Chapter 1157 Strategic Weapons
Listening to the shouts from the Leeds City fans in the visiting team's stands and watching Hulay's celebration, many London Bridge fans stood in a daze.
They really didn't expect that their team would overturn at home!
It was like watching a boxing match. Facing the stormy fist attack from London Bridge, Leeds City could only dodge and defend passively.
It looked like London Bridge would win on points.
Unexpectedly, Leeds City took advantage of the gap between London Bridge's punches to take a breath, opened up space, and then hit a clean... straight punch!
The fist hit the door of London Bridge!
There was a bang.
London Bridge fell to the ground in response, and was directly knocked out by Leeds City!
Anyone who supports London Bridge will be shocked to see this.
London Bridge head coach Stoddard did not kick the air to vent his anger and dissatisfaction after losing the ball this time. He just raised his head, looked at the sky and choked speechlessly...
He knows that pressing forward with all his strength will risk being counterattacked by the opponent.
But he never imagined that the same thing would happen in this game...three times!
The first goal conceded was also because London Bridge pressed the attack after taking the lead, but was counterattacked by Leeds City...
Isn't this Leeds City's counterattack efficiency too high?
Especially their main striker Hu Lai... his sense of smell in front of the goal is simply top-notch!
For this ball just now, most players would not be willing to run forward until the last moment of the game. Anyway, their teammates have already won the one-on-one ball... It doesn't matter if the ball doesn't go in. He pushed the football over and it was considered a goal. He does what he can to the best of his ability, and no one will blame him.
But Hu Lai immediately turned around and rushed forward after landing, without any hesitation.
Therefore, when Lasky missed a single shot, Hu Lai could appear in the most critical place, like a god descending from the earth, filling the football into the goal.
If he had been half a second later, the ball might have been cleared by Tim Martin...
Facing such an opponent, Stodd was helpless.
In fact, he has already seen Hulay's efficiency once in the league - in the eleventh round of the league, London Bridge faced Leeds City at home. London Bridge defeated the opponent 3:2 in that game, and Hulay scored a goal in the game.
At that time, Hu Lai didn't have many opportunities. He was under the focus of the London Bridge defense throughout the game.
Stoddard still attaches great importance to this World Cup Golden Boot and the last Premier League Golden Boot.
As a result, under such tight defense, Hu Lai still scored a goal.
That was one of the few shooting opportunities he had in the entire game.
However, Hu Lai's performance was not so good when the two teams met for the second time.
The whole game was in mediocre form and no goals were scored.
At that time, Stodd thought it was normal and that everyone would be in poor condition during the game, so there was no need to pay too much attention to it.
But now Stoddard understands - that kid saved all his form for the Europa League!
Because in the eleventh round of the league, Leeds City was still playing in the Champions League and had not completely given up on the league, so Leeds City still had room to cope with the league.
However, in the second half of the league, after Leeds City clearly shifted their focus to the Europa League, the league became more and more perfunctory-it seemed that as long as they could not be relegated, that would be enough.
Now that Leeds City has reached the semi-finals of the Europa League, all fools know that they must be aiming for the final championship.
Thinking about it now, maybe Leeds City had already made up its mind to win the Europa League at that time. That's why they behave so casually in the league...
If Leeds City carries their Europa League form into the league, it's hard to say whether London Bridge can survive away from home in that league game.
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While London Bridge coach Stoddard was speechless, Leeds City coach Clark and his colleagues on the coaching staff hugged each other excitedly.
"Clark and his coaches hugged each other, they were very excited! Before the game, few people could have imagined that Leeds City could win away from home! Although the game is not over yet, Leeds City is indeed getting closer and closer to victory. ” said Matthew Cox.
He is a British commentator. His attitude towards this civil war is strictly neutral. Whoever reaches the finals represents British football.
The only pity is that the two teams met too early. If they could meet again in the final, his mentality would be more peaceful.
Cox thought Clark and the others were simply happy to be ahead.
But that's not the case.
Taking the lead is certainly gratifying, but more importantly it validates the feasibility of their plan to transform the team in the future.
