The Godfather of Football

Sometimes, people are really weird.

Just like Gretz now, standing in front of the visiting team's coaching bench at the Arena Stadium, looking at the formations on the court, preparing to start this focus game that attracts the attention of the whole Netherlands, his heart is bursting with confidence. But with a little uneasiness.

It seems very complicated, even a bit contradictory, but this is exactly how he feels now.

The reason for his overwhelming confidence is that he clearly knows how to restrain Ye Qiu's Ajax. This was done very well by Boavista at the Besa Stadium in Portugal not long ago, but Jaime Pacheco The team did not start well.

Having played against Ye Qiu several times, Gretz believes that the start is very important when playing against Ye Qiu.

Ye Qiu has a very strong desire to control the rhythm of the game. He is the kind of head coach who likes to firmly control the initiative. Therefore, his team is always good at controlling the rhythm and situation after the start. Therefore, , to beat such a team, if you can't make a good start, you will be very passive.

The reason why Boavista only lost 1 goal was because Pacheco's team did not give Ajax ample space most of the time. They adopted fierce and decisive, large-scale pressing and oppression. It compresses Ajax's offensive space and prevents Ajax's offense from spreading on a large scale.

Of course, Robben and Sneijder are missing due to injuries, and players are afraid of their opponents' fierce style of play. These are some of the factors.

Boavista's failure was that after the start, they didn't think at all and blindly followed the rhythm of Ajax. What Ajax is best at is fast-paced attacks. You follow them. Come on, you're dead.

Therefore, in this game, Gretz specifically practiced the team's three-line coordinated defense in order to restrain Ajax.

Gretz has enough confidence in his team's offense. The twin tower combination of Hesselink and Brukink, coupled with the fast German, and Romedal on the right, PSV's offensive strength There is no need to worry at all, all he needs to do is consolidate his defense and fight Ajax's counterattack.

Moreover, Robben and Sneijder will be absent due to injuries in this game, which will also have an impact on Ajax's offense.

Robben was replaced by Hleb. The Belarusian proved to be a suitable substitute, with good and bad performances. He was amazing at times, but he did not consistently perform well and gave people the impression of lacking. confidence.

Yaya Toure replaced Sneijder, but the Ivorian was unable to pass a fatal through ball similar to Sneijder in the frontcourt, not to mention that the Ivorian preferred to stick to the ball, which is a problem for a player who spends most of the game. For players who are in the tight defensive area of ​​the opponent's defensive midfield, this shortcoming is very, very fatal.

These two points will be Gretz's key targets.

He insisted that if Robben and Sneijder start as usual, Ajax's overall strength will be very good. Even if it is stronger than Eindhoven, the odds of winning are only 40 to 60 at best. After all, Eindhoven is in morale. And the team's record disadvantages in the past two years will definitely lead to a lack of confidence.

But now that there is no Robben on the left and Sneijder in the center, how much strength can Ajax still show?

Confidence was high and victory was certain, but when Gretz saw Ye Qiu standing in front of the home team's coaching bench, he still felt panicked.

In the past two years, he did not get even a little advantage from Ye Qiu. Ye Qiu was like his nightmare, becoming a shadow above him and Eindhoven, lingering. go.

But Gretz is Gretz after all. He has won the Eredivisie championship for two consecutive years, which gives him some confidence.

Taking a deep breath, Gretz forced himself to suppress the anxiety in his heart, exhaled a breath of resentment, and concentrated on preparing for the crucial battle that was about to come.

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"To all the fans in front of the TV, this is the Arena Stadium in Amsterdam!"

"What we are seeing now is the 14th round of the Eredivisie, a crucial match between league leader Ajax and defending champion PSV, because Ajax currently leads PSV by 4 points , so many people believe that this game may affect the final ownership of the Eredivisie championship this season!”

"What we see now is Ajax's starting lineup. The goalkeeper is captain Edwin van der Sar, and the defense is Abidal, Kivu, Lucio and Maicon. This is also Ajax's original lineup. The main defensive line this season, central defender Lucio, who was questioned last season, has performed well recently, and his partnership with Kivu and the communication behind Van der Sar have become more and more tacit. "

"In the midfield, Keita and Gilberto Silva are also the main midfielders of Ajax this season. Sneijder was injured in the Champions League game. Ye Qiu chose Yaya Toure to start this time. Also missing due to injury is Robben on the left. Ye Qiu arranged Hleb, Ibrahimovic and Van der Vaart on the trident.”

"Compared to the absence of Ajax's main players, PSV is strong and aggressive. The goalkeeper is Watrous, the defense is Bouma, Hovland, Faber and Oyer, and the midfielder is They are Kežman, Van Bommel, Vogel and Romedal, and the double forwards are Hesselinck and Brukink.”

"The players from both sides have already lined up on the court, and PSV Eindhoven, who is playing away from home, will kick off first."

With the referee's whistle, Hesselinck kicked the ball to Brookink, sounding the horn of this crucial battle.

"Okay, with the referee's whistle, the game officially begins!"

