Volume 1 Chapter 495 The Group of Death

The first round of the league is usually not easy to play, for the simple reason that it is not in form, and there is a lack of rhythm in the league.

The human body is very strange, and you can only play well when you are in a rhythm that you are used to and are familiar with, so the start of the league is a process of groping and finding the rhythm for all teams.

It's hard to say how fast or slow this process is, and no one can give an explanation.

It was like Arsenal's opening game at the Emirates Stadium when they welcomed the Bloomers West Bromwich Albion, a game they played rather poorly but were lucky as they scored a goal from new signing Nasri just over four minutes into the game and then held it until the end of the game, beating the Bloomers 0.

Equally bad was Manchester United, who faced Newcastle at Old Trafford and were attacked by Martins, but Fletcher equalised two minutes later, but the Reds never seemed to find the back of the net and could only watch as Keegan's side walked away a point from Old Trafford.

Tottenham Hotspur's first round was not very good either, taking on Gareth Southgate's Middlesbrough side away.

The team was not weak, with the likes of Downing, Alphonso Alves, and Toncay in the squad, while Tottenham Hotspur had a brilliant first half, with goals from Thiago Silva and Robin van Persie giving the team a 0-0 lead, but Robert Hutter pulled a goal back for Middlesbrough with a corner kick in the second half.

The final score was I Tottenham Hotspur defeated Middlesbrough away.

The saddest performance in the first round was Mark Hughes' Manchester City.

The team, which has spent a lot of money to strengthen the squad this season, challenged Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa in the first round of the new season, but was conceded four goals by Aston Villa on the road, and finally ended up with a heavy defeat of 4, which did not show the ambition and strength of Mark Hughes to strive for the top four.

Striker Abang Lajo scored a hat-trick to become the most eye-catching player in the first round of the league and the top scorer in the Premier League in the new season, which also attracted a lot of media and fans.

However, the best performance in the first round of the Premier League was Scolari's Chelsea, who won Redknapp's Portsmouth at home in 40 and rushed directly to the league leader, and these four goals were scored by four different players, and the attacking ability is good, so many people are optimistic about Chelsea's prospects this season.

A week later, Tottenham Hotspur sat at White Hart Lane and welcomed the Black Cats Sunderland.

Speaking of which, Roy Keane's side also caused a lot of problems for Tottenham Hotspur at the start of last season, and this time Roy Keane once again showed their ambition to beat Tottenham Hotspur on the road, but they lost at White Hart Lane, although they lost but saved face.

Chelsea at Wigan, Manchester United beat Portsmouth 0, Liverpool beat Middlesbrough at home, Arsenal lost 0 at Fulham and Manchester City beat West Ham 0 at home.

After two rounds, the situation in the Premier League has changed, with only three teams winning two in a row, namely Chelsea at the top of the table, Tottenham Hotspur in second, and Liverpool in third, followed by Manchester United and Blackburn, while Arsenal are outside the top ten.

Tottenham Hotspur's big win over Manchester United in the Community Shield, but did not play the wave of attack that fans expected in the first two rounds of the league, many football professionals have commented that this is mainly due to the eye-catching performance of the Community Shield, which led to a conservative strategy including Middlesbrough and Sunderland.

And Tottenham Hotspur has so far failed to find a good and effective way to combine the creative and delicate midfield with the more powerful and explosive front wings, especially between Gareth Bale, Van Persie and Cavani, without the kind of interaction and movement similar to the previous Trident.

This has also become a big problem for Tottenham Hotspur in the new season, and considering that the first two rounds of the league team did not run very well, other teams have relatively coping strategies, so many people feel that with the return of Messi and others from the Olympics, it will help Tottenham Hotspur to regain attacking football.

After the first two rounds of the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur conducted an activity at the Theorebold training base, the whole team took a family photo of the new season, and each player wore a formal suit provided by the newly signed sponsor Versace, for which Versace also specially arranged a complete set of makeup artists, photographers and other shooting teams to come to the Theorebold training base.

Versace's sponsorship of Tottenham Fever is for two years, with an annual sponsorship fee of 4 million euros, which is also about the same level as the formal sponsors of major clubs, and considering Versace's fame, it will help Tottenham Hotspur to increase its influence.

For Versace, who has not been in a very good position for the past few years, losing money almost every year, and has just made extensive layoffs, it is important for them to actively develop markets outside Europe, especially in Asia and North America, with the influence of Tottenham Hotspur and Ye Qiu.

In Tottenham Hotspur's contract with Versace, the first appearance was in the UEFA Super Cup, as well as the UEFA Champions League group stage draw and award ceremony, which is also Tottenham Hotspur's first appearance in the new season.

