Just as Mourinho expected, the audience applauded as Chen Xiaoliang walked off the field.
He accepted the tributes from his teammates and fans and clapped back.
However, what was slightly beyond Roma's expectations was that almost all the fans stood up, including the Lazio fans covered in blue and white.
They are paying tribute to the spirit of sports and the birth of a future legend with their actions.
There was no suspense in the rest of the game. Roma failed to win the game, and Lazio lost its spirit and could only accept the outcome of the crushing defeat.
After the game, Sarri ran to the bus entrance and smoked five cigarettes in a row before he calmed down.
He perfunctorily answered a few questions about tactics and Lazio's performance in his routine post-match press conference.
The reason for the perfunctory attitude is obvious, just as the reason for the loss is also obvious. Saying anything more is just repeating the obvious facts.
However, when the reporter asked, "What do you think of Chen Xiaoliang's performance today?", the old coach seemed to be talking, and said the following:
“I have been coaching since 1996, and I have been the head coach for 26 years. Although I was not in the top league for a long time, I still think I have seen many players, including those who are called top players.
Apparently, I saw another one today.
I don't want to spend more time talking about what he did on the court today. Anyone who has watched the game can see it clearly, and those statistics won't lie.
He taught everyone here today a lesson about what it means to be a professional player.”
As he spoke, Sarri held up two fingers in turn:
“Top performance, top professionalism.
Although his presence will cause us a lot of trouble, I still hope that such players can stay in Italy and stay here for a long time.
Whether it's Roma or one of those big clubs, I hope someone can pay to keep him here instead of sending him to Manchester, Madrid, London, Paris or Munich.
He should become the symbol of this country's league, letting everyone in the world who watches football know that Italy has a genius who is no less talented than any other, a fighter who never gives up and is worth learning from for all players, a top player who can help Serie A conquer Europe, and a superstar who may bring the long-lost Ballon d'Or to Serie A in the future."
After saying this, Sarri answered the minimum number of questions required as required, then stood up and left.
Mourinho, who originally wanted to talk a lot, chose to ignore it after hearing Sarri's compliments.
After all, it is not time to win the trophy at the end of the season yet. Too much praise will only make Chen Xiaoliang and the entire team the focus and target of other clubs.
He knew very well that Roma's strength was far from being able to dominate Serie A, and they must keep a low profile when necessary.
Therefore, at the press conference, he only said that Chen Xiaoliang played above his level and the team's condition was surprisingly good, but such a good condition cannot be maintained every day. What the team will face next will be how to avoid being eliminated by Fiorentina in the Italian Cup when falling behind by 2 goals.
After the press conference, Mourinho returned to the locker room and the players had almost packed up.
Before leaving, Pellegrini gave Chen Xiaoliang a big hug.
Chen Xiaoliang was unsurprisingly named the best player of the game. Taking all the tasks together, plus a goal and an assist, he received a total of 12 training points and 2 physical recovery cards.
Plus the 12 points accumulated from personal training during the four days I stayed at home due to a cold before the game.
Training value 3→27
Stamina recovery card 1→3
After this game, there were significant changes in the standings.
AC Milan beat Cagliari by one goal away from home. With their winning streak, they currently have 68 points, 5 points ahead of Roma, which ranks second with 63 points, and lead the standings.
Juventus beat Salernitana 2-0, Napoli beat Udinese 2-1. Both teams seized the opportunity to play at home. They both got 3 points and maintained the same points. However, Inter Milan failed to win at home, 1-1 against Fiorentina. Therefore, Juventus finally returned to the top four in the 30th round of Serie A, while Napoli temporarily ranked third based on the win-loss record. Inter Milan had 57 points and could only accept the fate of falling out of the Champions League zone.
In this round, Sassuolo beat Spezia 4-1 at home, and they have the same 46 points as the losing Lazio, ranking 6th and 7th.
The gap between the two leaders in the second group of the standings and Inter Milan at the bottom of the first group has widened to 11 points, which has completely announced that in the remaining eight rounds of the league, the suspense of the championship and the competition for the Champions League spot will only unfold among the top five teams.
Teams like Atalanta and Lazio, which were able to make a difference in the standings in previous seasons, have completely lost their eligibility to compete due to the outstanding performances of the three giants and the two strong teams of Naples and Roma.
