Chapter 999 Premier League Spectacular
Seventy minutes, one goal, three assists, this is West's report card in his Premier League debut.
When French youngster Martial replaced Messi in the 71st minute, there was a thunderous cheer in Stamford Bridge. At least half of the fans in the stadium stood up and applauded Messi.
The Argentine seemed dissatisfied with his debut, but he still smiled and applauded the fans in the stands, thanking them for their support. When he walked off the field, he did not forget to give a warm hug to head coach Ancelotti.
At this moment, all the rumors about Messi have come to an end.
The outstanding and dazzling transcript has blinded all doubts about Messi, and the best player of the game is the best affirmation of him.
After the game, at the press conference, most of the questions were about Messi.
All media, newspapers, and TV stations were reporting Messi's debut crazily. Even on the second day, it completely occupied the front page headlines of major British newspapers, forming an overwhelming trend.
Even Sky TV has produced a special program to analyze Messi's performance in this game. They want to magnify his every move on the court and present it to the fans, hoping that Premier League fans all over the UK and even the world can fully experience the charm of the world's top superstar.
Even former Arsenal star Henry gave high praise to his former teammate when analyzing Messi's game with Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker.
"Many people think that Leo needs to adapt to the Premier League, but I think it is unnecessary because his strength has far exceeded the scope of football tactics. He is a phenomenal superstar."
Alan Shearer also agreed, "From the course of the game, Mourinho and Chelsea were not completely unprepared, and they also made sufficient targeted defense, but the problem is that Messi completely dominated the game. He could be seen in almost every attack of Southampton in the frontcourt."
"Some people say that geniuses don't need words or time to communicate with each other. They are born to resonate with each other. Messi, Hazard and Suarez are all such geniuses."
Eleven successful dribbles, five shots, one hitting the post, three shots on target, and one goal. Messi's efficiency on the court was quite high, and there was no sign of awkwardness in his cooperation with the Saints players.
"On the football field, dribbling past opponents at high speed is indeed quite difficult, but dribbling past opponents at low speed is obviously more difficult. However, it is not difficult to see that the two wings of the Saints, Hazard and Messi, have excellent ball handling and dribbling abilities, whether at high speed or low speed."
Henry was full of praise for the extraordinary strength shown by the Saints players in the game.
"Facing such a group of opponents, Chelsea's defensive players generally only do two things, either be passed or watch their teammates be passed, but there is no way to prevent it from happening. This is a very helpless thing."
Alan Shearer also deeply agrees with this, "This game will be a huge blow to Chelsea."
"Yes, that's right," Henry agreed, "The key is that the gap in strength between the two teams is too great."
"Thierry, Alan, which Premier League team do you think has the best chance of sniping the Saints this season?" Lineker asked a question that everyone was concerned about with a smile.
Who can stop the Saints?
Alan Shearer is a player who came from the Saints' youth training camp. Although he did not spend his entire career with the Saints, he still has a strong attachment to the Saints. He is happy when the Saints become strong.
After listening to Lineker's question, the former England star shook his head and said, "It's difficult. At least I haven't seen it for the time being."
"Yes, Alan is right. Manchester City has also had some problems this season. Tottenham Hotspur has been on a strong momentum recently and should be said to have the most hope. However, they give people the feeling that they are always a little short of something."
"Originally, at the beginning of the season, we all thought that Manchester United would be able to do a great job after the heavy signings this summer. However, the Red Devils lost 0-3 to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium this round, which is really a shame."
After analyzing this, Henry chuckled and said, "I think that this season, Arsenal may have a chance to return to the Champions League zone, but as for challenging the Saints, I don't think there is much hope for the time being."
This is also the situation on the standings after the eighth round of the Premier League.
Generally speaking, after about ten rounds of the league, the league situation has become very clear.
Now, although only eight rounds have been played, everything that should be presented has been presented.
The Saints are far ahead, followed by Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester City, while teams such as Manchester United, Leicester City and West Ham United are ranked in the Champions League and Europa League qualifying zones.
Because of the crushing defeat in this game, Chelsea's ranking dropped again to 17th place, just one step away from the relegation zone, while the veteran powerhouse Newcastle directly became the second-to-last team, and the bell-bottom teams West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa also fell into the relegation zone.
It is not difficult to see from this that the situation in the Premier League has undergone earth-shaking changes.
The most surprising team is Leicester City.
After being acquired by Thai tycoon Vicha, Leicester City's performance has been improving year by year, especially this season, after inviting the tinkerer Ranieri, Leicester City's performance has been surprisingly stable, showing signs of eyeing a place in the European arena.
In fact, if Leicester City continues to maintain its current momentum, it may not be impossible for them to enter the European competition zone.
Of course, the possibility of finishing in the top four of the league is very small. After all, there is still a big gap in strength between this team and the Premier League giants.
