Ye Yifeng set a world football transfer record, but he is not considered the strongest active player in the world football world.

This can be seen from his annual salary. Of course, if he is willing to go to Paris Saint-Germain, his annual salary will be greatly improved. Different clubs and different salary structures will be different.

But at Atletico Madrid, he has the highest salary in the team, no doubt.

Simeone doesn't care about Ye Yifeng's commercial value, that's what club chairman Cerezo would care about.

From the day Ye Yifeng joined, his jersey sales continued to rise. Nike sold 7 million Atletico Madrid No. 10 jerseys in China monthly, and the highest sales in a single day exceeded 460,000 pieces, which is a new record in football.

Ye Yifeng sold jerseys in one day higher than Atletico Madrid's whole year last year!

He fulfilled his commercial value as quickly as possible, and Atletico Madrid also announced from time to time to reach strategic cooperation agreements with more companies.

Simeone's mission is to let Ye Yifeng realize his competitive value.

After two warm-up matches in Japan and China, Atletico Madrid returned to the country and played three more warm-up matches.

Except for the last warm-up match, Ye Yifeng only made 30 minutes, his average appearance in other games was about 65 minutes.

His performance was to start low and end high, and his competitive state was constantly recovering and improving, and also posed difficulties for Simeone.

Just by comparing skills, Ye Yifeng is not the best offensive player.

Compared to speed, he is not the fastest forward either.

But on the court, Ye Yifeng showed an unthinkable overall view of the game and comprehensive ability.

Atletico Madrid, the "bandit" team, lacks brains.

Especially in the context of Raul Garcia's departure.

Ye Yifeng found himself a little lonely while running in with the team.

At Wolfsburg, he and his frontcourt teammates can cooperate with four or five consecutive touches in a wave of offense, and the passing and cutting cooperation has the continuity of the overall team combat.

But at Atletico Madrid, such continuity is almost non-existent.

The key to Simeone's instilling tactical concepts is: defense! Conservative!

Static defense superimposed with crazy pressing!

Then there is the attack.

The offense is fast, simple, and never procrastinate.

The day before the opening match of the new season, Simeone announced the starting list at the pre-match preparation meeting.

Ye Yifeng was on the list, and Atletico Madrid could not have spent 105 million euros and placed him on the bench.

After arranging tactics and targeted arrangements for the meeting, Simeone left Ye Yifeng behind.

The two of them did not communicate much during the summer preparations.

Because Ye Yifeng's performance on the court also made Simeone unable to find any fault.

The defense chases to death, and the awareness of joint defense cooperation is also reflected in the game position, and the active confrontation is also in line with his requirements for the players.

At the same time, Ye Yifeng did not pursue personal performance during the offense. Whether it was organizational transmission or active grabbing points, it was very consistent with Atletico Madrid's playing style.

But Simeone still needs to have a good chat with Ye Yifeng.

Simeone, wearing sportswear, wiped off the tactical board. He used a pen to draw a 343 formation on the tactical board, and then said to Ye Yifeng: "A great coach once told me that the best defense is offense, and according to the tactical playing style, it can indeed present a wonderful offensive effect."

As he said that, Simeone drew different arrows on the small circle representing the player in the 343 formation, roughly marking out the potential cooperation interspersed running routes of each point when the player attacks.

Some circles have more arrows, while others have fewer arrows.

With Ye Yifeng's current tactical understanding ability, he can instantly understand that the tasks that represent the players are responsible for are different.

If more arrows are used, the character has a stronger role in advancing. If fewer arrows are used, the circle may undertake more organizational tasks, and at the same time, it will take into account defense to build an interception line.

Simeone's voice changed.

“But the price of an offense is always to take risks with the defense line, you can play 10 beautiful offensive football games, but a key loss may make you lose everything!

And it's too demanding on the team.

First of all, you need to have enough players with strong offensive capabilities.

Then you have to ensure that these players can continue to be in excellent shape.

