The Godfather of Football

The capital of Estonia, located in southern Finland, is Tallinn on the Baltic Sea coast.

This city is not only the capital of Estonia, but also the football core of this country.

Since this country broke away from the Soviet Union and formed its own domestic league, Tallinn's teams have almost monopolized the championship of the Estonian First Division. In the past few years, it was Flora, and in recent years it has become Tallinn Livadia and TVMK Tallinn.

But for a country with a total population of only one million, one-third of which are in Tallinn. It can be imagined that the football level of such a country will not be too high, and there will not even be too many fans entering the stadium to watch and enjoy football games, because they are more adept at individual events, such as rowing.

As the home of Flora, the top domestic team, the total capacity of the Alek Stadium is only 12,000, but in this game, even in the European Cup qualifiers, the stadium still looks very empty, because all fans know that Estonia has almost no chance of defeating their opponents. They suffered five consecutive defeats in the first five rounds of the European Cup qualifiers, scoring no goals and conceding ten goals.

Such a result is a great shame in the European Cup qualifiers, so not many Estonian fans came to watch the game, after all, this time they faced Croatia, which ranked first in the group.

When Ye Qiu, Peter De Visser and Roland arrived at the Alek Stadium, they found that they could sit anywhere, so they naturally chose the best position, the most suitable position for observing the players they were paying attention to, but they didn't expect that they met old acquaintances.

Wenger, and Arsenal's chief scout Steve Lawley.

"Hi, Arsene!" Ye Qiu walked over and greeted him with a smile. Unexpectedly, he met him again in a foreign country. "I really didn't expect to meet you in this place."

When Wenger saw Ye Qiu and the other two, he felt a sudden shock in his heart. This guy was famous for not visiting the temple for no reason. Could it be that he really had his eyes on that player like himself? Otherwise, how could he appear here?

"Why are you here?" Wenger stood up and shook hands politely with Ye Qiu, Roland and De Visser, as well as the fat Steve Lawley. Both of them were obviously a little wary of the arrival of Ye Qiu and others.

Ye Qiu smiled, "Guess!" After that, he pointed to a place farther away, "Let's go sit over there!"

Wenger felt a little bit at a loss when he met Ye Qiu, and he couldn't figure out what Ye Qiu was going to do.

The reason why he came to Estonia specifically was to watch the Croatian game on the spot. He focused on the Croatian striker, Brazilian Eduardo da Silva. This Brazilian player came to Croatia at the age of fifteen and became a Croatian citizen in 2002. He performed very well and is currently Croatia's top striker.

In the Croatian league last season, Eduardo scored 34 goals and won the top scorer. In the qualifying match against Arsenal last season, he broke Arsenal's goal, which impressed Wenger.

For Arsenal now, Henry's departure is inevitable. Barcelona is obviously more attractive to Henry, especially as Henry gets older and Arsenal's current financial situation is severe.

Previously, the board of directors decided to make short-term real estate investments and build commercial housing on the ground of the original Highbury Stadium, but they did not expect that the US subprime mortgage crisis would hit, and Europe is now also in crisis, making it impossible to sell the commercial housing after it was built. The club's finances are even more urgent than when it was preparing to build a new stadium. Selling Henry can fill the hole to the greatest extent.

But Arsenal must have the right players to fill the vacancy left by Henry, so Wenger set his sights on the inexpensive Croatian striker Eduardo, and Arsenal's scout team also gave a high evaluation of the Croatian Brazilian player, which led to Wenger and Steve Lawley's trip to Estonia.

"They don't seem to need this type of striker, right?" Steve Lawley said as Ye Qiu and others walked away.

Wenger was reminded by him, and it seemed to be right. At present, except for Van Nistelrooy, the speed of the players in the front and midfield of Tottenham Hotspur is relatively fast, or more strictly speaking, the explosive power is relatively fast. This is also a feature of Tottenham Hotspur. Moreover, they have substitutes such as Van Persie, Cavani and Carroll in the team. What does Eduardo need?

