The Godfather of Greenery

Chapter 96 Four Crowns?
Defeating PSV Eindhoven 2:0, Ajax eliminated this team, which many people called the quasi-Eredivisie champions, out of the Dutch Cup.

Many professionals have mixed reviews about it.

The good thing is that Ajax beat Eindhoven twice in 3 days at the Arenal Stadium, which will bring an immeasurable psychological blow to Eindhoven, which may make this Eredivisie powerhouse win in the future. In the game, he began to worry about gains and losses, felt more pressure, and lost some unnecessary games instead, which brought opportunities for Ajax to reverse.

But the disadvantages are also obvious, that is, after PSV was eliminated from the Dutch Cup, they only have one Eredivisie title left to fight for, which is bound to allow PSV to gather all their strength and resources , go all out to compete for this championship trophy, and with Eindhoven's strength, as long as there is no psychological problem, Ajax has almost no chance.

Ye Qiu himself understood this very well, but he didn't have to turn back, because the military order was there, so he could only go forward.

But Ye Qiu is not completely out of ideas. The Dutch Cup final is against Twente. This team's ranking in the Eredivisie League this season is actually not high. The lineup has not changed, but the overall strength has declined sharply. , Ye Qiu has full confidence in taking down this opponent.

Therefore, defending the Dutch Cup, he is determined to win!

What also made him ambitious was the UEFA Cup. He lost at home in the first round. Ye Qiu reflected on his own tactics and the team's problems. After learning from the pain, he will definitely not hold back in the second round. We can only fight with our backs.

And if they can advance, the opponent in the UEFA Cup final is likely to be Barcelona.

After playing two games with Eindhoven, Ajax's outstanding performance won unanimous praise from the Dutch media, but four days later, Ajax had to challenge Roda JC away.

Although there was a match in the second round of the UEFA Cup semi-finals in the middle of the week, this game also had no room for loss, so Ye Qiu played with all his might and defeated Roda JC 2-0 in the away game.

Interestingly, Eindhoven challenged Ronald Koeman's Waiters away, and the two sides eventually scored 0:0.

As a result, the points gap between Ajax and PSV quickly shortened to 6 points.

With 6 games left in the league, 6 points is no longer an unreachable gap, which immediately rekindled hope in the whole of Amsterdam, but at this time, Korner started to hype again Comments that Ronald Koeman should take over at Ajax are a bit of a bummer.

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On April 4th, Ajax was a guest at the Mendi Zorosa Stadium to challenge Alaves.

Among all the teams in the Basque Country, Alaves is far inferior to the veteran team of Athletic Bilbao in terms of status and influence, or the La Liga team of Real Sociedad, and they are the best in history. The best result was last season, sixth in La Liga, but this season's performance is declining rapidly.

This caused many people to see clearly the fineness of this dark horse.

But in the UEFA Cup, Alaves was so dark that they eliminated many teams including Inter Milan along the way, reached the semi-finals, and defeated Ajax 1-0 away.

Some people commented on Alaves and Ajax, thinking that the teams of Mane and Ye Qiu have many similarities. For example, they both emphasize integrity, which is also an important feature of the Basque Country team. If Alaves qualified for the UEFA Cup last season relying on a solid overall defense, then this season, Alaves will die on defense.

Last season, Alaves only conceded 38 goals in the 37 rounds of La Liga. It is the team with the strongest defensive ability in La Liga. It conceded 2 goals less than Valencia, which conceded the second fewest goals, and it conceded 7 goals less than Valencia, which won the championship. Depor lost 41 goals, but their offense only scored [-] goals, ranking third from the bottom in La Liga, even less than the relegated Atletico Madrid and Sevilla.

But this season, Alaves' offensive ability has been released, but at the same time, their defense has also become very unstable. Although there are cases of big wins, there are also many typical cases of losing to opponents. , It can be said that it has become a typical situation of substituting offense for defense.

In this match, Ye Qiu learned from the experience and lessons of the previous match. Instead of continuing to fight against Aravis, he chose to defend firmly and let Aravis, who likes to attack, even love to attack, come out and fight.

Alaves this season has a very unique feature, that is, their offense is more completed through the right back of the Romanian player Contra, which also led to Contra after his outstanding performance and performance this season. , won the same treatment as Roberto Carlos.

There is Roberto Carlos on the left and Contra on the right. These are the two hottest full-backs in La Liga this season.

At this time, Contra's tactics in Alaves were a bit similar to Alves' role in the tactical system of Sevilla and Barcelona later. He was not so much a full-back as a winger. The position retreats, so that he can better play the suddenness and stealth of the back.

But the disadvantages of doing so are also very obvious. One of the important reasons for Alaves' high conceded rate this season lies in the weak defense line, because they lack the success factor of Barcelona, ​​that is, strong control.

