Julien listened to Hadzibegic's words, and was lost in memories.
If he remembered correctly, Villas-Boas would be sacked by the end of this year.
This Tottenham side played attractive football, but after Spurs lost Bale, Villas-Boas's tactical flaws were further exposed.
Villas-Boas had an extremely distinctive coaching style: aggressive, high-risk, high-reward.
He used a high defensive line, intense pressing in the attacking third, quick direct transitions, and width exploitation as his core tactical philosophy. He successfully built a team with formidable attacking power and highly entertaining matches, particularly allowing Bale to shine.
So, fans who liked him, really liked him.
However, this style placed extremely high demands on player ability, execution, and fitness. Moreover, Villas-Boas was tactically stubborn and one-dimensional, with massive defensive vulnerabilities. Combined with his insufficient in-game adjustments, the final outcome was already predetermined.
In Julien's view, his ideals were grandiose, pursuing modern possession-based pressing, but it was precisely because he was too idealistic that he couldn't reconcile his vision with reality.
Especially his flaws in defensive organization and tactical flexibility were too obvious.
While he left behind impressive attacking displays, he also left shadows of defensive fragility and the regret of failing to progress further.
"We need to use speed to attack the space behind them!"
Hadzibegic's words pulled Julien's thoughts back to reality.
Mané and Lukaku were both eager to go, speed merchants like them loved Tottenham's high defensive line that played the offside trap.
You can stop me many times, but once I break through, it's a one-on-one!
"Against their high line, we need a striker with both top speed and powerful impact, as well as wingers with absolute pace, strong ball-carrying ability, and excellent off-ball movement."
At this point, Hadzibegic laughed himself. "Fortunately, we have all of that!"
Outsiders all thought drawing Tottenham was the worst possible outcome. Initially, Hadzibegic also thought this draw was terrible, but after carefully studying the tactics and consulting some friends from the former Yugoslavia—
Tottenham? A top club?
Bastia's style was perfectly suited to counter Villas-Boas's tactics!
As he said, for attacking their defense, Bastia had at least three options: Julien, Lukaku, Mané.
All possessed extremely strong impact and one-on-one ability.
In midfield, they had Kanté, who covered vast areas and was willing to fight and run tirelessly as a defensive midfielder, plus Rothen and De Bruyne, two deep-lying playmakers who could deliver long passes.
Their midfield trio was top-class even in all of Ligue 1, possessing excellent positioning sense, interception ability, superb long-passing vision and technique, and the composure to receive and distribute the ball under pressure.
What other Ligue 1 team could compare?
Of course, if they had a center-back with elite distribution ability, Bastia would be even stronger. Unfortunately, none of their current center-backs had particularly good passing ability.
However, with Van Dijk as the core of the defense, they had hard enough physicality and fast enough recovery speed.
That was sufficient.
Now the only headache for Hadzibegic was the choice of fullbacks.
Particularly the right-back position.
They had to face Bale directly!
So, speed was the baseline requirement.
Looking across Bastia's entire right-back options, only Clauss had decent speed.
And Clauss was currently a player who was clearly stronger attacking than defending.
Hadzibegic was somewhat troubled.
Should he move left-back Sidibé to the right and have him only defend?
But then, who would face Tottenham's other speedy flank: the combination of Kyle Walker and Lennon on the left?
Lennon and Kyle Walker were both speed whizzes!
Hadzibegic was confident about Bastia's spine, but the fullback positions gave him headaches.
This was what he considered Bastia's only weakness against Tottenham: defending the flanks.
"So, our defensive line needs to drop deep. They all have extremely fast players—we can't leave them space in behind."
Hadzibegic made his final decision, finishing laying out the tactics.
Finally, he said, "Remember when we beat Atlético twice? Nothing is impossible in football. Tottenham is strong, they have many top stars, but we're strong too, aren't we?"
The Bastia players smiled and applauded at these words.
This was their greatest confidence.
New signings like Van Dijk and Martinez hadn't played in such important matches before, but seeing their teammates' confidence somewhat eased their nervousness.
