After helping Arsenal retain a decent league position and a ticket to next season's UEFA Cup with one pass and one shot, Bergkamp completed his last season in the Premier League with an undoubted outstanding performance. A dance. Next, when the Emirates Stadium is completed in two months, Ice Prince can hold a farewell match at Arsenal's new home as planned and officially announce his retirement from international football!
Although they got a ticket to the UEFA Cup next season and finally avoided the worst situation, Arsenal fans couldn't laugh at all - not only because the team missed the Champions League for the first time in eight years, but also because What they find difficult to accept is that Tottenham Hotspur, a club that lives in the same North London area as Arsenal and has been their sworn rivals since World War I, has now neatly resolved the "iron iron" match at the Boleyn Stadium. Hammers" West Ham United lifted the 2005-06 Premier League championship trophy!
There is a saying that goes without comparison, there is no harm. No matter how downcast Arsenal was in the previous life, Tottenham, their city rival, had always missed the heavyweight championship trophy, allowing Gunners fans to maintain a psychological advantage over Tottenham fans in terms of team honors (until the time George crossed the line. In 2007, the only championship trophy Tottenham won after entering the 21st century was the League Cup in the 2007-08 season). Arsenal fans are far ahead in terms of the number of trophies. Although Arsenal fans are disappointed with the team's performance every year, they can still proudly stand tall when facing Tottenham fans and say: "We have Champions, what about you?".
In this life, Arsenal fans not only witnessed the rapid rise of Tottenham, but also had to face the rise of this city rival who was originally stepped on by them. In a few years, Arsenal fans have successively won the League Cup, FA Cup, and Premier League. He even won all the Big Ear Cups and became the cruel reality of becoming the new overlord of English football!
What makes Gunners fans even more miserable is that, in addition to Bergkamp, who has confirmed to retire at the end of the season, and Pires and Campbell, who are preparing to leave the team on a free agency in the summer transfer window, there are also players who have not stopped playing even if they are recovering from injuries. In addition to the rumored Ashley Cole, after the final game of the league, their captain and the team's star Thierry Henry made it clear in an interview with the media that he would be "carefully" evaluated. The future at Arsenal!
The fans were dissatisfied, meritorious veterans (Pires, Campbell) were transferred on free transfers, and the team's core players (Henry, Ashley Cole) also had the idea of jumping to another team... In the blink of an eye, this company set off a technological revolution in English football. With the wave of tactical revolution, the two top clubs in the Premier League, together with Manchester United, have a faint tendency to fall apart this summer!
Regarding the chaos that Arsenal was experiencing at this time, George simply went online and ate a few mouthfuls of melon and then stopped paying much attention. Because he has two crucial games to play at this time - the FA Cup final with Chelsea and the European Champions Cup final with Barcelona!
Unlike the previous life, Tottenham's opponent in the FA Cup final was not West Ham United, but Chelsea led by Mourinho. Since they were eliminated by Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and Tottenham had opened up a big gap in the standings early in the league, the Portuguese madman had to focus more on the FA Cup. So as not to end up with nothing at the end of the season.
Although Chelsea fans, management, and even owner Roman Abramovich did not blame Mourinho for missing the Premier League championship for two consecutive years, how could an arrogant madman be willing to be forever beaten by his junior in terms of record? Overwhelmed? So after learning that Tottenham advanced to the FA Cup final first, Mourinho immediately made up his mind to win West Ham United in the semi-finals and compete with George on the stage of the FA Cup final!
Faced with Mourinho, who was going all out in the FA Cup, the "Hammers" were naturally no match for the strong Chelsea. They were defeated cleanly in the semi-finals, watching the Blues and Tottenham. Successfully reached the FA Cup final!
The time came on May 13, and the Tottenham team arrived on time at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, the venue for this season’s FA Cup final. However, when they walked into the stadium, they were surprised to find that Chelsea players had completed pre-match field acclimatization training!
"Let me stop you, why are you here so early?" George naturally noticed that Mourinho was exuding
With his extremely strong desire to win, he couldn't help but sigh casually, "Sure enough, you don't need to save your energy for the Champions League final. You can do whatever you want in the preparation before the game."
Since five days after the FA Cup final was the Champions League final against Barcelona, the Football Association was very unreasonable and rejected George's proposal to postpone the FA Cup final on the grounds that "the national team needs enough time to prepare for the World Cup." Therefore, even if George intends to use more energy in this FA Cup final, the objective conditions do not allow him to do so. Of course, everyone wants the glory of the Triple Crown, but which one is more important, the Champions League championship or the FA Cup championship? He can still tell the difference clearly.
Players' energy and physical reserves are ultimately limited. Once Tottenham spends too much in this FA Cup final, when facing Barcelona led by stars such as Deco, Giuly, Ronaldinho and Eto'o, Tottenham's probability of winning the cup at the Stade de France will undoubtedly increase. Greatly reduced!
This is one of the main reasons why Mourinho is determined to try his best to win a championship trophy for Chelsea in the FA Cup. The Portuguese madman knows very well that under the premise of preparing for the Champions League final, it is basically impossible for George to field the strongest lineup tonight. In contrast, Chelsea, who have no other game tasks, only need to finish one game and concentrate on preparing for the FA Cup final with Tottenham.
Things developed as Mourinho expected. George, who was preparing for the Champions League final, did rotate the starting lineup to a certain extent: Cech, Stephen Carr, Ledley King, Vidi Qi, Baines, Speed, Mascherano, Alonso, Arshavin, Mendieta and Klose became the starting eleven representing Tottenham in tonight's FA Cup final!
Obviously, when the formation was limited and the team was unable to play in its strongest form, George decided to use his strengths and avoid weaknesses, shrinking the formation to lure Chelsea to take the initiative to attack, and use the long passing and organization skills of Alonso and Baines. The advantages in ability, as well as the complementary technical characteristics of the frontcourt combination of Arshavin, Mendieta and Klose, used sharp defensive counterattacks to win a victory from the Blues!
Let’s look at Chelsea. Except for Duff who was forced to truce due to injury, Mourinho had to choose Wright Phillips as the team's starting right winger, and Gala once again guest-starred as the left back, the other nine starting players are Chelsea in various positions. The absolute main force. Especially the midfielder composed of Essien, Makelele and Lampard. With Gerrard on the bench and Davis forced to rest in accordance with the doctor's orders, its defensive hardness and coverage area clearly beat Tottenham. There’s more to it than ever!
As the referee on duty, Howard Webb, blew his whistle, this key battle to determine whether Tottenham can win the Triple Crown this season officially kicked off!
PS1: I’m very sorry. I stopped updating for too long and was busy with real-life affairs, which made me forget that the Premier League champion in the 2003-04 season in the book was not Tottenham but Arsenal. Sorry QAQ
PS2: I wish everyone a happy Spring Festival!
