Chapter 203: The whistling arrows pierce the stars, and the wolf's fangs are broken by the ring!
Mourinho, many people say that he is a psychological master, especially for those players who have similar temperaments to him. Under his encouragement and motivation, they are willing to give everything for him.
In fact, although there are some routines in his words, after all, Mourinho has been in the industry for more than 40 years, and it is impossible to say that there are no routines at all. But as a typical loser who has made a comeback in the football world, his inner emotions and thoughts are the true source of his words.
Which head coach doesn’t like a talented attacker?
Robben who is as fast as lightning, Drogba who is as strong as a bull, Ibrahimovic who is tall but delicate, and Ronaldo who is omnipotent... Mourinho has coached countless superstars.
But there is another type of "genius" that also left a deep impression on him.
Ali, Balotelli, Adriano...
They are gifted and talented. The potential within them can be seen with the naked eye. Everyone knows that as long as they are self-disciplined and focus on football, they can become superstars, but they themselves don't know it.
Apart from these geniuses who are born with a gift from God, there is another type of player that Mourinho likes the most.
Benzema, Milito, Pandev...
It’s not that these people don’t have talent, but compared to their brilliant teammates, their brilliance is obviously much dimmer. For most of their careers, they have been playing supporting roles and doing the work of wingmen.
But they are diligent, hard-working, and willing to work hard. Even if they seem unknown compared to the protagonists, they are willing to give their all for the team's progress.
Mourinho also saw similar qualities in Wu Lei.
He tried hard to get along with every coach and player, conscientiously completed the tasks assigned in every training session, did not miss any opportunity for extra training with Chen Xiaoliang, and learned as much Italian as possible to increase interaction with the team.
Like those talented attackers, no coach will hate such players. Although their abilities are not outstanding, their efforts are enough to impress others.
Chen Xiaoliang was naturally very happy to see Wu Lei replace the unwell Matic.
But the change in formation also means that he and Veretout will form a double midfield and can no longer control the opponent's two midfielders Callum and Matteoli on their own in defense.
However, another substitution that followed made Mourinho's plan clear.
At right wingback, he replaced Zalewski with Binya.
Chen Xiaoliang immediately understood that Mourinho's intention was to let him go to the right more often in the attack and let Binya stay in the backcourt more often.
In this way, when he leaves the midfield to participate in the attack, even if he cannot retreat at the first time, there will be no gap on the right, and Veretout is still in the middle.
After the two sides re-tested several times, the battle reignited in the 60th minute.
Callum, who had finally gotten rid of Weletu's man-to-man defense, dribbled forward with the ball.
Without the support of Furuhashi Kengo, Hota and Maeda Dairan could only guard the left and right sides respectively.
Left back Taylor pressed forward, Callum passed the ball to Taylor, Taylor cut inside, and Horta suddenly made a forward run.
Facing Chen Xiaoliang, Taylor didn't dare to stick to the ball and immediately passed it back to Callum who had been left open and moved to the wing due to the running of the two.
After Callum got the ball, Horta went around the penalty area from the baseline, while Taylor ran towards the baseline again.
This is an off-ball running routine that uses the full-backs to move forward in local areas, attract the opponent's defensive attention and compress the defensive area.
There was no one in front of Callum. Chen Xiaoliang moved a few steps and stood about 5 meters from him, obviously defending against the breakthrough but not the pass.
Callum didn't hesitate and continued to dribble the ball until both feet were in the penalty area.
At this time, Horta had already run in a semicircle to the penalty area line, while Taylor was squatting in the penalty area like a center forward.
Chen Xiaoliang slightly turned sideways, and he was only about 2 meters away from Callum.
Callum forced his way forward and went down the left side, and Chen Xiaoliang immediately followed him!
Just as he was about to enter Chen Xiaoliang's tackle, Callum swept with his left foot!
The ball quickly rolled along the grass in an inverted triangle towards the penalty area line!
