After playing the second round, Dick was waiting for the draw ceremony of the Champions League. He didn't play in European competitions last season, and Dick missed that kind of atmosphere. Although Manchester City won it in one go last season Three championships has a lot to do with the lack of energy involved in European competitions. However, if you only play domestic competitions, it will never be satisfying enough.
However, in this draw, Manchester City is destined to not be very lucky. They have not played many European competitions before, which makes their European competition points quite low. There is no suspense about being placed in the fourth tier, second this season. The strong teams in the first level include Juventus and PSV, and the strong teams in the third level include Fiorentina and Celtic. In other words, in theory, it is possible for Real Madrid, Juventus, Celtic and Manchester City to appear. The group of death, if Atletico Madrid, which returned to the Champions League this season, was also classified in the fourth tier, then the possibility of a group of death would become even greater
But even so, with Manchester City ranked fourth, it is very possible for them to encounter at least two top teams in the group stage.
"It's normal to be placed in the fourth tier because our results in the European arena in the past five years were almost blankAtletico Madrid is back in the Champions League? I'm very happy about this, after all, Atletico Madrid is so good. The team should not always stay away from the Champions League and not compete with Atletico Madrid. I am very happy about this.¡±
Dick was really happy. He was even glad that Manchester City was not placed in the third tier at this time. This was not because there were more strong teams in the fourth tier, but because if they were placed in the third tier, the UEFA's stubbornness will probably put Atletico Madrid and Manchester City in a group, not only because of the old relationship between Dick and Atletico Madrid, but also the existence of Torres
Fortunately, this will no longer happen.
However, UEFA will not just let Manchester City go. In the subsequent draw ceremony, Manchester City encountered a veritable group of death.
The first-tier team, Bayern, the second-tier team, PSV Eindhoven, the third-tier team, Fiorentina, the fourth-tier team, Manchester City.
Bundesliga champion, Eredivisie champion, Serie A third, Premier League champion, this is the sixth group of champions this season
Everyone's faces are not very good-looking. Although such a group is not particularly exaggerated, it is definitely difficult, especially since Manchester City is a new team. If they are in a group that is relatively easy to deal with, , as long as you can appear in a group, you will probably be a little uncontrollable when you play in the knockout rounds after training. But now, it is very likely that you will be drowned in the group stage of the Champions League!
"This will be a difficult challengebut actually we are not that lacking in experience in the Champions League." Dick said calmly after the draw ceremony.
After he said this, people remembered that the current Manchester City players' experience in the Champions League is not too bad, at least Samuel, Alves, Deco, Yaya Toure, Ribery, Torres, Di Natale and Benzema are all players with a lot of Champions League experience, especially the three new players who joined this season. They are veterans, Mesozoic, and rookies. However, they all have one characteristic in common. , that is, there is no lack of experience in the Champions League - in the six years in Dortmund, Alves participated in the Champions League as the main force for three seasons, not to mention Deco, who won the Champions League in Porto, even the most The young Benzema also has the experience of reaching the knockout stage of the Champions League with Lyon last year. In addition, Torres has won the Champions League under Dick before, and Yaya Toure and Di Natale have won two at Inter Milan. Samuel has played in the Champions League in both Roma and Real Madrid Manchester City's Champions League experience is not as lacking as it seems.
And in the following time, they seemed to prove that they indeed have outstanding strength.
August 31st, the third round of the Premier League.
After sweeping West Ham United 3-0 at home in the last round, Manchester City once again achieved a 3-0 victory, this time on the road. They defeated Sunderland 3-0. Deco once again scored for Manchester City opened the scoring, and in the following time, Di Natale scored twice to help Manchester City easily defeat their opponents.
After losing in the first round, Manchester City quickly won two consecutive games 3-0. Such a victory also restored the confidence of Manchester City. The next time was a national team match day, which lasted until September 14th. The fourth round of the Premier League will be ushered in tomorrow, and after that, the Champions League competition will also reignite!
"It's a rhythm I haven't felt in a long time I feel like my fighting spirit has begun to fully burn!" Dick said to Charlotte.
Charlotte gave him a sideways glance: "In this case do you think you are still the protagonist of a hot-blooded comic? You are already"??You are thirty years old, uncle! "
"What's wrong with being almost thirty? A passionate young man will always be invincible!" Dick made a gesture to show off his muscles.
The training camp of the national team ended soon. For Dick, the good news is that Deco has now been eliminated from the Portuguese national team lineup, which allows him to take a good rest, but Manchester City still has many international players. , Yaya Toure and Kompany have not seriously practiced with other teammates so far. The league they will face next is indeed a bit of a headache.
