Coaching legend

Chapter 209: Strong Start (Part 1)

After playing several warm-up matches, Blackburn's results were mixed.

George used many different combinations in the warm-up matches. When Blackburn's main lineup played the game, it was still very strong. But once it was changed to other combinations, many problems would arise.

Although the game was good and bad, George didn't care. The purpose of the warm-up match is to find out the problem and then solve it.

Every time during the warm-up match, George would write a thick stack of data in his notebook. It was all to solve the problems that occurred in the game.

But overall George was satisfied.

Several players who just came to Blackburn this season have shown strong adaptability. Davor Suker has seen the world, and no one from Blackburn's coaches to players can match his results. Therefore, there is no burden at all when he comes to Blackburn.

Henning Berg came out of Blackburn, although George has cleaned up most of the original Blackburn players. But people like Hendry and Kevin Gallagher are his original companions. Although Hendry has withdrawn from the main lineup, George still trusts Hendry very much. Not only did he keep his captaincy, but he also gave him the title of coach.

Therefore, Henning Berg has no burden at all.

As for the other players, Ferdinand was bought by George at a high price. He is also the most expensive player in Blackburn's history. The transfer record of defenders in English football was broken by 12 million pounds. So Ferdinand has been a main player since he came to Blackburn.

As for the other young players, Sun Jihai and Drogba are both important rotation players. They are also highly valued by George in the warm-up matches, and they have more opportunities to play in the rotation. The two of them do not have many excessive requirements, and have never thought that they can occupy the main position as soon as they come to Blackburn. As long as they can stand firm in Blackburn, it will be fine. This attitude makes it easier for them to integrate into Blackburn.

Only Parker has the worst appearance order. Even among the substitutes, Hargreaves and David Dunn's appearance order is ahead of him.

Just after a series of warm-up matches, the time soon came to August 7th.

Before we know it, the Premier League is about to start. With the experience of last season, George is now more calm and confident about the Premier League.

Blackburn faced Coventry in the first round.

Coventry is a very weak team in the Premier League, ranking 16th in the Premier League last year. The points are only one point more than the relegated Southampton, and it ranks 16th with the advantage of goal difference over Wimbledon.

However, Coventry is also ambitious this season, and it actually paid a high price of 8 million pounds to buy Robbie Keane from Burnley.

George couldn't understand why Robbie Keane chose to leave Burnley and come to Coventry. Unlike Robbie Keane in history, he has played in the Premier League for a season. Robbie Keane in history was still in the English League One last season, so it is completely understandable that he came to the Premier League team Coventry.

But now Robbie Keane has played in the Premier League for a year at Burnley, and Burnley is ranked a few places higher than Coventry.

But this has nothing to do with George. George just feels sorry for Burnley. Now even Robbie Keane has left Burnley. How can Burnley counterattack? Without a striker like Robbie Keane who is fast and technical, it is impossible to defend and counterattack with only strikers like Kevin Phillips.

Of course, Coventry's actions are not limited to this. They also spent 4 million pounds to buy Burnley's defensive core Gary Breen.

Seeing this, George is deeply worried about Burnley. What is Kilby trying to do? Doesn't he want to stay in the league?

In recent years, Burnley has sold many players, from Ballack to Ljungberg, these two people are tens of millions of pounds. This season, Robbie Keane and Gary Breen were sold again, and the total of the four players exceeded 25 million pounds.

Damn, Kilby is a bastard. He invested 3 million pounds at the beginning, and I don't know how much money he has earned so far.

If they cannot avoid relegation this season, George doesn't know whether players like Camoranesi, Neil Lennon and Finnan can be kept.

Coventry City has been desperate this summer, spending more than 10 million pounds. Although it is said that the Premier League is rich, for a small club like Coventry City, 10 million pounds a season is definitely a big deal.

…………

It was a sunny day, a rare good weather in England.

George led Blackburn to their first Premier League game of the 99-00 season. Arriving at the Seafield Road Stadium, George looked at this century-old stadium and shook his head. It is really a century-old stadium, but it is too broken.

Damn, China's football fields may be more beautiful and tidy than this one.

Look at this broken locker room. Blackburn's Ewood Park is simply too advanced compared to this stadium.

