As the original home stadium of the national team, the construction period of the new Wembley Stadium had to be postponed due to rising construction costs. Coupled with George's insistence, the friendly match between England and Uruguay had to be moved. to White Hart Lane.
By the way, Arsenal originally wanted to take advantage of the fact that their home stadium will be officially closed at the end of this season to persuade the Football Association to move this friendly match to Highbury Stadium to make a small profit. To subsidize the club's finances, which have become extremely tight due to the construction of a new stadium, it can also give itself a free advertisement. But as the owner and head coach of Tottenham Hotspur, how could George let his century-old enemy get this opportunity? It was George's greatest conscience not to take advantage of Arsenal's financial constraints and count on the income from the new stadium and the opportunity to repay the huge loan from the renovation of Highbury Stadium to make matters worse and trigger the subprime mortgage crisis in advance!
Just imagine, if the subprime mortgage crisis broke out a year earlier than in previous lives, the global economic crisis caused by the bursting of the real estate bubble and the resulting depression would be enough to have an extremely serious negative impact on Arsenal's repayment plan. As a result, Arsenal has to rely more than in previous lives on selling the team's main players and even core players to repay the huge loan to build a new stadium. When that happens, Arsenal's transformation from a top-four contender into a mid-range team in their previous life may not be just a fantasy!
In the end, due to George's strong stance, White Hart Lane successfully won the right to host this game, and David Dein's attempt ended in failure.
Compared with famous stadiums such as the Bernabeu, Old Trafford and Camp Nou, the White Hart Lane stadium, which can only accommodate 36,000 fans, can only be described as pocket-sized. Although the stadium atmosphere at White Hart Lane is not bad, the huge gap between the ticket revenue and the development around the stadium and the top clubs has further strengthened George's determination to speed up the construction of London Olympic Park and allow Tottenham to have a new stadium as soon as possible. determination!
It is true that George can make Tottenham a top club with his strong personal financial resources, but in fact, Tottenham's strength completely depends on George's wallet. Once someone in UEFA comes up with a Financial Fair Play Act like Platini in the previous life, or George's cash flow suddenly has problems, then Tottenham will immediately fall into the same situation as Chelsea and AC Milan in the previous life. Dilemma!
Now back to business. Although it was only a friendly match, the enthusiasm of England fans for the game did not decrease at all, and the White Hart Lane stadium was packed. Obviously, they all want to see what kind of surprises George can bring to them after he takes office!
Sure enough, on the starting list, George caught everyone off guard: goalkeeper Paul Robinson, the four defenders from left to right: Baynes, Ledley King, Terry and Gary Neville, Cary Gram, Gerrard and Hargreaves formed a midfield trio, and the forward line was an offensive trident of Rooney, Beckham and Defoe!
Abandon the traditional British 4-4-2 and change to a 4-3-3 formation that is more in line with the characteristics of the current batch of international football players. Carrick will be established as the core of the midfield. Hagley, who was not taken seriously during the Eriksen period, Jeffs entered the starting lineup, while Ferdinand, Lampard and Ashley Cole were placed on the bench. These changes in George's formation directly caught the Uruguayans off guard! Judging from the actual results of the game, the effect of George's change of moves can be said to be immediate!
Indeed, the arrival of Tavares has changed the fragmented status quo of the Uruguay national team. While vigorously promoting newcomers, he has continuously weakened the influence of big-name stars such as Recoba and national team veterans on the locker room, emphasizing overall football and playing defense pragmatically. Counterattack, but the old coach faces the same problem as George, that is, his time in office is too short, many ideas have not been implemented, and there are also many problems with the tacit understanding between the players. For example, in this game, the reason why the England team was able to score first with Defoe's clever anti-offside raid just three minutes before the opening whistle was because Lugano and Montero did not have a tacit understanding of each other, and they rushed to block the ball at the same time. Gerrard took the ball at the front of the penalty area, giving Defoe an opportunity behind him!
"Jermaine's sense of smell is really keen. Even if Michael (Irving) was on the court, he couldn't have done better!" Seeing Defoe help the team take the lead so quickly, Sammy Lee (coached by Eriksson) The assistant coach of the England national team, who continued to work after George took over) couldn't help but exclaimed, "Steven (Gerrard) also grasped the timing of passing the ball very well. I didn't expect that he actually had this skill!"
Hearing Sammy Lee's sigh, George chose not to pay attention, but concentrated on observing the situation on the field. In George's eyes, it is gratifying that Defoe was able to score this goal in just three minutes, but it was not a surprise.
When a forward has first-class players such as Gerrard, Carrick and Beckham behind him to deliver bombs, and teammates like Rooney are responsible for stretching space and attracting the attention of defensive players, as long as his shooting accuracy Not as outrageous as Heskey, with a good sense of touch in front of goal, and a little bit of luck, scoring goals won't be too difficult.
What's more, compared to Irving, Lampard and Ashley Cole, Defoe, Hargreaves and Baynes are indeed inferior to these three in terms of personal abilities. But the problem is that football is not a simple mathematical game, otherwise there would not be those adrenaline-rushing reversals and dark horses. The team's chemical reaction and the rationality of the player combination are also important factors that affect the outcome of the game!
Different from Erikson's practice of blindly stacking stars in the later period of coaching, George is more reasonable in arranging the lineup - Baynes can understand George's tactical system better than Ashley Cole, and Hargreaves can Provides a better midfield sweep than Lampard (Lampard was positioned as a defensive midfielder when he first debuted, but it is undeniable that as his status in the club gradually improves, his concentration on the defensive end is much greater. Not as good as before), Defoe's speed and sense of smell in front of the goal are not inferior to Irving at this time. Therefore, although the paper strength and star quality of this England team are not as good as before, they are better able to implement George's tactical ideas, and the lineup has become more reasonable!
The most important thing is that after getting the opportunity to represent the national team, and in order to earn the ticket from George to go to Germany in three months, these players are bound to work harder than usual in the game! In this way, these unreused players from the Eriksen era will have a catfish effect, mobilizing the enthusiasm of other international players on the field and making the entire Three Lions team more dynamic!
Facing the Uruguay team, which is also in the throes of a coaching change, the England team, with a reasonable lineup, clear goals and full motivation, undoubtedly has a better chance of winning than their opponents in this game!
