Rebirth 1994: Football Situation

Chapter 707

Following the loss of Shearer in the first game of the Champions League group stage, Newcastle unfortunately damaged Nie Fei in the second game of the group stage-the result of the team doctor's examination was a mild ankle contusion. a week.

Don't think that these two weeks of rest are nothing. In these two weeks, Newcastle will play two league games and one Champions League game. They are all away games, and the opponents are Birmingham and Charlton, which are not weak. Although Newcastle is not afraid of these two teams, at this moment of grabbing points, a loss in a game may be thrown away by other opponents .

You must know that although Newcastle is currently ranked second, Chelsea, who are ranked third, have the same points as them, and Everton, who is fourth, is only one point behind them. There are Manchester United and Liverpool behind them. At the moment when they are at the top of the standings, any loss of one point may lead to a change in the ranking of the standings.

Along with Nie Fei, the team's assistant coach and owner Pei Wei was suspended by UEFA for three games and fined [-] euros for making loud noises and insulting opponent players during the game.

Pei Wei didn't care that he was sent off the court, anyway, his assistant coach is just a name, the only regret is to miss three Champions League games, which is a pity for Pei Wei, but anyway, it's just a group match Better than sitting in the stands to watch the big knockout stage.

From the perspective of the outside world, Newcastle's troubles are not just as simple as two absolute main players being injured. Everyone can see that the main players are collectively fatigued on the field. The madness in the second half is more due to the anger caused by Nie Fei's injury—— Anger can sometimes inspire people's strength. Some media even believe that if Georgatos didn't use a foul to get himself and Nie Fei off at the same time and give Newcastle a penalty, even if Nie Fei took the one-handed goal Going in, Olympiacos will not be passive in the next game, they are likely to get at least one draw.

Newcastle fans are a little worried about the team's next performance. After all, in the next few league games, Newcastle can only attack with a remnant team, especially Newcastle has won seven consecutive games. A peak period for the team It has passed, and there is likely to be a trough next, which will happen to any team.

Sure enough, in a league game three days later, Newcastle, who had sent most of their substitutes, was tied 3-5 by Birmingham in the away game. But Birmingham relied on the goals of Yorke and Matthew Upson to overtake Newcastle 20-[-] in the first and second half. Five minutes later, Essien used a beautiful volley to help Newcastle tie the score again, but in the next [-] minutes Within a few minutes, Newcastle had nothing to do with the home team and could only accept a [-]-[-] draw.

After the draw, Newcastle slipped to third place. Chelsea relied on Joe Cole's goal to defeat Liverpool [-]-[-] in a focus battle. The points surpassed Newcastle and rose to second place. Arsenal's draw in the previous game After that, they went on a killing spree at home, slaughtering Charlton with a clean four-to-zero, occupying the top spot with a terrifying record of seven wins and one draw.

"Who can stop Arsenal?" This is the lament of the British media after this round. Now Arsenal is indeed a bit of a posture of blocking and killing gods and Buddhas. They have scored 26 goals in eight rounds of the league. With more than three goals, such a terrifying attacking power, even in Europe, is probably second to none. Chelsea's six wins and two draws and Newcastle's five wins and three draws start are also terrifying, but compared with Arsenal, they are simply little witches. See the big witch.

****************************************
"Arsenal's momentum is indeed very good, but for a team, a long-term undefeated period may also cause pressure. The longer the undefeated period, the greater the pressure will be." Mourinho said to Pei Wei Said: "And Arsenal did not meet the top teams at the beginning of the league. Although they won smoothly and quickly established an advantage in the standings, everything has advantages and disadvantages. First, it is easy for them to lose. Be vigilant, and the second will make them underestimate the difficulties."

"We didn't meet any strong teams at the beginning, they were all mid-lower teams." Pei Wei said a little depressed: "But we didn't play well."

"It depends on how you look at it. It is precisely because we did not play well enough that the players will not slack off in the game. In the last few strong dialogues in the first half, our players can still maintain their fighting spirit. , but Arsenal may not." Mourinho said: "I am more worried about Chelsea. If we want to win the championship this season, then Chelsea must be our biggest opponent."

