I build a giant in the Premier League

Chapter 229: Good Luck! We held on! A new and challenging season [Subscribe]

The new Premier League season has entered a bloody and intense stage since the first round.

The opening match of the new season is Blackburn Rovers' home game against Bayswater Chinese.

Everyone expected that the first game of the new season would be difficult.

This is the norm.

But what no one expected was that the Bayswater Chinese started the new season with a big move.

A 5-0 away win over Blackburn!

This Premier League opening match undoubtedly dropped a trump card, allowing all competitors coveting the Premier League championship to feel that Bayswater Chinese are still the dominant team of last season.

In fact, they performed better than last season.

All major British media outlets reported on the match and were full of praise for the Chinese in Bayswater.

But not all teams played so well.

Liverpool played a bit thrillingly at home.

Mancini's team got off to a great start in their home game against Sunderland, taking a 2-0 lead thanks to Suarez's double.

But after the second half, Sunderland first scored a goal and then launched a continuous fierce attack.

Although the Red Army finally won the victory, the process was still somewhat thrilling.

Arsenal beat Newcastle 1-0 away from home.

The Gunners also did not win this game easily.

Manchester City beat newly promoted Swansea 4-0 at home.

Aguero scored twice, while Ibrahimovic and David Silva each scored a goal.

Manchester United beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 away from home thanks to Rooney's goal.

Among the strong teams, only Villas-Boas' Chelsea was tied 0-0 by Stoke City away from home.

But since it is the first game of the new season, Boas is a newcomer, and the Blues have also introduced a number of strong reinforcements this summer, the outside world basically expressed understanding and waited for the next game.

By the way, Queens Park Rangers, the neighbors of the Chinese in Bayswater and the team that once shared a stadium, were slaughtered 4-0 by Bolton at Loftus Road in their first game after entering the Premier League.

This can also allow Queens Park Rangers to feel the horror from the Premier League.

It was after this round of games that the British media broke the news.

A consortium from the United States has decided to acquire Queens Park Rangers.

……

"American consortium?"

The next day, during the team training, Yang Cheng asked Dan Ashworth who brought the news.

He felt very strange.

In his previous life, shouldn’t it be Tony Fernandes from Malaysia’s AirAsia who bought Queens Park Rangers?

This guy really invested a lot of money.

Of course, in the current environment of the Premier League, investing money does not necessarily mean results.

But if you replace it with someone who doesn’t invest money, it will be terrible.

"Where's Tony Fernandez?"

"I don't know. I heard that there was contact, but he is personally more interested in West Ham United. He is said to be a die-hard fan of the Hammers." Dan Ashworth's reaction to Yang Cheng was also a little strange.

He personally obviously didn't believe a single word of this.

Which of those foreign owners didn’t say this after acquiring the team?
But Yang Cheng felt that it was quite reliable.

Because before Tony Fernandes acquired Queens Park Rangers in his previous life, he had thought about acquiring West Ham United, and he has always stated that he is a die-hard fan of West Ham United.

Of course, Yang Cheng had no interest in caring about whether it was true or false.

"How come an American consortium suddenly appeared? Where did it come from?" Yang Cheng was very curious.

"It is said that the owner of the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League, real estate tycoon Steven Ross, is worth more than 6 billion US dollars."

"And his partner in the acquisition of Queens Park Rangers this time is Matt Higgins, CEO of the NFL's New York Jets."

When Yang Cheng heard these two names, he was stunned.

Why are these two here?

That’s not right. Why did they suddenly come to the Premier League?
Shouldn't they start preparing for the International Champions Cup now?

When Yang Cheng thought of this, he suddenly understood something.

Especially when he heard Dan Ashworth mention that Charlie Stillitano, the founder of the World Soccer Challenge and senior director of football at CAA Sports, was also on the acquisition team, he was completely connected.

The International Champions Cup was snatched away by myself.

Then this group of people got together.

But for some unknown reason, he fell in love with the Premier League team and came across the ocean to the UK.

Nowadays, it is quite normal for wealthy Americans, especially those involved in the NFL, to be interested in the Premier League.

Why?

Because in the minds of these guys, every one of them looks down on European football.

On the one hand, they acknowledge that football is the world's number one sport, but on the other hand, they have an inexplicable confidence in the American sports industry, especially its commercial development.

