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Now that he has decided to abide by his previous commitment, George's range of choices has naturally been basically determined. After all, Tottenham's first team only has a total of twenty-five players. Apart from the dozen players who often appear in the league, the rest are Tottenham's main players in domestic cup competitions this season.
Casey Keller, Phil Neville, Michael Dawson, Vermaelen, Matthew Taylor, Kompany, Poyet, Basturk, Ribery, Darren Anderton and Luca Toni, This is Tottenham Hotspur's starting eleven for this game!
Since George announced Tottenham's starting lineup for this game early, Wenger naturally did not worry about what tricks the opponent would play on the lineup, and safely sent out the strongest lineup in hand:
The four defenders of goalkeeper Lehmann, Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell, Kolo Toure and Lauren lined up in a row. Vieira and Gilberto partnered as a double midfielder, and Pires and Ljungberg were on the left and one on the left. The right side forms the midfield wings, and the front line is the combination of "Highbury King" Henry and "Ice Prince" Bergkamp. Obviously, Wenger intends to take advantage of his home court to establish a sufficient lead in the first round of the two teams' confrontation, thereby completely killing the suspense of the game!
"George, your prediction was really accurate. Wenger really sent out the main lineup in this game." Looking at the Arsenal players walking out of the player tunnel one by one, Charlie Johnson patted George on the shoulder with great admiration and said, " I thought that after seeing your formation, Wenger would be enthusiastic and send out substitute players to have a relatively fair competition with you."
"Don't be ridiculous, Charlie. Although Wenger is a bit idealistic, he will not be confused in such a crucial game." George just laughed off old Charlie's joke. He never believed that Wenger would consider whether it was fair or unfair after seeing him announce such a starting list.
In Wenger's view, he sent out the most powerful main lineup to directly crush Tottenham who played as substitute players in the first round. While winning the North London derby, he killed the League Cup semi-finals in advance. The suspense made Tottenham give up the idea of advancing to the finals. That is what he should do most now.
But that’s okay. If Arsenal, with all their main players, fails to win against Tottenham who are playing with a substitute lineup at home, or even ends the match with a defeat, then after the game is over, all the pressure will be transferred to Arsenal. body, adding more psychological burden to the shooter who is not very good in psychological quality and ability to withstand pressure. In this way, Tottenham's chances of advancing to the League Cup final will be greatly increased.
Although they have tough guys like Vieira, Campbell and Ljungberg, while Arsenal is becoming more and more technical, the iron-blooded style of the defense during the five-year-old era is indeed declining. It's just that due to the existence of Vieira and others, Arsenal's performance in this regard is not obvious yet.
Therefore, in George's view, although the Arsenal built by Wenger can indeed compete with the top European teams in terms of strength, this does not mean that he cannot defeat the Gunners. Apart from anything else, Arsenal never had an effective solution when facing intensive defense, which was enough to ruin the Gunners' game.
Even Barcelona, the team known as the Cosmos in the previous life, which can be said to be the pinnacle in technology and passing control, cannot guarantee that it will be able to break through the opponent's door when encountering intensive defense. Not to mention that although their personal skills are enough to crush most Premier League players, they are not very good at maneuvering in small spaces. Arsenal players.
If Henry and Bergkamp really had this ability, then the former would not have been kicked out by the Bianconeri after playing for Juventus for only half a season, and the latter would not have still taken off the "Ice Prince" "And the softie hat.
This English League Cup semi-final first leg game is a good example. Although the Arsenal players tried their best to pass and move on the court, trying to open up Tottenham's defense and create scoring opportunities, the Tottenham players were unmoved at all and resolutely gave up. The two wings blocked the penalty area and the top area of the penalty area tightly, giving no Arsenal players any chance to easily hit the goal!
Since a large amount of troops were invested in defense to contain Arsenal's offensive, Tottenham naturally had much fewer troops to call on on the offensive end. But even so, Arsenal players did not dare to relax at all and pressed forward to provide more support to their teammates in the frontcourt. Because the offensive trident composed of Anderton, Toni and Ribery had already taught them several times with simple but extremely sharp quick counterattacks after the start of the game, making the Arsenal players fearful when attacking. Dare to attack easily!
