"Before we shouted the slogan to the players that we want to win the championship, how do you position our team?" Xiao Yu asked cautiously.

Mourinho was a little unexpectedly surprised by Xiao Yu's question, so he was stopped by Xiao Yu at once.

"All along, when we play against Premier League teams and against strong teams, what you ask of your players is more of a mental and mental mobilization, such as making our players work hard from the beginning of the game, making our players fight back on the spot from the front, and trying to get back the score when they are behind, which is a good thing!"

Speaking of this, Xiao Yu paused deliberately, "But...... Now that we're at the top of the table, how are we going to play in the second half of the league? With what kind of mentality to fight? What kind of mentality will others have against us? Have you ever thought about any of this? ”

Mourinho was stunned, he was really stunned!

He coached the Red Rebels for three years, and in the past three years, the Red Rebels have shown great strength without exception, and have repeatedly staged the drama of winning the championship with promoted horses, but that was in the lower leagues, but the Premier League is different.

The teams that can mix in the Premier League are all strong teams, and the Red Rebels were able to remain unbeaten in the first half of the season, and it cannot be ruled out that there are teams that do despise them or do not know them, despite their impressive performances last season.

However, after this half season, the Red Rebels have proved their results with their own strength, which is a good thing for the team, but for the enemy, they will inevitably start to adjust their strategy against the Red Rebels.

In the first half of the big scores, without exception, the opponent pressed out to play, which caused the big score, but in the second half, it must be difficult to reproduce, because the opponent knows the ability of the Red Rebels and does not dare to press it out easily.

"On the forum, I saw a lot of fans singing, thinking that our team was full of blood in the first half, and the team was very hard, but I thought about it carefully, and I had to wonder, do we only have blood surnames? If so, then, what do we do when the opponent is firmly defended, once our blood surname does not play a big role? Xiao Yu asked again.

Mourinho understands Xiao Yu's concerns.

Blood is a good thing, for a team, but if every game has to be ended by blood surname, it is not a good thing, it proves that there is something wrong with the tactics and mentality of this team.

In Mourinho's personal opinion, objectively speaking, the ability of the main players of the Red Rebels is in the top 5 in the Premier League, but the overall strength of the first team can be ranked in the top 3, on a par with Arsenal and Manchester United, and more overall than Chelsea, because the Red Rebels have the first bench thickness in the Premier League.

But why is such a strong team, but Mourinho still emphasizes the player's front-court counter-attack?

There is no more reason than the fear of conceding goals, but in fact, the Red Rebels have conceded 11 goals in the first 17 league games, the fewest of any team in the Premier League, and if you don't count the three against Liverpool, they have only conceded eight.

What is the reason why Mourinho is always worried about the team's defense?

To put it bluntly, it's still the mentality of the promoted horse that is causing trouble!

Over the past few years, Mourinho has developed the mentality of being promoted, always thinking about defense, relying on unbreakable defense to reduce the number of goals conceded by the team, reduce the number of points conceded, and then use the individual ability of the frontcourt players to solve the battle.

Xiao Yu dared to say that if Mourinho made adjustments to make the front four players more flexible and give them more freedom to run and attack, the Red Rebels' attack power will be even higher.

"I often wonder why teams like Everton and Newcastle have never been able to get to the top of the Premier League, no matter how good they are?"

This simple question has been discussed by many professional football professionals, and Xiao Yu is one of them.

"I personally think it's the mentality, they lack the mentality of the strong, maybe when they face the weak, they will have the pride of the strong, they will want to be more active tactically, more attacking and aggressive, but once they encounter strong conversations, such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, they start to worry and start to be conservative!"

"Bullying the soft and fearing the hard is never a strong person, it is just a kind of cowardice that is strong on the surface, only the truly fearless is the strong!"

Mourinho fell into deep contemplation, he knew that in the past, he only thought about tactical things, but in fact, Xiao Yu was right, the Red Rebels were tactically strong enough, what was lacking was mental strength.

What does it mean to have a strong mindset?

The simplest and most direct manifestation is that no matter what enemy the Red Rebels encounter, he can stick to his consistent football, play more actively, press out, and crush all the enemies with his own attacks, so that they can have a headache on how to deal with the Red Rebels, rather than a headache on how to deal with the opponents on the Red Rebels.

The brave rely on the blood surname, but the king relies on the soldiers who surrender without a fight!

Xiao Yu hopes that the Red Rebels can become kings, not braves!

Although the Red Rebels have come all the way and are called brave and fearless, the strength of the brave has an end, so Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, was defeated, but Liu Bang won, Liu Bang has the temperament of a king, even if he was once a hooligan.

The Red Rebels are currently like Xiang Yu after the Battle of the Giant Deer, and their fame and strength have improved by leaps and bounds, but how to transform from a brave man to a king, and cultivate the temperament of a king of traditional strong teams such as Manchester United and Arsenal, that is what the Red Rebels should consider at present.

Promotion to the Premier League has come to an end!

After Mourinho heard Xiao Yu's words, he suddenly opened up!

He knows very well that he is still too narrow when thinking about problems, but Xiao Yu is thinking from the perspective of a club leader, from the perspective of the whole process of shaping a team, transforming a strong team into a strong team and even a giant.

If that's the case, well, maybe the Red Rebels will lose against Arsenal, but they only lose three points but can win a more promising future.

