Chapter 406: The Tragic German Team

Of course, still have to face the first opponent - Portsmouth.

In the summer, Portsmouth invested large sums of pounds, operating two heavyweight transfers.

The first was the former Udinese midfielder Montari, when the Portsmouth official website declared, "This will be the most expensive signing in the club's history." The previous record was in the summer of 2006, 440 £10,000 to sign Benjani from Auxerre.

Although the official website of Portsmouth did not disclose the specific amount of the transfer fee, the "Manchester Sports News" broke the news that Montari's transfer fee was around 7 million pounds.

Just half a month later, Portsmouth once again announced the operation of the most expensive signing in the club's history, this time for England striker Nugent.

The 22-year-old Nugent is unknown, in fact, he has been playing in the lower leagues.

Last year, with his excellent performance in the British Championship team Preston, Nugent was selected for the England national team and became the fourth striker outside Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney and Darren Bent.

With such excellence, Nugent was obviously unable to stay in the Championship, so wealthy Portsmouth immediately decided to take him.

In fact, Roy Keane's Sunderland and Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth were both willing to pay £6m for Nugent, but Portsmouth raised the fee to £800 10,000 pounds, thus finalizing the transfer with Preston.

Nugent was a top scorer in the Championship, but in the Premier League, he was just a rookie.

What few people know is that he has an idol in his heart, or a target, and that is Darren Bent at Manchester City.

Nugent and Darren Bent have very similar experiences - neither of them were geniuses from the youth ranks of the big teams, and they only started their careers in the lower leagues.

Darren Bent spent four seasons at Ipswich, and Nugent got off to a lower start, making his debut with Berry in League Two (then third division). Afterwards, they were relegated to the fourth tier with Berry.

After four seasons at Berry, he joined Preston and played in the English Champions League.

In his three seasons at Preston, Nugent's reputation gradually increased with his performance of nearly 15 goals in a single season.

He has always made Darren Bent a target. Although Bent is only a year older than him.

Selected for England national team. Even helping the England team to score goals, and after joining Portsmouth, Nugent's idea has not changed, because Darren Bent has become Manchester City's main striker, and his position in the England national team has also become very important. Solid, and he's just getting started at Portsmouth.

The match against Manchester City. Nugent was very happy to learn that he was given the chance to start. He hopes to see the difference between himself and Darren Bent in the game.

————

Nugent is still very confident.

He knows that his current reputation and ability can't keep up with Darren Bent, but he will not belittle himself and think that he will be much worse than Darren Bent.

But when it came to the game, he found that it was not easy to show it.

When the Portsmouth and Manchester City game started, he found Darren Bent quickly became the protagonist of the audience, because in the 11th minute, Bent helped Manchester City score.

"The ball is in!"

"It was only ten minutes into the game. City took the lead!"

"Darren Bent!"

"He kicked in the box and smashed the door of Park David James, his seventh goal in the Premier League!"

Watching Darren Bent perform. Nugent is very unwilling, because Portsmouth has been suppressed, and he has no chance to perform.

But perhaps his teammate, David James, who keeps goal, feels the most complicated.

Due to the competition in the team, David James knew that it would be difficult for him to continue as the main goalkeeper. He chose to leave Manchester City to join Portsmouth, but he did not think about the feeling of being in Portsmouth.

After more than a dozen rounds of the league, James finally understood why many players would rather serve as substitutes in big clubs than starters in small clubs.

At a small club, it's game after game, but at a big club, like Manchester City last season, almost every game is a win.

This is the difference in performance.

With a group of good teammates and a head coach with excellent leadership ability, the team's results can be guaranteed. As a substitute player, even if he does not play, he can enjoy the joy of victory with the team.

It's different in Portsmouth.

Portsmouth's performance is not bad, but it is far worse than Manchester City, so after many games, he has to feel the depression of losing.

That feeling is not bad.

Just like now, in the face of his former teammates enjoying the joy of scoring, he can only watch from a distance, and at the same time annoyed that the save just now was a step slower.

Nugent didn't know James' depression, but he was not in a good mood. When facing Manchester City, he hoped that he could show something, and he could show it, but as a result, the team was suppressed all the time, and he could only do it. Watching Darren Bent perform.

The race proved that this was only the beginning.

Next, Manchester City continued to attack Portsmouth. All Portsmouth could do was to fight back occasionally. Nugent also showed his performance. In a counterattack, he quickly dribbled the ball and broke through Dunn, but only That's all, after that, at the front of the penalty area, he was brought to the ground by Dunn.

Nugent felt annoyed, but knew in his heart that this was the real top league.

In the top league, technology is important, and experience is also very important. He relied on technical ability to break through Dunn, but Dunn was experienced and decisively brought him to the ground.

Portsmouth got a free-kick in a good position, but it didn't mean much to them, they didn't have a player who was very good at free-kicks.

In the following time, Manchester City continued to suppress Portsmouth, and scored a goal in the 37th and 71st minutes of the game.

The goal in the 71st minute belonged to Darren Bent. Taking advantage of a quick counterattack, he broke through Portsmouth's defense, used fake moves to move out of space, and kicked the goal directly from the front of the penalty area.

This unexpected shot. Even if Portsmouth's defensive players had no time to commit tactical fouls, James did not expect that Bent's shot would be so decisive. He could only watch the football fly past and rush into the goal behind him.

"3:0. Darren Bent scored his second goal!" The media praised Darren Bent.

Nugent did not know these voices. But I also know that Bent will definitely become the focus of the game, and he himself can only be reduced to a neglected trick.

