The Godfather of Football

In late October, the weather in London is rapidly getting colder, and there is more rain this year. At least two out of three days are cloudy and rainy, especially recently, it has been raining non-stop.

Mother Zhang Yuxiu is not unfamiliar with this kind of weather, and she smiled and said that it is a bit like the typhoon days in her hometown Xiamen.

After living in London for a while, her father went back. Huang Jinsong and his wife traveled around Europe and would come to visit their daughter from time to time. They planned to stay in Europe, and there are many places here that are very attractive to them.

Ye Qiu has not been in a good mood recently. After breakfast, he stood in front of the balcony sliding door, looking at the hazy courtyard outside with rain like a curtain, a little dazed. Although his team had just defeated the visiting Moscow Central Army 2:0 at home in the third round of the Champions League group stage, winning three consecutive group victories, they still suffered tremendous pressure.

Their league points with Arsenal quickly expanded to 5 points, and they still lost to opponents like Manchester City.

To be honest, Ye Qiu was a little worried. When playing against CSKA Moscow, the team's performance was not ideal. In the past few days, the training base seemed to be always filled with a depressing atmosphere. The players seemed to be still immersed in the shadow of losing the game and ending the unbeaten record. This is definitely not a good thing.

Next, the team will face Blackburn led by Mark Hughes. This is also a tough team. Although Blackburn is currently in the relegation zone, this team is still very tenacious once it goes crazy.

Arsenal also ushered in a college entrance examination. They are going to Manchester to challenge Manchester United. Ferguson's team is now ranked 8th in the league. It is indeed time to win a victory. However, Ye Qiu does not know whether Ferguson's team has enough strength to defeat the unstoppable Arsenal.

The Gunners' state this season is a bit scary, which is indeed surprising. It is not only Henry, Pires, Reyes and other players, but also Vieira. The French midfielder quickly walked out of the summer transfer storm and showed a surprising state.

On the other hand, Chelsea's performance this season has been depressing, and its status has been intermittent and without continuity. After each national team match, the team will encounter some setbacks, either a draw or a loss.

Fortunately, October has passed, and there will be no national team match tasks next. It depends on how Ye Qiu and the coaching staff adjust the players' status and launch an attack on Arsenal before and after the winter break.

In fact, Ye Qiu had already begun to adjust the players' status after reaching a tacit understanding with the national team coaches. One of the important factors for the loss to Manchester City is that most of the main players did not play.

Now Ye Qiu's strategy is also very clear. With three consecutive wins in the Champions League group, it is not a big problem to qualify for the group. The rest is to make a full effort to impact the league. In addition, Chelsea is not affected by the national team match. If it does not work hard, it may be impossible to win the league championship this year.

Looking at the gloomy sky outside the house, Ye Qiu feels that Chelsea's current situation is the same as the weather in London. If you can survive it, there will be a sunny rainbow, and if you can't survive it, it may be a heavy rain.

"Okay, I can go now!" Huang Chu, the wife, also finished the nutritious breakfast specially prepared by her mother-in-law Zhang Yuxiu, packed up her things, changed her clothes, walked out of the room, and said to Ye Qiu.

In fact, she has only been pregnant for a short time, and you can't tell that she is pregnant at all. It's just that her waistline has become a little fatter, and she has started to wear looser clothes, which is a different kind of charming charm. However, Zhang Yuxiu is very stubborn about nutrition, and always wants to stuff all the nutritious good things into her daughter-in-law's stomach.

Ye Qiu also joked about this with his mother, saying that if his daughter-in-law is fat and can't lose weight, then he will have a hard life!

Of course, this is a joke. In fact, from the moment they got married, no matter whether Huang Chu is fat or thin, Ye Qiu will never leave her. This is not only a promise made when they got married, but also because he really loves Huang Chu.

"Okay!" Ye Qiu smiled slightly and nodded.

Arriving at the living room and taking the key, Ye Qiu walked to the entrance of the dining room, "Mom, we're going to work!"

"Yeah!" Zhang Yuxiu was busy in the kitchen, "Hey, Ye Qiu, remember to bring back a fish at noon and make soup for Ah Chu in the evening!"

"I know!" Ye Qiu nodded, smiled at his wife, and curled his lips, as if to say, still drinking, you are already fat enough.

Huang Chu looked helpless and aggrieved. He held Ye Qiu's coat in his hand and handed it to him, asking him to put it on. It was cold outside, but his expression seemed to say, do you think I am happy? I am not your mother.

"Don't dawdle over there, you two must be talking about me again, hurry to work, drive slowly on the road!"

Don't listen to Zhang Yuxiu's hard tone, in fact, she is concerned, meaning that if you go to work early, you can spend more time on the road. If you are late, you must be in a hurry on the road, but she speaks very quickly and directly, and sometimes she can't express it clearly.

However, Ye Qiu and Huang Chu understand her, and they all laugh and go downstairs to the garage.

There was a new Porsche Cayenne in the garage that originally only had two Ferraris, and it was brand new. Ye Qiu bought it not long ago.

