Chapter 100 Pre-season training, formation of anti-counterattack brigade

There are still only a few substitute players left to sign, and the team's main lineup has almost been built. After the last new player Matic comes to the team to report, Sheffield United has officially entered pre-season training.

stage.

The new players are very curious about Li Mo. After all, at the age of 18, he broke the scoring record in the British Championship last season and scored more than 30 goals. This achievement is not easy.

When they heard that Li Mo was still training after returning to China during the offseason, the new players once suspected that the old Sheffield United players were joking.

But when the training started, they were all frightened by Li Mo's state.

Generally speaking, the first stage of pre-season training must be for players who have rested for more than a month to recover their physical condition to adapt to the subsequent physical reserve training and pre-season friendly matches.

But Li Mo's training was carried out directly separately from his teammates, and the intensity was high, and he seemed to be able to cope with it with ease.

It doesn’t look like you’ve been playing for more than a month?

After watching Li Mo's individual training session, Speed ​​couldn't be more satisfied.

After kindly holding Li Mo's shoulders and telling him to take more rest and not to tire himself out, Speed ​​turned into hair dryer mode for the remaining Sheffield United players.

Those who do not meet the standard in the physical test must first receive individual "counseling" from a physical fitness coach. If they cannot recover their physical condition within a week, then Speed ​​will have to go on the field to correct the problem himself.

However, these young guys, Maguire and Brother Drinking Water, are in good physical condition and it seems they didn't indulge too much during the vacation.

Not to mention Vardy, who spent a month building muscle at the training base and got into shape very quickly.

Among the remaining new players, Matic is in the best condition, and Speed ​​is also very satisfied with it. After all, Matic's physical condition is so good, he wants to start treating Mati as soon as possible.

Strange renovation plan.

With the previous experience of moving the drinking man back, the Sheffield United coaching staff is quite familiar with Matic's position modification.

The first thing to test is the sense of position, followed by the confrontation ability, running coverage and interception ability.

The result was beyond the expectations of all members of the coaching staff. Matic's defensive positioning sense was very good!

This is simply not the sense of defensive position that a central midfielder can have. He was born to play the sixth position!

If playing as a central midfielder, although Matic has good footwork, strong feet, can take long shots, and has solid passing skills, he is too tall.

He is tall and has good vision, but his center of gravity is also high. He is a bit cumbersome when attacking in the frontcourt, not flexible enough, and not fast enough.

But after retreating to the midfielder position, these shortcomings can be accepted, and his advantages will be infinitely magnified.

He has a wide field of vision, has a long pass, strong confrontation ability, is tall, and does not suffer at all when fighting for the top, and has good physical fitness and good interception ability.

Given these conditions, he didn't switch to defensive midfielder earlier but kept wasting his time in the offensive position. I really don't know what the coach who coached him before thought!

Speed ​​and the coaching staff simply fixed Matic in the midfielder position. Then when the team organized the first match, Speed ​​arranged Matic on the bench, thinking

Let's see how much disruption he can cause to the main players.

The result is mediocre.

In the defensive midfielder position, one reason is that he has played less and has no experience. Another reason is that Matic loves to go forward too much.

He seems to be unable to change his previous habit. He always wants to dribble the ball upfield, but is not quick to return to defense when he is intercepted.

After Li Mo got the ball, facing an almost unguarded half, he passed through the substitutes' defense with a long overhead pass. Vardy ran to catch the ball and scored easily.

Naturally, Speed ​​would not be used to this kind of situation. He pulled Matic and started spraying directly, causing him to stay in the lower back position. Now he did not dare to move forward at will.

However, the handsome guy Speed ​​is also a master of chicken soup. After he finished criticizing Matic, he found time to talk to Matic in a sincere and thoughtful manner.

Tell him how the coaching staff is very optimistic about him, saying that he has played as a midfielder in the Premier League for so many years and feels that he will definitely become the top midfielder in the Premier League.

With a slap and a sweet date, Matic was forced to change his previous offensive habits, and he continued to give him confidence. Speed ​​was very interested in him.

The other two new signings, Trippier and Bertrand, have basically firmly occupied the starting positions of the two full-backs after recovering their physical condition.

Maguire and Matthew Lowton began to partner as double central defenders to increase their tacit understanding, drink water from God Linkwater, and have a new "bodyguard" around them.

Gary Medel occupies the starting position in the right midfield. Compared with Matt Ritchie on the left, Medel has better physical fitness and covers a larger area. Moreover, he defends fiercely and can sweep away big players in front of Drinkwater.

Partial threat to attack.

Drinkwater can thus free up more energy to devote to organizing the team.

In the Premier League in the new season, Speed ​​and the coaching staff are very pragmatic and just focus on counterattacks.

Especially now that Li Mo's personal ability has been strengthened a lot, and combined with Vardy, it is a pity that their striker combination does not focus on counterattacks.

In terms of the team's overall integrity, Speed ​​placed more emphasis on running and pressure, as well as the necessity of full defense at special moments.