In their opinion, the commercial development and globalization of European football is nothing compared to that of the United States!
European football has only started to pay attention to the so-called data in recent years, but what about the United States?
How many years has the Moneyball Theory been around?
After all, European football is synonymous with backwardness.

Then, these guys wanted to give European football a dimensionality reduction blow one by one.

"But you wouldn't want to focus on Queens Park Rangers. The stadium is so small and there is no room for expansion..." Yang Cheng was quite puzzled.

There are so many clubs for sale in England now, why did you take a fancy to this newly promoted team?

"It is said that after looking at several London teams, it was Fulham and Queens Park Rangers who made it to the final round."

“Then I chose Queens Park Rangers.”

"What's the reason?" Yang Cheng was quite curious.

He finally understood that he wanted to take root in West London.

Wow, London’s West End is going to be bustling in the future.

"There are two reasons. The first is that Fulham is more expensive. The Egyptians want £2 million. Queens Park Rangers are cheaper. The Italians want £1 million."

Yang Cheng nodded. This was indeed a good reason.

"But the most important thing is the second point. Craven Cottage has no room for expansion, while Loftus Road has a lot of room for expansion. This American consortium is very ambitious!" Dan Ashworth exclaimed.

As soon as he arrived, he set his sights on the new stadium and had big plans.

But when Yang Cheng heard this, he almost became Spartan.

Was Loftus Road chosen over Craven Cottage for the purpose of expansion?
This is absolutely a huge joke!
Yang Cheng almost burst out laughing.

He even wanted to visit this prospective neighbor and tell them that he wanted to expand in the West End of London. As of 2024, before he traveled through time, there was only one team that had done so.

Sorry, Craven Cottage in Fulham.

Since the east side of Craven Farm is adjacent to the main road, Fulham expanded the west side, which is the side close to the Thames, and built it directly on the Thames!
By then, not only will the capacity of Craven Cottage reach 3 people, but the west stand will also be a seven-storey riverside building with restaurants, bars, meeting rooms, event spaces, a boutique hotel and a fitness club.

There will even be a swimming pool on the top floor of the stands.

Anyway, after it is completed, you can imagine how beautiful the scenery on this side will be.

All of this will bring Fulham rich non-match day income.

Of course, these unfortunate Americans certainly don't know this.

In fact, in everyone's opinion now, it is indeed very difficult to do this on the banks of the Thames.

But if the Americans abandon Craven Cottage and choose Loftus Road now, they will regret it sooner or later.

"Is there any problem?" Dan Ashworth looked at Yang Cheng strangely and asked.

He always felt that Yang Cheng's expression was quite strange.

I wanted to laugh, but I held it back.

"No, I'm just curious about how long these Americans can hold out."

Yang Cheng was really curious.

"I heard they are considering bringing Beckham back to the Premier League."

"Beckham?" Yang Cheng was shocked again.

"Yes, Beckham plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy, and the CAA company where Charlie Stillitano works is in Los Angeles. In addition, Steven Ross's company also has a lot of business in Los Angeles. It is said that they all have a deep relationship with each other."

"Beckham's contract with LA Galaxy ends in November and they have not yet decided whether to renew it, so they want to bring Beckham back to the Premier League."

Yang Cheng nodded slightly. This was a good idea.

No matter what, Beckham is a legendary English football star and has huge commercial influence. Although he is old, his return to the Premier League is still a major attraction.

When thinking of Beckham, Yang Cheng thought of the spot in the Major League Soccer that he had.

Come to think of it, the way Americans play sports is really weird.

It’s still football, but the competition system is different all over the world.

As for basketball, the NBA in the United States is also different from the European basketball leagues.

So many American bosses, especially those in the sports industry, when they came to the Premier League, their first suggestion was to learn from the advanced competition system of the NBA or NFL and cancel promotion and relegation.

Proposals like this are often heard at Premier League bosses summits.

And it’s basically Americans who bring it up.

Yang Cheng didn’t know much about American basketball. After thinking about it for a while, he felt that it went back to what he had said before.

Football is a very special business.

In the Premier League, relegation often means a huge loss of revenue, the loss of core players, and a significant decline in competitiveness.

This is a very unwelcome risk for investors.

