Super Marshal

In the coaching room of the Harrington training ground, all the coaching staff members of the first team sat around the round conference table, looking a little dignified.

Although the warm-up match against the Celtics was finally won yesterday, it was a fluke.

If it weren't for the team's sudden offensive in the last ten minutes of the game and scoring two goals in a row, it is estimated that the final warm-up match would have ended in failure, which would have dealt a heavy blow to the newly formed Chelsea.

Gao Han also realized this, so he used the skill card at the last moment.

But the problem has been exposed, and he has to find a way to solve it.

"First of all, I have to apologize to everyone."

As the initiator of the meeting, as the head coach of the team, Gao Han was the first to speak.

Except for Cantarero, Sergio Garcia and other old partners who had worked together before, all the other former Chelsea coaches were surprised by Gao Han's sudden apology.

What the head coach wants is authority, when will he apologize?

But anyone who is familiar with Alpine and Atletico Madrid knows that this is normal.

It is only natural to apologize for doing something wrong.

"In the past period of time, I did put too much energy on other places and ignored a lot of problems. This is my responsibility, so I apologize to everyone here."

Gao Han's attitude is very sincere, making everyone believe that he is sincere.

Cantarero and Buenaventura, who were sitting on the left and right sides of him, patted his hands on the table and signaled him not to apologize.

Since entering Chelsea, although Gao Han has monopolized the power, on the surface it seems to have unlimited scenery, but in fact, only the people inside Chelsea know the bitterness.

After Abramovich acquired Chelsea, the management was in turmoil, and many things were at a standstill, or even unmanaged, which brought great trouble and problems to the team.

After Gao Han took over, relying on his connection with Abramovich and executives, he was able to act cheaply.

For example, the renovation of the Harrington training ground includes the maintenance of the heating system and drainage system of the training ground, as well as the decoration of the lunch break dormitory for players and coaches, and even the training equipment in the gym.

It is conceivable that if Gao Han hadn't come forward, it would not know how many years and months it would take to complete these tasks.

Not to mention the team's signings.

Under normal circumstances, the transfer and signings should be the responsibility of the club's top management, such as the CEO, but everyone knows that Trevor Boch is already in trouble now, so why would he intervene in the team's transfer?

Taking a step back, even if he is willing to intervene, firstly, he has no network resources, and secondly, Abramovich is not at ease.

Therefore, this summer, every transfer of Chelsea was made by Gao Han himself, and even came forward to negotiate in person.

A person's energy is always limited. Gao Han has invested a lot of energy in other areas, and the team will definitely make some omissions. This is also human nature.

"But fortunately, there is still a week before the start of the new season, and we still have the opportunity to make up for our mistakes."

When Gao Han said this, he looked at Sergio Garcia, who stood up knowingly.

"I invite you to watch a game video collection first."

Everyone followed Sergio Garcia's gestures and looked at the big screen hanging on the wall. The game screen began to be played on it soon. The first segment was the counterattack against the Celtics in the first half. The process of conceding the ball afterwards.

From this game video, it can be clearly seen that when the opponent successfully steals the ball, Chelsea's defense line is indeed too high, which causes the opponent to easily pass the ball behind them, and then use the forward's speed to counterattack.

But there is still an obvious problem, that is, the position of goalkeeper Cudicini.

When Terry and Gallas pressed, Cudicini was still standing in the small penalty area, which caused the gap between the goalkeeper and the defense to be too large, which caused the opponent to counterattack successfully.

In fact, if Cudicini could have moved forward and even attacked decisively at that time, this conceded goal could have been avoided.

"The same scene is not only the conceded goal, we will watch several other videos of the game."

As Sergio Garcia continued to play highlights, it became apparent that the same scene had been played three times against the Celtics alone, only to be caught the other two times.

In addition, several other warm-up matches also had the same problem. Even in the first warm-up match, when they defeated their opponent 4-0, the same situation happened twice, but the opponent was too strong to even score the ball. Good news.

"Cudicini is a typical Italian goalkeeper, he is better at moving in the small penalty area, rarely appears in the big box, let alone outside the big box, and he basically does not participate in the team's passing. Possession of the ball, because in their philosophy, it's too dangerous."

"And when our formation is pressing forward as a whole, the gap between the defense line and the goalkeeper is too large. As long as the opposing team has a passer and a speed player, they can basically catch it."

When everyone heard this, they all realized the problem.

Although the Celtics are a Scottish Super League team, they are not weak at all. They reached the UEFA Cup final last season, but unfortunately lost to Mourinho's Porto. The head coach Martin O'Neill is also very strong.

And since O'Neill can see it, other Premier League teams will definitely notice it too.

Speed ​​forwards are no strangers in the Premier League, and there is no shortage of passers in midfield. Therefore, if this fatal loophole cannot be filled as soon as possible, it will be a huge hidden danger for Chelsea.

