Jagged Wings

Chapter 58 What a Painful Rotation
For several consecutive games, Arsenal played with a substitute lineup or a mixed lineup of substitutes and main players.In this way, on the one hand, players can get more rest time, and on the other hand, it is also a kind of exercise for young players.

But the constant rotation has also had some impact on the main players.The main players and substitutes are mixed in the game, which has some influence on the tacit understanding between the main players.

In a Premier League round of 16 match before the Christmas schedule, Arsenal lost 0:1 to Newcastle United in an unexpected away game.

What is even more black humorous is that the one who killed Arsenal was Bentley who was exchanged by Arsenal in the summer for Jenas.Since joining Arsenal, Bentley has been constantly loaned out, spending time in small clubs.

In the end, Bentley's patience ran out. He and Wenger couldn't get enough playing time after negotiating, so he filed a transfer application.It happened that Arsenal were talking about Jenas, and Bentley was sent to Newcastle United as an extra.Newcastle was a giant in the 90s and even the first two years of this century, but despite the commercialization of the Premier League, they were increasingly unable to keep up with the rhythm, and eventually sank into a mid-range team.

When Bentley arrived in Newcastle, he got some opportunities to play one after another, and he also grasped them.Although he is still far from the main position, his playing time is relatively stable.And in this game against Arsenal, he also tried his best to give the old owner a little color.

Bentley's intentions are very good, and Newcastle also beat Arsenal at home.But in the post-match press conference, Wenger strongly denied Bentley's "revenge battle", he said: "Every player and the club are two-way choices, and there is no conflict between Bentley and the club. The relationship between me and Bentley is not as bad as you think, but the club can't meet his demands. Bring him back to Arsenal? No, no, I am very satisfied with the current lineup!"

Bentley, who wanted revenge, suddenly felt that he had mentioned cotton.

Even Reyes said: "Newcastle has a lot of great players: Shearer, Dale, Given... Bentley? Well, Newcastle has a very reasonable lineup, you see Jenas coming out is doing well... Bentley Lee's performance? Oh, he scored a goal, don't you know?"

"So do you have any regrets about such a good player leaving Arsenal?"

"In fact, I feel sorry for everyone who left Arsenal," Reyes said. "They lost forever an opportunity to play for one of the most humane clubs."

The media vomited blood: This magic skill of changing the topic is definitely at the level of Shattering the Void...

They didn't know that, as a fan, Reyes was used to seeing media reports that followed the wind in his previous life.The tricks that the media can use are also familiar. If you follow the words of the media, then nine out of ten you will fall into their "language trap" and finally become the target of public criticism.

When dealing with the media, "speaking only three points" is far from enough. You can't give them too directional and personal answers, and of course you don't want that kind of ambiguous explanation.The best way is to know the purpose of their asking this sentence, and then draw conclusions that the media does not want.

The media asked Reyes about "Whether Bentley is good", the first purpose is to provoke the conflict between Reyes and Bentley, and secondly, it is also a hidden purpose for those other players who left Arsenal.

If Reyes yelled at Bentley for being nothing, then the next day Lei Bo would overwhelmingly "transplant" these remarks to Vieira and others who left the team...

Dodging is not because Reyes is afraid of getting into trouble, but because he has learned to handle things better. If he still says that when he knows he will be the target of public criticism, is he stupid or brain-dead?
The person involved didn't say anything. Although Bentley wanted to stir up some troubles, he still didn't have enough weight. No one would care about his thoughts...

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After the game against Newcastle, half of the Premier League games this season have passed.Although nominally 19 rounds have been played, due to the frequent schedules in October and November, the teams were overwhelmed by the conquest, and two rounds were postponed.

The two games Arsenal were pushed back were tough battles, one against Manchester United and the other against Liverpool.The specific time of these two games has not yet been determined, but it depends on the schedules of the two sides interspersed between the leagues.

Halfway through the league, it means that the competition for the league title is also halfway through, because Arsenal suffered a two-game losing streak and Chelsea came from behind to win the half-time championship.

