Chapter 78 Desperate Opponent

As the team's performance improved, the atmosphere in De Tokmostri gradually became relaxed.

The most obvious thing was that the atmosphere on the training ground became much more lively. Many players even did some funny things on the training ground and in the locker room. Ye Qiu did not stop this. He regarded this as a gift for the players' excellent performance.

After the morning training session, the players went directly to the locker room, and Ye Qiu went to the coaching room.

The sports channel of the Dutch National Television was broadcasting sports news. The UEFA Cup draw ceremony was to be held in Geneva at 12:30 noon, so Ye Qiu found a seat and sat down.

There have been a lot of news recently, but as always, there are few news related to the Netherlands. Basically, they are all news about the four major leagues, especially Serie A. Now Serie A is truly the world's number one league, and fans all over the world are watching.

In recent weeks, the most eye-catching news in Serie A is undoubtedly Juventus' goalkeeper.

Ancelotti was very dissatisfied with the performance of Dutch goalkeeper Van der Sar. Juventus fans also disliked this tall but slow-reacting goalkeeper. They even held up signs in the home game, calling for their former angel, Angelo Peruzzi, who joined Lazio this season after switching to Inter Milan.

Angelo means angel in Italian, and the fans of the Zebras regard Peruzzi as their guardian angel, especially when Dutch goalkeeper Van der Sar performed poorly.

"Poor Van der Sar, he definitely has the ability, but why did he perform so badly in Serie A?" Bobby Hams felt a little sorry and regretful for this former student.

Van der Sar's performance in Serie A has been up and down, but unfortunately, his performance in recent weeks has been very bad, especially in the most recent game, the Champions League away challenge Panathinaikos, Van der Sar conceded 3 goals to the opponent, which directly led to Juventus being eliminated from the Champions League. They didn't even qualify for the third place in the group and the UEFA Cup, and were directly eliminated from the bottom.

In the Serie A league, Van der Sar lost 6 goals in 6 rounds. Even the team's veteran Ferrara said that he had never been so bad in Juventus. Almost every game was spent in fear and lack of security.

Although Ancelotti and Ferrara didn't say it directly, everyone knew that they were talking about Van der Sar.

Ye Qiu felt absurd at this moment, because Juventus at this time regarded Van der Sar as a historical sinner, and the Dutch goalkeeper was completely listed as a parallel import. But who could have thought that a few years later, the old Van would be able to shine in Manchester United?

"Our current problem is somewhat similar to that of Juventus!" Ye Qiu smiled bitterly and shook his head.

Goalkeeper Fred Grimm is not young anymore and has experience, but the problem is that his strength has declined greatly, which is somewhat incompatible with Ajax's tactics, especially in terms of communication and exchanges with the back line, which has caused Ajax to have a lot of problems in this regard.

The biggest hidden danger in the midfield this season is Lucio, who likes to advance, and Grimm, who lacks stability.

Ye Qiu is not looking for responsibility, but these two players at least made Ajax lose a lot of points. The difference is that Lucio is favored by Ye Qiu, and he is young and has potential. There is enough future for Ye Qiu to cultivate him, but Grimm is so old that he is obviously a little behind Ye Qiu.

"We should indeed consider introducing a strong goalkeeper!" Bobby Hams also agreed with Ye Qiu's opinion.

Ye Qiu has a lot of options for goalkeepers, including Czech player Petr Cech and Reina, who is currently in Barcelona. He has also sent out scouts to find and investigate these players. He wants to know whether these players have the strength to play as the main force in Ajax.

Among them, Reina, who is young, has played for Barcelona this season and has been promoted to the main force by Ferrer. He is expected by countless Barcelona fans to become Barcelona's own Casillas, but his performance is mixed and his performance is not stable enough.

If this is the case, why should Ye Qiu give up Grimm?

While Ye Qiu and Bobby Hams were exchanging opinions, the draw ceremony for the UEFA Cup also began.

This season's UEFA Cup can be said to be the world of the Bundesliga teams. A total of 7 Bundesliga teams have entered the UEFA Cup round of 32, 5 La Liga teams, and 3 Serie A teams. In addition to the teams from Ligue 1, the Premier League and the Eredivisie, the UEFA Cup can be said to be full of strong teams.

For Ajax, no matter who the opponent is, they cannot be underestimated at all, because they have no capital at all.

But in the end, the opponent drawn by Ajax is Roma from Serie A!

Feyenoord drew Stuttgart from the Bundesliga, and PSV Eindhoven had the best luck and met Thessaloniki in Greece.

Ajax has long lost the glory of Van Gaal's Champions League. In recent years, its strength has declined sharply, resulting in the outside world's low evaluation of Ajax. Draw Roma, more people think that this is not even a strong dialogue.

The real strong dialogue should be the kind of Inter Milan and Hertha Berlin, the confrontation between the four major league teams, and even worse, the confrontation between Feyenoord and Stuttgart, which are relatively equal in strength.

