Football Feast, Starting From the Acquisition of European Clubs: Chapter 106 Looking forward to the century-old savior
Chapter 106 Looking forward to the savior of a hundred years
"Post-game rating? Is there anything special about this?"
Ferguson asked Queiroz while looking at the rating data of Crystal Palace players.
Queiroz didn't answer Ferguson's question, just stood aside and smiled quietly.
Sure enough, the more Ferguson looked, the more surprised he became, and the movements of flipping through the information became faster and faster.
Soon, he read all the data and looked up at Queiroz with a very serious expression.
"Carlos, where is the source of this data? Is it reliable?"
"Alex, these are from the time that Chinese entered the Crystal Palace. After each official game, the major media gave ratings to the Crystal Palace players. I have sent someone to verify each item, which is very reliable."
"Do you know what that means?"
Ferguson asked, looking at the desk with his fingers.
"This means that the players bought by the Chinese are all excellent. The Chinese either has a very powerful scouting network, or his vision for selecting players is extremely accurate."
"That's right, Carlos, your analysis is right. However, no matter what kind of possibility it is, it's not a good thing for us."
Ferguson's pounding on the desk gradually stopped, apparently lost in thought.
Soon, Ferguson picked up the phone and called Manchester United CEO David Gill over.
"Alex, is there anything important you can't say on the phone?"
David Gill asked Ferguson curiously as soon as he entered the door.
"Carlos, show David the information." Ferguson did not directly answer David Gill's question.
David Gill reached out and took the information that Queiroz handed over, and looked at it in confusion.
However, his face soon turned serious, and he asked the same question Ferguson had asked before.
"Are these data reliable?"
"Very reliable."
After got a positive answer, David Gill immediately turned to look at Ferguson.
"Alex, you called me here, you meant to attack the Crystal Palace, didn't you?"
"That's right. I don't care if that Chinese man has a powerful scouting network, or he has an extremely precise eye for selecting players. It doesn't matter. I just want these excellent players to be used by Manchester United, understand?"
"Understood. Don't worry, Alex. As soon as the winter transfer window comes, you can see new players from Crystal Palace joining our Manchester United squad."
"OK, David, I'm at ease with your work."
At this time, Chen Ran, who was far away in London, did not know that Ferguson had already aimed at him.
He is now preparing for the fifth round of the Premier League, Crystal Palace's away game against Portsmouth.
After playing Portsmouth, Crystal Palace will usher in a double game for a week.
Because they won the English League Cup last season, they qualified for the UEFA Cup this season.
In the middle of next week, Crystal Palace will have a qualifying match for the third round of the UEFA Cup, against the Czech team Ostrava at home.
After 's victory over Ostrava, Crystal Palace qualified for the UEFA Cup main stage, which is the group stage.
Although Chen Ran estimated that Ostrava should not be strong, but no one knew about this team from the Czech Republic, so Chen Ran still did not dare to be careless.
If you don't even make it to the UEFA Cup match, you'll be embarrassed.
So, in the fifth round of the Premier League against Portsmouth, Chen Ran still made some rotations.
Center Crouch
Left midfielder Evra, midfielder Cesc Fabregas, right midfielder Ribery
Midfielder Yaya Toure, midfielder Simeone
Left-back Chiellini, center-back Thiago Silva, center-back Vidic, right-back Alves
Goalkeeper Cech
Fortunately, Portsmouth is not very strong. Even though Chen Ran sent some substitute players, Crystal Palace finally won the game on the road.
With an assist from Cesc Fabregas' corner kick, central defender Vidic scored with a header and Crystal Palace beat Portsmouth with a single goal.
helped the team continue the momentum of winning streak, and also brought Chen Ran a winning bonus of 2 million euros.
In other matches in the fifth round of the Premier League, Arsenal continued their strong momentum, beating Fulham 3-0 away.
With the same five-game winning streak as Crystal Palace, with the advantage of goal difference, Crystal Palace was squeezed to the second place in the Premier League.
Among the other three strong teams, only Liverpool won the victory, beating West Bromwich Albion 3-0 at home.
