Chapter 20: Champion Habits
On the evening of April 26, in the 36th round of the Premier League, Blackburn Rovers sat at the Rose Theatre to welcome the challenge of Stoke City. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info
Prior to this round, Blackburn had 87 points, seven points ahead of second-placed Manchester United, and as long as they won this round, they could lock up the Premier League title two rounds earlier.
Blackburn and Stoke City have not played each other many times, the two teams have met 14 times in history, Blackburn have a complete advantage of 9 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses, and the two teams have met 4 times at the Rose Theater, Blackburn Rovers have won 3 and drawn 1 and remain unbeaten. Carlo Ancelotti made a huge change in the starting line-up from the previous win over Wigan Athletic, with Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres still partnering up front, Duff, Flamini, Cambiasso and David Beckham in midfield for the first time, and Vermaelen and Phil Jones in central defence and Darmian and Baines at full-back.
Stoke City, who were away from home, kicked off first, and in the 5th minute, Torres ran 50 meters to dribble to the penalty area, Stoke City players fouled Blackburn a great free kick, Beckham shot directly into the wall and popped up, Lampard headed back into the penalty area, Duff leaned on the opposing player's chest and stopped the ball to Torres, who swept the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal from close range, Blackburn led 1:0!
In the 13th minute, Torres broke down the right and crossed low into the penalty area, but it was a pity that the outflanked Duff couldn't touch the ball.
After taking the lead, the Blackburn players relaxed a little on the pitch, and during this time they were unable to organise an effective attack to threaten the opposition goal, and Arthur also played with the fans in the stands.
In the 25th minute, Drogba received a through ball from Frank Lampard and burst into the right side of the box, but his cross was too small and the ball was pushed off the line by the opposing player, and three minutes later Torres crossed low from the left, and Duff, who was cut in front of goal, tried to shoot with his backheel but did not touch the ball.
In the 31st minute, Frank Lampard burst into the box and was pulled down by a Stoke City defender, and the referee did not hesitate to award a penalty, Lampard himself took the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal, and the score became 2-0, which was Blackburn's 97th league goal of the season, which also equalled the Premier League goal record held by Manchester United in the 99-00 season.
At the end of the first half, Blackburn, who were playing at home, temporarily led 2:0!
At the start of the second half, Didier Drogba's high cross from the left side of the pitch bounced off the crossbar and, although the linesman raised the flag for offside, the slow camera showed it was Torres who was offside, and Lampard had no problem in his position.
Former England boss and current Ivory Coast manager Christian Eriksen was in the stands, while Fabio Capello was in the stands with a Blackburn guide in hand.
In the 54th minute, Blackburn Rovers scored again, Torres distributed the ball to Frank Lampard, who went down the right side and then passed back to Torres, the Spanish striker shook the goalkeeper in the small penalty area and pushed the empty goal, the score became 3:0, this goal also allowed Blackburn to set a new single-season goal record in the Premier League with 98 goals.
In the 56th minute, Torres scored a hat trick in two consecutive league games, Ivanovic passed the ball to Torres at the back point, and the latter shot directly with his right foot, and the ball bounced off the ground and went around the goalkeeper and drilled into the lower right corner of the goal, 4:0!
This goal is also Torres' 30th goal in the Premier League this season, and he has basically locked up the Premier League Golden Boot this season in advance!
In the 58th minute, Balotelli came on to replace Torres, and Chen Tao replaced Lampard, and the two ushered in applause for more than a minute throughout the game.
In the 63rd minute, Drogba finally broke the goal, the inverted hook shot in the monster penalty area was blocked by the goalkeeper, Chen Tao controlled the ball near the left bottom line and handed the ball to Drogba at the back point after two consecutive crosses, and the Ivorian jumped high to head the goal, and the score became 5:0, which was Blackburn's 100th league goal this season.
In the 68th minute, Branislavic won a penalty, and Drogba hit the ball to the inside of the left post of the goal and bounced into the net, 6:0.
In the 80th minute, Drogba scored a hat trick, Beckham crossed into the right side of the penalty area, the opponent's goalkeeper made a mistake and slapped the ball to Drogba's feet, and the monster easily shot the empty goal, 7:0!
Stoke City came close to pulling one back six minutes later, but their striker's powerful shot was saved by Cech.
In the 90th minute, it was Beckham who made a steal on the right side of the penalty area and passed the high ball to the back point, and Vermaelen scored with a direct volley, and the score became 8:0!
A perfect win allowed Blackburn to win the 2009-10 Premier League title in the most perfect position!
The interesting thing about football is its unpredictability, when Jose Mourinho led the team to a first-season with an iron-blooded defense to block the Premier League's powerhouses, conceding only 15 goals in the season to a record low, you would never have imagined that this team would play a single-season goal record in team history eight years later, and become the first team in the history of the Premier League to score 100 goals, sweeping the whole of England to become the king of attack.
The coaching style does influence the dominant team, just as all teams led by Zeman are attacking paranoia, and Rafael Benitez's team will never go all out to fight their opponents regardless of the defence.
The reason why Arthur let go of Mourinho is also because he is very dissatisfied with the stereotypical and ugly style of play and the same defensive counterattack of the Blue Devils in the past, Arthur, as a fan, naturally wants to see graceful and gorgeous offensive football, so Ancelotti, who is known for his technical players in Milan, certainly understands what his employer needs to see, and said on the first day of ownership: "Our goal is to control the game, control the ball, and play attacking football."
