Back on the field, Roma players relaxed a lot.
Anyway, the head coach said that as long as we play hard, it doesn't matter how we play. How he argues with Conte after the game is his business. We just need to focus on playing hard.
The two teams changed their formations and the fans were happy.
Zhan Jun: "Looking at the second half lineup, Roma replaced a full-time left back and returned to Mourinho's traditional 4231.
Tottenham also changed their formation, replacing Ali with Eric Dier and playing with three central defenders! At the same time, right back Doherty was replaced by Brazilian right back Emerson, who was brought in from Barcelona at the last minute of the transfer window for 25 million euros!
Conte also changed back to his usual 3421 formation, with Son Heung-min and Lo Celso still wandering behind Kane!
On the sidelines, several players from both sides were warming up!
Roma has Zaniolo, Cristante, Cesco who was bought for 12 million euros, young midfielder Beauvau, and Wu Lei who is very popular among Chinese fans!
On the Tottenham side, Ryan Sessegnon who returned from Hoffenheim, Skip who returned from Norwich, and defenders Ben Davies and Sanchez are also warming up!
Judging from these warm-up players, it is obvious that the two famous coaches Mourinho and Conte are determined to fight to the end!
The second half will not be a formality! ”
Zhang Lu: "Hey, this is a good ball. In the first half, Tottenham tasted the sweetness of the wing. In the second half, not only will Son Heung-min continue to attack the left Karsdorp line, but Conte also specially sent Emerson behind Lo Celso, which means that the right side will also start to strengthen the attack.
Mourinho saw that the wingers were completely destroyed in the first half, and the three central defenders piled in the penalty area were not effective. He simply put a regular full-back on and let the wingers participate in the defense. Maybe he could curb Tottenham's wing attack. "
As the two were discussing, the whistle sounded, Abraham kicked off from the center circle, and the game continued!
After Pellegrini received the ball, he found that in addition to the fierce-looking Hojbjerg in the first half, there was also a dark and tough-looking Ndombele in front of him.
Pellegrini passed the ball to the left, and Zalewski tried a few times against the newly-come Emerson. Seeing that the Brazilian was obviously faster than Doherty in the first half, he immediately switched from the left side and crossed the ball with his right foot to Abraham. Unfortunately, the ball was headed out by Eric Dier.
Although Abraham is tall, has good speed and jumping ability, Mourinho hopes that he can become another Edward, but the English striker himself does not seem to have that intention.
In the summer, Lukaku, known as the Little Beast, returned to Chelsea from Inter Milan for a sky-high price of 113 million euros. This also made Abraham, who lacked the ability to stand in the penalty area, determined to leave the team and look for new opportunities.
He had no hesitation about Mourinho's invitation, and Chelsea coach Tuchel, who had lost a lot of money, was also happy to sell him in exchange for some funds.
Everything went smoothly except for one small accident.
He thought he had the title of Serie A's top scorer in his grasp, but it was snatched away by a kid from a Chinese country.
Who made the nosy Levy set Chen Xiaoliang's release clause at 35 million pounds? It had to be settled according to the pound exchange rate. It happened that the euro exchange rate plummeted in the summer... Before we knew it, 40 million euros became 41 million...
Alas, I didn't expect that a small anecdote in my playing career would be influenced by the international financial trend. Isn't that infuriating?
On the way to the team, Abraham wanted to give Chen Xiaoliang a warning, at least to prove within the team who was the most important signing.
He is a Champions League winner from the Premier League.
Unexpectedly, during the first confrontation practice on the training ground, Chen Xiaoliang's tackles were so accurate, as if he was Kante five years younger. He made him scream in pain, but his teammates beside him looked as if they were used to it and even laughed at him.
What's even worse is that there's no way to hide from him. That guy has abnormal physical strength. He is often exhausted after training in the morning, but after lunch, he is full of energy again in the afternoon, as if others in the restaurant of the Trigoria base are eating meals while he is eating No. 98 gasoline.
