Chapter 127 Don’t Worry!

Carlos Rexach, a great star of Barcelona in the past.

I don’t know when it started, but many Barcelona people like to compare their own children with those of their arch-rival Real Madrid. For example, they like to say that Reina is Barcelona’s own Casillas, and Puyol will become Barcelona’s Hierro. And this season, they will say that Carlos Rexach is Barcelona’s Bosque.

There is no doubt that Rexach is better than Bosque in terms of performance on the football field, because he was one of the most capable teammates next to Cruyff who dominated Europe at that time, but in the field of head coach, Bosque, who has already achieved success, is not comparable to Rexach.

But one thing can be said, Rexach and Bosque’s fate is a bit similar.

As a former meritorious player of Barcelona, ​​Rexach entered the technical department of Barcelona after retirement. Later, he served as an assistant to Aragones and Cruyff. In 1991, Cruyff underwent surgery for heart problems. During this period, Rexach led the team. The results at that time were 7 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in 9 games, which was very outstanding.

In other words, the most glorious season of Barcelona Dream Phase I actually had an important contribution from Rexach.

A few years later, Cruyff was dismissed, and assistant coach Rexach saved the fire again, but he was soon dismissed again because Barcelona chose Bobby Robson at that time, and Rexach returned to coach the youth team.

Many people who are optimistic about Rexach feel that his experience is very similar to that of Real Madrid's Bosque. They both saved the fire several times and showed their strength several times, so they are optimistic that Rexach can become Barcelona's own Bosque, leading the team to end the turmoil and usher in a revival.

Today, Barcelona is divided into two factions, one is the traditionalists, led by former chairman Nunez and others, and the other is the reformists, led by Cruyff. However, the two factions are almost intolerant of each other and attack each other.

The traditionalists believe that Cruyff's reformists can only talk but not do. They say they are invincible, but they don't have the courage to risk their own honor. However, the reformists believe that the traditionalists do not want to change the current power structure of Barcelona at all. They are a bit conservative, especially many decisions lack foresight.

The struggle between the two sides has become more and more intense in the past one or two years. In particular, the reformists, who are becoming more and more powerful, have regarded Cruyff as sacred and believe that Barcelona should seriously listen to the advice of Cruyff, a thin man.

In Spain, thinness is a symbol of wisdom, and thin people represent saints.

The war of words between the two sides has long been everywhere. Before last season, Barcelona coach Ferrer once complained to the media that the club's technical consultant Rexach wanted to force him to step down, and Rexach also accepted interviews more than once to express his ambition for the club's head coach.

This season, Rexach finally took the position of Barcelona head coach. The outside world saw this as Gaspart's inclination towards the reformists, and also saw this as a victory for the reformists. Rexach himself was ambitious to do something in the position of Barcelona head coach so that he could leave his name in history.

But some things, seemingly simple, are actually much more troublesome than imagined.

The unstoppable momentum that Rexach imagined when he first took over the team did not appear. On the contrary, he encountered the same situation as Ferrer, and even his league start was not as good as Ferrer. The latter had 2 wins and 1 loss in the first three rounds of La Liga, while he had 1 win and 2 draws.

The head coach of a wealthy club seems to be glorious, but the pressure is too great. Countless media and fans are staring at you. As long as you reveal even the slightest flaw, they will be enough to eat you alive.

Chairman Gaspart personally supervised the Amsterdam match. What does this mean to Rexach? He knows better than anyone, because he used this to put pressure on Ferrer many times last season. Now it is just a matter of time, and he has tasted the bitterness that Ferrer tasted last season.

Because this is a game that must be won, Rexach took a gamble in this game, replacing the newly joined Argentine teenager Saviola with Overmars, who is more familiar with Kluivert, obviously hoping that Overmars, Rivaldo and Kluivert can form a more threatening trident.

In the midfield, the goalkeeper is Bonano, the back line is Coco, Christianval, Frank de Boer and Puyol, and Gabri, Xavi and Cocu form the midfield. Since Guardiola left the team, Xavi has started to take over.

Ye Qiu's deployment was also clear. The goalkeeper was Van der Sar, the back line was De Jong, Kivu, Lucio and Maicon, the three midfielders were Keita, Gilberto Silva and Sneijder, and the front trident was Robben, Ibrahimovic and Van der Vaart.

From the perspective of the deployment, Ye Qiu did not have any conservative thoughts, but deployed an offensive and defensive formation.

But it was obvious that Ye Qiu was still somewhat afraid of Barcelona's strong offensive power and organizational ability, so Ajax did not adopt the conventional fast-impact style of play at the beginning, but appeared to be more patient and more stable.

Ajax's pursuit of stability naturally allowed Barcelona to smoothly gain the upper hand. They started very smoothly at the Arena Stadium. From the beginning, they actively dominated the situation on the field and frequently used the two sides to create threats.

