The Godfather of Football

As in previous years, the warm-up matches of the Premier League teams every summer are arranged and coordinated.

For example, this summer, Manchester United and Chelsea went to North America, and teams such as Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, and Liverpool went to Asia. Among the teams going to Asia, Tottenham Hotspur went to the Middle East first. Then to China and Singapore, Arsenal avoided Tottenham Hotspur, first to China and then to Malaysia, and then back to Europe.

Liverpool came to China during the gap of about a week between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, then to Malaysia. The last stop was India, and then to Norway. Benitez’s pre-season arrangements It's also very compact.

The purpose of this warm-up match for Premier League teams is actually to further develop overseas markets, especially the United States and Asian markets, and the key to the Asian market is undoubtedly China.

In addition to the warm-up matches of these wealthy teams, this year’s Barclays Premier League Asia Cup of the Premier League was also held in Hong Kong. However, Tottenham Hotspur and other wealthy teams did not participate in this event. However, such a dense number of Premier League teams The trip to Asia has indeed caused quite a stir in Asia, especially Ye Qiu’s Tottenham Hotspur.

As early as in May, after the Premier League announced the warm-up match schedule of each Premier League team, the media gradually broke out some news, the most important of which was Tottenham Hotspur. The media has been reporting that Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham Hotspur will form a strategic partnership with the famous domestic Guangzhou Hengda Club.

The two parties will jointly establish a football school, with Tottenham Hotspur responsible for arranging coaches and bringing the world's most advanced training methods to the football school, and Hengda Club will be responsible for the management and operation.

This will undoubtedly be a very important event for Chinese football, because it represents a new cooperation model, but it has also caused a lot of controversy. Many people believe that this is purely a gimmick and has no meaning whatsoever. The meaningless stunt even aroused criticism and suspicion from many people in the domestic football community.

But no accusations or doubts can stop the establishment of football schools.

After Tottenham Hotspur played against Zhijie in Hong Kong, they passed directly through Luohu and went directly to Guangzhou via Shenzhen. In the meantime, Ye Qiu stayed in Shenzhen for a day, following Regina Dugan and others from the United States. A meeting was held at the Shenzhen headquarters of Science and Technology before rushing to Guangzhou to meet the team.

The next day, the entire Tottenham Hotspur team appeared in Qingyuan, participated in the groundbreaking ceremony of the football school, and signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Guangzhou Hengda. The entire football school was funded and established by Hengda, and Tottenham Tottenham Hotspur provides technical support, and all coaches and training methods come from Tottenham Hotspur.

This is also a point of controversy for many people. They believe that Tottenham Hotspur’s youth training methods are aimed at players from England. However, English players are generally taller, but players from southern China are generally shorter and faster. The types of spirits seem to be seriously inconsistent.

At the press conference to sign the strategic cooperation, Ye Qiu sneered and ridiculed such remarks.

"What I want to say is that anyone who says this should leave football. He is not worthy of being a football coach at all, because he has not even understood what the most important foundation of modern football is."

There were hundreds of domestic and foreign reporters below. They were all obviously frightened by Ye Qiu's words. It was rare to see Ye Qiu make such a naked personal attack. This was simply to completely suppress the person who spoke. A rhythm.

You know, Ye Qiu's status in the Chinese football world is now even higher than that of Yao Ming, who played in the NBA. Almost the whole country regards him as a banner figure in Chinese football. More importantly, Ye Qiu is not only Just a football coach, he is also the boss of Leaf Technology, which has the highest market value in the world.

With such multiple identities, every word he speaks will cause huge repercussions at home and abroad.

"The foundation of modern football is technology, a solid foundation. This is the basic skill. Go and see, African players practice skills, German players also start to play with skills, and now even Denmark, Norway and other Nordic teams with traditional power-based play , Nowadays, they attach great importance to technology, and England’s youth training now also focuses on technology.”

"I don't deny that there are differences in physical fitness between English players and domestic players, but what you need to know is that the basic skills of all football are actually the same and are inherited from the same strain. Are those people who say this? Unlike English players who kick the ball with their feet, do they use their mouths to blow the ball? "

There was a burst of enthusiastic cheers immediately, and even many reporters cheered.

For some so-called scholars, some of their remarks are indeed too bizarre, which makes them increasingly less persuasive and less and less convinced by everyone.

"Of course, what I want to say is that we will not blindly tell young players, or tell domestic colleagues, how you should play football. I think that is completely unnecessary and inappropriate. If someone tells you, you should How to play football, then I can tell you, he must be wrong, because no one can tell you this!”

