Although George has realized the shortcomings of the team, he still needs to think carefully about how to properly handle these problems. Don't forget, Tottenham's first team is now full, which means that it is difficult for George to solve these problems through the most direct and simple way of introducing players from the transfer market!
At this time, George couldn't help but regret his previous decision to let Kompany leave the team. If this Belgian teenager, who can play both central defender and defensive midfielder positions, is still playing for Tottenham at this time, then George will not have to worry about Mascherano's substitute now!
However, there are no ifs in everything. Since letting Kompany go was his own decision, George must bear all the consequences of this decision. What's more, the reason Kompany left Tottenham was because he didn't want to continue sitting on the bench waiting for a chance to play. Therefore, this feeling of regret did not last long, and George quickly returned to normal and returned to the intense pre-season preparations!
Although George has equipped Mascherano with two substitutes, Speed and Phil Neville, judging from the just-concluded Community Shield final and a series of previous warm-up matches, the aging Speed Germany is fully qualified for this job when facing teams in the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League, but when facing a strong team like Chelsea, the Welsh veteran will be a little unable to do what he does!
Although Phil Neville is in his prime period as a professional player and has extremely rich game experience, his problem is the same as Speed's. With limited strength, he cannot completely replace Mascherano's role. In other words, once Mascherano is unable to play for some reason, and Tottenham's opponent is a first-class team, then Tottenham's defensive system is likely to appear the same as in this Community Shield final. Huge loopholes, ruining the team's efforts throughout the game or even the entire season!
After some careful consideration, George finally found a more ideal solution, which is to let Edgar Davis make a guest appearance in this position!
As the deepest of Tottenham's three midfielders, Mascherano's main task is to sweep the midfield and prevent the opponent's forwards from directly attacking the back line. At the same time, he serves as an important ball point to assist Alonso in sorting out the midfield. Midfield and backcourt. Coincidentally, Davis was responsible for these tasks when he played for Juventus and the Dutch national team. Therefore, it can be said that the Dutch wild boar is no stranger to Mascherano's location, and it can even be said to be quite familiar!
The only problem is that Davis has rarely played as a single defensive midfielder in his career. Whether in Juventus or the Oranje, there is a player beside Davis to partner with him to form a double midfielder (Juventus is Tachinadi, and the Dutch national team is Cocu). Therefore, letting Davis play as a defensive midfielder when Mascherano is absent is just a preliminary idea of George. The specific effect still needs to be tested in actual combat.
However, George is confident about this. Because Davis played a similar role during the half season when he was rented out to Barcelona, and the results achieved by the Catalan Army after acquiring Davis are also obvious to all. Therefore, after identifying Davis as the first choice for the defensive midfielder position when Mascherano was absent and Tottenham happened to face a strong team, George, who was relieved, began to turn his main energy to helping Gerard. It's about integrating into the team!
Gerrard, who is known for his comprehensive ability, has been unable to integrate into Tottenham's tactical system after moving to White Hart Lane, and his performance in the Community Shield final can only be said to be unsatisfactory. I have to say that this situation was beyond George's expectation. He did not expect that Gerrard, the most versatile player in England, would encounter such an embarrassing situation!
If you think about it carefully, it doesn't seem surprising that such a situation would occur. You know, under Houllier and Benitez, Gerrard enjoys the treatment of the core of the team's midfielder. Everyone must obey his command and follow Gerrard's lead. After coming to Tottenham, although Gerrard's ability and competitive status did not show any decline, he naturally needed some time to adapt to the gap after losing his core treatment.
What George needs to do now is to help Gerrard get through this adaptation period as soon as possible and develop combat effectiveness, so that Tottenham can remain competitive enough to compete with other top teams for championship trophies in the new season!
In this way, time quickly came to August 13, which was the opening day of the 2005-06 Premier League season. As the league runner-up last season, Tottenham's opponent in the first round of the league was Portsmouth, which had undergone a major overhaul in the summer!
Portsmouth have made a lot of moves in the transfer market this summer. After spending a failed 04-05 season (ranking only 16th in the standings at the end of the season and almost being relegated from the Premier League), Portsmouth boss Mandric learned from the painful experience and opened his wallet to introduce many well-known stars to improve. The strength of the team. Former Netherlands goalkeeper Westerveld, Newcastle defender O'Brien and main winger Laurent Robert, Glasgow Rangers main left back Wignall, and Jermaine Defoe, etc., have all become players this summer. A member of the Legion of Pompeii!
The reason why a local forward of Defoe's caliber chose to join Portsmouth, a relegation team, is naturally inseparable from George. He left West Ham as soon as possible after being relegated and failed to join Tottenham as he did in his previous life. As a result, he lost this opportunity and his performance in the past two seasons was mediocre, so he came to Portsmouth who promised to give him a starting position. Si, I plan to get back the feeling of scoring goals here!
Although Portsmouth's overall strength is much stronger than in its previous life, George did not pay too much attention to this opponent. The reason is very simple, one soldier is a raging enemy, and a general is raging in a nest. The head coach of Portsmouth is Perrin, a guy with mediocre ability. Let him lead this lineup with good strength but a serious lack of tacit understanding to deal with Tottenham, which is in high morale after winning the Community Shield. It’s already burning incense!
No, the game had just started eight minutes ago. Robben, who switched to the right wing, caught the Portsmouth defender's omission while dribbling inside and suddenly kicked the goal, scoring Tottenham's first goal of the new season. League goal!
Robben's goal completely ruined the defensive counterattack strategy developed by Perrin before the game, forcing Portsmouth, who was lagging behind, to take the initiative. And their move naturally gave Tottenham more chances to score!
In the end, when the whistle sounded to announce the end of the game, Tottenham, playing away from home, defeated Portsmouth, who were still in the running-in period, with a score of 3-0 at Fratton Park and won the new title. A great start to the Premier League season!
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