Similar to their last opponent Verona, Roma has an excellent historical record against Udinese.
In the last 16 matches between the two teams, Roma has won 14; in the last 5 matches, Roma has 4 wins and 1 loss.
At the same time, playing at home at the Olympic Stadium, Roma has won four consecutive games.
The second round derby against Lazio was also held at this stadium, but Lazio played as the home team.
In addition to the 7-day long rest and the fact that all the main players were on the field, the media unanimously believed before the game that Roma would win a big victory.
But Mourinho will not take it lightly this time. He repeatedly practiced defensive tactics in pre-match training.
The team's full-back configuration cannot be changed in the short term. Once Karsdorp faces a fast winger, his shortcomings in intercepting and one-on-one defense will be infinitely magnified.
Although substitute young player Calafiori is daring and aggressive in attack, his defense is even more fragile than Karsdorp. The former was at least abused by famous players like Immobile and Son Heung-min, but he couldn't even defend against Verona's Lazovic, which is a bit too much... He is simply useless.
Fate is often like this. If you are given an opportunity but don't seize it, you can only accept the judgment of fate.
Mourinho once again told Joao to let sporting director Pinto loan Calafiori out for training in January.
In the new defensive drill, the left and right central defenders will take on the defensive task after the opponent's wingers break into the penalty area.
Once the two central defenders run out to defend, the two defensive midfielders will retreat to the periphery of the penalty area or inside the penalty area, replacing part of the central defenders' role and directly defending the opponent's forward players.
To some extent, this is also a tactic that Mourinho specially modified to maximize Chen Xiaoliang's defensive ability.
In this defensive system, Chen Xiaoliang is not only responsible for running and covering the front of the penalty area, but also has to retreat to the penalty area and directly participate in the melee and header competition with the opponent's forwards when the opponent is attacking.
Mourinho has no other options. If he continues to rely on those useless full-backs, there will only be more upsets for Verona.
Whether there is a chance to recruit players in the winter window depends on luck.
As for Boss Wu, even though Mourinho told Chen Xiaoliang that there was hope of breaking the fiscal balance bill, and he also knew that Boss Dan Friedkin was indeed interested in letting his business friend sponsor Roma, he would not really include such a thing in his winter transfer plan as it was not yet decided.
The rich don't all make their money from the wind.
From Abramovich, Moratti, Florentino, the Glazer family to Levy, Mourinho has some understanding of the business of businessmen investing in football.
Dan Friedkin is obviously not a boss like Abramovich and Moratti. He must get back the 120 million euros he spent on Roma this summer in the future.
This includes the transfer price that Chen Xiaoliang set at the club's senior management meeting when he was transferring, which was that if any club wanted to buy him in the future, the transfer price would not exceed 100 million euros.
Mourinho himself knew the process, although he did not tell any of his players.
When the two transfer reports for Abraham and Chen Xiaoliang were placed in front of Dan Friedkin, he was obviously more interested in the acquisition of Chen Xiaoliang.
Because the 24-year-old Abraham's price tag of 40 million euros, including his salary and bonuses during the contract period, it is difficult to guarantee that the investment will be recouped in the future.
Chen Xiaoliang's 17-year-old age, coupled with the sensational effect he caused in the Red Country, is destined to bring a large amount of traffic and sponsorship to the club.
Of course, in order to support Mourinho to achieve results, Dan Friedkin agreed to all transfer requests, but this does not mean that he will do so in the next transfer window.
Everything depends on the team's performance.
In Dan Friedkin's plan, Roma, which finished seventh last season, should at least be in the top four and qualify for next season's Champions League after spending 120 million euros.
In that case, the team will not only be able to obtain more tournament prize money, broadcast revenue and match day income, but also sign more sponsorships.
With these as safeguards, the team's book losses can be reduced, and the restrictions on the amount of player transfers under the Financial Fair Play Act can be reduced.
Roma, which has a new owner, is not short of money, but has money that it cannot spend. The Financial Fair Play Act limits the amount of money that club investors can directly inject into the team.
Therefore, fighting for the fourth place is the biggest task this season.
Whenever Mourinho thinks of this, he smiles.
When he was in the Premier League, he and then Arsenal coach Wenger had many exchanges of insults and even pushed and shoved each other during games. At that time, he once mocked Wenger as a loser who had no championships and could only fight for the top four every year.
Now Siren has long put down his teaching career, and the wheel of fate has placed this task on his shoulders.
It’s the time and the fate.
Because Wu Mi lived at home and needed his care, Chen Xiaoliang spent significantly less time training at home after training than usual this week. In 7 days a week, he only trained for 26 hours, with a training value of 7→33 points.
