Chapter 053: Sinking
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"me, what kind of medicine did these guys take at halftime?" a stop-and-go change of direction dodged Carrick's pressing, and before Joe Cole could breathe a sigh of relief, he was entangled by Kompany who followed him, "After a fifteen-minute break, how did they suddenly become so vigorous?"
Joe Cole's doubts are on the minds of all Chelsea players at the moment. After the start of the second half, www.biquge.info Chelsea players had intended to continue playing Tottenham's counter-attack, as manager Claudio Ranieri had deployed at half-time. After all, even if Tottenham were to claw back a point before half-time, Chelsea would still be on the leading side. Not to mention, after an impressive half-time break in the hosts' dressing room in poor conditions, the Tottenham players were more or less frustrated in their hearts and needed to vent in the second half.
So, shrinking the defence to lure the Spurs players into pressing and then slamming the opponent's counter-attack as they did at the start of the first half was obviously a reasonable choice.
However, after the start of the second half, the development of the game was really unexpected by the Chelsea players - Tottenham did press the attack as they expected, and the backfield did expose a large area of space for quick counter-attacks, but the Chelsea players were depressed to find that they could not organise enough threatening counter-attacks!
Attacking! Attacking! Attacking! Tottenham players continued the offensive momentum in the second half of the first half, and everyone would divide the ball into two wings as soon as they got the ball, allowing Heinze, Karl, and Bierovka to attack. And when Bierovka was surrounded by Chelsea players on the flanks, Carrick was there to show up around them in time to help them out of trouble with the most concise passing combination, so that Tottenham's attack could continue!
And when Tottenham's attack is lost or the ball is unfortunately tackled by Chelsea players, including Bierovka, who dislikes defense the most, everyone will fight back on the spot at the first time, trap the ball carrier, and block the opponent's passing route, so that Chelsea cannot launch a counterattack smoothly. Once they are surrounded by them in front, the Tottenham players will immediately go one step further and launch an attack directly on the spot to attack the Chelsea door!
From a central team commander to a full-fledged midfielder, on the surface, Carrick's status in the Tottenham squad seems to have declined, even worse than when West Ham gave Joe Cole a midfield second-in-command, but in fact, all discerning people can see that Carrick is the most indispensable one in George's tactical system. Without his right response and timely use of passes to control and adjust the tempo and direction of Tottenham's attack, it would have been difficult for Tottenham to maintain such a vigorous attack for so long after the start of the second half, forcing Chelsea to launch a counterattack at all!
And now, Andy Gray and Lineker, who are sitting in the live broadcast room, obviously belong to the category of "clear-eyed people": "I really didn't expect that Carrick, a player, still has such potential." If he still has some shadows of a classical midfielder in the previous games, then the Carrick we saw tonight is undoubtedly showing us the future development direction of a modern organizational midfielder!"
"Yes, with traditional playmakers such as Zinedine Zidane and Rui Costa, they have been running around them as well, but there's no denying that if you want to get the most out of them, the whole team has to be closely around them. Carrick tonight, on the other hand, integrated himself into the whole team, using his runs and passing to make the team's attack smoother, rather than letting the team revolve around him alone!"
From this point of view, it is clear that Joe Cole has now been left behind by his former henchman. For example, in Chelsea's failed counter-attack, Cole stood and waited for his team-mates to pass the ball to him until the ball reached his feet, rather than actively leaning in to form a connection......
However, this style of play can be a serious test of Carrick's fitness. Lineker, a pro-turned-player, quickly spotted a drawback to this style of play, "If Carrick were to play at this intensity every game, it would definitely put a considerable strain on his body...... In the long run, I fear that before Carrick reaches the peak of his career, he will die prematurely due to exhaustion. ”
"Gary [Lineker], are you worried a little too much?" Seeing a rare oversight on the part of his commentary partner, Andy Gray said with a laugh, "Don't forget, Tottenham don't have more than one playmaker in the team. Basturk and Jamie Redknapp are also the best in this position!"