One of the important reasons why Barcelona dared to play Alves' excellent post-insertion ability is that they knew very well that their strong midfield pressing and pressing, as well as their outstanding ball possession rate, could guarantee that even if Alves lost If the ball is lost, the opponent cannot counterattack in the shortest time.

But the problem is, Aravis has no such ability at all!
In Ye Qiu's match, it was obvious that the chariots and horses let Alves attack, but Mane was not an idiot either. He already had 1-0 in his hand and wanted to play more safely, so he didn't press boldly.

But he thinks so, don't the players think so too?

When the game progressed to the 12th minute, Contra chose to press the ball up as usual, but this time he encountered the difficult Keita. Robben.

The Dutch winger quickly dribbled the ball forward and made a pass from the left. Ibrahimovic leaned against the opponent's central defender Carmona with his body, turned his back to protect the ball after stopping the ball, and knocked back to Van der Val Special, the latter kicked in the penalty area and pierced Alaves' goal, 1:0!

After the score was equalized, Ajax's morale was overwhelming, but Ye Qiu kept urging the players on the sidelines to calm down, continue to adopt safe tactics, and first seek to strengthen their own defense.

Ye Qiu himself wanted to use full-backs to advance forward to participate in the offense, so he introduced Maicon, but after the experiment, he found that the team's control had not reached a certain level, and the tactics of full-backs advancing forward were too risky. Big, the loss outweighs the gain, so I chose to put it on hold for the time being.

Also because of this, he knew very clearly where the disadvantages of Aravis' tactics were.

Seeing that the score was equalized by the opponent, Mane kept calling on the players to calm down.

In the next period of time, the pace of the game of both sides was relatively slow, and the speed of advancement was not fast, which was a bit dull, but Ajax's defense was obviously stronger because they focused on attacking Contra's side.

The Romanian right-back's defensive ability is not strong. Facing Robben one-on-one, the Dutch have a certain advantage. This directly leads to Alaves' defense on the left side of Ajax being very passive. Contra's defense against Ajax The contribution of the offensive end is greatly reduced, especially when attacking, and they dare not be careless, for fear of being beaten behind again.

In the 31st minute, Gilberto Silva got the ball and made a clever pass behind him. Zlatan Ibrahimovic used his body to forcibly break through Alaves' defense line. After getting the ball, he quickly advanced and attracted the attention of the defense. After the force, a diagonal pass to Robben who was soaring on the left, the Dutch winger hit with a left-footed shot, 2:0!

With the score reversed, Ajax had already won half of the final tickets, but Ye Qiu didn't dare to be careless at all.

During the intermission, Ye Qiu kept reminding all the players that Aravis will definitely work hard in the second half.

"They like to press, let them press, we will continue to defend and counterattack in the second half!"

Ye Qiu has made it clear now that I don't want the process, I only want the result!

In the second half, they changed sides and fought again. Alaves, who were behind, were really unwilling to lose. They began to pull out the offensive tactics they were good at this season, and took a round of crazy attacks on Ajax, but Alaves' offense lacked impact. Facing a solid defense, they lack the necessary offensive means, especially players with outstanding personal abilities.

Even Harvey Moreno, who ranks first in the La Liga scorer list this season, cannot be regarded as a powerful center in terms of height, weight, technical characteristics, or style. He can only be regarded as a reduced version Morientes, such a player can make a difference in La Liga's loose defensive system, but it has little effect in the face of Ajax's tight defense.

On the contrary, in the 72nd minute, Sneijder made a pass from the right, and Van der Vaart drove straight in. Facing the opponent's goalkeeper Herrera, he made a pass behind the goal, and Ibrahimovic was ahead of everyone. He kicked the ball into the goal, 3:0!

This score was finally maintained until the end of the game. Ajax finally withstood the pressure after losing 0:1 at home. They defended and counterattacked in the away game. They defeated Alaves 3:0 and then won the total score 3:1. , knocking Alaves out of the UEFA Cup.

This season's UEFA Cup final will be held in Dortmund, Germany.

Faced with this defeat, Alaves coach Mane said helplessly that the team was not as strong as Ajax.

"We tried our best to win the game and make history, but unfortunately, we lost to a better team than us. Ajax played even better in this game. Targeted and more efficient, this game also made us completely rethink the team's tactics."

Obviously, what Mane refers to is how to solve the team's defensive problems under this offensive football style. Key problems to be solved.

But Ye Qiu was not optimistic about Mane and his Aravis at all. This was the tragedy of a small team.

Because if he remembers correctly, after the end of this season, Harvey Moreno and Contra will leave Alaves and switch to AC Milan. You know, Moreno's goals this season account for Alaves' total More than half of the number of goals, and Contra is the team's crucial offensive method. Without these two players, it will be difficult for Alaves to stand out from the La Liga team.

Of course, Ye Qiu hid this worry in his heart. On the surface, he still expressed his best wishes to Mane and his Aravis, and said that Mane's team gave him a big reminder this season.

