Chapter 91: Stay true to yourself
From the 9:0 home victory over Sparta Rotterdam, Ye Qiu became the savior and revival hero that Ajax fans and the media talked about with great relish, but when they lost to NEC Nijmegen 0:1, the halos on Ye Qiu gradually lost their luster.
For the first round home game of Alaves, Ye Qiu asked himself that he valued it more than any other game, so he even did not hesitate to affect the game of NEC Nijmegen, which directly led to the away defeat, just hoping to beat Alaves in the home game and enter the UEFA Cup final.
But as the saying goes, heaven does not always do what one wishes.
Ye Qiu had calculated everything, but he did not expect that Alaves would adopt a 541 defensive formation at the Arena Stadium.
And what he did not expect was that after a long period of attack, Alaves made a very common counterattack, and the right back Contra made a simple, purposeless cross, and Grimm, who was attacking, made a mistake, and then passed the ball to Alaves striker Moreno with a wonderful assist.
Ye Qiu was gambling. He was betting that the team could make a difference in the UEFA Cup, but it was obvious that he lost this time!
First, they lost to Nijmegen. At that time, Ye Qiu could be said to be preparing for the match against Alaves, but now, he even lost to Alaves, which directly led to the opponent's 1:0 victory in the first round away game. This can even be said to have pushed Ajax to the edge of the cliff.
So far this season, Ajax has been keeping pace with the three fronts in the league, the Dutch Cup, and the UEFA Cup, and has performed very well. However, the more critical the moment, the more obvious the disadvantages of fighting on three fronts are.
Although Grimm's mistake was a very important reason for losing the first round, in this game, Ajax could not attack for a long time, and had no way to deal with the opponent's defensive system composed of 8 players. This will definitely make Ye Qiu the target of everyone's bombardment.
Because professional football has never had mercy, if you gamble, you are a hero if you win, and if you lose, you have to bear the cost of losing!
On the way back to De Tokmost from the Arena Stadium, the players who had played the whole game looked very bored, with their heads down, like defeated roosters.
The 9:0 victory over Sparta Rotterdam, the praise and compliments from the outside world, more or less made this group of young players a little bit proud, even Ye Qiu himself was a little proud, thinking that his team was strong enough.
But two consecutive defeats made Ajax suffer a huge setback on both fronts, which undoubtedly reminded them that when it comes to professional leagues and European competitions, you are still so young!
Back in the locker room of the first-team training building of De Tokmost, the players took a shower and changed clothes. No one spoke, only movement and sound.
When they all finished taking a shower and changed clothes, they all sat in the locker room.
"Go back!" Ye Qiu looked at this group of young players and squeezed out a smile.
"If we lose, we lose. It's just the first round. We still have an away game!"
Everyone knows how difficult it is to play away games in Alaves, especially for the young and inexperienced Ajax. It is very difficult to win away games, because the La Liga team has no other competitions to compete for this season. They have even given up the league and put all their energy and resources on the League Cup.
How will they play at home?
"Go back, remember not to read the newspaper tomorrow, so you may feel better!" Ye Qiu joked a little sourly.
Some of the players showed a sad smile, because they didn't want to lose and didn't like to lose.
But in the professional league, there are wins and losses. Since you have entered the professional league, you must be mentally prepared to lose.
Watching the players walk out of the locker room one by one, Ye Qiu was the last to leave, turning off the lights and closing the door.
The night was dark, and the first-team training ground under the black curtain was a bit like a dark beast that devoured people, especially on a cold night.
He was thinking about a problem, a problem that might not be difficult to understand, but had troubled him for a long time.
That is, what does the success of a head coach require?
He couldn't figure it out, and he couldn't figure it out.
When he was a fan in his previous life, he looked at the head coaches in Europe, and he learned more about them from the media and the games. This is very one-sided, because there are many things that cannot be conveyed through the media and the games.
For fans, they will only look at a head coach through the media and the games, so they don't care what you do, and they don't care whether you have tried hard or not. They only care about one thing, whether the game is won? Or the slightly picky ones will pay attention to whether the game is good, but other than that, they don't care.
So, every head coach hopes that he can become the eternal winner, but how many can really do it?
"Is it really that difficult to succeed?" Ye Qiu sighed deeply and muttered to himself.
"It's hard to say it's difficult, but it's also easy to say it's easy!" Bobby Hams' voice sounded beside Ye Qiu.
"Bobby!" Ye Qiu turned his head and smiled at the kind old man.
It was not easy for Bobby Harms's fat body to sit on the grass like Ye Qiu, so he simply fell down and almost fell over. Fortunately, Ye Qiu helped him, otherwise I'm really going to fall over.