"Could it be..." Wenger immediately realized that Ye Qiu's target was another person.

Not far away, Ye Qiu and the other two found a place to sit down. It was the first time for him to watch a game in such an empty stand. It felt a bit awkward, especially considering that there was a Wenger who was paying attention to him from time to time not far away from him. Ye Qiu felt that this game looked quite unpleasant.

"Wenger also likes him?" Roland Shepas glanced at Wenger and Steve Lawley and asked.

Ye Qiu shook his head, "I received news that he seems to have taken a fancy to Croatia's No. 22 striker Eduardo da Silva."

After hearing this, Roland was somewhat relieved.

As the fans entered the stadium one after another, the game finally started.

This was obviously not a very enjoyable match to watch. On the contrary, it was a bit hard to swallow, so Ye Qiu felt a little sleepy while watching it. Roland also smiled bitterly at Ye Qiu from time to time.

The venue is terrible. The Estonian players have rough skills and poor coordination, so they focus on defense and disrupting the opponent's offense. Croatia, on the other hand, adopts typical technical cooperation, but it is obviously not suitable for the poor away field. In addition, Estonia is concentrated The strength is on defense, so they can't score easily.

But what surprised Ye Qiu was that Peter Devisser was watching very intently, but he was obviously not just watching the ball. He was carrying a small book with him, and while watching the ball, he was holding it in his hand. Pick up a pen and write something in a small notebook.

The number is the player's number, followed by some details that impressed him.

The game finally ended with Eduardo's goal. Croatia also defeated Estonia away from home with this goal. After the game, almost all the players on both sides looked towards the rostrum, because the game had already started. Earlier, the on-site commentator mentioned the arrival of Ye Qiu and Wenger, which made this group of players work even harder during the game.

Now, the game is over, and they all seem to want answers from the two Premier League coaches.

Wenger has obviously been in contact with Eduardo, so when the latter saw Wenger, he obviously nodded and said hello.

"How about the 14th?" Ye Qiu asked Peter Dewisel on the side with a smile.

The old Dutch man took off his glasses from the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes and eyebrows tiredly. After putting his glasses back on, he looked through his notes and said, "For the time being, I can't give an answer. It's just a matter of time." It’s just a game, but I don’t think he should play as an attacking midfielder.”

The two players in the Croatian midfield in this game are No. 14 Modric and No. 10 Niko Kovac. The latter is a famous Croatian player, and the former is currently a rising star in Croatia, but he is still famous in continental Europe. Not obvious.

Ye Qiu listened silently and said nothing, because he knew that Devisel had obviously not finished speaking.

The old Dutch man was flipping through his notes. Unknowingly, he had memorized more than a dozen pages of a 90-minute game.

"His playing style is a bit weird, how should I put it? I always feel that his ability to break through and drive the ball is stronger than his ability to control and protect the ball. Such a player should be on the wing, but the problem is that he does not have the speed How much advantage, if put on the wing, it should be organizational. ”

"However, I can clearly feel that the entire Croatian midfield attack actually comes from his organization and connection, especially in the midfield and frontcourt. His connection role is very obvious, but this player There is still a lack of grasp of the timing of passing the ball." After Peter Dewisel finished speaking, he obviously realized the problem and added another sentence.

If you use the simplest sentence to describe the difference between top superstars, first-class stars and ordinary professional players, then it must be the ability to seize opportunities. In other words, when the opponent has a loophole, can you seize it, or how many times can you seize it? times, the more times you catch it, the stronger you are.

Modric had several opportunities to pass the ball in the game just now, but he missed the best time to pass the ball.

And anyone who watches the game carefully can see this.

"Of course, this is compared to the top teams. If it is in the middle of the Premier League or a team like PSV, he is definitely worthy of being the core player because he has a very good overall view, but he lacks grasp. The insight into opportunities and gaps is why I say he should not play as an attacking midfielder, and his position should be deeper.”

After Ye Qiu heard this, he kept nodding his head, and Roland also laughed at the side.

