"Look at this time, Valverde took the ball, passed it diagonally and passed it to the left side of the penalty area to find Rashford."
"Rashford competed with Azpilicueta for the top, grabbed the first position, and headed towards the center."
"Haaland was severely restricted by Rudiger, but still had no chance. He turned his back and stopped the ball with his chest to his teammates."
"Enzo Fernandez stepped in and hit the goal with his kick!"
"The ball hit Brozovic and bounced back."
"We see that the ball is still in Leeds' court."
“Declan Rice comes up and gets the ball, stops it, hits it again!
!”
"The ball went in!
!
"
“GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!
!”
"Declan Rice!"
"Before the end of the first half, Declan Rice once again scored Chelsea's goal with a long shot from outside the penalty area, 2-0!"
"The Blues really need to make some adjustments next time."
"Being behind by two goals in the first half was definitely a huge blow to Chelsea."
"More importantly, judging from the data we currently have, Chelsea's ball possession rate in the first half was only 32%. They took two shots, but none of them hit the Leeds United goal. This is a very embarrassing data."
"It can be said that there is still a clear strength gap between the two teams."
…
After Declan Rice scored, he rushed out of the stadium excitedly and ran all the way to celebrate, but was quickly surrounded by his teammates.
This player came from Chelsea's youth training, but was not taken seriously. He was later discovered by Leeds United and has now become a well-known outstanding central defender in England and even European football.
At the age of 22, he has become the most popular and outstanding defensive midfielder in European football today.
Many British media have even begun to tout him as the top defensive midfielder.
Is there any problem with this?
Actually, there really isn't.
After being trained in the Leeds United youth training for many years, the current Declan Rice is more comprehensive than Gao Shen in his previous life, his skills are more sophisticated, and he is more involved and supportive of the offense.
It can be said that today's Declan Rice is not inferior at all to top defensive midfielders such as Casemiro, Rodri, Busquets and Fabinho in terms of performance and statistics.
This is also the reason why Leeds United can lead the way in the Premier League this season.
The characteristic of Rice is stability!
Today, Declan Rice is a veritable core midfielder whether he is in Leeds United or the England national team. Even unlike his previous life where he played for Ireland in the youth team, this life benefits from the platform of Leeds United.
Rice has always been a main force and even captain of youth national teams at all levels.
It can be said that he is now England's future leading star with a well-established reputation.
But at Leeds United, his status has also been challenged.
Gao Shen's attitude towards Leeds United players has always been competitive.
For example, in the defensive midfield position, the two most competitive players now are Declan Rice and Joan Armene.
Many teams in European football feel that Leeds United's configuration is very luxurious. Why?
Because on all the major lists, the performance of these two defensive midfielders is very amazing.
For example, in defense, Joan Armeni contributed 10 successful defenses every 90 minutes, while Joan Armeni contributed 12 times.
In terms of one-on-one success rate, Declan Rice's is 64.23%, while Joan Armene's is 66.14%. The former ranks third in Europe, and the latter ranks first in Europe.
In terms of interceptions, Declan Rice contributed 5.36 interceptions per minute, and Joan Armene made 6 interceptions.
From the defensive data point of view, the only one who can compete with the Leeds United duo is Real Madrid's Casemiro. Among them, Casemiro's successful defenses are as high as 12.14 times, ranking first in European football. However, in one-on-one battles, only Casemiro
59.6%, which is relatively low.
It can be said that why Leeds United dare to play a single defensive midfielder?
It's because the performances of Joan Armene and Declan Rice are outstanding enough.
But today's football tactics require not only defense from the midfielder, but also passing, organization and offense.
In this regard, Declan Rice and Joan Armene are worse than players such as Rodri, Busquets, and Jorginho.
For example, Joan Armene's defensive data is very eye-catching, but his passing success rate is only 89.32%. This data cannot be said to be bad. It is one percentage point better than Kante, but compared with Rodri's 93.67%, it is far behind.
Declan Rice's passing success rate reached 92.24%, but he only made 15 forward passes, while Joan Armene's was as high as 17.6 times.
To a certain extent, Joan Armene has a stronger desire to move forward and participate in the attack, and his attack attributes are also stronger.
This can also be reflected in the statistics, such as the ability to pass and threaten the ball. Rice passes the ball 6.29 times per 90 minutes, and Joan Armene has as high as 8.46 times, even more than an organizational midfielder like Jorginho.
But in terms of long passes, Rice's success rate is as high as 72.12%, while Joan Armene's is only 59.9%.
In terms of heading for headers, Rice's success rate for heading for headers was 57.36%, while Joan Armene's was 61.19%.