The situation is such that the top five teams have held internal mobilization meetings for their players. AC Milan is fighting for the long-lost Serie A title, while the biggest point difference among the remaining four teams is only 6 points. The outcome of each round may completely change the ranking of the four teams.
However, before the mobilization meeting, Pellegrini took the initiative to find Mourinho.
Mourinho thought that he came to him to propose some ideas on tactics and playing arrangements.
It is true that in some previous games, Pellegrini came on in the second half as a substitute.
Unexpectedly, Pellegrini's first words stunned Mourinho.
"I feel it's time to hand over my captaincy."
Mourinho did not reply immediately. Instead, he walked to the automatic coffee machine in the office, slowly made a cup of coffee for Pellegrini, handed it to him, and observed his expression and demeanor during this short period of time.
After confirming that the other party was not here to lose his temper or complain, Mourinho asked: "Why are you telling me this today?"
Pellegrini: "Because the next two months of games are likely to bring us to a new height, I hope and voluntarily hand over the captaincy to Chen, who is more suitable than me and can better lead everyone in the locker room to achieve the goal."
Pellegrini paused and said, "In fact, I should have come to you a long time ago."
Mourinho nodded, but still thought for a moment before saying: "In your mind, when would the announcement be more acceptable?"
"Immediately, immediately, then forget about it and compete for the last two months. Sarri is right, we should keep him, he has something that money can't buy."
Pellegrini said this and stood up: "No one stipulates that the captain of Roma must be a Roman. If there is, it starts with me. If the fans' association has any opinions, I can communicate with them, but I believe they will definitely support the new captain."
Mourinho agreed and announced the matter internally at the subsequent tactical meeting.
Because he did not want to involve irrelevant personnel, Mancini still retained his vice-captain position and Pellegrini became the third captain.
There was no speech by the new captain, no handover ceremony, no player statements, and no one expressed surprise. It was just a simple verbal notification from Mourinho, and everything happened naturally and logically.
At noon that day, the club’s official website and Pellegrini’s personal social account simultaneously announced the news. As expected, while the die-hard fans blessed and thanked the old captain for his "high moral character", they also expressed their positive approval of the decision.
On that day, the main players only carried out restorative training such as muscle stretching. When Chen Xiaoliang got home and opened the system, he found that the achievement interface was flashing with golden light again!
[The achievement of becoming the official captain of the top five league teams has been achieved]
[Achievement Reward: Stress Resistance +1, Leadership +1]
Then there was another dazzling golden light, and the reward had been transformed into attributes.
Stress resistance 14→15
Leadership 14→15
This system is truly a thoroughgoing positive incentive. As long as you make efforts, work hard, and achieve new breakthroughs, you will be given corresponding rewards immediately.
Erica has fully recovered under the care and rehabilitation of the Rome team doctor. She said goodbye to Helena and Chen Xiaoliang a few days ago and returned to the German national track and field team to resume training and prepare for the IAAF World Tour in the summer.
Compared to Helena and Chen Xiaoliang who were a little reluctant to see this lively "roommate" leave, the Roma players were even more reluctant to say goodbye to such a handsome "part-time fitness coach".
In the Trigoria base which is almost entirely male, Erica's part-time job with the team for the past three months seems to be the brightest color among the green grass and trees for the players.
Mourinho neither opposed nor supported this.
He has not forgotten the turmoil caused by Chelsea's former female team doctor Eva Carnero, so deep down, he is actually very satisfied with the fact that the club's coaching team and medical team are all male.
But he also understands that appropriately improving the active atmosphere in training will actually have a positive effect on the players' condition and level of training commitment.
Therefore, after Erica left, Mourinho, who has always been considered old-fashioned, specially invited the Roma women's football team, which has also performed well this season, to have an internal exchange.
This young women's football team was only established in 2019, but in the 2020-21 season, they won the Italian Cup and entered the Women's Champions League.
This season, they, like Roma men's football team, are ranked second in Serie A and are sprinting for next season's Champions League.
The reason why Mourinho did this is that he fully understood that at this stage of the season, the role of daily training for the main players and rotation players is mainly to maintain their physical condition and relieve accumulated fatigue as much as possible.
It is no longer possible to make fundamental changes in techniques and tactics.
Instead of being under high pressure and tension, it is better to relax your mind appropriately and prepare for the next special life-and-death battle.
