The Godfather of Football

To be frank, Ye Qiu never took the match with Arsenal too seriously.

In Ye Qiu's opinion, Arsenal seemed to be a team whose strength had declined to the point where they could only fight for the top four. The reason why they could still compete with teams with strong lineups such as Newcastle and West Ham United was mainly because they still had Wenger and a system and foundation that they had adhered to for many years.

Otherwise, with this lineup alone, Arsenal would not be much better than Everton and other teams.

Sometimes, Ye Qiu also felt very strange, because according to the rules of football clubs, Arsenal should further increase the team's budget, make additional investments, introduce high-level players, and further strengthen the team's strength, at least to ensure the top four in the league, but they did not seem to intend to do so.

This is indeed a very puzzling thing, because if they cannot ensure the top four in the league and cannot participate in the Champions League continuously, who will still regard Arsenal as a wealthy club in a few years? Where does the Gunners attract some high-level players?

But Ye Qiu will not get to the bottom of this issue, because he knows very well that no one in this world knows everything. Wenger will not say anything about the choice of Arsenal's board of directors and management, and Ye Qiu will not ask. This is their own business.

As the head coach and chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, Ye Qiu's responsibility is to manage his own little piece of land.

Standing in the command area of ​​the visiting coach's bench at the Emirates Stadium, you can easily feel the anger of the Gunners fans in the stands behind you. Perhaps they are not only angry at Tottenham Hotspur, the mortal enemy team, but also venting their anger at the club's management and even Wenger.

Several seasons have passed. Since moving to the Emirates Stadium in 2006, it has been almost six years. The financial reports of each season clearly show that the team is not completely poor and unable to recruit players. Why did it lead to this result today?

Is it a problem with the management? Or Wenger's problem? Or are there problems on both sides?

"Hello, Mr. Ye Qiu!" An Englishman who is about the same height as Ye Qiu walked out of the player tunnel.

It seems that he should have taken the player channel under the stand elevator, and he must have notified Arsenal in advance.

"Oh, Mr. Pierce!" Ye Qiu turned around and saw Stuart Pierce, the head coach of the England U21 national team, who is also a local English star.

Pierce's most glorious years were in Nottingham Forest. He should be regarded as another representative player of Nottingham Forest after two consecutive Champions League titles. He was regarded as one of the greatest captains of the team by Nottingham Forest fans, but like all the flag players of all clubs, Pierce did not end well in Nottingham Forest. In the later period of his career, he wandered around Newcastle, West Ham United and Manchester City.

There is a very interesting phenomenon in English football, that is, they support local coaches very much, so local coaches like Pardew, Allardyce, Redknapp, Pierce, etc., no matter how their previous coaching results were, no matter how strong they were, in short, they will definitely be able to find a job again soon after being laid off, and the salary is high and the treatment is good.

So some people joked that the head coaches in England are like domestic civil servants, all of whom have iron rice bowls.

Stuart Pierce is undoubtedly a rising star among England's local coaches, even though he is already over 40 years old.

"What a wonderful game!" Stuart Pierce praised with a smile.

Ye Qiu smiled faintly. He did not doubt that Pierce would flatter hypocritically, because the England U21 national team coach had expressed his admiration for Tottenham Hotspur many times, and Tottenham Hotspur's performance in this game was indeed very good.

"I didn't expect you to appear in the stands, otherwise, I believe many players would have performed better!" Ye Qiu said with a smile. Although his status is not as good as Capello, he is still the second most important person in the national team.

And the situation this year is a little different. England is the host of the London Olympics. This time, England is ambitious to make a difference. Some people even proposed to form a Great Britain Olympic team, that is, to recruit all the best rookie players in the UK who meet the age of the Olympic team and form a team to compete for the Olympic championship.

I still remember that in China, many so-called experts and famous journalists said that foreign countries don't pay attention to rankings and results. This is absolutely nonsense. They also pay attention to rankings and championships, but their football level is high, and they have been developing professional football for many years, so they look at many problems more rationally.

Just like the UK, for this London Olympics, they proposed to gather the most outstanding young people from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland into one team to compete and strive to win the championship in their home court.

Sometimes Ye Qiu thought that this was actually a kind of inferiority mentality, regarding some very common problems and shortcomings as their own national inferiority, thinking that others must be very good and perfect, which is an extreme inferiority complex.

There is no such thing as a visit without a reason. Pierce would not come to meet Ye Qiu for no reason, so after a while of joking, the two of them got straight to the point. It was obvious that he came for the National Olympic Team.

"How is David's recent condition?" Pierce and Ye Qiu stood side by side on the edge of the court. The players from both teams had already gone back to the locker room. There were only some fans who had left the court and those who were cleaning up. staff member.

Ye Qiu looked at Pierce. Beckham had been included in the 35-man roster of the Olympic team by Pierce before, but only 18 people could participate in the Olympics, and Beckham's most promising ones were still three. Overage quota.

