There is not much spring in London in March, and the temperature during the day is still very low, but fortunately there was no rain on March 1st, which is a suitable weather for the competition.

Before daylight saving time arrived, the time difference between England and China was still eight hours.

Therefore, the English League Cup final, which started at 4 p.m. in London, was broadcast live at exactly 0:00 in China.

This time to watch the game is barely friendly to the fans of Huaguo.

The copyrighted live broadcast platforms also started publicity early.

PPTV is even more directly engaged in a live broadcast gimmick.

Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu teamed up to broadcast live, and General Fan temporarily acted as a live reporter, preparing to interview Li Ang before and after the game.

This naturally attracted the vast majority of Chinese fans to choose to watch the live broadcast of PPTV's game that night.

The FA and Chelsea officials would not turn down such an opportunity.

After coordinating the timing, Fan first chatted awkwardly with the FA officials and Chelsea's global business development officer.

Later, Li Ang, who had completed the warm-up some time earlier, appeared in the live broadcast camera.

General Fan and Li Ang have not been seen in China in recent years, and they are relatively familiar with each other, so after smiling and hugging and saying hello, the two went straight to the topic of the interview.

"Do you have the confidence to win this crucial battle today? As soon as I arrived in London, I felt the enthusiasm of the Chelsea fans. ”

"Of course there is confidence! I've never lost against Tottenham when I transferred, they give me the feeling that they were like Atletico Madrid back then, very strong, but against our team, they just can't win~"

Li Ang started a group when he came up, not only opened Tottenham, but also opened Atletico Madrid, and this answer made Lao Fan secretly smack his tongue.

"Good... It's good to have this confidence, we just got the starting eleven of the two teams today, Tottenham are the main players, you haven't faced this situation before.

So I'm here to take the liberty of asking, do the Chelsea coaching staff have anything to do about it? ”

Lao Fan can be regarded as asking the questions in the hearts of the vast majority of Chinese fans at this moment.

Chelsea's previous play against Tottenham can be described as a hand-holding, and the league rematch and Tottenham drew with Tottenham, which was also because Chelsea rotated the main team, which originally had the meaning of strategic abandonment.

But now Tottenham's main players have returned from injury, and they are currently on three consecutive wins in the league, and their form is just right.

Fans in China are of course more confident that Chelsea will win, but after all, this Tottenham team is very different from before, and they are still a little worried that the Chelsea coaching staff is not well prepared.

Li Ang touched the back of his head at this time, and gave an affirmative answer with a smile.

'Tactically, the fans don't have to worry, our coaching staff is very well prepared and if it doesn't go well today, it's probably because of the players on the pitch.

Of course, it's rare and I think my team-mates and I can continue to press Tottenham, we have the confidence and confidence that we can do so! ”

Seeing that Li Ang set up the flag again, Lao Fan was afraid that he would say something like victory later, and after blessing him, he decisively ended the pre-game interview.

However, Li Ang's abundant confidence is still fully felt by domestic fans.

This can't help but make them curious, wanting to quickly understand what kind of tactical play Mourinho has prepared today, so that Leon can continue to control Tottenham.

Fortunately, the waiting time was not long, and after another ten minutes, the players of the two teams followed the footsteps of the referee team and stepped onto the court to begin the pre-match team ceremony.

Chelsea and Tottenham were both in the main force today, so the pitch was star-studded for a while.

Even compared to last season's clash between Chelsea and Manchester City, Chelsea's opponents in today's final were a little less impressive.

But it's better than the quality of most of the EFL Cup finals.

In the past two seasons, it has been a strong conversation between the top teams in the Premier League, and it is better to attract fans than teams like Villa and Birmingham.

There is no need to question the excitement of the game, after all, it is a London derby, Tottenham are hungry for trophies, no matter how you look at it, they will go all out to fight Chelsea to the end.

After the pre-match ceremony, the big battle was about to begin, and Pochettino paced to the sidelines, looking at the pitch with a serious face.

He really played out his hole cards today!

In order to ensure the stability of the midfield defence, he directly sent Dembele Gadell's double midfield combination.

His favorite playmaker, Ryan Mason, was on the bench today.

This is at odds with Pochettino's own coaching philosophy, but there is no way around it, as the lessons learned from his previous game against Chelsea have left him to compromise with reality.

can't withstand the impact of Li Ang's back-insertion, so it's just empty words to say that he won the game.