To meet his requirements, physical fitness is the top priority, so with strict physical training and defensive training, Sheffield United's new lineup is slowly coming together.

442 will be Sheffield United’s main formation next season. The main players are basically:

Forward line: Vardy, Li Mo.

Midfielder: Matt Ritchie, Montgomery, Drinkwater, Gary Medel.

Defense: Bertrand, Maguire, Matthew Lowton, Trippier.

Goalkeeper: Simonson.

The main substitute members include Matic, Ched Evans, Sharp, Stephen Quinn, Noseworthy, Chris Morgan, etc.

Most of the substitute players from last season were almost sold off by Sheffield United. As long as the front office staff signs new substitute players as early as possible, the team's roster can be finalized.

Although Matic has attracted much attention from the coaching staff, he still has to start from the bench in the new season because he still has a lot to learn. Montgomery will still be the main defensive midfielder for the time being. When Matic has grown up, Montgomery will have to

Back to the bench and on standby.

It's a bit cruel to say that most of the old players who worked hard last season and made great contributions to the team's promotion will have to serve as substitutes this season.

But that's how professional football is. What everyone competes for is hard power. If someone is better than you, someone else will start. This is understandable.

Moreover, Chris Morgan, Montgomery, and Stephen Quinn are all veteran players who have been with the club for many years. They are content to play in the Premier League and will not cause trouble.

Noseworthy is basically in a state of retirement. He is very satisfied with Sheffield United's salary increase and has no dissatisfaction with playing as a substitute.

So for now, the atmosphere in the locker room is still very good.

Trippier was at Barnsley last season, and they were beaten miserably against Sheffield United in the penultimate stage of the league.

Li Mo scored two shots and one pass in the first half. It was just like playing. He directly defeated Barnsley and made Trippier deeply feel helpless.

He could also launch a counterattack from the wing, but at that time Barnsley's players seemed to have lost their spirits, and he could not get support. After that, he secretly decided that even if it was a loan, he must

Go to a strong team in the Championship.

He never wanted to experience being kicked by others until he was unable to fight back!

As a result, just one month after leaving Barnsley and returning to Manchester City, he was told by the team that he could play at Sheffield United next season?

Be teammates with Li Mo, who took the lead in defeating Barnsley?

Great!

With almost no hesitation, Trippier agreed directly. However, Sheffield United and Manchester City later had different opinions on how to introduce him, so they waited another month before he was able to report to Sheffield United.

Even next season, Sheffield United will play in the Premier League, and now Sheffield United can only passively defend against most teams in the Premier League. Maybe the situation where they were kicked out and unable to fight back may happen again.

Hmm. If you can't fight back, then you can't fight back. Trippier doesn't care now. This is the Premier League's special code. Even if he is asked to sit in every game and not get involved, he is willing.

And with the experience of playing against each other last season and being in the same English Championship, Trippier and Li Mo are the fastest to get familiar with each other.

In terms of strength, everyone has also gotten to know each other better through this period of training.

Trippier plays the right back position. In addition to his confrontation and defensive ability, he almost outperforms Matthew Lowton in other aspects.

Speed, dribbling, skills, crossing.

On the offensive end, Trippier has proven himself that on the right wing next season, he can provide sufficient support to the frontcourt players, mainly Li Mo.

Moreover, his offense and defense are relatively balanced, and he is very active in returning to defense. Together with Medel, who plays in the right midfield, the combination of the two of them has improved the defense on the right side by several levels.

Bertrand on the left likes to get in too much. His offensive ability and offensive awareness are great, but he often loses his position. In addition, left midfielder Matt Ritchie also has the characteristics of strong offense and weak defense.

Therefore, when the two of them are combined, the offensive advancement is sharp enough, but on the defensive end, Montgomery needs to pay more attention to help.

Fortunately, Medel's defensive coverage area is large enough, so Montgomery can rest assured to help defend on the left wing. If necessary, Medel can also retreat to the midfielder position.

This is really easy to use no matter how you use it. No wonder he represented Chile in the national team at a young age and is now a main member of the Chilean national team. This strength is really powerful.

As for Matic, he is still correcting his mistakes. He was scolded the most by Speed ​​on the entire court, but his confrontation ability is recognized as the third strongest in the team.

The top two are definitely Li Mo and Maguire, especially Li Mo. He gained weight in the summer. During the match, Matic looked miserable when he met Li Mo.

Not to mention being crushed, but it was almost the same. He was 1.94 meters tall but weighed slightly less than Li Mo, who is now 1.88 meters. It is said that the coaching staff will also arrange a muscle-building plan for him later, which is very easy.

Uncomfortable.

Practicing physical fitness and preventing counterattacks is a boring and painful thing, but the Sheffield United players are very dedicated.

If they want to successfully avoid relegation in the Premier League in the new season, or even achieve some results, they must withstand the impact of the other 19 Premier League teams.

In the process of running-in, with the arrival of the last few new players one by one, Sheffield United's anti-counterattack brigade was also announced to be formed.
Chapter completed!