The second game of the Italian Cup semi-finals, home against Fiorentina!
In addition to the players' good mentality, there is also good news that right-back Celik has rejoined the team for training.
But like Spinazzola, who has been seriously injured for more than half a year, he still needs some time to adjust his condition and cannot form combat power immediately.
Matic's minor strain has also fully recovered and he can play for the team at any time.
In this case, the only injured player in the team is goalkeeper Patricio who has a broken calf.
Three days of training and extra training added 12 training points to Chen Xiaoliang's total training value.
Training value 27→39
As the season was coming to an end, there was no longer enough time to accumulate more than 80 training points or increase more than 15 attributes. Chen Xiaoliang decided to use all the points during this period to make up for his shortcomings.
So he used 20 points to improve his long-range shooting.
Long shot 14→15
Training value 39 → 19
Every bit added counts, every bit stronger counts.
On March 28, 2022, the team will once again host Florence from afar at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.
Before the game, Fiorentina head coach Italiano had said that the team would do everything possible to ensure victory in both rounds of the match, and their goal this season has been set to win the Italian Cup and qualify for next season's Europa League.
You should know that this season is the last season in which Serie A has four Champions League places. Starting from next season, due to the European points being surpassed by the Bundesliga and becoming the fourth league in Europe, only the top three in the league can qualify for the Champions League. The top two will directly enter the group stage, and the third will participate in the third round of the Champions League qualifiers.
This is also due to the poor performance of all Serie A teams except Juventus in the Champions League and Europa League in recent years.
When asked what he thought of Chen Xiaoliang's increasingly comprehensive performance recently and how to deal with it, Italiano first boasted about Chen Xiaoliang's ability and potential, then changed the subject and said that football is a team sport and Roma's other players are also very strong, "but no matter how the opponent arranges it, we have made all preparations."
At that time, the reporters did not understand what this "full preparation" meant, but soon they would understand after the game started.
At 18:15 in the evening, players from both teams entered the field.
Florence:
goalkeeper Terraciano;
The captain Biraghi is the left back, Venuti is the right back, the center back is Brazilian Igor and Serbia national team's main defender Milenkovic;
The defensive midfielder is Lucas Torreira, who has been selected for the Uruguay World Cup squad, the left central midfielder is Ghanaian Duncan, and the right central midfielder is Italian European Cup champion Castrovilli.
Saponara on the left, Nicolás González, Argentina’s Copa America champion, on the right;
The center forward is Piatek, who was selected for the Polish World Cup squad and partnered with Lewandowski in the national team.
In Rome:
goalkeeper Fuzzato;
The three central defenders are still the combination of Smalling, who will never have a chance to play for the England national team; Ibanez, who played once for the Brazilian national team and lost the qualification to play for Uruguay and has never been called up by the Brazilian national team since then; and Mancini, who is sometimes selected for the national team and sometimes not, and now even if he is selected for Italy, he will not play in the World Cup;
The left wingback is Malasia, who is trying to be selected for the Netherlands World Cup squad, and the right wingback is Binya, who has already been selected for the Uruguay World Cup squad;
The double defensive midfielders are Matic, who has retired from the Serbian national team, and Veretout, who is likely to be included in the French World Cup roster after Kante was injured, but will be on the bench if he is included;
In the midfield trio, Mourinho chose the combination that performed well in the previous game, central midfielder Chen Xiaoliang, No. 9 Pellegrini and center forward Cesco.
Since these three people's countries have nothing to do with this World Cup, they have already been selected into the World Cup spectator list in advance.
If for Fiorentina, who had two goals in hand, their goal list included victory, a draw and a one-goal loss, then for Roma, winning by at least three goals was the only option.
Moreover, there will be no overtime in the Italian Cup semi-finals this season. Even if the team wins by 2 goals, both sides will go directly into a penalty shootout.
Although Fuzato works diligently, his ability and experience are limited after all. He is not very good at saving penalties in team training. Therefore, dragging the game to the penalty stage is not what Mourinho wants to see.
Some players even thought that if the game really went to a penalty shootout, it would be better to let Chen Xiaoliang be the goalkeeper...
But even if others didn't know what was going on, how could Chen Xiaoliang not know? There was no second legendary goalkeeper attribute card in his system. Even if there was, he could only save two shots at most in 5 minutes.
