Sixty-six

Located on the desk of the head coach's office at the Cobham Training Base in southwest London, the front page of the Sun, which is the most popular in the UK and the most influential British readership.

The cover is two big bright red Arabic numerals UU. This is the unbeaten record achieved by Tottenham Hotspur after the 16th round of the Premier League. They have a total of 66 unbeaten records in the Premier League.

The headline on the front page is accompanied by a subtitle, “Will the next game be the end of the legend?”

The matching photo shows that after Ye Qiu's team drew against Stoke City away, head coach Ye Qiu had a disappointed expression on his face. As soon as anyone sees this photo, his first reaction is that Ye Qiu is very disappointed, even desperate, helplessly despair, and then a kind of association is created. The next game may be the end of the legend.

The entire front page is occupied by Tottenham Hotspur. The Sun really took great pains to design the page. The Sun, which can operate commercially, attach so much importance to it, and even makes great efforts to do such things. It can be seen that almost all the entire UK, Europe, and even the world who pay attention to football or even don’t care about football will pay attention to Tottenham Hotspur.

Unbeaten in 66 games, Tottenham Hotspur ranked fifth in the unbeaten record rankings in football history, second only to the Ivorian team Abidjan Mimosa in the first 108 games, the Romanian team Bucharest star in the second 104 games, the Tunisian team Esperance in the third 85 games, and the Egyptian team Al Ali in the fourth 71 games.

This is indeed a very surprising record, because whether it is ranked high or low, the league competitions of all these teams cannot match the current Premier League.

You should know that the Premier League is now competing for many heroes, and it is a mess. There are old-fashioned teams like Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, new-tier giants like Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, as well as rich teams like Manchester City, Newcastle and West Ham United, and teams with strong strength such as Everton and Aston Villa, the competitiveness of the entire Premier League is very outstanding. Many fans even regard the current Premier League as a reappearance of the Serie A seven sisters.

But in the eyes of professionals, the competition in the Premier League is more cruel and fierce than the Serie A seven sisters, because the Premier League schedule is more compact, there are more cup matches, and there is no winter break, and the climate is not as good as Italy. All of these create the unique attractiveness of the Premier League, but at the same time create the fierce competition in the Premier League.

In this case, Tottenham Hotspur can stand out from so many teams, and the strength of this team is absolutely unquestionable, but the key to the question is, who can stop Tottenham Hotspur?

Boas is a head coach. He was in his twenties and was very similar to Ye Qiu, but he was not as lucky as Ye Qiu. At least in his opinion, Ye Qiu is considered the lucky one of the times.

Why do you say so?

Look at Ye Qiu's resume. When he was in Ajax, it happened to be the lowest point in Ajax. The youth training personnel were poached by Barcelona. He stood out and was promoted to the second team as head coach because of his outstanding performance in leading the youth team.

At that time, Ajax's first team was in chaos and frequently changed coaches, but the second team under Ye Qiu created a miracle and won the Dutch Cup championship. This was almost a myth for Ajax, who was already in turmoil at the time. So when he was young, he took over the coaching position of Ajax, a giant team.

This is his opportunity, and it is also because he does have such strength

The timing of Ajax led by Ye Qiu was also very coincidental. If he only had a dominant domestic in the Netherlands, there would be no problem, because the Eredivisie didn't pay much attention, but he first won the League Cup, and later took advantage of the fact that almost all the giant teams suffered a Waterloo and defeated Porto and won the Champions League championship. That would be another opportunity.

The Champions League final that year was called the most influential final since the reform

Both opportunities were captured by Ye Qiu, and both did a very good job, so he naturally left Ajax, leaving the Netherlands, which could no longer satisfy him. In the midst of a stake in Barcelona, ​​Inter Milan and other giants, he came to the Premier League and took over the ambitious Chelsea at the time.

This was Ye Qiu's third opportunity in his coaching career, because Abramovich almost wrote a blank check for him at that time. He waved the check in his hand and went to the transfer market to buy the players he needed. So he spent a year creating the strongest Chelsea in history that is still talked about by countless Blues fans even now.

One Champions League, reaching the Champions League final twice, and the other Premier League champion is a generous gift Ye Qiu gave to Chelsea fans. It can also be regarded as the most cost-effective deal that Abramovich has taken over Chelsea in more than eight years so far.

Boas has been Mourinho's right-hand man since Porto, and he still did this after coming to Chelsea. He can be said to have witnessed Ye Qiu's rise with his own eyes. He even mentioned Ye Qiu once to Mourinho. Although the Portuguese madman said that Ye Qiu was lucky on the surface, he also said that his most unlucky thing is that he came to Chelsea two years later than Ye Qiu.

