When Van der Vaart scored, the situation changed completely for both teams.

AZ Alkmaar could still think that they could knock out Derby County if they scored a goal on the counter-attack in 90 minutes, and they have always thought like this since the start of the game, even if they didn't score in the first half, but with 45 minutes left in the second half, they still have time to work hard.

But it was different when they saw Derby County score, the score became 1:3, which means they need to score three goals to eliminate Derby County directly, and score two goals to draw with Derby.

They have reached the point where they have to attack!

But when they did this, they encountered the same situation - they were suppressed by Derby County throughout the game, even if they wanted to take the initiative to attack, it was not easy to play, they had to attack hard against Derby's full-court pressing, which was very difficult for AZ Alkmaar, who were not very good at attacking, even if their style of cooperation made Derby a little uncomfortable, but it was still too difficult for them to break through the defense by relying on this.

As a result, AZ Alkmaar played a bit of a mess.

This situation was seen by the fans in the audience, and the media reporters also saw it, and even the Dutch media, who gritted their teeth against Wan Sheng, had to admit that "the current situation is very unfavorable for AZ Alkmaar, and they should first stabilize their mentality"

Obviously, it's not just a matter of mentality, it's just a matter of self-comfort.

This is completely a naked difference in strength!

After all, Derby County is the team competing with Chelsea for the league title, and AZ Alkmaar is just a strong team in the Netherlands, and when Derby County breaks out, they will definitely be stronger than AZ Alkmaar. In the second meeting between the two teams, the Derby County players have adapted to the opposition and it has become very difficult for AZ Alkmaar to play with quality and form.

As a result, in the 76th minute of the game, Derby County scored again!

The goal was scored by full-back Lichtsteiner. He stepped in to get on the back pass from Reiter in the box and fired a powerful shot back to help open AZ Alkmaar's goal.

It was a decisive goal.

1:4, the score difference between the two teams is three goals, and Derby County has two goal difference, which means that AZ Alkmaar must score four goals if they want to eliminate Derby, which is almost impossible, let alone four goals, and many fans even feel that even if the game is over. AZ Alkmaar is already very good to score a goal.

All in all, this goal was a fatal blow to AZ Alkmaar!

AZ Alkmaar had a little hope after Van der Vaart's goal, but now everyone knew they didn't have a chance, so when Derby celebrated the goal, no player even asked the referee to hurry up and restart the game, just watching the Derby players celebrate on their turf, and it was clear that AZ Alkmaar had accepted defeat.

That's exactly what the AZ Alkmaar players think, and the winner has already been decided. The game becomes unimportant, so a game that is sure to lose can only be a torment for everyone, and Derby County celebrates a little longer. That way there will be less time to play, and they will have less torment.

With this in mind, the situation between the two teams can be imagined.

AZ Alkmaar simply lost their fighting spirit, and Derby naturally felt relaxed when they started the game. In the opponent's state of the game, the Derby County players are also a little 'merciful'.

While relaxing the game, Van der Vaart, Ribery and other players with outstanding footwork. From time to time, he also showed his superb skills, which attracted many Dutch fans to shout.

Wan Sheng couldn't help but laugh easily.

With a three-goal lead, the winner is decided!

After knocking out AZ Alkmaar, the team moved closer to the next round of the UEFA Cup, and at the same time, the league results did not drop, and the difficult period in mid-March was finally over.

Although it was just a draw against Chelsea, the result wasn't perfect, but overall it was pretty good.

This game is a watershed, after this game, the team's championship has entered a new stage, that is, the final stage of the sprint, what will be the result of a season's efforts, it depends on the final time to play.

Thinking of these, Wan Sheng's heart also became hot.

Champion!

So catchy words.

Now that I and the team are getting closer and closer to it, there is still a short distance away, work hard, keep going, and I can take it away.

It can only belong to itself!

Wan Sheng thought firmly

Before you know it, the game is over.

By the time the referee blew the whistle for the end of the match, many AZ Alkmaar fans had already taken their stands, while the Derby County fans who had travelled to the Netherlands cheered wildly, they were small in number, but they were the protagonists of the stadium at this point.

The Derby County players also celebrated on the pitch.

As the coach said before the game, they were aiming for the UEFA Cup and now that they had kicked the first hurdle in front of them, they had reason to cheer and celebrate.

