289 Strong

Only five days after playing Chelsea, Blackburn welcomed his opponent Shakhtar Donetsk in the second round of the Champions League group stage at home.

As long as it is an opponent, George will study it well. Including this Donetsk miner whose name has not been heard much before.

Shakhtar Donetsk is the best team in the Ukrainian League except for Dynamo Kiev. Of course, Shakhtar Donetsk can't compare with Dynamo Kiev, which is famous in European football. After all, Dinamo Kiev was a strong Soviet team even during the Soviet Union.

But in Ukraine, if Dynamo Kiev is the boss, then the Donetsk miners can say that I am the second.

Compared with Sparta Prague and a teenage genius like Rosicki, the players of the Shakhtar Donetsk are basically composed of local Ukrainian players. Because there is not much money to attract, even the nearby Eastern European players have no money to attract them.

And the Ukrainian league is not ranked in Europe at all. In addition, it's too cold in Ukraine. Those South American and African players will not go to Ukraine.

To put it bluntly, football is a game of money now.

If the Ukrainian club is rich, then don't say that Eastern European players, even South American and African geniuses will come voluntarily. But there is no money now, so everything is an excuse.

Therefore, the strength of the Donetsk miners is very weak.

They can only collect local players locally in Ukraine. The strength of Ukrainian football is average, not to mention the Donetsk miners, who are mainly Ukrainian players.

Shakhtar Donetsk's playing style is very obvious that of the Eastern European team. The players are in good health and the pace of the game is very fast. Unfortunately, Shakhtar Donetsk forgot that the fastest-paced game in the world is the Premier League. Blackburn, who is training in the Premier League, is the last thing he is afraid of.

So after the game started, Blackburn was in a state. Blackburn took only seven minutes to lead 1-0 with Pires's free kick. And Blackburn didn't have any reservations. Only five minutes later, Drogba kicked the ball into the goal of the Donetsk Miners.

This is also Drogba's first goal in Europe.

is also Drogba's fifth goal in Blackburn. But this goal was really not scored by Drogba with his own ability.

Instead, Miku in the midfield made a long-range shot. After being saved by the goalkeeper, he hit Drogba, who was rushing forward, and finally rolled into the goal. And it just hit Drogba in the face, and Drogba hit it in with his face.

After the goal was scored, even Drogba himself was inexplicable. If you are lucky, you can't stop it. In this way, you can score goals. After Drogba saw the goal, he also exhaled unexpectedly.

However, with Drogba's goal, the commentator has begun to set the tone for the game.

"It seems that the appearance of Lazio and Blackburn in Group B has been nailed. Lazio is currently leading Sparta Prague 1-0 at home. After two rounds, both Lazio and Blackburn will score six points. And Sparta Prague and Shakhtar Donetsk have no power to fight back against Lazio and Blackburn.

"Now the biggest suspense in this group should be Lazio and Blackburn who can win the first place in the group."

The commentator was right. At the end of the game, Blackburn ended the game with a high score of 5 to 1. And Lazio also defeated Sparta Prague 3-0.

Lazio and Blackburn both scored six points, but Blackburn had the advantage of one more goal difference in the first place.

From the beginning of the season to now, Blackburn has played a total of nine games. Blackburn has won nine games in a row, which is the first time in Blackburn's history. Even in the 94-95 Premier League championship season, Blackburn's results can't be compared with this season.

All the media are highly evaluating the current Blackburn.

However, after the game, Williams talked to George about the renewal of the contract.

George soon understood. The news that Chelsea wanted to invite George reached Williams' ears. The football circle is not big, and there is any news that can come out. In addition, Chelsea boss Bates turned out to be a famous big mouth among British football bosses.

He is expected to keep a secret unless the sow climbs the tree.

Williams has been in British football for so many years, and his connections are still very wide. Chelsea just invited George, and Williams got the news. As for West Ham United, Williams automatically ignored it.

Although Blackburn is not a big football club, the current situation is far better than West Ham United. What strength does West Ham United have? They dare to compete with the current Blackburn coach. Therefore, Williams didn't pay attention to West Ham United at all.

But Chelsea is different.

