Chapter 868 161 Summer Window Closed
Porto, the opponent of the European Super Cup, has a young coach in Porto, and this young coach has a close relationship with Robson and Mourinho. Villas-Boas used to be Mourinho's assistant coach, but later chose to work alone. Last season, he led Porto to win the Portuguese Super League, Portuguese Super Cup, and European League's small treble, allowing Porto and Trapani to meet in the Super Cup.
But Villas-Boas is not in Porto now. After Porto became famous, Chelsea pried Villas-Boas to Chelsea this summer.
The Portuguese Super League is very special. They have a deep relationship with South America. Their championship team should not be underestimated. Porto is such a team. They have a good mentality in the Super Cup. They dare to fight and fight. Although they are not at the same level as Trapani in terms of strength, and the main striker Falcao has left, they still caused Trapani a lot of trouble.
The problem for Trapani is still the problem of running-in. Wenger's current configuration in the midfield is about a defensive midfielder plus an offensive front midfielder Kaka, plus an organizing midfielder to form a trio.
The midfield setting is very different from when Schweinsteiger was there, and the team's tactical concept has undergone earth-shaking changes.
From the perspective of Cazorla's function last year, he was an auxiliary front midfielder, mainly to connect the frontcourt. Messi had very few organizational tasks and was very free in offense. He could do whatever he wanted. Suarez could stay in the penalty area more on the front line.
But Kaka's position given by Wenger is very different in terms of function. He is a scoring front midfielder. He can increase the number of receiving points in the penalty area by attacking and entering the penalty area. Wenger is asking Kaka to enhance his header ability and physical confrontation ability, and the organizational function is secondary.
Wenger gave more responsibility for organizing the team's offense to the midfield and Messi. Messi still has a lot of freedom. He can choose to retreat to organize or go it alone. Mascherano's role in the midfield is similar to last season, but his defensive responsibilities are more important. He will no longer frequently go forward to suppress once there is an opportunity like last season.
Cazorla, Modric or Pjanic, who replaced Schweinsteiger, have very different responsibilities from Schweinsteiger. Defense is still their responsibility, but their organizational function needs to be further developed.
No matter who is used in the center position, there are two responsibilities, one is to score, and the other is to assist.
The main winger on the other side is Di Maria. His responsibilities are similar to last season. He is an auxiliary winger. Of course, he can also shoot and score once there is an opportunity.
There is no shortage of experts in the media, experts who really understand football, so Sacchi said that Schweinsteiger's departure has a greater impact than Suarez's departure. With Schweinsteiger gone, Wenger's main tactics have actually changed dramatically. Kaka scored in many games at the end of last season, but it does not mean that he has completely adapted to such tactics.
There are some problems between him and Messi, and the two need to find a balance. Wenger needs to solve this problem now, and the earth-shaking changes in tactics really need time to run in. Trapani's performance in the Italian Super Cup and the first round of the league in the new season was a bit pale, not only because of the players' condition, but also because the running-in is far from enough, and everyone needs to find a feeling.
The same is true for this match against Porto. Facing Porto, which is weaker than itself, Trapani can hardly say that there is any advantage. The reason for these problems is that the team's defensive strength is substantially weak. Cazorla is not good at confrontation, and he himself rarely plays Schweinsteiger's position. He is not a defensive midfielder and has a weak sense of position. Porto can therefore be on par with Trapani.
But in the end, Trapani still won the game. Messi and Kaka scored for Trapani. Messi made one pass and one shot. His state in this game has obviously recovered, and the tacit understanding between Kaka and Messi is also increasing.
Although this game is the first victory of the official game of the new season, there are still many problems exposed. What is worrying is naturally the midfield. The protection of the midfield to the defense line is weakening, and the control that Wenger expected has not been successful.
Fortunately, the team's defensive players have grown and improved quickly. Today, Boateng and David Luiz are the central defenders, and Coleman and Kolarov, the right backs, have played very well. It was Coleman who ran more than 50 meters with the ball to assist Messi when Messi scored.
Even though Wenger's position in Trapani has been consolidated as never before, he had to bite the bullet and accept some questions from reporters after the game. Wenger was annoyed. I have won the championship, but you still have so much nonsense, but there is no way, this is the media, you can't help but find something to do.
Hugo, as always, didn't care about the criticism of the media. He was not as humiliated as Wenger. He directly sprayed the reporters and the media, "No team in the world is perfect. What's important is victory. We defeated our opponents 2:0 and won the championship. That's enough! Don't look for trouble. You always want to dig up news in our team! Let me tell you, we are very good here, there is no conflict!"
Trapani has a big advantage over other giants. The team structure is relatively stable, and many players are from Trapani's youth training. Therefore, it has always been known for its harmony. Generally, those who make trouble are outsiders, but it is not a big deal. Strict management is still very effective.
After the Super Cup, the national team match day began, and the Italian transfer window was closed immediately. Trapani did almost nothing this summer. In terms of transfers, they successively let go of three players, Schweinsteiger, Suarez, and Henry. Henry went to Los Angeles City.
In terms of signings, they recovered Aguero who was loaned to Juventus, Pjanic who was loaned to Roma, and Paolo Fontano who was loaned to Atletico Madrid. In addition, there were some signings from the B team and the youth team. The total cost was less than 30 million euros, but their income in the transfer market was as high as more than 100 million. This season, they made money. This is the origin of many experts saying that Trapani is shrinking the money supply.
Kenyon is the final decision maker and leader of all this. Platini's new policy has not been implemented in earnest, but only notified to the teams for trial implementation. The real strict implementation is in the 12-13 season, but Trapani has already met the requirements of financial fairness.
Of course, from the perspective of the club as a whole, the profit for the whole year cannot be much, because the team needs to renew contracts with many players, and salary expenditure is still the bulk of the club's financial expenditure. Although Kenyon strictly controls the salary structure, it cannot resist this trend. The salary expenditure of major European giants is rising steadily. Trapani is no exception. Even if they send away several high-paid players, they are still the team with the highest salary expenditure in the Italian Super League, with a total expenditure of more than 200 million, which is much higher than other teams.
The club has many hardcore players, but this is their profession, and they can't really not care about the salary. Even if they don't care, how can the club not consider it at all? In the long run, there will inevitably be irreconcilable contradictions, so most of the time, the club is very proactive in the renewal issue. Kenyon spends a lot of time dealing with various agents and negotiating renewals throughout the year.
The only person in the team who may not need to worry about it is Toni. He signed a lifetime contract with the club. The initiative is in Toni's hands. He can terminate it at any time, and his salary expenditure is at least a drizzle in Hugo's eyes.
The highest-paid player in the team is Messi. Messi, who is only 24 years old, has the highest salary in the world. His annual salary after tax is as high as 20 million euros. His price is not something that ordinary teams can afford. Apart from Trapani, to be honest, it is difficult to find a few teams that can meet this condition, let alone exceed this condition.