Coaching legend

In the second round of the Champions League group stage, Blackburn lost 1-2 to Bayern at home.

In another match, Galatasaray was tied 2-2 by Spartak Moscow at home. This is an upset, although it is not a big upset in Europe. But it is definitely an upset in this group.

Although Galatasaray's strength is not as good as Bayern and Blackburn, it is not impossible to defeat Bayern and Blackburn if they are lucky. But they were beaten 2-2 by Spartak Moscow at their home court, which is also a famous devil's home court in European football.

In this way, in this group, Bayern Munich won both games and scored six points. Blackburn ranked second with three points, and Galatasaray and Spartak Moscow scored one point.

Among the teams playing in the Premier League, only Blackburn lost this round.

Manchester United is in the best situation. In the first game, they defeated Hamburg 3-0, and in the second game, they played 2-0 away against Graz Storm. It is only a matter of time before they qualify for the group, and no one will have an impact on Manchester United's appearance.

Wenger, who was drawn into the group of death, fought back in this game.

The first game lost to Real Madrid, which made Arsenal's situation in the group stage not very optimistic. But in this game, Arsenal faced Lazio away from home, and scored three goals after falling behind by one goal, and finally defeated Lazio 3-1 away.

In this group of death, the worst situation is last season's Serie A champion Lazio.

First, they lost to Anderlecht in the first game, and this time they lost to Arsenal. With no points in two games, it is basically impossible to break out of the group of death. The current situation is that Real Madrid is far ahead, while Arsenal and Anderlecht have one win and one loss.

However, Arsenal has paid a heavy price for this game. Ljungberg has an ankle injury and is expected to recover for a month.

After the second round of the Champions League group stage, there will be no more Champions League games this year. The Champions League will not resume until February.

Just three days after the Champions League match, Blackburn will face the Premier League powerhouse Leeds United.

It may be that the 1:2 draw with Bayern affected Blackburn's morale. Blackburn, who always had experience playing against Leeds United, was tied 1:1 by Leeds United at home. But George was already very satisfied.

Because if it weren't for the poor condition of Leeds United's striker, a point in this game would be a luxury.

Smith faced the equally young Hargreaves and the veteran McAllister in this game without any fear. The 20-year-old Alan Smith has delicate skills and made a total of four threatening passes in this game.

However, they were squandered by Leeds United's striker one by one, and in the end Smith solved the problem himself. He passed Hargreaves near the penalty area and a curved ball made Cudicini unable to reach it.

Smith has a fierce style of play, is energetic and fast, and has excellent physical fitness. In the future, Ferguson even regards him as Keane's successor. But now George sees Smith as more of a spiritual player. Although he is also very fierce, he is definitely a genius-level player in handling the ball, passing, and dribbling.

Looking at the high-spirited Smith, George could hardly imagine that Smith would be completely forgotten in the future.

Blackburn got one point, and Manchester United was also affected by the Champions League. They tied with Charlton 3-3 away, still five points behind Blackburn.

Arsenal, who just lost a general in the Champions League, performed very well. They beat Newcastle 5-0 and chased two points, the same score as Manchester United, and were five points behind Blackburn.

How dense the schedule is, you can never imagine.

The second game of the second round of the Champions League group stage was played on December 6. The game against Leeds United was played on December 9. After this game, Blackburn will play in the League Cup quarter-finals on December 13. Of course, this alone will not give George a headache.

But the entire December schedule is as suffocating as September.

On December 16, Blackburn will resume the Premier League. Moreover, there are Premier League games on December 23, 28, 30, and January 1, the New Year. Those who arrange such a schedule are simply bastards. It is not a schedule for people to play at all.

In this schedule, as long as Blackburn can get through it, the Premier League championship for the whole season may be almost certain.

But now we have to face the League Cup quarterfinals first.

League Cup? This cup is really a tasteless game, it is a pity to throw it away.

And sometimes, you can't stop luck. As soon as the opponent in the quarterfinals came out, all the media were sighing about Blackburn's luck. But this is not the luck George hoped for. If he had met one or two strong teams early, he would have been eliminated long ago with George's attitude towards the League Cup.

Look at Arsenal, who were eliminated in the third round of the League Cup. Manchester United went one step further than Arsenal, but they were also eliminated in the fourth round of the League Cup. Arsenal was eliminated the earliest, of course he didn't want to be eliminated.

