The Godfather of Greenery

Chapter 704
Cruyff was sitting in the stands of White Hart Lane, and Butch, known as Cruyff's spokesperson, was sitting next to him.

The two sat among the hundreds of Barcelona fans who followed the team to the away game. They watched the game in a daze, watched Tottenham Hotspur score one after another, and watched the Barcelona players as if they were waiting Like slaughtered lambs, they had no power to fight back, and even in the second half, they completely lost their fighting spirit and confidence.

"This is really a bizarre game!" Butch said with a wry smile when he heard Cruyff sigh.

The Barcelona fans who shouted loudly before the game and vowed to compete with more than 3 Tottenham Hotspur fans in the away game have only been active for more than a minute. After Hotspur's goal, they couldn't cry anymore because they found that Barcelona had nothing to do.

"Maybe, early tomorrow morning, someone will suspect that this is a match-fixing!" Bucky continued with a wry smile.

"A match-fixing?" Cruyff shook his head, he also had a depressed face, he couldn't smile, he couldn't even smile bitterly, "To be honest, Bach, I would rather he was a match-fixing, because at least it can Prove that we are not a total failure."

Of course Bach knew it wasn't a match-fixing, he was just wondering, why did Barcelona lose so badly in this game?
You know, a year ago, Barcelona swept Europa and won the Champions League. In the past two or three seasons, Barcelona has always been the strongest and most successful team in Europe. Everything has changed.

"I still remember, a year ago, they were all saying that it was time to beat Barcelona, ​​but just one year later, Tottenham Hotspur beat Barcelona on the pitch, but it seemed completely effortless, I can't understand." Butch kept shaking his head vigorously, he also had feelings for this Barcelona team.

Cruyff sighed deeply, not knowing how many times he sighed in the past hour, "This is a dead end, Bucky, it turns out that we have not only entered a dead end, but also We made an unforgivable mistake!"

"I don't understand!" Bucky still shook his head, and he found that he couldn't do anything except shake his head in the face of this kind of thing.

Cruyff looked at Butch, and thought to himself, if it was Guardiola, I believe that once he said it, the other party must understand that Guardiola can become an excellent head coach, and Butch can only act as his own mouthpiece s reason.

"Those who think that only time can beat us do so because they know Barcelona very well. The success of our team is based on our unique philosophy, but also on a group of outstanding youth players, such as Ha Wei, Iniesta, Busquets, Fabregas, Pique and others."

Butch knew that, so he nodded.

"This group of players is full of loyalty and affection for the team. They will not switch to other teams. This ensures that Barcelona's combat effectiveness will continue for a long time, but it is precisely because of the existence of these people and the team itself. The unique concept of possession of the ball led the team into a misunderstanding, that is, to create a tactical system that is most suitable for the team's concept."

"The result of this is that it is difficult for foreign players to adapt to Barcelona's tactical system. Our signings are more based on the team's own youth training, so there is a very strange scene. We The starting lineup is full of local youth training, and our bench is full of local youth training, making it difficult for us to accommodate and accept foreign fresh blood."

Bach was very surprised when he heard this, "But we used to rely on this method to achieve success. We won the Champions League. What's wrong with that? Do you want to say that this is wrong?" This is Butch doubted Cruyff's words for the first time.

But Cruyff was not dissatisfied, because Butch would ask such a question, proving that he is a normal person.

So, he nodded, "Yes, our success is precisely because of these. We introduced Van Persie to further strengthen the team's philosophy and system, but this made us walk into a dead end, let us start to become Standing still, let our characteristics become very single.”

"I don't understand!" Butch was still shaking his head.

Cruyff shook his head and sighed again, "How many options do you think we have if we want to bring in some players?"

When Bach heard it, he immediately understood, yes, in the past few years, when Barcelona tried to introduce some players, the analysis reports given by the technical department all pointed to the same trend without exception, that is to further consolidate Team possession.

The simplest example is that everyone knows that Barcelona's central defender lacks height and defense lacks height, but the team never considers some players like Kompany, Vidic, and Terry when introducing players Yes, a central defender with excellent commanding ability but unable to adapt to Barcelona's backcourt possession system.

Why would you rather use Mascherano to withdraw the central defender than introduce a central defender with excellent anti-height?

The reason is very simple, I am worried that I will not be able to adapt to the team's tactical system!
Also, like in the center position, everyone knows that Van Persie is a tactical fulcrum, and his ability to break dense and high balls is not strong, but why not introduce Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Llorente, Drogba, etc. What about a strong center?The reason is also very simple, it is still the same sentence, it cannot adapt to the team's tactical system.

