Chapter 271: The Person Recruiting (Part 2)
The game goes on.
In the 73rd minute, Udinese also made substitutions, replacing Bergey, whose running was obviously slow, with Cameroonian newcomer Ebuse, and replacing forward Sexes with 194-centimeter-tall Portuguese center forward Beto.
The intention of the two substitutions is very clear. The defense needs to be supplemented, and the offense also needs to be supplemented. The team must not only defend to maintain the victory, but also try to use the Roma defense line to move up and launch more counterattacks.
Beto's height allows him to act as a fulcrum in offense, receiving high balls or taking the ball with his back to the basket, waiting for his teammates to counterattack.
In set-piece defense, this height advantage can also greatly enhance air defense firepower.
Even Mourinho appreciated Sodil's ability to remain calm and make reasonable substitutions based on the situation on the field at this time.
Most coaches would simply withdraw the forward and replace him with a defender at this time, hoping to rely on piling up bodies in the penalty area to maintain the score. However, the story of Wei Wei to Save Zhao proved 2,376 years ago that simply treating the symptoms is not the best way to solve the problem.
No matter how strong Roma's midfielder's ground interception ability is, it cannot stop the defender from launching a long pass directly to the forward. No matter how fast the full-back's retracing speed is, he cannot stop Udinese players from running forward to participate in the counterattack when they don't have the ball.
Faced with such a situation, Mourinho had no choice. Too many fatal mistakes left the team with no choice but to attack. All he could do was to replace the players with more energy and hope that the players on the field could perform to their full potential.
In the 76th minute, after many passes back and forth without finding a good opportunity, Dybala passed the ball to the goal with his left foot from the right, but Abraham at the front point failed to head it. Goalkeeper Silvestri punched the ball out with both fists. After Samardzic got the ball, he immediately made a long pass to Beto, who leaned firmly against Ibanez.
Beto's strategy was also very simple. Although he was tall enough, he did not compete with the central defender defending him for headers. As long as no one could jump, he, who had an obvious height advantage, could naturally use his chest or feet to directly take the ball off the target.
Sure enough, Ibanez, who was trapped in position by Beto and seemed to be pressed down on him, was unable to jump up.
Udoji and Roberto Pereira ran forward quickly from both flanks, while Beto's partner, another striker Deulofeu, moved forward from Beto's side.
At this time, only Ibanez and Enzo were lagging behind in Roma's defense, and the two full-backs Binya and Malacia were chasing Udogi and Roberto Pereira who were rushing towards their own half at full speed.
And Enzo is also chasing Deulofeu.
Another central defender, Mancini, was still competing for the header in Udinese's penalty area and it was impossible for him to rush back to defend.
In this situation, Beto could kick the ball towards the Roma goal at any time and break through Roma's offside line. Seeing this, Ibanez had to give up defending Beto and chased back at full speed, trying to stop him for the time being.
Although Chen Xiaoliang had used up his stamina recovery card (7→6) as early as the 65th minute, in order to completely burn his "little universe" in the final stage of the game, for this ball he started running back from the top of the opponent's penalty area and chased the ball all the way to 30 meters in front of his own goal before he entered the range of assisting defense.
Just after Ibanez took the initiative to retreat, Beto immediately turned around and made a long straight pass. The ball drew a long diagonal line along the grass and passed it in front of Udoji.
Beto was the reason for both success and failure. He was the one who could hold the ball, but he was also the one who was not good at working with his feet. This pass was too long, forcing Udogi to run further to the side before catching up with the ball, which also bought a little time for the Roma players in the middle to return to defense.
But despite this, Biniya behind Udoji was too far away to catch up with him.
Udoji was on the left side of the penalty area. Chen Xiaoliang had already chased back to the penalty area line and quickly pointed in the direction of Udoji to Enzo. Enzo understood and handed the middle road to the captain. He rushed towards Udoji to prevent him from directly entering the penalty area and forming a single attack from the side.
