Chapter 563 Maintaining Stability First

Ye Qiu once saw such an article in his coach development system, which clearly explained the core elements for a football club to succeed. It is not an outstanding head coach, nor a great chairman, nor a group of excellent superstars, but long-term stability.

This stability includes all aspects of the team, including the chairman, the management, the head coach and the coaching staff, as well as the players, and even some important employees and staff of the club.

Throughout the history of football, the peak period of almost all great football clubs was born in a stable period.

The peak period of Real Madrid was the period of President Bernabeu. Even the Five Eagles period in the 1980s can be regarded as the legacy of the Mendoza period; AC Milan's peak period came from Sacchi, and Capello after Sacchi. The two can be regarded as the same lineage.

The same case also happened to many teams, such as Liverpool. Although Liverpool's head coach changed many times during its peak period, Liverpool at that time had a very famous culture called the Boot Room Culture, that is, the head coach came from the assistant team of the predecessor, which could ensure the long-term stability of the team.

If you carefully study the history of all the great and successful teams, it is not difficult to find that this kind of coach inheritance from the boot room culture is not an isolated phenomenon, but a very common phenomenon, because all teams with a stable tactical system will first consider adopting this method to ensure the unity and inheritance of the team's tactics.

Of course, this inheritance does not mean that there is no change at all, but that you can inherit the good advantages and then find ways to improve the shortcomings and adopt a gradual reform. This is not only applicable to a country, but also to a team, especially professional teams, which basically have huge performance pressure.

This is true for the head coach and the players.

For all the teams in their peak period, if they want to ensure stability, in addition to the head coach, the stability of the player lineup is also a key, and this also involves the transfer of the team.

Stability does not mean that you don't transfer. If you don't transfer, it will be a stagnant pool, without novelty and vitality.

The so-called stability is also to adopt a gradual transfer method to keep the advantages and improve the shortcomings.

All fans know that every head coach will have his own different tactical ideas and thoughts. If it is not a similar inheritance of the boot room culture, the first thing a new head coach does when he takes office must be to reorganize the team and introduce some players who are preferred and in line with his tactical ideas, which will inevitably cause turbulence.

Therefore, almost all great teams at their peak often represent the success of the team in youth training output.

This is definitely not an accident, but a necessity. The reason is very simple. The team is stable in all aspects, the head coach is familiar with the team's tactical system, and does not easily reorganize the team's lineup. The team has a group of outstanding young players rising up, driving the team's internal competition and stimulating the pressure of the players in the team. Such a team is the easiest team to succeed.

Perhaps some people will find it strange again. How to ensure the output of youth training?

This involves many aspects of the problem, but the youth training output here does not mean that they must grow up and become talents in the club since childhood. Such a so-called youth training concept is too narrow, because it must be understood that the greatest use of the youth training system is to cultivate available talents for the first team, so there is no need to worry about whether this talent comes to the team at the age of eight or eighteen. As long as it is a talent for the first team, it is considered a successful youth training.

Someone once made such a statistics, which is also the recruitment strategy that teams including Lyon, Ajax, Porto and others have always pursued, that is, the first team's recruitment is generally around 20 years old. According to the characteristics of young players' precocity, it can be appropriately relaxed to around 18 years old.

Why do these teams known for black shops pursue such a strategy?

There are many reasons. Young players around 20 years old generally have formed skills and tactics, and are in the rapid development stage of their careers. Therefore, the success rate of introducing them at this time is very high, but because they are still growing rapidly, the price is generally not too high, which can be said to be good value for money. After being introduced to the team, they can be sold at any time after they become famous and earn the difference.

So, what if they are younger?

This involves a risk and financial control issue.

For younger players, such as those around 18 years old, players who have shown stable strength at this young age are generally very famous, such as Rooney, and the transfer fee is very high, because they are all called genius teenagers. It is not cost-effective to introduce them at this time, and if their strength is not stable, the chance of success will be more risky.

There is another problem. When considering high-priced signings, wealthy teams generally consider mature players first, and it takes at least three years for an 18-year-old to join the team, and some even have to wait until they are 24 or 25 years old.

Everyone who does trade knows what kind of trade is the most profitable?

Quick in and quick out, no financial pressure, that is to say, for trading teams, they not only have to consider buying players, but also how long they hold the players. The best is of course to play for a period of time after the introduction, and then sell them quickly after the price increases, without financial pressure, and earn the difference. This is the most ideal result. The longer the time is kept in hand, the more disadvantageous it is for the team's financial operation, so quick in and quick out is the strategy pursued by all black shop teams.

Therefore, there is such a rule that around 20 years old is the golden age for the first team to recruit players!

