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On September 20, Tottenham players welcomed their first opponent after defeating Chelsea at White Hart Lane, the Southampton club known as the "Saints"!
Since the start of this season, Southampton has performed well in the Premier League. In the first five rounds of the league that have ended, they have achieved good results with two wins, three draws and nine points. They are currently tied for fourth place in the standings with Tottenham Hotspur. Even traditional giants like Liverpool have been beaten. They're pressed under me!
Southampton head coach Gordon Strachan is naturally extremely pleased to have achieved such a good result at the start of the league. Therefore, for this confrontation with Tottenham Hotspur, the Scottish coach who has established a great reputation as a player naturally hopes that the players can continue their efforts to defeat his junior brother and further consolidate Southampton. Dun's place in the standings!
(Note: Strachan once worked with Ferguson in Aberdeen during his playing days. The two worked together to help Aberdeen break the monopoly of the Scottish Premiership Championship by Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic. Ding brought about the most glorious period in the history of his club.)
In Strachan's view, as long as the players can perform normally in this game, it is very possible to score points or even defeat the opponent at Tottenham. The Scottish coach's biggest support for daring to think so is naturally the former Premier League Golden Boot Kevin Phillips, who transferred from Sunderland this summer, and the striker who scored 23 league goals last season. A powerful front line composed of rising star James Beatty!
It is precisely because of the outstanding performances of Beatty and Phillips that Southampton will achieve such a brilliant record after the opening of the new season. Therefore, whether Strachan can get what he wants in this game depends largely on the performance of this striker pair tonight.
What's more, Tottenham Hotspur is a team that just completed a major overhaul in the summer and introduced a large number of newcomers who have no experience in the Premier League. Although this opponent also achieved two wins and three draws during this period, Strachan still believes that his side has a greater chance of winning. After all, compared with Tottenham Hotspur, whose best result was only a draw with Liverpool and a three-goal reversal in an away game against Chelsea, which also underwent a major overhaul, Southampton defeated the defending champion Manchester United in the fourth round of the league!
Although Strachan was certain to win this game and was confident in the team's strength, the result was that Southampton was beaten by Tottenham Hotspur at home at White Hart Lane. Falling flowers and running water!
In this game, Tottenham players applied all the experience they learned in the game against Chelsea to Southampton. The breathless frontcourt pressing defense and violent attack not only made Southampton's originally unreliable back line riddled with holes, but also made Beatty and Philip on the front line full of holes. Southampton lost the support of his teammates and became a tree without roots and water - under Tottenham's powerful offensive, Southampton players spent most of their energy on how to resist the opponent's attack. Support is naturally much less.
If Delap hadn't frequently resorted to the "grenade" trick in the second half by taking advantage of throw-ins in the frontcourt to threaten the goal guarded by Cech and slightly curb Tottenham's offensive momentum, they would have fallen behind by two goals in the first half. Southampton may even be massacred by excited Tottenham players in this game!
"It turns out it's him!" Seeing that someone could actually throw a foul ball into a direct free kick, and directly threaten his own goal from the outside, George was stunned at first, and then found Delap based on the opponent's jersey number. existence, "Drapp grenade? I didn't expect this guy to actually play here now. If the first team is not full now, buying Delap as a necessary tactical supplement seems to be a good choice. .”
Although Delap used his signature grenade throw-in to assist Beattie to score in the 75th minute of the game, helping Southampton pull back a goal, there was no preparation before the game, or it could be said that he underestimated it. Tottenham's strong Southampton and Strachan ultimately paid a heavy price for their underestimation of their opponents. When the referee blew the whistle at the end of the game, the Saints lost 1-3 at White Hart Lane, suffering their first defeat in the new season. At the same time, they watched their opponents surpass Manchester City, who had tied in this round, and jump up to the league. Ranked third in the standings!
After defeating Southampton 3-1, Tottenham took the lead in the first round of the English League Cup in the following week. Facing Coventry at home, George resolutely sent out a full substitute lineup in this game, putting all players such as Villa, Ribery, and Basturk who had few opportunities to perform in the league into the starting lineup. List!
The reason why George made such a decision was naturally because of his own considerations. First of all, George does not want to rely on only one main lineup or a dozen players to cope with the long season. It is natural to adopt a rotation strategy. Secondly, young players and newcomers in Tottenham also need to improve their abilities by participating in games and adapt to the style of English football.
