Chu Zhongtian discovered that although Hoffenheim spent 50.7 million euros in the transfer market this summer, it was the largest investment among the Bundesliga teams this season. In fact, they did not buy many new players.

The only ones who really count the new players are himself, Ibissevic and Baker. As for the goalkeeper Ozjan, midfielders Gustavo and Vosa, these three people played for Hoffenheim last season, but they were loaned to the team last season. Because of their good performance, they were bought out this season.

Since he is the core, don’t the team’s lineup be adjusted?

After several days of tactical training, he found that these people had already prepared for him.

Since the Southern Regional League, Rangnick has been building a team around him bit by bit. If it weren't for the team's level at that time and he could not have joined, he might have bought himself long ago. Before he joined the team, he could only find Salihovic from the youth team in Hertha Berlin as his replacement. In terms of passing, Salihovic is not worse than himself, but in terms of control of the rhythm of the game and defense, Salihovic is not as good as himself.

Therefore, Hoffenheim has been able to score many goals in the past two seasons, but he will also concede many goals.

And this lineup can still operate normally as long as you change yourself and Salihovic.

In the tactics class, Rangnick has explained to the whole team their new tactics for the new season, which is not much different from before, but has made fine adjustments in some places.

The team is now mainly practicing diamond midfield 442. The main lineup has not been determined yet, but Chu Zhongtian's position should be fine - no matter which formation it is, he is the offensive and defensive midfielder. In response to the problem of how to deal with the gap left behind when Chu Zhongtian pressed up to attack, Rangnick asked one of the two central defenders to play as a guest midfielder to avoid being used by the opponent. At the same time, the two full-backs contracted to the ribs, and the three defenders were ready to offside at any time.

In defense, offside is Rangnick's trump card. Although it is a bit risky, under his training, Hoffenheim's defenders have become accustomed to precise offside.

In this way, we need to have a backcourt versatile player. Wosa, who was bought out this summer, is just such a backcourt versatile player. The 20-year-old Garner defender is 1.90 meters tall. He can play both a central defender, a defensive midfielder, and further play a central defender. When Chu Zhongtian rushed forward to attack, he will fill the gap left by Chu Zhongtian in the back.

Moreover, most of Hoffenheim's team are players who are specialized and multi-athletic, such as Demba Ba and Obasi, who can play both forwards and attacking wing forwards. Demba Ba and Obasi play on the left and Obasi play on the right. Eduardo, known as "Royce II", can also play on the edge, and Weiss (tobias_weis), and can play in the middle of the three places in the left, center and right. Gustavo can play both the midfielder and the central forward. He spent 3.2 million yuan in the club.

Rear Baker can play both left and right full-backs, and can also play offensive right-backs. As for Chu Zhongtian himself, he may be the most versatile player - central defender, midfielder, central defender, offensive central defender, he can play all-round. To be strict, he has actually made a cameo appearance in the left and right full-backs. Think about the League Cup final... If he included his experience playing football at the Chinese football school, then he has played both the center and goalkeeper. Is there any position he hasn't played on this court?

Perhaps it is precisely because he has played so many positions that he has the ability to be a free man...※※※Ibisevic's arrival made Chu Zhongtian very happy.

It is always a good thing to be able to meet acquaintances in a strange place.

Ibisevic is a person who is easy to get along with. He does not have the troubles of Chu Zhongtian. After he came, he did not replace any main player, so he got along with his new teammates. When treating him, the team did not divide into several factions.

Ibisevic also discovered the ambivalence of everyone's treatment of Chu Zhongtian. Some people think Chu Zhongtian is sincere and worth interacting with, some people think he is arrogant, and some people dislike him just because his arrival made Salihovic lose his core position... Salihovic and Chu Zhongtian are both his friends, which makes it very uncomfortable for Ibisevic to get stuck in the middle. He tried to make the two people reconcile.

"I think you should have a good talk together alone, Chu." After the training, Ibisevic found Chu Zhongtian and expressed his thoughts that he had been thinking about for a long time.

Chu Zhongtian shrugged: "I think it will be useless no matter how long I talk, Ibi. This question is very simple. Salihovic thinks I don't have the ability and qualifications to be the core, because I haven't proved my ability yet, so he doesn't want to hand over the team to me as a newcomer."

"But I know you have no problem, you can lead the team forward," said Ibisevic.

"You think so because you have worked with me for two and a half seasons. You know me, Ibi. But they don't think so." They refer to Hoffenheim players. "It's just training, there's no game yet, and I'm not familiar with this team. I think there's still some time to really show my ability..."

"So that's what we'll spend?"

"At present, this is the only way..." Chu Zhongtian did not express his friendship to Salihovic during training, but the other party has always been lukewarm. Chu Zhongtian also knew that unless he showed his strength to convince them, no matter how good his attitude was, he would not be accepted.

"Actually, you think about this issue from another perspective. Ibi. If Metz really comes, a newcomer will take my position as soon as he comes, what do you think you will think?" Chu Zhongtian himself was quite open-minded. He understood Salihovic's idea, so he never trains and stimulates the other party in normal times. He pretended not to see those hostile gazes. Anyway, Rangnick manages the team very well, and these contradictions will not erupt in person.

