Chapter 164: Don't go wild on my territory!

In the past two years, as Ajax's situation has improved and it has returned to the ranks of European powerhouses, the Amsterdam Cup Invitational has naturally become a major warm-up event before the season, but its influence has always been limited.

But it is obvious that this Amsterdam Cup Invitational has attracted much attention, and it can even be said that the whole world is following it.

Ajax naturally cannot have such an influence. The other three teams, or only two teams, have attracted the attention of fans and media around the world. Lippi's Juventus has not changed much this season, but Barcelona has just experienced a change of coach, Van Gaal has returned to the palace for the second time, and Manchester United has made heavy signings, all of which are the protagonists in the transfer market.

Manchester United has just announced that it has introduced English defender Rio Ferdinand from Leeds United at an astonishing price of 47.27 million US dollars. This is the highest price in the current transfer market, and it has also created the highest price for defenders, which has attracted the attention of the entire European football world.

Compared with Manchester United, Barcelona's hand is not light at all. First, it introduced Seydou Keita from Ajax at a high price, and then introduced the highly-regarded Argentine genius star Riquelme from Boca Juniors at a high price of 10.5 million euros.

Although Riquelme's transfer fee is close to Seydou Keita, or even less than Seydou Keita, the sensation caused is far from what Seydou Keita can match. The value of the Malian lies in practicality, but Riquelme has become the hope for the future of Argentine football.

All professional media are thinking in their hearts that Manchester United and Barcelona have spared no expense to introduce big-name stars. Whether it is Ferdinand or Riquelme, they will not miss the opportunity to directly compete with strong teams in the Amsterdam Cup. Van Gaal and Ferguson must also hope that the new players can pass the test of strong teams.

In other words, the Amsterdam Cup will be the first appearance of these stars for their new clubs.

So, in Amsterdam, as the invitational tournament approached, and as the three teams that received the invitation arrived in Amsterdam one after another, countless reporters gathered here, and all the media were immediately like a festival, hyping up this event and various news between the teams.

Not only reporters and fans, but even the players themselves are full of expectations for such a strong dialogue. Putting aside the win or loss, everyone hopes to be able to better experience where their strength ranks among European stars through the competition with the strong, and have a better estimate of their strength and potential.

But in this festive atmosphere, some people don’t think so.

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From three training sessions a day to two training sessions a day, the second training session ends at 19:00 in the evening.

It was slightly dark, but the heat in the air did not subside at all.

On the training ground, the staff have already started to take care of the turf. Watering and tidying must be done as soon as possible. In such hot weather, if the turf is not taken care of, it will easily die.

Because of this, players who want to practice more now usually arrange the extra practice time in the morning or at noon. After the afternoon training session, they go home directly. The entire first-team training base becomes very empty and quiet.

Ye Qiu is in the office with the air conditioner on, his feet comfortably resting on the desk, looking at the ceiling, thinking about the warm-up match with Barcelona tomorrow. He doesn't care about winning or losing, but he cares about the process.

Strictly speaking, this will be the first appearance of Ajax at the Arena Stadium after the reorganization. Whether the midfield combination of Arteta and Sneijder can play to its due strength makes Ye Qiu feel a little unsure. The key is that the three warm-up matches in China were played too easily and did not achieve the desired warm-up effect.

Barcelona let Rivaldo go this season and rented Mendieta, but no one knows whether this Spanish star who performed poorly in Lazio can regain his form in Barcelona.

Sometimes, it is hard to say what the status is. For example, Mendieta was originally in Valencia, and his entire career should have been on a rapid upward trend. If he could transfer to a team that suits him and can help him improve further when he transferred in 2001, he would have become the top superstar.

But suddenly he went to Lazio, and he was not adapted to Serie A and Lazio. Suddenly, the entire upward momentum was completely cut off, and it was declining at a very fast speed. For Mendieta, it was like a nightmare.

It is not an easy thing to break free from a nightmare.

And Riquelme, sometimes Ye Qiu really felt that Riquelme and Van Gaal were like a pair of incompatible contradictions. The styles of the two were really incompatible, so he did not have too many expectations for Riquelme, but Seydou Keita.

This player is definitely the kind of player who can make Barcelona more confident if used well. He knows Ye Qiu's Ajax very well, and he also knows very well how to play against Ajax. I wonder if Van Gaal will ask him for some advice.

Thinking of this, Ye Qiu exhaled lightly, stood up from his office chair, turned off the computer and air conditioner, packed up his things, turned off the lights and walked out of his office, ready to go home.

Sometimes there is no need to think too much before the game, because it is of little use. The most important thing is to determine your own direction, then move in that direction, and try your best to win the game. Even if you lose, you will feel at ease.

