Chapter 242 Bulldog Spirit

"For this game, I think the team performed very well. Although our opponents created more opportunities and threats than us, we got more time on the ball and were stalemate in the end. Our physical fitness When things were lacking, the players were able to grit their teeth and break the deadlock, and I thought they were outstanding.”

At the press conference at Highbury Stadium after the game, Wenger faced reporters and media interviews and expressed that although he was a little regretful that he failed to win Chelsea at home in this game, he was basically satisfied.

"In the first half, we were indeed a bit unlucky. We made several mistakes that we shouldn't have made and were seized by our opponents. But in the second half, we performed significantly better and we showed our best to win. Although it was just a draw in the end, I couldn’t ask for more from them!”

All reporters who were able to come to the scene knew exactly what Wenger meant, because in the past four rounds of the league, before the national team game, Arsenal had encountered three of the top Premier League teams, Manchester United, Newcastle and Liverpool. After the national team game, Chelsea ushered in. This schedule can be called a devil's schedule.

But in such a strong dialogue, Arsenal tied with Manchester United and Chelsea, and defeated Newcastle and Liverpool 3:2 and 2:1 respectively. This allowed Arsenal to successfully get out of the devil's schedule. Wenger was obviously satisfied with this.

When it comes to Arsenal and Chelsea, although the Blues have taken the lead with 8 wins and 1 draw after this battle, in fact, many people feel that the Blues' report card does not have much gold content, because They met two strong teams, Liverpool and Arsenal.

Although Arsenal is 4 points behind Chelsea, the problem is that the Gunners have already encountered Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester United and Chelsea, the four strongest competitors in the Premier League, in the first round robin. From this point of view, Arsenal is not inferior. How much, because they have a difficult schedule first and then an easier schedule.

However, compared to their good performance in the Premier League, Arsenal's performance in the Champions League was very poor. They lost to Inter Milan 0:3 at Highbury Stadium in the first round of the group stage, and then tied with Lokomotiv Moscow 0:0 away from home. A record of one loss and one draw makes Arsenal's performance in the European arena unsatisfactory.

On the other hand, Chelsea is not only undefeated in the Premier League, but also has two consecutive victories in the Champions League group, which can be said to be in the limelight.

After asking Wenger, the reporters immediately shifted the topic to Ye Qiu.

"We all noticed that during the game, one of your assistants seemed to frequently walk behind the goalkeeper. Are you saying something to Van der Sar?" A reporter first asked an interesting question. question.

In fact, this phenomenon did not only appear in this game. It has occurred in almost every game in the past. However, those games did not attract as much attention as Chelsea's game against Arsenal, so they did not attract too much attention from the media before. It was a lot of speculation, but now they clearly noticed it.

This is a characteristic of Frans Hoque. He often walks behind Van der Sar during the game. On the one hand, he corrects and gives pointers to some of his problems, and at the same time, he also comforts Van der Sar's emotions during the game.

You know, a goalkeeper is doing useless work most of the time in the game, but once they are required to be effective, the situation must be very critical and it can be said to be a critical moment. This requires the goalkeeper to remain tense and calm for a long time. Focus, but the question is, who can guarantee that they can do this for a long time?

Therefore, how to adjust the psychological quality of a goalkeeper is undoubtedly a very important key factor.

Frans Houck knows Van der Sar very well, and he also knows very well how to help Van der Sar adjust his mentality so that the Dutch goalkeeper can perform better, so he often walks behind the goalkeeper to follow Van der Sar during the game. Desa Communication.

Ye Qiu would definitely not say anything about this. This was a secret belonging to his own coaching staff.

"I told Edwin, don't worry, because his teammates can help him block the opponent's attack!" Ye Qiu answered this question with a smile, "Although we lost the ball in the end, I feel that whether it is the goalkeeper or the players, All performed very well.”

"I have always said that players are human beings and they will make mistakes, so I think conceding goals and being tied by opponents should not affect the team because the opponent we are facing this time is Arsenal. With a strong team, anything can happen, and we are mentally prepared for it.”

The reporters didn't know whether what Ye Qiu said was true or not, but it seemed to make some sense, so they did not continue to delve into the issue. Instead, they turned to another aspect and asked about Chelsea being terminated by Arsenal. It's a matter of discipline.

"I believe everyone has seen today that our strength is not inferior to any opponent, but we are not yet a mature team like Manchester United and Arsenal, because when Pires, Bergkamp, ​​Ashley ?When Cole, Vieira and others get the ball, Henry and others know where to run and where to cooperate. "

"But our players are obviously not enough at this point. We lack the tacit understanding that a mature team like them should have. I think this is where we need to continue to improve in the next period of time."

Many reporters nodded after hearing this, "Mr. Ye Qiu, how long do you think this will take?"