He originally wanted to increase his physique. The higher this attribute is, the faster the physical energy will recover naturally and the lower the probability of suffering serious injuries when injured.
But he thought about it and realized that he now had enough physical recovery cards and a guaranteed injury recovery card, so his physical fitness and possible injuries would not have a negative impact on him in the short term.
So I decided to keep the training points for now and add them to other attributes that require 80 training points to add 1 point.
At 18:00 on September 27, at the Rome Olympic Stadium, players from both teams lined up to enter the stadium!
Considering that the schedule was indeed inhumane, Roma fans did not criticize the team for losing to Verona, but still gave them warm applause and cheers.
At the same time, the start time of this game is 0:00 in the Red Country. It seems that in order to intentionally increase the ratings of Serie A in the Red Country, many of Roma's league games have been advanced by the tournament committee to around 18:00 local time.
Therefore, there were a lot of people in the Penguin live broadcast room for this game. Although the commentators were not the usual group of celebrities due to the time conflict with the Premier League games at the same time, but two newcomers were sent to commentate, the atmosphere among the fans chatting in the barrage was still lively.
"Beep!" The whistle sounded and the game began!
Abraham kicked off and the players in the frontcourt attacked directly!
In the 22nd second, Mkhitaryan took the first attempt. On the right side of the penalty area, he received a pass from Pellegrini and his long shot went over the crossbar.
In the 4th minute, Roma got a corner kick. Pellegrini cooperated with Mkhitaryan again. He passed the corner kick directly outside the penalty area. Mkhitaryan volleyed the ball. Two Udinese players stepped forward to block it. Goalkeeper Silvestri did not react at all. The ball hit the post and went slightly wide!
In the 6th minute, facing the opponent's full retreat, Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball to Pellegrini in front of him. The Roma captain dribbled the ball all the way and tried a long shot in front of the penalty area again, but was blocked by Udinese captain and Dutch central defender Nudinck and went out of the baseline!
In the 7th minute, Pellegrini took the corner kick. Cesco rushed to the front and headed the ball, which was then passed to the back. Abraham, who was lying in ambush at the back, pushed the ball with his instep and the ball hit the post and bounced out of the bottom line!
The England striker seems to have very bad luck with the ball recently. His shots are either slightly higher than the crossbar or hit the post and bounce out. He has not scored a goal in three games.
In the first 10 minutes, the game was completely under Roma's control. Udinese's three midfielders kept retreating to protect the goal. Every time they had the ball, they either kicked the ball away or made a long pass to counterattack Deulofeu, basically giving Chen Xiaoliang a chance to steal the ball.
Deulofeu joined Barcelona's La Masia youth training camp at the age of 9 and became famous at a young age. At the age of 17, he had already received a sponsorship contract from Nike worth 150,000 euros per year.
It's a pity that he met the six-time champion Barcelona team at its peak level. No one, whether it was Villa, Pedro, or later Suarez and Neymar, could be replaced by him, let alone Messi.
Later, he moved to many clubs and returned to Barcelona for a second try to gain a foothold, but failed again. Finally, he came to Udinese in the winter window of 2021.
He has the delicate footwork and excellent techniques of La Masia youth training products, but his weak ground confrontation ability puts him in a very disadvantaged position when facing strong defensive players. Coincidentally, his other striker partner in the team's 352 formation this season, the Argentine Pusetto, is also a striker with a similar playing style.
This is great. No matter who of the two received the long pass, when they met Chen Xiaoliang, it was either headed away or intercepted before it landed.
In just 10 minutes, Chen Xiaoliang had already had 2 steals and 2 headers.
Seeing that attacking through the center had no chance of success, Udinese could only turn to the flanks.
In the 11th minute, Molina, who played as a right wingback, received a pass from the wing and took a long shot outside the penalty area, but it was blocked by the selfless Veretout. This was also Udinese's first shot of the game.
There was not much pressure on defense, but the offense could not get into the penalty area. Chen Xiaoliang began to consciously move to the wing near the center line when organizing the attack in the frontcourt.
In the 15th minute, Udinese's 18-year-old left wingback Udogi's pass to Pusetto was intercepted by Chen Xiaoliang, and Roma quickly launched a counterattack in the frontcourt!
Chen Xiaoliang looked up and was stunned...
Behind him was Pusetto who was about to receive the ball, and in front of him was Udoji who was about to steal the ball.
On the left is Deulofeu ready to take over.