Therefore, winning by 3 goals is the goal of the whole team!
“Beep!”
The referee blows the whistle and the game begins!
From the first second after Roma kicked off from the center circle, they launched a resolute attack on Fiorentina.
Fiorentina, leading by two goals, played a defensive counterattack with peace of mind.
Fiorentina head coach Italiano and the entire Fiorentina team are well aware that given Roma's performance this season, going to the opponent's home court to play an offensive game would be like trying counterattack, and steal a goal when Roma fails to return to defense in time, then everything will be fine.
Their coaching staff also watched carefully the last derby between Roma and Lazio and knew that simply defending would not necessarily lead to a safe retreat.
So Italiano came up with a trick, and 5 minutes after the start of the game, He Wei and Zhu Xiaoyu, who were commentating on the game at Zhongyang TV, unanimously considered it a "dirty trick".
He kept confronting and even fouling the core midfielder Chen Xiaoliang.
Anyone who has studied Roma's games this season will find it easy to discover that the team's performance is completely different when Chen Xiaoliang is in the game and when Chen Xiaoliang is not.
After understanding this, the rest became clear - restrict Chen Xiaoliang and prevent him from playing his original role.
However, this is easier said than done.
Otherwise, how could famous coaches like Sarri, Allegri and Spalletti fall under the iron hoof of Roma?
The Reds' super running ability and almost bottomless stamina, coupled with Mourinho's flexible use of him in unrestricted areas, make him an omnipresent and impossible to specifically defend presence on the pitch.
But Italiano is more direct, speaks more bluntly, is less concerned about face, and is more ruthless.
He asked three midfielders, three forwards, and even two full-backs to use "strong confrontation" defense against Chen Xiaoliang as long as he appeared outside or far away from the penalty area.
In the commentary of He Wei and Zhu Xiaoyu, the so-called "strong confrontation" refers to rough body movements and fouls.
Even a foul that could cause someone to be injured and sent off the court.
In the 2nd minute, Chen Xiaoliang moved to the left side to assist, and after a short pass with Malaysia, he dribbled the ball past Fiorentina's right winger Nicolas Gonzalez. The latter tried to dribble past Chen Xiaoliang and directly stretched out his leg to trip Chen Xiaoliang.
Given that the game had just started, the referee only gave Nicolas Gonzalez a verbal warning and did not show a yellow card.
Although the referee didn't say anything, the fall was quite severe.
For Chen Xiaoliang, whose dribbling skills are not high enough, he often relies on his teammates to keep a distance and use his speed to dribble past opponents one-on-one. Therefore, every time he starts at full speed and his body is in a high-speed state.
The faster the speed, the more fragile the body's balance is, the greater the impact force after falling, and the easier it is to get injured.
In the 4th minute, Pellegrini received a diagonal pass from Bigna in the frontcourt. Facing Torreira's close defense, he did not dare to be careless and passed the ball back to Chen Xiaoliang behind him. However, before Chen Xiaoliang received the ball, Castrovilli, who came to defend, hit the back of Chen Xiaoliang's left thigh with his knee.
The result of the hard-on-soft approach was that Chen Xiaoliang not only lost his balance and fell on his back, but his thigh also felt extremely sore.
However, as the action did not seem serious, the referee still did not give a card, which made Mourinho on the sidelines so angry that he kept questioning the fourth official, asking if the referee would only take action if the player had to die on the field?
The Roma coach's questioning was met with a warning from the fourth official.
Italiano was secretly delighted. Of course, he had arranged all of this. He also knew that this behavior would anger the opposing coach and players. However, whether it was Mourinho being furious and cursing the referee and being sent off, or Chen Xiaoliang being injured and forced to leave the field, it would help him achieve his goal - to retain the victory and reach the final.
Mourinho returned to his own coaching area angrily, feeling furious.
But he did not lose his mind. He immediately saw the shortcomings in his formation arrangement:
In the three-center-back system, the two wing-backs, as the team's only remaining full-time wing players, face tremendous pressure on both offense and defense. In the original operating system, Chen Xiaoliang, who has a flexible position, can freely go to a certain wing according to the situation on the field to help the wing-backs attack or defend.
In the system of double defensive midfielders, Pellegrini is more like a shadow striker surrounding Cesco in front of Chen Xiaoliang. Therefore, the connection and organization work in the midfield will also be largely undertaken by Chen Xiaoliang.