After a day, Abraham was convinced, and after playing a few games, he simply recognized this leader who was 7 years younger than him.
In the midfield, Mourinho said that we had to be tougher and more ruthless in the second half. The leader led us in shouting passionate slogans. He was ready to go on the field with a lot of arrogance, but he didn't expect Kong Erlengzi to send out three central defenders, and the new one was Eric Dier.
Other teammates may not know that they are playing in Serie A, but how could I not know?
Who is Eric Dier? He is a well-known card-getting king in the Premier League. He has never received less than 5 cards in a season. He once received 10 cards in a season.
The key point is that this guy not only has big moves, but also can cripple people. The other football hooligans are in the stands, and he is a football hooligan who came to the field to play football...
Abraham thought to himself and struggled on the field for a while, but trapped in the cage of three central defenders, he couldn't get free, so he had to move to the wing and launch an attack from the wing.
Mourinho saw it and sighed in his heart.
Thinking back to when he insisted on buying Lukaku at Manchester United, he discovered that the kid also had this bad habit. A center forward weighing more than 200 pounds, he always ran to the sidelines, didn't go for headers, always liked to cross the ball, and even crossed with his left foot...
Why would you want to learn from Abraham
In the 52nd minute, Mourinho, who could no longer bear it, waved his hand and replaced Zalewski with Cesco, letting Cesco go in front and Abraham go to the left.
Seeing Mourinho change his tactics again, Conte yelled at Ndombele.
"Pass the ball to the wing more often! Don't always think about advancing! Go to the wing! Go to the wing!"
The BIG6 of the Premier League played like this at their home ground in front of 62,000 people and the dim Roma team. Wouldn't Mourinho be furious at the post-match press conference?
Conte is not a man with a good temper. No matter who you are, as long as he is unhappy, he will start scolding you.
In February this year, when he was still coaching Inter Milan, he drew 0-0 with Juventus away and advanced to the Italian Cup final with a total score of 2-1.
After the game, he made an international friendly gesture to the executives in the Juventus stands, which angered Juventus chairman Agnelli, who rushed down the stands and shot back at him: "Shut up! You idiot!"
Do you think he loves Inter Milan? But at the end of the season, after winning the championship, he cursed Inter Milan chairman Zhang Kangyang as a liar...
If it weren't for Paratici, the sports director who was poached from Juventus by Levy at a high price, slamming the table and threatening to resign at the executive meeting, Levy really had no intention of asking Conte to give him advice...
Ndombele certainly knew the temper of his head coach. After being scolded, he didn't even dare to fart. He just passed the ball to the side...
On the left, Bigna and Lo Celso were in a close fight;
On the right, Veretout still helped Karsdorp to entangle Son Heung-min, and Mkhitaryan also retreated to press from time to time.
Both teams had a fast rhythm of transition between offense and defense. When they got the ball, they tried to get to the front court quickly. However, although it looked lively, apart from a few long shots that missed the target, there were no threatening shots.
In the 55th minute, Pellegrini's long shot from the center was saved by Gollini, and Tottenham launched a quick counterattack!
Gollini kicked directly towards the midfield!
Kane pressed Ibanez and headed the ball back to Hojbjerg behind him!
The Danish midfielder kicked the ball directly to Son Heung-min who was on the left!
Before Veretout could return to his defensive position, Karsdorp was left behind by Son Heung-min again!
Chen Xiaoliang chased at full speed!
But Son Heung-min, who had no pressure on him and could dribble the ball at full speed, was really too fast!
The Korean used his speed advantage to tear through Roma's defense, and with a few dribbles he reached the left side of the penalty area!
Seeing that he was finally catching up, Chen Xiaoliang had already made a sliding tackle! At the same time, he also covered the area where he might cut inside!
But before Chen Xiaoliang fell down and tackled the ball, Son Heung-min pushed the ball towards the middle with his left foot and made an unselfish cross in front of the goal!
The long-legged Kane has long left behind the other long-legged Mancini!