The number one scout in the world is the number one scout in the world. He can get a general idea in just one game, but many details are obviously not clear, but his observation of a player is also very close to ten.

Tottenham Hotspur began to pay attention to Modric last year. Ye Qiu even thought that if he could not bring in Beckham or Sneijder, he would consider Modric, but then Tottenham Hotspur Beckham was introduced, so Modric was not introduced.

But after half a year of games last season, Ye Qiu also realized the problem of the team's midfield configuration. That is, when the team encounters an opponent suppressing the midfield, when Beckham and Cesc Fabregas come out How does the team respond when the ball is threatened?

In the report given by Tottenham Hotspur scouts, they evaluated Modric's minor skills well, but they also believed that he is a rather embarrassing type of player, or that his technical characteristics are relatively special.

Of course, every professional player has his or her own special characteristics, and no two players are exactly the same.

Modric's skills are very good, but that is relatively speaking, and he is definitely not top-notch. Especially when facing intensive defense, his technical weaknesses are more obvious. In addition, his ability to pass behind the ball is not strong, and he can't penetrate from behind. The offensive attack is also relatively weak. According to this situation, should he retreat?

But the problem arises. Once he is allowed to retreat, his long passes are not accurate enough. He has a certain defensive ability, but his defense is also relatively average. Of course, this is compared to the defensive midfielder, so his position After being delayed, the only function is to connect and advance with the ball.

Therefore, the embarrassment of Modric is that he is very comprehensive and has his own advantages and disadvantages, but the problem is that he is not top-notch in any aspect. Even his dribbling and breakthrough are obviously not as good as many midfielders. players.

This determines that Modric will either play the core role in the middle and lower reaches of the team, or he will play a role player in the wealthy team.

Modric is now 22 years old, and his playing style and technical characteristics are basically mature. Many things may still improve, but it is difficult to make breakthroughs in many aspects, so in general so.

"A player like him can still play in the Premier League!" Ye Qiu judged.

The defense of Premier League teams is generally loose and lacks integration. The most integrated teams are Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. Tottenham Hotspur is also relatively integrated now, but it is not very strong yet.

But whether it is Chelsea or Manchester United, they still defend the ball more, so they steal more, but today's football is increasingly leaning towards another defensive method, which is to cut the passing route.

For example, in Ye Qiu's previous life, Barcelona's most typical and best defensive method was not to defend, but to cut the opponent's passing route. The pressing of the frontcourt players was just to exert pressure, forcing the opponent to play the ball as quickly as possible, and then pass Teammates to complete the cutting of the passing route, and then complete the defense.

Therefore, teams that are good at cutting passing routes tend to intercept more.

Stealing is destruction. After the destruction, the movement of the ball is interrupted and needs to be reorganized. Interception is to complete the defense without destroying the movement of the ball and counterattack in the shortest time.

Liverpool attaches great importance to interception. Xabi Alonso is a very good interception-type defensive midfielder, but there is only one Xavi Alonso. And Tottenham Hotspur will gradually turn to interception-type defense, and even Ye Qiu and Mauro Tassotti have been working this year to build a line-cutting defensive system for the team that combines Italian defense and total offense and defense concepts.

OPTA data company does not provide interception data, but Tottenham Hotspur does, and the team is the team with the most interceptions per game among all Premier League teams.

"That No. 5 is not bad either. He is tall, has good skills, and plays good defense!" Peter DeVisser introduced with a smile.

Number five is Vedran Cholluka. This player is also currently the main central defender of the Croatian national team. He performed very well in the Croatian League last season and is the core of Dinamo Zagreb's defense.

The current central axis of Dinamo Zagreb is Eduardo in the front, Modric in the midfield, and Joel Luca in the defense.

"Here!" Roland pursed his lips after hearing this, "A scout from Manchester City!"

Ye Qiu and Devisel followed Roland's eyes and saw someone not far away looking towards them. Ye Qiu didn't recognize him, but Roland obviously recognized him. That person was Manchester City's chief scout. Gripp, this scout was Eriksson's right-hand man when he was coaching the England national team.

