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Last season, when Chelsea won the Premier League by a narrow margin against the Red Rebels, all the media completely ignored the efforts of the Red Rebels for a whole season, and the Red Rebels at that time had not yet won the Champions League, and all the media sang the praises of Chelsea, believing that this team was a meat grinder in football. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Why?

Shevchenko + Frank Lampard + Deco + Cannavaro + Hieldebrand, world-class strikers, world-class midfielders, world-class midfielders, world-class centre-backs and world-class goalkeepers, together form the central axis of Chelsea and support the backbone of the Blues.

Kenyon once commented on the team at the time, believing that Chelsea, which is composed of this group of people, is definitely qualified to win the European Champions League, and this season, they have further recruited, in response to Veron's slow speed and Deco's rapid rise, the introduction of Ballack to replace Veron, and establish Deco's organizational core.

As a result, Chelsea immediately played a beautiful possession style this season, and the whole team was like a crazy meat grinder, with every player making up the parts of this meat grinder, and through frequent running, switching and passing and receiving the ball, it was a headache for any enemy who came against them.

One might say that Chelsea are not in the league and even Champions League qualification is in jeopardy, but many neutral professional commentators say it has something to do with the strong rise of Manchester City and Liverpool, both of whom are focused on the league, and Manchester United have played the Champions League but have failed to qualify from the group.

On the other hand, Chelsea's multi-fronted Blues failed to put together a well-functioning rotation system, and Carlo Ancelotti made the mistake of failing to put enough quality players on the bench, including neglecting transfers during the winter break and missing out on the likes of Bosingwa, leaving Chelsea in a situation where no one is available.

However, once this team adjusts, the power it can exert is also very amazing.

In this game, Shevchenko was as magical as ever, full of magic, he frequently crossed positions with Lampard in the front, and even pulled to the side from time to time; Frank Lampard is as strong as ever, Chelsea's top scorer this season, behind Kaka and Thierry Henry in the Premier League, and he defends what he believes in with his relentless runs and gritted teeth.

Joe Cole has been hailed as the lubricant of Chelsea's frontcourt, and he echoes Deco behind him, and his ability to handle the ball and play the ball up front is something Ancelotti values; Ballack was even more running all over the field, and he became the player with the most runs on the field as he frequently stepped forward.

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

'Mourinho had clearly figured it out before the game, and as soon as his team took the lead, he immediately adjusted his strategy to counter-attack and limit the forward insertion of the two full-backs, but he resolutely did not give it back, but increased the intensity of counter-attacks on the spot, disrupting Chelsea's attack.

'Looking at the first-half stats, Chelsea had five shots on goal and only one on target, so it's not hard to see that despite pressing heavily and having 53 per cent possession, they didn't actually get many shots on goal!

'The Red Rebels had 47 per cent possession and seven shots on goal, two more than Chelsea, but in the first 10 minutes they had five shots on goal and the next two but they got a goal and the pass success rate was 71 per cent to 75 per cent, with the Red Rebels having a slight advantage!'

After listening to these statistics, the commentator nodded with a smile: "Yes, and many of Chelsea's passing errors are concentrated in the midfield, which is obviously related to the fact that the Red Rebels attach great importance to the counter-attack in the midfield, and the Red Rebels made 12 tackles in the first half, of which 8 were in the midfield." ”

'It's a very unique team, playing back and pushing forward, which is very different from the traditional tactics, but it has had a surprising effect, Chelsea made a lot of passing errors in midfield, Frank Lampard was tired of tackling and defending, it was difficult to threaten in attack, and Ballack had a long-range shot, but the rest of the game was limited by the Red Rebels' defence.

'From the perspective of the first half, it was Shevchenko who was the most active Chelsea in the whole game, but the Ukrainian nuclear warhead failed to take its chances, Mourinho even put Curtis in charge of marking him, and the England international once again completed his task almost perfectly, and he and Nemanja Vidic's centre-back combination successfully kept a clean sheet at Chelsea in the first half.