He was unguarded and easily shot the ball into the goal. Patricio had no way to deal with this kind of one-on-one situation!
The score becomes 2 to 1!
Kane scored two goals!!!
"Good job!" Conte kept punching the air as the whole stadium cheered excitedly. He even ran to the corner of the coaching area closest to Roma and shouted at the players on the field!
No one could hear clearly what he was muttering as he fell to the ground, but it should be a fight back against Mourinho!
Damn, you also play three central defenders? Look at my authentic three central defenders!
You call your two kids strikers? Look at my striker!
You call that a defensive counterattack with your slow speed? Look at my high-speed counterattack!
Zhan Jun: "Tottenham's two strikers taught the young Roma attacking group a lesson! Son Heung-min used his speed to run out of this scoring opportunity! We saw Chen Xiaoliang chasing all the way back, but he was just a little short, but was still passed by Son Heung-min."
Zhang Lu: "The defense is too leaky. The full-backs and center-backs were penetrated by Tottenham's through ball. We have to rely on a defensive midfielder to fill the gap. Only Chen Xiaoliang has this speed. Kante and Vieira couldn't catch up to this level back then. Son Heung-min is really fast.
Karsdorp needs to make a good summary of this game after returning. This kind of person as the main right back may be OK against the mid-to-lower-level teams in Serie A, but if he plays against a strong team, once he encounters a speedy winger, he will be doomed. "
Zhan Jun: "Let's see, Mourinho called Chen Xiaoliang over, it seems like he has some other arrangements, and he is giving instructions to him in person!"
In the Roma coaching area, Mourinho ignored Conte and did not complain to the fourth official that his "neighbor" was going crazy.
He called Cesco and Chen Xiaoliang and whispered to them repeatedly.
After finishing their conversation, the two returned to the court and made a tactical gesture to their teammates in the front and back courts.
In the 57th minute, Roma kicked the ball from the center circle!
Abraham passed the ball back directly to Veretout, then moved forward and stood at the junction of Eric Dier and Christian Romero , constantly pretending to go to the left to receive the ball.
Veretout and Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball back and forth several times, and Kane and Ndombele pressed forward to press.
Veretout suddenly made a long pass!
Kane was stunned and thought, I haven't put any pressure on you yet, why are you so anxious to kick the ball?
The ball flew high and far, three or four meters in front of the top of Tottenham's penalty area!
Cesco is leaning against Roden!
The Welsh center back pushed hard against Cesco, but he didn't expect that the 18-year-old Slovenian was quite strong!
Cesco stuck out his butt, opened his arms and squeezed backwards. Roden gently hugged Cesco's waist and pushed his lower limbs forward!
Abraham continued to move slowly to the left. Dell, who was standing in the middle of the three central defenders, looked at Cesco and Roden on the left, and Romero on the right who was following Abraham and might be trying to counter offside, so he chose to stand in the middle and wait for his opportunity.
Roden, who was supported by Cesco, couldn't jump up. He watched Cesco gently tip the ball to Pellegrini behind him with his forehead!
Abraham immediately moved forward to the left, but Romero refused to give in!
Pellegrini made a move to take a long shot, and Dale took a step forward to block it!
As soon as he unloaded the ball, Cesco turned around and got rid of Rodon!
Pellegrini faked a shot and then passed the ball to the target with just the right amount of force!
Cesco received the ball and directly had a one-on-one opportunity!
Abraham turned back to the left and ran back, stretching out his hands to ask for the ball!
Tottenham goalkeeper Gollini rushed forward!
Cesco lobs the ball!
Gollini jumped up and stretched out his hand, but he missed the ball!
Dale tried hard to chase back to the goal to clear the ball, but it was too late!
The ball slowly flew into the goal along the bottom edge of the crossbar!
2 to 2!
Just one minute later, Roma equalized the score!
This is Cesco's first shot since he came on the pitch! This is also his first goal for Roma!!!
Cesco excitedly grabbed the Roma logo on his jersey and ran towards the away fans' area to celebrate wildly!
