"Arthur, what do you think?" In the chairman's office, there were only two people, Arthur and Mourinho, both frowning, and the conversation between the two was about Blackburn's plan for three games in the next half a month. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

And the opponents in these three games are all one team - Arsenal.

On 25 March, Blackburn Rovers will face Arsenal in the first leg of this season's Champions League quarter-finals.

On March 29, Blackburn Rovers will face Arsenal in the 30th round of the league this season.

On 7 April, Blackburn Rovers will face Arsenal in the second leg of this season's Champions League quarter-finals.

League matches?

Champions?

Or is it a league and a Champions League?

"I want the fish, and the bear's paw is what I want, and I can't have both, give up the fish and take the bear's paw." Arthur remembered the words that came out of his mouth last year when he had to make a two-line choice.

"It's really **** luck!" Arthur was thinking about the situation in the Premier League this season, and complained frustratedly.

Since the start of the 2003-04 season, Blackburn Rovers have been in the Premier League without a lot of reinforcements.

The likes of Frank Lampard, Marcos Alonso, Ibrahimovic Ibrahimovic, Carvalho and Ashley Cole continued their impressive performances from last season, with the first three each receiving the Premier League Player of the Month award.

And the new signings who joined the team in the summer are also full of surprises.

For a 30-year-old like Claude Makelele, joining Blackburn Rovers has been a seamless fit, and he has been an integral part of Blackburn's defence since the first game.

At Ewood Park, Claude Makelele provided a template for all future midfielders to play - never leave the defensive area in front of the penalty area until the team's full-backs cross the central circle, do everything possible to reduce the number of touches, hand over the ball to the midfield commander as soon as the ball is broken, never expect to be able to rush into the box and score from set-pieces, like a good referee, to make people forget that they are standing on the pitch.

And it is precisely because of the arrival of Makelle that Blackburn's defense has become the top existence in the Premier League and even in Europe.

As for another recent Blackburn Rovers midfielder, Deco, although he can't get a solid absolute main position like Makelele, he can effectively organize Real Madrid's attack when Alonso is injured, and Mourinho has been an indispensable player in the 4-3-3 formation this season.

In the game, the midfield commander composed of Deco and Alonso or Lampard can not only effectively intercept the opponent's attack, but also have a high accuracy of passing in the counterattack, and mostly threaten the ball, escorting and delivering shells for the strikers.

In this season, Deco has played the characteristics of fast ball, accurate passing, and agile movement at his feet to the fullest, and has repeatedly skillfully transferred the ball when the opponent is surrounded by multiple people, which is a great weapon for Blackburn to break the defensive press, and it is also the engine of the midfield attack.

Cristiano Ronaldo, whom Arthur is most concerned about, is currently satisfied with his current growth rate.

After joining Blackburn, Ronaldo played mainly on the right wing, but was also involved in attacks on the left from time to time. He used his gorgeous footwork and excellent dribbling ability to make the fans shine in his eyes.

However, from the superstar of the future generation, the current Ronaldo is still too immature, at least at the beginning of next season, he will not be able to really shake the starting position of Jiuli on the right side.

As for the rest of the new signings such as Mendieta and Shunsuke Nakamura, they can also provide enough strength and contribution to the team in a limited playing time, which is a great value for money.

It is precisely because of leading such a group of strong players that in the first 29 rounds of the league just ended, Mourinho's Blackburn Rovers got 70 league points with 21 wins, 7 draws and 1 loss.

This result is undoubtedly the biggest favourite for the Premier League title in previous years, but in front of Arsenal, who have played chicken this year, this result simply cannot touch the edge of the league table.

Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in the summer and then brought in stars such as Duff, Veron and Joe Cole, and many believe the Blues will be successful and one of Blackburn's biggest contenders for a treble title.

But as it turned out, the times could not make Ranieri that hero. The Italian could have led Chelsea into a competitive team, but he was too tactful and lacked focus, personality and leadership.

Even if Abramovich invested 200 million pounds to buy the man, the impact of Arthur's early robbery of Makelle was huge, resulting in huge hidden dangers in the Chelsea defence, making Chelsea only a sacrifice for Arsenal and Blackburn this season in the Premier League competition.

After 29 Premier League games, Chelsea are third in the table with 61 points.

Also in the summer, David Beckham left Manchester United for Real Madrid, and United were hit by Rio Ferdinand's ban for failing to take a drug test, and he was unable to play for four months at the beginning of the season, while Manchester United bought a rebellious young talent Quaresma from Sporting Lisbon, which led most people to believe that the Red Devils are more in the stage of accumulation this season, no longer the favourites, and are currently two points behind Chelsea and fourth in the table.

In fact, Cristiano Ronaldo is easier to train than Quaresma, although under the earnest guidance of Ferguson, Quaresma's growth is far from the path of the previous "parallel import", but it still cannot become a reliable and trustworthy ace for the Red Devils this season.

For Manchester United, this season may only be a transitional period between the old and the new, and Ferguson started the team change ahead of schedule, looking to the future for the longer term.

United's two newcomers have been particularly impressive this season, with Quaresma's magic dribbling and brilliant outside instep blasts often opening the door to victory, while Fletcher is starting to find his place, playing far better in the central midfield role than he used to be on the right flank.

However, in addition to the two key promotions, Ferguson also has his own long-term plans, and in his opinion, Arsenal's glory will not last long, because with a group of young talents that are growing, the Manchester United giants will wake up in the near future.

Manchester City manager Keegan famously said that apart from the traditional top teams, most teams in the Premier League meet each other in a "dog-eat-dog" game.

