Chapter 484: Death Group

The first round of the league is usually not easy to play, the reason is very simple, not in good shape, and lack of league rhythm.

The human body is very strange, only when you are in a rhythm that you are adapted to and familiar with, you can play well, so the start of the league is a process of groping and finding rhythm for all teams.

It is hard to say whether this process is fast or slow, and no one can give an explanation.

Just like Arsenal's first game against West Bromwich Albion at the Emirates Stadium, they played very badly in this game, but they were very lucky, because they scored a goal by the newly joined Nasri just over four minutes after the start, and then kept it until the end of the game, defeating the Baggies 1:0.

Manchester United was equally bad, sitting at Old Trafford to welcome Newcastle, first Martins sneaked in to score, but Fletcher equalized the score two minutes later, but then Manchester United seemed to never find the feeling of scoring, and could only watch Keegan's team take a point from Old Trafford.

Tottenham Hotspur's performance in the first round was not very ideal, and they challenged Middlesbrough led by Southgate away.

This team is not weak, with players of considerable reputation such as Downing, Alfonso Alves, and Tuncay. Tottenham Hotspur performed very well in the first half, with goals from Thiago Silva and Van Persie helping the team to take the lead 2:0, but in the second half, Robert Huth scored a goal for Middlesbrough with a corner kick.

The final score was 2:1, and Tottenham Hotspur defeated Middlesbrough away.

The team with the most tragic performance in the first round was Mark Hughes' Manchester City.

This team, which spent a lot of money to strengthen the team this season, challenged Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa away in the first round of the new season, but was scored four goals by Aston Villa away, and finally suffered a 2:4 defeat, which did not show the ambition and strength that Mark Hughes called for to strive for the top four.

Striker Agbonlahor scored a hat trick, becoming the most eye-catching player in the first round of the league and the top scorer in the new season of the Premier League, which also attracted the attention of many media and fans.

However, the best performance in the first round of the Premier League was still Scolari's Chelsea, which beat Redknapp's Portsmouth 4:0 at home and directly rushed to the top of the league. Moreover, these four goals were scored by four different players, and the offensive ability was good, which made many people optimistic about Chelsea's prospects this season.

A week later, Tottenham Hotspurs sat at White Hart Lane and welcomed the Black Cat Sunderland.

Speaking of which, Roy Keane's team also caused a lot of trouble to Tottenham Hotspurs at the beginning of last season. This time, Roy Keane once again showed his ambition to beat Tottenham Hotspurs away from home, but they lost 1:2 at White Hart Lane. Although they lost, they saved their face.

Chelsea beat Wigan 1:0 away, Manchester United beat Portsmouth 1:0 away, Liverpool beat Middlesbrough 2:1 at home, Arsenal lost 0:1 to Fulham away, and Manchester City beat West Ham United 3:0 at home.

After two rounds, the situation in the Premier League has changed. A total of only three teams have won two consecutive victories, namely Chelsea at the top, Tottenham Hotspur in second place, and Liverpool in third place. Manchester United, Blackburn and other teams followed closely behind, and Arsenal ranked outside the top ten.

Regarding Tottenham Hotspur's big victory over Manchester United in the Community Shield, but did not play the wave of offensive that fans expected in the first two rounds of the league, many football professionals feel that this is mainly because the performance in the Community Shield was too eye-catching, which led to Middlesbrough and Sunderland adopting a conservative strategy.

Moreover, Tottenham Hotspur has not yet found a good and effective way to form an effective fusion mechanism between the creative and delicate midfield and the more powerful and explosive front wings, especially between Gareth Bale, Van Persie and Cavani, there is no interaction and movement similar to the previous trident.

This has also become a big problem for Tottenham Hotspur in the new season. Considering that the team's operation in the first two rounds of the league was not very good, other teams have relatively coping strategies, so many people think that with the return of Messi and others from the Olympics, Tottenham Hotspur will be able to regain offensive football.

After the first two rounds of the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur held another event at the Theobald training base. The whole team took a family photo 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 whole set of shooting teams including makeup artists and photographers to come to the Theobald training base.

Versace sponsored Tottenham Hotspur 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. In addition, considering Versace's fame, it will help Tottenham Hotspur to enhance its influence.

For Versace, which has not been in a very ideal situation in the past few years, has suffered losses almost every year, and has just carried out large-scale layoffs, it is very important for them to actively develop markets outside Europe, especially Asia and North America, with the influence of Tottenham Hotspur and Ye Qiu.

In the contract between Tottenham Hotspur and Versace, his first appearance was in the European Super Cup and the UEFA Champions League group stage draw and award ceremony. This is also Tottenham Hotspur's first appearance in the new season. As the defending champion, Versace will even arrange for a professional team to accompany him.

