"I really don't understand how Birmingham ended up in this place. Looking at the starting list just announced by Birmingham, George thought very puzzled, "To be reasonable, although Bruce's coaching ability is not very good, it is not a problem to be the manager of a mid-to-lower club in the Premier League." And in previous seasons, he led the team to Birmingham City quite well. How come this season has changed its appearance, and when it has a good main lineup, it will still deliver such a terrible report card?"

Although Birmingham were in the English second tier for many years before being promoted to the Premier League, and even played in the third tier for a while, the club's history is lackluster, and the club has long lived in the shadow of city rivals Aston Villa. After Bruce took over, the results of this copycat version of the Blues have improved greatly, not only successfully promoted to the Premier League in the 01-02 season, but also relying on the manager's shrewd operation and extensive contacts, as a Premier League newcomer, to gain a firm foothold in the Premier League!

Former Fulham goalkeeper Mike Taylor, Earpson, Heskey and Nikki Bhatt who have been selected for the England national team, Finland international Mikael Fussel, and Pandiani, an important member of the "Super Laco" and known as Uruguay's rifle...... Although these players are not top-notch, they are all existences that can be entrusted with important tasks in the eyes of the middle and lower league clubs!

Just looking at the strength on the books, Birmingham, with these stars in charge, can still win a decent place in the league, even if they can't get a European ticket next season. However, Birmingham's reality at the halfway point of the season has left everyone stumbling!

The first team did not suffer as much blood loss as Leeds United and Southampton, and even made additions to their existing squad in the summer transfer market, only to have the result be very different from what was expected. That's why, when they saw Birmingham, which had been firmly in the middle of the league, suddenly decline this season and went straight to the relegation zone, many people were puzzled by this phenomenon!

Goalkeeper Mike Taylor, Cunningham, Martin Taylor, Upson, and Julian Gray are lined up in the backline, and the midfield is a combination of Damion Johansen, Nicky Barth, Stephen Clemens and Pennant, and in front of them, Husky and Pandiani, a classic British striker combination!

As a mainstay of Manchester United's dominance in the Premier League in its early days and Ferguson's favourite player, Bruce's coaching style has a very strong English football color. This can be seen from his arrangement. However, when Arsene Wenger, Benitez, George and others tried their best to implement the mainlandization reform, and even Ferguson tried on this road to make the Premier League more technical, Bruce, who still insisted on long passing and high playing, was actually greatly outdated.

The reason why Bruce was able to achieve good results in Birmingham in the past few years is because Birmingham's configuration is actually not bad, and the new signings introduced are either veterans with rich experience in the top league or are powerful people who are playing properly, and secondly, because although George and others in the Premier League at this time are trying to promote tactical innovation, there are still many teams that adhere to the traditional English style of play. Especially in the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League, this style of play can be said to be quite popular with the managers of various teams!

Two different ideas in football, when they first come into contact and then merge with each other, naturally lead to a series of conflicts. Therefore, in George's previous life, there were many vicious incidents in the Premier League of players being seriously injured by opponents - in the eyes of those players who worked hard in the lower leagues of England, such fouls and confrontations were commonplace, and they could only blame themselves if they couldn't avoid it, and for those players who were new to English football, this kind of behavior was no different from murder!

Chelsea's goalscoring tragedy, every year players are seriously injured due to malicious fouls by opponents, and Eduardo and Ramsey even suffer leg breaks...... This happens once or twice in the Premier League almost every season. Even when George crossed, the overall level of the Premier League was already the first in the world, and it was never broken!

There is no doubt that how to make the Premier League retain the big selling point of fierce confrontation and prevent malicious fouls on the field will be one of the problems that the Premier League needs to solve as soon as possible!

Despite Birmingham's poor form this season, George has no idea of taking their opponents lightly - either way, Pandiani and Heskey are both very good players, and if they are taken lightly because of Birmingham's poor results, Tottenham may be able to overturn in the gutter and lose the lead they have managed to maintain in the league!

Therefore, in order to ensure the three-point start, out of caution, George also did not choose to keep his strength in this game, and sent the strongest squad in his hands - the eleven players in the starting line-up are Cech, McConn, Ledley King, Vidic, Patrice Evra, Mascherano, Xavi Alonso, Gerrard, Robben, Cristiano Ronaldo and Klose!

Looking at the strength of the books and the form that the two teams have shown before, Tottenham are undoubtedly more than a cut ahead of Birmingham. In the eyes of most people, Tottenham, who have the advantage of home field, beat their opponents and take all three points at White Hart Lane, which is simply an easy thing to do!

However, instead of dominating the pitch as they did against Middlesbrough three days ago, and quickly building up a lead on the pitch, Tottenham were left in a dilemma of finding the back of the net once the game began!

In stark contrast are the players from Birmingham. Playing away, they withstood Tottenham's offensive with extremely fierce defense, and even played the long pass to the extreme, which is the housekeeping skill of English football!

In the 27th minute, Nicky Bart stole Klose at the back and sent a long ball straight to Pennant down the right flank. The homegrown winger, who moved from Arsenal in '05, seized on the gap left by Patrice Evra's front and raced in to find Husky's position and cross the ball high!

In terms of shooting accuracy, ten Huskys together may not be as good as one Klose, but the British centre-forward, who was once heavily valued by Houllier and Eriksen, did not try to force a shot, but used his strength to squeeze Nemanjac behind him, and then headed the ball to his partner Pandiani who was ambushed on the other side of the box!

Although his form plummeted due to serious discomfort after landing in the Premier League, as a figure who once had a place in Super Laco, Uruguay's scoring ability does not need to be questioned - without giving Ledley King the opportunity to completely block the shooting angle, Pandiani seized the only gap and chose to hit the goal with his feet at the first time!

Pandiani's shot was too hidden, and his shot went straight to the far corner, and by the time Cech found it ready to save, it was too late!

"It's a surprise! Birmingham, who are second from bottom in the league, actually scored first away from home, temporarily leading leaders Tottenham Hotspur by one goal!" Seeing this unexpected result, the Sky TV commentator was stunned for a moment, and then shouted excitedly, "If Tottenham suffer their first defeat in the league this season, and Chelsea beat Fulham, then they will have to give up the top spot to Chelsea after this round!"

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PS2: The unit was a little urgent to deal with two days ago, so I didn't have time to update, I'm really sorry......