The Godfather of Football

In front of the exit of the player tunnel at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester United's main players and substitutes went up together. They were divided into two teams on the left and right, standing neatly in front of the exit of the player tunnel. The referee and linesman stood closest to the exit of the player tunnel. The place.

This is a tradition in the Premier League. Manchester United uses a queue to welcome the defending champion Tottenham Hotspur who successfully won the championship in advance at their home court. Although this is unacceptable for Manchester United, it is extremely depressing. However, both Ferguson and Manchester United players said before the game that they would line up to welcome him.

You know, in the history of Premier League football, Manchester United is the team that has won the most championships. Ferguson's team has won two and three consecutive championships and has dominated the Premier League for a long time. It can be said to be the well-deserved hegemon of the Premier League, so in its own home court, It is indeed uncomfortable to line up to welcome Tottenham Hotspur, the upstart Premier League team that won the championship in advance, on their own turf.

But tradition is tradition. Ferguson is a head coach who attaches great importance to tradition. Therefore, when he was interviewed by the media before, he hoped that Chelsea could defeat Tottenham Hotspur and delay the North London team's early championship. Tottenham Hotspur's spirit, but on the other hand, Manchester United will maintain their grace.

"That's the winner's privilege, isn't it?"

When Tottenham Hotspur players, led by captain Beckham, slowly walked out of the tunnel, the entire Old Trafford stadium rang with a sound that was not very obvious, but it made the stadium The boos were clearly audible to all fans.

Now he is dissatisfied with Tottenham Hotspur because Ye Qiu actually arranged such a substitute lineup to play at such a time.

The goalkeeper is Joe Hart, the defense is Coentrao, Zygrinski, Kompany and Kyle Walker, the midfielder is Ramsey, Phil Jones and Pogba, and the frontcourt is Haza Germany, Falcao and Beckham.

It is obvious that Tottenham Hotspur do not intend to give all their strength in this game. Ye Qiu concentrates all his forces on the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals next Wednesday.

This is not only true for Tottenham Hotspur, but also for this Manchester United game. It can be seen from the clothes of this group of Manchester United players that many players are wearing game uniforms, while some players are wearing substitute training uniforms. , including Rooney, Benzema, Sneijder, Lars Diarra and other players did not intend to play.

In this game, Manchester United's captain was Vidic, but his partner was Evans. Ferdinand and Gary Neville were not even included in the squad. It was obvious that Ferguson's calculations were similar to Ye Qiu's.

It is indeed a bit special for Beckham to return to Old Trafford in this way, especially as the captain of Tottenham Hotspur, when he led his teammates out of the tunnel and into the stadium, There was a burst of boos at the scene, but the number was not very large. It was obvious that some Manchester United fans were venting their dissatisfaction against him.

But soon, the scene was reminded of a more enthusiastic cheers. It was obvious that some rational Manchester United fans took the initiative to defend their former hero when they saw someone booing Beckham, and the cheers became more and more enthusiastic. , and finally someone even shouted Beckham's name.

Not only that, many of Beckham's former Manchester United teammates, including Scholes and Giggs, shook hands with Beckham and hugged him, congratulating the former teammate on his achievements at Tottenham Hotspur. .

Although in the past two seasons, Beckham has gradually faded out of the main lineup as he has grown older, and even his substitute position has been threatened by young players including Ramsey and Pogba, but Beckham's performance It's always been good, and that's because he hopes to earn a spot at the World Cup in South Africa through his performance.

This is also the reason why many Tottenham Hotspur players are currently working hard. For example, Portugal international Coentrao has performed very well recently. Although his position in the Portuguese national team is very solid, he still needs to show his performance through performance. Win the trust and recognition of the head coach.

Moreover, Beckham has always been one of the few offensive pillars of the England national team. During the period when Beckham was abandoned, the performance of the England national team was never satisfactory, and the offense lost its threat. Countless people were disappointed. I miss Beckham's free kicks and long pass assists, so there is basically no suspense about Beckham playing in the World Cup in South Africa.

However, he himself is also very careful, especially about injuries. He even undergoes a physical test every day like the injured, just to ensure that he can face the World Cup in South Africa in good health.

Ye Qiu also supports Beckham very much, so in many cup matches or some trivial matches, he arranges for Beckham to go up and find his condition and keep his body warm. This will be good for him to play in the World Cup in South Africa in the summer.

The pre-match welcoming ceremony was very lively, and the atmosphere when the players from both sides met was very harmonious. There were no major conflicts or disputes. However, during the game, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United did not hold back at all. , the two sides went toe-to-toe with each other and started a direct war.

Although it is an under-appreciated game, the head coaches of both sides obviously pay more attention to next week's second leg of the Champions League semi-finals. However, the substitutes and young players do not think so. Each of them is trying their best to win. Go and prove yourself.

Therefore, this game turned out to be very exciting. No one on either side was polite, and they started a back-and-forth attack.

