The great Ajax is back!

The next day, the Amsterdam Evening Post in the Netherlands carried such a conspicuous red and white arrow shirt as the headline on its front page cover to show the newspaper's tribute to Ajax.

"Before commenting, allow me to appeal to all Ajax fans, please remember this number, 2002. 11。 13, because on this day, we were at the Arena Stadium and saw a strong Ajax team, that group of heroic Ajax players, I couldn't help but think of Vienna Ernst in 1995? That Champions League final at the Happel Stadium! ”

"Van Gaal's Ajax team won a St. Paulide Cup for Ajax again after 20 years of absence!"

"And just last night, at the Arena Stadium, the opponent was still the star-studded AC Milan, our head coach was changed to a young coach from China, Ye Qiu, we still gathered a group of talented teenagers, we are still showing a traditional style of football that belongs to our Ajax."

"3:0, we can almost say that we are slaughtering the top giants from Italy, in this game, with a bloody victory, with our excellent and perfect performance, we once again sent our shouts to the fans of the world, we can proudly tell them that the great Ajax is back again!"

"We can't ask more of Ye Qiu and his team, today's European football is no longer the European football of the 70s or 95s, and the environment that Ajax is in now is worse and more dangerous than ever before."

"The impact of the Boseman Act has made us lose countless outstanding talents, and the giants of the four major European leagues have sucked blood from us at an extremely low price, strengthened themselves, but made us very vulnerable, which can be seen from the fact that after the Boseman Act, the Champions League has completely become a giant game."

"But Ajax has never lacked rebels, from the distant Michels, to Cruyff, to Van Gaal, and now to Ye Qiu, they have never believed that the environment can beat a person or a team, they will always only believe in themselves, believe that as long as they are strong enough, they can defeat any opponent!"

"Ye Qiu is right, no one is born into a wealthy family, no one is born to stand on top of other people's heads and point fingers, and pee, this world is about strength, relying on fists."

"I believe that after this game, the whole of Europe will re-recognize Ajax and Ye Qiu."

In contrast to the direct high-profile praise of the Amsterdam Evening Post, Schulder? Mosso mentions one thing in his column, and the title of his column seems a little fresh, "Let's start believing ......"

"I was sitting on the podium at the Arena Stadium the moment the whistle blew and I noticed that there were a lot of die-hard Ajax fans around who were very excited and crazy, they hugged each other and even stood directly in their seats, with their arms raised and shouting over there.

"I heard the shouts of an elderly fan who was about 60 years old closest to me, and he was like those young lads, good Ajax, that's what happened, kill that group of bastard giants, tell the whole world that we are not afraid of them at all!!"

"Shouting and shouting, this fan shed two lines of tears, I was curious, so I asked him, why is Lu so excited?"

"He told me that over the years, Ajax has lost so much, too many things, lost the stars they have worked so hard to develop, lost the status of the European giants that their predecessors have worked so hard to build over the years, and lost a lot of the traditional spirit that makes fans proud and proud."

"For many fans who have experienced the era of Michels and Van Gaal, Ye Qiu's team is strictly speaking, and they don't feel close, because there are not many players in this team who really come out of Tokmost, Van der Sar, Van der Vaart and Sneijder have played the main team, and De Jong, Heitinga and other players have not been able to play the main team."

But he also said that we can all understand the decision of the club and the manager, and the football club should also follow the trend and become more and more international, so although emotionally, we feel that this Ajax team does not have the local flavor of the past, and even the manager is from an unfamiliar East, but the fighting spirit of this team has touched them as a group and made them feel that the traditional spirit of Ajax has returned again.

"He told me, you know, young man, a lot of young people don't understand, they will tell you that football has been professionalized and industrialized, no one cares about any empty spirit, what bullshit tradition, they will tell you that players play football for life, and life is for money, this is an era of money."

"But, do you know the Tao, young man, I have experienced many more things than you, and I know the Tao more clearly than you, that in everyone's life, there will be many, many precious things that money cannot buy, and often when you give up these things today for money, you will regret it tomorrow."

"Money can't support a person to live in this world, you see a lot of people working hard, working hard, very snobbish to fight for power, do you think he's in it for money? For status? No, he's not for money, it's not for status, he's for making money, and some of the things that he can do after getting status, such as making himself more conspicuous in his life, or changing his family, many, many more. ”

"Money is the most worthless thing in this world, because you don't know when he will depreciate, and even when the financial crisis comes, it can become worthless anytime and anywhere, it is just a few numbers and a piece of paper, only feelings are the foundation of a person's survival, so that a person can live a worthwhile and meaningful life."

