Chapter 105: The magic bird no longer has magic power?
With the help of everyone, although Weletu was cursing, he finally returned to the game.
Chen Xiaoliang ignored him, just stared at him and kept smiling.
When dealing with this kind of person, it's better to use force than to argue.
But soon, he gained a preliminary understanding of Italian football.
The football here is slower than that in the Premier League and the Scottish Premier League, but the frequency of small cooperation is very high. The offensive process does not rely too much on individual ability to solve problems, and rarely uses physical force to force attacks. Instead, it emphasizes more on tactical execution.
Players prefer to use positional warfare to resolve attacks rather than quick counterattacks.
Unlike in the UK, for most Premier League and Scottish Premier League teams, it doesn't matter if the players are a little rough in skills. Physical strength is the most valuable currency. The most typical example is Bale stepping on the accelerator and beating Mcconnell twice.
If you can use your body, don't do fancy moves. If something can be solved with one kick, never use a second kick. That's what fans see as English football.
However, this is also what Mourinho will focus on in the future.
His two signature tactics are attacking based on wing advantage and quickly counterattacking after compressing the defense.
There was another thing that made Chen Xiaoliang a little uncomfortable.
At first, he thought that other teammates also had a grudge against him like Veretout, and frequently made small fouls against him, such as pulling his jersey when blocking for position, and elbowing his waist when heading the ball. The movements were not big but very uncomfortable, but not enough to get him a card.
Later, I found that our defensive players, even Smalling who transferred from Manchester United, would do this frequently, and then I realized that this was a common style of the players.
Instead of prioritizing physical contact with you, they harass you with small actions.
However, throughout the entire training match, Chen Xiaoliang still made several midfielders and forwards on the substitute team look so embarrassed that young players like Dabo and Bove, who had just been promoted from the reserve team, had to pass the ball to avoid being tackled as long as they saw Chen Xiaoliang rushing to steal the ball, even if they passed the ball back to the goalkeeper.
The more this happened, the more excited Chen Xiaoliang became.
If the cheers of home fans created by the skill [Good at Motivating the Audience] can buff the whole team, then the skill [Good at Ground Tackle] combined with one's own full-value steals is simply a sure-fire move to destroy the opponent's confidence in attack in a one-on-one match.
How can it be as fun to chop down trees as it is to chop down people?!
It’s so enjoyable!
Wu Lei who was sitting on the sidelines was stunned. It was also the first time for him to see Chen Xiaoliang play football up close. He didn't expect that the scene could not be described as fierce, it was simply brutal!
Joao wanted to step forward several times to ask Chen Xiaoliang to hold back and prevent his teammates from getting hurt, but Mourinho stopped him.
What Rome needs now is a new atmosphere!
The iron will like a warrior duel!
Essien, Drogba, Carvalho, Terry, Pepe, Milito, Ibrahimovic, Lucio, Matic, and even Sneijder and Motta whose physical fitness is not as outstanding as the players mentioned above!
Among Mourinho's generals, there is no sissy who is weak, falls down at the slightest touch, rolls five times and screams in pain, and then attacks the referee!
Correspondingly, the two captains applauded and gave him thumbs up more and more frequently.
Vice-captain Mancini, who played as a right center back, had never felt the defensive pressure in front of him was so light. All frontal attacks, as long as they were on the ground, were destroyed without any threat even if they were not intercepted.
As for the crosses from both wingers, as long as they were low inverted triangle crosses to the back point, most of the possible passing points were cut off because of Chen Xiaoliang's position.
Captain Pellegrini feels even more relaxed. He doesn't have to worry about losing position when he makes forward runs or attacking, and if the ball is intercepted, there are people to help him chase and get it back.
Looking at his expression, it was as if he was saying that I have never fought such a prosperous battle in my life!
Before long, the main team was leading 3-0, Zaniolo scored two goals in a row, and Pellegrini scored another goal with a long shot.
In the training match with two halves of 30 minutes each , 10 minutes into the second half, Mourinho replaced the slightly lazy El Shaarawy with Wu Lei, replaced captain Pellegrini with Villar, and replaced Zaniolo with Ghanaian teenager Gian.
As soon as Wu Lei came on the court, Chen Xiaoliang began to ask his teammates for the ball frequently.
After a month of training together, the two of them have already developed a tacit understanding, which is why he asked Wu Lei to come and practice together.
At this time, the cooperation between the two sides can increase the technical attributes of both people by 2 in a short period of time.
When Chen Xiaoliang got the ball, he either passed it diagonally to Wu Lei, or passed it to Mkhitaryan or Karsdorp on the right, placing the attack route on the right to create more space for Wu Lei.
However, due to his position being too far back, the two did not have many opportunities to connect directly.
Two minutes before the end of the game, Villar, who replaced Pellegrini, passed the ball to the substitute left-back Binya. When Binya passed the ball to Diawara, his footwork was a little weaker. Wu Lei, who had been chasing the player with the ball, sprinted towards the ball!
