Chapter 180: The genius that makes Mourinho excited!
Chen Xiaoliang took a defensive stance.
He leaned to the right, leaving two body lengths of space between himself and the left sideline.
This is a clear move to allow Florenzi to break through to the outside, but to prevent him from cutting inside.
Everyone has experienced the main tactics of AC Milan under Pioli in the first round. The wing is not a real wing. Their main style of play is to pull back inside and form a dense connection with the midfield.
Especially when Ibrahimovic was not on the field, the 35-year-old Giroud's ability to compete for headers and score points was not very strong, and the rising star Leo did not start because he had just recovered from a minor injury, so Giroud did not even have a helper.
In this case, forcing a high cross from the bottom is definitely not the preferred offensive tactic.
How could Florenzi not see through Chen Xiaoliang's "conspiracy", but he still decided to give it a try.
Suddenly, he took two steps forward, and without waiting for Chen Xiaoliang to get close, he directly passed the ball to Tonali who was coming to the middle to support him, then pointed his hand forward and immediately made a high-speed run without the ball!
Chen Xiaoliang did not follow him. The short-term illusion generated by the marking attribute at close range allowed him to predict Florenzi's running direction long ago.
He took a few steps back diagonally, blocking the passing path of Tonali and Florenzi.
As long as it's not a low one-two, if it's a high pass, Malaysia will not lose to Florenzi in a one-on-one.
However, at this moment, Messias, who was originally wandering on the right, suddenly moved inward, and Tonali immediately passed the ball forward.
Veretout pressed forward, Chen Xiaoliang immediately retreated, Messias passed the ball horizontally again, to the empty space in the middle, but there was no one there!
Because the person who is about to shoot is rushing up from behind!
"Theo!"
"Long left-foot shot!"
"The ball went straight to the upper left corner of the goal!"
“Fortunately, Patricio was very focused and flew to save the ball from going out of bounds!”
"AC Milan corner kick!"
"This is their most threatening attack in this game! And it comes from the left back and offensive core Theo!"
Dong Fangzhuo: "AC Milan's attacking style is very pragmatic. If they can't score, they will shoot from long range, and they don't deliberately pursue ball control. Just now, Messias covered Florenzi on the right, and Salmacols covered Theo on the left. Both wingers supported the full-backs and opened up space.
In the area of Salemacols, Matic had to block his through pass. When Messias received the ball in front of the penalty area, Veretout had to prevent him from breaking through. The two wingers retreated at the same time, and Roma's two defensive midfielders were all immobilized and unable to leave the defensive area to block Theo, creating a very large space for Theo's long shot. ”
Zhan Jun: "Last August, the 24-year-old left-back and AC Milan's third captain was recruited by Deschamps into the French national team and made his debut! According to his current performance, he is very likely to participate in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar at the end of this year!
Xiao Dong, both are offensive left-backs, who do you think is better, Theo or your former Manchester United teammate Evra? "
Dong Fangzhuo: "In terms of comprehensive ability, Theo is better. Although Evra often makes his debut at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson does not assign him many offensive tasks because he has players like Giggs and Rooney in front of him.
Theo's attacking style and range are greater, but in terms of defensive ability, Evra is still stronger. However, what impressed me most about Evra is his fighting spirit, willpower and infectiousness in the locker room, which Theo may not be able to match. "
As the two chatted, time on the field continued to pass.
Obviously influenced by Chen Xiaoliang's loud shouting and tough defense, Roma's players in the midfield and backcourt also became noticeably tougher.
In the 35th minute, when Diaz was holding the ball and preparing to shoot at the front of the penalty area, he was kicked down by Ibanez with the ball.
Just two minutes later, in the 37th minute, Messias received a diagonal pass from Krunic on the left and was about to turn inside when he was tackled by Malaysia, who was already defending fiercely.
Although the two defensive actions were quite significant, they both destroyed the ball first. The referee saw it clearly from the angle and did not make any calls.
