Super Marshal

As soon as he walked to the door of the coach's office, Gao Han inside noticed Zabaleta and made a gesture to him, telling the Argentinian to come to the office and wait for him for a few minutes. He would be there soon.

Zabaleta nodded and walked to the head coach's office next door.

This is a very simple office with a desk with a laptop, a TV hanging on the wall, a tactical blackboard, and a sofa for guests. These are all standard features for a head coach’s office. .

Compared with his predecessor Mark Hughes, perhaps the biggest difference in Gao Han's office is the tea set on the coffee table and the coffee machine in the corner. The existence of these two things makes the air in the office seem to be filled with the smell of tea and coffee. .

Zabaleta walked to the sofa and sat down, but saw a stack of materials on the coffee table. The cover had the logo of Jorge Mendes' agency. It didn't take a guess to know that this must be the player's materials. Zabaleta couldn't help but think of the rumors outside. It is said that Manchester City intends to introduce several substitute and rotation players.

As a member of the team's locker room, Zabaleta is very aware of the current situation in the locker room. Headed by Xabi Alonso, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká, they are all direct descendants of Gao Han and always support him unconditionally. The head coach, and players such as Kompany and Sturridge have been heavily used by Gao Han this season and are also the head coach's core supporters.

But the Manchester City locker room is not monolithic. Stephen Ireland has recently begun to be a bit submissive to the coaching staff. Privately, he has also criticized coach Gao Han's hiring strategy, as if not using him, the best player last season, is the stupidity of the coaching staff. of.

As an outsider and not a direct descendant of head coach Gao Han, Zabaleta has always stayed away from these things.

But at this moment, seeing this pile of player information, Zabaleta was somewhat uneasy.

Could it be that Gao Han found him for the transfer matter?

Just when Zabaleta was uneasy, the open door went dark, and head coach Gao Han walked in quickly.

"I'm sorry, Pablo, it's a bit long to talk." Gao Han apologized as soon as he entered the door.

Zabaleta quickly shook his head and said: "You are too polite, Mr. Gao Han."

According to the time, it was already Zabaleta's free time outside the team's training time. Gao Han kept him here and asked him to wait in the office for a few minutes. It was natural to apologize.

But the most important thing for a head coach is authority. How can Zabaleta dare to accept it?

Without saying much, Gao Han tidied up the sofa and coffee table and started boiling water to make tea.

Zabaleta was sitting a little nervously on the opposite side. Although he had been playing football under Gao Han for half a year, there were not many opportunities to sit and talk face to face like today. Especially under the current circumstances, he couldn't help but Think more.

"Pablo, since December, there has been a tight schedule around Christmas, and then there are double matches a week in January. As a result, there are many things that I have not had time to stop and think about, some of which should have been done a long time ago. There are things I have to do that I never had the chance to do.”

Zabaleta nodded, "There is no winter break, which has always been the most troublesome part of the Premier League."

Gao Han sighed sympathetically, "After the winter break, I have always wanted to find an opportunity to have a good talk with you."

Zabaleta forced a smile, not knowing what the coach wanted to talk to him.

At this time, the water was boiling. Gao Han poured a cup of boiling water for Zabaleta. After cleaning the tea set, he started making tea. Soon, a faint fragrance of tea filled the entire office.

"I heard that you have played midfielder before?" Gao Han was making tea skillfully in his hand and asked seemingly casually.

"um, yes."

"Can you talk to me carefully?" Gao Han asked with concern.

Zabaleta was a little confused, but after thinking about it, he nodded and said: "Since I started receiving football training, I have always played in the midfield and frontcourt. This was also the case in the San Lorenzo youth training camp. When I entered the first team I played as a midfielder and deep-lying midfielder, but then I became a right midfielder, and then I became a right-back and joined Espanyol.”

San Lorenzo is a professional team in Argentina, and Zabaleta came from the youth training camp of this team.

Gao Han nodded slightly and did not express his position immediately. Instead, he looked deeply at Zabaleta, who was sitting opposite, waiting for him to speak, and said softly: "There is something I want to discuss with you."

"Say." Zabaleta was calm on the surface, but there was already a huge wave in his heart, and he was not calm at all.

"I'm considering letting you try out as a defensive midfielder in the next game against Southampton."

"Me?" Zabaleta was shocked. He had forgotten how many years he had not played this position.

Gao Han nodded, "Listen to me, the main reason why I consider this is because I think you can do the job."

After a pause, Gao Han continued: "Mascherano is in the right center back position, whether it is his tackling or his sense of position, it is very reassuring. In this position, a pair of One's defense is very important, but your characteristic is that you have a wide range of running, especially running without the ball on the field, and you have a strong awareness of receiving teammates, which is very important in the deep position in the midfield."

"Furthermore, your ability to play the ball is also very stable, so all things considered, I hope you try the single midfielder position."

Zabaleta was also confused when she heard this, and she didn't know how to react.

Long before Gao Han came to Manchester City, he had often heard of his legendary deeds, especially his love of transforming players.