From this sentence, you can feel the complex mood of Mourinho who is helpless and unconvinced, but also admires him at the same time.

No matter how outstanding Chelsea he led, in the eyes of all Chelsea fans, he is the one who took over Ye Qiu's team, and all his achievements will be divided by Ye Qiu. Even in Abramovich's eyes, no matter how good or outstanding he does, he still cannot compare with Ye Qiu.

Perhaps Mendes is right, Ye Qiu is Abramovich's first love, and it is the first love that leaves him with indelible scars.

Sometimes, Boas has to admit that the successful rise of a head coach requires opportunities. The strength of the head coach can ensure that when the opportunity comes, they can seize it, but there are also many head coaches who have the strength, but they miss opportunities again and again.

He has always been very clear about what he wants to do, so he served as an assistant coach for Robson and Mourinho in order to improve his strength and increase his experience. As soon as the opportunity arose, he stood up to coach alone, and then he became a hit in Porto and became a name for himself.

But after coming to Chelsea, he had to sigh that he still fell on the opportunity.

Chelsea is now an old team. Before Boas took office, he had a contact with Abramovich. The latter told him that he would fully support Boas' reforms at Chelsea and promote Chelsea's reorganization. This time, Abramovich showed his determination to completely clean up Ye Qiu's traces in Chelsea.

Even Lampard, including Terry, who was involved in a dispute over his wife's family, were included in the transfer list.

But during the transfer, Boas felt a powerful and difficult dilemma. On the one hand, he knew very well that the team's problem was in the midfield, and a strong midfield must be introduced, and there were already problems on the defense line. But the biggest problem was that Abramovich and Pini of Li Xavi did not introduce him to a strong midfield and defender.

Mereles, Lukaku, Romeu, two midfielders and one striker, spent a lot of money, but it did not have much effect on the team's strength improvement. He also sold players such as Jerkov and Matic.

What is really fatal is that when the league started, Boas was forced to take this old Chelsea team and slowly implement his own reforms, Abramovich and the management repeatedly expressed their dissatisfaction with the team's performance.

When Boas wanted to carry out drastic reforms, implement younger and technical, and even put Lampard on the bench, the team's performance fluctuated and the management began to put pressure on the coaching staff again. They did not want to repeat the tragedy of not being able to participate in the Champions League last season, because they believed that if the loss of the Champions League, Chelsea would soon lose the halo of the giants.

We want results and reforms, and we have to face the veterans of the stars such as Terry, Lampard, Drogba and even Anelka in the locker room, and promote young players in the team to take on great responsibilities. How can there be such a cheap thing in this world? Who can do this?

He blew Ye Qiu and Tottenham Hotspur all day long. He didn't see that Tottenham Hotspur was selling Yaya or Toure. After missing the Champions League results, he promoted Phil Jones and Ramsey. After selling Fabregas and David or Silva, Tottenham Hotspur introduced Vidal, promoted Pogba, Eriksen and others to the top?

Reform must go through pain, and must bleed and sacrifice

Boas has indeed experienced a lot when taking over Chelsea. He found that he had imagined being the head coach of a giant club too simply, thinking that as long as he could develop better, more reasonable and more able to win the game for the team, or in other words, as long as the players could feel that the team's strength was improving, they would support themselves.

But after coming to Chelsea, he found out that he was wrong because the management would disturb your decisions. Many players in the team would look at you with all kinds of tinted glasses, or even oppose you. You must bring the team out well in this complex environment of disturbing and resisting and get results.

Not to mention anything else, just talk about the recent media reports that Hiddink, who broke up with the Turkish Football Association, said that he would not refuse Chelsea's invitation. This is definitely a big threat to Boas, but the greater threat is that Mourinho returned to London and bought his previously rented mansion in London. Almost all media claimed that Mourinho would return to the Premier League next summer. Which team would he coach?

In addition, Boas found that many people in the coaching staff had a bit of a silly attitude towards him, and he was even guessing whether someone wanted to put a detriment on him and then replace him?

Have some players whose interests are damaged due to his arrival incited resistance against him in the locker room?

All of this made Boas feel unprecedented pressure. It was too difficult for him to solve these problems.

But he decided to continue to stick with it because he knew very well that coaching Chelsea would be a bottleneck for him. If he broke through, he would be able to become one of the top European coaches. However, if he failed, he would return to the ranks of second-rate head coaches in Europe. It is unknown whether he would have the opportunity to coach a wealthy club in the future.

If you want to continue coaching Chelsea, Boas must show his strength and level. He must conquer all Chelsea fans and the club's management with a victory and a persuasive victory. Tell them that as long as you trust me and as long as you give me time, I can repay you

There is no doubt that the away game challenge to Tottenham Hotspur is Boas's decision to play his coaching position

Before this highly-attractive focus battle, Ye Qiu received a report from the analysis team.