Do you think this is a good thing, or a bad thing?
"Barge, you must know that everything in this world is not static, it is evolving in a dynamic parabolic way, there must be troughs when there are highs, and there will be ushers when there are troughs Climax, he has a law of development, the same is true in football, and the same is true in a team!"

"Now I'm beginning to understand a problem. Ye Qiu has been selling people in the past few years. He has many purposes. On the one hand, he wants to cash out when the player's value is the highest, in exchange for the team's operating funds. On the one hand, it is to maintain the freshness of the team and the continuous improvement of the team, but more importantly, he must ensure the team's ability to resist risks."

"You mean to avoid getting stuck in this homogeneous dead end that we have in Barcelona?"

For the first time, Cruyff agreed and affirmed Baqi's words, "That's right!"

Having said that, he sighed again, because he realized that he understood a little too late.

"I wasn't surprised when he sold Yaya Toure, but I wondered when he sold Fabregas and David Silva. From a tactical point of view, Ramsey and Vidal are at least one. They won't reach the heights of Cesc Fabregas and David Silva in two years, and their characteristics are very different from those two players."

"Also, on the front line, Van Persie, Cavani and Falcao are three different types of center forwards. In the midfielder position, from Mascherano to Yaya Toure to today's Pirlo, they are also completely different. Different three types, he is always changing and adjusting, but he is not changing aimlessly, adjusting without a plan."

"Either move forward, or move the backcourt, or move the midfielder, he will not move multiple key positions at the same time, because this can ensure that the overall strength of the team will not decline rapidly, and Ye Qiu looks at the players' share. The vision is indeed very sharp, and the overall strength of Tottenham Hotspur has always been maintained at a very high level."

Speaking of this, Cruyff was a little ashamed, because he discovered it too late, "We are now facing a very serious problem. Xavi and Puyol are both old. When people get old, their mentality becomes loose, especially Players like them who have proven themselves and won countless honors, their fighting spirit is obviously not as good as before, who can succeed them?"

"In two or three years, it would be best if the problems of Xavi and Puyol can be resolved, but by then Iniesta, Pique and others will also grow old, and new problems will come again, and if Xavi and Puyol If Puyol’s successor problem is not solved properly, then all the problems will come together, and the whole Barcelona will collapse completely!”

Cruyff's words may be a bit exaggerated. A complete collapse is unlikely, but it is possible to be defeated and replaced by the opponent, and it is very possible, because the current football tactics change every year.

"Could it be that there is no other way for us?" Bucky felt very puzzled.

Cruyff shook his head and smiled, this is the first time he has smiled since just now, with a wry smile, "Yes, but no one has the courage to make this kind of choice, which is to break the existing pattern of Barcelona's interests, Break through the team's existing tactical system, introduce fresh blood, use other types of players and tactical ideas to improve and perfect our current tactical concept, and carry out a fusion to evolve a new set of tactical ideas."

When he said this, Cruyff smiled again, "I still remember that my teacher once said that the success of a set of tactics can only be maintained for one season at most. Facts have proved that he is right!"

In fact, what Cruyff said was the same as the self-attack that Ye Qiu said to Eliza Moon before.

Perhaps anyone with a little foresight can easily understand the importance of self-attack and clearly realize the disadvantages of the team, but the root of the problem lies in whether you have the courage and courage to attack yourself. determination?

Take Barcelona as an example, their current problem is actually not difficult to solve, that is to reorganize the current team's tactics and introduce more types of players, such as introducing a player who can adapt to Barcelona's tactics and at the same time command high ability An excellent central defender, Ye Qiu's previous life Guardiola tried to introduce Ziglinski, but the reform failed after one season.

Also, introduce fresh blood from the midfield and try more types of different styles of play to make the team more diversified.

But in this way, it is bound to affect the interests of many players in the current locker room. For example, the introduction of a midfielder will inevitably reduce the playing time of the current three main youth training players, Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets. And a large part of Barcelona's salary is linked to playing time. How to solve this aspect?

Also, introduce some other types of players and adjust some other styles of play of the team, such as reducing ball possession, reducing cross passes and return passes, etc., but this will inevitably bring about the pain of reform and affect the team's performance , There may even be a loss of stars, how to solve this?
You must know that Barcelona is a membership-based club. Once the results are not satisfactory, once someone takes the lead in opposing and the members decide to launch impeachment, the chairman will have to bear tremendous pressure, so no chairman can accept such pressure and pain. Therefore, they all hope that the team can continue to play smoothly.

