Football: The immortal legend on the green field

The Dutch league has a strange rule, which is that it allows the same club to have two participating teams, but the two teams cannot appear in the same level league. Apart from the traditional top three, the only team that can support two teams is the wealthy team Alkmaar. Unsurprisingly, these four teams that claim to be certain youth teams are all in the second division.

In fact, this is unfair, because they occupy the resources of other clubs. No matter how good their performance is, even if they win the second-tier league championship, they cannot be promoted. Therefore, when they do not have the right to be promoted, they may very likely control the fate of other teams.

The Ajax youth team that Haarlem Athletic is facing today is one of them. They are all the best players in Ajax's youth training, aged between 20 and 23, and they have all signed professional contracts with Ajax.

Only when Ajax's young players enter the first team can they be noticed by strong foreign teams. During the annual transfer period, as long as Ajax has players to sell, they will generally give priority to selecting replacements from the U19 team. If the U19 team really does not have suitable players, they will supplement players from this youth team. Therefore, there is a chance for this youth team to enter the first team, but it is not high.

Their real destination is those second-rate teams with relatively average finances. If they are not spotted by outside teams when they turn 23, they will be sold to third-rate European teams at low prices.

When Ajax's cheap products go on sale, these players will be snapped up by small European clubs. After all, they are produced by Ajax. These players are still very useful to teams in some leagues such as the German Bundesliga, French Ligue 2, English League One or second-tier leagues.

The match between Haarlem and Ajax Youth Team is actually a competition for who will be the second-to-last team. Although the team's strength has improved, Neeskens still arranges every step very carefully, for fear of any mistakes.

Because he also felt the pressure from Horst Jr. and the outside world, he hesitated about the use of Deng Zhuoxiang. Should he let him start and take the initiative with Shen Bin, or let him play in the second half?

"Letting Deng Zhuoxiang play later can stimulate his fighting spirit and desire to score goals. If we make him more motivated and then let him play, he will be like a hungry lion." These are Martins' original words.

"A hungry lion?" Neeskens laughed. He thought of the hat trick in the last game. I'm afraid no one except him would have thought of it. If he could hold back in this game, how many more goals could he score?

The game was played on Sunday and the University City Arena was once again going crazy as fans were hoping to see another exciting win.

As a result, this game did not disappoint them.

Shen Bin started the game, and Neeskens still believed in his vision and continued to use the double center forward tactics on the front line. From left to right in the midfield, four young men, Sterling, Shen Bin, Tiote and Gural, were lined up in a row.

It’s not that the 442 lineup is bad. All lineups are equal. Everything depends on the characteristics of the players in the team to choose the appropriate lineup.

This lineup relies entirely on the two flanks of Gular and Sterling in terms of offense, so the middle of the frontcourt appears very empty. If the two forwards retreat and neither of them can hold the ball, the threat of the ball from the flanks will be reduced instead. Because if one person retreats and there is only one point in the penalty area, it will be too easy for the opponent to defend.

Tiote is a typical classical defensive midfielder with close to zero offensive attributes. After 10 minutes, not only Shen Bin discovered this, but even some veteran fans could see the limitations of Haarlem's offense. How could the Ajax youth team not see this? They quickly adjusted their defensive strategy, strictly guarding the two flanks, and in the middle they only needed to block the support of Howard and Li Dongguo, completely ignoring the defense in the middle of the penalty area.

The lineup, composed of a group of technically outstanding players, has completely turned to the old-style English football play, breaking through the wing, then kicking a cross, and relying on the two forwards in the middle to compete for headers. So far, the two forwards have not successfully competed for a header. Often, the players in the backcourt of Haarlem Athletic have a lot of difficulty in moving the ball to the frontcourt, and then it's a one-shot deal. After the cross is blocked by the opponent, the attack and defense are in different positions.

Such an attack is simply like buying a lottery ticket in the hope of winning the grand prize, and the place of purchase is the kind in mainland China.

Shen Bin made timely adjustments based on the situation on the field. When Haarlem Athletic attacked, he actively joined in and provided support in the middle.

The situation on the field improved, but when the opponent attacked, he had to try hard to return to his position. Such running up and down quickly consumed his physical energy and also exposed his weakness, which is his lack of speed.