On the surface, everyone can still be at peace.

What really determines your relationship with your teammates is what happens after the game starts. If he doesn't perform well in the game, then his life will be sad.

After carefully considering Chu Zhongtian's words, Ibisevic also felt that what Chu Zhongtian said made sense. Anyone trusts more in anyone who is familiar with him. For Hoffenheim players, Salihovic is indeed more trustworthy than Chu Zhongtian. Because he has proved his ability with two seasons of outstanding performance, and what about Chu Zhongtian? He has nothing yet.

A League Cup champion can't tell anything. Players who can win the championship may not necessarily be able to adapt to it when new teams come.

He felt a little discouraged. If he had known that he had been in the Bosnia-Herzegovich, he would have talked more about his story at Metz. At least the relationship between Salihovic and Chu Zhongtian would not have been as tense as it is now.

But now what's the use of these?

Chu Zhongtian saw the conflict between Ibissevic. After all, both of them were his good friends, and the relationship between the two friends was tense, so it was not easy for him to get stuck in the middle. He patted Ibissevic on the shoulder: "Don't worry about this matter, Ibis. It's no big deal."

To talk about this, it can be big or small. Chu Zhongtian has always maintained restraint. In the face of the other party's sarcasm, he only took the blame. As the core figure there, Salihovic was still restrained, just watching coldly. So it was easy to solve it. He still remembered the conflict between him and Alai Russell, Gavin Borger. He didn't want things to stand like that again. At that time, he was not yet twenty years old, young and energetic, and now he is much more mature. People can't trip over the same stone twice, right?

So he waited patiently. When the game started, he naturally had the opportunity to show his abilities. He believed that even if he said a thousand words, he would not be able to match his actual performance on the court.

This is the world of football. Beautiful words may be useful for a while, but in the end they always have to speak with their feet.

※※It’s nothing if the two parties were not up, but Ibisevic felt very uncomfortable. But what’s the use of him feeling uncomfortable? He doesn’t work either.

I can only wait.

After a week of training, everyone was working around Chu Zhongtian. It is obvious that Rangnick's new tactics were tailor-made for Chu Zhongtian. In the team's training match, Rangnick asked everyone to hand over the ball to Chu Zhongtian after getting the ball, and they were not allowed to deal with it without authorization. Of course, this is an extreme requirement, but the training standard is that it must be so extreme.

At the same time, he did not give Chu Zhongtian too much tactical requirements, but just made him familiar with some of Hoffenheim's previous characteristics, such as trying to pass as few back balls, passing as much forward balls as possible, and playing two more wings.

These are all Hoffenheim's characteristics.

However, Rangnick also told Chu Zhongtian that this is not a death request, nor does it have to be done. In the specific situation, Chu Zhongtian has the right to choose freely in the game.

For example, the actual situation of the game is indeed not suitable to pass forward blindly. If you need to pass back and cross over again slow down the pace, Rangnick will not force Chu Zhongtian to pass forward forcibly. If you lose the ball in the end, it will be more than worth the loss.

In short, Rangnick set a major direction and then gave Chu Zhongtian room to play freely.

In addition, in order to make Chu Zhongtian familiar with the team he is about to lead as soon as possible, Rangnick also gave Chu Zhongtian a lot of CDs, which were videos of Hoffenheim's game in the second division last season. This is the "homework" he assigned to Chu Zhongtian. He must watch these videos of the game as soon as possible to understand what kind of team Hoffenheim is.

Time flies quickly, and on July 15, the team ushered in their first warm-up match of the new season.

Hoffenheim and Mannheim played a warm-up match at Dietma Hope Stadium.

Chu Zhongtian, the Mannheim team, heard of it because Beijing player Zhou Ning once played here and played in the Bundesliga. At that time, Yang Chen was still in Frankfurt.

Later, Mannheim was relegated from the Bundesliga, and now he has been ups and downs in the southern German league for several seasons. Hoffenheim was even worse than Mannheim, but now Mannheim fans can only envy Hoffenheim fans.

In this game, with more than 6,000 people, about 3,000 people came to the Dietma Hop Stadium, including 2,000 fans of Hoffenheim and 1,000 fans of Mannheim. Mannheim is not far from Hoffenheim, so so many people came.

More than 2,000 Hoffenheim fans originally wanted to see what the players who spent 30 million euros in the club this summer were capable of. Those who welcomed Chu Zhongtian were eager to see Chu Zhongtian's performance, and those who were skeptical about this transfer also wanted to see if he was a parallel person.

Unfortunately, they couldn't see it.

In this first warm-up match, Chu Zhongtian did not appear in the team's starting list.

In this game, the captain's armband returned to the arm of the team's captain last season. But in fact, if it weren't for the warm-up game, Teber probably wouldn't have the chance to play. In fact, after the team was promoted to the second division, he had fewer games in the team. He only played seventeen games in total last season, and the team's captain's armband was worn on the arm of Swedish central defender Per Nelson. Now that the team is promoted to the Bundesliga, it is expected to sit on the bench with his strength.

