The Godfather of Football

18 minutes, one-fifth of a football match.

When Joe Cole stood on the sidelines waiting to play, Ye Qiu kept explaining something beside him. He listened very seriously, but his attention was obviously on the field. He just kept nodding to the head coach to let him know that he heard it.

But in fact, all his mind was on the field, and he was a little impatient.

He was eager to participate in the game and to prove himself!

"When you are old, you can tell your grandchildren that when Joe Cole signed his first professional contract with West Ham United, you were at Upton Park!"

Joe Cole still remembers this. This was the comment of the West Ham United live commentator in the Premier League in 1998. In the blink of an eye, 7 years have passed. He has changed from the young boy to a young man with rich game experience. Time has preserved a lot of things, but it has also changed a lot of things.

He is still considered the most talented player in English football after Gascoigne, but now, the English no longer look at him with the same eager hope as they did in the past. They are now more asking, what happened to Joe Cole? Or, they hope Rooney will not be like Joe Cole.

Many times he himself does not understand why this is the case. Perhaps it is because after becoming famous as a teenager, he became the hope and the leading player of West Ham United early, and he began to become a little proud. Even if this pride is only hidden deep in his heart, it has become the biggest obstacle to his progress.

Ye Qiu said that he wants to play as a substitute, and he does not understand why.

"You know, football is always moving forward. As a head coach, I have to watch many games every year and collect a lot of information to ensure that I can get all kinds of information in the first place, so that I can keep up with the pace of the times and keep my team at the top of the trend."

"Not only the head coach should keep up with the times, but professional players should also do this. You are a genius at the age of 17 because others measure you by the standard of 17. But if you are 20 or 24 years old and still measure yourself by the standard of 17, and think you are a genius, then you are a fool in the eyes of others!"

"Perhaps, in your heart, you will think that Lampard is nothing great, isn't he just hardworking? point? You would think that this teammate who was suppressed by you in West Ham United came to Chelsea only because he was lucky and met my tactical needs, plus he worked hard and diligently, so he succeeded. "

"Then you are wrong, his success is not because he just meets my needs. If he changes a head coach and a requirement, he will also work very hard to make himself meet and fit the tactical requirements of the new head coach. He will still work hard and diligently as always. This is the cornerstone of a professional player's success. "

"You have talent and talent, but what you lack is Lampard's perseverance!"

In the process of recalling, Joe Cole was allowed to enter the field. He replaced Lampard, who performed poorly in this game.

Everyone will have a bad state, even if he is Lampard. He missed at least two shots that should have scored in this game, but it is obvious that Lampard, who wore the Blues' long armband because of Terry's rotation in this game, did not show a very good state.

Originally, he should have taken a rest in this game, but before the game, Lampard took the initiative to ask for a fight. He hoped to do his best to help the team through the devilish schedule during the winter break. He hoped to have the opportunity to help the team win another Premier League championship.

Although Joe Cole has never been very convinced of Lampard, that is more on the football field. In private, they have a good relationship, so when the two passed by, Lampard hugged Joe Cole tightly, took off the captain's armband on his arm, and put it on Joe Cole's arm.

"Come on, Joe, you can change it!" Lampard patted Joe Cole's shoulder hard and encouraged him.

From his eyes, the sensitive Joe Cole can feel a kind of helplessness. I believe that if he can, he will choose to go up without hesitation, even if he uses up his last bit of strength, he will help the team win, but the problem is that he can't bring any help to the team now.

Ribery and Van Persie gave him a lot of opportunities on the two wings, but his feet were obviously a little off.

It's not surprising. This is already the third game in less than 7 days. Even an iron man can't stand it.

Walking into the stadium, wearing the captain's armband that doesn't belong to him, Joe Cole feels like he's back to West Ham United. He really feels like he's back to the expectations of the past, because he can clearly feel that all his teammates, and I believe all the Chelsea fans in front of the TV, are looking forward to the changes he brings.

Even though such expectations come more from a trust in Ye Qiu's on-the-spot command and substitutions.

But at this moment, it all seems to fall on Joe Cole.

This made him walk to Lampard's front midfielder position, waved his hand, and signaled Ribery and Van Persie on both wings to press forward as much as possible, because Chelsea now has the advantage, and all they need is to be able to break Liverpool's iron wall.

Ye Qiu made arrangements, and the ball came to about 30 meters and was directly handed to Joe Cole's feet.

Hamann wanted to get close, and everyone knew that Joe Cole was not good at physical confrontation. The German midfielder obviously wanted to take advantage of this, but before he could get close, Joe Cole had already deftly passed the ball to the left bottom line.

This diagonal pass passed quickly between Finnan and Carragher. Ribery was desperately trying to speed up. The ball was very fast. If it was not fast enough, there would not be enough time to pass between the old partners Finnan and Carragher, and Ribery had to be faster than the ball, otherwise the ball would go out of the bottom line.

