Super Marshal

South of Madrid, eastern suburbs of Fuenlabrada, Chinatown training center.

Thick curtains were drawn in the conference room on the second floor. Club owner Gao Han, head coach Pochettino, general manager Armando Marcos, technical director Carlos Cantarero, and Sergio who accompanied Gao Han ·Garcia, all sat upright and watched the game video on the TV screen in front of them.

It was a match in the sixth round of La Liga that was held just two days ago at the Aldervilla Stadium, the home of the Chinatown team. The opponent was Sevilla, who was third in the La Liga standings.

After experiencing three consecutive victories at the beginning of the league, Chinatown's performance began to decline. In the fourth round, they lost to Athletic Bilbao 1-2 away from home, which directly caused Chinatown to fall out of the top four of La Liga, and then lost 2-2. After a draw with Valladolid in World War II, the ranking continued to decline, and the team's morale was also affected.

This also directly led to the team's 0-4 defeat to visiting Sevilla in the sixth round of home games.

This disastrous defeat shocked the entire Spanish football world. It was only at this time that everyone realized clearly that Gao Han is Gao Han and the Chinatown team is the Chinatown team. The two are not of the same type at all.

Perhaps because the Chinatown team has been continuously upgraded in the past few years and has won three consecutive games in the beginning, many people have the illusion that this is a cold team and should continue to win consecutively. However, as everyone knows, this is Pochettino's team. team.

It can be said that this disastrous defeat not only shocked the Spanish football world, but also greatly weakened the morale of the Chinatown team. Gao Han, who was far away in Manchester, had to take advantage of the team's spare time to immediately fly to Madrid to deal with the situation personally. thing.

Judging from the game video, the Chinatown team did not play badly in the opening game. In the first 20 minutes, they played well against Sevilla and advanced and retreated in a controlled manner. However, it was not until the 20th minute that Sevilla took advantage of it. A long-range shot from midfield unexpectedly broke the Chinatown team's goal, completely breaking the deadlock on the court.

After losing the ball. The Chinatown team was eager to counterattack, but it was too hasty and made a mistake while passing the ball. After the ball was intercepted, it launched a counterattack. Capel drove straight from the left to assist Negredo to score a header from close range.

In less than two minutes, they conceded two goals in a row, which dealt an extremely painful blow to the Chinatown team.

It can also be said that after conceding the second goal, the Chinatown team was in chaos.

Judging from the game scenes, Pochettino himself was a little anxious and did not stay calm enough. He failed to stabilize the team's mood and position at critical moments. He protected his own goal first, but was a little eager to score.

After being unable to attack for a long time, Sevilla launched its last attack in the last minute of the first half. The morale of the Chinatown team was a little low, and the defense was not focused enough. The opponent's center Canute grabbed the ball and scored again.

Entering the second half with a score of zero to three, Pochettino also fought hard, replacing two midfielders and replacing them with two forwards, further increasing the offensive in the frontcourt, and once defeated Sevilla. He was cowering and extremely embarrassed.

But what's terrible is that in the 54th minute, central defender Otamendi, who was eager to equalize the score, pulled down an opponent's player during a scramble and was shown the second yellow card of the game by the referee, accumulating two Ended with a red card.

There was basically no suspense at this point in the game, and Pochettino had to switch to a defender to stabilize his position.

But at more than 80 minutes, Sevilla still seized the opportunity and scored.

In the end, the Chinatown team suffered the most painful defeat at home, and it was also the biggest defeat since the formation of this team, losing to Sevilla 0-4.

This disastrous defeat hit the team very seriously, and Gao Han also took it very seriously.

If you look at it from the perspective of post-match review, if the players have problems, the head coach also has problems.

At the very least, when Pochettino conceded the second goal, he did not stabilize the disorganized team immediately, but wanted to continue to increase the offensive. This is a problem and it is too obvious.

Sevilla knew this very well, so they took advantage of this direction to play.

If it were Gao Han, he would definitely choose to defend, hold his ground, and patiently look for opportunities. In this way, even if he couldn't win, at least he wouldn't lose miserably.

This is a bit like a gambler at the gambling table. The most taboo thing is to gamble and risk everything.

But the consequences of doing so are often worse losses.

A truly powerful gambler must know how to advance and retreat, know how to stop when winning, and know how to stop in time when losing.

From the perspective of hindsight, Pochettino was also red-eyed and not calm enough.

The Argentinian seemed to be clearly aware of his problem, so after watching the game, he was a little ashamed. After all, this was the most painful defeat in the history of the Chinatown team.

Seeing Pochettino's guilty look, Gao Han chuckled and patted Pochettino hard on the shoulder.

"Don't take it seriously, Mauricio. If you win on the football field, you must lose. Who hasn't learned the lesson of a disastrous defeat? The most important thing is not to live in the shadow of a disastrous defeat, but to gain lessons from disastrous defeats and improve yourself. .”

After all, Pochettino is also a fresh coach. This season is his first time coaching a top-level league, and the three consecutive wins at the beginning have undoubtedly given him confidence and confidence, and maybe even a little inflated mentality.

