Chapter 267: Four consecutive wins made the fans shout that the season is undefeated
Trailing 1-3, the game was about to enter the 70th minute. Although Juventus was still struggling, their confidence and morale were clearly lacking.
Vlahovic on the field can only be described as having the intention to kill the enemy, but being powerless to turn the tide.
A healthy Chiesa and a carefree Di Maria would definitely be able to produce a good chemical reaction with him, but the former is recuperating at home, while the latter is concentrating on the World Cup at the end of the year.
This is also an important reason why many clubs publicly criticized FIFA for supporting Qatar to hold the World Cup in winter. This practice of holding top-level competitions halfway through the season is bound to make a large number of players have conservative or radical ideas for the World Cup.
He is conservative in his pursuit of goals and doesn't dare to let go too much on the field. However, he is too aggressive in his pursuit of goals and will make trouble with the club if he is not allowed to play.
After all, it is the most watched sporting event held every four years. It is not a big deal for top players, but for players from regions and countries with underdeveloped leagues, they may usually play for non-giant teams in the top five leagues, or even for top clubs outside the top five leagues. These teams receive less attention and have limited team strength. They can neither play very strong football nor attract much media coverage.
But the World Cup is different. Even when Iceland made it to the World Cup finals for the first time in 2018, it attracted the attention of the whole world.
James Rodriguez, Michael Owen, Gascoigne, Grosso, Ronaldinho, there are too many adult players who have worked in obscurity in the club for many years, or young players who have just started in big clubs, who have leapt into the ranks of world-famous stars with their outstanding performances in the World Cup or even just a wonderful goal.
When such temptations and opportunities are placed before us, it is indeed difficult for people not to change their minds.
Vlahovic seems to be an exception.
No matter how you look at it, his home country Serbia doesn't look like a team that can win the World Cup. The fact that they were able to perform well in the knockout rounds has already exceeded the expectations of the Serbian people.
Vlahovic, who has already joined a wealthy club, has enough exposure, and has received the highest salary in Serie A, does not need to prove himself through his performance in the World Cup.
Therefore, he was one of the most active players in Juventus today.
Allegri had no choice. He wanted Di Maria to play tougher, but if he got injured again, half of the starting lineup would be in the injured camp...
There was no choice but to replace Vlahovic with Milik who had returned from Marseille.
This substitution was equivalent to calling off the battle, announcing early that the team would save its strength for the next game.
Roma will play Liverpool, and Juventus’ first Champions League game will be away to challenge Paris Saint-Germain.
When Allegri clapped his hands with Vlahovic who walked to the sidelines, he saw that his general could not hide his disappointment, and he couldn't help feeling depressed.
I couldn't help but imagine if there was something in the world, like a pill or a card, that could heal my illness with just one use.
On the court, Chen Xiaoliang just felt his ears a little hot.
Five minutes later, Mourinho also made adjustments, replacing Dybala and Cesco with El Shaarawy and Abraham.
The remaining 20 minutes of the game basically became a stage for Chen Xiaoliang, Enzo and Kva to perform their individual shows.
The Georgian winger seemed to vent all the patience and dormancy that had accumulated over the past two months on De Sciglio and McKennie, and with his own strength he made Juventus' right side so fierce that they dared not press forward at all.
The 30-year-old De Sciglio has played for AC Milan and Juventus for many years and is considered to be a veteran. He has also faced many good wingers in Serie A, but this is the first time he has encountered a player like Kva.
The repeated changes in rhythm and the constant changes in direction during the advance made De Sciglio miserable.
If you don't shovel, you can't get close to it and you can only retreat because of the shaking.
He was tackled, but with his small body and small steps, he couldn't tackle accurately and fell down after one tackle, so the referee blew the whistle.
It was only because McKennie and he double-teamed from the front and back that they were able to suppress the situation. However, when the two of them stood a little apart, the ball was passed to Roma's midfield again.
In the 78th minute, Kva dribbled past De Sciglio and Bremer and shot from the center of the penalty area, but was saved by Szczesny.
In the 82nd minute, Kwa dribbled past McKennie and made a two-on-one with Chen Xiaoliang who was advancing, and then shook off De Sciglio. He crossed the ball with his left foot from the bottom, and Abraham headed the ball in front of the goal, but unfortunately the ball did not hit the right spot and passed the goal.
