Chapter 85: A Big Victory

Prior to the Blackburn Rovers meeting, Chelsea had scored just eight goals in nine league games, and the number of goals scored alone was not a sign that they were a team that would be in contention with Arsenal for the title.

With such a lack of firepower, it was the Blues' forward line that received the most criticism, and who will score after Didier Drogba's injury has become Mourinho's biggest concern.

Without Didier Drogba and Mutu, Gudjohnsen and Kezman appear to be the only options for Chelsea's forward line.

However, the recent game has left Mourinho in the dark that since the Icelander-Serbian combination has not been effective, it is better to try the other cards in his hand, and the way he plays them will need to be rearranged.

In the last round of the trip to Russia, Jonk paired two good players on the wing and achieved good results.

Joan Kerr was partnered in this round, and this is Mourinho's latest answer in the battle with Blackburn, and the team's attacking style of play has also been fine-tuned.

In terms of effect, the four-goal win has proven the success of this change, and in terms of approach, Chelsea's new attacking strategy has a bit of an Arsenal flavor.

Joan Kerk is not a typical centre-forward, not good at stealing points in the box, he is characterized by dropping back into the midfield, using back inserts to launch attacks, abandoning Kezman in favor of Joe Cole means placing a wandering attacker behind Jork, his dribbling and passing are quite lethal, from this arrangement, it is clear that Chelsea's attacking strategy is "penetration".

How to choose the striker, and Chelsea's midfield combination is not unrelated, the right side of the field is sent to the Russian tough guy Smelting, the speed of the limitations and the Russian's habit of leaning towards the middle of the field to strengthen the thickness of the middle of the midfield, but also make the right wing of the breakthrough cross greatly reduced, and the left side of the Duff also under the deployment of Mourinho to give up the habit of sticking to the left side, he is more inserted in the middle, looking for fighters behind the striker.

The intention of such a midfield combination is very obvious, since there is a lack of a center forward with strong ability to grab points, then simply sacrifice the crosses of the wings and concentrate firepower to open a breakthrough in the middle.

Looking at Chelsea's first three goals of the game, 'penetration' has become an invincible magic weapon.

Joe Cole's retreat forced Blackburn's defenders to follow them out, disrupting the response and protection of the four-man defence, and inevitably exposing gaps.

The first goal was Joe Cole's direct pass after retreating to the midfield, and Jonk inserted a one-knife shot in the gap between the central defenders; The second goal was the same, with Jonker and Joe Cole retreating into midfield at the same time, and while Blackburn's defenders were hesitating to follow the mark or stay put, Lampard's long ball through the middle had already tore open the gap, only to be the result that Jonker played the power of the attack and seized the one-on-one chance to stop the ball and volley in one go.

The third was a brilliant link for the new attackers, as the first pass in midfield was made by a dropping Jonker, who played the ball through Joe Cole's heel and the Chelsea no.25 burst into the box in the middle to create a penalty.

Speaking of which, Chelsea's infiltration attack is somewhat similar to Arsenal's, and the Gunners do not have a typical centre-forward, with Thierry Henry and Bergkamp (or Reyes) both adept at dropping back into midfield, using sharp interspersing and skilful interplay to tear apart opposition defences, plus the midfield wings Pire and Ljungberg inserting in the attack, often cutting through the opposition's defence.

Chelsea have now developed a midfield-inspired approach to penetration, with four goals to show remarkable results, while the crisis in the forward line has been resolved. Jonker's hat-trick shows that Mourinho is not without a gun in his hand, and sometimes he can fire in a different way, perhaps with an unexpected surprise.

After a 4-0 win at home to Blackburn, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho praised striker Jonker, who scored a hat-trick, and said he was pleased that the latter had eased the team's forward crisis.

'The strikers were able to gain confidence by scoring goals, maybe in previous games Jork was better, but today he scored.

'I'm happy with him, it's very important for his confidence, he's scored six goals in 10 games, which is qualifying for a player like him.'

After another striker's 4-0 home win over Blackburn, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho praised striker Gudjanssen, who scored a hat-trick, and said he was pleased that the latter had eased the team's forward crisis.

