Chapter 106: Chen Xiaoliang's first match in Rome! Battle against Trabzonspor!
In the last friendly match, Roma defeated La CF from Morocco, Africa, 5-0 at home.
In this game, Wu Lei continued to play in the second half and scored his first goal since joining the team - but before scoring, he missed two excellent one-on-one opportunities.
Although they won a victory, the fans are still very worried. At least judging from the performance in the pre-season warm-up matches, the team can only bully weak opponents, but once they meet a team with some strength, their true colors will be exposed.
Whether in Europe or the Red Country, fans on football forums are divided into two camps with fierce debates.
One group is the staunch Mourinho fans, commonly known as bird fans, who are also the bird shit in the eyes of their opponents.
The other group naturally believes that Mourinho is no longer a first-class coach and is far behind the times in tactical thinking.
However, no amount of debate can convince the other party more than actual results.
The next game will be Roma’s first official game of the season, the first round of the Europa League play-offs, away against Turkish Super League team Trabzonspor!
The winners of the two rounds will participate in the UEFA Cup group stage! This will also determine whether Roma can retain the opportunity to play in the European Cup this season!
Although the Europa League is a new third-level European competition established by UEFA this season, ranking behind the Champions League and the Europa League, and the total prize money of the competition is only about half of that of the Europa League, you can still get a lot of European points by reaching the end of this competition.
It will not only help improve the club's ranking in Europe, but will also be of great help in ensuring that the domestic league can maintain enough seats in European competitions.
More importantly, as a declining giant, Roma has not won any official competition championship for 14 years!
The last time they won the title was in 2008, when they won the Italian Cup final 2-1 against Inter Milan.
The recent pressure from all sides has made the team members nervous.
Captain Pellegrini even took the initiative to find assistant coach Joao and asked him why he spent 41 million euros to buy a Red Country player who did not play, and wasted a loan spot to rent a Red Country striker who could kick the ball to the goalkeeper almost eight out of ten single shots!
This is a huge waste of money and resources for the club!
In particular, the two of them replaced the Genoa striker, Uzbek Shomurodov, who was rumored to join the team, and the Porto midfielder, Portuguese Sergio Oliveira.
Although these two are not big-name players, they at least have enough experience playing in first-class leagues!
Joao knew that Pellegrini's questioning not only represented his own, but also the voices of many veteran players who had been in the team for many years.
But he has followed Mourinho for several years and knows the temper of his Portuguese fellow countryman well .
The other side of persistence is stubbornness;
The other side of tenacity is stubbornness;
The other side of confidence is paranoia;
The other side of unruly is arrogance.
Although he has the same questions as the players and also suffers from the pressure at work, as an assistant coach, he must firmly uphold the dignity of the head coach in front of the players and unite everyone in the locker room!
He told captain Pellegrini that Mourinho had already formulated a complete strategy, and all the lineups and playing styles of the friendly matches were his inspections and tests! The official matches will definitely have different results!
Pellegrini believed it for now.
But this means that the core social circle of the locker room has reached a critical point of contradiction.
But at this time Chen Xiaoliang was very confident.
During the past month of training with the team, he has already gotten to know his teammates' basic situation - each person's abilities, specialties, general personality, and the social circles they belong to.
Although he did not appear in any friendly matches, Mourinho had already explained the reasons to him privately.
At the same time, he remains meticulous in training and maintains extreme self-discipline in life.
The nosy Italian media have been trying to capture the private life of Serie A's summer transfer record, but after a month of repeating the same old routine, even the most patient gossip reporters have lost the motivation to keep going.
What's more, at this time, the world football has already been attracted by a super-huge transfer news.
Six-time Ballon d'Or winner, Argentine Messi transferred to Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer! Together with Mbappe and Neymar, they formed a trident that shocked the world!
All media are predicting how Paris Saint-Germain will overcome all obstacles and move forward in the Champions League and the league in the new season.
However, Chen Xiaoliang lives a life of overcoming difficulties and moving forward at home with Helena who has just returned to him.
The great Messi is still a very distant thing for him, not to mention that he has a teammate named Messi's mother...
These 33 days of training allowed Chen Xiaoliang to gain another 165 training points, plus the 5 points left before, a total of 170 points.
In addition, joining Roma also completes the transfer time-limited task given by the system: [Joining a top team, basic goal: ensuring Champions League qualification, advanced goal: impacting the league championship, impacting the European Cup trophy]
This mission earned him the bonus of [Double Rewards for New Season European War Missions].
He spent 100 training points to increase his jumping ability from 10 to 15, and another 60 points to increase his agility from 11 to 14.
Keep the remaining 10 points.
Now, except for the 10-point constitution that affects the speed of endurance recovery and the length of injury period, other physical attributes have reached near-first-class values.
Although he has not yet demonstrated his physical fitness in a formal competition, he has already shown it to Helena in advance.
One competed and trained hard in Glasgow and Rome for nearly two months, while the other missed the team in Munich and Tokyo for two months.
Wow, wow, it seems like the two of them have endless things to talk about when they meet.
