Chapter 174: Mourinho's counterattack! Psychological warfare in the midfield!
The director's camera frequently scanned Zhang Kangyang in the stands.
The news of their family's shrinking business and sharp decline in revenue in the Red Country had already spread to Italy. In a media interview when Conte left the team after winning the championship, he also claimed that he had different ideas with the board of directors on transfer policy.
The young owner of Shuning really wants to prove through a successful defense of the title that the club can adopt a healthy business strategy to maintain its dominance in the league without resorting to excessive financial expenditures.
At least in the first 15 rounds of the league, he was generally satisfied.
Away from home, they tied Juventus and AC Milan 1-1, both teams were dominant;
The team beat Napoli 3-2 at home, giving them their second league defeat;
In the two major games of this round, AC Milan defeated Salernitana 2-0, and Napoli lost 2-3 to Atalanta at home.
This means that if Inter Milan can win this game, winning the half-season championship of the league will basically be a foregone conclusion.
Therefore, the 30-year-old second-generation rich man from Hong Kong and chairman of Inter Milan Club chose to "lead the army in person".
On the other side, Ryan Friedkin, son of Roma owner Dan Friedkin, also appeared in the stands.
As the third generation of the Friedkin family, he was dressed in casual clothes, chatting and laughing with his young friends around him, as if Roma was leading on the field.
Although new energy vehicles are on the rise, this has not affected their family's business in the United States at all.
Naturally, the father and son had their own "grand plans" for Rome, but they were not in a hurry.
But the Roma players were eager to change the score.
Lautaro's lightning-fast offside move just now made Mancini break out in a cold sweat.
Fortunately, Calhanoglu's through ball was a little smaller, so Lautaro could only cross the ball from the baseline. Otherwise, if he cut inside and shot...
In the last match, Chen Xiaoliang was not there, as captain Pellegrini led the team to Bologna, but they lost miserably. In this match, he was sent to the bench, and Karsdorp, who could only play on the wing against mid-table teams, is now always a substitute in strong dialogues.
Mancini dare not make any more mistakes, otherwise, even if there is no one in the team who can replace him for a while, after the winter transfer window opens, a "strange man" like Cesco may emerge from somewhere and completely take his main position.
After all, news about the team's transfer has been flying everywhere for a long time.
Even Cristiano Ronaldo, who started off well but then went downhill at Manchester United, has been linked to Roma, as well as Van der Beck, who has never been able to play, and Jesse Lingard, the "Great British Star"...
Add to that Mkhitaryan, who once played for Manchester United, and in the media, Roma is almost becoming the Italian branch of Manchester United...
Mourinho's old subordinate Matic will definitely transfer from Manchester United to Roma in the winter window. He can play as a central defender. If a Manchester United gang is really formed in the team by then... will his life be easy?
Mancini thought of this and perked up!
In fact, Mancini is not the only one who has the same idea as him. Karsdorp, Ibanez, Kumbulla, and even Binya, who just joined the team this summer, are all anxious.
Malacia, Celik, Dodo, Saliba, Cucurella, etc. According to the football newspapers, Roma's defense line after January 2 had been completely replaced.
Don't forget, Roma's injury list also includes Spinazzola, who has a ruptured Achilles tendon...
Roma passed the ball back and forth in the midfield, looking for gaps in the opponent's defense.
This is not the offensive method that Mourinho advocates, but it does not mean that players can blindly lose the ball.
Like Chen Xiaoliang, Barrera moved forward to the area between Chen Xiaoliang and Roma's two defensive midfielders to sweep the area, constantly pressuring Veretout and Cristante.
Cristante was particularly slow. His slow speed meant that once Barrera tried to steal the ball, he had to pass it away immediately, without any possibility of escaping.
After Faris' reminder from the sidelines just now, Inter Milan also made changes.
Dumfries obviously retreated, and D'Ambrosio retreated a little to the middle, vaguely showing the intention of turning into a four-back formation.
