At 21 o'clock on December 2, Blackburn's 20th round of League One this season started, the opponent was the old English League One powerhouse Tranmere, and the three Chinese internationals Sun Jihai, Li Tie and Li Weifeng, who had just finished their domestic league journey, watched the new team's home game for the first time. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Fulham had already finished this round of league games before this game, and they drew 1-1 with Preston North End, so as long as we can win, we will overtake Fulham by two points and move to the top of the table, instead of second place on goal difference." Monchi, who was sitting in the chairman's box, reported to Arthur.

"Well, it's only less than halfway through the season, so there's no need to put that much pressure on Graeme, as long as you can secure promotion." Arthur was relieved, and then asked, "How are the three new Chinese players?" ”

'Well, Son is not bad, maybe because of his brief spell in League One, I think he can compete for a place in the team's main position.' Monchi thought for a moment and replied.

"Li Tiema, the sense of position is acceptable, the physical fitness is good, the wide range of sweeping, the basic receiving and passing, can adapt to the requirements of the team, as a pure defensive back, should be able to become the team's main rotation player in the defensive back position." Meng Qi clearly expressed his appreciation for another member of the Chinese national team.

"As for the other Li ......" Meng Qi sorted out his thoughts, and then said: "The confrontation ability is not bad, but the temper is a little impatient, and there are still some hidden dangers in the key position of central defender." Of course, it's okay to be a firefighter in the rotation. ”

Arthur nodded knowingly, and from Monchi's words just now, he made it clear that the first-team coaching staff was positioning the three newly signed Chinese players.

If there are no major accidents and changes in strength in a short period of time, Sun Jihai will be the main substitute for the team's two fullbacks in a short period of time, and there is little chance of becoming the absolute main force of the game, but he will inevitably be a member of the 16-man squad.

Li Tie will be Carsley's full-time defensive midfield backup and will also be a regular in the 16-man squad.

As for Li Weifeng, he is the fourth and fifth choice in the team's central defender position, and the cup is his battlefield, as for the league, only the main central defender is affected by injuries and fatigue and cannot play normally, he will get the opportunity to play in the league.

"Uh-huh." Arthur nodded noncommittally, although he still inevitably retains Chinese feelings in this life, but it is impossible to interfere with the head coach's arrangement under the condition of affecting the team's performance, and the future of these three Chinese players can only rely on their own struggle.

While Arthur and Monch were chatting, the twin starters of Blackburn Rovers and Tranmere had already begun to enter.

Blackburn changed two starters in this game, veteran captain Henning Berg returned from a thigh injury, and Drogba ended his suspension to replace the team's young striker Helen Pierce as the team's lone arrow.

After the opening, Blackburn Rovers overpowered their opponents in momentum, and only got the first chance to shoot on goal in the second minute after the opening period, Alonso, who was playing more and more well in Blackburn, a long pass from the backfield, Benayoun unloaded the ball to get rid of the opposing defender, and the volley from 13 meters was saved by the Tranmere goalkeeper.

Carsley then headed over Finnan's corner and David Dunn volleyed it wide from the edge of the box.

Blackburn Rovers almost scored again in the 10th minute, Duff crossed diagonally from the left, Drogba shook his head and shot into the top left corner from 10 meters in front of the goal, and the opposing goalkeeper made another contribution and flew his fingertips to lift the crossbar!

Then Duff took a corner kick from the left, and the "monster" headed the ball right from 9 meters in front of the goal, and it went into the arms of the Tranmere goalkeeper.

Everything seemed to be going in the direction Blackburn had hoped for, but just five minutes later, Blackburn suffered a heavy blow when veteran captain Henning Berg was hit by an opposing winger and injured his left knee.

Henning-Berg returned to the pitch with a bandage on his left knee, but was visibly unable to run when he picked up the ball and raised his hand to the sidelines for a substitution.

Henning Berg took off the captain's armband in frustration and fell back onto the turf, how could he not be depressed that the veteran, who had just returned from injury after nearly a month of recuperation, had only played less than 30 minutes before he could only return to the sequence of the injured and sick.

After putting the captain's armband on Jeff Kenner, Henning Berg was brought off on a stretcher, with the crowd giving a standing ovation and Carvalho coming off the bench.

Just as Henning Berg came off the pitch, Tranmere took the opportunity to play a wave of extremely dangerous attacks, the visiting team's No.10 center forward received a low cross from his team-mate from the left, turned beautifully to get rid of the back 11 meters from the goal, and was ready to shoot a powerful diagonal shot, but Carvalho, who had just come on the field, made a sliding tackle and kicked the ball off the line.

"This kid is growing up so fast!" Monchi exclaimed that it was Carvalho's performances during Henning-Berg's previous injury that kept Blackburn alive in League One's number one defence.

And after this injury, even if Henning Berg's form is not affected, he may not be able to squeeze Carvalho to the bench.

