Chapter 268: Can the last transfer save Roma’s defense?
Chen Xiaoliang did not play against Monza, and one less game meant one less reward.
The training during these five days was not very complete. They were either rushing or doing relaxing training. In order to allow the players to have a better rest, and because they were on the road, the team needed to take the bus to and from the training ground and the hotel. Mourinho also restricted Chen Xiaoliang and others from doing extra training, especially Kva. In the last game against Monza, he ran 12.1 kilometers and was extremely active in both forward and defensive attacks. Mourinho told him to have a good rest and save his energy for the game against Liverpool.
So in total, it took 4 days of training to increase the training value by 12 points.
Training value 24 → 36
Now I have to start accumulating training points to improve my abilities above 15.
On the evening of August 30, Mourinho made another rotation in the away game against Udinese.
The defense is Bigna, Mancini, Ibanez, Spinazzola;
Enzo was given a rest as the defensive midfielder, and the combination of Matic and Cristante was sent on;
Chen Xiaoliang continued to play as a central midfielder in the starting lineup;
Left winger Zalewski, right winger Dybala, center forward Cesco.
The 4-2-3-1 formation continues to be used.
In order to deal with Roma's midfield, Udinese used a 3-5-2 formation, with two defensive midfielders, a single central midfielder, and two wingers ready to move inwards at any time, vowing to entangle Roma's center in their own capstan.
Udinese, nicknamed "Black Chicken" by fans, has two generals placed in the most critical left and right wing forward positions.
They are the captain on the field, 32-year-old Argentine player Roberto Perreira, who joined Juventus from Udinese for a transfer fee of 15 million euros in 2015, helping Juventus win two Serie A titles and the Italian Cup, and then moved to Premier League Watford for 13.5 million euros.
Finally returned to Udinese in 2020.
Left midfielder Udoji is a Nigerian with Italian nationality . With a height of 188cm and a weight of 67kg, he has a strong body, speed and physical fitness, and is hailed as the future rising star on the left side of Italy.
After the training last season, the young player has further improved.
This summer, he was bought by Tottenham for 18 million euros and leased back to Udinese for one year to continue his training.
In addition, the team spent a total of 13 million euros to buy three cost-effective rotation players, including Berge, Masina and Ebusi, from CSKA Moscow, Watford and Angers.
Everyone could see that Roma was saving its strength for the match against Liverpool, but the bad thing was that everyone in Udinese also saw it.
What’s even worse is that the Roma players themselves also believe that they should save their strength for the game against Liverpool.
If you keep it, something bad will happen.
When the game reached the 25th minute, facing the score of 3-0, Chen Xiaoliang cursed at the defense line on the court for the first time.
"Are you guys here to play football? If you don't want to play, take off your jerseys and get out!"
Because the five major leagues have strict controls on racial discrimination, Nazism, swearing and other behaviors, Chen Xiaoliang finally cursed "CTMD" in his native language.
Many Italian fans didn’t know what Chen Xiaoliang was talking about, but in the Red Country’s live broadcast room, the barrage of [Traditional Virtues] filled the entire screen.
Although he has absolute say in the locker room, this power comes from his consistent fairness to every player and the trust of the entire team, rather than relying on his status in the team and the trust of the coach to intimidate others.
Therefore, when the team performed poorly in the past, he would at most give reminders and warnings, but this was the first time he had publicly criticized the team like this.
But the defenders who were criticized, especially the two Italian players Mancini and Spinazzola, did not show any temper all.
Because the mistakes they made were so stupid, even the two of them were somewhat relieved that the captain started scolding first, so Mourinho had to come out to calm the conflicts among the players. Otherwise, when they returned to the locker room at halftime, Mourinho would definitely spend 14 minutes out of the 15 minutes to mock them harshly in a two-faced way.
The first goal conceded occurred in the 5th minute. Facing a non-threatening cross from Udinese captain Roberto Pereira in the right corner of the penalty area, Mancini unexpectedly used his chest to stop the ball with several opposing players around him, wanting to pass it directly to Patricio.
Before Patricio could react, Udogi behind Mancini cleverly intercepted the ball that Mancini had headed with his chest, then poked the ball into the top of the near corner before Patricio pounced on him, and immediately turned around to celebrate with his teammates, leaving Mancini with a confused look on his face and Patricio staring at him speechlessly.
The second goal was conceded in the 14th minute. Zalewski received a cross pass from Chen Xiaoliang and passed it back to Spinazzola behind him when there was no good breakthrough opportunity on the left.
I don't know if the "great Italian left-back" was too relaxed or too confident today. He chose to kick the ball back without even looking, wanting to pass it back to Ibanez.
