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
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