The Godfather of Football

On the warm Mediterranean coast, the blue sky reflects the Mediterranean water, dotted with white clouds, and the air is filled with the smell of olive oil, cheese and lavender, making you fall in love with this sweet taste and this leisurely and comfortable life. This is the feeling of Marseille, the second largest city in France.

But what many people don’t know is that football is also the most fanatical element of this city.

Every match day, the Velodrome Stadium in the southern part of Marseille is always full. The group of Marseille fans wearing light yellow jerseys will sing loudly in the stands. They will make you easily feel the crazy passion they are obsessed with. They will use 90 minutes of non-stop waves to tell you that football has been integrated into the blood of this city.

The football here has been glorious. Zidane said that his Marseille turn was born on the streets of Marseille. Although it has never been presented in this stadium in Marseille, it is the pride of all the fans in this city. The football here has also had a dark past. When the former Marseille chairman Tapie, who used all means to dope, committed a series of crimes, including letting the players use stimulants collectively, was exposed, the fans of Marseille were also extremely disappointed.

But whether in the glorious history or in the bleak years, they never felt despair. They always stood up again and again with the Marseillaise, bravely charging the enemy again and again!

This is Marseille, a tenacious team full of historical dignity and sense of honor and disgrace!

When Ye Qiu walked out of the player's tunnel, he felt the overwhelming and suffocating sound waves from the stands of the Velodrome Stadium, as well as the madness and passion mixed in the sound waves.

Just this wave of sound and this momentum made Ye Qiu realize clearly that this would not be an easy game!

The blue sky and white clouds, this is the most charming place in Provence, and also the flag of Marseille, almost covering every corner of the stadium, especially on the east and west main stands, crazy Marseille fans even used cards to build a pair of Marseille flags.

Marseille's team emblem is a blue circle on the outside and a big M in the middle, but the fans on the stadium formed the flag of Marseille, a big sky blue circle on the outside, a white ring in the middle, and a small sky blue circle at the core, which represents Marseille.

Like the crazy fans on the court, Marseille's lineup should not be underestimated.

Goalkeeper Mandanda, the back line is Taiwo, Hilton, Zubar and Bonat, the midfield is Mbami, Cana, Benoit Cheyrou and Ben Arfa, and the double forwards are Bakary Kone and Mamadou Niang.

If you have played FM, you will definitely be familiar with Bakary Kone and Mamadou Niang, as well as Ben Arfa, Taiwo, the Silver Ball winner of the World Youth Championship, and Cana, who later played for Sunderland and Lazio.

But what impressed Ye Qiu the most was the head coach of the Marseille team, Eric Gretz, Ye Qiu's old enemy when he debuted. In Eindhoven, the competition between him and Ye Qiu caused a lot of conflicts. Now the two have been separated for many years, and they meet again in the Champions League group stage like Mars hitting the Earth, which is really a bit sad.

"It's been almost ten years?" When Ye Qiu walked out of the player tunnel, he saw Eric Gretz smiling and greeted him, and immediately walked over with a smile. I don't know why, he didn't like Gretz back then, but so many years have passed, and seeing him again, he no longer has some of the past grudges, but instead has a little emotion and joy of meeting an old friend in a foreign land.

"Almost. It's been exactly ten years since our first match!" Gretz also smiled and looked at Ye Qiu.

Ye Qiu was still as young as ever, with the iconic Chinese black hair and yellow skin, as if he had not aged at all, while he himself had a head full of white hair and a face full of stubble, which made him feel that he was really old, already fifty-four years old.

Ten years was a decade of aging for him, but for Ye Qiu, it was a decade of maturity.

Ten years ago, when he first met Ye Qiu, he was still an unknown, just a small figure coaching the youth team in the Ajax team, but now, ten years later, he Eric Gretz has become a small figure, while he Ye Qiu has become the world's top coach, a world-famous big figure, and a rich man.

Sometimes, when he saw Ye Qiu's interviews and reports in newspapers and on TV, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, is this still the small figure that he didn't take seriously at all back then?

When he knew that Ye Qiu was drawn in the Champions League draw, he was filled with anxiety and uneasiness. He even wondered how Ye Qiu would treat him after ten years of absence? Would he look down on him with arrogance and contempt, just like when he coached PSV Eindhoven?

But obviously, the final result disappointed him, because Ye Qiu seemed to be more friendly to him, and it was not the kind of hypocritical friendliness, but the friendliness from the heart. This can be seen from the fact that he walked out of the stadium early and talked to him in front of the player tunnel, and Ye Qiu did not stop praising him at the press conference before the game.

Ye Qiu did not mention anything about what happened that year, or only mentioned the good things, not the bad ones.

This makes Eric Graetz feel somewhat ashamed, and even more admirable. This is the so-called great courage.

"You have aged a lot, Eric!" Ye Qiu said unexpectedly.

Gretz shrugged helplessly, "It's been ten years. I'm fifty-four years old."

"But to be honest, I think you look much more stylish now than you did back then. You are living a romantic life in France, right?"

Faced with Ye Qiu's joke, Gretz also laughed.

