Chapter 307 The opposition of the new coach

After winning the league championship, Valencia's fans were excited for half a month, and then bad news began to follow one after another - first, news that major giants were interested in Tiger. While they were still worried about whether Tiger would leave next season, Cooper and Mendieta's departure made them full of worry.

Although this is not the first time Valencia has left after achieving good results, such as last summer, leaving Gerard, with three absolute main players, Farinos and Lopez, the situation this time is different. The departure of Mendeta, the core captain of the local team, is a serious blow, not to mention the departure of head coach Cooper, who led the team to win five heavyweight championships. This blow is far from comparable to the departure of three main players last season!

What's more, Valencia fans still have a doubt in their hearts - Cooper and Mendeita have both left, will Tiger stay?

A club, such three important people leaving at the same time, is definitely a devastating blow!

Just when they were extremely worried, Tiger gave them a reassurance.

On August 1, Tiger, who had finished his vacation, flew back to Valencia. After more than a month of silence, Tiger finally expressed his opinions in front of all Valencia fans.

"I won't leave this summer. Valencia has allowed me to grow into a world-class player. At this time, I will not abandon Valencia. I have a contract with Valencia... No one can tell what's going on in the future, but this summer, I won't leave Valencia."

Tiger's statement made all Valencia fans excited and excited. In this case, Tiger's announcement of staying behind is undoubtedly the biggest good news!

Even the Valencia management had found an unknown head coach from a team that had been promoted, but was left behind by Valencia's fans. In their opinion, as long as Tiger is there, there is no need to worry about not having victory or championship!

Before this, Tiger had expressed his attitude of staying in Valencia for another year through Ross. Two Serie A giants also began to find new substitutes. AC Milan dug Rui Costa from Fiorentina as the core of the midfield organization, and Inter Milan bought two midfielders Ocan and Emre from Turkey for Cooper to use. With Cooper strengthening defense as the first factor, Inter Milan's two important signings are center back Matrazi and goalkeeper Toldo.

Although it was a pity that Cooper was not able to bring Tiger to Inter Milan, he was satisfied with these signings now. Inter Milan itself is full of good players, and what he wants to do is to lose weight instead of blindly signings. Cooper is not a head coach who is used to being extravagant, but seems a little petty...

This summer, major European football clubs started an arms race again, but Valencia's movement was not very important.

Many people doubt whether Valencia paid a high price to keep Tiger. In fact, Tiger knew that he had no financial income when he stayed...

What was more depressed than Tiger was the new head coach, Raphael Benitez.

Perhaps because of Benitez's previous reputation, he was almost forgotten after becoming Valencia's head coach, and when he asked Valencia's management how much transfer budget he had, he got a number that surprised him.

"Twenty million euros? Are you kidding?" Benitez asked in surprise.

Garcia shrugged with a wry smile: "I'm not kidding..."

"I remember Mendeta sold more than 40 million yuan." Benitez said after a long time of silence.

Garcia explained for a long time Benitez finally figured out that Lazio did not pay in one lump sum, but in the form of installments, with the first transfer fee of only more than 10 million euros. Coupled with Valencia's large investment in the transfer market last season and the soaring player salary, Valencia really can't afford to make up for the loss of the lineup...

Of course, there are also reasons why Benitez is not very famous and Valencia's management is unwilling to give him too much transfer fee to avoid wasting.

Without any help, Benitez could only use this little money to start replenishing the lineup - Valencia's transfer, veteran Deschamps announced his retirement, Zahovic was dissatisfied with the fact that he had no main position, so he transferred to Benfica, but there was no loss in other positions, and the losses in the midfield were the worst - followed by the forward line, Juan Sanchez also announced his transfer to Celta.

Valencia did not recover any funds from these three players. Except for Sanchez cashed out $5 million, Zahovic was almost at a bargain price. The Slovenian star was very restless last season...

A total of 25 million euros of transfer funds, which is not enough to buy a superstar's leg. Benitez can only buy some cheaper players.

So, Francisco Rufit came as a replacement for Mendeta, also a Spanish international, he was much cheaper, only spent 6 million euros, Uruguay midfielder De Los Santos came as a substitute for the midfield, Mista came as Benitez's old subordinate, four million euros; because Jukic was about to retire, Machena joined Valencia as a part of Zahovic's transfer...

