Chapter 72 Pride and Prejudice

This first round match of the 2000/01 Eredivisie at the Arena Stadium in Amsterdam was not only the first professional league match of the 25-year-old Ye Qiu's coaching career, but also the first official professional match of the 36-year-old Henk Dutt's coaching career.

Henk Dutt, who once played for Feyenoord and Fortuna Sittard, did not have a brilliant career, but as the local media introduced, in the Netherlands, many head coaches have a lackluster career, but their coaching resumes are very successful.

After Dutt announced his retirement in 1992, he worked directly in the youth training camp and coaching staff of Fortuna Sittard. This summer, he took charge of the first team and was ambitious to lead Fortuna Sittard to stop the decline of the past two years.

Although the main central defender Kevin Hovland did not get even a penny in transfer fee, Dutt got the support of the board of directors and vigorously introduced a group of strong and experienced players, including the 31-year-old midfielder Van Haast from Ajax.

This veteran who was kicked out by Ye Qiu, however, has received full trust and affirmation from Dutt, who believes that Van Haast will play a key role in Fortuna Sittard's away game against Ajax, and his team will surely take advantage of the momentum of the excellent performance in the warm-up match to defeat Ajax in one go.

But it is obvious that Ye Qiu's team gave him a wake-up call from the beginning.

Without Kevin Hovland, Fortuna Sittard's defense line lacks the most important piece of the puzzle.

When the game just started, Ajax launched an attack from the right, Van der Vaart and Maicon made a two-on-one cooperation, and when the Brazilian right back passed the ball into the penalty area, Ibrahimovic suppressed Fortuna Sittard's central defender with his body, stopped the ball, turned around and suddenly shot, the ball was slightly off, and almost penetrated Fortuna Sittard's goal.

This shot also made Fortuna Sittard break out in a cold sweat.

But this was just the beginning. After that, Ajax successfully pushed the defense line forward, resolutely implemented Ye Qiu's defensive strategy of besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements, and then used the offensive convenience brought by the high-position defense to launch a fierce attack on Fortuna Sittard.

In the 8th minute, after Sneijder got the ball in the midfield, he saw Van der Vaart running inside from the right, and immediately passed the ball to his feet. The latter stopped the ball in the right area of ​​the top of the penalty area, and then rushed into the penalty area. Before the opponent's central defender blocked it, he shot a low shot with his left foot and actually penetrated the goal guarded by former Barcelona goalkeeper Ruud Hessip, 1:0!

Van der Vaart's goal completely ignited the passion of the game for Ajax, especially the Ajax fans who came to the scene in the stands, who were stimulated by Van der Vaart's goal and cheered loudly.

After breaking the deadlock on the field, Ajax began to slow down the offensive appropriately, but Ye Qiu's team still launched a strong pressure on Fortuna Sittard with high defense, and in the 26th minute, Robben on the left quickly broke through the bottom line and stopped and knocked back. Keita made a heavy shot from the front of the penalty area and once again penetrated the goal of Fortuna Sittard, rewriting the score to 2:0!

A 2-goal lead boosted Ajax's morale, while the visiting team could not find an effective way to contain Ajax. They could only adopt a defensive counterattack strategy, first stabilize the back line, and then slowly plan a counterattack.

After Fortuna Sittard locked the 30-meter area, Ajax still created a lot of opportunities, but it was still a little short, especially the Swedish striker Ibrahimovic missed several good scoring opportunities.

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and Ye Qiu saw that Ibrahimovic still had not improved. In the 55th minute, he replaced Ibrahimovic with Van der Meyde, and let Van der Vaart play as a striker and Van der Vaart as a right winger.

This adjustment completely revitalized Ajax's front trident.

First, in the 61st minute, Van der Vaart knocked the ball back and assisted Robben to break into the penalty area from the left and hit the low shot. Then Van der Vaart himself received Van der Vaart's cross in the 74th minute, and broke through Hesp's goal again after dribbling past the opponent's central defender. Finally, Maicon assisted Van der Meyde to score the team's fifth goal of the game.

5:0, Ajax's new season debut at the Arena Stadium completely suppressed Fortuna Sittard and won a hearty victory, which made all the more than 30,000 Ajax fans who came to watch the game completely crazy and boiling.

Ajax defeated PSV Eindhoven, won the Dutch Super Cup, and won 5:0 against Fortuna Sittard in the first round of the new season. In two consecutive games, Ajax's performance made all those who love this team feel incredible and praised it.

No one had ever thought that this team with the youngest average age in the Dutch Eredivisie could have such an outstanding performance.

At the same time, PSV Eindhoven, who had just been defeated 2:0 by Ajax in the Dutch Super Cup, was unexpectedly sniped by Grafschap in the first game of the league and suffered a 0:2 defeat. Gretz's team obviously has not been able to get out of the shadow of the defeat in the Dutch Super Cup.