As a result, the morale of both sides naturally increased and decreased, and Roma gradually took the initiative on the field.
In the 39th minute, Theo attacked again in the middle, but his through ball was intercepted by Matic, who immediately passed it to Celik.
The new Roma player ran with the ball for about 10 meters and passed it directly to Zaniolo who was on the side.
Theo had no time to pull it back, so Krunic could only sink to the parallel line of the central defender and come over to defend.
Seeing that there was one less defensive midfielder double-teaming Chen Xiaoliang in the middle, Zaniolo immediately passed the ball to him.
Chen Xiaoliang made a move to shoot the ball!
Although Pioli and his assistant Murelli mentioned in the tactical meeting before the game that Chen Xiaoliang rarely chose to shoot and preferred to pass the ball to teammates in better positions, but in this big gap on the right side of the top of the penalty area, Gabia, as a central defender, instinctively pounced on Chen Xiaoliang!
And this is the moment Chen Xiaoliang has been waiting for!
Zaniolo's pass from behind took away Krunic, and Chen Xiaoliang's fake shot deceived Gabia. This also meant that near Cesco, there was only one central defender, Kalulu, who was 179 cm tall, and Tonali, who tried his best to block himself and Cesco.
However, when Chen Xiaoliang kicked the football and the ball drew a small arc, it flew half a meter past Cesco's forehead!
At that moment, everyone on and off the Roma field felt: This shouldn't happen!
According to Chen Xiaoliang's crossing ability and the level of understanding between him and Cesco, how could the cross that was so close be off by more than half a meter?
But this "accident" of more than half a meter not only fooled their own people, but also fooled AC Milan's entire defense, especially their goalkeeper Maignan!
Maignan also thought that this was a cross to Cesco, so he stood motionless in the middle of the goal, with only Cesco in his eyes!
"The ball flies to the back point!"
“It’s falling!”
"Abraham!"
"A cushion shot!"
“The ball goes in!”
"In the 40th minute, Roma scored an away goal and the score was 2-1! The suspense of the game is back again!"
After scoring the goal, Abraham felt relieved, as if he had finally "made up for his sin". He excitedly ran over and hugged Chen Xiaoliang.
Including this goal, he has scored 7 goals in the league this season, finally tying the same number of league goals as Cesco.
And Cesco immediately rushed into the net, and despite Maignan's efforts to stop him, he still picked up the ball and ran towards the center circle.
Mourinho was very satisfied with the players' performance. He applauded loudly and urged them to stay calm and not celebrate.
Especially Zaniolo's first-hand horizontal pass just now made him feel that this team has indeed undergone a qualitative change!
Zaniolo, the former lone wolf, actually passed the ball in such a timely manner, willingly giving up the large open space in front of him. He did not choose to break in at a small angle himself, but passed the ball to Chen Xiaoliang who was closer to the middle.
Thinking of this, Mourinho looked at Chen Xiaoliang and his blood boiled in his heart!
He has seen such leadership qualities and cohesion in Terry and Zanetti, but everyone knows that the 17-year-old Terry and the 17-year-old Zanetti can never do this!
As a product of Chelsea's youth training, Terry played his first official game for Chelsea's first team in 1998 at the age of 18. Six years later, in the summer of 2004, French legend Desailly chose to retire, and Mourinho gave the captain's armband to the 24-year-old Terry.
Terry did not disappoint Mourinho's trust. He played in all games that season and scored 8 goals, leading the team to win the Premier League championship, creating a legend.
Zanetti joined Inter Milan in 1995 at the age of 22. When Mourinho joined the Nerazzurri in June 2008, Zanetti had been in the team for 13 years and was 35 years old. His leadership in the locker room comes not only from his personal temperament, but also from his considerable qualifications.
In addition to these two teams, when he was in Real Madrid, there was competition between the Spanish gang and the Portuguese gang in the locker room, and behind the scenes there was also open and secret fighting between the team's Spanish executives and the coaching team headed by Mourinho.
