Rebirth 1994: Football Situation

Chapter 705 The Sequelae of the FIFA Virus
Perhaps Pei Wei should be proud-almost all of the [-] international players who went out from Newcastle played the whole game in the important World Cup qualifiers and warm-up matches. Shay and Hart started the Irish national team. Although the famous player on the field has gradually become a substitute in Newcastle, he is still an indispensable main force of the Irish national team.

Petr Cech played 10 minutes in the Czech national team, four African players also played the whole game in their respective national teams, Nie Fei played the whole game, Ibrahimovic played the whole game, Makelele played the whole game... …

Only three England internationals didn't play much. Janus only came off the bench for 10 minutes. Dawson and Dyer both sat on the bench for 10 minutes. Obviously Eriksson trusted Ferdinand and Teddy more. Li, Gerrard, Lampard and Beckham.

Mourinho was left with a weary Newcastle side after the FIFA matchday.

However, for these strong teams in the league, the impact of the FIFA virus on them is the same. Whether it is Manchester United or Arsenal, Chelsea or Newcastle, including Liverpool, more than half of their players are in their respective countries. Therefore, in the next seventh round of the Premier League, each strong team has carried out a substantial rotation of the lineup.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are all playing away games in this round, and their opponents are all mid-range teams with strong home game capabilities. Since there will be a Champions League game three days later, they did not send all of them. The main lineup played, despite this, Chelsea relied on Toni's goal in the No.801 minute to beat Middlesbrough [-]-[-], Ruud van Nistelrooy scored the only goal, helping Manchester United beat Tottenham away, while Arsenal Relying on left-back Ashley Cole's goal to defeat Manchester City, three one to zero, three strong teams won the victory in the most affordable way.

Newcastle is not to be outdone. Although they have also made substantial adjustments to the lineup, West Bromwich Albion still cannot cause much trouble to Newcastle in the away game. Within 10 minutes, Newcastle tore apart the opponent's defense with a powerful attack. Janus, Robert and Drogba scored three goals in 10 minutes. Newcastle won three goals at home and firmly occupied the second position. , in hot pursuit of Arsenal in front.

In any case, the impact of the FIFA virus on the Premier League powers this time is still very large. The main players have just returned from the national team and are facing a situation of three games a week. Otherwise, if the tired main players get injured in this round, Chelsea and Newcastle may not matter, and Manchester United and Arsenal will cry.

Compared with rich and powerful Chelsea and Newcastle, Manchester United and Arsenal are not inferior or even worse in the main lineup, but the substitutes are far behind. Manchester United is slightly better. After a few years of poor life, the professor worked hard and worked hard to train a strong main lineup. There are very few players on the bench who can do it.

Take this game as an example, Newcastle and Chelsea said most of the substitutes were on the bench, but players like Larson, Kufuor, Janus, and Robert can be ranked in any Premier League team. Yes, although Newcastle's first team only has 24 players, the gold content really makes the professor jealous.

After playing this round of the league, the Newcastle team, which made the professor jealous, flew to Greece to start the second round of the Champions League group stage and challenge Olympiacos in Greece away.

After Greece won the European Championship this summer, the European continent began to re-examine Greek football. As a veteran team and champion team in Greece, Newcastle will not have any contempt for this opponent.

Olympiakos has four international players from the Greek national team, but the most famous player in the team is the former World Footballer Rivaldo. After he terminated his contract with AC Milan, he rejected invitations from several Premier League teams and signed with Olympiakos. And his arrival also gave Olympiacos a certain reputation in the world, and the combination of Rivaldo and another Brazilian striker, Giovanni, was once Barcelona's main striker combination.

To deal with such a strong team, and it was playing away, Mourinho dispatched almost the entire main lineup, Ibrahimovic, Nie Fei, Makelele and Lucio rested in the last league game. With all the players on the field, what Mourinho wants is to win the opponent in the away game and strive to dominate the Champions League group stage from the beginning, so that there is no need to fight for the Champions League in the important league games after the first half of the league. And distracted.

