Pan Yi took a fancy to this Italian, and he also had a relationship with Porter when he said it.

It's just that this so-called "origin" will only happen in the future.

That's when Graham Potter led Brighton to play in the Premier League and was directly poached by Chelsea, who replaced Potter's position - De Zerbi!

In other words, Potter is De Zerbi's predecessor.

It's just that before the two men took charge of Brighton, De Zerbi was at least more famous than Potter.

Suffice it to say, Graham Potter made a name for himself in the Premier League through his performances at Brighton, while De Zerbi had a lot of fame back in Serie A.

De Zerbi's coaching career began in Serie A, and in the 2016/17 season, the 37-year-old took up the reins of Palermo and embarked on a journey in the top five leagues, but it was far from as good as he had hoped.

In less than three months, De Zerbi was fired for his poor record, with 1 win, 2 draws and 10 losses in 13 games.

It wasn't until October 2017 that De Zerbi returned to coaching and became Benevento's "firefighting" coach.

Benevento had already suffered a nine-game losing streak when De Zerbi took over, and although the former led Benevento to six wins in the remainder of the campaign, it was not enough to change the team's relegation woes.

At the end of the season, Benevento was relegated to Serie B as the bottom of the group, and De Zerbi's second adventure came to an abrupt end.

Through this semi-successful experience of "firefighting", De Zerbi has attracted the attention of another Serie A civilian team, Sassuolo.

In 2018, Shadzerbi officially signed a contract with "Watermelon Peel", which has since set off a wave of green in the Apennine Peninsula.

In the three years he was in charge of Sassuolo, although the team never broke into European competition, it was never worried about relegation.

Under the difficult conditions of the main exodus and limited reinforcements for many years, De Zerbi can still lead the team to make steady progress and stay in the middle of the league for a long time.

In addition, De Zerbi's attacking football concept has finally blossomed on the green field, and the hearty cooperation and mercury attack have won the reputation of "Green Barcelona".

In 2018-19, Sassuolo, 11th in Serie A, scored 53 goals, just two behind fifth-placed Milan and fourth-placed Inter Milan with four goals, and one more than seventh-placed Torino.

In the following three seasons, Sassuolo's goal tally continued to rise, reaching 60+ on average, which shows that De Zerbi's mind is full of dry goods.

It is precisely because of his excellent performance in "Green Barcelona" that he was favored by the Ukrainian powerhouse Shakhtar Donetsk and officially became the 34th coach in the history of Shakhtar Donetsk.

Then there's the story of Brighton's Potter being poached, and then Brighton boss Tony Bloom finding De Zerbi from the name spit out of the machine.

In fact, this change of manager at Brighton can even be said to be an upgrade!

In the highlight of Chelsea's 'predecessor vs. incumbent' match against Brighton, just when the outside world thought that Potter would drive the "aircraft carrier" and shoot down the "seagull" effortlessly, De Zerbi slammed the "predecessor" with a surprise performance.

4:1, which is a surprising score.

Speaking at his press conference after the game, Graham Potter said: "It's a painful scoreline, Brighton played well, especially in the first half. The atmosphere away from home was really tense and we didn't get to that intensity. ”

As Graham Potter said, Chelsea trailed by three goals in the first half thanks to Leandro Trossard and two own goals, considering that Potter had conceded just four goals in nine games in charge of Chelsea at the time.

Not only that, but Graham Potter also tasted the first defeat of his Blues career at his former club.

In this game, Brighton coach De Zerbi's line-up had an immediate effect, although the possession rate was behind, but the "Seagulls" completed 2 more shots than the opponent, thus creating 4 goals.

This good show of tearing up his predecessor also made De Zerbi, who came to the Premier League for the first time, fully demonstrate his strength.

And the standings at the end of the season also prove it.

In the end, Chelsea, who went through a change of coach and a change of coach, only ranked 12th with 44 points, and did not even win the Eastern Conference.

De Zerbi's Brighton is in sixth place with 62 points, and the team has entered Europe for the first time in history!

Of course, at this point in time, De Zerbi has not yet made a name for himself.

After retiring from the game, he coached an amateur team called Darfobo Alyoterme, well, the name is super long.

Then he was favored by the Group C team Foggia, who had just led the team to play a season, but he was not able to lead the team to Serie B, and is now unemployed.

Pan Yi is now looking for De Zerbi, it's just the right time!

In fact, De Zerbi agreed to Pan Yi's invitation almost without thinking.

