505: Just one step away from the FA Cup title

April 24, 2016, Selhurst Park, South London, England.

What will be held here today is the 2015-2016 English FA Cup semi-finals, against Crystal Palace and Watford.

This game is very important!

Crystal Palace fans and players know it!

Because Tong Yi had made it very clear before the game that neither Tong Yi nor Crystal Palace had won the FA Cup in England. This season they have reached the semi-finals, and the FA Cup championship is right in front of them. The chance of winning this championship is very good, and it is also the closest to the FA Cup championship.

This time, we must win!

Therefore, the players and fans of Crystal Palace broke away from the joy of winning the Premier League championship and took this game seriously. This game must be won.

And they also think it should be relatively easy to win this game, as long as they go all out and treat the team seriously.

After all, Watford is not very strong, so they should be able to win.

Although Tong Yi also said that Watford is still very capable and has performed relatively well among the newly promoted teams.

However, after all, Crystal Palace is the Premier League champion team, so it should be easy to defeat Watford.

Even in this game, Crystal Palace made a rotation.

Seriously, it won’t work without rotation!

After all, a few days ago, all their main players fought against Manchester United and won the league championship four rounds in advance. Two days later, Crystal Palace will usher in the first leg of the 2015-2016 UEFA Champions League semi-finals.

On April 27, 2016, Crystal Palace will go to Manchester to play Manchester City away.

That game will definitely involve all the main players, so this round of games will definitely require rotation.

This time, Crystal Palace will shift its focus from the league to the Champions League, so the Champions League is the main battlefield for Crystal Palace.

In this game, Crystal Palace did rotate.

The starting lineups for both sides today are as follows:

Home team Crystal Palace, head coach Tong Yi, formation 4213

Alisson

The back four from left to right is Alonso, Laporte, Ferdinand and Cancelo

Double defensive midfielder Witsel and Kimmich

Single attacking midfielder Milinkovic-Savic

Front three from left to right Perisic, Jimenez and Asensio

Visiting team Watford, head coach Flores, formation 442

Goalkeeper Pantilimon

Back four from left to right: Ake, Brittos, Cathcart and Alan Nyomu

The four midfielders from left to right Jurado, Watson, Capoue and Abdi

Double forward Deeney and Ighalo

It can be seen that Crystal Palace has really carried out a large-scale rotation, and only goalkeeper Alisson is the main force. Originally, Alisson should be rotated in this game, but Tong Yi still thought about it.

It's quite important, and we can't not play without one of the main players, so he played Alisson.

Alisson shouldn't have much of a problem defending when he comes on.

Alisson is the captain of this game.

When Flores saw this, his eyes were shining, and they felt that their chance at Walford had come.

Sure enough, Crystal Palace still has to be distracted by the UEFA Champions League. The people of Crystal Palace want too much, and they may not get anything in the end. Therefore, in this game, Watford has many opportunities and will definitely win this game.

Seeing this, Crystal Palace fans are actually a little worried.

Can such a starting lineup really win this game? Isn’t Tong Yi looking down on the Walford people a little too much?

Even the media reporters in the stands felt that Tong Yi was a little exaggerated. It was different from what he said in the interview before the game. Aren't you going to go all out? Why did you field a full substitute lineup?

Many people are full of doubts about this game and doubt the strength of Crystal Palace.

Can all substitutes really defeat Watford?

I'm a bit underestimating my opponent.

The Watford players are gearing up. They all feel that Watford has a good chance of winning this game.

After all, Watford has had longer rest than the Crystal Palace people.

Because Watford has no make-up games, they did not play in midweek last week, and Watford did not play in the Premier League round one day ago. Their 35th round of the Premier League, like Crystal Palace's 35th round, has been rescheduled to May 12, so Watford currently has a very long break and is very well prepared.

Now looking at the Crystal Palace people fielding such a starting lineup, the Watford people really feel that they have this game.

We, Watford, can win this game.

After the game started, the Watford man played very cautiously. He was not as angry as he imagined and did not attack wildly.

To be honest, Tong Yi was a little disappointed when he saw this.

He thought that if Crystal Palace had such an all-substitute lineup, Watford would attack with high morale.

In this case, Crystal Palace will be much easier to play.

Hey, I didn’t know that the Waterford people were still under control and didn’t take the initiative.

Tong Yi turned his head and glanced at Flores. This coach who once led his team to win the Europa League and the European Super Cup is really something. At least, he has very strong control over the team, and the team follows his ideas, which is still very powerful.

Since the Watford people didn't fall for the trick and didn't storm out, then the Crystal Palace side didn't pretend anymore.

Even if our Crystal Palace team is full of substitutes, we are still very strong. Then follow our tactics. The Crystal Palace side immediately pressed high, crazily squeezing out the living space of the Watford people.

