novelhk Chapter 322
Chapter 322
Thorp Arch Training Base.
Li Shiguang, Simeone and Rivaldo were standing on the training ground.
Except for Li Shiguang, who looked better but also frowned, Simeone and Rivaldo looked even more worried.
After a period of silence, Rivaldo's voice broke the silence among the three people: "Boss, I think if it really doesn't work, just give up the League Cup. I studied our schedule carefully yesterday. Before the international match day in mid-October, we have to play Chelsea, Liverpool, Roma and Manchester United in a row. These are four consecutive tough battles. Compared with their state the day before yesterday, I feel really overwhelmed."
After Rivaldo finished speaking, Li Shiguang did not express his opinion immediately.
He knew that what Rivaldo said was indeed the current predicament faced by Leeds United.
To be honest.
Even Li Shiguang himself did not expect that Leeds United, which has strengthened its bench this year, would still hit a snag under the Premier League's unpredictable schedule.
After winning in Portugal.
The entire Leeds United team returned to England that night, but they did not return to Leeds, but went directly to Berkshire.
After spending a day in Berkshire.
On the third day after playing against Sporting Lisbon, Leeds United welcomed the away game against Reading.
Reading is not strong, and the previous six rounds of games are not in good shape, with only one win, one draw and four losses.
After confirming that the players' condition and physical reserves are still good, Li Shiguang did not make too many rotations in the main lineup in this game.
But the process of the game surprised Li Shiguang.
The two sides tied 1:1 in the first half.
Then in the second half, Adriano and Sneijder were injured one after another. In the 89th minute of the game, Reading actually scored a goal with a corner kick.
Li Shiguang endured and endured, but in the end he was reluctant to use the lore card that could only be used five times.
And Leeds United also unexpectedly suffered a defeat away from home!
After the failure of this round of games, Leeds United slipped from the top of the standings with five wins and two losses and 15 points, while Arsenal, who slaughtered Derby County 5:0 at home, surpassed Leeds United with 17 points and topped the list.
At the same time, Manchester United, who defeated Chelsea at home, quietly climbed to second place with four wins, two draws and one loss and 14 points.
This result made Li Shiguang, who didn't want to give up the League Cup, fall into deep thought.
"Boss." Simeone also spoke when Li Shiguang lowered his head to think, "And the situation is more than that. On the international match day next month, the European players will play in the European Cup qualifiers. The intensity of this game is different from the international match day this month. If they don't get enough rest, I'm worried that some main players will be injured in the game..."
"I haven't had time to pay attention to it. How is Liverpool's recent state?" Li Shiguang, who thought for a long time, finally spoke.
Rivaldo quickly replied: "Generally, after winning Derby County, they have tied two games in a row, and both games were 0:0."
"Okay." After learning that Liverpool was in general form, Li Shiguang weighed the importance of the League Cup and the Premier League, and finally made up his mind, "Then let the main players take a break in the League Cup against Chelsea. Besides, I think Mourinho probably has the same idea as me, and Chelsea may also play with all substitutes."
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Three days later.
The third round of the 2007-2008 English League Cup kicked off at Elland Road.
As mentioned before, Li Shiguang made a lot of rotations in this game.
Except Torres.
All the other positions were substitutes.
And this time, Li Shiguang did not bet right.
Mourinho did not stop when he came to Elland Road. It seems that in order to vent his anger at being defeated 2:0 by Manchester United a few days ago, Mourinho sent all the main players in today's League Cup.
After the game started.
Chelsea has been using its physical advantage to surround and rob Leeds United players.
After Leeds United's young players resisted for a while.
Drogba and Shevchenko still found a breakthrough.
38th minute.
Shevchenko received a pass from Lampard, leaned on Hummels and turned around, broke through the penalty area and shot.
De Gea in front of the goal reacted quickly and blocked Shevchenko's kick with his left foot.
But the blocked football did not roll too far, but rolled in the direction where Drogba and Silva were entangled.
In this one-on-one defense, Thiago Silva was no match for Drogba at all. He was blocked by Drogba behind him and had no chance to kick the ball out of the baseline..
After blocking Silva, the Ivorian faced the empty goal and naturally pushed the ball, happily accepting this gift.
0:1!
Chelsea took the lead!
During the halftime break, Li Shiguang considered again and again, and replaced Reus with Adriano, wanting to increase the impact of the front court and strive to equalize the score in the second half.
But the main problem in today's game was not the forward line, but the defense.
The second half had just started for two minutes.
Chelsea made a long pass from the backcourt, and Ashley Cole's pass accurately found Drogba.
Drogba once again blocked Silva behind him, easily grabbed the first point, and gave the ball to Kalou who came from the left.
Then Kalou directly used his speed to eat Mills alive, broke into the penalty area and shot, and once again broke through the door of Leeds United.
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"Beautiful!" Seeing Chelsea score another goal, Jon in the studio jumped up excitedly. After laughing, he did not forget to avenge Chelsea's defeat to Leeds United last year on his partner. "Gary, don't be depressed, this is just the League Cup! From the start of the game when we saw the starting lineups of both sides, you should have known that Li gave up the League Cup."
"I know." Lineker looked unhappy, pinched the microphone in his mouth, and cursed in a low voice, "Damn FA, this schedule is really unreasonable! I have reason to believe that Li didn't want to give up at first. Abandon the League Cup, but look at Leeds United's opponents in the last four games, Chelsea, Roma, Liverpool, Manchester United! The FA doesn't want Leeds United to live! "
Seeing Lineker say this, Jon did not refute, and also held the microphone, responding a little conspiracy theory: "In fact, I also think that this schedule is not very reasonable, but think about it, has Chelsea encountered this situation in the past few years? It's not a big problem, just get used to it, after all, the FA has only opened a back door for our Sir. "
Lineker rolled his eyes at Jon and didn't continue to dwell on this issue.
Because he knew that last year even club owners like Li Shiguang fired directly at the FA, and he was only greeted with a fine.
And now he is just a commentator, if he says something inappropriate.
Who knows how he will be manipulated.
Finally.
With the goals of Drogba and Kalou, Chelsea defeated Leeds United away and successfully advanced to the next round of the League Cup.
And Li Shiguang, under this completely unreasonable schedule, finally gave up the League Cup again...