Chapter 73 Zach Thompson's Smile
Leeds United, which has started to compete in the English Premier League again, has ushered in a pretty good stage in the schedule. After two rounds of league games with Manchester United and Everton, they will face weaker teams such as Fulham, Bolton, West Ham United, and Reading. They will not start to compete with the Gunners, the "Red Army" Liverpool and the "Blue Army" Chelsea in a row until the ninth round. As the Leeds United targeted relegation, the most important task at the moment is of course to get enough points from other opponents before encountering strong teams such as Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea.
On September 2, Leeds United will be visiting Craven Farm Stadium, and they will play the third round of the English Premier League with Fulham.
Although Fulham was already a super team last season, the "Youth Guards" were unanimously favored in the odds before the game, because Fulham is a grassroots team in the Super League. They do not have a large amount of money to squander, and there are no big-name stars in the team. The only task of this team is basically to relegate. Because they relegate year after year for many consecutive seasons and finally succeeded, they also received the nickname of a "relegation professional".
In the impression of fans, Fulham is a small team that buys low and sells players high. They also rely on this strategy to ensure the strength of their team for a long time. However, whether it is admitted or not, Fulham can succeed in relegation every year, which is actually due to some off-court factors. They often start to give other teams a lot of money after relegation is successful in exchange for some "kindness" and use it when it is really important.
It’s a pity that Fulham met Leeds United, which also aims to relegate. There can be said to be a competitive relationship between the two teams. Although it is only the beginning of the new season, who can guarantee that when the season is about to end, the two teams will not take a completely opposite fate trajectory because of a little score?
Before this game started, Simon Grayson issued a command to win for his team. It was not because Simon Grayson won Manchester City and Manchester United became arrogant after it became arrogant, but Fulham's own strength was not very good, and the state they performed really poorly after the start of the new season. It was understandable that they lost 0-2 to the "Blue Army" Chelsea at home in the first round of the league. After all, "Friendly" Di Matteo just led Chelsea to the Champions League trophy. This summer, Chelsea spent another 34.5 million pounds to buy Uruguayan scorer Cavani from Naples. The overall strength of the "Blue Army" has also been greatly improved. This season is also one of the popular teams to compete for the championship.
However, in the second round of the league, Fulham lost to Blackburn 2:3 again, which shows that this team is indeed facing a big problem now.
Simon Grayson may not know the sentence "When you are sick, you will die" but he still understands the principle of taking advantage of the situation. He will naturally not miss any game that can win, which will allow Leeds United to finally get a good position in the standings.
The head coach's instructions were well executed by the players!
Just 11 minutes into the game, Tevez received a header from Becchio, and shot a rage from the top of the penalty area to hit the ball into Fulham's goal. Leeds United, who played away, took the lead 1:0.
After seeing Teves' goal, Zach Thompson laughed happily. This time he carefully distributed 17 points of teammate bonus skill points to Jonny Hausen, Ben Parker and Teves.
Among them, the bonuses obtained by "Beast" are 2 shots and 6 shots. Both attributes were filled with Zach Thompson, while Jonny Hausen and Ben Parker both received bonuses in passing. Zach Thompson's idea was that Leeds United played Fulham in this game, and they definitely didn't need to keep defending anymore. Tevez on the front line will have more opportunities to shoot. If the team wants to win, they naturally have to rely on him to score more goals. The game has been analyzed thoroughly in advance, and Zach Thompson's choice will naturally not make any mistakes.
At 19 minutes of the game, just eight minutes after Tevez's first record for Leeds United, Zach Thompson successfully intercepted the ball in the middle circle, dribbled forward for fifteen meters, and then passed the ball straight to the Fulham penalty area on the left.
"Beast" Tevez appeared in front of the ball again!
"Bang!"
Teves did not make any other moves at all, and directly shot the outside of his right foot. The ball flew into Fulham's goal again... 2:0!
Fulham, who was completely stunned, had not yet woken up until the end of the first half. Instead, Leeds United became more and more brave. At 42 minutes of the game, Bentley's straight pass allowed the "Beast" who succeeded in the offside again to get angry. He shot low and kicked the ball from the crotch of Fulham's 39-year-old Australian goalkeeper Mark... 3:0!
Teves, who completed a hat-trick in the first half, was so excited that he could feel that after he came to Leeds United, his condition was getting better every day. Today he felt like a god's help. As long as he wanted to score, his energy would continue to go in. This feeling... is so wonderful!
"Hehehehe..."
Zach Thompson was in a great mood today. For the first time, he found that football matches could be so easy. Last season, Leeds United played in the English Champions League. At that time, Zach Thompson did not have the ability to add to his teammates. Every game was very hard. But now the team has been promoted to the Super League and with the "Beast" Tevez joining, because he and Ameobi can put pressure on their opponents, Leeds United's defensive pressure has been greatly reduced, and the game is extremely relaxed.
The two sides changed their positions in the second half, and the trend of the game was completely unsurprising, and Leeds United played more and more easily in the game.
