Roger Schmidt - The Book of a Coach (July 7 to July 12, 2017) (Patreon)

July 7, 2017 

Final training on the field. Roger keeps the pace high throughout the week. More about feeling than scientifically proven load control. "I wanted to maintain tension until the game. With the risk that the players could be tired on the weekend. But we had to take that risk." In addition, the coach builds connections with the players through many individual conversations. Jonathan Soriano is most excited about the coaching change. He came to Beijing at the beginning of the season from Red Bull Salzburg. "Johnny," who also played for FC Barcelona, was the Player of the Year in 2013/14 and 2014/15, and the top scorer in Austria three times, also in the Europa League in 2013/14. Roger was his coach back then. Soriano tells that the old coach told him on the second day that he sees Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz as stronger and won't rely on him, he won't usually be in the squad. Tough times for Johnny. Often he sat alone in the city for four days while the team was traveling for an away game, without his family and without any connection to anyone. That's how you lose a person and a player. Renato Augusto, who came from Corinthians São Paulo in 2015 and played four years at Bayer Leverkusen, played 33 times for Brazil and won gold at the 2016 Olympics, is pleased with a clear plan. "Is this our team?" he asks after a few days. He raves about the city, saying with a wink about the Chinese players, "If you tell them ten times to run to the right, they'll say yes ten times - and then run to the left." Zhang Xizhe, who plays for Guoan again after a short stint without competitive appearances at VfL Wolfsburg, openly talks about considering another club change within China because he constantly has to play in the position he dislikes. Roger: "I let him play further forward in every training session to put him in better mental shape. The best players should ideally play in their best positions. Otherwise, they deal with too many negative things."

July 8, 2017 

First match against league leaders and serial champions Guangzhou Evergrande. Currently the best team in China by far. Tension. A bit more than the usual matchday tension this time. It's brutally hot. The stadium is full. 55,000 people want to see the new Beijing. The new Schmidt-Beijing. Will there be something to see? What can the team achieve after five days of training against World Cup-winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and his team? After 42 seconds, "Johnny" Soriano scores the fastest goal in the club's history. A dream goal. Beijing overwhelms Evergrande. After 20 minutes, it could be 5-0. The stadium goes wild. 1-0 at halftime. After the break, it continues in only one direction. Second dream goal by Soriano, 2-0. The wave sweeps through the stadium. The team tears itself apart. Plays, fights, runs. Gives it all. In injury time, the fans sing the Beijing club song and shine the lights of their phones. What a scene. It's clear: the game is won, Evergrande has given up for the day. Roger stands on the sideline with tears in his eyes. "I thought of my family at home watching on TV. The atmosphere was incredible. It was one of the most beautiful, emotional evenings I've experienced in football." The atmosphere in the locker room after the final whistle is fantastic. Everyone is there. The players who weren't in the squad celebrate with the team. Even the Big Boss Mr. Zhou congratulates the team in the locker room on their performance and immediately agrees to the captain's request for double bonuses. Roger hugs Soriano and then speaks with joy to his players. Thunderous applause. What an evening. There couldn't be a better start.

July 9, 2017 

The players who didn't play or played briefly on Saturday play against Evergrande's second team on a training ground (30 minutes from the stadium). It's customary in China for the reserve teams of clubs to play against each other a day after the first team's match. Roger: "I think it's good. Having the reserve teams play in the same format makes the fixture list simple and clear. And game load can hardly be replaced even with competitive training." We assemble the entire team, and Roger coaches the game. With a felt temperature of 50 degrees, they continue to implement the training content. They earn another well-deserved 2-0 victory over Evergrande. A good sign. Everyone gives their all. Afterward, there's a meeting at the stadium for all players. Roger: "I've seen that you are good players with a strong mentality. You are also capable of implementing the prescribed tactics." Then there's an explanation of squad selection. With currently 36 players, it's not easy. "For a coach, it's always difficult to select the squad for the game, to choose 18 players from the group. I know that a player's perspective on this is often different. I always try to decide what's best for the team at the moment. I don't care which player is in or out. I give you the opportunity in training every week to offer something. Use it for yourselves," explains the coach. The coaching staff meets in the evening to plan the analyses. Roger likes to have everything ready at the beginning of the week. Post-match analysis (in consultation with Richard Kitzbichler). Sequences must be available on the day after the game or on the first training day of the week. That's normal. Detailed opponent analysis (with the involvement of Chinese assistant coaches) should be prepared no later than Wednesday and presented to the head coach. Set pieces: Analysis of our set pieces from the last game. Analysis/presentation of the set pieces of the next opponent (this must be available at the beginning of the week). This way, the insights can be incorporated into the week's training. Individual player analysis from the last game. Point four serves as the basis for planning individual training. Discussion with Roger about structuring the days in the coach's life. "It helps me more to be there early in the day and have plenty of time. If I were to structure a day with individual appointments, it would restrict my mental freedom too much," he says. Roger often plans his training sessions for hours. "The hours with the team on the field are the highlight of the day." Nevertheless, today it's about having a so-called "firewall" around the coach. The demands and complexity of the coaching job have increased rapidly. The coach must focus on planning and conducting training, conversations with players, and connecting with the team. On matchday, he must make important decisions, so he needs the necessary energy - not be completely drained from the week. Therefore, he needs people in his team who take things off his plate, who work autonomously, not just follow orders from the head coach. The days of assistant coaches who are just there are over. A coach needs something like his own company. It should be equipped with the following specialists/competencies: assistant coaches, fitness coach, game analyst, personal assistant, set-piece coach, "medical expert" (doctor/physiotherapist), goalkeeper coach.

