My light shines on Arsenal

Chapter 221 Give me a team of perpetual motion machines

Palermo, Italy.

"Goodbye, Antonio."

"Goodbye."

Antonio Pintus says goodbye to a player as he walks out of the Renzo Barbera Sports Center.

The fifty-one-year-old Italian wore a sweatshirt and carried a shoulder bag.

His body is thin but lean, with a thin layer of blue hair stubble on his bald scalp, making Pintus look like a gang member who is not easy to mess with.

He took out his cell phone, looked at it, and walked to a drink shop near Renzo Barbera.

Under the umbrella, Chen Yao took a sip of his drink with a straw and waved to Pintus from afar.

"Have a drink?"

"No thanks."

Pintus dropped his bag and declined the drink Chen Yao wanted to give him, "This will affect my physical condition."

"It was not easy to find you, Antonio. I searched many people, and finally contacted a friend in Palermo, and then I contacted you."

"I'm just a small physical trainer, not very famous to begin with."

"You are humble, Antonio. You have worked at Juventus and Chelsea. You are not an unknown guy."

"Your evaluation surprised me." Antonio Pintus raised his head and looked at the young coach in front of him curiously.

"Mr. Coach, football is an interesting sport, but the protagonists in the football world are always the big-name stars and the head coaches of big clubs like you."

"I'm just an unknown fitness enthusiast, and I'm curious how you came to me," he said.

"First of all, correct me, Antonio. The protagonist of football is always the sport itself." Chen Yao said, "Secondly, how I found you is not important. What is important is that I invite you to join the Arsenal coaching staff."

"Yeah." Pintus nodded lightly.

Chen Yao looked at Pintus.

"Huh?" Pintus scratched his bald head, "Mr. Coach, what do you see me doing? Do I need to show excitement? No, for me, it doesn't matter which club I am in, what I do Things are the same everywhere.”

Pintus is a physical fitness maniac. He has been engaged in physical training since joining AFC Saitimo in 1986.

He was obsessed with football, and he once wanted to become a professional football player, but his coach told him early on, Antonio, you don't have the talent.

But Pintus discovered his talent in physical training: he soon became a well-known trainer, track and field and judo coach.

The only time Pintus could be considered stable in his career was at Juventus for six years. After that, he went to Chelsea, but with the dismissal of Vialli, Pintus wandered around.

His most stable period after that was as a fitness coach in Monaco from 2001 to 2005.

At that time, it had been seven years since Wenger left Monaco. If fate arranges for these two to meet in Monaco at the same time, perhaps Pintus' legendary fitness coaching career will begin at Arsenal.

But as Pintus said, he only worked for a large number of teams for just one or two years, and the services he provided were very homogeneous - physical training, no matter where he was.

"Besides." Pintus raised his remaining eyebrows, "I'm not a nice guy. Those stars worth tens of millions may not be able to tolerate me. Maybe I will have to pack up and leave in the end. So I I don’t really like big football clubs either.”

With the commercialization of football, the stars of the new century are more valuable, more valuable, and have more say than the stars of the last century.

Pintus knows that today's stars may not be willing to be tortured by his own devilish training.

"You can rest assured, Antonio. In Arsenal, you will have the absolute right to speak in the field of physical training, and no one has the right to speak against you." Chen Yao reassured him, "And Arsenal doesn't have that kind of thorn in the side."      Thank you for your trust, Mr. Coach. I am willing to join Arsenal." Pintus shrugged, "To be honest, I am not worth your special trip at all. After working with Mr. Viari at Chelsea, I changed Seven clubs. I’ve been drifting for the past ten years.”

He looked at Chen Yao, "So, you gave me a job, and it was an attractive job. I have no reason to refuse."

Chen Yao smiled meaningfully and shook his head slowly, "Antonio, you are wrong. I am not here to convince you, but to interview you."

"Interview?" Pintus was stunned, and his attitude became slightly more correct, "What do you want to know, Mr. Coach?"

"If you want to ask questions about physical training, I have a lot of theories and methods. My work experience can stand the test." His tone became a little high.

"No, don't get me wrong, Antonio. I have no doubts about your professional ability." Chen Yao said, "What I want to ask is: are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"Ready to reach my goals."

"Your goal?"

"I want a team with European championship quality."

"Oh." Pintus smiled, "Oh, are you kidding me."

He spread his hands, opened his mouth, took the drink in front of him and took a few sips, "Are you kidding, Mr. Coach? European champion?"

"Yes, Antonio." Chen Yao smiled.

"You, Mr. Coach, you have just completed your first season." Pintus put down the paper cup. "I watched the Arsenal game, yes, the Europa League final. You did a good job leading the team, but you Maybe I really don’t know the weight of European giants.”

"You beat Inter Milan last season, but Inter Milan is ranked ninth in Serie A. If you want to compete for the European championship, you have to beat teams like Bayern, Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Dortmund, and Paris Saint-Germain."

"It's difficult, man, it's not as simple as you think. I would love to work for Arsenal, but I can't give you a team as strong as that."

"Antonio - are you telling me that you have no confidence?" Chen Yao said, "If you have watched our game, you should know our style."

"Yes, I know your style." Pintus waved his hand excitedly, "Who wouldn't have paid attention to Arsenal last season? Especially you, Mr. Coach, you are such a topical guy."

"Your team is very energetic, with high-intensity frontcourt pressure, high-speed transitions between offense and defense, a lot of running and interspersing without the ball during the offensive phase, and all members of the team pressing and returning to defense regardless of physical strength," Pintus said in one breath. Goes on, "It's nice to watch, it's exciting, but Mr. Coach, you should know why your team fell behind in the middle of the season."

Before Chen Yao could answer, Pintus continued: "Physical fitness. Your tactical play consumes too much physical energy. If your players do not have enough physical strength and endurance, the most mild consequence will be that your team's tactical operation will be poor." There is instability because the players don’t have the energy to fulfill the tactical requirements.”

"This is not the worst. The worst thing is that this will crush your team. With the huge physical load and the Premier League schedule, you will be hit by a wave of injuries. Coach, you should be lucky that last season A lot of your core players stayed healthy for an amazingly long time."

"But I think that was just good luck and they were already on the verge of injury. You can't expect to be lucky all the time."

After saying so much in one breath, Pintus seemed to feel a little more comfortable, "Honestly, Mr. Coach, if your team can maintain the game state for ninety-five minutes according to your requirements, you may not be unable to compete with the European giants... There's so much uncertainty in a two-leg knockout that you might actually be able to pull off a miracle."

"But obviously, my team cannot maintain this state." Chen Yao pointed at Pintus, "Antonio, now you should understand why I am looking for you."

"I believe you can bring me a team that is like a perpetual motion machine."

"What I want to know is whether you believe in yourself."

Pintus gritted his teeth, and the lean little old Italian man clenched his fists.

"Of course I fucking believe in myself, Coach. Honestly, I think you're crazy - and I'm going to prove that you're crazy, even if you have a team like this, you're not necessarily going to be able to perform miracles."

"It doesn't matter, Antonio. If you have confidence, then I have confidence." Chen Yao smiled, "I hope to see you at Kearney Base before next month - let's see if the miracle can be create."

(End of this chapter)