Legend of Fengshen

Chapter 885 The Battle of White Hart Lane

At 8:31 pm on August 01, the game between Tottenham and Liverpool officially started at the White Hart Lane Stadium in London.

The hottest team in the new season is not the Manchester City duo, nor London Chelsea, Arsenal, nor Liverpool, but Tottenham. Under the leadership of Pochettino, Tottenham have won two consecutive victories and scored 5 goals. No goals were conceded, and they were at the top of the standings at the end of the two rounds.

But now this third round is facing Liverpool, huh, the situation is another matter, Liverpool has never been soft when they play Tottenham. What Spurs sent was not as simple as just two losses. Tottenham lost 5 goals to Liverpool at White Hart Lane without scoring a goal, and Tottenham lost 4 goals to Liverpool at Anfield without scoring a goal.

So in today's game, Rodgers suffered another thunderbolt the day before the game, and Sturridge was injured again, because he had a minor injury in the pre-season training camp, so this time he used it again, and the situation was not very good. But Rogers is still full of confidence and believes that his team will be able to get rid of Tottenham.

Pochettino doesn’t think so. Pochettino is a young coach. He started with the Spaniard. His first stop in the Premier League was Southampton. At the beginning, he accepted Southampton, which was controversial. One-time head coach Nigel Alkins has led the team to upgrade back to back. Many players believe that Southampton should be patient and give Alkins more time.

And Pochettino invited by Southampton also makes people feel distrustful. Although he performed well in the Spaniard, not everyone can play in the Premier League. His philosophy is the same as that of English football. Not the same, Pochettino is very concerned about control. He hopes that his team can control the ball in his hands. His ball control is different from that of Juventus and Barcelona. His team often Using fast movement, practice control into the offense, and the offensive wave after wave.

After going to Southampton, he strictly governed the army, and if he didn't obey, he would get out. He would rather use young people, and young people were obedient, so the average age of the team he ruled in Southampton was very young at that time.

Now after coming to White Hart Lane, the strength of Tottenham players is better than that of Southampton. He has a better stage to play, and the two consecutive victories at the beginning seem to show that his start is not bad.

On the starting lineup today, Pochettino sent out a 4231 formation.

Goalkeeper: Lloris
Defender: Dale Cabourg, Vertonghen Rose
Defender: Bentaleb Capoue
Attacking midfielder: Lamela Eriksen Chadley
Center: Bam Adebayor

Because of Sturridge's injury, Rodgers resorted to a 433 formation in this game. Anyway, two center forwards or one center forward are not unfamiliar things to Liverpool, and they can be switched without too much discomfort.

Goalkeeper: Mignolet

Defender: Mankilo Lovrenza, Comoreno
Midfielder: Gerald Henderson, Joe Allen
Forward: Coutinho, Zhang Yuan, Sterling
Adebayor and Zhang Yuan were former Real Madrid teammates, but the friendship between the two is relatively average. When they met in this game, they said hello to each other in the player tunnel.

After the start of the game, amidst the cheers of the home fans, Tottenham fought fiercely for the ball at the beginning, trying to control the game within their own range. In the previous two games, Tottenham had a higher ball possession rate than their opponents A lot, and Pochettino obviously hopes to do this in this game, and he has to take the initiative on the field.

Liverpool does not have a pure defensive midfielder. Gerrard, because of his declining running ability and rich experience, all sits behind in the middle, while Henderson and Joe Allen are more flexible.

Tottenham's offensive rhythm is very fast. After they control the ball, they immediately press up heavily. With their running positions, the full-backs press continuously to put pressure on Liverpool. There are only three players who do not really participate in the attack. Two central defenders Kabul and Vertonghen, as well as midfielder Ben Taleb.

Tottenham’s midfield and backcourt players, including the frontcourt players, are very interesting. Why are almost all of them a panacea? The backcourt players can also play in multiple positions. They are not only tall but also not very disadvantaged in terms of speed. This is also the key to supporting their style of play, otherwise the formation must be looser.

