Chapter 325 "Move all of Rome to London!!!"
On the field, Zwar blew the whistle, marking the end of the first half.
Mourinho proudly stood up from the coaching bench and walked back to his familiar player tunnel, waving to the Chelsea fans who supported or attacked him on the way.
Although every minute of revisiting the old place made him feel both excited and a little disappointed, a madman is a madman, and apart from the confident smile and the arrogance that was slightly less than before, his face would not reveal any expression or look that would reveal his weak side.
In the locker room, Mourinho patted Chen Xiaoliang on the back, which seemed to be a mockery but was actually a compliment to him for promptly asking his teammates to shrink their defense and counterattack, thus avoiding the complete loss of offensive momentum after Chelsea's two threatening attacks.
But in the first half, Sterling and Reece James still created some threats on Chelsea's right side. In the second half, Mourinho asked Dybala to move closer to the center and take on more responsibilities as a shadow striker. At the same time, he adopted a one-way response tactic, focusing on the left-wing attack to suppress Chelsea's right side and forcing Reece James to retreat more for defense.
Porter is also arranging tactics for the wing-backs to get more involved in the attack. For him, the team is currently ranked 10th in the league. Even if they win all the remaining games, they can at most qualify for the Europa League next season. This obviously cannot save his position as coach.
And if he is eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and is sentenced to death in advance after only playing the first game of the two rounds, he will inevitably face even more fierce criticism. At the end of the season, owner Burley will definitely abandon the team to save the coach, leaving him as the head coach to go wherever he wants.
On the offensive end, he asked Felix to retreat more, and then withdrew Kovacic, who performed well in the first 20 minutes today but whose personal weaknesses were exposed after being targeted by Chen Xiaoliang, and replaced him with Kante, a 31-year-old who has not played many games this season.
This French midfielder is Porter's last hope. He hopes that with the cooperation of Kante, the midfield can stop and limit Chen Xiaoliang's performance.
The second half started quickly and the two sides changed sides and continued the game.
Seeing Kante come on the court, not only Chelsea fans had some expectations, but Chen Xiaoliang also had some expectations.
If we were to choose the best defensive midfielder in Europe in the six seasons from 2015/16 to 2020/21, Kante would definitely be the one with the most supporters.
Compared to Casemiro, one of the ceremonial midfielders, although the Brazilian is far superior in club honors, he was able to play an indelible role in Leicester City's Premier League miracle, France's World Cup championship journey and Chelsea's double top of the Europa League and Champions League. Kante is enough to prove that as long as he is there, no matter which team it is, the midfield will be greatly improved.
Not only did he win the Premier League Player of the Season, he also ranked fifth in the 2021 Ballon d'Or as a defensive midfielder.
There was even a time when, because of his outstanding performance in the French national team, many football commentators described him as "having Kante behind him makes some not-so-outstanding midfielders look like superstars."
Unfortunately, although he is only 31 years old and his defensive awareness and stealing ability are still outstanding, continuous injuries have inevitably caused his athletic function to decline a lot, and his speed, explosive power, flexibility and so on are no longer as good as they used to be.
So Porter did not expect Kante, who had recovered from injury for more than half a month, to be able to cover everything in the midfield by himself like in the past. He hoped that Enzo would cooperate with him, and the old and the young could work together to control the midfield.
The two of them did so and achieved good results.
The first to feel the brunt of the pressure was Dybala.
Since the attack was focused on the left, Dybala frequently coordinated from the right to the middle, and thus fell into Kante's hunting circle.
In the 47th minute, facing the blockade of Reece James and Fofana on the left, Kva chose to cut inside and pass the ball to Dybala who was coming along the penalty area line to support.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Dybala received the ball, Kante behind him came up to him.
Although the 29-year-old Dybala is two years younger than Kante and is not affected by injuries, he is more agile than strong and is not good at bursting speed, which is just what Kante wants.
Kante pushed his left foot behind him and poked his right foot in front of him, just in time to block Dybala who was trying to turn around with his left foot after receiving the ball.
The ball rolled out, Reece James kicked it forward, Sterling received the ball in the frontcourt, first passed it forward to Havertz who was retreating, and then Havertz passed it forward to Felix who rushed into the penalty area from the left.
Smalling and Spinazzola, who was missing, tried to surround Felix from the front and back, but Felix didn't wait for the two to get close and passed the ball horizontally to the other side of the goal!
Zhan Jun: "Cross-pass! Sterling!"
"It's empty!"
"this……"
Even though Zhan Jun has been in the industry for more than 30 years, from Guangdong TV to ESPN, and then back to the Red Country to participate in football commentary on online platforms, he probably has never seen such a shot in the top league...
The barrage also fell silent, with a series of […] crossing the screen.
Finally, someone made a point:
[Zhan Jun was silent after seeing this, while Zhang Lu laughed after seeing this! ]
Zhang Lu: "This ball... Hehe, I don't know what Porter is thinking."
