The Godfather of Football

Ranieri is a typical Italian head coach who emphasizes tactical rigor and targeting. He has coached Chelsea, so he knows very well how much English fans value the so-called derby.

Therefore, from the day he took over West Ham United, when the new Premier League season schedule was freshly released, he has regarded Tottenham Hotspur as a crucial game at the beginning of the new season. Even after West Ham United also won two consecutive victories, he has not changed his attention to Tottenham Hotspur.

Before the game, he made almost tedious preparations, and in just one summer, he used Carvalho, Lucio, Toulalan, Moutinho and other powerful stars to create an unbreakable Italian defensive chain for West Ham United, which made West Ham United almost completely curb Tottenham Hotspur's attack in the first half of this game.

Judging from the course of the game, Tottenham Hotspur has always taken the initiative, and has always adhered to its own active tactical play, and still firmly controlled the situation, but this team has no way to create effective scoring opportunities, because no matter where their offense goes, West Ham United can quickly make targeted defensive changes.

After the reorganization, it can be seen that Ranieri's skills can be brought to West Ham United's current two consecutive victories in just one summer.

Perhaps seeing that Tottenham Hotspur is a little helpless against West Ham United's almost iron-clad contraction defense, the fan commentator at Upton Park even laughed and teased Tottenham Hotspur when he was free from commentary.

"Perhaps, the blocking of Tottenham's attack starts with West Ham United!"

"Let's break this thorn from North London at Upson Park!"

The commentator's obviously provocative remarks immediately made the Hammers fans, who are always hot-blooded and known for being football hooligans, shout very hard and loudly in the stands, and the West Ham players on the field did not discourage them, and resolved Tottenham's attack again and again.

Time passed by, but the situation on the field did not change at all. West Ham fans became more and more excited, especially when the fourth official on the sidelines held up the sign for two minutes of extra time. They all seemed to see the team's hope of blocking Tottenham's attack, because the first half was about to end.

The cautious Ranieri kept reminding the players on the sidelines to be careful, even if the first half was about to end, but they still had to be careful. After all, Tottenham Hotspur can come to this day and successfully defend the Champions League title, relying not only on a rigorous tactical system, but also on a group of outstanding superstars in the team.

Although football is now curbing the individual performance of superstars through more and more overall cooperation, there are still many times when the team as a whole cannot cover up the flash of superstars.

Just when Ranieri had just reminded the players, he didn't expect that there would be some flaws in the hundred precautions.

In fact, this flaw is not big. When Ribery, who was very active in this game, broke through the left and passed to the middle, and was going to find Falcao, Carvalho cleverly stuck in front of Falcao, blocked the cross with a kick, and the West Ham United right back slipped when clearing the ball.

Because the West Ham United penalty area was full of people at this moment, no one paid attention. After the ball slipped, it fell to the front of the penalty area and landed at Messi's feet. Turan, Lucio, Carvalho and others were reorganizing the defense system at the first time. After all, the first half was about to end, and it was over as long as they survived this attack.

But just when they thought Messi would try to pass the ball, the Argentine used the ball to pull out a position with Turan, and gently rubbed the ball with the inner instep of his left foot. The ball climbed along an elegant arc, and then slid down quickly, almost brushing the left post and drilling into the goal, 1:0!

All the Hammers fans in the entire Upson Park Stadium were stunned. It was a sudden goal. No one had thought beforehand that with so many defensive players blocking the penalty area, Messi actually seized a chance to kick!

Andy Gray even slammed the table and shouted at the top of his lungs, "This shot shows Messi's outstanding and amazing footwork. His left foot's control of the ball is no less than Falcao's, which can be fully reflected from this shot!"

It was also an absolute dead corner, and it also hit the left post and went into the net. It was also a goal. Messi used this critical moment to help the team take a one-goal lead in the first half!

After scoring, Messi excitedly rushed to the corner flagpole, and his teammates around him also rushed up to celebrate his goal at the critical moment, including Falcao. After all, the team's victory is crucial.

"It can be seen that Messi was also stimulated by Falcao, who performed a hat trick in two consecutive games. Similar to the ball just now, if it was in the past, he might consider holding the ball first, but now he directly chooses to kick. Obviously, he is very confident in his ability and has a strong desire to show it."

"This is a very interesting mentality. Through this kind of healthy competition, the players' competitive state can be stimulated to the maximum extent. I think this is also of great benefit to Tottenham Hotspur as a whole."

In fact, Ye Qiu also praised Messi's performance during the halftime break, and hoped that all players could stand up bravely and break through the cage and iron barrel formation set up by West Ham United.

