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Arsenal lost 0-2 on aggregate in the League Cup semi-finals and were eliminated by their city rivals Tottenham Hotspur. When this result was made public by the media, it immediately triggered a controversy in the entire English football world. A big earthquake!
No one expected that Arsenal, who remained undefeated in the league this season and topped the standings, would be beaten by Tottenham Hotspur and be defeated by a group of Tottenham Hotspur substitutes. Knocked out of the League Cup!
Although Tottenham Hotspur has performed well this season, with 14 wins, six draws and two losses, with 48 points and tied for second place in the standings with Manchester United after 22 rounds of the league, most fans and In the eyes of the media, Tottenham are still not considered a top team.
It's no wonder people have such an attitude towards Tottenham. After all, Tottenham's performance in the past decade or so has been somewhat unsatisfactory. They have been in the middle of the league for many years, and their best result was seventh in the league in the 1994-95 season. This deep-rooted impression formed in the minds of fans over the years makes it difficult for George to change people's inherent views of Tottenham in a short period of time even if he leads Tottenham to achieve such excellent results this season.
What's more, among the top four teams in the standings this season, only Tottenham Hotspur has no European war mission. And this gave the media and fans who were already looking down on Tottenham room to use the topic, claiming that the reason why Tottenham can keep pace with Manchester United in the standings is largely because other powerful teams in the Premier League have Being distracted from the European war, this gave Tottenham a chance to rise in the league!
In response to this argument, teams such as Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers said they were shot even while lying down. You know, as the third runner-up in the Premier League last season, Newcastle United did not even make it to the Champions League this season. In the third round of qualifying, they were defeated by Belgrande from Serbia and Montenegro. They lost early. Bid farewell to the Champions League; Blackburn was even worse. They lost to the Turkish team Genkler Bilig in the first round of the UEFA Cup and did not even get to play in the European war. Latest and fastest update
Therefore, the arguments put forward by these media and fans regarding Tottenham's league ranking are not only untenable in the eyes of many people, but also add a pinch of salt to the wounds of teams such as Newcastle and Blackburn!
They are both teams with no European war mission, and Newcastle and Blackburn were ranked higher than Tottenham in the league last season. Why is it that Tottenham can rank second in the standings this season, but the Magpies can only Fighting for a UEFA Cup qualification? Not to mention Blackburn, who are still struggling on the relegation line!
Therefore, the debate about how good Tottenham Hotspur is this season has never been settled. The media insisted on their own opinions and cheered for the teams they supported in their respective positions. This made Tottenham fans and Newcastle and Blackburn fans who were innocently shot, very angry, but it did add a lot of talk to many neutral fans.
And now, as Tottenham Hotspur knocked Arsenal to the ground in the two rounds of the League Cup semi-finals, and beat the Gunners with all the main players without any temper, Those who looked down on Tottenham had to weaken a lot. After all, Tottenham's win this time is really speechless. Even the most picky and mean football critics can hardly put forward higher requirements for Tottenham's performance.
Of course, if someone insists on making excuses and says that Tottenham should not adopt defensive counterattack tactics against Arsenal, but should open up the formation and fight openly with the Gunners, so as to reflect the true level of Tottenham, then George also All I can say is hehe.
Seriously, who stipulates that defensive counterattack is not an upright tactic? If that were the case, Italy, which is world-famous for its reinforced concrete defense, would have been expelled from the World Cup by FIFA long ago!
Tottenham fans were naturally the most excited to see their team knock out Arsenal in the League Cup semi-finals. For a long time after the game, Tottenham fans were celebrating the team's great victory, and at the same time they were ridiculing Arsenal for being eliminated even though they had used all their main players, making Arsenal very angry. .
Thanks to Tottenham fans spending most of their energy celebrating Tottenham's elimination of Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, they were not disappointed with the team's unexpected one-goal defeat in the 23rd round of the Premier League four days later. Fulham took the news of their third defeat in the Premier League this season too seriously.
However, despite this, George still criticized the players severely. After all, Tottenham's defeat was not so much that Fulham played too well, but rather that the players underestimated the opponent in the game-after winning the League Cup semi-finals against Arsenal, Tottenham players began to They have become a little complacent, especially young players like Ribery and Kompany. They lack experience and can't help but become a little arrogant under the praise of the media.