"Looking at all the advanced football countries in the world, it can never be learned by studying. They all rely on their own exploration and long-term persistence to finally find a path that suits them, the one that suits them best. Only one style has led to today’s achievements!”

"Many people like to pursue Spain, but do they know that before Spain won the European Cup in Aragones, they had not participated in the European Cup for more than 40 years, and they could never win the World Cup in their lifetime. It took until the World Cup in South Africa to fulfill their wish, but their performance in the youth team is outstanding in Europe!”

"Many people wonder, why does Spain play like this? That is Spain's own style. If the Chinese team or any other team in the world is allowed to learn from Spain, there will be no good results, because that is Spain's style of play. The method is also the final maturity and finalization of the youth training style they have adhered to for many years. How can you learn it?”

Ye Qiu's words once again won a burst of warm applause from the audience.

"So, what I want to say in the end is that if we want to develop our youth training, don't blindly learn from any country, and do a solid job in cultivating young players. That's why Mr. Xu and our chief executive Official talks, and then they talked to me, and I said that we can provide the best, most advanced, and most scientific European training system.”

"I know there are some people who are skeptical of football schools and think that centralized management has disadvantages and that England's regional youth training system should be emulated. But I want to say that England has now relaxed regional restrictions. Centralized management has its advantages and disadvantages. We can't beat the shortcomings with a stick. We must clearly see where the problem lies, give full play to its advantages, and find ways to make up for its shortcomings. This is the attitude towards doing things, rather than blindly firing off cannons. "

"The last point I must mention is that youth training coaches play a very important role in a youth training system. They are indispensable. They not only need to cultivate players' skills, but also know how to establish Players have the ability to think independently, and in Europe, players generally have a strong sense of independence.”

"In our Theobald, after the age of sixteen, players move directly out of the training base and go out to rent a house, buy a car, and deal with various social and life matters. We think this That independence is good for the players."

"So this time, our cooperation with Hengda is not just in the youth training. We have our own coaching training class. In the future, every Tottenham Hotspur coaching class will appear. At least ten youth training students selected by Hengda will be recommended by us to intern at various youth training teams in Europe after they complete the training and get their certificates. They may even stay with us at Tottenham Hotspur until they have accumulated experience. After you have enough experience, come back to China.”

There was a burst of warm applause again. It was obvious that Ye Qiu had finally spoken out today.

Tottenham Hotspur has also come to China to play football before, but Ye Qiu has never said much, but this time he is obviously planning to take action. At least he attaches great importance to the cooperation with Hengda.

"Mr. Ye Qiu!" After Ye Qiu finished speaking, a reporter at the scene stood up, "I am a reporter from Football Weekly. We all know that when you were coaching Chelsea, you introduced Chinese player Sun Jihai. Later he went to After joining Arsenal and now returning to China, he told us that you are the most training-oriented head coach he has ever seen. At the same time, he also said that your coaching method is not simply telling the players what to do. , but let the players figure out what you want them to do.”

"My question is, do you think China can't produce stars now, not to mention top stars, just stars who have established themselves in top European leagues, while our other two rivals in East Asia, South Korea and Japan, have an emerging talent pool. Do you think the difference is? Where?"

After hearing this, Ye Qiu smiled first, diluting the tension caused by the bombardment just now, "This problem is a bit big!"

There was another burst of laughter, and the atmosphere became warm and relaxed.

"I think the gap is multi-faceted and cannot be achieved by changing any aspect. Football has never been an either/or game. What I must say is that there are no absolutes in this world, only relative. So sometimes when we look at the problem, we cannot simply think that because South Korea and Japan have more stars than us, they must be better than us. This is wrong!”

"You know? I once had an ideal, that is, to find the most perfect tactical system in the world. I want to build a powerful team that is the best and most outstanding in the world and can kill all opponents. But then I gradually Gradually, you find that after your team defeats all opponents, you are not invincible. Your biggest enemy is yourself. You are defeated by yourself, and then other opponents begin to surpass you. "

"Can you understand what I mean? I mean, a person's biggest mistake, or the biggest obstacle to his success is not his weakness, nor his ignorance, but a kind of arrogance."

"Going back to your question just now, you asked me what the difference is. I think the difference is that they realize their weakness and ignorance, and they work hard to change their weakness and ignorance, but we obviously haven't seen it yet. There are many reasons that prevent us from seeing this clearly, such as arrogance, or we are still groping and searching.”