Diawara was depressed throughout the whole game, and when he saw Wu Lei coming, he quickly stood up and went to greet him.
"Bang!" Neither of them gave in and they crashed into each other!
They were all half-balls, and there was no foul!
The ball was touched by the two men's feet and rolled towards Chen Xiaoliang!
Wu Lei fell to the ground, regardless of the tightness in his chest, he got up and ran forward. Chen Xiaoliang took advantage of the moment when all the players on the field were stunned and passed the ball to him!
Wu Lei dribbled the ball forward with no one guarding him!
Substitute defender Calafiori ran towards him, and goalkeeper Fuzzato also stepped forward and stretched out his body to expand the blocking area!
Wu Lei lightly passed the ball across the goal!
Fuzzato reached out subconsciously, but got nothing!
Young player Jian rushed forward at high speed and headed the ball into the goal!
4 to 0!
The physical trainer who temporarily acted as the referee ended the game at the right time!
After scoring the goal, Wu Lei sat on the ground and Jian ran towards him to signal him.
Although Wu Lei had a smile on his face, he was rubbing his chest with his hands.
It was obvious that Diawara had made some small movements with his hands during the collision just now.
Chen Xiaoliang also ran up, squatted down and asked about Wu Lei's condition. Fortunately, he was not injured.
Joao looked at the goal and said to Mourinho: "He is a bit rough, but he is very hardworking. However, it is still a bit difficult for him to play with two strikers."
"If you were asked to choose between Wu and El Shaarawy, which one would you choose?" Mourinho asked back.
"Sharawy has a higher ceiling... and better skills, if..."
Before Joao could finish, Mourinho interrupted him: "Don't say if, just say who to choose."
"Choose a weapon."
Mourinho nodded with satisfaction: "For strikers, opportunities come from running. Standing there lazily will not give you any opportunities!
The opponents in the following friendly matches were relatively weak, so Wu was allowed to play for 45 minutes in the second half.
What the team lacks now is this kind of running and spirit! ”
"What about Chen?" Joao asked again.
Mourinho smiled confidently.
"He shouldn't play. The expressions on the faces of the players today when they looked at him, I want to see it again on the faces of my opponents after the season starts!"
In the following ten days, in addition to high-intensity training, the team played four friendly matches with some local amateur and low-level teams, an average of one match every three days, and almost the entire team was replaced in the first and second half of each game.
Mourinho sat on the sidelines, watching and taking notes in his notebook.
During this process, veteran players Florenzi, Dzeko and Pedro were sent away one after another by Mourinho, and a huge sum of 40 million euros was spent to buy 24-year-old English striker Abraham from Chelsea.
However, this deal did not cause much waves. After all, Mourinho's preference for black forwards is well known.
At the end of July, the team visited Portugal and played a friendly match with Portuguese Super League giants Porto.
Thanks to a goal from vice-captain Manic, Roma led for half the game until Porto equalized in the 89th minute.
Although the score looks okay, the overall statistics are terrible.
Shots were 12 to 5, shots on target were 5 to 2, corner kicks were 7 to 2, and the ball possession rate was an embarrassing 69% to 31%.
Although both sides took turns to field many players, such a scene still makes people worry.
There are also many comments online about Mourinho only knowing how to park the bus, having run out of ideas and no longer having the magic.
This situation continues.
In the subsequent home game against Sevilla, the game ended in another 0-0 draw. Although two midfield and frontcourt combinations were used in the first and second half, both veteran players such as El Shaarawy, Pellegrini, Mkhitaryan, Zaniolo, and new players such as Wu Lei, Gian, and Zalewski failed to organize many decent attacks, let alone threatening shots.
The fans' and the club's concerns came to a head in the subsequent friendly away against Real Betis.
Although they had won 1-3 away against Portuguese team Belenenses before that, this is after all just a small team in the middle and lower reaches of the Portuguese Super League, and the fans were not satisfied with such a result at all.
Roma, which was ranked seventh in Serie A last season, lost 5-2 in an away game against Real Betis, which was ranked sixth in La Liga. In the second half, they were unable to withstand the opponent's attack. Captain Pellegrini, vice-captain Mancini and right-back Karsdorp were sent off for fouls one after another, which completely collapsed the fans!
In the media interviews after the game, many Italian media surrounded Mourinho and launched a barrage of attacks.
Many Red Country fans who stayed up late to watch the game angrily criticized the team's backward and conservative tactics.
At the same time, both the media and the fans asked a question: why did they spend 41 million euros but never let Chen Xiaoliang play? Did the team find that they had bought a fake player who could not integrate into the team at all?
Faced with these doubts, Mourinho only said one sentence, then held his head high, pushed away the circle of reporters and returned to the locker room.
"I said this many years ago, and you seem to have forgotten it, so I'll say it again today: 'The caravan passes by and the dogs bark; you look at the dogs, but the caravan keeps going. '"