Horta drew his bow and arrow, and the retreating Veretout rushed forward to block it. Horta faked a shot and passed the ball with his toes!
The ball goes to the right!
Zhan Jun: "It's Maeda Dairan!"
"Ibanez stayed too far inside, his attention was on Kigo Maggis and Taylor!"
"Maeda Dairan shoots!"
"Danger!"
"Chen Xiaoliang helps!"
"It just missed the goal! Kigo Magis was so close to scoring!"
Liu Yue: "Yes, this attack is very thoughtful!"
"The Celtics played the same way as before, but this time with fewer links and closer to the goal."
"They completed a pass from left to right in the penalty area, taking advantage of the entire defensive line in the Roma penalty area turning around as the ball moved. When everyone thought Maeda Dairan was going to shoot like he did just now, he suddenly made a cross pass to the front of the goal."
"Kiko Magis, who was being watched by Smalling and Ibanez, suddenly made a run forward and shot with his legs stretched out."
"Fortunately, there seemed to be a fingerprint in the dark. After defending Callum, Chen Xiaoliang turned around and moved to the small penalty area to assist in defense. Kiko Magis's shot happened to fly to the far post and was blocked by Xiaoliang with his head."
Zhan Jun: "Let's see! Roma has launched a counterattack!"
"Xiao Liang's block was headed out of the penalty area by Mancini. Veretout had physical contact with Horta and kicked the ball forward before Horta!"
"It's still Roma's usual routine. Cesco leans on Vickers and heads the ball to Abraham who is running forward at high speed!"
"The front court forms a three-on-four situation!"
"Yuranovich is chasing after Abraham!"
"Cesco moves forward to the junction of the two central defenders Vickers and Staffelt!"
"Abraham rushed into the penalty area! He had a one-on-one opportunity!"
"Vickers caught up with him on his right!"
"Abraham tried to dribble the ball but his foot was a little messy!"
“He passed the ball back to Cesco before he lost his balance!”
"There's only Staffelt in front of Cesco!"
"Cesco stopped the ball and made some adjustments!"
"Staffelt failed to stop in an emergency! He slipped! He fell in front of Cesco!"
"Cesco chose to pass the ball!"
"It's Wu Lei!"
“Shoot!”
“The ball goes in!!!”
"Wu Lei scored a goal in his first attack just five minutes after coming on the pitch!"
Liu Yue: "It was beautiful. Roma once again took advantage of Celtic's pressure and passed the entire midfield with a long pass."
"Cesco's role in Roma's counterattack system is now irreplaceable. Therefore, we can often see that even if Mourinho puts the more expensive Abraham on the bench or moves to the wing to play as a winger, he will always put Cesco in front."
"Zhan Jun mentioned before that Mourinho's current use of Cesco is a bit like his use of Fellaini when he was the coach of Manchester United. As long as the offense cannot open up the situation, Fellaini will be placed forward and use his superb heading ability to form a fulcrum in the frontcourt. Then one or two fast forwards will be used as the receiving points to grab the second ball and create a threat in the frontcourt as quickly as possible."
Zhan Jun: "In addition to Fellaini, it also reminds me of Giroud, the center forward of the 2018 World Cup champion team France!"
"In the entire championship process, Giroud did not score any goals. It seems that as a center forward, this is an unqualified data, but he can average 3.3 headers per game in the frontcourt. His value is far more than the number of goals can reflect."
Liu Yue: "Behind the 3.3 headers are a lot of physical confrontations with the opposing defenders, support, and off-ball running. With him, the young and fast French team's frontcourt attack line can have a lot of opportunities to break through and play behind. If you let Mbappe, Dembele and other fast forwards directly face the opponent's back line, the offensive efficiency will immediately be greatly reduced."
Zhan Jun: "With the World Cup approaching, Benzema is in excellent form in Real Madrid this season! Compared with Giroud, he can play a pivotal role and has a strong goal-scoring ability. With Benzema, the French team is even more powerful!"
