The Godfather of Football

Standing at the Navarra Kingdom Stadium with nearly 20,000 people, Ye Qiu looked calm on the surface, but his heart was full of surprises.

If he was asked to describe his mood at this moment in one sentence, he believed that a piece of pie must have fallen from the sky, and it was very unfortunate that this piece of pie just fell into his mouth, and he ate it with relish.

Coming to Spain, away to challenge Osasuna, Ye Qiu arranged many substitute players to play.

The goalkeeper is Peter Cech, the back line is Gareth Bale, Kompany, Thiago Silva and Arbeloa, the midfield is Huddlestone, Lucas and Yaya Toure, and the front trident is Arshavin, Van Persie and Cavani, among which Cavani was pulled to the right and Van Persie was in the middle.

After Ye Qiu announced the team list, although he repeatedly emphasized that the team would do its best to compete for the League Cup, everyone guessed that Tottenham Hotspur did not have enough strength to ensure that the team would fight on two fronts, concentrate its superior forces to play in the Premier League, and do its best to compete for the Champions League qualification next season. This is what Ye Qiu should do most at the moment.

Not only Ye Qiu, but everyone in Tottenham Hotspur supports Ye Qiu to do this. Who doesn't want to play in the Champions League?

But what is incredible is that the trend of this game is far beyond Ye Qiu's expectations.

The game just started, Tottenham Hotspur's left side played a very threatening attack. Arshavin dribbled the ball from the left and cut in, then suddenly knocked back to the side. Gareth Bale quickly inserted from the left, got the ball and made a cross, but was blocked by Osasuna's defenders and went out of the baseline, corner kick.

At present, when Beckham is not in Tottenham Hotspur, Gareth Bale takes free kicks, while for corner kicks, Van Persie's landing point is better, so this time Van Persie takes the corner kick.

The Dutchman stood in the corner kick area, gestured to his teammates in the penalty area, and then directly kicked a precise arc ball to the front of the small penalty area. Although Thiago Silva is not tall, he has excellent jumping ability. After jumping high, he headed the ball and the ball went straight to the upper right corner of the goal, 1:0!

No one expected that Tottenham Hotspur broke the deadlock in the first minute of the game. This surprised Ye Qiu. He even wondered if his mobilization of this group of substitutes worked?

But soon after, Osasuna began to tighten its defense, which is why this team was able to win the title of home dragon in La Liga. Many teams in northern Spain are known for their tenacity and ferocity, such as Osasuna, Athletic Bilbao, Sporting Gijon and other teams. They have given Real Madrid, Barcelona and other southern teams a hard time at home.

And the biggest reliance of these northern Spanish teams is their tenacious and solid defense.

Although Spanish teams have always been known for their ball control and technology, what is surprising in this game is that even if Tottenham Hotspur did not play with all their strength, they took the initiative and ball control advantage in the away game, which is really unexpected.

In fact, Osasuna has been known for its fierce fighting in the past few years. The defensive tactics of head coach Javier Aguirre combined with Osasuna's usual style of play can be said to complement each other. Even if Aguirre transferred to Atletico Madrid this season, Osasuna still did not change its nature.

But as the game time went by, Osasuna's physical strength began to decline, especially in the second half, the passive situation became more obvious. In the 61st minute, Cavani received a pass from Arbeloa on the right and cut into the penalty area, but the ball was saved by the opponent's goalkeeper. Van Persie got the ball and dribbled past the central defender to knock it back. Yaya Toure held off Raul Garcia at the front of the penalty area and shot hard, breaking through Osasuna's goal, 2:0!

All Osasuna fans at the scene were fed up, and they were protesting the players' performance.

But before their protests had gained momentum, Osasuna had just restarted the game, and the ball was quickly transferred to Tottenham Hotspur, and Tottenham Hotspur quickly reorganized an attack. Arshavin ran to the middle of the frontcourt to get the ball and passed it straight. Van Persie inserted in front of the goal and shot, breaking through Osasuna's goal again, 3:0!