Pochettino also figured it out, the final battle of the cup, then you have to be conservative, if you don't do well on the defensive end, you can't win the championship even if you play out.

So today he also has to learn a little Mourinho, first tighten his own fence, do a good job of defense and then try to attack!

Every time Manchester City were tortured by Chelsea until the end of the game, there was no good way to break the tie, and that was because they did not have a strong centre-forward to support them tactically.

Tottenham don't have this squad flaw.

Kane may not be the match for a few big headers in Chelsea's backline, but his ability to get to the heart of Chelsea is still very good.

It's really not good, and finally letting Fazio go up as a tactical fulcrum can also have a tactical miracle.

In short, there is no shortage of offensive means Tottenham, and any offensive style of play can be brought out, the key is to see whether today's midfield defense is hard or not.

Pochettino was also psychologically shadowed by Leon's play.

It wasn't until the referee blew the whistle for the official start of the game that he was able to recover from his previous encounters with Chelsea.

The huge Wembley Stadium erupted in excited cheers from the fans of both teams.

And at this moment, Li Ang, who had already received a return pass from his teammates, also began his routine full-court observation.

He was joined today by midfield teammates Kroos and Nemanja Matic, while their opponents were Christian Eriksen, Dembele and Dier.

Eriksen's pressing force was simply ignored.

After seeing that Dembele did not actively grab it, but chose to stand up first, Leon had a plan in his heart.

Several of Tottenham's attacking players up front are still working pressing.

After all, they are all young, full of energy, and there are no big names in football, Pochettino can command everything.

But there are still some slight problems with their pressing system.

Or that when the two midfielders prioritise their position rather than assisting them in the scramble, their pressing level is almost non-existent.

The first few attacking players grabbed a round, were easily defused by the Chelsea midfielder, and then repeated another round...

This kind of pressing can only be said to have delayed the progress of Chelsea's offensive for a while, and in fact it has not done much.

When it comes to the game, it's a strong sense of separation.

Leon could see Pochettino's concerns and his tactical ideas.

He couldn't help but smile secretly in his heart.

"Sure enough, it's still a fat guy who has just arrived at Tottenham, why do you still have illusions? It's too ...... tactical."

Leon didn't feel underestimated, after all, Pochettino didn't go deep into Chelsea's tactical construction, and he naturally didn't understand the power of Chelsea's ball control and transmission at the back.

Pep Guardiola understands this best, so he took the lead in making the change.

Pochettino has also made a tactical change now, but not enough, or rather, he hasn't been beaten badly enough by Chelsea and still doesn't know Chelsea well enough.

Controlling the tempo at the back and slipping the Tottenham attacking players into a bit dizzy, Leon launched the first attacking attempt of the game.

His sudden forward run was like an offensive signal.

Kroira held the ball and quickly knocked it back into the middle, and Leon led the ball to accelerate past Eriksen, who was trying to interfere with him, and went all the way to the halfway line.

Dembele took the lead to meet him, but he didn't grab it easily, and he cleverly maintained the distance between him and Leon, compressing Leon's forward space.

His defensive style is completely different from the stunned boy Bentaleb that Leon met before.

He was in charge of the grab, but he was not reckless, and there was Deer behind him, so it was no wonder that Pochettino expressed confidence in today's final before the game.

Such a two-back combination is indeed quite impressive, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the defensive strength ranks in the top three in the entire Premier League.

However, Dembele had a twist, and Leon had no intention of attacking their midfield defence.

Chelsea's ability to plug in from the middle is truly the best in the Premier League, and indeed in Europe.

But beyond that, Chelsea are also adept at playing attacking tactics with wings flying together.

Leon can be the best midfielder in active football, but he can also be one of the top playmakers in Europe.

Perhaps it was Kroos who has taken on the vast majority of Chelsea's playmaking midfield responsibilities this season.

So let many fans subconsciously forget that Leon single-handedly supported Chelsea's attacking system last season.

So at this time, Leon stepped forward to the halfway line, but simply split the ball to Hazard and De Bruyne to deliver attacking shells to them.

Many fans felt that this scene was a little unfamiliar.

But in fact, that's what Leon did most often last season.

And when Kroos stepped in to help Leon control the tempo of midfield and get involved in the ball distribution task, Chelsea's flanks opened up quickly.

So much so that Danny Ross and Kyle Walker, who subconsciously took the premise position at the beginning of the game and wanted to participate in the offense, had to retreat and defend honestly at this time.