Liu Yue: "Speaking of this, we have to mention another strong team, Argentina."
"They also have many excellent attackers, such as Lautaro and Correa from Inter Milan, Dybala from Juventus, and Alvarez from Manchester City , who has also been outstanding this season."
"But in front of Messi, the current Argentina team does not have a center forward like Higuain. In addition, Messi, Di Maria and others are getting older and their speed is declining. Although they have performed well in recent national team games, it is still worth observing how much offensive power they can exert in the World Cup finals where every game is a bloody battle."
On the field, Wu Lei ran towards the Roma away fans' stands and waved to celebrate!
Including this goal, he has scored 5 goals in this season's European Cup, making him the team's top scorer.
Although this was due to the fact that they were facing weak teams like Vitesse, Mura and Trabzonspor, and also because Cesco, Abraham and others were rotated and did not play, Wu Lei still cherishes every goal and is proud of them!
He hugged Cesco excitedly. Just now, the opponent's central defender Staffelt had slipped. Apart from low balls, Cesco had plenty of shooting opportunities, but he still chose to pass the ball!
"Leizi! Shabi! Big Shabi!!!"
Cesco, who lived nearby and practiced and jogged with him almost every other day, also learned a lot of Chinese. Of course, Chen Xiaoliang also played tricks on him and often taught him some incorrect Chinese.
For example, you first tell him "Niubi" in Slovenian, but then you say "Shabi" in Chinese...
Over time, Cesco really took "Shabi" as a compliment.
Chen Xiaoliang also said that this is the dialect of Jinling City, Wu Lei’s hometown, so it can only be said to Wu Lei and cannot be used on him.
The simple-minded Cesco believed it and would say "Leizi! Shabi!" whenever he saw Wu Lei.
Wu Lei knew that Chen Xiaoliang was playing tricks on him, and he would laugh every time. However, they did not speak the same language, and both knew limited Italian, so Wu Lei could not explain...
However, at this moment, Cesco's loud shouting was clearly captured by the camera close at hand, and the sound immediately spread all over the world along with the lens.
The barrage of comments flooded the screen:
[It seems that Chinese nationalism has taken over Europe]
[It reminds me of Jiang Wen...]
[As expected, the easiest thing to learn when learning a foreign language is vulgar words...]
But the most popular line, the one that almost filled the entire screen, was what Cesco said: "Lei Zi! Shabi!"
The Penguin Live Room immediately activated the sensitive word blocking function... and the screen was clean for a moment.
Zhan Jun and Liu Yue could only laugh secretly in the live broadcast room.
"Beep!" The celebration is over, the referee blows the whistle, and the game continues!
Celtic made two substitutions, with midfielder James McCarthy replacing Matteoli and striker Forrest replacing Horta.
At this point, Celtics head coach Postecoglou had completely given up on playing fancy moves in front of Roma's iron defense and simply went back to his old job - long passes.
In a short period of time, there were crosses from the bottom, crosses at 45° angles, lob passes from outside the penalty area, and long passes directly from the center circle to the center forward. As long as the Celtics had the ball, the ball was floating in the air almost one-third of the time.
But the problem is that Postecoglu, who was determined to transform the team's playing style, did not retain Elyounoussi, a powerful striker who was loaned from Southampton last season.
At the same time, the 198cm tall main central defender Ayer, a Norwegian international, was bought by Premier League Brentford for 15.7 million euros, and the team lost two aerial combat generals in positional warfare and set pieces.
Therefore, even if we use traditional English midfielders and center forwards, the shortcoming of insufficient height cannot be made up.
The average height of Roma's three central defenders is at least over 190cm, and there are Malacia, Binya and Chen Xiaoliang who assist in opening up the defense and sweeping up second-point shots. No matter how the Celtics rushed and lobbed the ball, it didn't have any noticeable effect.
In the 70th minute, Mourinho replaced Cesco, Veretout and Smalling with young player Gian, as well as Cristante and Kumbulla. Abraham returned to the center position.