Chelsea were drawn 0:0 away by Aston Villa, Manchester United were drawn 2:2 away by Bolton.
This time, the pattern of the Premier League is further clarified.
Arsenal and Crystal Palace at the top of the list, with 15 points, ranked first and second respectively.
The gap has been widened since the third place.
Chelsea and Bolton, with ten points, ranked third and fourth, followed by Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa with nine and eight points respectively.
For a while, both the media and fans listed Arsenal and Crystal Palace as the favorite teams to win the Premier League this season.
Five days later, Crystal Palace welcomed their first UEFA Cup game of the season at home.
Although facing an unknown Czech team, the entire Selhurst Park stadium was still full, and Crystal Palace fans dressed up to gather at the stadium, as if it were a festival.
It is pitiful to say that Crystal Palace Club was established in 1905.
By the end of the season, which is next year in 2005.
Crystal Palace will also officially enter the ranks of the Centennial Club.
In the nearly 100-year history of Crystal Palace Club, the only European war record was the Intertoto Cup in 1998.
Even in such a tasteless game, Crystal Palace was eliminated after only two defeats.
Now being able to participate in a serious European competition such as the UEFA Cup is enough to make Crystal Palace fans ecstatic.
Therefore, no matter how cynical the media in England is towards Chen Ran, in the hearts of Crystal Palace fans, Chen Ran is the savior of the team and the key figure in the rise of Crystal Palace.
Although they knew that the hope of success was slim, they were willing to believe the rhetoric that Chen Ran made when he entered the Crystal Palace.
That is: to build Crystal Palace into a giant club.
Because, since Chen Ran bought Crystal Palace Club, the team has been improving every day.
From winning the British Championship to the Premier League, to winning the League Cup and qualifying for the UEFA Cup.
Every achievement Crystal Palace has achieved, is proving to the fans that they are on the right path.
And all of this has also increased Chen Ran's prestige among Crystal Palace fans.
In order not to block the fans and not make himself a laughing stock, Chen Ran sent the entire main lineup to face the guest Ostrava.
Center Tony
Left midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo, midfielder Modric, right midfielder Ribery
Fabregas, midfielder, Simeone
Left-back Chiellini, centre-back Gareth Southgate, centre-back Vidic, right-back Maicon
Goalkeeper Cech
The game started with Crystal Palace keeping Ostrava in their half.
Since he didn't know his opponent, Chen Ran simply decided to focus on me, and used a three-axe to smother Ostrava.
Chen Ran's arrangement proved to be very effective.
Ostrava's head coach never imagined that Crystal Palace would be so arrogant. At the beginning of the game, he put on a stance of onslaught, furious attack, and siege, as if he had not considered Ostrava's counterattack at all.
In the Czech Republic, when has Ostrava seen such a crazy offensive?
The high-level pressing, the half-time pressing, the pace of the game is so fast that people can't breathe.
Being caught off guard and being caught off guard is the true reflection of the Ostrava players on the field now.
Even if they got the ball for a short time, they would not be able to make it past half-time at all, and they would be cut off again by the Crystal Palace players.
In the thirteenth minute, Crystal Palace received a cross from Cristiano Ronaldo and headed the goal to open the scoring. Crystal Palace led Ostrava 1:0;
In the 28th minute, Cesc Fabregas scored another goal for Crystal Palace from outside the penalty area, and Crystal Palace led Ostrava 2-0;
This score was maintained until the end of halftime.
During the intermission, Chen Ran not only praised the team's performance in the first half, but also adjusted his tactics.
No way, although the play in the first half was sharp, it also consumed a lot of physical energy.
It's okay to use it in stages. If you play like this for the whole game, the next game will definitely be over.
The FA's schedule is still so speechless, the Crystal Palace's UEFA Cup qualifying game time is September 17, 2004.
Just one day apart, on September 19, 2004, Crystal Palace will usher in the sixth round of the Premier League, the home game against Manchester City.
Arsenal's consecutive victories have brought great pressure to Chen Ran, and Crystal Palace has no room for error now.
Chen Ran must continue to maintain the momentum of Crystal Palace's winning streak in the Premier League. The players have so much physical fitness, and he has to plan carefully.