All the Roma players on the field ran towards Cesco excitedly!
Wonder boy!
Mourinho is very satisfied!
It is indeed a high-quality potential stock!
I called him over just now because I told him to use his physical advantage to attack Tottenham's left center back Rodon in front of the penalty area, instead of competing with Tottenham in the midfield, and to pass the ball directly from the back to the front!
Mourinho has used this tactic many times on Drogba of Chelsea, Diego Milito of Inter Milan and Fellaini of Manchester United, and it has always worked!
What made him overjoyed was the counter-run that Cesco made after he made the fulcrum!
Clean, decisive and fast!
He headed the ball back to Pellegrini and completed the offside trap in the instant the defensive players around him were distracted!
Having this awareness means that he has the potential to become a great striker!
However, Mourinho was also very pleased when he looked at Abraham, his beloved player whom he bought for 40 million euros. It was his feint attack that prevented Eric Dier from coming up and pressing Cesco with Roden at the beginning.
It seems that we need to use this combination of two people more often in the future!
As for the formation, it doesn’t matter. This is a new team anyway, so we need to keep trying and keep adapting!
On the field, the excited Roma players took turns venting their emotions on Sesco before getting up and leaving one by one.
After congratulating Cesco, Chen Xiaoliang patted Abraham on the butt and said, "That's great. You acted really well just now, running back and reaching for the ball. You're the best actor."
Abraham smiled smugly but he was crying in his heart.
He wasn't acting at all, the reason why it was so realistic was that he was really reaching out for the ball and wanted to shoot and score...
Tottenham's rising momentum was instantly extinguished, and instead they felt a little depressed. The Roma players showed resilience and were as motivated as the winners!
After Tottenham kicked off, they continued with a quick wing attack, which also included Kane's long shot from outside the penalty area.
From the field point of view, Tottenham still had the upper hand, with a ball possession rate of over 60%. Although the pass success rate was much lower than in the first half, it was still fluctuating around 82%, which was visibly higher than Roma's 75% pass success rate.
In the 66th minute, Conte made another substitution, replacing Lo Celso and Reguilon with two young English midfielders, Skip and left winger Ryan Sessegnon.
Both substitutions were positional substitutions after the starting players' physical strength declined, especially Ryan Sessegnon. The 21-year-old can play as a left winger or a left back. This attribute determines that he is an excellent candidate for the left wingback in Conte's three-center-back system!
With Son Heung-min running for most of the field, he was not only able to help with defense, but also to cooperate with Son Heung-min to strengthen the attack on the left!
Sure enough, after the two came up, Tottenham's attack became even more fierce!
Even if the players wanted to take a break to catch their breath, Conte on the sidelines would urge the team to attack again and again with roars!
In the 71st minute, Son Heung-min once again used his speed to rush on the left side of the frontcourt!
Although Karsdorp relied on his physical advantage to gradually narrow the speed gap between him and Son Heung-min as the game came to an end, he was only a little closer and was still unable to prevent the Korean's dodging.
Veretout and Mkhitaryan, who assisted him in defense, were on the verge of their limit. Unlike Karsdorp, these two also had to participate in the offense and run in other areas.
Son Heung-min did the same thing and rushed to the left side of the penalty area again, passing the ball to Kane who was running in the middle!
Zhan Jun: "Son Heung-min made a low cross!"
"Kane is coming from the middle! Ibanez has a yellow card! We can't stop him!"
"Chen Xiaoliang is chasing us! Let's see how fast we can be!"
"Kane is ready to poke and shoot!"
"Chen Xiaoliang tackled it! The goalkeeper cleared it immediately!"
“This is the second time today that the Red Country midfielder has pulled Roma back from the brink of losing points!”
Zhang Lu: "He has great stamina. I don't know what Kane is thinking at the moment. Obviously, the starting players on the field have slowed down a little, only Chen Xiaoliang is still running fast.
To become a star player, a superstar, the most basic requirement is to be physically fit and not easily injured. Otherwise, no matter how good your skills are, if you spend half a year recovering from injuries and then play for 70 minutes without any physical strength, you will never become a talent.”