Who would have thought that Ibanez, who had just dribbled the ball forward in the backcourt and helped organize the attack, was not in the position that Spinazzola had imagined in his mind. When Spinazzola saw clearly and found that something was wrong, Roberto Perreira had already steadily caught the gift package he had sent.
Facing Roberto Perreira who had broken into the penalty area and was in a one-on-one situation, Patricio immediately left the goal and tried to stop the ball before Roberto Perreira adjusted his shooting posture.
As a result, the Udinese captain shot the ball towards the goal with a light kick. Mancini, who ran back to block the goal, wanted to atone for his mistake, so he rushed to the goal line and tried to clear the ball with his leg, but he was still a step too slow.
A superb performance on the court will inspire teammates, and a disastrous performance will also infect teammates.
Trailing by two goals, the team played impatiently in the midfield and frontcourt, making frequent coordination errors and losing possession of the ball. Not only that, the mentality of veteran goalkeeper Patricio was also obviously disturbed by the two teammates who made mistakes.
In the 25th minute, another 20-year-old German rising star midfielder Samardzic from the Red Bull youth training system, from RB Leipzig, dribbled the ball outside the penalty area to break away from Cristante's block and shot with his left foot. The ball bounced on the ground in the middle, but Patricio did not adjust his hand shape in time when he fell to the ground to save the ball. The ball slipped out of his hand after touching his palm and still rolled into the goal.
Udinese 3-0!
The glaring score finally made Chen Xiaoliang unable to bear it anymore, and he burst out in anger at his teammates.
The 48-year-old Udinese head coach Andrea Sodil, dressed in a black sportswear, celebrated wildly in front of the camera. Everyone on the bench jumped, shouted, hugged and ran as if the boss said he would give out 10 times the year-end bonus this year, and the nearly 25,000 home fans in the Friuli Stadium were all boiling with excitement.
Really, there was no calm spot on the circular stands of the stadium. All the heads and bodies moving up and down were like bubbles and waves rising from boiling water.
They have the right to celebrate because they defeated the defending champions and league leaders in a ruthless manner.
It is true that all three goals were caused by Roma's mistakes, but if it weren't for Udogi and Roberto Perreira's consistent running and pressing, those two goals would not have been caused by the two defenders making big mistakes.
It is the old saying that has been said countless times: Opportunities come to those who are prepared.
People who are not diligent will miss opportunities even when they are right in front of them.
Although Mourinho temporarily restrained his anger because of Chen Xiaoliang's outburst and did not want to add fuel to the fire, he still made a substitution out of his intolerance.
That's right, he made a substitution after 25 minutes. Although he didn't get angry or yell at the players, his strong dissatisfaction with the team's disastrous performance was clearly and unmistakably revealed.
The fourth official also confirmed with Forti again and again. After all, for him, it was something he had never experienced before, such as making substitutions after 25 minutes.
Malaysia replaced Spinazzola and Kvaratskhelia replaced Zalewski.
But the obvious difference is that when Spinazzola left the field, Mourinho had a blank expression on his face, and Forti stepped forward and asked the Italian left-back to go directly back to the locker room to "calm down".
When Zalewski came off the field, Mourinho put his arm around his shoulders and said a lot of comforting words.
The young Polish player kept nodding his head, and he fully felt the kindness of the head coach.
After all, his end was not because he played badly, but because the team now needed a significant boost in attack, and he became Spinazzola's "buried companion".
Mancini "luckily" stayed on the field temporarily.
It's not that Mourinho doesn't want to replace him, but Smalling is the only central defender on the bench. If he is replaced now, if there is another unexpected change, there will be no one to replace the central defender position.
As soon as the game resumed, Mourinho, with a livid face, said to Forti: "Let Pinto get the contract for the central defender right away! I want to see the official announcement from the club's public relations department tomorrow morning!"
Facing his boss who was suppressing his anger, Forti said nothing, just nodded and immediately walked to the sidelines to send a message to Pinto.
After a while, Pinto made a sweaty emoji and replied with a complaint: "He was the one who said he would think about it again, and he is the one who is in a hurry to get someone now. Let him wait tomorrow morning."
Seeing Pinto's confident reply, which was equivalent to that the matter had been settled, Forti immediately passed the message to Mourinho.
This made the "madman" who would be 60 years old in 5 months feel a little better.
The person he was referring to was RB Leipzig's Croatian central defender Gvardiol.
Mourinho's original idea was to look for a permanent transfer, but the club searched around Europe for a long time within the limited budget but failed to find someone who was within the price of 35 million euros and met Mourinho's requirements.
