Rebirth 1994: Football Situation

Chapter 625 Temptation
After this round of the league, the British media used a large chapter to introduce the game in detail. Newcastle's victory in this game not only broke the shameful record of losing five consecutive league games to Manchester United, but also separated itself from the leaders. The gap narrowed to one point, and in another game, the main players came back and Arsenal also won the victory. They beat Middlesbrough [-]-[-] at home and regained it with a goal difference advantage. Newcastle slipped to third place. Chelsea, who also won this round, narrowed the point gap from Manchester United to seven points. Ranieri and his disciples rekindled the hope of winning the championship.

This victory is a great encouragement for Newcastle. In the past ten years, Newcastle's only two closest chances to the championship were ruthlessly extinguished by Manchester United. Therefore, for Newcastle, it is possible to beat Manchester United and Narrowing the point gap with them is tantamount to overturning the biggest mountain above their heads, and the future is bright.

After this game, the Premier League ushered in a rare week without double matches in a week. Newcastle's next game will also be at home, so they have plenty of time to rest.

Because of the schedule, the No.20 second round of Newcastle's home game against Fulham was scheduled to be held on Sunday night, which means that this game is the last game of this round.

So when the other games of this round were over, the Newcastle fans were all excited.

Arsenal relied on Henry's goal to beat Aston Villa [-]-[-] in the away game. Chelsea was tied [-]-[-] by Birmingham at home, while Manchester United suffered a two-game losing streak in the league. After losing Ryan Giggs again, Ferguson could only send two teenagers from the second team to participate in the game. As a result, they lost [-]-[-] away to Wolves, which was ranked bottom before!

The Wolves have two former Manchester United stars, Irish full-back Irwin and England midfielder Ince, but the players who taught Manchester United a lesson in this game were not these two former superstars, but the little-known Scotland Forward Miller!His lightning strike in No. 607 minutes helped the Wolves beat Manchester United [-]-[-] and got rid of the embarrassment of being at the bottom!

Now the two teams ahead of Newcastle in the standings, Manchester United is only one point ahead of Newcastle, Arsenal is three points ahead and two goal difference, as long as Newcastle can beat Fulham with more than three goals at home, Then they will be at the top of the Premier League standings for the first time since 96!

Newcastle led by Keegan led Manchester United by 90 points at the most time of the season, and that was the first time Newcastle appeared at the top of the standings since entering the 2s!In the following season, although Dalglish also led Newcastle to No.[-] in the league, Manchester United's advantage in that season was huge. Newcastle didn't even win the first place in the standings once!

For seven full years—the people of Newcastle have waited for seven full years for the name of Newcastle United to appear at the top of the Premier League standings!

However, this goal is not so easy to obtain. Although Fulham lost their top scorer Frenchman Saha (bought by Manchester United) in the past few days, they still rank fifth in the standings!This means that in this season, they are definitely the number one strong team in the Premier League-although the gap between No.5 and the top four is huge!
Although it is not too difficult for Newcastle now to beat Fulham, after all, here they have caused Manchester United and Liverpool to suffer the fate of failure, but the victory over Fulham and the victory over Fulham can be achieved by three goals. Not a concept!
Therefore, before the start of the game, Mourinho did not make this request. Although he was also eager to see the scene where Newcastle's name ranked first in the standings, he knew that football games cannot be won. Going to the game with the mentality of playing a few goals, the consequence of doing that is often that you can't even achieve a small victory!

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"You guys have to remember this, it's just a normal league game. If we win, we tie the team at the top of the standings and add three points to our points. If we tie, we add one point. If we lose , nothing, it’s as simple as that.” Mourinho smiled and said to the players: “Don’t listen to those people in the newspapers talking about six or seven years, that’s in the past and has nothing to do with you , If you lose what you could have won because you insisted on winning three goals, then you are called idiots, I think you are all pretty clever, you probably wouldn't make such a mistake, right?"

Mourinho's words made everyone laugh. No one who can become a professional player is a fool. Although there are many players who often do stupid things, but now these Newcastle players don't have that kind of character. In Pei Wei's words, they are "one by one. As smart as a rabbit."