To be honest, driving a super sports car was very cool and exciting before, but now he has to pick up his wife to go to get off work every day, so Ye Qiu wants to be safer. And when Huang Chu gets pregnant in the future, it will definitely not be convenient to ride in a sports car, so he went out of his way to buy a Cayenne to pick up Huang Chu to go to get off work.

"You sit in the back!" Ye Qiu pointed at the back seat and got in the car.

Huang Chu made a face at him and got in the back seat without saying much, because Ye Qiu said it was safer to sit in the back seat.

Ye Qiu drove very fast when he was alone, but now that Huang Chu was with him, he became cautious. Even though the garage and yard at home were relatively large and it was convenient to reverse, he was still cautious.

After leaving the house, he drove easily all the way, even on the highway, he kept it at around 100.

"You guys are under a lot of pressure recently, right?" Huang Chu sat in the middle and looked at Ye Qiu from between the two front seats.

"It's okay!" Ye Qiu looked ahead and answered, "Losing the game is not necessarily a bad thing. It's very stressful to remain unbeaten for a long time. Now that we lose, the worst thing is to start all over again. It's nothing great, but it's easier."

This is indeed a difficult thing to say. The key is how your head coach guides.

Recently, Ye Qiu asked the psychologists of the coaching team to go all out to provide psychological counseling to the players and relieve their pressure, hoping that they can try to avoid depression caused by losing goals. On the contrary, he wants to turn losing into the motivation for the team to rise again.

Staying unbeaten is like adding luggage to yourself. The more unbeaten games, the heavier the luggage. Now that you have lost, you can get on the road easily after throwing away these luggage, and Ye Qiu is fully prepared for this.

It can be said that since the team has been unbeaten for a long time, Ye Qiu has been preparing a comfort plan after losing. It’s just that the team won the championship unbeaten last season, and the team has never lost. The League Cup and FA Cup are not taken seriously by the team, so this set of plans has never been put to use. Now that you finally lost a game, it may not be a bad thing.

"Yes, I see that you were under a lot of pressure in the past. Now you start from the beginning, just let go a little, and don’t care what those people say. Just do what you want to do and what you think you should do." Huang Chu has also heard some news.

Ye Qiu nodded gratefully at his wife. Although he didn't need others to help him with many things, it was always a good thing to have someone to help him. At least he knew that no matter how big the difficulties were, there would be someone to share them with him.

The couple talked and laughed along the way and soon entered the city. After Ye Qiu sent Huang Chu to Wellington Hospital, he drove back to the ring road, went south all the way, and headed straight to Cobham. Not long after, he arrived at the training base.

The security team of Cobham was still very responsible. Even though it was raining, they were still on duty at the duty post. When they saw Ye Qiu coming, they waved to Ye Qiu from the window and sent him in.

After parking the car, he trotted into the training building in the rain and went straight to the second floor.

"It's really on time, 8:30!" Roland and the others had already arrived. Seeing Ye Qiu rushing over in the rain, they smiled and said.

According to Ye Qiu's plan, he would send Huang Chu to work and then come to Cobham, exactly 8:30. Of course, sometimes there was a little traffic jam, and he would drive faster on the highway to make up for it. Anyway, the time was about the same.

"It may be difficult to conduct morning training sessions outdoors!" Ten Cate looked at the heavy rain outside and shook his head and sighed.

It has been raining these days, but it was basically light, but it was very heavy today. Although it was not as severe as a rainstorm, it was definitely heavy rain. If you really want to train in such heavy rain, it is still quite dangerous, such as injuries.

"Do outdoor training in the afternoon. In the morning, have a meeting first and then go to the gym!" Ye Qiu made arrangements immediately.

For Chelsea, this kind of training during the league now is more about adjusting the players' status. So, it can be done on the court, in the gym, or even let the players rest, which is not a problem.

"By the way, how is the psychologist's evaluation report?" Ye Qiu asked casually.

Roland nodded and said, "Not bad, at least I didn't find anyone crying!"

After saying this, Ye Qiu, Ten Cate and others all laughed, because the media reported that many Chelsea players cried after losing, and the news came from insiders, which seemed to show Chelsea's weakness and fragility.

"But we really need a victory now!" Ten Cate said.

Ye Qiu nodded. He knew very well that the victory Ten Cate was talking about was not a 1:0 victory, but a victory with absolute advantage, because only in this way can Chelsea's morale and fighting spirit be restored to the greatest extent.

"How are the players recovering?" Ye Qiu asked again.

"Ronaldinho has rested for two games. He didn't play in Manchester City and CSKA Most. Deco and Drogba also rested for two games. I tested Drogba yesterday. He is as strong as an elephant now!" Peter Brandt smiled. He is responsible for the team's medical and physical fitness.

Before every training session every day, the coaching staff will hold the same meeting. Everyone will talk about the projects they are responsible for and their own situations. After the communication, the head coach will make decisions and coordination.

It can be said that since losing to Manchester City, Ye Qiu and everyone have been waiting for this game in the past week!