Pinto believes that according to Mourinho's request, the club should either find him a reincarnation of Terry or the second generation of Samuel, or he should scratch a lottery ticket that is at least as good as Cesco's, even if it is not as good as Chen Xiaoliang's.
However, Pinto was able to become the general manager of a well-known European club at the age of 36, which shows that no matter how strong his business ability is, he must be very good at being a human being.
Even though Mourinho is still hesitating, his negotiations with RB Leipzig have never been interrupted. The contract text and agreement are ready, and he is just waiting for the head coach to make the final decision.
Fortunately, Gvardiol himself is open to the idea of loaning or staying. If he stays in RB Leipzig, he will be a starter and can also play in the Champions League. If he joins Roma, he will still be a starter and can play in the Champions League. The only difference is that Roma can also compete for the Serie A championship.
Of course, Mourinho is also something that attracts him very much.
As the team performed well in the previous rounds, Mourinho thought about stopping the transfer. He wanted to give the young players from the youth training system a chance to play in the first team. He also told Pinto that it would be better to save the money and focus on buying a high-priced and capable defender next season.
But in the end, Pinto said something meaningful, which completely dispelled Mourinho's idea:
"Jose, what if we can't keep Chen next summer?"
When he heard this, Mourinho didn't even know how to answer for a moment. He just told Pinto to continue the loan negotiations for Gvardiol.
Although the famous coach who is about to turn 60 looks down on Pinto, who is much younger than him, after all, most of the team's transfers are not handled by the general manager at all, he is more like a business manager who negotiates terms and prepares documents, but it has to be said that Pinto's words are very realistic and quite correct.
The reason why no top clubs sent faxes to Roma this summer was mainly because Chen Xiaoliang had just renewed his contract and, through Riise, had clearly expressed his determination not to transfer this season to the agents and scouts who came to test the waters.
But this does not mean that the giants will give up.
Every day when you open a newspaper or a web page, you can see:
"Ancelotti has agreed with Florentino Perez to sign Chen Xiaoliang for 200 million next summer to create the 2.0PLUS version of the Real Madrid midfield ceremony for three consecutive Champions League titles"
"Laporta has ordered the club's transfer team to sign the Reds next summer, even if they have to use three more levers. He is the key to Barcelona's dream team reconquering Europe."
"Britain's richest man, Ratcliffe, has promised that once he buys Manchester United from the Glazer family, he will invest more than 300 million pounds in recruiting players, and Chen Xiaoliang will be the most important part of it."
"Liverpool spent 100 million of its transfer budget on Nunez because they couldn't buy Chen Xiaoliang this summer. Klopp has already forced the board to resign. If they can't buy Chen Xiaoliang next year, he will leave Liverpool."
"Manchester City's iron triangle, head coach Guardiola, director Soriano and football director Begiristain have been approved by owner Mansour. Next summer, they will compete with Paris Saint-Germain for Chen Xiaoliang at all costs and are even willing to offer Roma a blank check. The combination of the Reds and Haaland will dominate Europe."
Yes, as long as the fans dare to watch, there is nothing the media dare not write about.
But there is no smoke without fire. This does illustrate a problem: all the European giants have focused their attention on the 18-year-old Roma captain, and as long as Chen Xiaoliang is willing, a giant will make him a formal transfer offer in minutes.
For Roma, it is clear how much difference there is in the team's performance with or without Chen Xiaoliang. When the rich club buys the player, Roma will be left with a lot of cash. It is not clear how much the boss will take as a return on investment, and even if you look around the world, you will not be able to buy another player like him.
If you want to strive for honor at that time, what else can you do?
Good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes singly. The collective sleepwalking performance of the defense on the field today finally prompted Mourinho to make up his mind to go all out to strive for higher honors this season.
Gvardiol's confirmation also means that Roma has finally completed the team's last transfer this summer, reaching a loan agreement with Bundesliga's RB Leipzig for a loan fee of 4 million euros and a compulsory buyout clause of 75 million euros.
But distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. Even Dybala had to train with the team for a period of time before he could integrate well, not to mention Enzo and Kva who joined the team earlier.
For someone like Gvardiol, who has already played two Bundesliga games for RB Leipzig, it will take him a few days to get to know the players after joining the team. After that, he has to integrate into the tactics, arrange his life, and even get familiar with the rhythm of Serie A. It will take at least one or two weeks to adjust.
The score of 3-0 behind was real.
The substitutions have been made, Mourinho has expressed his stance, and Chen Xiaoliang has yelled. All that remains is to see to what extent the players can adjust on the field and where the game will end up.
