In the final game of the Premier League, Leeds United faced Wolves at the Amazon Stadium.
This game was hailed as the Chinese Derby by media around the world because both clubs are backed by capital from China.
Originally there were many conspiracy theories, believing that Wolves would deliberately let water in the game to allow Leeds United to successfully defend the title, but now, as Leeds United won the championship one round ahead of schedule, these theories have completely disappeared.
White Rose used her solid results to tell everyone that she won the championship in an upright manner!
Although the boss behind it is from China, the Wolves have deep traces of Portugal.
For example, head coach Santo and his coaching team are Portuguese.
For example, there are a total of nine players from Portugal in the first team, including famous stars such as Ruben Neves and Moutinho.
Behind these Portuguese players, there is a common agent, Jorge Mendes.
Interestingly, the owner of Wolves is also a shareholder of Mendes' agency.
Behind everything is complex capital operation.
But none of this has anything to do with tonight's game at the Amazon Arena.
From the moment both sides enter this dream stadium, the outcome can only be determined by the performance of the players on both sides.
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Despite having won the championship ahead of schedule, Leeds United still played with their full lineup.
From the beginning, Leeds United took advantage of their home court advantage to launch a high-pressure attack on Wolves and successfully controlled the game.
But the Wolves are also very brave.
This Premier League team ranks 8th this season, and its performance is even better than teams such as Everton and Newcastle.
Judging from their performance this season, this Wolves team is truly a dark horse.
Of course, facing the veteran dark polo team Leeds United, Wolves don't have much to show off.
From a tactical level, the Wolves also take an unusual path.
In the Premier League, there are generally two trends. One is that teams such as Manchester City, Leeds United, and Liverpool, whether passing the ball or pressing high, advocate controlling the midfield, controlling the overall situation, and then advancing layer by layer.
One is the playing style of the mid-to-lower teams. They adopt more traditional English tactics, playing high and high, and combining the sides and center.
Both styles of play have their own advantages and disadvantages. The former requires very high technical and tactical levels of players, and is usually only produced by wealthy and powerful teams. Leeds United is a major exception; the latter is no longer adapted to the current mainstream trend, but It is superior in quality, low price, high cost performance, and has the local characteristics of England.
Wolves are very different.
Head coach Santo has created an eclectic tactical style for this newly promoted team, which is very special, but also very simple.
Just fight in the midfield!
Many people must have wondered when they heard this. Isn't this the first way to play?
Wrong, the Wolves only play in the midfield. After grabbing the ball, they streamline their offense to the maximum extent and launch a counterattack mainly with long passes.
The advantage of this style of play is that it can ensure the balance of offense and defense to the greatest extent.
When playing a long pass, the offensive player in front rushes, and it doesn't matter if the ball is lost. The defensive formation in the midfield and backfield remains unchanged.
This is how Wolves survive.
Does it have any effect?
Wolves are currently ranked 8th in the Premier League, which is the best evidence.
This team has almost no changes at the tactical level. It is just a set of tactics that dominates the strong team and weak brigade on all fronts.
So a very interesting phenomenon emerged: the Wolves are not weak when they are strong, and they are not strong when they are weak.
Moreover, this style of play also has a drawback, which is that players consume a lot of money, and injuries and physical fitness will be a problem.
However, in the last round of the league, the Wolves have missed out on the European competition and have no relegation crisis in the future. For them, this game is basically worthless. At best, it is just for the bonus of the league ranking.
Fans who are familiar with the Premier League know that in each season's bonuses, ranking factors are also part of the reason that determines the level of bonuses. Although there are not many, mosquitoes are still meat no matter how small they are.
Therefore, after the game started, the Wolves still adopted their usual tactics.
High pressure midfielder, long ball counter attack.
In fact, the first shot of the game was a throw-in from the Wolves.
That ultra-long throw-in was like a missile, thrown directly into Leeds United's penalty area, but the header went high and failed to pose a threat.
The two sides then continued to struggle near the midline.
The Wolves are already familiar with this style of play.
Until the 11th minute of the first half, when Ruben Dias received a cross from De Ligt in the backcourt, he took two steps forward, spotted the opportunity, and directly made a long diagonal pass with great accuracy.
The ball was sent to the right wing behind the Wolves defense.
I saw Dembele running forward as quickly as possible, stopping the ball before it left the baseline.
Tonight, the Wolves formed a 3-5-2 formation in order to attack the midfield. The three defenders left gaps in the wing defense.
The tall Boly chased back and took the initiative to tag Dembele.
After the French winger stopped the ball, he first slowed down, and when his teammates in the middle and back caught up, he suddenly accelerated and passed the ball low and low.
