After defeating Cardiff City away from home, Leeds United returned to Leeds United, and after a slight adjustment, they headed to Liverpool without stopping.
While Gao Shen was in London, he visited old friends such as Norman Foster, Wenger and Mourinho. After traveling north to Cheshire, he had a meal with people from Manchester City and the retired Ferguson.
When the team went west to Liverpool, Gao Shen also traveled with the team.
This game was very difficult.
The pressure of the Christmas Devil schedule is very high, with a dense schedule and many strong opponents. Pochettino has to make rotations.
For example, in the midfield, the midfield combination of Rabiot, Fabinho and Bruno Fernandez had to be eliminated.
The forward line has been adjusted with Zaha, Mane and Mahrez.
Although the team has two regular centers in Vardy and Martial, Pochettino still chose Mane.
This obviously also consumes the opponent.
On the defensive line, Stones started in place of DeVry, partnering with Jose Fonte.
Although the game was played away from home, Pochettino's rotation still showed a certain effect.
In particular, the team's crazy pressing tactics from front to back caused Everton to suffer a lot.
The attacking group headed by Lukaku also failed to take advantage of Leeds United.
When both sides were almost exhausted, Pochettino made two substitutions.
First, in the 71st minute, Coutinho replaced Fabinho to strengthen the team's midfield organization and ball play.
In the 79th minute, Sterling replaced Mahrez again.
Two minutes later, it was Sterling's forced breakthrough on the right that created the opportunity. Coutinho's long shot from the front of the penalty area penetrated the Everton goal.
In the end, Leeds United defeated Everton 1-0 away from home.
…
Three days later, in the 20th round of the Premier League, Leeds United returned home to face Chelsea coached by Mourinho.
The current situation in the Premier League is very tense. Mourinho's Chelsea are chasing Pellegrini's Manchester City all the way. The competition between the two teams for the league title has become fierce.
Chelsea are currently 2 points behind Manchester City, so Mourinho is determined to attack.
In the away game against Leeds United, Mourinho also played with the full lineup and played very fiercely.
Leeds United still focused on pressing and pressing from a high position, and pressed and suppressed Chelsea throughout the game.
Kante in the midfield, Font and De Vrij in the defense all performed very eye-catchingly, blocking Chelsea's attacks time and time again. Coupled with the amazing performance of goalkeeper Navas, Leeds United held on to the goal.
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The game was extremely tense and dangerous, and the fans at the scene were even more terrified.
But just when everyone thought it would be a draw, Pochettino once again replaced the youngster Sterling.
And this time, Pochettino did not put Sterling on the wing, but moved him more to the center, focusing on attacking Chelsea's double midfielder composed of Mikel and Ramires.
In the 79th minute, after Kanter stole the ball in the midfield, Fabinho quickly passed the ball directly. Sterling stopped the ball between the two Chelsea midfielders, turned around, and suddenly started.
I saw the English teenager dribbling the ball forward from between the two defensive midfielders at very high speed. After passing through the defense line, he dribbled the ball directly towards Terry's defense. Just after he entered the penalty area, he saw goalkeeper Petr Cech standing in front of him.
When he was outside, Sterling shot directly.
The ball went straight into the lower right corner of the goal, one to zero!
The whole Elland Road stadium erupted!
…
Gao Shen was sitting in the stands of Elland Road Stadium, watching Sterling and Leeds United players celebrate, and he was very happy.
"Pochettino has now mastered the essence of King Gou." Gao Shen said with a smile.
Whether it was against Everton or Chelsea, Pochettino chose to stay tight when his team rotated drastically and his condition was affected. He first stabilized his goal and did not concede the ball, and then looked for opportunities to counterattack.
The key is that Sterling was replaced both times, which is by no means an accident.
Sterling has speed, skills, and strong impact. In the last game against Everton, he was used to hit the wing, but this time he was used to beat Chelsea's double midfielders, and the usage was very clever.
The purpose of this style of fighting is very clear, that is, I will fight you first and let you attack first. When you are almost done attacking and your physical energy has been exhausted to a certain level, I will then switch to fresh troops to fight you with bayonets.
From the perspective of formation, this is actually not a very clever tactic, and it places high demands on the team's lineup.
First of all, you must be able to hold yourself steady before.
If the front cannot be stabilized and the bayonet fight is not reached and you are killed first, what else can you do?
The key is to have the kind of players who can change the situation as soon as they come on the court.
This requirement is not low.
"Our current lineup configuration also gives him room to play." Borrell said with a smile.
Leeds United's lineup is very strong, and the players are a bit younger, but they are all talented.
As the British Times said before, the talent of Leeds United players cannot be hidden.
Just like Sterling, coming off the bench as a surprise player in two consecutive games changed the situation.
How could such a young player not attract attention?
"Now, should we return to eighth place?" Gao Shen asked.
