Chapter 9: Gao Jun's Reflections

  Thank you to book friends "Don't want to get off the horse", "When in a well, throw stones" and "My reading experience of this book" for their rewards. Also, I'd like to ask for recommendation tickets and member clicks, after all, it's a new book period ^_^

  "Chairman Mao once said that an army without knowledge is a stupid army, and similarly, a team without knowledge is also a stupid team. You're still young now, you can't just focus on practicing ball, at least you have to graduate from junior high school for me. Although it's not unexpected that you should definitely become a professional athlete, having some cultural foundation will also be very helpful in understanding tactical requirements. And you'll definitely go abroad to play ball in the future, so foreign languages must also be learned well." Coach Xu said seriously to Gao Jun.

  He had no choice but to run back and forth between the base and junior high school, and easily graduated a year and a half ahead of time (Gao Jun joined the base in November 2000), which shocked Coach Xu. Since education itself is not very important for excellent players, after obtaining his junior high school diploma, Coach Xu did not require Gao Jun to continue studying, but still asked him to try to use his free time to study foreign languages, which was very useful.

  For athletes, ordinary education can be mastered in junior high school to acquire self-study ability. Later, if needed, they can learn by themselves. As long as they are eager to learn and make progress, it is also possible for them to possess a very high cultural level. Moreover, as a veteran, Gao Jun is well aware that the help of cultural knowledge in improving players' thinking ability is actually far from being exaggerated as media propaganda claims.

  In Gao Jun's opinion, the statement that "Chinese athletes don't use their brains because of low educational level" is actually a case of confusing cause and effect. In fact, due to China's traditional emphasis on education, where "all else is inferior, only reading books is superior", smart kids are often forced by their parents to focus on studying, while those who aren't good at studying tend to choose sports instead. So in reality, most Chinese athletes don't use their brains, which leads to a generally low educational level, rather than the other way around...

  This past year has been relatively calm, and Gao Jun has made good use of this time to adapt to his new identity and relationships. Although he still hasn't given up on finding himself and his loved ones in this timeline, the thought no longer constantly lingers in his mind like it did at first. In addition, Gao Jun also took some time to reflect on and summarize his coaching career before crossing over. Although he is still young now, for many years to come, he will likely only appear as a player, but improving his coaching skills will also be of great help when playing matches.

  Although many fans think that Gao Hongbo's national team played technical and possession-based football back then, Gao himself is very clear that his most successful coaching experiences were actually based on counter-attacking, which achieved good results. However, this counter-attacking style would often choose to transition from the ground rather than directly launching long balls from the backfield, which might look like beautiful possession football to fans who don't understand the game. Moreover, once faced with fierce pressing from the opponent, passing would immediately become less smooth and mistakes would increase significantly, so at best it can only be called pseudo-technical football...

  However, this pseudo-technical stream anti-war tactic has many problems, but compared to the blind pressure and crazy attack method, it can save a lot of physical energy, which is of special significance for the Chinese team with generally poor physical fitness.

  Moreover, Gao Lin's overall defensive tactics, which are considered the best among domestic coaches, have greatly improved the national team's defensive capabilities, or more accurately, their defensive abilities in counter-attacks. This can be seen from the friendly match where China's second team was able to withstand France's full-court press on the road.

  In fact, the greatest progress Gao Hong made when he coached the Chinese team was that they could generally hold on to their defense when needed, even if there was a huge gap in strength between the two teams. Of course, if the opponent had players who relied on personal talent and instant inspiration to create a world-class wave or a dragon-like breakthrough, then there was nothing that could be done about it. Fortunately, at least in Asian-level competitions, such situations would not be encountered frequently...

  Apart from overall defense, Gao Hong's technical counter-attack on the ground was also unparalleled in China at that time. The national team he coached was particularly sharp in counter-attacks, and in a game where there was no top Asian player in the frontcourt, it was able to let South Korea, which had not won in 32 years, swallow three goals in one game, which is good proof, after all, even if it was only half of the main lineup, China had never beaten South Korea before.

  However, even if the defense is beautiful, it is still a defense, and its inherent defects still exist. First of all, if the opponent also plays defense, then we can only compare patience with each other. Once encountering situations such as losing the ball first or meeting weak teams that require proactive offense, two fatal problems will be exposed at the same time: the vulnerability of the back defense and the weakness of the attack. Not only is it difficult to reverse the score, but also very easy to be killed by the opponent's counterattack when pressing forward...

  First of all, the problem of leaking wind in the back defense. The overall defensive tactics can indeed make up for the lack of personal ability of Chinese defenders to a large extent, but it is not omnipotent. If the defense line shrinks and the defending players have a numerical advantage, then the situation is still good. However, once the Chinese team presses forward and attacks, the space left behind by the back defense increases, and the defensive system's fence will become full of loopholes. The weakness of the Chinese defenders' single-defense ability and their tendency to be distracted will be exposed without a trace... The fact that China was counter-attacked multiple times by Laos in the last two games under Gao Hongbo's coaching is the best proof...

  However, this problem is actually a global conundrum. Only during the Galactic Era of Barca, when they utilized their incredibly strong ball control and tireless frontcourt defense to minimize the opponent's chances of launching a counterattack, were they able to effectively mitigate the threat of the enemy's counterattack. But even for Barca, who played this tactic best, the opponent's counterattack, or even direct attack, would not be completely eliminated; if they seized the opportunity well enough, it could still be fatal.

  Later, Barca was beaten by Bayern in two games with 7 goals, which is enough to illustrate that Barca's tactics are not perfect. Once they encounter an opponent whose overall strength is not weaker than their own, or even stronger, they may also become vulnerable. Moreover, China is not a strong team even in the Asian region, and in terms of individual ability, it can only be considered as a mid-level team in Asia, without guaranteeing sufficient physical fitness to press forward, and the players' personal passing skills and coordination are not good either. Therefore, this problem is even more difficult to solve, until the moment when Gao Jun crossed over.

  But when the opponent is densely defensive, the problem of not being able to attack strongly is even more frustrating. This is not only because the opponent's dense personnel reduced their own shooting opportunities, but also because when pressing up and attacking, the opponent's penalty area is crowded with people, and the space is severely squeezed. The time available for players to make moves will be much shorter than during a counterattack, and if they slow down slightly, the attacking opportunity will be destroyed by the opponent's player.