The football was quickly passed to the center by Dembele. Vardy quickly moved forward, got ahead of Wolves captain Cody, and shoveled the ball into the net. One to zero!
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Vardy's goal completely ignited the passion of Amazon Stadium.
Although the team has won the championship ahead of schedule, everyone still hopes to celebrate the team's title defense with a victory.
The 67,000 Leeds United fans at the Amazon Stadium were cheering at the top of their lungs.
Only seven minutes had passed since the last goal, a lateral transfer from Milinkovic-Savic.
The ball came to the right side of the court.
Arnold quickly moved forward, stopped the ball, and passed it crosswise to Bruno Fernandez, who ran over to receive the ball. The latter did not stop the ball and directly passed the ball diagonally behind him to the front of Arnold.
The Leeds United right back moved forward at great speed, catching up with his teammate's pass before everyone else, completing a one-two against the wall, catching up with the ball on the right side of the penalty area, and then passed the ball low.
Vardy, who was in the forward position, failed to touch the football due to the interference of the defensive players, but Mbappe stepped in from the back row, faced the ball, and shot with his right foot, sending the ball into the lower right corner of the goal!
“Leeds United wins again!”
"Mbappe followed up with a push and scored!"
"Two to zero!"
The entire Amazon Stadium completely turned into a sea of celebration.
In the first 18 minutes, Leeds United already led by two goals.
All the fans in the stadium were cheering and celebrating the team's victory.
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After winning two consecutive games, Leeds United began to slow down their offensive.
The Wolves also gradually increased their actions, which also made the home team have reservations.
After all, for Leeds United, the Premier League championship has been won, and there is no need to fight against Wolves at this time.
More importantly, the team has a crucial Champions League final ahead, and it will be held in this stadium, so the team does not want to suffer injuries again in this situation.
And this mentality also extends to the game.
Wolves tried to launch a counterattack, but it failed to work. Leeds United steadily seized possession of the ball.
The game remained stalemate until the second half, with neither team scoring again.
During the halftime break, Pochettino replaced the youngster Haaland, replaced the captain Vardy, and at the same time replaced Milinkovic-Savic with the youngster Militao.
After two substitutions, the team's tactics changed in the second half and became a three-back play.
Ruben Dias, De Ligt and Militao formed a back three, with Robertson, Bruno Fernandez, Kimmich and Alexander-Arnold in the midfield, and Mbappe, Haaland and Dembélé in front.
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The three-four-three formation made Leeds United more attacking, but this adjustment also brought chaos.
The Wolves even took the initiative on the scene.
It wasn't until Pochettino made his second substitution early in the 65th minute, replacing Dembélé with youngster Valverde, and changed into a 3-5-2 formation that he temporarily stabilized the situation.
It is said to be 352, but in fact it is a bit like 3421. Mbappe and Valverde are positioned further back, ambushing behind Haaland.
Obviously, Pochettino is also adjusting and trying the team's tactics.
There is too much pressure in the league and there is no better time to test it than this game.
After the change, the formations of Leeds United and Wolves look the same, but in fact, they are completely different.
Due to the chaos caused by Leeds United's change of formation, the scene looked a bit bad, but the overall strength of Leeds United's players was obviously better than that of Wolves, especially the players who had just come on as substitutes, who were full of energy.
Be extremely active.
More importantly, Haaland's sharp knife poses a huge threat to the Wolves' defense.
The Leeds United youngster, who has scored goals in four consecutive games, is constantly looking for opportunities. His activity has brought great disaster and pain to the Wolves' defense, especially when combined with Leeds United's two wings.
Although crosses from the wing are considered inefficient, when there is a high forward, sometimes it is the simplest, most direct, and at the same time the most deadly tactic.
In the 82nd minute, the Wolves defenders, despite being conservative and tortured throughout the game, finally failed to catch Harland. Arnold's long diagonal pass from the right landed accurately in the middle of the penalty area. Haha
Rand quickly stepped in, overpowering Bennett and Cody, leaping high and heading the ball towards the goal.
The cross was well placed and passed beautifully, and Haaland's header was also very good. At the same time, the two central defenders, Bennett and Cody, were unable to take off.
The ball was pushed into the right side of the Wolves goal by Haaland, and goalkeeper Patricio was beyond his reach.
Three to zero!
This was also the last goal of the game, and it was Haaland's last goal of the season that he scored in five consecutive games!
The entire Amazon Stadium went completely crazy!
Scoring in five consecutive games is really incredible for an 18-year-old player.
This also allowed Haaland to surpass the legendary Premier League star Michael Owen and become the youngest player in the history of the Premier League to score in five consecutive appearances.
You know, when Irving set this record, he was already 21 years and 247 days old.