Although the morale of Udinese players was high and they fought hard, they were also human beings, especially the two wingers. They played exceptionally well and excitedly in this game, but they also consumed a lot of physical energy, especially Udogi. After sprinting at high speed all the way, he really reached the penalty area of Roma. Facing Enzo's fierce blockade, he seemed to be at the end of his strength.
He knew that if he entangled with Enzo here and stopped, he might not have enough speed to get rid of Enzo when he tried to accelerate again. He would probably lose the ball in the close entanglement and waste this hard-earned fast break opportunity. Therefore, he gritted his teeth and tried to use up his last bit of explosive power to rush towards the baseline. Near the baseline, he hooked the ball towards the middle of the penalty area with his left foot and swept the ball towards the goal!
Patricio fell to the ground immediately, but his left hand only slightly touched the fast-rolling ball, which was only slightly changed in direction and did not completely stop it.
Deulofeu, who had been defending in the middle for most of the game and had been invisible for a long time, quickly inserted himself, aimed at the direction the ball was coming from, and was ready to block it lightly, directly blocking the ball into the goal. Chen Xiaoliang followed closely behind his left body and had already made a sliding tackle, ready to destroy the ball before he shot.
But Patricio's touch caused the ball, which was supposed to roll towards Chen Xiaoliang's feet, to roll behind Chen Xiaoliang instead!
Not only did he and Deulofeu miss the ball, but Ibanez, who was already rushing towards the goal to block it with his body, also missed it.
The two men who fell and accelerated had no time to brake. Instead, Deulofeu, who was preparing to stand and give a light push, adjusted his posture the fastest, turned around and blocked the ball with his left foot, then immediately turned around with his right foot and shot the ball into the goal with a powerful shot!
Ibanez jumped sideways on the goal line, while Chen Xiaoliang supported himself on the ground with his hands, pushed his feet forward and swung his body forward.
“Fuck!”
Chen Xiaoliang only felt a sharp pain and cursed in his heart, but he didn't have time to figure out what was going on. He fell to the ground and poked the ball that he had blocked with his foot. Enzo, who came over, immediately kicked the ball to the front court.
Udinese controlled the ball and wanted to attack, but the referee stopped the game because Chen Xiaoliang was lying on the ground, covering his lower abdomen with his hands and looking painful, while Enzo, Ibanez and others around him were shouting for the team doctor Manara to come in quickly.
Mourinho's face was livid. Of course he was angry about losing a league game that he shouldn't have lost, but after all, it was only the fifth round of the league, and losing a game was not completely unacceptable.
But the Champions League group stage is just around the corner. If the team's top player, Chen Xiaoliang, is injured, how can they compete with Liverpool, the runner-up of the last Champions League and the Premier League? Is it possible that they collectively pray before the game that all the Red Army's forwards will miss the target?
Manara came on the field and asked Chen Xiaoliang about it. Chen Xiaoliang told him that he had pain in his lower abdomen. The slow-motion replay on the screen also showed that Deulofeu's turn and shot just now hit Chen Xiaoliang's lower abdomen. The distance between the place where he kicked the ball and the place where he received the ball was only 1 meter. Almost most of the shooting power was borne by his body.
However, Chen Xiaoliang had already called out the system after the ball was cleared by Enzo. Fortunately, the system did not issue an alarm that the host was injured.
He had no choice. It wasn't that he didn't want to remember it, it was really painful. And it wasn't just a superficial pain. It felt like all his internal organs were being rubbed, and it was accompanied by a strong sense of nausea.
Injury recovery cards don’t help relieve pain or prevent dizziness…
The tone of Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu in the live broadcast room also became heavy.
Zhang Lu: "It's hard to say. The ball was powerful enough. The upper abdomen is protected by abdominal muscles, but the lower muscles are thin. Professional players don't have thick fat protection like a big belly. At the mildest, it could be acute stomach cramps or intestinal cramps. At the worst, it could be gastric bleeding, organ rupture, intra-abdominal bleeding, or peritonitis."
Zhan Jun: "But it seems that Xiaoliang can't continue this game. Mourinho has replaced Chen Xiaoliang, who was carried on a stretcher, with Pellegrini on the sidelines."
