Ye Yifeng has set a transfer record in world football, but he is not considered the strongest active player in world football.

This can be seen in his annual salary, of course, if he is willing to go to Paris Saint-Germain, then his annual salary will be significantly higher, and the salary structure will be different depending on the club.

But at Atletico Madrid, he is the highest paid in the team, not one of them.

Simeone doesn't care about the commercial value of Ye Yifeng, that's what club president Cerezo will care about.

Since the day Ye Yifeng joined, his jersey sales have continued to rise, and Nike has sold 7 million Atletico Madrid No. 10 jerseys in China every month, and the highest single-day sales exceeded 460,000 pieces, which is a new football record.

Ye Yifeng's jerseys sold in one day were higher than Atletico Madrid's sales in the whole of last year!

He cashes in on his commercial value as quickly as possible, and Atletico Madrid also officially announces strategic cooperation agreements with more companies from time to time.

Simeone's task is to get Ye Yifeng to deliver on his competitive value.

After two warm-up matches in Japan and China, Atletico Madrid returned to home for three more warm-up matches.

Ye Yifeng only played 30 minutes in the last warm-up game, and the average appearance in other games was about 65 minutes.

His performance is to start low and go high, and his competitive form is constantly improving, but also giving Simeone a problem.

Purely compared to technique, Ye Yifeng is not the best offensive player.

In terms of speed, he is not the fastest striker.

But on the court, Ye Yifeng showed an unimaginable view of the overall situation and comprehensive ability of the game.

Atletico Madrid, a "bandit" team, lacks brains.

Especially in the context of Raul Garcia's departure.

Ye Yifeng found himself a little lonely in the run-in with the team.

In Wolfsburg, teammates up front can play with four or five consecutive touches in a wave of attack, and the passing and cutting combination has the continuity of the team's overall operation.

But at Atletico Madrid, such continuity is almost non-existent.

Simeone's key to instilling a tactical philosophy is, first and foremost: defensive! Guard!

Static defense superimposed crazy pressing!

Then there is the offense.

Offense is fast, simple, and never drags out.

The day before the season opener, Simeone announced his starting line-up at the pre-match preparation meeting.

Ye Yifeng is impressively listed, and it is impossible for Atletico Madrid to spend 100 million euros and put him on the bench.

After arranging tactics and arranging the dismissal of the meeting, Simeone left Ye Yifeng.

Throughout the summer of preparation, the two did not communicate much.

Because of Ye Yifeng's performance on the court, Simeone can't find fault.

The defense chased to death, and the awareness of joint defense cooperation was also reflected in the game position, and at the same time, the active confrontation was also in line with his requirements for the players.

At the same time, Ye Yifeng did not pursue personal performance in the attack, whether it was organizing or passing, or actively grabbing points, it was very in line with Atletico Madrid's style of play.

But Simeone still needs to have a good chat with Ye Yifeng.

Simeone, who was wearing sportswear, erased the tactical board, he drew a 343 formation on the tactical board with a pen, and then said to Ye Yifeng: "A great coach once told me that the best defense is offense, and according to the tactical style of play, it can indeed present wonderful and extraordinary offensive effects. ”

As he spoke, Simeone drew different arrows on the small circles representing the players in the 343 formation, roughly marking the potential coordination of each point of the players' attack and interspersed with running lines.

Some have more arrows in the circle, and some have fewer arrows in the circle.

With Ye Yifeng's current tactical comprehension ability, he can instantly understand that the tasks that the players are responsible for are different.

A circle with fewer arrows is likely to take on more organizational tasks while taking on defensive interception lines.

Simeone's voice shifted.

"But the price of attacking is always to risk it with the defence, you can play 10 good offensive footballs, but a crucial defeat can cost you everything!

And it's too demanding of the team.

First of all, you have to have enough players who are capable of attacking.

And then you have to make sure that these players are in good shape on a consistent basis.

Finally, the unavoidable problem, when you need to break through the dense defense, you have to see if you have luck! ”

In other words, he drew a big X on this formation.

Then he redrew a 442 formation.

He marked arrows in the left forward and left wing-backs, as well as in the centre-back positions.

"In the warm-up I tried to put you in these three positions and you did a good job, the off-ball movement and the options for handling the ball were very reasonable, and they all met the requirements of those roles.

What I need you to strengthen and improve now is what to do with your defense when you play these three roles separately!

It's going to take a while to have defensive ability and integrate that ability with the team.

If you have different opinions and requirements, you can let me know. ”

Ye Yifeng shook his head.

He kind of understood what Simeone meant.

Atletico Madrid is not a team that can play attack everywhere.

Simeone's pursuit is not to attack and level the world, the first thing he thinks of when he eats, sleeps, and pees must be defense.

Ye Yifeng has the enthusiasm to defend and the ability to defend, so now Simeone wants Ye Yifeng to integrate into Atletico Madrid's defensive system as quickly as possible.

