When Zhao Zhao contentedly walked into the meeting room, the members of the Coach staff were already waiting for him.
This was a fixed procedure for Sunderland's matches, established by Zhao Zhao.
First, everyone would discuss the characteristics of the next opponent, then devise an effective match plan, which would then be reinforced in subsequent training sessions, and finally, the actual match would take place.
— Of course, for Zhao Zhao, he would add one more step: using the system to simulate the match.
But whether simulated or not, each time was essentially equivalent to a normal match, so Zhao Zhao would treat every meeting and discussion seriously.
Only then could he achieve the best results with the fewest simulation points!
And for training, Zhao Zhao's requirements were also very strict.
His Coaches needed to summarize the players' training, then provide their analysis, and finally give feedback to the players.
Simply put, the Coaches needed to tell the players where they performed well today and where they had shortcomings.
When players saw such an analysis report, they would understand their problems more intuitively and then think about how to solve them.
With such targeted thinking and handling, training efficiency would naturally improve significantly, which was very helpful for both match preparation and individual player improvement.
And to ensure players received the most accurate and truthful feedback, the Coaches' level certainly couldn't be low—this was why Zhao Zhao wanted to immediately recruit Alan Tate to the team.
As for Zhao Zhao himself, he would also provide his own suggestions for improvement based on the problems players encountered in matches and training, helping them to improve.
If there were any recurring old habits, Zhao Zhao would even list them as training priorities, arranging specialized intensive courses to gradually resolve these issues.
And if a player performed poorly in training, Zhao Zhao would reprimand or even penalize him;
If a player performed well, Zhao Zhao would go over, "put an arm around his shoulder," praise him, or even directly put him in the starting lineup.
Such clear rewards and punishments also created a very good training atmosphere for the team, with everyone willing to give their all!
"Hull City's Coach Marco Silva is a 40-year-old Portuguese Coach who likes to use a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 formation in matches."
In the meeting room, Zhao Zhao quickly began his lecture mode for the day.
"But no matter which formation, they are all based on a four-man defense system. And from the players' abilities, Hull City's four main defenders are also the strongest players in their team."
"Left-back Robertson, he is a Scotland international. He is very fast on the flanks and has abundant stamina, which allows him to frequently make high-speed overlapping runs to receive passes and deliver crosses, as well as quickly track back and tackle in defense."
"He also performs very balanced in defense with no obvious weaknesses, and his positional sense is very good. To be honest, I've been following him for a while. If Hull City gets relegated by us, I will consider signing him next season."
The Coaches looked at each other, but only nodded slightly, expressing no disagreement.
At this time, Robertson was only 23 years old. Although he was not yet the powerful left-back who could compete for "world's best left-back" at Liverpool in the future, his performance at Hull City had indeed attracted the attention of many teams.
In fact, in the original timeline, after Hull City's relegation this season, Robertson was directly snatched by Liverpool, and the Reds paid ten million pounds for him.
Of course, this money proved to be absolutely worth it afterwards.
So for Zhao Zhao, who had a "prophetic vision," he would definitely try to make such a highly cost-effective deal.
And the Coaches, of course, also knew that Robertson's ability was stronger than Sunderland's left-back Oviedo, and signing him would indeed be a reinforcement.
"Right-back Elmohamady, he is an old international from Egypt. Although he is only 29, he has already played over seventy matches for the Egypt national team."
"He was also a Sunderland player a few years ago; Breswell might be more familiar with him."
Zhao Zhao said, turning his gaze to Breswell.
Breswell nodded and said, "Yes, his speed is decent, and he has accurate crosses, as well as good dribbling ability."
"Of course, his defensive positioning is not very good, and his marking and tackling are average. These are points we can exploit."
"In fact, his preferred position is right winger, so strong offense and weak defense are his characteristics."
Zhao Zhao nodded in approval, then continued:
"Then there are their two main central defenders. One of them is Ranocchia, on loan from Inter Milan."
"This Italy international is 195cm tall and has a significant advantage in controlling aerial balls."
"And the other younger central defender is similar. Although he is only 188cm tall, his heading ability is also very outstanding."
"Oh, he is English, and his name is Maguire."
That's right, the future Manchester United captain, Maguire, is also in the Hull City squad now!
However, the 24-year-old Maguire is not some "clumsy Maguire"; he has performed exceptionally well at Hull City.
Although Hull City is deep in the relegation zone this season, Maguire has been quite solid defensively, and has even scored three goals and provided three assists.
He was also voted Hull City's Player of the Season by his teammates and fans respectively!
Similar to Robertson, in the original timeline, after Hull City's relegation, he also transferred to Leicester City to continue playing in the Premier League.
And Leicester City paid a high transfer fee of 17 million pounds to acquire this tall and strong central defender.
This is also why Zhao Zhao did not directly say that he also wanted to sign Maguire.
Although this guy is indeed good, he is a bit expensive…
The boss promised fifty million, but he can't run out of money just by getting two defenders.
"Compared to their defense, Hull City's attack is rather mediocre."
"They mainly rely on balanced midfielders like Grosicki, Clucas, Ndiaye, and Marković for interception and organization, and then use fast forwards like Niasse and Hernández to attack."
"Of course, there's a young player in their team to watch out for, and that's 20-year-old Bowen. In attack, he can threaten the opponent's defense with his speed and agility, and he also has strong scoring ability."
"Bowen started getting more playing time in the latter half of this season, playing as a right winger. In fact, it was precisely because of this that Elmohamady, the Egypt international, switched to playing right-back. So we need to pay special attention to our left-sided defense…"
Finally, Zhao Zhao clapped his hands: "Alright, that's pretty much their lineup and playing style. Does anyone have any thoughts?"
Alan Tate immediately raised his hand:
"Behind! We still have to resolutely attack the space behind them!"