In addition, the two full-backs of the Red Rebels also showed a solid defensive level, and without providing assists, they formed a seamless backline with Nemanja Vidic and Curtis, plus Mourinho specially arranged two very brave De Rossi and Michael in front of the defense? Johnson, Chelsea are hard to find! ”

'The only thing we can hope for now is that Carlo Ancelotti can make timely changes in the second half and turn the opponent around, so that Chelsea still have a chance!'

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

The players were happy to be appreciated by the manager, but they didn't celebrate, they just sat there, got a massage from the team doctor and recovered quietly.

Everyone knows that going head-to-head against Chelsea is an absolute torture, and the Red Rebels' players were able to survive under this meat grinder and get ahead, putting in no less effort than their opponents, but they were tactically better at keeping their opponents at bay.

'In the first half we took the lead and scored a valuable away goal, which is important, but if I had Carlo Ancelotti I would have given it up and he had a lot of options, such as Crespo, Joe Cole who was terrible in the first half, etc., and we have to deal with it in time!'

Mourinho responded to possible changes to Chelsea, for example, once Carlo Ancelotti brought Crespo on, he asked Curtis not to be more aggressive in the first half, pushing out of the box, and even pressing to fight for the retreating striker.

'It's a bit risky, but it avoids being passive in midfield, and Nemanja Vidic has to be in charge of the defense, and McCone and Patrice Evra have to work together, so we have to continue to maintain the advantage in midfield, even if we can't score, we have to stop Chelsea from scoring and disrupt their midfield organization!'

'Did you notice that the Chelsea players are getting more and more impatient, Stam, Emerson and others have a yellow card and we might as well take advantage of that.'

Although Carlo Ancelotti will definitely warn his players not to lose their minds and not to be too impatient at half-time after the first half is scoreless, but once the second half starts unfavorably, the Chelsea players will definitely still be affected by emotions.

Do whatever it takes, that's the motto of all teams, and no team will give up the chance to beat an opponent easily!

"In the second half we were aiming to defend and I was proud of the way you did in the first half, but guys, it's just the beginning, we still have the second half, we have 90 minutes into the second leg, and I know it's going to be us who have the last laugh!"

Towards the start of the second half, Mourinho gave his players one final moment of encouragement as they were about to walk out of the dressing room.

…………………… At the start of the second half, Chelsea showed a more resolute attacking posture than in the first half, and Carlo Ancelotti even did not hesitate to let the two full-backs press forward, which immediately limited the Red Rebels to a certain extent, causing the Red Rebels to be passive on the field.

Especially in the 49th minute, Carlo Ancelotti did make the adjustment as Mourinho expected, replacing the underperforming Joe Cole with Crespo, who formed a double striker with Shevchenko, and the two took turns dropping back to take on the midfield.

In the 52nd minute, Shevchenko pulled to the left side, received a diagonal pass, Crespo chested the ball in the penalty area, but just as he was about to hit the goal, Curtis stepped forward at the critical moment and cleared the ball out of the bottom line with a sharp tackle.

The Chelsea players thought it was a foul but the referee refused to award a penalty, and in slow motion it was a beautiful defence.

But one minute later, Chelsea made a comeback, Shevchenko burst into the box at high speed, shot from 10 meters in front of the goal, and it was Curtis who stretched out his foot to block the ball from the bottom line at a critical moment, once again defusing the crisis of the Red Rebels, and then he continued to direct his teammates to stand and defend when defending from a corner, quite like a captain.

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

After disrupting Chelsea's attack several times in a row, Curtis decisively moved his defensive range forward according to Mourinho's arrangement, pushed out of the penalty area, and clinged to Shevchenko and even Crespo.

This quickly helped the Red Rebels to stabilize the situation and regain control of the midfield, especially after Mourinho replaced Kaka with Mikel, and the midfield regained the advantage, while Chelsea, after the midfield lost ground, Shevchenko, Crespo and Frank Lampard were isolated in the front field, without support, and gradually disappeared into the wave of the Red Rebels' defence.

