The last game of 2002 was defeated, and Chen Xi and his teammates were obviously not having a good time this New Year.

This defeat made Chen Xi clearly realize that Tottenham Hotspur is not as strong as Tottenham thinks. In fact, with the staffing of the Tottenham team, it has to be said that it is a miracle to play this record!

Except for Chen Xi, there are not even a few stars in the Tottenham team. The slightly more famous Sheringham, Ziggy and Redknapp are all veterans in their thirties.

Aside from these three people, Robbie Keane is a player who is in his prime and can be called a star.

The other absolute workhorses, Simon Davies, Stephen Carr, Keller and Ledley King, can only be regarded as strong players in the Premier League, and as for players like Flender and Richards, their quality is only a standard mid-table team.

With such a configuration, in the Premier League, which pays more and more attention to the star effect, it is already a miracle to be able to reach the top four. Not to mention being a member of the championship team like now.

Halfway through this season, Chen Xi's personal performance obviously played a crucial role!

When facing a team that is not as strong as Tottenham, Tottenham can win the game by playing as a whole, and Chen Xi only needs to create opportunities for his teammates with peace of mind. In the face of strong opponents or opponents in a burst state, the Tottenham team as a whole will be at a disadvantage, and more can only rely on Chen Xi's personal performance.

It is not difficult to find that Chen Xi's outstanding performance in several games this season is against a strong Premier League team!

In such a game, when the team can't open the situation, Chen Xi often turns into a lone hero, bringing into full play the personal heroism that can only be seen in American blockbusters!

And once Chen Xi's form is affected, as in the game against Blackburn, Tottenham will have to accept defeat.

This game against Newcastle is a special case, Chen Xi's condition is not bad, and his performance is also very good. However, the opponent Newcastle United is a perfect combination of individual brilliance and overall team performance!

The leading scorer Shearer was in great form, with two shots and one pass, and the other players also performed well, especially on the defensive end, who successfully cut off the connection between Chen Xi and his teammates. Their goalkeeper Jiwen defused Chen Xi's threatening shots many times.

In this way, Tottenham can only swallow the bitter fruit of defeat.

Newcastle's successful win over Tottenham Hotspur is bound to be the focus of the rest of the league. The tactics of the old coach Robson will inevitably be used by other managers to deal with Tottenham and Chen Xi.

As a result, Tottenham will inevitably encounter more and more difficult situations in the second half of the season! ――

Tottenham's defeat has also been the subject of scramble in the British media. The major newspapers have been analysing the reasons for Tottenham's defeat.

Among them, Howard of "The Sun" will naturally not let go of this opportunity. Tottenham's previous brave and consistent performances once forced him to be honest for a while. This time, I can finally vent the resentment that I have been holding back for a long time.

In his column, "St James' Stadium: Tottenham's Waterloo", he carefully analysed the reasons for Tottenham's defeat and boldly predicted that after this defeat, Tottenham's results would begin to decline as they did in the second half of last season.

Howard also reiterated one of his previous opinions: the middle of the league is the real home of Tottenham!

After seeing this article, many Tottenham fans scolded Howard for being shameless. And took out an article he wrote a few months ago to satirize this guy, it was the first leg of the north London derby, and Howard also used the word "Waterloo" to say that Tottenham would step down from the altar in Highbury. As a result, Tottenham Hotspur has been holding on until the halfway point of the season!

Regarding the report of Howard's fall, Chen Xi was also angry. However, in his opinion, the team has to make some adjustments. The winter transfer market, which opens in January, is very important for Tottenham. The team must bring in some quality players in key positions to enhance the overall strength of the team and the depth of the bench.

To a certain extent, whether Tottenham can show their determination to win the championship in the winter transfer market is also an important factor for Chen Xi to consider whether to renew his contract!

In fact, Tottenham also planned for the winter transfer period early. Although the team is now saddled with almost £20 million in debt, chairman Levy has pledged to invest a transfer fund in the winter.

In the team's plan, it is best to be able to add a central defender who can play the main team, a midfielder who can attack and defend well and a striker who can score key goals.

Needless to say, the backline has always been the weakness of Tottenham Hotspur before. With Ledley King suffering from injuries and Gardner and Richards a bit flirtatious defensively, an experienced and capable centre-back is what Tottenham need.

