Napoli actually had the budget to go abroad for training, but Gao Shen refused.

  The advantage of training abroad is that you focus and avoid distras, but there are also drawbacks the pyers have to travel bad forth.

  Many pyers in Napoli had just joihe team. They were not familiar with their surroundings, and suddenly taking them to another unfamiliar pce was not appropriate. It would affect the speed at which the pyers ied.

  Therefore, after discussing it with the coag staff and ma, Gao Shen decided to hold a closed training camp at Castel Volturno.

  All visitors were turned away, and the camp was only open to fans for half a day a week, with no media allowed.

  But this led to the outside world knowing nothing about the situation in Napoli. No one even knew what was happening with Gao Shen's team. People could only occasionally learn from the photos released on the club's official website that the team was training as pnned.

  Starting from July 10, Napoli held closed training sessions at Castel Volturno for a full ten days.

  Gao Shen's routine basically involved two pces: from the Bay Area of o Castel Volturno. It was the same for the pyers.

  It wasn't until the 21st that the team officially went out to py a warm-up match. The oppo was a third-tier Serie C1 team. Napoli pyed very poorly and, in the end, it was Caiò's goal after ing off the bench that helped the team win 1-0.

  After that, Napoli went out to py a warm-up match every few days. The oppos were not very strong, mostly Serie d C2 teams, but the team's performance was not very satisfactory.

  This led to a tinuous dee in the expectations of the outside world for Napoli.

  Some reporters eveo watapoli's warm-up matches ahat the team's overall tactics were chaotic, pying without any clear system, and there was no cohesioween offense and defense.

  "Obviously, the shortings of Gao Sheensive restructuring of the team have started to show."

  August roag.

  At this time, a piece of news came out of Napoli: the team's top scorer from st season, and also the top scorer in several of this summer's warm-up matches, Caiò, announced his trao Siena. The transfer fee was 3.2 million euros.

  The deal, which was iated by Marino, was well-received.

  Wheeam first started training, Gao Shen talked to Caiò. He discussed his intended use of him, but Caiò did not agree with Gao Shen's ideas. He said he was more suited to being a goal-scorer and preferred pying in the middle of the front liher than on the fnks.

  Although Gao Shen expihat his wingers would actually rely more on the middle, Caiò still disagreed and instructed his agent to look for aeam.

  Siena, who had just been relegated from Serie A st season, took a liking to this young local striker aually signed him for 3.2 million euros.

  The deal once again sparked heated discussions in Italian football.

  On one hand, Napoli had not performed well in the warm-up matches; the team's anization in offense and defense was chaotiow, the team had sent away their top scorer, which added another yer of uainty.

  Former Real Madrid President Martín jumped out again, acg Gao Shen of f Caiò away, just like how he suppressed Ronaldo at Real Madrid. But at Real Madrid, under his advice, Ronaldo was finally able to e bad bee a hero who helped Real Madrid win the double .

  But this time in Napoli, Gao Shen stubbornly sent Caiò away.

  ...

  In the face of external disputes, Gao Shen still did not respond.

  The chaos withieam had always been within the expectations of Gao Shen and the coag staff, which art of the normal process.

  The role of the warm-up matches is to tinuously expose problems and then solve them, which is a form ress.

  Especially for Napoli, a team that had just undergone a reanization and brought in a actical cept, this required an adaptation process for any team and group of pyers.

  Gao Shen was even prepared aally ready to tinue adjusting things after a month.

  But, in fact, the team's progress was still satisfactory.

  The youth of the pyers, after all, made them easier to shape. It was easier for the coach to instill his tactical ideas, and they adapted more quickly.

  More importantly, in addition to training and unig with the pyers almost every day, Gao Shen also weled pyers to ask all sorts of questions, whether on or off the pitch.

  Gao Shen is only 25 years old, quite close io the pyers, but he has an iing soul from 2021. Many of his ideas and things are very attractive to young pyers.

  For example, he told the pyers that in the Uates, there was a pany called Apple that was developing a groundbreaking mobile phohat would pletely ge the world. It would be super smart and easy to use.

  "It will be released in January. As long as our team is iop three in the league by the winter break, I'll give each of you an iPhone!"

  Gao Shen had used it before, so the phone he described was extremely attractive to young pyers at that time.

  Young people ily have a hard time resistironic products.

  Besides catering to their is, Gao Shen also tried to find ways to help pyers relieve the pressure and fatigue caused by training, such as arranging some team activities like dinners and outdames.

