Chapter 652: The Responsibility of the World's Top Coach

As the Premier League prepares to ignite once again, fans all over the world are eagerly anticipating the action.

However, the new season brings significant changes to the Premier League.

One major shift is that, in European competition, the Premier League has been overtaken by Spain in the league rankings.

Barcelona have reached the Champions League final two years in a row. Combined with La Liga clubs' strong performances in the Europa League, La Liga has rapidly closed the points gap in UEFA's coefficient rankings and now looks poised to overtake the Premier League as the world's top league.

This has sparked calls from the British media, urging the top Premier League clubs to perform better in the Champions League this season and earn more points for England.

Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool are all traditional powerhouses and have performed well in the Champions League in recent years. Naturally, the spotlight is on them.

Gao Shen's Manchester City are also a strong side, but their biggest issue lies in the draw.

Due to UEFA regulations, Manchester City are a fourth-seed team, meaning they are guaranteed to be drawn into a group of death.

Everyone knows how difficult it is to escape from a group of death.

In Gao Shen's previous life, Manchester City failed to achieve good results in Europe for several years. One key reason was their low coefficient in European competition.

That said, the top clubs remain very wary of Manchester City. No one dares underestimate Gao Shen and his team. With such a brilliant record, some even claim that Gao Shen was born to win titles.

Last season, after Manchester City clinched the Premier League title, The Times, The Guardian, L'Équipe, and Gazzetta dello Sport all rushed to analyze the secret behind their success, claiming that Gao Shen had unlocked the formula to leading a team to championships.

The conclusions varied widely. Some were insightful, while others even made Gao Shen laugh.

But that's just the media.

Another major change is in the Premier League's registration rules.

Many are aware that starting this season, the Premier League requires eight homegrown players—defined as players registered with the FA or Welsh FA for 36 months or three seasons before turning 21.

This is what's commonly known as the homegrown player rule.

But what few noticed is that another significant change has occurred: the squad size has been reduced from 30 to 25 registered players.

In other words, each first-team squad is now limited to 25 players.

Many people wonder why Premier League registration is so expensive.

This is the reason.

Among those 25, eight must be homegrown players. That's a high percentage. But the supply of high-level domestic players is limited, so competition to sign them is fierce and their prices have skyrocketed.

According to the logic of the English FA, as local players become more valuable, clubs will be more motivated to develop youth talent, which will, in turn, improve the youth system. On top of that, Bernstein has been pushing for youth development reform within the FA, so there is reason to be optimistic about the future of English youth football.

On this point, Gao Shen genuinely admired the political vision and opportunistic instincts of the former Manchester City chairman.

On the day Gao Shen was "debating" with the media outside the FA, Bernstein immediately contacted him to have an in-depth discussion on youth training reform. He wasted no time in getting to work.

This showed Gao Shen the foresight and decisiveness of a successful person.

In his previous life, Bernstein would go on to become FA chairman later this year. Gao Shen had to admit, opportunity truly favors those who are prepared.

Back to the squad situation.

Some may think the new rules aren't that significant.

But take this for example:

The new season is about to kick off, and as of now, neither Chelsea nor Liverpool meet the registration requirements.

This is why Tottenham paid a high price for Micah Richards, and why Bridge was sold for a decent fee. All clubs are scrambling to sign homegrown players.

If they can't, Chelsea and Liverpool will have to sign more players, promote from the reserves, or reduce the number of first-team registrations. Fewer homegrown players means fewer squad spots, which could weaken the team's depth and strength.

This is how the value of a Premier League registration spot has been inflated.

There's no need to even mention Arsenal. Wenger is being heavily criticized. Of their eight homegrown players, only Walcott is English. The others are all foreign players who qualify under the rules, but the criticism remains.

Manchester City are in a better position. Players like Gary Cahill, Leighton Baines, Stephen Ireland, Gareth Bale, Sturridge, Shay Given, Adam Lallana, Jordan Henderson, and Kieran Trippier all qualify as homegrown.

However, limiting the first-team roster to 25 players is a bit tight for Manchester City. So players like De Bruyne, Hazard, and Trippier were registered with the second team, allowing them to be promoted to the first team as U21 players.

This is a common strategy used by many clubs.

