"Robin, you are so hard-working, you are still training on crutches." Mattison was teasing Van Persie. Van Persie had a cast on his foot and a group of people were talking around him.
"Why, do you want to give each of you a pen, and then write some blessings on my plaster?" Van Persie was not afraid of their jokes and joked with them.
Smith looked at them from the side and did not get closer because he was worried about one thing.
Yesterday Van Persie and he were texting on the phone. Van Persie was recuperating at home and said he was too bored in the apartment and wanted to come to the training ground to train with them.
Smith definitely doesn't believe it.
Brother, you have a broken toe, what else can you do to train? You can't run or play football, so how can you train your goalkeeping skills?
Then Smith sent a message back to Van Persie and said that if you come to train, take him to the nightclub after training and he will treat you.
It was originally just a joke.
Then, then Van Persie actually arrived.
Smith was stunned when Van Persie showed up at the training ground.
Although Van Persie did not participate in training, he had been talking to several coaches on the sidelines.
As a result, Smith kept deserting during training and was punished by coach Harland for running a few laps.
Now, in the tactical conference room at Thorpe Arch, Van Persie is chatting with people while watching Smith fidgeting next to him, and he is very happy.
Van Persie came because he received a call from the team's assistant coach Chris Kasper yesterday, asking him to attend the team's tactical meeting today.
Van Persie thought about it and laughed again.
Going to a nightclub?
If you dare to go to a nightclub, the head coach will probably kill you in the nightclub and twist your head off.
Just as Van Persie and the others were chatting, Glenchard suddenly called out.
"Look." He pointed at the new equipment in the conference room.
Because this conference room had been under renovation, their tactical meeting was held in another conference room. It was also proposed by Chris Kasper to use this conference room today.
Others gathered around and looked at some of the new equipment in the conference room. They kept pointing at some of them, some of which they had never seen before at the training ground, including in their respective clubs.
"Ahem~"
Everyone took a look and saw that Chris Casper was standing at the door.
Like primary school students, everyone hurried back to their seats, waiting for a few coaches to come in to give tactics lessons and analyze videos.
"I'm the only one today, don't look away." After Casper said this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
What they fear most is Brian Kidd's endless chatter and long speeches during the tactics class.
At this time, Kelly said something to Casper.
"Chris, close the door."
"Haha~" "Hahaha~" The rest of the team laughed.
The source of this sentence comes from head coach Lee George. Because every time there was a coaching meeting, Casper would be the last one to arrive for one reason or another.
So every time when Casper came in, George Li would say: "Chris, close the door."
Over time, this sentence spread among the coaching staff, and a few copies were printed by the meddlesome Alfinger Haaland and posted at the door of various conference rooms.
They were all of the same age, and such jokes were irrelevant. After Kasper closed the conference room door, he came to the front.
I turned on the computer, turned on the projector, and turned on the laptop I brought with me. In short, I stood in front and operated for a while.
When he was done, he cleared his throat and began his tactics lesson.
"In today's tactical class, we will not watch the video. I will tell you something else. This is the task assigned to me by head coach George Lee."
"You also know that our assistant coaches also have division of labor. For example, physical fitness is handled by Colin McGee, daily training management is handled by Brian Kidd, and special management is handled by Alfinger Haaland. And I may be just a video player in your eyes, right?"
"Thomas, you ask Jordi?"
"Jordi is George's follower and is responsible for flattering George."
Because Jordi Cruyff is responsible for tactical analysis together with Casper, but the specific division of labor is different. Casper is responsible for data analysis, while Cruyff Jr. is responsible for tactical analysis.
After Cruyff discovered the problem, he would report it to Li George, who would then hand over the training to other coaches during training.
"I asked Robin to come today because there are some tactical points that we will use next."
"Alan, what are you sighing about?"
After Smith heard this, he quickly waved his hand and motioned for Casper to continue.
"In the early stages, George came to me and asked me to think of ways to improve the team's scoring efficiency."
"That was before Blackburn. Lee felt that we were halfway through the season, but although we were second in the standings, our goals scored were outside the top few."
"After the Blackburn game, George came to me again and asked me to tighten up a bit."
Because Leeds United was in the 18th round of the league, Leeds United challenged Blackburn Rovers, who were ranked 18th in the league, in an away game. As a result, the two sides drew a goalless draw, leaving Leeds United in the second place in the league for one round.
The only gain was that Van Persie's toe was stepped on and injured and he needed to rest for 3 months.
"Because of Robin's injury, our offensive firepower has been further reduced."
"I will use my professional knowledge to explain to you today the areas where our offensive tactics need to be improved."
"First, take a look at this table."
Casper opened a spreadsheet document and projected it onto the screen.
"First of all, let me give you some popular science on what is expected goal."
“Expected goals is a metric that evaluates the chance a shot will convert into a goal. This shot with an xG value of 0.3 should have a 30% chance of scoring, and this shot with an xG value of 0.4 should have a 40% chance of scoring. So. This data is a great way to judge the quality of a shot.”
