Naturally, George, who was directing the game from the sidelines, could not hear Lineker's live commentary. Of course, even if he knew it, he would not agree with Lineker's remarks - if the winner can be decided based on book strength alone, then what are the players doing to play football desperately on the field?
Football has never been a simple math problem. Having stronger stars only raises the upper and lower limits of the team. Unpredictable additional factors such as suspensions, injuries, player willpower, tactical execution, team cohesion, luck, field conditions, and even weather will also affect the team's performance. Determine the outcome of a game!
If it is a national league with a double round-robin system and a longer schedule, then the wealthy clubs with stronger overall strength, sufficient lineup thickness and guaranteed lower limit will naturally have a greater advantage. And if the World Cup is a cup with a schedule of only one month and a single knockout system, then these unpredictable additional factors will often have a huge impact on the outcome of the game!
For example, in the World Cup in South Korea and Japan four years ago, the reason why France, the defending champion of the World Cup and the favorite to win the championship, went home at the end of the group stage was largely because Zidane, the soul of the team, had the same relationship with the South Korean team. He was accidentally injured in the warm-up match, and Pires, who could have served as his deputy, was retired for the season early due to the injury; another example is the European Cup in Portugal two years ago. Before the game, it was generally believed that the Greek team was just here to have a soy sauce. Under the leadership of "Otto the Great" Rehagel, they united as one and used a Delaunay Cup championship to make the world re-recognize the truth that "football is a team sport"; another example is Mourinho, the Portuguese madman in In this game and in the previous game against Barcelona, the reason for pouring a lot of water and sand into the stadium was not because the boss had a lot of money to burn, but also because he wanted to use these additional factors to increase his winning probability.
The Danish fairy tale in the 1992 European Cup, the Greek myth in the 2004 European Cup. In the 2002-03 season, Manchester United finally came back to win the championship after falling behind by more than ten points in the league. Before the game, it was considered to be the pinnacle showdown between the two giants in 1994. The Champions League final ended with a four-goal defeat by Barcelona... It is these wonderful past events that are still talked about by fans today that make the sport of football more attractive!
Just imagine, if there is no suspense about the outcome of a competitive match before it starts, how boring it would be!
Not to mention, although the book strength of the current England team is indeed not as good as that of the World Cup in South Korea and Japan four years ago, it is not without a chance to compete for the championship. The emergence of George has made England more powerful than the old Robson. Once again having a capable high-level head coach, the Three Lions finally no longer lag behind other competitors at the tactical level. At least judging from the friendly match between England and Uruguay, George was significantly better than his predecessor Eriksen in terms of formation and team control.
Now back to business. After leading Chelsea by a score of 4 to 1, George replaced Davis, who had made great contributions to Tottenham in this game, in the 76th minute of the game - although the use of skills has changed with the passage of time and game experience. Accumulation has become more and more skillful, but after all, Davis is not the Dutch wild boar that could gallop all over the court three years ago. Even if Davis can be maintained at a high level through reasonable rotation and scientific training, the decline in physical function associated with age will make it difficult for the Dutch to maintain a level throughout the ninety-minute game. Good competitive condition. Especially in the Premier League, where physical competition is more intense, it is more likely that the team will lose a good game due to players' lack of physical strength in the final stages of the game.
What's even more unfortunate is that Tottenham's opponent today is Chelsea, who is famous in international football for its iron-blooded defense. Therefore, Davis's physical energy consumption was naturally faster than usual, and he was naturally replaced earlier.
After Davis left the field, the situation on the field quickly changed with the naked eye: Chelsea was no longer dominated by Tottenham as before, and became stronger at both ends of the offense and defense. Obviously, after realizing that Aaron After Soo came on the field as a substitution that George was forced to make, Mourinho finally showed his ability as a world-class coach and reversed Chelsea's previous decline in one fell swoop!
Alonso is indeed a very good world-class midfielder. The iron triangle formed by Gerrard and Mascherano in the midfield maximizes his advantages of excellent overall view and strong ability to control the rhythm. . But it has to be said that Alonso is really not suitable to deal with opponents like Chelsea, because the defensive hardness that the Spaniard can provide is far less than that of the Dutch wild boar, and the problem of average ability to escape under high-intensity pressing is also a problem for Essien and Makelele. He was exposed under the siege and interception of people. With Phil Neville and Ledley King partnering as central defenders, Tottenham's already deficient defensive intensity will undoubtedly drop further due to Alonso's appearance!
A football match, especially a showdown between strong players, is not so much a direct comparison of the hard power of the two sides as it is about seeing who can better exploit their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. As Tottenham's defensive hardness declines, the midfielder loses another offensive weapon. Under the circumstances, Chelsea players who consume less on the defensive end can naturally devote more energy to the offensive end!
It has to be said that in terms of on-the-spot command, Mourinho during this period was indeed at the top level. Although George replaced Vidic and Evra shortly afterwards, intending to resist Chelsea's increasingly fierce offensive by strengthening the defense, he had little effect. After all, Chelsea under Mourinho has never been a team that relies on forwards to score goals, and Lampard is the main firepower!
It is a pity that although Chelsea players did try their best to save the defeat, they did suppress Tottenham on the field in the last ten minutes, and Lampard scored a goal in the 83rd minute of the game. , but the Blues had too much debt. Coupled with Cech's outstanding performance at the last minute, he blocked the shots of Ibrahimovic and Lampard and others, leaving Chelsea in an embarrassing situation of not scoring, and they were unable to equalize the score until the end of the game!
Just like that, when the final whistle sounded that marked the end of the game, Tottenham, who were visiting Stamford Bridge, finally defeated Chelsea four to two without any danger, taking all three points from the Blues!
"The overall situation has been decided." As the final whistle sounded, George celebrated this hard-won victory with the players while secretly calculating, "With only nine rounds left in the league, we are six points ahead of Chelsea. Among the opponents, only Manchester United and Arsenal are capable of posing a threat to Tottenham. If nothing else, the league championship is already within our grasp!"