"Football is a game of changing fortunes. They are strong now, but that doesn't mean they will continue to be strong in the future. We are weak now, but that doesn't mean we have no chance to be stronger than them. The key lies in whether we have such thoughts and wishes, and Do we have such pursuit and confidence! ”

This time there was an unprecedented burst of warm applause, but Ye Qiu waved his hand again, obviously he hadn't finished speaking yet, "What I want to say is that there are no brilliant football tactics and concepts in this world. All tactics and The concepts are all neutral and reciprocal, even if Spain and China are equal at the tactical level, they are not better than us. "

"So what's the difference? Training, thinking, execution and everything else."

"What I want to say is that we don't have to imitate other people's football, we just need to find our own football!"

"good!!!"

"well said!!!"

Many reporters at the scene even stood up with excitement, obviously moved by Ye Qiu's words.

"Thank you for your sincere answer, Mr. Ye Qiu!" Another reporter stood up, "We all know that Sun Jihai is your old subordinate, and he speaks highly of you, but I don't know what you think, as a As a professional player, what is the difference between Sun Jihai and the top players? "

Ye Qiu thought for a while, "I think it's still the same sentence, all-round. I have coached many players. Sun Jihai is the right back. The right back in our current team is Alves, a Brazilian international. What do you think of their What's the difference?"

"Leaving aside the technical aspect, I think the limitation of thinking is also on the one hand. Sun Jihai is more straightforward on the court, but Alves knows how to cut inside and pass diagonally when attacking, and he knows how to recover when defending. Of course, I’m not talking about being smart or stupid, I’m talking about thinking.”

"In addition, I think Sun Jihai can do everything, both offensively and defensively. Even his hard work and diligence are very commendable, but he does not have his own characteristics, just like Alves. His characteristic is offense, and he is very good in forward assists. Of course, his defensive ability is also very strong, but offense is his label, his characteristics, and he is introduced just for his offense!”

"Unless a balanced and comprehensive player can reach a very high level in both offense and defense like Zambrotta, it will be difficult for him to gain a foothold in a top team, and he will not be able to become a first-class star. !”

Most of the reporters who came to the scene also applauded Ye Qiu's comments.

"Let me ask you another question, Mr. Ye Qiu!" Another reporter stood up, "You are a very successful head coach. Do you think that as a head coach, do you have any suggestions for domestic football coaches? ? Or what’s your opinion?”

Ye Qiu chuckled after hearing this, "When I was giving a lecture at the coaches training class, someone also asked this question. I think there is one thing to ask the football coaches. In your opinion, you have embarked on the path of football coaching. ,What is the purpose?"

"Don't think this question is very vague. In fact, it is very important. You know, one of the current head coaches I admire very much is Marcelo Bielsa, but he has almost never achieved any decent results, and he has failed again and again. After changing teams, there is another person I admire very much, and that is my bitter rival Benitez. He is also a very persistent and stubborn coach."

"Both of these two people have one characteristic. They have very solid theories. They have their own complete set of very advanced tactical ideas. They know almost everything. They desperately want to control everything. They even want to turn players into into robots, executing their tactics perfectly.”

"There is another one like Ferguson. He doesn't know how to use a computer or a smartphone, but he understands the rules of football. He knows how to choose his most suitable assistant. At the same time, he has his own unique understanding of tactics. More importantly, He is a leader, he just needs to let his coaching staff and his players understand and accept what he wants.”

"The most important thing for a football head coach is to be a good leader, know how to select people, know how to run a team efficiently, and be able to make all players believe that you can lead them to victory and that they can trust you. Even relying on you and the team you put together, that’s what a high-level head coach is.”

"Or let me put it this way, Mourinho and Wenger, two head coaches that I am familiar with, if judged purely based on football professionalism, Wenger's tactical concepts and ideas, and even the establishment of his entire tactical structure, are He is far superior to Mourinho, but he is far behind Mourinho in terms of controlling the team and winning the trust and support of the players.”

"Of course, in my opinion, neither Mourinho nor Wenger is superior to the other. Even I, all domestic coaches, and even fans and ordinary people, I am not superior to them. We are all equal. I What you know may happen to be what you don’t know, but what you know may be what I don’t know. Can you say who is better than the other?”

"To answer the question just now, I think a head coach must understand one thing first. What is the purpose of your coaching?"

"If you want to succeed and become famous, then you should compromise more with reality; but if you feel that you have ideals and pursuits, and want to prove some of your ideas, then you should persist, but You cannot be discouraged or complain because you have suffered setbacks and blows, lost your reputation, and lost coaching opportunities on this road, because the road is your choice!”

“I think that Bielsa, Benítez, Wenger, and Van Gaal all had their own happiness. Mourinho, Ferguson, Lippi, and Capello all had their own bitterness. The key is what you want!”