The Godfather of Football

There had just been a light rain last night, and Amsterdam was shrouded in a layer of wet fog in the early morning.

Walking out of the hotel, Arteta was a little tired of the weather, as if he was a little resistant to this city and this club.

He is a Basque, and many people like to say that he is a product of Barcelona's youth training. That is wrong. He only stayed at La Masia for a year and a half before being loaned to Paris Saint-Germain by Barcelona.

The former French international Luis Fernandez brought him to Paris from Barcelona and entrusted him with important tasks, making him a teammate of Ronaldinho, Anelka and other famous European stars. He accumulated a lot of experience in Paris. He gained some game experience, but in the end he had to return to Barcelona.

Speaking of irony, he came to Catalonia from the Basque Country with the intention of playing for a giant team like Barcelona, ​​but this team never gave him even a chance to return from Paris Saint-Germain. After that, they told him unceremoniously that he could either go to the cold Scotland or the distant Netherlands. It's your choice.

Scotland and the Scottish Premiership are indeed too far away and somewhat out of reach for Arteta, who has lived on the European continent since he was a child. Relatively speaking, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, makes him feel closer, and Ye Qiu's Ajax successfully reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last season, which caused huge repercussions across Europe.

Of course, joining Ajax would make Arteta's name a little less pleasant. Everyone would say that it was Seydou Keita's move to Barcelona, ​​but in the end, Arteta still came to Amsterdam.

That was why he was a little resistant.

Pulling up the Adidas training clothes on his body, Arteta unzipped his coat, moved his hands and feet a few times, and began to run quickly towards the Arenal Stadium not far away.

Today is the first day of the team's training camp, and it is also the first day he came to Ajax, and it should also be the day he met the head coach he has admired for a long time for the first time, and this meeting is bound to be It will determine his future and destiny in the next four years at Ajax, so he is a little anxious and a little looking forward to it.

From the hotel to the stadium to the training base, Arteta did not stop for a moment and always maintained a constant movement. So when he ran to Detok Most, he was sweating a little and his body felt warm. , just completed the warm-up.

"Morning, Mikel!"

When passing the parking lot, captain Edwin van der Sar happened to get out of his car, "I came a little early."

"I got up early in the morning and staying in the hotel is not comfortable, so I might as well come here early!" Arteta replied with a smile.

He is not the kind of kid who has never been out. On the contrary, he left his hometown and came to Barcelona when he was a child, and was later loaned to Paris Saint-Germain by Barcelona, ​​so he knows very well how to adapt to a strange place. Environment, integrating into a strange group.

It is undoubtedly not a good idea to close yourself off. On the contrary, being proactive is the right thing to do.

"Young people are young people, full of energy!" Van der Sar praised with a smile.

The two walked into Detok Most's first-team training ground side by side. Since it is summer training, the team will practice three times a day during this period. This is also to make the team better. Adjust your body and conduct better physical reserve training to cope with the upcoming new season.

The captain of Van der Sar is not as flamboyant as Van Bommel. He does not have a strong personality, but he has an affinity and can talk to everyone. Therefore, the club and the coaching staff fully rely on him when it comes to accepting new players. .

Walking into the door, Mikel Arteta saw from a distance that in the comprehensive training area, the coaching staff was already busy setting up the training ground. When he came downstairs, he happened to see Ye Qiu and the medical research team. Peter Brandt walked out of the medical research room. The two were obviously discussing some topic, but Ye Qiu was talking and Brandt was listening.

"Good morning, sir!" Van der Sar greeted casually.

"Morning, Edwin!" Ye Qiu smiled and nodded. When he glanced at Arteta, he stopped, "Mikel Arteta?"

The Spaniard knew that this young-looking man was actually his head coach and the controller of his destiny for the next four years, so he straightened his body with a slightly serious tone, "Yes, Mr. Ye Qiu! "

His serious look and actions made the other three people laugh.

"Don't be so serious, Mikel, you don't like this!" Van der Sar said with a smile.

Arteta blushed a little and looked a little embarrassed standing there.

Ye Qiu waved his hand. Van der Sar and Peter Brandt knew that he wanted to chat with Arteta, so they all left with excuses.

"I'm sorry, Mikel, I was in Argentina when you came to Amsterdam, so I couldn't meet you right away. I must apologize to you for this."

Arteta was a little surprised. He had fantasized about countless scenes and opening remarks of meeting Ye Qiu, but he never thought that the first words the head coach communicated with him in private would be an apology, but this apology made him feel uncomfortable. In my heart, I couldn't help but feel that I was being taken seriously.

Yes, in Barcelona, ​​he was not taken seriously at all. Even in Paris Saint-Germain, he was just a temporarily loaned player and could not be taken seriously by the club. However, now that he has come to Ajax, Ye Qiu gave him this feeling the first time they met. This was the first time he had a good impression of Ajax and Ye Qiu.