"Oh, how do you say it?" Pei Wei certainly knew that in history Chelsea won the league championship with a record number of points this season, but that was with Mourinho, Makelele, and Didier Drogba. Under the circumstances, these three people are all under his own hands now. Even though Benitez is an excellent coach, in Pei Wei's impression, he seems to be better at playing cup games, especially the Champions Cup. Didn't show any great abilities.

But Pei Wei has forgotten that Benitez had no choice but to give up the league and focus on the Champions League in Liverpool, because his opponents in those seasons were too perverted, whether it was Chelsea led by Mourinho or Arsenal led by Wenger. Manchester United and Ferguson led Manchester United just after you sang and I came on the stage, and they did not give their opponents any hope of winning the league championship. Liverpool is indeed one of the weaker comprehensive strengths among the top four in the Premier League. The champion Benitez can only take a slanted forward and focus on the Champions League, but now it is different. He is leading Chelsea, whose overall strength is a bit higher than Liverpool, and Manchester United is now in pain. , of course he will not take shortcuts like in history.

After all, in any case, the league is the biggest weight to measure the actual ability of a head coach. Benitez has never been afraid of Mourinho in a head-on confrontation, nor has he lost to Mourinho in a war of words. , and also won the Champions League, which Chelsea dreamed of, but his reputation in the world is always inferior to that of Mourinho. Why, it is because he did not lead Liverpool to the league championship, while Mourinho won Chelsea. The league championship has only been won once in history, and it is still two consecutive championships that have not given any chance to the opponent. The difference between the two lies in this.

"Although Chelsea's results in the previous rounds were not as good as Arsenal's, and they always won only [-]-[-], but we must see that their team is still in the running-in, and their opponents include Manchester United and Liverpool. Such a direct competitor has an advantage over us and Arsenal on this point alone. When Benitez successfully runs this team, it will be the beginning of the nightmare for other teams in the Premier League... If we can’t If we defeat them in a head-on confrontation, then it will be difficult for us to surpass Chelsea." Mourinho said affirmatively: "Wenger's team is already at the end of its strength, and their main force has many strengths after the glory of last season. People are starting to go downhill, and our biggest opponent in the league will be Rafael's team."

"It seems a little early to think about it now." Pei Wei shook his head and said, "Is the next game difficult? I won't put pressure on you, but I am a little worried about the team's performance this season. After all, our goal this season is very ambitious. Well, if you fall behind at the beginning, it will be difficult to handle later.”

"Hehe, the outside world thinks that we have reached a difficult point. Yes, two main players are injured, and the main players such as Ibrusio Makelele are also very tired. I need to let them continue to rest in this round to prepare for next Thursday. Prepare for the Champions League match...but this is difficult, and it can’t beat me.” Mourinho didn’t have any worries when speaking in front of Pei Wei: “When building a team, our goals are the same. That is not only to form a strong main lineup, but to form a strong team. I don't need a huge lineup of 30 people like some teams, but the strength is greatly reduced because of several injuries. The players, everyone can play the main force when pulled out."

"Now, it's time for these substitute players to play a role. Although they are substitutes, they are still a member of Newcastle. We are a whole, and there will be no vacuum because of the injuries of a few people." Mourinho Confidently said: "The last match was nothing more than an accident. If anyone thinks that we are a broken team and underestimates us, then they will definitely suffer."

"I never doubted this." Pei Wei replied with a smile.

****************************************
Newcastle's next opponent in the league, Charlton, really suffered for underestimating Newcastle.

In this game, Mourinho sent an unfamiliar lineup, goalkeeper Petr Cech, four defenders Trabelsi, Kufuor, Dawson and Bernard, midfielder Essien and Jay Nas, Ribery on the left, Lennon, who is only 17 years old, on the right, double forwards Larsson and Drogba.

But this lineup was not affected at all after Bernard accidentally scored an own goal when he returned to the defense shortly after the opening. The more he fought, the more brave he pressed Charlton in his own half and beat him hard. Relying on a strong offense to score two goals in a row, they snatched three points from the Valley Stadium!

"As I said, I am the best at rising up in adversity." When the final whistle sounded, Mourinho said to Pei Wei, and then raised his arms high.

(End of this chapter)