"yes, how did I forget about the two of them!" Lineker was also a little embarrassed to hear Andy Gray's reminder, "If they rotate with Carrick, then Tottenham don't have to worry about Carrick's physical health." ”
"......" For Lineker, who frequently slipped the tongue tonight, Andy Gray didn't want to say anything more.
Andy Gray and Lineker's commentary, Carrick, who was fighting on the field, and Basturk, who was waiting for George's dispatch on the bench, were naturally impossible to hear, but their words were recuperated at home, and Redknapp Jr., who was watching the live broadcast, listened to it clearly, and suddenly made Little Ray feel quite speechless and dissatisfied - since when did he, who was once the pride of English football, still rank behind Carrick and Basturk, the two juniors in the order of appearance?!
While Andy Gray and Lineker were assessing the changes and impacts that Carrick's changes had on Tottenham, the stands at Stamford Bridge suddenly began to clamour. But less than a minute, the stands suddenly fell silent again, with thousands of fans in Tottenham shirts cheering and celebrating in a corner of the stands!
Obviously, after almost 20 minutes of attacking, Tottenham finally cracked Chelsea's turtle shell - in the 63rd minute, Joe Cole was caught by Kompany and Speed and lost the ball at his feet, Tottenham launched an attack on the spot, and Stephen Carr's 45-degree cross was cleared by Terry in the box!
However, the ball pushed by Terry was picked up by Carrick, who had just arrived on the edge of the box, who adjusted slightly, and without waiting for Makelle to make up for the defense, he directly shot a cold arrow from 25 meters away from the goal!
The ball that was hit by Carrick whizzed close to the turf and flew towards the Chelsea goal, dodging Terry's flying interception and Cudicini's hard save on the way, and then plunged headlong into the gate behind Cudicini, 2-2!
Seeing that his two-goal lead was gone, the change in the situation on the pitch naturally caused Ranieri to panic. After a battle between heaven and man, the tinkerer who was worried that taking the initiative would bring more pressure to the team's defense, finally gave instructions to defend the counterattack, and at the same time instructed Makelele and others to pay attention to protecting the back line and the front of the penalty area, and not to give Carrick and others the opportunity to easily get up and shoot from a distance.
Looking at Tottenham Hotspur, after Carrick scored the equalizer, George did not make the decision to slow down the team's offensive or return to defensive counterattacks, but waved his hand and ordered the team to continue attacking in the following time!
George knew in his heart that if this approach was not taken to allow the team to suppress Chelsea in the game, and force Ranieri, who was worried about the team's defensive problems, to make the decision to let the Blues continue to focus on defensive counter-attacking tactics, then when the defensive pressure was greatly reduced, the Blues could soon play to their overall strength and regain the initiative in the game!
To put it bluntly, George is now betting that Ranieri will not dare to go head-to-head with Tottenham in this game. In other words, they did not dare to compete with Tottenham for control of the midfield at the expense of a part of the team's defense. If Chelsea really dare to do this, and then replace the aging Desailly with Galla and strengthen the defensive mobility, Tottenham will be really difficult to play.
Although it can't be said that there is anything wrong with the choice of tinkerer, after all, in the face of Tottenham, which is almost entirely dependent on local counter-attacks and front-court pressing to ensure that the defense does not have problems, most managers will take the same approach as Ranieri, but this time, Ranieri's conservative approach did not bring Chelsea the points and wins they need!
Especially when Drogba assisted Robbie Keane in the 81st minute of the game and scored the goal that helped Tottenham overtake the score, Ranieri also knew in his heart that this game was over!
In the end, after 90 minutes of hard fighting, Tottenham Hotspur, who were playing away, fought back from a two-goal deficit and scored three goals in the remaining time to win the victory, giving Chelsea their first defeat of the new season and ending their own three-game winless streak!
In this way, in the sound of shattered glasses, the "Tottenham Hotspur" Nelson-class battleship sank the heavily built "Chersky" at Stamford Bridge, handing over a jaw-dropping report card for its first big test!