"What Jose said is correct." Pei Wei also spoke on the sidelines. As an assistant coach, he now also has the right to enter the locker room, although this was dissatisfied by many people at the beginning, because in England Generally speaking, the locker room is very traditional and mysterious, and it is impossible for outsiders to enter, but after getting used to it, that’s all. After all, Pei Wei behaves like a real assistant coach, never in the locker room Pointing fingers, he is used to the tradition of entertaining one or two players to eat at home every week. At least many players have a good relationship with him, so gradually no one objected.

"The so-called records are meaningless... What's the use of being first in the standings in the middle of the league? It's the most important thing to be in that position at the end of the league! I'm a businessman and I won't pay attention to those flashy things." Things, real benefits are the most important thing.”

Mourinho nodded: "So in this game, let's not pursue a big victory too much. For me, one to zero is the safest and most practical way to win. Today's tactics are still As always, launch an offense while defending solidly, combine the side and center, pay attention to the success rate, keep up with the speed when counterattacking, and at the same time prevent the opponent from counterattacking quickly. Fulham lost one of the most threatening offenses after Saha left. point, but we also need to pay more attention to defense, because their offensive points will not be limited to one person now... Do you understand?"

"Understood!" The players replied in unison.

"I'm still a little worried."

After the players and assistant coaches all set off to the field, Pei Wei, who stayed behind on purpose, held Mourinho back: "Although we have decompressed for them, I can still see from their eyes that they still care about that."

"How can I not care..." Mourinho smiled bitterly: "The temptation to be the first in the standings... Even I could hardly bear it, if it wasn't for my reason to remind me. Look at the composition of our players Well, the new players are full of ambitions, and the old players are also inspired to fight. They are eager to win and to be the first. This can play a good role in motivating them in normal times, but in this kind of situation that can be directly touched In the face of temptation, it will make them lose their calm and normal mind, what we can do is to help them decompress."

"That's true..." Pei Wei nodded, and then couldn't help but say: "If we can really win three goals... then we'll be in a fucking glory."

Mourinho pointed at Pei Wei, who laughed awkwardly.

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The enthusiasm of the Newcastle fans is never less, and in today's game, their enthusiasm was almost twice as much as usual - all thanks to the media's pre-match fuel, and Fulham clearly felt that they were affected. In order to belittle, their head coach, the youngest coach in the Premier League, Welshman Chris Coleman, who is only 33 years old, declared in an interview before the game that Fulham will fight for honor no matter what. ——"Even if Newcastle wins the championship this season, it has nothing to do with us, but in any case, we will not let Newcastle reach the top of the standings after defeating us-even if it is only temporarily."

The veteran of Fulham, Clark Lee, who has played for Newcastle for eight seasons, also said that although he still loves Newcastle very much, even if he breaks the gate of Newcastle in the game, he will not celebrate, but he still does not want Newcastle After defeating the team he led, he reached the top of the list. It is worth noting that Clarke Lee's last season in Newcastle was the same season that Keegan almost created a miracle in the 96-97 season.

Coleman did not break his promise. In this game, he sent all the main lineup except Saha who had already transferred. Dessen, midfielder Sean Davies and Inamoto Junichi, Boamot and Malblanc are on the left and right, Clark Lee is forward, and the single forward is Jamaican international Hales.

Mourinho did not make too many adjustments. Goalkeeper Given, defenders Trabelsi, Lucio, Dawson and Hart, midfielders Makelele, Janus, Robert and Nie Fei, forward Ibrahimovic And Shearer, except for Dawson who replaced Woodgate who was injured and absent, the other main players basically played. Obviously, Newcastle also wants to win this game.

With the temptation to win by three goals and get to the top of the standings, Newcastle's players started the game.

PS: I wish you all a happy Mid-Autumn Festival—at [-]:[-] p.m., the Mid-Autumn Festival Moon Appreciation Conference will officially start, first come, first served.

(End of this chapter)