The starting point for doing this is of course based on the Red Country's strong personal abilities and overall perspective of the midfield. At the same time, when defending against the opponent's attack, they can also rely on intensive regional defense to intercept the ball as quickly as possible and launch a counterattack.
But there is no one else in the Roma team who can replace Chen Xiaoliang, which means that if Italiano's "dirty trick" does not lower Chen Xiaoliang's condition through rough actions, or simply injures him and makes him unable to connect the local area with the front and back fields, the overall operation of Roma will suffer a great blow.
This is the value of a super star player, but it is also the weak point of a team whose overall ability is not strong enough.
His teammates on the field also noticed this. In order to protect Chen Xiaoliang and give him some time to find a solution, in the next five minutes, his teammates significantly reduced the frequency of actively passing the ball to him.
But this played into Fiorentina's hands, as not only did Roma have one less player on the field, but they also voluntarily gave up the player with the most comprehensive abilities.
The two defensive midfielders wanted to pass the ball forward, so Pellegrini had to retreat far back to receive the ball. However, his retreat meant that Sesco, who was at the front, was completely isolated by the opponent's defense line.
At the same time, in wing attacks, without Chen Xiaoliang's large-scale transfers, wing attacks are prone to stick to a certain side until they cannot get through and are forced to pass back and reorganize.
According to their own duties and tactical requirements, the two defensive midfielders dare not press forward, go around the flanks or support the wing attack drastically, because if they do so, once a mistake occurs and the ball is intercepted and the offense switches to defense, they will not be able to return to the defense zone they are responsible for in the first place.
Although blocking Chen Xiaoliang does not mean that the entire team is completely paralyzed, Roma will definitely not be able to play at the level expected of the second place in the league.
"What should I do?" Mourinho kept asking himself this question.
The three-center-back formation was a formation he was forced to adopt after arriving in Rome, which was rarely used in his previous coaching experience.
This is inseparable from the players' abilities.
It's not that he hasn't tried a four-back formation, but no matter which two of Mancini, Ibanez and Smalling partnered, the defense could never satisfy him. At least judging from the results of the strong dialogue, it was completely unacceptable.
Smalling is good at covering positions and high balls, but one-on-one defense, especially when facing small and fast players, often leads to "accidents";
Ibanez is good at one-on-one, and his personal defensive awareness, turning speed, and physical fitness are the best among the three main players, but his defense awareness and coordination are the worst. In the double center back system, he often needs another center back to "clean up his ass";
Mancini's characteristics are good passing ability, strong assisting defense ability, and a good ability to score headers in the opponent's penalty area, but his speed, confrontation, especially when facing tall and strong center forwards, he can hardly gain any advantage in one-on-one defense. This also destined him to be only a ball defender and assisting defense defender, but not a key player among central defenders.
After trying many times, Mourinho will still use a double central defender formation when facing weak teams, allowing the three players to take turns to rest. However, once facing a strong team or a tough battle that must be won, he will only have the option of three central defenders.
The second is the wing. Except for the young Zalewski, the team does not have any full-time wing attacker who can take on heavy responsibilities.
Mourinho's dream template is Robben, Duff, Di Maria and Perisic in their prime years, but at a time when there is an explosion of wing talent, Roma does not even have a single usable wing explosive point.
You know, the efficiency of the wingback launching an attack from the midfield is far lower than the threat posed by the wing forward who is further forward.
So he tried Abraham, Zaniolo, and Pellegrini, but none of them were ideal, not to mention the aging Mkhitaryan.
Under such realistic conditions, if a person's speed is not enough, he can only rely on the accuracy of the ball. Chen Xiaoliang, who has a precise cross, naturally becomes the best choice to assist in the attack from the wing.
This formation can be said to be tailor-made based on the team's current situation and Chen Xiaoliang's abilities.
In the past two seasons, in the mainstream leagues, for example, the Premier League, 4-4-2 is still the most commonly used starting formation in every game, accounting for 24.3%, followed by 4-2-3-1 and traditional 4-3-3, with proportions of 23.7% and 23.6% respectively, which are almost the same;
There are also three-center-back formations, the most commonly used being 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-3, both with a usage frequency of over 10%, followed closely by 3-5-2 with two center forwards, also close to 10%;
There are also unpopular formations. For example, Leeds United, coached by the "Chilean madman" Bielsa, used 3-3-1-3, with a proportion of 0.3%, and only their team used it.