The reason is very simple, Pan Yi is his biggest idol! When you are unemployed, what reason is there to refuse to be an assistant coach for your idol's team?

And the second idol in De Zerbi's heart is...... Pep Guardiola.

Well, if it is in the normal timeline, then Guardiola is De Zerbi's biggest idol, and it can also be said that he is a loyal follower of Guardiola.

In 2013, when Guardiola was still taking Bayern with Bayern in Bavaria, an uninvited guest visited Bayern's training base, but he did not dare to go in, but rented a house next to Bayern's training base so that he could watch several Guardiola training sessions every day.

This man was De Zerbi.

At this time, De Zerbi was not well-known, and Guardiola also came forward at one point and personally wrote a letter of recommendation to the manager of Las Palmas, but the Spanish team rejected this person - he had almost no background in the top five leagues in his career, and his coaching career was only in Italy, which was not a bad experience, but it did make it difficult for him to enter the eyes of the Spanish team.

But with such an experience, De Zerbi admires Guardiola's character and level very much.

Speaking to the media, De Zerbi said: "For me, Pep Guardiola is the best coach in the world and I admired him when he was coaching at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. ”

De Zerbi has always adhered to the concept of passing and control, both during his early years of training and at Sassuolo's rise to prominence, and for him, the amount of possession is the primary factor that determines victory or defeat.

In the 2018-19 season, Sassuolo averaged 53.1% possession per game, ranking seventh in Serie A, just 0.3 points behind AC Milan, followed by both Roma.

After two seasons of training, De Zerbi took his passing philosophy to the extreme, and in 2020-21, Sassuolo averaged 58.2% possession per game, topping the Serie A table and 3.2% ahead of second-placed Juventus.

De Zerbi is not "possessing the ball for the sake of possession", when in possession of the ball, De Zerbi will ask his players to try to find a way to break the opponent through precise and efficient passing, and Sassuolo also reflects De Zerbi's tactical purpose of excellence in this link.

In 2018-19, Sassuolo ranked sixth in Serie A with an average of 84 per cent of passes per game, and after a season they improved that number to 86.8 per cent, behind only Napoli's 88.2 per cent and Juventus' 88 per cent.

In the 2020-21 season, Sassuolo improved their pass success rate by almost 1 percentage point, this time with only Juventus in front of them, leaving behind traditional powerhouses such as Milan, Roma and Napoli.

Judging from the two data of possession rate and pass success rate, De Zerbi not only "copied" Guardiola's tactical system, but also comprehended its tactical essence to a certain extent.

In Italian football, which has always focused on defense, De Zerbi, who has gone the opposite way, is an alternative existence.

When he arrived at Brighton, De Zerbi developed a new system and, in McAllister's words: 'The manager wanted us to attack in front of our own penalty area, but we really didn't expect it to work so well. ”

In terms of formation design, De Zerbi chose 4231 to start, and when the attack unfolds, the team's formation will be changed to 2422, leaving only two central defenders at the first time when the ball is played in the backfield, and at the same time setting up two backs to escort and two fullbacks waiting for the opportunity to move.

Under his tactical system, Japan's three-goal king has also become the Premier League's top winger, plus the center forward Ferguson and shadow striker Enciso, who are less than 18 years old, have shined, indicating that he also has his own set of development for young players.

This tactic is still focused on possession, but at the core, De Zerbi's tactics at this time are actually a bit like Rangnick's, with a duo controlling the middle and the wing-backs on both sides moving flexibly.

In terms of execution, De Zerbi's team also has the shadow of Rangnick's team: straight through the middle, fast forward, full of runs.

And for Pan Yi, De Zerbi, a coach who inherits the essence of Gua Shuai's football and is flexible, is not what York City wants?

On the other hand, Pan Yi's York City originally had a lot of shadows of Guardiola's tactics - Scaloni learned from Pan Yi, wasn't it a lot of things that were Shuai in his previous life?

Of course, the two hit it off! ——

Like many people who come to York City training for the first time, Potter and De Zerbi were a little incredulous when they arrived.

Because as a League One team, York City's training ground and training facilities are so complete!

Potter, who played for York City as a player, didn't find the tattered feeling of the year at all.

And De Zerbi, who has coached a Serie C team before, feels that it is also a third-tier team, why is the gap between the two so big?

Too standardized, too modern!