On the other hand, the gap between Ajax and Roma is too big. After all, Capello's star-studded lineup is comparable to Ajax's shabby player list. Picking out a few of them is enough to match the entire Ajax team.

Batistuta, Totti, Emerson, Cafu, Candre Muel, Montella...

This season, Roma has achieved an impressive record of 5 wins and 1 loss in the first 6 rounds of Serie A, the world's top league, which shows how strong it is.

"It's so unlucky that we met Roma!" Roland shook his head and sighed.

This kind of draw is purely bad luck, because Roma's strength is not comparable to Ajax, even Eindhoven, so there is no suspense of deliberately creating a strong dialogue.

When Roma was drawn, many people in the coaching room were silent, because no one was willing to accept the fate of certain death in the future.

On the contrary, Ye Qiu saw that no one was talking, so he stood up with a smile.

"I think it's quite exciting to be drawn against Roma!"

Ye Qiu gave people the feeling of being eager to try, "I am now beginning to find the passion and excitement of playing in the Dutch Cup last year. When we led the second team, wasn't the gap bigger than the gap with Roma now? But what was the result?"

His words made Ricklink and Roland more excited.

Yes, when I led the second team last year, the gap was even bigger, but Ajax still had the last laugh.

"The fun of life is to constantly challenge the strong. Even if it is Roma, even if it is Capello, I am not afraid of him!"

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The draw of Roma in the UEFA Cup knockout stage has somewhat affected the atmosphere of the team. Everyone has a respectful attitude towards Roma and Capello, because the former has a lineup composed of a group of world-class stars, and the latter is one of the most outstanding coaches on the planet.

But the game still has to go on.

In the 12th round of the league, Ajax will face Grafschap at home.

After Ye Qiu made adjustments, the players gradually adapted to his tactics. Whether it was offense or defense, the power gradually emerged. Just like this game against Graafschap, Ajax played a round of offensive feast at the Arena Stadium.

Van der Meyde scored twice, Ibrahimovic scored the first goal for the team, and Van der Vaart, who came on as a substitute in the second half and returned from injury, also assisted Robben to score another goal. In the end, Ajax defeated Graafschap 4:1 at the Arena Stadium.

The only regret is that Huntelaar, who met his old club again, failed to score after coming on as a substitute.

A week later, Ajax challenged the newly promoted Breda away.

If Rosendal is a typical example of a newly promoted team that is doing poorly, then Breda is a case of doing well.

Breda has a very obvious characteristic that it is a home team. This team has only lost one home game this season, which was the first game of the new season against Waalwijk. In the six home games, they have achieved an impressive record of 5 wins and 1 draw, but the away games are average, including a 0:4 loss to Twente in the last round.

Defense counterattack is Breda's best weapon, and it is also Ajax's weakness.

But in this game, Ye Qiu still chose to press forward, adopt a high-position defense strategy, and attack Breda.

In Ye Qiu's view, Ajax is a strong team and will often encounter a team that counterattacks, so sooner or later they will have to find an offensive strategy for the tough battle, and Breda is not as strong as Ajax, so Ye Qiu decided to continue to adopt a high-position defense strategy and wait and see the situation.

Van der Meyde's recent performance has been outstanding, especially after Van der Vaart was injured, his performance on the right side was eye-catching.

With excellent speed, good control of the cross point, and good personal ability, he can play a good role in the right attack when he appears on the court. With Robben on the left, Ajax's wings are very active.

Because of this, even though Van der Vaart has recovered from injury, Ye Qiu still uses the combination of Robben and Van der Meyde in this game, letting Van der Vaart sit on the bench. After all, no head coach is willing to break the team's good momentum.

Van der Meyde did not live up to Ye Qiu's trust in him. After the game started, he was very active on the right and created threats several times when he got the ball. Especially in the 16th minute, he broke through the opponent's defense after getting the ball on the right and passed it low to the penalty area. After stopping the ball, Ibrahimovic suppressed the opponent's central defender with his body, turned around and shot, and penetrated Breda's goal, 1:0!

After scoring, Ajax began to consciously slow down the offensive and rhythm, hoping to lure Breda out to play.

The score was 1:0 in the first half, but at the beginning of the second half, Ajax suddenly stepped up their offensive again and launched a fierce attack on Breda, especially Van der Meyde on the right, who was even more active, causing Breda's defense to lean heavily towards him.

In the 63rd minute, Maicon made a long pass on the right, and Abidal on the left quickly inserted the ball after stopping it, and passed it low to Robben in front. The latter rushed into the penalty area and was tripped by the opponent's central defender in the penalty area. The referee was very careful and awarded a penalty kick. Robben scored in one fell swoop, expanding the score for Ajax to 2:0!

Scoring two goals in a row left Breda with no choice but to press forward.

But Ajax did not give him such a chance. In the 87th minute, Ajax, who had played head-on with Breda for 20 minutes, received a pass from Yaya Toure by substitute Huntelaar. , a shot from a small angle in the penalty area once again broke through Breda's goal, rewriting the score to 3:0.