Ye Qiu thought of Wenger and then Manchester City. He even felt that there were no scouts from other clubs in the stands for this game. It was obvious that as the information became more and more developed, the players' exposure rate became more and more obvious. It's getting higher and higher, and even in many cases, players who perform well tonight will become famous tomorrow, which makes those players who are buried less and less.

Of course, if you still can't stand out in this situation, it must not be that you are buried.

With the end of the Premier League and Champions League, leagues in various countries have entered a period of adjustment. Correspondingly, the transfer market is in full swing, and signings and sales among various clubs are in full swing.

Tottenham Hotspur announced two transfers in June, both of which were midfielders, and both were for sale. The first of them was that Edgar Davis reached an agreement not to renew his contract with the club. , the Dutch Wild Boar announced that he would leave Tottenham Hotspur and return to Ajax. He expressed his hope to end his career at Ajax.

Tottenham Hotspur posted a message on its official website, thanking Edgar Davies for his contribution to Tottenham Hotspur over the past two years, and hoped that he can continue to achieve outstanding results at Ajax and "Everyone at Tottenham Hotspur will remember him and everything he did for this team.

The second transfer was midfielder Huddlestone. This former Tottenham Hotspur player who was highly anticipated never got a good chance to play last season, which made the player himself a little dissatisfied. , but considering that the team currently has powerful stars such as Beckham, Yaya Toure, Mascherano, Cesc Fabregas, and Ye Qiu is obviously more optimistic about Lucas, Huddlestone Decided to transfer.

Tottenham Hotspur did not make things difficult for his transfer and directly sent him to this season's newly promoted Black Cats Sunderland for 1.5 million euros. The head coach of this team It is Roy Keane, the former Manchester United hero.

What's interesting is that this season, two of Ferguson's former disciples have led their teams to upgrade. One is Sunderland's Roy Keane, and the other is Birmingham's Steve Bruce. Both of them are former Premier League stars. Manchester United of merit.

After selling two players, Tottenham Hotspur also announced the recall of Brazilian left-back Marcelo, who was previously on loan from Ajax. This is also the team's first signing, but as for other signings, There is no news yet, and the signing of the central defender that was criticized last season has not been completed yet, which makes Tottenham Hotspur fans a little anxious.

As the league champion last season, Manchester United made a big move at the beginning, announcing the introduction of England international midfielder Owen Hargreaves from Bayern Munich. This player is seen as an important sign of Ferguson's strengthening of midfield defense.

At the same time, Ferguson also announced the introduction of winger Nani from Sporting Lisbon. This Portuguese rookie is seen as Cristiano Ronaldo II. Together with Ronaldinho II Anderson, who was introduced from Porto this season, both young players are highly expected by Ferguson, who believes that they will take on Manchester United's frontcourt in the near future.

All three transfers are heavy signings, and the value of the three players has exceeded 20 million euros. This means that the transfer market has just begun, but Manchester United has already burned more than 60 million euros in one go, which can't help but make everyone stunned, and they all think that Ferguson is addicted to spending money this season.

Manchester United's signings were already underway before the end of the season, so they were announced shortly after the end. However, other teams were not able to move so fast. Unlike the big spending in the past few years, Chelsea has been constantly reporting that Abramovich may stop injecting money into the team this season.

This news also made Chelsea fans worried about the team's competitiveness next season.

Everyone knows the strength of this team, so even if they don't make any signings, they will still be the strongest contender for the Premier League title next season.

That is, when other teams' transfers were in full swing and rumors were endless in the market, Tottenham Hotspur also became the focus of the transfer market, but it was mainly because the players in the team were poached, and there seemed to be little movement in the club's transfers, which also made many fans at White Hart Lane worried.

After all, no one wants the team's performance to decline in the new season.

It was in this atmosphere that Tottenham Hotspur welcomed the Brazilian guests.