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After a narrow home win over menacing Liverpool to send the Reds home, Tottenham Hotspur, who have been unbeaten in six consecutive league games, continue to chase after Arsenal by two points, exerting strong psychological pressure on the bitter rival. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

However, Tottenham's win over Liverpool to make it five wins in a row and unbeaten in six league games is not the most eye-catching thing about this round of the Premier League. It should be said that Tottenham's limelight was completely stolen by another game that ended at the same time - after a draw with Newcastle United, Manchester United were beaten back by veteran Paul Ince in this round of the Premier League, losing 0-1 to promoted Wolves, and the league has not won two games in a row!

Obviously, the blower that Ferguson had started before did not work as expected this time.

The most important thing is that after the unexpected loss to Wolves, Manchester United, who were only one point ahead of the Gunners before the game, had to hand over the top position to Arsenal, and Tottenham Hotspur, who won this round, are tied for second in the league standings.

The loss of the hard-won leading position is undoubtedly a huge blow to the Manchester United players. At this time, the British media once again showed their characteristics of fearing that the world would not be chaotic, and they wrote articles to shout, saying that Ferguson's era is over, Manchester United, which has lost Beckham and George Nelson, is no longer the feared Premier League hegemon, and Arsenal, who plays gorgeous offensive football, is the new king of English football!

You know, when Arsenal was three points behind Manchester United two rounds ago, these media were still ridiculing Arsenal and singing praises for Manchester United and Ferguson. This shows how two-faced and inconsistent these British media are.

The change in the direction of public opinion has greatly increased the psychological pressure on Manchester United's players, and it has also made the Red Devils' dressing room begin to become unstable. The outspoken captain Roy Keane has been shooting a lot lately, spraying all the players and phenomena he doesn't like. But the problem is that Keane himself is scolding, but his teammates are not necessarily willing to buy it. Not to mention, Keane is no longer the super midfielder who was ranked in the top five in international football two years ago, and the continuous decline in strength and form has seriously affected the authority of the Irishman in the Manchester United dressing room.

It can be seen that these media are not wrong to some extent: Manchester United is indeed not the steel team that last season had the confidence and ability to recover this disadvantage in the table even after trailing Arsenal by as many as two digits. With the disgraceful departure of David Beckham due to the flying boot goal, the suspension of main central defender Rio Ferdinand due to a drug test scandal, and the aging of key players during the treble era such as Keane, Manchester United's overall strength has been seriously affected. Moreover, Howard and Joaquin, who were brought in last summer, have not fully adapted to the pace of the Premier League, especially without their familiar winter break, so that the two who are not prepared for this will begin to decline in their competitive form after the new year, and they will no longer be as consistent and excellent as in the first half.

The main players are aging, Xiaobei has left, Ferdinand is banned, and the newcomers are not adapting to the situation...... The combination of these factors has led to the Reds' struggles heading into 2004, overtaking them at the top of the table by old rivals Arsenal.

As for Chelsea, I don't know if it was affected by the rumours of a change of manager, but the Blues' performance has also been very inconsistent in recent times, with only two wins, one draw and two defeats in the last five league games, which has further widened the gap between Chelsea and the first three teams in the table. Chelsea are currently five points behind second-placed Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, and their hopes of winning the league title are slim.

Although the Manchester United players are gearing up to reclaim the lead from Arsenal as soon as possible, they can only put that idea aside for now. Because in the next two weeks, it will be the League Cup, the domestic cup of England!

And Tottenham Hotspur will face the opponent in the semi-finals of this English League Cup is Arsenal, who have just taken the leader from Manchester United and are currently in full glory!

Both Arsenal and Tottenham players and supporters are excited about the arrangement. The former is because he finally has the opportunity to avenge the revenge of being pulled down from the top of the table by Tottenham before, Vieira even released words before the game, claiming that he will give Tottenham a little color on the pitch, and Tottenham is also eager to knock Arsenal out of this encounter, not only because Arsenal is Tottenham's sworn rival in the same city, but also to avenge their manager, George Nelson!

