Team Spirit

Chapter 208 Premier League Finale
As the match ended, Mourinho was seen punching and kicking on the pitch.

He was very angry.

He couldn't accept this defeat... yet again!
The problem is that, despite his outburst, he didn't feel much regret, because he couldn't imagine under what circumstances they could beat the team.

He believed he had done nothing wrong.

In such contests, one often has no choice but to accept the outcome.

We each did our best, competing with each other in our own way, but this time I truly lost to you.

This is the ultimate showdown between masters.

Instead of hoping the other party will make a mistake or believing that you have made a mistake, or making special arrangements to target the other party, your tactics have actually deviated from your own framework and principles...

Therefore, when reporters interviewed Mourinho, this maverick who had been so outspoken about Ferguson and Wenger surprisingly said, "Alfred is indeed a top manager."

“I used to be unconvinced by him, but this encounter made me realize that he and I are in the same field.”

"We did lose this time, but we will definitely win next time."

Reporter: "You said the same thing after losing the EFL Cup."

Mourinho: "That's different. This game showed our true best form. In fact, I think if we had a healthy Duff, the outcome would have been uncertain!"

Mourinho's words were laughable.

Experts believe he is shifting the blame.

But Lu Kai, who is more knowledgeable, knows that Mourinho is right.

Duff was in excellent form in the second half of the season, but unfortunately suffered a serious injury that will prevent him from playing in the remainder of the season.

Robben's form has been relatively average since recovering from his injury.

Moreover, Mourinho's tactics require not two wings, but four.

Even missing one of these will cause problems.

Overall, Chelsea this season is indeed peak Chelsea, but Chelsea in this match was a little lacking.

This is football.

The best version of yourself is very likely to meet an even better partner.

Even at your best, you might still encounter a terrible team, and in the games where you need to be at your strongest, you often fail to deliver your best performance.

Lampard also gave an interview, looking somewhat somber: "It's frustrating, but we are confident of winning the Champions League this season."

"But Dartford and Lu ruined it all."

"I have to say, Lu is a really troublesome player."

Terry didn't shy away from Arshavin's performance: "Tsar? Is that his title? It's very fitting... No one can stop Arshavin today."

"What? You're asking if I'd like him to be my teammate?"

“That would be perfect, not just for Arshavin, but also for players like Lu Kai. No one would not want to be their teammate.”

"It's always a pleasure to work with top players."

Goalkeeper Petr Cech gave Crouch high praise: "I'm not afraid of a fatal shot; I exist to counter those kinds of shots."

"But sometimes, the final pass is crucial."

"In my opinion, Crouch is that kind of player; his threat on the front line is greatly underestimated."

Chelsea's players, as always, praised their opponents, which also helped them save face.

This operation is correct most of the time, but...

They overlooked one thing.

That is... Dartford's players are very likely to become their competitors in the Champions League, the Premier League, and even the FIFA annual awards.

The failure of competitors in direct confrontations, and their subsequent feelings of inferiority, will affect the selection results.

Sky Sports: "The best attacking and defensive clash of the season in the Champions League: Chelsea narrowly defeat Mourinho! Mourinho's title defense is out of reach!"

BBC: "A stunning green dark horse! Green Gunners advance to the Champions League final, is it possible to win the championship on their first appearance in the competition?"

The Times: "A Premier League relegation-threatened team reaches the Champions League final, becoming the second strongest team in Europe? The Premier League's prestige is proven once again!"

Manchester Evening News: "London will always have half the sky green! Premier League champions like Arsenal and Chelsea can't dethrone Dartford!"

The Echo: "London skies are unusually green! Chelsea's rebellion fails; the King of London's cup dominance is no exaggeration!"

Bild: "Incredible! Lu Kai scored 15 goals in his first Champions League appearance, breaking the Champions League single-season goal record! Arshavin has seven goals and one assist, tied for third with Adriano and Roy Makaay!"

Kicker: "Premier League timid, Champions League heavy blow? Amorim dominates Champions League assist chart with one goal and nine assists, Lu Kai ranks second with six assists!"

Diario Sport: "What's the point of reaching the Champions League final? Dartford still has a very high chance of being relegated!"