However, today they met Liverpool. Rodgers kept the game simple and asked to be more direct in offense. We are not able to control the ball, and the midfielder may not be able to take advantage, so just be direct. With the ball, Joe Allen often goes directly to the wing, directly to Zhang Yuan, short and long passes, and the midfielder reduces possession of the ball.

This trick is very sensible and fast-paced. Although Tottenham can occupy a certain advantage in possession, there will always be some loopholes in the transition between offense and defense.

In the 3rd minute, Henderson transferred another long pass, Zhang Yuan moved, took the ball from the left side, and passed the ball back to Coutinho, who was quickly plugging in, before Kabul's interception, Coutinho crossed Che shook Ben Taleb and went straight to the back corner of Tottenham's goal with a round moon scimitar. Lloris tried his best to block the ball.

Pochettino is not in a panic. Many forwards in the Premier League have a sturdy body. If you want to say that you absolutely do not give your opponent a chance, no team can do it.

Then he soon suffered. In the 8th minute, Liverpool was still fighting for the ball in the midfield. Joe Allen went straight to the wing. After Coutinho got the ball, he made a second with Zhang Yuan After hitting the wall to cooperate, passing Dell, and then cutting inside, before Kabul blocked it, he suddenly obliquely blocked the far end of the penalty area. Sterling was very fast. Drilled into the net, and Liverpool in the away game quickly took a 1-0 lead!
Tottenham's attacking rhythm is fast, but Liverpool's is not slow. Obviously, Pochettino did not draw a lesson from the last match between Liverpool and Manchester City.

Coutinho's pass is of course risky. There are many Tottenham players standing on this line to intercept, but it is a pity that none of them intercepted. Sterling, who worked hard, scored again!
If Tottenham’s offense fails, their players will quickly siege in the frontcourt crazily. Capoue’s position is relatively high, the purpose is to put pressure on the opponent, but Liverpool is obviously skilled at this moment today One move, direct and deadly in style of play.

Pochettino does not pay attention to Zhang Yuan. The triangle area of ​​the two central defenders and Ben Taleb is dedicated to marking Zhang Yuan, but Liverpool has other talents. Sterling and Coutinho returned to the defense and tied. It’s not very deep, basically they are waiting for the ball, waiting for the opportunity to seize counterattack opportunities, so Zhang Yuan is not alone in the Tottenham triangle, so they can easily break the blockade of Tottenham in the fast pass, And if it's really more flexible, Liverpool's striker combination may be more flexible than Tottenham's.

In addition, Liverpool's state in this game is really good, and they did a really good job on the defensive end, and they didn't give Tottenham too much of a chance.

After Liverpool scored a goal, Tottenham's offensive became more rapid, and Liverpool's gate began to suffer indiscriminate bombing, but they did not concede a goal. Lovren finally showed his worth, and Adebayor was looked down upon by him Damn, Sacco got the trust of Rodgers to replace Skrtel in this game and performed very well.

The two sides played on the court with you coming and going. It was much more lively than the last game against Manchester City. It is said that Tottenham lacks a final shooter. Adebayor's bright days are the stories of those years. Now he has reached the age of 30 At the age of [-], his state declined sharply, and he failed to grasp several opportunities. Pochettino's heart was bleeding. This game is very important to him, because Liverpool is the runner-up. They washed away Tottenham last season. This game Pochettino hopes to win to give his players confidence.

However, Tottenham's ability to seize opportunities on this pitch is really disappointing. On the contrary, once Liverpool got a chance to play the ball, they immediately started a fast break and threatened once every time. Zhang Yuan was also very smart. Rodgers didn't tell him. You must stand at the center position, then his position will be very erratic, sometimes going to the wing and sometimes retreating, which makes the Tottenham players marking him a headache.

(End of this chapter)