The group departed from London to Monaco, entered the hotel that had been booked by UEFA, and then left for the Grimaldi meeting in Monaco that evening

This is also the first full appearance of Tottenham Hotspur in the new season, including Messi and other four players who participated in the Olympic Games, as well as Ribery who was injured, all came to the scene, and everyone's overall suit and dress did blind the eyes of countless fans and killed countless media in seconds.

As the defending champions, Tottenham Hotspur have a direct qualification for a group stage seed, and they will form a seeded team with the other seven teams with the highest European points, and if not talking about seeding, the team with the highest European points in the past few years has been Chelsea, which will depend on one title and one runners-up in Ye Qiu's two years in charge of the Blues.

There are four teams in the Champions League group stage in the Premier League this season, with Arsenal and Chelsea both playing in the third round of qualifying, but both progressed, while interestingly, with the exception of Tottenham Hotspur, who did not have enough points but were seeded because they were the defending champions, the other three teams were seeded.

This has made the Premier League have four seeded teams, accounting for half of the eight seeded teams, from this point it is not difficult to see the current strength of the Premier League, and this is not counting Liverpool who did not participate in the Champions League, otherwise, according to the previous UEFA European points ranking, Liverpool ranked first among all teams

The Premier League is indeed the strongest league in the past few seasons, and the title of the world's No. 1 league is not exaggerated.

Originally, Ye Qiu was not interested in participating in this kind of UEFA event, which was very dissatisfied with some of his behaviors towards Johansson back then, but since Platini came to power, he took the initiative to get closer to Ye Qiu, and his attitude towards Tottenham Hotspur is also very good, so Ye Qiu is also happy to borrow the slope to get off the donkey.

There is no doubt that after beating Manchester United in a near-miraculous comeback in Tottenham Hotspur's Champions League final, Ye Qiu won the UEFA Manager of the Season award with almost no rivals.

In the past, Ye Qiu wanted to take the award, but he couldn't get it, but now he feels that it doesn't matter, but it took the initiative to send it to the door, the world of this world is so weird, you don't give it to you when you want it, you don't want it, but he insists on stuffing it into your hand.

won the Coach of the Season award, Ye Qiu was also congratulated by Ferguson, Wenger and others, especially the Frenchman, who returned to the Champions League after a year's absence, and his mood looked good.

The best goalkeeper of the season, undoubtedly belongs to Tottenham Hotspur's Peter Cech, last season's Champions League and Premier League, his performance was quite good and steady, and even Ye Qiu can say so, with Tottenham Hotspur's love of attack, as well as the team's defensive level last season, without Peter Cech, Tottenham Hotspur may not have such outstanding results.

The best defender went to Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic, who was indeed outstanding, much better than Tottenham's Hangrand and Thiago Silva, and Chelsea's John Terry.

The best midfielder went to Tottenham Hotspur's Cesc Fabregas, and the performance of the Spaniard is definitely commendable, especially his strategy and organization in the midfield, as well as his ability to score from behind, have put him in the ranks of the world's best midfielders, especially after Tottenham Hotspur won the Champions League.

The best striker of the season was given to Cristiano Ronaldo, and many people feel that this award was given to Cristiano Ronaldo mainly because of his goals and performance in the Champions League, and he also performed well in the final.

But after his absence, Tottenham Hotspur played a miraculous comeback, which will somewhat make some doubters of Ribery even more negative about him.

But the Player of the Season of the season undoubtedly belongs to Franck Ribery

Watching Ribery limp onto the podium, everyone was wishing him well, and UEFA President Platini, who presented him with the award, hugged the French compatriot tightly and personally cheered for him, hoping that he could return to the game as soon as possible.

"I'm twenty-five years old," said Ribery with a hideous scar on his face as he received the trophy from Platini, leaning over the microphone, "In the first twenty years of my life, no one ever told me that I could be where I am today, when I didn't know anything, I wandered around, I was reduced to a time where I had a problem even eating, and then, as many people know, I became a brick mover on a construction site." ”

"I'll never forget that when I was twenty years old, he was in my life and he told me, Frank Ribery, believe me, you can be the best player in the world, just like your fellow countryman Papin, like your compatriot Zinedine Zidane, a great player."

As he spoke, everyone could see a slight glitter in Ribery's terrifying face, and the Frenchman's voice began to tremble, indicating the excitement in his heart at this moment.

"I made a bet with myself, and my wife said to me, you should try it, so I came to London, and I gambled on the future, the future, and I told myself, if it doesn't work, I'll continue to go back to be a brick movers, and live a peaceful life for the rest of my life."

