The training ground of Völlewikels Club in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
"Run, run..." Leeds United's fitness coach Colin McGee kept blowing his whistle and calling to the athletes who were running laps.
The players who had completed several laps were panting while running.
"Captain Smith, were you so tired from training before?" Danny Rose, a young player who came from the youth team to participate in the training, asked Alan Smith.
"It was okay last year, but this year it feels a little special." Smith answered Rose.
"It was fine in Scotland last year, just like I was in other teams, but after two days in the Netherlands this time, I felt that the changes were a bit big, especially the physical training." The speaker was the team's midfielder, "Wild Boar" Ed Gar-Davis.
Davis has played for Ajax, AC Milan, Juventus, and Barcelona, all of which are strong teams. The fact that he can say this shows that the intensity of physical training in this training camp is really high.
"I'm so tired. I don't know whether it's right or wrong to follow." Danny Rose ran his last lap, held his knees and bent over because he was exhausted.
According to McGee's requirements, each player has to run a different number of laps.
Like the younger ones, Rose, Delph, and Black all ended their own laps and stopped to watch their big brothers continue to run laps.
The three goalkeepers on the side and Gary Kelly also ended their laps. Because they are goalkeepers and are over 30 years old, their laps are less than others.
Of course, Davis is also over 30 years old, but according to McGee's physical demand report, Davis needs higher physical fitness than others, so Davis's lap count is even higher than that of some people. There are many.
The new goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar took the water handed by assistant coach Brian Kidd, then turned around and gave the extra water to the other two young goalkeepers. After taking it, Carson and Schmeichel Jr. were both surprised. Van der Sar expressed his thanks.
Just as they were drinking water, the team's goalkeeper coach Peter Schmeichel began to walk towards them, and then they had to start professional goalkeeper training non-stop.
On the other side, Danny Rose, who was like a dog, brought water to Kelly's hands immediately, while several other young players could only get water by themselves.
"Captain Kelly, water."
"Thank you." Kelly took the water handed over by Rose, but looked at Delph and Charlotte Black.
"Captain, what are you looking at?"
"That teammate of yours is in good physical condition." Kelly took a sip of water and continued, "Although the one named Blake seems to be breathing heavily, the frequency is very even, unlike the one named Delph. "
"Indeed, in our youth team, Charlotte's physical fitness is one of the best, and he is not only good in physical fitness, but also very fast."
"Faster than you?" Kelly knew about Danny Rose. He was known as the "fastest man" in the Leeds United youth team. Now that Rose can say this, it only means that Blake is better than him. quick.
"You can say they are comparable." Of course, Rose couldn't directly say that he couldn't compare to others, he could only say it implicitly.
"Haha, today's young people are really outstanding, they are fast and can run. It seems that I will not accept old age anymore."
"Captain, let me tell you, Charlotte plays right back. It seems you have a successor."
"What about you, who are you going to take over, Ian?"
Everyone in the team knows that Gary Kelly is Ian Hart's uncle.
"But captain, you know, there is someone in our youth team who can run better than Charlotte. He is simply a devil muscleman. Do you know who he is?"
"Are you here for training?"
"Not here, but you probably can't guess who it is."
"who is it?"
Rose looked at head coach Lee George on the sidelines.
At this time, Kelly also understood that it should be one of George Li's adopted sons, but he had to ask Ross about which one.
But before he could ask, the other players ended their laps one after another, and then the team's new coach, John Sheridan, came over and talked about the next "shadow" training.
"Shadow" training is a training method used by Italian coach Arrigo Sacchi to improve the team's players' position selection, movement, and game reading abilities.
In training, the players play a game with neither the ball nor the opponent. They set up the formation. The coach will use the command to tell the players where the imaginary ball is, and then the players will react and keep the formation moving as a whole, and so on.
It's just that Leeds United's current training method is different from the previous "shadow" training method. There is no fixed number of players and no fixed teammates. The entire team is randomly divided into several groups. Some groups will have more people and some will have fewer people. Who attacks and who defends is random and must obey the coach's instructions. Password.
The person who issued this password was the team's technical director, Chris Kasper.
Also participating in this training with Casper were several of his colleagues from the information technology department, including those who specialized in taking photos and others who used computers to record and analyze data on site.
"Du~, now it's Gravesen who takes the ball to attack..." Casper began to issue commands.
And George Lee, Kidd, and Sheridan came to a high place to watch the team's "shadow" training together.
Harland is helping McGee sort out the players' physical fitness data just now. The players' time for each lap will be recorded.
Peter Schmeichel was training with three goalkeepers to throw the ball.
It can be seen that Van der Sar, who is almost a few years older than Schmeichel, is very chatty and keeps communicating. Scott Carson and Schmeichel can only focus on listening.
^^^
In the conference room of the hotel where Leeds United stayed, the coaching staff was meeting to study tactics.