Many people say that Barcelona is getting slower and slower, which is reflected in the rhythm of their possession of the ball. From this, it is not difficult to see that the players are getting lazy, because they are not willing to take risks, and then accept risky failures Finally, due to the loss of the ball, they must engage in crazy pressing. They want to use the easiest way to win the game.

In other words, whether it is from the perspective of the management or the perspective of the players, Barcelona has fallen into a predicament!

Unless Barcelona can elect a chairman who can give trust and support to the head coach and is willing to take the risks brought about by such reforms, the so-called risks at this time are much higher than those when Guardiola replaced Rijkaard At that time, the risk was more continuation and improvement, but this time it was necessary to make drastic reforms, which would affect the interests and cheese of many people.

Is there no other way?
Butch's question flooded Cruyff's mind, but he quickly realized that at least for now, he, the current Barcelona management and coaching staff have nothing to do, all he can do is to continue Barcelona as much as possible. In the current successful system, take one step at a time and take it slowly.

If the owner of Barcelona was Ye Qiu, then similar reforms would be too easy, but unfortunately, the decision-makers of Barcelona are elected by the fans and members, they are like a democratic government, they have to fight for votes.

But there is a question, how long can Barcelona's success last?
You know, if the direction is wrong, no matter how hard you work, no matter how good you are, it will be difficult to succeed. To use a Chinese saying on the Internet, a Mercedes-Benz on a muddy road will never outrun a Xiali on a high-speed road.

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No one knew that in the stands of White Hart Lane, Cruyff and Butch would have such a deep understanding of this game. Perhaps Guardiola on the sidelines was also feeling helpless similar to Cruyff , or maybe he is not as deep as his mentor, but now he feels very helpless and depressed.

After conceding two goals in 6 minutes of the first half, Barcelona stabilized the situation a little bit, but they were still firmly contained by Tottenham Hotspur. Qiu's targeted tactics threatened Barcelona's goal again and again.

Then Thiago Silva took advantage of Pirlo's corner kick and scored the third goal for Tottenham Hotspur in the 306th minute, which almost sentenced Barcelona to death .

But this is not the most surprising thing. What really surprised everyone was that Tottenham Hotspur played an effective offensive with nine shots and five shots on target throughout the first half, while Barcelona were in the middle of the game. There were only two pathetic shots on goal, and neither was on target, it seemed more like telling everyone that we also tried to shoot.

And Tottenham Hotspur won as many as seven corner kicks, one after Barcelona, ​​and Tottenham Hotspur also converted a corner kick into a goal.

It can be said that, in addition to ball possession, Tottenham Hotspur beat Barcelona!

In the second half, Barcelona completely lost their fighting spirit and will. Although the players tried their best to maintain the team's possession time on the court, they did not invest much in offense, because they all had to accept the fact that once They press forward and Tottenham's counterattacks will attack behind them.

Pirlo, Thiago Silva and Kompany's long passes are threatening their backs again and again, putting Barcelona's players under tremendous pressure, but Guardiola is also pressing behind the attack and defense Hesitating between these two contradictory choices.

He knows very well that it is possible to score a goal by pressing on the offense, but after pressing on, the back must be exposed. Tottenham Hotspur has enough ability and strength to play behind, but if they do not press, can the defense defend well? It's hard to say, but the offense must be greatly weakened, so he is also very embarrassed.

Even in this dilemma, it was impossible for the game to give him too much time to think and analyze. In the end, Barcelona remained the same in the second half, just trying to play a rush attack after the opening of the second half, but this offensive was only enough. It lasted five minutes before Tottenham forced Barcelona back again.

In the second half, Tottenham Hotspur beat Barcelona 60-608 at home with two goals from Franck Ribery and Messi in the No.5 and No.0 minutes respectively. Lowe took the corner kick, Kompany headed the ferry, and Messi grabbed a point in front of the goal, and it was still a free kick to win.

Five goals, three sports battles, two set kicks, Tottenham Hotspur's offensive methods are very rich, and they are scored by four players. In addition, they completely disintegrated the will and fighting spirit of the Barcelona players. The battle can be described as a complete victory.

Before the game, Ye Qiu was very confident that his team could win, but he did not expect that the team could win by such a large score, which was almost a battle that would determine the country, so he also So excited, walked into the pitch and hugged all the Tottenham Hotspur players and the players who came off the bench.

In this battle, Tottenham Hotspur has almost established the qualifications for reaching the Champions League final in advance, unless there is a terrible crash in the away game a week later, but this possibility is almost negligible and extremely small.

(End of this chapter)