coach legend

Chapter 89
"At the whistle at the end of the first half, the score was one to zero. It was Burnley leading Chelsea, except for the goal, the game in the first half was lackluster."

"But to be fair, Burnley's pre-match preparation was better than Chelsea's. At the beginning of the game, Chelsea slightly underestimated Burnley, so they conceded a goal. Vialli can be said to lose first, but there are still 45 minutes in the second half. .Let's see how they adjust their tactics in midfield! See you in the second half."

All Chelsea players are very frustrated, from the initial contempt to falling behind, this gap makes the proud Chelsea players somewhat unacceptable.Of course, what makes them most angry is that many of them feel that they can't exert their energy.

He obviously thought about how to cooperate and how to pass the ball, but he was interrupted by Burnley's various small moves and various fouls.The Chelsea players all had a feeling of anger in their hearts, so they all entered the dressing room with gloomy faces.

George was standing in the player tunnel, applauding deliberately.Then I patted every Burnley player on the shoulder and encouraged them.Then he applauded the fans in the stands.

George's performance made Chelsea players gnash their teeth.But George didn't have the time to care about their moods.

When George walked into the dressing room, the Burnley players had already gathered in twos and threes, talking and laughing happily.They have reason to be happy, and now they are ahead of Chelsea.

George clapped his hands and coughed again, and the locker room immediately fell silent.The players knew George had something to say.

"The performance in the first half was great. How about it, Chelsea are not overpowered. We are still ahead of them now." George is also in a very good mood now, and playing defensive counterattacks is Burnley's strength.Now that we are leading, the second half will be much easier.

"Yes—" Burnley players applauded and whistled in the locker room.

"I told you before the game that I don't care about winning or losing, as long as you do your best." George snorted. "Do you really think I don't care about winning or losing? People always only remember the winner, and the loser is the stepping stone for the winner to become famous."

"In a final, besides the champion, the runner-up is the loser. The runner-up can only be the sympathizer and mocker of others. Are you willing to be the mocker of others?"

"I don't want to! I don't want to!" The Burnley players are getting more angry now, if there is still a little nervousness before the game.Then after the first half, their confidence swelled.

"Okay, but the opponent is Chelsea after all, and they will definitely counterattack in the second half. We have to recover in the opening stage of the second half and play a defensive counterattack. Let's kill Chelsea's spirit first, and also look at the changes in Chelsea in the second half." After leading by one goal, George It is also necessary to play the defensive counterattack that has been criticized by many people.

"Kevin, the goal in the first half was beautiful. But I need to defend in the second half, so you have to leave." It was already very risky to put George as a double forward in the first half, and Chelsea's counterattack in the second half must be very powerful.

Kevin Phillips nodded, it was already an accident to start the League Cup final.Even Robbie Keane, Burnley's top scorer, was on the bench and Kevin Phillips had no complaints.

"Mark, after you go up, I don't need to say that you should know."

Mark Holland nodded.The midfield composed of Mark Holland, Neil Lennon and Ballack has cooperated many times, and the cooperation between them is very tacit.Without George telling him, Mark Holland also knew where he should play and how to cooperate with Ballack and Neil Lennon.

"Michael, your task will be very heavy in the second half. You have to occupy this position." George drew several circles on the tactical board. "Once there is an opportunity to counterattack in the second half, you should not only be the first point of the counterattack, but also follow up and control the second point during the counterattack. As long as you get the ball at this point, you can shoot if you can. If there is no chance, you can't take it easily. Lose the ball."

"Finally, I would like to say that the opening 10 minutes of the second half is a very important moment. Chelsea must not score during this period. Defensive counterattack, defensive counterattack. You must press the whole court in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Start near the center circle, layer by layer. layer blocking." George raised his index finger very seriously. "In the first 10 minutes, you must spare no effort, just like in the first half. Don't let Chelsea dribble and pass comfortably."

George laughed, raising his voice suddenly. "You have to understand that Chelsea are not invincible. The title is 45 minutes away."

…………

"Sure enough, it's George. Just after the second half, he replaced Kevin Phillips with Mark Holland." Mortensen laughed dumbfounded when he saw Burnley's lineup in the second half.

"John, in fact, I would do the same. Burnley's overall strength is not as good as Chelsea. Now they are leading by one goal. If they don't defend at this time, it is not George."

There are times when mental strength is absolutely remarkable, and in the second half Chelsea went all out.But these boys at Burnley are crazy, running all over the field.Starting defense in midfield was even more difficult for Chelsea than it was in the first half.

Wise even kicked Ballack in retaliation because of anger, and was given a yellow card by the referee.

If Vialli hadn't pulled Wise away, Wise would have even yelled at the referee.

"Everyone calm down, Burnley's style of play is very exhausting. By 65 minutes to 75 minutes, they will definitely be exhausted and need to take a breath." Vialli asked several players to calm down.