Sadly, at least this season, Liverpool and Newcastle United have also fallen into the "dog eat dog" ranks.

Liverpool, currently only in eighth place in the standings, is not as good as it has been under Houllier's leadership; Newcastle are struggling with a poor away record, and it is not easy for a team with just one away win in the half-season to be in seventh place for the time being.

The gap between the two teams is 29 and 27 points away from Arsenal at the top of the table, and 15 and 13 points away from third-placed Chelsea, double the difference in points from the previous game. This is enough to show that the gap between the second echelon led by them and the top three is gradually widening.

The most successful team in the first half of the Premier League this season is undoubtedly Arsenal.

The Gunners were like a solid marathon runner who was always running at his own pace, leaving all opponents behind him with ease.

However, the Gunners and Blackburn Rovers won the first half of the Premier League with ease, thanks in large part to Manchester United's change, Abou's arrival and the Reds' weakness.

The Gunners' attack has been pleasing in recent seasons, with Thierry Henry's firepower at Arsenal and the Gunners on a surging run all year round. However, the good news this season is that their defence has improved a lot, and in the first half of the season they even scored six fewer goals than last season, but also conceded eight fewer goals), which shows that the team is more pragmatic and mature.

'Everyone has to admit that we are the best team in the country,' said Bergkamp, 'and we played differently and we deserved it. ”

In the first 29 games of the season, Arsenal have handed over an astonishing record of 23 wins and 6 draws, leading Blackburn Rovers by as many as five points and leading the top of the table, while Blackburn's only defeat in the league this season was against Arsenal.

Arthur saw Arsenal's strength this season and realized that the current Gunners are stronger in strength and morale than Arsenal, who won the title unbeaten this season in the previous game.

After all, the current Arsenal team did not win the league championship two years ago like Arthur's previous life, and they are holding their breath this season without a championship for many years, ready to beat all opponents, and under Arthur's first preparation, this season's Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool have the main players of the previous life were poached by Blackburn, which has instead fulfilled Arsenal, so this Arsenal is stronger and unstoppable than Arthur's previous team at the same time.

"I really can't expect other teams to cause too much trouble for Arsenal." Arthur was somewhat resigned after studying Arsenal's subsequent fixtures.

Then Arsenal's schedule is more relaxed, even if Blackburn can continue the excellent performance of only one league loss in the previous game, we must hope that there will be a "friendly army" to delay Arsenal's ability to score points.

"The good thing is that this is Arsenal's last breath, and there will be no more gunners like this after that." Arthur sighed inwardly, knowing that if nothing changed dramatically, this season would be Arsenal's most glorious season, but it would also be Arsenal's last season to dominate the Premier League.

After this season, Arsenal began to pay off their debts for the newly built Emirates Stadium, and began a period of no championship for many years, ridiculed as a "race for the four", and there was still no change until 2017 before Arthur's rebirth.

"Looks like the focus this season is going to move to the Champions League?" Arthur remembered Blackburn's current Champions League results this season, as well as the "history" of the previous season's Champions League, and a layer of inexplicable anticipation appeared on his face, "This year is the best opportunity!" ”

In the 2003-04 season, the UEFA Champions League cancelled the second stage of the group stage, that is, after the round of 16, the knockout stage was played directly until the winner was decided.

Last season's Champions League round of 16 was divided into 4 groups, continuing to play a round-robin format, the top two in each group entered the top 8, and then the knockout round, last season Blake was in the two stages of the group stage to advance to the top 8, but was eliminated by the Champions League champion Juventus over two legs.

After the reform of the Champions League this season, the round of 16 went straight to the knockout round, which for Blackburn, who only had one year of Champions League experience, the impact was not as great as that of other European giants who regularly played in the Champions League.

Blackburn have been drawn in Group G this season with Czech side Sparta Prague, Turkish football giants Besiktas and Serie A's Lazio.

Although Sparta Prague and Besiktas are both dominants of their respective leagues, their overall strength is far inferior to the top five major European leagues, and Lazio is no longer as brave as it used to be.

In the face of such a group opponent who was not strong enough, Blackburn played smoothly in the group stage, only because of the early qualification, losing to Sparta Prague in one away game, winning the remaining five games, and finally joining hands with Sparta Prague to qualify.

Blackburn's opponent in the quarter-finals is Stuttgart from the Bundesliga.

In the Blackburn vs. Stuttgart matchup, Blackburn are clearly favored. Blackburn Rovers have the advantage of being away and then home, and the overall squad strength is stronger than Juve.

In fact, it was exactly as follows that Blackburn Rovers scored a valuable away goal in a 1-1 draw at Stuttgart in the first leg. In the second leg, Blackburn Rovers played a defensive counterattack at home, defeated Stuttgart 2:0 with two counterattacks in the way of boiling frogs in warm water, eliminated Stuttgart with an aggregate score of 3:1 over two legs, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League for two consecutive years.

Blackburn's opponent in the Champions League quarter-finals is Arsenal, who are five points ahead of them in the league, and the two teams will face a terrifying schedule of three meetings in half a month.

Therefore, Mourinho once again put the question of choosing the league or the Champions League in front of Arthur.

League matches?

Champions?

Fight for the league and the Champions League?

With just nine league games remaining, Arsenal are just five points ahead of Blackburn Rovers and can narrow the gap to two points if Blackburn can beat Arsenal at home.

2 points?

With 8 league games remaining, it doesn't seem like a problem at all.

"Do you want to continue to fight in the league?" Arthur asked himself.

With a great chance of defending his title, it was difficult for Arthur to give up on the answer. (To be continued.) )