Chapter 72: Chapter 42: Rotation

When Capello coached the team, he liked using the double pivot combination of Emerson and Diarra.

This combination brought stability to Real Madrid’s defense but significantly reduced the team’s “spectacle” during matches.

Real Madrid continues to use the “double pivot” in their defense process, with two players always intercepting opponents in front of the defense line, but they are easily bypassed.

Schuster wants to eliminate the double pivot setup on defense, opting for a diamond formation in midfield with only one defensive midfielder, allowing Real Madrid to have an additional midfielder for attack, making the team’s midfield more aggressive.

For this defensive midfielder, Schuster envisions a player who can both defend and organize.

A defensive midfielder needs to be able to defend and organize, but Gago and Diarra are clearly not satisfying Schuster.

If Ballack could join Real Madrid, this problem would be solved, but unfortunately, the transfer failed.

Therefore, during this period, Schuster has been scouting within the team, and now he has three candidates: the former “Beast” Baptista, Castilla’s Balboa, and Chen Zhong.

Among these candidates, Schuster favors Baptista, the Brazilian who is balanced with both feet, physically strong, and reaches a height of 185CM, initially played as a defensive midfielder.

Baptista also has an impressive physique, similar to Patrick Vieira who currently plays for Inter Milan, known as a beast on the field.

Last season, Wenger loaned Baptista to fill the gap left by Vieira, but Baptista seemed unaccustomed to the intense competition of the Premier League, making some basic defensive errors.

Schuster watched Baptista’s performance at Arsenal, impressed by the own goals he produced, but his hard work in this season’s training sessions still caught Schuster’s attention.

“Why remove someone?” Schuster sneered at Francisco, saying, “Have you forgotten? My friend, starting from defeating Almeria, we have 5 matches in the next 15 days, averaging one match every three days, so we don’t need to remove any player, we need rotation.”

“Didn’t you see Sneijder’s performance in the last game? Compared to the excellent performances at the start of the season, his performance in the last game was rather mediocre; he’s tired.”

“Who are we facing in the next match?”

“Valladolid,” Francisco replied to Schuster, “they may be newly promoted, but they’re worthy of our attention. Although lacking some experience, their season start and signings have been well done, new players brought in good experience.”

“Winning at their home isn’t easy, their pressing is well executed.”

“Valladolid, eh~” Schuster elongated his voice, raised his eyebrows at Francisco, “It looks like I don’t have to worry about this match.”

“You are the coach of Real Madrid,” Francisco frowned, feeling a bit irritated at Schuster’s demeanor, “This isn’t funny.”

The relationship between Valladolid and Real Madrid is quite good.

Players who have played for both teams amount to 28.

Currently, Valladolid has 6 former Real Madrid players in their squad: Marcos, Garcia-Carvo, Sipher, Capdevila, Victor, and Boerha.

Among many fans, Valladolid is considered Real Madrid’s “affiliate”, regularly gifting Real Madrid big losses, with some media even calling Valladolid “Real Madrid B team”, leading some fans unfamiliar with Real Madrid to mistakenly believe that Real Madrid’s B team is Valladolid, not Castilla.

During the tenure of Calderon’s predecessor Florentino, in the first two years, Valladolid received nine players developed by Real Madrid, making it normal for half of their starting lineup to be from Real Madrid, a full axis line from Real Madrid was also common.

In the 2003-2004 season, Real Madrid made history with their highest-scoring match in recent years, beating Valladolid 7:2 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

In that match, Valladolid’s center-back Cesar, a former Real Madrid Brazilian, seemed drunk, first granting a penalty, then scoring an own goal, leading to a complete team collapse.

After this match, jokes about the relationship between the two teams started gaining traction.

After a brief discussion, the next day, when gathering with the team, it was announced in the locker room that due to the dense schedule, the team would implement a rotation system to ensure the players’ stamina.