Casillas, the leader of the Spanish gang, became a direct victim of the struggle.
Although Ronaldo's performance is like a god, his overly paranoid personality and extremely strict demands always make his teammates admire him but also feel a little fearful.
Such a character can make one look up to others, but cannot make one a good leader to unite and rally teammates.
When he was at Manchester United...Mourinho was under tremendous pressure and had to give the captaincy to Pogba.
In his judging criteria, if 100 points is the full score and a person with 80 points can become a good captain, then Pogba's score is definitely -250.
At Tottenham, Harry Kane has all the qualities to be a team leader, but he lacks the most important leadership. Being taciturn and quiet, he can only be a leader at the competitive level, but cannot dominate the locker room.
Although captain Lloris has achieved great success, he was also awarded the French national team championship by Deschamps and helped the team win the 2018 World Cup.
But even in that national team, Lloris was just one of the players whose words carried weight, and no one really regarded him as an absolute leader.
What's more, the fact that the main goalkeeper and captain of a World Cup-winning team is in a club like Tottenham Hotspur that has not won a championship for many years proves that the goalkeeper's strength has more or less obvious flaws.
The BIG6 of the Premier League, Kepa, De Gea, Alisson, Ederson, and Ramsdale, whether Lloris can replace any of them is probably a big question mark.
Chen Xiaoliang, 17 years old, came from a football desert country jokingly known as a country where God would never see the men's national football team enter the World Cup. He was able to convince most of the players in the team in just half a season. This speed surprised Mourinho, who wanted to support him to dominate the locker room.
His original plan was to let Patricio, Abraham and others assist Chen Xiaoliang for a season, while he himself would provide support and protection from the side. Through the operation and adjustments of the two transfer windows, when the second season was almost halfway through, he would completely straighten out the locker room and remove all factors that were not conducive to the team's unified thinking.
The current pace was two-thirds faster than he had expected.
The effect is more than doubled.
Although it is still inseparable from Mourinho's preparation and support, and the support of the new faction in the locker room, what really convinces the players is Chen Xiaoliang's motivated and excellent performance on the field, as well as his self-discipline and hard work on the training ground.
When he first joined the team, the veteran players also thought about giving him a lesson in the group competition.
But in the end, no matter whether it was Zaniolo, Pellegrini, El Shaarawy or Carles Perez, none of them could escape Chen Xiaoliang's fierce sliding tackle and close interception.
Moreover, they are all players playing in the top five leagues. Everyone knows whether these tackles and interceptions are fouls or not, and whether they are malicious. It will only lower one's own status if they try to make trouble and insist that it is a foul.
In addition, Mourinho was standing there, so it would not be appropriate for him to take advantage of the situation.
What made these players speechless the most was that every time Chen Xiaoliang tackled them fiercely, he would politely reach out and pull them up... and add a caring smile.
By doing this, even if you are angry, it will disappear.
Then, the first to "surrender" were the guards.
Especially the Italian vice-captain Mancini. After Chen Xiaoliang covered for him once, twice, three times, four times, and N times, this guy had to be convinced by the red countryman.
Not to mention the interceptions in front of the penalty area, which saves the central defenders with slow turns and low burst from encountering offside traps by the opposing forwards.
Secondly, in the midfield, although the appearance of Chen Xiaoliang has squeezed the playing time of Cristante and Veretout, it also allows the two to relieve a lot of defensive pressure and participate more in offensive organization.
Finally, in terms of attacking line, including the assist to Abraham just now, Chen Xiaoliang has already made 12 league assists this season.
This was something that the scouting team, the transfer team, and even Mourinho himself had not anticipated before the season.
His "sudden enlightenment" of crosses and his recent "rapid improvement" in through balls have made him not only indispensable in defense, but also an important part of the team in terms of offensive organization, especially the final pass. Which attacker would not like a midfielder with such passing ability?