A group of people set off from London to Monaco, entered the hotel that UEFA had booked before, and then set off to the Grimaldi Convention Center in Monaco that evening.

This is also the first full appearance of Tottenham Hotspur in the new season. Four players, including Messi who participated in the Olympics, and Franck Ribery, who is injured, all came to the scene. Everyone was dressed in suits. , it is indeed a film that blinded the eyes of countless fans and instantly killed countless media.

As the defending champion, Tottenham Hotspur directly qualify for a group stage seeding team. They will form a group stage seeding team with the other seven teams with the highest European points. If the seeding team is not discussed In other words, the team with the highest points in the European competition in the past few years has been Chelsea. This also depends on the fact that Ye Qiu coached the Blues for a championship and a runner-up in the two years.

A total of four teams in the Premier League participated in the Champions League group stage this season. Arsenal and Chelsea both participated in the third round of qualifying, but they both advanced successfully. What is interesting is that, except for Tottenham Hotspur who did not have enough points, they But because they are the defending champions, they have qualified for the seed team, and the other three teams are all seed teams.

This suddenly allowed four seed teams to appear in the Premier League, accounting for half of the eight seed teams. From this point, it is not difficult to see the current strength of the Premier League, and this does not include Liverpool, which has missed the Champions League. Otherwise, , according to the previous UEFA European War points ranking, Liverpool ranked second among all teams.

The Premier League is indeed the strongest league in the past few seasons, and the title of the world's number one league is not an exaggeration.

Originally, Ye Qiu had no interest in participating in such activities of UEFA, as he was dissatisfied with some of Johansson's actions back then. However, since Platini came to power, he has taken the initiative to draw closer to Ye Qiu, and His attitude towards Tottenham Hotspur is also very good, so Ye Qiu is also happy to take advantage of him.

There is no doubt that Ye Qiu won the UEFA Coach of the Season award with almost no competition after defeating Manchester United in the Champions League final with an almost miraculous comeback by Tottenham Hotspur.

In the past, Ye Qiu wanted to get the prize, but he couldn't get it. Now he thinks it doesn't matter, but it came to his door on his own initiative. The world in this world is so weird. It won't give you what you want when you want it. You didn't want it anymore, but he insisted on forcing it into your hand.

After winning the Coach of the Season Award, Ye Qiu also received congratulations from Ferguson, Wenger and others, especially the Frenchman, who returned to the Champions League after a year's absence. He seemed to be in a good mood.

The best goalkeeper of the season undoubtedly belongs to Tottenham Hotspur's Petr Cech. His performance in the Champions League and Premier League last season was quite outstanding and steady. It can even be said that Ye Qiu, with Tottenham, Tottenham Hotspur's love of offense and the team's defensive level last season. Without Peter Cech, Tottenham Hotspur would probably have difficulty achieving such outstanding results.

The best defender fell to Manchester United's Vidic. This Serbian central defender performed really well, better than Tottenham Hotspur's Hangeland and Thiago Silva, and Chelsea's Terry is much better.

The best midfielder was given to Tottenham Hotspur's Cesc Fabregas. The Spanish teenager's performance is definitely worthy of recognition, especially his general-like strategizing and organization in the midfield, as well as his scoring from behind. His ability has allowed him to join the ranks of world-class midfielders, especially after Tottenham Hotspur won the Champions League.

The best forward 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, Generally speaking, Ribery was very good in the league, but points were deducted in the first half of the Champions League final, and he missed the second half due to injury.

But it happened that after he was absent, Tottenham Hotspur performed a miraculous reversal, which somewhat made some people who doubted Ribery even more negative about him.

But the best player of the season undoubtedly belongs to Franck Ribery!

Seeing Ribery hobbling onto the podium, everyone was blessing him in their hearts. UEFA President Platini, who presented him with the award, hugged the French compatriot tightly. I personally cheer him on and hope he can return to the game as soon as possible.

"I am twenty-five years old this year!" When receiving the trophy from Platini, Ribery, who had a hideous scar on his face, approached the microphone. "In the first twenty years of my life, I never had anything like this." People told me that I could be where I am today. At that time, I didn’t know anything and was wandering around. I was once reduced to the point where I couldn’t even eat. Then, as many people know, I became a bricklayer at a construction site. Worker."

"I will never forget, when I was 20 years old, he came into my life and he told me, Franck Ribery, believe me, you can become the best player in the world, just like Your fellow countryman Papin, like your compatriot Zidane, became a great player."

As he spoke, everyone could see some crystals on Ribery's terrifying face, and the Frenchman's voice began to tremble, 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 was my future. I told myself that if it didn't work, I would continue to go back to being my bricklayer and live a peaceful life for the rest of my life."

