Minister Ezeiza Pistarini International Airport, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
George Li, who arrived early, sat in the coffee shop at the airport and finally waited for Chris Casper, who had arrived from England.
Casper was wearing a tropical floral shirt, board shorts, and a straw hat.
George Li wears ordinary sweatshirts and jeans.
"I said, where is Helen, why didn't you see it?"
Casper came to George Li's side, sat down, and threw his backpack on the seat next to him.
"Are you here for vacation? This is Argentina, not Brazil...and..."
George Li looked at Casper's clothes again, looking up and down.
"And what?" Casper watched him keep looking at him, thinking there was something wrong with his clothes. Then he looked around at the people around him, and there was no one dressed like him.
"No one told you that May is now late autumn in the Southern Hemisphere and winter is about to begin, idiot."
"..."
Obviously, Casper didn't learn geography well and thought he was called to Argentina for vacation by Li. He didn't expect that the seasons in the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere here are opposite. Before he came, he just asked Brian Kidd about what English people need to pay attention to when coming to Argentina, whether there is any danger to life, after all, the two countries have fought before.
After George Li said this, Casper, who was wearing cool clothes, really felt a little cold and was going to change clothes, but he thought that he had brought a backpack, and the changes of clothes in the bag were also relatively cool.
Fuck, just thinking about going to the beach for vacation, who would have thought that the temperature in Argentina is like this.
George Li pushed the coffee he had not drunk in front of Casper and asked him to take a sip of the hot one.
Casper picked it up and took two swigs. Then he found a long sleeve in his bag and quickly put it on.
George Li called the waiter and ordered another cup of coffee.
"Didn't Helen come with you?" Casper returned to the previous question. There was still quite a bit of gossip about George Li and Helen. After all, the live broadcast of the Champions League final he watched was in English, and he was relatively familiar with Helen.
"She has returned to England to work on her graduation."
"When did you get together?"
"This doesn't seem to be any of your business, Chris." It was his own private matter, and George Li was not prepared to tell Caspardo.
"Then why don't you go back together? Why don't you come to Argentina for a trip and insist on calling me?"
"I didn't say I would travel to Argentina."
"Then what are you doing here? I remember that you don't seem to be able to introduce South American players. Are there any Englishmen playing in Argentina? Dutchmen? Nordics?"
"You'll know in a minute... Steve, here." George Li waved to a person in the distance.
When the other party saw Li saying hello, he came over.
After getting closer, Casper began to look at the person who came. He was about fifty years old, also white, with a rather distinctive chin.
"Hello, coach." The visitor shook hands with George Li, and then looked at Casper awkwardly. He didn't know who this person was, but he didn't look like a normal person.
"This is our technical director, Chris Kasper. This is our chief scout for next season, Steve Walsh, who I hired from Chelsea."
"Wow, George, you are so good. Not only can you poach Chelsea players, but you can also poach Chelsea employees." Casper was obviously surprised when he heard that George Li had poached Chelsea employees.
"Mr. Jose Mourinho has his own scouting circle and doesn't really need me. George happened to contact me, so I agreed to come to Leeds United to try."
"It's a pleasure to cooperate. I believe we can cooperate happily." Casper stretched out his hand to shake Walsh's hand.
"Definitely." Walsh also extended his hand, and the two held it together.
Chris Casper is now the technical director of the team. He mainly has two tasks. One is to collect data. This data is collected and analyzed through the arrangement of the coach, on a certain aspect of the game. Provide the situation conclusion to the coach and provide reference opinions for the coach. The second is to help the coach arrange training tasks and evaluate training.
The obvious first task is to deal with Steve Walsh, the chief scout.
"Stephen has arrived in Buenos Aires two days early. I think he has already contacted me."
"Yes, although this is my first time doing this job, it is quite interesting. I contacted a few people through my contacts in Europe before I found the other party. The other party knew that we were coming and welcomed us very much."
"So, we really aren't here for vacation?" Casper asked George Li.
^^^
A second-hand pickup truck was driving on the road in Argentina. The road sign next to it reminded that it was about to reach another big city in Argentina, Rosario.
"Hey guys, are we here to see Che Guevara's former residence?" Casper asked Walsh who was driving.
"You'll know when you go."
“Who else is Rosario besides Che Guevara?”
"I said I came to find Leo Messi to join our Leeds United team. Believe it or not." Li George also thought Kasper talked too much and wouldn't have asked him to come with him if he had known better.
"Coach, are you talking about the Argentine kid from Barcelona? It would be great if he could join Leeds United. I think his future achievements can be the same as Maradona." As a scout, Walsh obviously knows better Messi.
"Stephen, didn't George tell you that he doesn't like to use South American players."
"As I said, this puts greater demands on our scouting department. After all, the range of players we can recommend is not that wide."
"So, do you have any recommendations, Stephen?" Casper asked Walsh.
"Yes...we're here." Walsh parked the car at the gate of a farm on the side of the road, took out his cell phone and started making a call.
"What are we doing on the farm? Are we going to take a farmer to play football, or are we going to add a cowboy to the coaching staff?" Casper couldn't suppress his curiosity and asked George Li, who was sitting in the passenger seat.
"Seeing that you talked so much along the way, I was afraid that you would be hungry, so I would bring you to eat at the farmhouse." George Li was already speechless to Casper.