But half an hour after the game started, Mourinho discovered that he had done something completely wrong.

It is true that these four players did not play in the last game, but a short rest of less than a week is not enough for them to recover, especially Nie Fei and Lucio, who both flew to China and Brazil to participate After playing a game, and then flew back in a hurry, this week was nothing but jet lag. Although Ibrahimovic and Makelele did not fly as far as Nie Fei and Lucio, Sweden and France The two games of the national team are important World Cup qualifiers, and they played very intensely, and the two of them stayed on the court until the end of the game, which was quite a physical overdraft.

So in the game, none of these four Newcastle's core players played their best form, and even Makelele didn't run so hard on the court.

Although Newcastle's offense is flexible and changeable, it is not limited to the performance of a certain core player, but once the four main players do not perform well, then the passiveness on the court can be imagined.

If it weren't for Ribery and Drogba rushing up the frontcourt, Essien sweeping the midfield, and Dawson and other defenders fighting hard in the backcourt, I am afraid that Newcastle would have fallen into absolute passivity. Can barely resist the crazy offensive of the home team in the away game.

Passive defense never lasts long and in the first half the hosts finally opened Newcastle's door with a brilliant attack, Rivaldo dribbled past Bernard on the wing before crossing the ball into the box, Gigi Under the defense of his compatriot Lucio, Ovani cleverly padded the ball to the forward Djordjevic on the other side. The Greek international headed the ball three meters in front of the goal, and Petr Cech was out of reach.

"Okay, I admit I made a mistake."

In the locker room, Mourinho was not angry because he was behind, but spread his hands to all the players: "Ibra, Nie, Claude, Lucio, you didn't perform well in the first half, Because you are too tired, you have basically played all the games since the beginning of this season, and you didn't have a good rest in the summer. It was my mistake to let you play, but you can only replace someone in the game, who thinks If you can't support yourself, just say it, and I will let someone replace you."

Four people, look at me, I look at you, they can hear that Mourinho does not mean irony, and the players are not iron men, the four of them are the players with the most appearances in Newcastle from last season to now. Playing until now, the physical energy consumption is really great.

"I think, I can continue the game." Nie Fei raised his hand: "I'm just playing a friendly match, the consumption is not too high, I can persevere, and the speed of their midfielder is not too fast. He's a good fit."

"What about the three of you?" Mourinho asked.

"Substitute me." Makelele said honestly, "I feel very tired."

Ibrahimovic and Lucio shook their heads, thinking that they could continue the game, Mourinho nodded: "Okay, Jamie, you replace Claude, Essien retreats a little and takes charge of the defense, you Take charge, and if you run out of stamina in the second half of the game, I will not hesitate to make substitutions."

"Victory, I need victory, because only continuous victories can bring championships." Mourinho said to all players: "Although our current situation is somewhat difficult, we still have to believe in our own strength. We are not alone. Victory can only be won at St. James' Park. No matter where we are, no matter how difficult the situation is, we must move forward step by step and shake off all stumbling blocks. Some people may think that even if this game is lost, it is not the world. Doomsday, but for me it is like this, every game has its importance, if we win this game, then we will be able to relax in the next Champions League group game, use the best They are Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. If we do not perform well against them, then there is a good chance that we will fall behind before the second half of the league begins. At the starting line, come on, let everyone know that tiredness and fatigue don't break us, we are the best, we are the kings of Europe, we are the kings of the world."

When all the players walked out of the locker room with high spirits, Mourinho sighed tiredly and smiled wryly at Pei Wei: "The FIFA virus is endlessly poisonous... I hope this game can be won, even if it can't If you win, you can't lose, at least you have to get a draw."

"We can do it." Pei Wei nodded affirmatively: "I believe that these players have already imprinted your unyielding factor in their characters. Taking a point from Greece is our lowest choice."

(End of this chapter)