Chapter 495: Group of Death
The first round of the league is usually not easy to play. The reason is very simple, it is not in its state, and it also lacks the rhythm of the league.
The human body is very strange. Only when you are in a rhythm that you are adapted to and familiar with can you perform well. Therefore, the start of the league is a process of exploring and finding the rhythm for all teams.
It is hard to say whether the speed or slowness of this process is, and no one can give an explanation.
It was as if Arsenal welcomed Bloomers West Bromwich at Emirates Stadium in the first game. They played very badly in this game, but were very lucky because they scored a goal by the newly joined Nasri just over four minutes into the opening game, and then they remained until the end of the game, defeating Bloomers 0.
Also bad is Manchester United, who welcomed Newcastle at Old Trafford Stadium and was first attacked by Martins to score a goal, but Fletcher equalized the score two minutes later, but Manchester United seemed to be unable to find the feeling of scoring, and could only watch Keegan's team take a point away from Old Trafford Stadium.
Tottenham Hotspur's first round performance was not very ideal, and he challenged Middlesbrough led by Southgate away.
The team is not weak, with players of great reputation such as Downing, Alfonso Alves, and Totchai. Tottenham Hotspur performed well in the first half, and the goals of Thiago Silva and Van Persie helped the team take the lead 0, but in the second half, Robert Hutt used a corner kick to score a goal for Middlesbrough.
The final score was that Tottenham Hotspur beat Middlesbrough away.
The most tragic performance in the first round was Mark Hughes's Manchester City.
This team that spent a lot of money to strengthen the team's lineup this season, challenged Martin O'Neal's away game in the first round of the new season. Aston Villa scored four goals in a row away game and ended up with a 4-defeated defeat. It did not show what Mark Hughes called for to strive for the top four.
Forward Abang Lahoo scored a hat trick, becoming the most eye-catching player in the first round of the league, and also ranked first in the Premier League scorer list in the new season, which also attracted the attention of many media and fans.
However, the best performance in the first round of the Premier League was Scolari's Chelsea. He won Portsmouth of Redknapp at home 40 and rushed directly to the league leader. Moreover, these four goals were scored by four different players, and their offensive ability was good, which made many people optimistic about the prospects of Chelsea this season.
A week later, Tottenham Hotspur was at the White Hart Lane Stadium and welcomed the Black Cat Sunderland.
Speaking of which, Roy Keane's team also started the game last season and caused a lot of trouble to Tottenham Hotspur. This time, Roy Keane once again showed his ambition to defeat Tottenham Hotspur away, but they lost at White Hart Lane Stadium, but they saved their face.
Chelsea's away game was Uj Wigan, Manchester United beat Portsmouth 0 away games, Liverpool beat Middlesbrough at home l, Arsenal lost to Fulham away games 0l away games, and Manchester City beat West Ham United at home 0.
After two rounds, the situation in the Premier League changed. Only three teams won two consecutive victories, namely Chelsea, the top-ranked Tottenham Hotspur, the second-ranked Tottenham, and third-ranked Liverpool, Manchester United, Blackburn and other teams followed closely, while Arsenal ranked outside the tenth.
Regarding Tottenham's victory over Manchester United in the Community Shield, but did not play the tide of offensive that fans expected in the first two rounds of the league. Many football professionals commented that this was mainly because the Community Shield's performance was too eye-catching, which led to conservative strategies, including Middlesbrough and Sunderland.
Moreover, Tottenham Hotspur has not yet found a very effective method, allowing the creative and delicate midfielder to form an effective fusion mechanism with the more powerful and explosive frontcourt wings. Especially between Gareth Bale, Van Persie and Cavani, there is no interaction and running similar to the previous Trident.
This has also become a big problem for Tottenham Hotspur's new season. Considering that the teams in the first two rounds of the league were not very good, other teams have relatively coping solutions, so many people think that with Messi and others returning from the Olympics, Tottenham Hotspur will help Tottenham regain its offensive football.
After playing the first two rounds of the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur held an event at Theoborde Training Base. The team took family portraits for the new season, and each player wore a formal suit provided by the newly signed sponsor Versace. For this reason, Versace also specially arranged a complete set of shooting teams such as makeup artists and photographers to come to Theoborde Training Base.
Versace sponsors Tottenham Ger for two years, with an annual sponsorship fee of 4 million euros, which is similar to the level of formal wear sponsors of major clubs. Moreover, considering Versace's fame, it will be of some help to Tottenham Hotspur enhance its influence.
For Versace, who has not been in a very ideal situation in the past few years, has suffered losses almost every year, and has just made large-scale layoffs, it is crucial for them to actively develop markets outside Europe, especially Asian and North American markets.