This is also part of Pan Yi's insistence on gradually updating and upgrading the club's infrastructure, and from this, it can also be seen that Pan Yi is determined to run the club.

Pan Yi looked at these two stunned looks, and said with a smile: "Now the club's hardware is gradually getting better, but it needs talents like you to join more, otherwise everything will be a mirage and a mansion in the air." So the future of the club depends on you! ”

This flattered Potter and De Zerbi as well.

But in any case, Pan Yi must be a boss who understands the laws of football management, and will not be like other rich people, who think that they can do whatever they can do if they throw some money, and will disrespect employees or something.

After all, no matter how good the training ground and infrastructure are, if there are no good talents to manage and use them, it is equivalent to a pile of garbage, and it is useless.

Walking through the first-team training ground, Graham Potter and De Zerbi also saw the youth training ground, where a number of youth squad players were training.

"These are our futures, but they're not good enough." Pan Yi said to Potter, "So we need a technical director like you to help us." ”

Potter nodded slightly.

At present, York City's youth training system is just starting, and many places are not perfect, and there is no dedicated youth director.

Therefore, as the technical director, Potter has to grasp both the first team and the youth team.

Potter is also well aware of Pan Yi's expectations for him, which is to give full play to his attributes as a club manager and grasp the team's bottom-up promotion system as a whole.

After watching the training of the youth team, Pan Yi also took advantage of the gap in the training of the first team to take them to the venue of the first team and introduced them to the head coach Scaloni.

Although it was only the first time they met, they had been involved in football for many years and were on the training ground at the same time, and Scaloni immediately discussed with them about training at York City.

Graham Potter and De Zerbi knew they needed to show some real skills to win the manager's trust, so they both watched the first-team training carefully and did their best to express their views and analyses.

They are already talented, and the tactical play style they are good at or like is similar to Pan Yi's lineage, so several people naturally chatted happily.

Scaloni was clearly happy and satisfied with the arrival of his two new friends.

The most remarkable thing is that they both come up with training methods to help players improve and improve, which is what Scaloni appreciates the most, and his statement that he wants to invite Graham Potter and De Zerbi to the office after training proves that he has accepted both men.

Pan Yi was also happy when he saw that they were talking happily.

Because of his "knowledge of past lives", Pan Yi is not at all worried that the arrival of Potter and De Zerbi will change York City's tactical style, on the contrary, he feels that the arrival of these two technical talents will make this set of tactics work more smoothly and naturally.

Technique is a necessary prerequisite for all players to execute tactics, with Graham Potter and De Zerbi only responsible for the technical aspects of the team, while Scaloni is the real decision-maker when it comes to player use and tactics.

Pan Yidu began to look forward to what it would be like when Scaloni, the growing manager, blended everything into one furnace and refined a set of tactical systems that were completely his own.

Maybe at that time, he can really let his disciples do it completely! ——

With technical director Graham Potter and assistant coach De Zerbi in place, York City had two cup games in place.

The first is the historic English FA Cup.

If he had to choose one of the three cup competitions that York City has played in this season, Pan Yi would definitely choose the FA Cup.

Quite simply, as the oldest football competition in the world, the FA Cup has a special place in the minds of all English.

And as a perennial team that has played in the lower leagues and even amateur leagues, York City has their supporters cheering every step forward in the FA Cup.

As a player, you will also enjoy the process, and if you can meet some of the best teams in the Premier League at the back, it will be a good opportunity.

After all, many people in this team really didn't have the opportunity to face off against giants like Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea before!

Of course, as a League One side, York City's FA Cup journey starts in the first round, while Premier League and Championship teams don't enter until the third round.

Therefore, if York City wants to wrestle with a real strong team, it must at least advance to the third round!

Their opponents in the first round were Boehly, who are also League One teams.

This team is actually quite difficult, and the two teams have played to a 0-0 draw in League One before.

However, Scaloni, who is determined to win this game, sent all the main lineup to fight, that is, to try to win the opponent!

This is because four days after this FA Cup, it is the third round of the inconsequential English Championship, and you can be on the bench when the time comes, so there is nothing to worry about today.

Although Boehly also took this FA Cup first-round game seriously and sent all the players in it, York City played a little differently than they did against them in the league.

Today, York City's two full-backs, Alphonso Davies and Tomiyasu, preferred to pull wide and defend closer to midfield.

This position allows them to form a 2-4-4 formation in possession, with attacking players on the flanks advancing alongside the forwards and attacking midfielders threatening behind the opposition defence.

