Super Marshal

Frank Pagelsdorff is a man of stories.

Even though he is only 49 years old, he was once a famous figure in German football.

His career was not brilliant. He started at Bielefeld, reached his peak in Dortmund, and then went to Hannover 96, retiring early at the age of thirty-one.

But he didn't leave professional football.

In 1992, at the age of 34, he became the head coach of Union Berlin and led the team for two years with good results.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the merger of East and West Germany, the East German teams were almost completely defeated by the West German teams. Rostock, which won the last league championship in the GDR, participated in the first season of the German Bundesliga after the merger. He was relegated with the lowest score.

In 1994, this East German team, which had been stuck in the Bundesliga for two seasons, found Pagelsdorf, and the latter did not disappoint. They won the Bundesliga in the first season. The league champion led the team back to the Bundesliga, and in its first season in the Bundesliga, it won sixth place in the league in one breath. It was called the best dark horse of the season.

That year, Pagelsdorf appeared on the radar of German fans for the first time.

Although the team's performance declined in the third season of coaching Rostock, Pagelsdorf still led the team to successfully avoid relegation, and in the summer of 1997, he switched jobs to the then Bundesliga giants, Beidawang Hamburg. .

At that time, Hamburg had just experienced a downturn and had suffered from poor performance for many years. The club invited the legendary superstar Uwe Schiller to serve as chairman, and the latter kindly invited Pagelsdorff to take charge of Hamburg.

Pagelsdorff could not refuse the invitation from his childhood idol. Not only did he coach Hamburg, he even signed a bizarre clause with the club, that is, once Uwe Schiller stepped down as chairman, he would leave freely. team.

This also caused huge repercussions in Germany at the time.

Unexpectedly, not long after he took charge of the team, Uwe Schiller was forced to resign due to financial problems. Although it was later proven that this had nothing to do with Schiller, it would be difficult for him to return to the team.

However, Pagelsdorf did not leave the team because of this. On the contrary, he led the team's performance to improve year by year. After experiencing the accumulation of two seasons of ninth and seventh, in the 1999-2000 season, he Reached the pinnacle of his coaching career, third in the league.

That was Hamburg's best league result in the past few years.

The good times did not last long. A year later, Hamburg's performance declined again, and Pagelsdorf was forced to leave the team. After that, he successively coached teams such as Osnabrunn and Dubai's Wasl, but the results were not particularly satisfactory.

Until the summer of 2005, Rostock was relegated from the Bundesliga again, but suffered two consecutive defeats at the beginning of the Bundesliga. One of them was even a 1-4 away defeat to Munich 1860, and the management restarted. Invitation to Pagelsdorf.

This time, it took Pagelsdorf two seasons to finally bring Rostock back to the Bundesliga.

At the age of forty-nine, with more than ten years of coaching experience, Pagelsdorf deeply feels that he is at a crossroads in his career. If he can lead Rostock to recreate the dark horse journey of that year, then he will usher in the second spring of his coaching career. On the other hand, if Rostock fails to avoid relegation, his coaching career in the Bundesliga will come to an end.

If you want to play the role of dark horse again, the first round of the league against Bayern Munich is crucial.

He still clearly remembers that in August 1999, it was also at the home court of Bayern Munich. At that time, the Bundesliga giant was still at the Olympiastadion and the head coach was still Hitzfeld. Pagelsdorf led his Hamburg team in the Olympiastadion. The home court of the archrival Nan Dawang almost overturned the giant ship Bayern Munich.

That was the most memorable game in his coaching career and the game he was most proud of.

Although his team was away from home, it caused quite a lot of trouble for the home team, especially its offensive attack, which made Bayern Munich very uncomfortable. It was not until the 33rd minute of the first half that Marcus Babel scored. Opening the scoring for Bayern Munich.

But just two minutes later, Kovac equalized the score for Hamburg.

After that, the two sides played very stalemate. Under the tenacious defense and sharp attack of Hamburg, Bayern Munich could not find a chance to make a move. Instead, in the 82nd minute of the second half, Bayern Munich made another mistake and was caught by Hamburg. Score a goal.

The score of two to one remained until the stoppage time. Everyone even thought that Hamburg would win Bayern Munich away from home, but as a result, at the last moment, Elber's key goal helped the South King escape.

In the end, the two teams shook hands 2-2.

But for Hamburg, which is playing away from home, such a good start is undoubtedly a victory.

Also affected by this game, the Hamburg team's morale was greatly boosted. In the next three games, they defeated Stuttgart 3-0, defeated Schalke 04 3-1 away, defeated Hertha Berlin 5-1 at home, and won 3-0 at home. Winning streak and undefeated in four rounds, a stunning start.

Time has passed, but Pagelsdorf still misses his masterpiece of the year.

The mature and steady Heathfield has become the more adventurous Gao Han, but Pagelsdorf is still full of desire and expectation for victory, because he predicts how Gao Han will fight, just like he judged Heathfield back then. It will be the same as how it will be fought.