After re-establishing their midfield dominance, the Red Rebels began to launch several sharp counter-attacks, especially in the 78th minute, when the Red Rebels entered the penalty area in an attack, received Messi's cross from the right, and made physical contact with Stam, who fell directly to the ground.

Stam angrily pointed at Villa and even stepped on the opponent's ankle, which happened right under the nose of the referee who was about to step forward, and he immediately showed Stam a second yellow card, and at the same time pulled out a red card and sent him off the field, which also caused Chelsea to have to fight without Stam in the next leg.

The Dutchman looked unhappy with the decision and was still swearing, and if it weren't for the persuasion of Frank Lampard and Cannavaro, he would have stepped forward to argue with the referee and Villa.

However, Villa's situation was not good, as he was squeezed to the ground by Stam and hit his shoulder, and was immediately replaced by Mourinho with Ismail.

After completing this substitution, Mourinho adjusted the team's tactics, requiring the two wings to get the ball as high as possible, pass to the penalty area, and play overhead, it is expected that Cannavaro and Carvalho are not good at heading the central defender, and Ismael is 1.95 meters tall, weighs 85 kilograms, has excellent air dominance, and also has a delicate technique.

As many people have commented on Ismail, he is a strengthened version of Ibrahimovic, the Englishman grew up under the youth system of the Red Rebels, with excellent technique, speed and explosiveness, and at the same time the body is very flexible and symmetrical, often on the field There are some incredible passes, which is very similar to the Swedish striker Ibrahimovic, but he is better than Ibrahimovic in terms of physical confrontation and heading ability.

Ismael came on to strengthen the Red Rebels' dominance in the box, especially in the fight for high balls, and he frequently created threats.

With such an offensive fulcrum erected in the penalty area, the Red Rebels' attack immediately became full of threats. Johnson and De Rossi took turns to step forward to impact the opponent's defense, and Ribery and Messi, who came on as substitutes for Ronaldo, also frequently cut inside with the help of full-backs, completely activating the Red Rebels' attack.

The Red Rebels' attacks gradually suppressed Chelsea, forcing the Blues to try to press out and play against each other, but in the end they were frustrated to find that they were being held back by the Red Rebels, especially after Stam went off.

As the minutes ticked by, the Chelsea players on the pitch became more and more impatient, making a couple of mistakes that should not have been made, and Cannavaro even once took a free-kick directly to De Rossi in midfield, who fortunately assisted Messi's shot saved by Hildebrand, otherwise the Italian would have been completely drowned out by the saliva of the Chelsea fans.

Carlo Ancelotti stood on the sidelines, he wanted to change all that, but in the end, he could only find to his dismay that he couldn't change at all, because his team had completely lost control of the game.

A football game, in the final analysis, is a struggle for control of the game, whoever fights for control, who wins, and loses control, Ancelotti has been difficult to prevent this defeat!

'There is no suspense about the outcome of this game, Carlo Ancelotti made three adjustments, but all three failed to turn the situation around, there is one less person on the pitch, and it is quite difficult for Chelsea to get back into the scoreline, if not possible!'

'Losing 1-0 at home, Chelsea have to beat the Red Rebels in the next leg on the road, maybe by that time Ancelotti should show the courage and determination to die so that they may be able to survive on the road, but the key is how he can make up for the impact of Stam's absence!'

The Red Rebels Stadium is arguably the most feared home stadium in the world, the only one that has never been breached, and with the pride and dignity that Red Rebels fans are proud of, everyone knows how difficult it can be for Chelsea to beat the in-form Red Rebels.

However, on the football field, there can never be a word absolute, so Mourinho took the initiative to show weakness at the press conference after the first leg, saying that the second leg back at the Red Rebels stadium will be very difficult, and Chelsea will bring huge problems to the Red Rebels!

(To be continued)