In the league at the weekend, Derby County host Birmingham, who are also old rivals.

In March last year, Derby County was seriously dealing with the game against Birmingham, which was in the FA Cup, when Birmingham was a very strong opponent for Derby, the whole team spent a long time on the training, and sent all the main starters, and Birmingham played a big game before knocking out Birmingham to advance to the next round of the FA Cup.

In the first half of the fixture, Derby County also played Birmingham, and the team also prepared for that game for two days.

Derby County have won both meetings, but the preparation for the game also showed that Birmingham are a serious opponent to deal with, but this is no longer the case.

When we met Birmingham, there was not a bit of tension in the team.

For the Derby County players, Birmingham have become ordinary opponents, and some players even feel that they don't need to prepare for the game at all, they just need to play when the time comes, and the team will be enough to win.

It's a bit careless, and it's a threat in the world of football, but in reality, Wan Sheng thinks the same thing.

With 38 league games to play, plus two cup competitions and European competitions, there are so many games to deal with that it is impossible to prepare for every game, and Birmingham are among the opponents who do not need to be serious.

This speaks to the improvement of the team.

Derby County is no longer the second-tier team that used to be, nor is it an ordinary Premier League promotion team, and now the team is also a top team in the Premier League, and it can completely wrestle with strong teams such as Chelsea and Manchester United, and it will not be at a disadvantage.

One team is improving, but the opposition is not, and the result is now - against Birmingham, a Premier League powerhouse, there is not a bit of tension in the team.

The two teams met again, and Wan Sheng also showed that it was quite easy.

At the pre-match press conference, Wan Sheng smiled at the media. 'If I were to say, we prepared a lot for the game and I think you would have believed it but we will win in the end, I believe in my players.

Birmingham City coach Bruce was speechless, but in reality, it didn't matter what he said, the most important thing was that he led the team to a poor result, so far, Birmingham are 16th in the league, almost in the relegation zone. This puts Bruce's position in jeopardy.

The only thing he can do is hold his breath and try to get points in the race.

Wan Sheng didn't care what Bruce thought.

In fact, the two are not familiar with each other but still know each other, but now they are opponents, there is nothing to say, the two represent two teams, and naturally there is no personal relationship to talk about.

Now that the two teams are not on the same level at all, it is not an exaggeration for Wansheng to say these words.

In the past, it was the managers of other teams who came to the Pride Stadium arrogantly disdainful Derby County. And now it's his turn to show disdain for the team that arrives on behalf of Derby.

There is a good saying in China, 'Feng Shui takes turns', and strength is reality.

The results of arrogance and disdain were also different, in the two years that Wansheng was in charge. Many other managers have done this, and they have tasted the bitter consequences of being slapped.

Bruce also wanted to slap in the face, but unfortunately his team didn't have the strength

Against Birmingham, Wan Sheng did not let Ribery, Alfred and Layton Bynes play. This is where he has to rotate a certain amount of rotation to give the three of them a rest round to prepare for the next UEFA Cup match.

Ribery could be replaced by Rousey. The position of Leighton Bynes is also Lichtsteiner, and Alfred is easier, whether it is Vidic or Marcus, the strength and form are very good.

Although Derby County didn't send their full squad, they did play 'IS-Fast' at home.

Derby County suppressed Birmingham City at full-time, and the in-form Burton Reiter scored early to leave the game in no suspense.

There were no twists and turns in the whole game, the goal was smooth, and the opponent did not have the slightest ability to resist, these three sentences are enough to describe the game.

3:0, Derby County easily won Birmingham.

When the game was over, Wan Sheng looked at the court, thinking about the team's progress in the past year, and sighed a lot in his heart, he knew that now his team has really become a strong team.

But the weak team has the goals of the weak team, and the strong team has the troubles of the strong team.

Birmingham are the kind of team that will be happy if they can avoid relegation, while Derby County will need to fight for the title, and if they can't win another title, let alone the players, even he will be very unhappy.

Because the goal is bigger, so is the pressure.

When the game was over, the whole team didn't even have the heart to celebrate the victory, so they went straight back to the club, and Wansheng announced that the team was disbanded and the players were given a day off.

Vacations these days are absolutely precious, and can even be described as extravagant.

Derby County has reached the point where a day off is a luxury

After playing a league game against Birmingham, Derby County welcomed AZ Alkmaar, their UEFA Cup opponents.

It's a team in the Eredivisie with a very short history, but the results are so good that they can even compete with PSV Eindhoven for the Eredivisie title.

For this team, Derby County still have to prepare for the game seriously.

Wan Sheng asked everyone to face the game squarely and prepare for the game seriously, and under his request, the training of the whole team became a lot stricter.

But on the contrary, the media did not look down on AZ Alkmaar, and the English media commented that this team was lucky to squeeze into the last 16 of the UEFA Cup, which can also be said to be the dark horse in the UEFA Cup.

