The Godfather of Greenery

Chapter 180 Surprise for Leverkusen
Ajax stood out from the UEFA Champions League death group and was touted and praised by the media and fans all over the Netherlands. Many Dutch teams, such as PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord, and even Nijmegen Teams are outraged that they think the media is exaggerating.

In the past three years, Neskens has been living in Ye Qiu's shadow, because in 2000, Nijmegen's head coach candidate was the first candidate who had just led Ajax. The second team won the Dutch Cup, Ye Qiu, but later Ye Qiu stayed at Ajax, and Nijmegen chose Neskens.

This dissatisfied the former superstar in the Netherlands, because in his career, he was always dazzling, and even Cruyff couldn't suppress his demeanor. When was he so suppressed?
In the previous two seasons, NEC Nijmegen's performance was mediocre, and the results were always hovering in the middle and lower reaches. However, Nijmegen has performed very well this season. Now it has even begun to covet the qualifications for European competitions with ambitions, and even hopes to make it to the top. Qualifying for the Champions League also made Neskens feel that he has the confidence to challenge his old club.

Regarding the remarks about doubting the strength of Ye Qiu and Ajax, Neskens was more motivated by his team's players and the purpose of damaging Ajax's morale. This is very common in professional leagues, so in Arenal Stadium, Nijmegen really put on the posture of a weak team, showing that the enemy is weak.

Defensive counterattack is the reason why Nijmegen has performed well this season. In the Eredivisie, which is aggressively attacking football, defensive counterattack can still achieve results. This transformation of Neskens has naturally paid off, but there is a premise.

That is, your defense must be able to withstand the opponent's attack, otherwise, how can you talk about counterattack?
But Neskens' solid defense failed to last 20 minutes at the Arenal Stadium. Strictly speaking, they only lasted 18 minutes and 23 seconds, and Huntelaar's goal was completely overwhelmed. Shattered Neskens' dream.

But the 1:0 score in the first half still had hope. During the intermission, Neskens was obviously not ready to give up.

But at the beginning of the second half, Ajax played their best offensive tactics. Huntelaar made another victory 2 minutes into the second half, 2:0, and the lightning offensive completely stunned Nijmegen. up.

Just 5 minutes later, Van der Meyde's goal further expanded the score to 3:0!

Neskens' adjustment and the strategy of giving up the offense did not stabilize his defense and failed to restore the team's morale.

In the 72nd minute, Hleb's rare goal continued to expand the score, 4:0!

After 5 minutes, Yaya Toure's goal rewritten the score to 5:0!

The entire Arena was completely turned into a sea of ​​celebration, and everyone was surprised by Ajax's performance.

After that, Ye Qiu made some substitutions and adjustments. Heitinga, who came off the bench, scored the last goal, 6:0!

Neskens, who was ambitious before the game and vowed to beat Ajax at the Arena, became a complete loser at the Arena after 90 minutes. He lowered his high head and had to use a Congratulating Ye Qiu in a helpless but sincere tone.

At the same time, PSV lost to Feyenoord 1:2 at home. Van Marwijk's team scored twice in the first half, and Hiddink's team was pulled by Romedal in the second half. Back a game, but could not beat Feyenoord.

Because some time ago, Ajax focused more on the Champions League. The Eredivisie lost a few games, resulting in PSV's points being equal to Ajax. After this game, Ajax surpassed Hiddink again and got a 3-point lead.

As many media close to Ajax said after the game, Hiddink's so-called world-renowned coach has now been torn off by Ye Qiu. Maybe he is very good at training defense, because PSV this season The defense was excellent, the team with the best defense in the Eredivisie, but Ye Qiu's team was obviously better at offense and more aggressive.

Taking advantage of this rare one-week break, Ye Qiu made temporary adjustments to the team's previously exposed problems, especially the team's defense, focusing on sculpting De Jong and Mascherano's midfielders, Coordination with the defense.

A week passed quickly. Ajax challenged Heerenveen away. Van der Meyde knocked on Heerenveen's goal in the 6th minute. Immediately afterwards, Arteta's goal put Ajax in the middle. Before the break, they took a 2-0 lead.

After changing sides to fight again in the second half, Arteta was off due to injury, but Van der Meyde's goal in the 76th minute sealed the victory again, and finally helped Ajax beat Heerenveen 3-0 away.

After playing this round of the league, Ajax went to Germany to challenge Leverkusen away.

…………

…………

The on-site commentator of the Champions League once raised an interesting doubt before the game, that is, what will happen when an unlucky player meets an unlucky team?
Guest commentator Effenberg said with a smile, whoever is more unlucky will lose!

Unexpectedly, this was really hit by Effenberg.

Ajax's recent week seems to be going smoothly, but it is actually quite unlucky.

First, Van der Vaart was injured before the game against Nijmegen. Van der Meyde played two league rounds in one breath, scored goals in both rounds, and performed very well. This game is still Van der Meyde's starter. Qiu pressed on the bench.