Although Chelsea's head coach Boas repeatedly emphasized that Chelsea's problem is not defense, in fact, in this report, it is very clear that Boas's remarks are more of a stubborn voice.

Perhaps, to some extent, he is right, because if defense is used to replace the defender, Chelsea's defender is indeed not a problem, but the key problem lies in the midfield.

Of course, many media have been analyzing before, for example, Chelsea’s two full-backs Bosingwa and Ashley Cole are both stronger than defense, and Ashley Cole is not young anymore and cannot take into account both offense and defense, so the two wings where the full-back is located have always been a major weakness in Chelsea’s defense.

Another is the combination of central defenders. David Luis has never played satisfactory results after joining the team. It is difficult for Ivanovic to believe that he is Terry's best partner, so Boas has been adjusting the central defender combination.

But none of these talk about the key points, the key core factor is Mikel.

Boas mainly plays tactical formation and is also 43. The tactics he adopts are also high-level defensive tactics with high intensity and pressure, and he has always advocated that Chelsea should further technically be based on Ancelotti.

It should be said that Boas grasped the point because all the 433 tactics of high-level defense, especially those teams who want to play the advantage of ball control, the ball control and sorting at the front of the opponent's 30-meter area is crucial, even if you just pass the ball.

Looking at Chelsea's entire lineup, Mikel was teased by many fans as a cross-border pass. In fact, he is the key member of Chelsea's current style of play, but the key to the problem is that Mikel himself is not a defensive player similar to Yaya or Toure, Mascherano or Marklele.

Mikel has poor movement ability, so in the game, he looks like a stable ball point and pass point in the backcourt similar to Busquets. But the problem is here. In front of Busquets, there are a group of Barcelona players with active running and excellent pressing skills. They can share Busquets' defensive pressure.

Just like Tottenham Hotspur now, Pirlo's movement ability is also poor, but Ramsey, Vidal, and Cavani in the frontcourt can reasonably share Pirlo's pressure, so this is not a problem.

The problem with Chelsea is that it is difficult for Ramirez and Lampard to take into account both offense and defense, that is, they can provide support and support to the team during offense, but at the defensive level, they cannot support Mikel effectively.

The same is true for Tottenham Hotspur. If Ramsey and Vidal do not support Pirlo, then Tottenham Hotspur's defense will become a mess, but as long as they rush to support, they always ensure that someone can be around Pirlo, then Tottenham Hotspur's midfield will become stable.

This is no longer a problem for individual players. It is a question of how the entire defensive system is arranged. This is Boas's responsibility. He obviously made serious mistakes in dealing with this problem.

Maybe someone will say, does Boas understand the problem you are talking about?

No, he understands, but he can't do anything

In the first eight rounds of the league, Chelsea scored six wins, one draw and one loss, scoring twenty goals and conceding seven goals. Judging from the victory and loss, Boas's team's performance was not bad. At that time, they ranked third in the league, but if you look closely, you will find that they conceded goals in almost every game.

After conceding the ball, everyone naturally thinks it is the problem of defenders, but the problem is not just the defenders, but also the problem is that after Chelsea's overall aging, it is no longer appropriate to adopt this high-intensity pressure and the full-game pressing tactic, because players cannot run like this at all.

Tottenham runs so much in every game, that's because they're young

Ramsey, Vidal, Eriksen, Coutinho, Pogba, Phil Jones, Sandro, who is not a young player?

But in turn, look at Chelsea, Drogba, Maluda, Anelka, Lampard, Essin, Merreles, Ramirez, Mikel, and veterans over the age of thirty still insist on running so many tactics, which is a problem in itself.

So, why is Boas powerless?

The reason is very simple, he only knows this tactical style

In fact, the head coach is like a player. With the rich experience and accumulated experience, their coaching ability and coaching methods will become more and more, just like Ancelotti, before Juventus, he only knew how to defend. After coming to AC Milan, he learned to arrange tactics according to the players. With the accumulation of experience, he played control flow football and transformed Pirlo.

The same is true for many players, such as Gareth or Bale, who was from a left back, and before mentioned the left winger, he began to rush around with speed and explosive power, play his own style, gradually transformed, from the left to the right, began to cut in the back foot, continue to enrich his offensive methods and improve his strength.

Boas cannot be blamed entirely for his tragedy. Chelsea invited him to coach, but never thought about whether the coach is suitable for him. They just like him and ignored whether the young Boas has the strength to lead this old Chelsea team?

In Ye Qiu's view, Boas's trip to Chelsea was a tragedy from beginning to end, a tragedy of a mismatched marriage
Chapter completed!