Chapter 997 A Solid Step
When Kamara equalized the score, Clark and Randyll hugged each other and cheered in front of the visiting team's coaching bench.
"We still have to attack! We still have to attack!" After celebrating, Clark emphasized to Randall. "Offense is the temperament of this team!"
Randhir also had to admit: "Indeed. When you talked about the offense in the second half, many players in the locker room's eyes lit up... And in the game, after changing the style of play, everyone played much better..."< br>
When Clark first coached Leeds City, he was scolded a lot because of his defensive deficiencies.
The media is full of criticism about Leeds City's poor defense every day. Leeds City fans also complain that the team's defense is simply League One level - not even Championship level, which shows how bad it is.
In Clark's first season in charge of Leeds City, he indeed suffered from poor defense. Almost downgraded.
At that time, no one could have imagined that in his second season coaching Leeds City, he would lead this relegation team to win the Premier League championship.
Now that I think about last season, it felt like a dream, like a dream.
After that season, there was much less criticism among the media and fans about Leeds City's poor defense. There is still something, but it has not completely disappeared. After all, Leeds City's defense is indeed not good.
But there are fewer people criticizing and blaming it like before, and more people regard this as a "meme".
Like Matthew Cox retweeting Clark's comments from the post-match press conference. Is he really criticizing Leeds City's defence? Are you mocking Clark's style of football? Maybe, but it probably means more of a joke.
Everyone says that Leeds City's defense is poor, and Leeds City's defense is indeed poor, but their offense is strong!
No matter how bad the defense is and the offense is unparalleled, it can still make up for it.
How did Leeds City win the league title last season?
Relying on an impregnable defense?
Of course not!
It's a sharp attack!
Clark's football philosophy is really implemented to the letter - as long as we can score more goals than our opponents, we can win the game.
After Leeds City showed their powerful offensive firepower, naturally no one cared about their defense.
There are also people who are serious about writing articles analyzing the various benefits of Leeds City's doing so, praising their offensive football for being pleasing to the eye...
But in fact, to put it bluntly, the reason why everyone's attitude has changed so drastically is entirely because Leeds City won the league championship last season.
The football world is very realistic. If you have a championship, you can prove your strength.
Whatever you do is necessary to win the championship.
Since you won the championship, it means you did everything right.
As the old saying goes "offense wins fans, defense wins championships", then Leeds City will tell you "offense wins both fans and championships"!
There is this change in mentality even within Leeds City.
At first, both players and coaches were worried about Clark's style of football.
Sam Randall is not a direct descendant of Clark, but has been a coach on this team before. Although he was promoted to assistant coach after Clark came, he still argued with Clark about defensive issues.
Some people within the coaching staff are also worried that if they continue playing like this, the team will definitely be relegated...
Now...
Of course no one cares about poor defense anymore.
They will say:
"Our defense is not bad, but it's not as good as our offense."
This is actually true. After all, Leeds City's defense has improved over the past two seasons, getting better and better each season. The 42 goals conceded last season ranked last among the top four, but among the 20 teams in the entire league, this number of goals conceded is not an exaggeration - only seven teams compare. They conceded few goals.
But compared with Leeds City's offense, the defensive data are not that impressive, and the inherent impression left on people in the past is difficult to change.
But the Leeds City coaches who know the inside story will naturally not care about this matter.
This is especially true for the players. They have enjoyed all the benefits brought by the boss's offensive football and it is really difficult to go back.
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After Leeds City equalized, it seemed like a hornet's nest had been poked, and the boos and roars of the home team fans at the Bay Stadium were even louder.
The Bay Lighthouse team was also enraged and kept attacking the Leeds City goal, trying to take the lead again.
Generally speaking, the team that scores the goal will perform better and be more threatening.
But this game was the other way around, and the Bay Lighthouse, which lost the ball, was even stronger.
Because in their original plan, defeating Leeds City at home and getting three points was within the plan.
As the champion of the Turkish Super League and a team that often participates in the Champions League, Gulf Lighthouse is also ambitious.