This is really true. He had an informal private communication with Mane after the game, talking about Mane’s use of Contra. A lot of experience, and through this kind of exchange, Ye Qiu gained a lot.

Because his attitude is also very clear. When Ajax's overall control reaches a certain level, he will definitely try to release the defenders, especially the offensive power of the right back. Otherwise, it would be too much for Maicon to play the right back. Pity.

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Two weeks ago, Ye Qiu was still the target of media criticism, but two weeks later, Ye Qiu has completely become the focus of Dutch media praises, and all of this is because of his team's outstanding performance in the past two weeks Performance.

With two wins over PSV and a comeback against Alaves, Ajax's performance in the past two weeks has been nothing short of perfect.

Returning to Amsterdam from Spain, Ajax soon welcomed Ronald Koeman's Waiters.

Ajax, who has been fighting on multiple fronts for a long time, was exhausted, but Waiters adjusted better, which caused Ajax to not perform as well as their opponents in this game.

But at a critical moment, Hleb broke through from the left and assisted Huntelaar to open the scoring for Ajax.

Then Waiters equalized the score in the second half and almost reversed Ajax.

In the end, Yaya Toure, who came on as a substitute for Keita, dribbled the ball into the penalty area and shot a strong shot, which once again exceeded the score for Ajax.

Although Koeman's team performed better afterwards and suppressed Ajax throughout the game, they were still unable to break through Ajax's goal again. Ajax finally defeated Ajax 2:1 at home. Waiters.

In the same round, Eindhoven defeated Waalwijk 3:1 at home, successfully got out of the shadow of defeat, and continued to keep the difference between themselves and Ajax at 6 points, Feyenoord It was a 3:0 victory over NEC Nijmegen.

But everyone can see that this season's Eredivisie championship battle has nothing to do with Van Marwijk.

Feyenoord themselves seem to know this very well, so they lost to their opponents in the away game against Roda JC a week later. On the contrary, Ajax, after a week of rest, Although Sneijder was absent due to injury, the team still slaughtered Breda 4-0 at the Arenal Stadium.

PSV play a day later than Ajax, this time they face Adriance's Willem II.

The two sides eventually scored 1:1, and Adriance helped Ajax at his home court.

It was shortened to 4 points. With 4 games left in the league, this is no longer an unreachable score.

After Ye Qiu heard that Eindhoven suffered an away draw against Willem II, he immediately expressed his gratitude to Adrianse, "If we can win the Eredivisie championship this season, I will treat you to a drink." !"

Adrian Sai agreed with a smile, and highly praised Ye Qiu's Ajax when he was interviewed by the media.

"Many people think he is young, and his team has the lowest average age in the Eredivisie, but I can see that this is a team full of talents, and Ye Qiu is also a very thoughtful and individual player. Coach, I believe he will be the most suitable head coach for Ajax, no one can replace his position and influence in this Ajax team."

When the reporter mentioned that the board of directors of Ajax listed himself as a candidate for the head coach of Ajax next season, Adrianse expressed his incomprehension.

"I don't deny that the head coach of Ajax is full of temptation for anyone. I am from Ajax and I hope to take over the position of Ajax head coach one day, but I still want to remind all the directors of Ajax that Ye Qiu has done a very good job this season, especially in the second half, which fully demonstrated his ability."

"Leading the team to the UEFA Cup final and the Dutch Cup final in the first season, and now it has pushed PSV to a desperate situation. I don't think such a result is a failure. On the contrary, even this season's Aja Chriss can't win a championship, I think this is a great and outstanding season."

In the end, Adrianse also smiled and said, "Of course, what I'm talking about is just a hypothesis. I am very optimistic about Ye Qiu and his Ajax. I think that now Ajax should adjust their goal to four championships." king!"

Obviously, the quadruple crown also includes the Dutch Super Cup champion at the beginning of the season!

Soon, Ajax reversed Waalwijk 31:4 away in the 1st round of the Eredivisie, but Eindhoven defeated Heerenveen 3:0 at home. The two teams are still in the Eredivisie. Go hand in hand on the field.

However, Feyenoord lost to Fortuna Sittard 2:3 at home. In the 32nd round of A, they were unexpectedly defeated 4-0 by the highly motivated Ajax at the Arenal Stadium.

The shame of last season has been completely wiped away this season. Ajax fans have been completely conquered by Ye Qiu's team's recent performance!

However, Eindhoven reversed Rosendahl 2:1 in the away game. They were led by Rosendall for a long time, and they finally reversed, which also made many people feel sorry.

In the penultimate round of the Eredivisie, Eindhoven suffered a 2:2 draw at home with Graf Sharp, but Ajax defeated Twente 3:1 in the away game, which led to the difference in points between the two teams from the original The 4 points were immediately shortened to 2 points.

With the last round of Eredivisie remaining, the 2-point gap is worrying!

(End of this chapter)