The media are accustomed to making a summary after half a season has passed.Summarize the performance of each team in the first half of the season, and then look forward to the trend of each team in the second half of the season according to the situation.

In 17 rounds, Arsenal achieved 13 wins, 1 draw, 3 losses and 40 points, ranking second in the league. Among them, they won all at home, 1 draw and [-] losses in away games.

With a record of 14 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, Chelsea ranked first with 44 points and won the league half-time championship.

On the scorer list, Henry still ranks first with 15 goals, and Reyes ranks fifth with 10 goals.

On the assists list, Reyes ranked first with 12 assists, followed by Lampard with 10.

OPTA will also give everyone a score based on the performance of all players in each round. This score is an evaluation based on all game-related data such as goals, assists, steals, threatening passes, and running distance.

In this evaluation system, Lampard topped the list with 1820 points. As the core of Chelsea's midfield, Lampard not only completes the tasks of the midfield, but also actively advances in offense. In addition to ranking first in the Premier League in steals , Lampard also contributed 12 goals, this data is very scary for a midfielder.Last month, when Lampard played against Portsmouth, he set a new Premier League record of 160 consecutive starts, breaking the record of 159 games held by England goalkeeper David James.

Reyes narrowly overwhelmed teammate Henry in this list and ranked second with 1780 points, Henry's points were 1770. Manchester United's Wayne Rooney ranked fourth with 1660 points.

This rating relatively fairly reflects the contributions of each player. Chelsea's good performance is inseparable from Lampard's perfect performance.

In the team leaderboard, Chelsea continued to "loot points" at the same pace as last season. Apart from being defeated by Manchester United at Old Trafford, their performance in the first half was perfect.

In the case of Arsenal leaving Vieira, their young player has performed very well this season, and the media praised him.The midfield combination of Fafa and Gilberto has become more and more mature; especially in the defense line, although Cole stayed, but this season's performance has been ups and downs, and the teenager Clichy has played brilliantly from time to time; of course, the biggest gain It also lies in Reyes' perfect performance on the left. In this era of increasing emphasis on wingers, Reyes's lightning-like speed and wonderful and practical brilliance on the left in the Premier League have pleased the Gunners fans time and time again.Reyes and Ronaldo, the two left and right wingers, have become a symbol of the rise of the Premier League.

OPTA also paid attention to the performance of several newly promoted horses. Wigan Athletic, which was promoted to the Premier League for the first time, was in the limelight. In the game against Arsenal, they were unbeaten in nine games and performed amazingly.Even now that everyone is on guard against them, as the newly promoted Wigan, he can still rank third in points.

"Black Cat" Sunderland was awarded the "Least Enterprising Award". When they were in the middle of the league, their points were still in single digits. Commentators even believed that Sunderland came to the Premier League for "travel". purpose.For them, being able to stand in the Premier League is already the greatest success.

Regarding the second half of the season, the media predicted that the old overlord Manchester United will make efforts in the future, just like the first half of the season, and Chelsea's second half of the season will be very difficult.

Mourinho must remember one sentence: If you come out to mess around, you will have to pay it back sooner or later!Mourinho just accused Wenger of being a "peeping tom" and scolding Robson on the sidelines. It seems that making enemies like this is quite common, and the so-called retribution has not yet come.But last season, Mourinho and UEFA Liangzi made Chelsea's Champions League journey this season very difficult.Because of Mourinho's dissatisfaction, he forced out UEFA's very important Swedish post Frisk, which made UEFA hate Mourinho.There is a saying that goes like this: The Champions League is UEFA's home court, which probably means that if you are Chelsea in the league, I can't do anything against you. When it comes to the Champions League, everyone will wait and see.Ever since, Liverpool went to Chelsea's group, and Essien's shoveling action was rebroadcasted by TV no less than 200 times, and then he was banned by UEFA for two games, which happened to be two games in the knockout round.

Touchstone is coming soon!
On December 2005, 12, Chelsea will be a guest at Highbury to challenge Arsenal.

(End of this chapter)