"Guys, I'm quite satisfied with your performance in the first half." After entering the locker room, George never mentioned the sneak goal scored by Henry. He praised the players present as soon as he came up. " Being able to withstand the pressure in an unfavorable situation of conceding a goal first, continue to adhere to the established policy to suppress Arsenal with offense, and even the score before the end of the first half is already a very rare thing. Even for me, it is impossible. The demands on you are higher.”
"Sorry, boss..." Seeing that George didn't mean to blame them at all, but kept praising them, Ledley King stood up with a shameful face and admitted his mistake to his coach, "Henry scored the goal before. At that time, not only did I fail to play my due role as captain, reminding others to be careful of Henry's sneak attack, but I also received a yellow card, which caused unnecessary trouble to the team."
"No, Ledley, you did the right thing at the time." George interrupted Ledley King's speech and said with a smile, "As the leader of the first team, you have an obligation to make controversial penalties on the court. Come forward and express your opinion to the referee. In addition, you don't need to mind too much about the yellow card. This is entirely the referee's own problem. Who knows what that dim-eyed guy Bennett was thinking at the time? This little thing gives you a yellow card."
Hearing George's relief, Ledley King and many Tottenham players couldn't help but feel like they would die for their confidants - with such a capable and humane owner and head coach leading the team. Team, what else do they have to say? Doing their best to repay George's trust is the only thing they can do!
It's not surprising that this happens. After all, there are very few professional players who have received higher education. Highly educated people like Redondo who obtained a bachelor's degree during their playing days are extremely rare. Most players either dropped out of school early or have a high school diploma. thing. This means that even if they get a big contract and become rich, players can easily be moved by things like chicken soup for the soul!
The lower the education level, the easier it is for loyalty and emotions to influence the way they think and behave. That's what it means. Although George has no intention of taking advantage of this, when he shows his support for the players with practical actions like now, the players will naturally choose to stand in the same trench with him and fight together!
At the same time, in the visiting team's locker room on the other side, Wenger, who has always been elegant, rarely got angry: "What I arranged before the game was to focus on defensive counterattacks, not to set up an iron barrel formation! Look at what you did in the first half. If you don’t know about the performance in the second half of the game, you might think that we are engaging in a half-time offensive and defensive drill with Tottenham! Think about it for yourself, is your performance worthy of the Arsenal jersey you are wearing? !”
Hearing Wenger's words, Reyes, Xigan and others couldn't help but feel a little feverish on their faces. Because they know clearly that what Wenger said is basically true. Indeed, after relying on Henry's free kick to take the lead, most of them played with the attitude of defending the score of 1-0. Facing Tottenham's offensive, they just narrowed their defense line to resist the opponent's attack, completely forgetting that the focus of defensive counterattack tactics is not to defend, but to quickly counterattack after successful defense!
Although Henry kept this in mind and worked very hard to reverse the situation, when Vieira was unable to do anything, Fabregas was powerless, and other teammates focused on the defensive end, Highbury King It was also difficult to hold on alone, and they could only watch the lead they had finally established be swallowed up by Tottenham, and finally entered the halftime period with a score of 1 to 1.
Indeed, our performance after scoring the goal was a bit too cowardly, not at all like a team that aspires to the championship, Reyes and others thought in their hearts. After being severely reprimanded by Wenger, they also felt that they should be more proactive.
Wenger's half-time speech was indeed effective. After the start of the second half, Arsenal players changed from the passive state of being beaten in the second half of the first half and began to actively compete with Tottenham for the ball on the court. Once the ball is intercepted, everyone will counterattack as soon as possible, giving full play to their technical advantages and passing the ball to Henry who is wandering in the frontcourt as quickly as possible!
Arsenal's quick counterattack clearly bears Wenger's coaching style and imprint. For example, no matter what, they will insist on attacking from the ground, passing through the midfield quickly while ensuring the accuracy of the pass, and most of them use short, medium, and short in the counterattack. The main focus is on long-distance passes, and it is rare for backcourt players to directly make long passes to Henry.
Unlike Arsenal, which insists on ground attack even in counterattacks, Tottenham's offense is more three-dimensional. Of course, with Campbell absent due to injury and Arsenal's air defense strength greatly reduced, Tottenham players will naturally be more inclined to use the top three as the end point of the offense.
Since we know that the opponent's air defense is insufficient, and we have forwards such as Drogba and Klose who are good at aerial operations, why not use our own advantages to attack Arsenal's weakest point?
Due to this offensive strategy that Tottenham players insisted on, Kolo Toure and Xigan, who served as the starting central defenders, were naturally unlucky. The former is not good at defending such a powerful striker, while the latter, with a height of 1.92 meters and a weight of 87 kilograms, is no different from a wooden stake in front of Drogba, and his opponents easily break through him time and time again!
Wenger couldn't bear it anymore and replaced Sigan with Senderos in the 60th minute, allowing the strong Swiss teenager to deal with Drogba. Unfortunately, Senderos, who is only 19 years old, is obviously no match for the fully mature Cote d'Ivoire monster. Although Senderos performed very tenaciously and worked hard enough on the court, the huge gap in physical attributes between the two was a gap that the Swiss simply could not overcome!
I hope that Senderos will not be psychologically shadowed by Drogba like he did in his previous life... Looking at Senderos, who was knocked around under the impact of Drogba, George could only wish the Swiss a blessing in his heart. Xiaoxia. After all, the two sides have different positions, and it is impossible for him to act in favor of the enemy just because he admires a certain player.
In the 64th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo and Alonso played a wall-to-wall cooperation on the left. After breaking through the defenses of Vieira and Ashley Cole, they passed the ball to Drogba in the center. The Ivorian ignored Senderos' defense, forced the Swiss to turn around with the ball in the penalty area, and then used a powerful and heavy volley to penetrate Lehmann's fingers! Two to one!
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