"I can only say, give him a chance, and he will definitely reward you!" Ye Qiu has no way to guarantee Beckham's condition by then. To be honest, Beckham is not young and has not played many games. His condition is There is no guarantee, but he still insists on coming to the training ground and training hard every day, with only one goal, the European Cup and the Olympics, especially the Olympics.

He is an ambassador for the London Olympics and a leading figure in British sports.

"You know, sometimes when building a team, what you need to see is not just the state, but also a kind of mental strength!" Ye Qiu said this not only to remind Pierce, but also to help Beckham intercede. "Some teams are very strong, but lack the desire to win and fighting spirit. They don't care about the Olympics. How much role can such people play in the game?"

"I have no way of saying how much condition David can maintain, but what I can be sure of is that he will definitely be the most dedicated and diligent one. Even if you keep him on the bench, he will work hard to show you. !”

Pierce is very sure about this. Beckham said as early as when he joined Tottenham Hotspur that he had only one purpose in returning to the Premier League, the national team and the Olympics. At that time, Beckham was in The last glory of his career, especially the half season after joining Tottenham Hotspur, was almost at his peak.

But that half-year seemed a bit like a flash in the pan, and he quickly became a substitute after that. With more and more high-level players joining, Beckham's position at Tottenham Hotspur is getting deeper and deeper. , he could only get the opportunity to play in some useless games and cup games, but his performance was still very conscientious.

"Actually, I'm in a dilemma too!" Pierce sighed helplessly. He was also under a lot of pressure now.

The whole country hopes that he can lead the team to win the championship. At the same time, it brings together young talents from four regions of the UK. If formed, it will definitely be the strongest British Olympic team in history.

Gareth Bale, Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Wilshere, Kyle Walker, Sturridge, Cleverley, Smalling, Phil Jones, Gibbs, Andy ?Carroll, Rodwell and others are all players with rich game experience and have been fully trained. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are the strongest when they are combined well to form an Olympic team.

But it is precisely because of how powerful the team is that the outside world has high hopes for the team. The burden on Pierce's shoulders is naturally very heavy, which puts him under tremendous pressure, but the most important thing is the restrictions on the players.

Of course Ye Qiu knew what Pierce meant. His dilemma was not just whether Beckham would be selected for the final squad. The discussion on this issue was currently divided into two groups. One group supported Beckham's selection and believed that he was the most influential person in the UK. The star is also the spiritual force of this team, but the other group believes that Beckham's condition is too poor and will only drag down the team.

But what really troubles Pierce is the selection of materials.

"During the BJ Olympics, many teams fielded their strongest lineups, and they all achieved good results, so the Football Association is willing to form such an Olympic team to participate in the local Olympics. But the current resistance shows that it is difficult to proceed!" Pierce said to Ye Qiu, as if he was here to find support.

Ye Qiu smiled after hearing this. During the BJ Olympics, Argentina, Nigeria and other teams all sent their main players. Argentina even sent out Messi. Super stars such as Aguero and Riquelme also participated in the competition. In the end, Argentina won the championship in the final.

Of course, when many people watch the men's football team at the BJ Olympics, they only think that the Argentina Olympic team and the Nigeria Olympic team are excellent and both reached the finals, but they fail to see that they both have the strongest main lineup. But other teams do not, which results in a considerable gap in strength between them.

The Football Association has also learned from the experience and lessons of the BJ Olympics. In addition, this time the Olympics will be held in London. They hope to win the championship locally, so they proposed to gather players of appropriate age from four regions in the UK to participate and form the strongest team. A big lineup will compete for this Olympic championship.

It should be said that ideals are good and ideas are good, but it is impossible for Ye Qiu to agree to it. Not only him, but also Ferguson, Wenger, Benitez and others, as long as there are players of the right age to play the main role in the team. , basically impossible to agree, the reason is very simple, the schedule.

2012 was a very miserable year. The European Cup was held in June and the Olympic Games started at the end of July. In other words, there was almost no break between the two. The Premier League started in mid-August. In other words, It is said that it is impossible for the players to have enough rest time, and they may even be unable to return to the team in time before the start of the league because of the Olympic Games.

Just like the current Tottenham Hotspur team, Kyle Walker and Phil Jones are both England national team internationals and Olympic-age players. Among them, Kyle Walker is still the main player and will participate in all countries in the European Cup. Team competition, and if they play in the Olympics again, it almost means that they will not get any rest throughout the summer and miss the team's training.

If it's just that, then it's not a big problem. After all, neither Kyle Walker nor Phil Jones are irreplaceable in the Tottenham Hotspur team. Alves is the team's main right back, and Phil Jones is the team's main right back. It's not possible to play the main force for the time being, let alone the core players, so it won't have a big impact on Tottenham Hotspur.

But the real problem is that if this statement is allowed, the Brazilian Football Association has previously asked for Neymar, Coutinho, Sandro, Lucas Moura, Marcelo, Alves and Thiago Xi Silva participates in the Olympic team competition, and Uruguay also hopes to allow Cavani to participate as an over-age player in the team.

