The Godfather of Greenery

Chapter 421 That No. 14 Is A Little Weird

The capital of Estonia, located in southern Finland, is Tallinn on the Baltic Sea coast.

The city is not only the capital of Estonia, but also the football heart of the country.

Since the country became independent from the Soviet Union and formed its own domestic league, Tallinn's teams have almost monopolized the championship of the Estonian First Division. In the past few years, it was Flora, and in recent years it has become Tallinn Livadia and TVMK Tallinn.

But for a country with a total population of only a million or so, one-third of them are in Tallinn. It is conceivable that the level of football in such a country is not too high, and even the fans who enter the stadium to watch and enjoy football games will not Too much because they are better at individual sports like rowing.

As the home stadium of the top domestic team Flora, the Alek Stadium has a total capacity of only [-], but this game, even in the European Cup qualifiers, the stadium is still very empty, because all fans know that Estonia is almost There is no chance of defeating their opponents, they have suffered five consecutive defeats in the first five rounds of European Cup qualifiers, scored zero goals and conceded ten goals.

Such a result is considered a great shame in the European Cup qualifiers, so not many Estonian fans came to the scene to watch the game. After all, this time they are facing Croatia, which ranks first in the group.

When Ye Qiu, Peter Dewissel, and Roland arrived at the Alec Stadium, they found that they could sit anywhere, so they naturally chose the best position, the most suitable position for observing the players they were paying attention to, but they didn't expect Unfortunately, they met old acquaintances.

Wenger, and Arsenal's chief scout Steve Lawley.

"Hi, Arsène!" Ye Qiu walked over to say hello with a smile. He didn't expect to run into him again in a foreign country. "I really didn't expect to meet you in this place."

When Wenger saw Ye Qiu and the three of them, his heart skipped a beat. This guy is famous for going to the Three Treasure Hall for nothing. Could it be that he is really eyeing that player just like himself?Otherwise, how could he appear here?
"Why are you here?" Wenger stood up and shook hands politely with Ye Qiu, Roland and De Vessel, as well as the chubby Steve Lawley. People come with a little guard.

Ye Qiu smiled, "Guess!" After speaking, he pointed to a place farther away, "Let's sit over there!"

When Wenger met Ye Qiu, he was really at a loss as to what Ye Qiu was going to do.

The reason why he made a special trip to Estonia was to watch the Croatian game live. He focused on the Croatian striker, the Brazilian Eduardo da Silva. This Brazilian player came to Croatia at the age of 15, and He joined Croatian nationality in 2002 and performed very well. He is currently the number one striker in Croatia.

In the Croatian League last season, Eduardo scored 34 goals and won the top scorer, and he broke Arsenal's goal in the qualifiers with Arsenal last season, which impressed Wenger.

For the current Arsenal, Henry's departure is inevitable, and Barcelona is obviously more attractive to Henry, especially as Henry ages and Arsenal's current financial situation is severe.

Before the board of directors decided to make short-term real estate investment and build commercial housing on the ground of the original Highbury Stadium, but did not expect that the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States hit, and Europe has also begun to fall into crisis, making commercial housing impossible to sell after completion. Finances are even more urgent than when the new stadium was being built, and selling Henry can fill the hole to the greatest extent.

But Arsenal must have suitable players to fill the vacancy left by Henry, so Wenger focused on the high-quality and cheap Croatian striker Eduardo, and Arsenal's scouting team also paid attention to the Croatian. Brazilian players spoke highly of it, which led to Wenger and Steve Lawley's trip to Estonia.

"They don't seem to need this type of striker, do they?" Steve Lawley said as he watched Ye Qiu and the others walk away.

Wenger was reminded by him, and he seemed to be right. Apart from Ruud Ruud van Nistelrooy, Tottenham Hotspur's players in the midfield are faster, or more strictly speaking, explosive. This is also Tottenham Hotspur's strength. One feature, and they have substitutes like Van Persie, Cavani and Carroll in the team, what else does Eduardo do?
"Could it be..." Wenger immediately realized that Ye Qiu's target was another person.

Not far away, the three of Ye Qiu found a place to sit down. It was the first time for him to watch a game from such an empty stand. Paying attention to his own Wenger from time to time, Ye Qiu felt that this match looked quite unpleasant.

"Wenger has also taken a fancy to him?" Roland Schappas glanced at Wenger and Steve Lawley and asked.

Ye Qiu shook his head, "I received news that he seems to have taken a fancy to Croatia's No. 22 striker Eduardo da Silva."

After hearing this, Roland felt relieved.

As the fans entered the field one after another, the game finally started.

This is obviously not a very enjoyable game to watch. On the contrary, this game is a bit hard to swallow, so Ye Qiu feels a little drowsy watching it, and Roland also faces Ye Qiu from time to time. wry smile.

The venue is bad. Estonian players have rough skills and poor coordination, so they concentrate on defending and disrupting the opponent’s offense. Croatia adopts typical technical coordination, but it is obviously not suitable for the poor away field. In addition, Estonia’s concentration The troops are defending, so they can't easily score goals.