Ye Qiu was standing at the Navarra Kingdom Stadium at this moment, listening to the boos that filled his ears. He couldn't tell whether it was for Tottenham Hotspur, who was playing away, or Osasuna, who was playing at home. But at least this team did not show any confidence or idea to reverse the situation.

Perhaps, when the score was 1:0, they could still think about equalizing and reversing. When the score was 2:0 or 3:0, it was difficult for them to have such ideas. They could only watch Tottenham Hotspur take away a victory from their home court.

Ye Qiu was full of surprises. In the final analysis, he still underestimated the strength and progress of his players.

After coming to Tottenham Hotspur this season, Arshavin's performance was relatively average. He often had difficulty integrating with the team. But from this game, he performed very well. Although the best player of the game was Van Persie, who made two assists and one goal for the team, Arshavin's performance was definitely not inferior to Van Persie.

Cavani's progress is also obvious. His shot after cutting in from the right was decisive, at a tricky angle, and with just the right amount of strength. It can be seen that he has really learned a lot from his idol Van Nistelrooy. Cavani is very committed to the game and plays very hard once he is on the court.

As for Yaya Toure, Ye Qiu did not arrange him to play as a defender in this game, and his performance was also excellent, but Ye Qiu still felt that he should play as a defender and change his style appropriately, because he believed that if Yaya Toure played as a defender, he could achieve higher achievements.

In fact, even if Yaya Toure won everyone's recognition in Manchester City in his previous life and helped Manchester City win the championship, he was still praised and criticized, but all professionals had to admit that he was still a certain distance away from some top midfielders. Even in Manchester City, David Silva won more recognition.

Sometimes when looking at a player's contribution, we should not only focus on the data, goals and assists, but also see the overall situation.

But no matter what Ye Qiu thought in his heart, he was still happy that his players could sweep Osasuna 3:0 away, and with such a big win away, Tottenham Hotspur has undoubtedly advanced to the semi-finals in advance, but this actually also shows the decline of the League Cup.

On April 8, at White Hart Lane, Tottenham Hotspur played against Manchester City at home.

When the game reached the tenth minute, Tottenham Hotspur, who had rested for a week, took the lead in breaking Manchester City's goal. Fabregas made an overhead pass in the midfield, and Van Nistelrooy stopped the ball with his chest in the penalty area, turned around, and volleyed the ball 12 meters away from the goal, and the ball went straight to the bottom of the net.

This shot completely launched Tottenham Hotspur's tide of attack, and also set the momentum of Manchester City, who was playing away. The latter had to choose to shrink their defense, while Tottenham Hotspur was full of confidence and took a shrinking style of play.

In general, Tottenham Hotspur does not actively press forward, but more often uses Beckham and Fabregas' passes to let Van Nistelrooy, Ribery and Messi in front run to create gaps and create threats. As long as they create threats, the midfield can ensure that the ball is passed to their feet in the first time.

Manchester City's head coach Stuart Pearce has been controversial this season. Manchester City has always lacked fighting power and its performance is also average. It has not yet completely escaped the relegation zone. Stuart Pearce also accepted the invitation of the English Football Association in February this year and will settle the England U21 national team after the end of the season.

Pearce is a well-known excellent left back in England, and he is also the most famous legendary captain of Nottingham Forest in the 1980s. Manchester City, under his coaching, also adopts the most traditional 442 tactics in England.

One of the important reasons for Manchester City's poor performance this season is the internal struggle within the team and the constant news of acquisitions from outside, which makes the people in Manchester City inconsistent, and Pearce is also dissatisfied with the stinginess of the board of directors, because the predecessor Keegan has a large transfer fee every season, but he does not.

Perhaps it is because Pearce left after the season, or perhaps the internal strife of the team has already worn away the team's spirit. The Manchester City team that appeared at White Hart Lane is difficult to pose enough threat to Tottenham Hotspur.