"One thing I think I must make clear to you is that I hope you can understand that the rumors and hype in the outside media about you being Seydou Keita's transfer are all false. I I will never let players who I don’t like or who don’t contribute to the team stay on the team.”

"You are a player I hand-picked. I have watched videos of you playing for Paris Saint-Germain. I have also watched some videos of you playing for the Spanish National Youth Team. I have a deeper understanding of you than you think." It needs to go deeper.”

Arteta was a little flattered by Ye Qiu's words. He had indeed always thought that he was a part of Seydu Keita's transfer, but he didn't expect that Ye Qiu said otherwise, and judging from Ye Qiu's words In his words, he once again felt the feeling of being valued and relied upon by others.

"I'm sure you've seen some news about us last season. We lost control easily in the midfield. Everyone said we were very impactful. Robben and Van der Vaart were very fast on both sides. Ibrahimovic Rashimovich is outstanding and our offense is very strong, but we can be fast but not slow, and we can let go but not close.”

Arteta himself has played football, and he is a more traditional Spanish midfielder, organizing and controlling the rhythm. These are his strengths and his specialty. Moreover, he is still young, his speed is not slow, and he can pass and control the ball. He is proficient in everything, and is also good at long and short passes. His specialty is getting rid of the ball with his back.

Therefore, he could understand the meaning of Ye Qiu's words.

"We have determined from a long time ago that we will introduce a suitable metronome in the summer, and he and Sneijder will form the second echelon of our team's offense to deliver a steady stream of artillery shells to the front trident. "

After Arteta listened, he kept nodding. Ye Qiu's words resolved many doubts in his mind and allowed him to see his future in this young team more clearly, "I understand. , Mr. Ye Qiu.”

"Call me head, they all call me that!" Ye Qiu said with a smile.

"Yes... head!" Arteta replied with a smile.

"However, I still want to say something up front. I have always advocated holistic football. Our tactics in the past two years have placed great emphasis on integrity, using active on-the-spot counterattacks and pressure in the midfield and frontcourt to suppress opponents. With a high defensive system, the midfielder has a heavy task, so you have to be mentally prepared.”

Ye Qiu said this politely, but the subtext was very clear, that is, if your performance is not good, I will still let you serve as a substitute.

Arteta nodded, "Don't worry, boss, I will do my best."

"Not only do you go all out, you also have to tap into all your potential. We must make another scene in the Champions League this year to avoid last year's shame!" Ye Qiu said with a smile.

Last year, Ajax reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and became the dark horse of the year. This has surprised the whole of Europe. Now that Ye Qiu has revealed his goals for this season, even Arteta is impressed. After all, professional players Who doesn’t want to make a name for himself in the Champions League?

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Although Ajax trains three times a day and the first training session is very early, what surprised the two new players is that no one was late, and all of them arrived ten minutes early, even half-time Hours.

The players came to Detok Most, changed their clothes, and came to the training ground with great consciousness. Under the guidance and supervision of the coaching staff, they each performed warm-up activities to prepare for the first training session. prepare for.

Ye Qiu showed up at the training ground on time, but he was not as serious as Mascherano or Arteta imagined. Instead, while speaking, he joked with the players, talked about common things, and even Make fun of Lucio's marriage.

Originally, Ye Qiu planned to give him a few days of vacation, but the boy refused and came to Amsterdam on time to report. For this reason, Ye Qiu joked that he would not dare to go to his house in the future, otherwise he was afraid that the hostess would take revenge. himself, making the players laugh.

But in some aspects, Ye Qiu and the coaching staff were very strict, and that was the physical testing of the players.

Whoever is in over-the-top health, or who doesn't pay attention to self-control while on vacation, have all become the targets of Ye Qiu's severe criticism, and then he will give punishment, which is targeted double training to ensure that these players with poorer physical conditions can catch up. The team's progress.

I don’t know whether it was because he was too happy to get married, or whether he was a newlywed. Lucio, who was originally in amazing physical fitness, showed many data exceeding the standard during the physical examination, and finally fell to the middle of the overall ranking. This Suddenly he became the focus and object of ridicule for everyone in the team.

Although the Brazilian central defender has a rude face, he is actually very good at making jokes. Everyone laughed together. The atmosphere on the training ground was very good, making the two new players who joined the team feel like a family. Unity.

As for the training program, there are two physical reserve classes. The morning class is mainly based on some low-intensity but compact game projects. Some of them are bought by Ye Qiu from the Godfather training system. They are all some very strong ball-combined training. The focus is on regulating the players' bodies and cultivating and improving the cooperation and tacit understanding between players.

