The Godfather of Football

"Andre, pay attention to the timing of passing the ball!"

"Ashley, cut your ribs more, hold on to the ball, be brave and bold!"

"Oh, Yaya, stop sticking to the ball and pass it quickly!"

"Beautiful accurate placement, Brad, awesome!"

Roland's loud voice was heard everywhere in the comprehensive training area of ​​Theobald Training Base. Since this guy came to Theobald Training Base, his whole person seems to have taken on a new look, he behaves very proactively, and his voice has also changed. Big.

Since Ye Qiu's time at Chelsea, Roland has been responsible for many trainings, while Mauro Tassotti has been assisting and helping. But most of the time, Ye Qiu and Mauro Tassotti have been there. On the sidelines, he studied the team's adjustments and tactical offensive and defensive systems.

Training is very important because everything in training will be reflected in the game.

It can even be said that training is actually a process of accumulating energy, and every football game is an explosion of this energy. The more you accumulate in training, the greater the power it will explode in the game. Of course , it does not mean that the greater the training volume, the better. The most important thing is to arrange it scientifically and reasonably, otherwise it will be counterproductive.

Ye Qiu and the coaching staff have made every detail of the training, the arrangement of every event, and even the time accurate to one minute, so whether Ye Qiu personally directs it is no longer a big problem.

Roland is in charge of coordination, Moniz and Meulensteen are in charge of assistance, Peter Brandt is in charge of detection and analysis, and Frans Hoque is in charge of goalkeeping. Ye Qiu's entire coaching staff has worked together as a team for many years, dividing labor and cooperating with each other. They all had a very tacit understanding, so Ye Qiu felt that he would be able to discover something better if he stood aside and observed.

Because seven players including Messi, Mascherano, Cavani, Vargas, Alves, Thiago Silva and Marcelo are not here and have all gone to participate in the America's Cup, Ye Qiu We also try and examine players more in training.

For example, sometimes, in some training sessions, Ye Qiu would place Gareth Bale, Ashavin, Ashley Young, and even Eden Hazard, Neymar and others in the winger position. Examine their performance.

Because it is a team training, although the intensity is very high, everyone's movements are very controlled, so even the young players dare to take the ball and make moves in front of the big brother, and even make decisive breakthroughs in one-on-one situations.

Ye Qiu even applauded some young players from time to time, which made the big brothers lose face.

In the midfield, Mascherano was not around, so Ye Qiu tried Yaya Toure and Lucas, and also tried Varane and Pogba, two kids who were only 14 or 15 years old, to play as defensive midfielders. It's a competition within the team anyway, so what if you're young, so what if you're abused? They all have an attitude of training and learning, which is beneficial to young players and allows them to learn more.

"Van Persie replaces Van Nistelrooy. We discussed this last season. Peter Brandt also gave data and believed that Van Persie's running range will be 50% or even more than Van Nistelrooy. This is bound to happen. It will cause a huge change in our offensive system in the midfield and even the full backs.”

According to statistics from Tottenham Hotspur last season, Van Nistelrooy ran an average of about six kilometers per game, while Van Persie ran about ten kilometers because Van Persie pulled wide after coming on. His retracement and many cross-positions with the left and right wings allowed him to cover more distance.

In football tactics, any slight change, even if it is extremely subtle, may lead to huge changes, just like knocking down dominoes, triggering a series of chain reactions. The same is true for replacing Van Nistelrooy with Robin van Persie.

Because everyone who has played football knows, how do opportunities come in a football match? He ran away!

If you don't run, you will never have a chance. Even Riquelme, who is seen as being able to direct the team to play while standing, runs about six kilometers in every game, or even more. .

Of course, Van Nistelrooy's running distance does not mean that he does not work hard or is not diligent. After all, his characteristic is to be at the front, so he runs against the opponent's defense and central defender in a targeted manner. There is little interaction with the wings and midfielders. More of them rushes in front to take chances and waits for teammates to pass the ball.

As for Van Nistelrooy's teammates, basically when the ball is passed to Van Nistelrooy's feet, you have to wait to see if he has a chance to kick off.

This was also the case after Ye Qiu replaced Van Nistelrooy with Van Persie last season. He had a cooperation with Ribery. Ribery made a direct pass, but he stopped. However, Van Persie used his personal ability to dribble the ball to attract the defender. Suddenly knocked back, Ribery missed such a close goal in vain.

In the past, when playing around Ruud van Nistelrooy, whether it was advancing the ball or transferring the ball, it was very tiring to play, because when everyone was moving, one of the points, especially the crucial front point, was , he is fixed, then other people will find it very, very hard, because you have to accommodate him.

Therefore, Ye Qiu now needs to fine-tune and adjust the team so that the entire offensive system of the team adopts a more fluid style of play, because more running means more opportunities and more contact points when passing and receiving the ball. The more fluid you can play, the more opportunities you will create.

Of course, this is a relatively ideal thing in theory, and there are still differences in how it is implemented.

"I think Robin van Persie's goal against Chelsea in the last round of last season was very interesting!"