Huntelaar's shot amazed Ye Qiu on the sidelines. Under Van Basten's training, this kid's shooting skills have improved a lot, especially his confidence in front of the goal. Unfortunately, his body Always a weakness, and his skills are not as good as Ibrahimovic's.

The Swede's progress is also very obvious. After all, he has been practicing shooting for half an hour every day for the past four months. This has made him improve a lot, but it will undoubtedly take longer to change his playing habits. For a while, you can only take your time.

"If Klas's shooting skills are transferred to Zlatan, then this striker will be perfect!" Ye Qiu said with regret after seeing Huntelaar's goal.

Bobby Harms on the side also burst into laughter after hearing this. How can there be such a good thing in this world?

After winning Breda 3:0 in the away game, Ajax finally returned to third place in the league rankings, only behind PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord, but only 2 points behind PSV Eindhoven. Feyenoord's gap has also narrowed to 7 points.

Because Feyenoord lost to PSV Eindhoven 0:1 in the last round away game.

After playing Breda, Ajax rested in Detok Most and began preparing to go to Rome to challenge the team of gold medal coach Capello away.

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Arriving in Rome, Ajax did not attract the slightest attention.

There were only three or four Italian and Dutch media reporters who came to Leonardo da Vinci Airport to greet Ajax.

There is no such thing as what was often reported in newspapers in the previous life. Fans gathered in the terminal just to catch a glimpse of their idols; or hostile fans besieged the bus just to interfere with their opponents, because they were just Ajax, just Ye. Autumn.

Across Europe, I am afraid that most fans will not know Ye Qiu, because the head coach is not well-known these days, and in Europe, almost no one is optimistic that Ajax can withdraw from Rome because they The opponent is Roma and Capello.

The odds offered by William Hill for this game are that Roma handicap one goal, and the odds given by several other betting companies are almost the same. In view of the fact that Roma fans have always had the habit and tradition of attacking visiting team fans, Ajax did not arrange or organize fans to come to the away game to watch the game this time.

Therefore, by then, except for some Ajax fans who came to Rome on their own initiative, the scene will completely become a Roman world.

Ye Qiu was mentally prepared for this, but he still made himself look relaxed, calm and confident in front of everyone, because this was the only thing he could do. Is it possible that before the game even started, he would have to put on an "I" The dead fish face that has already lost?

That is definitely not Ye Qiu's style, nor is it a wise approach.

"I came to Rome with only one purpose, and that was to win the away game!"

This is the expectation Ye Qiu expressed when he walked out of the gate and was interviewed by a reporter from the Amsterdam Aftenposten.

"Capello is a very respectable senior. I have watched many of his games and I know he is a very good and very experienced coach, but I don't think this should necessarily mean he beats Ajax. The reason is that, on the contrary, my team and I have always had the tradition and resilience of defeating the weak!”

What Ye Qiu said was undoubtedly to cheer him up for tomorrow's game.

"Yes, I do not deny that we are not as good as our opponents in terms of strength, but we are not a weak team. On the contrary, we are very strong. We have a group of brave and strong warriors who are not afraid of sacrifice. We will compete at the Olympic Stadium , explain our Ajax football style to everyone, and we will make everyone who underestimates us pay the most painful price!”

Ye Qiu only accepted interviews from the Amsterdam Corriere della Sera. He refused interviews from some newspaper reporters from Italy because he did not like the Italian media very much. What they are best at is making lies. For example, Corriere dello Sport published an article today. News, it is believed that Van der Vaart was dissatisfied with Ye Qiu's arrangement of him as a substitute.

But in fact, when Van der Vaart was interviewed by Corriere dello Sport, he only expressed his desire to be the main force. Before making these remarks, he also said that Van der Meyde's recent performance was indeed outstanding and worthy of being the main force. Position, what he wants is to adjust his condition after returning from injury and regain the main position.

What was supposed to represent healthy competition turned into Van der Vaart's complaint when it appeared in the newspaper.

Ye Qiu's rejection of Italian newspapers made these newspapers a little angry, and they published some pessimistic remarks about Ajax. On the contrary, Roma coach Capello said in an interview with Corriere della Sera that Ajax Si is not as weak as the outside world imagines.

"They are undoubtedly a young team, but this is definitely not a team that lacks combat effectiveness. They have extraordinary competitiveness and we must pay attention to it, so I told my players that in this game at the Olympic Stadium In a game, we must be careful again and again, because our opponent is a very difficult and resilient team.”

Capello also mentioned Ye Qiu in the interview, but he gave a more polite evaluation of the 26-year-old Chinese, because he himself admitted that he had not watched the Dutch Eredivisie games, but only paid attention to the recent video recordings of Ajax's games. He felt that Ye Qiu had a lot of ideas and thoughts.

"He was able to lead Ajax at the age of 26 and won another Dutch Cup. He is undoubtedly a super rookie in the field of head coaches. I am looking forward to meeting him!"

For Capello's goodwill, Ye Qiu also said, "For this game, my team and I came to Rome with a learning mentality, but we hope to go all out and understand the gap between ourselves and the best team in Serie A!"