Because Arsenal was struggling in the death group of the Champions League at that time. If they don't give up the League Cup, how can they concentrate on the league and Champions League?

Why did everyone envy George's luck after the draw? Because Blackburn's opponent in the quarterfinals turned out to be Manchester City.

The current Manchester City is not the Manchester City that was full of wealth after Mansour took over. The current Manchester City is a team that was just promoted last season, and is now ranked 19th in the Premier League. It is struggling in the relegation zone, and it is still unknown whether it can stay in the Premier League.

Manchester City has come this far, which is already a blessing.

Now they are facing the powerful Blackburn, and Manchester City is not willing to lose the league for the League Cup.

December is a big challenge for any Premier League club. If Manchester City can perform well in December, there is a great possibility of relegation. Therefore, Manchester City has no intention of fighting Blackburn in the League Cup.

Blackburn wants to give up but cannot give up.

Although George did not pay much attention to this game, Manchester City has now brought out the substitutes and youth team. If you fail, it will be too bad.

Kevin Gallagher, who has not played for a long time, and another veteran Davor Suker came on the court. Facing a group of young kids, Kevin Gallagher performed well and scored two goals. Hleb, who was introduced by George with a special genius clause in the summer, scored his first goal after joining Blackburn.

In the end, with the goals of Kevin Gallagher, Hleb, Panucci and David Dunn, they swept Manchester City 5-0 away.

And Blackburn made it to the League Cup semi-finals with this victory.

The opponent in the League Cup semi-finals is even more interesting. They met Birmingham from the English League One. On the other side, Liverpool played against Ipswich.

George looked at the current situation and didn't know whether to be happy or smile bitterly.

The more you want to give up the League Cup, the more you can't give up. There are only three games left, and the opponent in the semi-finals is a League One club. As long as you get past Birmingham, it will be the League Cup final.

Thinking of Liverpool, George was a little embarrassed.

Before Benitez took over Liverpool and won the Champions League with a stunning reversal, Liverpool's most glorious moment after the establishment of the Premier League was this season. They won five championships, and Owen, the Golden Ball Award, came out.

But because of George's appearance, Liverpool has lost the qualification for the League Cup this season. Liverpool's League Cup championship is impossible.

If George robs the League Cup again, George really doesn't know what honors Liverpool can get this season. Is it just an FA Cup?

Damn, if only an FA Cup is won, what will happen to Owen's Ballon d'Or?

It's not easy for an English player to win a Ballon d'Or, or it's not easy for the Premier League to win a Ballon d'Or. The Ballon d'Or is more of an honor for Serie A and La Liga. In the past 20 years, only Owen and Ronaldinho have won the Ballon d'Or in the Premier League.

If I rob Liverpool of so many honors this time, Owen's Ballon d'Or will definitely be gone.

It seems that George should not only say sorry to Liverpool, but also to Owen.

In fact, even if Liverpool wins the League Cup, Owen's Ballon d'Or is hopeless. The League Cup is very important for Owen to win the Ballon d'Or. After winning the League Cup, he also scored a lot of points by defeating Bayern Munich in the European Super Cup.

Of course, the national team's victory over Germany and the FA Cup victory over Arsenal are also important games. But without the League Cup and the European Super Cup, Owen would never have won the Ballon d'Or.

Owen was at his peak in 2001.

But George ruined it. It's impossible not to feel a little guilty.

"It seems that it's impossible for me to give up the League Cup."

George chatted with Evan with a wry smile.

"You, you're so cheap. The road to the League Cup this season is so easy. Others can't wait to envy you." Evan smiled when he saw George's look.

"Yeah. We're lucky."

George sometimes sighed. George has always had good luck in domestic cup competitions. He rarely encounters some strong teams in the third, fourth, and fifth rounds. Of course, this is also closely related to the fact that the current Premier League strong teams generally do not attach importance to the League Cup.

Especially teams like Manchester United and Arsenal that play in the Champions League, they all automatically give up the League Cup.

Because there are too many Champions League games now. If a team wants to win the Champions League, it has to play 17 games. This kind of high-intensity game will definitely make many teams collapse. So they will automatically abandon the League Cup.

But now Blackburn has entered the League Cup semi-finals, George can't give up.

But it doesn't matter. Anyway, Blackburn has never won a League Cup in its 100-year history. Bringing a League Cup championship to Blackburn fans, I believe they will be very happy.