Under Kva's charming performance, the young men became more and more happy as they attacked. Chen Xiaoliang even took a long shot from 40 meters away from the goal. The ball floated in the air and went straight to the middle, causing Szczesny to have to fist and hit the ball out of the penalty area.
Despite the bonus of [Good at long-range shooting], 15 burst and 15 long-range shooting are still not enough to kick a super-fast ball.
But this goal still made the Juventus home fans exclaim "Oh!" in unison.
In the end, the score did not change. Juventus suffered their first defeat of the new season at home with a score of 1-3, while Mourinho won three consecutive victories.
After the game, Mourinho continued to flatter Allegri. He repeatedly emphasized that Juventus is a strong team with financial resources, background, attention, perfect facilities and team, and a super outstanding head coach. They just had bad luck and suffered injuries. He also used the example of Wijnaldum to express his empathy to Allegri, saying that he might not be so lucky next time they meet in Rome.
And on the topic of retaining the Serie A title, Mourinho strongly denied it. He said that the battle with AC Milan last season was decided in the last round, and the current league has just gone through three rounds. It is obviously inappropriate and disrespectful to the opponent to say that the title has been successfully defended.
He brought the topic back to the topic, saying that Juventus will soon get back to form and will be a strong contender for Serie A this season.
Mourinho's remarks, which were very un-Mourinho-like, sparked heated discussions among Juventus fans, who said that Mourinho was "scientifically raising embarrassment" and keeping Allegri for the other 18 Serie A teams.
No matter what the media and fans said, after getting the three points, the Roma team immediately set off for home the next day.
Chen Xiaoliang scored a goal and made an assist in this game, and together with other tasks, he obtained a total of 7 hours of training value and 1 physical recovery card.
Training value 17 → 24
Stamina recovery card 6→7
Although he did not complete either the superstar mission or the old enemy mission, the reward for defeating Juventus in the giant mission made him excited and evoked deep memories.
[Task progress: Defeated Juventus (August 27, 2022)]
[Task Reward: Get a Juventus C Ronaldo Heading Attribute Card (five minutes)]
!!!
Chen Xiaoliang quickly checked the function of the card.
Heading 19, Bounce 19.
Although Ronaldo is now on the decline at Manchester United, he still maintained a very good competitive form when he left Real Madrid to join Juventus.
The season before returning to Manchester United , he won the Serie A Golden Boot Award.
He still remembers the match between Juventus and Sampdoria. Ronaldo, representing Juventus, jumped to a height of 2.56 meters and stayed in the air for 0.92 seconds, and finally headed the ball into the cross of his teammate.
Regardless, this game was worth it.
After this round, Roma won all three games and continued to top the list with 9 points;
Lazio successfully blocked Inter Milan 3-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, rising to fifth place with 7 points, and also pulled Inter Milan, who had 6 points, to sixth place;
AC Milan beat Bologna 2-0 at home, and like Napoli, who drew 0-0 away with Fiorentina, both have 2 wins and 1 tie, ranking 3rd and 2nd in the standings;
Juventus, who lost this round, have 4 points and temporarily dropped to 11th place.
However, because the World Cup compressed the league schedule by more than a month, Serie A entered a collective devil's schedule just after the third round.
After two days of rest, Roma welcomed the newly promoted Monza at home at 18:30 on the evening of August 30, 2022 local time.
Before the game, Karsdorp, who had not spoken a word to Mourinho for more than half a year, was also loaned to Southampton with a buyout clause.
In addition, due to Zaniolo's shoulder ligament avulsion fracture, teams such as Juventus, AC Milan and Bournemouth, which were originally interested in Zaniolo, withdrew their intentions.
After all, the player has a major injury history and his glass attributes are too obvious. Several teams are extremely reluctant to take the risk of forcing him to sign during his injury period.
Zaniolo was in tears as it was Juventus, the team he wanted to go to the most, that injured him. Who else could he blame?
However, regarding the introduction of the central defender, Mourinho also told Chen Xiaoliang privately that "it will be revealed soon."
For this game, Mourinho informed the whole team in advance that there would be a full rotation of players, but despite the rotation of the main players, the team's goal was to win 3 points.
So the home fans hadn't seen it for a long time. With the first and second captains Chen Xiaoliang and Mancini both rotated, Pellegrini put on the captain's armband again and led the team into the stadium.
But he also enjoyed the long-lost feeling of receiving cheers and greetings from home fans.
