coach legend

Chapter 87
"This is the first time in history that Chelsea and Burnley have met in the Carabao Cup final. Chelsea won the Carabao Cup once 30 years ago, and Burnley is in the Carabao Cup final for the first time. Last summer, Chelsea just won the FA Cup at this venue. They came to this venue again after a year.” Mortensen saw that the kick-off had not yet kicked off, and once again briefly introduced the two teams.

"Chelsea's striker today is Zola, Vialli, and Eddie Newton's three-forward tactics. It seems that Chelsea is bound to win this game."

"Burnley's starting lineup today is a bit of a surprise. It's not the previous 4-5-1, but a striker was added and a midfielder was removed. Kevin Phillips replaced Holland. Is George going to play against Chelsea? Confrontation. That doesn't seem like George's style!"

Mortensen was also very surprised that George was in double striker.

"George's style is all about winning!" Alan Hansen, who was co-hosting next to him, answered Mortensen with a smile.

With the referee's whistle, the 97-98 League Cup final kicked off at Wembley Stadium.It was Chelsea who kicked off first.

Although Vialli doesn't know much about Burnley, he just watched some Burnley game videos to prepare for this game.As many people think, Chelsea does underestimate Burnley.Chelsea entered the League Cup final but eliminated their rivals all the way, and it was very difficult to come to Wembley Stadium.

Compared with Chelsea, Burnley's road to the League Cup is surprisingly smooth.Along the way, apart from the derby opponent Blackburn, I have never encountered a strong opponent.But even so, Burnley's style of play in the League Cup is conservative.

So after watching Burnley's game in the League Cup, Vialli believes that Burnley will definitely be a defensive counterattack in the final.

But after the opening, Burnley was not conservative.Instead, they played offensive football. Burnley got three shots in less than 5 minutes.Including Klose's header from close range. Fortunately, the Chelsea goalkeeper reacted quickly, otherwise Chelsea would definitely fall behind at the beginning.

And even after losing the ball, Burnley countered on the spot.The same is true for Klose, Kevin Phillips, Ribery, and Camoranesi.

Does Burnley want to play against Chelsea?
What a surprise!On the road to the League Cup, George, who has put up three midfielders even against League One teams, chose to play offense with Chelsea?
But after seeing Ballack retreating and standing with Neil Lennon, Vialli affirmed his pre-match thoughts.Burnley just wanted to take the lead in the opening stage, but they still wanted to defend and counterattack.If you want to attack, you won't let Barack back down.

So Vialli did not make any changes on the field, and Vialli decided to stay put.Let's take a look at the situation on the field first.

Vialli thought a lot about how to break through Burnley's defense before the game.Because Burnley is currently the team with the fewest goals conceded in League One, and even the team with the fewest goals conceded in the League Cup and FA Cup.

In order to understand Burnley's defensive strategy, the Chelsea coaching staff recommended to Vialli the video of Burnley playing against Blackburn two years ago.That game was a classic battle of Burnley's defensive counterattack, and Vialli was also very afraid of George playing that shameless tactic.

But looking at Burnley in the opening stage, Vialli was a little relieved.Chelsea is not afraid of opponents playing against you, because attacking ability has always been a very proud aspect of Chelsea.Therefore, if Burnley comes out, Vialli can't wait for it.

After Burnley's triple ax ended, Chelsea quickly gained possession.

However, Burnley did not hoard heavy troops in the midfield as before, competing for control of the midfield.Instead, the midfielder was given up, and the defense was only started about 35 meters away from the goal.Klose and Kevin Phillips in front, and even Ljungberg and Camoranesi only came back occasionally to help defend, but they were all free in defense.

Vialli is a little confused in the forward line, it is very important for a team to control the midfield.And the most taboo thing is the disconnection between the front and back courts, but this is the case with Burnley now.

Offensive players don't get the ball and don't come back to help defend.Defensive players can't give the ball to offensive players in time, which is the way to die.

"????????" Many question marks troubled Vialli.

Although some underestimated Burnley, Vialli never underestimated George.Judging from the Burnley game he saw, George has always valued the whole.Never before has there been such a disconnect in a Burnley game.

