"Dark Horse!"

"West Ham are aiming for a Champions League place!"

"Coach Chen Ping: Champions League qualification for West Ham is inevitable!"

"West Ham develop the next England international!"

"Martin Antony, the missing pearl of Manchester City's academy!"

In the ninth round of the English Premier League, West Ham defeated Norwich City 4-0 at home and continued to test the pressure on Arsenal. This is something that many people did not expect because West Ham are real dark horses.

Before West Ham was relegated, because of the foundation left by Redknapp, it was indeed a team that was not weak in the Premier League. Even West Ham at that time had a chance to qualify for the League Cup every year. However, after West Ham's relegation, many of those high-profile players have left the club.

Geniuses including Joe Cole have also left West Ham.

Therefore, although West Ham returned to the Premier League in one season and won the League Cup, the English media did not think highly of West Ham. At the start of the season, the English media positioned West Ham as should be able to avoid relegation. Although it is a promoted horse, it still has some strength. As long as they can quickly adapt to the Premier League game, and Chen Ping, a young coach, does not make major mistakes, West Ham can be relegated. But the situation was completely different from their judgment.

Relegation?

Joke.

Nine rounds of Premier League matches have been played, and West Ham are still in second place in the Premier League. Just one point less than Arsenal, who have been so strong this season, and seven more than upstart Chelsea.

Totally incredible.

Therefore, after the ninth round, all kinds of praise followed. For Chen Ping's touting, for Martin Anthony's touting. Anyway, in an instant, West Ham made headlines in the English media.

However, Chen Ping did not have time to deal with these public opinions, because after playing the ninth round of the Premier League, West Ham's games suddenly increased. On 22 October 2004, West Ham travelled to Greece to play in the first round of the UEFA Cup group stage. Then, on October 24, West Ham will return to China to play the tenth round of the Premier League.

Time is tight.

With only two days between the UEFA Cup and the 10th round of the Premier League, the Football Team will not change the time of a match for the sake of a League Cup. Those who play in the Champions League have at least three days to prepare, while teams like West Ham who play the UEFA Cup only have two days apart. Therefore, Chen Ping must make a choice. In the end, Chen Ping chose the league instead of the League Cup.

The League Cup is not a chicken rib, but it is nothing compared to the league. A league title and a UEFA Cup winner are placed together, and they are not equal at all. Especially in recent years, the influence of the Champions League has become more and more influential, and the influence of the League Cup has declined rapidly. Therefore, Chen Ping's choice must be to choose the league, not the League Cup. It doesn't matter if you are out of the League Cup, as long as you can get a good league place, then Chen Ping can be regarded as a real foothold in English football.

Of course, a trade-off does not mean that Chen Ping wants to give up the League Cup. It's just that most of the main forces, Chen Ping will not be brought to Greece, but will stay in London to prepare for the war.

But even so, the players brought by Chen Ping are all powerful. Like Anton Ferdinand, Baines, Glenn Johnson, Thomas Repka, Leo Koke, Noble, Lomas, Benayoun in midfield, and Hasselbaink, Ashley Young, Arshavin in the front.

Such a substitute lineup can be ranked in the middle of the Premier League.

In terms of squad depth, West Ham are in no way inferior to those Premier League giants. came to crazy Greece and faced the Greek team Igaleo, although it was most of the substitute lineup, Chen Ping attached great importance to it.

For this match, Chen Ping also focused on studying Igaleo. Analysed five or six games of the season for Igaleo to get to know their players. Although it is not as important as the Premier League, in the League Cup, Chen Ping attaches great importance to it.

The reason is simple.

In the group stage of the League Cup, there are two weak teams. One is the Greek club Igalio and the other is the Belgrade partisans. As for Lazio and Villarreal, they are not teams to mess with.

So in the face of a weak team, the points that should be taken must be taken.

Three to one.

The main round of the UEFA Cup is not more difficult than the Premier League, on the contrary, the strength of the opponents is far worse than that of the Premier League teams. The biggest problem with the game in Greece is that the home fans are too crazy. In this game, Hasselbaink, a veteran, has seen the world and is still old and strong. A brace in the game completely crushed Igalio FC and allowed West Ham to get their first three points in the group stage of the UEFA Cup.

After this game, Chen Ping did not have any time to rest.

Because two days later it will be the tenth round of the Premier League. So after the race, I quickly returned to London.

"Miss Yu......"

"Boss Xu, you just call me by my name. ”

24 October 2004.

On the third day after the end of the group stage of the League Cup, at Upton Park, Yu Wei entered the box and looked at the stadium very novelly. Because this is the first time Yu Wei has watched a football game live. Xu Hongtao's status at West Ham is very high.

Because Xu Hongtao is Chen Ping's agent, and he is also the agent of West Ham's most important players, Lambert, Ribery, and Martin Antony. Therefore, Xu Hongtao's status in West Ham is very special, and it is very easy to leave a box for himself.