Doesn’t canceling upgrades and downgrades mean protecting investors?
On the other hand, promotion and relegation is more like a process of survival of the fittest, but it also brings about fierce competition.

In the past when everyone was short of money, players' transfer fees could be appropriately controlled.

But once capital appears, the players' value will skyrocket.

For example, without going too far back in time, just take the players who set transfer fee records since the turn of the century. The buyers were basically capital or consortiums.

For example, when Figo transferred to Real Madrid, didn’t Florentino represent a new kind of capital at that time?
So does Zidane.

Juventus used Zidane's money to sign Buffon.

On the other hand, if Zidane had not transferred, would Juventus have had so much money to sign Buffon?

After all, under the mechanism of promotion and relegation, both giants and mid- and lower-level teams are facing brutal competitive pressure.

At this time, every team must try its best to survive or live well.

Want to give up?

You will be taught a lesson in every minute.

But American financial groups have been exposed to the American way of playing since childhood, and they all think that their way of playing is smarter and more advanced than the European one.

Otherwise, how do we explain that the revenue of the NBA and NFL in the United States far exceeds that of major European leagues?
How do you explain that American sports clubs are worth far more than the European giants?

So, when they come to Europe, they always want to transplant American things.

But European leagues will always teach them a lesson!

"By the way, Dan, please make sure to find out whether Charlie Stillitano's World Football Challenge is still going to take place?" Yang Cheng reminded Dan Ashworth.

Before, he judged that he couldn't do it anymore.

But now that he's hooked up with Steven Ross, maybe he'll continue doing it.

Yang Cheng even speculated whether they had this consideration in mind when acquiring the Premier League team?

For example, acquire Queens Park Rangers, build the team into a strong team, and then return to the United States to make money?
Wouldn't it be profitable on both ends then?

Even team building with the Miami Dolphins.

"Okay, I'll go find out."

As for Charlie Stillitano, Yang Cheng didn't think he knew much about football, especially European football.

To put it bluntly, he is just a broker who arranges friendly matches in the United States.

Perhaps, he has rich experience in how to organize competitions in the United States.

But he has no experience in running a European club in Europe.

Yang Cheng really wanted to tell the Americans.

Buying a Premier League team with a revenue of 1 to million pounds per season for million pounds seems like a good deal, right?
Since it smells so good, let’s join in!
Whether in the past life or this life, as Yang Cheng came into contact with more and more wealthy people, he really discovered that these people actually also have two legs, two hands, and a head on one shoulder.

I'm really not much smarter than anyone else.

In fact, they often make low-level mistakes in their decision-making.

When it comes to football, the most common mistake is that everyone thinks they can handle it before entering the field.

Isn't it just a football club?
With so much annual revenue, what's the difficulty?
But only after entering the market will they know how deep the water is.

The purchase price of 1 million pounds is just a ticket. Only after stepping through the door will you find that there are deep pits and quagmires inside!

……

December 8, the 20th round of the Premier League.

The focus of this round is the strong dialogue between Arsenal and Liverpool.

Wenger's team played at home and, after the opening, relied on the home advantage and technical and tactical advantages to suppress Liverpool, launching attacks continuously and trying to create opportunities.

Liverpool responded with defensive counterattacks.

But Mancini is obviously not the type to passively take a beating.

Judging from the performance in the game, Liverpool adopted a 4231 formation.

There were basically no surprises in the defense, mainly in the midfield and frontcourt.

Rakitic and Mascherano formed a double defensive midfielder, and Gerrard played the number 10 position.

Torres on the left and Balotelli on the right.

Suarez appeared in the center position.

Yes, among the three centers, Suarez, who is the shortest, was pushed to the front.

This really subverts the outside world's imagination.

But Suarez happens to be the most suitable and best player among these three center forwards.

Arsenal is also on high alert.

The front trident is Sanchez, Van Persie and Nasri; the midfield is Toulalan behind, Fabregas and Gourcuff.

This midfield and frontcourt gave Arsenal an overwhelming advantage in ball possession at the beginning of the game, but it was not easy to break Liverpool's goal.

After 45 minutes of hard fighting, the two sides shook hands and made peace with a 0-0 score.

Among them, Liverpool made 21 steals in the first half alone.

This is an almost insane number.

This shows how intense the game is.

By the second half, both sides made appropriate adjustments to their tactics in the first half.