Sitting side by side with Ye Qiu, Bobby Harms looked at the dark front, and then at Ye Qiu. He understood Ye Qiu's mood at this moment very well, because Ye Qiu's mood had been so intense in his early years. Michels had it, Cruyff had it, and Van Gaal had it too.
It can be said that every head coach will definitely go through such a process, which is a kind of training.
"Are you interested in hearing Van Gaal's story?" Bobby Harms asked with a smile.
Ye Qiu didn't care, shrugged and nodded.
"Actually, Van Gaal almost left Ajax that year. Before he took charge of the first team in 1991, he was the team's firefighting coach, but he stepped down soon because he lacked qualifications at that time, so he returned. When he arrived at the youth team, he performed very well in the youth team, and teams started to take an interest in him.”
"At that time, Van Gaal was very ambitious. He thought that he had prepared everything and he would be able to succeed, so he wanted to go outside and have a try, but in the end the club decided to keep him and privately After giving him a promise, he must be the head coach of Ajax after Leo Benhak!”
When Ye Qiu heard this, he was stunned. He had always thought that Van Gaal was Leo Benhak who was temporarily replacing him to put out the fire. Unexpectedly, it turned out not to be the case. Such a promise had been made for a long time, but no one should have it. Think of it, Leo Benhak will leave at the beginning of the league.
"Guess how the Van Gaal league started?" Bobby Harms asked with a smile.
This requires a lot of information to answer. Ye Qiu naturally didn't know and shook his head.
“We lost two of three games and the fans were very angry, thinking that this was not a team that aspired to win the league championship. At that time, there were many already famous players in the team, such as Waters, Aaron Winter, etc. Wait, they don’t like Van Gaal, they think he is too strong.”
After smiling, Bobby Harms continued: "At that time, there were quarrels in the Ajax locker room almost every day. The players did not like Van Gaal's tactics and arrangements, and they even rose up together to resist the tyrant. , Yes, tyrant, that’s what they call Van Gaal.”
"I remember that there was a TV show on Dutch TV at that time, which specially invited this group of Ajax players to be guests, and then complained about it on the show. The players attacked their head coach crazily, and the host was very happy to do so. It was a way to gain ratings, and Van Gaal realized that this was a serious problem, so he went for it.”
"As you can imagine, Van Gaal was so refuted on the spot that he almost had his head ripped off!"
Bobby Harms laughed and shook his head.
Ye Qiu could imagine how bad Van Gaal's situation was at that time and how much pressure he was under.
Having high expectations from the management, players and fans, but then performing poorly after taking the stage, will create huge psychological pressure for any responsible person.
"I asked him at that time, I said, Louis, you are crazy, why are you on that kind of show?"
"Guess, what did Van Gaal answer me at that time? He said, Bobby, I must let them understand my football. My football is right, but they are wrong. They need to give me time and more skills. Be patient, in this way, I will be able to bring them the best football!”
Having said this, Bobby Harms showed a hint of amusement, "I asked him, what was the result? What did you get?"
"It's an even more intensified attack!"
Ye Qiu was silent, because he knew that Van Gaal's situation at that time was so similar to his current situation?
The difference is that Van Gaal was facing a group of senior big names in the team at that time, but now he is facing directors who are aloof and do not understand football but are bossy.
"I told him, Louis, everyone has different thoughts and ideas about football. You can't make everyone satisfied with you, and you can't make everyone like you and your football, because that's impossible!"
"It's like some people like Pele, and some people like Maradona, but people who like Pele can never prove to people who like Maradona that Pele is better than Maradona, because There is no comparison at all. They are two great stars in different eras and different environments, but they have both achieved success."
"In the same way, some people like to attack, and some people like to defend. No one can prove that offense is definitely better than defense!"
"So, Van Gaal will never be able to convince those players who reject his tactics, and those who like Pele will never be able to prove that Pele is better than Maradona. They can only choose what I like mine and you like yours."
"The fascinating thing about football is that there are no absolutes, only relativeities!"
"The same set of tactics and the same lineup could win the championship last season, but may be relegated the next season. Who can explain what's going on? Who can figure out what's going wrong here?"
"In the decades I have been involved in football, I have met many head coaches, and I try to summarize the reasons why successful head coaches are successful. I think they all have their own ideas and are able to Always stick to your ideas, even if you get kicked out of class because of it, never give up! ”
"You can never make all the fans of all teams like your tactical style and coaching methods. Therefore, when you are a head coach, you always have only one choice, and that is to choose the method that you are best at and stick to what you think is right. It doesn’t matter if people who like you continue to like you and people who don’t like you continue to dislike it!”
