Chapter 105 Players’ Choices

Still in the guest team locker room at the end of the player tunnel, after the first half of the game, every Ajax player looked sweaty and gasping for breath.

From 1:0 to 1:1, these are two completely different results, and the players have different feelings about these two results.

There is no doubt that the Ajax players were disappointed and regretful when the score was tied before the end, especially Grimm and Lucio who made mistakes. These two players are also a hidden danger in Ajax's defense this season.

Grimm is not young anymore and often makes mistakes. Lucio is the angel and devil of Ajax's defense. Even the Amsterdam Evening Post has done such statistics. If the points lost due to the mistakes of any of these two players were reduced to half, Ajax would have won the championship long ago.

It is not difficult to see from this point that the problems of these two players have existed for a long time.

Ye Qiu has never been very satisfied with Grimm, because this goalkeeper is not young anymore. Although he has strength, his condition cannot be effectively guaranteed, especially now that Ajax is performing better and better, the team urgently needs a goalkeeper who can stand in front of the goal and give the players confidence.

You know, next season, Ajax will have to compete in the European Champions League, which is more competitive and stressful. By then, if Grimm continues to perform like this, it will inevitably bring disaster to Ajax.

But replacing the goalkeeper is a matter for the future. Now, for Ye Qiu, the most important thing is to think about how to beat Barcelona, ​​which is the top priority.

"I am very satisfied with everyone's performance in the first 10 minutes of the first half, but after 10 minutes, I was very disappointed because we were too conservative. We were only leading by 1 goal, but we seemed to have lost our aggressiveness and wanted to keep the score of 1:0 until the end."

"Don't blame anyone for the goal lost in the last minute of the first half. I think if we have to take this responsibility, it must be all of us, because we failed to keep the pressure on Barcelona, ​​which led to their recovery and finally gave us a painful lesson. Who can we blame?"

Ye Qiu's words made the Ajax players present unable to refute, because after taking the lead, they did show some slackness, especially in tactical execution.

"I said before the game that we have to play fast in this game, and use our impact to destroy Barcelona's defense and suppress Barcelona's offense. However, after we scored, we gradually lost control of the rhythm, which was the main reason why we lost the ball at the last moment!"

Ye Qiu really needs to remind the players again now that when playing against Barcelona, ​​they still have to use the overwhelming impact to break through Barcelona's defense and suppress Barcelona's offense like in the first 10 minutes of the first half.

"Do you know why we were able to dominate the situation and rhythm in the first 10 minutes?"

The perspectives of the players and the head coach are different. The players are on the court and they are part of the game, so they cannot see the overall situation of the game because they themselves are the blind spot of the game, while the head coach is standing outside the court. They can clearly see everything that happens on the court, without any blind spots.

The players have a general impression of Ye Qiu's questions, but they can't explain them.

"We played more proactively in the first 10 minutes. First, we did a good job of isolating Barcelona's Rivaldo and Kluivert, which caused problems in Barcelona's offensive advancement and made it impossible to effectively pass the ball to their feet. Second, we forced them to speed up the ball transfer through high-intensity pressing and oppression in the midfield and frontcourt."

"Without an effective receiving point, and having to transfer the ball quickly, Cocu and Guardiola have few options. They can either pass long but with reduced accuracy, or look for the wing, but Overmars and Luis Enrique are both in our focus defense, so Barcelona can only participate in the coordination through Sergi and Puyol, or even De Boer and Reiziger."

After listening to Ye Qiu's analysis and combining it with their own personal experience on the court, the players had to admit that the head coach's analysis was correct, almost saying everything that happened on the court, and this was also Ye Qiu's arrangement and arrangement before the game.

It's just that the players' execution was greatly discounted later.

"So, I must remind you again that Barcelona's advantage lies in their skills and personal abilities, while our advantage lies in the impact and the passing and receiving under fast rhythm. If we want to beat Barcelona, ​​we have to play in the same way as in the first 10 minutes of the first half, speed up the rhythm and firmly control it in our hands, and the midfield and frontcourt must form a strong pressure on Barcelona's midfield and backcourt."

After Ye Qiu analyzed the tactical contest between the enemy and us, the players also understood what to do.

When Ye Qiu said this, he knew that he didn't need to say anything more and looked at Van der Meide.

"Andy, you looked very tired in the first half!" Ye Qiu said.

Van der Meide's eyes dimmed. He knew his own performance very well, "Sorry, boss!"

"Let Rafael play in the second half, you have a good rest, we need some changes to win the game, do you understand?"

Van der Meide was very reluctant, but he had to admit that his performance in the first half was not good enough, so he could only nod.

"Rafael, you play right winger in the second half!" Ye Qiu pointed to Van der Vaart.

The latter nodded and said nothing, but his eyes could not hide his joy and high morale.

