Starting With Real Madrid

Napoli actually had the budget to go abroad for training, but Gao Shen refused.

The advantage of training abroad is that you can focus and avoid distractions, but there are also drawbacks the players have to travel back and forth.

Many players in Napoli had just joined the team. They were not familiar with their surroundings, and suddenly taking them to another unfamiliar place was not appropriate. It would affect the speed at which the players integrated.

Therefore, after discussing it with the coaching staff and management, Gao Shen decided to hold a closed training camp at Castel Volturno.

All visitors were turned away, and the camp was only open to fans for half a day a week, with no media allowed.

But this led to the outside world knowing nothing about the situation in Napoli. No one even knew what was happening with Gao Shen's team. People could only occasionally learn from the photos released on the club's official website that the team was training as planned.

Starting from July 10, Napoli held closed training sessions at Castel Volturno for a full ten days.

Gao Shen's routine basically involved two places: from the Bay Area of Naples to Castel Volturno. It was the same for the players.

It wasn't until the 21st that the team officially went out to play a warm-up match. The opponent was a third-tier Serie C1 team. Napoli played very poorly and, in the end, it was Calaiò's goal after coming off the bench that helped the team win 1-0.

After that, Napoli went out to play a warm-up match every few days. The opponents were not very strong, mostly Serie C1 and C2 teams, but the team's performance was not very satisfactory.

This led to a continuous decline in the expectations of the outside world for Napoli.

Some reporters even went to watch Napoli's warm-up matches and felt that the team's overall tactics were chaotic, playing without any clear system, and there was no cohesion between offense and defense.

"Obviously, the shortcomings of Gao Shen's extensive restructuring of the team have started to show."

August was approaching.

At this time, a piece of news came out of Napoli: the team's top scorer from last season, and also the top scorer in several of this summer's warm-up matches, Calaiò, announced his transfer to Siena. The transfer fee was 3.2 million euros.

The deal, which was negotiated by Marino, was well-received.

When the team first started training, Gao Shen talked to Calaiò. He discussed his intended use of him, but Calaiò did not agree with Gao Shen's ideas. He said he was more suited to being a goal-scorer and preferred playing in the middle of the front line rather than on the flanks.

Although Gao Shen explained that his wingers would actually rely more on the middle, Calaiò still disagreed and instructed his agent to look for another team.

Siena, who had just been relegated from Serie A last season, took a liking to this young local striker and eventually signed him for 3.2 million euros.

The deal once again sparked heated discussions in Italian football.

On one hand, Napoli had not performed well in the warm-up matches; the team's organization in offense and defense was chaotic. Now, the team had sent away their top scorer, which added another layer of uncertainty.

Former Real Madrid President Martín jumped out again, accusing Gao Shen of forcing Calaiò away, just like how he suppressed Ronaldo at Real Madrid. But at Real Madrid, under his advice, Ronaldo was finally able to come back and become a hero who helped Real Madrid win the double crown.

But this time in Napoli, Gao Shen stubbornly sent Calaiò away.

...

In the face of external disputes, Gao Shen still did not respond.

The chaos within the team had always been within the expectations of Gao Shen and the coaching staff, which was part of the normal process.

The role of the warm-up matches is to continuously expose problems and then solve them, which is a form of progress.

Especially for Napoli, a team that had just undergone a reorganization and brought in a new tactical concept, this required an adaptation process for any team and group of players.

Gao Shen was even prepared and mentally ready to continue adjusting things after a month.

But, in fact, the team's progress was still satisfactory.

The youth of the players, after all, made them easier to shape. It was easier for the coach to instill his tactical ideas, and they adapted more quickly.

More importantly, in addition to training and communicating with the players almost every day, Gao Shen also welcomed players to ask all sorts of questions, whether on or off the pitch.

Gao Shen is only 25 years old, quite close in age to the players, but he has an interesting soul from 2021. Many of his ideas and things are very attractive to young players.

For example, he told the players that in the United States, there was a company called Apple that was developing a groundbreaking mobile phone that would completely change the world. It would be super smart and easy to use.

"It will be released in January. As long as our team is in the top three in the league by the winter break, I'll give each of you an iPhone!"

Gao Shen had used it before, so the phone he described was extremely attractive to young players at that time.

Young people inherently have a hard time resisting electronic products.

Besides catering to their interests, Gao Shen also tried to find ways to help players relieve the pressure and fatigue caused by training, such as arranging some team activities like dinners and outdoor games.