Looking at Europe, is there a team that can rely on defensive counterattacks to become a giant?

Is there any big team that plays defense as soon as it encounters a strong opponent?

No!

Absolutely nothing!

Even in Serie A, which is the most tactically targeted for surnames!

A wealthy family should have the temperament and surname of a wealthy family, and when it encounters a strong enemy, it will be counter-resisted, that is a pseudo-strong team!

"I think I know what to do!" Mourinho replied in the affirmative.

Xiao Yu patted him on the shoulder, and the two looked side by side at the Red Rebel Stadium that was being built in full swing in front of him.

"It's the best stadium in the world!" Xiao Yu said with pride in his heart, he didn't feel that there was anything to hide at all, he had that kind of confidence.

Jose Mourinho nodded, he had seen a lot of stadiums, such as Old Trafford, such as Arsenal's Highbury Stadium, but, in his mind, the Red Rebels stadium was the best!

It's been more than three years since he came to Manchester, and he has completely integrated into this unique club, with the club, the players, and the fans, so in the past few years, especially this year, he has not encountered temptation, for example, Chelsea once wanted to poach him, but he refused without thinking about it.

He knew very well that there was a dream here that he hadn't finished yet!

"We also have the best fans in the world!"

Xiao Yu's words made Mourinho nod again.

Red Rebels fans are indeed very loyal and obsessed with the team, and they have witnessed the growth and strength of the team all the way over the years, and they are the most powerful witnesses to the team's history, and they are also the biggest driving force for the team's development.

"I hope, José, that we can have the best football in the world!"

Xiao Yu's words made Mourinho feel pressured, but he nodded in agreement without thinking about it.

The best football in the world, there is a lot of bread here, but this is the common pursuit of Xiao Yu and Mourinho!

…………………… Returning to the Newton Heath training base from the construction site of the Red Rebels, Mourinho immediately gathered all the members of the coaching staff and everyone gathered for a meeting.

At this tactical seminar, Mourinho made a decision on the tactics for the game against Arsenal, and immediately worked out the starting line-up, and he also gave the team adjustments for the next two days of training sessions, and began to ask the team to work more on the attacking side.

This also makes Kassel and Moniz and others excited, because they know very well the strength of these players in the frontcourt, not to mention players like Kaka and Palacio, Robben, Little Ronaldo, Ribery, and even Drogba, all of them are very attacking stars, once they explode, how much destruction power will it form?

Mourinho asked the coaching staff to focus on the attacking routines of the four players in the frontcourt, for example, Palacio is very suitable for keeping close to the opponent's defense in a small area, while Kaka, Ronaldo and Robben need space to play his speed advantage and technical characteristics, so they must not squeeze them into a crowded place, let him retreat appropriately, pull to the side to respond, etc.

There was also a third and fourth wave of attacks, and Mourinho discussed it with the coaching staff and found that the team still has considerable potential to tap in attack, and this has little impact on the defence, as long as the three lines remain compact, no one wants to easily attack the Red Rebels' goal.

As he spoke, Mourinho talked about Xiao Yu's inquiry, the Africa Cup of Nations is coming, the players will be called up to compete, and the Red Rebels will create a huge vacancy in the midfield position.

De Rossi has been outstanding and has put considerable competitive pressure on Essien's midfield position. Toure will be the team's first-choice midfielder when he competes with the national team, but what about his replacement?

Redondo is currently in semi-retirement, Mikel is hailed as the new Vieira, Michael? Johnson has been hailed as the new Steven Gerrard, but who else can they expect from the midfield position, with Cesc Fabregas and David Beckham both playmakers in place?

The Africa Cup of Nations will start training in early January and will be played from mid-January to the end of February, with Ghana and Ivory Coast both entering the official competition, and if these three teams perform well, these players will not be able to return until the end of February.

This back and forth, it took a full two months, and it had to be ensured that the players could not get injured, otherwise, the impact would be even greater.

On the other hand, the competition in January and February is very close, in addition to the league, the FA Cup and the League Cup, as well as the League Cup, the Red Rebels are fighting on multiple fronts, at this time De Rossi alone will definitely not work, if he is injured again, then the team's results will definitely be affected.

For this reason, Mourinho and the coaching staff agreed to discuss with the Football Associations of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire to see if they can delay the time for players to go to training as they did in the last Africa Cup of Nations, and if it really can't be done, then the team will discuss countermeasures.

The club is very cautious about recruitment, and Mikel and Michael, who are currently in the team's academy? Johnson has been in good form, especially for the older Mikel, who has impressed in both the youth team and the Carabao Cup.

Under the training of the club, Nizhilia fully tapped his offensive potential, he was not fast when he played in the front midfield, and his breakthrough ability was not strong, the club decided to let him retreat to play in the back, but on the premise of retaining his excellent skills, he dug out his defensive potential more deeply, coupled with his strong physique, and outstanding running ability, lateral interception ability is also excellent, and he also has an excellent ability to shoot the ball.

Mourinho's idea is to put the reinforcements aside for the time being, and if they can dig inside, they should dig inside, otherwise if another midfielder is brought in at this time, then the Africa Cup of Nations will be over, and the back of the first team will be bloated.

These things were finalized, and the whole club immediately put into execution!

(To be continued)