"Do you remember our start last season?"

Although George only asked lightly, the players below nodded vigorously.

At the beginning of last season, Blackburn was extremely bad. There was no victory in the first ten games, and there was also a memorable 0-8 defeat. That game almost got George fired, and also put a lot of pressure on all Blackburn players.

At that time, everyone was criticized by the media, and each one became synonymous with parallel imports.

How could they forget such a start.

"We had a very poor start last season, so we could only fight for a UEFA Cup place. But to be honest, a UEFA Cup place cannot satisfy me. If we want to play, we should play in the Champions League, but if we want to play in the Champions League , then we will start to work hard from the beginning.”

"Today we face Coventry. Although they are weaker, I hope you don't underestimate them. I don't want them to stumble in the first game, so everyone should be pumped up."

"We are not a team that is satisfied with fourth place in the Premier League. I am an ambitious coach. I want to ask you, are you satisfied with your current results?"

"Of course not, boss. You said we could win the championship." Sagnol stood up and replied loudly.

Sagnol was happy this season because after the team assembled, George handed the third captain's armband to Sagnol. Blackburn's first captain is Hendry and his second captain is Kevin Gallagher.

But with Hendry leaving the main position, Kevin Gallagher was never the main player. So Sagnol began to become a real captain. Of course he was happy.

George had been thinking about appointing Sagnol as the third captain for a long time. Although Sagnol has a bad temper, the most important thing is that he is very popular in the locker room. Able to effectively unite French players and other players.

"Yes, we are a team that aims to win the championship. For a team like Coventry, you absolutely cannot miss."

While George was encouraging his team, the commentators outside had already started their work.

"After a season, I re-interpreted George's game and found that it was completely different." John Mortensen smiled and talked to his old partner Alan Hansen next to him.

"Yeah, when we were explaining George's team, George was still the head coach of Burnley. Burnley at that time was a very typical defensive counterattack team, and counterattack was turned into an art by George. And now George's Black Ben has a completely different style of play." Alan Hansen also nodded in agreement with Mortensen.

"But it's a pity that Burnley, which George built in three years, was dismembered like this. It's such a pity." Mortensen shook his head.

"Look at Blackburn now playing more and more calmly."

Indeed, after the game started, Blackburn firmly controlled the situation on the court. However, Gordon Strachan has never thought about competing with Blackburn for the midfield. After last season, Premier League teams all know that Blackburn has a very unique ability to control the midfield.

Therefore, Strachan used more long passes to find Robbie Keane in front of him in this game.

"This is a game without any suspense." After watching for less than thirty minutes, Mortensen had already come to a conclusion.

"Yes, Blackburn are much more mature than last year." Alan Hansen also agreed with Mortensen.

Because the game went into thirty minutes, Blackburn already led 2-0 away from home.

In this game, Blackburn still had the original game rhythm. George just replaced Hendry with Ferdinand on the court. The midfielder still uses the combination of Makelele, Deco and Miku. The two wingers are still Pires and Duff. The forward did not choose a big name like Davor Suker, but chose to continue to trust Klose.

Although George practiced various tactics in the summer, Blackburn is most familiar with the current oppressive midfield ball-controlling style. Therefore, from the beginning of the game, Blackburn firmly controlled the rhythm of the game.

After a season of training in the Premier League, Deco's ability to control the game is getting stronger and stronger. The ability to read the game is also greatly enhanced. Pires and Duff on the two wings can receive Deco's pass very comfortably.

The two wingers are Blackburn's main weapons. After they became active, Miku in the center became more and more comfortable.

The first goal was scored by Klose, who has always been very inefficient.

When Pires and Duff opened up the opponent's defense on the wing, Miku made a beautiful through ball, allowing Klose to get the ball. Klose's explosive power is quite outstanding, but Gary Breen, who was guarding him, could not completely guard him. Klose faced the goalkeeper with a low shot and scored the first goal of the game.

Klose was very excited after scoring.

"Although Klose's scoring efficiency is relatively low, he can score some key goals. I remember last season George's Blackburn Rovers scored the first Premier League goal also scored by Klose. No. Thinking that Blackburn’s first Premier League goal this season was also scored by Klose.”

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