Right forward Rufit, midfielder Santos, forward Mista, and defender Machena, this is all Valencia's signings this season.

When Valencia announced the end of the signings this season, Valencia's fans looked at their team's first team lineup and collectively felt a sense of sadness...

Although four people came, none of the heavyweights introduced the fans and felt worried. After all, although three main players left last season, those who filled in were all excellent players. For example, Zahovic Deschamps are all famous, and Aimal is also famous, which has strengthened the strength of the entire team a lot. This time, the departure of Mendeta alone seems to be something that these players can make up for.

After the team began to concentrate, most of Valencia's players were muttering in their hearts. Although the main lineup would not change much, it was just that Rufit replaced Sideta's position, but the decline in the main lineup's strength seemed to be expected, and the players were not familiar with the new head coach, so there were more troubles.

But Benitez seemed to be not worried at all. He didn't say anything on the training ground, just kept observing the players and practicing new tactics, just like there was no such head coach at all...

Tiger was also a little confused about this. Although he only planned to stay in Valencia for another year, he would be unhappy if he really encountered a head coach with a brain-related problem playing an extremely bad season.

Just when Tiger was a little confused about what kind of person the new head coach was, Benitez took the initiative to chat with him.

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"Hello, I'm Raphael Benitez."

As Tiger walked into Benitez's office, Benitez stood up from his desk and reached out to him.

Tiger held Benitez's hand and couldn't help laughing - this coach was a little interesting. He introduced himself as soon as he took office on the first day and introduced himself once today - so Tiger replied casually: "Hello, I'm Tiger. Lee."

After sitting down, Benitez spoke first: "Tiger, I'm very happy that you can stay this season, because this means that the loss of our main lineup is actually not large. Gezka's departure is an irreparable loss, but we can make up for it in other ways."

Tiger did not answer, but looked at him, hoping to hear something real.

"I actually started to pay attention to Valencia last season. I also saw Cooper's experiment in the first few games of the season... In fact, this approach is right. Valencia's flaw is on the forward line. No top forward is the biggest flaw. However, enhancing the midfield, strengthening the forward ability, and taking the scoring task entirely by the midfield players. This is a very novel and feasible way of playing, but Valencia did not persist later."

Tiger nodded, he knew very well that Cooper had tried it for a long time last year but never solved the problem of everyone scoring in turn.

"In fact, this problem is easy to solve. It's just that the forward insertion is more determined. Everyone in the frontcourt can attack and defend, and the position can be changed back and forth, changing positions without being messed up... What is needed is nothing more than that the players are more skilled."

"It's very simple to say, but it's not easy to do it." Tiger said after thinking about it.

"Do you remember your first season in Valencia? In some games, Valencia showed such strength... Although I was still studying in Italy at that time, I was so surprised after seeing Valencia's performance in those games... The whole team played smoothly, everyone was running, running constantly, surrounding you, organizing the offense through passing balls, and easily tearing the opponent's defense line... Unfortunately, this performance was not seen later. You were fixed in the frontcourt, and Mendeta commanded in the midfield, separated offense and defense, which was more stable, but lacked flexibility." Benitez sighed.

Tiger couldn't help but listened to him and finally joined Valencia for a few games in the first half of the season. However, later, as Benitez said, he scored more goals in his position and after the organization handed over to Mendeta, Valencia's offense was more stable, but lacked the previous smooth cooperation.

"It is also a good thing for Mendeta to leave this season." Benitez said carefully: "Tiger, believe me! As long as you can have the level of those games in the midfield, we can even keep the forwards on the court! You are the only forward in name, but you organize the entire team at the forward position, attract the opponent's attention, and let the midfield players constantly insert and complete the goals... Maybe your number of goals will be reduced a lot, but the entire team will be stronger than before!"

"What do I need to do?" Tiger nodded heavily and asked--what he cared about was not more goals, but the core position. Obviously, Benitez valued himself more as the core than Cooper!

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Hard training became Valencia's theme before the start of the season.

Every player requires a large number of running positions, forward and back and forth in the game. The core is Tiger. Tiger is responsible for passing the ball. At any location, teammates must pass the ball to him as soon as possible and then let him organize the attack. This way of playing requires very high demands on all players. However, Valencia's players have no complaints because Tiger is harder than them - they only need to run, pass the ball, and then receive Tiger's pass, while Tiger has to appear in the most suitable place to catch the ball, and then run, catch, pass the ball...

