Remember that once, while playing for Ajax, Yaya Toure met Bobby Harms, an old man who worked at Ajax long before he was born, maybe even before his father was born.

He was training on the pitch, a habit he had always developed because he came from the neighbourhood of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, where there was brutal competition and brutal survival of the fittest, so he had to work harder than anyone else to make sure he could get ahead one day.

Bobby Harms asked him what he thought was the greatest luck for a player.

Yaya Toure said a lot, such as staying away from injuries, such as otherworldly talent, such as omnipotent skills, but these were all denied by Bobby Harms, saying that the greatest luck of a professional footballer, especially if he wants to play in Europe's top leagues, is to meet a manager who understands him and trusts him

At first, Yaya Toure didn't understand it very well, but then he thought about it himself, and after thinking slowly, he understood.

Long before he came to Ajax, he played for Abidjan Mimosa in his native Ivory Coast, a team built by colonists and later taken over by a Frenchman named Marc Guiu, a good friend of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and a former professional who was responsible for scouting talent for a number of European teams in Ivory Coast.

While Abidjan's mimosa hardware can be described as rudimentary compared to the hardware of some European teams, it is the most luxurious in Africa, especially in Côte d'Ivoire, so it has attracted quite a few young players who want to play professional football in Europe.

Perhaps, during this period of Mimosa in Abidjan, the Yaya Toure brothers were exposed to more formal professional football, but more importantly, they learned the cruelty of professional football here, which is an emotionless, cold cruelty, and even, it does not treat you as a person at all, but as an object.

In the year he joined Ajax, Marc Guiw bought Beveren in Belgium, a Franciscane side that was already in financial crisis, and with the support of Arsene Wenger and Arsenal, Marc Guiw bought a stake in the team, and then sent a steady stream of Abidjan mimosa players to Belgium to play, make a name for themselves and then sell them for a huge difference.

Yaya Toure is one of the players that Marc Guiu is interested in, and he himself is not resistant, as he has heard some of his compatriots who played in Beveren come back and say that playing there has the opportunity to play in other European leagues and get a salary of around 300 euros a week.

This was a fortune for the young Ivorian boys, who were only sixteen or eighteen years old at the time, so they would not resist it at all, on the contrary, they all rushed to catch the bus to Belgium, hoping to make a name for themselves in Beveren.

At that time, young people had idols, some admired Zidane, some worshipped Ronaldo, and some worshipped Vieira.

Yaya Toure was a young man with a small face and a thin face, and no one would say he looked like Patrick Vieira like he does now, but when he played in midfield, he told himself in his heart that he was also a player of African blood, and Vieira, who was thriving in the Premier League, was what he was fighting for.

But at that time, another thing happened that completely collapsed his goal, and that was that Ajax got him.

For Yaya Toure, Ajax is one of Europe's giants, and he never dared to imagine that he would be able to play for a big team, and he never even imagined that his first salary in Europe would be several times higher than the 300 euros a week he had always dreamed of.

He came to Ajax, met Ye Qiu, met Bobby Harms, met many, many people, they tested his body, dealt with some of the injuries left by the past, they helped him tailor a set of exercises to strengthen his body, so that he had more muscles, and became stronger and more powerful.

They found a house for him and his brother, arranged part-time workers, arranged tutors for them, and provided them with perfect education and football training, but they were also very strict, when the brothers, like other African players, liked to secretly hide in the dormitory and eat some junk food, they would give the most severe punishment, but never money, but other punishments.

Because they all know that much of the money the brothers earn is sent back to Côte d'Ivoire to their families, which is an important source of income to help them improve their family environment, so they don't pay fines.

Both Yaya Toure brothers know very well that all of this is because of one person.

Ye Qiu, the head coach of Ajax, when they joined, he said that one day, this pair of brothers can become the best players in Europe, and when communicating in private, he also made no secret of his admiration for Yaya Toure, and told him that Vieira, Davies and others should be the target and learning objects.

Leaving Ajax early, joining Arsenal in the Premier League, and playing famously, his brother Chlo Toure has seen more of the world and experienced more, but he always told Yaya Toure that Ye Qiu is one of the few managers he has seen who really cares about the players and really wants to help the players.

Over the years, Yaya Toure has experienced a lot and gained knowledge, especially since coming to Ajax and Tottenham Hotspur, he has seen more of the cruelty of professional football, and he has experienced more and learned more.

He knows his character very well, he looks introverted on the surface, but in fact, deep down he is very eager to be taken seriously, which has something to do with the fact that he has an eldest brother above him and a younger brother below, because just like the character of all the three brothers or the middle of the three sisters, he is not high or low, he has not been valued since he was a child, and he desperately wants to show himself to attract the attention of his parents.