Now, even if Cesco retreated and used the advantage of the high ball to pass the ball, D'Ambrosio was defending in the middle of the penalty area, while Zaniolo, who was previously active on the left, was marked by Dumfries.
The ball came to Veretout's feet. Seeing that there was no good point to pass the ball, and Barrera running towards him again, Veretout had no choice but to kick the ball to Cesco in the same way.
Cesco retreated, but Brozovic did not come over to defend. Instead, he stood in front of Chen Xiaoliang, blocking Cesco from passing the ball to him.
Skriniar was watching him one meter behind him, and this distance prevented Cesco from completing the instant breakthrough after turning around.
Seeing that all the receiving points were blocked, Cesco hesitated and his header was a little too strong and went directly to Calhanoglu.
After getting the ball, the Turk passed it straight forward, and Barrera understood what he meant and immediately ran back to join in!
There was no way Christante could catch up with him and was left behind in an instant!
Barella brought the ball to the penalty area. Dzeko moved to the left, not only making room for the ball, but also receiving the high ball and competing for the header. He also interfered with the two central defenders of Roma at the junction of Smalling and Mancini.
Lautero is on the right side of the penalty area and can also receive the ball and shoot with his right foot at a small angle!
Barrera kicks!
With no interference around him, he was ready to shoot directly!
But just as his right foot was about to land, the ball in front of him was poked away by a foot that stretched out from the left rear!
In a flash, Barrera saw that it was Chen Xiaoliang who was shoveling towards him from behind!
Barrera did not choose to force his leg back. He had already used all his strength. Deliberately forcing his leg back might cause him to strain his leg muscles.
Moreover, at such a close distance and at such a fast moment, it is normal that you cannot control your legs, right?
Barrera neither exerted any more force nor tried to slow down his strength, but let his foot fall by inertia.
At that moment, Chen Xiaoliang felt Barrera's trick, but it was too late for him to dodge! He could only let the side of his shin guard face Barrera's falling right foot!
"Bang!"
With a crisp sound, Chen Xiaoliang's left leg was kicked and swung, then fell on the grass.
Barrera immediately fell to the ground, covering his right foot and looking painful, as if he was the victim!
The Roma defenders were stunned. After a second, they immediately rushed over to check on Chen Xiaoliang's condition. Patricio and Smalling waved their hands to tell their teammates not to touch him, and shouted for the team doctor to come in quickly!
The 22 people on the field were all professional players and they all knew exactly what had happened. It was like a heavy artillery shot hitting the defending player directly. No one could stand up and point at the attacker's nose and say that he did it on purpose. They could only suffer in silence.
Mourinho and Joao's faces were livid, and fitness coach Lapeti and the team doctor had already rushed into the field.
Chen Xiaoliang didn't feel any pain when he was kicked just now, but when he tried to contract the muscles of his left leg, a piercing pain immediately spread throughout his body like lightning!
Cao!
This must be a broken bone, damn!
【Dong Dong Dong】
[It is detected that the host has suffered a serious injury. Do you want to use the injury recovery card? ]
Faced with the system's inquiry, Chen Xiaoliang did not rush to answer. He knew that the injury recovery card could save him, but he had to confirm first whether the situation allowed it.
At this time, Veretout, Zaniolo, Ibanez and other hot-tempered players had already started arguing with Inter Milan players, and there were even pushing and shoving movements.
"Why are you pretending? You're still pretending after you kicked someone! You're a piece of trash!"
Weletu's mouth was full of spurts, which inspired Calhanoglu's fighting spirit.
He may not be good at motivating his teammates, but when it comes to provoking his opponents, he really enjoys it!
"Are you blind? You didn't see such a rough tackle!" He immediately responded to Wellertu.
"Give me a hand." Chen Xiaoliang pulled Cesco and said this, and Cesco immediately lifted up his upper body.
Chen Xiaoliang endured the severe pain, tried to sit up, and then held his thighs with both hands.
Chen Xiaoliang cursed in his heart, then breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, although the bone was fractured, it was not completely broken. Otherwise, if the foot had been in an L shape and seen by teammates and the camera, it would have been impossible to use the injury recovery card.