"I listened to a lot of things this old friend said, and then he told me that in his opinion, Ye Qiu's transformation of Ajax is very successful, and in the eyes of many people, this success is a competitive success, but in his opinion, it is not only a competitive success, but also a spiritual return."

"Ye Qiu has marked Ajax with a deep Ye Qiu brand, deeply engraved his own values and his rebellious spirit of not admitting defeat into the soul of Ajax, just like what Michels and Van Gaal did to Ajax back then, and he also believes that in the next ten years, no Ajax manager can surpass Ye Qiu, even in terms of results."

"Finally, this old fan told me that I began to believe that Ye Qiu can lead Ajax back to the top, not only in terms of brilliance in results, but also in terms of spirit, so he will wait, even if it is a long time!"

"I thought about this question for a long time, and I began to understand some of the truths in this elderly friend's words, which are very ordinary and ordinary, but they are truths that many people can't understand all their lives, so I also began to believe and began to wait."

Shurde? Mosso's report has caused a lot of repercussions on the Internet, and some of Ajax's fan websites have also reprinted it, and many fans have said that they have been greatly touched after reading it, and many people even think that if you want to evaluate Ye Qiu's contribution to Ajax in the past three years, you have to wait until ten years later to look back before you can appear fair.

After the first round of the Champions League group stage, the three teams participating in the Champions League in the Eredivisie, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord were all eliminated from the Champions League with the bottom of the group points, and only Ajax stood out in the group of super death, which was regarded as a proud thing by the entire Dutch football community.

This time, even the Eindhoven daily newspaper published a picture of Ajax's celebration after the game on its cover, with the headline, "Let's take off our hats and salute Ajax!" ”

Feyenoord Evening News regards Ajax's qualification as the pride of Dutch football, and believes that Ajax is worth learning from all Eredivisie teams, especially Ye Qiu, who has adjusted and innovated the team's tactical style every year in the past few years.

"Cruyff is right, no set of tactics can beat the world, tactics are developing all the time, improving all the time, and as users of tactics, coaches should also improve themselves anytime and anywhere, learn from others' strengths, make up for their own shortcomings, and keep pace with the times, so as to make themselves stronger, and they will only be eliminated if they hold on to their shortcomings!"

After playing all the games in the first round of the group stage of the Champions League, the 16 teams that advanced to the second round of the group stage have also been released, according to UEFA's pre-season statement, this season will be the last time to take the group stage in the round of 16, and next season they will respond to the G14's request to reform the group stage into a knockout stage and cut the schedule.

Ye Qiu had already prepared for this, Van Praag was also a member of the G14, and Ajax had already received the news.

In Ye Qiu's view, the Champions League in the 03/04 season is a bit turbulent, and the reason why Mourinho's Porto and Deschamps' Monaco can go dark to the end is actually related to the schedule reform, because the giants are a little uncomfortable with the new schedule, especially the round of 16 knockouts, and even UEFA itself is a little uncomfortable.

Don't underestimate the group stage becoming a knockout round, the game has changed from 6 to 2, it doesn't seem to be much different, in fact, there is a big difference here, especially in the group stage, which allows a greater chance of making mistakes, and the knockout stage only needs to make a mistake, it is over, especially after the winter break, the Champions League directly enters the knockout round.

Comparatively speaking, the group stage is more favourable for the stronger teams, while the knockout stage is better for the tactical teams, which are more exciting and risky than the former, that's for sure.

However, these have nothing to do with Ye Qiu for the time being, and he is more concerned about the team's grouping.

Ajax relied on their results in Europe over the past three years, coupled with their performances this season, and this time they finally moved up a notch and qualified for Pot 2, which is really thanks to UEFA.

Placed in Pot 1 are Real Madrid, Manchester United, Barcelona and Valencia.

According to the rules, teams from the same group and the same country in the first round of the group stage will not be in the same group again, and Ajax ended up drawing Manchester United, Bayer Leverkusen and Lokomotiv Moscow.

At the draw in Geneva, after the results were announced, the managers, management and players of each team expressed their opinions on the draw results, which has also become a routine for the Champions League draw.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said in an interview that he was pleased with the draw.

'I think Ajax and Bayer Leverkusen will be our biggest threat to qualify from the group, but I'm not worried about the battle between these two teams at all because we will beat the opposition and get out of the group.