In this case, York City also began to lure the opposition into pressing and breaking through the opposition's high-pressure defence by passing the ball vertically to one of the two players in midfield, namely Karlström.

York City's two midfielders usually stay close to each other so they can pass the ball to each other or back to the defender to keep the ball flowing.

They are very patient and will focus on passing the ball around until there is a suitable opportunity to pass it vertically and bring four attacking players into the fray in order to create a 4-on-3 situation in the opposition defence.

In the opposition half, York's formation was almost 2-2-6.

At this point, the outermost players in the formation, Lin Liangming and Armand, both cut inside more than crosses, sending the ball into the box through a series of passes and player movements around the edge of the box.

Obviously, this tactical style of play has a deep 'De Zerbi imprint', and Scaloni has apparently taken the advice of the new assistant coach and started experimenting directly in the FA Cup!

And this style of play made Boehly a little uncomfortable.

After all, they had just drawn with York City in the league and much of the coaching staff's preparation for the game was based on that game.

But today, Yorktown is not the same at all!

Under the premise that the absolute ability of the players is weaker than that of the opponent, and the tactical strategy is not right, Boehly's defeat is almost a foregone conclusion.

2:0, that's the final score of this FA Cup game.

York City eliminated Boehly with one goal each from Lin Liangming and Baker and successfully entered the second round of the FA Cup!

However, in the next British Championship, York City, which played with a full substitute lineup, lost 0:2 to Newport.

However, thanks to a run of two wins in a row, York City have made it out of the group stage and will face Brighton & Hove Albion in the first round of the knockout rounds of the English Championship.

——

York City's performance is getting better and better, and Chelsea seem to be enjoying a new lease of life!

After two consecutive defeats in the Premier League, Arteta, who has been "passed on the gong" by Pan Yi, seems to have opened his mind, leading the Blues to directly win five consecutive Premier League wins!

After the last international break, Chelsea host last season's big boys, Leicester City.

This time Chelsea played in the limelight, with Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and Victor Moses each contributing to a crisp 3-0 win over the Foxes.

Then, they welcomed a strong rival at Stamford Bridge, Manchester United!

It was also the first time Jose Mourinho had led United back to Stamford Bridge to take on his former club Chelsea.

But this Chelsea team led by Tazige did not give Mourinho any face.

Just 30 seconds into the opening period, Marcos Alonso set up Harry Kane to open the scoring;

Virgil van Dijk then doubled Chelsea's lead with a sweeping effort in front of goal.

Re-played, Nemanja Matic assisted Eden Hazard to break the net and N'Golo Kante scored the icing on the cake. At full-time, Chelsea beat Manchester United 4-0!

Combined with a 2-0 win over Hull City before the international break, Chelsea have won three league games in a row, while Manchester United are on a three-game winless run in the league.

Although Chelsea were knocked out of the Carabao Cup 2-1 defeat to West Ham United three days later, it was clear that this season's Carabao Cup was not in Arteta's plans.

Sure enough, in the next two rounds of Premier League matches, the Blues once again showed their fangs.

Beat Southampton 2-0 away and beat Everton 5-0 at home!

In other words, in five consecutive rounds of Premier League matches, Chelsea have won five consecutive victories, scoring 16 goals without conceding a single goal!

This result also saw Chelsea jump from the bottom of the table to second place!

Now the Premier League is 11 rounds, and Liverpool led by Klopp has quietly climbed up, ranking first with 8 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, with 26 points;

Chelsea are second with 25 points from eight wins, one draw and two defeats, while Manchester City and Arsenal are third and fourth with 24 points. Fifth and sixth are Tottenham and Manchester United.

The top six are still dominated by the BIG6, but the top four seem to have formed the main title contenders for the season.

In addition, Chelsea have also played four group games in the Champions League this season, with three wins and one draw, and are also in sight of qualifying.

It's just that after the 11th round of the Premier League on November 6, the five major leagues will be temporarily suspended again.

Because the international break is here again, the national teams are fighting for a place in the 2018 World Cup!

As the "nominal advisor" of the Dragon Country team, Pan Yi did not stay in the UK to enjoy the happiness this time, but took a plane to the Dragon Country to meet the team.

Because he knows that the next game against Qatar is almost a matter of life and death for the Dragon team.

Now that he has agreed to help Lippi, it is time to use all his skills to change the fate of the national football team in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers! (End of chapter)