In fact, before Rangnick came to find him, or before the end of this season, Chu Zhongtian thought about this question - if he wanted to transfer, what kind of team would he go to?

A well-known team of giants? A nouveau riche team that offers him a sky-high contract? A mid-range team that will participate in European games as its biggest goal every year?

No matter which of the above, there is no category of "upgraded team".

If a team attracts him and can make him think of hoping to join, then what will be the reason?

Stable European qualifications? Going further, is it a Champions League qualification? A good and stable financial environment? Ambitious club chairman, head coach and teammates? Or is the team's fame and glorious history? Of course, there is also a core commitment.

But he had no specific ideas on how to be the core. He didn't know what kind of promise was considered a "core promise".

He can only use Mess as a reference, and people like Mess have given him a core position.

Until he met Rangnick today, he still had this doubt.

Because Rangnick's first sentence was: "I know Hoffenheim is coming to you as a new team, and you must be a little confused. What can our team attract you? We cannot participate in the European competition in the new season, and we have no glorious past. But I promise to give you a core position."

Committed to core position.

This is a point that attracts Chu Zhongtian. But if he just talks about it, how can he believe it? Don’t think he is a three-year-old child, and he believes whatever others say. Many teams will make many promises when recruiting players they like, but not many can be fulfilled afterwards.

What are the things "We guarantee you to give you the main position", "We guarantee you to have at least 30 games of the game every season", "We guarantee the team thinks you are the center"... These are all empty promises. Two words are done with each other. There is no cost at all, and the head coaches are willing to win people's hearts in this way - anyway, I want to promise you that after fooling you into the team, how to deal with you is my business. If you don't agree, you'll be on the cold board.

Go to the bench! Of course, not all coaches fool the player after they came to make him sit on the bench, but at least when they promised to buy the player, the head coach may not be sure whether the player is suitable for his team. Perhaps it is very suitable, so he will make a profit. The media and fans will shout that the head coach is accurate in looking at people and buying people is very good. If unfortunately, the player is still not suitable for the team, then the head coach will be criticized as "blind".

So transfers are risky for both players and head coaches.

Before this player really comes to play football under your hands, you will never be sure whether the player is his "real emperor", whether he must be suitable for his own tactics, and whether he can succeed in his team. On this issue, the player's previous resume does not explain much. Even if he is a world-class star, it does not mean that his adaptability is 20-plus.

Therefore, when Rangnick said to Chu Zhongtian, "I promise you a core position", Chu Zhongtian smiled. This was not a happy smile, but a suspicious smile.

Rangnick could see from his expression that Chu Zhongtian did not believe his words. It doesn't matter, he knew that just by his own words, if he really believed it, then that person must be a fool. A fool cannot be a midfield commander, nor can he do the most important part of other tactical systems.

So he took out a CD and put it into the DVD drive of the laptop he carried with him.

"This is a highlight of our team's game last season."

Rangnick showed Chu Zhongtian the video of Hoffenheim's game last season.

Chu Zhongtian was not interested in the core promise, and was quite interested in the team's game video - he wanted to see how this team that only completed the triple jump was playing.

Hoffenheim in the video plays very aggressively and is a follower of offensive football. This is very similar to Metz, but they are even more crazy than Metz. Fernandez's offensive football still plays a balanced 442, while Rangnick's offensive football is a more aggressive 442, because they only have one back midfielder and have an added front midfielder. Now the double back midfield tactic is popular in world football. The diamond midfielder 442 is rare, but this formation plays a maximizing role under Rangnick's men. They attack sharply and their offensives are one wave after another, making the opponent breathless.

Both forwards are black. They have excellent physical fitness and strong individual combat capabilities. No matter who gets the ball, they have the ability to threaten the opponent's goal and pass the ball to their teammates. The two forwards are not so much "wing forwards", but rather as wingers. They rush in turn and attack the opponent's penalty area repeatedly. Even the back midfielders frequently rushed up to participate in the offense. It seems that this is not a full-time defensive midfielder, but should be the kind of back midfielder with stronger offense than defensive capabilities. The four defenders pushed forward desperately, and the fullback kept assisting from the back, and the accuracy of offside was also crazy.

Such football is quite good, the pace of the game is very fast, and the players' wave after wave of offensives are like drumsticks hitting the audience's hearts, making them feel excited with Hoffenheim.

Chu Zhongtian thinks this is one of the best football he has ever seen. Metz's football is also very good, but it is just a complex and gorgeous beauty. Hoffenheim's football is a straightforward and unyielding beauty. The beauty of both sides belongs to different styles and there is no distinction between superiority and inferiority.