Now Burnley has a tight midfield and backcourt, forming a defensive area.And there is almost no connection between the midfield and the frontcourt... What the hell is Burnley playing?
"George, the team's offense and defense are completely out of touch." Not only Vialli was puzzled, but even Evan Sawyer next to George frowned.

George was not worried at all, but a faint smile appeared on his lips. "We have a disconnect between the midfield and the front, but don't you see that Chelsea's back and the midfield are also disconnected?"

It may be that Vialli emphasized paying attention to Burnley's counterattack before the game, so Chelsea's defense did not follow up.Now Chelsea have the ball and they don't see it.While Vialli played on the field, he was not able to find this gap.

Now there is a huge distance between Chelsea's backcourt and midfield, which George never thought about.Before the game, George thought that Chelsea would underestimate Burnley and completely overwhelmed them.But by mistake, it became such a situation.

So George gestures to Barack, reminding Barack of the gap.Barack actually discovered this loophole, but he never found the opportunity.

Twelve minutes into the first half, Vialli received a pass from Poyet.Daniel, who had been staring at Vialli, leaned forward and kept pressing Vialli with his body.When Vialli was young, his body was relatively strong.

It's a pity that Vialli will be 34 years old in three months. Although this season's scoring efficiency is good, it is almost one goal in two games.But after all, as we get older, our body functions decline rapidly.Daniel pressed Vialli with his strong body, preventing Vialli from turning around.

Therefore, Vialli could only pass it back to Wise. Wise took the ball two steps away, rubbed it up gently, and wanted to pass it to Eddie Newton.But Gary Breen pushed it out first, and the ball fell to Ballack's feet.

This time, Ballack didn't make a long pass forward like before. Instead, he changed his ankle and pushed lightly, and the pass was passed to the middle.Ljungberg, who was still on the left just now, stabs up obliquely. After getting the ball, he didn't follow the sidewalk, but took the ball directly in the middle of the road.

Because Wise went up, Poyet was closest to Ljungberg.So post it, but Ljungberg just made a trip forward and easily passed Poyet.Poyet is the core of Chelsea's offense, but he is not a defensive midfielder. Coupled with Ljungberg's speed, he penetrated Chelsea's midfield at once.

In front of Ljungberg is an empty area.

Chelsea had six players within 40 meters of Burnley's goal, leaving just four defenders behind.Playing this kind of counterattack to Burnley is simply easy, and Camoranesi inserted along the right.

Klose and Kevin Phillips on the forward line also spread out to open up Chelsea's defense.Daniel, who was still defending from behind, also supported Ljungberg along the left.

Ljungberg has already left the Chelsea players far behind, and the Chelsea back line can only be forced to retreat.

When everyone thought that Ljungberg would continue to attack, Ljungberg suddenly passed the ball between Lebouf and Le Saux.Camoranesi caught the ball on the right flank with a split-second burst past Le Saux.

Le Saux is the left back of the England national team, and his speed is not very slow.It's a pity that Le Saux is facing the ball head-on, and he has to take into account the defense, so Camoranesi has already opened a long distance after turning around.

"A Ljungberg pass... Camoranesi, it was a beautiful one-two!"

After Camoranesi got the ball, he didn't go directly into the penalty area.Instead, after getting rid of Le Saux, he made a pass into the penalty area.

Klose judged the landing point very well. He didn't shoot at the front point, but rubbed his head back.In the flight path of the ball, a thin figure appeared.Shot hard at the incoming ball.

Less than three meters away from the goal, the football shot into the goal like a cannonball.

"Wow—" City Stadium instantly felt like a volcano erupted.

"13 minutes in the first half! 13 minutes! Burnley took the lead! Chelsea's national defense line was so vulnerable to a group of young people's counterattacks! Ljungberg's pass, Camoranesi Klose's cross, Klose's header and Kevin Phillips... Wow! Kevin Phillips scored this goal between Leboeuf and Dewberry."

"Kevin Phillips! He is the first player in Burnley history to score in the League Cup final. Whether he wins or loses the game, he has engraved his name in the history of Burnley!"

(End of this chapter)