With the referee's whistle, the first round of the Blackburn Rovers Premier League in the 98-99 season officially began. It was also the first Premier League game of George's managerial career.

George has high hopes for this match, and everyone is willing to make a good start in their first game. Now that George has just joined Blackburn, many people are holding a magnifying glass to find George's faults. Even Blackburn fans don't trust George, and only results can make a difference at this time.

George has taken a closer look at what is now West Ham United, which is a very typical English club.

George hoarded five men in midfield, definitely not because of conservatism. It's related to George's idea of Blackburn's transformation. George has three very skilled players in midfield: Deco, Miku and Pire. It's about using their excellent skills to control the ball and play a kind of pressing football.

The English style of play has always been to move quickly through midfield and then solve problems in front. But George had to do the opposite, dominating the midfield. Only by controlling the midfield will the team's victory be within reach.

English clubs have never had a midfielder position, and this has something to do with the characteristics of English football. Even if there have been some good midfielders, when they arrive in England, they will end up disgraced. Because they don't adapt to English football, they can't adapt to the rhythm of English football.

But George doesn't think it's the fault of the midfielders, or their poor fit. It's about buying midfielders who are quick to give up as soon as they don't fit into English football for a short period of time.

And they don't have a formation for those who are good up front, and they can play to their strengths. Still playing their football habits, so that those players are more difficult to play to their strengths.

Of course, in the future, as various teams pay more and more attention to defense, there is less and less place for the midfielders. But at least in the current world football, the design of the forward midfield is still very common.

However, the game did not develop according to George's vision, and George's demand for the team was to control the ball first. Don't rush to attack, and don't retreat. It's for the Blackburn midfielder to control the tempo of the game, and once the tempo of the game is controlled, the following development is logical.

But......

"Pire, oops...... Piret conceded another goal, and I don't know if it was because he wasn't in good form today or if he didn't adapt to English football. Martin Taylor shook his head. I've seen some Metz fights before, and Pire shouldn't be like that. ”

'It's not just Pire, Miku has conceded a couple of times. Neither of them adapted to English football. ”

George also frowned on the sidelines, blaming himself for taking the Premier League too lightly. During the training camp, George saw that although Blackburn had a short time to cooperate, Pire and Miku were both very high ball quotients. The cooperation between the two is very tacit.

Even in the warm-up game, the performance of the two was the best in the team. Pire, in particular, was no worse than Duff on the right. On Blackburn's left flank, they were at home with passes, passes and even shots.

But George overlooked the difference between the warm-up game and the Premier League. At that time, when the warm-up game was arranged, it was just to test the tacit understanding of the team's cooperation. Forget about the difference between the English league.

English football, especially the Premier League, can be described as fast in one word, and it's not just fast-paced. Defensively, England players are willing to use their bodies to charge, and they are also ruthless and quick with their feet. They don't give the attacking side a chance to pass the ball calmly, they tend to go over to defend and grab the ball as soon as you get the ball.

And Pire, Miku, Deco and Makelele have not played in England. In particular, Pire, Miku and Makelele are all from the French league, which has a lot of technically good players. But their pace of play and English football are two very different styles of football.

Pire, Miku and Claude Makelele, all of a sudden, were very unaccustomed to the way England played.

Especially Pire and Miku, they both have a habit. Of course, this habit is developed in Ligue 1, and they will pause after taking the ball to look at the situation on the field. Anyway, their movements are very chic, but in such a fast-paced game in the Premier League, you can obviously feel the slowness of half a beat.

They just got the ball and as soon as they paused, the opposing player would press it up. And the kick is very fast, this kind of scene they rarely encounter in Ligue 1. If they just move a little slower, they will lose the ball. This is definitely not because the skills of the two of them are not good, but the skills of the two of them are definitely the top in the Premier League.

As long as the two of them are in good spirits, few will actually be able to snatch their balls. They just weren't used to the fast pace of the Premier League, and the speed was so fast that the two of them couldn't adapt to it, so they were cut off.

All of a sudden, Pire and Miku became the players who conceded the most goals, and Klose at the front did not concede more than they conceded. Klose has been in England for three years and is no stranger to English football. So after you get the ball, you will deal with it as soon as possible.

George was almost helpless off the pitch, because this situation was not something that could be solved in a moment. They need time to adapt to the English style of play and the way they play for so long.

There are also Romeddal, Gudjohnsen and Hargreaves on the bench, and only Romeddal can fight on the wing. And midfielder Hargreaves George wasn't going to be activated so soon.

All Miku and Pire need now is time and they need time to adapt to the Premier League. George has to give them that time, and he can't just replace them because they're not doing well right now.

"Steady, steady. Don't be led by them, play your own way. George hurried to grab Sagnol on the sidelines. You tell John and Robert not to rush them. It's still the usual training, and you can play how you want. ”

George originally wanted to find Hendry, but unfortunately Hendry didn't know French. Pire and Miku are not good at English now, so George asked Sagnor to pass the word.

But the effect was still the same, and I finally survived the first half. At half-time, George was always encouraging his players, especially for Pire and Miku, who often conceded goals.

However, the results were mediocre, and less than twenty minutes into the second half, Claude Makelele did not handle the ball cleanly and was cut off by Frank Lampard. Then it was handed to Steve Lomas, who cut into the box and fired a low shot that Flores caught off guard and the ball rolled into the middle of the net.

Upton Park erupted in earth-shattering cheers, and George could only sigh from the sidelines.

The most commendable thing about Makelele's future is his position and his decisiveness. He rarely concedes in his position, and he's not used to the pace of the Premier League.

Later, although George made personnel changes, he was still powerless to change. In the end, Blackburn Rovers lost 0-1 away.

"Congratulations, Coach Redknapp." George rarely congratulates a winner with such grace, especially when the loser is himself.

George is not to blame for this defeat, though, it's a process that a new team has to go through.

"It's not like you." Redknapp laughed, but there was definitely no triumph in that smile. Although it was a smile, it did not make George feel that it was a humiliation.

"And what do you think I should do?"

"You should keep a gloomy face, turn around and leave. And then I didn't even attend the press conference. ”

"Haha, am I such a person?"

"Of course, you go outside and ask a reporter. They'll all say that about you. ”

George and Redknapp didn't look like a pair of opponents who had just finished the race, but rather looked like old friends who hadn't seen each other for a long time.

But one thing Redknapp was really right, George was very normal when talking to Redknapp. Talking and laughing with Redknapp, there was no displeasure at all. But after turning around, George was still very dissatisfied.

A coach is not a coach if he really doesn't care if he loses the game. George was angry, but wouldn't show him. Because today's defeat is only because the team has been formed for too little time.

So in the press conference that followed, as Redknapp said, George said he was not feeling well, and let Evan Sawyer go to the press conference instead of George.

Redknapp almost burst out laughing when he heard Evan say that George couldn't attend the press conference because he wasn't feeling well. When we first met, George was still alive and kicking, and suddenly he said that he was unwell.

A reporter also asked this question, and Evan shrugged. "I'm not a doctor, you can ask the doctor."

The group of reporters below was dumbfounded, but they actually had a lot of questions to ask George. And I want to give this George who doesn't give the reporter face a little color, but unfortunately George didn't give them this opportunity.

The reporters below are secretly thinking about how to ridicule George, a young coach with no one in sight, in tomorrow's newspapers.

Redknapp didn't see George coming, and wasn't much interested. After casually answering some questions, he left the press conference.