"The number of factors that need to be taken into account when calculating shot xG will vary depending on the model used."
"There are many specific factors that affect the expected goals model, such as the position of the football when shooting, such as the distance, angle and height of the football; the body part used by the player to shoot, such as heading or shooting with the feet; the assist method, Such as through balls, crosses, set pieces or others; offensive situations, such as whether to use more to beat less, whether it is a rebound ball, whether the defensive players are in place, whether it is a shot after dribbling, etc. "
"These are all factors that influence expected goals."
"Don't think that these are just casual remarks to you."
"This is the data given by Opta Sports, which is based on science. Although Opta is headquartered in London, they have a branch in Leeds, and our club has a cooperative relationship with them."
"I can get first-hand data."
"Our actual goal value was lower than the expected goal value given by the data."
"For example, in the game against Blackburn, the data gave us a goal value of 1.32."
"But we didn't score a single goal."
"This is not the first time. In our previous games, more than half of the actual goal values were lower than the expected goal values by more than 0.5."
"Next, let's discuss how to change this problem."
"Gali, Alan, send it to me. There are names written on it. Thank you."
Then Kelly and Smith began to hand out the documents Casper had given them to each person.
Obviously, the players in the frontcourt will have more information than those in the backcourt.
"This is something that each of you needs to pay attention to in terms of offense. You can go back and see for yourself. Don't take it seriously. Whether you go home and watch it or not, you will be able to see it immediately after a few trainings and games."
"Let me talk about some common issues."
“We had significantly fewer shots than we expected.”
"why?"
"Because you have too high demands on yourself. You have to create an obvious and very threatening shot before shooting every time."
"I'm not trying to encourage you to have sex."
"Alan, look, most of your shots are in the penalty area."
Kasper cut out a map of Smith's shooting hot spots. The colors near the penalty area are obviously better, and the closer to the penalty spot, the brighter they become.
"I know you used to play as a forward. This season, you moved back to the midfield as requested by George. However, when you pushed forward, you were too far forward. Sometimes you were further forward than Robin."
"This way, we waste too much space."
"You can shoot in front of the penalty area. Don't be afraid. You don't have to go into the penalty area before taking the shot."
Casper took out a photo from a previous game and projected it on the big screen.
"But Edgar, have you noticed?"
Casper mentioned Davis, and Davis, who was just flipping through the documents about himself in his hand, quickly looked up.
"Alan moved forward, but no one filled the position in front of the penalty area. Neither Thomas nor Edgar moved forward."
"The two full-backs didn't move towards the middle either."
"If two of you four can appear in this area, we can create a long-range threat."
At this time, the team's main left back raised his hand to indicate that he had something to say.
Ian Hart asked Casper.
"Coach Chris, can I understand? I can appear in the middle or even on the right to take long shots."
"That's right, don't stick to the position, create space, create more opportunities and create threatening shots."
"What about my defensive area? What if I go to the right and I lose the ball and I don't have time to cover it?"
"You press and press as soon as possible. This is the requirement in George's tactics. The pressure in the frontcourt is not just about the few people in the frontcourt, but also requires you to delay and interfere with the opponent's offense. , your teammates will have enough time to retreat and defend you."
Hart nodded.
Casper spoke to Hatha again.
"Ian, are all your set-piece goals scored from the left?"
"of course not."
"Then why can't you take a long shot from the right?"
Hart nodded again.
"Including central defenders, they can also shoot when there is an opportunity and space. If you insert a midfielder, there are full-backs to cover for you. Don't miss any opportunity to attack or shoot."
At this time, it was the turn of several central defenders to be stunned.
Matthiessen was the first to ask: "Isn't this just a scavenger?"
"No, where does a sweeper come from in modern football? They just participate in the offense properly and create threats. George doesn't even like to use the attacking midfielder, so he still uses a sweeper?"
There is no attacking midfielder in George Li's tactics. Everyone knows this. He thinks the attacking midfielder is too slow. Every attack has to be initiated by the attacking midfielder, and the opportunity has long since slipped away.
"In short, on the premise of not shooting too much, create more space and opportunities, and hit more goals."
"Next, let's talk about other key points of attack..."
^^^
While Casper was explaining tactics to the team, several other coaches were gathering in the office next door.
Kidd stood next to Cruyff Jr., pointing at Cruyff's computer screen.
"Here, here, I told you about this place."
Finally, at Kidd's urging, Cruyff's screen went black.
Kidd turned around and shouted to the people behind him.
"John, can you do it? If not, switch to me."
Behind him, John Sheridan, the youth team director who had just finished youth team training and was brought to play CS by the first team coaching staff, took off his headphones and asked Kidd.
"What are you talking about? I was wearing headphones just now, so I couldn't hear you clearly."
"It's nothing. I praise you for playing well."
"Oh, thank you."
After saying that, Sheridan put on his headphones and continued to operate.