Then there was Arteta's injury. Although it was not serious, he also did not start and was still a substitute.

Keivu was also injured, and he didn't even make the squad. Kolo Toure won the starting qualification.

There is a saying that is true, people are unlucky and their teeth will choke if they drink water.

Ye Qiu adjusted the starting lineup for this game. Van der Sar is the goalkeeper, Abidal, Lucio, Kolo Touré and Heitinga are in the defense, and De Jong and Mars are in the midfield. Celano and Sneijder, the front trident is Robben, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Van der Meyde.

To say that this lineup is indeed not bad, but sometimes it is unlucky.

Ajax played smoothly throughout the first half. Because it was an away game, Ye Qiu arranged for a double midfielder combination of De Jong and Mascherano to play more conservatively. Unexpectedly, In the 36th minute, Leverkusen's midfielder Babić took a corner kick, and Ajax missed someone in the penalty area. Berbatov scored with a header in front of the goal.

How could this embarrass Ye Qiu who was standing on the sidelines?
The handsome brother who claims to have a head that can be broken and a hairstyle that cannot be messed up actually scored his own goal with a header. What can he say?
You know, Berbatov is really unlucky enough this season. He has played half of the league. Firstly, he has no goals and secondly no assists. He was sprayed to death by the saliva of fans and teammates a long time ago, how can he still stand on the court?

Know what Leverkusen fans say?
"If that Bulgarian scores a goal, I'll throw an ashtray on the TV screen!"

Ye Qiu really doesn't know if those fans who said this really smashed the TV screen with ashtrays, but he knows very well that he really has the urge to smash the TV screen now, because he is so depressed. What?
Seeing Berbatov running out of the field excitedly, hugging the head coach Top Müller who has always supported him, and celebrating his first goal of the season, Ye Qiu really wanted to hit Berbatov on the head Throwing an ashtray away.

"Unlucky!" Ye Qiu kept shaking his head.

Bobby Harms also shook his head and smiled helplessly, "Sometimes it's like this. When luck is against you, you may lose in a daze at any time. If you can't find the reason, you can only say, That's when our players suddenly short-circuited."

Although Ye Qiu didn't think it was very funny, he laughed out loud, then sighed again, and looked ahead.

"We should change our tactics, Bobby!"

According to Ye Qiu's pre-match plan, it was always difficult for the Bundesliga teams to play away games, so he adopted a relatively safe strategy in the first half. The important purpose is to frustrate Leverkusen's spirit, observe their tactics, find loopholes, and then counterattack in the second half.

But now it looks like plans have changed.

After Ballack switched to Bayern Munich, Top Muller introduced Hanno Balic from Cologne. The German right-back was born with good offensive ability and good defensive ability. He was transformed into a midfielder. Top ?Müller obviously still wants to use him to play the role of Ballack, but sometimes football tactics are not this simple one plus one at all, but more complicated.

At least Hannuo Balic cannot replace Ballack's role at all. The two players seem to have similar styles, but in fact they are far apart, especially in terms of consciousness.

"Van der Meyde's state in this game is not good. Leverkusen's left side has restricted him a lot. Heitinga was also interfered by Croatian winger Babić. The whole right side can't play the effect. It needs to be changed. It's changed!"

"Let Van der Vaart warm up, oh, and Arteta!"

Ye Qiu grinned when he said this, "Let's surprise Leverkusen in the second half!"

…………

…………

The surprise that Ye Qiu said really surprised Top Muller.

At half-time, when he counted the Ajax players coming out of the tunnel, he was surprised to find that Van der Meyde and De Jong were gone and replaced by Arteta and Van der Vaart.

It is courageous enough to replace two players in a row in one breath, and it was during the intermission.

But the bigger surprise came after the opening game. He found that Ajax changed their safe tactics in the first half and played more risky. .

Facing the sudden change, Leverkusen was still preparing to continue to use the strategy of the first half to deal with Ajax, but Ajax quickly gave Leverkusen a fatal blow.

Basturk took the ball and wanted to break through, but Arteta retreated to defend, successfully intercepted the ball from behind, and stabbed the ball to Mascherano. The Argentine didn't stop the ball and pushed forward. Teta turned to catch up, and quickly counterattacked.

As soon as Ajax's entire attack line saw an opportunity to attack, it immediately rushed up like a wolf.

Facing the defense of the midfielder Balic, Arteta chose to distribute the ball to Sneijder who ran over to meet him. The Dutch midfielder saw the ball coming, and he directly pushed forward without stopping the ball. The ball was almost close Touching the ground, he came to the feet of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

In a one-on-one contest with Ramello, Ibrahimovic stopped the ball steadily and wanted to get rid of it. This immediately attracted the attention of Leverkusen's entire defense line. After all, Ibrahimovic The technical skills of Simovic, an atypical center, have spread throughout Europe, and everyone knows to pay attention to Ajax, a difficult center.