But what surprised Ye Qiu was that Peter Dewissel was watching very intently, but he was obviously not just watching the game. He carried a small notebook with him. While watching the game, he held a Start writing and write something in a small notebook.

The number is the player's number, followed by some details that impressed him.

The game finally ended under Eduardo's goal. With this goal, Croatia also defeated Estonia away. Earlier, the on-site commentator mentioned the arrival of Ye Qiu and Wenger, which made this group of players work harder in the game.

And now, with the game over, they all seem to want answers from the two Premier League managers.

Wenger obviously had contact with Eduardo, so when the latter saw Wenger, he obviously nodded and greeted.

"How about No. 14?" Ye Qiu smiled and asked Peter Dewissel beside him.

The Dutch old man took off his glasses from the bridge of his nose, rubbed his eyes and eyebrows a little tiredly, put on his glasses again, and looked at his notes, "Temporarily speaking, I have no way to give an answer, just one It's just a game, but I don't think he should play as an attacking midfielder."

In this game, the two players in Croatia's midfield center are No. 14 Modric and No. 10 Niko Kovac. The latter is a famous player in Croatia, while the former is currently a rising star in Croatia, but he is still famous in continental Europe. Not visible.

Ye Qiu listened silently and didn't speak, because he knew that De Vissel obviously hadn't finished speaking.

The Dutch old man was flipping through his notes, unknowingly he memorized more than a dozen pages in a 90-minute game.

"His playing style is a bit weird. How should I put it? I always feel that his ability to break through and drive the ball is stronger than his ability to control and protect the ball. Such a player should be on the wing, but the problem is that he does not have the speed. No matter how many advantages, if they are put on the side, they should also be organized."

"However, I can clearly feel that the current midfield offense of the entire Croatia actually comes from his organization and connection, especially the midfield and frontcourt. His connection is very obvious, but this player There is still a lack of grasp of the timing of the pass." After Peter Dewissel finished speaking, he was obviously aware of the problem and added another sentence.

If you use the simplest sentence to describe the difference between top superstars, first-class stars and ordinary professional players, then it must be the ability to seize opportunities, that is to say, when the opponent has a loophole, can you catch it, or how many times can you catch it? times, the more you catch, the stronger you are.

Modric had several opportunities to pass the ball in the game just now, but he missed the best time to pass the ball.

And these can be seen by anyone who watches the game seriously.

"Of course, this is relative to the top teams. If it is in the middle of the Premier League, or a team like PSV Eindhoven, he is definitely worthy of the core force, because he has a very good overall view, but he lacks confidence. Opportunity and open insight, which is why I say he should not play as a midfielder, and his position should be at the back."

After Ye Qiu heard this, he couldn't stop nodding, and Roland laughed beside him.

The world's number one scout is the world's number one scout. He can get a general idea in one game, but obviously he doesn't see many details clearly, but his observation of a player is almost the same.

Tottenham Hotspur have been paying attention to Modric since last year. Ye Qiu even thought for a while that if he could not bring in Beckham or Sneijder, he would consider Modric, but then Tottenham Hotspur Beckham was introduced, so Modric was not introduced.

But after half a year of competition last season, Ye Qiu also realized the problem of the team's midfield configuration. How does the team react when the ball is threatened?

In the report given by Tottenham Hotspur scouts, they rated Modric's small skills well, but they also believed that he was a rather embarrassing type of player, or that his technical characteristics were rather special.

Of course, every professional player has his or her own idiosyncrasies, and no two players are exactly alike.

Modric's skills are excellent, but that's relatively speaking, definitely not top-notch, especially when facing dense defenses, his technical weakness is more obvious, coupled with the lack of ability behind the upload, the back penetration The offense is also relatively weak. If this is the case, should he retreat?
But here comes the problem. Once he is allowed to retreat, his long pass is not accurate enough, and he has a certain defensive ability, but his defense is also relatively average. Of course, this is relative to the defensive midfielder. Then his position After dragging down, the only function is to connect and advance with the ball.

Therefore, Modric's embarrassment is that he is very comprehensive and has his own advantages and disadvantages, but the problem is that he is not top-notch in any aspect, and even his dribbling and breakthrough are obviously inferior to many midfielders players.

This determines that Modric will either play the core main force in the middle and lower reaches of the team, or play a role player in the wealthy team.

Modric is now 22 years old, and his style of play and technical characteristics are basically mature. Many things may still be improved, but it is difficult to make breakthroughs in many aspects, so in general it is so.

"A player like him can still play in the Premier League!" Ye Qiu judged.

The defense of Premier League teams is generally relatively loose and lacks integration. The most integrated teams are Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. Tottenham Hotspur is also relatively integrated now, but not very strong.

But no matter whether it is Chelsea or Manchester United, more defenses are still adopted on the ball, so they steal more, but now football is more and more inclined to another defensive method, that is, cutting the passing route.

For example, Barcelona in Ye Qiu's previous life. The most typical and best defensive method of this team is not to defend, but to cut the opponent's passing route. Teammates to complete the cutting of the passing route, and then complete the defense.

Therefore, teams that are good at cutting passing routes tend to intercept more.