In fact, Manchester United's offensive ability is not weak, especially when players such as Scholes, Giggs, and Fletcher who are familiar with Manchester United's ball-free passing and running system appear on the court at the same time, Manchester United's offensive power is also weak. Quite outstanding.

But it is obvious that Tottenham Hotspur's ability to create opportunities and seize opportunities is better than Manchester United. This is not because the overall strength of Tottenham Hotspur players is better than Manchester United, but because Tottenham Hotspur's overall strength is better than that of Manchester United. The tactical system was more offensive and creative, and with Falcao in front, Tottenham defeated Manchester United 3:1 on the field.

Romedal Falcao also scored his 41st goal in the Premier League this season in this game.

Such crazy scoring data has also made the Colombian star famous, and many fans have even begun to list him among the world's top centers. After all, he can score so many goals in a season, even in the so-called attack. The most powerful Tottenham Hotspur team is very, very extraordinary.

But another very important reason why the media is hyping up Falcao is that he has scored more goals than Messi and Franck Ribery, the two ace superstars. This provides the media with resources for speculation. Although When selecting the official best player of the Premier League season, Messi, Ribery, Falcao, Cesc Fabregas, David Silva, Alves and Thiago Silva all entered the candidate list. But everyone knows that Messi's election is almost without suspense.

But the media is like that, they won't tell you anything else, they will only tell you that Falcao suppressed Messi and Ribery because of his number of goals. This is what the media is best at doing.

Tottenham Hotspur defeated Manchester United 3:1 at home, ending all strong dialogues in the Premier League this season. The opponents in the last two rounds were Bolton and Burnley. Both opponents were difficult to beat Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs pose a threat, and the Champions League trophy will be awarded to Tottenham Hotspur after the league's thirty-seventh round at home against Bolton Wanderers.

There is no doubt that no one will pay attention to a game that has been abandoned by the coaches of both sides in advance. All the media's attention is on the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals next week, and the post-match press conference Almost all the questions asked by journalists on the Internet were related to this key battle.

Ferguson said that Manchester United will defeat Tottenham Hotspur at home and successfully advance to the final.

"Not only will we return to the Champions League final again, we will also get revenge!"

Ferguson's intention is very clear, that is to complete a revenge against Tottenham Hotspur for the miracle that was staged at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia, because at that time Manchester United led 3:0 in the first half. , conceded four goals in a row in the second half, lost to Tottenham Hotspur, and lost the Champions League title.

Regarding the provocation from Ferguson, Ye Qiu smiled and said that the away game against Tottenham Hotspur has an advantage.

"Everyone knows that we are good at attacking, and we will use our offense to defeat Manchester United on the road!"

When reporters asked if he would be a little more conservative in away games, Ye Qiu said, "This is not our Tottenham Hotspur style. We will still adopt a proactive game strategy. We will use Attack to break down Manchester United's defense, I believe that my players and I will appear at the Bernabeu Stadium!"

As for whether Tottenham Hotspur will advance smoothly or Manchester United will have the last laugh, outside commentators have given completely different opinions. Some people support Tottenham Hotspur and believe that this team's advancement represents offensive football. victory, but some people think that Manchester United should win more because Ferguson's team has the advantage.

"The most worrying thing about Tottenham Hotspur is their state and physical fitness. In fact, the North London team showed signs of fatigue in the first round, and the mistake that ultimately led to Manchester United's goal also came from Physical fitness, so for Tottenham Hotspur, the most important thing is whether they can adjust the players' physical fitness and condition well in the second round!"

"Looking at Manchester United, Ferguson's team has long begun to arrange the team's combat plan around the Champions League games. This can be seen from Ferguson's abandonment of the league game against Chelsea. In fact, Manchester United has been in the cup this season, especially in the cup competition. In the knockout rounds of the Champions League, the performance was obviously much better than in the league and other competitions.”

"But Manchester United also has a weakness, which is whether they can contain Tottenham Hotspur's attack?"

"Ferguson's tactical understanding and tactical literacy are beyond doubt. There are only a handful of head coaches in football today who can match him. Currently, his Manchester United are very balanced in attack and defense. Judging from the current situation, Look, they are also the team closest to Tottenham Hotspur in terms of strength, so we can fully expect Manchester United to create miracles in the second round.”

Yes, a miracle. In the eyes of many people, it takes a miracle to defeat Tottenham Hotspur in two rounds of the Champions League, or to completely defeat Tottenham Hotspur in one event.

Ye Qiu's team has created too many glories and myths in the past few years. After entering the 2009/10 season, Tottenham Hotspur has also ushered in a period of adjustment. The most obvious change is that they sold After recruiting several young stars in the team, they began to vigorously promote and cultivate young players.

Although Tottenham Hotspur's young players have attracted much attention and expectations this season and have also shown impressive strength, youth is still young after all. They want to support young players to rise to the top while maintaining the strength of the team. At its peak, that is impossible, so when Tottenham Hotspur is dealing with multi-line operations this season, it is inevitable that there will be some problems.