Zhan Jun: "Coach Zhang is right! The replay shows it clearly! In the last ball, Chen Xiaoliang caught up with Kane at a distance of about 15 meters even though he was three or four steps behind! In the 71st minute, he still has such sprinting ability! Which coach doesn't love such a player?!"
In slow motion replay, just when Kane was about to shoot, Chen Xiaoliang caught up with him and tackled the ball in advance!
Kane missed the kick and fell to the ground, and Patricio kicked the ball away!
Kane, lying on the ground, covered his face with his hands, his chest heaving as he gasped, unable to believe that he had missed this great opportunity for a hat trick.
Son Heung-min, who had been running for half the field, bent down and took a few breaths. He felt that at this moment Chen Xiaoliang's explosive power and speed had obviously surpassed his own, who had exhausted most of his physical strength.
As we all know, Korean players initially relied on their tenacious style and abundant physical strength to gain a foothold in Europe.
Park Ji-sung was repeatedly valued by Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. He was even used as a surprise weapon in the Champions League to deal with Pirlo, Fabregas, and even Messi because of his extraordinary physical strength, nicknamed "Park Three Lungs".
But at the moment, Son Heung-min has to admit that in terms of physical strength, this boy from the Red Country is like a perpetual motion machine!
Chen Xiaoliang stood up quickly. The game had not yet reached a dead ball state, so he couldn't sit down to catch his breath. Besides, he had just used the stamina recovery card in 65 minutes, so he didn't need to catch his breath now.
The small words appeared again:
[Superstar Mission: Win 5 confrontations with Harry Kane]
[Task progress: 3/5]
Patricio's clearance flew to the center circle, where Ndombele and Abraham squeezed together, ready to grab the high ball!
The two of them held each other and hugged each other, and neither of them could jump up!
Pellegrini rushed over and raised his foot as if he wanted to kick the two men and the ball away without saying a word!
Was Abraham panicking at that time? He was definitely a little panicked...
Captain, we are one of us!
The head coach asked you to fight for your life, but he didn't ask you to go after your own people!
At that moment, as the ball was about to fall, Pellegrini's leg had already swung over, and Abraham and Ndombele's faces turned pale!
It’s just that no matter how pale the two big black guys’ faces are, others can’t tell!
Abraham leaned against Ndombele tightly, but Ndombele was the first to give in!
He let go of Abraham's hand, protecting his head with one hand and his crotch with the other!
Guard both ends and protect both ends!
Pellegrini smiled in his heart, and after his fierce foot touched the ball, he just made a light lob pass and it flew to Mkhitaryan in front of the right!
Mourinho said in the locker room that Ndombele is particularly afraid of injuries. When he was coaching Tottenham, Ndombele actually refused to play because he was afraid of a recurrence of his old injury!
This is simply an incredible thing among professional players, just like an ordinary person saying to his boss, "I might catch a cold if I get up in the middle of winter and go to work, so I applied for not going to work"!
Conte is still using this guy? I don't know what's going on in his mind!
Although Mourinho's mind was full of Conte as he watched this moment on the field, the Italian did not sneeze.
But Conte is very angry!
He turned to assistant coach Stellini and said, "Substitute that idiot for me!!!" After saying that, he also uttered the Italian national curse that starts with C!
Stellini knew his temper and thought that it was a good thing that he was in London and surrounded by noise, otherwise he would be fined three to five thousand pounds and thrown into the stands for the swear words he just said...
Starting from the 18-19 season, the English Football Association has significantly raised its code of conduct requirements for head coaches.
Anyone who throws objects, clothes, kicks a water bottle, claps or mocks the referee with a fake smile, or walks into the opposing coach's command area will be warned by the referee or the fourth official.
Every 4 warnings will result in a one-game suspension, 8 will result in a two-game suspension, 12 will result in a three-game suspension, and so on...
