Since Tottenham has already finalized the main attack goal of this season, then George will naturally focus on the upcoming quarter-finals of the Champions League in various resources. If he does not do this, then it will be difficult for Tottenham, the main player who has exhausted his strength in the league battlefield to successfully solve the opponent Eindhoven, and George's previous choice will have no practical significance.

The impact of George's decision to concentrate on the Champions League on Tottenham was soon reflected in actual combat - in the 31st round of the Premier League match on April 2, Tottenham, who is visiting St Andrews Stadium, was stubbornly resisted by the home team in the face of a ticket to the European Championship next season!

After trying to give George the junior brother a warning in the first round of the season, but George taught him to be a man, Steve Bruce understood the huge gap in strength between Birmingham and Tottenham, and realized that Birmingham, who was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of technical and tactical qualities and personal abilities, had no way to defeat Tottenham under normal circumstances!

What's more, since the start of this season, Tottenham has not lost a single defeat in the Premier League. Including the fifteen consecutive unbeaten rounds in the last stage of last season, Tottenham has set an amazing record of 45 consecutive unbeaten league games!

Therefore, in Steve Bruce's view, it is not a shame to let the players shrink their defense in this game and use the iron barrel formation to deal with Tottenham. And this arrangement of Bruce also successfully brought a lot of trouble to Tottenham - because George has turned his focus to the Champions League and sent a large number of substitutes in this game, Tottenham's combat effectiveness has declined a lot. Therefore, facing the iron barrel formation set up by Birmingham players, Tottenham naturally fell into a dilemma on the offensive end and basically failed to create several good scoring opportunities!

It’s not that these players are not capable, but because the physical fitness of veterans such as Mendeta and Darren Anderton has declined a lot compared to their peak periods, while Villa and Ribery have not matured yet. It’s hard for Tottenham to rely on the players’ personal abilities to open a breakthrough on the offensive end. Especially when the opponent poses a stance of being strictly guarded, the weaknesses of Tottenham lacking players with offensive ability and set-piece masters on the court are magnified exponentially!

Of course, Birmingham's blind defense is not completely beneficial to Tottenham. For example, the substitute defense line composed of Dawson and Vermullen will basically not be tested too much in this game, and only the home team needs to be wary of the occasional counterattack; and players such as Villa and Ribery, who are more motivated, can also recognize their shortcomings from it and think about how to crack the opponent's move when they encounter the Iron Barrel Formation in the future.

In the end, after a full ninety minutes of fierce battle, Tottenham had no way to break through the iron barrel formation carefully created by Steve Bruce until the end, and had to accept the reality of having a blank sheet with the home team!

In another game that ended later, Chelsea finally seized the excellent opportunity to be tied by Birmingham away this time. They defeated Southampton, who was fighting for relegation 3-1 at St. Mary's Stadium, narrowing the gap to two points in one fell swoop!

However, although George made the decision to stay in the Champions League and paid the heavy price of Tottenham's point advantage in the league field shrank to only two points, his choice also allowed Tottenham players to have sufficient physical strength to deal with Eindhoven led by Hiddink in the Champions League game four days later!

George will not forget that when AC Milan, who was at its peak in his previous life, was once forced to the edge of the cliff by this Eredivisie giant in the semi-finals of the Champions League!

If Ambrosini hadn't scored a gold-like header at the last minute and helped the Ross and Blacks pass the game with the advantage of many away goals, Eindhoven might have become the first Dutch team to reach the Champions League final in ten years after Ajax in the 1994-95 season!

Therefore, George naturally attached great importance to this head-on confrontation with Eindhoven and decisively sent out the most combat-effective lineup at hand!

Peter Cech, Stephen Carl, Ridley King, Vidic, Evra, Mascherano, Alonso, Bastulk, Robben, Ronaldo and Didier Drogba, this is the starting eleven players of Tottenham in this game!

Let’s look at Eindhoven. Since Hiddink’s team stands out in the Eredivisie standings, bringing two old opponents Ajax and Feyenoord far away, in this Champions League quarterfinal, the former Dutch national team coach also sent all the main players - goalkeeper Serelio Gomez, four defenders from left to right are Lee Rongpiao, Alex, Boma and Oye, and the midfield fours are Park Ji-sung, Voger, Van Bomel and Philip Koku, Dutch high center forward Haiselink and Brazilian shooter Falfan partnered with the forward line!

Although he lost Robben and Kezhmann last summer, Eindhoven, who dedicated his collective combat strategy, still burst out with amazing combat effectiveness - the best evidence to beat his old opponent Ajax in the league this season and successfully reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League!

Especially the midfield led by Philip Koku, which is the strongest link in Eindhoven. Although the Dutch international has long been away from his peak, just looking at his performance on the court, it is hard to think that this is a veteran who is already 35 years old!

The most commendable thing is that under Hiddink's careful arrangement, Koku's talent on the offensive end was developed to the maximum extent - the three of Woger, Van Bomel and Park Ji-sung, who were extremely physically strong, expanded Eindhoven's defense range to the entire midfield, allowing Koku to concentrate on organizing the offense in the midfield and manage the entire team in an orderly manner. In addition, Koku's goal-scoring ability, which was hidden during Barcelona, ​​also began to explode under Hiddink's arrangement!

Therefore, if a team dares to underestimate Eindhoven's strength just because the opponent is not a top-notch star, then they will definitely suffer the consequences in actual combat and be taught by this Dutch wealthy family!

In this way, after both players took their place in their respective halfs, Slovakia's referee Rupers Michel blew a whistle and announced that the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals at Philips Stadium officially began!
Chapter completed!