Red Rebels

In the visiting team's locker room at City Stadium, Hoddle glanced at the humble locker room and smiled wryly.

"Even the dressing room is like this, we can imagine what the new Manchester United stadium is like!" Hoddle smiled at the players.

This remark immediately caused a burst of laughter from the players.

As the fourth place in the Premier League against a League Two team, they really don't have much pressure, and this is the League Cup semi-final, not the FA Cup, and the two-leg match is a test of strength.

"Okay, guys, we are guests at other people's homes, don't be too disrespectful to the host's family, we should just take it as soon as we see it, I hope to win this game, you know, our goal is to Champions League, so I hope to end this fight in this game, what do you think?"

The sparse answers from the players basically agreed with the coach. No one would be stupid enough to disagree with the coach at such a time.

"Based on what we know about the new Manchester United, this team has a good defense. I think they will be on the defensive and counter-attack first in this game. Their forwards are tall and the right winger is very fast, so pay attention when defending, Christie. Ann, take a good look at him!"

Ziger nodded. Although he felt that his body was not as good as before, and he had more injuries than before, after coming to the Premier League, he still feels very good this season. He has already played 14 games in the league. The second time, he scored 3 goals and was in very good form, which made him full of confidence in this game.

Hoddle's trusted central defender is Ledley King and Chris Perry. The former is a typical English central defender, tall and strong, while the latter is short, only 1.76 meters, but has excellent awareness and ability to intercept and steal. , so that he can be competent as a central defender, he comes from Wimbledon, and his style is very tenacious and fierce.

Every time he sees the young Ledley King, Hoddle thinks of Campbell, who has defected to his mortal enemy. He can't help but look down on those who criticize him. He feels that Campbell's departure is not important because he has Ledley. King, the young man will never let him down.

On the forward line, he used the experienced veteran Sheringham in this game. His partner is also a veteran, Les Ferdinand, now the uncle of England's No. 1 central defender Leo Ferdinand. He is a British center with good physical fitness. .

He believes that these two veterans who have been in the Premier League for many years can bring him a close victory.

"The attack of the new Manchester United is very good in League Two, but I'm sorry, we are a Premier League team, so from the beginning, I will attack aggressively, press the new Manchester United, press them in the half, give them no chance, and then Tell them we're in control of the game!"

"Understood?" Hoddle asked in a serious tone.

The players immediately responded in unison, "Understood!"

"Very good, go on the field and kill them!"

At this moment, Hoddle has unprecedented confidence, this is a game without suspense!

…………

…………

Thirty minutes later, the sky was drizzling, and Hoddle was wrapped in a thick fleece, with a scarf hanging around his neck. It was a Tottenham scarf. It was very warm, but even so, he still felt Chilled all over.

His chill did not come from the cold rain under the sky, nor from the questioning eyes of players on the bench behind him, nor from the scolding of the Tottenham boss somewhere on the pitch, but from the scoreboard on the pitch.

3:0!

Even if he was beaten to death, he would not believe that his team had conceded 3 goals in half an hour!

We are a Premier League team, the fourth-ranked Premier League team. We are going to the UEFA Champions League next season. We were actually scored 3 goals by a League Two team in the first half?

This made Hoddle feel chills all over.

But unfortunately, he could not find a solution to the problem.

His pre-match arrangement was very reasonable. At the beginning of the game, he took the lead in launching the attack and suppressed the new Manchester United's attack, and even God was helping him. His team got the right to serve, so he attacked the new Manchester United from the beginning and controlled the game. .

Sheringham and Les Ferdinand also played hard, especially the latter, who Hoddle believes is enough to destroy the two young centre-backs of the new Manchester United, especially the one who has been praised as a flower by the media. tis.

Didn't he say he was Ferdinand II? I let Ferdinand's uncle teach you a lesson!

But the result?

At the first contact, Les Ferdinand was gently squeezed by Curtis, unable to hold the ball and was directly cut off.

At that time, Curtis's evaluation of Mourinho came into his mind. He was very good and his physical fitness was good, but that was when he was young. Now he is not as good as before, Curtis, try to use your body Suppress him!

After stealing the ball, Curtis found Juninho for the first time. The latter dribbled the ball forward, entered Tottenham's half, and then passed it to Drogba, who was retreating in front. Drogba firmly Squeezing Chris Perry behind him, despite desperately trying to get rid of it, he quickly realized just how strong Drogba was.

Hleb on the right got rid of Ziger and cut inside, Drogba's pass quickly found him, and then he crossed to Malouda on the other side of the goal before Ledley King returned to defense, The latter easily pushed and scored.

