Chapter 382: Has Barcelona ever stepped down from the altar?

In this defense, Vazquez's positioning was too important. Zidane threw two right backs on the back line.

According to the initial position, Vazquez is the right midfielder; but his retreat is so strong that it is actually equivalent to adding a left back to the team. Is this a 4-4 position or a 5-3 position? Bit, I can’t tell clearly.

This conservative defensive method has actually been used throughout Zidane's entire coaching period. The outside world always said that Valverde next door would turn 433 into 442, but little did they know that this is actually one of the most commonly used defensive ideas.

Theoretically, it is true that relying on frontcourt pressing to replicate the passing and controlling system of the Guardiola era is the dream of all teams pursuing passing and controlling; but how difficult is it to achieve that?

Zidane gave up pressing in the midfield and adopted this kind of defensive strategy that was separated from the front and back. It is true that he could not prevent the opponent from advancing, but he could also invest heavily in the frontcourt and rely on the backcourt to retain players and limit the opponent's counterattack. .

It is a very typical case of the midfielder giving up the press and shrinking the back line, but in the end, it organized the opponent's fast break shot.

That season, Real Madrid's opponents' counterattacks accounted for 8.11%, ranking second in La Liga; however, only 15.48% of these counterattacks resulted in shots, which was the fifth lowest in La Liga.

In contrast, Enrique's Barcelona has a net defensive time of 3.07 defensive confrontations against the ball holder per minute (second in La Liga), making it one of the teams that emphasizes pressing the most in La Liga; however, they allow their opponents 26.55% Counterattacks have resulted in shots, which is the third highest in La Liga.

This is actually a choice you must make when the defensive resources at hand are not in place - the paradox of rushing and defending has been perfectly solved over the years by Atletico Madrid and Liverpool.

So we all admit that Real Madrid's defense in the 16-17 season was not good, but we can't blame it too much.

Hidden dangers are hidden dangers after all. If we don’t face them, they will explode.

If you read the previous article carefully, this conclusion has basically already been drawn.

In the 16-17 season, Real Madrid actually still exposed many problems. Unfortunately, I don’t know if Florentino was considering renovating the stadium and did not make targeted supplements after the season.

Instead, important players were let go one after another. As a result, not only were the hidden dangers not resolved, but new crises emerged.

First of all, Real Madrid's midfield defensive hardness problem has always existed, and as Modric ages and Cross's condition declines, there is even a clear trend of intensification.

Secondly, the decline of the dual-core midfielder combined with the traditional combination of midfield and backcourt, the final result is that Real Madrid loses the ball more frequently in the backcourt, and the threat of opponents catching mistakes and counterattacking on the spot is naturally greater. This has been the case in the past two years. Year is also very obvious.

Once again, Real Madrid made the mistake of letting go of several important players in the team, especially Morata. As mentioned earlier, the team's offense relies heavily on crosses. Before the second half of last season, Benzema was always used to staying outside the penalty area and engaged in so-called "support". In fact, the team's passing and control resources were sufficient to control the ball. When hitting the area around the penalty area and the opponent repeatedly recovers it, the fixed contact point in the penalty area is more important than anything else.

However, Morata, who is the best at this in the team, was given to Chelsea.

Economic value aside, this is a three-lose deal.

At that time, Morata was second only to Cristiano Ronaldo in the team in terms of touches of the ball in the penalty area per 90 minutes. In the 17-18 season, Zidane did not trust Bale very much. As a result, Ronaldo was often in the dilemma of being alone in the opponent's penalty area.

What must be emphasized here is that the above-mentioned problems already existed when Ronaldo was there, and they were also highlighted in Ronaldo's last season at Real Madrid. However, Zidane pulled out Casemiro and played a shocking game against Paris. 442, and using metaphysics to protect his body all the way, he changed his destiny in the Champions League.

In fact, Real Madrid in the 17-18 season is already full of loopholes.