The formation Mourinho is currently using, although marked as 3-4-1-2 on the formation diagram, is actually more like 3-4-1-1-1. Chen Xiaoliang has no fixed area at all. This is a unique formation in the five major leagues.
Now what Florence wants to strangle with rough actions is the "1" in the middle. If the waist is broken, the front and back will be completely disconnected.
Although this may not necessarily help them beat Roma, Fiorentina's goal today was not to win. A draw is enough for them to have the last laugh.
Mourinho's brain was running and analyzing at full speed as if it was equipped with a 16-core CPU, but he really couldn't figure out how the team could win by 3 goals without Chen Xiaoliang.
But while he was thinking, the game was still going on.
In the 11th minute, Fiorentina pressed forward. Left winger Saponara made a cross from the left side of the penalty area. Piatek headed the ball at the back post. After Fuzato made a save, the ball hit the post and bounced back. Ibanez, who was scared out of his wits, kicked the ball towards the midfield.
In the center circle, Cesco wanted to compete for the ball, but today Roma's top scorer also met his match. Milenkovic, who is also 195 cm tall and weighs 92 kg, had the advantage in such a fixed-point high ball competition.
When the two men jumped at the same time, Cesco, who was 15 kilograms lighter and had his back to his opponent, had no room to resist. He lost his balance and fell forward after being hit by Milenkovic.
Midfielder Torreira ran over to control the ball and threw it into the penalty area again. Piatek retreated and wanted to head the ball to Nicolas Gonzalez on the right. Chen Xiaoliang judged the landing point in advance and jumped to head the ball. Seeing this, Piatek simply didn't go for the ball. Pretending to be an additional action in the header, he hit Chen Xiaoliang's neck with his right elbow.
This method of attacking the weak spot immediately caused Chen Xiaoliang to lose his balance in the air and fall to the ground.
“Beep!”
The referee blew the whistle immediately, but it was obvious that his view was blocked by Chen Xiaoliang and he could not see clearly the little movements made by Piatek behind him.
However, the nearby Roma players were furious and they rushed over to surround Piatek.
This extremely dangerous action that attacks the cervical spine, once causing injury, will not only have a devastating blow to the player's career, but can also cause irreparable disaster to a person's normal life.
The tough and taciturn Malaysian was the first to rush over and bumped Piatek with his chest. The Dutchman didn't speak much Italian, but body language on the football field was more direct than verbal responses.
Piatek originally wanted to pretend that it was not an accident, but after being hit head-on by Malaysia, he got angry and reached out to push the other person back.
At this point, players from both sides became angry. Even those like Fuzato, Matic and Biraghi who tried to pull the players from both sides apart to calm the situation started to offer "cordial greetings" to each other.
Seeing this, the referee finally remembered that he had a yellow card in his pocket, and immediately took it out and waved it at Malaysia and Piatek.
As the captain of Fiorentina, Biraghi was very dissatisfied and told the referee that it was Malaysia who started the fight first, so why didn't he give him a more severe punishment.
Although the referee was slow to react, he was not blind. Looking at Chen Xiaoliang, who was still lying on the ground and touching the back of his neck, he frowned and warned Biraghi to step back, as if saying with his eyes: "You better get some Bilian!"
The Roma team doctor ran into the field, carefully massaged and checked, and confirmed that there was nothing wrong with Chen Xiaoliang. Only then did he slowly get up and the game continued.
"What do you recommend?"
Forti couldn't believe his ears. Mourinho actually took the initiative to ask for his opinion, especially in such a difficult situation!
Although he acted cautiously and always kept in mind João's experience, he was by no means a person without ideas or inability to think independently.
He also saw that Mourinho was in a state of confusion at the moment. It was a very clear fact that the opponent had targeted Chen Xiaoliang throughout the game today. However, the referee's lenient penalty standards actually condoned this dirty style of play.
Time passed by minute by minute, and Roma not only failed to score a goal, but even worse, after losing Chen Xiaoliang's connection, they didn't even have a single shot until now. Malaysia also received a yellow card. He knew that Mourinho really needed someone to give him some inspiration.