In the 68th minute, Sanchez broke through on the left and made a wonderful pass. Van Persie shot directly in the penalty area without stopping and sent the ball into the goal guarded by Buffon.

1 is better than 0!

But in the last minute of the game, Suarez received a pass from Rakitic, stopped the ball in the penalty area, got rid of Zielinski, and shot into the goal from close range to equalize the score.

In the end, the two sides shook hands and made peace with a score of 1:1!
Judging from the whole game, Wenger's team had the advantage in ball possession, but Mancini's team was on par with Arsenal in the number of shots.

But the number of threatening shots is not as good as the Gunners.

In the post-match player scores, Suarez was named the best player of the game.

Judging from the entire game, his performance was indeed better.

Rakitic also had a very good performance.

At London's Wembley Stadium, when Bayswater Chinese faced Fulham from West London, just four minutes into the game, Lewandowski seized on Fulham's back pass error in the frontcourt, broke into the penalty area and volleyed into the goal.

In the 16th minute, there was a free kick opportunity from the frontcourt.

After Modric took the penalty, Matic scored with a header to expand the lead for Bayswater Chinese.

Before the end of the first half, Gareth Bale dribbled the ball on the left and made a low cross.

Lewandowski scored with a shovel shot in front of the goal, 3-0!

In the 60th minute of the second half, Gareth Bale took the ball on the left and made a quick breakthrough before passing it. After Lewandowski in the middle slipped past him, Di Maria at the back post made a good run and easily shot the ball into the goal.

4 is better than 0!

In the end, the Chinese from Bayswater beat Fulham 4-!
After conceding a goal at home, Chelsea scored two goals in a row and reversed West Bromwich Albion 2-1.

Manchester City defeated Bolton 3-2 in their away game.

Manchester United beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 at home.

After two rounds of matches, Bayswater Chinese continued to lead the standings.

Scoring 2 goals in 9 games and conceding no goals, Yang Cheng's team once again put on an amazing performance.

……

A week later, it was the 3th round of the Premier League.

Chelsea beat Norwich 3-1 at home.

Liverpool also beat Bolton 3-1 at home.

Manchester City beat Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 away from home.

Ibrahimovic had a big explosion and scored a hat trick, while Aguero scored twice.

The Blue Moon's momentum this season is getting stronger and stronger.

Bayswater Chinese will challenge Aston Villa away.

Yang Cheng is no stranger to this team.

After the opening, we launched a decisive attack.

In the 11th minute, Gareth Bale scored the first goal for the team.

In the 15th minute, Gareth Bale created a free kick on the left, Modric assisted Pepe and scored with a header.

2 is better than 0!

After that, neither side scored any more goals throughout the game.

Bayswater Chinese beat Aston Villa 2-0 away without any trouble.

But the most eye-catching thing in this round is the peak showdown between Manchester United and Arsenal.

Arsenal scored a penalty kick by Van Persie in the 27th minute.

But just one minute later, Ashley Young equalized the score for Manchester United.

Before the end of the first half, Rooney scored another goal.

But Sanchez equalized the score again in the third minute of stoppage time.

The two sides entered the second half with a 2-2 score.

After the start of the second half, Manchester United launched a fierce attack, with Rooney and Robben scoring goals successively.

But from the 74th minute, Arsenal turned the situation around and continued to attack Manchester United's goal.

In the 84th minute, Van Persie successfully tied the score to 3-4!

But until the end of the game, the Gunners failed to score again.

In the end, Wenger's team lost 3-4 to Manchester United away.

The game was very exciting. In fact, if both sides had let go, the score would definitely not be what it is now.

It is generally believed that Wenger's team was more or less affected by the Champions League qualifiers in the middle of the week.

After all, they only finished fourth in the league last season and had to participate in the preliminary qualifiers against Udinese of Serie A.

This is also a big test for the Gunners.

In contrast, Manchester United, without the influence of European competitions, can concentrate on playing in the league.

After this game, all the games in this round of the Premier League will also be over.

After the third round, the league was suspended and the national team training began for two weeks. After three rounds of matches, only three teams had won all their games.

Bayswater Chinese won all three games and topped the list with an 3-goal difference.

Manchester City ranked second with a goal difference of 9.

Manchester United finished third.

