Chapter Eighteen Marcus

Derby County drew with Blackburn. Wan Sheng, the head coach, doesn't care much. After all, the league lasts for a season. It is normal to not win a game. There are always good and bad performances. Besides, this game The game is also a warning, letting the whole team know that they can't be careless about the game. In addition, it also let them understand that the team won the league without a big victory over Arsenal, and they still have a long way to go.

Wansheng saw some problems in the game, for example, the team was too young.

This is the most critical question.

The strength of the team is good, but it is too young. The main lineup striker Bolton Reiter and Van der Vaart are both under 21 years old. Maurice is the mainstay in midfield, but Ribery is only 23 years old. Although Ivan Crewe is of moderate age, his top league It can be said that there is no experience. In addition, people like Osman, Alfred, Baines, Ziegler, etc. are all young players who have just performed. For them, it is the first time to play in the Premier League. , Most of the team's players have little experience, which will naturally have some impact on the results.

But there is no way.

He can't expect the team to become mature immediately after entering the top league. It is very unrealistic. Football experience is still very important, so Wansheng only set the goal of 'trying to win as many games as possible' and 'trying to win as many games as possible'. In terms of the Champions League quota, it is actually quite difficult to achieve these two. If the team is given two seasons, Wansheng is sure to compete for the championship, but it is still very difficult for the current team to compete for the championship.

This is a reality that must be faced.

However, there are also benefits for young teams. For example, in the last round against Arsenal, when the team played well, their performance was no worse than Arsenal. Even at Highbury Stadium, the team still won four goals. That's how the team is. He is good at playing tailwinds, but he cannot guarantee that every game will be tailwinds, so Wansheng still needs to do some mental work for the players to try their best to make them perform well in games with headwinds.

That's up to new assistant coach Walton Cooper.

Walton Cooper was originally a strength and conditioning coach. But he took a major in sports psychology. In fact, he is also half a psychiatrist. While helping the team formulate training plans, he can also give players some spiritual guidance. In this regard, he is no worse than Wansheng.

After the game against Blackburn, Wansheng and Cooper consoled the team and told the players not to care about the game. And face up to the strength of the team. Get ready for the next game.

The effect of this work is still good. At least during the second day of training, the team regained the relaxed atmosphere that it should have had. Even though the recovery training was very hard, there was still talk and laughter in the team.

In short, the failure to beat Blackburn has little impact on the Derby County team.

But Wansheng doesn't care about the game, but someone does, and that is Derby County's hostile media. These hostile media did not pay attention to Derby County before because they felt that Derby County entered the Premier League. They don't deserve to be asked to do any reporting, after all, it's just a newly-promoted polo team. But with Derby County thumping Arsenal, they had to pull their focus back and grit their teeth to get some coverage of Derby County.

They are unwilling to make such reports, but Derby County beat Arsenal, and they have no choice but to report. If this kind of game is not reported, readers will definitely be very dissatisfied with them.

There is a saying that "customers are gods", readers are gods to them, what readers like, they need to report what they need to report, all reports are carried out on the premise of not affecting sales.

They don't like to talk about Derby County, to talk about Man Victory, but they have to.

What makes them even more angry is that when they came to the Derby County Club, they could not interview Wansheng at all. Although the same was true of their colleagues, some big media reporters were still very dissatisfied, especially the reporters of the "Daily Mirror", they even Even the gates of Derby County Club and Pride Stadium could not be entered. Derby County Club almost wrote "Daily Mirror reporters and dogs are not allowed to enter" on the door. In this case, the "Daily Mirror" There is also some praise for Derby County, and their mood can be imagined.

So when Derby County drew with Blackburn in the second round, they laughed immediately because they had something to say.

After a big win over Arsenal, a direct draw with Blackburn?

The turning point of these two games can be done with a lot of internal analysis. What happened to Derby County that caused such a big gap between their performances in the two games?

First, it can be argued that the first game was just a poor performance by Arsenal.

"Derby County did well to beat Arsenal at Highbury, but the reason for the win was probably Arsenal's poor form, the defending champions haven't recovered from their summer break, their national team Players, like Campbell and others, have just finished the Euros and they haven't quite gotten used to the league..."

Second, it can be considered that Derby County is just a tactical prodigy of Arsenal. Arsenal couldn't adapt to Derby County's tactical play for a while, so they lost, but in the second game, Blackburn played against Derby County. Law was prepared, they held the goal with a solid defence, so there was no 'surprise win' and it was difficult for Derby to score.

There is a basis for this to say, and regardless of Derby County scoring only one goal, is it still a direct free-kick?

"Derby County won a game with a summer of preparation, but it can be expected that when the tactics are cracked, every team knows how to play against Derby County, then they have to prepare for a game. Ready for another loss..."

In addition, it can also be understood as 'this is God's punishment for arrogant people'.

There are still a lot of Catholic believers in the UK. They believe in God, so this statement can still be recognized by many people, see? That young Chinese was so arrogant that God couldn't stand it, so they could only draw against Blackburn no matter how hard they tried.

Of course, the last statement is more of a joke, but in the end, the hostile media of Derby County have something to say. As a representative of them, the Daily Mirror has conducted a series of analysis on Derby County's failure to win against Blackburn. , it feels like Derby County lost some important game, but in fact, Derby County only drew a league game. That's all.

Despite this, Derby County actually ranks high in the league. After two rounds, Derby County has one win and one draw, ranking fourth in the league with a four-goal difference advantage. The first three teams have all won two rounds in a row. Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United are all behind Derby County because they have all lost a game. Among the four giants in England, only Chelsea has won consecutive victories in the first two rounds and is temporarily ranked first in the league.