The two of them were talking to each other on the sidelines, and occasionally talked about some things from that year, but they looked at everything that happened back then with a very relaxed and natural attitude and tone.

Sometimes people are like this. Maybe at this moment, you feel that something is very big, or it is a person that you hate very, very much at this moment. Wait until you look back many, many years later. Look, you will find that it is really not a big deal, and then you will look at him with a more relaxed and natural attitude.

Of course, there will definitely be some pain that you will never forget even after many years or countless years.

But it was obvious that the grudge between Ye Qiu and Gretz was not included in this.

"Are you going back immediately after the game?" Gretz asked with a smile as the game was about to start.

Ye Qiu shook his head, "Do you want to treat me to dinner?" After saying this, he felt a little shameless and laughed at himself.

"Of course!" Of course Gretz would not refuse. This meal almost represented that the two of them had turned from rivals in the past into friends.

Ye Qiu nodded and said: "Then I will delay my return trip!"

After shaking hands, the two left each other's phone numbers and then returned to the coaching bench.

"How do you feel about seeing your old friend?" Roland had met Gretz just now. "I originally thought you would beat him up, but I didn't expect you have a good relationship with him now!"

Ye Qiu turned his head and glanced at this fat man with evil intentions, "When did you become so vicious? Am I like the kind of person who remembers a little grudge for the rest of his life?"

When Roland was about to say yes, Ye Qiu immediately said, "If I am such a person, then you must be miserable. You have to think about how many things you did to make me sorry when you were in Amsterdam." , just like your car, and "

"Okay, I was wrong, okay?" Roland quickly begged for mercy, fearing that Ye Qiu would say more.

Seeing the fat man being so groveling, the coaching staff burst into laughter. Many of them were probably thinking about when they would pry open Ye Qiu's mouth to hear the embarrassing story of Fatty Luo back then.

The mentality before the game, both the coaching staff and the players, was relatively relaxed. Everyone knew that Tottenham Hotspur had the advantage, but after all, it was an away game, so it was better to be cautious.

Three days ago, the team sat at White Hart Lane and welcomed Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa. Because it was the first game after two weeks of national team games, and there was a Champions League game in the middle of the week, so Tottenham Hotspur did not try their best in this game, including Messi, Thiago Silva, Marcelo and other long-distance players did not start.

As a result, Tottenham Hotspur tied with Aston Villa 2:2 at home.

In this first match of the Champions League group, Ye Qiu had only one request: to defeat his opponent.

The start of the game was not very ideal. Marseille took advantage of their home field advantage and took the lead in launching a round of attacking tactics against Tottenham Hotspur. They wanted to suppress Tottenham Hotspur from the beginning, and in the stands, several people Thousands of fans mobilized in unison, and the entire Velodrome Stadium was almost a vast ocean, and all Tottenham Hotspur players were affected.

Gretz still started with his customary 4-4-2 tactic. Just like in Eindhoven, he actively created a two-wing tactic. However, he obviously paid more attention to defense in this game, so Ye Qiu originally thought that after the start of Marseille, The attack may last for about ten minutes, but Marseille unexpectedly retreated after five minutes.

This guy is a little too cautious!

But one thing I have to admit is that he does have a certain ability in carving out defense. He was the one who single-handedly created the five Eindhoven Tigers back then, and now Marseille's midfield and backfield defense is also very tightly arranged. , and then patiently wait for the opportunity and actively fight back.

Niang and Koné are both African players with excellent physical fitness, outstanding running ability and quite fast speed. Such players are placed in front to form a double arrow. Together with Ben Arfa and Mbami, Kana is in the middle to organize the game. Marseille's entire counterattack lineup is very tight and organized.

But Tottenham Hotspur's offense was also more threatening. Less than two minutes after Marseille's offense slowed down, Alves on the right suddenly cut inside after an attack and passed the ball to Messi's feet. In the trap between two defensive players, Messi pushed the ball to the front of the penalty area without stopping the ball. Fabregas followed up with a powerful volley.

Mandanda made a flying save, but the long shot still missed slightly.

But soon, Tottenham Hotspur made a comeback again. Messi got a pass from Alves on the right, passed the left back Taiwo and passed the ground ball into the penalty area. During the central defender's attack, he stopped the ball very cleverly, stopping the ball behind him, then turned around to catch up and hit the goal directly.

But this time Mandanda reacted very quickly, gave up the goal directly, rushed out, and caught Van Persie's shot in his arms.

Messi's appearance, coupled with Tottenham's return to the rhythm and tone of last season, made Van Persie's performance even better, and the cooperation between him and Messi became more skillful, and Tottenham's offense also added more changes.

In the game against Manchester United and the first two games of the league, Tottenham's offense was a bit too direct, belonging to the kind of hard bridge and hard horse feeling. The whole offense gave people the feeling of being hard, without flexibility, just relying on my advantage to kill you directly.

But the problem is that if the opponent avoids your edge and fights you in a corner, then you will suffer a disadvantage, and Yaya Toure obviously has not found his rhythm as a defensive midfielder. He will lose his position in almost every game, even in the game against Manchester United.