The left side is a combination of Koko and Overmars, and the right side is more about the pressure of right back Puyol. This player who was trained by Barcelona youth training has performed very well after becoming a main player this season. He is tough and ruthless, fast, and physically fit. He is a good winger and has been praised by many Barcelona fans.

Seeing that the Barcelona players controlled the situation on the field, Gaspart, who sat next to Van Praag on the rostrum, smiled, and Rexach in the visiting team coaching seat often smiled like a daisy, which seemed to be very sure of victory.

Especially when the game was in the 12th minute, after a long attack, Ajax finally showed a flaw. Barcelona used Gabri's forward insertion on the right to form a cooperation with Puyol who inserted from behind, and then went down to the bottom line. Gabri made a cross from the right and hung the ball in front of the goal.

Kluivert was at the back post, Rivaldo rushed to the front post, trying to make a flanking shot, but fortunately the central defender Kivu was in position in advance and headed the ball away, but immediately afterwards, Cocu's long shot from outside the penalty area made the entire Arena Stadium break out in a cold sweat, and everyone couldn't help but cry out.

The ball almost brushed the post and went out of the bottom line. If it was a little more to the left, the ball would definitely go in!

"This is the most threatening scoring opportunity Barcelona has had since the start of the game. Rivaldo and Cocu are only one step away from scoring, which makes us worry about Ajax's defense!"

"Ye Qiu's opening tactics are a bit confusing. Usually Ajax takes advantage of the opening to seize the initiative, but now they are taking a steady approach and letting Barcelona dominate the situation. Although this is because they are afraid of Barcelona's attack, if they continue to attack like this, it will be very disadvantageous to Ajax!"

"Perhaps Ye Qiu should consider adjusting his tactics!"

…………

…………

"Adjust now?"

Ye Qiu, who was sitting in the coaching booth of the home team at the Arena Stadium, couldn't help but smile at the anxious expressions of Roland and Ricklink, while Bobby Hams, who was sitting next to Ye Qiu, looked calm. Even if the team suffered a big defeat, he would probably still have this expression.

"Too early!" Ye Qiu made a judgment.

"Still early? The door is almost broken!" Roland was a little nervous.

This is the European Champions League, boss!

Whether it is the players of Ajax's first team or this group of coaching staff, almost most of them are participating in the European Champions League for the first time, and the match between Ajax and Barcelona is broadcast live worldwide, which is enough to make everyone feel a sense of pressure.

Among this group of Ajax players, except Van der Sar, the other players are appearing in the European Champions League for the first time. This is their first time to appear on the highest football stage in this professional league. Ye Qiu had expected that many players were under pressure before the game.

If the strategy of attacking after the start is continued, Ye Qiu can be sure that with this mentality of Ajax players, it will not be effective. On the contrary, Ajax may make omissions and be caught by Barcelona, ​​which has excellent attacking ability, and in turn cause a goal.

In this occasion, this atmosphere, and under this pressure, what consequences will be caused by losing the ball first? Ye Qiu can't guarantee it!

Therefore, in this game, he would rather sacrifice the initiative, but also ensure that the team's defense is solid, and stand firm first, so that he is qualified to talk about how to defeat the opponent.

From the players to the coaching staff, Ye Qiu can feel that many people have become impatient, including Roland.

"Isn't the door broken yet? Let's talk about it after it is broken!" Ye Qiu said with a smile.

He was also very nervous. He had played in the League Cup and won the championship, but that was the League Cup, which was completely different from the Champions League. Which player in the European professional league would not be proud of participating in the Champions League?

As the head coach of the team, Ye Qiu must remain calm and rational, and at the same time he needs to give everyone confidence, so he can't be anxious. Not only can he not be anxious, but he must always show calmness and composure.

Just imagine, who would believe that a guy who is so anxious that he jumps on the sidelines will make a calm and rational judgment?

"You..." Roland was so angry that he almost vomited blood. It turned out that he was the one who was anxious, and he didn't care at all.

Bobby Harms stood up and patted Roland on the shoulder, "Don't worry, wait a little longer!"

This wait lasted for nearly 10 minutes.

It was really strange. Barcelona had almost all the advantages in the first 30 minutes, and launched several threatening attacks and shots, but they just couldn't break Ajax's goal. Among all the shots and attacks, the one in the 12th minute was the closest to the goal.

Barcelona controlled the situation on the field and launched wave after wave of attacks, but the threat was getting smaller and smaller. One of the important reasons for this was that Ajax's players had gradually adapted to the atmosphere, rhythm and pressure on the field, and they began to play the game with a more relaxed mentality.

After all, everyone has an innate ability to self-regulate and adapt to their emotions.

On the contrary, after a long period of attack, Barcelona's emotions were a bit impatient and began to try some more radical styles of play. Among them, the right back Puyol played the most active side, and the Barcelona right back frequently pressed forward to participate in the attack.

