Chapter 28: The Power of the Magpie (I)
PS: The group numbers of this group are five, four, eight, three, five, six, eight, five, five
With the end of the 2006 World Cup European qualifiers, the members of the various national teams were disbanded and returned to their respective clubs. Chen Zhun is pleased that the Southampton team was not infected with the FIFA virus and no players were injured during www.biquge.info this FIFA matchday.
On September 10th, all the players returned to the team, and Chen Zhun and Reed continued to recover their physical fitness in the morning training, so that those players who had just participated in the high-intensity national team competition had a buffer of physical recovery time. In the afternoon, the training was carried out with passing cooperation, and continued to deepen the tacit cooperation between teammates.
On the afternoon of this day, the Premier League's Best Manager of the Month and Player of the Month awards were announced, and Arsenal, who had won five consecutive games, won the victory, and manager Arsene Wenger and player Reyes won the titles of Best Manager and Player of the Month in August, respectively. Chen Zhun, the previous favorite for best coach, did not receive this honor. But Chen Zhun didn't know that there was such a thing at all.
On September 13th, Southampton played away to take on Charlton Athletic, and finally won 1-0 thanks to a powerful header from James Beatty. Southampton surprisingly continue their unbeaten run. In this game, Chen Zhun also inspected the performance of Charlton Athletic's right-back Luke Young throughout the whole game. His performance made Chen Zhun shine, with strong running ability, attacking and defending, full of tenacity, and brought a great threat to Southampton's left side. With this victory, Southampton quietly rose to second place in the standings. After this game, the major mainstream media in England "The Times", "The Guardian" and "BBC" all praised the rookie manager's miraculous performance since the start of the Premier League under the headline of "tactical genius". This kind of evaluation of seeing the wind and making the rudder also made Chen Zhun a little flustered, and he began to feel that the Premier League game was not as difficult as he imagined, and a rookie-level manager like himself was able to lead the Southampton team to achieve such results by relying on various tactics, I don't know if it was luck or he was really a tactical genius.
After the Premier League match, this year's Champions League group stage is back in action. Southampton, who are not in the Champions League, were given time to prepare for the weekend's game against Newcastle United. Chen Zhun is also ready to go to the scene to see the top competition in Europe, the Champions League that all stars yearn for.
Chen Zhun chose to watch the match between Arsenal and PSV Eindhoven at the Highbury Stadium. Arsenal eventually relied on an own goal from Alex to win a lucky 1 over PSV Eindhoven. In this game, Chen Zhun saw another side of Arsenal. Arsenal in the Premier League has a big kill, with excellent attacking ability and dazzling short passes. But in the Champions League, Arsenal changed the tactical thinking of the Premier League game, and instead of the oppressive attacking flashy play, they used the pragmatic tactics that Mourinho likes. If Arsenal does not have good attacking opportunities, they will carefully drag them at the back to defend, and even two full-backs, Reyes and Pire, rarely joined in the siege on the wings, strengthening the counter-attack and retreat speed after conceding the ball. The Arsenal manager also understands that the Champions League game is still mainly defensive, after all, he has suffered many fierce attacks in the Champions League, but he has been counterattacked by the opponent. In the Premier League, the wild knife is king, and in the Champions League, the knife is deadly. Arsene Wenger understands the truth. Chen Zhun in the stands also understood the deep meaning of this game.
Arsenal's game also gave Chen Zhun the first impression of the Champions League game, and it can be regarded as the impression of preparing for the Champions League game in advance and not knowing when it will come. Chen Zhun is no longer looking forward to participating in the UEFA Cup next season. Instead, they want to compete for qualification for the Champions League, although it is difficult to compete with the blue sky, with Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea competing for the four major teams in front, and Everton and Tottenham Hotspur waiting for an opportunity. But now Chen Zhun has been completely dazzled by the short-term light, he enjoys the taste of fame in a fight, and fantasizes about the temptation of the Champions League. What he didn't know was that behind the sunny English skies there was always a desperate storm.
Newcastle United Club, founded in 1881. Newcastle Football Club was one of the oldest football clubs in Europe. Fans affectionately refer to the team in the black and white striped jersey as the "Magpies". But in Chen's era, Newcastle United were relegated from the Premier League in 2015-2016, and an old Premier League powerhouse disappeared from the Premier League scene. Newcastle United have made a string of signings this summer transfer window. They spent £5 million on young player Filip Milner from the Young Guards, and Nicky Bhatt from Manchester United, while Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert moved to Newcastle United on a free transfer after ending his contract with Barcelona, forming a legendary forward combination with veteran Alan Shearer. However, Newcastle United's record in the first five rounds of games is only one win, one loss and three draws, which is difficult to satisfy the fans and the team's chairman Fernando Shepard, so the meritorious veteran Bobby Robson also stepped down in August. In this match against Southampton, Newcastle United's current manager Souness will try to win and alleviate the current decline.
The Premier League has experienced a short break and rekindled the flames. September 19, St. Mary's Stadium. Southampton play Newcastle United at home. The starting line-ups for both teams were released in yesterday's pre-match press conference. Both sides lined up the lineups they were most familiar with. Southampton's line-up is goalkeeper Niemi, and the back line is from left to right, Jelle van Dammer, Danny Higginbotham, Michael Svensson, Chris Baird. The midfield line is Matt Oakley, John Delap, Anders Svensson, Fabrice Fernandez. The forward line is James Beatty and Kevin Phillips. The lineup of Newcastle United from afar is goalkeeper Shay Given, the back line is Carr, Robbie Elliott, O'Brien, Bernard, and the midfield four are Jermaine Jenas, Lee Bowyer, Nicky Bhatt and Craig Bellamy. The forwards are the well-known Alan Shearer and Patrick Kluivert.
Two o'clock in the afternoon. The match between the two teams officially began. Chen Zhun was extremely confident of winning this game, and he was also extremely bold in his tactical deployment before the game, asking his players to participate in the attack and present a wonderful goal feast for the home team fans. However, his good intentions were disrupted in the fifth minute of the game.
In the fifth minute, Newcastle United's notorious midfielder Lee Bowyer tackled Anderson to the ground with a vicious tackle when he stole the ball at the feet of Anders Anderson in the centre circle. Anderson was also unable to hold on to the game because of the tackle this time, and was replaced by Neil McCann. Chen was unhappy with the foul and protested that the referee had only given Bowyer a yellow card, but to no avail. The confident Southampton team got lost in a trap designed by Newcastle United and couldn't help themselves. Newcastle United disrupted the rhythm of the Southampton team with vicious and savage tackles again and again, eating away at the confidence of the Southampton players little by little.