The screens of the live matches were played with images of Derby County celebrating.

At this time, some Dutch media who were full of resentment about Wansheng's remarks also had to praise Derby County twice, after all, in this game, Derby County did show a strong position, if after Derby County's victory, it would be meaningless to talk about Derby's weakness, it can only highlight that AZ Alkmaar is worse on the side, after all, AZ Alkmaar is the losing side, and AZ Alkmaar is a Dutch powerhouse, what is the difference between saying they are bad and saying that Dutch football is bad?

Naturally, the Dutch media will not dig a hole for themselves, so they will not say that their country's team is poor! They also want their country's league to develop into Europe's top five leagues, so it's too late for them to praise their own country's teams!

Now they can only give the praise to Derby County in a muffled manner

At the same time, two people were sitting together in the office of the president of the Derby County club, one of them was the current chairman of the club, Ji-Smith, and the other was the agent of the GSE consortium to buy the club Derbyshire Plzeň.

After completing the majority of the acquisition of Derby County FC, GSE consortium chairman Appleby has returned to the US company, leaving only Pearson to take over the next handover, which will also take over as chairman of the club from Jie Smith.

At this time, the transition of the presidency has not yet been completed. Pearson was just here to visit the club and Gil Smith was with him to watch the UEFA Cup tie.

"It's a win!"

When he saw his team score, Gill-Smith was delighted, like a regular fan, while Pearson was silent, with only a faint smile on his face.

He was noncommittal about Ji-Smith's statement.

As the president of the club, he is also a big man, and he can't understand why Ji-Smith would be happy to be like this for a goal from the team.

A goal, or even a win in a game, is nothing at all.

This is just the last 16 of the UEFA Cup. It's not the final of the League Cup, and even if you win, you'll just go to the next round.

Pearson felt like he could see farther.

However, after the match, Pearson joined Ji-Smith in clapping in celebration.

"Wansheng did a great job!" Jie Smith can't help but praise Wansheng when he talks about Wansheng, "When other people ask me, I will say the same thing, Derby County can have the credit of Wansheng now, and I, as the president of the club. Too little to do for the club. ”

Ji-Smith felt a little guilty when he said that.

It's a guilt for the fans.

When Jie Smith took over the club in the 90s, Derby County were still a Premier League powerhouse, even if they didn't qualify for the league title. But relegation was still a problem, but as season after season passed, the team's results got worse and worse, and they were relegated to the second division three years ago.

After that he trusted Gregory. But as a result, the team was almost relegated.

In the end, he relied on Wansheng to save the situation and help the team complete relegation, and then the following last season. The team's results were as fantastic as they were, rising to top of League One and even competing with Chelsea for the league title this season.

Thinking of this, Ji-Smith felt that it really didn't make much sense for him to be the chairman.

He doesn't bring much money to the team, and the chairmanship of the club is the same as the furnishings, and he doesn't want to be like that - he's been a pure Derby fan since he was a kid.

With no help from a team and a buyer willing to pay a big price for it, Jie Smith made up his mind to sell the club.

Pearson doesn't have so many ideas, he is also a Derby County fan, because of this, he took the initiative to take over the Derby County club, but he is still quite ambitious, he believes that under his leadership, Derby County will usher in a brilliant future, he wants to develop the Derby County Club into a club like Manchester United, which can have a huge fan base around the world, a huge influence, and at the same time achieve great business results.

It's a big idea, but it's not something that can be realized in one or two years.

But Pearson believes he can do it, and he is immensely confident in it, stemming from his love for Derby County and his trust in his own means.

So as the president of the club, the first thing is to have a deep understanding of the club, after an in-depth understanding, what he has to do is to keep the club's hero - head coach Wan Sheng, just like the GSE consortium chairman Applebi said, this young man led Derby County to play well, cultivated a talented star, this is like Wenger is good at cultivating young talents, and the ability to lead the team is quite good coach, as long as he is retained, the team's talented stars will continue to flow.

That's the foundation of the team's development

That night, Wansheng led the team back by plane.

The next day, the whole team had a day off, and then it was a gathering training session to get the whole team adjusted and ready for the game.

On 19 March, Derby County beat Charlton Athletic 4-1 away.

Ten days later, Derby County won 3-0 at home to Everton.