Lucas nodded, "Newcastle has lost the last two rounds of the league."
First, they lost to Arsenal at home, and this round they also lost away from home. As a result, Leeds United has now caught up, sharing the same points with Newcastle, but relying on the goal difference advantage to crush their opponents.
It may surprise many people that Leeds United has only conceded 20 goals so far this season, averaging 1 goal per game.
What is the concept?
Looking at the Premier League, there are only three teams that defend better than Leeds United, and that is Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea. They all conceded 18 and 19 goals.
Leeds United scored 36 goals, averaging 1.8 goals per game, ranking fifth in the Premier League, losing to Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.
Manchester United, coached by Moyes, scored 33 goals and conceded 24 goals, currently ranking 7th.
It can be said that Pochettino's team still has considerable potential and stamina that can be tapped.
This is also a characteristic of a team with mostly young players, that is, they have a lot of potential.
What's more, the players selected by Gao Shen for Leeds United are all young players with outstanding potential. Giving them more opportunities to practice in games and properly utilizing their characteristics will definitely allow them to grow up quickly.
Nowadays, the strength of this group of young generals is not very good. If you pick them individually, they are not particularly outstanding. But when they are all gathered together to form a joint force, the combined strength cannot be underestimated.
Especially when players shine from time to time, Leeds United has benefited a lot.
Just like in the last two games, youngster Sterling has played the role of a surprise player.
…
In addition to their outstanding performance on the pitch, Leeds United has also made breakthroughs in club management.
The Premier League season is halfway through. According to the current situation and estimates, as long as the team can maintain its current ranking, after the end of this season, it will receive a share of 80 million pounds in broadcast fees from the Premier League.
This is definitely a figure that is envied by the entire European football world.
Coupled with match day income, Leeds United's revenue alone can exceed 100 million pounds.
In terms of commercial income, thanks to the previous naming contract signed with AXA and a series of previous cooperation agreements signed by Leeds United, the team's commercial income this season will also exceed 60 million pounds.
What is this concept?
The commercial income of Roma and Atletico Madrid is about 30 million pounds, and the commercial income of Tottenham and Hamburg is about 50 million pounds. The current commercial operation level of Leeds United is about the same as that of Fenerbahce, Juventus and Inter Milan, but
It is much inferior to teams such as Arsenal, Galatasaray, Schalke 04, etc. They all cost over 70 million or even 80 million pounds.
This is also due to the overall influence of the Premier League and Leeds United's vigorous development in the past two years, especially the sports celebrity brand, which is really popular.
In other words, according to Lucas' current preliminary estimate, the club's revenue this season can reach about 170 million pounds.
This is already far beyond Leeds United's previous estimates.
And all this is thanks to the increase in the Premier League's broadcast fee share.
If we look at the match day income, Leeds United is probably ranked in the dozens.
It is worth mentioning that the income brought to Leeds United by participating in the Europa League is actually very little.
So far, qualifying for the group stage, including match day income and match bonus income, has been less than 5 million euros at most, but Leeds United's expenses are very high just to play a few away games.
This is why Premier League teams generally don't like to play in the Europa League.
It's strenuous, but not rewarding.
Instead of wasting time on the Europa League, it would be better to focus on improving one more spot in the Premier League.
Judging from the current overall environment of the Premier League, Leeds United's salary expenditure is actually quite reasonable.
For example, Manchester United launched a round of contract renewal after Ferguson left, resulting in a 20% increase in annual salary expenses.
Looking at other Premier League teams, annual salary expenditures are generally very high, which is also the current situation.
As many people have said before, the broadcast fees that have been negotiated so hard are ultimately given to the players and agents. The club itself enters with the left hand and takes out with the right, so it is impossible to get as much as it deserves.
But Leeds United are an exception.
Because of the massive hemorrhage in the transfer market this summer, Leeds United's overall salary has declined instead of rising.
This is considered unique in the Premier League.
Especially considering that the team is currently ranked eighth in the Premier League, down two places from sixth place last season, but its revenue has increased and salary expenses have dropped.
In this way, the club's profits will also be greatly increased.
Of course, everyone thinks this is because Leeds United wants to build a new training base and new stadium.
After all, this is a big deal, and it can't be done without ambition.
But Gao Shen feels that Leeds United's current profits are mainly due to the dividends from the skyrocketing broadcast rights, and the players' annual salaries will catch up sooner or later.
Just like this season, the team has performed well. If they want to retain the players, they will naturally have to increase their salaries and renew their contracts.
In today's European football, annual salaries seem mysterious, but they are actually relatively transparent. After all, they are all run by agents.
Let me ask, this player gets a high salary at Newcastle, while another player only gets half the salary at Leeds United. Who is happy?
Using love to generate electricity is not a long-term solution.
More importantly, this is detrimental to Leeds United's long-term development.