"Is there a suitable goalkeeper in the current transfer market?" Gao Han asked with a frown.

The team's overall formation has been in play for a long time and will not be changed easily, so the only choice is to change the goalkeeper.

Sergio Garcia shook his head, "The better goalkeepers are the pillars of their teams, and no one is willing to let them go."

As he spoke, he called up a player's information on the big screen.

"Brad Friedl, American, 32 years old, the best goalkeeper in the Premier League last season, Blackburn was able to get sixth in the Premier League, he contributed a lot." Speaking of this, Sergio Garcia suddenly grinned at Gao Han.

"You just made a lot of money for Blackburn with the transfer of Duff. You should be able to convince them to let him go."

Everyone laughed when they heard it.

Gao Han secretly slapped Ferguson in Duff's transfer, which they all knew. It is said that Ferguson was furious because of this, but he had to buy it.

Gao Han ignored the jokes of the assistants, but glanced sharply, and Friedel's data appeared in front of him.

"Strength: 155, potential: 160."

Looking at the data in detail, he felt that it was not particularly ideal.

Seeing Gao Han was silent, Sergio Garcia understood and continued to the next one.

"Jussi Jasklainen, Finnish goalkeeper, 28 years old, two years ago when Bolton was promoted to the Premier League, he has performed well in the past two seasons, a very capable Nordic goalkeeper."

Gao Han glanced again, "Strength: one hundred and fifty-two, potential: one hundred and fifty-five."

Looking at the data again, I am still not satisfied.

"Shay Given, 27 years old, Irishman, has played for Newcastle for six seasons, has a lot of experience in the Premier League, and his performance is very stable, but you have offended the other three of the traditional top four of the Premier League. Offend the magpie again?"

Everyone burst into laughter again, even Gao Han couldn't help smiling.

Facts have proved that Shay Given is indeed the strongest, with strength and potential as high as one hundred and sixty-five, and in terms of various statistics, it is more appropriate.

But when Gao Han saw the following two candidates, he hesitated again.

One is an old acquaintance, former Barcelona goalkeeper Jose Manuel Reina.

The 21-year-old goalkeeper once served as the main force of Barcelona. Gao Han focused on him when he was coaching Atletico Madrid.

"After switching to Villarreal in 2002, Reina's performance has been very good, and his value has also risen, and it is not difficult to persuade Villarreal to let him go, but whether he can adapt to the Premier League, I am afraid. It's also a problem."

Reina's problem is that he is too young, and his performance in Barcelona is not ideal, and he has only played at a high level in Villarreal for one season.

Judging from the piercing eyes, the strength reaches 153, and the potential is 175, which is the highest among them.

"Sebastian Frey, French goalkeeper, 23 years old, played for Parma, a very good goalkeeper in Serie A, and unlike other Serie A goalkeepers, he has a wider range of activities, but his performance is also relatively unstable. "

With strength as high as 170 and potential as high as 175, Sebastian Frey is the best among many candidates, surpassing Ji Wen and Renner.

But he also has a problem. Although he played for Parma, he was loaned by Inter Milan for the previous two seasons. It was not until this summer that Parma made up his mind to buy him out, worth as much as 22.5 million euros.

It is conceivable that it may not be easy to persuade Parma to let people go.

Even if Parma agrees, Chelsea will have to pay a sky-high price.

For these candidates, Gao Han has always felt that he is not particularly satisfied. They all have such and such problems, but he can also understand that it is indeed very difficult to find a suitable goalkeeper in the transfer market in such a short period of time. Disaster.

As a last resort, Gao Han could only open the list of goalkeepers from each of the four major European league teams that Sergio Garcia handed over to him. With sharp eyes, he scanned them one by one, but the results were rather disappointing, until...

"Strength: 175, potential 180?"

Gao Han's eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately entered the detailed data interface, and after a closer look, he couldn't help laughing.

"That's him!"

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When Gao Han was discussing the goalkeeper issue in Harrington, Liverpool's opponent in the first round of the new Premier League season, Liverpool's head coach Houllier also got the latest information on the warm-up match at the Melwood training base in Northwest Liverpool.

Because it is the first round of the new season, and it is the high cold that has gained fame in the past two years, and Chelsea invested 200 million euros in the summer transfer market. Although Houllier ridiculed Chelsea as a mercenary, he did not dare to be careless at all.

He even arranged for his right-hand man, Liverpool star Phil Thompson to follow Chelsea's warm-up match.

And the right-hand man lived up to expectations. After watching Chelsea's game against Celtic, he returned to Liverpool and immediately submitted a detailed game report.

"I found that Chelsea has a very, very fatal loophole. As long as we seize the opportunity at Anfield, we will definitely be able to make them come and go!"

Phil Thompson said confidently.