In terms of scoring rate, Ancelotti is far inferior to Mourinho, who has won more than 100 points in a single season, but in terms of the scene, it is naturally much more beautiful than the madman who believes in 1-0 doctrine, and has raised the offensive banner in a high-profile manner from the first day of coaching, and has also reformed the double back midfield into a diamond-shaped midfielder from the formation, which is more full of passion and enterprising, and all the points are laying the groundwork for the final goal blowout. The boss is happy, the core players are satisfied, why not?
Blackburn Rovers have become a feared bomber for opponents, and the Rose Theatre has become a nightmare for the visiting team, and the Blues have scored seven goals in a single game four times this season, which is unique in the history of the Premier League, not only Stoke City, Wigan Athletic, Sunderland are unlucky, and even Aston Villa, who are competing for the top four, have been disabled.
In addition, Blackburn have scored five goals in three games, and the three goals have accounted for more than half of the total games, including three away goals against Arsenal.
The terrorist attack combination of Drogba + Torres has scored more than 24 goals each, and they are also the only pair of 20+ in the Premier League.
The rules of the Premier League are different from those of Serie A, where the attacking team with the most goalscoring ability is often the closest to the title, and Manchester United's treble is the best example. Similarly, in the civil war of the giants, Blackburn, who had a stronger attack, also had the upper hand, and the six semi-finals actually completed an unprecedented six consecutive wins, and the goals scored and conceded were as high as 12 to 1, and the goal difference of up to 71 was equivalent to giving any opponent one more point, and the foundation for winning the championship was laid.
Not only the league, Blackburn Rovers have launched carpet bombing in all cup competitions, scoring 18 goals in the Champions League, opening the road to the final with 16 goals in the FA Cup, scoring 8 goals in the League Cup, and scoring a total of 145 goals in three domestic and foreign cup competitions, which is not only the first in the Premier League, but also surpasses Barcelona to become the first attacking force in Europe.
Such a team dominates the Premier League, and the opponent has nothing to say.
The 2009-10 Premier League season has come to an end, and taking stock of the season, Blackburn have the best players to compete on all fronts.
Prior to this round, Torres had a five-goal lead over runner-up Rooney, but at home to Stoke City, Torres broke out again, scoring a hat-trick to lead Wayne Rooney by eight goals.
With only two rounds to go in the league, Torres is almost certain to secure the Premier League Golden Boot this season.
In addition, Torres also scored 11 goals on three fronts: the Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup.
As the team's second-highest scorer, Drogba has scored 8 goals in addition to 24 goals in the league, and has 32 goals this season.
An 8-0 win over Stoke City not only saw Blackburn Rovers top the league title, but Frank Lampard was able to beat the contenders in the assists charts. With two assists in the final game, Frank Lampard overcame Cesc Fabregas to lead the league assists title with a total of 12 assists.
Among the top 10 in the poker list, most of them are goalkeepers of middle and lower teams in the league. Among them, Blackburn's Joe Hart, who was loaned to Birmingham, is the most heroic, and the young goalkeeper of England is also widely believed to be taken by Capello to the World Cup in South Africa this summer, and whether Joe = Hart will return to Blackburn Rovers next season and fight for the first goalkeeper position with Cech has also become a big suspense.
After the game, the grand Premier League championship award ceremony was held at the Rose Theatre.
First of all, two British GIs in camouflage uniforms escorted the Premier League trophy out of the passage of the Rose Theatre, and the 52,000 fans in the stadium gave a standing ovation when they saw the trophy unveiled, and used it to welcome their blue hero to the stage.
With the Premier League's rule that players and members of the coaching staff who have made less than 10 appearances in a season cannot win medals, this "unlucky crowd" is the first to enjoy the support of the fans on their own, led by an assistant coach at Blackburn. And that includes the team's backup goalkeepers Dida and Tom White, as well as Chen Tao, who just made his debut in the final game.
Ancelotti then led the team to receive the medals, and the applause of the fans at the Rose Theater was even more enthusiastic. After Carlo Ancelotti, Ashley Cole, Branislav Ivanovich, Vermaelen, Torres, David Beckham, Flamini, Bale and others came out to receive the award.
The final player was Blackburn's mainstay of all three lines, with Premier League top scorer Fernando Torres, midfield centrepiece and vice-captain Frank Lampard and captain Duff taking the gold medal in turn, and the atmosphere at the Rose Theatre reached its climax.
After receiving the trophy, Blackburn captain Duff and vice-captain Frank Lampard lifted the St Barclays Cup, and blue and white pieces of paper flew all over the sky, and the whole Rose Theatre was immersed in happiness.
Then the Blue Devils scattered joy with the trophy in hand, and Drogba, who did not "grab" the trophy, could only rush to the fans with a bottle of champagne...... After that, the funny Ivorian also hung his medal around his youngest son's neck, but apparently the child did not eat it, and his helpless expression was obviously questioning his father.
Looking at everything on the field, Arthur also smiled and applauded in the stands, this championship proves that last summer sold Cristiano Ronaldo, McCone and Vidic and other absolute mainstays, established a young core like Torres and Bale, and ushered in Ancelotti, who had never been out of Italy before...... The correctness of all these choices.
The reporter then interviewed Carlo Ancelotti, and the Italian gave his acceptance speech: "It's been a fantastic season, it's been a tough league, we did everything we could, and I'm very happy to win it. ”
As the second foreign coach to lead the team to win the championship, Ancelotti was inevitably compared to Mourinho, to which Ancelotti laughed: "I want to be like him, I will continue to work hard." ”
But no one, including Arthur, got carried away by winning the Premier League, because after that, the Champions League and FA Cup finals awaited them! (To be continued.) )