Helena asked Chen Xiaoliang what he did when he was bored. Chen Xiaoliang turned on his phone and played a crosstalk by Yunde Society, the most popular non-famous performing arts group in the Red Country. The host of the group happened to be playing a passage:
"It was all because of the fierce battle before Changbanpo, when Zhao Yun broke into Cao's camp alone, cut down two large banners, seized three spears, and his horse fell into a pit, which almost cost him his life!"
…
"When they reached Dangyang Bridge, Zhang Fei arrived and shouted, "Fourth brother, don't panic. I'm here and I'm sure it'll be alright!"
Helena's Chinese is quite good and she completely understood what was said. She told Chen Xiaoliang that this guy named Zhang Fei was somewhat like Chen Xiaoliang on the court. When the opponent reached their position, he was always the one who single-handedly stopped the opponent from advancing.
Chen Xiaoliang was surprised. He didn't expect to meet a soulmate in a foreign country. The two of them were inseparable after chatting, and they didn't rest until they were really sleepy.
The next morning, as soon as he woke up, he received text messages from several of his old teammates who were with the Wanderers asking him for Siwei Dihuang Pills, saying that even though the person was gone, he should not stop taking the medicine, otherwise it would affect his quality of life.
He went downstairs to the living room and called Reese.
"...Ahem...Mr. Reese..."
Riise: "What's wrong? Are you sick? No way, I'm leaving for Türkiye this afternoon to play my first official game!"
Chen Xiaoliang: "It's okay... just a little tired... um... can I ask Jiuzhitang if our cooperation on Siwei Dihuang Wan can be expanded?
"The last ad was too simple. It was just a picture of a man holding a bottle and smiling. It was just as uncreative as the Silver Throat Treasures..."
"This time I can say a few words of advertising..."
Reese: "You... Hey, tell me, how many boxes do you want?"
Chen Xiaoliang: "Are Morelos and his team really going to... that... a... ahem... a truckload?"
I only heard a call from Reese's phone: "Sorry, the number you dialed has been hung up. Sorry, the number you dialed is Guaji."
Damn! This guy...
He suddenly had an idea and texted back to the old guys: "I gave them all to Reese. You can ask him for them. If you are too late, he will eat them all."
In the afternoon, after Helena helped Chen Xiaoliang pack his luggage, David drove Chen Xiaoliang to the airport and officially embarked on his journey to Turkey!
The whole team arrived at Trabzonspor's home stadium, Medical Park Arena, early the next morning and held a tactical meeting in the locker room.
The first thing to be announced is the starting lineup!
Mourinho put the magnetic stickers representing the players' numbers on the tactical board one by one!
Goalkeeper! No. 1 Patricio!
Play with four defenders in this game!
Left back, No. 5 Binya!
Right back, No. 2 Karsdorp!
Two central defenders, No. 3 Ibanez and No. 23 Mancini!
Double defensive midfielder!
New European Cup champion No. 4 Cristante partners with No. 33 Chen Xiaoliang!
Attacking midfielder No. 7 captain Pellegrini!
Left winger No. 77 Mkhitaryan!
Right winger No. 22 Zaniolo!
Forward No. 9 Abraham!
When the numbers representing the starting lineup are put up one by one, it also means that the suspense of the main players in the summer pre-season training is completely revealed.
It can be seen that several players were very disappointed, especially midfielders Veretout and Diawara, and forward El Shaarawy .
The three people's originally serious faces were now even more frowned.
Veretout was a little timid and didn't dare to act rashly, while the disappointed Diawara and El Shaarawy simply tilted their heads and listened to Mourinho's tactical arrangements!
"Side lanes! Break through two side lanes for me!"
Mourinho shouted, patting the wingers and full-backs on the tactical board.
"Mkhitaryan retreats, Binya you have to get in! The same on the right side!
If one side is closely watched by the opponent, pass the ball to the middle and switch to the other side to attack in time!
We have to keep moving them! Keep the rhythm in our own hands!
If they still cannot break through the defense, the players in the middle will go to the sides and suppress the opponent with numbers!
When the ball reaches the frontcourt, if Abraham goes to the side, Pellegrini will have to move forward!
The ball is in the midfield. If Pellegrini goes to the side, Cristante will have to move forward!
Remember, the purpose of breaking through the wing is to create opportunities in the middle! The ultimate killing opportunity is in the middle! "
As he spoke, Mourinho pointed at Chen Xiaoliang.
"Stay in the middle, and force any attack that doesn't pass over your head!
The same goes for the others! We need to put pressure on them. Even when facing Barcelona at their peak, my Inter Milan never let them control the ball comfortably in the frontcourt!
Force them! Make them make mistakes, and then use the simplest means to pass the ball to the wing and into the front court!
Do you understand? ! "
"clear!"
Mourinho was very dissatisfied and slapped the tactical board twice: "The sound made by this little girl makes me lose any desire to win! This is not a friendly match! We have no friendship with these Turks! We are here to win!
Do you understand? !”
"clear!!!"
"Say it again!"
"clear!!!!!"
One day later, at 20:30 on August 19, the first round of the Europa League play-offs between Turkish Super League team Trabzonspor and Serie A Roma officially kicked off at home!