It can be seen from this series of data that although the two midfielders of Leeds United have some differences in characteristics, Rice tends to be more defensive and Joan Armene is more balanced in offense and defense, but they are really similar to each other.
Performance and features are very close.
In terms of age, Declan Rice was born in January 1999 and Joan Armani was born in January 2000, which are also very close.
This is why the competition between the two players at Leeds United is very fierce, even tragic.
They are similar in age, have similar abilities, and have similar characteristics, which creates very fierce competition.
But the intensity of this competition is well controlled by Pochettino, so the two players rotate with each other, and whoever is in better condition will be replaced. They put pressure on each other, ensuring that the entire midfield of Leeds United performs very stably.
.
Previously, many people believed that Leeds United would consider selling Declan Rice after the rise of Joan Armene.
Even in the transfer market at that time, many teams were interested in Declan Rice, with bids exceeding 100 million pounds, but Leeds United refused without hesitation.
The reason is also very simple. Five substitutions will be implemented next to ensure that there are two high-level players in each position. This is the lineup configuration of all wealthy teams.
If one of the two is really going to be sold, where will Leeds United find a replacement?
"Only small teams need to make choices. We, Leeds United, are a giant, a top giant!"
This is what Gao Shen said during an internal meeting of the team.
…
Entering the halftime break with a two-goal lead, Leeds United made some adjustments, changed sides and fought again in the second half, and continued to charge towards Chelsea's goal with high morale.
When Declan Rice faced his old club, he really showed a very, very good competitive state, and his performance on the court was also extremely exciting. He even almost married him when he faced him as a brother-in-law.
Mount, he showed no mercy either.
The funniest thing was that during a defense, Rice directly tackled Mount, and then pulled the Chelsea players up and apologized constantly. Mount pointed at Rice and kept complaining.
This scene is really interesting.
After Chelsea made continuous substitutions, especially players such as Pulisic, Ziyech and Kovacic, they tried to strengthen the team's midfield advancement and frontcourt attack, but Leeds United is also making adjustments.
Especially towards the end of the second half, the Chelsea players' physical energy was gradually exhausted, while the Leeds United players began to exert their strength.
Physical advantage has always been the advantage of Gao Shen's coaching, and it is also Leeds United's specialty.
Whether it's Lorenzo Buenaventura, Antonio Pintus, or Pochettino, they all attach great importance to physical fitness, so Leeds United's physical fitness has been very good over the years, whether it is a veteran or a young player.
Especially after entering the 80th minute, Leeds United's physical advantage was even more evident.
He even once caught Chelsea and beat him up.
In the 87th minute, Bellingham, who came on as a substitute, deftly dribbled past Brozovic who was guarding him, then passed the ball diagonally to the left and handed it to Alphonso Davis.
After the Leeds United left back caught up with Bellingham's ball on the left side of the penalty area, without stopping the ball, he sent a low pass with his left foot to the back of the defense.
But this time, Harland in the middle was restricted by Rudiger, and no one was able to grab the position.
The ball slid from the left side of the penalty area to the right side of the penalty area.
Sancho quickly moved forward, stopped the ball near the baseline, made an emergency stop and dunked just past Chilwell, and quickly passed the ball back in an inverted triangle to the right side of the penalty spot.
I saw Pedri, who came on as a substitute, catch up with the ball, push it with his right foot, and push it straight to the left side of the goal.
It was a coincidence that the ball just happened to pass through the dense sea of people.
Goalkeeper Kepa's vision was blocked. When he reacted, he tried his best to save, but it was beyond his reach.
Three to zero!
Leeds players once again rushed off the pitch to celebrate.
Especially Pedri, the Spanish teenager from the Canary Islands, cheered crazily and kept waving his hands.
Although it was just the icing on the cake, this goal was enough to make him proud.
By winning the FA Cup, Leeds United will achieve the Premier League's Triple Crown!
Further down the line, as long as they win the Champions League, it will be a great quadruple crown that has never been seen in Leeds United's history!
Leeds United's players also rushed out of the stadium one after another. Even the players on the bench and many staff couldn't help but rush over to celebrate.
The fans in the stands had already fallen into carnival in advance.
Pochettino kept applauding the players from the sidelines, while Chelsea's Lampard looked helpless on the other side.
He has really tried his best, but compared to Leeds United in terms of strength, this Chelsea team is really far behind.
Even though all of Leeds United's players are relatively young, they are all extremely talented and talented. What an amazing force this group of young players will be if they come together?
The most despairing, yet hopeful thing is that the whole world is waiting eagerly to know how far this young Leeds United can go?
