Football King Bale

Tottenham, who were tied by the relegation team, had no time to suffer. On the second day of the game, they united as a team and headed north to Manchester to prepare for the first leg of the League Cup semi-finals on the night of the 19th.

The reason why Tottenham went north to Manchester three days in advance was because the club had already negotiated with Manchester United to borrow the venue at Manchester United's Carrington training base before the game.

Although Tottenham eliminated Manchester United in the quarter-finals, this will not affect the relationship between Tottenham and Manchester United, as well as the friendship between Ferguson and Lao Lei. In addition, Tottenham's semi-final opponent is Manchester United's rivals in the same city, they naturally don't mind helping Tottenham.

Two days of training at the Carrington base made Tottenham players feel the gap between their own training base and Manchester United. This comprehensive training center covering an area of ​​nearly 30 hectares is definitely the top training center in the world.

Although all of Manchester United's echelons also train in this training center, Tottenham players have little interaction with them because the training area leased by Manchester United to Tottenham is relatively independent and separated from Manchester United's echelon training area by buildings and green belts. There will be no impact on each other.

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After two days of training, Tottenham also ushered in the first leg of the League Cup semi-finals.

This is the second meeting between Tottenham and Manchester City after a month. Although the time is not far apart, the Manchester City team in front of them has changed a lot.

Of course, the biggest change is that the head coach of Manchester City has been replaced!

The Italian's record after taking over Manchester City is still good. The record in the four league games is three wins and one loss, namely a 2:0 home win over Potters Stoke City, a 3:0 away win over Wolves, and a 4:1 home win against Blackburn Rovers. , and lost to Toffees Everton 0:2 away from home. In addition, they also defeated Middlesbrough 1:0 away in the FA Cup.

Because this is the first time Manchester City has entered the domestic cup semi-finals since 1981, it only needs to win two games to advance to the League Cup final. Manchester City attaches great importance to this game. However, due to many reasons, many players on Mancini's hands were unable to play.

The first is Paraguay forward Roque Santa Cruz, who suffered a recurrence of his leg injury shortly after the start of the last round of the league. The possibility of new aid Patrick Vieira playing was also denied by the head coach.

Defenders Wayne Richards, Joleon Lescott and Nedum Onuoha are all injured. Midfielder Michael Johnson has already been retired for the season, and last season's best player Stephen Erland may not be able to start. The Irish can at most start this game from the bench.

The other two players who are unable to participate are Emmanuel Adebayor and defender Kolo Toure, who temporarily left England due to the African Cup of Nations.

Tottenham's side is Lao Lei's favorite 442 formation recently, with goalkeeper No. 1 Gomez, the four backs are Basson, Dawson, Ledley King and Joel Luca, and the young left back Danny Rose. The performance in the previous two Premier League games was poor and he did not get a chance to start today. The midfield four are positioned in a diamond shape, with Palacios trailing behind, Modric moving forward, and Bale and Lennon separated on the left and right. The double forward is a combination of Crouch and Defoe. Robbie Keane is not included in the roster at all. It is said that he is already contacting the team, seeking a transfer or a loan.

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Because Tottenham was tied with Hull City in the last game, Bell did not get the chance to draw. Bell only has 11 experience cards left in his hand, including 3 experience cards of Ronaldo and two experience cards of Gerrard. In addition, there is one experience card each for David James, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Scholes, Drogba, Pires and Rooney.

In this game, except for the fact that the experience cards of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gerrard must continue to be retained, Bell did not have many choices. It was not until before the start of the game that Bell finally decided to use Pires' experience card.

The former Arsenal midfielder is a versatile player who can play any position in the midfield or frontcourt, but the best one is the left winger, which is more suitable for Bell's position in this field.

As a direct comparison of the two top Premier League players at the same time, Pires is no worse than Giggs in terms of overall ability. Giggs is known for his lightning speed, excellent dribbling and flexibility, but he is not as good at passing and shooting. Not great. Pires is different. His dribbling is not inferior to Giggs, but his speed is not that good and his flexibility is slightly less, but he has obvious advantages in passing and shooting.

Because the only other experience cards left in the midfield were Scholes and Gerrard, Bell did not redeem the two-star experience card.

After the game started, both sides played very actively, but in the end Tottenham scored first.

In the 17th minute of the game, Tottenham's midfield commander Modric passed a diagonal pass from the right. Lennon passed Bellamy and passed the ball. Defoe grabbed the front point, but his shot deflected after hitting Given. Bell, who came in at high speed, hit the ball into the empty goal from close range.

1:0, Tottenham took the lead in the away game.

Subsequently, the game entered a stalemate stage, with both sides attacking and defending each other, but neither was able to change the score.

However, when the first half of the game was coming to an end, Manchester City launched a counterattack and equalized the score in the 44th minute of the game.

At that time, Manchester City formed a breakthrough on the right side of Tottenham. Bellamy passed Cioluka near the penalty area. The Croatian chose to bring Bellamy to the ground in desperation. The referee on duty awarded a penalty kick to the home team Manchester City while showing Joel Luca a yellow card.

Seeing that the first half of the game was about to end, the team was awarded a penalty kick, which made Tottenham players very dissatisfied. Team goalkeeper Gomez even spoke rudely to the referee and was also issued a topaz card.

After some tossing, the referee suppressed the emotional Tottenham players and asked Manchester City to take the penalty kick.

Tevez's penalty kick was converted overnight, and Manchester City equalized the score at the end of the first half. The Argentinian celebrated wildly after scoring.

Soon, the first half of the game was over, and the two sides returned to the locker room.

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Lao Lei was quite satisfied with the first half of the game, so during the halftime break, he did not make any adjustments to the team's lineup, but only made some tactical requirements.

Manchester City also did not make personnel adjustments, and Mancini seemed very calm on the coaching bench.

In the cheers of nearly 50,000 home team fans at Manchester City Stadium, Manchester City quickly gained an advantage and took the lead in the 65th minute of the game.

At that time, Manchester City intercepted Tottenham's pass in the midfield and formed a quick counterattack, but Gomez chose to take the initiative, get ahead of Tevez, and hit the ball to the right with both fists.

Zabaleta, who came in at high speed, grabbed the ball's landing point and pushed the ball to the right side of the penalty area.

Kompany, who was moved to midfield by Mancini, appeared on the spot where Zabaleta's pass landed and kicked the ball to the left side of the penalty area.

In a battle of speed, Basson lost to Tevez. The Argentine beast got ahead of Basson and headed the ball into Tottenham's goal.

2:1!

Tevez's brace helped Manchester City reverse the score!

At that moment, the atmosphere at Manchester City Stadium almost exploded. Nearly 50,000 Blue Moon fans cheered loudly, as if their team had entered the finals or even won the championship.

Manchester City has not won an important championship for too long. The last time they won an important championship was the FA Cup in 1969 and the League Cup in 1976.

As for the subsequent English League One (third-tier league) championships won in 1999 and the English Championship championship won in 2002, they are not so much honors as they are the record of the team's decline.

As an important force that has been fighting in England's top league for a long time, it actually won the secondary league championship and the third-tier league championship. What does this mean?

Now, they have finally reached the semi-finals of the League Cup. As long as they defeat Tottenham, winning the championship will be a high probability. Because the other two teams competing for a place in the final, whether Blackburn or Villa, have a clear gap in strength compared to Manchester City.