For Tottenham, Chelsea's upset loss to Middlesbrough was certainly an unexpected surprise, but the players did not relax their vigilance because of this - of course, even if they did have similar emotions, George would definitely be there in the second round. Take action at once to nip this trend in the bud!
What's more, last season, Tottenham suffered a reversal from Chelsea in the final stage and lost the Premier League championship. While the Blues enjoyed glory, it also made Tottenham players feel suffocated. Although George decided to let the team concentrate on the Champions League, Tottenham implemented this strategy and successfully won the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League championship trophies. It can be said that they completely surpassed Chelsea in terms of limelight. , but the shadow of missing out on the league title despite leading all the way is still lingering in the minds of Tottenham players. And now, since there is the possibility of successfully revenge against Chelsea and winning the Premier League championship, the players are naturally unwilling to miss this opportunity!
Therefore, even without George's supervision or reminder, the players' concentration on the league battlefield has reached a very scary level!
As the team's head coach, George naturally noticed the players' mental state immediately. After holding several internal meetings with senior Charlie, Allegri and other members of the coaching staff, George made the decision to deal with the FA Cup with substitutes and young players as the main body, focusing on the league and the Champions League. !
After all, although Tottenham's overall strength and bench depth can be regarded as the best in the world, and the players also know how to reasonably allocate their physical strength after the training of last season, but if they want to win in the FA Cup, league and It is still very difficult to attack the championship trophy at the same time in the Champions League. Under such circumstances, George naturally has to make a choice to prevent the team from ending up with nothing due to excessive fatigue in multi-line operations.
If George is coaching a traditional giant with a deep enough foundation, then he may be able to ignore this problem and gamble on the possibility of the team crowning the Triple Crown at the end of the season. Because even if the team fails to win the Triple Crown in the end, its golden brand and strong foundation are enough for it to withstand the blow of getting nothing after a season, and it can even use this as an excuse to strengthen and update the team's lineup!
The situation at Tottenham is completely different. It can be said that the rise of this upstart in the Premier League is largely dependent on George's strong support and the team's rapid improvement in recent years. In terms of reputation, it is not inferior to any top giants, but in terms of foundation, it is far behind. Not as good as. Therefore, if Tottenham encounters a situation where all four major clubs are empty at the end of the season, the blow they will receive will undoubtedly be much more severe than those of traditional giants!
Why did Chelsea in the previous life fall into silence after only being strong for two seasons? It was not until the ninth year after Abramovich took over that they won the Big Ears Cup for the first time? On the one hand, it’s because Mourinho and Abramovich began to seem inseparable, and their cooperation is no longer as clear-cut as when Madman first took over; on the other hand, it’s because nothing was achieved in the 2006-07 season, which has a negative impact on the Blues’ position in international football. Both his reputation and the morale of the team were extremely serious blows - before this, Chelsea was in the limelight for a while, and there would be scandals between big-name stars and Stamford Bridge in almost every transfer period. After that, although Chelsea's overall strength did not decline significantly, and they also introduced Deco, Anelka, Malouda and other elite players, they had a temperament that could make the entire European football world tremble. But it no longer exists!
Compared with the traditional giants, the foundation is much weaker. Once they are hit during the rise, they can easily fall into trouble. This is the fatal weakness of emerging powers such as Tottenham and Chelsea!
In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of Chelsea in his previous life, George can only make this decision so that the team can devote their limited energy to more important games... As for the difficult task of winning the Triple Crown, Tottenham does not have this yet. Spare effort to strive for such an honor!
Therefore, in the fifth round of the FA Cup on February 19, George naturally sent out a full substitute lineup and led the team to St. James Park Stadium to challenge the recently poor Newcastle United.
After experiencing a terrible 2004-05 season, Newcastle, which has lost the excellent navigator Robson, has still not improved at all this season, whether it is Souness who took over or Owen who spent a record transfer fee to the club. They failed to get the Magpies back into the European competition. Especially the latter. Although the former Three Lions forward ace and the Red Army's number one star has maintained a good scoring efficiency after returning to the Premier League, the worrying attendance rate and the situation of being tired due to injuries since the New Year have made He cannot be recognized by Magpies fans and those in the industry - imagine that the highest-paid star has only played ten times for the club from the beginning of the season to now. Even the most tolerant person may find it difficult to regard this as a revival of the team. important force.
Owen, the number one star who has high hopes, is out due to injury. Head coach Souness was fired as a scapegoat not long ago by the impatient Shepherd. Glenn Roeder, who serves as acting head coach, is still a "professional coach" who has not obtained a professional coaching certificate. "Special case"... Faced with such a team, although Tottenham fought with a full substitute lineup today, George vaguely felt that this game was not completely without a chance of winning!