To be honest, the defensive counterattack tactics are indeed very suitable for this Tottenham team. After all, among the four genuine central defenders in the Tottenham team, except for captain Ledley King, there is no defender who is good at filling positions for his teammates. Whether it is Vidic, Vermaelen or Dawson, they are better at frontal defense rather than filling in for teammates. The most important thing is that due to their body limitations, neither Vidic nor Dawson's turning speed is very fast. Once the opponent's forward breaks through, it will basically give the opponent a single goal in vain.
Although Vermaelen in his previous life performed extremely well after joining Arsenal and became the mainstay of the Gunners' defense for a time. He could cover up, pass and even score. He could do it in almost every aspect, but now he still has Far from reaching that level, he is just a young guy who is a little impatient and whose defensive skills need to be further refined.
A defense line that has excellent frontal defense but is not good at filling positions and is slow to chase back. Coupled with Poyet, who is stronger but not as strong as before, and Kompany, who is full of physical strength but lacks game experience, sitting in the midfielder, making George It is simply impossible to choose to play against Arsenal. Because if we do that, Tottenham will definitely be brought down first in the away game!
It can be seen that George asked the players to focus on defensive counterattacks in this game, not only to target Arsenal's weaknesses on the offensive end, but also after carefully studying the technical characteristics and playing habits of his own players. Just made such a decision!
As time went by and the game progressed, Tottenham players who were somewhat lacking in confidence because they were facing Arsenal's main players gradually adapted to Arsenal's tactical play and offensive routines, and their performance on the court became better and better. Becoming more and more stable and outstanding. No, it should be said that after these players realized how wise their coach's decision-making before the game was, the resulting increase in morale and confidence allowed them to maximize their abilities!
Unlike Tottenham players who are united and their morale is getting higher and higher, Arsenal's side is getting more and more depressed as they play. After all, despite having the absolute upper hand in possession time and scenes, he could never find a chance to shoot, and he felt like he had no choice in facing the turtle shell presented by Tottenham.
Especially the veteran Bergkamp, under the meticulous care of Poyet, the Ice Prince, who struggled to get rid of the Uruguayan veteran's marking, basically had no spare power to connect his teammates in the frontcourt, making Arsenal's offensive in the frontcourt not as smooth as before!
Moreover, although they gave up the defense of the wing and concentrated their troops on guarding the penalty area and the front edge of the penalty area, this does not mean that Tottenham gave up the attack!
In the 61st minute of the game, Henry's forced kick on the left side of the penalty area was blocked by Dawson. Vermaelen, who followed, made a big-footed clearance to the left side of the frontcourt. Ribery, who was cruising near the center circle, suddenly accelerated. He left Laurent who was marking him behind, and then received Vermaelen's clearance ball, single-handedly!
Although the current Ribery has not yet reached the peak of his previous life in terms of overall outlook and threat. Most of the time he is just a wing attacker who is keen on breakthroughs and lacks the awareness of cooperation. But in one aspect, Ribery is However, there is no difference between him and the scar-faced man in his previous life who frightened all defenders. That is speed! The speed of breaking through with the ball!
You know, in his previous life, when Ribery first joined Bayern, he single-handedly turned the entire Bundesliga upside down. At that time, in order to prevent Ribery's breakthrough, the Bundesliga defenders could be said to have paid a heavy price with countless fouls and red and yellow cards.
So, facing Ribery who was going at full speed, Lauren couldn't keep up with the Frenchman's speed at all, and could only watch as he fell further and further behind Ribery!
Although he successfully broke through Arsenal's defense, Ribery's single goal did not bring Tottenham a lead in the score - Lehmann's timely attack and separation killed Ribery's single goal in advance. The penalty area line did not cause more serious losses to Arsenal.
Although they narrowly escaped, everyone at Arsenal was also frightened into a cold sweat by Ribery's surprise attack. Therefore, in the subsequent time, Arsenal players unconsciously strengthened their marking on Ribery and others. This greatly reduces Tottenham's defensive pressure.
In the end, until the end of the game, Arsenal players failed to break through Tottenham's defense and had to sadly accept the reality of a goalless draw with their opponents at home!
In this way, the two teams that tied 0-0 in the first round can only wait for the second round of the semi-finals a week later to decide the final winner!
