Red Rebels

514 The defeat of the meat grinder

Last season, when Chelsea defeated the Red Rebels by a slim margin and became the Premier League champion, all the media completely ignored the Red Rebels' efforts throughout the season. At that time, the Red Rebels had not yet won the Champions League. All media They all praise Chelsea and think this team can be called a football meat grinder.

Why do you say that?

Shevchenko + Lampard + Deco + Cannavaro + Hildebrand, world-class forward, world-class attacking midfielder, world-class defensive midfielder, world-class central defender and world-class goalkeeper, together they form Chelsea The central axis supports the backbone of the Blues.

Kenyon once evaluated this team at the time and believed that Chelsea, composed of this group of people, was definitely qualified to win the European Champions Cup. And this season, they have further signed up, aiming at Veron's slow speed, Germany's Due to the rapid rise of Deco, Ballack was introduced to replace Veron and establish Deco's core position as the organization.

As a result, Chelsea immediately started to play a beautiful ball-control style this season. The entire team was like a crazy meat grinder. Every player formed the parts of this meat grinder. Through frequent running, Their combination of movement, position changing, and passing and receiving will give any enemy who encounters them a headache.

Some people may say that Chelsea is not doing well in the league, and even the qualification for the Champions League is now in jeopardy. However, many neutral professional commentators say that this is related to the strong rise of Manchester City and Liverpool. They are all focused on the league. Manchester United Although they played in the Champions League, they didn't make it out of the group.

Looking back at Chelsea, the Blues, who are fighting on multiple fronts, failed to organize a well-functioning rotation system. Ancelotti made a mistake, that is, he failed to put enough strong players on the bench, including ignoring the winter break. Due to early transfers and missing powerful stars such as Bosingwa, Chelsea is currently in a situation where no one is available.

However, once this team adjusts, the power it can unleash is equally astonishing.

In this game, Shevchenko was as magical as ever, full of magic. He frequently crossed positions with Lampard in the frontcourt, and even pulled him to the wing from time to time; Lampard was as strong as ever, and he is Chelsea's best player this season. The chief goalscorer, second only to Kaka and Henry on the Premier League scorer list, he defends what he believes in with his physical running and gritted shots again and again.

Joe Cole is known as the lubricant of Chelsea's frontcourt. He echoes Deco behind him. His ability to pick up and play the ball in the frontcourt is what Ancelotti attaches great importance to; Ballack even runs all over the field. , he frequently "penetrated" and became the player who ran the most on the field.

But by the end of the first half, the score was still 0:1!

"Mourinho had obviously made a plan before the game. Once the team took the lead, he immediately adjusted his game strategy and switched to defensive counterattack, resisting the forward penetration of the two full-backs, but resolutely not giving a reply. Instead of shrinking, we increased the intensity of on-the-spot counterattacks to disrupt Chelsea's offense."

"Judging from the data in the first half, Chelsea had 5 shots, but only 1 shot on target. From this point, it is not difficult to see that despite Chelsea's aggressive pressure, even though they had 53% of the shots, The ball possession rate is high, but in fact they don’t have many shooting opportunities!”

"The Red Rebels had a ball possession rate of 47% and took 7 shots, 2 more than Chelsea. However, in the first 10 minutes they completed 5 shots, and the rest of the time was only 2 times, but they got a goal, and the pass success rate between the two sides was 71% vs. 75%, with the Red Rebels having a slight advantage!"

After listening to these data, the guest commentator smiled and nodded: "Yes,

Moreover, many of Chelsea's passing errors were concentrated in the midfield. This is obviously related to the fact that the Red Rebels attach great importance to counterattacks in the midfield and frontcourt. The Red Rebels made 12 tackles in the first half, 8 of which occurred in the midfield. Midfield. "

"This is a very unique team. They organize at the back and fight forward. This is completely different from the traditional tactics, but it has achieved surprising results. Chelsea made many midfield passing errors in this game. Chelsea Pad was tired of supporting and defending, and it was difficult to threaten during the offense. Although Ballack had a long-range shot, he was overwhelmed by the Red Rebels' defense for the rest of the game."