Defensive counterattacks are possible!
The outside world always thinks that Clark is a madman, as if he has no reason and all his activities only follow his own instinct. I think of it as soon as it comes out.
But in fact, he is a very cautious person, especially in choosing a direction.
Last season, when it came to whether to win the league championship, he first tested Stan Park Rangers. He found that Leeds City could beat Stan Park Rangers away from home, and then he gained confidence and determination. To win the league championship.
When they were eliminated from the Champions League this season, they decided to complete the strategy of "saving the country through curves" through the Europa League, and they first verified it with Catalonia United. After discovering that this team was capable of defeating Catalonia United on the road, he decided to reveal his ambitions to the entire team.
So in fact, every step he takes is a decision he makes after careful consideration, and he definitely doesn't make it just by slapping his forehead on his head.
He now uses the game against London Bridge as an opportunity to verify his tactical thinking for the new season.
Hu Lai's goal gave him hope.
Because of an efficient shooter like Hu Lai, the pressure on Leeds City's defense is actually much less than people think - they don't need to defend until the 89th minute before letting the forward sneak in and score a goal.
This is Hu Lai's greatest tactical role.
Because the ultimate goal of all football games is to score goals.
In order to score goals, countless coaches in history have exhausted their brains to think of various tactics.
And Clark's possession of Hu Lai means that he has strategic-level nuclear weapons.
From this perspective, those critics are right. Hu Lai has no tactical role, he only has a strategic role...
After the celebration, Clark pulled away from the excitement and began to tell assistant coach Randyll: "Next, defend, but we must give London Bridge the impression that we are still capable of counterattacking them..."
Randhir nodded to show that he understood, and then ran to the sidelines to whistle and gesture to the Leeds City players who had finished celebrating.
In front of the coaching bench next door, Stodd was also making a last-ditch effort. He replaced the exhausted Park Soon-tae with 18-year-old William Sutton.
This was the last substitution. He originally planned to use it to delay time after taking the lead...
Now it has become a desperate move.
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After the game restarted, London Bridge launched a crazy offensive towards Leeds City's goal from the kick-off.
Leeds City retreated across the board, and even Hu Lai went back to participate in the defense.
The fans at London Bridge booed them in the stands: "Where is the 'attack or die' that was promised?! Where is the 'attack madman' that was promised?!"
In the end, London Bridge could only lob the football from the wing into the penalty area again and again, or simply shoot from long range.
The high ball was lobbed into the penalty area and was basically pushed out by Leeds City high school defender Ben Grist.
There were almost no long-range shots that could hit the goal frame. They either hit high and missed, or were blocked by the Leeds City players desperately.
There was even a long-range shot that hit their own teammate Aiken and deflected out of the baseline - not even a corner kick was given to them.
Five minutes later, the score was still 3:2, and the fourth official held up a sign indicating four minutes of injury time on the sidelines.
These are the final four minutes at London Bridge.
But in fact, even if they equalized the score in these four minutes, they had already missed the best opportunity-they failed to take advantage of their home court to win Leeds City, which laid a landmine for the second round.
In the original plan of the London Bridge fans, the opponents who had one win and one draw in the league this season had never lost at home. The small chance of winning by one goal in this game was a pass, and winning two goals would be satisfactory.
As a result, not only did he fail, but he also overturned.
2:3 and 3:3 are actually not too different...
The four minutes of injury time passed quickly.
London Bridge failed to score against Leeds City.
"The game is over -!!" Cox announced loudly as the whistle sounded. "In the two rounds of the Europa League semi-finals, Leeds City, who played away from home, defeated London Bridge 3:2, advancing for them. The final laid a solid foundation! It is also worth mentioning that this is the first time in the history of Leeds City that they have defeated their opponents at Southfield Stadium, London Bridge’s home stadium!”
The Leeds City players off the field rushed onto the field, while the Leeds City players on the field raised their arms and shouted to celebrate the victory.
Although the semi-finals are two-legged, they are all confident about returning to home in the second leg.
The most difficult level has been stepped on by them! (End of chapter)