Looking at the history of the rise and fall of major top teams, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion: raising a team is like raising a car, it is easy to buy but difficult to maintain——

Building a good team costs money, and maintaining a good team is not cheap either...

2016 has passed by in a hurry.

The 2017-18 season is about to begin.

Big news - Neymar joins Paris with a transfer fee of 220 million, MSN goes bankrupt.

La Liga is in turmoil again this season.

Point 1: Can Real Madrid continue last season's form and defend the championship.

Last season, the five-time crown was won as expected, but whether a group of young talents such as Asensio, Vazquez, Isco, Ceballos, Kova, and Vallejo can take over Real Madrid.

Can Real Madrid create a new era based on its depth?

Whether they can defend the league and Champions League is also worth looking forward to. Barcelona's MSN has disintegrated, and how long the BBC can coexist is also a question.

Point 2: Barcelona is missing Neymar, although they have introduced Semedo, Violent Bird, and Dembele.

But how well does the team work together? More or less, Barcelona has declined, losing in two rounds of the Western Super Cup. Can Barcelona play their cards well in the new season?

Has Barcelona ever stepped down from the altar?

As Xiaobai gets older in the midfield, Laji's form last season was up and down.

Busquets' state is also worrying. The midfielder is not strong enough and the right wing is basically paralyzed. But the Kaiser returned, and Dembélé and Semedo joined.

It really gives hope to the winger.

The Violent Bird can add strength to the midfield, and it is also a good signing to join in the offense when necessary.

Which position Roberto will play this season is also exciting.

The most anticipated DSM combination! ?

Point 3: Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid and Barcelona formed a three-nation situation in the past few years.

In the past year or two, with Turan coming to Barcelona, ​​Gabi, Godin, Forlan, Felipe and others have declined with age and cannot reproduce the iron-blooded defense of the year.

On the other hand, Real Madrid and Barcelona have more or less introduced some strong reinforcements, while Atletico Madrid has been unable to recruit due to violation of the ban and can only leave but not come in. There is another scandal in Gezi.

Torres is too old to play a fulcrum role.

Gameiro is not this type of striker, he needs speed just like Carrasco.

The frontcourt often needs to fight alone, and the midfielder cannot give much support.

And winter windows? Grid transfer? Beauty is back? ?

It’s all about the four points to watch: Sevilla, Biba, Espanyol, Eibar, Huang Qian Villarreal, and Valencia, which one can challenge the Big Three of La Liga as the fourth group army.

I am more optimistic about Sevilla, Valencia and Eibar. Last season, Wallen's distraction in the Europa League led to a serious loss of points in the league. Can he make a comeback this season?

Whether Sevi can enter the Champions League quarter-finals or even further, he fell at the feet of Fox City last season.

Biba has not given me many surprises as to whether veteran Adulis can lead the team forward, and it is also the team's tradition to only use players from the Basque region. And can the team have more newcomers to lead the team forward?

And can Eibar, a small team that I personally think is good, get even closer?

Point 5: Derby and rivalry. Annual El Clasico. This season, whether Barcelona or Real Madrid, we are looking forward to it.

Madrid derby, Catalonia derby. His old enemies include Valencia, who took drugs when he played against Real Madrid, and the Spaniard, who took drugs when he played against Barcelona.

These are all big and small attractions.

Point 6: Melo’s battle? Who will be left behind in the new season among these two peerless heroes? Golden boots? Melo or Su Ya?

Point 7: Coach. Whether it is Zidane or Valverde or the renewed Simeone?

After the El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​the 17th round of La Liga this season was completed. The 18th round of competition will be held from January 6 after New Year’s Day.

In the early morning of this Saturday, the new season of La Liga will kick off. In the past 12 years, except for the championship in the 13-14 season, which was taken away by Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid have monopolized the La Liga championship trophy. In fact, due to the impact of the transfer ban, it may be difficult for Atletico Madrid to reproduce the style of the three heroes of the "Western Super League" in the new season. The championship competition in the new season will surely start between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Judging from the just-concluded Spanish Super Cup, Real Madrid showed great advantages and thickness in their rotation.