Even if they are assigned to this group, it does not mean that they will give up the idea of qualifying to participate in the Champions League knockout rounds.
If they want to compete with Catalonia and Vesuvius for the right to qualify for the group, then facing Leeds City, the weakest seed team in this Champions League, Gulf Lighthouse must score all three points at home, otherwise there will be little hope.
The Gulf Lighthouse team actually knows very well that although they are a local super giant, their biggest reliance when facing European giants is their home court advantage.
Therefore, they are bound to win these three points against Leeds City at home.
As a result, a fierce attack in the second half failed to expand the lead, but instead allowed Leeds City to steal a ball.
Bay Beacon fans are angry, and so are Bay Beacon players.
This is our home court!
When will it be your turn to be wild? !
Do you really think that the "devil's home field" of the Bay Lighthouse is just a joke? !
"The Turks are coming..." Sam Landill reminded Clark.
Clark smiled: "That's good, so there is space behind them! Sam, let the team continue to attack."
Randhir glanced at him: "You want to win?"
"Now I see hope of winning."
Randhir went to the sidelines, first whistled to attract everyone's attention, then raised his right hand high, curled up his ring finger and little finger, and raised his thumb, index finger and middle finger.
Tell all Leeds City players: "Keep attacking, the boss will win!"
So Leeds City hit the bay lighthouse like this.
Like the tides of the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, the two sides collided fiercely on the Bosporus in Istanbul.
Generally speaking, Bay Lighthouse has the advantage of home court and indeed has a greater advantage on the field.
But Leeds City is not helpless.
"Hu——! Ahhhh!!" Matthew Cox shouted. "Arslan made a great save. He blocked Hu's header! But before it was over, the football fell into the small penalty area... Lasky!!"
The Polish striker finally hit the football this time, but due to interference from Manteguru, his kick missed...
The football slides out.
Although he did not score a goal, Cox praised Leeds City's performance during this period: "This is how we should play! This is right! You are the Premier League champions! Even if you go to an away game, you shouldn't be timid! What are you doing? Shrink your defense... Now this is the way you are best at playing football! You should use your best way to appear in the Champions League!"
Although Matthew Cox once mocked Leeds City's poor defense.
But at this time, he uncharacteristically supported Leeds City's attack.
After all, this is a foreign war.
Facing foreign enemies, he hopes that Leeds City can show what they are best at, knowing that they are the Premier League champions and represent the image of the Premier League and English football.
As the Premier League champions, if they are looked down upon, it is not the Leeds City family’s business...
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After scoring the goal, Kamara was extremely active, and he felt like he could not stop him even if he was in good condition.
He made two successful breakthroughs from the left wing within five minutes, and once was destroyed near the baseline by the Bay Lighthouse defender. One of his passes failed and flew directly to the other side.
Because of such an active performance and scoring goals, Kamara has become the focus of the Bay Lighthouse players.
Some Chinese fans may be thinking - since Kamara has attracted so many defensive forces, does it mean that the pressure around Hu Lai has been reduced?
No, not really.
Bay Lighthouse was well prepared for this game. Even so, they still did not relax their defense against Hu Lai. After all, their opponent scored three goals for the Brazilian team in the World Cup and became the striker of the World Cup Golden Boot.
As long as Leeds City attacks near their penalty area, there will be someone in the Bay Lighthouse formation following Hulay. Even if both central defenders pounce, someone will quickly come to fill the position.
Always put Hu Lai as the highest-level goal of the team's defense.
Under such circumstances, it is indeed difficult for Hu Lai to get rid of the defense and get a chance.
"Damn! This is a fight with Hu Lai!" On the Internet and in front of the TV, I don't know how many Chinese fans are worried about Hu Lai.
But Hu Lai himself has no such consciousness.
He was still sighing in his heart: It deserves to be the Champions League!
It is said that the Champions League is the most technologically advanced football tournament on the planet, even more powerful than the World Cup.
