Old Charlie's sigh was not unreasonable, or because he wanted to flatter George, but it really came from the bottom of his heart - indeed, who could have imagined that the support of the team after consecutive victories after the opening of the new season Tenham Hotspur would actually choose to defend and counterattack in this crucial battle that is related to the ownership of the league leader, and take a point from Stamford Bridge as their main goal, instead of taking the initiative to fight for victory?
You know, even though Tottenham are currently leading the standings with five wins, they do seem to have unlimited glory. Tianlai Novel But in fact, Tottenham now have exactly the same league points as defending champion Arsenal. It is only by virtue of their goal difference that they can overtake the Gunners in the rankings. Therefore, in the pre-match predictions, most people believed that Tottenham was very likely to take advantage of their seven-game winning streak and try their best to defeat Chelsea in this key battle of the sixth round of the English game, ensuring that Arsenal would not take advantage of it. Open up the gap in the standings!
However, George did the opposite. When public opinion generally believed that Tottenham would go all out to deal with Chelsea, he got everyone together. A formation that focuses on counterattack!
Goalkeeper Petr Cech, the full-backs on the left and right sides are Evra and Phil Neville respectively, Dawson, Vidic and Ledley King partner as central defenders, Welsh veteran Speed and Belgian teenager Kompany As a double defensive midfielder, Mendieta takes command in the center, and Drogba and Villa are on the front line. This is Tottenham's eleven for this game!
Changing from the usual 433 to 541, it is actually a helpless move for George to do this. Although Tottenham defeated Bayern Munich without a fight in the Champions League match in midweek, the players still lost a lot of physical fitness. And unlike Tottenham, who are in the group of death and have strong dialogues in almost every game, the overall strength of Chelsea's Group H is not strong. What's more, the Blues faced Paris Saint-Germain in a turbulent period in the group stage, which allowed Mourinho to focus on the weekend league and only send some of the main players to deal with the Champions League match with Paris.
Therefore, if George lets the main players play continuously today and does not make any changes in tactics, then the tired Tottenham will undoubtedly have a high probability of losing to Chelsea in this head-to-head showdown!
Therefore, Mourinho, who was ill-prepared for this, naturally fell into the trap - in the Portuguese's prediction, he always believed that his junior brother would choose to compete with Chelsea in this game in order to prove his coaching ability. Frontally, this set the tone for the defensive counterattack.
What Mourinho didn't expect was that George accurately caught his idea and made good use of it, causing Tottenham to have a defensive battle with Chelsea in this game without any restraint!
Anyone who has watched a football game should know very well that when two teams attack and defend on the field, the team that focuses on defensive counterattacks can also play an exciting game. But when both teams adopt defensive counterattack tactics and accumulate heavy troops in their own half, you can naturally imagine how boring the game is.
There is only an immature Ibrahimovic in the frontcourt, plus Joe Cole and Duff who are active on the wings. Chelsea wants to use this manpower to tear apart the heavy defense lines carefully laid by Tottenham. That is undoubtedly a fantasy!
After the halftime break, Mourinho, unwilling to suffer a draw at home, made certain adjustments to his lineup and tactics, replacing Gudjohnsen and Kežman in order to strengthen the offense. However, facing the iron wall set up by Tottenham players within 30 meters in front of their own goal, Chelsea's desperate three-forward attack tactics still failed to create many shooting opportunities.
The mature Ibrahimovic is indeed one of the best centers in international football. His outstanding physical fitness, delicate footwork like a midfield master and first-class passing vision make the Swedish tower even more threatening. The levels are increasing, but he has obviously not evolved to that level yet, and needs further improvement in many aspects. Especially when it comes to creating scoring opportunities for his teammates, Ibrahimovic often misses opportunities by showing off his footwork too much. For example, in this game against Tottenham, teammates such as Duff and Kežman were already in position several times, but failed to form due to Ibrahimovic's procrastination.
It is precisely because Ibrahimovic is not mature enough in terms of organization and support that Tottenham was able to drag the zero-to-zero score into the final stage of the game while rotating most of the main players. Otherwise, even if George uses the iron barrel formation to deal with Chelsea, it will be difficult to ensure that the game will unfold as he expected - someone like Ibrahimovic is proficient in almost everything except headers, and also has a unique free kick. For a top striker, it is an extremely difficult task to prevent him from scoring goals.
Just like that, with unexpected tactical arrangements and tenacious defense, when the final whistle sounded. Tottenham successfully escaped from Stamford Bridge, snatching a draw and a point from Chelsea and Mourinho!
What makes Tottenham players even more excited is the latest news from another venue - while Tottenham drew with Chelsea at home, Arsenal also received a draw at Highbury Stadium!
Facing the visiting Bolton Wanderers, Arsenal lost a good game after taking the lead twice. The team led by "Big Sam" Allardyce stubbornly equalized the score at the last minute!
Arsenal, which had already won five consecutive games at the beginning of the season, was very hopeful that after defeating Bolton Wanderers in this round, it would be the sole leader of the league. At the same time, it would tie the team's record of six consecutive wins in the beginning of the league set by the team in 1947. However, the Gunners' game seemed equally affected by their midweek Champions League match. Although their offensive in the frontcourt was still sharp, and Henry and Pires scored Bolton's goal successively, the back line, which had shown signs of instability before, was bombarded by Bolton's simple and crude header in this game. Bewildered. Especially Xigan's defensive misalignment at the last moment "helped" Arsenal lose the upcoming victory and three precious points!
Campbell's importance to this Arsenal team can be seen from this. With the England international on the defensive line, Arsenal will never worry about the opponent playing air raids. Once Campbell is unable to play, the air defense alarm will sound in the Gunners penalty area in almost every game!
As Arsenal was unexpectedly tied with Bolton at home, Tottenham players who were already prepared to temporarily lose their position in the table after the game against Chelsea were surprised to find that after the sixth round of the league, the team actually tied with Arsenal with five points. With a win, a draw and 16 points, they were neck and neck, and with their goal difference, they managed to overtake the Gunners and continue to lead the standings!
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