And publicly swearing and being clearly broadcast on TV is a "serious crime" that is no different from hitting someone...
Rooney was once banned for two games because he cursed "Fuck" at the camera...
So recently Veretout and Ibanez often use the Chinese "Catch the Grass" to replace the dregs of their respective languages ​​in training, just like Chen Xiaoliang...
Many foreign languages, many paths...
Stellini turned back and let Harry Winks warm up, which will also be Tottenham's last substitution in this game.
On the court!
The ball that Pellegrini just passed was received by Mkhitaryan, who dribbled the ball forward slowly. Sessegnon in front of him was strong and had enough stamina, and he was not someone that he could easily dodge after running for 71 minutes.
Abraham ran to the middle and Mkhitaryan passed the ball!
Abraham received the ball and passed it back to Mkhitaryan who was making a forward run!
Two passes to one!
Just now, I thought Mkhitaryan didn't dare to pass him, so Sessegnon hurried back!
Cesco goes forward! Rodon follows!
Abraham advances! Romero watches!
Seeing that a large space was about to form on the wing, Dell rushed forward and attacked Mkhitaryan!
The Armenian, who was running at high speed, rolled out of bounds like an old lady hit by a car!
"Beep!" Mateu Laos decisively showed Dale a golden war god card!
Dell seemed very satisfied. I don't know if he was satisfied that Mkhitaryan didn't pass the ball or that he had completed his mission of getting a card in this game...
At this time, Ndombele saw the substitution number tag and jogged off the field.
Conte was already waiting on the sidelines.
Ndombele came into shooting range and he started spraying!
"What the f*ck happened to that ball just now? What the f*ck are you afraid of? Why the f*ck are you still playing in this game if you're such a coward!"
Ndombele stood there with an innocent look on his face. The fourth official's eyes had turned to Conte, and assistant coach Stellini quickly pulled him away.
Mourinho saw this scene on the sidelines and laughed secretly in his heart.
He actually understood this feeling very well.
How do you feel when you spend a huge amount of money to buy a player who looks dark and tough, but find out that he falls down when touched, is timid and sticks to the ball, and what's even more annoying is that he doesn't listen to instructions, loves to go against the grain, and spends all his energy on dyeing his hair?
Depend on!
Thinking of this, Mourinho also became angry!
Why should I think about him when there is nothing wrong with me?
Mkhitaryan seemed to have fallen quite hard just now, and his physical strength was almost at its limit. Joao reminded Mourinho that it was time to make a substitution.
Mourinho quickly thought about the current situation on the field and the substitution plan he had prepared before:
Veretout was replaced by Cristante. Although he ran slowly, it was the 72nd minute of the game and he still had the advantage as he was full of energy.
Abraham comes off and Zaniolo comes on to play on the left side. Zaniolo is more suitable for the position and it is time to let him go up and make a charge.
Mkhitaryan is out, who will come on... ?
Change the defender, damn, there is no defender to replace. The coward Calafiori was punished by himself and sent to the reserve team to reflect on himself. However, even if he is replaced, he will only be worse than Karsdorp.
Substitute Carles Perez to make a charge? No, this guy only wants to dribble the ball and rush. Although he can pose a threat, Son Heung-min will have one less person to help defend.
Niles? Although he is mainly a left back, it would be nice to have him play on the right to strengthen the wing defense. But I have to win this game. Once Niles comes on, he is a good defender as a full back, but offensively it means there is one less point on the wing, and it is too difficult for Zaniolo and Cesco to rush into the penalty area.
Mourinho's brain was working fast, his eyes scanning the players who had warmed up.
Wu Lei! You go!
He pulled Wu Lei over and quickly explained the details while the team doctor was examining Mkhitaryan!
Mourinho spoke so fast that the attentive Chen Xiaoliang was afraid that Wu Lei might not be able to hear clearly, so he immediately ran over and acted as an interpreter for him!
More than a minute later, in the 74th minute, three players came on the court!
Now, both sides have used up their last substitutions, and the next 20 minutes will be the final decisive battle!