But... after watching for a long time, Chu Zhongtian's eyebrows gradually frowned.

He felt that this football is beautiful, but he had more offense and insufficient defense. Such a big-blocked offensive football is of course beautiful, but he ignored the importance of the defense, especially the four defenders frequently engaged in offside positions, which is too crazy and too... lacks rationality. This is not the style of a team that pursues victory. Offense can bring goals to the team, but if you want to win, you have to rely on defense.

Chu Zhongtian understands this truth. Doesn’t Rangnick understand this?

After the team's game video began to play, Rangnick stopped staring at the computer screen. He kept observing Chu Zhongtian.

Chu Zhongtian hopes to know Rangnik's ability, and Rangnik is also secretly examining Chu Zhongtian's ability.

When he saw Chu Zhongtian frowning, Rangnick laughed silently.

He knew what Chu Zhongtian saw.

After watching the video, Rangnick asked Chu Zhongtian about his impression. Chu Zhongtian hesitated for a moment and still honestly told his opinion.

The offense is beautiful, but it pays too much attention to offense and is somewhat unbalanced. Frequent offside is a risky behavior. Even if Hoffenheim can score four goals in the game, he may be scored three goals by the opponent. It is too dangerous. It can be like this in one or two games, and it is too risky to play like this all season... What's more, this is just a video of the Bundesliga game, and the Bundesliga is completely different from the Bundesliga. If Hoffenheim plays like this in the Bundesliga and still plays like this in the Bundesliga... I'm afraid it's not far from being relegated.

This is a general overview of what he said. Chu Zhongtian also added a lot of polite "I think", "I think", "in my opinion" and "my personal opinion".

Rangnick nodded while listening.

"You're right, Chu. We were very smooth in the Southern Regional League, and we upgraded to the second place in the league four rounds in advance. In the second division, we spent 20 million to sign ups, but it was not until the last round that we were confirmed to be promoted to the first division with the second division in the league. I can't tell you in detail what difficulties we encountered, but I think you are so smart that you can see something from this point ranking. I also considered this issue - what situations might be facing if we continue to stick to offensive football in the Bundesliga. We will score two goals in the match against Bayern Munich, but we will also be hit by Bayern Munich as a sieve. Then we will determine the relegation quota early. This is not the first Bundesliga season for Hoffenheim that I want to see."

He looked at Chu Zhongtian.

"So I thought of you. You can change all this, Chu. Your existence will make the team's offensive balance a lot. I will not choose negative and conservative football, which does not conform to my principles. Hoffenheim will continue to insist on offensive football in the Bundesliga in the new season, but with you, our offense and defense will become balanced, because you are a very balanced person, you can attack and retreat and defend."

After he said this, Chu Zhongtian understood a little. In general, he was a character who connected the past and the future. He could command defense and organize the attack. This was similar to what he did at Metz. However, he had four midfielders in Metz, and there was also a blue-collar midfielder Proman who specialized in defense, who could share the pressure of the game for him and let him concentrate on organizing the attack. So in Metz, he could barely be regarded as a character who connected the past and the future, but more work was "continuing the past" rather than "continuing the future".

But in Hoffenheim, it's different. Because Rangnick has a front midfielder, that is the Brazilian Carlos Eduardo, known as "Royce II", now he is the only one who plays the back midfielder. There is no such person as Proman beside him to help him defend. The two wing forwards have very limited contributions to defense, especially the middle defense. Maybe they are pure offensive players and do not defend at all.

Your own work is much heavier. In the game, you must not only organize the offense, but also participate in the defense, because there will be no Proman beside him to help him defend, so he has to do many things by himself.

But this shows that he is very important, but it does not mean that he can become the core.

Rangnick could see that Chu Zhongtian was a little interested, much better than before, so he continued: "Of course, my plan is not just like this. Chu. Take 442 as an example - of course, I don't have to stick to 442. I will use whatever formation is effective, and I may also use 433. I believe you have also seen that my 442 is not a parallel position 442, nor is it a 442 with double midfielders, but such 442..." He took out a magnetic tactical board from his suitcase, and there were also a small chess piece made of eleven magnets on the tactical board, which represented eleven starting players. Chu Zhongtian saw his equipment and grinned. This workaholic was really ready for everything... Rangnick did not notice the change in expression on Chu Zhongtian's face. He lowered his head and placed his 433 formation on the tactical board.

The four defenders stand in parallel to facilitate offside. The two forwards on the front line advance together, which is different from Metz. The two forwards in Metz are Ibissevic at the front, while Menez is hiding behind him as a shadow striker, so when roaming the line, the two forwards are one in front and one behind, and are staggered from each other.