In the whole game, he hardly showed any performance.

His only chance was to be knocked to the ground by Dunn, and compared to Darren Bent's last goal, he knew the gap between himself and Bent -- experience and ... the team.

Nugent has only just entered the Premier League and is certainly not as experienced as Darren Bent, who has been with Manchester City for three seasons.

The second point is the team.

Nugent thinks the latter is the most important, Darren Bent has an excellent coach at Manchester City - Wan Sheng. That's the head coach that England's young players aspire to. Everyone knows that this young Chinese is very good at developing players. If he can become a player he values, he is likely to have a bright future.

In addition, there is a gap in the strength of the team.

Darren Bent is a Manchester City player. He has a lot of good teammates. Manchester City has been pressing Portsmouth all the time. He has a lot of chances in front.

In comparison. Nugent spent most of the time standing alone in the frontcourt. He has almost no chance.

Thinking of this, Nugent envied Darren Bent.

If...if he is also seen by the young Chinese and can also play for Manchester City, then one or two years later, maybe he will not be worse than Darren Bent! ?

Nugent's ideas actually represent the ideas of many young English players.

In a few years, talented players appeared under Wansheng.

Burton Reiter, Alfred, Morris, Ivan Crewe, Darren Bent, Lescott, Ziegler, Ozil, Silva…

A few years ago, these players were not well-known in Europe, but now they are the lowest stars, and Morris, Darren Bent, and Silva have all become the world's top stars.

The fame of each of these players is a well-known example, and it has become a real example of promoting Wansheng's ability to cultivate players, so Wansheng's ability to cultivate players is also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Many young players hope to join Wansheng's team, which is seen as a shortcut to 'becoming a big star'.

It’s a pity that Wan Sheng is the head coach of Manchester City. Manchester City is just a team and cannot accommodate such a large number of players, so they are destined to be disappointed.

————

After playing against Portsmouth, it is the fifth round of the Champions League group stage, Manchester City will face Stuttgart at the Manchester Stadium.

The defending Bundesliga champion has not been doing very well recently. After losing to Lyon on the road, Stuttgart lost all four games and finished bottom in the group stage, completely losing the right to qualify for the group, and even missed the chance to compete for the third place.

Stuttgart's Champions League results have shocked German football, but Stuttgart is not the only team in the Bundesliga with poor results. They are not special.

Germany's other two teams participating in the Champions League - Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen, the group situation is also very crisis.

Many German football people are worried about the sluggish performance of the Bundesliga teams in the European war. 7 points."

In an interview with the German "Sports News Agency", Loew said, "The performance of the German team in this kind of international competition is really disappointing."

Loew has to continue to worry, because the promotion situation of Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 is also not optimistic.

"I can't be happy about this phenomenon. For people like Mario Gomez or Hitzlsperger, and Tasci and Cadilla, not getting enough international games doesn't help them grow." .

Low's concerns were also shared by other German stars, Matthaus told German PREMIER TV, "This result is a warning, you need to be wholehearted and passionate for the club's football game, and now we are in the club. I can't see that anymore."

Kahn believes, "Maybe the Bundesliga still looks like the highest level of competition, but this is under the beautiful packaging, but this embellishment is not worth the money, we need to prove that our inner league level is equally good."

Currently in UEFA's European football league rankings, the Bundesliga now ranks sixth behind Spain, England, Italy, France and Romania, falling out of the 'big five' and ranking sixth in the Europa League.

The ranking of the Bundesliga also represents the competitiveness of German teams in the Champions League, but Stuttgart itself, they value the club's performance and 'face' more.

In fact, Stuttgart's performance in the Bundesliga was not good either. They became the worst defending champions of the Bundesliga in 41 years.

"We have too many injuries."

This is the reason why Stuttgart coach Armin Fee has remained unchanged after the loss.

In the first 10 rounds of the Bundesliga, Stuttgart only achieved a record of 3 wins, 1 draw and 6 losses. The last defending champion with such a dismal result can only be traced back to Munich 1860 41 years ago.

Now Stuttgart is not only hopeless to defend their title, but also only 1 point away from the relegation zone.

Injuries are indeed the biggest problem for Stuttgart. They already have many main players unable to play, so that there are many young players participating in the league and the Champions League.

This seriously affected Stuttgart's results.

The league is weak and the Champions League has lost all four games. Stuttgart's situation can be imagined.

However, in the face of this game at Manchester Stadium, head coach Armin Fei still hopes that the team will play better, "Even if we have been eliminated, getting a point can improve the sluggish morale, so we will not Quit the game!"

Armin Fei's remarks are a bit sympathetic, but considering Stuttgart's results, it is quite good that they can not give up the game directly.

In this game, Wansheng still attaches great importance to it. Although Manchester City's 10 points and the win-loss relationship against Glasgow Rangers can already guarantee the team a qualifying place, in the case of an advantage, they will compete for the first place in the group. It is also very helpful to create a better environment for the team in the knockout round of the 16th round, so Wansheng still asked the team to do some targeted preparation training two days before the start of the game.

But in this game, Wansheng still chose to rotate.

With the current situation in Stuttgart, coupled with the home field advantage, all Manchester City believe that there is no need to send all the main lineup.

Many of Manchester City's main players also need to rest and recover.

Wansheng only sent a few starters including Ozil and Torres, and all other positions were played as substitutes. Even the goalkeeper position, he gave the second goalkeeper Joe Hart a chance. (To be continued ~^~)