Coaching legend

The draw for the first round of the Champions League group stage of the 2000-01 season has ended. Blackburn was very lucky to be drawn to Group B, which is full of champion teams. Serie A champion Lazio, Czech League champion Sparta Prague, and Shakhtar Donetsk of the Ukrainian League.

If it was a few years ago, Sparta Prague would be very strong. Because it was the time when the Czech golden generation played for Sparta Prague.

If you meet Sparta Prague at that time, if you underestimate them, you might be defeated by someone. But now Sparta Prague has long been snatched away by European teams for good players. The strength has declined a lot.

As for Shakhtar Donetsk, it is far less famous than Dynamo Kyiv.

Back then, Dynamo Kyiv had the strength to dominate the European football world because Dynamo Kyiv happened to have a large number of talented players. Including nuclear warheads Shevchenko and Rebrov.

But Shakhtar Donetsk... is just a club in the Ukrainian League.

As the champion of the last League Cup and the current Premier League top team, Blackburn is still widely favored. The biggest problem is that Blackburn is a newcomer to the Champions League. And Blackburn's head coach is a rookie in the Champions League, leading the team for the first time. In addition, George is only 31 years old, the youngest head coach of all the Champions League teams.

Therefore, after the draw, George still received a lot of questions from reporters.

George was in a good mood. He answered almost every question from the reporter.

"My age?" George shook his head. "Young talented players are everywhere. Why does the head coach have to be in his seventies or eighties to do it?"

George is used to the media always asking about his age.

As for George's first time playing in the Champions League, George was even more dismissive. "I played in the League Cup for the first time last season, and I also won the League Cup. Everyone has to take this step. I have never been afraid of challenges. Without the first time, there is no second time."

George was full of confidence in front of reporters.

Even many players who returned from the national team were very satisfied with this grouping.

But after returning to England, George frowned. Because the current Champions League schedule is fucking jerk.

Blackburn has five Premier League games in September. But the damn Champions League also has three games scheduled in September. And the first round of group matches, all six games, basically have to be played within two months. That means they have to be played in early November.

After the first round of group matches, there are still two second round group matches to play before the end of this year.

UEFA is simply a big jerk. No wonder the Champions League games have been reduced a lot later. Otherwise, which club can bear it.

Blackburn has a total of eight games in September. Almost one game every four days. This game is really not easy to play.

But seeing the players coming back, George felt even more helpless.

As Blackburn's performance improves, there are more and more international players in the Blackburn team. And most of them have become the main force.

Needless to say, some weak football countries, including Sun Jihai, Bellamy, Duff, and Riise are all main players of the national team. And they are even iron main players. Some of them are even the biggest star players of the national team. Every time the national team is called up, they are the vanguards.

After the German team returned from the European Cup, Ribbeck was dismissed and Voller became the new head coach of the German team. He began to make drastic reforms in the German team, and many young players began to join the German team.

He also began to play as a main player in the German team.

The two most dazzling players are Ballack, who is currently in Leverkusen, and Klose of Blackburn.

Although Ballack became a member of the national team very early, he did not become a main player until this European Cup. This time, with Voller's entry, Ballack finally became the main midfielder of the German national team.

He was established as the core of the midfield by Voller. Ballack finally became the core of the German national team at the age of 24.

And Klose is another rising star.

At the age of only 22, Klose has become one of the most famous forwards in the Premier League. Last season at Blackburn, he scored more than 20 goals. He was even the best player in the UEFA Cup final. Therefore, Klose also became the forward that Voller promoted after he took over the German national team.

Klose was very excited after he came back.

Klose was so envious of Ballack's selection for the German national team. But two years later, Klose also became a forward for the German national team. And this time when he went to the German national team, Klose could feel Voller's attention.

But George had a bitter face.

Klose is the forward George relies on the most. Damn Voller, he actually let Klose play for 90 minutes in the German national team.

And Ferdinand, this time he went to the England national team, partnered with Campbell and became the main player of England's central defender.

In addition to these people, there is the French gang of Blackburn. Blackburn has many French players, almost occupying half of the country.

The current French national team can be said to be composed of the French gang of the three major clubs. Juventus in Serie A, Arsenal in the Premier League and Blackburn in the Premier League. Speaking of it, Blackburn has the most French players, but their influence in the French national team is the smallest.