Blackburn has not won 3 games. Hughes' team has obviously reached the bottom of morale. This is undoubtedly in line with what Chelsea wants now, that is, to win a big victory, preferably a hearty victory, to rebuild morale!

In the first two years when Souness coached Blackburn, due to the club's investment and Souness's tough management, Blackburn's performance improved year by year after the promotion, and even won the League Cup, which was the only championship Souness won at Blackburn. After that, Blackburn's performance went from bad to worse.

Last season, Blackburn almost fell into the relegation zone and finally ranked 15th. Blackburn did not strengthen the team this season because Souness suddenly transferred from Blackburn to Newcastle, which caught Blackburn off guard. Although Mark Hughes took office in a hurry, many things were delayed because of this.

Speaking of which, Souness's transfer to Newcastle is also an unsolved case, because Souness's performance in Blackburn last season is absolutely impossible to be called outstanding, and he can't even get a passing score. Many people think that whether it is Steve Bruce, Venables, or even Shearer, they are more suitable to take over the Magpies than Souness, but in the end it is Souness.

Ye Qiu couldn't understand this phenomenon. He believed that even many local English football people couldn't understand such a choice. They chose Souness instead of a better head coach.

Who is Souness?

Anyone who is familiar with English football will never forget how he brought Liverpool, which was in its heyday, to a slump. If the Heysel and Hillsborough disasters were external factors, then Souness in the 1990s was the number one culprit for Liverpool's decline from prosperity. Even now, he is still the most unpopular former Liverpool player in the eyes of Liverpool fans.

You know, he was a famous player who had brought supreme honor to Liverpool. Would he be like this without a raging rage?

Ye Qiu was not bored enough to get involved in the affairs of Newcastle and Blackburn. He just wanted to take care of his own home, and he was targeting Mark Hughes' Blackburn, which had just been slaughtered 0:4 by Middlesbrough at home. The morale was plummeting and there were signs of a setback.

After choosing the opponent and strategy, Ye Qiu began to talk about the game with his assistants in the office. As time passed, the players arrived at the Cobham training base one after another.

It was raining heavily, and the coaching staff's notice was quickly conveyed to the locker room. Everyone knew that there would be no training in the morning, and they went to the tactical preparation room for a meeting. It was obviously to study the game against Blackburn on the weekend. Maybe there were some targeted tactics to be arranged.

But when the players were sitting in the tactical preparation room and waiting for the head coach Ye Qiu, Ye Qiu came empty-handed and brought nothing.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ye Qiu smiled and walked up to the podium, took out a chair and sat on it.

"Oh, I understand a little bit. You must feel strange. I don't take a lot of materials and some analytical data like usual, right?" Ye Qiu still looked calm and confident.

He knew very well that the more critical the moment, the less panic he could show. This skill of being able to show a confident smile at any time was what he had worked hard to learn in the past few years, and he himself was indeed confident enough.

Without confidence, why would he fight Blackburn?

"I'm very surprised. Do you need to be so cautious when playing against Blackburn? Isn't it just Blackburn? Is it that serious? When did you, a group of powerful Chelsea players, have to be so cautious when encountering a Blackburn that may be relegated?" Ye Qiu asked the players with a smile.

If Ye Qiu always told the players to be careful and cautious, then his words now were undoubtedly beyond the players' expectations, but he just wanted to do it.

What could be more convincing and boost the team's morale than the head coach who is always cautious and careful telling you in person that we can easily beat the opponent?

And if Ye Qiu just said it, it would be nonsense, because if you lose, you are finished, but Ye Qiu said that he kept studying Blackburn's tactics behind the scenes, and he spent the whole morning analyzing how to beat Blackburn with the coaches.

This is the same as what *** said, despise the enemy strategically and pay attention to the enemy tactically.

"I tell you, we don't need any targeted tactics to play against Blackburn. That's at Stamford Bridge. In our territory, even if Blackburn is a fierce dragon crossing the river, he has to lie down like a dog!"

"You don't care how they play or what they do, just go up and attack!"

"What are you afraid of? In our territory, are we afraid of them? Do you think we can't break Blackburn's goal?"

"Oh, Maga, don't make me laugh. Even Middlesbrough can score 4 goals against them. If you don't score 4 goals, it's embarrassing in my opinion. At least you have to score 5 or even 6 goals to make sense!"

Ye Qiu's words are a bit boastful, because no one dares to say that they can score 5 or 6 goals against the opponent, but he pulled out Middlesbrough for comparison, and this person is often competitive. Even Middlesbrough can score 4 goals, why can't we? How can we not?

"Boss, are we really going all out in this game?" Captain Terry stood up and asked with concern.

"Yes, don't doubt it. I know the difference in strength between us and Blackburn better than you do. So, I want you to attack from the beginning of the game. Attack with all your might. Don't worry about anything because we will definitely win!"

When Ye Qiu said the last sentence, he gritted his teeth and was indescribably confident. He believed that this could also infect the players!

"If we don't win, I'll go back and eat the ball!"