Team Spirit

Chapter 283 On the Possibility of Bergkamp Joining Green Guns

Sky Sports: "Datford defeats Red Gunners again, solidifying their third-place position in the Premier League and widening the gap with the rest of the pack!"

BBC: "Datford surge in the Premier League, winning consecutive games and closing in on the leaders!"

Manchester Evening News: "Bergkamp's farewell performance was stunning, and he expressed regret after the match for not winning the final victory."

The Echo reported: "Lu Kai bluntly stated that Bergkamp should play another season, but Wenger did not respond to reporters' questions to persuade him to stay."

"The Voice of Green Guns": "Alfred extends an invitation to Bergkamp; if Red Guns don't keep the Ice Prince, Green Guns are willing to bring him back to the Champions League!"

The current landscape of the Premier League is very exciting.

Dartford are closing in on Manchester United and Chelsea, and have now entered the leading group.

As long as they don't collapse later on, securing a Champions League spot shouldn't be a problem.

Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton, Bolton, Portsmouth, and even newly promoted Reading are all locked in a fierce battle for fourth place in the Premier League, with scores coming one after another.

This is giving Arsenal a real headache.

Moreover... the second half of the Champions League knockout stage is about to begin, and they may have to make some choices.

The issue of Bergkamp's retirement also received attention after the Red-Green Derby.

No player wanted to quit playing; there wasn't one.

First, the salary is high.

Secondly, they've gotten used to this kind of life.

Thirdly, there are honors they want to compete for.

Bergkamp was no exception.

But he was well aware of Arsenal's generational transition plan. Wenger even planned to let Henry go, let alone him.
Therefore, Bergkamp never forced it, and even graciously announced his retirement.

Then Lu Kai, Alfred, Guardiola, Zidane, Southgate and others praised Bergkamp after the game. Who wouldn't be smitten?
Bergkamp is hoping Wenger will say to him, "Bergkamp, ​​my love, let me keep you with all my heart!"
Unfortunately, Wenger's lack of response hurt Bergkamp somewhat.

Alfred later actually stated that Green Gunners were willing to accept Bergkamp for another year.

The Ice Prince's heart melted slightly.

Of course, only slightly.

Arsenal still have something to strive for this season, as they are about to face the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie.

So nobody took Green Gun's invitation seriously, and Arsenal fans didn't even bother to respond to something that was simply impossible.

At first, it was just a joke.

……

February 10th, the 27th round of the English Premier League.

Dartford won 2-1 away against Newcastle United.

With this match, they tied Chelsea on points and then moved up to second place in the Premier League due to a superior goal difference.

The whole of England was shaken, with many exclaiming that the wolf from Dartford had truly arrived!
Midweek, FA Cup fifth round.

Dartford's "youth academy" team makes their appearance.

They lost 1-3 to Tottenham Hotspur, who fielded a largely reserve team.

People felt a little better after that.

Although the second generation of Green has risen to prominence, their reserve strength is still insufficient, and their roster depth is still not good enough.

This FA Cup defeat was a huge blow to the young players in the Green Gunners.

The reserve team players, led by Henderson, were crying their hearts out.

While the first team is making great strides in the Premier League, Europa League, and EFL Cup, their youth academy team can't even get past the fifth round of the FA Cup.

They dragged the whole team down!
But these kids didn't think about why the first team often participated in the EFL Cup, but this year the Green Gunners had their youth team play the entire FA Cup.

EFL Cup: Of course, it's because I'm more important!

FA Cup: ? ? ?
That evening, after Lu Kai finished dealing with some commercial contracts at the training ground, he noticed that some people were still practicing on the field.

When he went over to take a look, he saw young players such as Henderson, Perisic, Gundogan, and Walker.

They believe their lack of strength is a major reason for their FA Cup loss.

"Captain Lu!" Gindoan spotted Lu Kai.

The others greeted him.

Lu Kai nodded and walked over, patting everyone on the shoulder: "Don't blame yourselves. Reaching the fifth round of the FA Cup is already quite good."

"Actually, even if you were eliminated in the third round at the beginning, the team wouldn't blame you."

Everyone didn't know why.

Lu Kai explained: "The FA Cup was not in the team's plans this season. In fact, it was your excellent performance that earned you two more opportunities to play in official matches."

"You did a good job, understand?"

Gindoan is very smart and has already understood what Lu Kai meant.

But Henderson, being stubborn, asked, "No, Captain Lu, I don't understand. Didn't you say every game is important to the team? Then why are we giving up the FA Cup?"

"Doesn't this go against our original principles?"

"Have you become the kind of person you used to hate the most?"

