The Godfather of Football

Theobald's research center has always been a very mysterious place.

This research center is not small in size and is not remote. It is right next to Central Park, but I believe that even Tottenham Hotspur players have not yet fully understood the purpose and significance of this research center.

But there is no doubt that this is the heart of Theobald.

The entire Theobald has two analysis teams, one in the youth team and the other in the first team, but all the personnel of the two analysis teams are arranged from the research center. In many cases, some of their analysis data and reports must be confirmed by the research center before they can be handed over to the coaching staff.

Not only that, the research center is even responsible for the team's medical affairs, including the prevention and treatment of players' injuries, as well as the players' status and physical condition, whether players are allowed to play, etc., all of which are under the control of the research center, and the team doctor team is arranged by the research center to accompany the team.

Almost every player who has just joined Tottenham Hotspur will be troubled by the cumbersome requirements of the research center, and some of their requirements are even strange, such as asking you to provide some data that no one cares about at ordinary times, or suddenly asking for a blood sample from you just after training.

But as long as you stay in Theobald for a long time, everyone will obey the requirements of the research center, because it has been proven that the research center has indeed made outstanding contributions in preventing injuries or helping players treat injuries.

With the start of the new season, they have started to invest in another new training project. They began to organize players to conduct some semi-hypnotic training projects in the meditation room. They are nothing more than watching some videos or watching some 3D stereoscopic videos from a first-person perspective. They are all shot during training and games, which are very realistic and lifelike.

Demichelis is personally responsible for this project. He will also communicate with the players in his own psychological counseling room after the training to get everything he has gained from the training or understand the specific effect.

In addition, the research center has been using some training to help Vidal, who has just joined the team, integrate into the team's technical and tactical system. The Chilean has been a frequent visitor to the research center in the past period of time, but he has never played for the team in the first team.

There are many rumors from the outside world. Some people think that the introduction of Vidal is a mistake. Facts have proved that it is difficult for the Bundesliga star to adapt to Tottenham Hotspur's midfield requirements. He performed poorly in training and was directly abandoned by Ye Qiu. But some people also said that Vidal was injured when he joined, so he is still recovering from his injury for the time being.

In short, there are all kinds of remarks, but the real reason is that the research center did not issue a pass to play.

With the joining of Meelseman and Demichelis, the research center has ample staff. Ye Qiu even handed over the arrangement of the physical aspects of the entire season to the research center. So after Vidal and Pirlo joined, they fully understood the physical conditions of the two players, including their physical fitness, status and other detailed data.

Relatively speaking, Pirlo is in a better situation. Vidal is a midfielder because he is participating in the Copa America. In addition, he is new here, so the research center is more cautious and only allows Vidal to participate in training, but not in the game. The same is true for Uruguayan international Cavani.

They were not seen starting in the first round of the league, and the outside world was also buzzing, especially Tottenham Hotspur's performance in the first round of the league was not very ideal at home. Although they frequently organized effective offensives and launched attacks against Everton, the 1:1 draw was obviously not satisfactory.

There is a total of one week of rest time between the first and second rounds of the league. The training during this period is still mainly to adjust the players' status, but the entire English football world is very lively. The media has begun to warm up and pave the way for the upcoming two major games.

Liverpool vs. Arsenal is seen as a battle for Champions League qualification, but considering that Arsenal's current strength is not outstanding, especially after selling Clichy and Nasri this season, the team's strength has been weakened. Although Wenger used the money from the sale to introduce players including Mertesacker, Gervinho, Benayoun, Park Chu-young, etc., the strength is not as good as before.

On the contrary, Liverpool is now in a period of strength, especially after eating Henderson, Downing, Jose Enrique and other young players with both strength and potential this season, the Red Army's strength has been further improved.

Compared with the lack of suspense between Liverpool and Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are seen as a championship battle, because in the candidate list of who can snipe Tottenham Hotspur this season opened by the bookmakers, Manchester United occupies the first place by a long way, even slightly higher than the new power Manchester City that is highly favored by the outside world.

But it is undeniable that after selling Yaya Toure, Fabregas and David Silva, Tottenham's midfield problem is very serious. The newly joined Sandro also received media attention when he participated in the U20 World Cup, but whether this player can take on a big responsibility in Tottenham is also a suspense.

As for Pirlo, his arrival is more seen as being able to make up for Tottenham's midfield organization and creativity, but he has hardly made much contribution to the improvement of the team's midfield thickness.

So in the odds of winning the Premier League this season, Tottenham Hotspur still ranks among the top, relying on its reputation in the past few seasons, but the gap between it and Manchester United in second place, Manchester City in third place, and Liverpool in fourth place is very small.

This is also seen by many as an important indicator that the outside world is beginning to be pessimistic about Tottenham Hotspur.

