The team meeting was short and sharp. The players were gathered in the video analysis room, the lights dimmed, the screen glowing with the Stoke City defensive shape I had spent hours dissecting. I stood at the front, the remote in my hand, and walked them through it.
"4-2-3-1," I said, clicking to the first slide our formation, the positions marked in red, the pressing triggers highlighted in yellow.
"Gegenpress. High line. We win the ball back within five seconds of losing it, or we don't press at all we reset and go again. There is no in-between." I clicked again.
"Stoke will set up in a 4-4-2. They'll sit deep. They'll be physical. Shawcross and Zouma in the middle, tight, aggressive, looking to win headers and bully our forwards. The full-backs will tuck in. The midfield will be compact. They want us to play in front of them, to get frustrated, to go long. We will not do that."
I clicked to the starting eleven. The room went still.