However, there are not many such central defenders in the transfer market, especially in the winter transfer market, as a backline player who needs more run-in, he generally does not choose to change clubs in the winter.

Tottenham have set their sights on Leeds United, who have been forced to sell players due to the economic crisis.

Leeds United's 23-year-old Woodgate is one of the best centre-backs in England today and has been rumored to be sold for cash in the winter.

As soon as the doors of the transfer market open, Tottenham will be involved in the race for Woodgate. But for such a good homegrown centre-back, Tottenham will face a lot of challenges from their rivals!

However, the thought of the centre-back partnership of Woodgate and Ledley King makes Tottenham Hotspur brass and Hoddle excited.

In terms of midfield, Tottenham Hotspur's eyes are also on Leeds United, Leeds United's French midfielder Dacourt, who can't play the main team, has long been clamoring to leave, and now Leeds United urgently needs to cash out to pay off debts, and the French may be listed in the winter.

As a technical midfielder, Darkett can be described as attacking and defending, both as a central partner with captain Redknapp and as a replacement for Redknapp when he is injured.

As for the strikers, Tottenham are still targeting Real Madrid centre-forward Morientes, who they chased before the season.

Due to Ronaldo's arrival at Real Madrid, Morientes has completely lost his main position in the first half of the season, and leaving the Bernabeu temporarily is his best choice. Given Morientes' high transfer fee, it is more likely that Tottenham have offered to acquire the Spanish centre-forward on loan.

Of course, in addition to these three players, Tottenham have a few spare targets.

While Tottenham Hotspur was figuring out how to dig into other people's corners, some big clubs also dug their hoes at Tottenham.

These giant teams have only one goal, and that is Chen Xi!

On the first day of 2003, Tottenham received an offer from Liverpool's Chen Xi!

£15 million! It's not too high, but it's a big deal in the winter transfer market. Especially since they are still targeting a newcomer who has played in the league in his first year, and this newcomer has only half a year left on his contract with Tottenham!

Speaking of which, the right thing to do seems to be to wait until the end of the season, and if Chen Xi does not renew his contract with Tottenham, he will sign him for free with a high salary.

But in this way, it is a big risk for the Liverpool team.

First of all, such a premise is that Chen Xi will not renew his contract with Tottenham. Once Tottenham successfully renews Chen Xi's contract, 1500 million pounds may be difficult to tempt Tottenham clubs. After all, Chen Xi's first season has already played superstar to statistics, and now almost no one doubts how bright his future will be.

Secondly, even if Chen Xi did not renew his contract with Tottenham. Liverpool are also not too sure that they will be able to sign Chen Xi. At that time, Manchester United, Arsenal and some giants in other leagues will undoubtedly join the competition for Chen Xi.

With such a talented young player signing for free, who would easily let go of such a great opportunity?

15 million pounds, not only reflects the sincerity of the Liverpool team, but also reflects their lack of confidence to a certain extent.

This former dominant team in England and even the whole of Europe has not won many honors in recent years, and its title as a giant is mostly maintained by some previous honors. They are reluctant to put it off until this summer because it will be a direct conversation about the strength of the club. They can't guarantee that their appeal will be comparable to that of other giants.

Such an offer, in the case of Chen Xi's reluctance to renew his contract with the club, really made the Tottenham club a little excited. However, they are more inclined to renew the contract with Chen Xi and keep Chen Xi.

At the same time, they didn't dare to imagine what the team would become without Chen Xi in the second half of the season.

Therefore, Tottenham finally rejected the offer of the Liverpool team, and declared that Chen Xi was not for sale, and the team would soon renew Chen Xi's contract!

There is no doubt that in the next month, they will also use this reason to reject other teams that are interested in Chen Xi.

After learning of Liverpool's offer to him, Chen Xi was also really moved by the sincerity of the Red Army.

How much courage does it take to be willing to spend £15 million to sign a young man with only six months left on his contract?

To be sure, Tottenham don't have that kind of boldness. At least, not yet!

However, Chen Xi does not plan to leave the club in the winter. In his opinion, since he has been in a club, he should at least leave something for the team, even if he does not renew his contract and has to leave at the end of the season, he hopes to leave at least one trophy for Tottenham!

(To be continued)