Henderson became more and more agitated as he spoke, and his faith seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

Walker was very nervous, ready to hold Henderson back at any moment, fearing that "Team Henderson" and Team Lu would come to blows.

Henderson is the captain of the youth team.

Lu Kai gestured to Walker not to worry, saying that the people standing there probably couldn't beat him: "Jordan, do you know what it means to be realistic?"

Henderson was utterly defeated and could only shake his head.

Lu Kai: "Many ideas sound lofty when spoken, but if you don't consider the actual situation when putting them into practice, the results will only be the opposite."

"Respecting every game and giving your all doesn't really mean never rotating players or never giving up on certain matches, but rather... bringing out their true value."

"If we have achieved our legitimate purpose in participating in a competition, then we are winners regardless of winning or losing."

"This year's FA Cup is a gift from Dartford to you, an opportunity. How far you go depends on yourselves."

"I'll cheer for you if you win, and no one can blame you if you lose."

"Such an opportunity may not be unique in the Premier League, but it is certainly quite precious."

"The situation may be different last year and next year, but in any case, we attach great importance to the development of young players, and we are willing to make some sacrifices for it."

"So stop thinking that these kinds of matches are meaningless, and that letting you play is disrespectful to the game. If we look at it from your ideal perspective, then Green Gunners only needs eleven starting players, and there is no need for anyone else."

Henderson stood there, stunned.

Lu Kai smiled and said, "I really like you being this pure. But remember, if you have any questions, misunderstandings, or complaints, talk to me about it."

"Your purity is very infectious, which is why you became the captain of the youth team. But this purity must be directed in the right direction, otherwise the result will be terrible."

Lu Kai then addressed everyone, saying, "Of course, the team is also grateful for your contributions in the FA Cup. In any case, you helped relieve some of the pressure on the first team."

"The results belong to everyone. If we lift the championship trophy, you will definitely be on the podium too!"

The players on site became excited.

Because next week, Greens are playing in the EFL Cup final, could it be...?

Lu Kai laughed and said, "I've already told the staff to arrange an extra team bus for the trip to Cardiff this time, so we can all go to Millennium Stadium together."

"You better hope we win, because that's how you can get on the podium."

The young players looked at each other in bewilderment.

Walker: "Really?"

Gondoan: "That's awesome!"

Perisic: "Long live Dartford!"

... February 24th, the 28th round of the Premier League.

Dartford drew 2-2 with Manchester City away from home.

Dartford rotated several key players, but absolute starters like Lukay, Ribery, and Vidic cannot be benched.

As a result, Ribery was forced to leave the game due to injury in the 63rd minute.

Minor injury.

But it will take three or four weeks before he can return to play.

This means he will miss the upcoming EFL Cup final and the Europa League Round of 16.

February 28th, the day of the EFL Cup final.

Two Dartford buses arrived at Millennium Stadium at the same time.

The reserve team players were even allowed to enter the locker room with the first team to hear pre-match instructions.

Then they went to the stadium with the first team to participate in warm-up exercises.

This was quite a novel event, and it sparked discussion even before the competition.

Sky Sports: "This is the Dartford style. Developing young players is not just talk. They make young players share the team's successes and failures."

The Manchester Evening News: "Datford's players are very young overall, which is a unique advantage that allows them to do this. Other teams should not blindly follow suit."

The Echo: "Datford are a bit too relaxed, and if they lose, the confidence of their less-developed reserve team players will be devastated! Especially after their FA Cup exit!"

These statements all make a lot of sense.

However, Green Gun's move was not due to blind confidence.

Instead, it was targeted and purposeful.

Inside the locker room, Southgate was explaining the big picture to everyone: "Arsenal are under a lot of pressure in the league, and have now slipped to fifth place."

"At the same time, they lost 0-1 to PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 last week."

"So they have to rotate their squad for this EFL Cup final."

Guardiola, who is more adept at tactics, made a prediction about the starting lineup based on Arsenal's tactics: "I think Henry and Van Persie are very likely not to play in this game."

"Rosicky and Hellerb, two on top of one."

“Gilbert Silva and Lyman are getting old, so they will take turns resting.”

"Senderos has performed poorly against us before, so the defense should be Djourou partnered with Toure in this match..."

Some of the younger players were seeing this kind of spectacle for the first time.

After all, other teams just set up their tactics and give motivational speeches before the game.

Where would they get the idea to create these PPTs and talk to you about current trends?
Some people didn't understand the arrangement and some were distracted.

But Gundogan, Ramsey, and other brilliant minds listened very carefully. They knew that this was real football, not just what you see on the pitch.