"In the four warm-up games, I am going to try to play Robin van Persie as the right winger and Kevin Davis as the team's starting forward in the games against Ajax and AZ."
When Leeds United trains in the Netherlands, they will play four official warm-up matches. They will first face Waller Wickers, coached by Cruyff Jr., who has just left the team, and then continue in Amsterdam and Ajax. A warm-up match.
Then we will drive 18 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam to near Lake Marken to have a warm-up match with Volendam.
Finally, go to the north and challenge Alkmaar.
Originally, Leeds United planned to go south to find a team to play a warm-up match after the two friendly matches in Amsterdam, because there are two strong Eredivisie teams in the south, Feyenoord and Eindhoven.
However, due to Feyenoord's dilly-dallying attitude towards Kuyt's transfer, George Lee decisively gave up on this trip.
"Is this why you bought Davis?" Kidd saw it.
"At the same time, I will choose two games at the end to try to play Smith on the left wing."
George Lee placed the magnet with the No. 17 label on the tactical board on the left.
"This way we can choose three of Davis, De Jong, Graveson and Parker at home, or even I can play all four of them."
"With three defenders, we can use the same method we used at the end of last season, with one defender in the middle and two defenders who can play either side or in the middle. Ferdinand, Mills, Kelly, and Mathisen in our team can all play like this."
"What do you think?" George Li was going to let several assistants put forward their opinions.
Casper was the first to raise his hand, and then after everyone asked him to speak, he started talking.
"I think this idea is very good. Although it is already strong, I think this lineup is a little more powerful."
"Tell me specifically which aspect is better." Kidd saw that Casper could speak so seriously and wanted to hear his point of view.
"Fouling, quarreling, and fighting are all unmatched by this lineup in the entire Premier League."
Several members of the coaching staff began to cover their faces.
George Lee continued to arrange the magnets on the tactical board to form a 433 lineup, and then began to push No. 21 forward at the left back position.
"What do you think of the name Bian Yao Yao?"
"What is a midfielder?" This is a question asked by other members of the coaching staff.
Among them was Casper, who went to Argentina with him, wondering if he had learned anything new from Bielsa.
In fact, George Li knew about this concept of midfielder from later generations, but he just thought about whether he could use it in advance.
"For example, if the opponent's right wing attack ability is not strong, can I move the full-back's position forward so that he can participate more in the offense."
"Will you get beaten up?" This was asked by the newcomer Sheridan.
"I don't need him to go down too much. He can appear more in the ribs in front of the penalty area. In this way, when we encounter other people's counterattacks, the player's pursuit distance becomes shorter."
"Similarly, the player on the right can do the same." Li put No. 21 back to its original position and pushed the No. 18 magnet on the right forward to what he called the "side midfielder" position.
"This way we can also free up a midfielder to participate more in the attack, right."
"This midfielder who appears in the ribs can also attack. Our Mills, Hart, and Baynes are all capable of long-range shooting."
Members of the coaching staff began to think about the feasibility of this new position.
Obviously, the emergence of this new position will lead to a series of new tactics, which require multiple discussions and research during this training period.
But just as they were thinking, George Li spoke again.
"I just thought about it again. What I said at the beginning was about Davis's retreat. How deep can he retreat? I was talking about retreating when attacking, not defending... "
Several people found that their brains were running out. Sheridan, for example, had already taken out his notebook and started scribbling and drawing, while Casper, who always liked using high technology, opened a certain software on his laptop.
^^^
"Dong dong dong~" There was a knock on the door of the hotel room where Smith and Van Persie were staying.
"Go..." Smith, who was lying on the bed and almost fell asleep from exhaustion, kicked Van Persie next to him.
"Uh~" Van Persie was already drowsy, obviously asleep.
Smith had no choice but to open the door himself.
As soon as the door opened, I saw Ryan Baines, Scott Parker and Anton Ferdinand.
"What?" Smith probably knew what was going on.
"Thomas and the others have already set off to the casino. Should we set off too? I specially called Anton and Scott." Bynes winked at Smith.
"Robin and I are not going, you can go."
"What! My friend, this is Amsterdam! Amsterdam!" Bynes raised his voice.
Parker and Ferdinand also looked at each other. It was obvious that they thought why the vice-captain was different from what Baines just said.
According to Baynes' description, vice-captain Smith and forward Van Persie were Baynes' guides on a certain road. They were warm and hospitable people and would always take newcomers and young players on the team to experience nightclubs and bars.
"I'm not going, it's boring. You go ahead." Smith rejected Bynes again.
"Okay~" What Baynes doesn't know is that Smith and Van Persie have already visited Amsterdam this offseason, and there is nothing new to attract them.
"Wait a minute." Smith stopped the people who were about to leave and turned back to the room.
Then there was a sound coming from inside.
"Robin, wake up... where is the membership card... that's the one... we went to for a week... give it to Rai Give them a try..."