'The strikers were able to gain confidence by scoring goals, maybe Gudjanssen had been better in previous games, but today he scored.

'I'm happy with him, it's very important for his confidence, in 10 games he's scored four goals, which is qualifying for a player like him.'

Another striker, Gudjohnsen, failed to start the game but came on in place of Joan Jonker in the second half and impressed Mourinho with a performance. 'Kezman didn't score, but he showed improvement and hit the crossbar,' said Mourinho, 'and the rhythm and pace of his attack was outstanding. ”

In addition to this, Mourinho was also pleased with the first appearance of Dutch star Arjen Robben after returning from injury. 'It's tough for us to not have that talent for three months, it's good for the fans to see Robben in his performance and I love his support for Kezman.

After the victory, Jose Mourinho could easily wait for Sunday's clash between Manchester United and Arsenal, who he believes will be the beneficiary of whatever the outcome. 'We can go to that game with a smile on our face because whatever the result is positive for us.'

'If Manchester United wins, we will close the distance to Arsenal, if Arsenal win, then they will leave Manchester United behind, and if they draw, then they will lose two points from both teams.'

Under the premise of big rotation and new tactics, Chelsea unexpectedly won a big victory, which is closely related to the wonderful performance of Chelsea's rotation players.

The Champions Cup made Makelele's old legs a little unbearable, Mourinho finally made up his mind to give Parker a chance, the game against Blackburn was Parker's first start of the new season, judging from the performance of 90 minutes, his score should be quite qualified, after all, it is not easy to play at such a level after a long period of fighting in the reserves.

People still remember Parker, who rose to prominence at Charlton, when he was both offensive and defensive, fierce in defense, interception, and lethal in attack. However, his experience on the bench at Chelsea has clearly worn out his sharpness, and he played as a central midfielder in this game, and it seems that his "martial arts" have been half abolished.

It was Parker's attacking aura, who scored against Portsmouth on his first Chelsea start last season, and that seems to be a rare prospect today, and although he plays as a defensive centre-back in the back of the pitch, it shouldn't be an excuse for him to be unrecognizable.

In the game, Parker was seen to make several passing errors, and there were all traces of direct passes that were quite aura in the past, and even the most basic splitting strategy was frequently wronged. After a couple of passes went straight to the opposition's feet, he missed a counter-attack in the 15th minute of the first half with another pass that went wide of the touchline, which even sparked a wave of discontent among the Stamford Bridge home fans.

Fortunately, Parker has not forgotten his defensive duties, and he can still win back the cheers of the fans with his desperate runs and tackles. In the 7th minute, he fiercely shoveled Djokaeff to the ground, and the fierce side was undoubtedly revealed, and Blackburn's midfield was completely suppressed, which must be said to have a lot to do with Chelsea's midfield defense, Parker and Smelting's scramble disrupted the opponent's counterattack, which ensured that Chelsea could continue to launch round after round of attacks.

From an all-round midfielder who can both attack and defend to a pure midfielder who can only defend in this game, Parker's "transformation" was quietly completed on the bench, perhaps this is exactly what Mourinho wants, after all, Makelele needs a good rotation when he is older, and Parker may be able to give himself a chance if he scraps half of his martial arts.

Joining Parker in his first start was Glenn Johnson, a young man who was suppressed by Ferreira and was on fire from the start.

Blackburn's weak attacks gave him the energy to attack, and with Smelting leaning more into the middle, the breaking cross from the right flank was basically handed over to Johnson.

To be fair, Johnson may not have as much defensive experience as Pacos Ferreira, but he is definitely superior to the latter in attack, from unstoppable sharp breakthroughs to lines and dangerous crosses, Johnson is another bright spot in Chelsea's attacking system, and after this game, it is believed that Mourinho will re-appreciate the value of the England hopeful, after all, against relatively weak opponents, Johnson's wide assists are more helpful in tearing through dense defences, which is exactly what Ferreira, who is so commonplace in breakthroughs and crosses, does not have.