"Perhaps, you will be dismissed from get out of class at Ajax, but you will definitely win the opportunity to coach and prove yourself in other teams, because you must believe that in this world, there will be people who appreciate and affirm you. !”
Ye Qiu is really young, so young that he doesn't understand this truth!
A 26-year-old young man was just a very ordinary and ordinary football fan in his previous life. How could he understand?
But these words of Bobby Harms reminded Ye Qiu of those words that Leo Benhak had said to him. In fact, what they emphasized was the same thing, which was to persist in oneself. !
Can you achieve real success if you always blindly accommodate, always blindly tolerate, constantly change yourself and cater to others?
"Today's media environment, fan environment, and coaching environment are all more difficult than during Van Gaal's time. The media is more developed, the fans are more demanding, and there are so many more people in the club who are pointing fingers, but I always believe that no matter it is Not at Ajax, you are guaranteed to succeed!”
Bobby Harms looked at Ye Qiu. His old eyes projected trust and affirmation.
Sometimes Ye Qiu wonders, why does he believe in himself so much? And Van Praag, what do they believe in themselves? Could it be that it is because they once said that they are similar to Van Gaal and Cruyff in some aspects?
He doesn't think so, because he never thinks he looks like anyone!
"Let's go, don't let Xiao Huangchu worry about you!" Bobby Harms put his hands on the turf and struggled to stand up from the ground.
For a fat person like him, the simple act of standing up is not easy and full of hardships.
After Ye Qiu helped him up, he turned his head and found that Huang Chu was standing silently behind him at some point.
At this moment, Ye Qiu's heart felt warm because he was not alone!
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"I am very satisfied with the current situation of the team. My players performed well, but the result was a bit bad, but this should not be a reason for us to doubt ourselves and deny ourselves, because in the past year, we have achieved We have made very good progress, we are advancing on three fronts, we are in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and I believe..."
Ye Qiu looked very confident and certain when facing reporters at the press conference at the Arena Stadium and talking about tomorrow's game with PSV.
"We will reach the finals and eventually win the UEFA Cup, and I always believe that the league has not reached the last minute, and it is still uncertain who the championship belongs to. My team and I have enough strength and enough Confidence and enough fighting spirit to continue to fight this championship battle with PSV to the end!”
In the next few days, Ajax will have two games against PSV, one is the 27th round of the Eredivisie against PSV at home, and the other is the Dutch Cup semi-final. The same It was a home game against PSV, and the two games were only 3 days apart.
Many people regard these two games as the last two highlights of the season, because Feyenoord has begun to show signs of falling behind. Van Marwijk's team was indeed crazy at the beginning of the season, but after Weak, they completely fell into a trough before and after the winter break, and even now, they still have not been able to find a way out of the trough.
Of course, with Feyenoord's strength, third place in the league is stable, but if they want to hit the league championship, they may be a little behind.
Almost everyone thinks that this season's Eredivisie championship belongs to PSV, and even the Dutch Cup, PSV is the favorite to win, but Ye Qiu and his Ajax just don't believe this evil and insist on winning. Keep fighting.
Not only did head coach Ye Qiu once again sound the clarion call for the league title at the press conference, but Ajax players also expressed their support for the head coach and their desire to continue competing for the league title during interviews. The fighting spirit of a league champion.
"There are still 7 rounds of the league, but we are only 8 points behind PSV. Because of the 3 points in this game at the Arena Stadium, we are determined. We will start from this game and start the Jedi. The clarion call for a big counterattack!" The team's top midfielder, Brazilian midfielder Gilberto Silva, said with high spirits.
The team's main winger Robben also shouted slogans during interviews with the media: "Eindhoven, come and die!"
As if infected by the head coach and players, many Ajax fans chose to cheer for the team. Maybe the media and some professionals are generally not optimistic about Ye Qiu and his Ajax, but As Ajax fans, I have followed this team step by step until today. This group of fans knows the progress of this team better than anyone else.
Perhaps, in terms of performance, Ajax will fail this season, but in terms of football, Ajax's season is a success, and a huge success.
This also made some senior fans go to the entrance of the Arena Stadium and pull out their own handwritten banners.
"Let those directors who only have money and interests in their eyes get out of Ajax!"
"We need Ye Qiu and his football, not you, the rich directors!"
"Let the corrupt capital get out of the Arena Stadium, and let Ajax return to glorious football!"
It was in this turbulent and tense atmosphere that Ajax welcomed Eindhoven at the Arena Stadium.
This game is not just about 3 points, but also a battle for Ye Qiu to justify himself!