And the starting lineup for this match was announced:

Raul, Van Nistelrooy

Drenthe, Guti, Diarra, Robinho

Marcelo, Cannavaro, Metzelder, Sergado

Casillas.

Substitute list: Dudek, Gago, Heinze, Higuain, Saviola, Pepe, Robben.

Chen Zhong and Sneijder were both not selected for this match’s roster. Schuster’s intent was clear: to let both rest well. In the pre-match press conference, when a reporter asked Schuster about the lineup arrangement for this match, Schuster admitted openly: “Like many teams in Europe, we have to play a lot of games, which forces us to consider the fitness of each player.”

“The team’s physical strength needs to be evenly distributed, every match we will consider allowing some players to rest, only then can we achieve victory in each match.”

However, the reporter clearly wanted to ask about Metzelder’s placement in the starting lineup and Chen Zhong’s absence.

Real Madrid has achieved a four-game winning streak in all competitions in the new season, and Chen Zhong’s outstanding performance is widely considered by the outside world to be an important reason for Real Madrid’s success.

Listening to the reporter’s question, Schuster smiled and said: “Chen is a very excellent player, but our issue isn’t within the defense’s four players, it isn’t about Metzelder.”

“Our problem is that there are defensive gaps allowed within the midfield, which are easily exploited by opponents, we need to improve on this issue, I’m very satisfied with the players in the defense.”

“Instead, it’s the midfield defense where I think we need to work harder.”

“Furthermore, I don’t want to see too many young players in the team; veterans like Sergado are still needed.”

Schuster openly discussed the problems within the team, and from his words and demeanor, one could clearly feel his relaxation, evidently not placing much focus on this match.

Then, Schuster was taught a lesson by Valladolid.

In this match, Real Madrid’s performance resembled a replay of the Capello era, Real Madrid’s midfield was practically non-existent, with Valladolid bombarding Real Madrid’s goal, even Guti was involved in several clearances.

During this match, Real Madrid’s midfield problems thoroughly exploded.

The lack of chemistry between Guti and Drenthe meant little cooperation throughout the match, and the ball couldn’t be passed to the front line.

This forced Van Nistelrooy and Raul to frequently return to midfield to gather the ball.

The team’s flanks, especially Sergado on this side in this match, an aged player provided no effective contribution in offense and was repeatedly penetrated by opposing players on the flanks.

Not even 20 minutes into the match, and Sergado received a yellow card due to a reckless tackle in midfield.

Furthermore, in the 27th minute, when Valladolid’s Sisi attempted to cross in the penalty area, he deliberately raised his arm to intercept, the ball bounced off his elbow and out of play.

If not for the confusion in the penalty area and the referee’s lack of clear view, this penalty could not have been avoided.

Without Chen Zhong, Real Madrid’s defense was like scattered sand, with each player managing their own turf.

In the second half, Valladolid broke through Real Madrid’s goal with a 30-meter wonderstrike, the ball pierced the upper left corner of the net, Casillas was unable to reach the shot.

It is worth mentioning that the shot happened right after bypassing Sergado.

After getting past Sergado, Lopez had sufficient time and space to adjust his angle, executing a shot that was perhaps the most beautiful long-range strike of his career.

The Merengue in the stands were both angry and saddened, angry at the team being so embarrassed by Valladolid, saddened that Sergado was truly aging.

Ultimately, the score was settled at 1:1, with substitute Saviola scoring a crucial goal in the dying minutes of the match.

Reviewing the entire match, if not for Casillas’ outstanding performance and Valladolid’s inability to seize their chances, Real Madrid might have suffered a crushing defeat.

Here, Real Madrid struggled to “draw” with Valladolid.

Meanwhile, Barcelona emerged from the shadows, defeating Sevilla at the Camp Nou.

Post-match, some newspapers used Schuster’s words, “I don’t want to see too many young players within the team,” as a headline, while others more directly claimed: “Without Chen, I can’t win anything.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep