Go score!coach

Chapter 35 I dig a hole for Cooper

At the turn of the century, many impressive teams emerged.

Louis van Gaal's Ajax, Juventus who have reached three Champions League finals, Real Madrid who have won the Champions League three times in five years, Dortmund and Bayern Munich under Hitzfeld's coaching...

Valencia is the least impressive of these teams, because the Bats have reached the Champions League finals twice, but missed every last shot.

But Cooper's team definitely deserves recognition in terms of tactical gold content.

As a third-generation Atletico Madrid fan and a second-generation football player, Cesar Mendiodo is well aware of the situation in La Liga. Juanma Lillo has been coaching in Spain for many years and is also familiar with the situation in La Liga.

In their view, from Ranieri to Cooper, this is the result of the same strain.

The last time Valencia won the La Liga championship was during the Kempes era more than 20 years ago. The most recent rise was in the mid-to-late 90s. During the coaching period of Aragones, they won the league runner-up.

But throughout the 90s, from the first time Hiddink coached Valencia in 91, to his second appointment in 94, and later to famous coaches such as Aragones and Valdano, to 97, in just 6 years, there were many changes. 9 head coaches.

This doesn't count Hiddink's second entry into the palace, otherwise, it would be exactly his 10th term.

The continuous turmoil has shaken the position of club president Cortes, and has also caused many famous coaches to stay away from Valencia. After all, no one is willing to take this risk.

So, in 1997, Cortez was determined to burn the boat and invited Ranieri from Serie A, who had just led Viola Fiorentina to complete the Renaissance.

This is a notable watershed.

Before 1997, Valencia was a typical Spanish team, dominated by offensive football. Super strong players such as Penev, Romario, Ortega and Mijatovic emerged in the team. Superstar player.

But Ranieri, who was born in Serie A, is good at defense. After coming to Valencia, he completed a very thorough reform of the entire bat team's techniques and tactics, and also introduced many Italian players.

For example, he got rid of Ortega and completely angered the Valencia fans.

In his first season in charge, Ranieri won a Copa del Rey. This was Valencia's second championship after many years of absence, so Ranieri barely gained a foothold.

In the second season, the 98/99 season, Ranieri began further tactical reforms and boldly used young players. Angulo and others also became the backbone of Valencia, and the use of Mendieta was even more It completely activated the Spanish midfielder.

The 442 tactics, defensive counterattack, and the cooperation of Lopez and Illie in front made Valencia perform better and better on the court, especially in the league and the Copa del Rey, which defeated Barcelona three times, which completely changed Valencia fans' impression of Ranieri.

Up to this moment, Ranieri's transformation of Valencia was a great success, and he also handed over a report card of fourth place in the league and the Copa del Rey, making everyone very satisfied with him.

But at this moment, Atletico Madrid's old Hill took action.

In the summer of 99, the old Hill poached Ranieri from Valencia, hoping that he could transform Atletico Madrid the same way he transformed Valencia, so that the Shelters could regain the glory of the Double Championship period.

But, everyone knew what happened next.

A twisted melon is destined not to be sweet.

On the other hand, after Valencia let go of Ranieri, they invited Argentinian Cooper, who had a brilliant coaching record at Real Mallorca and led the team to the Cup Winners' Cup final.

Cooper, who had just created a miracle in Mallorca, was ambitious. Although he also played 442, it was different from Ranieri's defensive counterattack and quick long pass after grabbing the ball. Cooper believed that this style of play was very serious. The problem.

When facing strong teams such as Barcelona and Real Madrid, the opponent will take the initiative to press forward, resulting in a large gap behind them, so Valencia can gain more space to counterattack.

But in La Liga, not all teams are Real Madrid and Barcelona. As a strong team in La Liga, Valencia must give up the long-passing style of play in the past and change it to a more Latin style, which is also more Spanish. Features are transferred and promoted layer by layer.

Therefore, Cooper further transformed the team's midfield and frontcourt based on Ranieri's defensive structure.

Hérard, who was born in Barcelona's youth training camp and was nicknamed Guardiola Jr., began to become Valencia's main force. Mendieta's potential was further unleashed, and Argentine winger Kili Gonzalez was introduced on the left.

Valencia has transformed from a defensive counterattack during the Ranieri period to a 442 diamond midfielder. It not only continued the solid defense during the Ranieri period, but also made great improvements on the offensive end. At the same time, the scene was also very good. few.

It is precisely with this set of tactics that Cooper's Bat Army is making unstoppable progress in the Champions League.

They even defeated the all-powerful Serie A hegemon Lazio 5-2 in the first round of the Champions League quarter-finals.

Interestingly, of Valencia's five goals, Lopez scored one goal, and the other four goals were all scored by midfielders. Herard even performed a hat trick.

It can be said that Valencia is currently in the limelight and is unparalleled for a while.

The entire European football world avoids Cooper's bat army.

Except Yang Hao.