If we don't prepare now, but wait until the team is short of manpower due to injuries or player suspensions, and then rush to find someone to fill in, then Tottenham will still suffer the loss. Own.
In addition, in George's plan, Tottenham Hotspur's focus this season is on the league battlefield. Domestic cup competitions such as the FA Cup and League Cup can be strategically abandoned. Therefore, under the combined effect of these factors, George made such a bold decision in the first game of the League Cup.
Although Tottenham fielded a full substitute lineup for this game, Coventry, which has already been relegated from the Premier League and is currently struggling in the English League One, has no intention of wasting energy in the League Cup. As a result, Coventry also rotated most of its main lineup in this game to save energy for the English League One scheduled to be played on the weekend.
Coventry also chose to play with a substitute lineup, which minimized the adverse impact on Tottenham caused by George's decision to field a full substitute lineup in this game, and instead further expanded their technical and tactical advantages - in In most cases, teams in the top leagues generally have considerable technical and tactical advantages over teams in lower leagues. Not to mention, Coventry has rotated most of its main players this time, which further widens the gap in this regard!
Cristiano Ronaldo passed and shot, Villa scored a hat trick, and Basturk, who replaced Carrick as the organizer, not only sent two assists but also contributed a goal... With the outstanding performance of these players, the Heat In the second round of the League Cup, Spurs beat Coventry 5-0 and successfully advanced to the next round!
Next, in the seventh round of the Premier League over the weekend, Tottenham Hotspur, which has won three consecutive victories in all competitions, came to Manchester. However, Tottenham's destination this time is not the "Theater of Dreams" Old Trafford, but another Premier League club located at the Manchester City Stadium, the Manchester City Club nicknamed "Blue Moon"!
To be honest, the situation of Manchester City and Southampton at this time is quite similar. Both teams have a star striker (Southampton is Beatty and Kevin Phillips, Manchester City is Robbie Fowler and Anelka), and there are also differences in recruitment strategies and treatment of youth players. There are many similarities, and its head coach Stuart Pearce is the same as Southampton coach Strachan. They are both typical examples of playing to the best and teaching.
The most interesting thing is that the performance curves of these two teams this season are also very similar: Southampton once rushed to the fourth position in the league. After losing to Tottenham, the results fell back, but they were not in the standings. Falling behind too much; and Manchester City was only below Arsenal and Manchester United before the sixth round of the league! Even though they were tied by Fulham in the last round, Blue Moon, which had three wins, two draws and one loss in six games, fell out of the top three in the league, but it was only one point less than Tottenham.
However, despite being similar in so many ways, the playing styles of the two teams are very different. The forward combination of Robbie Fowler and Anelka is more talented, threatening and capable of scoring goals than Beatty and Phillips on the offensive end, but their thorny attributes and unruly degree are also far greater. the latter. Moreover, Manchester City's defense is much worse than Southampton. Last season, it ranked only one place lower than the Saints, but conceded seven more goals. This is the best evidence.
Facing Blue Moon, which is sharper than Southampton on the offensive end, but much worse defensively than the Saints, Tottenham Hotspur, which has already shown momentum and confidence in the previous three consecutive victories, continued its previous good state. With Tony's header in the first half, he easily defeated this opponent who had started high and low this season at the Manchester City Stadium, adding another win to his winning streak, four consecutive victories!
However, four consecutive wins are not enough to satisfy the young and energetic Tottenham players. In the next few games, Everton, Leicester City and Middlesbrough became the ghosts of Tottenham Hotspur. While extending their winning streak to seven games, they also lost seven games. The unbeaten record of three wins and three draws has surpassed Manchester United and is neck and neck with Arsenal, who are also unbeaten, at the top of the league!
Seeing Tottenham quietly returning to the top of the standings with a wave of consecutive wins, the media and experts who had been pessimistic about Tottenham's prospects during the three consecutive draws suddenly felt a burning pain in their faces. However, for them who have never known what ethics is, these are obviously not a big deal. Quickly changing the direction and praising Tottenham players and George is their main task now.
After beating Middlesbrough coached by McLaren 1-0 at home and extending the winning streak to seven games, George and the Tottenham players ushered in the third round of the League Cup. This time their opponent is West Ham United, the "Hammer Gang" who have just been relegated from the Premier League!