Without the two full-backs to advance with the ball, Tottenham's attacking efficiency on both flanks would be greatly reduced.

Chelsea can also be regarded as attacking instead of defending, using their own strong ways to suppress Tottenham's strong ways.

And Dembele and Dier, who are still stuck in the middle at the moment, have become the most embarrassing Tottenham players on the field.

Pull the side to assist his teammates in defending, who will be staring at Leon in the middle?

But if you don't pull the side, the fullbacks on both sides will be unable to withstand the mistakes.

Once the defense on this side is torn apart, is it really not a threat to Ibrahimovic in the Tottenham penalty area at this time?

Pochettino also had a headache watching the sudden change in the situation of the game.

Mourinho, who was not far from him, calmly took a sip of water at this time, and then continued to discuss with Holland about the defensive weaknesses exposed by Tottenham on the field.

To put it bluntly, attacking where it must be saved, at this time, as long as Tottenham's tactical layout is disrupted, it will be a mess, a mess everywhere!

Chelsea have the quality to force the break down from the flanks or from the middle.

But Tottenham don't have the ability to fill both holes at the same time.

In terms of defensive system, Tottenham are too far behind Chelsea.

Jose Mourinho gave the order, and Chelsea wings Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne could both return to their own defensive third at the same time.

And this kind of defense is systematic, and it will not affect the performance of Bertrand and Azpilicueta.

Tottenham can't do that.

Kyle Walker is very capable, but to be honest, he can't withstand Hazard's repeated one-on-one onslaught.

At this time, if Pochettino wants to pull the back to help defend the wing, then Li Ang, who is on the middle line, will have to move.

This is a sharp blade hanging over the heads of all the Tottenham players, and it will fall at any time, give them a hard stab!

Pochettino hesitated, but he eventually opted for a hard-top Chelsea wide attack, and in his mind Leon was the biggest threat.

The lesser of two evils.

At this time, Chelsea attacked on the wing, and Tottenham's defenders were a little more uncomfortable, but they could withstand it.

But to make Leon active, it's not just a matter of being uncomfortable defensively.

Most of the season's cup efforts will probably be lost in this game!

Pochettino feels he has done nothing wrong and he feels his players can understand this tactical play.

But in fact, the Tottenham defenders on the pitch at the moment did not understand their manager's delay in tactical adjustment.

The backline is about to be pierced, and you don't let the back help to return to the defense?

It's really like Eden Hazard and De Bruyne are vegetarians!

Kyle Walker is completely bitter at this moment.

He really tried his best to defend, but in the face of Hazard in peak condition, he really couldn't stand it!

In the 21st minute of the first half, Hazard once again picked up the ball and headed along the left touchline.

In the face of Kyle Walker's cautious retreat, Hazard suddenly broke out after a little dribbling and accelerated to the bottom!

Kyle Walker quickly turned to chase back, but Hazard stopped and slammed the ball after he lost his defensive position, and cut inside into the Tottenham penalty area!

Fazio and Vertonghen's first instinct at this point was not to intercept Eden Hazard or keep an eye on Ibrahimovic.

Instead, look outside the penalty area to see if Leon is plugged in at the same time.

This is also the defensive point that Pochettino told him before the game.

But at this moment, the two looked and found that Leon was still honestly standing at the top of the middle circle of Tottenham's half.

Hazard saw that Zio did not press up at the first time, and he was overjoyed, and after a slight adjustment, he directly hit a far-corner shot!

The moment Lloris saw Hazard get up, he secretly said in his heart that it was not good!

He slammed hard to make a save, but his slightly awkward reach became his fatal flaw at this moment!

Hazard's shot was shot at a very awkward angle and the ball speed was not slow, Lloris stretched his fingertips desperately, but in the end he still couldn't touch the football!

When the football spun and plunged into the net in the top right corner of the Tottenham goal, the whole Wembley Stadium also vibrated and clamoured!

Leon stood on the midline and grinned.

He high-fived and hugged Kroos and the little pony who rushed over, and then the three of them ran to the front court together to join in the celebration.

Pochettilo stood on the sidelines, his whole body messy.

Mourinho calmly completed the applause celebration at this time, then looked at Bo Fat and shook his head.

In terms of tactical games, Pochettino still needs to further his education...

The sword, when it is not unsheathed, is the greatest deterrent!

(End of chapter)