……

"Valencia is a very comprehensive team, very versatile, both offensive and defensive, there is no doubt about this."

After watching the game video, Yang Hao talked to the coaching team about his views on Valencia.

He takes charge of the overall situation and has a high-level view. The coaching staff must understand his intentions, instill them in the players during the subsequent training and preparations, and conduct targeted drills.

"Needless to say the defense, let's look at the midfield. Herard is nicknamed Little Guardiola, he is both offensive and defensive."

If this player hadn't transferred back to Barcelona after playing in Valencia, his fame would definitely not be as unknown as in 2023, because now in 2000, he is really too popular!
He was so popular that Barcelona was willing to pay 2160 million euros for him, which was already a sky-high price at the time.

The two wings are Kily Gonzalez and Mendieta, and the midfielder position is Javier Farinos. All three players are all-round fighters who can attack well and defend well.This is also the biggest difference between Cooper and Ranieri.

The tactical play adopted by Ranieri is to squat, grab the ball and then pass the ball to counterattack.

But Cooper prefers the South American and Spanish style, grabbing the ball and advancing layer by layer.

Obviously, the latter has higher requirements on the passing ability of the midfielder.

"But take a look. In Valencia's diamond-shaped midfielder, except for Herard, the other three have a common characteristic, that is, they are technically good, but not very delicate. They have good passing ability, but poor organization. The ability is not strong and he is actively involved in defense, but he is not fast and his physical strength is not strong in confrontation.”

"Kili Gonzalez is relatively good, Mendieta and Farinos are very obvious."

The so-called omnipotence can often be regarded as mediocrity.

If he is that kind of all-around and outstanding player, sorry, then he is definitely a world-class player.

For example, Deco, Modric and Xavi, these are all versatile and outstanding, and they are rare.

Mendieta was once very close to a world-class superstar, but after moving to Serie A, he completely lost this opportunity.

His physical confrontation was fine in La Liga, but in Serie A, sorry, he couldn't adapt at all.

This is no accident.

Farinos also failed in Serie A, as well as Fernando de la Pena. It is difficult for these Spanish midfielders to gain a foothold in Serie A.

The most critical point is that they cannot adapt to the defensive intensity of Serie A.

Not to mention foreign players like Spain, even in Italy, attacking midfielders like Pirlo have to switch to playing as a defensive midfielder.

"Except for the speed of Angulo and Lopez in front, the speed of Valencia's four midfielders is not outstanding, especially Farinos and Mendieta. They all lack speed."

Both players are not very tall, about 1 meters, but their speed is really not fast.

There are quite a few players of this type in Spain, just like Isco in Yang Hao's previous life.

This will bring up a problem. If the speed is not fast, how to counterattack?
Ranieri's strategy is to pass the ball long and use the speed of the forward, but Cooper does not do this. He likes to advance layer by layer.

Cooper understands elementary school mathematics formulas, so the strategy he adopts is to press forward as a whole.

The speed is slower, but the formation is pressing up, the ball is moved forward, the distance is shortened, and the counterattack is still smooth.

This was actually the prototype of the 4231 formation that Benitez later adopted when he coached Valencia.

It just took a forward and turned it into a defensive midfielder. After Farinos transferred, he introduced Aimar. After selling Herard, he introduced Baraja and promoted him to serve as a substitute. of Albelda.

This made Valencia's entire midfield more oppressive, and Aimar was able to unleash his offensive talents.

And the most important thing is that after leaving the little insect Lopez in front, Benitez brought in the old team of Tenerife, center Mista.

It can be said that Valencia's entire tactical style, from Ranieri to Cooper to Benitez, is in the same vein, advanced layer by layer, and the lineup has been repeatedly adjusted and innovated.

In the end, the bat army emerged as a sudden force during the handover of the century and amazed the entire European football world.

But now, since Yang Hao has appeared, it is hard to say whether Valencia can regain the glory of Yang Hao's previous life.

Especially now that Atletico Madrid is in dire straits, Valencia is a hard nut that must be chewed off.

Others are wary of Valencia, but not Yang Hao.

Because he knew that in the not-too-distant future, in the much-anticipated Champions League final, Cooper's Valencia would expose their most fatal weakness.

Even the fact that they failed in the Champions League finals for two consecutive seasons and failed to break through the last hurdle was because their lineup had huge flaws.

Insufficient attack ability!

Therefore, after losing the Champions League in 2000 and selling Lopez to Lazio, Valencia signed high center forward Carew. After Farinos was sold to Inter Milan, they signed Messi's idol. Amar.

But in the Champions League final, Valencia ultimately lost to Bayern Munich, coached by Hitzfeld, who can be called a steel chariot.

"Everyone!"

After Yang Hao made a clear calculation in his mind, he looked directly at the assistants in front of him.

"In the next week, I want you to help me dig a huge hole for Cooper and his Valencia!"

"A hole Cooper had to jump into!"

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(End of this chapter)