Tottenham Hotspur is already an old rival.

Millwall and Tottenham Hotspur have played each other three times so far this season -

The first was in the league, at Tottenham Hotspur's home turbulence, and Millwall's 4-0 slaughter of Tottenham.

The second time was still the league, the first game of the new year, back to Neil Stadium, and the two teams were tied 5-3.

The third was the English League Cup semi-finals, where the two teams battled at White Hart Lane, and the final match was 2-2.

Millwall and Tottenham Hotspur played three games, with a total of 16 goals scored, with an average of 5.4 goals per game, which shows how fierce and gorgeous the two sides are.

After three games, Millwall won two and drew one, occupying an absolute advantage, but some media analyzed the game and believed that the gap between the two teams was narrowing, and Tottenham was catching up little by little.

This may be due to Millwall's injury factor.

Whatever the reason, Tottenham's performance against Millwall is improving, drawing in the last leg and hoping to beat Millwall in this leg and reach the League Cup final.

For Tottenham Hotspur, the Carabao Cup is undoubtedly very important.

Tottenham Hotspur is currently seventh in the league, and if they want to keep their rankings, they will have to rely on their subsequent performances, and they will have to compete with Arsenal, Everton, Bolton and other opponents to win the top six, and whether they can get a place in Europe next season is full of uncertainty.

The English League Cup is the way out.

A win over Millwall and a run to the Carabao Cup final will almost certainly secure a European place against Chelsea.

Although the semi-finals are not over, but Chelsea met the opponent of the fourth division of Wycombe, Wycombe rushed all the way to the semi-finals of the League Cup, and met Chelsea must have broken wings, the first leg of the two sides, Chelsea played a 4-0, which team enters the final, naturally there is no need to discuss.

Chelsea are not as strong as the previous two seasons, but they are also firmly third in the league and are almost certain to qualify for the Champions League, and according to the rules for English teams to enter Europe, the other team that reaches the final will certainly qualify for next season's UEFA Cup.

That's why Tottenham Hotspur are desperate to beat Millwall.

It only takes one game for them to qualify for Europe, otherwise they will need to work hard in the league and whether they can qualify for Europe will depend on their performance in the second half of the season.

Which is easier to see at a glance.

Tottenham Hotspur are looking to beat Millwall and they have some confidence because they drew with Millwall in the last leg and they also felt that Millwall were not as strong as they were at the beginning of the season.

When the whole team was confident, Tottenham Hotspur couldn't resist firing at Millwall.

'I don't want to be seen as arrogant and I don't want to be called disrespectful, but our goal is to reach the Carabao Cup final! Tottenham Hotspur striker Dimitar Berbatov said in an interview: "It makes a lot of sense for us, but Millwall is different, they are top of the league and maybe they can't qualify for the UEFA Cup. The game means different things to both sides and we have to win. ”

England international Ledley King, a key defender at Tottenham Hotspur, also said: "The last leg was 2-2 and the score was in their favour, but I believe in the end it will be us who will win because the game is more important to us!" ”

Jenas: "Millwall are strong, but we're not bad either. We need to be careful, just keep going and I'm sure we'll be in the final!" ”

South Korean defender Lee Young-pyo: "Millwall are in good form in the league, they need to focus on the league and the Champions League, but they can't stick to the multi-front, I believe the Carabao Cup is more beneficial to us because we can focus on the Carabao Cup. ”

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In the face of the provocation of the Tottenham Hotspur players, Zhang Yang smiled heartily, "I have heard a very philosophical saying: the more you emphasize something, the more you care about what you care about, and the more you lack something." This sentence makes a lot of sense, for example, if you have very little property and feel a little inferior, you may like to act very rich outside. For example, if you are dissatisfied with your figure, you will definitely pay attention to the news in this regard, maybe others are just joking, and you will feel that you are being ridiculed. ”

"So...... You should get the idea. ”

After the flamboyant reply was reported, the Tottenham Hotspur players suddenly died down, they felt depressed to death, this is the rhythm of not letting people speak!

They were collectively expressing their confidence, and the other party came to say: You always talk about victory because you are not confident. If they go on to say 'victory,' don't they tell everyone that they don't have confidence in victory?

That feeling of suffocation is so uncomfortable!

Tottenham Hotspur finally knew why the media said that Millwall's young coach was 'sharp-tongued', and the guys who could engage in public war of words with Ferguson and Mourinho were really very remarkable in terms of speech, and the fighting spirit they had accumulated seemed to be lost all of a sudden.

Then both sides fell silent.

Zhang Yang is reluctant to deal with the words provoked by Tottenham Hotspur players, the manager and the players are not equal, if the opposing coach Joel stands up, he may still be interested in saying a few words, even if the ordinary players are forgotten, it is meaningless to win.

Zhang Yang also didn't want to see the players come forward, which would distract the team's preparation energy.

Millwall has a lot of preparation to do.

Darren Bent has just recovered from injury and is still a bit of a shaky form, Zhang Yang does not plan to start him, but continues to be on the bench, Braniff is working on his ability, and he has also started several games in a row, and he does not plan to send the Irishman either.

Quaresma also recovered from injury, but only returned to training with a lot of uncertainty in his performance.

Again, of course, a bench.

All three players are quite good, but they are a little uncertain in their form, and Zhang Yang does not want to use them in the game.

The starters will certainly be the players who can guarantee the form - Morris, Vardy, plus Pire, who has rested for two rounds, and Simpson on the right.

Simpson recovered earlier than Darren Bent.

Although Simpson's state is also a little uncertain, his free-kick skills are enough to help the team.

After some consideration, Zhang Yang added a name to the forward line - Kosti Weston.

Jamie Vardy, plus Weston, is a two-striker combination, and the rest of the midfielders, plus David Livermore, Millwall are back in a 442 formation.

Tottenham Hotspur's style is similar to Arsenal, the style is three points: fast, flying on both wings, plus high point prominence, fast refers to the rhythm of attack, flying on both wings Needless to say, Tottenham is good at playing fast from the wings, and I highlight the high point is the forward line, good at grabbing high balls to seek goals.

Tottenham's two strikers, Defoe and Berbatov, are quite efficient, and with the addition of players such as Janus, Keane and Lennon, midfielders are enough to break through any defence.

Based on many attacking players, Tottenham can play flashy, good-looking football, and at the same time can beat opponents to win, in the Premier League, there are not many teams that rely on attacking football style to play good results, and Tottenham's results are not much worse than that of arch-rivals Arsenal, which is enough to prove Tottenham's success in attacking football.

The three games Millwall and Tottenham Hotspur played against each other using 'dual-core' tactics, but in fact, the attack was not the best choice, and Zhang Yang just didn't want to change his tactics rashly.

It's time to be cautious.

Millwall was affected by injuries, the strength of the squad fell a lot, and then went to the bloody attack, the chance of beating the opponent was much smaller, accidents became very easy, there was no regret medicine to take in the cup, a defeat was eliminated, and victory must be fought for.

Zhang Yang's countermeasure is to return to the 442 formation, stabilize the defense and play a quick counterattack.

Millwall hasn't used defense to counterattack for a long time, and the media and fans have the impression that they have become an 'offensive-oriented' team, but in fact, defensive counterattack is Millwall's old job, and last season played a whole season, which is to use pestering defense and counterattacks to deal with strong opponents.

Millwall's league title is also based on defensive counter-attacking tactics.

Before the second leg of the semi-finals, after Millwall had finished training, Zhang Yang gathered all the players and said to them solemnly, "I hope you haven't forgotten how to fight on the counter-attack!" ”