  The biggest differeween Gao Shen and older coaches is that he uands the mi of these young people.

  Restraining them is worse than guiding them.

  The most important thing is to teach the pyers how to mahemselves when it's time to rex, they should fully rex, and when it's time to work hard, they should go all out.

  It was als this period that Gao Shen really discovered the self-discipline of Real Madrid pyers. Even a pyer like Ronaldo, who was stantly iabloids, was surprisingly self-disciplined when he o be.

  The pyers in this Napoli team were just starting their careers and were far from mature. This was the perfect time to instill the right values in them. Gao Shen took on the role of a big brother, always advising and guiding them, helping them set the right dire in life.

  Uh... well, it was actually more about making promises and giving motivational speeches.

  Whether it's in a pany or a team, this tactic for dealing with young people is always effective.

  ...

  In August, Napoli's oppo in the first round of the Coppa Italia was revealed.

  Luckily, it was Frosinone, a newly promoted team from Serie B.

  Like Napoli st season, this team was in Group B of Serie apoli won the championship and earned promotion, while Frosinone finished sed and earned promotion through the pyoffs.

  Ichups betweewo teams st season, Napoli beat them 3-1 away and drew 1-1 at home.

  Uedly, after both teams were promoted to Serie B, they would meet in the cup right at the start.

  The good news is that Napoli will be pying at home.

  Lucas specifically tracked Frosinone and collected a lot of information about this team. He found that the most hy pyer in this team is the Vearget man Margiotta, who just came on loan from Viza.

  Frosinone is most adept at pying a 4-4-2 formation, with two forwards bining oall and one quick pyer.

  The tall striker is Margiotta, and the speedy one is Antonio Di Nardo.

  These two pyers have several years of experien Serie B and are quite strong. The bination of a tall and quick pyer is very cssi lower leagues, it's still quite lethal.

  In fact, st season, Reja's Napoli also pyed a 4-4-2 with a tall and a quick forward bination.

  After learning about Frosinone's situation, Gao Shen could basically clude that this team had a certain level of strength, but Napoli had an advahe key was to establish a stable tactical framework before this game so that the pyers could showcase their abilities.

  ...

  As August approached, Napoli arranged four secutive warm-up matches, pying one every three days.

  The oppos were not strong; they were mostly teams from the Serie d C2 leagues. Some were io Napoli, while for others, Napoli traveled away. The purpose was to train.

  The warm-up results remained uen, but the performances were insistent.

  After each game, Gao Shen would hold an analysis meeting, reviewing the problems exposed during the game with the pyers based on specially made videos.

  For instance, in midfield, Gao Shen preferred a double pivot of Biglia and Rakitic, but these two pyers frequently failed to maintain their positions and distahis was because both of them were more aced to pying forward, especially Rakitic.

  It would take some time.

  Then there were the tral defenders. Gao Shen tried binations with avaro, David Luiz, Bonucci, and Domizzi in rotation. His requirement was that the tral defenders should dare to hold the ball and be capable of passing it out, but they still frequently made mistakes.

  This also required time.

  For the goalkeeper, Gao Shen chose Handanovi?. He is tall, quick to react, and has strong individual skills. However, Gao Shen wanted him to unicate more with the bae, even to and the defense, and at the same time be more proactive in ing off his lio respond to back passes from the midfield to expand trol.

  This was obviously a pletely different type of goalkeeper training than what Handanovi? had received before, and he also ime to adapt.

  Even in the forward line, Gao Shen experimented with pyers like Pellè, i, and Roberto Sosa, and it became clear that i was the standout. Once he was on the field, he practically ran riot. However, the es betweewo wings, and the support from Hamsik or Vidal ing from behind, were not yet fully developed.

  This is not surprising, as fiuning the attack is often the most time-ing and challenging part of coag. It requires not only precise execution and movement from the pyers but also a high level of uanding, imagination, and creativity.

  As a result, Napoli's stro aspect remaiheir defense.

  This is why the team mao stay uen in four warm-up matches and didn't cede a single goal after entering August.

  However, the solidity in defense during these warm-up matches may not be entirely reliable. Ohe official games begin, the iy will increase signifitly, the attag pressure on the defense will grow, and more issues are likely to be exposed.

  After pleting the four warm-up matches, Gao Shen anized a closed training camp at Castel Volturno.

  He aimed to address the issues that the team had shown in the remaining days before the cup matches began and to help the pyers internalize his tactical approach as much as possible.

  This was crucial because, over the following week, Napoli would face three cup matches in quick succession, all of which were single-elimination games.