In the 32nd minute, Ribery and Vargas made a cross from the left, and Van Nistelrooy leaned on Dunn in front of the goal and deliberately missed it. Messi cut into the penalty area from the right rib at the back point. After getting the ball, he kicked a curve ball with his left foot and hit the upper left corner of the goal, 2:0!

But just eight minutes later, Tottenham Hotspur launched another round of offensive. Beckham pulled to the right and got the ball. He made a cross directly, and the landing point fell accurately on Van Nistelrooy's head in the penalty area. The Dutch striker hit it with a hammer, 3:0!

Scoring twice, Van Nistelrooy's Premier League goal number this season is as high as 27 goals. This is also the season with the most goals since Van Nistelrooy entered the Premier League. Before that, his most goals were 25 goals in the 02/03 season. Counting the double goal in this game, Van Nistelrooy has scored 27 goals.

Not only that, there are still six rounds of Premier League games left, and many Tottenham fans hope that Van Nistelrooy can continue to work hard and strive to break the 30-goal mark, because in the Premier League, scoring 30 goals is a threshold. As long as you score 30 goals in a single season, you are eligible to be included in the ranks of Premier League legendary strikers.

Henry scored 30 goals in the 03/04 season, and Sunderland striker Phillips also scored 30 goals in the 99/00 season. If you want to go one step further, you can only go back ten years ago, in the 95/96 season, Alan Shearer scored 31 goals, and they have all been included in the ranks of Premier League legendary shooters.

Van Nistelrooy's performance this season is indeed very good. Tottenham's entire offensive system revolves around him. The midfield and backcourt and the two flanks have created an endless stream of scoring opportunities for him, which has made Van Nistelrooy's goal scoring efficiency very high. Many people even feel that Van Nistelrooy is ushering in the second spring of his career in Tottenham.

Not only the fans and the media have such hopes, but Van Nistelrooy himself also hopes to score more goals. He hopes to have the opportunity to be on par with Premier League legends such as Alan Shearer, but the premise is that he must continue to ensure his scoring efficiency.

However, after scoring twice again, Van Nistelrooy and Tottenham Hotspur failed to score again. Instead, in the second half, the team relaxed and Manchester City scored a goal. The score was finally locked at 3:1. Tottenham Hotspur won the opponent at home without any danger.

"How is it? How is it?"

"How is the result of the game over at Portsmouth?"

As soon as the whistle sounded, almost all Tottenham players ran to the coaching booth, looking nervously at Ye Qiu and Roland, asking about the result of another game being played in Portsmouth at the same time.

Roland looked at Ye Qiu, then at the group of concerned Tottenham players, and put on a very regretful expression, almost crying, which made Ye Qiu and Mauro Tassotti on the side constantly praise him in their hearts, saying that this fat man should go to Hollywood to make movies, and he would definitely be an actor.

When the players saw his disappointed expression, they all thought that Arsenal had won, and they were a little disappointed.

"It's okay, they won't lose points this round, we will continue in the next round!" Beckham cheered his teammates on the side.

"Yes, sooner or later they will lose points, we just need to play our game well!" Van Nistelrooy also encouraged his teammates.

Just as the players were about to shake their heads and leave the coaching booth, Fatty Luo couldn't help but burst out laughing, "What a pity, our powerful Arsenal couldn't even break Portsmouth's goal!"

"What do you mean?" Ribery was the first to react.

"0:0, Arsenal didn't score, tied with Portsmouth!!"

As Roland spoke, everyone was stunned, looking around in disbelief, and then looking at Roland, whose face was smiling like a blooming sunflower. They all felt that this Dutch fat man had no credibility and was unreliable, so they all turned to look at Ye Qiu, who nodded.

"Wow!!!" The players screamed one by one at this time.

Arsenal tied!!

What does this mean?