After Shen Bin attacks, his attack and defense are often in different positions, and he often cannot return to defense in time.

Normally, a team usually has five defensive players in the backcourt, which is quite stable as they are not required to participate in the offense. However, the ability of the four defenders was below the average of the Eredivisie and they were immediately exposed to the Ajax youth team. In a very ordinary counterattack, the Ajax youth team had three against five in the frontcourt.

Gular made a cross, the Ajax center back headed the ball out of the penalty area, the defensive midfielder received the ball and made a diagonal pass, the Ajax youth team's left back dribbled the ball to the wing, at this time Gular and Shen Bin were still in the opponent's half, Bernacanu stepped forward to intercept, the opponent's forward tried to pass but failed, and had no choice but to kick the ball to the middle.

During the match, Anthony ran hard towards the landing point of the ball. Center back Antonin Polart was closer to the ball and kicked the falling ball. Unexpectedly, the ball fell into the small hole left by the tackle just now. The ball only changed direction slightly, and it was this tiny change that made Anthony miss the kick.

The football did not fly far, but landed right in front of Biset. Biset raised his foot and shot. This long shot was so sudden that Sasa had no reaction at all, because in his opinion, the ball would be 100% cleared by Antonin. After scoring the goal, Biset waved his fist and yelled at the stands, full of dominance.

Shen Bin returned to the center circle at this time. Seeing Bisbite score a goal, Shen Bin was a little dazed. Looking at Bisbite celebrating wildly, he remembered his ridicule of Bisbite before the game, "Damn it! Don't pretend to be cool in the future. If you pretend to be cool, you will get slapped in the face! Countless online writers have proved this in their works."

Then, in the 40th minute, Neeskens replaced Howard with the much-anticipated Deng Zhuoxiang.

"Deng Zuoxiang, Deng Zuoxiang..." The fans of Haarlem Athletic have improved a lot. At least they can basically shout out Deng Zhuoxiang's name correctly.

Deng Zhuoxiang extended his hand to greet the fans in the stands. He really enjoyed the atmosphere.

Deng Zhuoxiang's first touch of the ball after coming on the pitch was a shot. After receiving a pass from Gular at the front of the penalty area, he shot with force, but the shot was a little too straight and was caught by the goalkeeper.

In the second half, Deng Zhuoxiang showed his strength right from the start. He received a direct pass from Shen Bin while running, then suddenly changed direction to shake off the defender who was defending him, and then took a low shot. The ball flew into the goal from under the goalkeeper's crotch! The ball went in!

Deng Zhuoxiang was very excited after scoring the goal. In fact, he was always so excited. He quickly ran to the coaching booth and hugged the coaches.

The roar was heard again in the University Town Arena. It seemed that the announcer still hadn't learned the correct way to call Deng Zhuoxiang.

It's not that the Ajax youth team doesn't want to defend Deng Zhuoxiang, but with the strength of their defenders, it is really difficult to keep an eye on Deng Zhuoxiang. Even if they can keep an eye on Deng Zhuoxiang, they may not be able to keep an eye on Shen Bin, Gular, Li Dongguo, Sterling... With Deng Zhuoxiang on the court, Haarlem's offense immediately became three-dimensional. All of them are players with distinctive characteristics. Gular and Sterling's speed can easily tear open the flanks. Deng Zhuoxiang's excellent footwork gives him an advantage in one-on-one offense and defense with the opponent in the middle. Coupled with Tiote's outstanding intercepting ability, he is surrounded by excellent teammates with distinctive characteristics, which infinitely magnifies Shen Bin's organizational ability.

If the two sides were evenly matched in the first half, the Ajax youth team had a slight advantage.

Now it's one-sided. Looking at the situation on the field, the Ajax youth team is really not on the same level as them.

There was no big score in the end of the game because with twenty minutes left, Neeskens replaced Shen Bin, who was already struggling to run because he had consumed too much energy in the first half.

Neeskens seemed to have sown the bitter fruit of his stupidity. Just when he thought the game was another draw, Deng Zhuoxiang brought him another surprise.

Although Shen Bin was not on the field, Deng Zhuoxiang still did not want to let his opponent go, and he was still looking for scoring opportunities. Finally, with three minutes left in the game, a mistake made by the opponent's defender led to Deng Zhuoxiang's second goal. He grabbed the defender's pass, then dribbled past the goalkeeper and scored an empty goal!