Next up are Liverpool and Chelsea.

Arsenal encountered two strong opponents in the first three rounds, got one draw and one loss, and only ranked 10th.

This also attracted widespread media coverage after the game.

It is really hard to believe that the defending champion of the Champions League only finished 10th at the start of the new season.

But if you take into account that Wenger's team still has to play two Champions League qualifiers against Udinese, then it's about the same.

As Wenger said in the post-match press conference after losing to Manchester United, Arsenal had the most difficult start in the Premier League this season.

Wenger expressed satisfaction with the Gunners' successful advancement to the Champions League group stage, having earned 3 points in the first 4 rounds.

Finally, Wenger said he believed Arsenal's performance would get better and better as the season progressed.

……

The day before the Premier League match, the annual UEFA awards ceremony and the Champions League group stage draw were held at the Grimaldi Conference Center in Monaco.

It's different from previous years.

In the past, UEFA's annual best awards were divided into five categories, namely goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, forward and best player.

But this year, after the merger of France's Ballon d'Or and FIFA's World Player of the Year, UEFA took the opportunity to cooperate with the European Sports Media Alliance to launch the European Best Player award.

The award is voted for by football journalists from 53 countries and regions across Europe.

The top three are Messi, Fabregas and Ronaldo.

Why these three players?
Last season, Barcelona won the La Liga championship, and Messi contributed 31 league goals and 18 assists.

In the Champions League, the Argentine also scored 12 goals and performed very well.

Although Barcelona ultimately missed the Champions League, Messi's performance was obvious to all.

Needless to say, as the captain of Arsenal, Fabregas led the team to win the Champions League, which is his biggest plus point.

As for Ronaldo, although Real Madrid was eliminated in the round of 16 of the Champions League, in La Liga, Ronaldo scored 40 goals and made 8 assists, which was an amazing performance.

In the history of La Liga, no player has ever scored more than 40 goals in a single season.

C Ronaldo is the first!
In addition, the total number of goals he and Messi scored last season exceeded 50, which also set a historical record in La Liga.

Under a series of halos, Messi won the best player award, Fabregas ranked second, and Ronaldo ranked third.

Neither Yang Cheng nor the Bayswater Chinese players attended the award ceremony.

The main reason is that this year's awards ceremony has nothing to do with the Chinese in Bayswater.

Before the awards ceremony, UEFA announced the list of 4th to 10th places.

As the Premier League treble winner, Bayswater Chinese team's top star Gareth Bale ranked fourth.

Lewandowski ranked fifth.

Next up are Rooney, Pepe, Walcott, Ibrahimovic and Modric.

If nothing unexpected happens, this is probably similar to the ranking of the FIFA Ballon d'Or, except that there will be some adjustments in individual positions.

Judging from the overall performance, Bayswater Chinese definitely deserve to be in the top three.

Whether it is Gareth Bale or Lewandowski, they are qualified.

But the selection has never just been based on performance and strength.

In terms of fame and influence, Messi and Ronaldo do have a huge advantage.

As Yang Cheng said to his players in the team locker room, the club will do its best to fight for the players.

But the players also need to give their most convincing performance on the court.

Judging from their performance in the new season, both Lewandowski and Gareth Bale have shown better strength.

Therefore, for Bayswater Chinese, it may not be a bad thing if the players fail to make it into the top three.

……

After the award ceremony, a very interesting phenomenon occurred during the draw for the Champions League group stage.

Among the four Premier League teams, Bayswater Chinese and Arsenal have both qualified as first-tier seeded teams.

Liverpool fell into the third tier due to its consecutive absence from the Champions League.

Although Manchester City has risen rapidly, it is still in the third tier.

Another team that Yang Cheng is concerned about, French Ligue 1 team Nice, is ranked in the fourth tier at the bottom.

By the way, before the Champions League draw, many media actually asked UEFA whether Bayswater Chinese and Nice were eligible to participate at the same time?
Although the two teams are not affiliated with each other in the legal sense and even have no relationship, it does not violate UEFA regulations.

But everyone can see that this team is managed by Yang Cheng.

The club's top management are all Chinese from Bayswater, isn't this obvious?

For this reason, Platini personally called Yang Cheng and clearly expressed UEFA's concerns.