As for which role he will play in the game, Simeone did not say it clearly, but Ye Yifeng knew very well that Simeone was treating himself as a versatile player in the team.

Atletico Madrid's own changes may simply be "squad selectivity and player form fluctuations", but every opponent is different and the situation is different in every game.

The positions and roles of other players will not change, but Ye Yifeng may be the most flexible!

This is a requirement at the core level, and it is also a key variable for the team to break the fate that was suppressed in the past!

Simeone spent nearly an hour guiding Ye Yifeng.

And tell him that after each game, he will also spend time with him to review and summarize the performance in conjunction with the game.

......

August 22, evening, 7:30.

Madrid is lit up and the city is bursting with colour.

To the southwest of the city of Madrid, on the banks of the Manzanares River, is the Calderón Stadium.

The lights are brilliant and the voices are buzzing.

Atletico Madrid, the opening match of the new season, welcomed the challenge of promoted Maras Palmas.

When Ye Yifeng, who was wearing the No. 10 shirt, appeared on the stage with his teammates, he deliberately went to cut his hair today, and he who had always had short hair, he was not blessed to be washed, cut and blown package.

In the new season and on the new battlefield, it is natural to have a new mental outlook.

The overall attendance of La Liga is lower than that of the Bundesliga and the Premier League.

Atletico Madrid also struggles to guarantee a full matinee for every home game.

Like today, even if it is the opening game, but the opponent is a promoted horse, and the attendance rate is only 90%.

Tang Mo sat in the box to watch the game today, because Ye Yifeng's mother and Tang Mo's mother also came to the scene today, as well as their two friends.

The foursome of the Sunset Red Girl Group came to Europe for tourism, and when they went to Spain, they stopped by to take a look at Ye Yifeng......

Atletico Madrid started 442.

Goalkeeper: Oblak.

Defenders: Juanfrán, Godin, Jose Jimenez, Felipe Luiz.

Midfielders: Koke, Gabi, Saul, Ye Yifeng.

Forwards: Griezmann, Torres.

Las Palmas, as a promoted horse, is a guest to fight, and the natural formation is very conservative, and a 451 formation is discharged.

The fans in the stands were still very enthusiastic, and there were some Asian faces cheering for Ye Yifeng.

The game started at a slow pace.

Las Palmas' offensive impact basically can't even get into the Atletico Madrid penalty area, and most of the time it can't even get past the midfielder of Atletico Madrid's first line of defense.

To put it simply, the essence of Atletico Madrid's tactics is: attack the backline of the opponent directly, but the opponent must break through the two tight lines of defense between the midfielder and the defender!

Ye Yifeng was on the left side of the midfield, initially trying to form a link with Saul in the middle or Torres who was closer to the front.

The effect was disappointing to him.

Saul will get the ball forward faster and don't give Ye Yifeng time to run.

It seems that offense is a hammer deal.

Anyway, the midfielder just needs to pass the ball forward.

It doesn't matter if the pass is lost, the defensive position will not be lost anyway, and it is absolutely fast to enter the defensive state, but the offense seems to be impatient.

Ye Yifeng will pass the ball to Torres, who is running out of position, when he is intercepted by an opponent when he rushes forward, and then he will accelerate the run and cut inside.

But Torres didn't ignore him, but chose to go it alone as soon as he touched the ball, or pass the ball to Griezmann, who was already running inside in front of him.

From Las Palmas' point of view, whoever is closest to the defence will certainly be the most obvious point of fire.

In this case, Griezmann is the open card, Las Palmas shrinks the defensive line to chase and intercept, and Griezmann can only do it alone.

Torres doesn't pass the ball and goes it alone, and the effect is similar.

Both of them possessed the ball and got rid of the acceleration breakthrough looked quite threatening, but they couldn't stand the multitude of Las Palmas defenders!

What about one?

Without the passing effect of Messi's rampage, how can you be allowed to smash Huanglong?

Ye Yifeng ran a lot without the ball, and in the end he could only turn around and run back to ensure that the defense did not lose his position.

He felt like he was back in time when he first went to Monaco.

But the tactical style of play is really different.

Torres's reaction was as if to invisibly tell him: I'm an old golden boy! Why should you be a tool?

In fact, this is a tactical decision of Atletico Madrid, who never drag their feet in attack and do not pursue possession.

Atletico Madrid have been averaging no more than 50% possession per game all year round, which means they have no advantage in possession.

At the same time, their pass success rate is at the level of "lost face" among La Liga teams: less than 80% in most games.

How can a team that has no advantage in possession and a low pass success rate rely on to win?

Defend, fast attack!

Atletico Madrid have the highest number of successful interceptions per game of any La Liga team, and 50% of their attacks have been made after successful interceptions.

Ye Yifeng needs to adapt and find a rhythm in the game to be able to control this team.

It felt like being back in Monaco.

But the mentality did not return to Monaco.

He's definitely not here to be a toolman!