Fortunately, Tiger is not unfamiliar with this kind of game. At least in the main god space, he has always demanded himself in this way. With his efforts, Valencia's offensive system has also begun to take shape.

This is a "forward-free" tactic. In front of the four defenders, there are six midfielders who run actively and actively offensively - Benitez even put Villa on the bench, Baraja, Alberda, Kili (or Vicente), Rufite (or Angulo), Tiger, and Aimal formed the midfield. There is no forward in this midfield, and the goals are not mostly completed by Tiger, who is the forward-level position, but by Kili, Rufite, Aimal, and even Baraja and Alberda behind them!

Tiger's position on the surface is the forward, but his position can retreat quite far in the game. When he retreats, one of Baraha and Alberda's middle attacks, Aimal can also switch positions with the two wings at any time, and the two wings hit the middle or even in the penalty area to score goals... It's very complicated tactics and crazy ideas. However, when Tiger, as the number one star, had no complaints about this tactical change, everyone had no complaints.

This tactical exercise consumes everyone's physical strength very quickly, but everyone is supporting it. Everyone knows that if this new tactic is eye-catching, they will be recorded in the history of football!

However, Valencia's fans do not know this. When they are worried about the new season, they are also looking forward to the team's premiere - the European Super Cup before the start of the league. Valencia will play against last year's Cup champion Real Madrid in two rounds - this is also the only champion in three years.

The one who appeared at the Bernabeu Stadium was a lineup that surprised Real Madrid fans.

Goalkeeper Casillas, defender Caboni, Anguema, Ayala, Pellegrino, midfielder Baraja, Alberda, Kili, Rufit, Aimal, forward Tiger!

There is no real forward, this is Valencia's starting lineup!

This lineup made Valencia fans feel a little familiar. In the first round of the league last year, Tiger was the only striker in the away game to Real Madrid, and Valencia eventually lost that game...

"Will this guy learn a little?" Valencia's fans began to curse.

However, the process of the game was different from that game.

Although he is a forward, Tiger has always been very far behind in the game. He fought against Zidane in the midfield. Although the opponent's midfielder had two superstars, Zidane and Figo, he controlled the midfield without fear and led the team to launch wave after wave of attacks!

In the confrontation with Marklele and Elgra, Tiger won 18 of the 25 confrontations! At the same time, he had 96 passes in the game. Except for more than 20 back passes and cross passes, the others were forward passes, but the success rate was as high as 80%. Under his leadership, Valencia's shots were twice as many as Real Madrid, and his possession rate was 12 percentage points higher... It was a complete victory!

"The young Tiger makes the old Zidane and Figo have no face!"

After the game, European sports media exclaimed that the light of the whole game was almost shrouded on Tiger alone, and even the fans of the Bernabeu stood up and applauded Tiger several times! After Maradona, the second visiting player to make the entire Bernabeu stand up and applaud the entire Bernabeu stadium!

However, such glory belongs to Tiger alone. Although Tiger has created countless opportunities for Valencia, it is obvious that Valencia players who are not very adapted to this tactic have wasted too many opportunities. They hit the ball on the post twice, and were resolved by Casillas three times...

Real Madrid's frontcourt superstars showed their skill. Raul scored two goals, Figo scored one goal, Zidane scored two direct assists, Valencia only relied on Aimal's goal-shot to get a goal, and 1-3 away, Valencia went to Maicheng!

After a week, Valencia almost replicated this game. After Tiger controlled the midfield, she also created a lot of opportunities, but was squandered one by one. She was eventually tied by Real Madrid 2-2 at home, losing her first chance to win since the start of the new season. After these two games, her dissatisfaction and suspicion of the new head coach Benitez reached a peak!

"I don't know what this guy thinks. Do we don't have a forward? Villa's ability to seize opportunities last season was excellent! But he didn't need such an excellent forward, which led to us not scoring points... It's a pity that Tiger performed so well in these two games! Often when he performed so well, we can win a championship! It's all the blame for the new guy! He is a former Real Madrid player and must have lost these two games on purpose! Yes, that's it!"

A Valencia fan said excitedly after being tied for the second game and losing the Super Cup championship, and his statement also caused a huge wave of opposition to Raphael Benitez!
Chapter completed!