"It's hard to say, maybe one or two months, maybe a year or two, I think our players are a group of experienced professionals, they should be able to quickly find a tacit understanding with their teammates, so this day should come soon."

"Mr. Ye Qiu!" Another reporter stood up, "We all noticed that almost all teams that met Chelsea had a feeling that their offense was difficult to work under Chelsea's interception and pressure, and Houllier once said not long ago that Liverpool lost because of the loss of midfield, and I remember that you once said that whoever gets the midfield controls everything. Excuse me, is this sentence still your creed?"

Ye Qiu looked at the reporter, laughed, and nodded: "Yes, that's right, I said so I have done that, and I am doing it. "

"I have always attached great importance to the midfield, because I have always believed that the midfield that can attack forward and defend backward is the key to any team's combat effectiveness, and the development of modern football has higher requirements for the midfield, one of which is that the rhythm is obviously faster. "

When he said this, Ye Qiu smiled and shook his head, "But this kind of speed is not the blind speed advocated by many Premier League teams, but a purposeful, targeted and controlled speed. I believe that this will become the trend of future football!"

Ye Qiu is fully qualified to say this to anyone, because his tactics at Ajax have been praised by many professionals, even famous coaches such as Ferguson and Wenger.

If it is said that Ajax's speed was uncontrolled when it reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, then with the subsequent joining of Arteta, Ajax's controlled fast-paced impact style of play made everyone's eyes light up.

Ye Qiu now feels more and more that the so-called all-out attack and all-out defense is the combination of offense and defense, which is difficult to distinguish from each other.

Reporters have always liked Ye Qiu. On the one hand, he is young, has a good image, and is well-liked by fans. On the other hand, he rarely refuses to answer questions. Even if the question makes him feel embarrassed, he will at least give an appropriate response, which is difficult for a head coach.

At the end of this press conference at Highbury Stadium, a reporter from Spain asked Ye Qiu a more embarrassing question about Barcelona.

"Mr. Ye Qiu, I am a reporter from El País. I would like to ask, what do you think of Rijkaard's Barcelona? Although the schedule has just started, many Barcelona fans have begun to believe Cruyff's words and think that Barcelona's failure to invite you to Camp Nou is a fatal mistake. What do you think?"

Ye Qiu was a little embarrassed about this question because it was related to his entanglement with Barcelona in the summer.

"I respect Barcelona and Rijkaard very much. We had very good contact and communication in Ajax. I think he is a very good head coach, but he is facing some problems now. As a century-old club, Barcelona must have a way to solve the crisis."

"I don't think Barcelona made a mistake about me at all, because for a giant team like Barcelona, ​​the most important thing is the team itself, not anyone!"

Ye Qiu's answer gave Barcelona and Rijkaard enough respect. It is difficult for anyone to find fault with his words, even those reporters who want to find fault.

But it must be admitted that Rijkaard's record in Barcelona is really bad. He has not won 4 consecutive home games, has not scored a goal in 4 consecutive games, and has scored 3 goals in 7 league games. Such results can be said to be extremely bad, even worse than when anyone coached in the past.

The Spanish media generally attributed Barcelona's problems to two points. The first was the lack of a big picture view. The game had no direction and strategy, which caused the team to be in a mess, and directly created the second point, that is, the team's entire offense and defense lost order and seemed very chaotic.

It should be said that before Barcelona, ​​Rijkaard had never won respect for coaching, especially in terms of tactical literacy.

In his previous life, Rijkaard had Ten Cate, but his performance was still extremely bad. Now without Ten Cate, his performance is even worse. But what's more terrible is that in his previous life, he could introduce Edgar Davis, who could make the team's entire operation smoother after the winter break. What about now?

Ye Qiu even had an embarrassing discovery that Xavi was not liked by Rijkaard at the beginning of the season and became a substitute for Gerard and Motta, but Barcelona needed a midfielder like Xavi who had an excellent big picture view and long and short passes.

Of course, Ye Qiu couldn't say these discoveries of his own, and could only choose to remain silent and rot in his stomach.

After all, no one likes others to point fingers at their team, right?

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The reason why Ye Qiu didn't let Ronaldinho play in the match against Arsenal was because he faced Mancini's Lazio three days later. This match was crucial for Chelsea's Champions League group stage.

The difference between the first and second place in the group was obvious, especially since the round of 16 knockout stage was in February. For the Premier League, which had no winter break, it was not a good thing to encounter a too strong opponent in February.

Therefore, Ye Qiu's goal in the Champions League group stage is to be the first in the group, so Lazio must be suppressed.

Mancini insisted on the rotation system in Lazio. In this game, he changed 7 players at once, but relatively speaking, Ye Qiu seemed more stable, even conservative.