In the midfield, it is indeed not a parallel position of a line, but a flat diamond, but not a strictly symmetrical diamond. The position of the two wing forwards is slightly prerequisite, closer to the opponent's penalty area and more aggressive. From this small detail, Chu Zhongtian can see that these two wing forwards probably don't like defense much.

The distance between the front midfielder is very close to the opponent's penalty area, and can make a fatal pass or score by himself. It is not the classical front midfielder, but more in line with the requirements of modern football - the front midfielder player must be able to score goals, just like Kaka.

Where is his position? He is in a very normal position at the back midfielder, but in this way, the distance between him and the front midfielder is a bit far... Rangnick pointed at the chess piece in the back midfielder and said to Chu Zhongtian: "You are it." Then he pressed the piece with his hand and slid on the magnetic tactical board. He first slid down, all the way between the two central defenders.

Here he paused for a moment, looked up at Chu Zhongtian. Then he pushed the chess piece to move to the left, drew an arc, then moved back to the starting position, paused for a while, and continued to move to the right. The chess piece in his waist was centered, drew a semicircular arc, passed the penalty point and then went around to the left, and went back to the starting point - the position to be held. Pause for a while, and continued to slide down. This time he moved to the right, drew an arc and moved back to the middle, and finally returned to the starting point.

It seems that Rangnick wrote an Arabic numeral "8" on the tactical board with a chess piece.

“Up, down, left and right, your range of movement.”

Chu Zhongtian continued: "It's quite free..."

Rangnick smiled and said, "Yes, it's freedom. The greatest authority I give you is freedom. Retreat here when defending." He pointed to the three points in front of the central defender, namely the top of the penalty area and the two ribs. "You are here when attacking." He pointed to the three points in the frontcourt corresponding to defense.

"But there are a lot of offense and defense in a game..."

"So you have to go back and forth like this. But I don't think your physical fitness is problematic, and you can control the rhythm of defense and offense yourself," Rangnick explained further. "Isn't that what you do at Metz?"

Chu Zhongtian nodded. He did this in Metz, but he didn't do it so thoroughly. After all, that was a four-center, and in addition to himself, there was also a midfielder.

He stared at the tactical board, and as he looked, a word suddenly popped up in his mind.

Freeman?

But the freeman tactics have long disappeared from today's world football... Chu Zhongtian's entire understanding of the freeman comes from two Germans - franz_beckenbauer and matthias_sammer, which are also the only two truly "liberos" in the world football world so far.

The Liberty was not the first of its kind. If you want to trace it back, you can recall it until the 1930s when the Swiss Austrian head coach Carl Lapun created a "goal ties" tactic. Players in this position should be ready to tie the goal that was opened due to the unrestrained defender's mistake. At that time, two special words were used to describe this position and play style - fireman (fireman) and sweeper (scavenger).

Later, Italy's assistant coach Helenho Herrera enriched the idea and organized a "chain-shaped" defensive system. Due to the Turin air crash at that time, all players of the Turin team were killed, and the Italian team, with the Turin as the main force, suffered huge losses. The Italians had to use this method to deal with the situation. A defender was arranged behind the four defenders, but he did not have to defend people against man like the other four. He was responsible for providing in-depth protection for his guards and supporting and assisting in defense at any time. He had the power to exercise "freedom" on the defense line, so it was aptly called - libero (free man).

But such a "free man" is actually not free, because his only and most important freedom is to destroy the opponent's attack, although he does not need to specifically guard a certain opponent at this time and is relatively free. Not to mention Italy, where defensive football is popular, once the team starts to counterattack, he will only be unfree to stand aside. So he is just a "free defender".

The real "free man" appeared in Germany, but the budding form appeared in the 1966 World Cup final. Beckenbauer, who was under 21 years old, participated in the World Cup for the first time. Before that, he was rated as "Bekenbauer was our most valuable football genius since World War II". His job was to be an offensive organization. He performed perfectly in the first five games - in addition to being recognized as the best offensive organizer, he also scored four goals and ranked third in the best scorer.

However, before the final against England, German head coach Sauern, under the advice of West German coach Detma Kramer, who is a FIFA lecturer, made a subtle adjustment to the team: use his "organizer" Beckenbauer to mark the opponent's "organizer", and Bobby Charlton, who is known to the whole world as "just keep his eyes shut, the England team will be done."

