Coaching legend

"This is the first time Chelsea and Burnley have met in the League Cup final in history. Chelsea won the League Cup once thirty years ago, while Burnley reached the League Cup final for the first time. Last summer , Chelsea just won the FA Cup at this venue. They came to this venue again after a year." Mortensen briefly introduced the two teams before the ball kicked off.

"Chelsea's front line today is a three-forward tactic of Zola, Vialli, and Eddie Newton. It seems that Chelsea is bound to win this game."

"Burnley's starting lineup today is a bit surprising. It is not the previous 4-5-1, but adds a forward and removes a midfielder. Kevin Phillips replaces Horan. Is George going to fight Chelsea? Fighting. This doesn’t seem to be George’s style!”

Mortensen was also very surprised that George reached double figures as a forward.

"George's style is all about winning!" Alan Hansen, who was co-hosting next to him, answered Mortensen with a smile.

With the referee's whistle, the League Cup final of the 1997-98 season kicked off at Wembley Stadium. It was Chelsea who took the first kick.

Although Vialli didn't know much about Burnley, he only watched some Burnley game videos in order to prepare for this game. As many people thought, Chelsea did underestimate Burnley. Chelsea entered the League Cup final but eliminated their strong rivals along the way and had a very difficult time reaching Wembley Stadium.

Compared to Chelsea, Burnley's journey to the League Cup was surprisingly smooth. Along the way, apart from the derby opponent Blackburn, I have not encountered a strong opponent. But even so, Burnley's style of play in the League Cup was conservative.

So after watching Burnley's game in the League Cup, Vialli believes that Burnley will definitely counterattack in the final.

But after the opening, Burnley was not conservative. Instead, they played offensive football, and Burnley had three shooting opportunities in less than five minutes. Including Klose's close header, fortunately the Chelsea goalkeeper reacted quickly, otherwise Chelsea would have fallen behind at the beginning.

And even after losing the ball, Burnley counterattacked on the spot. The same is true for Klose, Kevin Phillips, Franck Ribery and Camoranesi.

Does Burnley want to compete with Chelsea?

How strange! On the road to the League Cup, did George, who used three midfielders even against English League One teams, choose to play offense with Chelsea?

But after seeing Ballack retreat and stand with Neil Lennon, Vialli confirmed his pre-match thoughts. Burnley just wanted to take the lead in the opening stage and still wanted to defend and counterattack. If you want to attack, you won't let Ballack retreat.

So Vialli made no changes on the court, and Vialli decided to stand still. Let’s take a look at the situation on the field first.

Vialli thought of many ways to break down Burnley's defense before the game. Because Burnley is currently the team that has conceded the fewest goals in English League One, and even the team that has conceded the fewest goals in the League Cup and FA Cup.

In order to understand Burnley's defensive strategy, the Chelsea coaching staff recommended to Vialli a video of Burnley's game against Blackburn two years ago. That game was a classic battle of Burnley's defensive counterattack, and Vialli was also very afraid of George's shameless tactics.

But looking at Burnley in the opening stage, Vialli was slightly relieved. Chelsea is not afraid of opponents playing against you, because attacking ability has always been a very proud aspect of Chelsea. Therefore, if Burnley attacks, Vialli will be very happy.

After Burnley's three goals ended, Chelsea quickly gained possession of the ball.

However, Burnley did not accumulate as many troops in the midfield as before to compete for control of the midfield. Instead, the midfielder was given up and the defense was only deployed about 35 meters away from the goal. In front of him, Klose and Kevin Phillips, and even Ljungberg and Camoranesi only came back occasionally to help with defense, but they were all free in the defense.

Vialli has some doubts in the forward line. It is very important for a team to control the midfield. And the most taboo thing is the disconnect between the front and backcourt, but that's the case with Burnley now.

The offensive players can't get the ball and don't come back to help defend. Defensive players who cannot get the ball to offensive players in time are a recipe for death.

"??????????" Many question marks troubled Vialli.

Although he looked down upon Burnley, Vialli never underestimated George. Judging from the Burnley games he saw, George has always paid attention to the overall situation. There has never been such a disjointed scene in a Burnley game.