This game's starting lineup:
goalkeeper Patricio;
The back four is Vina, Smalling, Ibanez and Spinazzola;
Defensive midfielders Beauvais and Cristante, central midfielder Enzo;
Left winger Kvaratskhelia, right winger Pellegrini, center forward Abraham.
Excluding the iron-clad goalkeeper, except for Enzo and Smalling, the rest of the players did not start in the last game against Juventus.
With a starting XI valued at 250 million euros, Roma faced Monza's starting 11 valued at 69.1 million euros. The Roma players did not repeat the mistake they made in the second round against Cremona and headed towards the goal of winning three points right from the start.
Although Monza is ranked second from the bottom in the standings after losing all three games, it did not act as if it was a lazy team . Instead, it took the initiative to control the ball and tried to play with its own characteristics.
Although head coach Stroppa does not have any outstanding first-team coaching experience, his record of coaching the AC Milan youth team and winning the Italian Youth Cup at least proves that the Italian head coach is very good at instilling tactical concepts and execution into young players.
Monza is another of his creations.
In the 15 minutes after the whistle was blown, they dominated the ball transmission on the field with a 61% possession rate. On the contrary, Roma was like a conservative relegation team, deploying layers of troops in the backcourt and looking for opportunities to counterattack.
But both sides actually know in their hearts that this kind of dormant Rome is the most dangerous Rome.
In the 18th minute, Binya received a long pass from Smalling after being intercepted in the backcourt. Abraham headed the ball directly in the center circle, and Kwa drove straight into the goal with the ball.
Even Juventus' main full-back De Sciglio couldn't do anything to him, let alone Monza's defense line which was playing in Serie A for the first time.
With two feints and a small change of direction, Kva passed Monza's last defender Marrone. Then facing the goalkeeper, he calmly shot into the far corner while dribbling at high speed. The ball was not tricky but it was very fast. Monza's middle-aged goalkeeper, 25-year-old Di Gregorio, made a save but was still a beat too slow. Roma scored 1-0!
Abraham was also happy. He didn't expect that he could get an assist just by shaking his head.
Mourinho was also very happy. He hoped that Abraham could understand how important this frontcourt fulcrum was to the offense. If he had unloaded the ball with his chest and then turned around to attack, the opportunity for counterattack would have been missed long ago.
Despite leading by one goal, it was Monza that led in the number of shots.
They are not a big team like Juventus, hoping to increase the success rate of their attacks.
They are a relegation team and have a clear mentality of scoring as many goals as they can, so as long as there is an opportunity in the frontcourt, they will still shoot even if they can shoot from 30 meters away.
This made Patricio very busy, he was either saving the ball or taking goal kicks.
Some fans even joked online that the person who made the most forward passes in this game might very well be the little ball boy behind the Roma goal.
In order to make the team determined to fight to the end, Mourinho did not even include Chen Xiaoliang in the 12-man substitute list, telling the whole team that they had to rely on themselves tonight.
Although many fans regret that Chen Xiaoliang's consecutive goals in the league will have to be temporarily halted, they still support Mourinho's rotation policy.
After all, in their hearts, the most anticipated event this season is the Champions League.
In the 32nd minute, Roma counterattacked again.
Spinazzola made a long pass directly forward from the backcourt. After the ball flew 50 meters, Abraham suddenly went around from behind the opponent's defender Malone.
The ball bounced on the ground and Malone jumped high. Malone wanted to lean on Abraham and jump up to head the ball out of the sideline. Unexpectedly, Abraham held his waist, and Malone's balance was disturbed when he jumped up, and he actually headed the ball!
The ball flew over his head and landed at the feet of Abraham who started running forward instantly.
Chen Xiaoliang, who was standing by the sidelines, was immediately amused when he saw this scene, and quickly asked Cesco beside him: "Hit the opponent's waist, did you teach him this move?"
Cesco glanced at Chen Xiaoliang and said, "You taught me all these dirty tricks... And when defending a corner kick, you also taught me to tickle the opponent's striker's ribs..."
Chen Xiaoliang laughed loudly: "Hahaha, I told you, you idiot."
The England striker broke into the penalty area and faced the attacking goalkeeper Di Gregorio and chose to push the shot into the far corner!
But he hesitated when he shot.
"I heard that there's a famous guy in the Premier League recently. He's also tall and has a very high net worth. But his name is a bit strange and I can't remember it."
"Anyway, I just remember that guy got a red card after scoring two goals at the start of the season. He was suspended for a long time and was criticized by the fans."