September 14th, the fourth round of the Premier League, Manchester City faces Chelsea at home!
If it were an ordinary opponent, Dick might have asked the international players to save energy, use substitutes to play this league, and then let the main players prepare for the Champions League game, but the opponent was Chelseaespecially with a new head coach. Chelsea, who are gradually starting to stabilize, will be difficult to deal with if they don't give Chelsea a bit of a look at it at the beginning.
Chelsea also had quite a change this summer. After Scolari took office, he also carried out drastic reforms - after all, Mourinho's influence was too great, and Scolari did not want to be like Grant, changing clothes. Isolated and helpless in the room, Deco was snatched away by Dick in his old team. However, he introduced the Portuguese national team's right back Bosingwa, and at the last moment, he snatched him for a king's price of 35 million pounds. Brazilian winger Robinho came to Real Madrid, which also gave him a certain say in the locker room.
Someone comes in and someone comes out. Many players left Chelsea this summer. For example, Shevchenko was loaned back to AC Milan. Adriano, who was completely abandoned in the second half of last year, was sold to Chelsea for a low price of 10 million euros. It was dumped back to Inter Milan, Makelele returned to France on a free transfer, Boraluz, Sidwell and Wright-Phillips were all disposed of at a low price, and the new Chelsea was taking shape. Facing such an opponent, Dick would naturally not take it lightly. Although winning or losing at the beginning of the season was not too important, facing such a competitor, naturally he could not play too poorly.
So after the players returned, Dick began to prepare for the next game. Although Chelsea's current main force has not changed much, there have been changes in several key positions. The same is true for Manchester City. There are many changes on both sides. The main players participated in two national team games. In terms of state, the two sides are evenly matched.
"Scolari is an excellent head coach, and Chelsea has had a great start this yearbut Chelsea is still missing something. We will win this game, no matter what situation we face. ." Dick said in an interview before the game.
"Coaching a club is different from coaching the national team. The national team only plays a dozen or twenty official games a year at most. As long as it can be combined into a strong whole, it is enough. However, in the club, there are more things to consider. . Scolari¡¯s results at the national team level are very good, but he still needs to do more work in coaching the club.¡±
Dick commented on Scolari's work in an old-fashioned way, but now he is qualified to comment. Who makes him the best and most comprehensive head coach in the history of coaching the club? Even Ferguson, even if he is better than him in terms of overall honors It is stronger, but it is not like Dick, who has fought almost all of Europe.
"Did Dick comment like this? Thanks for his advice, but I think I don't lack experience in club coaching." Scolari avoided this question during the interview.
In fact, he was very annoyed when he heard what Dick said. After all, Scolari is also a world champion coach. He won the World Cup in Brazil and led the team to the semi-finals of the competition in Portugal. Otherwise, Abramovich would not have He would be hired with a high salary to coach Chelsea, which is already a top club, but now he is being taught like this by a young man who is twenty years younger than him. It would be hell if he could bear it.
Moreover, Chelsea had won three consecutive games in the first three rounds. Although they defeated not-so-top teams such as Portsmouth, Wigan Athletic and Tottenham, they defeated last season's team 4-0 in the first round. Portsmouth, the runner-up in the FA Cup, scored seven goals in three league rounds and did not concede a single goal. Such results are enough to prove that they are in good condition.
And what about Manchester City? Although the last two games were swept 3-0, they lost so miserably to Aston Villa in the first round, which at least proves that their form is not particularly good, right
Moreover, Chelsea's group situation is much better than that of Manchester City. After Mourinho left, UEFA seems to have stopped targeting Chelsea. In the first three years of Mourinho's tenure, Chelsea either faced Barcelona or the team led by Dick in the knockout rounds. , or else it would be Liverpool.Last season, they encountered relatively weak teams before entering the semi-finals. Chelsea also had good luck in this season's grouping. They were placed in a group with Roma, Bordeaux and Romania's Cluj and qualified. There shouldn't be much of a problem.
If Manchester City is distracted by the Champions League, can they really go all out to deal with Chelsea? Taking advantage of Manchester City's distraction, he can defeat Manchester City in the away game and break Dick's unbeaten record at home in the Premier League. In this way, Scolari's position will become more stable!
Thinking this way, Scolari began to feel happy. He was already looking forward to the press conference after the game. After defeating Dick, he had to thank Dick for making him understand better how to coach. Club¡ª¡ªDick¡¯s expression at that time must be very exciting