"Judging from the first half, Chelsea's most active performer was Shevchenko, but the Ukrainian nuclear warhead failed to seize the opportunity. Mourinho even arranged for Curtis to be responsible for marking him, and The England international once again completed his task almost perfectly, and his central defensive combination with Vidic successfully kept Chelsea clean in the first half."

"In addition, the two full-backs of the Red Rebels also showed a solid defensive level. Without assisting, the defense formed by them, Vidic and Curtis is watertight. In addition, Mourinho specially arranged two very brave De Rossi and Michael Johnson in front of the defense, and it was difficult for Chelsea to find opportunities!"

"The only thing we can hope for now is that Ancelotti can make timely adjustments to the team in the second half and reverse the opponent, so Chelsea will still have a chance!"

"Well done, guys!" Mourinho smiled excitedly as he walked into the locker room.

The players were happy to be appreciated by the head coach, but they did not celebrate. They just sat there, received massages from the team doctor, and quietly recovered.

Everyone knows that facing Chelsea head-on is definitely a torture. The players of the Red Rebels can survive under this meat grinder and take the lead. The effort they put in is no less than that of the opponent, but they Tactically better restrained opponents.

"We took the lead in the first half and scored a valuable away goal, which is important, but if I were Ancelotti, I would risk my life at all costs. At this time, he has many options, such as replacing Gigi. Respo, replacing Joe Cole who performed poorly in the first half, etc., we must respond in time!"

After finishing speaking, Mourinho responded to Chelsea's possible adjustments. For example, once Ancelotti arranged for Crespo to play, he asked Curtis not to be like what he did in the first half and to be more proactive. , pushed out of the penalty area, and even pressed forward to fight for the retreating forward.

"This does have certain risks, but it can avoid being passive in the midfield, and Vidic will be responsible for assisting in defense. Maicon and Evra must also pay attention to cooperation. We must continue to maintain the advantage of the midfield, even if we cannot win To score goals, we must also prevent Chelsea from scoring goals and disrupt their midfield organization!"

"Also, have you noticed that Chelsea's players are getting more and more impatient. Stam, Emerson and others all have yellow cards. We might as well take advantage of this."

Although, after a scoreless first half, Ancelotti would definitely warn the players not to lose their minds or be too impatient during the halftime break, but once the second half starts poorly, Chelsea's Players are definitely still affected by their emotions.

Do whatever you can, this is the motto of all teams, no team will ever give up the opportunity to defeat their opponents easily!

"Our goal in the second half is to defend and counterattack. I am proud of your performance in the first half, but guys, the game has just begun. We still have the second half and the 90 minutes of the second round. I know that I will have the last laugh. It will definitely be us!"

Before the start of the second half, Mourinho gave the players some final words of encouragement as they were about to walk out of the dressing room.

After the start of the second half, Chelsea showed a more determined offensive posture than in the first half. Ancelotti even did not hesitate to let the two full-backs press forward. This immediately overwhelmed the Red Rebels to a certain extent, causing the Red Rebels to The military is passive on the scene.

Especially in the 49th minute, Ancelotti made adjustments as Mourinho expected, replacing the underperforming Joe Cole with Crespo, who formed a double team with Shevchenko. Forwards, the two took turns dropping back to support the midfielder.

In the 52nd minute, Shevchenko pulled to the left, received the ball diagonally, and Crespo stopped the ball with his chest in the penalty area. But just when he was about to hit the goal, Curtis stepped forward at the critical moment and kicked the ball. A sharp tackle cleared the ball out of the baseline.

Chelsea's players thought it was a foul, but the referee refused to award a penalty, and the slow motion showed that it was indeed a beautiful defense.

But 1 minute later, Chelsea made a comeback. Shevchenko broke into the penalty area at high speed and shot 10 meters in front of the goal. At the critical moment, Curtis stretched out his foot to block the ball from the baseline, once again defusing the red rebellion. After the crisis in the army, he continued to direct his teammates' position and defense when defending a corner kick, quite like a captain.

When Xiao Yu saw this scene in the box, he couldn't help but smile with relief. He believed that Mourinho would be happy to see this scene, because Curtis has indeed improved and matured.

After destroying Chelsea's offense several times in a row, Curtis decisively followed Mourinho's arrangements and moved his defensive range forward, pushing out of the penalty area, close to Shevchenko and even Crespo. .