"Although Rod led the team to achieve two consecutive victories in the league after taking over, it should be noted that they defeated mid-to-lower teams. With Newcastle's true strength, as long as these players can perform normally and win The difficulty is actually not very high." Watching his players dealing with opponents on the court without any psychological burden, George, who regarded this game completely as a training battle, chatted with the old Charlie next to him, "But in this game, Luo It is obviously impossible for Germany to let his players go all out. If these boys can seize the opportunity, maybe we can advance to the next round of the FA Cup."
"That's right, as long as there is nothing wrong with Rod's brain, he will never put too much effort into the FA Cup... Improving the league ranking and trying to get a European spot for next season is their top priority. Football No matter how far they go in the FA Cup, it will be difficult to bring them actual benefits - unlike the League Cup, it is too difficult to win the FA Cup in an upset. With the depth of Newcastle's lineup, they simply cannot sustain it. The cost of fighting on two fronts!”
As George analyzed, the Magpies' severe situation in the Premier League prevented Rhodes from fielding the strongest lineup in the FA Cup, nor did he dare to let the players work too hard in this game. After all, for most clubs, the league is their foundation. In order to achieve a breakthrough in the domestic cup competition and affect the league, causing the team's league record to fail to achieve the expected goals, this is not something these clubs want to see.
On the other hand, Tottenham, because the players George put in the starting lineup are first-team substitutes and young people transferred from the youth team, there is basically no need to worry about excessive consumption affecting the team's performance in other events. Therefore, the players Their enthusiasm for the game is obviously much higher than that of Newcastle players playing at home. And this advantage became the key factor for Tottenham, who were at a disadvantage on paper, to finally defeat the Magpies in tonight's FA Cup match!
As we all know, Newcastle has been famous in English football for its offensive football since the Keegan era. But the problem is that after so many years, except for the years when Robson was coaching, the Magpies almost never paid attention to defense and relied entirely on the personal abilities of the defensive players for defense!
It is precisely because the stubborn problems on the defensive end have never been properly solved and they are blindly addicted to offensive football. Therefore, when facing teams with mature offensive systems, the problem of the Magpies' weak defense will be infinitely magnified, and they will lose a lot of money. A game that can be won!
The same goes for this game. Although the dominant Magpies successfully took the initiative on the field after the opening, and Ameobi took advantage of a corner kick in the 17th minute to score the first goal, before the end of the first half, Tottenham Relying on Lennon's sharp side breakthrough and Dempsey's late shot to tie and overtake the score!
The goal was scored twice in a row by the same tactic, and the players who implemented this tactic - Dempsey and Lennon - were only second-rate in terms of personal ability in the Premier League... The difference in Newcastle's defensive quality is evident from this.
The Newcastle players planned to struggle, but not long after, they fell into the same pit for the third time because they did not have a long memory. Just ten minutes after the start of the second half, Casey Keller made a successful save. A quick hand throw launched a counterattack, and Baines' long pass in the backcourt accurately found Lennon, who successfully countered offside. The latter dribbled the ball all the way into the penalty area. After attracting the attacking Given, he knocked it across to Larsson who was outflanking him. The unmarked Swedish veteran easily pushed the ball into the empty goal, three to one!
Seeing the team go from leading to falling behind by two goals, Newcastle acting coach Rod did not choose to fight Tottenham. Instead, he replaced the three main players Emre, Parker and Solano in one go, and expressed his gratitude to the players and George. It sent a signal that he had given up on winning this game!
As Rhodes proactively announced his surrender, the game completely entered garbage time. George cooperated very well and replaced Dempsey and Lennon in advance, two heroes who helped the team win the away game, and maintained the three-to-one score until the end of the game!
The away game used a full substitute lineup to defeat Newcastle United, which sent half of the main players. George once again proved what he said with irrefutable facts: As long as the team can perform normally, then in English football, there is no ball. The team is Tottenham's opponent!
PS1: I have changed to a new department, and there are so many things to do. I haven’t been able to get off work normally for a long time...I promise that I will finish the book...
PS2: Overall, the World Cup hosted by Russia was very good. The emergence of video referees and the application of VAR technology have reduced misjudgments in the game... Also, Lao Xian's poisonous milk skills are indeed well-deserved...
PS3: Congratulations to France for winning the championship. Deschamps’ long-time daughter-in-law has become a mother-in-law. Mbappe has a promising future.