Could it be that from this year onwards, the three-point pattern in La Liga will come to an end? Will this lead to the era of Real Madrid?

However, in the past 10 years, Barcelona has always maintained an extremely strong advantage in La Liga. Even Real Madrid, the best team at the moment, just won its first La Liga championship in five years three months ago.

Even if Neymar is lost, I believe that the Red and Blue Army led by Messi will still not give up easily.

1. The strongest Real Madrid aims to defend its title, and Asensio looks forward to soaring into the sky

Real Madrid has been relatively quiet in the transfer market this summer. After completing the defense of the Champions League, they chose to further accumulate young talents.

Currently, the number one player on the La Liga transfer market buying list is 16-year-old Brazilian teenager Vinicius. Real Madrid spent 45 million euros to introduce him, but he will not appear in the new La Liga season yet.

In addition, the team's most important signing is the purchase of full-back Hernandez from rival Atletico Madrid, announcing that the team's rejuvenation process will continue to deepen, and he will also become the left-back Marcelo first substitute.

In terms of central defender, Vallejo, who has returned from youth training, will replace Pepe.

In the midfield position are two Spanish U21 internationals. The return of Marcos Llorente has allowed the team to add another midfield interceptor in addition to Casemiro; Betis' talented midfielder Ceballo Si is the successor of Modric. In the competition with the arch-rival Barcelona, ​​winning this European Youth Championship Golden Ball player is also a major gain for Real Madrid this summer.

On the offensive line, although the departure of Morata and Ronaldo will have some impact on the team's strength.

But Asensio's strong rise will make fans forget about the bench gangsters of the past.

In the two rounds of the Western Super Cup, Asensio used two world waves to score the last goal of the first game and the first goal of the second game.

Such an outstanding performance has led countless media to hail him as Ronaldo's successor.

2. Barcelona, ​​which has lost Neymar, must first decide on new players as soon as possible.

For Barcelona, ​​they actually have a reinforced lineup this summer. The addition of right back Semedo and midfielder Paulinho has improved the team's combat effectiveness.

However, the departure of Neymar has done too much harm to the team. With the current purchase of Coutinho and Dembele not going well, it may be really hard to believe that the team can fight against the increasing pressure of relying on Messi alone. The mighty Real Madrid.

Judging from the two rounds of this Spanish Super Cup, especially in the second round at the Bernabeu, Barcelona only had one shot opportunity in the first half.

After the game, we were surprised to find that this was also the first time since 2008, after 32 national derby games, that Barcelona had a lower ball possession rate than Real Madrid. Although the team officially signed a contract with the Brazilian national team's main midfielder Paulinho after the game.

However, relying solely on a midfielder who is better at attacking and scoring forward may not be able to help the Catalan giant regain its former glory. Judging from the Bernabeu game, the team's best player in getting rid of the ball and passing people is actually the newly introduced right back Semedo.

When he faced Marcelo several times, he completed a beautiful pass or got rid of him. But if they want to regain possession of the ball in the midfield, Barcelona must introduce better midfield organizers.

After missing Verratti and Ceballos, perhaps Coutinho has become the team's best choice.

But the current attitude of Liverpool Club's serious refusal makes it difficult to believe that Barcelona can finally get the "talent" they want.

On the other hand, Deulofeu's performance against Real Madrid was not satisfactory. The team's desire for Dembele has reached its peak. Faced with Dortmund's sky-high price of 150 million, will Barcelona eventually "go bankrupt to eliminate disaster"? This may be related to their fate in the league next season. After all, Messi really needs a few fast teammates right now.

3. Second group melee: Can Atletico Madrid defend its dignity?

Due to the transfer ban this summer, this may cause Atletico Madrid to lose the three-point strength with Real Madrid and Barcelona.