Although Feyenoord defeated Alkmaar 2:0, this did not prevent Ajax, who won 5:0 in the first round, from successfully ascending to the top of the Dutch Eredivisie. Almost all the media and newspapers in the Netherlands praised Ajax's performance in the first round.

Only Ye Qiu, in an interview with reporters and media after the game, said that the team's performance was not as good as the outside world had exaggerated, and that such a victory was somewhat lucky, but he also admitted that the players tried very hard to show their best side.

A week later, Ajax visited Sparta Rotterdam's home stadium.

After winning a big victory in the first game, Ajax lost 0:1 to Van Hanegen's team away.

This head coach, who was once familiar to Ye Qiu because he was on the national team coaching list, had a special exchange with Ye Qiu before the game and talked about Ajax's outstanding performance in the first round, but in the game, his team made Ajax suffer and was defeated by the opponent's counterattack.

After the game, the Dutch Daily Telegraph published a comment that Ajax died because of its old problems.

"In the field of professional coaching, Ye Qiu is a complete newcomer. He led the second team to win the Dutch Cup miraculously, but he never noticed that the guarantee for his team to win the championship was the iron-clad defense. After taking charge of the Ajax first team, his ambitions obviously soared. He wanted to get more, not only victory, but also praise."

"In pursuit of victory, he always blindly pushed the defense forward, but once the offense was contained and resisted, the high risk behind them would become more deadly than ever. The goal conceded in the game against Sparta Rotterdam was in this situation. Born under such circumstances. "

"The 5:0 victory over Fortuna Sittard in the first round covered up many problems and made Ye Qiu and his Ajax somewhat lost. Some of them were blindly arrogant and thought that their strength was enough to challenge everything. The defeat in Rotterdam undoubtedly gave him a wake-up call and told him a cruel fact: You are still very young, young Chinese!"

In a program about the Eredivisie recorded by the Rotterdam regional TV station, the impression of Ye Qiu, the head coach who led the team to defeat Feyenoord and win the Dutch Cup last season, was also very bad. In this program, they even made a special short film.

In the short film, Ye Qiu was blowing a balloon, but Van Hanegen walked over, picked up a golf club, swung it hard, and directly blew up the ball, and also knocked Ye Qiu's face crooked, while the host of the program was laughing and mocking Ye Qiu.

"Maybe you are ambitious and know how to blow up a balloon, but it's useless. After arriving in Rotterdam, it exploded with a bang!"

"But we must congratulate Ye Qiu, because he is the most outstanding football player in Chinese history, because he once occupied the leading position in the Eredivisie standings, even if it was only for 7 days, but it was already a miracle!"

"And we can also tell him that you will never have the same opportunity again in the future!"

Because, after the second round of the league, Ajax, who had one win and one loss, quickly dropped to the sixth place, while Feyenoord in Rotterdam firmly occupied the leading position in the league with two consecutive wins.

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"They... are too much!"

When Huang Chu saw the report in the newspaper and the TV program on TV that was specially used to ridicule and mock Ye Qiu, he was very angry for Ye Qiu. Eindhoven TV even selected Ye Qiu as the most miserable person in the second round of the league because he lost the leading position in the league.

These are all unbridled jokes and entertainment attitudes that Western media are good at, but deeper is their irony and disdain for Ye Qiu, because they never believe that a 25-year-old Chinese can lead Ajax to make a difference.

Prejudice and discrimination, this is obvious.

When he came to the Netherlands, Huang Chu knew in his heart that here, there are many people who look kind on the surface, without prejudice or discrimination, but in their bones, they still carry the arrogance unique to Europeans, as well as discrimination and disdain for people of color, especially in the field of sports and football.

This can be seen by just looking at how many head coaches of color are coaching in European football!

"I expected it!" On the contrary, Ye Qiu looked very calm and did not mean to be angry or upset at all.

Huang Chu was a little worried about him, but seeing him so calm, as if nothing had happened, he didn't know what to do for a moment, "Aren't you angry at all?"

"Angry?" Ye Qiu nodded, "Of course, I'm angry, but I know why they do this."

After a pause, Ye Qiu smiled slightly, "They even include their government to use Allochtoon and Atuochtoon to distinguish between outsiders and pure Dutch. As long as you and your ancestors have even one side of the blood that does not belong to the Netherlands, you belong to Allochtoon, and then those Atuochtoons can always look down on you with a high and mighty eye!"

"They take it for granted that they are the best, and all Allochtoons are not as good as them. This is a prejudice that is deep in the bones and there is no way to eliminate it, so many people have proposed that the government should abolish these two words, but what happens after the abolition? Will they find other equally derogatory words to replace it? Will it work?"

Huang Chu was silent. Although many people felt that they did not encounter much discrimination or prejudice when studying and living in the Netherlands, that was based on the fact that you did not touch the interests and pain points of certain people. But once you have this ability, they will attack you without hesitation.

Just like Ye Qiu, who defeated Eindhoven, Feyenoord, and won the Dutch Cup and the Dutch Super Cup, if it were a white Dutchman, there would be no problem, and he might even be hailed as a rising star, but Ye Qiu is Chinese, which is not acceptable. Many people cannot accept it.