Although Fulham relied on home advantage to score one goal in 48 minutes and 71 minutes respectively, Leeds United also scored two more goals in the second half. Tevez assisted Ameobi in 59 minutes, turning the score on the field into 4:1. Then he himself received a long pass from Connori in 82 minutes, shook the Fulham goalkeeper and pushed the empty goal. While completing the big four, he also locked the score at 5:2.
Zach Thompson and Jonny Hausen did not bring the victory back to Leeds. They directly found a taxi to go to the St. George's Park training base. Due to the arrival of the World Cup qualifiers, Hodgson has once again called the pair of Leeds Gemini.
The "Three Lions" were divided into the eighth group of the European World Cup qualifiers this time. The other five opponents in the same group are Poland, Montenegro, Ukraine, Moldova and San Marino.
On September 8 and September 12, England will play two games away against Ukraine and home against San Marino.
In the new England team, Hodgson still did not dare to use young players on a large scale, but the selection of Liverpool's 23-year-old striker Carroll and the selection of Middlesbrough's 24-year-old goalkeeper Joe Reeves has made England's youthful team a step further.
After meeting veterans such as Lampard, Ferdinand, Gerald, Ashley Cole, Terry at the St. George's Park training base, Zach Thompson and Jonny Hausen were naturally inspired by these people. They seemed to be afraid that these two talented boys would be buried in Leeds, but unfortunately they are doomed to fail now.
I have to say that Hodgson is really determined to promote the youthfulness of England this time. Although Lampard and Gerrard are selected for England this time, in the game against Ukraine, Hodgson used a new midfield combination, and Zach Thompson, Jonny Hausen, James Milner, and Leiden Bynes became his first choice.
As for Lampard, Gerrard, the midfielder "Double Germans" who once represented an era of English football, was arranged on the bench by Hodgson on the grounds of their poor physical condition. In fact, "Double Germans" may be both powerful players who are good at fighting. Even if they are old, the new season has just begun. After a holiday, their physical condition is completely fine.
No matter how Lampard or Gerald is in a mood, Zach Thompson is of course very happy to represent England again. Every time he plays a game on behalf of the "Three Lions", he can at least get a teammate bonus skill point. He will not refuse such a good thing.
However, in this game against Ukraine, the England team still encountered a considerable test. Without Lampard and Gerrard, the England team's midfield creativity completely disappeared. Although Jonny Hausen received the bonus of Zach Thompson, how much role can he play alone? Rooney and Walcott ran happily in the frontcourt, but the opportunities they got were pitifully few.
At 11 minutes into the game, Ukrainian Dynamo's scorer Atm Millevsky used a header to help the team open the first record.
Ukraine, who played at home, had a strong morale after taking the lead 1:0, and they seemed to have seen the dawn of victory!
At the critical moment, Zach Thompson stood up!
At 15 minutes of the game, Jonny Hausen dribbled the ball on the right and pushed it to the edge of the Ukrainian penalty area, but suddenly a sudden stop passed the ball back outside the top of the arc in the middle. Zach Thompson rushed up from behind at this moment. Jonny Hausen's pass was just right!
Jonny Hausen's series of performances were really exciting. He dribbled forward quickly, attracted the opponent's attention and passed the ball to his teammates. His personal ability and overall view were praised, but this was natural. After Zach Thompson used 17 points of teammate bonus skill points at once, Jonny Hausen, who had excellent personal ability, was almost a world-class midfielder. It would be strange if he was not strong like this!
"Bang!"
Zach Thompson first stopped the ball in front of him with his right foot, and then he shot anger on his left heel!
"Bang!"
The ball flew out from Zach Thompson's feet was like a precise missile. It was not only fast, powerful, but also had a very tricky angle. It flew directly into the depths of the net nest in the lower left corner of the Ukrainian goal!
The only move that Ukrainian goalkeeper No. 1 Andre Piatov could do is to turn his head and see the ball fly into his own goal!
Zach Thompson's long shot really boosted the morale of England. The "Three Lions" who played away have regained their vitality. They began to frequently launch offensives through assists from two full-backs, Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson. The initiative in the game fell into the hands of England, which was more powerful.
As the first half approached the end of the game, Rooney, who had fought for forty minutes, finally used his hard work to find an opportunity. He dribbled the ball into the Ukrainian penalty area. After resisting the pursuit of two Ukrainian players behind him, Rooney also had to face the goalkeeper who attacked at the same time. In desperation, "Little Fat" cleverly divided the ball to the right, and James Milner, who inserted it, shot and sent the ball into the empty goal.
This goal also became the last goal in this game!
In the second half, Hodgson replaced Walcott with Carroll, Leyton Bynes with Gerald, and James Milner with Lampard. As a result, England's midfield defense ability became stronger and its control ability improved a bit, so the Ukrainian team naturally had no chance. England created several more opportunities, but unfortunately they couldn't grasp it.
After the game, Zach Thompson happily hummed the song and Jonny Hausen walked away with his back. In this game, one of them scored goals and the other contributed assists, so it was natural that they were happy.
However, Jonny Hausen wouldn't know that the good brothers who are around him are really happy is that his teammate's bonus skill points have increased to 20 points!
Chapter completed!