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On 20 September, Tottenham Hotspur players welcomed their first opponent since the defeat to Chelsea, Southampton, known as the 'Saints', at White Hart Lane!

Since the start of the season, Southampton have performed well in the Premier League. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 InfoIn the first five rounds of the league that have ended, they have won two and drawn three and accumulated nine points, and are currently tied with Tottenham Hotspur in fourth place in the standings, and even traditional giants like Liverpool are crushed by them!

Southampton manager Gordon Strachan was delighted to have achieved such a good start to the tournament. Therefore, for this clash with Tottenham Hotspur, the Scottish coach, who has made a name for himself as a player, naturally hopes that the players can continue to work hard, beat his junior brother, and further solidify Southampton's position in the standings!

(Note: Strachan worked together with Alex Ferguson during his playing days at Aberdeen and helped Aberdeen break the monopoly of Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic on the Scottish Super League title, giving Aberdeen one of the most glorious moments in the club's history.) ）

In Strachan's view, as long as the players can play normally in this game, it is very possible to get points or even beat their opponents at Tottenham. And the biggest reliance on the Scottish coach's dare to think so is naturally the strong forward line formed by Kevin Phylips, the former Premier League Golden Boot who switched from Sunderland this summer, and James Beatty, a rising star who scored 23 league goals last season!

It is thanks to the excellent performances of Beattie and Phillips that Southampton have achieved such a brilliant record since the start of the new season. Therefore, whether or not Strachan will be able to get his wish in this game will largely depend on how the striker pair perform tonight.

What's more, Tottenham Hotspur is still a team that has just completed a major change in the summer, bringing in a large number of newcomers who have no experience in Premier League play. Although the opponent has also won two and drawn three in that time, Strachan still believes that his side has a better chance of winning. After all, compared to Tottenham Hotspur, whose best result was only a draw with Liverpool and a three-goal away reversal of Chelsea's side that had also undergone a major change, Southampton defeated defending champions Manchester United in the fourth round of the league!

Although Strachan can be said to be a must-win for this game and is full of confidence in the strength of the team, the result is that Southampton were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur at home at White Hart Lane!

In this game, the Tottenham players applied all the lessons they had learned against Chelsea to Southampton. The breathless pressing defense and stormy attack in the front court not only made Southampton's already not very solid backline full of holes, but also caused Beatty and Phillips on the front line to lose the support of their teammates and become rootless trees and waterless - under Tottenham's strong attack, most of Southampton's players spent most of their energy on how to resist the opponent's attack, and naturally supported their own forwards a lot less.

If it weren't for Delap's frequent "grenade" tricks in the second half with the opportunity of a throw-in in front of the field, in order to threaten the goal guarded by Cech and slightly curb Tottenham's offensive momentum, Southampton, who fell behind by two goals in the first half, might even be slaughtered by the excited Tottenham players in this game!

"It turned out to be him!" Seeing that someone could throw a throw-in with the effect of a direct free kick, and he could directly threaten his own goal from outside the field, George was stunned for a moment, and then found out the existence of Drap according to the opponent's jersey number, "Drap grenade? I didn't expect this guy to play here now." If the first team weren't full now, buying Delap as a necessary tactical addition would have seemed like a good option. ”

Although Delap used his trademark grenade throw-in to set up Beattie to score in the 75th minute to help Southampton pull one back, Southampton and Strachan, who had not prepared for the game or underestimated Tottenham's prowess, ultimately paid a heavy price for their light opponents. When the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, the Saints lost 3-1 to White Hart Lane, suffering their first defeat of the new season, and at the same time watching their opponents surpass Manchester City, who drew in this round, to jump up to third place in the league standings!

After beating Southampton 3-1, Tottenham were given the first round of the English League Cup in midweek. Facing Coventry at home, George resolutely sent a full bench lineup in this game, and put Villa, Ribery, Basturk, and other players who have few opportunities in the league into the starting list!

The reason why George made such a decision was naturally his own considerations. First of all, George didn't want to rely on just one main squad or a dozen players to cope with a long season, so it was imperative to adopt a rotation strategy. Secondly, Tottenham's young players and newcomers also need to improve their ability by playing games and adapt to the style of play in English football.