Dartford has once again made headlines worldwide.

While the UEFA Cup is highly competitive, second only to the Champions League and even surpassing the Champions League quarterfinals and semifinals, it is still a strong contender for the title.

The Champions League final represents the pinnacle of both competition and influence.

In particular, its influence is far greater than that of the UEFA Cup.

Overnight, anyone who knows football knows that Dartford is about to challenge for the honor of "world's best team of the year".

However, after learning more about it, these people also felt it was quite normal.

"No, Lu Kai is the Ballon d'Or winner and FIFA World Player of the Year, the best player of the year. Isn't it natural for his team to compete for the best club of the year?"

"The person upstairs clearly doesn't understand football. It's normal that the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year don't have any authoritative titles."

"The players' performance and the team's performance are not highly correlated. Ronaldo and Ronaldinho are typical examples, especially Ronaldinho, who has an extremely high ranking but very few championships! He has failed to win any major trophies several times!"

"When Lu Kai won the award, everyone was saying that Lu Kai wasn't strong, and that Green Gunners were. Now that Green Gunners have reached the Champions League final, people are saying that it's normal for someone of Lu Kai's stature to achieve this result?"

The fans were having a heated discussion.

Some fans from Catalan IP always manage to find new ways to play: "Am I the only one who thinks Arshavin is the really strong one?"

"Am I the only one who thinks Amorin is truly strong?"

"Am I the only one who thinks Fran and Modric are truly strong?"

"Ahem, the hater upstairs didn't watch the game, did he? Forlan and Modric didn't even play in this match!"

A day later, a new topic emerged.

Dartford's Champions League opponent has been revealed.

Two 3-0 victories!
AC Milan thrashed Liverpool 6-0 on aggregate to advance to the final.

Gazzetta dello Sport: "Milan breaks through! Milan, fighting against three opponents, has an over 80% chance of bringing the Champions League back to Serie A!"

"The Premier League's strength is only superficial; it looks impressive, but it falters when facing truly skilled opponents! The deep-rooted wealth of Serie A is the real guarantee of winning the title!"

Tuttosport: "Datford, like Valencia five years ago, rose to prominence but was just a shooting star, destined for the Champions League! AC Milan, like Bayern and Juventus, has a perfect playing style and a strong squad, and they are sure to win!"

Italian media outlets have adopted a unified narrative, pointing their criticism directly at the Green Gunners.

Of course, the English media were not to be outdone.

"The Voice of Green Guns": "Roma, Inter Milan, Juventus, Dartford has a wealth of experience in defeating Italian powerhouses!"

Sky Sports: "If Serie A leaders Juventus can still lose, what is there to fear from AC Milan?"

The Echo: "After defeating the two La Liga giants and then the three Italian powerhouses, Dartford's path to European glory is just one piece away from being completed!"

The decisive battle between emerging powerhouses and traditional giants has begun. Compared to last year's upset Champions League clash between Porto and Monaco, this year's match is undoubtedly much more exciting.

……

[Ding! Arshavin's player mission "Call Me Tsar III" is complete. Arshavin's strength is temporarily boosted to his peak professional level for three matches. Reward:]

[Fighting Nation: Player Items. In low temperatures, rain, snow, and strong winds, you can shield yourself from external interference. The team's overall physical strength is slightly enhanced.]

With this, Arshavin's series of missions were completed.

It unleashed a great skill that helped Lu Kai block out map interference.

This skill is really useful in England, given the terrible weather there, with so much rain.

In addition, this shielding is actually quite strong.

In windy weather, players' shots will inevitably be affected.

Headwinds slow you down, tailwinds make you drift more easily.

Shooting accuracy is easily affected.

But even if Lu Kai pees against the wind... he can still shoot with precision, hitting exactly where he aims.

This is a skill that countless men dream of.

As for Arshavin...

Green Gunners have exactly three games left!

"This..." Lu Kai himself was a little shocked.

Don't overdo the inflation; Lu Kai is almost afraid to even think about what Arshavin's final transaction price will be this summer.

Don't let my Tsarist brothers become the worst Premier League signings in history.

To be fair, Arshavin at his peak was indeed one of the top wingers, capable of entering the world's first tier.