Tottenham Hotspur is in a bad situation, and Manchester United is not much better.

With the retirement of Van der Sar and Scholes, Manchester United's problems have also emerged.

The first is whether De Gea can replace Van der Sar? From the first round of the league, there is still a big gap between De Gea and Van der Sar. No matter from which angle, De Gea can only be regarded as a rookie, and there is still a gap from the main position of the giants. Even Manchester United fans cannot deny this.

Scholes' retirement does not have a particularly big impact on Manchester United. The key is whether Ferguson can reactivate Sneijder? And can the problem of Las Diarra be solved? With Scholes' retirement and Hargreaves' departure, Manchester United's midfield depth has also been affected to a certain extent.

In addition, O'Shea and Brown have both transferred and left the team, and the depth of Manchester United's defense has also been questioned. You know, Ferdinand and Vidic are already over 30 years old, especially Ferdinand, who has always been injured. If the depth of the team cannot be guaranteed, how to deal with the rotation during injuries?

Because of this, many professionals have speculated that this season's Premier League is likely to see a dark horse win the championship, such as Liverpool or Manchester City, who have a great chance to play this role, and they do have such strength.

But no matter what, Manchester United will face Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford, which is definitely a highlight of this season's Premier League, especially considering that Tottenham Hotspur is about to usher in a key devil's schedule.

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After Ye Qiu arrived at Theobald in the morning, he still went directly to his office as usual.

The coaching staff had already put a daily player report on his desk.

Ye Qiu opened the report. The first page was a chart that clearly showed who among the current first-team players could play for the team. Except for Sandro and others who had just returned to the team after participating in the U20 World Cup, all others passed, including Vidal and Cavani.

At the critical moment, the research center finally did not disappoint Ye Qiu!

Ye Qiu quickly stood up from his office chair, turned around and left the office area, walked out of the office, and walked to the coaching room next door.

The coaching staff had basically come to the team at this time and were discussing the upcoming game.

Seeing Ye Qiu come in, they all turned around in their office chairs and looked at Ye Qiu. This group of damn guys blackmailed Ye Qiu for an ergonomic office chair, which cost several hundred euros. In the end, Ye Qiu had no choice but to replace all the desks and office chairs of the team, including Theobald and the White Hart Lane administrative department, this summer as a club welfare.

He even paid for it out of his own pocket. Whenever he thought of these guys sitting on it and feeling so happy, Ye Qiu's heart was bleeding. He really wanted to kick each of them hard on the butt.

"This is our estimated starting lineup for Manchester United!" Mauro Tassotti handed over a document.

Goalkeeper De Gea, the back line is Evra, Evans, Ferdinand and Rafael, the midfield is Ashley Young, Carrick, Las Diarra and Nani, and the two forwards are Benzema and Rooney.

"Do you think he will play 442?" Ye Qiu was a little doubtful.

Of course, it's not about how 442 is. In fact, this is the formation that Manchester United is most familiar with. Even if Ferguson plays 442, he will definitely not follow the standard set of positions and play. He will definitely make some targeted arrangements, so after the transformation, it may not be 442, and it can be transformed into any other formation.

"It's very likely, because this can suppress our wing to the maximum extent." Mauro Tassotti said, "But it is not ruled out that he will take down Ashley Young and put Tevez on, but it is certain that he will focus on wing defense."

Ye Qiu is already familiar with Manchester United's tactics. Manchester United has not changed much this season, unlike Tottenham Hotspur, which has changed a lot. Ferguson only introduced two players, De Gea and Ashley Young, and the latter was poached from Manchester City at a low price. It can be seen that he is more for the purpose of strengthening the depth of the bench.

So overall, Manchester United will still be the same as last season.

"If this is the case, whether it is 442 or 433, we will surprise old Ferguson!" Ye Qiu laughed.

Because he wants to verify the front-end midfielder in this game, and the front-end midfielder is just right to restrain Manchester United's two midfielders Carrick and Las Diarra?

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August 20, Saturday, evening, Old Trafford Stadium

When the chief assistant coach Mike Perrin pushed open the door of the Manchester United home team locker room, the noise from the stands outside immediately poured into the Manchester United home team locker room. Mike Perrin immediately turned around and closed the door again.

But even so, it was still impossible to completely isolate the sound from the stands outside from the locker room.

Perhaps, only when playing against strong teams, especially championship-level teams like Tottenham Hotspur, will Manchester United fans have a thorough boiling and explosion, and in normal times, they still choose the so-called gentlemanly demeanor.

"Tottenham Hotspur's starting lineup is out!" Mike Perrin handed a piece of paper to Ferguson.