Finally, when encountering unavoidable problems, it depends on whether you have luck when you need to break intensive defense!”

After saying that, he drew a big X on this formation.

Then he drew a 442 formation again.

He marked arrows in the left forward and left forward, as well as the central forward.

"I tried to put you in these three positions for trial during the warm-up match. You performed very well, and the off-ball run and ball handling choices were very reasonable, and they all met the requirements of these roles.

What I need you to strengthen and improve now is what to do when you play these three roles separately!

It takes a process to have defensive ability and integrate this ability with the team.

If you have different opinions and requirements, you can tell me."

Ye Yifeng shook his head.

He kind of understood what Simeone meant.

Atletico Madrid is not a team that can make the offense bloom everywhere.

What Simeone pursues is not an offense that can tie the world. The first thing he thinks of when he eats, sleeps, shits, and pisses is must be defense.

Ye Yifeng has the enthusiasm for defense and the ability to defend, so now Simeone wants Ye Yifeng to integrate into Atletico Madrid's defensive system as quickly as possible.

As for which role he will play in the game, Simeone didn't say it clearly, but Ye Yifeng knew very well that Simeone was treating himself as a versatile player in the team.

Atletico Madrid's own changes may be just "lineup selectivity and fluctuations in player status", but each opponent is different, and the situation in each game is different.

The positions and roles of other players will not change, but Ye Yifeng may be the most flexible!

This is a core level requirement and a key variable for whether the team can break the previous suppressed fate!

Simeone spent nearly an hour guiding Ye Yifeng.

And he told him that after each game, he would spend time with him to review and summarize his performance based on his performance.

......

August 22, 7:30 pm.

As the lights in Madrid are just on, the city is emitting charming beauty.

To the southwest of Madrid, Calderon Stadium is on the banks of the Manzanares River that runs through the city.

The lights are bright and the people are buzzing.

The opening match of the new season Atletico Madrid ushered in the challenge of the newly promoted Las Palmas.

When Ye Yifeng, wearing the No. 10 jersey, appeared with his teammates, he went to cut his hair today. He had always been energetic and short hair and was not lucky enough to get a bath, cut and blow the set.

In the new season and the new battlefield, we naturally have to have a new spiritual outlook.

The overall attendance rate of La Liga is lower than that of the Bundesliga and Premier League.

Atletico Madrid also finds it difficult to ensure that every home game is full.

Even though it was the opening match today, the opponent was a promoted team, and the attendance rate was only 90%.

Tang Mo sat in the private room today to watch the game because Ye Yifeng's mother and Tang Mo's mother also came to the scene today, and their two friends.

The four-person group of Sunset Red Girls came to Europe for a trip. When I visited Spain, I took a look at Ye Yifeng...

Atletico Madrid starts 442.

Goalkeeper: Oblak.

Defenders: Juan Fran, Godin, Jose Jimenez, Felipe Louis.

Midfielder: Cork, Gabi, Saul, Ye Yifeng.

Forward: Griezmann, Torres.

As a newly promoted team, Las Palmas is a guest fight again. His natural formation is very conservative and has arranged a 451 formation.

The fans in the stands were still very enthusiastic, with some Asian faces cheering for Ye Yifeng.

The game begins with a slow pace.

Las Palmas' offensive impact basically cannot even enter the penalty area of ​​Atletico Madrid, and most of the time it cannot even pass the midfield of Atletico Madrid's first line of defense.

Simply put, the essence of Atletico Madrid's tactical skills is: the offense faces the back line directly, but the opponent's offense has to break through the tight defense line between the midfield and the defender!

Ye Yifeng initially tried to form a connection with Saul in the middle or Torres at the left side of the frontcourt in the middle and cooperated with him.

The effect disappointed him.

Saul would throw the ball faster and move forward without giving Ye Yifeng time to run.

It seems that attack is a one-time deal.

Anyway, it would be fine if the midfielder just passes forward.
To be continued...