But his peak period was too short.

Although he played for Green Gunners for a year and received early development, he is still some distance from his true peak.

Moreover, Mourinho's usage destined Arshavin to "misexpress his meaning".

Water is a given.

He might have languished at Chelsea for three or four years before finally reaching his peak at Arsenal, but then his form declined again after only a few years.

Overall, his future career will definitely be related to "water".

Furthermore, if he couldn't withstand the criticism from Chelsea fans and gave up on himself or returned to the Russian Premier League, he probably wouldn't even have had that peak period with Arsenal.

A decline in one's career would be even more terrifying.

If Lu Kai weren't a heartless club owner like Zhu Xi, he would have wanted to lower Arshavin's price, since he'd already made a profit anyway.

pity……

Lu Kai estimated that Abramovich was the kind of person who would "have no regrets about joining the Tsarist government and would buy Shevchenko again next year."

Andrei, it really wasn't my intention to trick you.

The buyer is really unhappy because they sold you too cheaply!
……

May 7th, the 37th round of the Premier League.

Dartford will host Southampton.

Affected by the Chelsea match, even Lu Kai, who is usually consistent, performed poorly in this game.

Only Arshavin maintained an extremely high level of performance, scoring the crucial goal.

Arshavin is on steroids, he deserves to be awesome.

But Lu Kai's consistency isn't true consistency. It's more like he feels his shooting isn't good, so he passes more; if his passing isn't good, he defends more; if his defense isn't good, he runs more; if he can't run fast enough, he goes into more physical battles. He just does whatever comes his way.

And the team only has his position and authority to support him in doing so.

Therefore, Lu Kai's statistics in the Premier League this season are not outstanding, but his advanced statistics are terrifyingly comprehensive, with each advanced stat ranking among the top of the hundreds of players in the Premier League.

Ultimately, the match ended in a goalless draw, 1-1.

Greens are still in 17th place in the Premier League, but whether they win or lose this game doesn't really matter.

Even if we beat them, we can't escape the relegation zone.

We'll have to see who wins or loses in the final round.

May 15th, the final match of the Premier League season.

Dartford will play Charlton Athletic away from home.

The latter has already secured its place in the league and has nothing left to play for.

It's Gareth Southgate's former team again.

Gareth Southgate is a skilled player, and although he had some disagreements with his former team when he left, he quickly recovered after retiring.

He's a man destined to become England's head coach; handling these situations is a piece of cake for him.

So the difficulty of this match... those who know, know.

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes.

Apart from the old guard at Manchester United, Arsenal, and Liverpool, who dares to say they can stay in the Premier League for over a decade?

Let alone mid-to-lower-tier teams, how many teams, like Blackburn, Leeds United, and Newcastle, which were incredibly successful a few years ago, have now fallen to the Championship or even League One?

It's hard to say how many more years Charlton can stay in the limelight, but why wouldn't they give face to the Champions League finalist team?

They don't usually get the chance to play against teams of this caliber.

So some teams were on the verge of relegation, and many opponents went easy on them, allowing them to stay in the Premier League.

Some teams don't want to be promoted to the Bundesliga, but the second-division teams are putting on a show to drag you to the graveyard.

This is word of mouth.

Of course, Green Gun doesn't throw matches.

It was simply Southgate who contacted Charlton to schedule a preseason friendly before the start of next season and conveyed the message that he "didn't want any Green Gunners to get injured."

Charlton also rejected match-fixing, but surely it would be acceptable to emphasize team civility, regulate player actions, respond to the FA's call for friendly football, and strive to become a national health team?

Two to zero.

Dartford narrowly defeated Charlton Athletic, using the match as practice.

They have made final preparations for the Champions League final.

The Premier League season has ended, with Greens finishing in sixteenth place, concluding their first Premier League season.

For a newly promoted team, avoiding relegation is a success.

But for Green Gun, this result is not enough.

However, if we add the EFL Cup title and the Champions League final... then everyone would be very satisfied.

Firecrackers crackled in Dartford as fans flooded the streets to celebrate the team's survival in the Premier League.

Everyone unaware of the Celtics' summer player reshuffle plans believes that the Celtics will be even better next season.

(End of this chapter)