Less than 3 minutes into the game, the new Manchester United took the lead in breaking the deadlock on the field!

Then?

Hoddle anxiously pressed the players on the court, and he felt a little scared.

However, the new Manchester United are not afraid of being suppressed. They used the same two very efficient counterattacks. In the same way, they either cut in from the left or from the right, and then cooperated, in the 19th and 26th minutes, respectively, Scored two goals twice in a row, 3:0!

This time Hoddle was completely stunned, and he even wondered if there was something wrong with his tactics.

But no matter how hard he tried, he still couldn't think of a solution to the problem.

Looking back at the bench, he found that the Ukrainian Rybrov, who was introduced with a lot of money this season, as Shevchenko's former teammate, his performance in Ukraine was no worse than Shevchenko's, but after coming to England, His performance was a disaster.

Can you count on him?

Hoddle was hesitant!

Then he took the hesitation into the half-time dressing room, and he roared and scolded his own players, pointing to these bastards who were paid much higher than the new Manchester United players, but did not work hard, he vowed that if this He didn't win the opponent in the game, he must make these players look good.

But the result?

At the beginning of the second half, Mourinho made a decisive substitution, first replacing Malouda with Evra, playing a defensive counterattack with five backs, shrinking back to his own half, and then using Arau Diarra. Replacing the weak Juninho, the three midfielders entangled each other.

Although Hoddle also used Rebrov to replace Les Ferdinand, who had a very tragic performance in the audience, he still could not change the situation on the field, especially when the new Manchester United was shrinking its defense, and Rebrov was in the new Manchester United. There was hardly any room for movement in the half.

As soon as he gets the ball, the opponent's player will come over, cut off his contact with his teammates, and leave him nowhere to pass the ball. In the end, he can only watch the ball get cut off, sometimes violated, and get hacked a few times. foot.

As time passed, Hoddle's face was drawn like a pig's liver. He even suspected that the Portuguese head coach of the new Manchester United had already figured it out, just to start the game and take advantage of his team's carelessness. , win the game first, then play the game.

The problem is, Tottenham is not good at tackling tough battles.

The reason why Tottenham can rank fourth in the Premier League this season is thanks to their defense. In fact, their offense is not very good, but the new Manchester United has cleverly used Chris Perry to blow up Tottenham's two Rib, which makes Hoddle regret.

He should have thought of this before the game, but at that time he was dazed by the team that signed to Le, and felt that no matter how strong it was, it was only a League Two team, and no matter how bad it was, it could be blacker than the black cat Sunderland. ?

Even the black cat was stabbed by Tottenham, let alone a little dark horse from League Two!

But until the game has gone on, Hoddle has deeply felt how stupid his pre-match carelessness was, and he ruined the team's journey in the League Cup in vain. At the same time, he also clearly knew that Mourinho's team A good lesson for him.

3:0, according to the situation of the new Manchester United defending in the second half, if you want to score 4 goals at the White Hart Lane Stadium, and at the same time ensure that you will not be counterattacked by the new Manchester United, this will be bad for Tottenham Hotspur, who has poor attacking power. It is undoubtedly a very difficult thing.

When the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, Hoddle bit the bullet and walked towards Mourinho. He squeezed out a smile and shook hands with Mourinho.

"You won, Mr. Mourinho!" Hoddle had to bow his head.

Mourinho smiled very treacherously. He was full of confidence in winning the game before the game. Since he frequently showed weakness to the Tottenham team, he just wanted to boost Hoddle's pride and make him despise the new Manchester United. Then lead him to make mistakes.

It should be said that Mourinho has known from the moment Hoddle made the main lineup that there is no problem in winning this game, the key is to win a few goals.

Hoddle is great as a player, but not so good as a coach!

But to be able to win him 3 goals, even Mourinho himself felt a little unbelievable, but this is football!

"It's a pity, Mr. Hoddle, you performed very well! It's a pity that there can only be one winner in a game!" Mourinho was obviously laying the groundwork for the next game.

Hoddle was a little unhappy, but he pretended to be indifferent, "You performed better, you deserved a victory, but this was an accident, at White Hart Lane, we won't be like today again. !"

After speaking, Hoddle turned and walked away, not knowing if he would attend the press conference later, and if he did, it would be interesting.

Mourinho is very happy to see his enemies being criticized and bombarded by the media, especially Hoddle himself is not very popular. The loss of this game will bring him huge pressure.

I won this one and I can't lose the next one, Mr. Hoddle!

Mourinho looked at his back and thought to himself with a smile.

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