July 10, 2017 

The first free day in Beijing. In the morning, we are invited by Nike for a welcome shopping session. When you get to choose clothes, even adults quickly become like children. In the afternoon, a city tour with Roger. Exploring the surroundings. Followed by a photographer. Roger urgently needs a new hairstyle. It's just too hot. The hair on his head is annoying. Finding a hair salon is not a problem. There are probably 10,000 salons. The haircut costs just under 20 euros, equivalent to that. The employee takes an hour, cutting each hair individually. And in China, they mercilessly shave the back and sides. A battle haircut. We discover the "Y" restaurant. Our new retreat for free afternoons. A bit away from the hustle and bustle, we sit by the open window. Roger rarely talks a lot and rarely for a long time. You won't see him deeply engrossed in a conversation for an extended period. "I settle most things with myself," he says. It's often not easy to get to him. At least initially. We briefly talk about personal matters. "It was just luck that I met my wife. There wasn't a second between us when we thought about breaking up. I enjoy life with my family. Having breakfast together, taking a little walk, enjoying a nice bottle of red wine in the evening. Even after 20 consecutive days, I don't get bored. We started from scratch together. Now we've created something. That's how it is." The conversation is over. Roger has to go on. He's always there, but sometimes not quite. He can't be alone for too long, though.

July 11, 2017 

In the morning, the conception of individual training with all assistant coaches. There's no one individual trainer - how can that work with 30 players? All assistant coaches are to jointly design, oversee, and implement individual training. The head coach steps back. He can also just observe. Roger is fighting for Kevin Kampl as a new signing. When he took the job, he was promised that he could choose a new player. Kevin has already played under him at Red Bull Salzburg and Bayer Leverkusen. Roger talks at length with Rudi Völler. Leverkusen wants 30 million euros for Kampl, but Guoan is willing to pay "only" 25 million. Stalemate, no movement for days. Roger and Rudi agree on 26.75 million euros. Li Ming and Mr. Zhou agree to the price but want to pay it in four installments. Apparently, no problem for Leverkusen. Complex training forms. Roger: "Sometimes you have to struggle through a training exercise. There's a learning effect when something doesn't work right from the start. The training should be so complex and demanding that the actual match feels almost easy for the players in the end. In terms of time and spatial pressure. In the game, they then feel that the demands aren't as great. That gives them more room for creativity and game intelligence. That's why training exercises can often be exaggerated to test the limits, especially when you want to play a very intense game. A game with many transition and pressing situations. The details determine whether it works or not. Whether you start the pressing from an optimal position. To learn that, the demands on the player in training must be very high. Only then can you learn to exploit all capacities. Cognitive abilities improve. The perception of football as hectic sometimes comes from external observers not having highly developed cognitive abilities. Phases of ball possession are naturally much easier to follow and understand. My view of football certainly doesn't align with that of every player and can lead to rejection. The conviction to want to play football like this must fundamentally exist within the team and the club. And then you have to work right. Being good on the computer alone is not enough. Everyone can do that now. You also have to develop players on the field. In the exercises. Through individual work with them. That's still the crucial part."

July 12, 2017 

Roger inquires with Chinese assistant coach Tao Wei about whether the current captain (goalkeeper Yang Zhi) was appointed or elected by the previous coach. And whether there is a team council. Tao is generally of the opinion that a field player should be captain but recommends not raising the issue during the current season to spare Yang Zhi from losing face. Roger accepts. There is currently no team council. Next topic: Hotel before home games? Roger prefers the team to go to the hotel only on matchdays and spend the night before in their own beds. For the Chinese players, this initially seems impossible. The club's leadership's opinion is, "That's impossible. The players have no discipline. They'll go out and drink in the evenings. We can't do that. Besides, many have long journeys to the stadium. They'll sit in the car for two hours on matchday morning." So we still have to figure something out. In the first step, we'll have a team council elected to discuss such issues. Roger: "Through the election, we'll also get a good indication of which players are valued as leaders within the team." Tao Wei is tasked with conducting this election.

Reference: "Das Buch eines Trainers" (Roger Schmidt mit Jörn Wolf)