Although George repeatedly warned that his players can calm down and not think that they are invincible just because they won one or two games, his warning did not arouse the vigilance of the players. After all, there are too many young people in the Tottenham team, and it is easy to get carried away and capsize in the gutter. Especially after winning against a strong enemy like Arsenal, this shortcoming was magnified exponentially!
Under such circumstances, Fulham taught Tottenham Hotspur, who underestimated their opponent, a good lesson in this game. Although only Van der Sar can be called a star in the "Farmer" (Fulham's nickname) team, the main striker Louis Saha moved to Manchester United in January this year, but relying on tenacious defense and Portuguese winger Boamo With a special sneak attack, Fulham finally succeeded in defeating the menacing Tottenham Hotspur at Craven Cottage, taking all three points at home!
Although the fans who were still immersed in the joy of defeating Arsenal in the League Cup did not criticize the team for this defeat, the result of the loss to Fulham was like a bucket of cold water, and the already somewhat complacent Ribey was The others were given a chill, which allowed them to regain their consciousness and realize what a stupid mistake they had made before!
The news that Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea have won this round of league games has made Tottenham players understand that they are far from being able to despise their opponents or even not take the game seriously!
When the league was about to enter the sprint stage, they relaxed their requirements and dared not to take their opponents seriously. As a result, Tottenham players paid a heavy price for their underestimation and slackness. Not only did the team and the top team The point difference widened to five points, and the gap was narrowed by Chelsea behind them in the standings!
Therefore, in the fourth round of the FA Cup five days later, the Tottenham players who had regained their consciousness faced the challenge of their old rival Manchester City at home!
To say that Manchester City is also unlucky, this is the third time they have played against Tottenham Hotspur from the beginning of this season (they had played once each in the League and League Cup), and in the first two games , Blue Moon all ended in failure as expected. If nothing else happens, Tottenham are very likely to complete the feat of four kills in a single season with Manchester City!
In order not to become the unlucky guy who was beaten four times by Tottenham, in this fourth round clash of the FA Cup, the Manchester City players who visited White Hart Lane worked extremely hard on the court. Even the two star players Robbie Fowler and Anelka lowered their bodies and actively participated in the fight. It can be imagined how much Manchester City hopes to defeat Tottenham.
The forward combination of Robbie Fowler and Anelka is indeed full of talent. Under normal circumstances, it is enough to destroy the defense of any Premier League team. But the problem is that they have been squandering precious talents and now they can basically not guarantee stable performance. The unrestrained private life and irregular schedule have seriously damaged the physical health of Fowler and Anelka, making it difficult for them to gain an absolute upper hand even if they face the defense of the young central defenders Vermaelen and Dawson.
Fortunately for Anelka, the 24-year-old still has the foundation that made the major European giants salivate. Under the defense of Tottenham players, he can still control the ball with ease and look for opportunities in Tottenham's defense. But Fowler, who is about to turn 29, is different. He had no fighting spirit and now his body has been hollowed out. He has no trace of the demeanor that Liverpool fans called the God of Anfield.
"Charlie, I remember Fowler is less than thirty years old, right?" Seeing Fowler already out of breath just half an hour into the game, George was very surprised and asked the old Charlie beside him in confusion, " How could he be like this? It has only been less than thirty minutes, but his physical strength can no longer be maintained."
"George, you have to know that the Liverpool Tigers back then were full of such restless players." Old Charlie said in an unsurprising tone, "Especially Fowler, although this little guy's football talent and character are commendable, but training attitude and personality factors have indeed restricted his development. It should be said that I am quite surprised that he can still gain a foothold in the Premier League. You know, the situation is similar to his but much more serious. Gascoigne has never returned to his peak form since he left England at the age of 25, and after the age of 30, it is even difficult to guarantee his main position."
Due to lack of physical fitness, Fowler had to play soy sauce on the court and act as a point-grabbing forward. As a result, Manchester City's offense could only rely on Anelka to organize the offense, and the threat was greatly reduced. Looking at Tottenham, the Tottenham players who were awakened by Fulham used aggressive fighting, sharp counterattacks, and extremely threatening set-piece offensives to make it difficult for Manchester City on both offense and defense!
In the 67th minute, Basturk took a corner kick, and Luca Toni, who was ambushing in the penalty area, succeeded in swinging his head at the near post, scoring Tottenham's only goal of the game!
In this way, with Toni's header in the second half, Tottenham finally defeated visiting Manchester City 1-0 at home and successfully secured a spot in the FA Cup quarter-finals!