Gao Shen personally explained the situation to the players, assuring them it was only a registration issue and didn't reflect their standing at the club.

Most of the players understood. After all, this kind of registration move is quite common in European football.

The Champions League has similar regulations.

Every club must consider these rules during transfer windows. Otherwise, you end up in embarrassing situations like Real Madrid's, when they signed Huntelaar and Lass Diarra only to find out they could register only one of them. That was truly amateurish.

…

While Gao Shen was busy preparing for the new season at Carrington, Sacchi came all the way from London to visit him.

With the rise of Manchester City, the landscape of English football has undergone tremendous change.

Especially this season, people are realizing that Gao Shen isn't just a disruptor. He's determined to make Manchester City a real powerhouse in the Premier League—one that can stand alongside Manchester United, Chelsea, and other giants.

He even aims to surpass them.

Both Gao Shen and Manchester City are full of ambition, which has caused quite a stir across the UK. Gao Shen is well-known, and City's football is attractive—smooth, well-coordinated, and highly entertaining. It has won over many fans.

But last season, the British media came to a frustrating realization: none of them really understood Gao Shen.

So this season, The Times took a unique approach by signing Sacchi—widely known as Italy's number one football pundit—to write a column.

Sky Sports also partnered with Sacchi, inviting him to appear on several league preview shows.

Clearly, the Italian bald guy was thriving.

When Sacchi visited Carrington, he couldn't help but complain.

It's widely accepted that most Premier League training grounds are remote and outdated.

Except for the newer facilities at Arsenal and Chelsea, the others are all fairly basic.

Manchester City had recently acquired land near the Etihad Stadium, planning to build a new training base. But a Manchester United supporter was holding out as a "nail house," and City's management was struggling to resolve the issue.

Sacchi laughed when this was brought up.

After training, Gao Shen introduced Sacchi to the players.

Sacchi's reputation preceded him, and the players showed him respect. He was a good conversationalist and quickly got along well with everyone.

As for lunch, Gao Shen had already arranged it at the Carrington facility.

During the break between the end of training and lunch, Gao Shen gave Sacchi a tour of Carrington.

Most of the facilities and departments already existed in Naples, where Gao Shen's coaching philosophy had matured. But at Manchester City, there was still plenty of room for improvement—in hardware, software, staffing, and even in himself.

According to Sacchi, this trip to Carrington was to gather inspiration.

For a professional like Sacchi, to heap praise on someone, you need a foundation. You can't just do it blindly.

If you want to blow the trumpet, you need something to blow.

Gao Shen also admitted that his football philosophy had evolved significantly since his time at Napoli.

"I told you, football is often about probabilities and statistics."

"The longer you hold the ball, and the closer you are to the opponent's goal, the higher your chance of scoring. The opposite is also true."

"So in the past, my whole aim was to keep pressing the opponent. That was high pressing."

Sacchi kept nodding. It was indeed a profound tactical foundation.

"But there are two problems. First, what do you do when you face a team that's better at passing and possession, presses just as well, and attacks even more sharply than you?"

"Second, what happens when you come up against a team that defends deep, is highly motivated, and stays fully focused? What can you do then?"

Sacchi knew that the first team Gao Shen referred to was Barcelona.

Especially this season's Barcelona. Their overall strength was simply terrifying.

A front three of Aguero, Messi, and Sanchez. A midfield trio of Xavi, Iniesta, and Busquets. And world-class attacking full-backs like Vargas and Alves. Their squad was incredible.

As for the second case, there were plenty of such teams.

You need talent to attack, but not to defend with ten men behind the ball.

Especially now, defensive standards across football had improved dramatically, placing higher demands on attacking teams. Transition efficiency between attack and defense had to be quicker.

But to improve transition efficiency, you need space.

If you press the opponent too deep, there's no room to accelerate in any direction. You just hit a wall.

Even someone as talented as Messi can't consistently beat two well-coordinated defenders by himself.

That's why space is essential.

Sacchi was thrilled to hear all this. He saw that despite Gao Shen already being at the top level, he was still thinking deeply, preparing for challenges even in times of peace, and continuously striving to improve.

This kind of thinking was undoubtedly forward-looking.

And it was also the responsibility that came with being one of the world's top coaches today.

(To be continued.)

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