The moment the whistle sounded at the beginning of the game, the entire Arenal Stadium began to boo loudly. It was obviously aimed at PSV Eindhoven, who was playing away. This team was Ajax's best team in recent years. The biggest rival has brought countless pain to Ajax fans.

But soon the boos turned into cheers.

I saw Keita rushing forward as soon as the game started, obviously intending to launch an aggressive press in the midfield and frontcourt.

"This is a tactic Ajax usually uses in games. Through high-intensity midfield and frontcourt pressure and pressing, they force their opponents to increase the tempo of the game and bring the game into their favorite fast-paced state."

With the pressure from Keita, Ibrahimovic, Hleb and others, PSV could not help but quickly throw the ball back and forth in their own backcourt, but soon, Keita used his body to hold it. Vogel beautifully used his feet to pass the ball to Hleb on the left.

The Belarusian had his back to the Eindhoven goal. After getting the ball, he felt Oye approaching behind him, so he chose to dribble the ball back and knocked it back to Abidal, the left back who stepped forward to receive the ball. The Frenchman stopped the ball and knocked it horizontally. To Gilberto Silva.

Gilberto Silva poked forward, and the ball soon followed a straight line to the feet of Yaya Toure.

Yaya Toure stopped the ball very steadily and wanted to look around, but Van Bommel was already behind him. The Ivorian had no more time and could only choose to use his body to hold Van Bommel with his flexible and slender legs crossed. After receiving the ball, he suddenly took a step back, turned to the left, picked up his right foot and made a powerful pass.

This pass went directly behind Bouma. Van der Vaart originally planned to run over to meet Yaya Toure, and then cut inside, but Yaya Toure suddenly passed the ball to the bottom line, which was beyond his expectation. Unexpected, because the Dutchman cuts inside more on the right rather than going down.

The ball fell to Bouma's feet without any suspense, and PSV reorganized an attack.

An offensive opportunity was lost, but Ajax did not feel depressed because of this, because the opponent did not give them time to be depressed, so they immediately invested in pressing and pressing in the midfield and frontcourt.

Soon, there was another chance. After Gilberto Silva intercepted the ball successfully, he moved it to the right and handed it to Maicon.

The Brazilian right back quickly moved forward after receiving the ball, very fast, and Van der Vaart cut diagonally inward, leaving the entire right sideline area to Maicon, and the latter did not slow down at all, and kept going. Rush forward.

After rushing to an area almost parallel to the edge of the PSV penalty area, Maicon made an emergency stop, shook off the approaching Bouma, and knocked it to Van der Vaart, who attracted Hovland's ball after taking the ball. After paying attention, he made a fake move to shake off Hovland, but failed, and could only cross to the front of the penalty area.

At this time, as long as Yaya Toure and Van der Vaart can have a better understanding, take two steps forward, and take a long shot from the top of the arc, it will definitely pose a threat to PSV's goal, but Yaya Toure Ray obviously did not expect that Van der Vaart would suddenly pass the ball to him. When he realized it and rushed forward, Faber had already made a big-footed clearance.

"It's a pity that Ajax missed a good scoring opportunity!" the on-site commentator said with regret.

What Ajax is best at is attacking. If you pay attention to Ajax's games, it is not difficult to find that once Ajax has established a sufficient advantage at the beginning, it can win almost all such games. Because what Ye Qiu's team likes most is to control the rhythm in their own hands.

Ye Qiu, who was sitting in the home team's coaching bench, saw that Yaya Toure failed to catch the shot. He let out a heavy breath and felt helpless, because if it was Sneijder or Keita this time, Nine times out of ten, at least it can lead to a shot, but the Ivorian is a bit of a hindsight.

There was no way around it. There was a lack of tacit understanding. Van der Vaart passed the ball very suddenly. By the time Yaya Toure reacted, there was almost no way to catch up with the ball.

"He looks a little nervous and a little impatient!" Bobby Harms has a keen eye and can see through Yaya Toure's problem at a glance. This kid is a little eager to win.

Ye Qiu shook his head and smiled, "Sneijder is famous for his fast passing. Yaya Toure now wants to imitate him, but he is not Sneijder. This kid's fast passing is too blind and he has no sense of the overall situation. ”

It may be due to personality, or it may be due to the playing habits developed since childhood. Everyone's playing style and characteristics are different. Sneijder's characteristic is to pass the ball quickly, without any sloppiness, and never Let the ball stay at your feet for a long time, run to it, catch it, and pass it to him. The reason why he can do this is because when Sneijder runs to catch the ball, he has already thought about what he will do after catching the ball. How to throw the ball.

Yaya Toure has always been a stickler for the ball, and Ye Qiu and the coaching staff have criticized him many times for this, but this does not mean that everyone thinks that Yaya Toure should become another Sneijder. ,That is impossible.

Ye Qiu is very clear about Yaya Toure's ability. He is strong and can protect the ball. He can also dribble and advance. He has excellent desire and ability to attack from behind, but he is not the type of Sneijder who is good at passing the ball through.

"This kid is now blindly pursuing speed, without a sense of direction and purpose, and his movement is a bit chaotic. He did not play what he is best at, but instead exposed his weaknesses to the fullest. What do you think of him..." Ricklink's eyes are notoriously venomous, and he also saw the problem.