It's the same thing, so this character of his carries over to the pitch and he likes to be in the limelight

But gradually, he also found that his personality had become the biggest obstacle between himself and the respected Ye Qiu.

Ye Qiu once explained in the team's internal meeting, what is a team and a system?

He feels that the biggest role of the team and system is not tactics, but psychology, with the existence of the team and the system, all the people who play in the team and the system are easier to play at a higher level, the reason is that the team and the people around the system make you more assured and trusted.

But the problem is that if one of them destroys this trust, this atmosphere, then the team and the system no longer exist.

When Yaya Toure was on the court and heard Ye Qiu shouting at him angrily on the sidelines, either stand in his position or sell him, he clearly realized that the matter was so serious that he had to make a choice.

When Ye Qiu sold Mascherano, he told him that he believed that he could take on Mascherano's responsibilities well, but it was obvious that he was still the same as before, he didn't take these things too seriously, he was still playing with his own temperament, and he completely lacked the sense of responsibility for the team that the main midfielder should have.

Ye Qiu told him many times and many times that he saw the representative elements of modern football midfield, he has the outstanding speed and explosiveness of Africans, but he does not lack agility, and he has the physical fitness of an electric motor that will not get tired, and he can complete a large area of coverage excellently.

He is physically strong, has excellent strength and strength, has long hands and legs but is very flexible, which makes him a great advantage in defense, his body is the benchmark of the back midfield, he can take into account both high and ground defense, he has a very delicate foot technique, which can ensure that after he grabs the ball, it is difficult for the opponent to break the ball from his feet, and his ability to play the ball is excellent, and the ability to advance directly with the ball is also quite strong, as well as the ability to shoot from a distance, which makes him a top near-perfect modern midfielder.

But Ye Qiu also said that his biggest problem is that he has countless mouth-watering strengths and talents, but he is not willing to spend any effort on this, he has never been willing to figure out what a defender should and should not be, his grasp of timing and the current situation is still very casual and immature.

And these are because he lacks the willingness to play in the back, he always behaves very casually, has no discipline, does not know how to maintain contact and distance from the back line anytime and anywhere, and always allows himself to widen the distance between himself and the central defender to more than ten meters, or even more than 20 meters, and as long as it exceeds ten meters, it is a loophole, beyond 20 meters, the gods are difficult to save.

Suddenly, he was standing on the pitch and he was scared.

He felt that Ye Qiu was full of trust in him and knew him, but he was very scared, he didn't know that Ye Qiu was shouting at him like this, trying to stimulate him, threaten him, and make him improve? Or has he really lost the least trust in him?

As many people in the team said, he and his teammates were satisfied that they could play under Ye Qiu, because in their opinion, Ye Qiu was one of the few managers in today's football who had ideals and pursuits, and at the same time took great care of his players, so he began to feel scared.

What should I do?

Yaya Toure remembered what Ye Qiu had said to him and the other players in the past

"A lot of you have a misconception about the quality of the top players, and I tell you, the really top player is not that he runs all the time, but that he knows when to stop and rest; A really good player is not how fast he is, but how he knows when to slow down; The real standout defender is not when he should come back to defend, but he knows exactly when he can go up.

"Learn when to plug in the back is the top back, but also the most perfect back, if you can't learn, then you should be a do your duty, don't plug in"

As a professional player, Yaya Toure is very aware that Ye Qiu's simple words actually exhaust the true meaning of a professional player, and also make many people realize that someone is the top superstar, and someone can't even keep a professional contract.

It's easy to run, but it's very hard to rest; It's easy to be fast, but it's very hard to be slow; It's very easy to stay behind and defend, but it's very difficult to plug in

"Yaya, the ball is coming, what the fuck are you in a daze? Damn"

A roar from behind Thiago Silva woke Yaya Toure, who immediately realised that he was in a whirlpool of sound, and Marseille were taking advantage of the momentum created after the first goal to launch a fierce assault on Tottenham Hotspur.

They wanted to pass another ball over the top, but this time Ziglinski was prepared and cleared with a header.

But the ball still fell at the feet of Marseille, Cana handed it to Benoit Cherou, who circled the ball forward, was disturbed by Cesc Fabregas, and passed it back to the feet of Cana, who then distributed it to Ben Arfa on the right, but the latter obviously did not find the opportunity to attack, and crossed back to the midfield to give Cana.

Yaya Toure has been dormant at the back, he saw Marcelo rushing towards Ben Arfa, and the two strikers up front didn't have time to pull the wings, unless Ben Arfa chose to break through Marcelo individually, otherwise, he must knock back to the middle to Cana.