The four attackers in the frontcourt, including Mkhitaryan, all rushed forward. Even Veretout was far away from them. Suddenly, there was no quick way to pass the ball!
If the opponent succeeds in counterattacking here, it will be equivalent to giving Udinese an attacking opportunity in the frontcourt.
In an instant, various options, such as dribbling to the left, swinging the foot, kicking out of bounds, were rejected one by one in his mind. Looking at the two aggressive black legs of Udoji, Chen Xiaoliang subconsciously stepped on the ball, and when Udoji approached him and stretched his foot to steal the ball, he kicked the ball towards the small door between his legs!
Then accelerate and run forward!
Mourinho, who was not far from Chen Xiaoliang, wanted to use shouting to remind him the direction to pass the ball. Unexpectedly, before he could finish his words, the kid performed a crotch-piercing and accelerated pass in front of him!
Mourinho clapped his hands and smiled, while Wu Lei on the bench couldn't help but shout, "Oh my god, Liangzi is awesome!"
This dribbling ignited the whole audience!
Abraham and Mkhitaryan in front saw this and ran with even more energy!
They all knew what Chen Xiaoliang would do after he ran to the front court!
Zalewski on the left, Abraham and Cesco in the middle, Pellegrini behind them, and Mkhitaryan on the right, the five of them were like wild animals in the zoo hearing the keeper's command for dinner, all moving towards the penalty area, waiting for the piece of fat meat falling from the sky!
Wu Duoji was penetrated in the crotch and became angry and humiliated.
Although this black young player of Nigerian descent is only 18 years old, he has been spotted by many big clubs due to his excellent physical condition and focus on training. Newspapers also reported that Conte plans to sign him to Tottenham as the left wingback in the three-center-back tactics. In addition, Inter Milan and Juventus are also interested in him.
As a defensive player of similar age, Udoji was very dissatisfied. Why could this Asian have such good luck? ! He was spotted by a big club and a famous coach at such a young age? !
I refuse to accept this! I will kill him today to prove that I am stronger than him!
He had been holding this anger before the game, so he quickly turned around and chased after Chen Xiaoliang at full speed!
After passing Udoji, Chen Xiaoliang found an open space in front of him. He dribbled the ball and accelerated, waiting for his teammates to run near the penalty area line before he kicked the ball into the middle!
"Chen! Behind!"
Hearing the reminder from his teammates on the bench, Chen Xiaoliang turned his head and glanced behind him.
Oh! Sure! The black guy with the crab steps is chasing us!
Chen Xiaoliang did not entangle with him. Seeing that Cesco and Abraham had already rushed into the top of the penalty area, he slowed down a little, adjusted his pace, and made a long pass directly!
When Wu Duoji saw Chen Xiaoliang swinging his leg, he didn't believe that he would make a long-distance 45-degree cross just about 10 meters past the center line. He thought that he saw that he was about to catch up with him, so he blindly kicked the ball into the penalty area.
He sprinted hard and stretched his legs to steal the ball, but after Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball, he didn't have time to brake and hit Chen Xiaoliang's back heavily !
Just as Chen Xiaoliang stood firm after being teleported out, he felt a hit on his back. He staggered forward a few steps before he stood firm. Looking back, he saw Wu Duoji falling to the ground with his four limbs in the air!
The referee put his hands forward, indicating that there is a favorable ball for attack!
Wu Duoji looked at Chen Xiaoliang in disbelief! What did this Asian guy eat to grow up?! Spinach?! How come it's so hard? He didn't fall even when I hit him like this?!
The flying ball drew a C-shaped arc in the air and fell rapidly from the highest point!
This ball is destined for Cesco in the middle!
Chen Xiaoliang and his tacit understanding value has also reached dark green. The ball passed to him can increase his own technical attributes by 3 points, and can also increase Cesco's technical attributes by 3 points!
This means that this cross has reached the full value of 20!
With perfect advance prediction and perfect falling angle, all Cesco has to do is jump in front of the penalty spot and wait for the ball to hit his forehead while gliding in the air!
Udinese's 31-year-old goalkeeper Silvestri noticed the unusualness of the cross, and seeing that his defender could not catch up with Cesco, he chose to attack at the first opportunity!
Although this cross is technically perfect, the biggest flaw of the 45-degree cross is that the distance is too far, which will give the defenders and goalkeeper enough time to prepare and deal with it!
Unlike the inverted triangle cross, the defensive players have no time to react in a split second!
Cesco, who was flying in the air, and Chen Xiaoliang, who was watching the ball falling from a distance, both realized that Silvestri seemed to have blocked most of the angles, and if they chose to head the ball, the ball might be touched by his hand!
