Chapter 403 Unprecedented Tragedy

There is a saying that is very true, wishes are beautiful, but reality is cruel.

As the saying goes, fortune and misfortune go hand in hand. Tottenham Hotspur had just defeated Arsenal and successfully climbed into the top four of the league, but in the blink of an eye, they immediately faced a crisis. Two days after playing Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur welcomed Mark Hughes' Blackburn at home.

Perhaps it was because of the continuous battles in a short period of time, or perhaps it was because Ye Qiu was more cautious this time and did not adjust the team's lineup. As a result, Tottenham Hotspur played very badly in this game against Blackburn.

In the first half, although Tottenham Hotspur firmly controlled the rhythm and possession of the game, they lost the score.

Bentley's pass on the right facilitated a counterattack by Benny McCarthy, and penetrated Tottenham Hotspur's goal, temporarily taking the lead 1:0 away from home, and even after that, Tottenham Hotspur launched the most violent attack on Blackburn, but failed to break Blackburn's goal.

During the halftime break, Ye Qiu adjusted the team lineup. He even took Mascherano off and put Yaya Tourera as the defensive midfielder. He replaced Arshavin, who has performed well recently, as the attacking midfielder. Beckham still sat in the middle of the midfield and partnered with Yaya Toure.

But even so, Tottenham Hotspur still failed to break Blackburn's goal, which made all the Tottenham Hotspur fans and coaching staff, and even the players on the field anxious, because everyone knew that if they couldn't break Blackburn's goal, Tottenham Hotspur would probably not be able to keep the top four in the league.

"Steady! Steady! Don't worry, hold the ball more when you get to the front court, don't worry!"

Ye Qiu walked to the sidelines and shouted loudly to the players on the field. He felt that as time passed, the players on the field were obviously a little anxious, and this anxious mood was not good for Tottenham Hotspur at the moment.

"Maybe, I'm really too impatient!" Ye Qiu turned his head and complained to Mauro Tassotti.

After reversing Arsenal and reaching the top four in the league, Ye Qiu was really overwhelmed by this ecstasy, and was also overshadowed by Tottenham Hotspur's recent winning streak, which led to him being a little careless in this game, while Blackburn's performance this season is not bad at all.

You know, Mark Hughes joined Manchester City because of his excellent coaching in the past two years.

"Do you want to know the score over at Newcastle?" Roland came over and asked.

Ye Qiu shook his head and waved his hand, "Don't tell me this now, I'm not in the mood, I'm just thinking about how to beat this damn Blackburn, I don't want to think about anything else!"

Roland and Mauro Tassotti looked at each other, and they could both feel the pressure Ye Qiu was under at the moment.

After working hard for a season, they finally made it to the top four of the league. If they are squeezed out in the end, it will be a huge blow to Ye Qiu and the players' psychology and morale.

Of course, this cannot be entirely blamed on Ye Qiu. The Premier League schedule is sometimes really abnormal, such as the Christmas holiday, and the two recent rounds, which are separated by two days, causing the team to have to fight tiredly. In addition, coupled with the previous national team events, the impact on Tottenham Hotspur is really great.

At least, the results of the top teams in the Premier League in the last two rounds are generally not very ideal. Whether it is Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool, the results are obviously not satisfactory. Even if they win, they win very hard.

For a long time recently, Tottenham Hotspur has been either busy with multi-line operations or busy with national team games. Although Tottenham Hotspur does not seem to be ranked well now, the number of international players is not as good as other giants, but it has also seriously affected the team's training and preparations.

This is really a headache, a dilemma. Your team is performing badly, you have fewer international players, but your results are not ideal. But once your results go up, you perform well, and attract attention, the national team will come to you to ask for players. You have to let them go, so what can you do?

In this game, everyone in Tottenham Hotspur performed very averagely, very averagely. Even Van Nistelrooy, the team's main center forward, performed poorly. He missed at least two or three good scoring opportunities. If he was in good shape, he should have scored at least two goals now.

If the team cannot create opportunities, it can be explained that there is a problem with the team, but the problem now is that the team can create opportunities, but failed to seize them. This can only mean that the players' condition is problematic and they are not excited enough.

For this, even Ye Qiu has no way.

If there is a way to avoid it, those giant teams will never lose, right?

Just when Ye Qiu felt embarrassed and had a headache, he heard the referee suddenly blew the whistle and raised a yellow gem card towards Blackburn's right back Warnock, giving Tottenham Hotspur a direct free kick opportunity on the right side of the top of the penalty area.

All Tottenham Hotspur fans in the stadium were cheering for Messi. From the slow motion, it was Messi who used his skillful ball control skills from the right and cut inside with the ball, causing a foul on Warnock.

"Good!" Ye Qiu clapped his hands vigorously. This was definitely a very good free kick opportunity. However, as a right-footed player, Beckham was not very good at taking the free kick in this place. Gareth Bale was left-footed. If he played at this time, he might be more comfortable taking the free kick.