Xu Hongtao was quite surprised.

suddenly received a contact from Yu Wei, hoping to go to the scene to watch the game. For Xu Hongtao, it is a very good thing to increase his friendship with Yu Wei. Maybe you can even bring sponsorship to your players or something.

"Then don't call me Boss Xu, what kind of boss am I. "Shih Tzu literature

"Good. ”

Yu Wei was wearing an off-white sportswear today, standing in front of the window of the box and looking at the court. In fact, Yu Wei doesn't quite understand why so many people are so excited to watch a football game.

"Number 9, Ricky ————"

"Lambert !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The players have started to enter the pitch.

The live commentators and fans have begun to interact. Starting with the players at the front, the commentator calls them by name and the fans chant their last name. This is a way to stir up the pre-match atmosphere and let the visitors know what West Ham are capable of at home. Because of the League Cup, West Ham's game schedule is very tight. The only good thing is that West Ham have played two games in a row at home.

Generally, most of the arrangements of a team in the league are home and away rotation. Of course, this is not absolute, and there are many consecutive home games, or consecutive away games. West Ham have played these two games at home in a row.

And it's also less stressful during this time.

October was very friendly for West Ham. First, there was half a month to adjust, and the two consecutive league games were home games. Not only two consecutive home games, but also against the weak teams in the Premier League, all of whom have come to the Premier League with West Ham this season.

Norwich City in the ninth round and Crystal Palace in the tenth round.

There is time to rest, it is all home games, and the opponents are so weak. Let Chen Ping have enough time to adjust the state of West Ham and make West Ham's cooperation more tacit. If West Ham face strong teams in October, the situation will be very unfavourable.

"Our Magician————"

"Chen, Chen, Chen!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa————"

Chen Ping finally came out with the team and received huge cheers from the fans, surpassing all the players in front of him. Chen Ping raised his hand and waved at the fans in the stadium. It received the most enthusiastic response from all the fans at Upton Park.

"Chen, Chen, Chen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Knock! knock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The fans cheered as their legs kept beating in rhythm. The cheers, the beats, made the whole Upton Park stadium shake. If you sit there, you can easily feel the stadium vibrating.

It's really like being in a crater. Yu Wei can clearly feel the frenzied atmosphere in the stadium at the moment in the box, and feel the shaking of the entire court, Yu Wei has never faced such a fanatical situation. Yu Wei has participated in so many fashion shows, when has she ever seen such a fanatic.

I saw Chen Ping down.

Under such a fanatical atmosphere, Chen Ping was very calm. First, he waved to the fans and greeted the fans. Then he shook hands with the Crystal Palace manager and then said something to Julian Dix next to him, who was used to the atmosphere.

Yu Wei is also very touched.

When they chatted on the plane, Chen Ping seemed nervous, or very solemn. But seeing Chen Ping today, in the midst of such cheers, Chen Ping seemed indifferent. Such Chen Ping is really handsome.

"It was a particularly hot pitch at Upton Park today. Because Arsenal are challenging Manchester United at Old Trafford at the same time. If Arsenal miss a little bit in this game, West Ham have a good chance of climbing to the top of the table. ”

Morteson commented on the game.

points to the current situation in the Premier League. Arsenal have been strong this season, continuing last season's unbeaten run to the title. The first nine rounds were eight wins and one draw, and they haven't lost a match yet.

However, today's game is a hurdle as Arsenal take on old rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Although Manchester United's results this season are very bad, after all, it is the dominant team in the Premier League after the establishment of the Premier League. Arsenal will still have a lot of difficulties to beat Manchester United away from home. In comparison, the situation on West Ham's side is very favourable.

Crystal Palace are weak.

In the first nine rounds, Crystal Palace won one, drew two and lost six, and only beat Fulham 2-1. Even Crystal Palace have only played two top-10 opponents in the Premier League so far, one against Manchester United and the other against Chelsea. The rest are some weak teams, but the results are a mess. In comparison, Norwich has at least played a lot of strong teams.

"West Ham have had good results lately. West Ham are on the beaten list since losing to Liverpool on six consecutive league and UEFA Cup wins. There are even games like home to Chelsea and away to Newcastle. So in this game, Carrick passed the ball, and Defoe was in a beautiful anti-offside position!"

The race has just begun.

Before Mortenson had fully introduced what he had to say, West Ham had already had a chance. Carrick dribbled the ball and Lambert withdrew from the box to meet Carrick, also bringing in the Crystal Palace defenders.

And Defoe instantly entered Lambert's original position.

It's a beautiful fit, it's a very simple fit, but it works very well. This kind of cooperation started training as early as the time of League One. What is needed is a tacit understanding between Lambert and Defoe, as well as a passing from Carrick. Carrick's precise pass, coupled with Lambert's cooperation, allowed Defoe to complete the offside position in an instant.

"Defoe, Defoe shoots!"

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！”

Defoe's shot rolled under Speroni's armpit into the king. Just four minutes into the game, West Ham were already ahead of Crystal Palace. Defoe has been in fine form since returning to West Ham this season, scoring seven goals in the Premier League so far. We still can't understand why Defoe has been so poor at Chelsea. ”