Van Dijk had initially worried about integration issues after leaving Netherland for the first time, but at Bastia, there seemed to be no such concerns at all.
He loved the atmosphere here.
So did Martinez. He was already planning to have Amanda join him in Bastia after returning to North London this time.
In the afternoon, the players trained according to Hadzibegic's requirements.
Van Dijk received personal coaching from Hadzibegic.
From Van Dijk's performances over these matches, Hadzibegic had taken a particular interest in him.
In Hadzibegic's words, "I see the shadow of a top center-back in him."
This former Yugoslav national team center-back perhaps saw his younger self in Van Dijk.
Strictly speaking, Hadzibegic definitely wasn't a good coach.
Because he really wasn't very good at developing players, and his in-game adjustments were fairly average.
This was why, when key players were fatigued or unable to play, Bastia had suffered three consecutive defeats.
Put simply, their attack relied entirely on individual ability.
However, in defensive matters, he had considerable experience.
This was also why Bastia could use a Ligue 2 defense to hold off teams like Atlético and Paris.
After training ended, Julien checked his phone and found a text from Zidane: "Florentino will be watching your match against Tottenham. You know there are many transfer rumors about Real Madrid and Bale right now. I can tell you responsibly—it's true.
Florentino plans to sign Bale at any cost. This kind of match is also one of Real Madrid's opportunities to assess Bale. I'm thinking, what if your performance outshines Bale's? For the current you, Real Madrid isn't necessarily out of reach."
Julien was somewhat surprised reading Zidane's message.
He certainly knew that ultimately Real Madrid would take Bale, and that the core player conflict between Bale and Ronaldo would cause some chaos at Real Madrid.
Things that had once seemed so distant were drawing ever closer.
"Thanks, I'll do my best."
After Julien replied, he felt the February wind blowing across his body, bringing a hint of chill.
He looked up into the distance at the swaying leaves.
The wind was rising.
The wind was also blowing in North London.
England, North London, Hotspur Way Training Ground.
Villas-Boas kept staring at match footage, watching it repeatedly.
He was someone extremely passionate about football, full of his own ideas, and exceptionally confident.
In other words, stubborn.
Assistant coach Reid said, "We should have Scott and Assou defend De Rocca together. His threat is significant."
Villas-Boas shook his head. "No, don't fall into conventional thinking."
Villas-Boas looked up at Reid. "I think you know how Bastia will play, right? When facing teams with stronger squads on paper, they often only counter-attack. Hey, José uses this tactic with much more finesse—they've only learned the surface.
They'll definitely continue using this at White Hart Lane. If I waste more players on their attacking players, won't that mean fewer players in our attack? Isn't that exactly the scenario they want?"
Villas-Boas shrugged. "Besides, I believe in Assou. As a top Premier League fullback, his speed isn't much slower than De Rocca's, but his physicality is much stronger. I don't think De Rocca can break through Assou's defense. Ultimately you'll see that De Rocca is just Assou's plaything."
Reid wanted to say something.
Villas-Boas waved his hand down, continuing, "I understand. De Rocca is indeed dazzling, and I'll be frank—the chairman even asked me to keep an eye on this young man. If Bale really can't stay and joins Real Madrid, the chairman's thinking is to buy De Rocca and try developing him. Maybe he'll become a new Bale.
But that's for the future. At least now, I think Assou can defend against a simple winger, okay?"
Reid nodded.
Benoît Assou-Ekotto, Cameroon international, joined Tottenham from French club Lens in 2006. He suffered injuries for the first two years but gradually became a team regular, until now.
In fact, it was precisely because of Assou-Ekotto's excellent performances, firmly holding down the left-back position, that Bale was pushed to left midfield.
Later, when Redknapp accidentally put Bale in the left-wing position, he discovered a new world.
So, in the 2011-2012 season, Bale was completely converted to a winger.
Bale officially displayed his top attacking talent.