Leverkusen's chairman Carl Mund, for his part, said, "It's a very tough group, Manchester United is one of the strongest teams in Europe, Ajax was able to come out of the group of death, which shows the quality of this team, as for Lokomotiv Moscow, everyone knows how difficult it is for Moscow away." ”

But Karmond was clearly not going to say anything discouraged, so at the end of the day, he couldn't help but say, "But we won't be afraid of any opponents, and we are confident that we can come out of the group." ”

Ye Qiu also went to Geneva in person to participate in the UEFA draw ceremony this time, and after getting the results, he faced the reporter's inquiry and said with a smile that he had nothing to say about the draw results.

'We got a very competitive group and it's very exciting and I'm sure every game will be tough but there's nothing to say about it because overall the second round of the Champions League is strong in every group and it's going to be tough, but I'm confident that we can lead the team out of the group.'

'Manchester United is a very good team, they have a group of outstanding stars, I think playing against a team like this, the result is often secondary, and the most important thing is to improve yourself through the excitement of the game; Bayer Leverkusen are formidable opponents, they were runners-up last season and it will be difficult to beat them. ”

"And Lokomotiv Moscow, I don't know a lot about this team, but I know that it's not easy to play in Moscow."

'Either way, we have a tough opponent to deal with and it will motivate us to work harder to prove our quality and we won't be complacent and try to play our style of football because we were in the last four of the Champions League last season.

Ye Qiu's words can be described as neither humble nor arrogant, but experts are not optimistic about Ajax, even if this team emerges from the group of death, but there is a flaw that is criticized by everyone, that is, defense.

As Beckenbauer put it in his column, "The Champions League is very important for any team, and this kind of competition against strong opponents tends to motivate the team to perform at its best, but not all teams can have the best laugh." ”

'Real Madrid are very good, they have a group of world-class attackers, but they can't hide the problems at the back, and in the Champions League, the defense is often very important, and the teams that can win the title tend to have the best defense, which is the Achilles of Real Madrid.

"On the contrary, Juventus and Valencia are undoubtedly the teams that should be favored, Lippi's side conceded only three goals in the group stage, which is very, very rare, and Benitez's team conceded only four goals, they are very good defensively, I think they are the two teams with the best chance of going to the bottom of the group."

'Oh, one might say that Fabio Capello's Roma also conceded four goals, but don't forget, they only scored three goals in the group stage and I think it's going to be very difficult for this team to make a difference in Europe.'

Valencia is indeed the most eye-catching team in the first round of the Champions League group stage this season, scoring 17 goals and conceding only 4 goals, such an amazing record is indeed an amazing game for Benitez, and Juventus's attack, although not as good as Valencia, also scored 12 goals and conceded 3 goals, and the performance was very stable.

There is also one team that must be mentioned, and that is Barcelona.

Louis van Gaal's side have won six in a row in the group stage this season, making them the best team in the group stage, scoring 13 goals and conceding four, but not everyone is optimistic about this team, as Beckenbauer said, watching Barcelona always gives people a thrilling feeling.

As for Ajax, Beckenbauer believes that it is likely to stop in the second round of the group stage, because Manchester United and Bayer Leverkusen in the same group are both very strong and balanced teams as a whole, and Ajax's biggest problem is still defense.

'I have a big impression of this team, they played us 3-3 at the Stadio Olimpico and it was that game that made me remember this team and took us out of the Champions League, but I think this team is too young, the average age is in their early 20s, and they are far from mature, especially defensively.

"Look at Gilberto? Silva and Seydoux? With Keita's excellent performances at Arsenal and Barcelona, it's not hard to understand how Ajax's defensive problems have been so evident this season. ”

Ye Qiu still admires Beckenbauer, at least the words of the football emperor are true, and he also knows very well that there are indeed some problems in the team's defense, although Mascherano is gradually gaining a foothold, he still needs to exercise, it takes time.

However, Ye Qiu did not lose his confidence at all because of this, on the contrary, he was still full of confidence, because who has no problem?

Is there no problem with Juventus? Is there no problem with Valencia?

Every team will have all kinds of problems, and the key is to see how a manager can better adjust the team in the league and cup competitions, arrange targeted tactics, avoid the team's loopholes, and play to the team's strengths, which is the most important.

And now the schedule is very intensive, there is no extra time for Ye Qiu to adjust and polish the team's defensive system, after all, Mascherano lost his position due to injury at the beginning of the season and missed the key run-in period, and then there were games one after another, and Ye Qiu had no time to prepare.

He decided to make good use of the winter break to adjust and polish the team's defense, especially the coordination between Mascherano and the backline, and believe that the team's defensive problems can be better solved when the time comes.