But Ye Qiu still adheres to Tottenham Hotspur's tactics from the past few seasons, only making appropriate adjustments in defense and local details, such as pulling back the defense line that moved forward under the previous high defense.

To use Ye Qiu's metaphor, punching out with a retracted fist will be faster and more powerful.

Adjusting and promoting young players will bring turbulence, so although Tottenham Hotspur performed very amazingly in the Premier League this season, they were unrivaled and maintained an amazing record of victory when they met all strong teams. , full of gold content, and including golden boots and silver boots, but in the Champions League, where tactics are more targeted, Tottenham Hotspur made some mistakes.

For example, they lost to Porto in an away game. This battle shocked many people. Don't look at the subsequent bloodbath of Porto by Tottenham Hotspur at home. The glory is endless, but no amount of glory can cover up the consequences of losing in the first round. Come the question.

In fact, anyone with a discerning eye can see that Tottenham Hotspur's overall game control and the team's overall strength have still declined a lot compared to last season. After all, Robin van Persie, Gareth Bale, Arbeloa and The departure of Lucas Moura and others has weakened Tottenham Hotspur's strength a lot.

But everyone still has a subconscious desire to support the strong, so Tottenham Hotspur has made great progress and development in terms of business operations, the number of fans and influence.

An economic, sports and intangible value research group at the University of Oxford in the UK, after a year of investigation and analysis, obtained a report on the media value of football clubs, players and coaches. The report shows that although Real Madrid has It improved from 48.5 points to 83 points during the season, a leap of 70%, which proved that Florentino's superstar policy was once again successful, but Tottenham Hotspur still occupied the first place.

This research team combines various factors such as the reputation of the team and players in a season, public attention, media including online exposure, etc., and conducts quantitative statistics to finally come up with a statistical result of media value.

Obviously, the success achieved in the past few years has allowed Tottenham Hotspur to win the attention of fans and media all over the world, winning the championship with 96.6 points, while Barcelona only had 86 points and Real Madrid 83 points. Manchester United and Chelsea have 65.4 points and 59.7 points respectively, followed by AC Milan, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Arsenal and Bayern Munich.

This research result can actually be regarded as a reference for some sponsors’ investment, because it reflects the media value of a football club. From this list, Tottenham Hotspur’s one move Every move has attracted the attention of fans all over the world. Even a Christmas party they held internally in the past was eventually turned into a large-scale Christmas carnival, which shows Tottenham Hotspur's influence and fan appeal. .

As the head of the Oxford University research group, Professor Pujol said in an interview that he is a football fan and an expert in the media field. He made this list because of his interest. He feels that the value of media is a worthy one. Research in the field of advanced sports, he will stick to this aspect of research.

Regarding Tottenham Hotspur's championship, Pujol said that this is because Tottenham Hotspur has a very professional public relations and news team, as well as a very professional, systematic and planned business operations team.

"If we look at the first few teams on the list, it is not difficult to find that Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea have all done a lot of work in public relations and press teams. As soon as Florentino came on stage, , Real Madrid’s press department was the first to adjust, and Tottenham Hotspur’s press and public relations capabilities have always been well-known in the industry.”

"If we study it more carefully, we will find a more interesting phenomenon, that is, teams with high media value often have high economic income, and the two are directly proportional. For example, in the Forbes club rankings, the team with the highest operating income The strong teams are Manchester United, Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Barcelona, ​​Bayern Munich, Liverpool and AC Milan.”

“While the media value is soaring and leading all the wealthy teams, Tottenham Hotspur’s operating income still lags behind Manchester United and Real Madrid. This indirectly proves one thing. Tottenham Hotspur’s operating income is still behind Manchester United and Real Madrid. The commercial value of Thorns still has huge potential to be tapped, and a very important factor causing this gap lies in the White Hart Lane stadium!”

Pujol also predicted at the end of the interview that in the next five years, Tottenham Hotspur will become the highest-paid football club in the world, but only if the strength of the team and the lineup can be maintained.

There is no doubt that this study by Professor Pujol of Oxford University is actually consistent with Ye Qiu and Peter Kenyon's positioning of Tottenham Hotspur, because Ye Qiu is very firm. To implement the team's stable development path and a healthy financial path, they even do not hesitate to sell the team's stars for this purpose, no matter who they are.

The advantage of this is that the team's finances are very healthy, and when the team moves into the new stadium in the future, the team will usher in a smooth road of development.

Another insistence is the team's technical and tactical style, that is, offensive football, which not only wins the respect and support of fans for Tottenham Hotspur, but also guarantees the home attendance rate. More importantly, it can ensure the continuity and stability of Tottenham Hotspur's past, present, and future, including the first team and the youth team.

In this case, Ye Qiu will not change Tottenham Hotspur's mature and stable tactical structure. Insisting on offensive football will become Tottenham Hotspur's unchanging banner, even in an unfavorable situation, away from Manchester United.