Yang Cheng personally guaranteed that there would be absolutely no tricks between the two clubs.

Even if we are really unlucky to be assigned to the same group, it will definitely be a fair fight.

UEFA, fans and media around the world are welcome to supervise together!

Afterwards, UEFA announced that Nice's participation in the Champions League was not in violation of regulations.

On the contrary, Türkiye's champion team Fenerbahce was disqualified due to a match-fixing case.

Therefore, before the draw, many people were very much looking forward to it.

Another interesting thing is Real Madrid.

As Manchester United missed the Champions League, Real Madrid managed to squeeze into the top 16 seeds despite being in the last 8.

This gave the Galaxy Battleship a reassurance.

At the very least, they don’t have to worry about being stuck against strong teams like Bayswater Chinese or Arsenal in the group stage.

AC Milan also benefited and entered the seeded team.

But as the outside world has analyzed, entering the seeded team does not mean that you are safe.

There is no need to mention the teams in the second tier. Among the teams in the third tier, Liverpool and Manchester City from the Premier League are both tough opponents.

Zenit St. Petersburg in the Russian Premier League, Ajax in the Dutch Eredivisie, Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, and Lille in Ligue 1 are all tough characters.

In the fourth tier are the Bundesliga champions Dortmund, Serie A third-placed Napoli, and Ligue 1 champions Nice.

These are all very tough teams.

In a nutshell, there will definitely be many groups of death in this season's Champions League group stage.

Even for a seeded team, it is almost impossible to draw a lucky draw.

Unless you get lucky!
But Yang Cheng himself couldn't believe that this good fortune really hit him on the head.

But not the Bayswater Chinese.

But Nice.

Although the French Ligue 4 champion was in the fourth tier, among the eight seeded teams, it avoided seven teams from the four major leagues and drew Porto from the Portuguese Super League.

Among the teams in the second tier, they avoided the teams from the four major leagues and were drawn against Shakhtar Donetsk.

Then the third tier was drawn to Zenit St. Petersburg.

In the end, a group was cobbled together without any teams from the four major leagues!

Of course, it’s not Nice that’s awesome, it’s Porto that’s awesome.

Because Porto was the first to be drawn.

On the other hand, the Chinese in Bayswater were not so lucky.

The second tier was drawn to Villarreal from La Liga.

The third tier was drawn to Leverkusen from the Bundesliga.

The fourth tier was drawn to Napoli from Serie A.

Wow, one team is drawn from each of the four major leagues, it’s complete!
Of course, this is just hype. Judging from their actual performance, the other three teams are capable of competing with Bayswater Chinese, but they are still at a disadvantage in terms of strength.

Just as the outside media commented after the draw results came out.

As long as the Chinese from Bayswater perform normally, it will not be difficult for them to advance.

Being first in the group is what the Chinese in Bayswater are pursuing!
Yang Cheng also said in an interview with the media after the draw, "I am not afraid of any opponent, because we have only one goal, and that is the championship!"

Only Yang Cheng could make such bold and domineering remarks without being laughed at or ridiculed.

……

Yang Cheng spoke with confidence in front of the media, but privately, he and the coaching staff did not dare to be careless at all.

The journey of the new season is far from as easy as it seems.

Judging from the Premier League alone, Bayswater Chinese have a very good schedule.

In the first five rounds, the strongest opponent was Tottenham Hotspur.

In the 6th round, we played away against Liverpool.

In the 10th round, we played away against Manchester City.

In the 13th round, we played away against Chelsea.

In the 15th round, we played away against Manchester United.

What is really a headache is the Christmas schedule, which has three games, namely the game against Arsenal in the 3th round, the away game against Bolton in the 18th round and the home game against Chelsea in the 19th round.

Looking at the entire schedule, there are no concentrated matches between strong teams except for Christmas.

For example, Arsenal faced Liverpool and Manchester United in the first three rounds, and they had to play in the Champions League qualifiers.

You can imagine the pressure.

The strong dialogues between the Bayswater Chinese are basically scattered, except for the Christmas schedule.

Even in the second half, the groups were still relatively separated.

There are pros and cons to this kind of schedule.

The advantage is that the team can concentrate on playing a certain game for a period of time.

But the downside is that the team's condition must be able to remain stable for a long time.

This is the case in the league, and in the Champions League, it is actually still pretty good.