In the contract between Tottenham and Versace, his first appearance was in the European Super Cup and the European Champions League group draw and award ceremony. This is also Tottenham Hotspur's first appearance in the new season. As the defending champion, it has attracted much attention. Versace will even arrange a professional group to accompany him.
A group of people set off from London and headed for Monaco. They entered the hotel that had been booked before UEFA. Then the teams set off together to the Grimalti meeting in Monaco that night.
This is also the first time Tottenham Hotspur's full debut in the new season. Four players including Messi and four players who participated in the Olympics, as well as Ribery who was injured, all came to the scene. Everyone's overall suits and dressed up really blinded the eyes of countless fans and killed countless media films.
As the defending champion, Tottenham Hotspur directly qualifies as a group stage seed team. They will form a group stage seed team with the other seven teams with the highest points in the European Cup. If the seed team is not discussed, the team with the highest points in the European Cup in the past few years is Chelsea, which depends on Ye Qiu's two years of coaching the Blues.
A total of four teams in the Premier League have participated in the Champions League group stage this season. Arsenal and Chelsea have participated in the third round of the qualifiers, but they all advanced smoothly. What’s interesting is that except for Tottenham Hotspur not having enough points, but because they are the defending champions, they have qualified for the seed team, the other three teams are all seed teams.
This suddenly made four seed teams appear in the Premier League, occupying half of the eight seed teams. From this point, it is not difficult to see the current strength of the Premier League, and this is not considered Liverpool who missed the Champions League. Otherwise, according to the previous UEFA European Championship 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 at all exaggerated.
Originally, Ye Qiu was not interested in participating in UEFA's activities, which was very dissatisfied with some of Johnson's behaviors back then. However, since Platini came to power, he took the initiative to bring his relationship with Ye Qiu closer, and his attitude towards Tottenham Hotspur was also very good, so Ye Qiu was also happy to take advantage of the situation.
There is no doubt that in Tottenham Hotspur's Champions League final, he defeated Manchester United in a nearly miraculous reversal, and Ye Qiu won the UEFA season best coach award with almost no competitor.
In the past, Ye Qiu wanted to take the prize, but he couldn't get it. Now he doesn't care, but it came to his door on his own initiative. The world of this world is so weird. If you don't give it to you when you want it, you don't want it anymore, but he insists on stuffing it into your hand.
After winning the Best Coach Award for the Season, Ye Qiu also received congratulations from others including Ferguson, Wenger and others, especially the Frenchman. After a year of separation, he looked in a good mood.
The best goalkeeper of the season is undoubtedly Peter Cech of Tottenham. His performance was excellent and steady in the Champions League and Premier League last season. Even Ye Qiu can say that with Tottenham's passion for offense and the team's defensive level last season, if it were not for Peter Cech, Tottenham Hotspur, it would be difficult for Tottenham Hotspur to have such excellent results.
The best defender fell on Manchester United's Vidic. The Serbian central defender performed very well, much better than Tottenham Hotspur's Hangland and Thiago Silva, and Chelsea's Terry.
The best midfielder is Fabregas given to Tottenham Hotspur. The performance of this Spanish teenager is definitely worthy of recognition, especially his strategic planning and organization in the midfield, as well as his scoring ability to step in, have made him one of the world-class midfielders, especially after Tottenham Hotspur won the Champions League.
The best striker of the season was given to Cristiano Ronaldo. Many people think 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. Relatively speaking, Ribery was very good in the league, but he deducted points in the first half of the Champions League final, and he was absent due to injury in the second half.
But it was after he was absent, Tottenham Hotspur made a miraculous reversal, which would somewhat make some people who doubt Ribery even more deny him.
But the best player of the season is undoubtedly Frank Ribery
Seeing Ribery walking onto the podium, everyone was blessing him in their hearts. UEFA President Platini, who presented him with the award, hugged the French compatriot tightly and cheered him up personally, hoping that he could return to the arena as soon as possible.
"I'm twenty-five years old this year." Ribery, who had a hideous scar on his face, came to the microphone when he took the trophy from Platini. "In the first twenty years of my life, no one had ever told me that I could be today. At that time, I didn't know anything and wandered around. Once, I fell to the point where eating was a problem, and then as many people knew, I became a brick mover at a construction site."
"I will never forget that when I was twenty years old, he showed up in my life, and he told me, Frank Ribery, believe me, you can become the best player in the world, just like your fellow countryman Papan, and your fellow countryman Zidane, to become a great player."
As he spoke, everyone could see some crystal clearness in Ribery's terrifying face, and the French began to tremble in his words, which showed his excitement at this moment.
"I bet on myself at that time. My wife told me that you should try it, so I came to London. What I bet on is the future and the future. I told myself that if it doesn't work, I will continue to go back and be my brick mover and live a peaceful life all my life."