As expected, this quickly helped the Red Rebels stabilize the situation and regain control of the midfield. Especially after Mourinho replaced Kaka with Mikel, the midfielder regained the advantage. Looking at Chelsea, After losing ground in the midfield, Shevchenko, Crespo and Lampard were isolated in the frontcourt, without support, and gradually disappeared into the defensive wave of the Red Rebels.

After re-establishing their midfield advantage, the Red Rebels began to launch several sharp counterattacks, especially in the 78th minute. During an attack by the Red Rebels, Villa entered the penalty area and received Messi's cross from the right. , had physical contact with Stam, and the former fell to the ground directly.

Stam angrily pointed at Villa and cursed, and even stepped on the opponent's ankle. This scene happened right under the nose of the referee who was about to step forward. He immediately showed Stam the second picture. He received a yellow card and a red card at the same time, sending him off directly. This also caused Chelsea to have to fight without Stam in the next round.

The Dutch seemed very dissatisfied with the penalty and was still cursing. If it weren't for the persuasion of Lampard and Cannavaro, he would probably have gone forward to argue with the referee and Villa.

However, Villa's situation was not easy either. He was pushed to the ground by Stam and hit his shoulder. Mourinho immediately replaced him with Ismail.

After completing this substitution, Mourinho adjusted the team's tactics, requiring the two wingers to lift the ball as high as possible, pass it to the penalty area, and hit the ball above the head. The ones who expected it were Cannavaro and Carvalho. Neither of them are center backs who are good at heading the ball, but Ismail is 1.95 meters tall, weighs 85 kilograms, has excellent aerial control, and also has delicate kicking skills.

As many people have said about Ismail, he is an enhanced version of Ibrahimovic. The Englishman grew up under the youth training system of the Red Rebels. He has exquisite skills, excellent speed and explosive power, and his body is very flexible. He is well-proportioned and often has some incredible skills on the court. This is very similar to Swedish striker Ibrahimovic, but he is better than Ibrahimovic in terms of physical confrontation and heading ability.

After Ismail came on the field, he effectively strengthened the Red Rebels' dominance in the penalty area, especially in the competition for high-altitude balls. He frequently created threats.

With such an offensive fulcrum established in the penalty area, the Red Rebels' offense immediately became full of threats. Mikel, Michael Johnson and De Rossi took turns to attack the opponent's defense, replacing Ronaldinho. Franck Ribery and Messi also frequently cut inside with the help of full-backs, completely activating the Red Rebels' offense.

The Red Rebels' offense gradually suppressed Chelsea, forcing the Blues to press out and fight, but in the end they found to their dismay that they were suppressed by the Red Rebels, especially after Stam came off the field.

As time passed, the Chelsea players on the field became more and more impatient and made several mistakes that should not have been made. Cannavaro even once took a free kick and kicked it directly to the German midfielder. Fortunately for Rossi, the latter assisted Messi's shot which was saved by Hildebrand. Otherwise, the Italian would be completely overwhelmed by the saliva of Chelsea fans.

Ancelotti stood on the sidelines, and he wanted to change everything, but in the end, he could only find that he could not change it at all, because his team had completely lost control of the game.

In the final analysis, a football match is a battle for control of the game. Whoever gains control will win. If control is lost, Ancelotti will be unable to prevent this defeat!

"There is no suspense about the outcome of this game. Ancelotti made three adjustments, but failed to reverse the situation three times. There is one less person on the field to fight. It is already very difficult for Chelsea to regain the score. It can even be Say it’s impossible!”

"Losing 0:1 at home, Chelsea must defeat the Red Rebels in the next round of away games. Maybe by then, Ancelotti should show unrelenting courage and determination, so that they may have a glimmer of hope in the away game. , but the key is how he can make up for the impact of Stam’s absence!”

The Red Rebel Stadium is known as the most terrifying devil's home stadium in the world. It is the only home stadium that has never been captured. Here, there is the pride and dignity that Red Rebel fans are proud of. Chelsea wants to win here. Everyone knows how difficult this is for the Red Rebels who are in good condition.

However, on the football field, the word absolute can never exist, so Mourinho took the initiative to show weakness at the press conference after the first round, saying that the second round back at the Red Rebel Stadium would be very Tough, Chelsea will bring huge trouble to the Red Rebels!