But this rule is obviously not applicable to Tottenham Hotspur, because Tottenham Hotspur is a team with a mature tactical framework, and they have certain requirements for the players' skills. Therefore, if the players are introduced at the age of 20, whether they can integrate into the team is a problem, and there is also the problem of the length of the adaptation period.

In Ye Qiu's opinion, for a youth training team like Tottenham Hotspur, the most suitable age for the youth team to introduce players should be around fourteen years old, because fourteen-year-old players still have technical plasticity. After joining the team, they can play for two or three years, adapt to the team's overall tactical system, and then enter the first team to play as substitutes and cup games. Those with strength can climb up and enter the rotation, or even the first team.

This is not something Ye Qiu created himself. In fact, teams including Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid, Manchester United and Arsenal, and even Ajax's youth training camp, all pursue this policy of introducing semi-finished youth training products, but this requires a prerequisite, that is, the team itself has a certain level of youth training and player carving strength.

Players including Pogba, Ramsey, Varane, Nastasic, Hazard, etc. basically came to the team at around fourteen or fifteen years old, and Tottenham Hotspur arranged personnel to focus on cultivating these players from the beginning. For example, Ye Qiu asked Moniz and Mullensteen to focus on taking care of this group of young players, and sometimes even arranged professional coaches for one-on-one guidance.

Not only that, Ye Qiu also dared to delegate power. Pogba will not be seventeen until March, but he has played in the reserve team for half a season and played many games in the League Cup, facing low-level teams and Premier League teams.

There are also Varane and Nastasic, who are also under seventeen, but they still play in the League Cup and perform well.

To explain with Ye Qiu's idea, it is to use competitions to train players, and Tottenham Hotspur actually does not attach importance to competitions such as the League Cup and the FA Cup. The North London team's pursuit is the Premier League and the Champions League, so Ye Qiu uses cup competitions to train young players.

With the professionalization of football, high-tech and systematic youth training have made the rejuvenation of players a trend. For example, this season, the English media is hyping up Barnsley's young player Nobel Lazarus in the English Championship. This player is only 15 years and 45 days old this season and has made his debut in the English Championship. But he appeared in the cup last season and played two games. He has attracted the attention of Manchester United. Ferguson also invited him to Carrington for a trial.

So don't look at Pogba, Nastasic and Varane, who are only 16 years old, but put them in the framework and system of the entire Tottenham Hotspur team, they do not perform badly, because in the team, they are not fighting alone. As long as they integrate themselves into the entire system of the team, their individual disadvantages will be properly covered up, and they may even perform very well.

Just like the counterattack against Manchester City this time, Cavani rushed to the front and attracted the fire, followed by Hazard, Ramsey, Pogba and others, and Cavani quickly caught up with the ball and wanted to break through with the help of inertia, but failed. After being intercepted by Zabaleta, the latter did not clear far.

Hazard caught up and passed it to Ramsey, who also failed to make an effective attack and then passed it to Pogba.

This sturdy African-French player caught the opportunity as soon as he came up and kicked a heavy long-range shot.

Given did not expect Pogba to suddenly kick again. By the time he reacted, the latter's long-range shot had crossed the goal line and went straight into the goal, 1:0!

Pogba, who has dark skin and hair like a pile of grass, rushed to the sidelines quickly after seeing the goal. He opened his big mouth excitedly along the way, showing his full white teeth. After rushing to the sidelines, he stuck out his tongue at the camera with excitement, but was directly hugged by his teammates from behind.

Before the age of seventeen, Pogba completely broke the record of Tottenham's youngest scorer, although it was only in the cup game!

All Tottenham fans in the audience were very excited. They obviously felt the club's efforts to promote young players, and this group of young players was indeed very powerful. Although they have all kinds of shortcomings and deficiencies, their progress is very obvious, especially in the cup game, and they performed very well.

This also reminds people of the talent day selection event on Christmas last year. Tottenham signed fifteen young players in one go, which caused a huge response in the English football world. Many people even publicly bombarded Tottenham's behavior, believing that the FA and the Premier League should give appropriate restrictions.

Young people are the future of the team. If young people perform well, the future of the team will be bright!

Tottenham Hotspur's current batch of young players really gives people hope. Whether it is Pogba, Varane, Nastasic and other young players who are still in the reserve team, or Phil Jones, Ramsey, Kyle Walker, Hazard and other young players who have performed well in the first team, they all make people feel their bright future.

Tottenham Hotspur's goal completely pushed Manchester City to the edge of the cliff, forcing Mancini's team to fight back desperately.

Because according to the League Cup competition system, in the two-round semi-finals, if the total score of both sides is tied, the team with more goals will advance directly, and if the two sides have the same number of goals, they will play overtime. If the overtime is the same again, the team with more away goals will win directly.