The difference is that, against Manchester United, the Red Devils' attackers performed poorly and did not seize the opportunity, but in the following games, Tottenham's goal was almost knocked open again and again. However, in the game against Aston Villa, Ye Qiu used Brazilian Lucas as the starting midfielder, but his performance was also average. The team lost two goals. Although it was not his responsibility, it was somewhat related.

Therefore, Ye Qiu arranged Yaya Toure to start again in this game.

With Messi, Tottenham's offense has become more varied, especially the tacit cooperation between Messi, Van Persie, Fabregas, and Alves, plus David Silva's performance is getting better and better, so overall, Ye Qiu is more inclined to stick to the past delicate ball control tactics.

On the basis of ensuring the team's skilled passing and receiving cooperation and penetration, find a way to integrate hard-core elements such as Gareth Bale and Cavani, so that Tottenham's offense will be more threatening and there will be more changes.

Just when Ye Qiu was thinking about how to crack Marseille's defense, a change suddenly appeared on the court.

Tottenham's attack penetrated into Marseille's hinterland, but when Gareth Bale tried to break through on the left, the ball was intercepted. The opponent passed the ball back and forth twice quickly, and the ball fell to the feet of midfielder Cana.

Seeing that it was impossible to press and intercept the ball in the front court, Tottenham retreated quickly, but at this time, Cana suddenly passed the ball to Ben Arfa who was retreating in front, but Ben Arfa had no chance and knocked back. Cana received the ball again, but this time it had already advanced to the midfield line.

At this time, Cana suddenly rolled the ball and passed it to Cone in front. The Ivorian striker quickly moved behind Yaya Toure and received the ball sideways. At this time, Yaya Toure had obviously lost his position, and the space between him and the two central defenders Thiago Silva and Zielinski on the back line was also large.

Cone directly faced Tottenham's defense line and made a lob pass to the penalty area. Niang, who had been lying in ambush beside Ziglinski, quickly shook off the Ukrainian defense and rushed to the penalty area with his speed and explosive power.

Cech realized the single-handed attack with the fastest reaction and quickly abandoned the goal. However, the pass was very powerful and accurate. After Niang entered the penalty area, he took advantage of the ball rebounding from the ground and the speed dropped a little. He directly rushed in between Cech and made a low volley. The ball passed through Cech, 1:0!

Niang, who scored the goal, was so excited that he rushed out of Tottenham's penalty area with his arms raised high, and kept accepting congratulations from his teammates along the way. For them, being able to break the goal of the defending champion of the Champions League is definitely a goal that can make them famous!

Cech fell to the ground to save Niang's shot. At this moment, the Czech was so angry that he got up from the ground and roared at his teammates in front of him, "How did you defend? You were defeated so easily by such obvious tricks of the opponent? What are you playing for?"

Just won the UEFA's best goalkeeper of the season, but in two games, he lost two goals against Aston Villa and now lost another goal in the Champions League. What's going on? What's wrong with the team's defense?

Thiago Silva wanted to chase, but he couldn't, because this kind of ball that was suddenly hit behind him, no matter how fast he was and how quick his reaction was, it was difficult to catch up unless he was prepared.

"Yaya, your position, position!" Thiago Silva shouted at Yaya Toure.

When Mascherano was there, he could provide strong support for the back line, but now Yaya Toure often loses his position for no reason, which makes Thiago Silva, the core of the back line and the captain of the team, very dissatisfied.

Yaya Toure also wanted to get angry. He felt that he was not good at playing as a defensive midfielder, but Ye Qiu insisted that he play as a defensive midfielder. Isn't this the same as forcing him to do what he is least good at?

Ye Qiu was also very angry on the sidelines. He asked Yaya Toure on the court: "Hey, Yaya, do you remember our agreement? You and I, the agreement, remember?"

Yaya Toure was a little guilty. He didn't dare to get angry with Ye Qiu, but he really felt wronged because he was really not good at playing as a defensive midfielder. He liked to attack and wanted to attack in front. That was his nature.

"I'm giving you two choices now. First, don't let me see you lose your position again. Second, I'll replace you with someone else. When I return to London, I'll definitely send you to the transfer market!"

"You choose!" Ye Qiu was so angry that he couldn't stand it and said something cruel.

At least in his opinion, Yaya Toure is not unable to play as a defensive midfielder, but he himself resists playing as a defensive midfielder.

Ye Qiu dared to bet that he would not be wrong. Not only him, but also Mauro Tassotti, Peter Rodsel, and even Ricklin and Bobby Hams in the Ajax period, all felt that Yaya Toure could not play a forward offensive role because his off-ball running was not outstanding and his passing awareness was not outstanding enough. The closer he got to the front, the more obvious this problem would be, and he could not become a top frontcourt offensive player.

But in the back position, he can become the best in the world!

If you really let him play an offensive role, it's very simple. Your entire team's offense will revolve around him and accommodate him to play.

Ye Qiu now wants him to make a choice, one of two options: either concentrate on playing as a defensive midfielder, or leave!