He had experience in this matter. About a year ago, he had explained to Gerrard several times that the kick from Dundee United's villain Powis only broke the shin guard, and the only camera with a suitable angle on the field at that time only captured Chen Xiaoliang's knee.
Although the action looked "reasonable", the referee Marco Di Bello still showed a yellow card to Barrera who was lying on the ground screaming in pain.
Any player with high sports ethics can restrain himself from doing this.
Although Barrera, who was lying on the ground, was acting, his instep was indeed painful. In that moment, he did not expect that he would actually kick the shin guard hard.
Although he felt a little unhappy when he saw the referee giving him a card, he still felt a little proud when he thought about being able to "kick" Chen Xiaoliang off the field.
"How are you?" Seeing Chen Xiaoliang sit up and touch his legs, his teammates seemed to see hope.
Chen Xiaoliang shook his head and did not answer. In his mind, he was giving instructions to the system: "Come on, use it quickly!"
Injury Recovery Card 2→1
A string of golden characters appeared and disappeared, and Chen Xiaoliang once again tried to use his left calf muscles.
The pain completely disappeared, and that real feeling of muscle strength reappeared.
When Lapetti and the team doctor rushed across half the court to Chen Xiaoliang, they saw that he stood up by himself!
Lapeti quickly told Chen Xiaoliang not to move and asked the team doctor to check him out.
Chen Xiaoliang shook his head and replied that it was not necessary and that he was not injured at all.
The people around were stunned.
They were different from the audience in the stands and in front of the screen, they heard the "bang" clearly.
Is this all right? Is he indestructible?
After thinking about it, the only explanation was that Barrera's kick did not really have much power, and the sound just happened to hit the loudest area.
However, compared to the self-doubt of others, Barrera is the one who can least accept it.
Who else knows his motives better than him?
Brozovic saw Chen Xiaoliang stood up as if nothing had happened, and quickly walked over to beg for mercy from the referee: "Look, he's not injured, he was just acting! Barrera's yellow card should be revoked, he should be given a yellow card!"
The referee was also dumbfounded, but he remained calm on the surface and sent Brozovic away with a stern warning.
After the team doctor confirmed that everything was fine, the referee announced that the game would continue. Barrera rubbed his painful toe for a while before getting up and returning to the game.
He was so proud just now, but suddenly he felt that he had suffered a loss.
I got a yellow card for no apparent reason and almost injured my toe.
What are the shin guards of this Red Country kid made of? They are so hard! This didn't even hurt him!
"Just wait for me."
Barrera was feeling depressed and heard Chen Xiaoliang talking to him.
"What did you say?"
Chen Xiaoliang: "The last person who did this to me was out of action for 4 months."
"Are you threatening me?!" Barrera was saying this as the sideline ball was thrown to him.
He was just about to step forward to meet the ball when Chen Xiaoliang rushed over!
Barrera immediately spread his arms to protect the area under his feet, then used his right foot to stop the ball and pull away Chen Xiaoliang.
However, Chen Xiaoliang did not make any unnecessary movements. He kicked the ball directly into the stands before Barrera caught it, and then his body "collided" with Barrera's left side.
The Italian was caught off guard and immediately fell to the ground.
Chen Xiaoliang looked down at Barrera who had fallen to the ground:
"I'm teaching you how to be a human being."
Barrera was furious and jumped up instantly to take revenge on Chen Xiaoliang. The referee immediately blew the whistle and Inter Milan players rushed over and grabbed Barrera.
While pulling, he reminded him: "If you eat one more card, you will be defeated!"
The referee didn't hear what Chen Xiaoliang said, but he knew it was definitely not a good thing, so he warned both of them and ordered them to be careful with their actions and words, otherwise he would make a severe judgment.
The game continues and Inter Milan continues to throw the ball out of bounds!
Seeing that Barrera was upset, Dumfries threw the ball to the backcourt. After receiving the ball, D'Ambrosio was about to pass it to the left, but Barrera shouted for the ball!