But when Leverkusen was guarding against Zlatan Ibrahimovic's savagery, the Swede chose to split the ball.

The ball was distributed from the center to the right, and van der Vaart, who had just returned from injury, came off the bench like a bolt of lightning. He passed the Argentine defender Placente very quickly. After getting the ball, he waded into the penalty area and faced The attacking goalkeeper Bout took a calm low shot and hit the bottom of the net, 1:1!

This goal fully reflects the tacit understanding between Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Van der Vaart. Ibrahimovic's goal is just right, and it just falls on the step of Van der Vaart's sprint, making In the case of a fast sprint, the Dutchman can take advantage of the trend and enter the penalty area after getting the ball without any adjustments.

Also because Ibrahimovic gave the ball comfortably, Van der Vaart was the first to think of celebrating with the Swedes after scoring the goal.

"Leverkusen lost the ball really well. Raphael van der Vaart's speed and awareness are excellent, and after the ball passed Ibrahimovic's transition, it gave Van der Vaart a sprint. On the route, such a ball is very difficult to defend." Effenberg also felt helpless for Leverkusen's conceded goal.

Although he has not retired yet, he has already begun to use his spare time to work as a commentator to find a way out in the future, and he is obviously on Leverkusen's side in this game.

"Ajax's offense is still very impactful. We have competed with this team before, so I also said before the game that the most important thing is to prevent Ajax from playing offensively, but it is very difficult. Obviously, Ajax took a different tactic in the second half than in the first half, which caught Leverkusen by surprise."

"This should be Ye Qiu's well-prepared decision. It's very bold, but the effect is also ideal."

"Frankly speaking, Leverkusen's goal in the first half was a bit of luck, and it came very hard, but I didn't expect that the score was equalized by Ajax at the beginning of the second half, which was a blow to Leverkusen's morale. Great, this is also the time to test Top Muller and Bayer Leverkusen. After all, they could rely on Ballack at critical moments before, but now they can only rely on themselves!"

Top Muller did think of a solution, defensive counterattack, so he replaced Burdaric with Neuville in the 55th minute. The latter's performance this season is indeed bad enough. If it wasn't for this game that Neuville needed to rest, he wouldn't have the chance to play.

But obviously, Ajax is not afraid of counterattacks at all. Ye Qiu said in the middle of the game, go all out, no matter what the opponent thinks or how to fight, we only have one thought, press them down and hit them Until there is no way to fight back!

In the 60th minute, after van der Vaart got the ball from the right, he passed Placente. The Argentine defender used an obvious pulling action, but failed to prevent Van der Vaart from dribbling the ball inside and cutting LaMelo. Pull out the center back position and go straight behind him.

Ibrahimovic overwhelmed his opponent, rushed forward and volleyed vigorously, piercing Leverkusen's goal again, 2:1!

Ajax beat Leverkusen! !

This immediately boosted the morale of Ajax from top to bottom. The players all felt as if they had been slapped with chicken blood. It was a round of indiscriminate bombing against Leverkusen's defense line, and the morale was already obviously weak Leverkusen lost ground.

Seeing that the situation was in jeopardy, Top Muller immediately made consecutive substitutions, and even Berbatov was replaced to further strengthen the defense, but he was still embarrassed by Ajax.

Ye Qiu made a third substitution in the 76th minute, replacing Robben with Hleb.

As he expected, Robben's state in this game is not ideal, especially in the final stage of the game, his physical fitness is obviously insufficient, and his advantage needs to sprint, and after Leverkusen shrinks the defense, there is no room for Robben at all. There is enough room for sprinting, but Peter Pan's role is not obvious.

On the contrary, Hleb, Belarus, who is more inclined to attack in positions, has more physical fitness and is more adaptable to this kind of position defense, so after playing, he quickly planned several threatening attacks.

Until the 88th minute, Hleb cut in from the left with the ball, and Ibrahimovic ran empty in front, and after attracting the attention of Leverkusen's defenders, Van der Vatra inserted in the back. Out of the gap and space, the latter got the ball fed by Hleb in the penalty area. After a stop and a draw, the ball went straight to the bottom of the net from Bout's side, 3:1!

This goal also completely destroyed Leverkusen's will to resist.

After winning the Sanya king last season, Leverkusen left Ballack this season, which had a great impact on the team's midfield and offensive power. The glory of last season is said to be achieved by Ballack leading the team alone. Yes, not too much.

But not only that, last season's main central defender Nowotny was seriously injured, and even now he has not returned from injury, which makes Leverkusen's defense very fragile. , But once encountering a headwind ball and encountering an opponent's aggressive attack, the loopholes in defense will become obvious.

This is also the reason why Ye Qiu chose to be conservative in the first half, wear down Leverkusen's spirit, and make a big effort in the second half. He only dared to make such a decision because he saw through Leverkusen's weakness.

In the end, the players did not live up to his high expectations. They defeated Leverkusen 3:1 in an away game and got a good start to the second round of the group stage.

(End of this chapter)