I called him, and he rushed back from South Africa." Russell said.

Gavin. Bolger was Russell's good friend and partner, but he chose to retire at the age of twenty-eight, and he left the team the year the team became professional. He coached several amateur teams in England before going to South Africa and heard about coaching in a professional football club in South Africa.

Even if they are still engaged in football-related vision, there are still many people who have not continued to do football-related work at all. For example, Joe. Schilling, the team's striker, is now a businessman.

There is only one person who can continue to play football, Chu Zhongtian.

"At the beginning, among those of us, you were the worst, but I didn't expect you to be the highest now!" Russell didn't forget to ridicule Chu Zhongtian.

Chu Zhongtian rolled his eyes. But Russell wasn't entirely nonsense. When he first entered the team, he had no other ability except for good physical strength, being able to run and defend, and even passing the ball forward more than five meters would have problems, and the offense had no part in his part at all. He even felt that he would just be a sapper-type midfielder for the rest of his life, but how could he have imagined that he would now become a player who can play an important role in attack repeatedly?

"Now we've finally achieved what we were aiming for......"

Russell let out a sigh.

Chu Zhongtian smiled: "Do you have any plans after the team is promoted to the Premier League, Alai?" ”

"Plans? Belch...... Try to stay in the Premier League, I guess you will be relegated in the first few seasons. Russell thought for a moment and said that he had never led a team to play in the Premier League, and he could only judge based on his experience in leading a team to play in the Championship.

"What about after relegation?" Chu Zhongtian asked again.

Russell spread his hands: "I haven't thought of such a distant problem." If you have any ideas, just say it, Chu. ”

'I don't think promotion is the ultimate goal, if Wimbledon are just content to go back to the Premier League, that's the end of it. We should have bigger goals - not only to stay in the Premier League, but also to strive for the top! Promotion was just the beginning for me, you know, this is my first time playing in the Premier League. ”

"But your contract expires in three seasons...... Russell didn't expect Chu Zhongtian's only intention to be so ambitious, and he even wanted Wimbledon to become a quasi-powerhouse like Tottenham and Everton that have occupied the middle of the Premier League for a long time...... That's really a "luxury" for Wimbledon!

"Can't I renew my contract when it's due?" Chu Zhongtian pursed his lips nonchalantly. "I was only 38 years old at the time, and if everything was fine, I could have played at least two more seasons."

"You're going to kick until you're forty?" Russell was even more surprised.

"What's not to do? As long as I'm in good shape, I'll keep playing. I'm enjoying football and I don't want to say goodbye too soon, haha! ”

Chu Zhongtian said with a smile.

In fact, what Chu Zhongtian is looking forward to is not promotion, but what will happen after he is promoted to the super, the Championship is a small stage, and he doesn't pay attention to it. The Premier League is the real big stage, and through this stage, you can enter a wider world.

(To be continued)