He was very unhappy that Dumfries didn't throw it to him just now.
What are you doing? Do you think I'm no good?
D'Ambrosio had no choice but to kick it.
Barrera received the ball and turned around, and sure enough, Chen Xiaoliang was already rushing towards him not far away.
"You want to teach me how to behave, who do you think you are?!"
Barrera started dribbling towards the middle with anger!
"What Kopa Award? Get lost!"
"A rubbish team from the European Cup is worthy of baring its fangs and claws in front of the defending champion?!"
Seeing that Chen Xiaoliang was about to approach, Barrera made a cross pass to Calhanoglu on the left, and then rushed forward at high speed.
Calhanoglu passed the ball back, a typical two-on-one combination.
Barrera wanted to take advantage of the moment when Chen Xiaoliang was unable to turn around after his sprint, and use a two-pass pass to completely get rid of him.
But as soon as Calhanoglu passed the ball back, Chen Xiaoliang had already caught up with him!
Although Barrera was angry, he was not a French midfielder who was obsessed with dyeing his hair.
He has a very strong sense of teamwork and would not be stupid enough to turn the arena into a one-on-one duel between himself and Chen Xiaoliang.
He immediately made a long pass into the penalty area.
Lautaro started to counter-attack in an instant. Mancini had missed the defense last time, so he positioned himself in advance this time and slowed down Lautaro's starting speed.
However, Barrera's pass was too long and went out of bounds.
"Run, look at you following me like a wild dog."
Barrera is a talkative player, and his teammates even jokingly gave him a nickname - "Radio". He also talks non-stop during training, and sometimes talks so much that he even annoys his teammates.
And now, Chen Xiaoliang's declaration of war undoubtedly completely opened up his inner chatterbox, and he suddenly placed all his goals and focus on the Red People.
Chen Xiaoliang ignored him.
In the next 10 minutes, Inter Milan, after changing its formation, once again strangled Roma's offensive tactics. Cesco's retreat was no longer a threat, and the situation once again became a unilateral suppression by Inter Milan.
Lautaro's speed and Calhanoglu's crosses became the biggest threat to Roma's defense.
Barrera still kept his eyes on Chen Xiaoliang and worked very hard in the attack.
Driven by these three people, Inter Milan's attack became more and more powerful, and it seemed that they were not far from scoring another goal.
In the 34th minute, Inter continued to control the ball.
Joao was a little anxious because up to now, the team's shots on target were still the embarrassing "0".
"Jose, do you want to make some adjustments? The situation is too ugly now. I'm worried that Inter will score another goal."
"Wait a minute, I have seen even uglier scenes than this many times. This one today is nothing. They just scored a lucky goal. They didn't have any way to kill us in mobile warfare.
Let the boys get used to it.”
As he was speaking, on the Inter Milan side, Dumfries dribbled the ball along the right, but Binya blocked his breakthrough route, so Dumfries passed the ball horizontally to the middle.
As soon as Barrera received the ball, Chen Xiaoliang rushed forward to put pressure on him. Barrera immediately made a horizontal pass and continued to move to the left.
But Chen Xiaoliang's sudden interception made Barrera's transfer a little hasty, and the ball rolled over before Brozovic moved forward to the receiving position!
The retreating Zaniolo intercepted the ball immediately!
He took two steps back and passed the ball diagonally to Cesco in front of him on the right side!
Without stopping the ball, Cesco pushed it back to the left with the arch of his foot and passed it to Veretout who came in first!
Veretout took two steps and was about to continue his move, but Brozovic blocked him.
Weletu immediately tapped his heel and passed it to Christante behind him!
"Now! Run! Run!" Mourinho instantly stood up from the coaching seat, came to the scene and shouted!
Cristante didn't stop the ball and made a long pass to the front court!
Inter Milan's players retreated like a tide!
But when Barrera ran back, he found that the person who was rushing in front of Roma and preparing to receive the long pass was actually Chen Xiaoliang!
"He was beside me just now, when did he rush up?!"