Tottenham Hotspur fans were shouting Beckham's name, and he immediately walked to the front of the penalty spot, but other teammates, including Ribery and Messi, gathered around him.

Beckham made a gesture to Ye Qiu, indicating that this position was not easy for him to play, and he needed someone to help and cover him. Ye Qiu let him make the decision and let his teammates cooperate with him as much as possible.

"Listen, man, this shot is the same as usual, remember?" Beckham pulled Ribery and Messi over.

Both of them had practiced with Beckham, and when they were doing set-piece training, Ye Qiu would also practice free kick coordination appropriately, because to be honest, the team's free kicks currently depend on Beckham, and Gareth Bale is temporarily unable to play as a main force. When Beckham is not there, Tottenham Hotspur can only rely on coordination to take free kicks.

Ribery and Messi both nodded, indicating that they understood, and then Beckham made detailed arrangements.

The referee ran up and signaled that the penalty kick would start, and then he asked Blackburn's human wall to shrink back into the penalty area, indicating that their human wall was too far outside, which had seriously affected the free kick. After the human wall shrank back, Beckham, Ribery and Messi formed a triangle position.

This is a free kick not far away, just in front of the penalty area. Anyone can kick directly. As long as they have the ability to hit a curved ball, passing or bypassing the wall, they can pose a threat. Moreover, the three people are also very interesting. Beckham is the most important free kicker, standing on the left side with his right foot, Messi stands on the right side with his left foot, and Ribery stands in the middle and back with his left and right feet.

So, at this moment, even Ye Qiu couldn't guess what kind of play they would choose, because all of this depends on their on-the-spot performance. Ye Qiu couldn't arrange all of this so carefully, because it would easily ruin things.

With the referee's whistle, Ribery ran forward two steps and pretended to kick hard, deceiving the wall to react, but he actually kicked the ball to Messi. Messi met the ball and stepped directly, while Beckham ran quickly from the left. As soon as Messi stepped on it, the ball settled, and Beckham arrived.

The whole process took one or two seconds. Everyone had cooperated before, so the pace and steps were well controlled. The place where Messi stepped on the ball was exactly where Beckham could kick directly after rushing up.

Beckham's direct free kick was also very clever. His right foot played a curved ball, took the upper left corner, directly passed over the top of the wall, and hit the left side net inside the goal. It was very clean and neat, without any drag.

Even after the ball went in, Friedel did not react at all. When he woke up, the ball had already entered the net. All he could do was to fish the ball out of the goal line, watching everyone from Tottenham Hotspur rushing to the sidelines to celebrate the goal, and angrily kicked the ball back to the center circle.

Although Tottenham Hotspur finally broke through Blackburn's goal with Beckham's indirect free kick in the 71st minute, and although Tottenham Hotspur followed closely and continuously launched a fierce attack on Blackburn's goal, they still couldn't stop Blackburn from getting a point from them.

The score was finally locked at 1:1!

What made Tottenham Hotspur feel relieved was that Arsenal and Newcastle ended up in a draw in this game, 0:0, and neither side could do anything to the other. Arsenal's recent performance is indeed very bad, especially after Gilberto Silva was injured, the Gunners' performance really plummeted.

Although Tottenham Hotspur retained the top four in the league, Liverpool relied on a 2:0 home victory over Middlesbrough, successfully widening the points gap between themselves and Tottenham Hotspur to five points. Gerrard scored twice in this game and staged a king's return.

Ye Qiu could feel that Benítez had almost adjusted Liverpool's current lineup to its best condition so far this season. Judging from the current situation, they lost too many points in the first half and fell behind too much. It was unlikely to catch up, so Fatty Bei should focus on the Champions League next.

In the middle of the week, the second round of the UEFA Cup quarter-finals was held. Ye Qiu learned from his experience and lessons this time. In addition, he won by a large margin away from home, so he played with a substitute lineup at home. But even so, Arshavin's goal still helped Tottenham Hotspur beat Osasuna 1:0 at home.

In the end, Tottenham Hotspur defeated Osasuna with a total score of 4:0 in two rounds and advanced to the semi-finals.

This time, Osasuna's opponent was also Sevilla from Spain.

Two days later, the team challenged Wigan away.

Everyone knows that there are two types of teams that are the most difficult to play in the league. One is the team competing for the Champions League qualification, and the other is the team striving for relegation. This round, Wigan happens to belong to the latter.

Paul Jewell, Wigan's head coach, is also a top figure in English football, because after he took charge of Wigan, he led the team to two consecutive promotions in three years and entered the Premier League. In the first season after entering the Premier League, which was last season, he performed very well. Wigan won the tenth place in the league and became a dark horse of the season. Jewell also became famous for winning the Premier League's best coach of the month for two consecutive months.

But all dark horses cannot escape fate. Jewell adjusted Wigan this season, abandoning the previous 541 and 532 defensive counterattack tactics, and began to adopt the more up-to-date 433 tactics. In Jewell's words, let Wigan play more ambitiously.