The biggest difference between Gao Shen and older coaches is that he understands the mindset of these young people.

Restraining them is worse than guiding them.

The most important thing is to teach the players how to manage themselves when it's time to relax, they should fully relax, and when it's time to work hard, they should go all out.

It was also during this period that Gao Shen really discovered the self-discipline of Real Madrid players. Even a player like Ronaldo, who was constantly in the tabloids, was surprisingly self-disciplined when he needed to be.

The players in this Napoli team were just starting their careers and were far from mature. This was the perfect time to instill the right values in them. Gao Shen took on the role of a big brother, always advising and guiding them, helping them set the right direction in life.

Uh... well, it was actually more about making promises and giving motivational speeches.

Whether it's in a company or a team, this tactic for dealing with young people is always effective.

...

In August, Napoli's opponent in the first round of the Coppa Italia was revealed.

Luckily, it was Frosinone, a newly promoted team from Serie B.

Like Napoli last season, this team was in Group B of Serie C1. Napoli won the championship and earned promotion, while Frosinone finished second and earned promotion through the playoffs.

In the matchups between the two teams last season, Napoli beat them 3-1 away and drew 1-1 at home.

Unexpectedly, after both teams were promoted to Serie B, they would meet in the cup right at the start.

The good news is that Napoli will be playing at home.

Lucas specifically tracked Frosinone and collected a lot of information about this team. He found that the most noteworthy player in this team is the Venezuelan target man Margiotta, who just came on loan from Vicenza.

Frosinone is most adept at playing a 4-4-2 formation, with two forwards combining one tall and one quick player.

The tall striker is Margiotta, and the speedy one is Antonio Di Nardo.

These two players have several years of experience in Serie B and are quite strong. The combination of a tall and quick player is very classic. In lower leagues, it's still quite lethal.

In fact, last season, Reja's Napoli also played a 4-4-2 with a tall and a quick forward combination.

After learning about Frosinone's situation, Gao Shen could basically conclude that this team had a certain level of strength, but Napoli had an advantage. The key was to establish a stable tactical framework before this game so that the players could showcase their abilities.

...

As August approached, Napoli arranged four consecutive warm-up matches, playing one every three days.

The opponents were not strong; they were mostly teams from the Serie C1 and C2 leagues. Some were invited to Napoli, while for others, Napoli traveled away. The purpose was to train.

The warm-up results remained unbeaten, but the performances were inconsistent.

After each game, Gao Shen would hold an analysis meeting, reviewing the problems exposed during the game with the players based on specially made videos.

For instance, in midfield, Gao Shen preferred a double pivot of Biglia and Rakitic, but these two players frequently failed to maintain their positions and distance. This was because both of them were more accustomed to playing forward, especially Rakitic.

It would take some time.

Then there were the central defenders. Gao Shen tried combinations with Cannavaro, David Luiz, Bonucci, and Domizzi in rotation. His requirement was that the central defenders should dare to hold the ball and be capable of passing it out, but they still frequently made mistakes.

This also required time.

For the goalkeeper, Gao Shen chose Handanović. He is tall, quick to react, and has strong individual skills. However, Gao Shen wanted him to communicate more with the backline, even to command the defense, and at the same time be more proactive in coming off his line to respond to back passes from the midfield to expand control.

This was obviously a completely different type of goalkeeper training than what Handanović had received before, and he also needed time to adapt.

Even in the forward line, Gao Shen experimented with players like Pellè, Cavani, and Roberto Sosa, and it became clear that Cavani was the standout. Once he was on the field, he practically ran riot. However, the connections between the two wings, and the support from Hamsik or Vidal coming from behind, were not yet fully developed.

This is not surprising, as fine-tuning the attack is often the most time-consuming and challenging part of coaching. It requires not only precise execution and movement from the players but also a high level of understanding, imagination, and creativity.

As a result, Napoli's strongest aspect remained their defense.

This is why the team managed to stay unbeaten in four warm-up matches and didn't concede a single goal after entering August.

However, the solidity in defense during these warm-up matches may not be entirely reliable. Once the official games begin, the intensity will increase significantly, the attacking pressure on the defense will grow, and more issues are likely to be exposed.

After completing the four warm-up matches, Gao Shen organized a closed training camp at Castel Volturno.

He aimed to address the issues that the team had shown in the remaining days before the cup matches began and to help the players internalize his tactical approach as much as possible.

This was crucial because, over the following week, Napoli would face three cup matches in quick succession, all of which were single-elimination games.