Goalkeeper Van der Sar, defense line Gallas, Cannavaro, Terry and Sun Jihai, midfielder Scott Parker, Makelele and Deco, Ronaldinho and Lampard formed a trident behind Drogba.

In total, Ye Qiu changed three players, and the overall framework of the team remained unchanged.

It is difficult to say whether to change or not, because at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea had the advantage throughout the first half, but they just couldn't break Lazio's goal. The players' performance was generally sluggish. Even if they beat Lazio very badly, the offense lost its threat.

The most threatening one is Ronaldinho, but after several amazing individual performances at the beginning, the Brazilian was also closely guarded by the opponent. The defense line composed of Favalli, Mihajlovic, Stam and Oddo is still very strong. Coupled with the combination of Fiore, Stankovic, Albertini and Conceicao, Lazio's strength is not bad.

One of the important reasons why Ye Qiu made minor repairs is that the team has just been reorganized. Now is the time for the players to develop tacit understanding. Too much change in the lineup can easily cause the players to be at a loss, so he insisted on making some changes in every game, but the changes are not big, to ensure the stability of the team's combat effectiveness.

But in this game at Stamford Bridge, the result of 0:0 in the first half made him feel that he had to make a big change.

In the 65th minute of the second half, seeing that the situation still showed no signs of improvement, Ye Qiu finally took action and replaced Scott Parker with Joe Cole. The midfield was adjusted on a large scale, especially Joe Cole. Ye Qiu pushed his position forward.

As soon as the latter came on the court, he immediately liberated Chelsea's midfield creativity.

Joe Cole is a player with excellent skills. He formed Chelsea's midfield ball-controlling iron triangle with Deco and Ronaldinho. The Englishman and Deco's coordination and cooperation in the midfield completely liberated Ronaldinho's offensive power in the frontcourt.

In the 67th minute, Joe Cole played a big trick in the midfield as soon as he came on the court. After shaking off Albertini, he passed the ball to Ronaldinho who was pulled between Oddo and Stam. After getting the ball, the Brazilian quickly broke through and broke into the Lazio penalty area. Under the double-teaming of two people, he still used his personal skills to pass the ball to Lampard's feet.

Lampard inserted a direct shot from behind. Peruzzi reacted very quickly and saved the ball, but Ronaldinho shook off Stam after getting the ball and hit a low shot, 1:0!

This goal completely sounded the horn of Chelsea's attack, especially after Joe Cole came on the court, Chelsea's entire offense became more creative and more penetrating.

In the 81st minute, Joe Cole, Ronaldinho, Deco, Drogba and others cooperated and penetrated continuously. Finally, Lampard shot with his right foot at the edge of the penalty area, further expanding the score for Chelsea, 2:0!

The two goals completely extinguished Lazio's confidence in counterattack and made Mancini feel extremely disappointed, but the Italian team finally failed to make a difference at Stamford Bridge and left with a 0:2 defeat.

At the press conference after the game, Ye Qiu gave a high evaluation of the players' performance, especially the team's fighting spirit that persisted to the end. He gave a very high affirmation and believed that this victory was the result of everyone's concerted efforts.

"I always think that the best team should be: Italian tactics, Spanish technology, German overall execution and English fighting spirit. This is the perfect team in my mind, and I have always hoped that Chelsea can become such a team."

"There is no doubt that in this game, Joe Cole, Lampard, Terry and other English players performed very well. Their fighting spirit infected everyone. This is the key factor for us to win the game in the end. I hope the players can continue to maintain such performance and performance, then we will become stronger and stronger!"

Not only Ye Qiu highly praised the team, but also in the special edition of the British Times, the two key factors for Chelsea to win Lazio were mentioned. One was that Ye Qiu replaced Joe Cole at a critical moment, which completely liberated the team's creativity, and the other was the bulldog spirit of Chelsea players.

The bulldog is the national dog of the United Kingdom, representing tenacity and bravery.

In this game, it was the fighting spirit shown by the English that infected others, and the Times also focused on praising Ye Qiu's use of Lampard and Terry, believing that Lampard scored more and more goals after being moved forward, but his contribution was not only goals, but also returning to defense and actively covering the front field, which made him play better and better this season.

As the captain of the team, Terry took over Desailly's armband and partnered with Cannavaro, but his performance was not inferior to Cannavaro at all. According to OPTA data, Terry's success rate in high balls and one-on-one defense this season ranked first in the Premier League, and even ranked in the top three in Europe. It can be seen that the performance of this team captain deserves recognition.

With these two Englishmen as the front and back line, Drogba, Ronaldinho, Makelele and Van der Sar forming the team's central axis, and Davis, Parker, Gudjohnsen and other players with strong fighting spirit and strong tactical execution, Chelsea was praised by the Times as the team with the most bulldog spirit in the Premier League.

In the words of Martin Samuel, Chelsea is ugly and scary!