Spurred on by Wu Lei's desperate running, several players who came on as substitutes also worked very hard, especially Gian. Mourinho recently praised him in training and made it clear that he would give him more playing time.
This kind of statement is very valuable for an 18-year-old player, which means he is not far from success.
However, after changing a group of players, Chen Xiaoliang was not replaced. This was because Mourinho had fully learned the lessons of his previous "overconfidence" and must keep this core player of the team, who was needed everywhere in the field, on the field to ensure the team's victory.
When Chen Xiaoliang saw that Mourinho had replaced four players but not himself, he simply called out the system.
Stamina recovery card 3→2
This is a tough time for the Celtics midfielders.
Callum, who had been disrupted by Veretout for most of the game, finally had a 10-minute break in the second half and was able to participate in the attack without high-pressure pressing, but found that Chen Xiaoliang was running around .
There were two wingers on both sides who had just come on the field helping the Reds to press.
It's already the 70th minute, and this guy is actually starting to press the ball in the midfield? !
At this time, both Kento Hirakawa on the bench and Callum on the field slowly remembered the scene of Rangers No. 33 running left and right and making crazy interceptions in front of the penalty area.
And now, the area they are dominated has moved forward to the entire midfield.
In order to avoid being intercepted, Callum kept retreating. McCarthy, who had just come on the field, refused to believe it and went head-on against Chen Xiaoliang's high ball. The result was predictable. He lay on the ground and watched the ball being headed away but he couldn't stand up. He just covered his butt and rubbed it in front of tens of thousands of people.
But Flagship Reio had never seen this kind of play after 70 minutes, so he could only keep going to the wing and turned into a ruthless ball-distributing machine.
At this point, the Celtics only had one effective attacking tactic left: high crosses from the wing, and their penetration into the midfield was completely cut off.
Facts have repeatedly proved that when a team has only one offensive method, which is crossing, and has no obvious advantage in player height, the success rate is very low.
How low can it be?
Then you can ask the current West Ham United head coach, Moyes, known as "The Genius Mo".
His 81 crosses at Manchester United were world famous, helping the defending champions to a 2-2 draw with relegation team Fulham.
If this is the case with Manchester United, what about Celtic?
Moreover, when the team can only advance on the flanks, it is easy for the wingbacks and wingers to form double-teams on the flanks, and frequent out-of-bounds situations make the Celtics' speed and efficiency of advancing on the flanks very low.
As time passed, the Scottish giants still had no solution.
However, Roma relied on Chen Xiaoliang's meat grinder-like pressing to force the Celtic midfield line to retreat continuously.
As one side gained strength, the other side retreated, and Roma began to advance slowly. In the last ten minutes of the game, Roma gradually turned the tables and suppressed the Celtics.
In the 84th minute, Gian cut in from the left and made a cross, but Celtic center back Staffelt did not head the ball far enough and the second ball was grabbed by Wu Lei. His shot was not powerful enough and Joe Hart jumped up to save the ball from going out of the baseline.
In the subsequent corner kick, Mancini proved the role of the high point to the Celtics - he received Cristante's corner kick, jumped high, and headed the ball directly into the goal, setting the score at 0-3.
At this point, the outcome is decided.
However, Chen Xiaoliang and his teammates, who were having a great time, had no intention of giving up.
He knew that his old friends at Rangers must be watching this game and must be applauding for him!
When dealing with a mortal enemy, as long as they are still on the field, how can there be any mercy? !
What's more, I still have new abilities that I haven't used yet!
Originally, this ability required the cooperation of Cesco, but Cesco was off the field, but there is still Wu Lei!
In the 89th minute, the besieged Roma moved back and forth between the two flanks, wasting time and looking for defensive gaps.
Eager to score, Gian took a few tentative steps on the left and cut inside to face Yuranovic.
Yuranovich no longer had the energy to fight Gian, and if he suddenly changed direction, there was no way he could catch up.