Wan Sheng scoffed at these comments.

PSV Eindhoven is not a weak team, they are on the verge of monopolizing the Dutch Bundesliga title, will the team that can compete with PSV Eindhoven be a weak team?

That's all you know just by thinking about it.

However, he also understands the thoughts of those media, in the eyes of the media, fame may be more important than strength, such as Real Madrid, their whole team is big-name stars, and they are also one of the most famous clubs in Europe, and the power of the 'Galaxy Battleship' shocks the world, so. Despite Real Madrid's poor results in the last two seasons, they are still one of the strongest contenders for the European Champions League every year.

AZ Alkmaar is the opposite.

This is just an emerging Dutch powerhouse, which is not well-known in Europe, and cannot be compared with Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, so the media naturally thinks they are weak.

Before the game, Wansheng asked everyone to pay great attention to their opponents and not listen to the words of those media.

But he knows that just talking about it, the players will think that the coach is just taking the game seriously, and when it comes to AZ Alkmaar, they don't think it's going to be a strong team. Even Diamares thinks so, and he discussed it with Wan Sheng in private, "I think we should pay more attention to the next game against Chelsea, and it would be good to have a substitute lineup in this game, anyway, even if we lose, there will be a chance in the next leg." ”

Wan Sheng looked at Diamares and was silent.

Diamares's thoughts also represent the thoughts of the rest of the team, but Wan Sheng still feels that he has to deal with it seriously. Because he wants to win the UEFA Cup, if there is any accident, it will be difficult to recover it in the second round, after all, the second round will go to the Netherlands.

But everything Wansheng can do has been done. He can only hope that AZ Alkmaar is really like what the media says, just an underdog, not a strong team.

But he was disappointed.

When the two teams actually played each other, the Derby County players also knew how difficult their opponents were.

AZ Alkmaar are not weak. They were solid defensively, with a lot of Dutch touches to them and looked rigid at times. Sometimes it's a bit of a fantasy.

It's a bit hard to understand, but Alkmaar's attack was often unexpected, especially the long ball transition from the left and right flanks, which caught Derby's defence a little off guard.

As a result, in the 11th minute, AZ Alkmaar seized a chance and sent the ball into the back of the net.

0:1。

It was a beautiful goal, but it was also an incredible sight to be felt by the Derby fans, who simply looked down on AZ Alkmaar as an underdog, only to find the back of the net so quickly.

It was an away goal.

In the two-legged encounter, the away goal is very important, and AZ Alkmaar have this goal, even if Derby County score the next two goals, it will be tantamount to losing the game, because AZ Alkmaar return to the home stadium only need a 1-0 to eliminate Derby.

Derby County then organised attacks to equalise the scoreline, but Alkmaar defended tightly throughout the first half.

Soon the time went into halftime.

In the Derby County locker room, Wan Shengyan looked at all the players, and every player who was swept by his eyes couldn't help but bow his head, his face full of apprehension.

Wan Sheng repeatedly asked them to deal with the game seriously before the game, but many players' performance was not good, obviously this is directly related to the mentality, they did not face the opponent squarely, and were caught off guard by the opponent, and the state was naturally affected, when several players in the team were like this, the whole team's table was affected.

In the first half, the team did not play any advantage at all - the score was behind, and the situation was not suppressed.

"Now do you know what kind of opponent this is!?"

Wan Sheng opened his mouth like a question, no one answered, even Diamares lowered his head embarrassedly, before the game, he also persuaded Wan Sheng to send a substitute lineup to play, who thought that now it is almost the main lineup, and the result is still one goal behind.

Wan Shengyan stared at everyone and said, "I don't want to criticize any of you, and I don't want to talk about the first half of the game, but I want to see you return to normal in the second half!" ”

Wan Sheng didn't say anything more, he knew that it was enough for the players to know the difficulty of the opponent.

If the opponent shows his strength, and they make careless mistakes again, then it is not careless, it is purely a bad state, and of course he doesn't mind replacing these players.

At the end of the fifteen minutes, when the whole team was about to return to the court, Wan Sheng emphasized this point again, "I have three substitutions in my hand, I don't mind using them all in a while!" ”

"The person who was replaced will not have to play next time!"

Wan Sheng said loudly.

There is no need to talk about the next time, and everyone in the team knows that the team's next game against Chelsea, the first and second in the league, will be enough to attract the attention of the vast majority of fans in England.

Fans who follow the Premier League throughout Europe, and even around the world, are likely to follow the game, and it is not known how many domestic and foreign TV stations will broadcast the game live.

There is no player who doesn't want to play in a tournament like this.

So everyone in the team is forced to show their strength well, otherwise if they are replaced, they will really lose a lot if they don't say anything! (To be continued......)