"The ball has been scored! One to zero! The scorer is Didier Drogba!" Andy Gray, who appeared in the live broadcast room, first glanced at the time, and the surprise in his words was clear, "The game is about to start. In less than five minutes, Tottenham knocked on Udinese's door and scored the first goal!"
It has to be said that George's tactical arrangement just caught Udinese's destiny. As two generals, Martin Jorgensen and David Pizarro, left the Stadio Friuli one after another, only Muntari and Pingchi were left in the midfield. There was a significant decline in control of the game. Facing the Tottenham players' fierce offensive and aggressive frontcourt pressing after the opening, the Udinese players, who were not used to losing their midfield commander, seemed at a loss - Obodo was busy under Davis' pressing. He made a mistake and passed the ball to Drogba by mistake, and "assisted" the Cote d'Ivoire monster to score!
Falling behind by one goal less than five minutes into the game was a heavy blow to Udinese's morale. Therefore, after the game restarted, the Udinese players quickly lost the ball again and were beaten hard by Tottenham in their own half!
In the 22nd minute of the game, Robben's change of direction at the front of the penalty area forced Bertotto to foul him. The referee awarded Tottenham a free kick in the frontcourt. The Dutch Peter Pan personally took the shot and sent the free kick, which was 24 meters away from the goal, directly into the goal behind De Sanctis, 2-0!
Robben's goal made the Udinese team's morale become even more depressed in the following time. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Tottenham players went all out and continued to attack Udinese's gate. Obviously, they believe in and follow the concept of "killing you while you are sick" and intend to seal the victory of this game before their opponents come to their senses!
You can't blame Udinese players for lack of fighting spirit in adversity. For any player, after seeing that the club's top management did not make any major signings in the transfer market all summer, they also took advantage of the team's opportunity to enter the Champions League and sold several absolute main players at high prices. After that, there will be some negative emotions in my heart. Not to mention, even coach Spalletti, who led them to fourth place in Serie A, also found another job this summer, which undoubtedly further deepened the discouragement and disappointment of Udinese players. Under such circumstances, it is naturally impossible for them to show much fighting spirit!
You see, even our senior management has no intention of letting the team go further in the Champions League. They only intend to make a profit and concentrate on competing in the league. Why are we so desperate? This is what most Udinese players really think at this moment!
Although the situation was not going well, Cosmi replaced Di Natale at halftime and changed to 3-4-3, trying to let the players get back the feeling of playing under Spalletti in this way, and pulled the ball back. Looking back at the current unfavorable situation of being behind in the score. However, Cosmi's substitution adjustment did not have the expected effect. Instead, because there was one less player in the midfield, he further lost control of the game!
Don’t forget, the reason why Udinese was able to use a very aggressive 3-4-3 formation to gain a foothold in Serie A, which attaches great importance to defense, was mainly because they had Martin Jorgensen and David Pi. A team brain like Salo sits in the midfield and directs the overall situation. He can continuously deliver artillery shells to the front line, allowing the team to maintain a strong offensive power, thereby alleviating the defensive pressure on the rear. But now, Udinese does not have such a midfield commander on the field, and the wing breakthroughs have become less sharp due to the departure of Jankulovski and others, and the stingy management is unwilling to spend money. Money to strengthen the lineup caused huge loopholes in Udinese's originally perfect tactical system, which in turn led to the Udinese being completely suppressed by Tottenham in this game!
In the 51st minute, Tottenham once again expanded their lead. Robben used his speed to break through Bertotto's defense on the left and then passed back in an inverted triangle near the bottom line on the left side of the penalty area. Drogba, who followed up in the middle, blocked Sansini behind him and pushed the ball far away from the 12-yard point. corner, rewriting the score to three to zero!
Facing Drogba, whose physical fitness is comparable to that of peak Vieri, Sensini, who will turn 39 in a month, shows his age. Although the former Argentina international's consciousness is still there, his strength and speed have seriously declined. He simply cannot withstand the impact of Drogba like a heavy tank. Muntari and Pingchi, who are responsible for protecting the defense, are busy dealing with the attacks of Robben and Luo and others, and have no time to help Sansini defend Drogba. As a result, Udinese's three-center-back system is almost full of loopholes!
It is difficult to put enough pressure on the opponent's defense on the offensive end like last season, and the control of the game is not as good as before. Udinese, who changed to a 3-4-3 offensive formation, naturally changed defensively. It's full of loopholes. In the following time, first Ronaldo scored with a header from Alonso's corner kick in the 58th minute, helping Spurs expand their lead to four goals; then Drogba scored in ten minutes Later, he scored Tottenham's fifth goal in the game and successfully performed a hat trick!
Although this is not the first hat trick of Drogba's career, it still makes Cote d'Ivoire very excited to have such an outstanding performance in the first game of the Champions League. Especially when Larsson scored consecutive goals at the beginning of the season and Klose won the top scorer in the Confederations Cup in the summer, Drogba needs to show a convincing enough performance to stabilize his role as the main center. Location!
Finally, when the German referee Wolfgang Stark, who was officiating the game, blew the whistle to end the game, the Udinese players glanced at the bloody 5-0 on the big screen. After the score, he immediately rushed into the player tunnel without looking back - he suffered such a heavy defeat in the first game of the Champions League group stage. Even if he was on the field and the opponent was Tottenham Hotspur, the defending champion, it was really disappointing. It's too embarrassing!
Also deeply affected was Cosmi. The Udinese coach had intended to make a name for himself in this game and prove his coaching ability, thereby opening the door to coaching teams at a higher level like peers such as Ancelotti and Lippi. Now, Cosmi does have the visibility he wanted, but the effect is completely negative - there were mistakes in tactical arrangements and personnel, which led to Udinese's first match in the Champions League group stage this season. A five-goal defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. No matter how you look at it, Cosmi, as the team coach, cannot escape the blame!
At the same time, relying on the five-goal victory over Udinese in the Champions League first game, Tottenham relied on Klose's goal at the last minute of the first half in the sixth round of the Premier League four days later at Villa Park. The stadium defeated Aston Villa 1-0, leading the standings with six consecutive wins in the league!
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