The second training class is mainly based on high-intensity physical reserve training. In this training class, the players must undergo high-intensity physical training. After learning from the lessons of the previous two years, the coaching staff of Ajax has appropriately improved and adjusted the team's physical reserve training program.

In the afternoon, after a rest, the last training class was ushered in. It was mainly based on tactical drills and ball training. However, because it was the early stage of the training camp, Ye Qiu mainly used some small-scale cooperation training and new training methods as the main training projects. Among them, the new training methods are temporarily based on the primary level.

Arteta and Mascherano were both exposed to Ajax's new training program for the first time. Whether it was a game like hitting the wall or a new elementary training method, it was very demanding on the players and could improve their strength and teamwork, but at the same time, it was very interesting.

At present, these two training methods have been popularized by Ajax Youth Training Camp, but the younger age groups are basically based on elementary training. As the age increases, they are constantly strengthened. I believe that with time, Ye Qiu's new training method will completely change the entire Ajax.

In fact, Ye Qiu has changed many people, such as Van der Vaart. The Dutch golden boy was not injured like in his previous life. Today, he is still very fast and sharp. Whether it is dribbling inside or crossing from the bottom on the right, it is his forte, and his skills, creativity and vision make him have a strong final pass even on the wing.

There is also Ibrahimovic. In his previous life, the Swede's last shot was always criticized, and his goal rate in key games also made many people dissatisfied. However, under Ye Qiu, Ibrahimovic's shooting skills may not be comparable to those of skill-based shooters such as Van Nistelrooy and Huntelaar, but they are definitely not bad, and have made great progress.

Ye Qiu redistributed the powers of the reorganized midfield.

From a purely positional perspective, the three midfielders stand in an oblique triangle, keeping a close distance from each other. Sneijder's position is to the right of the center in order to echo Van der Vaart. After Van der Vaart cuts in from the right, Maicon's back-up is also an important offensive means of Ajax.

Arteta's position is slightly behind Sneijder and a little to the left. Although he is a right-footed player, his left foot is very flexible. Like Sneijder, he is a very flexible player with both feet, but the two have different characteristics.

The Spaniard has some shortcomings in finding the opponent's loopholes and taking advantage of them, that is, the so-called passing lacks creativity and threat, but his long and short passes are excellent, his left and right feet are balanced, his ball control ability and rhythm control ability are very strong, and his ability to read the game and his overall view are very good.

Sneijder is a very interesting player. If everyone pays attention to his passing, it is not difficult to find that he rarely lets the ball stick to his feet. The whole process of running and passing is very fast. Some people even suspect that this kid knows where to pass the ball without looking at it.

In fact, he does not use his eyes to see, but when he runs to receive the ball, or before, he has already thought about where to pass the ball after receiving it, so he almost never lets the ball stop at his feet. Such a player should be positioned more forward, so as to play his advantages and his ability to attack from behind.

That is to say, in terms of division of labor, Arteta focuses on ball control and rhythm control, is responsible for dispatching and distributing ball rights, and is more like a military strategist sitting in the midfield, specializing in controlling the overall situation, while Sneijder is responsible for threading the needle and passing threatening balls in front, and Van der Vaart on the right can also pass threatening balls. His passing and creativity are also very good.

Undoubtedly, the last one to be dragged is Mascherano or De Jong. The latter has been in the Eredivisie for two years and his strength has improved rapidly. Although he is very young, as a versatile player, he is a very important card in Ye Qiu's hand.

In Ye Qiu's heart, he knows very well that if the midfield can have stronger control and higher ball possession rate, then the team will have more time to control the ball, then he dares to let Maicon invest more in the attack and let Sneijder and Van der Vaart create more threats in the midfield.

To achieve this, Arteta is very important.

In the past, Ajax was very aggressive. Although they could launch many magnificent attacks and conduct a series of penetration cooperation, they always had an urge to swallow the opponent in one gulp. This was more reflected in the team's offense. Although it was very beautiful and exciting, it was also very dangerous. It felt like risking one's life.

Ye Qiu believed that any fan in the world liked to see this kind of passionate offensive football because it was beautiful; but he also believed that no head coach in the world would be willing to let his team adopt this adventurous style of play because the risk was too high, and tactics were fundamentally about controlling the risk of the team winning.

Ye Qiu wanted to introduce a metronome because he hoped to control the team through the metronome. When the situation was favorable, the team could launch a fast-paced attack and completely crush the opponent; but once the situation was unfavorable, it was necessary to sacrifice speed in exchange for stability.

Between tension and relaxation, it was all about the art of control.

Ye Qiu didn't know whether Arteta could help his Ajax reach the level and performance he wanted, but he thought that, at least so far, Arteta was the player he could introduce who best met this requirement.

So, he was willing to take a risk for this!