The Walford people are also happy to defend, waiting for the opportunity to counterattack.

Their two forwards, Deeney and Ighalo, are really good counterattackers. They are not afraid of speed, and their ability to fight alone is very strong. If you use some very complex offensive routines and tactics with them, they may not be able to play well, but if you let them attack alone or use some simple counterattacks between the two, the effect will still be very good.

Therefore, Watford's side is really about defensive counterattack.

To be honest, Tong Yi still attaches great importance to these two forwards of Watford.

Deeney has performed very well this season. He has scored 13 goals in all competitions and provided 10 assists. Most of the assists were given to his strike partner Ighalo. .

Ighalo has scored 14 goals in the Premier League so far this season, and has scored 17 goals in all competitions. These two are really the twin stars of Watford. It can be said that the Watford people are able to perform so well this season because of these two people. .??.

Therefore, although Tong Yi made the Crystal Palace players press and attack like crazy, he also reminded the Crystal Palace defensive players to pay attention to the defense of Ighalo and Dini.

These two are really sharp in their counterattacks.

Moreover, the counterattack between these two people is almost the cooperation between the two of them, or they are fighting alone.

Very difficult to deal with.

However, so far, these two have not stirred up trouble in whose attacking half.

Witsel and Kimmich in the midfield were very successful in intercepting the two, especially Kimmich. He completely replaced Kanter today, and even performed better and more comprehensively than Kanter. Because offensively, they performed much better than Kanter.

Of course, Tong Yi's tactics do not particularly require Kanter's offense.

It's a good thing that Kanter has offense, and it won't have much impact on Crystal Palace if he doesn't.

Today, Kimmich has intercepted many times, launched an attack immediately, and is a great threat to Watford's goal. This made Flores feel huge pressure, because he did not expect that the substitute players of Crystal Palace could also show such strong strength, which made them a little unbearable.

I can't bear it anymore!

Flores has been looking for ways on the sidelines, hoping that their team can counterattack and threaten the Crystal Palace goal. In this way, the Crystal Palace people did not dare to attack so rashly. The Crystal Palace people were really too comfortable during this period, and it was too comfortable to attack.

If we keep playing like this, Watford will lose the ball sooner or later.

They must contain

In order to control the Crystal Palace's offense, it also needs to create a threat to the Crystal Palace's defense.

It's a pity that their team's strength is indeed limited, especially the strength of the midfield and backfield. There is a huge difference.

Watford's defensive strength is indeed a bit poor, which is why their results are not particularly good despite their good offensive power this season.

In the 33rd minute of the first half, Crystal Palace midfielder Kimmich intercepted Capoue's through ball, and then he directly passed the ball diagonally to Watford's entire line. Line of defense.

Cathcart even made a mistake in the penalty area. His reckless attack directly lost his defensive position, allowing Perisic in the penalty area to easily face their goalkeeper Pantilimon.

Perisic shot directly through Watford's goal, one to zero!

Crystal Palace took the lead, and all the Crystal Palace fans at the scene felt relieved. We, Crystal Palace, would definitely win this game. Adriana and other media reporters in the stands were talking to each other one after another. As they predicted, Watford's strength was still a bit inferior and it was unlikely to threaten the Crystal Palace!

In the 17th minute of the second half, Crystal Palace got a direct free kick at the edge of Watford's penalty area. Jimenez was felled to the ground like a big tree by the center back Cathcart who rushed out from behind. Cathcart also received a yellow card.

Asensio stood in front of the football, and his left foot suddenly shot an arc, directly through the Watford goal.

The people in Walford were dumbfounded, everyone thought he would shoot with his right foot.

Unexpectedly, this guy Asensio came up with a show, and suddenly switched his left foot to shoot a cold arrow. The Watford players did not react, and Pantilimon in front of the goal could only turn his head and watch the football go into the net.

Two to zero!

Did you see that, Crystal Palace easily led Watford 2-0, and the gap between the two teams was still quite big.

Watford's defense is really not good!

Of course, Watford did not accept their fate. They were still defensive and counterattacking, waiting for opportunities.

Not to mention, you really let them wait for the opportunity.

In the 88th minute of this game, Watford launched a quick counterattack. Dini and Ighalo disrupted Crystal Palace's defense. Then Deeney slanted the ball in one direction and hit the football behind Ferdinand. Ighalo, who understood the situation, directly reversed and slanted into the back of Ferdinand.

When the ball came to the player, Ighalo twisted and fired directly without stopping the ball, sweeping the football into the lower corner of the goal.

One to two!

Watford pulled a goal back, but it did not change the result of the defeat. In the end, they lost.

Crystal Palace defeated Watford 2-1 at home and successfully reached the FA Cup final this season. Now Crystal Palace is really just one step away from winning the FA Cup!

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