Soon, Lu Kai and Alfred headed to the pre-match press conference.

The starting lineups for both teams have been announced.

Several young players on the Green Guns side were dumbfounded.

Walker: "Is this true? Could Guardiola have an informant inside Arsenal?"

Gundogan: "It's almost certainly true. Henry wasn't even on the roster, how could Wenger dare to?"

Ashley Young, the leader of the group, said smugly, "Basic stuff! You know, back when we were still in the amateur league, Lu could often predict the lineup and make targeted arrangements."

"Guardiola is still a long way from being a land-based player."

"Of course, I can do that too."

Modric, standing to the side, laughed: "Others do it because they predict it, you do it because you have inside information, right?"

Ashley Young turned and walked away, feeling uneasy.

He did indeed frequently obtain inside information about other teams through Page 3 girls.

These women also enjoyed working with him.

For the same price, playing with other players requires a huge physical exertion. Those athletes are like wild beasts, they really don't know any gentleness.

But Yang is different; you can just chat with him. What could be an easier way to make money?

The key point is that it's legal, so are you scared yet?
At the scene, reporters had many opinions about Arsenal's lineup and kept asking questions.

Because Arsenal's starting lineup is:

Ariadere, Baptista
Hleb, Fabregas, Danielson, Walcott

Traore, Djourou, Touré, Hoyt
Almunia
-

There weren't many familiar faces on the bench either; key players like Henry, Van Persie, Bergkamp, ​​and Rosicky weren't even on the roster.

Their midfielders are even younger on average than Dartford's.

Dartford's starting lineup was relatively serious:

Duff, Giroud, Mertens

Lu Kai, Motta, Modric

Filho, Vidic, Kompany, Ashley Young
Neuer

-

Although there were several youth academy players on the bench, there was nothing wrong with starting them.

In terms of attitude, Dartford clearly wanted to win more than Arsenal.

Reporter: "Wenger, have you lost confidence against Dartford? So you deliberately gave up on this match?"

Wenger: "No, this is a reasonable arrangement. We have many matches, and we are responsible for all the results."

Reporter: "The EFL Cup organizing committee is very dissatisfied with Arsenal's squad and may impose punitive measures on Arsenal next season."

Wenger: "I think people may have underestimated us, and that's disrespectful to all Arsenal players."

Reporter: "If the Greens win, they will lift the EFL Cup for the seventh consecutive time, a feat that far surpasses Arsenal's previous achievements. This means that your tenure at Arsenal has not been as successful as people imagine."

Wenger: "Datford is great, but Arsenal is not bad either. Red and green are both essential in life."

Hearing this answer, many Arsenal fans felt a sense of sadness.

Once upon a time, why did they need to care what green was?
But now... they even want to forcefully pair them with Green as the "two prides".

If the fans think this way, how can the coach not think the same way?
After leaving the press conference, Wenger complained to his assistant coach from the bottom of his heart: "Damn Emirates Stadium, it made us so embarrassed!"

"It's a pity we didn't win the Champions League last season, otherwise things wouldn't be like this now."

"We must win the Champions League this season so that we have enough start-up funds for Wenger's second phase."

The assistant coach suddenly asked, "What about Bergkamp? Are you really not going to keep him? Actually, there aren't many players in the team who are better than Bergkamp right now."

Wenger: "But Dennis will take up the upside potential of the younger players. He will only get worse, while Adebayor and the others will get better and better."

Assistant coach: "I heard that Green Gunners are indeed in contact with Dennis. They have a tradition of having experienced veterans on the bench. If they can win a Champions League spot this season, then Dennis..."

Wenger suddenly laughed: "In fact, it wouldn't be a bad thing for us if Dennis could go to Green Guns."

The assistant coach suddenly realized: "You mean, trade Dennis plus cash for Green Gun's core players?"

Wenger: "I tried to persuade the management to give us one last big sum of money. After Henry left, we needed an absolute superstar to keep the fans and the rest of the team in check."

Assistant coach: "Right now, everyone in football wants a top-class winger. There are quite a few young players with that potential at Green Mountain, but they're not very well-known. Only Ribery and Duff have a chance to become top-class wingers in the short term! Who?"

Wenger: "Ribery has been plagued by minor injuries in recent years and has the potential to become injury-prone, while Duff has become Iron Man since joining Green Gunner. Is there even a need to choose?"

"Moreover, Duff is superior in both scoring ability and defense."

"We don't lack technically skilled players."

Thus, Ribery lost Wenger's favor due to a minor injury in the league and missed the chance to join the Emirates Stadium.

(End of this chapter)