Chapter 398 Leon's Last Stand
Four to zero! Tottenham players put a perfect end to their first North London derby in the White Hart Lane Stadium with a hearty victory!
Seeing the team beat Arsenal at home, Tottenham fans were naturally extremely satisfied with the team's performance. Although Tottenham is now the Champions League champion and Arsenal is declining under the leadership of Wenger, in the eyes of Tottenham fans, as long as the team can defeat the Gunners in the North London derby, it is enough to be worthy of their celebration!
On the other hand, Arsenal players walked into the player channel dejectedly under the leadership of Wenger and Pat Rice - although they had expected this loss, they were extremely frustrated by their city rivals so easily.
You know, just over a year ago, they were the defending Premier League champions, enjoying the envious eyes of countless people, and being one of the favorites for league champions. As a result, just one year later, they were kicked out of the championship group and became a team struggling for the qualification of the Champions League. With such a huge gap, any Arsenal player will feel unacceptable.
To be honest, it is no longer surprising that Arsenal lost to Tottenham. After all, Tottenham is strengthening its lineup every year, but Arsenal is stingy in investing money in the transfer market and even begins to sell the main players in the team. With one increase and the other decrease, Arsenal naturally cannot be Tottenham's opponent anymore!
"Believe me, the trough is only temporary. Just give me two to three years, and I can make Arsenal the Premier League again!" At the post-match press conference, in the face of the reporter's questions about Arsenal's decline in record performance this season, Wenger was rarely tough and gave such a firm reply, "We have a group of very outstanding young people, such as Robin (Van Persie), Jose (Reyes), Seske (Fabregas), Heleb, etc. This is a huge advantage that other teams do not have. So, as long as these young people can grow up smoothly, Arsenal's future will be bright!"
"I don't know where Coach Wenger got the confidence, and he actually put all the hopes of the team on a group of young people who have not fully realized their potential, without considering retaining those players with rich experience." George naturally sneered at Wenger's remarks. Others may not know that he has memories of his previous life, but he is very clear about how embarrassing Arsenal will fall into a team building situation in the future because of Wenger's idea of building a team. "You know, even Ferguson Gerbert, you know, even if it's Ferguson Gerbert.
Scottish, he did not rely entirely on Class 92 when leading Manchester United to dominate Britain. Famous stars such as Roy Keane, Fanny, Black Wind Twins and Sheringham introduced from other teams, as well as the balanced offense and defense style also played a crucial role. And in Arsenal, I can't see the shadow of these two aspects... Now that the five elders and Vieira left one after another, Arsenal's defense has become so fragile, I believe everyone should be able to see it all, right?"
It feels not good to be slapped in the face in the face, let alone being exposed by a mortal enemy in public. Therefore, after being criticized by George without any mercy, Wenger's expression suddenly became extremely ugly!
What made the professor most depressed was that no matter how unhappy it was, it would be difficult for him to refute it strongly - who made George and Tottenham the winner of this game, and there was a heavyweight honor like the Champions League champion as a support, and he has not yet proved whether the team building philosophy he insisted on can bring a championship trophy to Arsenal?
Therefore, after dealing with several problems quickly, Wenger hurriedly left this place of right and wrong on the grounds that "the time is almost over", putting a failed end to this trip to White Deer Lane!
George had no intention of getting angry about Wenger's obviously disgraceful behavior. Anyway, there will be more and more opportunities in the future. Wenger will criticize Arsenal, and he will have to get used to it when he is not used to it. Moreover, this can also highlight his magnanimity, transfer all the anger of the reporters on the scene to Wenger who left early, and at the same time gain some favor. George naturally has no reason not to do this by killing two birds with one stone.
George has always attached great importance to the guidance and control of public opinion. The title of "Uncrown King" is not a joke. Although with George's current status, these reporters dare not really make any big news, he can be disgusted. Therefore, how to deal with reporters has always been listed as a compulsory course for all Tottenham staff!
In this way, the first North London derby of the 2005-06 season ended with Tottenham's big victory. Arsenal, who lost away, not only further declined in the league standings, but also received fierce criticism from the media after the game!
Although a derby victory allowed Tottenham players to spend the weekend in a pretty pleasant mood, they didn't get much rest time because there was still a Champions League group match waiting for them in the following mid-week!
Since there was only three days between the group stage with Lyon and the North London derby, in order to ensure that the players will not be injured due to fatigue and to ensure the team's combat effectiveness, George decisively rotated the starting lineup significantly. Drogba, who just scored twice in the derby game, was also pressed on the bench. Robben, Xavi Alonso and Ridley King and other players who were on the red light by experts from Tottenham Laboratory were not even able to enter the 18-man roster!
George doesn't think there is anything wrong with doing this. Tottenham is now the first in the group, leading Udinese with six points, and can basically lock in a qualifying spot. In this case, it is not impossible to let the team relax a little in the Champions League. What's more, Tottenham's opponent in this game is Lyon, a team that has been on Johnson's blacklist!
Compared with the Tottenham players with a relaxed mentality, the atmosphere on Lyon is much more solemn. He lost all three games in the group stage and was continued to be suppressed by Monaco in the league... For Lyon, who was just kicked out of the G14 Group and was thinking about regaining the giants' signature and the French Ligue 1 overlord throne, such a result is simply worse!
However, although the score difference between Mo and Real Madrid, which ranked second, was more than six points, Hollier did not admit defeat in advance. In the French coach's opinion, Lyon still has hope of advancing to the top 16, and there is no reason to give up!
Moreover, even if Lyon ultimately misses the Champions League knockout stage, the team needs enough points to compete with Udinese for the third place in the group and strive for a place to participate in the League Cup!
So, no matter what, Lyon needs to strive for victory in this game!
Chapter completed!