Not to mention the four goals, a 40-meter long shot, a 0-degree angle shot, a header parallel to the ground and a super arc free kick, almost every one of them can be selected into the top ten goals of the season, and each one helped the team avoid defeat or reverse the victory.
Originally, Mourinho thought that in 5 to 6 years, Chen Xiaoliang could gradually grow into an all-around midfielder like Gerrard. Now it seems that it may only take 1 to 2 seasons for a super midfielder with invincible offense, unshakable defense and who can lead the era to be born.
There's hope!
There really is hope!
Although Mourinho still spoke in a "light-hearted" manner and his expression remained "calm and composed", he could not deceive himself about his true thoughts.
He came to Rome just to fight for his place!
They all say that I am out of date and on the decline, that I don’t know how to train young players, and that I will no longer be in the sight of big clubs.
Then I will prove it to you in Rome!
What gave him the confidence, apart from his unparalleled arrogance and self-confidence, was the red boy in front of him!
"Joao, how is Chen's contract negotiation going?"
Mourinho suddenly asked Joao beside him.
Joao seemed a little unhappy, but he didn't get angry. He said softly: "Of course there is no problem with the weekly salary increasing to 220,000 euros. Now Riise can't accept the penalty clause of a one-time payment of 150 million euros.
Chen is a non-European player, and the laws of his home country do not allow him to obtain dual citizenship. He will occupy a foreign player's quota in any league he goes to.
In addition, there are many cases of Asian players whose abilities have dropped drastically after serious injuries, such as Shinji Kagawa, Ryo Miyaichi, and Atsuto Uchida. Chen's defensive style tends to be physical confrontation and explosive sprints, which carries a greater risk of injury. This will cause other top clubs to have great concerns when considering paying such a large amount of cash.
After all, there are too many safer and more reliable EU players available for this price.
It is said that Calafat has already helped Real Madrid finalize the transfer of Monaco midfielder Joan Armeni, and even with the floating clause, the transfer amount will not exceed 100 million euros, so Riise is determined not to accept this clause and would rather not have a salary increase.
Pinto can't do anything to him, and he hopes you can persuade Chen himself."
"That 21-year-old French midfielder? Has Real Madrid finalized it?" Mourinho asked.
Joao nodded.
Mourinho naturally perked up when he heard Calafat.
This man was once the assistant of Brazilian legend Ronaldo during his time at Real Madrid. In 2017, he became the chief scout of Real Madrid and signed a number of potential players such as Vinicius, Rodrigo, Militao and others who have gradually proved their worth for the La Liga giants.
Now there is another person named Joan Armeni on this list.
His movements have become the focus of attention of scouts all over Europe. As long as it is reported that Calafat has taken a fancy to someone, scouts from other top clubs will also go to take a look.
So when Chen Xiaoliang recommended Cesco, Mourinho once suspected whether Calafat had gone to Austria to conduct on-site research on Cesco's situation, and then it was exposed by the media.
"Joao, we have to keep this kid, as long as possible, but I don't want to hinder his future. You and I know that if he continues to play like this, Roma can't keep him, and Serie A can't keep him.
For the sake of the club, for your sake, for my sake, and for the sake of the child, please tell Pinto that my suggestion is to increase the amount of his external liquidated damages, for example 300 million, but when other national clubs offer a price that meets our private setting, and it does not need to be a one-time payment, we will leave it to Chen and Riise to decide.
The advantage of this is that as Chen's performance continues to improve, the outside offers can be raised as much as possible.
Suppose we win the championship this year or next year, or even this kid makes it into the top ten of the Ballon d'Or, of course no one is really going to pay 300 million euros. But if someone is willing to pay a total of 180 million euros with various additional clauses, and payable in installments over 5 years, as long as the terms are reasonable, we can accept him.
That way we can fully tap into Chen's future value, leave room for flexibility, and show him that we hope he will play for the team in the long term, but not like Tottenham trapped Kane and detain him forever with clauses. "
Joao nodded and said calmly, "Okay, I'll tell you."