The three opponents of Bayswater Chinese, Villarreal, Napoli and Leverkusen, all have a certain gap in strength compared with Bayswater Chinese.

When everyone saw the draw, their first reaction was that the Chinese from Bayswater should be able to take first place.

Yes, everyone sees and feels that way.

But if you analyze the schedule carefully, it is easy to find that the Chinese in Bayswater are actually quite troublesome.

To put it simply, there is often a strong dialogue before and after the Champions League group stage matches.

For example, before playing Napoli at home in the first round of the group stage, they played Tottenham Hotspur at home in the fourth round of the Premier League.

Next up is two weeks of national team training.

In the second round of the group stage, before the away game against Leverkusen, there was the away game against Liverpool in the sixth round of the Premier League.

The third round of the group stage is not a big deal, but we have to play Manchester City before the fourth round.

In other words, whether it is the Premier League or the Champions League, the schedule is pretty good if you pick them out individually.

But when the two of them got together, they immediately realized that the pressure of the competition was actually quite high.

The main reason is that the strength of the other three teams in the Champions League group stage is very average, and they are all at the top four level in the four major leagues.

If picked out individually, they are slightly weaker than the Chinese in Bayswater, but they are still capable of fighting.

What if we add the advantage of schedule?

On the contrary, like other groups, although they encountered a strong opponent, they also encountered weak teams, so they could rest and rotate.

Like the Chinese in Bayswater now, they basically have to try to maintain their status.

How to ensure a stable state and high-level performance while ensuring the team's dual-line operations and results is a huge test, and it is also the requirement that Yang Cheng put forward to the coaching staff.

As soon as the Champions League draw results and schedule came out, Brian Kidd and others had already started studying the season preparation strategy.

It is really challenging!
Especially considering that we have games against Arsenal and Chelsea on Christmas Day.

The strong dialogue played a very crucial role in the fight for the Premier League championship.

It can even be said that it determines who wins the championship.

In addition, Yang Cheng also reminded the coaching staff that teams like Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle and Everton also have very good overall strength.

For example, Tottenham Hotspur, their opponent in the fourth round, took advantage of the opportunity to sign Adebayor and Joel Luka, and also signed Aaron Lennon from Arsenal. Although they lack Gareth Bale and Modric compared to Yang Cheng's previous life, their overall strength is very strong.

Redknapp is also a famous English coach. Who would dare to be careless about such an opponent?

If you slack off even a little, you will be overturned in a matter of minutes.

"From last season's performance, our rotation was actually pretty good, but Rakitic's departure had a big impact on us, especially the rotation in the midfield."

Brian Kidd was a little worried.

Yang Cheng handed almost all the training and preparation matters over to him, so he was naturally the first person responsible.

Everyone knows the importance of Rakitic.

The transfer of a player who is capable of starting as a starter will weaken the midfield of Bayswater Chinese.

"Aaron Ramsey performed very well last season and can continue to be entrusted with important tasks this season, as well as Kevin De Bruyne."

The Belgian midfielder is already 20 years old, and judging from his performance last season, he is still quite good overall.

Yang Cheng's use of him is not limited to the midfield or frontcourt, basically he is used wherever he is needed.

But from the current perspective, his position needs to be fixed.

With De Bruyne's technical characteristics, he is really not suitable for playing on the wing, and he lacks impact. He is not suitable for the current style of play of the Chinese in Bayswater and the general environment of the Premier League.

On the contrary, you can give it a try in the midfield.

"Although Pogba is only 18 years old, he has excellent physical fitness and he is one of our own youth training. It is inevitable that we will continue to sculpt and train him."

Yang Cheng is quite optimistic about this French midfielder.

If he could really avoid the troubles of his previous life and focus on playing football under the education of the Chinese in Bayswater, then Yang Cheng would definitely increase his efforts in training him.

After all, Pogba's talent is visible to the naked eye.

Brian Kidd and others had no objections either.

In the past few years, domestic cup competitions have basically been played by young players, and this has become a habit.

As long as the team rotates well, I believe there won't be any major problems.

……

After two weeks of national team matches, the national team players have returned one after another.

The Premier League has also reignited the flames of war.

In the 4th round, Bayswater Chinese played against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium.

As usual, Yang Cheng once again made major rotations for this game.

