Chapter five hundred and eleven before the turbulent game
Wenger talked about the upcoming game against Chelsea, and he was still quite looking forward to it. His words, "I hope to do what Manchester United didn't do" have become the focus of many media reports. This is Wenger's expression of confidence and expectations for the game. In addition, he also sprinkled a handful of salt on Manchester United's wounds, which made Ferguson and Manchester United feel extremely disgusting. The Frenchman is pure gloating.
So the media also looked forward to the game.
Chelsea just ended a big battle with Manchester United, and various problems broke out at the same time. It is still a suspense to face Arsenal again. Even if Zhang Tiehan expressed his confidence in Arsenal, Zhang Tiehan's influence is just a player after all, and the game between Chelsea and Arsenal can always attract a lot of attention.
Before the two teams start, there is still a round of Champions League events.
In this round of the Champions League group stage, Chelsea challenged Werder Bremen away. Werder Bremen's results are OK. They are currently three-pointers away from Barcelona, and their record of playing against Barcelona is also tied and lost. This loss has created a point gap. With two rounds left in the Champions League group stage, they still have a chance - as long as they defeat Chelsea and Chelsea defeated Barcelona again, the points gap can be pulled back.
But it is not easy to do it.
Chelsea has already advanced to the top four games. It is conceivable that Chelsea will definitely not care about the remaining two Champions League games next. After all, they are still facing pressure in the domestic league. If Chelsea doesn't care about the game, it is still possible for Werder Bremen to defeat Chelsea, but it is not very likely that Chelsea will defeat Barcelona. After all, both teams are top teams, and Chelsea may not be able to win the Camp Nou when they really fight. Not to mention that Chelsea doesn't care about the game.
But no matter what, if you want to retain the opportunity to qualify, Werder Bremen must win at home.
They sent out all the main lineups.
As they thought, Chelsea did appear in a half-substitute lineup, and Zhang Tiehan, the most difficult to deal with, did not appear in the roster, but Lampard and Marklele still participated in the game. Drogba did not appear in the roster. In this game, Grant chose the strikers Shepchenko and Kalu.
Werder Bremen knew about Chelsea’s roster and was relieved.
But it turns out that they were a bit too early to relax... Even Chelsea's substitute lineup is not something that ordinary teams can defeat. Although Grant actually has little control over the team, there are many stars on the court, and there are leaders like Lampard and Terry, so it is not easy to defeat Chelsea.
The final score was 0:0. None of the two teams scored a goal in the game.
Werder Bremen finally failed to achieve the idea of defeating Chelsea. With only one game left against Sofiakovsky, they want to eliminate Barcelona and advance to the Champions League quarterfinals, and they can only expect Barcelona to perform poorly.
Unfortunately, Barcelona defeated Sofiakovski the next day, so although there was still one round left in Group A, no matter what the result of the last round of the game, the specific ranking has been released. Chelsea ranked first in the group with four wins and one draw and thirteen points. Barcelona ranked second in the group with three wins and one draw and one loss in five games, and the two teams will definitely announce their advancement. Werder Bremen ranked third in the group with five points, and Sofiakovski ranked last and bottom.
But there is still suspense in the group first. If Barcelona can defeat Chelsea in the next game, the two teams have the same points and the winning relationship is the same, then it depends on the goal difference. But considering that Chelsea currently has five more goals than Barcelona, unless Barcelona can defeat Chelsea 5-0 at Camp Nou, it is impossible to squeeze out Chelsea's first place in the group, but this basically only has theoretical possibilities. After all, Chelsea's defense is famous. Even if Chelsea doesn't care about the game, it is definitely a bit of a dream to score five goals.
While Chelsea completed the Champions League match, the Portuguese Dragon Stadium ushered in a match. This is the Champions League event in Group G, with Porto hosting Arsenal at home.
It was a dull game, 0-0, neither side scored no goals.
However, even with this score, Arsenal is still enough to qualify as the top spot in the group.
Henry was absent due to a cumulative yellow card. Wenger brought Portugal's forward to the start, Adebayu made the start, while Walcott and Van Persie both sat on the bench.
Derby Rosky suffered another groin injury last Saturday, and Sendros returned to the main force, but the Gunners maintained the defender configuration of the last round of the league.
Previously, Porto won seven consecutive games at the Dragon Stadium and was unbeaten at home so far. The team's offensive core Quaresma and Postigga both started.
Wenger revealed before the game that he received an invitation to coach Porto when he was young, but "had a date". However, Porto captain Gonzalez seemed to want to arouse anger. He warned the Gunners before the game that Porto would fight for victory and the top spot in the group, but the two teams only need a draw to qualify together.
The Gunners' most recent expedition to Portugal was also a 1-1 draw with Benfica in the 1991 Champions League.
"You can't predict a 0-0 draw. But 10 minutes before the end of the game, don't expect me to ask the players to rush into the opponent's penalty area." Wenger said before the game.
He seemed to have predicted the score.