Therefore, when Rangnick talked to him and decided to give his captain to Chu Zhongtian, he had no objection and silently accepted the team's decision. He knew that he would spend most of this season on the bench. Since that is the case, what's the use of asking for this captain's armband? Why not give it to anyone who can play.

In this way, Teber changed from the first captain to the third captain. But he didn't complain. On the contrary, he enthusiastically helped Chu Zhongtian integrate into the team. He would introduce his teammates to him during training every day and tell him what his teammates had and what their hobbies and habits on the court.

Chu Zhongtian benefited a lot, so in the team, he respected the former captain who was two years older than him very much.

Salihovic also started in this game, playing as the left frontman. When he appeared, he was welcomed by many Hoffenheim fans in the stands.

Salihovic likes this feeling very much, and he also thanks the fans for their support. For him, the support of the fans may be the only comfort.

Chu Zhongtian also heard the cheers of fans. He knew how heavy Salihovic's position was in the minds of fans, just like he did at Metz. It seemed that he had replaced an amazing guy... To make him and the fans recognize him, he still needs to work harder and harder.

Such competition... hopes to become a healthy competition to push the team forward.

This game also attracted a lot of media, among which the German media was because Hoffenheim was so glorious in the transfer market this year. They were originally not interested in this team, but now they all want to see what Hoffenheim can get after spending so much money.

The Chinese journalist obviously came to Chu Zhongtian.

However, they were disappointed, and Chu Zhongtian did not start.

Rangnick hopes that Chu Zhongtian will observe Hoffenheim's game at close range and see how Hoffenheim plays. Some details are not visible in the game video and must be watched on the spot. In addition, Chu Zhongtian is familiar with his teammates. Now Chu Zhongtian does not have a tacit understanding of his teammates, and the outside world has a lot of controversy about Chu Zhongtian. He does not want Chu Zhongtian to bear too much pressure.

For this reason, he placed Chu Zhongtian on the bench and planned to replace him in the second half depending on the situation.

Ibissevic, who bought from Metz, started and formed the starting lineup of the game with Brazilian young player Wellington.

Mannheim was completely unable to stop Hoffenheim's sharp attack in the game and quickly lost their first goal of the game.

With Chu Zhongtian not present, Salihovic became the core of Hoffenheim's organization. Although from the perspective of position, he was just a left-hand forward, it was obvious that the team's threatening attacks were initiated from him. He cooperated with his teammates and frequently sent good goals. Ibisevic, who had just arrived at the team, was not unacceptable at all, because he and Salihovic were teammates in the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.

In this game, Hoffenheim played their signature game - an oppressive offense, rarely or even basically no return or crossing, but constantly passing forward and oppressing the opponent's defense. How can Mannheim, who plays in the regional league, withstand such oppression?

They were soon in a hurry and at a loss.

They conceded a goal five minutes into the game. The goal was the young forward Willington, who was highly anticipated this season.

In the 29th minute, they lost another goal. This time the goal was Eduardo. With "Royce II" who has short hair, he looks like the Ronaldinho who was at Paris Saint-Germain in his early years. His technical characteristics also have the style of Ronaldinho, but his body is much thinner than Ronaldinho. Ronaldinho is better at skill and not weak. Fortunately, Eduardo is only twenty years old and still has room for improvement.

He used an excellent personal skill to shake off the opponent's defender and scored after shooting.

Hoffenheim scored another goal before the end of the first half. This time it was Salihovic who completed the assist, passing the ball to Gustavo, a midfielder who was inserted from behind, who scored a long-range shot.

He led three goals in the first half. Everyone was speculating that Rangnick should let Chu Zhongtian appear in the second half... No.

At the beginning of the second half, Chu Zhongtian continued to sit on the bench, but Salihovic was replaced. Because it was a friendly match, there was no limit on the number of substitutions. Rangnick also changed eleven people in one breath and replaced all the starting lineups. However, Chu Zhongtian was still sitting on the bench, showing no sign of playing.

Hoffenheim was still attacking wildly in the second half, because all the players on the court understood that if they wanted to get a stable appearance in the new season of the Bundesliga, now would be a great opportunity to show themselves to the head coach.

Poor Mannheim, the original Bundesliga team, has now completely become a bottom-line team and has been massacred by Hoffenheim.

When Chu Zhongtian finally played, it was only five minutes before the end of the game. He appeared on the sidelines in the No. 8 jersey, which made the Chinese journalists who had been waiting for almost the whole game feel a little overwhelmed.

At this time, the score on the field was 6:1, and Hoffenheim led the score.

Chu Zhongtian did not perform much after he came on the court, because the game ended quickly. In these five minutes, he passed the ball three times, received two times, tackled once, and succeeded in tackle. There was nothing else.

From this performance, he can't tell whether his ability is really helpful.

Whether it is full of expectations for him, watching coldly, or waiting to see him jokes, everyone still needs to wait patiently.
Chapter completed!