Playing with the car keys in his hand, as he walked downstairs, Ye Qiu saw a person sitting under the light in the distance of the corridor on the first floor.

Very casually, he sat on the ground beside the corridor and looked at the brightly lit training ground in the distance. The staff were busy going back and forth, as if they were in a daze.

"Hey, Mikel, why don't you go back and rest?" Ye Qiu walked over from a distance.

"Oh, I'll be back soon." That's what he said, but he didn't mean to move his butt at all.

Ye Qiu walked up to him, followed his line of sight, and smiled, "Is there anything interesting to see?"

Arteta turned his head, looked at the curious head coach, and shook his head, "I don't know, do they have to be so busy every day?"

"Yes!" Ye Qiu nodded, "Is it strange?"

"No, it's just..." Arteta shook his head, "I didn't know that before."

Ye Qiu was a little surprised by the Spaniard's thinking. He didn't know, so he just looked at him in a daze. He didn't even go back now. What kind of logic could this be? Does it look good?

"Playing football is our job, which brings us high salaries, and the reputation and status that are highly praised by the media and fans. It is their job to take care of the training ground, but their salaries are lower, and the media and fans never Pay attention to them. Not only that, they come to the training ground earlier than us and leave later than us. Sometimes we may even complain that the turf is not good enough. What do you think they think? "

Ye Qiu was confused and didn't quite understand what the Spaniard wanted to say.

"I don't know, why don't you ask yourself." After saying that, Ye Qiu shouted from a distance, "Demi!"

A person in the distance who should be considered the team leader ran over quickly after hearing Ye Qiu's shout, "Do you have anything to do with me?"

"Demi, our new player thinks you are working very hard and is wondering, what do you think of this job?"

Demi is a middle-aged Dutchman, not very tall, but not small. After hearing this, he laughed and said, "Is it hard? It must be a bit hard, but everyone is used to it. Come early and leave late, it doesn't matter. As long as "Everyone is happy to think that our Ajax players are training and preparing for games on the training ground we have maintained."

"Don't you think it's unfair?" Ye Qiu asked with a smile.

Demi laughed, "Boss, are you going to help us apply for a salary increase again?"

This summer, before the end of the season, Ye Qiu once put forward an idea, which was to give appropriate salary increases to the club's employees from top to bottom to reward them for their outstanding work performance over the past year.

"There is nothing fair or unfair. Everyone has a different division of labor. Many of us came from Detok Most. We couldn't play football, so in the end we had to choose to work. Working in Detok Most is at least better than working in Detok Most. It makes more sense to work for people outside. At least here, we can be with Ajax players every day and watch them play and train.”

"Working here makes us always feel that we have a part of the credit for everything Ajax has achieved."

From the time Demi came to the time he left, the whole process was very short. Basically, it was Ye Qiu talking to him. Arteta didn't say even a word from the beginning to the end, but he listened very carefully.

"Actually, they are very ordinary, very ordinary, but without them, Ajax would not have achieved results!" Ye Qiu waited until Demi left before expressing his views on these training ground workers. This is why he proposed a salary increase for staff.

"Think about it. If they hadn't taken care of the training ground earlier, the grass would have died in the summer. In the winter, the entire training ground would be frozen, and the turf would be bumpy. Would you still be able to play well?"

"The success of any team, from Michels's Ajax dynasty to Sacchi's Milan dynasty, their success seems to be the success of the stars, but in fact, behind the stars, there is a large group of Ordinary people who are unknown and not valued by others, their contributions are also an important part of a team’s success.”

But Ye Qiu shook his head again, "But there is no need to exaggerate their achievements and talk about them as if they are unknown heroes who have created great feats. They are not, because they are just a group of ordinary people. Just doing a very ordinary job that you may or may not like, that’s all.”

"Sometimes there is no need to deliberately search for meaning, because the extraordinary is always accumulated and transformed from the ordinary!"

After hearing this, Arteta seemed to understand a little bit, but what exactly he understood, Ye Qiu didn't know.

In fact, the Spaniard has been troubled by one thing recently, and that is the difference between himself and Riquelme.

They are all midfielders. Why is he always unwelcome in Barcelona? He is either loaned to Ligue 1 or abandoned to Eredivisie. And Riquelme has never proven himself in the European arena. Why does he come here? Are you expected to be a savior by Barcelona fans?

But after listening to Ye Qiu's words, Arteta understood a little bit.

We all live in this world. No one is nobler or more important than anyone else. No matter who dies, the earth will still turn. Even the most ordinary people play an irreplaceable role in this social chain. Without this group of ordinary people, can those who think they are stepping on others' heads survive?

The same is true on the football field. If superstars want to play well, they have to rely on the foil and assistance of ordinary players. If players want to play well, they have to rely on the ordinary staff of the club. No one is more important or more irreplaceable.

