Training Camp Begins

July 3rd marked the start of the team's training camp.

The first-team players gradually arrived at the club to report in. The squad had undergone a major overhaul during the offseason.

As a result, the returning first-team veterans saw a large number of unfamiliar faces.

Most of them remained very calm about it. Their attitude was neither warm nor cold; they could not exactly be said to like the new players, but they did not dislike them either. It was more like they simply could not be bothered to pay them any attention.

The team's old captain, the thirty-one-year-old Clemens Fritz, was the one who welcomed the young players.

"Welcome to Werder Bremen. This is a wonderful club, and I believe you'll come to love it here!"

Other than a few young players promoted from the youth team, who were visibly excited, the players transferred in during the offseason reacted rather coolly, merely offering a perfunctory round of applause.

Seeing this, Lin Quan nudged the absent-minded De Bruyne beside him with his elbow and said:

"Come on, let's go greet the captain."

De Bruyne was unfamiliar with everyone in the team and only knew Lin Quan.

Naturally introverted, he would normally have stayed quietly in a corner listening to music in a setting like this.

But after hearing Lin Quan's words, he immediately put down his Walkman and obediently followed Lin Quan toward Fritz.

"Hello, Captain. I'm Lin Quan, and this is De Bruyne. We've both just joined the team, so please take care of us."

"Hehe, hello. The coach has mentioned both of you to me. He praised your talent. Perform well in the new season—the team needs fresh blood like you!"

Fritz also liked polite, sensible young people like them. Especially compared with another player loaned in from Bayern Munich, Lin Quan and De Bruyne instantly made a far better impression on him.

They were all loan players from Giant Clubs, yet the Barca and Chelsea players were so polite and respectful toward the team's senior players.

So what was with Bayern's arrogance?

After greeting Lin Quan and De Bruyne, Fritz even brought them around to greet the other veteran players, introducing them to the club's old guard and helping them integrate into the team as quickly as possible.

He also asked about Lin Quan and De Bruyne's lives in Germany. Neither of them was local, and arriving in an unfamiliar place could easily leave them struggling to adjust.

He therefore told them that if they encountered any trouble, they could come to him for help. He had lived in Bremen for six or seven years and had some local connections.

After interacting with him for a while, Lin Quan gained a better understanding of the captain's personality and character.

Just as Willian had said, Fritz was an easygoing, kind-hearted man.

Still, his temperament seemed a little too gentle, lacking the aura of an iron-blooded leader.

Lin Quan did not know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

The players chatted among themselves, discussing all sorts of amusing incidents and experiences from their holidays.

A short while later, the Head Coach arrived at the training ground with the coaching staff and announced the day's training plan.

The offseason had only just ended, and most of the players had only recently emerged from vacation mode.

So the first day's training was not particularly intense, consisting mainly of recovery exercises.

Watching the players on the training ground, Thomas Schaaf fell into thought over the formation and style of play the team should adopt for the new season.

Bremen was a team that valued attacking football, and their attacking firepower ranked among the best in the Bundesliga.

In the 2005–2006 season, Werder Bremen had ranked first in the Bundesliga in both goals scored and goal difference.

They scored seventy-nine goals that season, averaging 2.3 per game, with a goal difference of forty-two.

Those figures were twelve goals and seven goal-difference points better than second-place Bayern Munich, respectively.

Bayern Munich's strength was obvious to all. For Werder Bremen to snatch both top spots from the Bundesliga giants spoke volumes about their attacking power.

However, Bremen had always had one major problem: they were poor at defending.

They scored plenty of goals, but conceded plenty as well.

During their peak from the 2004–05 to 2008–09 seasons, Bremen could conceal their defensive shortcomings and excessive concessions by scoring even more goals.

But from the 2009–10 season onward, Werder Bremen's overall strength began to decline. Their attacking power dropped, yet the number of goals they conceded did not decrease.

As a result, Werder Bremen's results plummeted. They gradually fell into the relegation zone and had even become one of the hottest favorites for relegation that season.

A very realistic question stood before Head Coach Thomas Schaaf:

Should Werder Bremen continue playing the attacking football they had used before in the new season?

Attacking football won fans; defensive counterattacking won matches.

Defensive counterattacking seemed like the safer choice, but Thomas Schaaf was not a coach who excelled at defense.

He had devoted most of his time to studying attacking tactics and formations, and was not skilled at defending, especially efficient defensive counterattacks.

Expecting him to reach Mourinho's masterful level in defensive counterattacking was impossible.

Therefore, he did not dare make sweeping changes to Werder Bremen's established tactics rashly.

If he truly made such changes, they might not only fail to achieve the desired results, but might also leave the players at a loss, producing the opposite effect in the end.

Thus, the safest approach was still to adjust the existing tactics, making some changes to the details of the team's attack and defense without altering the overall framework.

Based on the team's current characteristics, especially its abundance of young players with stamina and drive,

Thomas Schaaf made slight adjustments to Werder Bremen's long-used 4-3-3 formation, turning it into a 4-1-4-1.

The 4-3-3 was a classic attacking formation, while the evolved 4-1-4-1 retained its attacking strengths while making up for some defensive weaknesses.

The key feature of this formation was moving the wingers deeper, placing them in wide midfield roles.

When defending, they participated in midfield defense, forming a powerful five-man interception line in midfield to smother the opponent's attack.

When attacking, the deeper wide players pushed forward from behind and launched attacks down both flanks.

At that point, the deeper wide midfielders resumed the role of wingers and linked up with the striker. The formation returned to a 4-3-3 shape, with three forwards in the final third and a greater variety of attacking options.

This formation was not without drawbacks. With two wingers moved back, the number of players up front dropped sharply, leaving the team unable to press and intercept intensely in the opponent's half.

Moreover, deploying a single defensive midfielder left the spaces on either side of the central midfield area somewhat exposed, making it easy for opponents to find gaps.

In addition, because the formation had become a 4-1-4-1 with four lines, controlling the distance between each line was crucial. If those distances were poorly managed, defensive gaps could easily appear.

The three most critical positions in this formation were the defensive midfielder and the two wide midfielders.

The defensive midfielder was the free man in midfield and the gatekeeper in front of the team's defensive line. Once he was beaten, the defense would face the opponent's threat directly.

While shouldering certain defensive responsibilities, the two wide midfielders were also the team's key to breaking open the game and completing attacks.

Compared with a target striker who merely served as a front-line pivot, the wide midfielders on both sides carried heavier attacking duties.

If they could not open up the game, the team would be forced into a passive position and pounded relentlessly.

Fortunately, Schaaf had more than one option in his toolbox. If the 4-1-4-1 did not work, he could have the team continue with a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2.

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