Zhan Jun: "Let's watch the replay again! Felix passed between Smalling and Spinazzola and received a wonderful pass from Havertz. Facing the big brother of the Portuguese national team, Patricio, he did not choose to shoot at a small angle, but passed the ball to the back of the goal!"
"Patricio was standing at the near post, and Sterling was only about 2 meters away from the goal line when he received the ball at the back post! It was a completely empty goal..."
"He shot as soon as he received the ball, but his right foot stepped on the ball, and as he fell, he passed the ball directly to Patricio!"
Zhang Lu : "This is really his biggest problem. He can't get into position but can't score the goals he should score. It makes sense for Guardiola to sell him."
Zhan Jun: "The camera was focused on Burley in the stands, with a serious face! Sterling cost the club 56.2 million euros! I don't know if Potter will make adjustments, after all, there is Mudrick who cost 70 million euros on the bench!"
This goal dealt a heavy blow to Chelsea's morale. The Blues' players all knew it, and Sterling himself knew it too. This scene was destined to be forever preserved in the "Even My Grandma Can Score" series and passed down from generation to generation...
Chen Xiaoliang was also stunned. He liked to watch game videos and tactical highlights in his spare time. Although he had seen many clips of Sterling playing happy football, today's outrageous mother opened the door in an outrageous way. It was really outrageous.
He couldn't help scratching his head twice before loudly reminding Spinazzola to protect his ribs.
Sterling lowered his head and smiled awkwardly to ease his inner helplessness, while he ran back with his fat buttocks twisted and raised his hand to apologize to his teammates.
But the furious Potter was not going to give him any chance and immediately replaced him with Mudrick.
“Oh…”
The boos that were heard throughout the stadium continued even after Sterling walked to the sidelines. This was not only an expression of dissatisfaction with Sterling's shameful performance, but also a protest against the team's poor form that repeatedly hit new lows.
Zhang Lu: "You said Chelsea played badly, but if they had seized the chances better today, they could have scored at least two goals. Tactically, they played everything they should have played. You said he played well, but he just couldn't score. I still think Havertz should be substituted, he is useless on the field."
"It was a good through ball just now, but that is not your responsibility. You are a center forward. Look at Cesco in Roma. He is either at the front to contain the central defender or uses his height as a fulcrum to provide a stable long pass point in the backcourt. He works diligently. Although Cesco's performance this season is not as prominent as last season due to the arrival of Dybala and Kvarr, it can be seen from Mourinho's determination to let him start that his tactical role is very important."
"Let's imagine that if Xiaoliang's front is not Cesco but Havertz, and he always circles around the penalty area, then every time Xiaoliang tries to attack head-on, he will not only have to face the obstruction of the defensive midfielder, but also the defense of the central defender. The threat of the wingers on both sides will also be greatly reduced because there is no forward point in the penalty area."
"Porter has not improved this problem."
Zhan Jun: "Let's see if Mudrick can bring something different!"
On the sidelines, Mourinho, who had also recovered from his surprise, replaced Spinazzola with Forti and replaced him with the more defensive Celik.
With a 2-goal lead, if we can maintain this result and end the game, then we won't have any burden in the second round when we return to Rome.
In the 60th minute, Chen Xiaoliang received the ball in the center circle and moved forward. Mudrik came back to defend, but the Ukrainian, who was 175 cm tall and weighed only 61 kg, had neither enough ability to steal the ball from Chen Xiaoliang nor could he use his body to interfere with his dribbling.
Dybala moved to the left in the middle, and Chen Xiaoliang immediately dribbled the ball to the front right.
Kante asked Enzo to stay in the middle to ensure that there was protection from the defensive midfielder in the middle, and he and Chilwell came from the left and right to double-team Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang used his body to block Mudrick and was ready to use his speed to eat the two of them alive. He pushed the ball forward and suddenly accelerated. Chilwell immediately turned around and stretched out his left hand to put it on Chen Xiaoliang's body, but this push only made the Roma captain sway a little and did not stop him from accelerating.
Just when Chen Xiaoliang was about to catch up with the ball he had dribbled out, a black leg stretched out and scooped the ball out!
Chen Xiaoliang saw it with his peripheral vision. It was Kante's tackle, but he did not stop. Instead, he turned to the front right and chased in the direction where the ball rolled!
Chelsea fans just cheered. This was the first time in this game that a Chelsea player directly blocked Chen Xiaoliang's dribbling forward. But they immediately shouted in surprise involuntarily!
When the ball was about to be cleared out of bounds by Kante, Chen Xiaoliang chased after it. He first blocked the ball inside the sideline with his right foot and gently pushed it forward. Then he rushed out of the sideline due to inertia, ran in an arc and ran back into bounds to catch up with the ball!
Kante was also shocked. He didn't expect that the young man in front of him could catch up with the ball he had tackled. He immediately stood up and one of them took a shortcut to block from the inside while the other one chased desperately from behind.