When facing the goalkeeper, Deng Zhuoxiang lowered his center of gravity very low, then deceived the goalkeeper by constantly shaking his upper body, then easily broke through from the other side and gently pushed the ball into the empty goal.

Watching Deng Zhuoxiang hugging his teammates, Neeskens remembered that what Martins said was true: a hungry lion has an insatiable desire for scoring goals.

At the end of the game, Haarlem defeated Ajax Youth Team 2:1 and won their first league victory.

Post-match interview

"Let's not sugarcoat it, it was a bad game for us tonight. We played well in the first half, but the arrival of Hallam's Deng Zhuoxiang changed everything. He scored a hat trick in the last game. We had taken precautions before the game, but he still let him score two goals.

Our reserve team is like beginners in front of Shen Bin and Deng Zhuoxiang. Our players are not at the same level compared to them. The youth training that made Ajax fans proud in recent years is constantly declining. Now it is difficult for us to attract top talents from all over the world. Since Cruyff copied the entire Ajax youth training system to La Masia, Ajax has seen no hope.

Such a strong opponent has emerged, and our management is still constantly at odds with each other. Our club has a tendency to complicate everything. All of this will lead to us being left behind by the times, and what happened tonight is proof of this.

We got beaten badly. Not only will our youth team be beaten badly by our opponents, but the senior team will be beaten badly too." - Ajax youth team coach Stringer's evaluation of the game

"He played great. He scored two great goals and helped the team win. He had good luck tonight." - Neeskens's evaluation of Deng Zhuoxiang

"We had already established an advantage in the first half, and I even scored a goal in the contest with Shen Bin. He reacted to my counterattack like a duck, and my goal was also based on his failure to return to his position in time. Although he is a recognized genius, I am not inferior to him. We will see." - Bisite recounted his counterattack after being humiliated by Shen Bin before the game

"Our lineup in the first half was flawed. We lacked a player who could hold the ball in the middle of the frontcourt. I had to work hard to make up for the flaws in the lineup, which was also the reason why I was physically exhausted." Shen Bin responded to the phenomenon of almost roaming on the court in the second half of the second half.

"The victory has nothing to do with me. It is the result of the cooperation between several attackers in the front court, especially Deng Zhuoxiang. He is the biggest contributor to our victory." Shen Bin responded to his opinion on Deng Zhuoxiang

Only four league games have been played in the new season, but Shen Bin has already made headlines several times for his post-match remarks.

The foreign media's reaction to this was relatively calm, because everyone who watched last night's game had objections to Neeskens's use of Li Dongguo.

On the contrary, the local Dutch media have a prejudice against Shen Bin.

Especially those columnists on Facebook who have nothing better to do than looking for hot topics all day long.

Van Brunst, one of Neeskens's bootlickers, criticized Shen Bin's remarks: "Shen Bin's ego is worthy of attention. We can't see the virtue of humility in this young man. In his eyes, it seems that the world is always wrong, not himself, so he does not accept mediocrity, because he seems to be the only one with dignity among all the soft eggs in Haarlem Athletic. But I think he needs to understand one thing, accepting failure and taking responsibility is a sign of a newcomer's maturity."

This incident also alarmed Shen Bin's agent, Allen Nelson.

Allen thought Shen Bin's response was childish and unhelpful.

"You know that embarrassing the coaching staff and Neeskens is not going to make your situation better," Allen said.

Shen Bin asked back: "Did you watch the game last night?"

"No." Alan was a little unsure.

"No? Then go watch the game first." Shen Bin hung up the phone.

He didn't think he was wrong because Neeskens put his own funny ideas above winning or losing the game.

What is the nature of this?

From a competitive perspective, this is a case of a professional coach completely disregarding the spirit of competition and completely abandoning his soul.

From the team's perspective, failing to perform to the best of its ability for personal gain directly undermines the efforts made by everyone in the club.

From a personal perspective, Neeskens will not gain anything except taking care of his own inner paranoia, and perhaps everyone who wants the club to move to the next level does not want him to do this.

Assuming the worst case scenario - Neeskens does not want to make any changes throughout the season, it will be even more necessary for Shen Bin to seek external pressure.

Because he couldn't apply pressure from within.