"I'm very grateful that I won." Ribery raised the trophy in his hand high, "So, here, I must thank my wife, children, family, and all the Tottenham Hotspur teammates. Without everyone, there would be no me, but I should thank my head coach, I will always be grateful to you."
There was a burst of thunderous applause at the scene. Everyone looked at the applause and walked down the podium, walked to the stands, walked to Ye Qiu, and hugged Ribery tightly with him.
As Platini said in his introduction, Ribery used his experience to tell everyone the most obvious truth. Football is never just a talent, not just a genius. It requires you to persist and work tirelessly, and he will definitely reward you in the end.
From Ribery, everyone can clearly see that he may not be genius. He does not have the super talent of Ronaldo and has never had a smooth career. He has had ups and downs. Even after performing well at Chelsea, he was once thrown into the cold palace by Mourinho, but he finally survived and made a breakthrough.
After Ribery stepped down, Platini expressed his gratitude to Ye Qiu on the court, but he was not a Frenchman, but as the chairman of UEFA. He felt that Ye Qiu had discovered many stars for European football and made outstanding contributions. He also believed that Ribery would be able to return to the arena as soon as possible and return to the top.
Tottenham Hotspur is undoubtedly the winner of the major awards of the season, but in the group draw that followed, Tottenham Hotspur became a tragic one because they were ranked in the so-called death group.
The eight seed teams are defending champions Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Lyon. These eight teams are each divided into eight different groups, and Tottenham Hotspur is in Group D.
There are also many powerful teams among the second-level teams, such as Bayern Munich, Villarreal, Juventus, Roma and other teams, all of which are strong teams, and even the strength of Eindhoven, Werder Bremen, Porto and other teams in the Eredivisie are excellent.
The first two levels are outstanding, there is nothing wrong with that, it is normal, but the key suspense is in the third and fourth levels
All the teams in the third level are not teams in the four major leagues, but the strength of Marseille is impressive, and the worst is the fourth level, Fiorentina and Atletico Madrid are both headaches, and both teams in Serie A and La Liga are definitely incredible.
Tottenham Hotspur was unlucky because they drew Bayern Munich, the strongest team in the second level, and Marseille, the strongest team in the third level, and Atletico Madrid, the fourth level.
Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich, Marseille and Atletico Madrid, such a powerful combination, looking at the eight groups in the Champions League, is definitely the group with the strongest overall strength and the most terrifying death group.
Ye Qiu is more or less mentally prepared for some of the draw principles of the Champions League.
Although Tottenham Hotspur won the Champions League last season, in the eyes of many people, Tottenham Hotspur's championship was a surprise, a bit similar to Ye Qiu's previous life Porto won the championship. Who really regarded Porto as a giant? Even after Porto was disqualified from the Champions League, no one cared about it, and few people knew about it.
The same is true for Tottenham Hotspur now. A Champions League does not mean anything. If the team cannot continue to maintain its combat effectiveness and competitiveness in the next few years, Tottenham Hotspur will soon be forgotten by everyone and continue to become a second-rate team. Therefore, Ye Qiu is very clear that what the team needs most is the results.
But the fact is cruel. In the group draw, strong teams must be staggered with strong teams and cannot be too imbalanced. Otherwise, if strong teams fail to advance, it will be a series of unpopularity, which will hit the market influence of the Champions League. Therefore, before the game, many people thought that Bayern Munich would either draw Tottenham Hotspur or Lyon, and choose one of the two.
The reason is very simple. These two teams are the two teams with the weakest comprehensive strength in the group.
Just like Leverkusen, who performed invincible the previous season, but was immediately defeated in the next season. Many people also adopted a bystander strategy towards Tottenham Hotspur, and even many sponsors were the same.
For Tottenham Hotspur, it is indeed cruel to be assigned to such a group, but when Ye Qiu followed closely with the media interview, he still said optimistically and confidently that the team's goal has not changed, and he should strive to be the first in the group.
Because for Tottenham Hotspur, if you win the first place in the group, you can avoid strong teams and go further in the knockout stage.
The outside world also feels that Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich are likely to qualify together. The key is that Tottenham Hotspur can continue to maintain the level of last season.
The day after the draw and award ceremony, Tottenham Hotspur defeated Zenit at the Louis II Stadium and successfully won the European Super Cup, which is also the first European Super Cup in Tottenham Hotspur history.
The team had won the UEFA Cup before, but lost to AC Milan in the Super Cup, resulting in missing one, and this time it finally got it.
However, when the team was competing for the Super Cup, the Premier League played the third round, while Tottenham Hotspur's away challenge to Chelsea was postponed, and Manchester United finally won and topped the league.
After the three rounds, the Premier League ushered in a two-week national team match day.
Chapter completed!