Although the goal was scored by Manchester United in just five minutes, which was not a bad start, Tottenham players did not panic at all because of this unexpected situation. In other words, they have long been mentally prepared for this.
After all, with a height of 1.78 meters but a weight of 83 kilograms and top-notch speed, Rooney has unparalleled powerful impact. His footwork and passing vision, which are considered outstanding among English players, make his abilities more comprehensive and more threatening, rather than just being used as an offensive terminator.
Although Stephen Carr at his peak was ranked among the top three in the Premier League as a right back, it was not easy to keep an eye on a future superstar with top physical fitness like Rooney. Therefore, Manchester United looked for a breakthrough from Rooney's side, which George had anticipated before the game.
Of course, George is not a fool who has no plans. He did not expect that Rooney and Joaquin were in such good condition today. They forced their way into Tottenham's defense right from the start and succeeded, helping Manchester United take the lead.
However, when the game progressed to the 20th minute, Tottenham, who were lagging behind, suffered another heavy blow - Evra took the risk of a tackle while defending Joaquin, but was easily dodged by the Spanish winger and then passed low into the penalty area. Vidi Qi tried to intercept the ball but accidentally slipped. Ruud van Nistelrooy, who came up from the middle, fired a powerful shot from 8 yards in front of the goal! Two to zero!
Falling behind by two goals just 20 minutes into the game, many Tottenham fans couldn't help but wonder if they hadn't woken up or had watched a fake FA Cup semi-final. You know, since George successfully acquired Tottenham, such a situation has almost never happened. Therefore, seeing the team being beaten by Manchester United in this game, Tottenham fans will naturally find it a bit difficult to accept.
Facing the terrible situation of falling behind 2-0, no matter how confident George was in his players, he had to make adjustments at this time to avoid being directly defeated by Manchester United. Therefore, while waiting for the game to restart, George made a series of tactical adjustments - the experienced and calm Speed was in the middle to protect the defense, and Davis and Mascherano were on the left and right to assist respectively. Evra and Karl defend Joaquin and Rooney!
George's adjustment had immediate results. Speed, who is getting older and stronger, can be said to be a good match against the aging ginger head. The veteran Davis helps Evra stabilize the defense on the left, while Mascherano and Stephen Carr join forces to help defend on the right. Defending this newbie Rooney in a panic!
After stabilizing their position, Tottenham players, who had no worries anymore, began to gradually increase their offensive intensity. In the face of repeated attacks by Klose and others, the performance of Manchester United's defense was not much better - in the 37th minute, Evra chose to pass back to the center under Neville's defense, and Mendieta made a false shot. He lured away Roy Keane and then knocked the ball horizontally to Davis who was inserted. The unguarded Dutch wild boar directly kicked the goal 18 meters away from the goal. Howard, who had a problem with his positioning, was beyond his reach. Compared to two!
The Tottenham players who successfully regained a victory were greatly boosted in morale, while the Manchester United players whose offense was hindered saw their momentum drop after conceding the ball. Amidst the ebb and flow, Tottenham seized the opportunity to score another goal in the 51st minute of the game: Stephen Carr made a pass from a 45-degree angle. Howard, who struck rashly, failed to touch the ball. Klose scored Wes Brown's header was overwhelmed in the penalty area, and Villa, who was ambushing on the other side, succeeded in pushing the ball into the empty goal, tying the score at two to two!
Seeing the two-goal lead disappear in the blink of an eye, Ferguson was furious on the sidelines and wanted to rush forward and beat Howard up for making consecutive mistakes. In Sir Alex Ferguson's view, these two goals conceded were completely avoidable, but due to Howard's ability issues, the team lost the initiative in the game and was pulled back to the same starting line by Tottenham. How can this not make Ferguson, who has always been strict, angry?
What made Ferguson most speechless was that, as if he was infected by Howard, Ferdinand, the strongest part of Manchester United's defense, also had problems, and his performance began to become unstable!
His positioning is accurate, his defensive skills and physical fitness are both top-notch, and his speed can even keep up with some fast forwards. He is also a rare type among the four central defenders of the Three Lions who knows how to find and fill gaps in the defense. At his peak, Rio Ferdinand is such a presence that can be called the anchor of the defense!
However, although Ferdinand is so good in both hardware and software conditions, this does not mean that the Red Devils' central defender is perfect. Otherwise, Ferdinand would not have been repeatedly defeated by Nesta and Cannavaro when competing for the title of the world's number one central defender, and even by his peers Puyol and Carvalho, as well as Terry and Victoria. Dickey and other juniors went above and beyond.
Although it is impossible for any player to guarantee full concentration every minute on the court, players of Ferdinand's level should at least be able to perform stably enough at critical moments instead of giving away goals from time to time because of lack of concentration. Giving the opponent a surprise gift package caused the team to lose many points that should not have been lost.
It can be said that it is this kind of distraction on the court that makes Ferdinand's evaluation lower than Nesta and Cannavaro. He is only regarded as a first-class central defender, not the top group. !
In George's previous life, Manchester United's defense was finally stabilized after Ferguson introduced Vidic and Edwin van der Sar and found two strong partners for Ferdinand. But now, with only a teammate like Wes Brown and a cheat like Tim Howard as teammates, Ferdinand's lack of concentration has been infinitely magnified, giving Tottenham many good opportunities to score goals. .
Especially now, facing Tottenham's increasingly violent offensive as time goes by, Ferdinand, who maintained a high level of performance for most of the half, began to gradually become a little unable to do what he wanted. In the 88th minute, Manchester United's attack was blocked. Mendieta passed the ball from the center to Evra, who was advancing at high speed along the left sideline. The latter relied on his speed to forcefully break through Gary Neville's defense and advance all the way to a place parallel to the penalty area line. Then, without waiting for the latter to get entangled again, he directly kicked off and sent a low ball, passing the ball in. Manchester United's penalty area!
I have to say that Evra's choice is really smart. Because Wes Brown is a fierce central defender with rough skills, defending such low and flat balls is not his area of expertise. Ferdinand did not dare to act rashly when faced with such a cross, because according to the trajectory of the ball, if he stretched out his foot to destroy it, it would very likely result in an own goal!
Brown and Ferdinand's hesitation gave Klose and Villa a chance to follow up. The Spaniard got the ball five meters in front of the goal, attracted the double-teaming of Brown and Ferdinand, and passed the ball with his back heel to Klose who followed up from the back point!
After receiving the ball, Klose did not hesitate and directly chose to hit the goal from a small angle. The ball went through Howard's wicket and then went into the net, three to two!
In this way, thanks to Klose's buzzer-beater before the end, Tottenham Hotspur, who had been trailing by two goals in the game, miraculously pulled back three goals in a row to defeat Manchester United, and won the thrilling qualification to advance to the FA Cup final. qualifications!
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