"I'm very glad I won," Franck Ribery said, holding the trophy aloft, "So, here I have to thank my wife, my children, my family who have supported me over the past few years, and I want all my Tottenham team-mates, without you there would be no me, but I should thank my manager even more, I will always be grateful to you"

There was a thunderous applause at the scene, and everyone looked at the applause, limping off the podium, walking to the stands, and walking to Ribery, who hugged him tightly in front of Ye Qiu.

As Platini said in his introduction before, Ribery used his experience to tell everyone the clearest and most simple truth, football is never just a talent, not just a genius, it requires you to keep persevering, unremitting efforts, and he will definitely reward you in the end.

From Ribery's body, everyone clearly sees that he may not be a genius, he does not have Ronaldo's super talent, nor has he had a smooth sailing career, he has had ups and downs, and even at Chelsea, he was once beaten by Mourinho after his outstanding performance, but he finally survived and survived.

Platini also expressed his gratitude to Ye Qiu on the field after Ribery stepped down, but he was not as a Frenchman, but as the president of UEFA, he felt that Ye Qiu had unearthed a lot of stars for European football and made quite outstanding contributions, and he also believed that Ribery would be able to return to the field as soon as possible and return to the top.

Tottenham Hotspur were undoubtedly the big winners of the season's major awards, but in the group stage draw that followed, Tottenham Hotspur were a big tragedy as they were placed in the so-called group of death

The eight seeded teams are defending champions Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Lyon, each of whom is drawn in eight different groups, with Tottenham Hotspur in Group D.

There is also no shortage of strong teams in the second tier, such as Bayern Munich, Villarreal, Juventus, Roma and other teams, all of which are strong teams, and even Eindhoven, Werder Bremen, Porto and other teams in the Eredivisie are not bad.

The first two gears are outstanding, that's nothing, it's normal, but the key suspense is in the third and fourth gears

None of the teams in Pot 3 are teams in the big four leagues, but Marseille are impressive, while Pot 4 is a big deal, Fiorentina and Atletico Madrid are both headaches, and both teams in Serie A and La Liga are definitely capable of upset.

Tottenham Hotspur were unlucky, as they drew Bayern Munich, the strongest team in Pot 2, Marseille in Pot 3 and Atletico Madrid in La Liga.

Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich, Marseille and Atletico Madrid, such a strong combination, looking at the eight groups of the Champions League, is definitely the strongest group in terms of comprehensive strength, and it is definitely the most terrifying group of death.

For some of the draw principles of the Champions League, Ye Qiu is more or less mentally prepared.

Don't look at Tottenham Hotspur won the Champions League last season, but in the eyes of many people, Tottenham Hotspur winning the championship is an upset, a bit similar to Ye Qiu's previous Porto championship, who really regards Porto as a giant? Even when Porto was disqualified from the Champions League, no one cared, and few people knew about it.

The same is true for Tottenham Hotspur now, a Champions League does not mean anything, if it cannot continue to maintain the team's combat effectiveness and competitiveness in the next few years, then Tottenham Hotspur will soon be forgotten by everyone and continue to be reduced to a second-rate team, so Ye Qiu knows very well that what the team needs most at present is results.

But the truth is very cruel, in the group stage draw, the strong team must stagger with the strong team, not too unbalanced, otherwise, once the strong team misses and cannot advance, it will be a series of upsets, which will hit the market influence of the Champions League, so before the game, many people felt that Bayern Munich either drew Tottenham Hotspur or Lyon, choose one of the two.

The reason is simple, these two teams are the two weakest teams in the group.

Just as Bayer Leverkusen, who were invincible one season but immediately defeated the next, many people have taken a sideline approach to Tottenham Hotspur, including many sponsors.

For Tottenham Hotspur, it is indeed cruel to be divided into such a group, but Ye Qiu was still very optimistic and confident when he was interviewed by the media immediately afterwards, and the team's goal has not changed, and it is still necessary to strive for the first place in the group.

Because for Tottenham Hotspur, to get the top of the group, the knockout stage can avoid the strong teams and go further.

The outside world also feels that the four teams in Group D also feel that Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich have a high possibility of qualifying together, and the key is that Tottenham Hotspur can continue to maintain the level of last season.

The day after the draw and medal ceremony, Tottenham Hotspur defeated Zenit at the Stade Louis II to win the UEFA Super Cup, the first UEFA Super Cup in Tottenham Hotspur's history.

The team had won the UEFA Cup before, but lost to AC Milan in the Super Cup, resulting in missing out once, and this time they finally got their hands on it.

However, when the team was competing for the Super Cup, the third round of the Premier League was played, while Tottenham Hotspur's away game against Chelsea was postponed, and Manchester United won to move to the top of the league table.

After three rounds, the Premier League ushered in two weeks of international breaks.