After making the call, Walsh saw the door of the farm open. Walsh continued to start the car and drove to the door of a house. Standing at the door was an old man about 50 years old, wearing black-rimmed glasses.
This is the person that George Li came to visit during this trip to Argentina. Former Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa, who just led the Argentine Olympic team to win the Olympic gold medal last year, resigned and disappeared from people's sight.
Several people quickly got out of the car and came to shake hands with Bielsa who greeted them at the door.
Li George saw Bielsa while watching the Champions League final. Bielsa was sitting in a neutral fan area not far from Li and Helen. Li George recognized this "crazy" coach at that time and came to visit Bielsa. idea.
After the game, Li George found out through various channels that Bielsa had returned to Argentina, and thought of bringing his two assistants to visit.
Bielsa was also very surprised when he learned the news that Li George was coming. Later, when he learned that the purpose of his coming was to discuss tactics and not to ask him to be an assistant coach, he still graciously agreed to Li. George Li's request for a visit led to a trip to Argentina with George Li and his party.
"Senior, this is our Leeds United technical director, Mr. Chris Casper. You should already know this, this is our team's chief scout, Mr. Stephen Walsh."
"Hello, senior." "Hello."
"Just call me Marcelo."
After a few pleasantries, Bielsa invited George Li and the three of them to his home, and then someone served them three special drinks, an open cup with tea leaves on it and a straw inserted in it.
After George Lee and Walsh signaled to Bielsa, they picked it up and drank. Only Casper was at a loss and was in a daze.
After Bielsa saw it, he asked someone to pour a few more cups of coffee.
"Coach Li, I didn't expect that when you came to visit me this time, you actually brought the team's technical director and scouts. It's really rare." Bielsa said straight to the point. He knew that George Li came to visit with him this time. To discuss tactics, or to ask for advice.
But what does it mean when you come to ask someone who takes a video and a person who plays the video? Do you want to film the chat process?
"Take them to study together so that I can recruit and deploy tactics in the future."
"Then let's get started and go to my study." After saying that, Bielsa got up and took them to his study.
Several people came to the study and sat down separately. Of course, George Li and Bielsa sat closer to facilitate communication.
Then the exchange between George Lee and Bielsa began.
Bielsa summed up his tactical philosophy in four words.
"Always focused", "excited", "rotated", "played".
Among them, "play" is Bielsa's most critical tactical component.
"After I heard you were coming, I also watched some videos of your Leeds United games this season."
"I've decided you're really into me."
"Total offense and total defense is the future development trend of football. Whether it is Michels' 433 or my 3313, it is actually a tactical requirement that requires mastering space."
"The positions of the players are not fixed. No matter what the formation is, they are all here to serve the tactics. For different opponents, I need to deploy different tactics."
"I use three defenders to deal with the opponent's two forwards. When completing basic man-to-man defense, I can have one more person to participate in defensive pressure. This is my advantage in space."
"If the opponent switches to a single forward in the second half, then I will push a defender into the midfield. This will strengthen my midfield. This is also a space advantage."
"I only came up with this "play" this year. During the 2002 World Cup, I put two offensive cores on the field. As a result, Veron was out of form, Ortega was targeted, and Argentina was finished. "
"Then if I don't have an offensive core, everyone can create opportunities. Don't be obsessed with holding the ball. After quickly releasing the ball, run without the ball to create space for other players."
"Running without the ball, turning the core of the midfield attack into the fulcrum of the center in the frontcourt, constantly pulling the opponent's defense."
"I don't clarify who is the organizer. Everyone is an organizer and can launch an attack."
"The few games Leeds United played well last year were like this. The transition from defense to offense was very fast. Anyone could initiate an attack and anyone could finish the attack, right."
"Running and physical fitness are the most basic requirements of this tactic."
"..."
Bielsa finally said something that surprised Casper.
"If the players weren't human beings, I would never lose."
After hearing this, Casper almost knocked over the mate tea he had just learned to drink.
"Old man, according to you, aren't all the players exhausted to death?"
"Haha, total offense and total defense requires a lot of physical fitness. Everything has advantages and disadvantages."
"I think George, you shouldn't bring me to listen to this, you should bring Colin to listen...Sir, Colin is our team's physical coach, Colin McGee."
Li George does not have financial management Casper, including when communicating with Bielsa, more often than not he is listening and Bielsa is talking.
In fact, what Kasper said makes sense. Total offense and total defense places huge demands on the team's physical fitness. Constant running without the ball will continue to consume the players' physical fitness. Therefore, Leeds United were so big at the end of last season. There are certain reasons for the injuries to players in the area and the constant high pressure required by George Lee.
Therefore, George Lee has two things to do in this new season. The first is to strengthen the lineup so that the team can carry out appropriate rotations, especially in the new season, which requires multi-line operations. The second is to once again strengthen the physical requirements of players, both to be able to cope with the game and to prevent players from getting injured.
So, what is the team's fitness coach Colin McGee doing at this time?
^^^
"Coach Pintus, you just mentioned pre-season training to build up your physical fitness. How long will it take?"
In Turin, Italy, Colin McGee was sitting in a small classroom, holding a pen and asking questions to a bald man standing on the podium.
And standing at the front is the current fitness coach of Monaco Club, Antonio Pintus.