"Guys, you played very well in the first half and performed very well. However, we still have a league game against Manchester City the day after tomorrow. So, in order to save our energy, we have to take it back and play defensive counterattacks in the second half. Understand?"
"clear!"
"Don't worry boss, we all understand."
Seeing that the team members were all in high spirits, Chen Ran nodded reassuringly.
Immediately afterwards, he replaced Cesc Fabregas with Yaya Toure, and then retreated the entire formation.
So, at the beginning of the second half, Ostrava's players discovered:
what happened?
Crystal Palace's players why don't press the attack?
They got the ball in the backcourt, why didn't the Crystal Palace players come up and grab it?
They are now able to pass the ball across the half.
The performance of Crystal Palace players was different from the first half.
This made Ostrava, from the head coach to the players on the field, feel that he was facing two teams in the upper and lower halves.
Everything seems like a lifetime.
Unfortunately, Ostrava's players are limited.
Even if Crystal Palace voluntarily returned to their own half, Ostrava was not able to penetrate Crystal Palace’s defense.
The whole second half went on in a gentle, drizzly, calm manner.
Even if Chen then came to replace Modric with Mascherano, and replaced Simeone with Pepe, let Yaya Toure, Mascherano and Pepe form a pure defensive midfielder with three midfielders.
Ostrava still did not break the Crystal Palace goal, which made Chen Ran very satisfied.
In the end, when the referee blew the final whistle of the game, Crystal Palace easily won Ostrava 2:0 at home.
While advancing to the UEFA Cup this season, it also brought Chen Ran a winning bonus of 2.5 million euros.
He didn't care to celebrate the team's promotion to the UEFA Cup. As soon as the game was over, Chen Ran drove the players home to rest.
No way, in less than forty-eight hours, Crystal Palace will play another Premier League game.
The donkey of the production team can't do that either.
Crystal Palace has advanced to the UEFA Cup, which is just a trivial game news on the English side. Apart from the celebrations from the Crystal Palace fans, there was no fuss.
But in the country thousands of miles away, it has attracted the attention of many fans.
"Hey, have you read the news? Crystal Palace entered the UEFA Cup."
"The UEFA Cup? Can Crystal Palace still participate in the UEFA Cup this year?"
"Yeah. That's what they qualified for when they won the League Cup last year."
"Then I have to pay attention. I usually watch the Champions Cup. I never watch the UEFA Cup. It seems that I have to stay up a few more nights this year."
"Yes, I have never watched the UEFA Cup. But now that Crystal Palace is participating, they still have to watch their games."
"I just don't know how far Crystal Palace can go. There are still some strong teams in the UEFA Cup."
"I am quite optimistic about Crystal Palace. The UEFA Cup is not filled with giants like the Champions Cup. In fact, as long as one or two games against strong teams are played well, the chance of Crystal Palace upset is not small."
"That's true. However, according to Crystal Palace's current record in the Premier League, they are likely to play the Champions League next year. If they want to participate in the UEFA Cup in the future, they will have no chance."
"Hahaha, you are too arrogant. Be low-key, low-key."
Speaking of Crystal Palace's upcoming opponent, Manchester City, Sun Jihai, who is familiar to many fans, is now playing in the team.
And it is rare that Sun Jihai is still the main player of Manchester City.
Of course, the current Manchester City is not the Premier League champion after the acquisition by the Abu Dhabi consortium. The strength is limited and has been hovering in the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League.
However, since Crystal Palace just finished the UEFA Cup game in midweek, Chen Ran still chose the tactics of defensive counterattack even though it was Crystal Palace's home game.
Center Tony
Left midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo, right midfielder Alves
Midfielder Yaya Toure, Midfielder Modric, Midfielder Simeone
Left-back Chiellini, centre-back Gareth Southgate, centre-back Vidic, right-back Maicon
Goalkeeper Cech
On the Manchester City side, Sun Jihai appeared in the starting lineup as expected, and he played at right back.
However, since Sun Jihai is defending against Ronaldo, so .
(end of this chapter)