Ye Qiu and Mauro Tassotti were both standing on the sidelines, seemingly watching the players training, but they were actually discussing.

"When our full-backs come in, they can easily form a local numerical advantage with the wingers and forwards who pull to the wing, and we can use quick and concise one-touch passes to catch the ball, and use the pass to Or it’s personal ability to tear apart the opponent’s defense and create a threat.”

"And when we gain an advantage on one side, their defense will inevitably be pulled by us, and the focus will naturally shift to this side. At this time, two of our midfield players came in. And the targeted air cut by the winger on the other side is very threatening."

After listening to this, Mauro Tassotti nodded and said: "And our midfielders have a strong ability to move the ball in a wide range."

"Yes!" Ye Qiu praised, Tassotti thought about it with him. Generally speaking, in a football match, when you attract the opponent's defense to one side, and then suddenly a big kick moves to On the other side, during the rapid transfer of the opponent's defense line, loopholes will inevitably appear, and this is an opportunity for the attacker.

Everyone knows what the offense is mainly about?

Time difference!

I'm ready to attack, but your defense isn't, then you're dead!

Therefore, the moment when offense and defense transition is very important, which is why evaluating a team's defensive ability must be the counterattack intensity and defensive organization invested at the moment he loses the ball, because as long as you don't let the opponent steal the ball, Counterattack as soon as possible, try to delay the opponent's attack, and buy time for your defense to organize defense. Then your defense must be very strong.

So, what do offense and defense look at? It depends on both parties’ ability to utilize and grasp the time difference!

Many people said that Tottenham Hotspur's defense was very poor last season, and they even attributed the blame to Thiago Silva's defense. However, in Ye Qiu's view, the team's defense was very poor. Last season's performance was not very satisfactory. A very important reason is that the delay is relatively poor, which means that the chance of being hit by the opponent with a time difference is very high.

Why is this happening?

When you attack the frontcourt and lose the ball, may I ask, who are the players who can delay the opponent's attack?

Offensive player, right?

Let’s talk about the problem. Among Tottenham Hotspur’s offensive players in the frontcourt last season, Ruud van Nistelrooy ran the least. Although he played a great role in the team’s offense and scored the most goals, he was very poor in defense. But his role is not high, because he does not participate much in the system of counterattacking and delaying the opponent's attack.

Don't underestimate the gap of just one person. You can ask any professional head coach to choose one of the two situations: one goal behind or one less person than the opponent. It is guaranteed that all head coaches will choose the former.

In a passing coordination, when there are two people, there is only one coordination route, but when there are three people, are there only two?

Wrong, because everything in football is relative, not absolute, and more importantly, fluid.

In other words, when you have three mobile players cooperating in passing and receiving, the player holding the ball has two passing routes, but when he passes the ball to one of his teammates, the same is true for that teammate. With two passing routes, when he passes again, there are still two passing routes. It is a geometric increase phenomenon.

This is true on offense, and it's true on defense as well.

The gap between two people participating in defense and three people participating in defense is not just one person, but a very big gap.

This is also the reason why Mauro Tassotti said that Tottenham Hotspur's offensive system will undergo very big changes this season. They removed Ruud van Nistelrooy, who ran less and was relatively fixed, and added Van Persie. The changes will be huge, even earth-shaking. It depends on whether Ye Qiu and the team can work together to achieve results.

"Whether it is Ashavin, Gareth Bale or Ashley Young, they obviously lack tacit understanding with Robin van Persie and Ribery. Messi has a better tacit understanding with them and Cesc Fabregas behind him. Well, even the cooperation with Alves is better. "Mauro Tassotti feels that the other one in the trident is obviously Messi.

After hearing this, Ye Qiu smiled and sighed, "That's true, but we still don't know how Messi will be after playing in the America's Cup, so we must have a second plan. After all, we We also have to guard against injuries in the middle of the season!”

After Mauro Tassotti heard this, he chuckled. Ye Qiu is sometimes very bold, but he is very good at preparing for a rainy day.

I still remember what he once said. I heard it was a proverb from their hometown. When you feel your best, it is also when you are most likely to have problems. Even if you are a thief, you have to guard against three days of food and grass!

Sometimes I think about it, Chinese culture is really interesting!

Two weeks after Tottenham Hotspur started training, the team faced Luton, a League One team from Luton, north of London, which is currently the third-tier English league team, at White Hart Lane.

Luton is not ranked very high, and its strength in the English League One is not very strong, but the team's youth training is good. It is a well-known youth training camp in England, but it can't escape the fate of some small teams and is constantly poached. For example, Wilshere, who is currently playing for Arsenal's youth team, and Upson, Curtis Davies, Matthew Taylor and others are all from Luton's youth training camp.

Tottenham Hotspur deployed their key tactics in this game. The goalkeeper is Cech, the back line is Gareth Bale, Hangeland, Kompany and Arbeloa, and the midfield is Beckham, Yaya Toure and Fabregas, among which Yaya Toure is responsible for dragging back, and the front trident is Ribery, Van Persie and Arshavin.