The two games were uneventful, with Derby County winning safely, but the media reported a lot about Derby County because Chelsea drew with Middlesbrough in the same round, which means that Derby County jumped two points above Chelsea and climbed to the top of the league for the first time.

After learning the news, the whole Derby County were very happy, Wan Sheng smiled and said to reporters, "I know that this day will come sooner or later, I have been prepared for a long time, but now I am still very happy." ”

"Maybe it seems to you that this is only a temporary first, but in my opinion. When we get into this position, no one can squeeze us down anymore! I'm sure this will continue until the end of the league! ”

"We've seen the champion!"

Wan Sheng said confidently.

The media reporter then asked Wan Sheng to share his thoughts on Chelsea's recent form.

Chelsea have been suffering from injuries lately, and Mourinho gambled with substitutions in the last game.

In fact, no good commander would want to come across the word 'gamble', because gambling is often a sign of the last option, and when a manager starts gambling, it is another indication of the team's abnormal state.

Jose Mourinho is in such a situation.

The FA Cup quarter-finals were away to Newcastle, and in the run-up to the Champions League in a few days' time, Mourinho took his first gamble with six key players. As a result, just four minutes into the game, Manes' header caused Cudiczini's goal to fail.

Mourinho, who was on the edge of the cliff, gambled again at the beginning of the second half, he replaced Duff, Goody Johnson and Frank Lampard in one go, but who knew that three minutes later, Bridges was seriously injured, and the Blues could only play with 10 men, Cudiczini was sent off before the break, and Chelsea, who played in the last nine, missed the opportunity to compete for the FA Cup.

Both gambles ended in failure, with Mourinho only lamenting his "bad luck".

Thankfully, in the games that followed, Chelsea's strength minimised the impact of luck. However, in the middle of the week, an even bigger 'gamble' loomed in Mourinho again.

Arjen Robben was injured after the Derby game, but the presence of Joe Cole appeared to ease the Blues' pain. But Ferreira also broke a bone three days later and Chelsea really had an earthquake. It's fair to say that Ferreira's role in the Chelsea squad is not at all comparable to that of John Terry, but in the current situation - Bridge has been injured before and Gallas has to carry the burden on the left. Smerding could only play at the back, Johnson was young and young, and Ferreira became the unshakable man in the Blues' defence.

Jose Mourinho fielded young right-back Glen Johnson for this round of the league. Perhaps because of this, they could only draw with Middlesbrough.

It seems inevitable, but in fact it is a last resort.

Johnson was the only option for Chelsea's full-back, which shows how bad Chelsea's situation is.

Hearing the reporter's question, Wan Sheng just smiled, for the head coach, the misfortune of the competitor is his luck, especially the league's biggest rival Chelsea encountered this situation, Wan Sheng felt very 'gratified'.

Of course, such a mind is not good.

Think about Morris when he was injured and Van der Vaart was injured, Mourinho's face, Wan Sheng didn't have a little guilt, those Blues media used the injury of their players to explain that Derby County "can't get through the difficult schedule", and used this to explain "why Derby County lost to Chelsea", Mourinho also has no sympathy, now it's Chelsea's turn, does he still go to 'express regret' or something?

It's not bad to be unlucky!

So Wan Sheng thought about it and said regretfully, "I'm sorry for what happened to Chelsea coming in, if they continue like this, we will have fewer opponents in the league." You know, it's always worthless to win a league title that's too easy to get."

Wan Sheng shrugged his shoulders and spread out his hands, which was quite a bit of a 'master lonely', and anyone could see the schadenfreude in his eyes.

The Chelsea media gritted their teeth with hatred.

'Even if Chelsea have half a team less, they can compete with Derby County for the league title!' So they retorted.

But Wansheng simply ignored it.

He knows Chelsea a lot at the moment, not only are injuries going on, but they also have to face a tough UEFA Champions League, which is much tougher than the UEFA Cup, and Chelsea have to face a strong Barcelona and even a win against Barcelona, they will have to face the mighty Bayern Munich.

Playing against such a top team in the world is a lot more stressful. Coupled with the fact that they continue to suffer injuries and start to use youngsters like Glen Johnson in the backcourt, can they be expected to play well in the league at the same time?

It's fair to say that Derby County is halfway through the league title. (To be continued......)