Therefore, when Ye Qiu and Ajax perform well, they will be silent, but once they perform poorly or encounter problems, they will jump out like monsters and demons, trying every means to disgust you and attack you with words.

Of course, it is not to say that all Dutch people are like this, but at least many people who appear in newspapers have such discrimination.

"In my opinion, let them say whatever they like, and do whatever they like. If they have the guts, they can come to the Amstelveen district to make trouble, and I will call the police to have them arrested."

"One person's power is limited, so it is useless to reason with them and defend them, because they have the so-called freedom of speech. The best way to fight back against these people is to defeat them with absolute strength and iron-clad facts, so that they can thoroughly reflect on and regret everything they did today."

When he said this, Ye Qiu pretended to be naughty, "Remember our ancestor Mencius said that people must humiliate themselves before others humiliate them, so if you want to stop being looked down upon, you must constantly strive for self-improvement!"

Huang Chu saw that this annoying guy was still thinking about showing off his knowledge, and couldn't help but stare at him fiercely, but it only lasted for a few seconds, and he couldn't help but chuckled. He felt strange in his heart, why did such serious words fall into Ye Qiu's mouth, but become so frivolous?

However, Huang Chu still admired and trusted Ye Qiu's self-improvement. She believed that Ye Qiu would have a way to solve the current predicament, but she herself could not explain where the confidence came from.

After seeing Huang Chu off, Ye Qiu's smile gradually faded and he sighed deeply.

He had indeed made a serious mistake before, that is, he underestimated the ability of the professional league and those professional coaches.

The problem exposed by Ajax in losing to Rotterdam Sparta was not new. It was still the team's unfavorable offense, the large coverage area of ​​the midfield, and the decline in control, which led to the gap behind the forward defense line being used by the opponent.

Ye Qiu and Bobby Hams and others studied for a long time, but they could not find an effective way to solve the problem. Originally, after playing against Eindhoven, he played against Fortuna Sittard, but in that game, Dutt's team attacked Ajax in a big way, resulting in a big victory.

This made Ye Qiu a little paralyzed, thinking that the problem of the team was covered up.

But who could have thought that, against Sparta Rotterdam, Van Hanehen, an old guy who looked pretty good, actually cleverly took advantage of Ajax's problem and used it to arrange a defensive counterattack, which led to Ajax's defeat.

"Professional coaches make a living from this. All their energy is spent on studying their opponents. How could they not notice it?"

Ye Qiu laughed at himself with a bitter smile. The problem was discovered by the opponent, but he still couldn't find an effective solution to the problem. This was indeed a bit sad. Moreover, now he only lost one game, and he could still hold on for a while with the Super Cup championship before the season. If he still couldn't find a solution after a while, the pressure he would bear would be ten times or a hundred times greater than it is now.

In the past period of time, Ye Qiu read a lot of professional books and a lot of works by famous coaches in the past and future, many of which were about high-position defense, but none of them were suitable for the current situation of Ajax.

In other words, the problems currently faced by Ajax are unique in the history of football!

However, it is not difficult to guess. The players have different technical characteristics, different football backgrounds, different team tactical systems, and different personnel configurations and responsibilities. Naturally, the problems and solutions encountered by other teams are difficult to adapt to the current problems of Ajax.

And Ye Qiu finally figured out that those routine football theories are known by everyone. Learning these is only the basis for becoming a head coach, and it cannot guarantee that you will become a qualified professional head coach, especially if you want to gain a foothold in the European league, you need to have your own football knowledge and understanding.

Only in this way, when the team encounters problems similar to those currently encountered by Ajax, these head coaches who have their own understanding of football and tactics can come up with effective solutions to the problems, and they must be timely.

Once the league starts, the games will be one after another. It is impossible to give you a relaxed adjustment time, nor is it possible for you to think slowly and solve the problem slowly. If you cannot find the most effective solution in the shortest time, the team's performance will inevitably be affected, and you may be fired before you think of a solution.

When Ye Qiu was a fan in his previous life, he thought too simply of head coaches. When he saw some head coaches being fired due to poor performance, he naturally believed that they were duds with poor abilities. But in fact, they might not be incompetent, but might just have encountered a problem that could not be solved in a short time.

This also explains why so many head coaches have very different coaching results after changing teams.

This also made Ye Qiu re-examine the role of the Godfather Development System. It is more of an auxiliary system, and cannot help a head coach start from scratch and become a world-famous coach. If you want to get to this point, the key is to rely on yourself.

After figuring this out, Ye Qiu ignored how the outside world mocked and humiliated him, and threw himself into the study room.

He decided not to read the works of those famous coaches, not to learn the methods of those famous coaches, but to carefully sort out Ajax's 433 high-position defense system from beginning to end, hoping to find an effective way to solve the problem.

In ***'s words, do it yourself and you will have enough food and clothing!