For a small team like this, it's okay to have a burst of performance occasionally, but the key is that they can't sustain it.
Generally, they will face the real test in the second half.
Just like when Yang Huan acquired Hamburg before, it was once very popular and even defeated Bayern Munich to become the leader of the Bundesliga. But not long after, it was immediately reversed by Bayern Munich and its ranking was in danger of falling.
If we really talk about team strength, the current Leicester City is far behind Hamburg last season.
But no matter what, the performance of this team this season is absolutely amazing.
Head coach Ranieri once again disappointed a lot of people.
In addition to the Saints and Leicester City, there is another very eye-catching team in this round, that is Wenger's Arsenal.
After losing to Chelsea away in the sixth round, the Gunners first defeated Leicester City 5-2 away, and then beat the Red Devils Manchester United 3-0 at home. This allowed the Gunners to climb to third place in the standings, only behind Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur, and ahead of Manchester City.
The key is that in the next few rounds of games, the Gunners' opponents are not strong. It will not be until the twelfth round, when they play the North London derby against Tottenham Hotspur, that the Gunners will face challenges again.
If Wenger's team can seize the opportunity and break into and secure the top four in the league, it is not completely impossible.
In contrast, Manchester United is in a miserable situation.
The Red Devils are one of the teams that invested the most in this summer's transfer market, but it is obvious that Giggs is still quite immature in integrating the team.
Although, so far, the Red Devils have five wins, one draw and two losses in eight Premier League games, which is a pretty good result and they are closely following the top group, but losing 0-3 to Arsenal away was quite embarrassing.
This defeat fully demonstrated that Giggs is still quite lacking in controlling the team and arranging the lineup.
At least, he is still a long way from the requirements of a top coach.
However, the league cannot give Giggs more time to learn and adapt.
After the eighth round, there will be two weeks of national team match days. After that, the Red Devils will challenge the Saints away, followed by the third round of the Champions League group stage, and then the Manchester derby. There will be three consecutive tough battles and no one can be lost.
In the Champions League, the Red Devils unexpectedly lost 1-2 to Ajax away in the first round of the group stage, and drew 2-2 with Hamburg at home in the second round. The Red Devils were forced into a desperate situation.
If these three games in mid-to-late October are not played well, it is estimated that the Red Devils will find it difficult to achieve anything this season and Giggs will most likely be sacked.
However, before that, there were obviously people who were more unlucky than Giggs.
On the third day after the eighth round of the league, when the players reported to the national team one after another, two pieces of news were reported by the British media.
One is that Messi faked an injury and deliberately missed the national team game.
But soon, Southampton officials responded, saying that Messi was not faking an injury, but asking for leave from the national team.
Messi himself quickly accepted a telephone interview with reporters and said that the rumors that he would withdraw from the national team were groundless.
There is another big news, that is, Mourinho was sacked.
As Martin Samuel, a famous British columnist who is known as the mouthpiece of Chelsea, said in his column, Abramovich finally couldn't help it and fired Mourinho.
It is said that after the 0-6 home defeat to Southampton, Chelsea CEO Granovskaia, accompanied by the club's legal adviser, held negotiations with Mourinho in the executive offices at Stamford Bridge.
In the end, the two sides reached an agreement, Mourinho gave up his request for a buyout clause, Chelsea only paid his salary for the next year, and sent the Portuguese madman out of Stamford Bridge for the second time.
Although fans all over the world were prepared for this, they still felt sad when it actually happened.
Professional football is so cruel, losers can only be eliminated
After announcing Mourinho's dismissal, Chelsea announced that the famous Dutch coach Hiddink would take over as the Blues head coach.
It is speculated that Hiddink may just be a temporary solution this time, and Chelsea will begin to actively look for a head coach for the next season.
According to Martin Samuel, Abramovich has chosen Guardiola as the head coach of Bayern Munich.
Because there are countless signs that Guardiola will leave Bayern Munich after the end of this season, and the latter is even secretly looking for a new head coach.
As a die-hard fan of Guardiola, Abramovich has gone all out this time, demanding that the club must invite Guardiola at all costs, and he will even go to Munich in person to persuade Guardiola.
Coincidentally, Chelsea is not the first Premier League team to change its coach in the new season.
Before the Blues announced Mourinho's sacking, Sunderland announced the sacking of Dutch coach Advocaat, and then Liverpool also announced the sacking of Rogers. The Blues' dismissal of Mourinho can only be ranked third.
This has also become a major spectacle of the Premier League this season.
The league has only been played for eight rounds, but three head coaches have been sacked. What's more terrible is that these three are all well-known coaches in European football, and some of them are even world-famous coaches.
From this point, it is not difficult to see how fierce the competition in the new season of the Premier League is.
If you are not careful, even the world's famous coaches will be fired.
However, this wave of sackings in the Premier League was soon replaced by another storm.
That is