This is quite right, but it is a pity that Vialli has not yet established authority at Chelsea.At present, it has not been able to convince all players, so it has not been able to fully grasp the current state of Chelsea players.Before the game, all Chelsea players, including Vialli, were quite contemptuous of Burnley.But it has been more than 50 minutes since the game, and there is still nothing to do about Burnley.

This is very damaging to the morale of the Chelsea players, but it is a pity that Vialli failed to solve this problem.

At this time, Chelsea should actually increase the pass and stabilize the rhythm.But Vialli has just taken office and has not yet fully convinced this group of players.So the mistakes before the game made many Chelsea players question Vialli.

Things like morale ebb and flow. After 10 minutes in the second half, Chelsea still couldn't find a good way to break Burnley's goal.This makes Chelsea players more and more impatient.

Chelsea's rise has only started in the past few years with Hoddle.It was last season that he won the championship, and he won the FA Cup under the leadership of Gullit.Therefore, although Chelsea now has many big names with championship experience, Chelsea as a whole does not have much background.

The background is illusory, but it does exist.Just like today's opponent is Manchester United or Liverpool, even if they are behind, they will definitely not be as impatient as Chelsea now.

"Di Matteo... from long range - oops, too much rush. Zola next to him is in a better position and Hughes is already in the middle of the box."

"Zola, push...Neil Lennon, steal Zola's ball...he should cooperate with Poyet."

"Alan, it seems that Chelsea is a little impatient. This is not a good sign." Mortensen shook his head seeing that Chelsea players seldom cooperate.

"If Chelsea doesn't change in a short period of time, then the game will be difficult to play." Alan Hansen also agrees with Mortensen.

At 10 minutes into the second half, the physical strength of the Burnley players reached a critical point.So the Burnley players who were running all over the field at the beginning of the game relaxed their defensive intensity a little.This should be Chelsea's best chance.

During this period of time, Chelsea did find a lot of gaps for Burnley, but Chelsea, who became impatient, completely forgot the smooth cooperation they were proud of.Non-stop shooting and non-stop breakthroughs, this kind of headless performance made Chelsea never find the best chance to score goals.

Since the second half, George has been unable to sit still. Watching the ball keep flying in his own half, the tension in his heart is absolutely palpable.Every time I saw the ball hit the small penalty area, I couldn't help but clenched my fists.Seeing the ball being pushed out, I will breathe a sigh of relief again.

This is the first time in George's coaching career that he has entered the cup final, so it is false not to be nervous.

Time flies in the stalemate, and soon the second half has gone on for 25 minutes.At seven and 10 minutes into the game, Chelsea replaced Eddie Newton, who had been doing nothing throughout the game, and replaced him with Torre Andre Flo.

Flo is actually more valued than Eddie Newton this season, but because Eddie Newton scored the winning goal in the FA Cup last year.That's why Vialli played Eddie Newton in the League Cup final.

It's a pity that Eddie Newton was in the penalty area and was stared at by the old Mitchell without temper.

Less than 3 minutes after replacing Flo, Chelsea made another amazing substitution decision.Mark Hughes replaced centre-back Dewberry and Chelsea's formation became a 3-3-4.Chelsea have hoarded four forwards in the frontcourt, Zola, Flo, Mark Hughes and Vialli.

Vialli is going to fight for his life.

Soon Chelsea began to bombard Burnley's restricted area. With Hughes and Zola, two excellent strikers, the pressure on Burnley's defense increased greatly.

When breaking the dense defense, some personal heroism is needed.Hughes, who had just played, was full of energy and broke through directly from the middle.Neil Lennon didn't dare to be careless at all, who is Hughes?That was one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Welsh football in the 90s, and the famous "Red Devil" in English football.

Although he is 34 years old, he cannot be underestimated.Because Hughes' body is average, Neil Lennon is going to stick it up and use his body to defend.

But the experienced Hughes slid past Neil Lennon with just a feint.Seeing that he couldn't stop Hughes, Lennon took Hughes with him when he fell to the ground.

"Beep!" The referee's whistle sounded, calling for a foul by Lennon.

"This is a foul. It seems that the Burnley players have physical problems. Zola, stand in front of the ball. This is only 26 meters away from the goal, within Zola's range!"

The moment he saw the foul, George could only shake his head helplessly.If it is physically strong, then even if Lennon is shaken, he can still stick it.After all, Hughes is already 34 years old, and his physical condition is not as good as before.But now that Lennon's physical strength has turned on a yellow light, there will be this foul.

26 meters, this is definitely a distance that many free kick masters like very much.On Burnley's side, apart from Ljungberg and Camoranesi, they were still free, including Klose, who came in to defend.Jasz Kleinin was very nervous and arranged a human wall at the command.

Zola stared closely at the Burnley goal, and now Chelsea can't find a good way in the positional battle.Free kicks are a very important means.

Zora stepped back, breathing a sigh of relief.Then he ran to the ball in small steps and kicked it out with a swing of his right leg.

"There is a goal!" Zola felt great after kicking, so he watched the trajectory of the football nervously.

(End of this chapter)