Although Patrick Vieira was heavily punished by the disciplinary committee for his previous misconduct, Tottenham did not forgive Vieira for that. After all, even now, more than three months after this incident, Vieira has not publicly apologized in any media or public for his sneak attack on Tottenham boss George Nelson after the game, claiming that it was just an accident caused by his accidental hand slipping, and it was never intentional, let alone apologized!

For Vieira's unreasonable explanation, Tottenham Hotspur is naturally extremely angry - who can slip his hand and cross a distance of nearly ten meters at once and push people down with a move, can it be that Vieira, you not only slipped your hands at that time, but also slid your whole body together?

Under the old hatred of the new and the old, this Carabao Cup semi-final did not need any mobilization from George and Wenger, and the players on both sides could not wait to teach their opponents a good lesson on the pitch.

In fact, according to the FA's initial thinking, they did not plan to schedule the dates of Tottenham and Arsenal's two Carabao Cup semi-finals so close. In the FA's view, a gimmicky derby like this should be broken down and played slowly to maximize impact, rather than focusing on playing in a week.

Unfortunately, due to the dense schedule of Arsenal and Tottenham in February, Tottenham have to play five games in just half a month, and there is no extra time left for the League Cup, and the League Cup final date has already been set, so the FA has no choice but to follow the original plan and put the two League Cup semi-finals between Tottenham and Arsenal in these two weeks.

"Boss, do you think we need to find something to do for Arsenal, such as letting Vieira testify in court on game day, so that Arsenal can't play with the strongest team?" John Smith, sitting on the sofa in George's office, made a suggestion that can be called a bad thing, "Without Vieira, the defensive hardness and interception ability of the Arsenal midfield will drop by at least two notches." That would give us a much better chance of beating Arsenal. ”

"Don't, if you do, the fool will know that the London courts have an illicit relationship with us at Tottenham. When the time comes, it won't be Patrick Vieira, it's me and Tottenham Hotspur. George shook his head and rejected John's proposal, "Besides, Arsenal have exposed their weaknesses in the last meeting, and I have found a way to restrain them, and there is no need to make these unattractive means again." ”

"Also, boss, why do you insist on starting the bench and bench players in this high-stakes game?" Seeing that George vetoed his suggestion, John no longer insisted, but changed his mind and said a doubt in his heart, "If you show the players that you are powerful, I believe they can understand your troubles, boss." Although Tottenham's bench depth is not bad, and the quality of the substitutes is quite good, there is still a significant gap compared with the main players. Arsenal will certainly play the main force in this semi-final, but we will not play as a substitute because we are sending substitutes. ”

John is not the only one to question George's insistence on taking on Arsenal with a full bench squad in the Carabao Cup semi-finals. George has been persuaded by the coaching staff and players for similar reasons, but so far, no one has been able to change George's decision.

In George's view, since he promised the substitutes and bench players that they would be the main players in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, he should keep his promise and let them play until the end, rather than waiting until they lead the team to the semi-finals or even the final.

Without the hard work and dedication of these players, how could Tottenham have been able to reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup without focusing on the league field, and in that case, what reason do I have to deprive these players of the right to play?

Keeping your word is far more beneficial to Tottenham than breaking your word for a win or two.

Sure enough, when they learned that their coach still decided to continue to start them in the League Cup semi-finals, instead of switching to the main players against Arsenal, Vermaelen and others, who thought that there was no hope of starting the game, were overjoyed. As a result, the players' training attitude and enthusiasm suddenly rose to a new level, and they were even more desperate for George, believing that it was their greatest luck as a player to play under such a trustworthy coach!

And so it came on January 21, 2004. When Wenger looked in disbelief at the Tottenham players who stood in the tunnel and did not react to their own provocation, as if they had not heard anything, but the aura exuded by his body was not much worse than his own players, the professor, who had felt that his promotion was in sight because of George's decision to hide the main team in the League Cup semi-finals, suddenly felt that even if Tottenham sent a full bench today, it would be an extremely difficult hard bone to gnaw!

It seems that this game may not be as easy to play as imagined.