There is not a crusade against Derby County in the media. After all, the media are not of one mind. The media led by the "Daily Mirror" is the hostile media of Derby County. Derbyshire also has local support media. In addition, those neutral big media will also say a fair word.

Some media have raised the issue of 'Derby County is too young'.

For example, in the game against Blackburn, Derby County started 11 with an average age of only 23.6 years old. This is also because the goalkeeper Karachi is a veteran, otherwise the number would be lower than 23, which is definitely quite appalling in the top league. The data.

Being too young naturally leads to inexperience, so the ups and downs of the game are normal.

These neutral reports are some of the truth. But no matter how the media reported it, Wansheng had no time to pay attention. He has long been accustomed to the outside world where there are always 'nothing to look for' media, especially now that Derby County has received more attention, the number of media with negative reports will naturally increase, which is actually very normal, such as Manchester United. When they lose, the media all over England are sarcastic and sarcastic, because they are Manchester United, they are the public enemy of teams in the rest of England, who let them dominate the Premier League for nearly a decade?

So it doesn’t matter if there are negative reports. This actually means that the team is still moving forward step by step. Otherwise, like a month ago, there was no other major media reporting on Derby County at all, and it would be the worst to be ignored.

Although it is correct to look at it this way, Wansheng is also in a bad mood at this time, not because of the media reports, but because of the injury of the team captain Marcus.

He was injured against Blackburn.

I thought there was no big problem, but on the second day of the game, Wansheng received a message that Marcus was diagnosed and confirmed that the calf muscle of his right leg was ruptured, and some old injuries were involved. It will take more than three months to recover, and this is not counting the time for him to regain his state after recovery.

Wan Sheng was really anxious.

Marcus is still very important to the team. Although his performance is not as good as that of Maurice, Ribery and others in the frontcourt, and he is nearly 27 years old, Marcus has quite a lot of experience and is one of the few players in the team. There are teams that have participated in the top leagues, and he is also the pinnacle of defense. Alfred's performance is also very good, but he is too young after all, and he still needs Marcus to direct many times on the field. There is no doubt about the importance of the team's defense and the team's game, and his injury is a heavy blow to the team.

When Wan Sheng received the news, he was stunned for a while. He didn't expect the injury problem that he didn't encounter much last season, but he encountered it at the beginning of this season.

Marcus is injured, which means that he needs to let Peter Kennedy, or Vidic who just transferred to replace the position, but can these two really replace Marcus?

Wansheng is not sure.

He was a little out of mind, and when he thought about it, he had a headache.

After arranging the team's training, Wan Sheng went directly to the hospital to see Marcus. Marcus and his personal friendship are still good, and more importantly, Wan Sheng is worried that the injury will affect Marcus for three months. Caused some psychological impact, so he needed to comfort Marcus.

His reassuring words were straightforward, "Don't worry, Browning, the doctor said you will recover in three months, but I guarantee your recovery time will be shorter!"

If other people, especially the doctor, heard Wan Sheng say this, they would definitely think that Wan Sheng was just comforting Marcus, and it was an 'insincere' comfort, but Marcus put down most of his heart, He is a veteran of Derby County. When Wansheng was an assistant coach, he was with the team. Naturally, he knew that Wansheng would use a 'rehabilitation training' method to help injured players recover quickly.

The first one who benefited was Ian Taylor. Others like Ferdinand, Reiter, and others have also benefited in this regard. He was surprised before, but now he trusts Wansheng very much.

Since Wansheng said that it can recover faster, it must be possible!

He has been injured for more than two months, and it is only October. He only needs to rest in peace for two months. However, what Marcus is most worried about is not his own injury, but his main position.

Derby County is much more competitive now than it was a year ago.

A year ago, Marcus didn't have to worry about his main position even if he was injured, because no one could compete with him, but now it's different, the team has an excellent Alfred, Alfred Younger and stronger, he knows that where he is better than Alfred is only experience. In addition, the team's newly transferred young teenager Vidic is also quite good. After a month of familiarity, he knows that players like Vidic are likely to become stars in the future, because his defense is quite good. Apart from being young in experience, he couldn't find any other shortcomings.

If I cultivate myself for two months, can I still have the main position?

Marcus was at a loss.

Wansheng, however, seemed to see through Marcus's mind, and said something to comfort him. He did not directly talk about the main position, but seemed to be worried about the team's back line, saying, "Browning, your injury is still in the air. It really bothers me a lot, we only have three real centre-backs, you, Baker and Nemania, and this season, we're going to play the league, and two cups and European competitions, so many competitions, Even if you don't get hurt, I can't make arrangements..."

Marcus was not worried immediately.

Wan Sheng is telling the truth, there are two cup competitions for the English team, and one has a difficult league game, plus the UEFA Cup game, relative to Derby County's bench depth, such a schedule is a bit too much. frequently.

Marcus doesn't have to worry about the main position at all, because even if he is not a real main force, there will be many opportunities to play.

It doesn't matter if it is the main force of the team if it can start in the top leagues and European competitions? What's more, he is the captain of the team, and he will still be the captain of the team after returning from injury.

Marcus originally felt that he was very tragic. The team had just been promoted to the top league, and he would be injured for three months in two rounds, but after listening to Wansheng's words, he felt that he had nothing to worry about at all, and he was considered a football player. The old man of the team, Wan Sheng will not forget him just because he has cultivated for more than two months.

He doesn't have to be so pessimistic at all! (To be continued ~^~)