At the beginning of the second half, Chelsea made two substitutions decisively, replacing Sidwell, who was not very useful, and replaced him with Essien.
Maybe it was true that Terry and Lampard said something to Grant during the halftime break. The Israelis not only replaced Essien in the midfield, but also arranged for Alex to warm up on the sidelines.
The effect of the substitution can be said to be immediate. At least Chelsea's current midfielder is on a firm footing.
Among the three of Mikel, Essien, and Lampard, except for Mikel who mainly plays a defensive role, the other two are the kind of "B2B" midfielders who can go up and down. And with a specific division of labor, Lampard Pad can be more involved in the offense.
Unlike the first half, he had to help defend and organize the offense. Now he can finally move forward freely, and for a while he vaguely felt like a central midfielder charging into the battle like he did in the previous two seasons.
Similarly, there is a person who feels the same way.
That's Alan Smith.
When the team suffered extensive injuries in the midfield, head coach George Lee finally put Smith into the central midfielder position he longed for most.
In the past few games, Smith is slowly finding the same feeling as before.
But I don’t know if it’s because he played too much on the wing, but Smith actually didn’t perform very well after returning to the center.
It gives people a sense of foresight and hesitation. He is involved in everything from offense to defense to organization, but he has no particularly outstanding performance in any of them.
Lee George also discovered this problem, especially after seeing Lampard's performance in the first half, he finally understood the root of the problem.
During the halftime break, George Lee specifically found Alan Smith and explained the situation to him.
"I don't need you to get too involved in the organization of the team. I know how much you weigh. Don't think that Wesley is not here. If you play his position, you have to do his job."
"Are you the kind of person who passes the ball threateningly?"
"Think about what you did when I asked you to play midfielder?"
"Go to press, go to attack the opponent's defense, go to grab points. Alan!"
“Go up there and get it from them, then take the ball away and kick it into the goal.”
Smith didn't immediately understand why the head coach was telling him these things.
I just wonder if I can do more for the team. The team lacks people to organize the offense, so I will do this. Just like when the team was short of someone on the left wing, he took the initiative to step forward and play on the left wing.
George Li saw that his disciple didn't seem to understand very well, so he quickly told him in another way.
"I see that No. 8 in blue is a little unhappy. Can you kill him for me?"
"OK!"
As soon as he said this, Smith became excited.
He has always been unhappy with Lampard. Not only does he have to make things happen with himself every time he plays, but more importantly, he can only be his substitute in the national team.
Why?
Ability issue?
That's certainly not the case. Smith has always considered himself one of the best central midfielders in England, especially his offensive ability, which is among the best in the Premier League.
If Liverpool's Gerrard is okay to compare with myself, why is Lampard so arrogant? Your Lampard's goals were all achieved using the team's system. Look at the Portuguese head coach who has left. How did your Lampard play today?
Since the head coach asked me to kill Lampard, I will give him some color in the second half.
^^^
The pair locked eyes in the tunnel before the start of the second half. If there were special effects, the sparks between the two would probably burn down the entire Elland Road stadium.
In the 51st minute of the game, Chelsea's Ashley Cole and Essien on the left made a small cooperation and passed Milner who was defending on the wing.
Then the ball was passed to the retreating Shevchenko, and Blake blocked the Chelsea forward behind the Ukrainian.
But Cole quickly stepped in at this time and received the ball passed to him by Shevchenko.
Leeds United's 352 formation exposed a shortcoming at this time, that is, there is only one full-back on the wing.
If the so-called wide central defender is restrained by the opponent's forward, the door will be wide open.
It just so happened that what I encountered was Chelsea, who was extremely good on the wing.
After Cole got the ball, he didn't care about Phillips or Shevchenko.
Sweep the ball directly to the center, looking for Lampard's point.
Ashley Cole is also a smart man, knowing that at this time he can only rely on the core players of the team. Phillips and Shevchenko are unreliable. If Drogba was on the court today, he might try to pass in, but since Drogba is not there, he can only try to find Lampard.
It was Button who was originally marking Lampard in the midfield, but Button failed to keep an eye on him, allowing Lampard to break away and seize the opportunity to move forward.
The "Magic Lamp" got the ball on the left side of the penalty area and suffered for most of the game. Lampard finally found an offensive opportunity in his favorite place.
Stopping the ball and moving the ball in one go, followed by a volley.
Van der Sar saw Lampard's posture and was ready to save in advance.
But a white figure suddenly appeared, leaving Van der Sar's preparation in vain.
Alan Smith came out of nowhere and destroyed the ball before Lampard shot.
"Well done, Captain."
Leeds United's centre-back Albuchesson rushed over immediately and pulled up Smith.
And Van der Sar also came over and hugged Smith, who was many years younger than him but was the captain of the team. Although young, Van der Sar feels that Smith is a qualified captain. He also knows his position. The head coach wants to help Smith become a qualified captain.
Now it seems that Smith is fully qualified for this role.
Lampard looked at Smith fiercely from the side, it was this bastard who ruined his good deeds again.
In the 60th minute of the game, Smith was knocked down by Lampard while advancing, and the referee showed both players yellow cards.
Why does anyone who is fouled also get a card? It's because Smith quickly got up and pushed Lampard after falling to the ground, and the two almost caused a big conflict.
The referee can only make twenty major boards.
In the 63rd minute of the game, Smith's shot was blocked by Terry.
In the 71st minute of the game, Lampard passed a through ball to Shevchenko, and the Ukrainian was blocked by Edwin van der Sar.
In the 78th minute of the game, Lampard seized the opportunity and finally responded to Smith. When the two were fighting for the top near the center circle, Chelsea No. 8 hit Smith on the head with an elbow, and Smith fell to the ground.
Fortunately, Smith was not seriously injured, and Lampard also escaped, otherwise he would have received a second yellow card and been sent off.
The two of them were going back and forth like this, constantly competing with each other. The score between the two teams has always maintained a 2-0 score, but the second half was obviously more exciting than the first half, at least it was not one-sided.
Chelsea also threatened Leeds United's goal many times.
Just when all the home fans thought the game would end with a score of 1-0, Alan Smith suddenly broke out.
