Witnessing the Reds' tragic dismantling by Tottenham at White Hart Lane, Liverpool fans are in a rather desperate mood at this time, and their dissatisfaction with Benitez is also growing day by day. You must know that during the years when Houllier was in charge of the Reds, although Liverpool was also suppressed by the rival Manchester United, the team was in the ranks of the championship group on the league battlefield most of the time, and in 2001, it won the Champions Cup and all the championship trophies that could be won outside the league, and won the title of five crowns!

Therefore, don't look at the late period of Houllier's coaching, Liverpool fans criticized the French coach, thinking that he was not capable enough to lead the Reds to the real peak, but when Houllier really resigned as Liverpool manager, there were still many Liverpool fans who felt quite reluctant about it, thinking that the club had made a wrong decision.

Especially after Benitez took office, the Reds completely fell out of the first group of the Premier League, and missed the Champions League for two consecutive seasons, more and more fans began to question the Spanish coach's coaching ability, thinking that Benitez's success in Valencia was just good luck, and the real level was actually not as good as Houllier!

What made them even more desperate was that Tottenham still easily defeated Liverpool without sending the strongest squad - because most of the players were called up by the national team, George carried out a large-scale rotation of the starting lineup according to the report given by the Tottenham laboratory, and put those players who did not have the task of playing with the national team and had less physical wear and tear into the game list, and even the front trident was replaced by a combination of Arshavin, Lennon and Larsson!

On the other hand, Liverpool, Benitez not only did enough preparation before the game, but also sent all the main players in this game. However, in the face of such a Tottenham team, Liverpool, who played with all the main players, failed to gain the upper hand in the game, and was beaten by the home team that retained its strength. How does such a result not make Liverpool fans with high self-esteem feel dissatisfied and hopeless?

What caused Liverpool's results to plummet in the past two years? Obviously, we have no shortage of well-known stars, and no English club can compare with each other, why is it not as good as Manchester United and Arsenal, and now even Chelsea and Tottenham have overtaken us? This is a key question that all Liverpool fans are seriously thinking about after calming down!

While Rafael Benitez was struggling to retain his position, Tottenham faced the first round of the 2005/06 Champions League group stage four days after beating Liverpool. Tottenham's opponent in the first round of the group stage is Udinese, the fourth winner of Serie A last season, led by "Farmer Coach" Kosmi!

After seven years, Udinese stepped on the stage of the Champions Cup again, but instead of adding reinforcements in the summer transfer market like other mid-table clubs that reached the Champions League, they sold the main left-back Jankulovski and the core of the organization David Pizarro to the Milan duo, and the defender Kroldrup was also sold to Fiorentina, and only signed the French veteran Candela from Roma on a free basis. This move by the Udinese hierarchy, coupled with the transfer of Spalletti, the meritorious coach who led the team to fourth place in the league, to Roma in the summer, led to a sharp decline in the strength of the "Black Rooster"!

Although Udinese's strength has declined, George has not let his guard down. You must know that although Serie A clubs basically don't care much about European results except for the top three in the north, before the phonegate incident, their strength is still quite strong, and if they are not careful, they are likely to capsize in the gutter. Therefore, for this match against Udinese, George paid enough attention to it, even at the expense of hiding a large number of main players in the league against Liverpool at the weekend, but also to ensure that the players can show their best form in the Champions Cup in midweek!

George knows that if Tottenham wants to qualify from this group of death, they must not pin their hopes on Johansson's covert help, and it is safest to take the initiative of advancing to the knockout stage into their own hands. Therefore, Tottenham must seize this opportunity to beat Udinese, the weakest side in Group F, and ensure that the three easiest points are in the bag!

Goalkeeper Petr Cech, right-back McConn, centre-backs Ledley King and Nemanja Vidic, left-back Patrice Evra, midfielder Mascherano, Davies and Mendieta, and the front trident of Arjen Robben, Cristiano Ronaldo and Drogba Drogba. This is Tottenham's starting eleven in today's game!

Compared with Tottenham's star-studded starting lineup, Udinese's starting lineup is more grassroots - goalkeeper De Sanctis, three central defenders from left to right are Felipe Bello, Sancini and Betoto, the middle of the midfield is Muntari, Pinzi and Obodo three sapper midfielders, the wings are Candela and D. Zenoni, and the forward combination is Di Michele and Iaquinta!

Finally got a chance to show his face in the Champions Cup, and Cosmi still wanted to make a career. Therefore, in the face of Tottenham, the defending champion of the Champions League, he did not announce his surrender in advance, but made careful preparations, intending to let the world see his ability, so as to make a name for himself in European football!

I have to say that although Kosmi's idea is good, his methods are a little rushed. You must know that the Udinese players have become accustomed to playing under Spalletti's tactical system, and Cosmi hastily made changes, such as changing the 3-4-3 formation during Spalletti's period to 3-5-2, which seems to have changed little, but in fact it is very likely to destroy the team's original good chemistry!

Of course, Kosmi did this as a last resort. With the departures of Jorgensen and David Pizarro, Udinese's ability to control midfield has plummeted, forcing Kosmi to address the problem by increasing the number of midfielders. And this change naturally inevitably weakens Udinese's attack power to a certain extent!

As soon as the game began, the Tottenham players, who had been given the right to kick off, took advantage of the home advantage to launch a fierce attack on the door of Udinese. Under the organization of Mendieta and Davies, Tottenham's offensive was surging like a tidal wave, not giving the Udinese players a respite at all!

Slow-paced positional battles are the favourite of most Serie A teams, while they are the least adept at dealing with fast-paced, competitive matches, and Udinese is no exception. Therefore, when George made the pre-match arrangement, the most important point is that he must do everything possible to speed up the pace of the game, and must not give the Udinese players a chance to think and slow down!

Once the pace of the game is brought up by their own side, it will be extremely difficult for Udinese to slow down - although Davies and Mendieta are now only about 70% of their peak skills, but with their strength, it is not a problem to deal with a team like Udinese that has lost its organizational core!

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