In the second half, Tottenham Hotspur regrouped and immediately became like a tiger descending from the mountain, especially Falcao, who had performed very well before. He seemed to be unwilling to be outdone. Not long after the start of the second half, he scored two goals for Tottenham Hotspur in the 61st and 62nd minutes respectively, relying on Ribery's cross from the left and Fabregas's through ball.

Scoring two goals in two minutes, the total score changed from 0:0 before the end of the first half to 0:3, which was a painful blow to West Ham United. Even though Ranieri quickly made adjustments in the hope of turning the situation around, it was ultimately useless.

Especially in the 81st minute, Ribery made a breakthrough cross from the left, and Cavani, who came on as a substitute, shot a stunning shot from 25 meters away from the goal, and once again broke through the goal guarded by Robert Green, further expanding the score to 4:0!

Crazy, completely crazy!

All major newspapers around the world reported on Tottenham's crazy performance in the new season the next day, from 6:1 to 5:1 and then to this 4:0. In just three games in a week, Tottenham scored 15 goals and lost two goals. This report card was placed in front of everyone, enough to scare people silly.

In the past three games, Tottenham Hotspur has shown strong dominance and offensive power, and its defense is obviously more stable than before, especially in the game against West Ham United. The defense was almost flawless, and the offensive end continued Ye Qiu's offensive football style.

What scares Tottenham Hotspur's competitors even more is that Ribery, who performed poorly last season, has recovered significantly this season after a summer of active preparations. Although he was not the best player in the team in the first two rounds, he finally proved himself in the third round.

In the Sky Sports rating after the game, Ribery scored the highest score of the game with nine points, which was also the highest score in Tottenham Hotspur. The comment on him was an outstanding performance that returned to the peak.

This is because the left side where he was was the most aggressive and threatening side of Tottenham Hotspur in this game. It was his continuous threat on the left side that helped Tottenham Hotspur beat West Ham United 4:0 in the end, and Ribery's competitive state was also recognized by everyone.

But the most popular ones were Messi and Falcao.

Messi used an almost impeccable shot from the top of the penalty area in this game to prove his footwork and prove one thing to everyone, that is, he, Leo Messi, is still the omnipotent Messi.

And Falcao also scored twice, scoring eight goals in three games. The Colombian striker can almost be said to be the fastest rising player in the Premier League in the new season. He not only leads the Premier League's scorer list, but also becomes the focus of attention of all media and reporters, who almost dig deep to dig out his news and insider information.

Tottenham Hotspur supported the media's approach. After all, players who performed well must be rewarded and promoted. Therefore, the club also cooperated with Falcao to accept several interviews, but Robert Milson also privately reminded Falcao that he must pay attention to the harmonious atmosphere within the team.

Falcao was very smart about this. When he was interviewed by the media, he did not take credit for himself at all, but attributed his continuous scoring to Ribery, Messi, Fabregas and other teammates who assisted him. At the same time, he also said that he was just a part of the team's tactical system.

Ye Qiu and Robert Milson were still very satisfied with Falcao's progress. Although the Colombian kept scoring goals, if he thought he could seize power by relying on his performance at the beginning, it would be a bit presumptuous.

To put it bluntly, Falcao can score goals continuously, which has a great relationship with Ribery and Messi holding the ball on both sides of him, attracting defensive pressure for him. If there were no two superstars on his side, and if there were no David Silva and Fabregas behind him who kept delivering ammunition for him, he would not be able to score so many goals.

It can be said that as a new player to the team, no matter how well Falcao performs, he still has to keep a low profile at least, otherwise, he will not be able to gain a foothold in Tottenham Hotspur.

Therefore, Robert Milson has always paid attention to this aspect of public relations, because Ye Qiu told him that he did not want any remarks about conflicts or discord among the team players in the new season, and he hoped to continue to maintain the harmonious and united locker room atmosphere of the team in the past few years.

From the current point of view, Robert Milson and his public relations team are still doing a very good job.

Three games were played in just eight days, but Tottenham Hotspur still had no rest after the third round, because they ushered in the fourth round of the Premier League in the middle of the week, and the opponent was Birmingham.

Originally, the fourth round of the Premier League was to be held on August 29, but Tottenham Hotspur had to participate in the European Super Cup, so this round was moved forward to midweek. Although Tottenham Hotspur's performance declined this time, it still defeated Birmingham 2:0 with goals from Yaya Toure and Ribery.