As for what Gao Han said in an interview with the media the day before the game, that Bayern Munich would play the role of Germany's flag in the European arena and become the pioneer of German football reform, he didn't take it to heart at all, and he didn't care whether this could be realized. .

Because he has only one goal, to escape from the Allianz Arena.

To this end, he even did not hesitate to rank six defenders in the starting lineup.

He will use this game to make the entire German football world recall his name.

Frank Pagelsdorff.

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…………

“The atmosphere at the Allianz Arena is great!”

Although he has walked into the Allianz Arena many times before, tonight is the first time Gao Han has appeared here as the head coach of Bayern Munich. The kind of treatment he received when he was cheered by all the fans as soon as he appeared, made him Feel the shock.

The capacity of the stadium is not too large, with more than 60,000 people. It is not larger than Barcelona’s Camp Nou, Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu, Manchester United’s Old Trafford and Inter Milan’s Meazza, but the atmosphere is obviously better than those of these giants. The team is better.

The fanatical home fans dyed the stands around the entire stadium in the red and white colors that symbolize Bayern Munich, and the two semi-circular stand areas were decorated by the fans into huge Bayern Munich team emblems.

The only thing that is different from usual is that in the South Stand fan area, which symbolizes Bayern Munich's die-hard fans, a huge portrait of Gao Han was pulled up by the fans, covering almost the entire South Stand, and everyone at the scene was shouting in unison. Gao Han, the enthusiasm of the fans at the scene directly made Gao Han deeply infected.

Especially when standing on the sidelines, with the diagonal stands next to the turf behind him, the seats are crowded and packed, creating an extremely shocking visual effect. It even makes Gao Han think that he will have to direct the game with his back to these fans later. , he felt a pressure.

Of course, if you think about it from another perspective, these people support him, so he feels motivated.

"It is said that when the Allianz Stadium was first built, the designers intentionally designed the stands to be on a slope, and coupled with the roof, on the one hand, it was beneficial to let the sound from the stands surge down and sweep across the entire stadium, and on the other hand, it could It forms an extremely shocking visual effect." Tuchel explained with a smile.

It was also his first time appearing at the Allianz Arena as a coach, and he was equally shocked.

That feeling is really great.

"Now is just the beginning. Munich 1860 has sold us 50% of their shares in the Allianz Arena and has given up the right to buy it back. There are even rumors that their attendance here is very high. We are low, unable to make ends meet, and intend to leave the Allianz Arena, so in the near future, there will definitely be further expansion here and the atmosphere will be even stronger.”

Gao Han nodded and looked back from the sidelines. The entire slope of the stands filled with fans was commanding and very imposing.

"Whenever I plan to build a new stadium, I will definitely hire someone to design it like this." Gao Han murmured to himself enviously.

This is the most dreamy football stadium in Europe at the moment.

But Thomas Tuchel and others did not hear clearly what he was saying and began to be busy preparing for the game.

Cantarero walked over from a distance and handed over a piece of paper.

"This is Rostock's starting lineup for this game, with six defenders."

Gao Han took it over and saw that the names were all unfamiliar. There was not even a first-line star in the entire Rostock team. However, such a team is often more dangerous and should not be underestimated, because they usually play more holistically.

To be able to enter the Bundesliga, there is often no insurmountable gap between the strength of professional players and the overall strength of professional teams. This is why some underdogs have the opportunity to upset the giants.

"New players such as Orestes, Baltes, Wester and Manga have all entered the starting lineup."

This summer, Rostock spent 500,000 euros on signings. It introduced Orestes from the Portuguese Super League and striker Manga from Osnabrück. The two players spent 250,000 euros each, but they were sold to China. Muller, a player on the field, earns one million euros.

But the biggest signing in the team was the introduction of goalkeeper Westl from Hamburg. This player was a free transfer, and it was completely decided by head coach Pagelsdorff based on his personal relationship.

Regardless of the overall strength of the team or signings, it is difficult for Rostock to compete with Bayern Munich. However, in this game, Pagelsdorf deployed six defenders, two midfielders and two midfielders. A forward.

"Does he want to hold on?" Tuchel asked with a frown.

Six defenders, if they want to defend to the death, it will really be an iron barrel formation.

Gao Han glanced at the chubby figure in front of the visiting team's coaching bench in the distance. After retiring, the 49-year-old head coach's body had completely become wider, but he didn't look like that kind of game. The Lord who defended without fighting.

“Defense doesn’t rely on just having a lot of people.”

"you mean……"

"He should still play four-four-two, it's just that the players have changed."

The same formation, with different types of players starting, can completely play different tactics.

Not only Gao Han knows it in his heart, but many head coaches also know that in the face of Gao Han, sticking to it is tantamount to chronic suicide.

Of course, some head coaches have the courage to attack, but some choose to defend passively and wait for the cold team to make mistakes.

It's hard to say which one is better, but Gao Han feels that based on Pagelsdorf's coaching style and characteristics, he should choose the former.

"I didn't expect that there are many tough guys in German football, and I met one in the first game."

Gao Han was smiling and appreciating, but his eyes were full of murderous intent.

"Inform the players to attack me at the beginning. I will knock him down from the first minute!"