87 League Cup on

"This is the first time in the history that Chelsea and Burnley have met in the League Cup final. Chelsea won the League Cup 30 years ago, and Burnley has entered the League Cup final for the first time. Last summer, Chelsea just won the FA Cup at this venue. They came to this site again after a year. Morterson saw that before the kick-off, he briefly introduced the two teams again.

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

"Burnley's starting lineup today was a little unexpected, not the previous 4-5-1, but the addition of a striker and a midfielder. Kevin Phillips replaced Holland. Is George going to fight against Chelsea? This doesn't seem to be George's style!"

For George's double striker, Mortson was also very surprised.

"George's style is all about winning!" Alan Hansen, who hosted next to him, answered Mortson with a smile.

With the whistle of the referee, the league cup final of the 97-98 season started at Wembley Field. Chelsea took the lead in kicking off.

Although Viali didn't know much about Burnley, he just wanted to prepare for the game, so he watched some Burnley's game videos. As many people think, Chelsea really underestimates Burnley. Chelsea entered the League Cup final but eliminated their strong rivals all the way and came to Wembley Stadium with great difficulty.

Compared with Chelsea, Burnley's smooth road to the League Cup is surprising. Along the way, except for Blackburn, a derby opponent, I have never met a powerful opponent. But even so, Burnley's play in the League Cup is conservative.

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

But after the opening, Burnley was not conservative. Instead, it was a big offensive football, and Burnley got three shots in less than five minutes of the game. Including Klose's close-range header, fortunately, Chelsea's goalkeeper reacted quickly, otherwise Chelsea would definitely fall behind at the beginning.

And even after losing the ball, Burnley counterattacked on the spot. This includes Klose, Kevin Phillips, Ribery and Camoranesi.

Does Burnley want to fight against Chelsea?

It's really strange! On the road to the League Cup, does George, who has three backs even facing the League One team, chooses to play offensively with Chelsea?

However, after seeing Barak retreat and standing with Neil Lennon, Viali affirmed his thoughts before the game. Burnley just wanted to take the lead at the beginning, but still wanted to defend and counterattack. If you want to attack, you won't let Barak retreat.

So Viali did not make any changes on the field, and Viali decided not to move. Let's take a look at the situation on the court first.

Viali 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 in the League Cup and the FA Cup.

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

But looking at Burnley in the opening stage, Viali was a little relieved. Chelsea is not afraid of opponents playing against you, because their attack ability has always been a very proud side of Chelsea. Therefore, if Burnley attacks, Viali will not ask for it.

After Burnley's three-board axe, Chelsea quickly got possession of the ball.

However, Burnley did not hoard heavy troops in the midfield as before to compete for control of the midfield. Instead, he gave up the midfield and began to arrange the defense only about 35 meters away from the goal. In the front, Klose and Kevin Phillips, and even Jonberry and Camoranesi, only occasionally came back to help the defense, but they were all free from the defense.

Viali has some doubts on the forward line. It is very important for a team to control the midfield. And the most taboo is the disconnect between the front and back court, but now Burnley is like this.

The attacking player can't get the ball and doesn't come back to help defend. The defensive player can't give the ball to the attacking player in time, which is the way to die.

"?????????" A lot of question marks bother Viali.

Although he despises Burnley, Viali has never underestimated George. Judging from the Burnley game he saw, George has always attached importance to the whole. There has never been such a disconnection in the Burnley game.

Now Burnley is very close to the midfield and backcourt, forming a defensive area. And there is almost no connection between the midfield and the front... What on earth is Burnley playing?

"George, the team's attack and defense are completely disconnected." Not only Viali was puzzled, but even Evan Sawyer next to George frowned.

George was not worried at all, but a faint smile appeared in his lips. Our midfield is a little disconnected from the front court, but don't you find that Chelsea's backcourt and midfield are also disconnected?

It may be that Viali stressed that he should pay attention to Burnley's counterattack before the game, so Chelsea's back line did not follow. Now that Chelsea control the ball, they don't find it. And Viali played on the field and couldn't find the gap.

Now Chelsea's backfield and midfield are very far away, which George didn't think of. Before the game, George thought that Chelsea would despise Burnley and completely suppressed it. But by mistake, it became such a situation.

So George gestured to Barak to remind him of the gap. Barak actually found this loophole, but he has never found an opportunity.

In the first twelve minutes of the first half, Viali received a pass from Boyette. Daniel, who had been staring at Viali, leaned up and kept holding his body against Viali. When Viali was young, his body was also relatively strong.

Unfortunately, in three months, Viali will be 34 years old, although the efficiency of scoring this season is good, almost one goal in two games. But after all, when you are old, your physical function declines quickly. Daniel used his strong body against Viali, so that Viali could not turn around.

Therefore, Viali could only pass it back to Wise. Wise took two steps with the ball and gently rubbed it to pass it to Eddie Newton. But he was pushed out first by Gary Brin, and the ball fell at Barak's feet.

Barack did not pass forward as before this time, but his ankle changed, gently pushed it to the middle. Yongberi, who was just on the left, came up. After getting the ball, he did not follow the side road, but directly galloped with the ball in the hinterland of the middle.

Because Wise went up, Boyette is the closest to Yongberi. So I posted it, but Yongberry just went forward and easily passed Boyette. Boyette is the core of Chelsea's attack, but he is not a defensive midfielder. With Jonberry's speed, he penetrated Chelsea's midfield.

In front of Yongberg is an empty area.

Chelsea has six players in the area less than 40 meters away from Burnley's goal, and there are only four defenders behind. It's easy to play this kind of counterattack Burnley, and Camoranesi inserted it along the right road.

Cloz and Kevin Phillips on the forward line also dispersed to open Chelsea's defense. Daniel, who is still defending in the back, also supports Yongbery along the left.

Jonberry has thrown away the Chelsea players far behind him, and the Chelsea guard line can only be forced to retreat.

When everyone thought that Yongbery would continue to attack, Yongbery suddenly passed the ball in the middle of Lebeuf and Lebokes. Camoranesi's explosive power passed Lex in an instant and received the ball on the right side.

Lemex is the left-back of the England national team, and his speed is not very slow. Unfortunately, Ranex faced the ball head-on and had to take care of the defense, so after turning around, he had been pulled away by Camoranesi for a long distance.

"Yonberry passed the ball... Camoranesi, this is a beautiful two-to-one!"

After Camorranesi got the ball, he did not go directly into the penalty area. Instead, after getting rid of Rankos, he passed it into the penalty area.

Klose judged the landing point well. He did not shoot at the front point, but rubbed his head back. In the flight path of the ball, a thin figure appeared. He shot hard at the ball.

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

"Wow--" The city court was like a volcanic eruption in an instant.

"Thirteen minutes in the first half! Thirteen minutes! Burnley took the lead! Chelsea's national defense line is so vulnerable in the counterattack of a group of young people! Jonberry's pass, Camoranesi's cross, Klose's header assist, and Kevin Phillips... Wow! Kevin Phillips actually scored this goal between LeBuff and Dubury.

"Kevin Phillips! He is the first player in Burnley's history to score in the final of the League Cup. No matter whether he wins or loses the game, he has engraved his name in Burnley's history!"