The UEFA Cup final, who doesn't want to perform well in such a game?

"We will launch a crazy offensive at the beginning of the second half, but I believe that Barcelona must be wary of our attack and counterattack in the first half. Our left side will definitely be under their key defense, so I need our right side to be more active in attacking!"

"Rafael, you need to watch Sergi and protect Maicon in defense. In offense, Sneijder must avoid Cocu and Guardiola, and you should move to the middle and respond to Sneijder and Ibrahimovic at any time, and give your right side to Maicon!"

Ye Qiu's tactical arrangement is not difficult to understand, and the players understand it after listening.

"Maicon, once you see an opportunity, you should attack forward boldly without any worries. Once you lose the ball, you should counter-grab it as soon as possible. I believe your teammates behind you can protect you well!"

Maicon has always known that Ye Qiu values ​​him because of his excellent offensive ability, but at the same time, Ye Qiu has always hoped that he can strengthen his defensive ability and adapt to the requirements of European full-backs, which is also what he has asked of himself in the past year.

"Don't worry, boss, I know what to do!"

"Keita's position should be back a little bit, Gilberto Silva should pay attention to protecting the right side, and Lucio..." Ye Qiu looked at the tall and strong Brazilian central defender, who was swept by Ye Qiu's eyes and felt guilty all over his body, "You kid, be smart, don't keep running forward, and don't try to play with your messy skills!"

Ye Qiu's words made everyone in the locker room laugh, because Lucio's favorite thing to do is to play with skills, even his mistake, wasn't it caused by sticking to the ball?

Lucio smiled bitterly in his heart. Are his skills very messy?

"Remember!" Ye Qiu reminded him solemnly, "This is a League Cup final. If we win, it will be our lifelong honor. But if we fail, I believe that you will regret this game even until you die!"

"If you don't want to leave yourself with regrets that cannot be redeemed even when you die, then listen to me. At the beginning of the second half, fight with Barcelona!"

Ye Qiu rarely said such harsh words, so after Lucio and the players heard what Ye Qiu said, they all felt that the head coach was not joking. What he said was true. If anyone makes the same mistake again, he will probably have to sit on the bench in the future.

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"Welcome back to the League Cup final held at the Westfalen Stadium in Dortmund, Germany. The two teams are Barcelona from La Liga and Ajax from the Eredivisie. The second half of the game between the two teams is about to begin!"

The on-site commentator resumed the commentary of the game. He must have drunk some water, and his tone seemed much fresher.

"We can see that the players from both sides walked out of the stadium one after another under the leadership of the referee Collina. Barcelona did not make any substitutions during the halftime break, but Ajax did, replacing the promising star Van der Vaart with the right winger Van der Meyde, who has performed very well this season!"

"This is a positional substitution. I wonder if Ye Qiu wants to adjust the team's right side? Because as we know, Van der Vaart is more of a threat on the right side by getting closer to the center."

Barcelona kicked off in the first half, and Ajax naturally took over in the second half.

When Ibrahimovic passed the ball to Robben, who quickly knocked it back and passed it directly to Kivu in the backcourt, the Romanian international controlled the ball steadily. Seeing his teammates pressing forward, he also chose to dribble forward until Kluivert symbolically pressed over, and then Kivu passed the ball to Keita.

Ajax took advantage of the kick-off opportunity to advance steadily, while Barcelona first ensured defense and retreated steadily.

Keita passed the ball to Gilberto Silva, who immediately passed the ball to Van der Vaart when he saw Van der Vaart running from the right to the middle to ask for the ball.

Van der Vaart was a left-footed player, and after leaning on Sergi with his body, he controlled the ball with his left foot. The latter had no way to stop it, and when he saw Maicon on the right quickly rushing forward along the right line, Van der Vaart quickly knocked the ball behind him with his heel.

"Ajax's right back Maicon sprinted forward quickly on the right, and his speed was very fast. Van der Vaart's pass cleverly came in front of him, and he took a big step forward. Sergi gave up Van der Vaart and quickly chased Maicon!"

The Brazilian used his speed to break through Barcelona's defense on the right, but this time he did not choose to cross the ball. Instead, after attracting Sergi, he stopped suddenly, turned around, dribbled, and passed the ball back to the front of the penalty area.

After losing Sergi's defense, Van der Vaart came to the right corner of the penalty area. As soon as Maicon's pass came to his feet, he adjusted it and quickly dribbled the ball towards the middle along the front of the penalty area.

The Barcelona defenders were shocked at this time, especially Guardiola and central defender De Boer. Both of them immediately realized the threat of Van der Vaart getting the ball in front of the penalty area. For the left-footed Van der Vaart, it was too comfortable to kick the ball.