I had only heard such comments before, but now I have experienced it personally and realized that it is indeed awesome.
It stands to reason that the Premier League champion is very powerful, right? The level of the Premier League must be higher than that of the Turkish Super League, right?
Based on this comparison of strength, isn't it natural for the Premier League champion to win the Turkish Super League champion?
Only when I got to the game did I realize that even the championship game against the Turkish Super League was completely different from the usual Premier League.
The pace of matches in the Premier League is considered fast, and the Champions League matches are even faster.
And this is still a relatively low-level group stage in the Champions League.
Going to the knockout round, the level is higher, the pace is faster, and the difficulty is higher.
Sure enough... we still have to play in the Champions League!
Although he was guarded and booed by the home fans, Hu Lai did not feel frustrated. On the contrary, he was excited.
I understand why so many players who are pursuing talent and ability will regard whether the new club can participate in the Champions League as an important reference when transferring.
After all...since he is an ambitious player, how can he not want to participate in the Champions League?
Only here can you compete with strong teams from all over Europe!
The level of the World Cup is actually not low, but it only happens once every four years. How can it be as enjoyable as participating in the Champions League every year?
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Kamara once again succeeded in breaking down the wing and then passed the ball into the penalty area before the opponent's defender could come up to block him.
This time he threw a ground ball, which was faster but also more difficult.
Hulay still ran towards the football under Mantegru's close defense.
He could feel the collision from Mantegulu, constantly squeezing his body, trying to squeeze him out of the receiving route...
Hu Lai's strength was indeed inferior to the opponent's, but he still gritted his teeth and held on, not letting the opponent squeeze him away.
But he spends almost all his strength on physical confrontation, and it is difficult for him to get another chance to shoot - because once his feet leave the ground, he may be squeezed away by the opponent...
It is difficult to do it under today's circumstances if you want to support your body with only one foot and then lift the other foot to shoot as normal.
Not to mention that Kamara passed the ball from the left. If Hulay wants to shoot, it is best to use his left foot, but he is not very good at it. It would be fine if there was no interference, but if you shoot with your left foot while physically confronting the opponent's center back, the accuracy will plummet...
Obviously the Bay Lighthouse players also understood this, so they specifically attacked Hulay's weaknesses, forcing him to only use his left foot to handle the ball.
Just when Manteguru was concentrating on wrestling with Hu Lai, he suddenly felt that the power blocking him disappeared!
He was stunned for a moment - could it be that he had squeezed Hu Lai away?
Next, he was worried - wouldn't this kid fall again?
Looking down again, I only had time to see Hu Lai's extended right foot... He used the outside instep of his right foot to poke the football towards the goal!
Mantegulu had no time to stop him, and could only watch the football flash past his eyes, and then disappear-out of his field of vision.
"Hu Lai... Hu Lai! Beautiful!!"
As He Feng suddenly raised his voice and roared, everyone saw Hu Lai suddenly withdrawing his strength when he was fighting with Mantegulu, and then instead of using his left foot, he stabbed with the outside instep of his right foot!
Manteguru didn't expect that Bay Lighthouse goalkeeper Arslan didn't expect Hulay to shoot such a thief kick!
He fell to the ground and made the save half a beat late. When the football flew over the goal line, he made the save...
"The ball has been scored!! Seventy-ninth minute of the game! Leeds City has taken the lead!" Matthew Cox raised his arms and shouted.
"Beautiful!! Hu Lai! Beautiful!! The first goal in the Champions League! His first goal in the Champions League! The first goal in the Champions League for a Chinese player! Born in his first Champions League game!! Even if there is no good opportunity, Hu Lai still caught it with a beautiful blow...just one blow...fatal!"
He Feng's excited roar echoed in thousands of homes after four in the morning.
All of them once again witnessed the birth of history!
Hu Lai took a solid step and set another deep footprint in his career!
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PS, during the double monthly ticket period, use Hu Lai’s first goal in the Champions League to ask everyone for monthly tickets~! (End of chapter)