The Ivorian was a little surprised by his analytical skills, because he found that if he carefully observed the situation of the game, the movement of his teammates and the attacking roadmap of the opponent, he did not find it difficult at all, and he could easily judge the possible routes of the opponent because he had a heart to be an attacking player.

When he made a prediction, he quietly approached Canna, but remained silent, but secretly calculated the distance between himself and Canna, as well as his speed, when Ben Alpha crossed the ball back to Canna, Yaya Toure suddenly rushed out of the ambush like a cheetah.

The Ivorian has long legs, took advantage of the ball when grabbing the ball, grabbed it directly in front of Cana, poked the ball forward, stabbed the ball directly in front, and then quickly chased after himself after Kanna, directly forming a counterattack.

The "good" coaching staff on the sidelines were all applauding Yaya Toure's break.

Ye Qiu also felt that the prediction of this kick was in place, but he was worried, worried that Yaya Toure would press too high, and if the attack failed, the opponent would counterattack again, and directly face the defense line.

But just as he was about to go to the sideline and shout, he saw Yaya Toure pass the ball to David Silva, and then slowed down himself, obviously not ready to attack, but also not going to go back, which was a smart decision.

David Silva took two steps forward and distributed it to Gareth Bale, who was pulled to the left side of the box, and after the Welshman won the ball on the left, he saw Messi on the right side raising his hand in demand, and directly rubbed a high ball and landed on the right side of the edge of the penalty area.

Messi stopped the ball on his chest, and after landing, the ball seemed to stick to his feet, and in the face of Taiwo, who ran over to block him into the penalty area, he took two steps directly to the middle, and then shot directly with his left foot.

This shot hit a beautiful curling ball, although the goalkeeper Mandanda was very well prepared, but he was still deceived by this curling ball, he didn't expect that Messi would volley directly from the goal twenty meters away, and the ball also had a strong spin and arc.

Seeing the ball drill into the upper right corner, this is almost a dead corner for Mandanda, and there is nothing he can do

Messi rushed out of the stadium excitedly, waving his arms along the way, clenching his fists, punching the fans in the stands, turning around, and letting out an excited shout to his teammates behind him, opening his arms and hugging and celebrating with his teammates who pounced on him one by one.

'A counter-attack from Tottenham Hotspur, less than ten minutes after Marseille had scored, Tottenham Hotspur quickly equalised, a beautiful long-range shot from Leo Messi, which Mandanda could not do at all"

After Tottenham Hotspur's goal, the tide turned around.

The Marseille team, which had been attacking well before, was completely re-beaten by Tottenham Hotspur.

In terms of their own strength, they are not dominant, and they can attack with vigor after scoring first, but as soon as Tottenham Hotspur counterattacked, they immediately showed their original form, especially after the team was equalized, they completely lost the confidence to fight back.

On the contrary, Tottenham Hotspur, the attack is getting bigger and bigger, the game is getting more and more fierce, and the confidence of the players is getting more and more, almost pressing the Marseille team all the way to beat wildly, and the home team is losing some times.

In the first minute of the first half, Marseille pressed an attacking ball and played a long ball to the Tottenham Hotspur backline, but the ball was firmly controlled by Ziglinski and passed to Thiago Silva.

The Tottenham Hotspur captain spotted an opportunity, especially when Van Persie in front of him was already ambushed in place, and immediately made a super long pass directly from the front of his own penalty area, crossed most of the pitch, and landed in front of the opponent's big penalty area.

Van Persie was already ambushed behind the opposing central defender, rushed forward quickly, grabbed the front of the penalty area, and waited until the ball hit the ground and rebounded, and then stopped the ball into the big penalty area, and the man quickly followed.

Central defender Zubbar followed Van Persie, but he didn't dare to make a move, after all, he entered the penalty area, and Van Persie's ability to combine the ball was very good, and he didn't give him a chance to put his foot down, once he couldn't grasp it, it was a penalty.

Van Persie is very smart, after entering the penalty area, he dribbled the ball sideways, faced the goal, faced Zubbar, stopped, and made a series of feints with both feet, deceiving Zuball to kick, and then suddenly deducted the ball to the bottom line, and people also quickly chased after him, directly kicked like a pass and shot, and directly found the back point.

Behind him, Messi quickly rushed up from the right side, shook off the entanglement of defenders such as Taivo, and easily sent Van Persie's pass with his right foot to the bottom of the net

Two shots in quick succession sent all the Tottenham players cheering wildly, rushing forward to celebrate with Messi in his first competitive game of the season, and his brace also helped Tottenham Hotspur win away at Marseille