"I am very glad that I won!" Ribery raised the trophy in his hand high, "So, here, I must thank my wife, children, and family who have supported me in the past few years. I also want all my teammates in Tottenham Hotspur. Without you, there would be no me, but I should thank my head coach even more. I will be grateful to you forever!"

There was a thunderous applause at the scene, and everyone looked at Ribery who limped down the podium, walked to the stands, walked to Ye Qiu, and hugged him tightly in the applause.

As Platini said before, Ribery used his experience to tell everyone the most clear and simple truth, that football is never just talent, it requires you to persist and work hard, and he will definitely give you the rewards you deserve in the end.

From Ribery, everyone can clearly see that he may not be a genius, he does not have Ronaldo's super talent, and he has never had a smooth career. He has had ups and downs, and even at Chelsea, after his outstanding performance, he was once put into the cold palace by Mourinho, but he finally survived and survived.

Platini also expressed his gratitude to Ye Qiu on the court after Ribery stepped down, but he was not a Frenchman, but as the president of UEFA. He felt that Ye Qiu had discovered many stars for European football and made outstanding contributions, and he also believed that Ribery would be able to return to the court as soon as possible and return to the peak.

Tottenham Hotspur is undoubtedly the big winner of all the major awards this season, but in the group stage draw that followed, Tottenham Hotspur became a big tragedy because they were placed in the so-called death group.

The eight seeded teams are the defending champion Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Inter Milan and Lyon. These eight teams are divided into eight different groups, and Tottenham Hotspur is in Group D.

There are also many strong teams in the second tier, such as Bayern Munich, Villarreal, Juventus, Roma and other teams, which are all strong teams. Even the strength of Eindhoven, Werder Bremen, Porto and other teams in the Dutch Eredivisie is not bad.

The first two tiers are outstanding, which is nothing, it is normal, but the key suspense is in the third and fourth tiers.

All the teams in the third tier are not from the four major leagues, but the strength of Marseille is impressive. The problem is that in the fourth tier, Fiorentina and Atletico Madrid are both headache-inducing teams. These two teams in Serie A and La Liga are definitely capable of causing an upset.

Tottenham Hotspur is unlucky because they drew Bayern Munich, the strongest team in this tier, in the second tier, and Marseille, the strongest team in the third tier, and Atletico Madrid in La Liga in the fourth tier.

Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich, Marseille and Atletico Madrid, such a strong combination, looking at the eight groups of the Champions League, is definitely the strongest group in terms of comprehensive strength, and it is definitely the most terrifying group of death.

Ye Qiu is more or less mentally prepared for some of the Champions League's draw principles.

Although Tottenham Hotspur won the Champions League last season, in the eyes of many people, Tottenham Hotspur's victory is considered an upset, a bit similar to Porto's victory in Ye Qiu's previous life. Who really regards Porto as a giant? Even when Porto was disqualified from the Champions League, no one cared 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 fighting power 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 knows very well that what the team needs most at present is results.

But the truth is cruel. In the group stage draw, strong teams must be staggered with strong teams and cannot be too unbalanced. Otherwise, once a strong team fails to advance, it will be a series of upsets, which will hit the market influence of the Champions League. Therefore, before the game, many people felt that Bayern Munich should either draw Tottenham Hotspur or Lyon, one of the two.

The reason is simple. These two teams are the two teams with the weakest overall strength in the group.

Just like Leverkusen, which performed invincibly in the previous season, but immediately suffered a crushing defeat in the next season, many people's attitude towards Tottenham Hotspur is to adopt a bystander strategy, even including many sponsors.

For Tottenham, it is indeed cruel to be assigned to such a group, but when Ye Qiu was interviewed by the media shortly afterwards, he was still optimistic and confident that the team's goal has not changed, and they still have to strive for the first place in the group.

Because for Tottenham, if they get the first place in the group, they can avoid strong teams in the knockout stage and go one step further.

For the four teams in Group D, the outside world also feels that Tottenham and Bayern Munich are very likely to qualify together. The key is that Tottenham can continue to maintain the level of last season.

The day after the draw and award ceremony, Tottenham Hotspur defeated Zenit 3:1 at the Stade Louis II and successfully won the European Super Cup, which was also the first European Super Cup in the history of Tottenham Hotspur.

The team had won the UEFA Cup before, but lost to AC Milan in the Super Cup, which led to a missed opportunity. This time, they finally got it.

However, when the team was competing for the Super Cup, the Premier League played the third round, and Tottenham Hotspur's away game against Chelsea was postponed. In the end, Manchester United won and topped the league.

After the three rounds, the Premier League ushered in two weeks of national team match days.