Ye Qiu smiled after hearing this, left his seat, walked out, stood on the sidelines and waited for a while, and ushered in a dead ball opportunity, so he waved to Yaya Toure.

"Hey, kid, I let you start because I want you to play as Yaya Toure, not to do Sneijder's job. Do you understand?" Ye Qiu stood on the sidelines and knocked on this stupid boy.

Sometimes this black bean looks smart, but sometimes it is stupid and can't turn around.

"Boss, I..." Yaya Toure looked aggrieved. He might think that I have tried my best.

"Your strengths are your body, ball control, back-ins, and wide-ranging running. I don't want you to do what Sneijder did. I want you to do what Yaya Toure can do and do well!" After saying that, Ye Qiu turned around and walked back to the coaching booth.

Yaya Toure ran back to the court slowly, still thinking about what Ye Qiu had just said.

When he was in Cote d'Ivoire, Yaya Toure's position was vague. After coming to Ajax, he had a strong body, excellent running ability, and a solid one-on-one defense, so the coaching staff positioned him as a defensive player.

But Ye Qiu didn't think so, because he felt that Yaya Toure's offensive ability should not be sacrificed and suppressed.

Ye Qiu's definition of Yaya Toure has never been that of a back-attack player like Xabi Alonso and Pirlo. He thinks it should be the opposite. Yaya Toure is better at being a front-pressing player because he has excellent dribbling ability.

Strictly speaking, there are generally two types of dribbling. One is the type of Ronaldo, which is purely based on speed and explosive power, as well as the combination of man and ball at high speed. Robben and Kaka are also of this type; the other is the type of Zidane, who is not fast in himself, but through the firm control of the ball, the ball moves with the person.

Explosive dribbling is very direct, directly hitting the opponent's soft spot, and it is also very ornamental and deadly. But the problem is that the error rate of this type of advancement is generally high, and there is a premise, that is, the opponent reveals a flaw. If the opponent does not have a flaw, this type of dribbling will have little effect.

The ball control type is more secretive and difficult to steal. Even if it fails, it can ensure that the ball is under control. The risk is small, but it requires a high level of ball control skills from the players. However, the attack on the opponent is not as direct and effective as the explosive type of advancement. The problem is that even if the opponent does not reveal a flaw, this type of dribbling advancement can maximize the pressure on the opponent's defense line.

Imagine that an unbreakable defense line is constantly rushed forward by a player with the ball. It is simply a nightmare for the defending party, and once they are oppressed to a certain extent, they will naturally reveal flaws.

Zidane's excellence does not lie in his speed, but in his ability to use his skilled ball control skills to oppress the opponent's defense line and force the opponent to reveal flaws when the opponent has no flaws. Once a flaw appears, he passes the ball to help his teammates attack the flaw.

Yaya Toure certainly can't reach Zidane's level, but his physique, speed, athletic ability, and defensive ability are all better, which means that although he can't become Zidane, he can become another unique type of midfielder and frontcourt role player.

The premise is that he has to change his old habit of sticking to the ball!

Yaya Toure returned to the court, and the words Ye Qiu said to him yesterday came to his mind.

"Keep calm, trust your teammates, pass the ball well, and you can dominate a game!"

Before, he always thought that Ye Qiu's meaning of asking him to pass the ball well was to pass the ball like Sneijder, which made him guess Ye Qiu's intention wrong from the beginning of the game, causing him to feel a bit like a HD toddler in the game, struggling and uncomfortable.

But now that Ye Qiu said this, he found that what he did in the previous ten minutes was far from the head coach's idea, and what did Ye Qiu mean by passing the ball well?

Yaya Toure was not stupid. He quickly thought of Ye Qiu's past requirements for him and what he had just said to him. He immediately understood Ye Qiu's requirements, which was to do what Yaya Toure was best at, but to trust his teammates at critical moments and pass good balls to his teammates.

Thinking of this, Yaya Toure wanted to give it a try.

The ball was knocked back from Hleb's feet to Keita again. Yaya Toure came over immediately and raised his hand to ask for the ball.

The ball came from Keita's feet to Yaya Toure's feet. Yaya Toure, who took the ball with his back, immediately felt the pressure behind him. Van Bommel always approached him at the first opportunity.

But this time, Yaya Toure stopped the ball and stopped it directly to the left side of himself and Van Bommel. On the one hand, he suppressed Van Bommel with his body, and at the same time, he turned sideways and turned from Van Bommel's left side, secretly blocking Van Bommel with his left hand and left shoulder, and dribbled the ball before the Dutchman, and dribbled past Van Bommel.

After passing, Yaya Toure did not hesitate at all. About 19 meters away from the goal, Hofland saw that Van Bommel had been dribbled past, and immediately left his position to grab the ball, while Van der Vaart was ready to move on the right.

Yaya Toure saw Hovland coming up and immediately pushed with his right foot.

The ball quickly passed by Hovland and went straight behind him, and at this time Van der Vaart had also quickly started to cut in from the right and rushed straight to the penalty area of ​​​​PSV from the ribs.