Although this was just an ordinary warm-up match, it was the team's first performance in the new season, and it was held at White Hart Lane. In addition, the ticket price for this match was very low, so Tottenham fans were very enthusiastic. Not only did they sell out the tickets, but there was even a crowd before the game. Many fans who came to the scene regretted not being able to buy tickets.

No one expected that Tottenham's football market would be so hot in the new season. This is probably related to Tottenham's excellent performance last season and the team's style of play has always been more pleasing.

Before the opening, Tottenham and its sponsor Adidas also held a brief new season jersey release ceremony. This season's Tottenham home jersey is still a combination of white tops and black pants, but this time Adidas obviously designed it more carefully.

The collar of Tottenham's jersey is a V-neck, but on both sides of the collar, a small V-shape is broken again, making the entire collar look very dynamic and fashionable, and symmetrical with the pure white jersey that looks very elegant. The collar part is all black, but the edge of the collar is outlined with white lines.

At the same time, the cuffs are also hemmed in black, with white lines drawn on the edges, and part of the armpits is also black, but the front, back and hem of the jersey are all white, which makes the lines less, and will not give people a sense of being too mixed and annoying, but feels just right.

The whole color combination looks very fashionable, especially with the team logo on the chest, Adidas on the right chest, and the English words of Vodafone in the middle. After careful design, it looks very pleasing and has a unique fashion atmosphere.

Not only that, the black pants are also decorated with reasonable white lines, and the shoes and socks are a bit black and white zebra stripes. It seems that the whole design is in the same vein. Ye Qiu and the management are very satisfied after seeing it.

The team's away jersey is sky blue, which is also a very popular color. The collar design is the same, but the color pattern is different. The collar is white, and there are two black stripes on the shoulders, one in front and one in the back, which meet at the shoulders and arms and extend all the way to the cuffs.

The team's logo, Adidas and Vodafone logos are all black, and the shorts and shoes and socks are also a combination of sky blue and black stripes.

The team's goalkeeper jersey is burgundy and purple, while the team's third away jersey is dark blue with red lines. Adidas even carefully designed the team's player training uniforms and the coaching staff's special training uniforms.

In Eliza's words, Ye Qiu's face can still attract some fans to buy jerseys.

The entire debut ceremony was simple and short. After the debut, the game officially kicked off.

After the game started, Luton entered the game rhythm faster than Tottenham, because Tottenham had just experienced a two-week pre-match physical reserve training, and the players' physical condition was not very good and had not yet fully adjusted, so the state in the game was not very good.

But after fifteen minutes of the game, Tottenham finally showed its overwhelming advantage to the enthusiastic home team fans, began to stabilize the situation, and took the initiative and possession of the ball in the game.

One point that must be mentioned is that although Tottenham has an advantage in ball possession, Ye Qiu has always adhered to a principle no matter who the opponent is. He has always believed that the most reasonable ball possession should be maintained between 55% and 60%, especially for Tottenham, an offensive team that needs to use running and passing to tear open the defense line. Too high a ball possession rate is not necessarily a good thing, on the contrary, it may be a bad thing.

In the 18th minute of the game, Tottenham knocked on Luton's goal.

Ribery dribbled the ball to the bottom line on the left, winning a corner kick for Tottenham Hotspur. Beckham took a penalty kick, and Hangeland headed the ball into the goal in the penalty area, opening the scoring for Tottenham Hotspur, 1:0!

This was also a very important move in Tottenham Hotspur's set-piece tactics last season. Beckham's accurate free kick, coupled with Hangeland's physical advantage, combined with the two, was extremely lethal.

After the balance was broken, Tottenham Hotspur seemed to be infected by the enthusiastic fans on the scene, and Luton obviously felt that since it was a warm-up match, there was no need to play too conservatively, so the two teams began to become more open.

But it is obvious that the condition of all Tottenham players is not very ideal. Whether it is Van Persie, Ribery, or Beckham and Fabregas, the condition of these players is obviously average, so although they use their own strength to control the advantage, they have never been able to score again.

In the second half, Ye Qiu replaced eight players in one go, including Modric, who just joined the team this season. He replaced Beckham and formed a three-man midfield with Fabregas and Lucas. This is also a conscious adjustment and change by Ye Qiu. He wants to try to see how Modric cooperates with these two players.

As for the division of labor between Modric and Fabregas, the former is to carry the ball and assist, and the latter is to pass the ball and insert from behind. There is still a certain difference in the division of labor between the two.

But probably because they were not familiar with each other and did not know Tottenham's tactics very well, Modric's performance was average, with many passing and receiving errors, and the rhythm seemed a bit slow, which was somewhat incompatible with Tottenham's overall fast rhythm. However, he still had two highlights.

One was when he got the ball in the middle and broke through the double-team of two opposing players, but when he passed the ball directly, he did not pass it well and passed it to the opponent's central defender's feet and was directly intercepted; another time was when he intercepted and faced the pressure of the left and right dribbling, both times he showed his good footwork.

But Tottenham never broke through Luton's goal again, and the score of 1:0 remained until the end.