Don't look at Chelsea's current results are not as good as West Ham United, and even history is not more brilliant than Blackburn. But Chelsea is a big club in London. In any way, Chelsea has a better future than Blackburn.

First of all, Chelsea is in the metropolis of London, and there are many fans. It fully has all the conditions to become a strong team.

That's why Williams asked George about this matter.

George signed a three-year contract. This season is the last year. In fact, according to the general practice, everyone will not start negotiations until there is about half a year left in the contract. But now Chelsea's sudden addition makes Williams a little anxious.

Of course, Williams doesn't want to let George go. That's why I talked to George about renewing the contract.

George told Williams with a smile that he could start talking about renewing the contract now. Williams was very happy to hear George's promise.

There is no need to be so anxious about the renewal negotiations between the two sides. But George just used this attitude to tell Williams that he had no intention of leaving Blackburn.

Williams thought again that George's grades were so good. Even if you can't give George three million pounds a year, it should be about the same.

But George shook his head.

Okay, what's wrong with Bates? Even Williams came to ask himself this question. I guess the newspaper media will know about this soon. What a troublesome thing.

It is true that the media reported this matter, but it soon calmed down. Because Chelsea's official website announced that Ranieri, the cobbler, has become the new Chelsea head coach. George is really grateful to Ranieri. This time, Bates took action quickly and didn't bother George too much.

Ranelly, you have also come to the Premier League.

............On September 21, Blackburn finished the second game of the Champions League group stage with Miners Donetsk. On September 23, Blackburn challenged Bradford away.

Bradford competed with Burnley for the last relegation quota last season. Although it was difficult to relegate in the end, there was still no good performance this season. So far, I have only won one game, which is to beat Chelsea, which is in a worse situation.

However, in addition to defeating Chelsea, it is either a loss or a draw. It is still at the end of the Premier League.

Although the schedule is intensive, George is much more leisurely.

George is getting more and more familiar with how to rotate the lineup. In the face of Shakhtar Donetsk and Bradford, they are both weak teams. George will not be mechanically rigid in the rotation lineup as before. Either the full main lineup or the full substitute lineup.

Now George knows how to deal with the two-line battle.

When fighting the Shakhtar Donetsk, George used Drogba on the front line and let Klose rest. And Mcalister was activated in the midfield and chose to let Deco rest. I used Bellamy to let Duff rest.

McAllister is very satisfied with being able to play the Champions League.

McAllister gave up Liverpool and came to Blackburn, except for the two-year contract given by George. The most attractive thing for Mcalister is the Champions League. Mcalister is old, and his salary at the age of 35 is not high.

Neither Liverpool nor Blackburn will give McAllister a high weekly salary.

And McAllister himself doesn't have many requirements for weekly salary. McAllister cares more about being able to prove himself at the end of his career. Now George let Mcalister play in the Champions League, which makes Mcalister very satisfied.

McAllister also performed very well. It perfectly replaces the role of Deko.

Deco has a good rest. This game can be played.

George's rotation had a role. Several people who did not play in the last game performed very well.

Claude, who is in excellent condition this season, received a long pass from Deko in this game and successfully scored his fifth goal in the league this season. It is also Klose's seventh goal for Blackburn this season.

Duff also fought back in the second half and scored the second goal of the game.

In the end, with goals from Klose and Duff, Blackburn defeated Bradford 2-0 away. So far, George's Blackburn has won seven consecutive league victories, and has won ten consecutive victories since the start of the season.

Blackburn's achievement certainly shocked the British football world.

Because of the seventh round of the Premier League, Manchester United was tied three times by Chelsea, who had just changed coach, at home. Arsenal were also tied by Ipswich on the road. Liverpool's recent three-game winning streak have also been tied by Sunderland one-one.

In this way, Blackburn has defeated the champion's direct rival Manchester United with six points, Arsenal with seven points and Liverpool with eight points after the end of the seven rounds of the league.

Everyone sighs that Blackburn this season is really unstoppable.

When Manchester United and Arsenal were weak, Blackburn suddenly emerged. Although only seven rounds of the league have passed now, many football commentators say that Blackburn is the league champion this season.

Blackburn is too strong this season. It completely subverted everyone's predictions before the season.

"Every Day Telegraph" has a big headline with "Who can stop Blackburn?"

(To be continued)