Tottenham Hotspur are currently arguing with these football associations. If Ye Qiu comes forward to support and appeals for Stuart Pearce, what will other football associations say? What reason does Tottenham have to refuse?

Of course, as a player of the right age, if the Olympic team wants to be called up, Ye Qiu has no way to refuse. What he can refuse is over-age players. But the problem is, similar to Cavani, there are no games throughout the summer and he is resting. If he Ye Qiu couldn't refuse the request to participate in the Olympics, because it would be difficult for any head coach to prevent players from playing for the country.

This is also the current contradiction of Tottenham Hotspur, which has a great impact on the start of the next season.

In this situation, all Ye Qiu can do is mind his own business instead of calling for Pierce. At least the British Olympic team's affairs have nothing to do with Ye Qiu. He has no fault and no need to stand up for Pierce.

"Stuart!" Ye Qiu further tightened his relationship with Pierce, "I can promise you, Kyle Walker, Phil Jones, or even Ramsey, if you want to be recruited into the team, I can do it. They are released and even allowed to participate in two competitions, but for a period of time in between, they must participate in team training!”

This was Ye Qiu's bottom line. If he hadn't considered the good relationship with the Football Association in the past, Ye Qiu would definitely not have done this.

Of course, when Ye Qiu made such a promise to Pierce, Ferguson would definitely be angry and yell, because there are also many players of the appropriate age for the Olympic team in his team, and Rooney is also likely to be transferred to become an over-age player.

Pierce thought about it for a while, and it wasn't a big problem. With Kyle Walker and Phil Jones in charge, plus Wales' Ramsey, England's entire midfield and backfield had been consolidated and strengthened. These three players They are among the best among their peers, especially Kyle Walker and Ramsey, who are both outstanding players in their respective positions.

After thinking of this, Pierce laughed, "Originally, I planned to give one of the over-age quotas to right back Richards, but if Kyle Walker is willing to participate, I hope Beckham can also participate. What do you think?"

Is this considered reciprocating a favor?

Ye Qiu nodded and smiled, "It's up to you!"

"By the way, how about Nick Powell?" Pierce asked.

This young player has played many times this season. He can play in multiple positions in the midfield, but he performs best in the middle. Whether he is advancing or holding back, he has shown his strength. Many people Everyone is optimistic that he will become Pirlo's successor. Even Pirlo has praised Nick Powell many times and believes that this young player has unlimited potential.

"There is no problem at all competing in the Olympics!" Ye Qiu gave his answer with a smile.

This young player has been severely polished at Tottenham Hotspur for several years. Now he has excellent skills and awareness, but his body is a bit poor. If the current development momentum can be maintained, to be honest, he will become the best player after Pirlo. A playmaker in Tenham's midfield isn't out of the question either.

Of course, judging from the current ranking, Sandro, who has been inspired to have certain organizational and passing abilities, is higher. And from the perspective of potential, Pogba, who is tall but has delicate skills, is also very suitable for Ye Qiu's taste. , Ye Qiu also tried to let him play in the midfield, and his performance was very good. This is another development route for Pogba.

This is also a characteristic of training young players, which is to try more, observe more, and finally find a path that is most suitable for his development, because some players may be mediocre in a certain position, but they may become geniuses in another position.

"I'm also considering recruiting him to the roster!" Pierce said with a smile.

After Ye Qiu sent Pierce away, he was still wondering, do all England's national teams have this habit? Or do they all have such preferences?

During the World Cup in Germany, Eriksen controversially brought in the young Walcott, who had almost no professional experience. Then in almost every competition, several local rookies were hyped to see who would become the best player. The next Owen, Rooney or Theo Walcott.

Now that Pierce actually wants to bring seventeen-year-old Nick Powell into the Olympics, Ye Qiu thinks this is not a gamble? But if you consider the current situation in England, Ye Qiu feels that players like Nick Powell are indeed what England needs and lacks.

Many people have been wondering why England has so many stars, but the results in major competitions are so bad?

They think this is a star-making project of the British media, which over-exaggerates the role of local stars. However, looking at the entire European arena, almost all local players are expensive, which is a common phenomenon. As for the star-making project, which country's media does not make stars? If not, what do they eat? What do they drink?

In the final analysis, it is still a sentence, the lack of technical players, especially the lack of midfield organizing players.

Even the best British players such as Carrick and Gareth Barry, compared with the same type of organizing midfielders in Europe, the gap is still quite obvious. If it is in the Premier League, the defects of their British midfielders are not so obvious, but if it is magnified to the European arena, the defects and shortcomings are exposed.

Today's Premier League is gradually integrating into the European continental system, whether in terms of technical and tactical style or refereeing standards, but the lack of organizing midfielders cannot be reversed overnight.

Wilshere is considered to be Wenger's best local product since he came to the Premier League more than a decade ago, and Nick Powell is the best local rookie in Tottenham Hotspur's youth training camp. They almost represent the future trend of England's midfield.