Goalkeeper: Courtois;
Defence: Ryan Bertrand, Pepe, Kompany and Kyle Walker;
Midfield: Javi Martinez drops back, with Toni Kroos and De Bruyne in the middle;

Forwards: Gareth Bale, Giroud and Walcott.

In this game, Yang Cheng not only kept three South American players Thiago Silva, Marcelo and Di Maria on the bench, but also gave Matic, Lewandowski and Piszczek a rest.

He believes that such a lineup is still competitive in the match against Tottenham Hotspur.

Redknapp used a 4231 formation.

Goalkeeper: Friedel;
Defence: Hector, Dawson, Kaboul and Norton;
Midfield: Livermore and Huddlestone formed a double defensive midfielder; in front were Van der Vaart, Kranjcar and Lennon;

Striker: Defoe.

Adebayo sat on the bench.

In Tottenham's starting lineup, there are two Chinese players from Bayswater.

Kyle Norton was Kyle Walker's teammate at Sheffield United and was also a starting regular.

From Redknapp's deployment of troops, Yang Cheng could already guess the opponent's intentions.

Defensive counterattack!

As soon as the game started, Gareth Bale tried frequently to use his speed advantage to attack Tottenham Hotspur's flanks, especially behind Norton.

The same is true for Walcott.

But Tottenham Hotspur was clearly prepared for this.

Norton and Hector both have very good speed, which makes it not easy for the Bayswater Chinese to attack from both flanks.

At the very least, the speed of the two wingers, which left all European defenders helpless, did not exert the expected power in front of them.

The two central defenders are always able to appear in the right position to assist in defense behind Gareth Bale and Walcott after they break through the full-backs.

This meant that the Chinese in Bayswater's opening attack was ineffective.

The Bayswater Chinese played very energetically in the midfield and frontcourt.

The opening attack failed, but the team continued to keep the pressure on Tottenham.

But Tottenham also made targeted tactics.

Facing the fast-paced whirlwind attack of Bayswater Chinese, the North London team took the initiative to shrink their defense and limit the passing and cutting space of Bayswater Chinese.

According to Yang Cheng's pre-match arrangements, the team will strive to take the lead in the first half, preferably by taking down the opponent with a single attack.

This way we can save some energy for the Champions League next Wednesday.

Especially players like Toni Kroos and Pepe.

They all played for the national team, and after returning to the club, they immediately faced the league.

If rotation is not necessary, Yang Cheng certainly hopes that they can continue to play in the Champions League next Wednesday.

But as a result, the team played a little anxiously in the first half and the pace was too fast.

Modric's absence also caused another problem for the team.

It's just that the passing and cutting speed is too fast and the rhythm is a bit out of control.

At least, Toni Kroos tried to control the rhythm several times, but as soon as the ball was passed, his teammates would often continue to pass the ball forward and continue to rush forward.

There is no other way. With Gareth Bale and Walcott in front, the ball will definitely go behind the defense line and attack into the penalty area.

But this was obviously within Tottenham Hotspur's expectations, and Redknapp must have made targeted preparations.

So, judging from the performance in the first half, the results were not ideal.

Although they had the advantage on the field, in reality, there were not many attacks that were truly threatening.

Yang Cheng also noticed something, but he was not in a hurry.

The two sides shook hands with each other 0-0 in the first half.

Tottenham Hotspur is obviously very satisfied with the result.

At least, they held on!

Redknapp also greeted the players with a smile as they left the field, and was obviously very satisfied with the course of the game in the first half.

Yang Cheng returned to the locker room, still maintaining a very confident state, and pointed out some problems of the team in the first half.

For example, Toni Kroos signaled several times to slow down the tempo, but the players did not cooperate.

"The opponent has obviously guessed our intention. From then on, we have to compete with them in patience. Passing and cutting are our advantages. Even if the tempo slows down, we can still break through their defense."

The players felt Yang Cheng's confidence and nodded one after another.

"Oliver."

Yang Cheng looked at Giroud.

"After the second half starts, you don't have to run around to support the ball. Just stay firmly in their penalty area."

"Doesn't their central defender often go out to the side to assist in defense?"

"Seize this opportunity and give them a fatal blow!"

After saying that, Yang Cheng punched out with his right fist with force.

(End of this chapter)