Gian took two steps sideways and shot before Callum could get in the way!
Even though he is a young African player, he has seen those amazing goals scored by Ibrahimovic, Rooney and Crouch against Joe Hart!
How can I justify my efforts tonight if I don’t give myself a chance?
Joe Hart was also quite speechless. He had already come to the Scottish Premier League, but there were still people who wanted to try a couple of long shots when they met him.
In this game, Cesco had already scored a super overhead kick that would be a background for the next ten years. Although the next two goals were not his fault, the score of 0-3 at home was still shameful enough.
He took two steps along the trajectory of the ball and dived to the right!
"Bang!"
He dragged the ball, hit the crossbar and bounced back!
The clever Wu Lei knew that he did not have the ability to stand still, so he was just waiting for the second ball to "pick up the wallet". He leaned hard against Taylor and unloaded the ball with his back, but found that he had no space to turn around, and Staffelt on the side was about to pounce on him!
At this moment, a voice came from my heart.
"here!"
Wu Lei didn't even need to think about it to know that this was Chen Xiaoliang's call!
He pushed with the arch of his foot and immediately passed the ball back to his compatriot outside the penalty area.
"High penalty!"
As Joe Hart was preparing to get up from the ground, he saw Chen Xiaoliang getting the ball outside the penalty area again, and reminded him again as he did in the first half!
The 35-year-old England goalkeeper relied on his experience to remind his teammates, but he couldn't get up as quickly as he did when he was young.
After searching for it everywhere, I finally found it without any effort!
Chen Xiaoliang thought, he originally wanted Wu Lei to pass him a few side passes to try long shots, but he didn't expect this ball to come by accident.
He took a step forward, stepped accurately, and swung his right foot backwards suddenly!
Even though Joe Hart has been relegated to the background many times, he is still a very good goalkeeper, at least he used to be.
This swing of the leg made him realize that Chen Xiaoliang was not going to pass the ball, and it was not even a fake shot or a real pass!
This guy is serious!
His heart tightened, and he immediately got up and moved to the other side of the goal!
Despite frequent extra practice, due to Wu Lei's playing time, the tacit connection between him and Chen Xiaoliang could only be upgraded to dark green.
Even so, all technical attributes can be increased by 3 points in a short period of time.
Zhan Jun: "Look at this ball! How will Xiaoliang handle it!"
"Wow!!!"
“I didn’t expect it to be a direct shot from outside the penalty area!”
“The kick was in the opposite direction of where Joe Hart was moving!”
"The ball didn't have any curve!"
"Like a sharp sword, it pierced straight into the Celtic goal!"
“0 to 4!”
"The Red Country Link shines brightly on the European stage!"
Liu Yue: "It was a perfect ending. Roma went from being suppressed, defending patiently, looking for counterattack opportunities, breaking the deadlock, changing formation in the midfield, restraining the opponent's passing in the middle, and then gradually counter-suppressing. Every change was just right, and the opponent followed their own rhythm throughout the game. It can be said that this game was one of Roma's best performances this season."
Zhan Jun: "Although this shot was not as impressive as the one against Lazio and the distance was much closer, according to statistics, it was only Xiaoliang's third shot from outside the penalty area this season."
Liu Yue: "That's right. This is also the reason why many teams will shrink the central defense when he has the ball outside the penalty area to prevent him from lobbed the ball into the penalty area, because they think he can't shoot from long range."
Mourinho on the sidelines applauded continuously. When the players on the field saw their leader score a goal, except for the goalkeeper Fuzatto, all ran over to celebrate.
Callum stood there with his hands on his hips.
He didn't understand why the little kid who could only steal the ball and couldn't even pass it far away in May last year seemed so omnipotent 9 months later?
After celebrating, Chen Xiaoliang glanced at the Celtics bench.
In an instant, he and Gu Qiao Hengwu's eyes met.
His eyes seemed to be like the words at the start of the game:
Just you?