Needless to say, Kaka, Marcos Senna is a classic of Gao Han. Later, Inter Milan transformed Figo, Bayern Munich transformed Bastian Schweinsteiger, and once transformed right back Lahm into a midfielder. waist.

After coming to Manchester City, Gao Han further carried forward his ability to transform players. First he transformed Javi Martinez from midfielder to central defender, and then transformed Mascherano into a defender. Now he wants to The defender transforms into a midfielder...

To be honest, Zabaleta really had mixed feelings in her heart and didn't know how to answer at all.

However, if you think about it more deeply, you really have to admire Gao Han.

Players such as Marcos Senna, Figo, Bastian Schweinsteiger, etc. have been very successfully transformed by him, and they have become Europe's top stars. Needless to say, now Xavi Martinez in the team has changed to play Behind the central defender, he seems to have the spirit of a defensive commander, and has won unanimous recognition.

Although it is a pity for Mascherano, he has to admit that in the defense, some of his shortcomings were covered up, but his advantages were magnified, especially in Gao Han's three-four-three style of play, the right center back This position allows Mascherano to shine, and his performance is no worse than when he was in midfield.

But if it happens to others, Zabaleta can just watch it as fun, but now it is going to happen to him, which makes the Argentinian have to be cautious.

He knew very well that Gao Han was looking for a substitute for Xavi Alonso. Although Michael Johnson was very important, he was still young and could not take on a big responsibility. But in the second half of the game, each game became more critical. Gao Han We have to be careful of Xabi Alonso's absence in some games and make some preparations in advance.

However, Zabaleta also knows very well that in Gao Han's three-four-three formation, there is no standard right back. Even if he is arranged to start, he will more often form the two wings of the big diamond midfielder together with Bridge, that is, Right midfielder position.

If he can really perform in the midfielder position, he might get more space to play, and he might even break into a new world, just like Bastian Schweinsteiger of Bayern Munich.

All the above flashed through Zabaleta's mind, allowing him to make a decision quickly.

"I listen to you, Mr. Gao Han, I will hit wherever you say." Zabaleta replied professionally.

And this answer is what Gao Han wants.

Gao Han has always liked to use this kind of all-round player.

…………

…………

The next afternoon, Southampton St. Mary's Stadium.

Gao Han stood in front of the visiting team's coaching bench with a very relaxed expression, watching the game on the court.

Southampton is still stubbornly resisting, even if the score is already zero to four.

In this game, Manchester City played with a full substitute lineup. Zabaleta served as the team's deep midfielder, partnering with Elano, Michael Johnson, and Petrov in the attacking midfielder position.

The front trident is a combination of Adam Johnson, Jo and Sturridge.

After many years of absence, Zabaleta returned to the midfielder position. It can be said that Zabaleta is conscientious and treading on thin ice. However, because Southampton is not strong, Manchester City's overall performance is very good. The Argentine midfielder also showed quite good strength and passed the ball very well. Steady, without a single mistake in the entire game, and also planned several threatening attacks.

This made Gao Han on the sidelines nod his head.

"It's just one game, and the Saints' strength is not as good as before, so we still need to examine it for a while." Brian Kidd was more cautious.

As a more traditional head coach, Brian Kidd didn't really like this move to transform players, but Gao Han made a decision and he had no choice but to obey.

What's more, Gao Han is well-known in this regard and is very familiar with it.

"In this game, he basically completed the tasks I assigned him. He has strong execution ability and runs well without the ball. He made several responses in a timely manner and passed the ball quite steadily. If I remember correctly, his He didn’t miss a single pass, so I think he might not be allowed to play in this position.”

The deep-lying position of the three-four-three formation requires certain defensive abilities, stable passing and ball-playing, and the ability to connect with teammates. Zabaleta fits the requirements of this position very well.

Of course, judging from this game, his performance was not too impressive.

On the contrary, it was the Saint who left a deep impression on Gao Han.

Especially in the second half, Manchester City was already leading by four goals, but Southampton still refused to give up. They kept pressing and looking for opportunities to counterattack. Gao Han admired the fighting spirit of the team.

"This team is really tenacious and its strength is not bad. Why was it relegated to the third level?" Gao Han was full of doubts.

He still clearly remembers that when he was coaching Chelsea, the strength of the Saints Southampton was very good in the Premier League.

In just a few years, they have dropped out of the third-tier English League One.

"The debt crisis, the team's finances and management have affected the team's competitiveness. Later, after reorganization, it was relegated from the Championship and entered League One. Now it has undergone debt reorganization and was acquired by a foreign consortium. It is estimated that it will be very Recover quickly."

Gao Han nodded.

At this moment, on the court, Southampton launched a counterattack, passed the ball to the wing, and handed it to a young winger, who took the ball to launch a counterattack, and in a one-on-one situation, broke through the big Guard Dunn's defense sent the ball into the penalty area, and Saints forward Lambert, who had been looking for opportunities in the frontcourt, rushed over, got ahead of the defender, and kicked the ball into the guard of Joe Hart. goal.

One to four, the Saints got back one.