Chapter 7: Premier League Solitude

At 1 a.m. on February 2, the 2009-10 Premier League winter transfer season officially came to an end. Although according to the usual practice, the turnover of winter transfers is far less than that in summer, but this winter's Premier League transfer window is too cold, and the big clubs are basically stationary, and some other small and medium-sized teams are not small, but after all, they have limited financial resources and cannot send large sums.www.biquge.info Suffice it to say, this winter transfer window also seems to have been affected by the English blizzard, and there has not been the slightest surprise.

The statistics show that the Premier League's top 20 in this winter transfer window have a total gain of £47.25 million and a total expenditure of £68.65 million, a difference of £21.4 million. In the same period last year, the figures were £129 million, £166 million and £37.22 million respectively.

The reasons are, first, in the case of the scarcity of "supply" in the transfer market, Premier League clubs are more cautious in spending money; The second is because many Premier League teams have suffered financial crises of varying degrees.

Despite several statements from United boss Alex Ferguson that he would not make a move in the winter window, the Red Devils have poached defender Smalling from Fulham for £14 million, making him the second-most expensive player in the Premier League transfer market this winter, although Smalling's contract with United did not come into effect until the summer of 2010, meaning the 20-year-old defender will play for Fulham for the remainder of the season.

It should be pointed out that Manchester United used the same tactics to poach Partizan Belgrade star Rajjdzic last winter, but 12 months later, the Red Devils announced that they were giving up Rajadzic, who is worth £10 million, and what happens to Smalling in six months' time, we have to wait further.

Liverpool, who have missed out on Champions League for several seasons due to the club's financial constraints, have run out of funds to spend on the transfer market, and their only new signing, Maxi Rodriguez, has joined as a free agent. In terms of departures, the long-awaited purge by the media has finally begun, with Dosena and Voronin, two much-criticized parallel goods sent to Naples and Dynamo Moscow for £3.8 million and £1.8 million respectively, in exchange for a valuable sum of money for the ailing Liverpool.

In addition, Dynamo Moscow also reached a transfer agreement with Reds big man Benayoun, but it was only Liverpool's final official statement that they refused to release him, and the deal did not take shape.

As for the London duo, apart from bringing in Arshavin, new Blues boss Manuel Pellegrini has not brought any new players to Stamford Bridge, while the release of Kork, Tevo and Van Aanholt is only reserve players and will not have the slightest impact on the Blues' quality.

As for Arsenal, the return of veteran Campbell is somewhat surprising, and the introduction of 17-year-old demon Galindo from Real America is Wenger's consistent coaching idea. At the same time, Senderos, who was abused by Drogba to develop a psychological disorder, and three members of the Gunners' youth army, Wilshere, Gilbert and Randall, have been loaned out.

As for Blackburn, who brought in Beckham but let go of Arshavin, this entry and exit is already their only move in this winter transfer period.

Can Blackburn's blue sports car continue to soar at high speed in the second half of the season?

Many people think that the situation is not optimistic, because in addition to pillar-level players like Cambiaso and Ashley Cole who cannot be counted on due to injury, Drogba will also leave the team due to returning to the Africa Cup of Nations, and the most important thing is that although many European media have been crazy that Blackburn will buy someone, Ancelotti has recently declared again: No one buys!

Ancelotti said: "It's true that the likes of Didier Drogba, Cambiasso and Ashley Cole are all integral parts of us, but you have to see that we have played really well this season without him and we won the Champions League without him, so in the Premier League we have always won without him. ”

Confidence is confidence, but no one can deny that without Drogba, Cambiasso and Ashley Cole, etc., Blackburn can be in the current position is indeed unknown, you know, in a round of league games that ended on January 3, it was with Drogba's goal that Blackburn reversed Fulham 2:1 to retain the leader, therefore, under the predetermined fact that Drogba and others either left the team or were injured, Ancelotti If he wants to lead the team to maintain the momentum, he will definitely not be able to do anything else.

However, Ancelotti has not been unable to figure out how to deal with the February crisis, saying: "I think we can try to change the formation in certain games and if there is no space in the midfield in certain games, then we can use the wings. ”

Ancelotti's current midfielder is in a diamond-shaped position, if the situation is as he said to pay more attention to the wing attack, then in the current situation with Bale, Bentley, Ivanovic these wingers, Ancelotti may want to change the formation to 4-3-3, and as long as the formation is adjusted to 4-3-3, then this formation is easy to seduce a considerable number of Blue Devils fans of good memories, because in the era when Mourinho led the team to win the Premier League twice, Blackburn played 4-3-3, And the Premier League powers that had fought at that time lost their armor.

Now that the solution is in place, Carlo Ancelotti will certainly have a good vision for the future, and in fact he did say: "The win against Fulham and the performance made it a difficult time for us to finally get out. It's not a winter for us and I'm a little new to the first time there was no winter break, but that's a thing of the past and now we can look forward to February and we can do even better. ”

And in the end, is Carlo Ancelotti hard-mouthed, or is he really capable of overcoming his Premier League troubles without a winter break?