Chen Xiaoliang could tell from Kante's tackle just now that the French midfielder's ability to steal the ball was definitely not inferior to his own, from the grasp of timing to the accuracy of the kick. What's more, when he had just unlocked the skill of [Good at ground tackles], many images of defensive masters' tackles flashed into his mind like lightning, including Kante's image!
The layman watches the excitement while the expert watches the doorway. Chen Xiaoliang, who made his living by running and stealing at all costs, knows that Kante's ability to steal the ball at close range is far superior to his own dribbling ability. What's more, there is Chilwell harassing him from behind, so he is not completely confident of fighting one against two.
He simply dribbled the ball in a straight line, slowed down a little when he got close to the baseline, turned sideways and swung his left and right feet, and used the inner instep of his feet to kick a very fast and arcing cross towards the middle!
When Kante and Chilwell saw Chen Xiaoliang pass the ball, they stopped defending.
Cesco hasn't seen Chen Xiaoliang's high cross for a long time. Since Kvart and Dybala joined the team, the two do not have the ability to compete for headers in the penalty area, so the team has been more focused on short pass penetration and inverted triangle back pass tactics in the frontcourt. Therefore, the scenes of Chen Xiaoliang's crosses and Cesco's headers in the middle that were often seen last season have become less common this season.
But that doesn't mean Cesco is unfamiliar with it.
As soon as the ball came out, he pretended to rush forward, pretending to grab the goal in front of the goal. Koulibaly immediately retreated to block in front of him, while left center back Cucurella blocked the near post.
But Cesco knew that Chen Xiaoliang would definitely pass the ball to him, so after taking a step forward to take Koulibaly away, he immediately retreated and moved towards the landing point near the penalty spot!
When the curved cross flew away from the goal due to inward rotation, Koulibaly turned back and wanted to mark Cesco again, but he had lost the first opportunity to exert force and compete for the header.
Although Enzo raised his hand when he retreated, he didn't dare to stretch it out to push Sesco involuntarily. And because he was too familiar with Sesco, he didn't jump at all, because he knew that even if he jumped with all his might, he could only hit Sesco's neck at most.
At the edge of the penalty spot, for a moment, Cesco was like a battleship suspended in the air. With everyone in the Chelsea penalty area looking up, he swung his hands in the air, exerted force on his waist and abdomen, and slammed his head on the ball that was flying towards him because of the inward rotation!
Just like a battleship's main gun aiming and firing, the ball hit the ground on the left side of the goal. Kepa ran from the near post to the far post and jumped up to block the ball!
Chen Xiaoliang was the first to raise his hand! After he made the pass, he ran forward a few steps due to inertia and stopped at the end line. He could see clearly that the ball had bounced back and had already crossed the goal line in the air!
Kepa picked up the ball, immediately stood up and kept waving at the referee Zwar, and Chelsea players also surrounded him!
Zhan Jun: "The goal line image is out! The ball clearly crossed the goal line! Coach Kai fished the ball out from within the goal line!"
Zhang Lu: "Koulibaly played well throughout the game, just like Fofana, but there was a short circuit that directly led to the goal."
Zhan Jun: "We were playing at home but were already 0-3 behind. The boos at Stamford Bridge were getting louder and louder."
As the two were commenting, the roar of propellers was heard in the sky.
Whether it was the Roma players who were celebrating with Cesco, the Chelsea players who were sighing in frustration, the players on the sidelines, in the stands, or even the referee Zwar, they all looked up at the sky following the sound.
A propeller plane slowly flew over the stadium, with a string of English characters trailing behind it:
"Potter Get Out"
All the broadcast cameras were focused on the Chelsea coach, who had a frown on his face and said nothing, revealing his inner embarrassment, awkwardness and helplessness.
What's funny is that after owner Burley's spending of more than 600 million pounds, he has the deepest bench in the Premier League, but at this time he can't send out players who can solve the problem.
Losing 0-3 at home, what's the point of playing away? Seeing that his team's Champions League journey this season has been ended, Burley in the stands picked up the phone and called sports director Lawrence Stewart with a lot of dissatisfaction.
Stuart: "Boss, what's the matter?"
Burleigh: “Watching the game?”
Stuart: “Watching.”
Burley: "Give me an offer for this Slovenian, now, NOW!"
Stuart: "The Red Countryman's transfer is still under discussion, his agent said..."
Burley: "I don't care what his agent says, I have to get him! If the money is not enough, I will add more money, weekly salary, bonus, image rights, everything can be discussed! In short, what I want is this person to appear in London next season!"
Stuart: "His agent said we won't be able to play in the Champions League next season..."
Boli: "Then ask him if he has any other requests!"
Stuart: "His agent thinks we are too chaotic internally, from coaches to players..."
Boley: "Then buy a few more! In addition to Cesco, buy the Georgian country bumpkin with number 77! And the Croatian central defender!"
"No! Listen to me!"
Burley stood up and walked into the private room and closed the door, because his voice had already made people around him turn their heads and look sideways.
"I want you to go talk to Winstanley and Wavell and get the Portuguese back!"
"In short, even if it means moving Rome to London, it's worth it!!!"