If you don't prepare now, but wait until the team is understaffed due to injuries or player suspensions, and then rush to find someone to replace you, then it will be Tottenham themselves who will suffer.

In addition, in George's plan, Tottenham Hotspur's focus this season is on the league battlefield, and domestic cup competitions such as the FA Cup and League Cup can be strategically abandoned. Therefore, the combination of these factors made such a bold decision in the first game of the League Cup.

Despite having fielded an all-out bench for this game, Coventry, who have already been relegated from the Premier League and are currently struggling in League One, have no intention of wasting energy in the Carabao Cup. As a result, Coventry City also rotated most of their main squad for this game, reserving the League One squad scheduled for the weekend.

Coventry City also opted to play as a substitute, minimising the negative impact of George's decision to field a full bench for Tottenham, and instead extending their technical and tactical advantage – in most cases, top-flight teams generally have a considerable technical and tactical advantage over lower-tier teams. Not to mention, Coventry also rotated most of the main players this time, which further widened the gap in this regard!

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick and Basturk, who replaced Michael Carrick as the heart of the playmaker, provided two assists and a goal...... Thanks to the outstanding performance of these players, Tottenham thrashed Coventry City 5-0 in this Carabao Cup second round match and successfully advanced to the next round of the competition!

Next, Tottenham Hotspur, who have won three consecutive games in all competitions, arrived in Manchester after the seventh round of the Premier League at the weekend. However, Tottenham's destination this time is not Old Trafford, the "Theatre of Dreams", but another Premier League club at Manchester City Stadium, Manchester City FC, nicknamed "Blue Moon"!

To be honest, the situation between Manchester City and Southampton at this time is quite similar. Both teams have a star forward line (Beatty and Kevin Phillips for Southampton and Robbie Fowler and Nicolas Anelka for Manchester City), and there are many similarities in terms of recruitment strategies and treatment of Academy players, with manager Stuart Pierce being the same example of Southampton boss Strachan as he is playing and coaching.

The most interesting thing is that the two teams have a very similar record curve this season: Southampton once rushed to fourth place in the league, and after losing to Tottenham, the results have dropped somewhat, but they have not fallen far behind the table, while Manchester City is only behind Arsenal and Manchester United before the sixth round of the league! Even if they were drawn by Fulham in the last round, the Blue Moon, which has three wins, two draws and one loss in six games, has fallen out of the top three in the league, but it is only one point less than Tottenham.

However, while there are similarities in so many aspects, the two teams' playing styles are very different. The attacking duo of Robbie Fowler and Nicolas Anelka is more talented, dangerous and goal-scoring than Beatty and Phillips, but they are also far more thorny and unruly than the latter. Moreover, City's defence is also much worse than Southampton's, having conceded seven more goals last season just one place below the Saints.

In the face of the blue moon that is sharper than Southampton in attack, but much worse than the Saints in defense, Tottenham Hotspur, who has played with momentum and confidence in the previous three consecutive wins, continued their previous good form, with Toney's header in the first half, easily won this season's high-to-low opponent at Manchester City Stadium, adding another winning streak to four consecutive wins!

However, a mere four wins in a row was not enough to satisfy the young and energetic Tottenham players. In the following games, Everton, Leicester City and Middlesbrough have become the ghosts of Tottenham Hotspur, increasing their winning streak to seven games, and surpassing Manchester United with an unbeaten record of seven wins and three draws, and the same unbeaten Arsenal in the league leader's position!

Seeing Tottenham quietly return to the top of the table with a wave of consecutive wins, the media and experts who had previously seen the prospect of Tottenham during the three-game draw period suddenly felt a hot pain in their faces. However, for them who have never known what discipline is, these are obviously not a big deal, and it is their main task to quickly turn the wind around and praise the Tottenham players and George.

After beating McClaren's Middlesbrough 1-0 at home to extend their winning streak to seven, George and the Tottenham players ushered in the third round of the Carabao Cup. This time, their opponent is the "Hammers" West Ham United, who have just been relegated from the Premier League!