Moreover, the Chinatown team is also the youth team with the youngest average age in La Liga this season. It still lacks experience and has not been able to adjust its mentality.

The next three games without a win, especially the 0-4 home defeat to Sevilla, were undoubtedly a wake-up call, allowing him to suffer and learn a lesson, which is not necessarily a good thing.

The Argentinian coach was a little embarrassed. He was also very high-spirited during the three-game winning streak, but he didn't expect that the team's situation would take a turn for the worse. It quickly fell from three-game winning streak to three games without a win, and even...

"Mr. Gao Han, I..."

As soon as Pochettino finished speaking, Gao Han reached out and stopped him.

"If you want to apologize, there is no need to do so. If you want to reflect, then after we leave, you can reflect on yourself. You are the head coach of the team. I fully trust any decision-making and judgment you make."

Gao Han said in a very sincere tone that he hoped to help Pochettino regain his confidence.

The most important thing for a team on the court is confidence, and if the head coach himself doesn't have confidence, how can he bring confidence to the players? How can the team form a fighting force?

"Mauricio, I told you that in front of you, I am the president of the club. I welcome you to communicate with me, but you do not need to apologize to me or reflect on the outcome of a game. , no one needs to be responsible for the loss, neither you nor the players."

Pochettino was deeply moved by Gao Han's statement.

Because this means that the club will not have any reaction to this defeat, and everything ends here.

"If you lose, you lose. No one can win forever. The most important thing is how to get out of the shadow of failure and how to learn lessons from failure. You have to know that sometimes a failure can teach us more. More valuable wealth depends on whether you know how to own it."

Pochettino nodded heavily, he understood what Gao Han meant.

Everyone was sad about the 0-4 defeat, including the coaching staff and the players.

Therefore, now is not the time to pursue responsibility at all. The most important thing now is to take advantage of the two weeks of national team competitions to rebuild the team's morale as soon as possible, return to form as soon as possible, and prepare for the next league.

According to Gao Han's estimation, if they want to avoid relegation in La Liga this season, they will only lose fifteen to seventeen games at most, depending on the number of wins the team has won. If they win more games, it doesn't matter if they lose seventeen games. But if you win less, you can only win fifteen games at most.

If we look at the number of games won, we need to win at least ten games to successfully avoid relegation.

The Chinatown team now has three wins, one draw and two losses, ranking sixth in the league. This result is already considered good.

But the challenge is not small, that is, to get out of the shadow of disastrous defeats and consecutive victories as soon as possible. This is a very scary cycle, like a curse, which will continue to corrode the players' minds and undermine the team's morale, thus creating a vicious cycle.

Therefore, Gao Han said that the suspension of the league caused by the two-week national team competition may not be a good thing for the Chinatown team.

"There is one more thing that I would like to take this opportunity to study with you."

Gao Han looked at Armando Marcos, Carlos Cantarero and Pochettino, and all three of them looked over attentively.

"The current situation of the team is not good, but I am still full of confidence in avoiding relegation in the new season, and we all know that many teams outside are coveting our players, and we have to guard against them."

Gao Han's words were also recognized by Armando Marcos.

"Yes, Falcao has scored seven goals this season and performed very well. There have been some rumors outside. I have also communicated with Jorge and he said that there are indeed teams asking him about Falcao. Case."

"Then we must pay attention." Gao Han said this and looked at Armando Marcos, "What is the current financial situation of the team?"

"It's working well for the time being. There are still two sponsorships under negotiation. If the negotiations are successful, the salary structure can be relaxed appropriately, but..."

Gao Han understands what Armando Marcos means. The Chinatown team has a weak foundation and cannot compete with some strong teams or even wealthy teams for financial resources, so it is very difficult to retain some core players.

Especially a favorite like Falcao.

"Even if you want to sell people, at the very least you have to sell the integrity of our Chinatown team, so that all the teams that covet us know that the players of our Chinatown team are not just for anyone to poach."

At this point, Gao Han's eyes flashed with a stern look, "Either we don't sell it, or if we do, we must make the other party vomit blood and feel distressed."

In the professional league, there is a competitive relationship with each other. Even Atletico Madrid may not be merciful if it really needs to poach the Chinatown team. What's more, it is not Atletico Madrid now, but other teams.

Gao Han has never been afraid of poaching. What he is afraid of is that the cost of poaching is too low.

Once everyone realizes that the cost of poaching Chinatown teams is too low, this group of talents will soon be poached.

There is a saying that a tiger cannot resist a pack of wolves. No matter how sharp Gao Han's eyes are, how can he resist others poaching like this?

"Then start the contract renewal as soon as possible, firstly to retain the players, and secondly to boost the team's morale." Gao Han made a prompt decision.

"Just start with the core players in the team, Falcao, Marcos Senna, Otamendi and De Gea."

After the management determined the main line, they immediately began to conduct specific research on how to renew the contract. Pochettino, as the team's head coach, and Cantarero, as the technical director, also participated in the discussion, and the discussion was very lively.

On the contrary, Sergio Garcia was left aside, watching the news on the iPhone he just bought.

As a result, he was shocked when he saw a piece of news from the United States.