Chapter 67 Halfway Over
The weekend is the seventeenth round of the Premier League, and Derby's opponent is Charlton.
Charlton is not a strong team. They joined the Premier League in 2001. Since then, Charlton has returned to the Premier League and has been fighting as a dark horse in the Premier League so far.
In the new season, Charlton's signings are not noticeable, but they are all practical players. Birmingham's Brian Hughes has exquisite skills, and PSV Eindhoven's Danish full-back Romedal is skilled. extraordinary.
Under the leadership of head coach Kubishley, the media believes that Charlton will still be the head-scratcher of last season.
After 16 rounds of the league, Charlton also proved this with their results. They ranked ninth in the league. In comparison, the results are very good. If the momentum continues, Charlton does not have to worry about relegation at all. You can even go for a spot in a European tournament.
Charlton and Derby County have nothing to do with each other. Under normal circumstances, if they meet a newly promoted horse, they will definitely seize the opportunity to score all three points, but Derby County is much more 'dark horse' than them this season, and is currently ranked second in the league. The results put Charlton under pressure in the face of Derby County.
In order to get points, coach Kubishley arranged a tight defense and abandoned the attack. They just didn’t want Derby County to score, and a point was considered a victory.
If a certain football association hears this sentence, there will be a sense of sympathy... But Charlton can do much better than a certain football association, because Kubishley's work is very practical, and their defense is indeed Very not bad, Charlton is called 'hard to crack' also stems from this, trying to break through the defense line they are guarding with all their strength is not an easy thing.
As a team that is good at attacking, Derby County still has hope for them.
However, in this game Wansheng did not intend to return the team to its original tactics and use a gorgeous offense to defeat the opponent. He just wants to use a solid defensive counterattack to deal with the difficult schedule that follows, so that the team adapts to tactics is the most important thing, so when facing Charlton, Wansheng did not change his tactics.
But he believed. Even solid defense. To deal with Charlton in the way of fast-break football, they can also have a chance to score.
It was a test of fast-break football against Derby County, and it turned out that Wan Sheng was right.
Throughout the game, Charlton defended very closely, but Derby County is no longer the Derby County it used to be, even if it does not adopt an offensive-based strategy. They also have a lot of offense. Co-ordination, long-range shots, set-pieces, etc., are all methods that Derby County is good at. Coupled with the overwhelming strength of Derby County's frontcourt players such as Van der Vaart, it is too difficult for Charlton to hold on for 90 minutes.
The goal came in the 37th minute of the first half, and Van der Vaart dribbled the ball from the front to secure a well-placed set-piece opportunity for Derby County.
Ivan Krew took the free kick and broke through the Charlton gate with a kick around the wall, helping the team to rewrite the score to 1:0.
In the end, Derby County defeated Charlton 1:0 with this goal.
1-0 victory over Charlton. For Derby County, which has achieved brilliant results, it is actually nothing. So after the game, the entire Derby County team still seemed to be very low-key. Wansheng didn't say much in the press conference, and this victory was nothing to him at all.
However, the media who supported Derby County after the game were very excited, because Chelsea drew Arsenal away in this round, and Derby County’s points were once again tied with Chelsea. The points catching up is exciting enough.
In response to this question, Wan Sheng also talked with a smile, "Arsenal's performance is very good, Henry has proved his worth with his performance. With two goals, he is a great striker. Chelsea's performance is also very good, but if It's me, and I definitely won't say 'a draw is acceptable' after the game, a draw is a defeat for the league's No. 1."
Then Wan Sheng gloated, "But I like to see Chelsea not winning, so we have a chance. I think after Christmas, the throne of the league will change its owner."
Except for some Derby County support media, which specially reported Wan Sheng's comments on Chelsea and Arsenal's game, other media were not very interested in this, so even Wan Sheng talked about squeezing Chelsea after Christmas. Support the media to refute.
In fact, mainly because the game was so hot.
Arsenal host Chelsea, and in a way, London Derby County, because the two teams are the strongest in London.
Chelsea had just lost the game before the game. It was Chelsea's first defeat in the Champions League, and it was against old club Porto. It was a homecoming for Mourinho, but he probably didn't expect it to be a double whammy , In addition to losing the game, an unauthorised autobiography "The Winner, From Setubal to Stamford Bridge" was even more expensive than the autobiography he wrote himself, and it was dismissed in court.
However, back in London, Mourinho became the arrogant "God No. 2" (Mourinho once said in front of the media, 'After God, there is me!', so he became God No. 2 No.), when did Arsenal not look good at Highbury?
But before the game, the five columnists of the "Guardian" predicted this "judgment day" game, and no one was optimistic about Arsenal.
Much of this is due to the trust people have placed in Mourinho, the bizarre 'thinker' who, in a nearly doubled pre-match press conference, delivered a vicious attack, "Just 10 points. , 7, or 4, and then we can comfortably have two home games. Mind you, in my two and a half years at Porto, I never lost a big game, be it against Benfica or Sporting Lisbon."
After saying this, Mourinho added "reminder" again, "10 points is a big gap!" He also advocated for his fans to sing after the game, "We are still the first in the league."
Wenger has never conceded on the field, but also off the field. "I am fully aware that everything can change in an instant." Facing the Portuguese's optimism, he dismissed, "I don't care what he says. We play at home and just want to win. I don't believe it, their fans can still laugh when they lose."
The French are disgusted with the confident attitude of the Portuguese. "What great achievements, were they 17th in the league last year? Second in the league, Champions League semi-finals, they already have a good foundation, and now they spend so much money, is it justifiable to have no progress? The money we spend and the Newcastle, Tottenham are a class. Without money you have to be creative."