Although the previous game caused great trouble to Udinese and he had physical conflicts with Silvestri, Becao and others, his selfless blocking of the goal and leaving the field due to injury still made most of the home fans give Chen Xiaoliang humanitarian applause.
Before Chen Xiaoliang was carried into the player tunnel on a stretcher, Mourinho ran over and asked Manara to tell him the first-hand situation at any time.
In the infirmary, Manara was also very nervous at first. In this club, not to mention the chief team doctor who works with the players day and night, even the security guards at the gate of the Trigoria base knew how important Chen Xiaoliang was to the team.
But after Chen Xiaoliang stood up and couldn't help vomiting in the sink, Manara finally felt relieved.
There was no blood in the vomit, and the vomiting process was not accompanied by pain. It seemed that it was just gastrointestinal spasm after the heavy blow, and the internal organs themselves were not damaged.
To be on the safe side, the ambulance took Chen Xiaoliang to the hospital for examination as soon as possible, which confirmed Manara's prediction.
The game finally ended in the 93rd minute when Abraham competed with Becao for a header in the penalty area. Under the impact of the former, Becao accidentally headed the ball into his own goal. Roma finally tied Udinese 3-3 and finally got back 1 point.
When the news about Chen Xiaoliang got back to Mourinho, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
The team was in a depressed mood that day and did not feel relieved for the last-minute equalizer. Chen Xiaoliang had to stay in the local hospital for another day for observation. Except for him, Manara and the office clerk who arranged the trip, all other members returned to Rome the next day.
In this round of matches, the most eye-catching Milan derby, Inter Milan striker Lukaku, who made a high-profile return to Serie A, will be absent for a month due to a hamstring injury. In the end, Leao scored twice and Giroud assisted and scored, and AC Milan defeated Inter Milan 3-2;
Fiorentina tied Juventus 1-1 at home, and Napoli defeated Lazio 1-2 away;
Atalanta beat Monza 2-0 away from home.
In the standings, Roma still ranks first, but Atalanta, who also has 4 wins and 1 tie, ranks second with a record of 9 goals scored and only 1 goal conceded in 5 rounds;
Napoli and AC Milan are ranked 3rd and 4th with 11 points each;
Inter Milan is ranked 6th with 9 points and Juventus is ranked 9th with 7 points.
After the game, several controversial points about last night's Rome match continued to ferment on the Internet, just as expected by the various countries broadcasting the game.
The referee actively refused to watch VAR for controversial incidents, such as an offside player running after the ball but being judged not offside without touching the ball, and whether players should be encouraged to make life-threatening blocks like Chen Xiaoliang did last night that could cause serious injuries.
Although the first two points are also very controversial, the game at least has rules to follow, and it is just a matter of how to interpret the rules.
But the last point is a point of debate that is open to debate.
Those in favor say that competitive sports should have a fighting spirit. If all the players on the field deliberately give up some risky actions that may be of great help to the team for their own interests, the intensity and viewing level of football games, as well as the sportsmanship and encouragement they contain for young people will be greatly reduced, and they will eventually become mercenaries who are paid to do irrelevant work.
The opponents said that since it is professional football, the professional interests of the players must be the priority.
Players are also human beings. There is no difference between playing for a club and working for a company. It is neither worthwhile nor necessary to sacrifice one's career for a little money.
They cited many examples of people whose careers were ruined due to injuries, including Phil Jones, who was once highly regarded by Sir Alex Ferguson in Manchester United. This English defender was called a workaholic by many. After falling to the ground while defending, he would even use his head to directly compete with the opponent's striker's feet. Many widely circulated emoticons and animated pictures were born that night.
But his career was completely ruined because of his repeated selfless actions and even playing in England's games with a closed mouth.
Based on this, some fans dug up the old news that Terry revealed in an interview that Mourinho had taken the initiative to let Terry get a closed injection before a key game. This made many Mourinho haters once again collectively criticize Mourinho on the Internet.
The reason why the media raised these topics after this game was not simply because of the game process. In addition to these controversial topics, other topics include:
"Mourinho faces the Premier League giants again. Can he reproduce the glory of Mourinho's second year?"