Carvalho, who came on as a substitute, was so good that the home fans quickly forgot about Henning Berg and quickly calmed Blackburn's panic over the departure of the captain with an injury.

At the end of the first half, the score was 0-0 and Blackburn did not concede a goal, but they did not score either.

However, this result has already given many Blackburn supporters a sigh of relief.

At the very least, Blackburn didn't fall behind in the first half after an unexpected injury to the absolute main player and captain, which is a good result.

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again, and Souness also realized through the performances of both sides in the first half that it would be difficult to stick to the attacking style of play at home, because the opponent's counter-attack was too fast.

This is one of the reasons why Carvalho has performed so well as a centre-back - how can Carvalho as a defender have a chance to perform if the opposition is not attacking in a disciplined manner?

Souness realised that if they continued to play like this, Blackburn would likely lose at home, which was not what Souness wanted.

There are three outcomes in a match, with a home defeat being the worst of all.

So he made a change at half-time to allow the team to focus more on defending and counter-attacking.

And the players have no objection to this, because of the extremely fast defensive counterattack, the hole card that Blackburn has relied on to survive this season, whether it is Benayoun, Duff, or even full-back Finnen, under Alonso's strategy, they are all quick knives that can pierce the enemy's chest!

Blackburn Rovers almost broke the deadlock in the 66th minute with a quick counter-attack, Duff ran wild down the left and then went straight into the box, and Drogba headed at the far post from 7 yards!

Three minutes later, Blackburn Rovers were back in action, this time with Benayoun's wide cross and David Dunn's low left-footed shot from 10 yards was blocked by the goalkeeper.

Souness repeatedly stressed this to his players at half-time – it would be nice to score goals. But if you can't score, don't let the opponent score.

So as the game entered the final 20 minutes, Blackburn Rovers were more likely to defend at the back.

Commentators have also had mixed reviews of Blackburn's adjustments.

'Souness made a change at half-time and Blackburn Rovers were more defensive in the second half, but I don't think it was the right choice. Because Blackburn Rovers are playing at home and are second in the league table, facing Tranmere as an underdog in this kind of attitude will not be liked by the home fans......"

"Blackburn Rovers are shrinking defensively and it's the right choice. I have a statistic here, although Blackburn Rovers are currently second in the table, but in the first 19 league games, they have only scored 29 goals, and their top scorer is the left wing-back Duff who has scored 6 goals, as for their positive Indian striker, Ben Boggs has only 2 goals, Drogba is slightly better, only 4 goals, as for Helen Pierce, who has only scored 1 goal, we can't be too demanding of him who is not yet 18 years old. In short, if you want to put all of this offensive firepower into the attack, I think this is a risk......"

Both of these statements are recognized and have made sense.

Arthur frowned when he looked at the chairman's VIP seat, the team's attack is actually not bad, whether it is Alonso's midfield scheduling, David Dunn's forward in the middle, Duff, Benayoun and Finnan's side attack, Drogba's impact to tear the defense line, in fact, it is not bad, but it is too lacking in the final kick.

Blackburn's 29 league goals, in fact, after putting aside the 6 goals in the first game, in the next 18 rounds of the league, only 23 goals were completed, under the support of Alonso, Duff and others' ability to "feed the cake", this is really bad!

With ten minutes left in the game, the score was still 0:0, which was a bit surprising and unexpected.

Unexpectedly, Blackburn really lacked the ability to break the goal, and quickly advanced to the opponent's penalty area line again and again, but he couldn't score a goal.

Originally, Tranmere saw that Blackburn's defense was so tenacious, so he had the mind of Mingjin to withdraw his troops. Coupled with the fact that Alonso has stayed on the pitch and harassed their backline with a long ball from time to time, and the threat of Duff and Benayoun from the flanks has made them even more fearful, so Tranmere is even more guilty of dropping the one point that is about to arrive in the final moments for the unlikely win.

Anyway, the final 0:0 result is not unacceptable to them, after all, relative to them, Blackburn, who is second in the high game standings, is a strong team, and it is naturally a good thing to draw strong with weak.

With this mentality dominant, the Tranmere players on the pitch also slowed down the tempo and also stopped Blackburn's counter-attack.

When the referee blew the full-time whistle for the death of the game, the score was fixed at 0:0.

With Blackburn Rovers at home under siege for most of the game, there was nothing they could do with Tranmere and it was not an easy outcome for them to accept.

At the end of the game, the TV broadcast gave some footage of the Blackburn fans in the stands, and some of the Blackburn fans in the footage were holding their heads in their hands, and some were frowning with regret.

Apparently they all know that for Blackburn, not winning at home to Tranmere in this game missed their best chance to overtake Fulham in the table.

In the chairman's VIP room, Arthur, who was frowning, suddenly let go, and said firmly to the club's sports director next to him: "Monchi, I need you on a business trip next!" The winter transfer is just a month away and we can't wait any longer! ”