Just when the ball was about to hit Cesco's forehead, Cesco relaxed his waist muscles and instead of exerting force, he gently rubbed it with his forehead!
The ball was lifted to Abraham at the back post!
The English, who have been eager to score a goal for a long time, will not miss this opportunity. They take two steps forward, and when the ball is about to fall, they kick it with their long legs!
The opponent's goalkeeper Silvestri, who had just landed from the air, could only look back and watch the ball go into the net!
1 to 0!
Roma leads by one goal! Abraham breaks his 277-minute goal drought!
"Beautiful! Beautiful!"
Mourinho cheered loudly!
Joao couldn't help but applaud and said: "Perfect cooperation between one genius and another genius! Cesco chose to pass the ball to Abraham instead of forcing a shot in such an opportunity. It is really commendable!"
Mourinho: "I hope this goal can help Abraham regain his confidence in scoring goals!"
Faced with the volcanic cheers and celebrations from the home team fans, Udoji couldn't believe it.
Are you in already?
Just one cross was enough to break through the defense?
Is this kid so good at fooling people?
Kick-off from the center circle!
As soon as Deulofeu passed the ball back to the French midfielder Makengo behind him, Udoji not far on the left began to reach out for the ball!
Wu Duoji wanted to avenge the crotch shot he had just received: I don’t believe this guy can steal my ball again!
He dribbled forward and was pressed by Mkhitaryan. He chose to make a one-two with Pusetto and passed Mkhitaryan.
Trippi saw that he was coming to the right and was ready for battle!
But before he could do that, Chen Xiaoliang, who had replaced him, had already run towards Wu Duoji.
Wu Duoji looked up and was overjoyed! Here you are! I have been waiting for you!
Chen Xiaoliang waved his hand in the direction of Trippi, signaling Trippi to return to the penalty area and leave the defense on the right to himself.
Although today was Trippi's second appearance and first start this season, he knew clearly who Chen Xiaoliang was.
No attacker in the team dares to challenge Chen Xiaoliang's defense head-on, so he'd better obediently retreat to the penalty area.
Seeing Trippi's ball retreating, Udoji was even happier. He didn't take Chen Xiaoliang, who was rushing sideways to intercept him, seriously at all. Like a wild bull, he lowered his head and shoulders, dribbled the ball and accelerated towards the baseline!
But before he could catch up with the ball he had dribbled out, he saw a red light flash in front of him and kicked the ball away before him!
Wu Duoji was shocked but still wanted to chase after him, but he didn't expect that Chen Xiaoliang's powerful clearance accidentally kicked him in the face!
"Bang!"
No matter how strong the Italian guy was, he couldn't withstand the blow. He felt dizzy, his legs went weak, and he fell to the ground.
Chen Xiaoliang quickly waved his hand and bent down to check on Wu Duoji's condition.
The referee also ran over immediately.
The Italian was seeing stars and couldn't speak. He could only shake his hands to indicate that he was fine.
To be on the safe side, Udinese team doctor ran over and checked Udoji's pupils and facial bones.
Barrage:
[Without Chris's anxiety and Carl's unreliability, the team's offense and defense are indeed much smoother]
[Destiny Udogi, Transfermarkt shows a value of 4 million euros, Chen Xiaoliang, Transfermarkt shows a value of 47 million euros, why is there such a big difference? The collision, the pass, and the chase in the past two minutes tell everyone what it means to get what you pay for.]
[Abraham also scored, Pellegrini is in hot form recently, Cesco's pivot role is too obvious, the offense should be able to open up now, right? ]
[What a pity Xiaoliang, he didn’t get any assists again]
[Every time I see the ball, I lose. I hope this rule can be broken today]
[The above person said you didn’t watch Roma’s game this year]
[I am the person above, I am a Juventus fan, I just want to watch a Roma game to see if I will lose every time I watch it]
After lying there for more than a minute and making sure that everything was alright, Udoji got up, shook his head, and returned to his seat.
He had doubts since he was lying on the ground:
Why?
Who is black anyway?
Why can't I hit him, and even run faster than him? !
Wu Duoji, who began to question himself, gradually dispelled his contempt for Chen Xiaoliang before the game and began to pay attention to the performance of this peer on the court.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t watch it, the more you watch, the more shocked you will be!
This kind of observation by being there in person and competing on the same field is completely different from the effect of watching edited videos!
Just like when he watched the physical confrontation between Chen Xiaoliang and Vlahovic in the video edited by the analysis team, he did not feel that Chen Xiaoliang had any special physical qualities.