"100 million euro bid winner Nunez vs. Roma's young striker Cesco, who is the real deal or fake will be revealed in a week"
"Chen Xiaoliang faces Liverpool. Is the Serie A MVP only a bully at home?"
"Salah returns to his old home in Rome. After a mediocre start to the season, when will he be able to regain his form?"
These topics also appeared in every corner of the football Internet world overnight.
After a day's rest, although Chen Xiaoliang returned to Rome, he still rested at home and continued to observe. Mourinho did not let him participate in team training.
However, after the official announcement, the new aid Gvardiol met with his teammates as soon as possible and became familiar with Mourinho's football philosophy and his personal positioning arrangements during tactical training.
The extremely stupid performance against Udinese, coupled with the addition of a new central defender, made the team's existing defenders feel huge competitive pressure.
Gvardiol is in very good personal form. He has played four Bundesliga rounds on behalf of RB Leipzig. Although the team's results are average, with 1 win, 2 draws and 1 loss, all the Croatians who started the game have performed well.
His joining also triggered an unexpected effect, AC Milan fans ridiculed Inter Milan fans.
The reason is that when Gvardior was 15 years old, Inter Milan once wrote him a large check, but the Croatian and his father finally rejected Inter Milan's invitation and chose to continue staying in his hometown team Dinamo Zagreb to hone his abilities.
Gvardiol, who started football training at the age of 8, played as a full-back in his childhood. He was always placed in a team much older than him by the youth training coach, and was later transformed into a central defender.
Similar to Chen Xiaoliang, he was born in 2002 and represented Dinamo Zagreb in the first team at the age of 17 and gradually became a main player. He played 29 times in the first season and 43 times in the second season, helping the team win two consecutive league titles.
In the following 2021-22 season, he came to RB Leipzig. In his first season in the top five leagues, he played 46 times for the team in various competitions at the age of 19 and helped the team win the German Cup.
At 185cm tall and 77kg, he is neither tall nor heavy, but such body proportions, coupled with excellent talent and acquired training, enable him to physically confront tall forwards while also pressing and blocking the breakthroughs and sprints of agile forwards.
Another reason Mourinho likes him is that he is a left-footed central defender who is cherished in today's football. This allows him to better deal with the opponent's attack from the outside and pass the ball from the left side of the penalty area, whether he is playing as a four-back or left central defender in a three-back system.
Gvardiol likes to tackle the ball very much when defending, and he will make the move when the time is right, without any hesitation.
This made his teammates wonder when he participated in the team's group competition on the first day. When Mourinho was looking for transfer targets in the midfield and backcourt, was he giving priority to the ability to make tackles? Otherwise, why was it that when Chen Xiaoliang was not there, Gvardiol and Enzo were still making sliding tackles, as if they were secretly competing to see who had better tackling ability.
Gvardiol was also a little disappointed that he couldn't train with Chen Xiaoliang at the first time.
He also watched a lot of Chen Xiaoliang's game highlights and personal highlights. He knew that the Roma captain's tackling ability was unrivaled in Serie A, and he had long wanted to compete with him.
He joined Roma as a loan player and has already made his mark in the top five leagues. He will also play as a main defender in the World Cup at the end of the year, where he will have the opportunity to face top forwards such as Messi, Ronaldo, Benzema, Kane, etc. Although Roma is the defending champion of Serie A, to be honest, he did not come with the mentality of a "fanboy" or "junior". On the first day, he put great defensive pressure on Abraham and El Shaarawy. He wished Mourinho could change Cesco to another team so that he could meet him and teach him a lesson.
Mourinho was very satisfied with such mentality and performance.
However, some players were not happy with this. However, as Chen Xiaoliang was the undisputed leader of the locker room, the old guys did not want to give "special care" to a young man who had just joined the team while he was recovering from his injury.
According to what Pellegrini said to Cristante in the parking lot after training, it is called:
"Let's wait for Chen to come back and deal with that kid. Young people nowadays are more arrogant and daring than each other. There is always someone stronger than you. You and I should just be supporting roles ."