This means that Tottenham Hotspur has caught up with Arsenal. The two teams have the same points, but Tottenham Hotspur has been able to pull Arsenal out of the top four of the league with a better goal difference than its opponent this season, and Tottenham Hotspur has successfully surpassed Arsenal and climbed to fourth place in the league.

"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!!!"

The players rushed out of the stadium one by one in ecstasy, and at this time, the broadcast of White Hart Lane Stadium also received the news, and the news of the end of the game and the score of Portsmouth were conveyed to all Tottenham Hotspur fans at the scene as soon as possible. For a while, the entire White Hart Lane Stadium seemed to have become a sea of ​​celebration.

Who could have thought? Who could have thought that Tottenham Hotspur, which was once regarded as a favorite for relegation at the beginning of this season, can now reach the top four of the league in one go?

Who could have thought that Tottenham Hotspur, which has been turbulent in the first half of this season and has not been able to bring confidence to the fans, can finally achieve the goal of reaching the top four of the league!

"Yeah! Yeah!! Yeah!!!"

The players were shouting loudly inside and outside the stadium, and they were using this shouting to vent their excitement.

Yes, the league is far from over, and there are still six rounds to play. Tottenham Hotspur will face powerful teams like Chelsea next, but this can't hinder the excitement and excitement of everyone in Tottenham Hotspur at this moment.

Fourth in the league, they finally reached the coveted fourth place in the league!

Ye Qiu also received news from Roland that Liverpool also drew this game, 2:2 with Charlton at Anfield.

Liverpool just played the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals away in the middle of the week, and won a big victory over the opponent, which will affect the performance of Benitez's team to some extent, so a home draw with Charlton is not unacceptable to Liverpool, because they have already stepped into the Champions League semi-finals.

Ye Qiu even felt that Benítez kept adjusting the team this season, and his goal might be the Champions League, because Liverpool's current strength is far from competing with Manchester United and Chelsea, so it is not impossible for Benítez to choose the Champions League, which he is better at, as a breakthrough point, and the Red Army continues to sing in the FA Cup this season.

But Ye Qiu saw the other side.

"Guys!" Ye Qiu walked out of the coaching booth and walked into the stadium. At this time, tens of thousands of Tottenham fans saw him appear and suddenly cheered, because this was the first time Tottenham Hotspur had entered the top four of the league in the past 17 years, which was something they could not even dream of.

All the players gathered around Ye Qiu with a shout, and veterans such as Beckham, Van Nistelrooy and Davis, who were originally standing on the sidelines and did not participate in the celebration, also came over.

"Liverpool is tied!" Ye Qiu told his players the result he had just heard with a smile on his face.

Everyone was a little stunned, but soon realized what Ye Qiu meant.

"We are tied with Arsenal, which is not safe at all. As long as we accidentally lose points, we may be squeezed out of the ticket to the Champions League at any time, so we must continue to rush forward. The gap between us and Liverpool is only three points!"

According to Tottenham's outstanding offensive ability this season, although the team has conceded a lot of goals, in terms of goal difference, even Chelsea can't beat Tottenham, so as long as they can rush forward, even if the points are the same, Tottenham will be able to win and rank ahead.

"I have to adjust our goals now. I found that I underestimated all of us at the beginning of the season. I underestimated the strength of all of you. Now, while I apologize to you, I have also re-planned our goals for the new season. The top three in the league, we have to move forward. Can we do it?"

If we only look at it from the perspective of the Champions League, there is not much difference between the top three and the top four, because they all have to play in the qualifiers, but if we look at the bonuses and income that can be obtained according to the league rankings, the gap is about 5 million euros. This is also related to the number of broadcasts Tottenham Hotspur has obtained this season due to the arrival of Ye Qiu and the subsequent joining of Beckham.

This season, Tottenham Hotspur has live broadcasts in almost every round, so the income from broadcast fees is not low.

"Yes!"

"Definitely!!"

The players responded to the head coach's call with confidence!