After Ribery scored the first goal, the balance that the two teams had maintained for nearly 20 minutes was broken, and West Bromwich Albion, who had originally intended to defend and look for opportunities, had to attack.
However, the forward movement of the formation immediately created more space between the defense and the goalkeeper. Under Li Shiguang's command, Leeds United used the width of the pitch to make lateral passes in search of opportunities.
In the 31st minute, West Bromwich Albion, having endured the constant passing of the ball around in midfield by Leeds United players, finally snapped. Just as Bale passed the ball back to Toure in the center circle, West Bromwich Albion's line suddenly changed its rhythm, and three players rushed toward Toure, who was about to receive the ball, trying to dispossess him.
But Touré's attention was always focused. When he saw the West Brom player rushing towards him, he only took one step and immediately kicked the ball out. This time it was not a back pass or a side pass, but a forward through ball!
The football flew at an extremely fast speed along the grass towards the West Brom goal.
It fell to Falcao, who had successfully beaten the offside trap!
Falcao received the ball and, without any hesitation or regard for whether he was offside, dribbled it directly into West Bromwich Albion's penalty area. He then unleashed a powerful shot that struck the ball hard towards the top left corner of the West Bromwich Albion goal.
The goalkeeper did make a save attempt, but he was a step too slow in reacting to the powerful shot and could only watch helplessly as the ball flew over his hand and into the goal!
"Oh! The Colombians are charging into West Bromwich Albion's penalty area like a bulldozer at full power! West Bromwich Albion can't stop Leeds United's attack at all! 2-0, Falcao has also scored! The Leeds United warriors are realizing their manager's pre-match predictions step by step!" Herre Geddy's signature roar came from the Leeds United television. He hadn't commentated at Elland Road for three weeks, and seeing Leeds United score another goal, he jumped up from his chair in excitement.
Falcao's goal completely shattered West Brom's already low morale. So, after the game restarted, West Brom's aggressiveness in both pressing and organizing attacks plummeted, with players running around aimlessly like headless chickens. Leeds United, on the other hand, played with much more ease. Once they gained possession, they controlled the tempo through constant passing and then launched sudden, threatening counter-attacks.
It's safe!
Looking at the situation on the field, and then glancing at Blackwell who was jumping up and down anxiously but helplessly, Li Shiguang smiled contemptuously and sat back down on the coach's bench. He knew that, at least for the rest of the first half, West Bromwich Albion wouldn't be able to cause any trouble.
As it turned out, Li Shiguang's judgment was correct. Before the end of the first half, Falcao, who was in excellent form today, once again broke through West Brom's defense with a sharp breakthrough. He was finally brought down in the penalty area by West Brom's goalkeeper who came out of the box. The referee, who was right behind Falcao, saw it clearly. Although West Brom's players surrounded the referee and tried their best to argue, they still couldn't avoid a red card and penalty.
The most outrageous thing is that West Brom's goalkeeper was sent off, and today's substitute goalkeeper Blackwell only brought Howard with him. In desperation, they had no choice but to take off one of the forwards and bring on Howard.
Facing Howard, who hadn't played a competitive match in a long time, Falcao easily scored the penalty, and then the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.
Leeds United went into halftime with a 3-goal lead.
Fifteen minutes later, West Bromwich Albion, now down to ten men and back on the pitch, were completely unable to fight back and were pinned back in their own half by Leeds United at the start of the second half.
In the 54th minute, Dzeko received a cross from Bale in the penalty area and headed the ball past Howard, making it 0-4 and scoring his first goal since joining Leeds United.
In the 60th minute, Falcao received the ball at the edge of the penalty area and unleashed a powerful shot, making it 0-5 and completing his hat-trick for the match.
In the 83rd minute, West Bromwich Albion committed a foul about 22 meters from the goal, giving Leeds United a direct free kick. Deisler converted the free kick, making it 0-6.
After Djermyn Sloan scored that goal, the entire Hawthorns stadium fell silent, devoid of any cheers for West Bromwich Albion. Instead, it was filled with endless jeers. Seeing the lifeless West Brom players on the field, bent over and panting heavily, the home fans began to grumble and leave early. They simply couldn't bear to see their beloved team being slaughtered so helplessly at home, and most importantly, they saw no fighting spirit in this team.
Looking at the Asian man standing on the sidelines, dressed in a sharp suit with his hands in his pockets, and then looking at his own old man with thinning hair, sitting on the coach's bench, unable to move, the contrast was stark!
Some fans wanted to hurl a few insults at Li Shiguang before leaving the stadium, but they didn't know how to begin. After all, he had conquered the Hawthorn Stadium with his true strength today. No matter how arrogant his pre-match comments were, he not only lived up to them, but he did it twice as well! He made everyone in the stadium look bad!
Li Shiguang was unaware of all this. Seeing that the outcome was already decided, he immediately made substitutions, replacing Deisler, Chiellini, and Yaya Touré all at once, and letting Juanfran and Javi Garcia, who hadn't played this season, have a go.
Finally, after Falcao's shot went wide, with just over 40 seconds left in stoppage time, the referee blew the final whistle to end the match.
In the end, Leeds United won 6-0 away against West Bromwich Albion.
After the game, Li Shiguang, who had wanted to shake hands with Blackwell, didn't even see him on the West Bromwich Albion bench... It's easy to imagine how much pain he was in after that game.
The day after returning to Leeds, Li Shiguang saw the news of Blackwell's dismissal in the newspaper.
There was no other way; yesterday's match completely shattered the West Bromwich Albion board's resolve. They were willing to pay a severance package to find a new head coach. So, right after the press conference, a weary Blackwell had just driven away from The Hawthorns when he received a phone call informing him of his unilateral dismissal.
After learning this news, Li Shiguang's last bit of resentment towards Blackwell vanished.
As the saying goes: What goes around comes around, and no one escapes the wrath of Heaven.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