And with that collision just now, I knocked myself over. Only then did I truly realize that the physical fitness that I was proud of among my peers was not able to shake this red countryman!
It's not just him, the entire Udinese midfield and frontcourt combination, except for Brazilian midfielder Wallace Sousa who could barely compete with Chen Xiaoliang physically, the rest of the players were all defended by him like tofu dregs!
What’s even more terrible is that such defense not only ensures the safety of the team’s front of the penalty area, but also seriously changes the mentality of the players on both sides!
Seeing that they were completely at a disadvantage in physical confrontation, the Udinese players began to consciously avoid confrontation. Once one or two people developed a fear of physical contact, this atmosphere would soon spread to other teammates!
The Roma players noticed the fear of the Udinese players and instead intensified their own tough style in an attempt to expand this advantage!
As one side gained strength while the other side lost strength, Roma not only gained the upper hand in the middle, but also had the upper hand on both sides!
In the 26th minute, Deulofeu took a corner kick from the left and the ball flew to the penalty spot!
The one responsible for protecting this place is Chen Xiaoliang!
He jumped up to compete for the header against the opponent's French midfielder Makengo. When Makengo saw him heading the header, he raised his hands in the air to protect his head and chest, making a subconscious self-protection action!
How could he head the ball in this position? Chen Xiaoliang cleared the corner kick with his head.
In the 32nd minute, Mkhitaryan made a cross from the bottom, Cesco overpowered the opponent's central defender Bekao and headed the ball, but it was slightly higher than the crossbar.
In the 35th minute, Zalewski on the left received a through ball from Veretout and made a high-speed run. After withstanding the squeeze from the opponent's right wingback Molina, he used his speed to force past him!
Then he rushed into the penalty area along the bottom line and aimed a cross across the center in front of the goal!
Abraham, who ran too far, turned around forcefully, lightly touched the ball, and returned the favor by passing it to Cesco behind him!
Cesco shoots as soon as he receives the ball!
2-0! Roma expands its lead!
The two starting forwards assisted each other and both scored goals, which made Mourinho very happy!
Barrage:
[These two forwards are amazing. They scored a goal and assisted each in half an hour. They were determined not to let other teammates score any points...]
[Abraham's feet were good, but his head was really bad]
[Abraham, who is 194cm tall, is fast, and Cesco, who is 190cm tall, is tall? ]
[The above, I suspect you are implying a certain Chelsea player]
[Abraham: How about I also do a classic left-footed kick? ]
…
With a two-goal lead, Roma players began to feel relaxed.
There's no way around it. Teams with many young players are prone to this.
In the 41st minute, Deulofeu took advantage of the gap when Zalewski made a forward assist and did not return to defense. He changed direction continuously on the right side of the penalty area line, and then made a cross facing Ibanez's defense!
Patricio, who didn't have many opportunities to perform in the first half, dived forward for the ball, but didn't get far enough!
Udinese striker Pusetto dived into the empty goal!
Although Smalling followed closely, he was unable to stop him from completing the shot!
Fortunately, the ball was hit too hard and the target was not accurate, so it went over the crossbar!
The Roma defense was shocked and broke out in a cold sweat!
With 3 minutes left in the first half, Mourinho returned to the coaching seat.
After this game, they will travel to the eastern Dutch city of Arnhem to participate in the UEFA Cup Group G match, and will challenge the Dutch Eredivisie team Vitesse away on the evening of September 30.
With the game against Tottenham tied, whether they can qualify from the group will depend on their results against the other two opponents.
This game must be won!
And four days later, the team will face the challenge of Empoli at home.
This team is at a similar level to Udinese, the kind that requires all-out efforts to ensure they don't fail.
After that is a week-long national team match period. When the national team players come back, the real test will come. On October 17, they will travel to Turin to challenge the traditional giants Juventus!
Although the Old Lady has performed poorly recently due to limited signings in the summer transfer window and a significant reduction in attacking power after Ronaldo left, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse, and the foundation of the wealthy club and the strength of the team's configuration are there.
How good is the Roma team that Mourinho took over after three months of training? That game will be the real test!
If they can't even beat an old giant that is in poor form recently, how can they challenge the two Milan giants who are in their prime and aiming to win the championship?
If we fail to get a certain number of points in the games against the three giants and then lose to Napoli, who are in great form and strength, then the possibility of achieving the goal of competing for the top four this season will be very slim.
The halftime whistle interrupted Mourinho's thoughts.
There are still two and a half games to adjust this new team, and he must take advantage of all opportunities and try different things.