When Blackburn fans are still infinitely nostalgic for the Silver Fox Lippi, Ancelotti, who has been in charge of the Rose Theatre for more than half a year, has quietly completed the transformation of the team and conquered the most demanding Blue Devils fans.

After a slightly sluggish schedule in January, Blackburn Rovers have won 26 rounds of Premier League games this season, and Blackburn have become the league leader with 59 points, but the two-thirds title is by no means the ultimate goal of An Shuai, defending the Premier League title and leading the team to return to the top of the Champions League over European powers such as Barcelona and Real Madrid is the biggest desire of the Italians.

Although a change of coach is like a change of knife, but there are not many people who are optimistic about Ancelotti before the season, after all, his predecessor Lippi spent three years to build Blackburn into his ideal team, and also captured the hearts of players, the Blue Devils have lost Cristiano Ronaldo and Nemanja Vidic and other team cores one after another this summer, can the Italian replicate the miracle under heavy pressure?

In fact, their worries are somewhat unnecessary.

Ancelotti, who has been a long-time Serie A veteran, knows how to forge a team into a whole, and he knows how to lead a team to the title, both in Milan and at Blackburn.

Carlo Ancelotti is not only a master tactician, but also a master of making the most of his talents, and Blackburn's ability to lead the Premier League is not without benefit from the manager's knowledge.

Reuse Drogba, or right Torres?

Carlo Ancelotti easily tackled the seemingly complex problem of producing a two-striker. In practice, the Monsters and the Spanish strikers have coexisted well, and they have combined to score 42 goals in all competitions.

In addition, the elimination of the diamond-shaped midfielder without wingers is also an achievement of An Shuai.

Blackburn have a lot of talent in midfield, Carlo Ancelotti emphasises control of the ball, and more often, in addition to Bale having free fire, Cambiasso, Alonso, Frank Lampard, Flamini and Bentley are mainly focused on maintaining a balance between attack and defence, while full-backs Ashley Cole and Branislav Ivanovic will find time to enrich the team's attacking tools.

Blackburn Rovers were more adept at opening up from the flanks, while Carlo Ancelotti was more focused on teamwork and one-touch to tear apart the opposition's defence, and that worked well. In terms of rotation, Blackburn also did a very good job, Vermaelen, Flamini and Owen are all absolutely strong, and Balotelli, who is outstanding in strength, also has a genius from time to time.

A good start is half the battle, and Blackburn does just that. After a perfect start to the Premier League opener with six consecutive league wins, the form is obvious to all. In November, the Blue Devils won 4 wins and 1 draw in the two-line arena, pulling their rivals further and further away. However, in early January, Blackburn's form had slipped as City handed the Blues their second defeat of the season, and successive draws had also taken a toll on the leaders at the top of the table.

Of course, the tight schedule has caused problems not only for Blackburn Rovers but also for the other giants, and after a 0-0 draw with Birmingham City in the round of 19, the Blues won the halfway title with 42 points, two points ahead of second-placed Manchester United.

In addition, Blackburn's performance in the Champions League is also remarkable, they are top of the group with four wins and two draws, and the Blue Devils will face Inter Milan, who lost former meritorious manager Jose Mourinho, in the quarter-finals, and they will clean 2-0 in two games to beat the Serie A giants.

Carlo Ancelotti was able to bring Blackburn Rovers to where he is now, largely because of his age-old coaching skills. Blackburn's defence has been rock-solid, conceding just 18 goals in the first 26 league games, the fewest in the Premier League.

Kompany and Thiago Silva are the dream duo of no need to be mentioned, after McCann's departure, Branislav Ivanovic has become more and more courageous under An's tutelage and has secured the right-back position, while Ashley Cole, who is already the Premier League's first left-back, needless to say.

In attack, Drogba-Torres-Bale is the team's trident, having scored 51 of their 63 league goals, with Balotelli also impressing in the Champions League.

Blackburn was able to survive the slump in January, in addition to the strong overall strength of the team and the coach's strategy, the lack of injuries in the team is also a big reason. While the likes of Frank Lampard, Bentley, Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole and Cambiaso have all been injured, they are rarely sidelined at the same time, with the Blues' bench frenzy and winter signings David Beckham also providing Ancelotti with a timely stake – and that's where Blackburn's lab comes in.

The start was perfect, the coach was well coached, the team was solid, the substitutes were hidden in the dragon and the tiger, and there were few injuries......

These are all big reasons why Blackburn have a good chance of winning the Premier League again this season.

However, Blackburn Rovers are far from getting carried away after a hundred miles and a half, but one thing is certain: as long as Carlo Ancelotti's team continues to work hard in the second half of the game, the Blue Devils can definitely hope to achieve the supreme glory of "being at the top of the mountain and seeing the mountains at a glance".

At present, Blackburn, who are unbeatable in the Premier League, is about to face a strong opponent, that is, the second phase of the Galaxy Battleship led by Mourinho. (To be continued.) )