Wenger then mentioned Derby County. Give Mourinho a fatal blow, "Derby County are just a newly-promoted horse, they basically broke even in the summer, but they are only a few points short of his team. After this game, maybe the league will be the first. Changed owner."
"That's 100 million euros versus 0 euros, two league points. Haha..."
Mourinho is certainly not one to swallow his breath. He immediately said, "Don't take other teams as an example, does Henry not spend money? Is Vieira on loan? Is Reyes a Christmas gift from Sevilla?"
Next, the two continued to argue and drool, but everyone knew that this was a little trick between two cunning coaches to disturb the hearts of the army.
The excitement before the game also affected the game. The game seemed to be a continuation of the war of words between the two coaches, and the final result also proved that. The battle between the two was evenly matched.
Chelsea fans can chant "We are No. 1 in the league" and Arsenal fans can respond "Never beat us (in the league) at Highbury in 14 years".
Derby County, who was a bystander, laughed.
But Wan Sheng didn't just gloat over Chelsea. He also complimented Wenger by the way. After all, among the top four coaches in the Premier League, Wenger has a good relationship with himself. Ferguson is the enemy, Mourinho is the biggest competitor, and Benitez is a stranger without communication, so Wansheng is still very friendly to Wenger, who 'helped' the team to regain the points. He deserves to be the best coach and he deserves it when Arsenal were the most successful in Europe in 2004."
Wansheng is talking about a recent selection.
British BBC Sport recently named the 2004 Premier League manager of the year. Although Chelsea is currently in the limelight, Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger won the title with his outstanding record last season.
The same is true. On the whole, the protagonist of the Premier League in 2004 is still Arsenal. They won the Premier League title with an unbeaten record last season and were officially crowned in April. In 38 games, Arsenal won 26 games. Victory and another 12 draws, including a 2-2 draw with Tottenham at White Hart Lane put them on the Premier League throne.
It is also worth mentioning their unbeaten record. Before the 2-0 away loss to Manchester United, Arsenal continued their unbeaten 49 league games, breaking the previous record of 42 games held by Nottingham Forest.
Of course, none of this has anything to do with Derby County.
After the match against Charlton, Wan Sheng gave the players three days off with a wave of their hand, taking advantage of the rare free time before Christmas. Wan Sheng only told them to pay attention to their health and relax at the same time. , While taking a long breath, he was also preparing for the next race.
Holidays are not only about rest, but also about allowing players to adjust their mentality. The body is important, and the mentality is equally important. He is always in tension and always needs to relax, and Wan Sheng himself is the same. He has always worried about this and that for the team, but he can still relax when he is on vacation.
Wan Sheng didn't even think about how the team was doing, he just rested at home for three days.
In three days, Wan Sheng and Dali stayed for one day, and went to University College London for one day. On the last day, he left it to himself and slept at home for nearly 20 hours. After that, Chaos went out to eat. At breakfast, when a neighbor greeted him, Wansheng responded, "The holiday is over!"
Three days went by really fast.
Four days later, Derby County ushered in a new round of the league. They defeated Birmingham 0:2 away. There is no suspense in this game. Birmingham is not very strong. So far this season, they are only ranked first in the Premier League. 15, this ranking even has to work hard for relegation.
The victory was seen as a bit bland by the media, Derby County scored two goals, no more and no less, so there was nothing to report, but for Derby County, it was a win to end the half. Not bad.
But Wansheng is actually very satisfied with the team's performance, because in this game, he adopted part of the rotation, and Ribery, Alfred and Leighton Baines did not play. Under such circumstances, With a two-goal win over Birmingham on the road, he felt he could arrange as many rotations as possible without hurting his bones.
In the past six months, the team's rotation has not been frequent. When facing strong teams, most of them have a main lineup, but after Christmas, it will be different. The intensive schedule is a headache, and Wansheng will not be able to win. Do not use this method to ensure the state of the team.
The game against Birmingham proved that the substitutes can also play well, which shows that the team has become more mature in the use of the 'OS-Fast' tactical system. At the same time, in the past six months, the improvement of everyone in the team has been watched by Wansheng. In the eyes, the football training master system can clearly see these, so Wansheng is still very confident about how the team can perform after Christmas.
At this time, the media also began to summarize halfway.
No one regards Derby County as a relegation team anymore, because Derby County ranks second in the league at half-time and has the same points as Chelsea, who are the first. The intensive post-holiday schedule is 'worry', because anyone with eyes will know that even if Derby County's results drop after Christmas, their results this season are definitely not bad.
By this time, many fans' impression of Derby County had also changed.
The previous media reports gave them the impression that Derby County has always won by luck, and no matter how bad it is, it is just a dark horse, but now these fans have come to their senses, they have found that the media reports are not true at all, one relies on luck, or Just a newly-promoted and dark horse team, can they be tied with the strong Chelsea in the halfway point? It is even 6 points more than Manchester United in third and 7 points more than Arsenal in fourth, which is enough to stop many people's mouths.
So many fans who were interested in this began to collect information on Derby County and re-examine this relatively unfamiliar team.
They quickly discovered the standout feature of this Derby County team - so young!
Too young!
In the past, there was a team in the Premier League called Leeds United, and their nickname was the 'Youth Army', but look at Derby County's main lineup, where most of the main players are under 25 years old, or even under 23 years old. Any other team It is estimated that they have no confidence to say anything about the 'Youth Army'. This is the real Youth Army, and the strength of this Youth Army is quite impressive. Their half-way points are the same as Chelsea, which is the first in the league and where big names gather, and it is fully expected this season. Compete for the league championship.
When a lot of people realised this, Derby County received even more attention. (To be continued ~^~)