"Xiaoliang seemed to have mentioned him to me before. He said that he loved to shoot from far corners, and he always liked to find tricky angles to shoot. Each time he shot, the angle became more and more ridiculous."
"We can't make this kind of mistake. We have to aim carefully and the angle doesn't have to be so tricky. As long as we can score a goal, that's fine!"
In just 0.1 seconds, Abraham was filled with thoughts. He raised his right foot and kicked the ball on the ground.
Come on! Score a goal!
In less than a second, DiGregorio instantly got down to the ground and used his left hand to block the ball that was rolling past him, and then it bounced at the feet of Pellegrini who was following him.
Roma's No. 7, who wore the captain's armband again, scored a goal with a follow-up shot into the empty goal.
After scoring the goal, the excited Pellegrini did not forget to turn around and wave to Abraham, asking him to come over and celebrate with him.
Abraham felt so regretful.
"Damn it, I just shoot when I have nothing to do. Thinking about what that guy in the Premier League is doing makes me lose my temper.
It's so frustrating. If I had known this would happen, I would have passed the ball sideways and gotten another assist.
Oh, no more talking, let's celebrate and give the old captain some face, I hope he can pass one to me later."
The first half ended with a score of 2-0, and the teams changed sides in the second half.
Although Monza realized that defeat was inevitable, it still remained steadfast in its style of passing the ball and actively looking for gaps. Dozens of away fans who came from afar also continued to cheer for their team from beginning to end.
However, in competitive sports, spirit is important, but fundamental strength is king.
In the 61st minute, Roma won a corner kick in the frontcourt. Pellegrini's ball flew into the penalty area. Among a group of tall guys, Ibanez seized the opportunity, jumped high and headed the ball into the goal, setting the score at 3-0.
After the goal was scored, Mourinho replaced Faticanti, Tacirovic, Volpato, Bove and other young players for training, and the score did not change in the end.
After this round of the league, Roma is far ahead with 12 points.
Inter Milan beat Cremona 3-1 at home and ranked third with 9 points;
Juventus beat Spezia 2-0 and ranked 9th with 7 points;
Napoli tied with Lecce 1-1, tied for two consecutive league games, and ranked fourth with 8 points;
AC Milan, another team that tied, also has 8 points, and ranks 5th with 2 fewer goals than Napoli.
After 4 rounds, Atalanta quietly came to the second place with 10 points with 3 wins and 1 draw.
The team won all four games, advancing with great momentum and overwhelming force. The team scored goals like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves and its defense was like a tank blocking the goal.
Not only is Roma leading the odds of winning the Serie A with odds of 1 to 3, AC Milan, which was originally tied with Roma, has dropped to 1 to 5.5 due to a draw with Sassuolo away this round. In the odds of winning the Champions League, Roma is unprecedentedly ranked fifth behind Manchester City, which has been the first in the Champions League odds almost every year in recent years, the defending champion Real Madrid, the giant aircraft carrier Paris Saint-Germain and the last runner-up Liverpool, and even surpassed the Bundesliga overlord Bayern...
The value of several players, including Cesco, Enzo, Pellegrini, and even Malacia and Celik, has increased to varying degrees according to the team's superb performance.
With his value rising and his results improving, Chen Xiaoliang felt that things were getting a little bit complicated in the locker room. He told the coaching staff about this in a small meeting of the core members of the team.
After all, the teams in the first four league games were either newly promoted or almost relegated last season. The only strong team, Juventus, had five main players injured. Four consecutive wins are certainly gratifying, but it is far from time to open the champagne.
What's more, AC Milan also personally showed Roma the result after showing off in the first half.
But self-confidence and arrogance have spread both on and off the field, and Mourinho has no better solution except to issue stern warnings.
Leading troops in battle requires clear rewards and punishments. You can't impose penalties on players when the team is on a winning streak just to prevent them from becoming overconfident.
Moreover, he cannot control the fans and media outside the stadium.
Many fans have already shouted exaggerated slogans such as winning the championship by remaining undefeated or even winning the championship with all wins.
Not to mention reality, even people who play games, make animations, and write online articles don’t dare to talk nonsense like this.
Roma did not rest and immediately rushed to Udine, the capital of the northern Udine Province, the next day, preparing to challenge Udinese away one day later.
After a series of games, whether he is a real man or is being taught a lesson depends on this time.