This trick was very effective. After the incident, people said that "although they did not completely subdue Bobby, they effectively prevented his unstoppable attack. People finally saw a person who could compete with Bobby Charlton appeared." If it weren't for the sudden emergence of a "magic Hurst" in England, and the "substitute killer" incredibly staged the only hat trick in the history of the World Cup finals and the "third ball" that still makes people confused, it would be hard to say the result.

Later, this move made Beckenbauer, who "has a natural resistance to the world", see his future. After the game, when others were still frowning about losing the world championship, Beckenbauer began to think - as the organizer, I can specifically guard the opponent, so why can the liberos can only exercise their free power on the back line and stay behind without doing anything when the side attacks? The liberos can and must have a greater role than the scavenger. Since they are liberos, there is no need to stay in the backcourt after the team starts attacking. They should seize the opportunity to add one person to the midfield offense, so that it will be easier to penetrate the opponent's direction.

Then he boldly imagined that if I stood on the back line as a drag center back, I could look at the overall situation and see how the opponent organized the lineup, and immediately judge which route to reach the opponent's goal. Once the right route is selected, I can attack freely from the back line. In short, it should be like a chameleon that changes color every second, first the defender and the scavenger organize the defense, guard the city, and be inseparable from the front and back, becoming an insurmountable barrier for the opponent; in a blink of an eye, he broke into the midfield and crossed the hinterland, caught the opponent off guard, and turned into a sharp knife on the front line, unobstructed, and flashed in the opponent's penalty area. Either insert left and right, create space for his companions, pass the ball in a subtle pass, or find an opportunity to shoot by himself... This should be the freeman's way of playing.

In this way, a mature tactical concept was gradually realized in a genius among geniuses.

West Germany and Bayern Munich also swept the world football world with Beckenbauer, a "free agent". In the 1971-72, 1972-73, 1973-74 season, Bayern Munich won the West Bundesliga championship and the 1973-74, 1974-75, 1975-76 season European Cup championship. West Germany also won the 1972 European Cup championship, the 1974 World Cup championship, and the 1976 European Cup runner-up (lose to penalty kick).

But when Beckenbauer retired, German football could no longer find a qualified successor. Matteus was once placed on high expectations, but his performance was very bad after changing to the libero, which was extremely disappointing. At this time, Matthias Summer emerged, and he took over the mantle of Caesar and became a new libero. In the 1994-95 League Cup quarterfinals and La Coruna, Summer appeared on the court for the first time as a libero and became famous in one game.

After the game, Germany's Sports Illustrated commented with the title "Nineteenth Year, Caesar's Return Too Late": "Sumer's independent tactical action was like an excellent laparotomy, and German football will lead the world again."

The facts also prove that this is true.

Dortmund, who has the neoliberty, became the leader of world football at that time: he won the German League One championship in 1994-95 and 1995-96, and in the 1997 European Cup final, he defeated Juventus with Zidane and won the European Championship trophy. The German team, which is believed to have declined, surprisingly won the European Championship in 1996. This European Cup is completely a personal performance of Summer... Summer himself was elected in 1995, the German Footballer in 1996 and the European Footballer in 1996, and the second defender in 1996, after Beckenbauer.

However, after an injury in October 1997, fans could no longer see the "real freeman" shining on the court.

The last libero in world football disappeared into history.

※※※ps, I checked the information and quoted the original text of the information when writing this chapter, but because I don’t know who the original author is, I can’t write it out here.

Thanks to the author of "From "Free Defenseman" to "Really Free Man" - Two Perfect Interpretations about Libero".

Also, let me explain why I spent a chapter to introduce the "free man" who had disappeared for a long time. It is because this title or tactic is of great significance to Chu Zhongtian's next career, and the fans who are reading books now may not know much about what "free man" is. Gerald, Barack and Mattus are definitely not called "free man". There are only two real free man in this world - Beckenbauer and Summer.

Of course, the tactical environment of the world football world today is not suitable for the tactics of the libero. But there is no third libero. It is not all the tactical faults of the libero. It is because the libero has too high requirements for the players themselves. There is no shortage of geniuses in this world, but the player who can become liberos must be a genius among geniuses. Beckenbauer is, and so is Summer. So far, there has not been a third. It is precisely because there has never been a suitable candidate that the tactics have naturally changed and adjusted and evolved, so the soil of the libero has been completely lost. But I always wonder if there is such a genius among geniuses comparable to Beckenbauer, and a head coach who has a keen eye to know heroes, maybe the third "really free person" can appear?

Since it is a novel, I will allow me to yy as much as possible. For professional tactical explanations, I am not the kind of top professional, and there will definitely be loopholes and fallacies. Let’s just be the novelist’s words, and there is no need to be serious.
Chapter completed!