This is actually some of the ideas of many local English coaches, but the facts have proved that almost all local English coaches who changed to 4231 and 433 tactics have not been able to stand out. Instead, those coaches who continue to stick to the traditional 442 tactics will lead the team to more stable and solid results.

The reason is not difficult to understand, because the 4231 and 433 tactics have higher requirements for players, the team's technical and tactical level, and the head coach's ability to grasp, which are obviously much higher than 442.

Ye Qiu also didn't understand what gave Wigan such courage. When facing Tottenham Hotspur, they still played the 433 tactics carelessly, especially their center forward was the famous Heskey, so Ye Qiu made the same choice as Benitez, Mourinho and Ferguson.

Among the top five teams in the Premier League, Arsenal had the most difficult time against Wigan, while the other teams had an easy time against Wigan. Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester United all won big and won completely, because they obviously saw through Wigan's flaws.

At Wigan's Robin Park, Tottenham Hotspur beat Wigan by six goals. Ribery scored twice, and Ruud van Nistelrooy, Messi, Fabregas and Hangeland all scored. Tottenham Hotspur took a 2-0 lead in the first three minutes thanks to goals from Ribery and Ruud van Nistelrooy, and the score was already 4-0 in the first half.

This victory allowed Tottenham Hotspur to get rid of the bad mood of being tied by Blackburn before, and also allowed Tottenham Hotspur to score more goals than Manchester United. The Red Devils failed to defeat Chelsea away from home in this game, and the two sides drew 0-0, which was destined to continue the suspense of winning the championship.

Liverpool drew 0-0 with Manchester City away, which quickly shortened the points gap between Tottenham Hotspur and the Red Army to three points, while Arsenal defeated Bolton 2-1 and continued to chase Tottenham Hotspur.

After playing Wigan, Tottenham Hotspur had a week's rest, but all the media had no intention of resting at all, because they found that so far this season, the entire competition in the Premier League has been surprisingly fierce, even tragic, because whether it is the championship, the Champions League qualification, the UEFA Cup qualification, or even the relegation battle, it is unprecedentedly tragic.

Although the current Premier League championship is only contested by Manchester United and Chelsea, the points of the two teams are only two points, and they may be replaced at any time and anywhere. The two teams have been competing back and forth for a period of time, and no one wants to fall behind.

In the Champions League qualification zone, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Liverpool are competing for the third and fourth places. Among them, Liverpool's situation is more favorable, currently leading Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal by three points. With four rounds left in the league, Liverpool's only hidden danger is distraction from the Champions League.

Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have the same points, and the situation of the two teams is the most dangerous, because in the 35th round of the league, Tottenham Hotspur will face Arsenal at White Hart Lane. No matter how the two teams play, one of them will be left behind by Liverpool. This is a life-and-death focus battle.

This is not just the difference between the fourth and fifth in the league, but it is related to the income of tens of millions of euros in the next season, which no team dares to underestimate easily, so whether it is Liverpool, Arsenal, or Tottenham Hotspur, they have clearly called out to fight for the Champions League qualification.

If the competition for the top four is unprecedentedly fierce, then the competition for the top seven in the league is also very fierce, because it is related to the qualification for the UEFA Cup next year, because the teams that have reached the League Cup final and the FA Cup final are all the teams ahead of the Premier League. Naturally, the teams that will participate in the UEFA Cup next season are the teams ranked fifth, sixth, and seventh in the league.

Although the League Cup is a dispensable chicken rib for the giants, for Everton, Bolton, Portsmouth, Blackburn, Reading, Aston Villa and other teams, the League Cup is the limit they can consider. If there is a chance, who would not want to fight for it?

What is even more surprising is that in the current Premier League relegation zone, in addition to Watford, which has been relegated, Charlton, Sheffield United, Wigan, Fulham, West Ham United and Manchester City, there are six teams still fighting for relegation, and the battle situation is very tragic.

In total, with four rounds left in the league, except for Middlesbrough and Newcastle, which have already been relegated in advance and have not competed for the European competition qualification, and Watford, which has been relegated in advance, the other 17 teams are fighting for their goals. Such a situation has never happened in the history of the Premier League.

The entire Premier League battle was so fierce that the media seemed to be celebrating every round like a festival. Naturally, this also attracted strong attention from the media and fans all over the world. Everyone was speculating what the final result of this season would be, who would win the championship? Could Tottenham Hotspur keep the top four in the league?

In the 34th round of the league, Chelsea tied Manchester United 0:0 at home, which kept the suspense of the Premier League championship. Chelsea, who originally had the hope of defeating its competitors with the advantage of home court, now had to continue to compete with Manchester United for the championship.

All reporters, media and fans have focused their attention on the 35th round of the league, a week later, when Tottenham Hotspur will face Arsenal at home, which is undoubtedly a highlight.