In fact, last season, Atletico Madrid, which ultimately ranked third in the league, was 12 points behind Barcelona and 15 points behind eventual champion Real Madrid.

This summer, Atletico Madrid, which cannot strengthen its lineup, is likely to decline further.

Although Atletico Madrid introduced Sevilla attacker Vitolo through a transfer to Las Palmas, he will not be able to play for the team until January at the earliest.

For this reason, Bitolo is now going to his original parent team Las Palmas on loan, which can be regarded as an interesting transfer operation.

Atletico Madrid's strongest competitor should still come from Sevilla, but they also made significant adjustments to their lineup this summer: Vitolo, Ivora, Mariano, Rami transferred and left, and Jovitti Four players, including Qi, Nasri, Kranevert and Vietto, returned to their home team after their loans expired. Even coach Sampaoli and technical director Monchi also left.

Fortunately, after the team introduced Muriel and Banega, as well as Nolito and Navas from Manchester City, and bought Kjaer and Kozia in the defense, the team was still guaranteed. combat effectiveness.

Former Celta Vigo coach Berizzo did not disappoint. They defeated strong opponents twice in the Emirates Cup and won away from home in the Champions League play-offs, which also made fans full of expectations for the new season.

There is one team that deserves special attention, namely Betis, the city's rival from Sevilla.

After the coaching change, the team performed well in more than 10 warm-up matches, including a victory over the rebuilt AC Milan.

Although Ceballos went to Real Madrid, the team bought experienced midfielder Guardado from Eindhoven, and Barcelona winger Tello came to report.

Center back Amat and right winger Barragan from Swansea in the Premier League are also battle-hardened players.

More importantly, the addition of Algeria midfielder Budbouz and Osasuna forward Sergio Leone, who performed well against Barcelona last season, has greatly improved the team's combat effectiveness. steps.

Others, such as Villarreal, introduced the powerful Eredivisie forward Yunal from Manchester City and brought Bacca.

As well as Real Sociedad's introduction of former Manchester United player Januzaj, these are also teams worthy of attention. Together with Athletic Bilbao and Valencia, they will attack the leaders of the second group.

Before Barcelona spends Neymar's 222 million euros, this may be the most "frugal" summer in La Liga in recent years.

However, the new season of La Liga will not be discounted by its excitement. More importantly, the new season is very likely to be the year when La Liga re-establishes order: from the competition between Real Madrid and Barcelona to the melee between La Liga's second group.

Who can finally become the winner? This will be a highlight of La Liga in the new season.

Over the past decade, La Liga has become increasingly commercially viable, with clubs and league officials working to improve their financial situation.

According to La Liga’s 2016 financial report released by KPMG in April this year, from the 2011-12 season to the 2015-16 season, La Liga’s operating income increased by 736.9 million euros, an increase of 40.5%, and a compound annual growth rate of 8.9%. . From this point of view, La Liga's commercial progress is obvious.

From the perspective of sports events, La Liga is most worthy of bragging about its ability to always attract the best football players in the world.

For many elite players, it is their dream to play for Real Madrid or Barcelona (the so-called "Emperor's Dream" and "Erza's Dream").

Of course, the most copper-smelling Premier League (salaries are very tempting) or teams like Paris Saint-Germain are also very attractive. Paris recently paid a record-breaking price of 220 million euros. Neymar.

But when it comes to the home of top players, it has to be La Liga. Of all the players who have won the FIFA Player of the Year award this century, only three have not played for Spanish clubs.

La Liga is entering a new era.

After dominating the Deloitte football club revenue rankings for 11 years, Real Madrid ranked third with revenue of 620.1 million euros in the 2015/16 season.

But in fact, Real Madrid's revenue increased by 7% and it received more broadcast shares than the top two Manchester United and Barcelona. The reason for the decline in ranking is because their commercial revenue fell behind (263.4 million euros).