Now, Arteta has a little understanding of why there is one rule in Ye Qiu's locker room that everyone must respect the staff of the club, otherwise they will be severely punished.

For the same reason, he does not need to demand that Barcelona treat him and Riquelme with two completely different attitudes, because it is meaningless to explore this. Excessive demands on this point will only make him more isolated in the team in the end.

Ye Qiu was right. Extraordinary things are never created by individuals. Only groups can create greatness. Only when individuals integrate into groups can they become part of creating greatness.

At this moment, Arteta had a clear understanding in his heart. That is, he should integrate into and become a part of Ajax, help Ajax beat Barcelona, ​​and show his value. This is what he should do.

"Thank you, boss!" Arteta said with a smile.

Ye Qiu still couldn't figure out what the sensitive Spaniard's thinking was. He could only stand up with a wry smile, "By the way, have you found a house to live in?"

Arteta nodded, "I just moved in yesterday. Miss Moon helped me find it."

Ye Qiu shook the car keys in his hand, "Do you want to take a ride?"

Arteta immediately laughed from ear to ear. He had been drooling over Ye Qiu's Ferrari for a long time. He jumped up from the ground and walked faster than Ye Qiu, as if he couldn't wait to hold the steering wheel himself and control this Ferrari.

Of course, Ye Qiu couldn't give him such an opportunity. Ferrari was his baby, how could he let him try?

Not only that, Ye Qiu had previously ordered a Ferrari Enzo through Ferrari's Dutch agent. This was the latest flagship supercar launched by Ferrari. Ye Qiu led the team to excellent results last season, and the club bonus was not cheap. In addition, Eliza brought him a lot of business income outside, so he didn't feel bad about spending money.

If Arteta knew, he would definitely be more unbalanced, because he didn't have a car yet, but someone had two Ferraris, one for driving and one for home, which was simply a waste of natural resources!

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In the first game of the Amsterdam Cup, Van Gaal arranged a very puzzling formation of 3421.

The goalkeeper was Bonano, the back line was Rezig, Frank de Boer and Puyol, the midfield was Seydou Keita, Cocu, Rosenberg and Mendieta, the two front midfielders were Saviola and Riquelme, and the single striker was Kluivert.

At first glance, Barcelona's starting lineup seems to have no authentic wing players, and the three-back tactical system has also been proven to weaken the wing, but in terms of offense, Barcelona always launches attacks from the wing, which is a very puzzling puzzle.

First of all, Seydou Keita and Mendieta, both of whom are midfielders with both offensive and defensive capabilities, are arranged on the left and right wing. Not only that, Riquelme and Saviola are also required to go to the wing more, receive the ball from the wing and then cut to the middle.

Therefore, Barcelona's entire tactic seems to have no wing, but in fact, because Seydou Keita and Mendieta are wing forwards, and Saviola and Riquelme are front midfielders, this set of wing combinations are not far from each other and maintain close contact, so it is easy to form a strong suppression on the wing.

At the beginning of the game, they put strong pressure on Ajax's wingers at the Arena Stadium. Four wingers repeatedly broke through on the left and right sides. They supported each other and connected with each other, making it difficult for Ajax's full-backs to adapt, and they were always easily trapped in an awkward situation of one-on-two.

Everyone knows that in a one-on-two situation, the full-backs basically cannot form an effective defense.

So for a while, Barcelona's offensive seemed very imposing, and it launched a fierce attack on Ajax's defense line, especially on the two wingers, which frequently broke through and created threats.

In the 16th minute, after Seydou Keita and Riquelme formed a cooperation on the left, Seydou Keita made a cross from the bottom, and Kluivert scored the ball in front of the goal, 1:0.

No one expected that the Mari midfielder who had just transferred from Ajax to Barcelona this season would actually contribute a goal to his new club when he returned to the Arena Stadium for the first time, assassinating his old club.

There were some boos at the Arena Stadium, but they were not very obvious. It was obvious that some fans were dissatisfied and even angry about Seydou Keita's counterattack, but most fans still maintained a tolerant attitude. After all, the Malian has put on the Barcelona jersey and should do his best for Barcelona.

Ye Qiu repeatedly signaled the team to press forward, especially the team's midfield, to put strong pressure on Barcelona's midfield, so that Robben and Van der Vaart on the left and right sides frequently rushed to Barcelona's side.

The disadvantage of the three defenders is the defense of the side, and using Robben and Van der Vaart's side impact, Keita and Mendieta had to retreat to help defend, and even Riquelme and Saviola had to retreat.

The sharp counterattack from Ajax quickly pushed Barcelona, ​​which had been playing smoothly since the start, back completely, forcing Barcelona to invest more troops in defense with a tough attitude, and telling the Spaniards with tough strength.

Get out, don't go wild on my territory!