Stealing is destruction. After destruction, the movement of the ball is interrupted and needs to be reorganized, while interception is to complete the defense without destroying the movement of the ball and counterattack in the shortest time.

Liverpool attaches great importance to interception. Harvey Alonso is a very good intercepting midfielder, but there is only Harvey Alonso. Tottenham Hotspur will gradually turn to interception defense, and even Ye Qiu He and Mauro Tassotti have been working on building a line-cutting defensive system for the team this year that combines Italian defense and total defense concepts.

OPTA data company does not provide interception data, but Tottenham Hotspur internally has, and the team has completed the most interceptions per game of any Premier League team.

"That No. 5 is not bad either. He is tall, has good skills, and has a good defense!" Peter Dewissel introduced with a smile.

No. [-] is Vedran? Joel Luka, this player is also the main central defender of the Croatian national team. He performed very well in the Croatian league last season and is the core of Dinamo Zagreb's defense.

At present, the central axis of Dinamo Zagreb is Eduardo in the front, Modric in the midfielder, and Joel Luka in the defense.

"Here!" Roland pouted after hearing this, "Manchester City's scout!"

Ye Qiu and Devissel followed Roland's eyes, and saw someone looking at them not far away. Ye Qiu didn't recognize him, but Roland obviously did. That was Manchester City's chief scout. Grip, this scout was also Eriksson's right-hand man when he coached the England national team.

Ye Qiu thought of Wenger, and then of Manchester City. He even felt that there were no scouts from other clubs in the stands of this game. Obviously, as the information became more and more developed, the exposure rate of players increased It is getting higher and higher, and even in many cases, players who perform well tonight will become famous tomorrow, which makes those buried players less and less.

Of course, if you still can't stand up in this situation, it must not be that you are buried.

With the end of the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League, the leagues of various countries have entered a period of adjustment. Correspondingly, the transfer market is full of flames, and the signings and sales between clubs are in full swing.

Tottenham Hotspur have announced two transfers since entering June, both of which are midfielders, and they are both sold. The first one is that Edgar Davis reached an agreement not to renew his contract with the club , the Dutch wild boar announced that he will leave Tottenham Hotspur and return to Ajax. He expressed his hope to end his career in Ajax.

Tottenham Hotspur issued an article on the official website, thanking Edgar Davis for his contribution to Tottenham Hotspur in the past two years, hoping that he can continue to achieve outstanding results in Ajax, and He said that everyone at Tottenham Hotspur will remember him and everything he did for the team.

The second transfer is the midfielder Huddlestone. This former Tottenham Hotspur player has never been able to get a good chance to play last season, which made the player himself a little dissatisfied , but considering that the team currently has powerful stars such as Beckham, Yaya Toure, Mascherano, Cesc Fabregas, etc., and Ye Qiu is obviously more optimistic about Lucas, so Huddlestone Decided to transfer.

Tottenham Hotspur did not make things difficult for him, and directly sent him to Sunderland, the newly promoted black cat of this season, at a price of 150 million euros. The head coach of this team is the former Manchester United Merit Roy? Keane.

What's interesting is that this season, Ferguson's two former disciples have led the team to upgrade. One is Sunderland's Roy Keane, and the other is Birmingham's Steve Bruce. Both are former Premier League stars. Manchester United meritorious service.

After selling two players, Tottenham Hotspur also announced the recall from Ajax of the former Brazilian left-back Marcelo on loan. This is also the team's first signing, but as for other signings However, there has been no movement for the time being, and the much-criticized central defender signings last season have not been followed up for a long time, which makes Tottenham Hotspur fans a little anxious.

As last season's league champion, Manchester United made a big move at the beginning, announcing the introduction of England international midfielder Owen Hargreaves from Bayern Munich. This player is seen as an important symbol of Ferguson's strengthening of midfield defense.

At the same time, Ferguson also announced the introduction of winger Nani from Sporting Lisbon. This Portuguese rookie is regarded as Cristiano Ronaldo II. Ferguson placed high hopes on the teenagers, thinking that they would take on Manchester United's frontcourt in the near future.

The three transfers are all heavy signings, and the value of the three players has exceeded 2000 million euros. This makes the transfer market just started, but Manchester United has already burned more than 6000 million euros in one go. At first glance, I feel that Ferguson is addicted to burning money this season.

Manchester United's signings were already in progress before the end of the season, so they announced one by one shortly after the end, but relatively speaking, other teams couldn't do so fast, and it was different from the big spending in the past few years. Chelsea has been spreading news this season that Abramovich may stop investing in the team.

This news also makes Chelsea fans worried about the team's competitiveness next season.

And everyone knows the strength of this team, so even if they don't make any signings, they will still be the most powerful contender for the Premier League title next season.

That is to say, when the transfers of other teams are in full swing and there are endless scandals in the market, Tottenham Hotspur has also become the focus of the transfer market, but the main reason is that the players in the team have been poached. The club's transfer and signings seem to be quiet, which also makes many fans at White Hart Lane worried.

After all, no one wants the team's performance to decline in the new season.

It was in this atmosphere that Tottenham Hotspur welcomed guests from Brazil.

(End of this chapter)