While thinking, Barrera accelerated desperately to catch up.
However, at this distance, facing Chen Xiaoliang who had already started at full speed, there was no way he could catch up!
Not to mention him, even Skriniar and D'Ambrosio, who were staring at Cesco a few seconds ago, have been left behind by the Reds.
speed!
It's speed!
This is the moment Mourinho has been waiting for!
This is the defending champion's biggest weakness! Speed!
At the pre-match tactical meeting, he repeatedly emphasized that the speed of Inter Milan's defense was their biggest weakness. Similarly, this is also Roma's weakness.
Therefore, the team cannot press forward in this game, otherwise we will be the ones to be counterattacked. Only by constantly retreating, releasing the hinterland and allowing the opponent to organize the attack, can we completely expose their back line in the midfield and leave all their depth to us!
After luring for a full 15 minutes, Milan finally made a mistake!
At this time, Handanovic was the only one in front of Chen Xiaoliang.
But Chen Xiaoliang was too fast, and Handanovic had no time to get out of the penalty area and destroyed the ball in advance.
The old Slovenian goalkeeper blocked the penalty spot, lowered his body, opened his arms, and prepared to fight to the death in a one-on-one fight!
Zhan Jun: "A huge, super-huge single blade!"
"Left? Or right?!"
Chen Xiaoliang took the ball to 3 meters in front of Handanovic and raised his right foot!
Gently push the outside of your foot to the right!
"Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball to the right!"
"Zaniolo, keep up!"
"Easy push shot!"
“The ball goes in!”
"35th minute!"
"1 to 1!"
"Chen Xiaoliang! 15 appearances in 16 league games, 10 assists! His last assist was also to Zaniolo!"
"With the assists of Chen Xiaoliang, the Italian has scored 4 league goals this season! He has tied his second best record. His best season was the year before he tore his cruciate ligament. In the 2019-20 season, he made 26 league appearances, 10 of which were as a substitute, and scored a total of 6 goals!"
Huang Jianxiang: "Zaniolo's attitude is obviously much better than at the beginning of the season. Just now, Barella made a long pass and it was Zaniolo who actively retreated to grab it, which led to the quick counterattack afterwards.
After he passed the ball to Cesco, he and Chen Xiaoliang immediately sprinted forward at full speed, and before the Inter Milan defense line could react, they had already rushed forward offside.
However, his sprint was worth it. Xiaoliang did not take the credit in the end. Facing Handanovic, he was very calm and pushed the ball to him, almost hitting the empty goal. "
Zhan Jun: "The director has already indicated in slow motion that this counterattack, from Zaniolo's interception to Zaniolo's goal, only had 6 touches of the ball and took only 13 seconds!"
Huang Jianxiang: "It's a bit like Mourinho at Real Madrid."
Zhan Jun: "I wonder if any old Inter Milan fans will miss the treble-winning era and Inter Milan's quick counterattack after seeing this goal!"
On the field, after scoring a goal, Roma players celebrated passionately!
Zaniolo and Chen Xiaoliang hugged each other tightly!
"Chen! You're so selfless! Thank you for the pass!"
Chen Xiaoliang laughed out loud.
Mourinho and Joao on the sidelines kept applauding.
After the director finished filming this side, he immediately turned the camera to Barrera, who was seen arguing with Brozovic. The two of them were gesticulating with their hands, and it was unclear whether they were arguing about the passing route or the running route. Anyway, they looked very dissatisfied with not being able to receive the pass from Barrera.
After a while, both sides slowly returned to their respective halves to continue the game.
Barrera, who was full of anger, passed by Chen Xiaoliang again when he crossed the center line.
He wanted to say something, but it was obviously his own mistake in passing that led to the loss of the ball, so he didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Who is the dog?"
Chen Xiaoliang didn't even look at him, but ran back while uttering a cold and sarcastic remark.
"You fucking horse!"
Barrera turned around and wanted to walk towards Chen Xiaoliang, but Dzeko and Lautaro, who were preparing to kick off, immediately stopped him!