Zidane, Thuram and Trezeguet of Juventus are all famous French players. Henry, Vieira and Wiltord of Arsenal also have their own status in France.

Only Blackburn is very embarrassed in the French team.

It should be Miku and Pires who carry the banner of the Blackburn French Gang, who are not valued by the national team for various reasons. Miku is excusable, after all, there is Zidane, the supreme leader, sitting above him.

But Pires is purely because of his personality. Pires and the head coach are not in harmony, so he is not valued by the national team.

These two players who should carry the banner are in an awkward position in the French team, so the entire Blackburn French Gang is very embarrassed in the French national team. Before Sagnol, there is Thuram, Blanco has retired from the national team, and Gallas is not strong enough.

Only Makelele began to replace Petit and became the main player of the national team.

Therefore, the large number of Blackburn French Gang can't find a few main players in the national team.

After Pires returned to the club, he was obviously very frustrated. Pires is now at his peak and hopes to play for the national team. At present, Pires' performance in the club is getting better and better. He also wants to play well for the national team, but his situation in the national team has always been very embarrassing.

This makes Pires very frustrated.

George shook his head. Klose was too excited, and George was not satisfied. Because Klose will be the main player of the German national team in the future, the task of the national team will become heavier. Now Pires is depressed, and George is still not satisfied. Because George is afraid that Pires's emotions will affect his performance in the club.

As for Deco, there has been no news about the national team so far.

Deco is a big tragedy. The current performance of Blackburn can only be said to be okay, but it is not enough to attract the attention of the Brazilian team. Now Deco has not thought about using Portuguese nationality to join the Portuguese national team.

Deco is now wholeheartedly wanting to enter the Brazilian national team.

In a national team game, each player has different ideas. When Blackburn's performance was not good, there was no such trouble. But now there are more and more troubles.

…………

On September 7, Blackburn faced Charlton away.

Charlton is a club that was just promoted last season. The first three rounds of the game were one win and two losses. They only defeated Manchester City, which was promoted together, and then were beaten 4-0 by Everton and 5-3 by Arsenal. Charlton's performance was extremely poor.

Charlton's biggest problem is their defense.

Their defense is like paper. However, affected by the national team game, George still replaced most of the players.

The goalkeeper is still Cudicini, and it is very tragic because Cudicini is an Italian goalkeeper. There are a lot of good goalkeepers in Italy now, and Cudicini has not been called up by the national team.

George sent a group of veterans to the defense line, with Panucci as the right back, Gallas as the left back, and Blanco and Henning Berg as the central defenders.

The midfielders are Hargreaves, McAllister, Deco and Hleb. The forwards are Drogba and Davor Suker.

George basically put the players affected by the national team on the bench. And the lineup looks 4-4-2, but in fact George's lineup for this game is 4-2-3-1. Hargreaves and McAllister were in the back midfield, while Dirk, Davor Suker and Hleb were in the front. Drogba was the lone striker.

Davor Suker was a little on the left, and Hleb was a little on the right.

Utilitarian football has gradually begun to penetrate into the English football world. George didn't know if it had his own influence. Anyway, Charlton retreated to Blackburn in this game, leaving only the two forwards in front.

Even if the main lineup wanted to break through the dense defense, it would be very difficult. It would be even more difficult to break through the dense defense with the substitute lineup.

However, although Blackburn had almost no main players in this game, they still played the football that George hoped for.

The two wingers of Davor Suker and Hleb were indeed unable to pull away from the opponent's defense. Davor Suker is old and not fast enough. Hleb is still young and a little immature against the English defenders. But both of them have good skills and can create a lot of free kicks in the frontcourt.

And Blackburn seized one of the opportunities.

In the 79th minute of the second half, Blackburn got a free kick in the frontcourt.

Gallas received Deco's cross in the penalty area and headed in his first league goal of the season. It was a very difficult three points.

So much so that the media said after the game that Blackburn was lucky.

"Charlton, who has poor defense, did a very good job in defense in this game. But it was a free kick opportunity that was seized by Blackburn. Blackburn rotated most of the players because of the national team game."

"George should be laughing secretly. In this situation, he can still get three points."