Ye Qiu also realized this and walked out of the coaching booth and came to the sidelines. Everyone who knew him knew that he was going to personally participate in the team's adjustments and command.

Soon, Ye Qiu made an adjustment, signaling Ajax's midfielders not to shrink so far back and press back!

And his gesture was to remind Ajax's players to counterattack on the left and look for Robben.

…………

…………

Sometimes, the relationship between people is really strange.

In the Ajax locker room, many people like to talk about Ibrahimovic. When the Swede first arrived in Amsterdam, he was so poor that he didn't even have money to eat and refuel. He was forced to run to Ye Qiu's house to eat for three months, but this kid just liked to confront the head coach.

But this is just an appearance. When it really came to the critical moment, Ibrahimovic was the first to stand up and support Ye Qiu, but if you talk to Ibra about Ye Qiu now, he must still have a lot of complaints and complaints. Isn't it strange?

Robben seems to be very flamboyant on the court, but in private, he is not at all.

For head coach Ye Qiu, he is neither as loyal as Abidal, Lucio, Sneijder and Van der Vaart, nor as complicated as Ibrahimovic. He has more of a simple and pure trust.

If we want to trace the origin of this trust, it should be from when Robben was still in Groningen, Ye Qiu visited his home and took out the heavy technical evaluation report. That was the first time Robben felt Ye Qiu's understanding and trust in him. After that, when he arrived at Ajax, Ye Qiu entrusted him with important tasks as promised, and everything was a matter of course.

Gratitude, perhaps a little, but not to the point of gratitude.

But trust is a kind of accumulation over a long period of time.

After each game, Robben would receive a game analysis report from the coaching staff, which included his highlights and mistakes in the game, even for national team games that were not within Ye Qiu's scope of responsibility; before each game, he would receive an analysis report of the opponent, which collected all the information about the opponent in the next game, as well as some details and situations that Robben needed to pay attention to in the game.

Every week, Ye Qiu would pick out time to have a one-on-one private communication with the players, but he never cared about or interfered with the players' private lives, even when Robben secretly ran back to Groningen to meet his girlfriend after the weekly league, Ye Qiu never interfered.

"As long as you can do what I want you to do on the court and meet my requirements, I can ignore the rest, because I believe you can handle it yourself!"

This is the sentence that Ye Qiu said most when many people mentioned communicating with the head coach in the locker room.

Other head coaches may just say that they like to interfere in everything about the players. They like the players to be like puppets and let them control them. If possible, they would even want to get a specific report on how many times, when, and how long the players have sex with their wives and girlfriends every week.

Some people say that trust is based on mutual respect!

Robben believes this statement. He may not be as loyal as Sneijder and others, or like Ibrahimovic, who will take the initiative to stand up and support Ye Qiu at a critical moment, but he will definitely complete the tasks assigned by Ye Qiu meticulously.

This is his professional ethics and his trust in Ye Qiu.

And Ye Qiu almost never doubts Robben's strength. He entrusts important tasks to Robben again and again. Robben never lets him down and completes the tasks again and again.

He believes that this time is no exception!

So, when Ye Qiu said that he wanted to counterattack from his side, Robben chose to believe it without hesitation. Then, every time when Puyol pressed forward, Robben always moved to the gap between Puyol and Frank de Boer just right, waiting for the pass from his teammates behind him.

This kind of waiting is aimless. You don't know whether your teammates can pass the ball, nor do you know when your teammates can pass the ball. They may never pass the ball, because the head coach may adjust the tactics and the main attack direction soon, and all the efforts and waiting before that will be in vain.

But Robben still repeats the same action again and again, and every time he is nervous and fully prepared, because he doesn't know when the ball will come, but he knows very well that he must be prepared before the ball comes.

It is trust that allows Robben to run and sprint on the court again and again. Although he returns again and again without success, as long as there is another chance, he will start running and sprinting again.

It is right to trust the head coach, trust teammates to understand their intentions, trust teammates to pass the ball...

It is not just Robben, other players, players in every position are like this, such as Ibrahimovic, when Robben moves, he also moves accordingly, which is a tacit understanding and a trust.

Sometimes, players do not feel alone on the court, but as a component of a high-speed machine, and it is this trust that makes this machine run at high speed.

So, when De Jong kicked the ball to Chivu, the Romanian central defender got the ball and made a long pass to Rivaldo, who was pressing him. Robben shot out like an arrow and quickly penetrated Barcelona's entire defense line.

At the same time, Ibrahimovic in the middle and Van der Vaart on the right also pressed forward immediately, while Keita and Sneijder in the midfield rushed forward quickly. Ajax's entire counterattack system launched the fastest and sharpest counterattack in the shortest time!

Without mutual trust, this cannot be done!