Now Burnley's midfield and backcourt are very close, forming a defensive zone. There is almost no connection between the midfield and the frontcourt... What on earth is Burnley playing?

"George, the team's offense and defense are completely out of touch." Not only Vialli was confused, but even Evan Sawyer next to George frowned.

George was not worried at all, but a faint smile appeared on his lips. "Our midfield and frontcourt are somewhat disconnected, but haven't you noticed that Chelsea's backcourt and midfield are also disconnected?"

It may be that Vialli stressed paying attention to Burnley's counterattack before the game, so Chelsea's defense did not follow up. Now Chelsea have the ball and they don't see it. Vialli was playing on the court and could not find this gap.

Now there is a big gap between Chelsea's backcourt and midfield, which George had never thought of. Before the game, George thought Chelsea would underestimate Burnley and press forward completely. But by mistake, it became such a situation.

So George gestured to Ballack to remind Ballack of this gap. Ballack actually found this loophole, but he just didn't find the opportunity.

Twelve minutes into the first half, Vialli received a pass from Poyet. Daniel, who had been staring at Vialli, came up and kept pushing Vialli with his body. When Vialli was young, he was also physically strong.

Unfortunately, Vialli will be 34 years old in three months. Although his goal efficiency is good this season, almost one goal in two games. But after all, he is old and his physical function declines rapidly. Daniel pushed Vialli with his strong body, making it impossible for Vialli to turn around.

Therefore, Vialli could only pass the ball back to Wise. Wise took two steps with the ball, rubbed it gently, and passed it to Eddie Newton. But Gary Breen got the ball out first, and the ball landed at Ballack's feet.

Ballack didn't pass forward as he did before, but changed his ankle and pushed it gently to the middle. Ljungberg, who was just on the left, came up diagonally. After getting the ball, he didn't go along the side, but directly dribbled the ball in the middle.

Because Wise went up, Poyet was closest to Ljungberg. So he came up, but Ljungberg just went forward and easily passed Poyet. Poyet is Chelsea's offensive core, but he is not a defensive midfielder. With Ljungberg's speed, he penetrated Chelsea's midfield in one go.

In front of Ljungberg is an open area.

Chelsea has six players in the area less than 40 meters from Burnley's goal, and there are only four defenders left behind. Burnley can easily catch this kind of counterattack, and Camoranesi goes up along the right.

Klose and Kevin Phillips on the forward line also spread out to open up Chelsea's defense. Daniel, who was still defending behind, also supported Ljungberg along the left.

Ljungberg had already left the Chelsea players behind him far behind, and the Chelsea defense line could only be forced to retreat.

When everyone thought that Ljungberg would continue to attack, Ljungberg suddenly passed the ball between Leboeuf and Le Saux. Camoranesi's explosive power in an instant passed Le Saux and received the ball on the right.

Le Saux is the left back of the England national team, and his speed is not very slow. Unfortunately, Le Saux was facing the ball head-on and had to take into account defense, so after turning around, he was pulled a long distance away by Camoranesi.

"Ljungberg passed the ball... Camoranesi, this is a beautiful two-on-one!"

After Camoranesi got the ball, he did not go directly into the penalty area. Instead, after getting rid of Le Saux, he passed the ball into the penalty area.

Klose judged the landing point very well. He did not shoot at the front point, but rubbed it back with his head. In the flight path of the ball, a thin figure appeared. He kicked the ball hard.

Less than three meters away from the goal, the football shot into the goal like a cannonball.

"Wow--" The City Stadium was like a volcanic eruption in an instant.

"Thirteen minutes in the first half! Thirteen minutes! Burnley took the lead! Chelsea's national defense was so vulnerable to the counterattack of a group of young people! Ljungberg's pass, Camoranesi's cross, Klose's header assist, and Kevin Phillips... Wow! Kevin Phillips actually scored this goal between Leboeuf and Duberry."

"Kevin Phillips! He is the first player in Burnley's history to score in the League Cup final. Regardless of the game win or lose, he has engraved his name in Burnley's history!"