Arsenal's performance in this game was a bit poor. Porto basically controlled the situation in the first half of the game. Arsenal didn't really play in the second half, but until the last moment of the game, they were unable to score.
After the game, many media also reported on Arsenal's weak performance. They are about to visit Stamford Bridge Stadium, but with this performance, it will really be like Wenger said, "To do what Manchester United has not done"?
......
Arsenal has encountered a crisis of trust from the media, and Chelsea is also in public opinion.
This is not because of performance. Chelsea is the top spot in the league and declared qualifying in four rounds of the Champions League. Such a result is really gorgeous, but Chelsea has many problems within it. The most noteworthy one is Shepchenko. The Ukrainian played the whole game again in the last game. But apart from wasting two opportunities, he still had no performance.
After the game, Shevchenko said that he might leave Chelsea and return to AC Milan, which is more suitable for his performance.
Shevchenko talked about Chelsea and Grant, and said that his poor performance was very related to Grant's "inaction". "These words have been kept in my heart for a long time, and I have always wanted to say them, but I am afraid of what impact they have. But these are facts and I have to say them because everyone in the team knows them."
"In the summer, there were several players who came to Chelsea with me. Except for Zhang, they basically did not perform very well, but I think it was not that we were not adapting to the team. It was that Grant did not give us time to adapt."
"For example, in terms of tactical play, he wanted to create his own style of play, but this style of play has not been released for a long time. He just asked Zhang to be the core, but he didn't explain clearly how to do it. There are also other people (players who transferred together, such as Mikel and Kalu). After we arrived at the team, we didn't know how to adapt. The team's tactics were very chaotic, and the game was often the same as everyone else defended. The offense was completely free to play. If Zhang hadn't performed well, I think we had lost a lot of games."
"I think I'm in good shape, but I can't adapt to a team that has no fixed offensive routines and no tactics. I think this is all because of Grant."
"Actually I don't want to say this. But he has been like this, and the media has always said that I have performed poorly. But as you can see, we have not performed well, including many new players. We have never played under Mr. Mourinho, and we are not as good as Zhang, so we can only perform poorly..."
Shepchenko's words caused a big stir!
Soon, news came out that Shepchenko hoped to return to AC Milan on loan because he could not adapt to Grant's chaotic tactical style. If AC Milan and Chelsea reach an agreement, he would be willing to play in Serie A.
"Everyone is talking about me being loaned back to AC Milan. I haven't discussed this with the coaching staff yet, and the club's top executives may not have made a decision. But if this becomes a reality, I'm ready to pack my luggage. I'm a very confident person. If I'm not suitable, then I'll go back to Italy. No problem, I can re-prove how good I can be."
"As a player, I'm far from over, and I don't have to prove anything to anyone else, everyone already knows what Shevchenko can do."
Shevchenko also said that he had received full support from Chelsea boss Abramovich, and even if he decided to leave Stamford Bridge, Abu would understand him. "Abu is my friend, and he is completely on my side, but all he can do is insist that I rent it back, and he doesn't want me to be sold."
But these seem to be less important.
Shepchenko's criticism of Grant's ability is the most important. There have been many talks about the key to Grant's winning goal in the media before. First, Zhang Tiehan's shocking performance, and second, Mourinho's defense, which has been proved in many games.
Now that Shepchenko comes forward and says this, it almost means that he directly confirms the media's words.
Especially what he said makes sense...
Needless to say, the old Chelsea players are very adapted to Mourinho's previous defensive play style, but after Shepchenko and other newcomers came to the team, Mourinho had already left, and Grant did not determine the team's tactics. The tactical training is very chaotic, and the game is also very chaotic. In this chaos, only a player like Zhang Tiehan with outstanding personal abilities can perform, but his goals rely more on his own personal abilities, not the entire team, etc., which basically has nothing to do with the team's tactics.
Shepchenko pointed out that the new players who came to the team, except Zhang Tiehan, are not very good at performing well. Kalu scored a few goals in a limited number of times, which is considered the best performer. German captain Barack's performance is more about defense, and others have few appearances, so there is no need to say more.
So before the game, various media began to report.
In addition to questioning Grant's ability, they were also interested in what impact Shepchenko had after saying this. This was almost equivalent to publicly tearing Grant apart. It is conceivable what Grant would react, but unfortunately, no one could interview Grant before the game.
The match between Chelsea and Arsenal will soon begin.
Both teams basically revolved around this news before the game. Some media speculated that after Shepchenko made this speech, Grant was likely to have little time left for Chelsea.
When many teams have poor results, changing coaches becomes inevitable, but when the Champions League qualifies early and the league is topped by the league, there are only a handful of teams who change coaches in history. It is estimated that Grant will break the football history record after the resignation... Of course, this is not a glory, it can only be regarded as an interesting news.
So more people are paying attention to the match between Chelsea and Arsenal.
Previously, the media thought it was difficult for Arsenal to defeat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, but now that Chelsea has caused such a thing, may Arsenal really do what Manchester United has not done? (To be continued, please search for Astronomy, novels are better, updated and faster!
Chapter completed!