The Prince of Inter Milan starts with Brother Xiaosa

Chapter 23 Cross from outside instep

On September 2007, 9, the Tottenham Hotspur team went away to face their seventh-round Premier League opponent Bolton Wanderers.

In the standings, the home team Bolton are currently at the bottom with one win and five losses. Facing the underdog Tottenham, they naturally hope to return to London with three points.

The Lily Legion, which had successively defeated Chelsea and Anorthosis, was in high morale, and two young players, Leo and Bell, also got the chance to start.

"I didn't see it, but you have a strong desire for revenge."

"I won't offend anyone unless they offend me. He's asking for it."

Leo and Bale were on the field doing the final warm-up before the start of the game. The two talked about wanting to hurt Lennon, who ended up hurting Leo and ended up in the hospital.

Leo didn't take it seriously, then he looked at Asuector who was being carried off on a stretcher, and shook his head.

Bell didn't feel much about his teammates' injuries. He himself had never seen the Cameroonian left-back who played the same position as him several times.

Asuekoto was also really unlucky. He had just recovered from a serious knee injury, but the old injury accidentally relapsed during the warm-up training before the game.

It looks like the injury is serious, and he may be out for the season.

But this is undoubtedly good news for Gareth Bale. Another competitor has taken away another player, in the true sense of the word.

"I have to say that you are so unlucky. Your competitor just returned from injury and got injured again before even playing a game."

"This means I am the chosen one!"

The game started quickly, and the away team, which had the advantage in physical strength, launched the offensive first.

Bell made a high-speed breakthrough from the left and knocked back. Leo's volley from the edge of the penalty area was blocked by Bolton goalkeeper Jaaskelainen.

Seeing that his shot was saved, Leo grinned and shook his head.

This Finn is difficult to deal with. It seems that it is not so easy to score goals today.

But then Leo thought again, I scored against Cech, am I still afraid of you, Jaaskelainen?
  Tottenham has a certain advantage on the scene, but Bolton is not completely without a chance.

The striker composed of Diouf and Anelka can still pose some threats to Lilywhites.

In particular, Tottenham's defense has not been tidy since the beginning of the season, but this injury is the one who is missing.

The good news is that captain Ledley King's injury is almost healed and he will be able to return to the team to participate in joint training soon.

The bad news is that Kaboul is still recovering from an injury sustained in the previous game against Chelsea.

In today's away game, the only choice for the central defender position is to have Michael Dawson partner with the Portuguese Rosa.

But the problem is that neither Dawson nor Rosa are flexible central defenders. Compared to King and Kaboul, they are relatively slow. It is really difficult for them to mark Anelka and Diouf.

Therefore, in the following games, the full-backs on both sides often have to stay in the backcourt to assist in defense.

This also caused Tottenham's offense on both wings to be paralyzed.

It's not okay to continue like this. Leo feels that he needs to find a solution on his own.

Kevin Davis passed the ball, and Anelka dunked past Tottenham center back Rosa's kick, which was firmly picked off by Robinson. The visiting team had a chance to counterattack quickly!

After receiving the pass, Leo observed the position of his teammates. Bell had just defended too deep and was lagging behind, so there was no hope. He had no choice but to do it himself.

Dribbling the ball along the left wing, it didn't have the excitement of Bell's extreme speed that made the audience's blood rush. Leo's seemingly unhurried dribbling made many people frown.

"You're so procrastinating, do you know what a quick counterattack is?"

"The ball is too sticky! It should have been passed to others earlier!"

"Not everyone can line up on the wing, so don't force the ball to break through at this speed." Bolton right back O'Brien returned to defend in time, carefully following Leo.

"Look, young players are just unreliable, and Tottenham's opportunity was wasted like this!"

The 30-year-old Bolton fans who thought they knew how to play taunted Leo with great disdain. They completely failed to notice that when Leo just received the ball, no other teammates could follow up in time, but now all Tottenham's offensive players are in place. .

Having to defend Leo's pass but also fearing his breakthrough, the Bolton full-back nervously paid attention to Leo's movements.

Leo's upper body swayed, and O'Brien thought to himself that the other party was trying to pass someone?

With a light poke, Leo kicked the ball to O'Brien's left.

"Don't even try to get past me!"

The home team's full-back took a step across to block Leo's path, but the Irishman then saw a smile on his opponent's face.

Leo kicked the ball behind O'Brien and immediately turned around and sped past him on the other side.

The ball passed! Leo made a slight adjustment after getting rid of the Bolton defender, and passed the outside of his right foot into the penalty area!

The ball spun and arced into the home team's penalty area.

Robbie Keane in the front and Malbranco in the back were both pretense. Berbatov stood motionless next to the penalty spot, obviously moving a little forward could better catch the ball.

But it doesn't matter, Brother Xiaosha still lived up to expectations with a volley and succeeded!
  The home team fans were dumbfounded. One second they were picking on Leo, and the next second Bolton was scored.

After the goal, Berbatov hugged Leo and said, "Thank you for your assist, hahaha!"

Tottenham head coach Martin Jol smiled and said to assistant coach Poyet on the sidelines:

"Leo's outer instep is a bit interesting, but he hasn't mastered it yet. If Berbatov is replaced in the middle, someone else may not be able to catch his pass."

"Yes, we have to let him practice more after we get back!"

If you want to play well on the wing, you must master the two skills of cutting inside and crossing from the wing.

Although Leo has basically secured his main position on Tottenham's left wing, he is definitely not satisfied with just being able to play.

If Leo wants to leave a mark of his own in the Premier League, goals and assists are essential.

As a right-footed player, how can Leo make better crosses when playing on the left?

It's very simple, just practice the outer instep of your left or right foot.

Only children make choices, Leo chooses them all!
  These two trainings have now been added to Leo's daily training content.

Crossing with the outside of the right foot looks more chic and cool, but the accuracy is not high enough and cannot be used as a conventional weapon, so the left foot still needs to be practiced.

Fans who watch a lot of football will find that all midfielders and frontcourt players who can reach the point of being versatile with both left and right feet are basically top-notch players. This can also be seen on the one hand how difficult it is to train a weak foot.

It stands to reason that when the home score was behind, Bolton should press forward and attack. However, what surprised the Tottenham players was that the opponent actually retracted their formation after conceding the ball.

What does this mean? Give up? In front of more than 20,000 home fans, you have no shame?

But even if they defend until the end of the game, they will still lose and score zero points. If they want to defend, why not just defend with all players from the beginning of the game?
  Martin Jol glanced at the home team's bench in confusion, wondering if Bolton coach Sammy Lee was hiding something behind his back.

The first half entered stoppage time. Almost the entire Tottenham team pressed into the opponent's half and surrounded Bolton's penalty area.

However, until the end of the first half, neither team could change the score. Tottenham, playing away, temporarily led 1-0.

(End of this chapter)