Manchester United's home team locker room is divided into several compartments. The players' lounge and shower massage are in one compartment, and the coaching staff has their own separate compartment, which is used for their discussions during the halftime break. After all, there are some things that cannot be said to the players in person, so they need their own separate room.

Ferguson took it and glanced at it, "Cavani and Vidal are both on!" Then he handed it back to Mike Perrin.

To be honest, Ferguson was not satisfied with his assistant coach. The reason was simple. Mike Perrin was neither an assistant coach like Queiroz who could give him full support on the training ground and allow him to devote himself to tactical preparation, nor a head coach like McLaren who had excellent tactical ability and could provide him with more reference opinions.

Mike Perrin seems to be able to take charge of training and provide some tactical advice, but he is not strong in both aspects, and can even be said to be relatively weak, which makes the old coach Ferguson feel very tired, because his energy is no longer comparable to that of the past, and in the past few years, Queiroz, McLaren and others have helped him, so he can be more worry-free. Now he has to do everything by himself, and he really feels physically and mentally exhausted.

Isn't it the same for people? When you are used to being comfortable, you will not be able to adapt to being tired suddenly.

This is true for young people, and even more so for the elderly!

If Queiroz or McLaren were still there, they should have given some advice when Ferguson said this, such as trying to analyze the possible playing style of Tottenham Hotspur, but Mike Perrin stood aside, waiting for the old coach to give orders.

"Will Vidal play as a defensive midfielder? Or a midfielder? What kind of combination will he form with Ramsey and Pirlo?" Ferguson was a little self-talking, but he hoped that someone could give him some reference opinions.

Mike Perrin spoke up, "When he was in Leverkusen, Vidal played in the midfield, but he was not a core player. He was a supporting player who could defend but also attack. I think Ye Qiu might let Vidal play the role of Gattuso and become a thug next to Pirlo."

Ferguson glanced at Mike Perrin. It should be said that this analysis was quite standard, or almost right, but his assistant obviously overlooked one thing, that is, the person who appeared in the visiting team's locker room now was Ye Qiu.

There is no need to doubt Ye Qiu's tactical attainments. Ferguson admired his ability to understand and adjust tactics, and he always had unexpected tricks. Therefore, Ferguson had always reserved his opinion on his sudden decision to sell all the main midfielders and carry out large-scale reorganization this season.

Perhaps Ye Qiu had the idea of ​​shocking the big names in the team, but he definitely had his own tactical considerations.

"Cavani's presence will have an impact on our defenders, especially Ferdinand and Evans. This Uruguayan center forward is not only capable of scoring, but also has excellent tactical ability, especially in suppressing the defense."

Ferguson was a little worried when he said this. Frankly speaking, Vidic's injury made him not very confident about the defense. Whether it was Evans or Smalling, Ferguson was worried about their execution in such a strong dialogue. In addition, Ferdinand's performance was unstable after leaving Vidic. It would be a lie for Ferguson to say that he was not worried.

Others may think that Tottenham's offensive power will be greatly affected after losing the three main midfielders of last season, but Ferguson knows better than anyone that Tottenham's tactical framework has basically stabilized. Without saying anything else, just focus on the front trident, plus Alves and Marcelo, plus Pirlo in the midfield. Will such an offensive combination be weak?

Before this important game, Ferguson rarely launched a war of words, while Ye Qiu took the initiative to show weakness in the media, saying that Tottenham Hotspur does have some problems at present, which more or less surprised the fans and the media, but the more they did so, the more they gave people a sense of urgency that a storm was coming.

Everyone knows that neither side wants to lose this game, because in the next round Tottenham Hotspur will play against Manchester City at home, and Manchester United will play against Arsenal at home. Both teams are facing strong enemies. In this case, whoever loses this game will be in a very unfavorable and passive situation.

This is also the interesting part of the Premier League this season. It can be said that the suspense of winning the championship has started from the second round.

Perhaps this is because there are too many strong teams, and any strong dialogue is enough to attract the attention of fans all over the world. Therefore, in the arrangement of the schedule, the English Football Association can arrange it more calmly.

Ferguson pondered for a while, and Mike Perrin could not give a better suggestion, so he stood up, walked to the players' lounge, and clapped his hands vigorously.

"Guys, Tottenham's starting lineup is out!" Ferguson pointed to the piece of paper in Mike Perrin's hand, "It's obvious that they want to compete with us for the midfield, so in this game, we must firmly control the midfield and suppress the opponent's midfield, especially that damn Pirlo, don't let him go!"

When he said the last sentence, Ferguson's eyes flashed with murderous intent.

A simple sentence is enough to make the Red Devils' players excited!

They are a knife in Ferguson's hand, a knife that kills people!

And now, Ferguson waved his hand, and this knife was aimed at Tottenham!