The French scarface finally saved the ball before the bottom line, and then passed it directly. Drogba rushed into the penalty area like a heavy tank, but Hyypia entangled him tightly, and Dudek quickly punched the ball out, barely defusing Chelsea's threatening attack.

The entire Anfield stadium was filled with warm cheers, but it was obviously not for Chelsea, but for Liverpool, because in the eyes of the Red Army fans, if the newly reorganized team coached by Benítez could draw with Chelsea in the Christmas devil schedule, it would be a very good result.

But Chelsea refused, and Joe Cole soon got another chance.

This time he was smarter, running between Xabi Alonso and Hamann, and when the two reacted, he quickly dribbled the ball diagonally to the right and passed it diagonally to Van Persie who cut in from the right.

This pass was very comfortable. After Van Persie got the ball, he directly passed Traore without any adjustment. After the breakthrough, Van Persie broke into the penalty area and was chased back by Hyypia. When he passed the ball to Drogba, Carragher rushed to clear the ball, once again defusing Chelsea's attack and once again winning the applause of Anfield fans.

Two attacks, two threats, but no goal was scored. The morale of Chelsea players was fading bit by bit.

Benítez's ability to coach defense is indeed extraordinary, especially his defense is full of targeting. He knows Chelsea's strength very well, and also knows Chelsea's sharp cooperation of quick one-kick passing and receiving, so he dare not be careless, tightening the three lines, leaving Pongler and Luis Garcia in the front to counterattack, and others including Gerrard, all come back to participate in defense, and this set of tactics almost penetrated Chelsea's goal.

If that goal had been scored, Chelsea would not have lasted until now!

Soon, Ye Qiu made the second substitution of the game, Fabregas replaced Deco who partnered with Makelele.

Deco's performance in this game was not very good, it could only be regarded as mediocre, but under Gerrard's restrictions, Deco's passing accuracy was slightly worse than usual, and he passed the ball more to the two sides, looking for full-backs Heinze and Maicon.

After Fabregas went up, Ye Qiu immediately conveyed the adjustment, asking Joe Cole to move forward and move more in front of Liverpool's penalty area. He would shoot directly if he had the chance. Fabregas' position was also moved up a little, responsible for midfield organization and dispatching, Mccondo was on the right, and Heinze was stationed on the defense line.

"Don't always think about passing the ball into the penalty area, shoot decisively if you have the chance!" This was the instruction Ye Qiu asked Fabregas to convey.

Liverpool almost built the penalty area into an iron wall. It was very difficult to get the ball into the 30-meter area, and it was even more difficult to get into the penalty area again. Therefore, Ye Qiu's adjustment was not only aimed at Joe Cole, but also at Ribery and Van Persie, as well as Drogba on the front line.

Joe Cole did not react much to this adjustment, because he was not good at long shots outside the penalty area. He had little chance of scoring with long shots outside the penalty area. He even didn't remember clearly whether he had any, so he felt that his chance of shooting should be very small.

But sometimes things in the world are so strange. You think it is unlikely, and Liverpool players seem to think so too. Joe Cole, who rarely shoots from a distance, is unlikely to shoot outside the penalty area. They don't seem to pay attention to him. Instead, Van Persie, Ribery and Drogba are under close surveillance.

Just like this time, Drogba received Fabregas's overhead pass and headed the ball to Van Persie, beating Hyypiä. This is also the biggest contribution of the Ivorian in the face of dense defense, which is to win an effective ball point in the front court for Chelsea.

Van Persie is a player with excellent ball stopping ability. No matter how troublesome the ball is passed to him, he can stop it just right. So when facing Drogba's knock back, he turned sideways and stopped it with his chest, just blocking Traore behind him. At this time, Hamann was obviously still in fear of him and approached him immediately to intercept his ball.

Van Persie poked the ball gently, and the ball passed by Hamann who was approaching quickly. The ball was light, as if it was very slow, but it landed in front of Joe Cole just right. At this time, Xavi Alonso and Gerrard, who were closest to Joe Cole, obviously didn't have time to get close.

This is an opportunity!

This is undoubtedly a very good opportunity to kick the ball. It is near the top of the penalty area. Even if Ye Qiu didn't say that he would kick the ball decisively when he had the chance, this is definitely an opportunity that should be kicked!

Joe Cole didn't hesitate, swung his right foot and kicked the ball!

The ball quickly passed through Carragher's legs, and because Carragher blocked it, Dudek's vision was affected to a certain extent. By the time the Polish goalkeeper reacted, the ball was already in front of him, and Joe Cole's kick was very smart. It bounced in front of the goal. Although Dudek made a save, he still couldn't stop the ball from entering the net!

"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!"

Following a shout from the on-site commentator, Joe Cole and the Chelsea players rushed out of Liverpool's penalty area, and each of them rushed to the sidelines as if desperate for their lives, shouting non-stop along the way.