Then after Villas-Boas took over, he further unleashed Bale's position, allowing Bale to produce his career-best performances.
In fact, whether at Southampton or in his early days at Tottenham playing fullback, it was because neither team had a top fullback at the time. Seeing Bale's good running ability, they had him play left-back.
So, for Villas-Boas to be confident that the left-back who could suppress Bale, Assou-Ekotto, could man-mark Julien alone was quite normal.
Reid thought about it and didn't continue.
He was more concerned about what Villas-Boas just said—Levy also wanted to join the battle for De Rocca?
De Rocca was very hot in England right now, labeled as a top French talent.
Not even a wonderkid anymore.
Because De Rocca had already proven himself on the international stage. Otherwise, he wouldn't have a 60-million-euro valuation.
According to English media's list of clubs interested in buying De Rocca in the summer window, the top five English clubs with the strongest interest were, respectively: Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool.
So, in Reid's view, this Europa League knockout match would definitely attract attention from scouts across England.
The stands at White Hart Lane would probably have executives from these clubs present.
Reid didn't know what would happen in this match. He had a feeling that Assou might not be able to stop De Rocca.
After all, Assou was already 28 years old. Could he outrun 18-year-old De Rocca?
Reid stole a glance at the confident Villas-Boas and suppressed his thoughts.
After all, De Rocca rose to fame at a young age.
But wasn't Villas-Boas also a young prodigy?
At just 17, Villas-Boas embarked on his coaching path. He gained the favor of legendary English coach Bobby Robson, and was not only able to learn from Robson but was also studying under assistant coach Mourinho.
Four years later, Villas-Boas became the youngest coach in history to hold a UEFA A coaching license.
He followed Mourinho from Porto to Chelsea to Inter Milan, and was always one of the core members of Mourinho's team.
Until October 2009, with a strong desire to prove he could succeed without relying on Mourinho, Villas-Boas finally received an olive branch from Portuguese league club Académica de Coimbra. At that time, Villas-Boas was only 32.
After just over half a season of coaching there, his performance earned him a first-team coaching position at Porto.
From then on, it was smooth sailing: coaching Chelsea, and now coaching Tottenham!
Reid thought about how he was already 48 and had no first-team coaching experience.
Then thinking about De Rocca, he couldn't help but sigh deeply.
Whether players or coaches, geniuses were just different.
February 13th.
Tottenham held a pre-match press conference. In this short time, the Europa League match between Tottenham and Bastia generated even more discussion in England than the Champions League matches.
The first question Villas-Boas faced was:
"How does Tottenham plan to contain De Rocca? He's currently scored 38 goals and provided 13 assists for Bastia across all competitions, directly contributing to 51 goals. He's second only to Barcelona's Messi, who has 48 goals and 13 assists this season, directly contributing to 61 goals; while third-placed Ronaldo has scored 37 goals with 7 assists, contributing to 44 goals total."
Villas-Boas smiled. "This reflects De Rocca's valuation. He's proven with his numbers that he's worth 60 million euros. As for how to contain him, our players aren't bad either."
Another reporter asked, "De Rocca is currently a transfer target for multiple English clubs. Is Tottenham interested?"
Villas-Boas pursed his lips. "You should ask the chairman that kind of question. I'm only responsible for what happens on the pitch."
Next question:
"Bastia's squad includes De Rocca, Lukaku, and De Bruyne, who were or currently are Chelsea players. Fans are calling this match a mini–North London Derby. What's your view?"
Villas-Boas shook his head. "We're facing Bastia, not Chelsea. If possible, I'd hope to meet Chelsea in the final, I just hope they can successfully reach the final."
While Villas-Boas dealt with the media, Bastia was also holding a pre-match press conference.
Hadzibegic didn't give the media much time for questions, instead chose to answer collectively.
"This match is very difficult for us. Tottenham is an English powerhouse with a glorious history, but we are Bastia, and as always, we'll give our all, even if the final result isn't satisfying.
As for matters concerning Julien, I believe he's already made things very clear previously."
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