De Boer rushed out quickly, and Van der Vaart pretended to kick the ball. After De Boer turned sideways to block, Van der Vaart suddenly passed the ball with his left foot and passed it past De Boer.

Ibrahimovic pressed Rezig firmly with his body and suddenly ran quickly behind De Boer.

The Swede turned his back to the goal, stopped Van der Vaart's through ball with his right foot, turned his body flexibly to the goal, blocked Rezig who was approaching with his left shoulder, and then kicked the ball in front of him with his right foot.

The action before this shot was simple and plain, but the action after that was typical of Ibrahimovic's style, very hearty, very hard kick, the ball seemed to penetrate the net and went into the goal.

"Wow! Wow! Wow!"

"The ball went in! Ibrahimovic scored twice!!!"

All the Ajax fans rushed out of their seats, raised their arms, and cheered loudly!

"Less than 1 minute into the second half, Ajax once again broke through Barcelona's goal. This was the first attack of both sides in the second half, and also the first shot. It came very suddenly, but Ajax showed its efficient attack, and it was very fast!"

After seeing Ibrahimovic score again on the sidelines, Ye Qiu felt very excited. He gave Bobby Hams behind him a tight bear hug and raised his arms and cheered loudly.

This goal will deal a huge blow to Barcelona's morale. They finally equalized the score at the end of the first half, but lost the ball at the beginning. This is bound to make them feel weak and bring them great psychological frustration.

Football is never just about tactics and strength. What is more important is the players who execute tactics and play with strength, their psychological quality, and their mental state. That is the key to the victory or defeat of a football game!

Ibrahimovic rushed out of the stadium excitedly, first running around the stadium, passing the stands where Barcelona fans were, which was somewhat demonstrative, but he soon came to the front of the visiting team's coaching bench.

The Swede opened his arms and gave Ye Qiu, who was standing on the sidelines, a tight hug.

At the same time, Ajax players such as Van der Vaart, Sneijder, Keita, Robben, etc. also rushed to the sidelines and surrounded the two people, and the players on the bench rushed up, and everyone surrounded the head coach Ye Qiu in the middle.

"It's a very touching scene, isn't it?"

"Before the game, Ajax broke a shocking news. The club management contacted the famous Dutch coach Advocaat privately, hoping to let this young general enter the Arena Stadium next season, but now, the players have made a choice with their own actions. They choose to be loyal to their head coach and Ye Qiu!"

"Perhaps, seeing this scene, the management of Ajax should think about it carefully. After all, Ye Qiu's team performed very well. He should get more recognition and affirmation. He should also get more respect because he has brought out a young guard with amazing combat effectiveness, Ajax!"

Ye Qiu was surrounded by the players. The only feeling he had was heat, because every player had just shed a lot of sweat, which made each of them steaming, and at this moment, surrounding Ye Qiu, the heat naturally surrounded Ye Qiu, so he felt very hot.

But he was very excited and excited.

"Don't make the same mistake in the first half, guys!" Ye Qiu said loudly.

The Ajax fans at the scene created a deafening momentum. Ye Qiu shouted loudly now, but it was not guaranteed that all the players could hear him, so he was not worried at all that the Barcelona people would overhear their conversation.

"We must continue to keep the pressure on them. Remember my words. Only by keeping the pressure and pressing on them and limiting their attack can we win this game!"

Ye Qiu's words made the players nod their heads in unison. They were completely convinced by the head coach.

Not to mention that Ye Qiu asked them to continue to press forward now, even if Ye Qiu asked all 11 of them to press forward now, I am afraid they would do the same, because this is the dependence and habit they have developed in the past year.

"Don't worry about Barcelona's counterattack. Remember, as long as our pressure is good enough and tight enough, they will not have a chance to counterattack. We can't relax anymore. Leading by 1 goal is not what we want. We want to win more and we want to completely defeat our opponents!"

"Understood!" The players shouted in unison.

This time everyone heard it and looked over.

"Go, heroes of Ajax!"

The players dispersed and ran back to the field, while Collina quickly passed the ball to Kluivert, ready to kick off again.

Obviously, the first wave of attack from Ajax at the start of the game, the first shot once again penetrated the goal. Barcelona was puzzled and didn't understand what went wrong in the team, but they also felt frustrated because they worked hard to equalize the score, but lost again. Isn't this a waste of money?

Sometimes, this kind of frustration and depression is contagious. In addition, in the past season, Barcelona went from ambitious to empty-handed, which led to their own serious frustration and depression. Now, Ajax took the lead again, which made their emotions burst out completely.

On the other hand, all the players of Ajax realized that the head coach's analysis was very correct, so they began to devote themselves to Ye Qiu's tactical execution. In addition, they took the lead again, which made Ajax's morale soaring, like a tiger descending from the mountain, and launched a round of bombardment towards Barcelona's position.