Ye Qiu also waved his arms on the sidelines. It was so painful to beat Liverpool. Now he felt as if all his strength had been drained from his body. Benitez is so difficult to deal with. As long as it's you. He will block everything for you that he is good at.

Apart from anything else, this guy is the best in the world when it comes to targeted tactics!

"In the 85th minute, Chelsea finally knocked on Liverpool's goal and scored Chelsea's first goal of the game, and it may even be the only goal, from Joe Cole who came on as a substitute for Lampard. !”

"After Joe Cole moved to Chelsea, he has always appeared as a substitute. He has also made great contributions to the team after coming on as a substitute many times. In fact, Joe Cole's appearance is definitely a wonderful move. After he came on the scene, , Chelsea's situation has obviously opened up, and the offense has improved. After Fabregas came on, Joe Cole's position was even higher, and he got the chance to hit the goal this time."

"A very wonderful shot, a nimble shot from outside the penalty area, and a rebound that made the goalkeeper helpless before the ball hit the goal. This fully reflects Joe Cole's spirituality at that moment. ”

“Oh, Liverpool are going to make a substitution!”

Perhaps it was because Liverpool was suddenly caught off guard by Chelsea and conceded the ball. Benitez reacted immediately and made adjustments, but he did not rush forward like others because he knew very well that he wanted to strengthen the attack. Many times it is not useful to have more forwards, he is adjusting the midfield.

Two people were changed at once, Smicer replaced Hamann, and Morientes replaced Luis Garcia.

Morientes transferred from Real Madrid to Liverpool during the winter break. He played for the first time and his status is still unclear. Everyone hopes that he can have the outstanding performance in the Champions League during the Monaco period, and his technical characteristics are... There, Benitez clearly wanted to use Morientes to break open Chelsea's defense.

Sure enough, after the substitution, Liverpool pressed forward decisively. Xavi Alonso and Smicer organized behind him, Morientes opened the way in front, and Pangler, Riise and Gerrard were looking for him behind him. Opportunity, Liverpool attacked desperately.

For Liverpool at this moment, conceding 1 goal means losing, conceding 2 goals means losing. It is better to go all out and fight, maybe there is a chance to reverse the situation.

When a person is desperate for his life, he is invincible!

Ye Qiu did not dare to move now, and directly asked the players to shrink their defense, temporarily avoid the edge, and then adopt defensive counterattack tactics.

But it was not until the 89th minute that Chelsea had their first counterattack, which was a counterattack by Ribery from the left. However, because other players obviously failed to keep up, this counterattack failed in the end. The effect comes.

However, after this counterattack, Liverpool was obviously a little frustrated.

In the end, Chelsea defeated the Red Army with great difficulty thanks to a goal from substitute Joe Cole at Anfield!

When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, Ye Qiu really felt like he was surviving a disaster.

As Chelsea has become better and better in the past two years, there are fewer and fewer teams that can give him this feeling. Even when playing against some teams in the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League, Ye Qiu usually You only need to tell the players how to play, and then they can sit on the coach's bench with their legs crossed and watch the game, relaxed and contented.

But in this game against Liverpool, he was nervous from beginning to end, and he had a hunch that Benitez would be more difficult to deal with than last time, and his targeted tactics were more in place than before.

If Ye Qiu's tactics last season were to use the advantages of Davis, Makelele, Lampard, Drogba and other players to form the team's overall pressure and thus suffocate the opponent, then Benitez Liverpool is the complete opposite, he does this through tactics.

It's hard to say which of the two methods is better. After all, they all have advantages and disadvantages, but what is certain is that this Liverpool team has passed the running-in period and has formed its own combat effectiveness, but there is also a problem, that is, they There is no way to play like this in every game.

Such strictly targeted tactics like Liverpool usually require a period of practice, and if every opponent plays this way in every game, it is simply impossible, and many teams will fail when facing Liverpool. It's a strategy of shrinking defense. Liverpool's tactics simply don't work.

When he thought of this, Ye Qiu couldn't help but feel a little helpless, because he didn't want a draw, so he could only win.

Sometimes winning the championship is just like this, fighting for every point, accumulating to the end, you will be the champion!

Facts have also proved that Ye Qiu Buzhu is really not good, because when Chelsea defeated Liverpool with a difficult 1:0, Arsenal defeated Charlton 3:1 away, and Manchester United defeated Middlesbrough 2:0. Everton, who was in third place, completely collapsed due to the shortcomings of the thickness of the bench. They suffered a 2:5 away defeat at Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane and fell to fourth place.

At this point, the Premier League championship group has returned to the battle of the top three teams. The defending champion Chelsea, the Gunners Arsenal and the Red Devils Manchester United are the only three teams that have the hope of competing for the championship. Among the three teams, Manchester United is far behind. Chelsea's biggest competitor is Arsenal.

As for Benitez's Liverpool, there is no hope in the league!