But Forti still spoke carefully:
"Perhaps it would be better to let Chen retreat for a while?"
Mourinho turned his head to look at Forti, then turned back and said, "Go on."
Forti: "Piatek couldn't help himself just now and has already received a yellow card. At least in his area, he can't be rough with Chen Shang again. The opponent can't make a substitution so early and replace the player with a yellow card."
Mourinho: “And then?”
Seeing Mourinho's interest, Forti continued: "Let Chen play behind, and let him decide how far back, while Veretout and Matic play in front and cooperate with one side to strengthen the attack, and at the same time play a defensive role when the wingbacks press forward."
Mourinho seemed to be looking at the situation on the field, but what appeared before his eyes was the scene described by Forti in his mind.
It was not until a minute later, when Fiorentina left winger Saponara cut in from the left and shot the ball over the goal, that Mourinho said: "You want him to be Pirlo?"
Forti's eyes lit up and he immediately replied: "Jose, look at my speaking ability, you are still more accurate! But I think Chen is more comprehensive than Pirlo in that position."
Mourinho: "More comprehensive..."
Forti really understood Mourinho's temper. His words were to remind his boss that after Chen Xiaoliang retreated, he could not only play his passing ability, but also help the back line stabilize the defense.
But he didn't dare to say it clearly, because Mourinho is a person with a strong desire for control. He couldn't let Mourinho see that he had many ideas. If that happened, it would be right for him to say it, and it would be right for him not to say it.
Since your leader knows that you have ideas, why don’t you say it?
If you have a disagreement with your boss and the boss turns out to be right, that's fine. But if the boss turns out to be wrong, how can you ask him to step down? The last assistant coach had already parted ways unhappily because of this, and Forti didn't want to lose his job because of this.
If you choose not to say anything, your boss will be even more dissatisfied. Your boss will think that you have a lot of ideas, but you just don't say them. What do you mean? Do you look down on me or are you waiting to see me make a fool of myself?
It's a pity that Chen Xiaoliang didn't know that Fu Di had all these calculations in mind, otherwise he would definitely ask Fu Di if he liked to watch the Qing Dynasty palace dramas of the Red Country, especially those ministers who pretended to be confused in front of the emperor, and then immediately knelt down and kowtowed and shouted "Your Majesty is wise" when the emperor came up with an idea?
Otherwise, how could one learn this trick of "being confused is a rare opportunity" so well and grasp the essence of it so deeply?
What Forti wanted to maintain was the same rhythm as before. He would only answer when his leader asked him, and he would deliberately make his words sound ambiguous so as not to make his leader think he was stupid, nor make his leader think he was so smart that he was a threat.
When the leader didn't ask, he would just sit quietly by and record and observe.
Never commit crimes against others, never interfere in other people's affairs, and never usurp the throne.
Forti's choice was absolutely correct, but he didn't know that what he was doing now was actually what Mourinho had left over from the past.
Exactly 30 years ago, when England's veteran coach Bobby Robson came to Sporting CP as head coach, Mourinho, as a full-time translator, was able to "rebound" and become an assistant coach, laying a solid foundation for becoming a famous coach later. In addition to his own diligence and love of learning, he also handled the relationship between himself and Robson perfectly, completely won the trust of the English and continued to be promoted.
But now he no longer needs to, and no longer bothers to, act according to other people's wishes.
"You go and set it up."
Mourinho thought about it and felt that Forti's method was worth a try, so he spoke.
But Futi did not move: "Jose, it seems that Chen and you have telepathy and think alike."
On the field, Fuzatto took the goal kick and made a short pass to Chen Xiaoliang in front of him.
Mourinho looked carefully and saw that Chen Xiaoliang was almost retreating to a position parallel to Smalling who was standing in the middle of the three central defenders, while the two central defenders on the left and right, Mancini and Ibanez, deliberately kept their distance to ensure that they would have enough support points when the opponent pressed high.
In the defensive midfielder position, Matic is still in his original position, but Veretout has moved forward, as if forming a double central midfielder configuration with Pellegrini on the left and right.
This is slightly different from Forti's idea, but it is more in line with reality. It is not a good idea to let Matic, whose running ability declines with age, go to the wing frequently.
"This kid... let him try first." Mourinho
At this moment, on the big screen at the top of the stadium, the game timer just jumped from 12 to 13.