With four consecutive victories, Tottenham Hotspur leads the Premier League standings with a perfect record, and the team's top scorer Falcao leads the scorer list with eight goals. Although he failed to score in the fourth round, Falcao got an assist, which was his first assist in four Premier League games this season, to Yaya Toure.

Tottenham Hotspur's overall outstanding performance has brought great influence and attention to itself, and also brought pressure to its competitors, especially Manchester United. After the reorganization this season, Ferguson has not yet found a well-organized midfield combination, so Manchester United is currently under great pressure.

After the fourth round of the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur went to Monaco to prepare for the European Super Cup. They will also attend the UEFA Champions League group stage draw and awards ceremony.

As the first strong team to successfully defend the Champions League since the reform, Tottenham Hotspur is naturally the focus of this event, but last season's runner-up Barcelona and Real Madrid, which swallowed up many superstars in one go this summer, are also the focus of all media in this Champions League.

As many people have commented, Florentino spent a lot of money to focus the media attention and attraction of the entire summer on Real Madrid. Although it is somewhat inferior to Tottenham Hotspur, which shines in the United States, it has no problem suppressing its arch-rival Barcelona.

But in the end, the media can't help but say that surpassing in influence is one thing, and whether it can surpass Barcelona on the football field is another matter, which is a bit provocative.

Strong teams from all over Europe gathered in Monaco, and the draw ceremony was held as scheduled.

According to UEFA's previous regulations and classification standards, Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, ​​Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, AC Milan, Sevilla and Bayern Munich were all divided into the first seeded teams.

Lyon, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, Juventus, Porto, Alkmaar, and Rangers were divided into the second tier; and the third tier was also full of powerful teams such as Marseille, Stuttgart, Fiorentina, Dynamo Kyiv, Atletico Madrid, and Bordeaux.

With Platini's support policy for small country leagues, the teams in the fourth tier will be relatively weak, basically from weak countries. The general impression of them is that they come to the Champions League to play a little bit of soy sauce, make a debut, and make a familiar face.

The group stage draw basically follows the UEFA's usual operating method, which is to ensure the reasonable distribution of strong and weak teams as much as possible. After all, if too much emphasis is placed on strong dialogue, it may lead to some upset teams in the knockout stage, which is very unfavorable for the Champions League.

So in general, there is basically no so-called death group. The most deadly group is that Bayern Munich, Juventus and Bordeaux are in the same group, and Bordeaux has performed very well in the French Ligue 1 this season, winning all three games, and the core player of the team, Gourcuff, has performed brilliantly.

Because of this, this group is called the death group by many people.

In addition, AC Milan, Real Madrid and Marseille were divided into the same group, but considering the overall strength of AC Milan and Real Madrid's very scary lineup, it is estimated that Marseille will have a difficult chance to get an upset.

Tottenham Hotspur's opponents are Alkmaar from the Netherlands, Olympiacos from Greece and Standard Liège from Belgium. All three teams are from second- and third-rate leagues, and their overall strength is not strong. It is difficult for them to pose a threat to Tottenham Hotspur, so many people think that Tottenham Hotspur's draw is the best.

This also caused a gust of wind from the outside world after the draw results were announced to the public, believing that Platini intended to support Tottenham Hotspur to win the Champions League three times in a row because of his close personal relationship with Ye Qiu.

But Ye Qiu has always sneered at such remarks, because in his opinion, good luck is indeed necessary, but whether the overall strength is strong enough is the key to whether a team can make it to the end.

Although UEFA's draw seems to take good care of Tottenham Hotspur, in fact, isn't it also taking care of other strong teams?

If Tottenham Hotspur was drawn into a death group early in the group stage, let alone whether it could prevent Tottenham Hotspur, which has been in great form recently, from breaking through, it might even cause the decline of a strong team, which would be extremely unfavorable for future schedules. After all, no one wants to see some unpopular teams competing in the knockout stage, right?

While the draw ceremony was going on, the award ceremony was also going on. Tottenham Hotspur was still the biggest winner of this award ceremony. Messi won the best player and best forward, Thiago Silva won the best defender as he wished, and Peter Cech won the best goalkeeper again. Ye Qiu successfully defended the title of best coach.

Only the best midfielder was given to Xavi of Barcelona.

This is also a very controversial point, because if we simply look at the performance last season, Iniesta seems to be more convincing, but strangely, Iniesta does not seem to be liked by the judges and ultimately failed to win the award.

After participating in the UEFA draw ceremony, Tottenham Hotspur defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 3:0 at the Louis II Stadium in Monaco the next day and successfully defended the European Super Cup.

But just after this game, European football once again broke out a big news of earthquake magnitude.