The first round was 2:1, but now Tottenham Hotspur scored in the second round, 1:0, and the total score of the two sides is 2:2. According to the rules, if the score has not changed after entering the overtime, Tottenham Hotspur has an away goal and automatically advances.

Therefore, after Tottenham scored, Manchester City launched a round of fierce attacks on Tottenham, and Tottenham was also suppressed by Manchester City's crazy attack and was a little embarrassed. They had to retreat and counterattack.

But as time went on, Mancini gradually felt the pressure and replaced players such as Santa Cruz and Bellamy to continue to strengthen the team's offense, which made Tottenham's entire defense tight. Ye Qiu even changed the formation directly, letting Beckham return to the midfielder position, and the team began to pay more attention to defense.

The two sides played in full swing, especially in the final stage of the game, Tottenham's group of young players were almost exhausted. After all, they were at a disadvantage in age, and their physical fitness was naturally not as good as those stars in their twenties and in their golden age, so the later the time, the more obvious their disadvantageous situation.

Ye Qiu also used up all the substitutions in the difficult time of the team, and further combined with the team's defense, he successfully dragged the game into overtime. The tenacious performance of Tottenham Hotspur's young players who fought desperately against Manchester City's attack also won the recognition and affirmation of the fans in the stands.

But not long after the start of overtime, Robinho took advantage of a mistake in Tottenham Hotspur's defense and helped Manchester City score an equalizer. This goal also made Tottenham Hotspur defeated. Immediately afterwards, Santa Cruz assisted Bellamy to score another goal, and finally Manchester City reversed Tottenham Hotspur 2:1 again.

Both rounds were scored first and then reversed, which made the group of Tottenham Hotspur young players who tried their best feel very depressed and unhappy. At least in their opinion, if they were more tenacious and worked harder, perhaps Manchester City would not be able to score.

But after the game, all the fans at White Hart Lane stood up and applauded this group of young players. Although they were eliminated from the League Cup and they failed to perform miracles in the end, their performance was definitely worthy of recognition from everyone, especially for this group of young players.

Ye Qiu stood on the sidelines and hugged the players who walked off the field one by one. He told each player that he was proud of their performance and encouraged them not to be discouraged and continue to strengthen their strength. There must be a chance to get revenge.

Every player was obviously disappointed and frustrated when they walked off the field, but this was not beyond Ye Qiu's expectations. He was not even surprised to lose the game, because Tottenham Hotspur was too young, especially this group of 16 or 17-year-old players. Facing the wolf-like Manchester City, Ye Qiu was mentally prepared to lose.

But why did he continue to choose this group of players?

Why did he announce the starting lineup in advance after the first round of the game and continue to arrange them to play?

In addition to the rotation of the main players for the first team, Ye Qiu also wanted to tell all the young players that the coaching staff had great confidence in them, and the players' performance in the second round was indeed quite good. In this case, losing is a valuable experience and a painful lesson for them, which will make them more motivated to improve their strength in the future.

The League Cup championship has the opportunity to compete every season, but if the defeat of the League Cup in a season can be exchanged for the ambition and fighting spirit of the young players, Ye Qiu thinks it is a very cost-effective deal no matter how you look at it.

At the press conference after the game, Ye Qiu also repeatedly stated that he was proud of the performance of this group of young players and would continue to give them opportunities to give them more game time to show their strength.

Not only Ye Qiu, the British media also gave high praise to the young players of Tottenham Hotspur, who were almost considered as the youth team, for fighting so fiercely with Manchester City. They believed that the performance of Tottenham Hotspur's youth team gave everyone hope, and the 16-year-old young player Pogba, who scored a goal for Tottenham Hotspur, also made everyone remember his name.

And the facts proved that Ye Qiu continued to fulfill his promise. Three days after the second round of the League Cup, in the fourth round of the FA Cup, Tottenham Hotspur challenged Leeds United, which had been relegated to the third level of the English League One, away from home. As a result, Tottenham Hotspur defeated Leeds United 3:1 with Cavani's hat trick.

Although this group of young players were eliminated from the League Cup, they continued to get opportunities in the FA Cup, and their performance clearly made people feel their excellence. As the winter transfer period was coming to an end, many teams actually made offers for Tottenham Hotspur's group of young players, including Pogba and Joe Hart, but Tottenham Hotspur said that they were the future of the team and were not for sale.

Not only that, Tottenham Hotspur also announced early that they had reached an agreement with these young players and signed a contract. As early as last year when they just turned 16, they had become formal professional players. This can be regarded as blocking the outside world's covetousness for Tottenham Hotspur's group of young treasures.

Isn't there a saying? Don't be afraid of thieves stealing, but be afraid of thieves thinking about it!