Chapter 24: Chelsea can’t play anymore
As early as before Christmas, Yang Cheng began to study how to play Chelsea.
When the Football Association came forward to put the game at Stamford Bridge, Yang Cheng focused on studying the Blues.
So far this season, Chelsea has an impressive record of 9 games, 7 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss at Stamford Bridge.
The two points lost were against Blackburn in the 4th round and against Bolton in the 16th round.
Yang Cheng studied these two games repeatedly and discovered a major shortcoming in Chelsea's lineup.
Ranieri still adopts the traditional 442 tactics, but the players are different.
When playing at Blackburn, Makelele had not yet joined from Real Madrid, so the midfield configuration was not strong enough, especially the defensive midfielder position.
This resulted in just 19 seconds into the game. After left center back Desailly was intercepted while dribbling the ball at the center line, Blackburn quickly counterattacked.
Janssen assisted Andy Cole to score from the left.
Subsequently, Blackburn's several counterattacks were all attempts to target Chelsea's right wing.
The reason is also very simple. Chelsea's right half defense is composed of two teenagers, Glen Johnson and John Terry.
When we played Bolton in mid-December, this situation was still obvious.
Although Terry assisted Crespo to score a goal in the 22nd minute, he himself also scored an own goal at the last moment of the game, causing Chelsea to suffer a reversal from Bolton.
Bolton coach Allardyce also played on Chelsea's right wing in this game.
Only 8 minutes into the game, midfielder Nolan beautifully transferred the ball to Gardner on the left, who passed it to the goal. Center Kevin Davis almost scored with a header.
If this goal is scored, the situation will obviously change.
The final own goal was created by Bolton attacking from the left and then passing the ball low to the goal.
Chelsea's offense and defense on the right are very problematic.
That’s why there are rumors that Chelsea will sign Blackburn’s right wing attacker Emerton during the winter break.
As for the right back, Glen Johnson has gradually replaced Melchiot this season.
Terry also gradually replaced Desailly and partnered with Gallas.
Blackburn's Souness and Bolton's Allardyce, these two famous Premier League coaches have pointed out the direction of attack for Yang Cheng.
……
“I don’t plan to take a defensive counterattack against Chelsea in this game.”
As the game approached, Yang Cheng had a meeting with the coaching staff and when preparing tactics, he expressed his thoughts.
“Although Chelsea is full of stars, we may not be incapable of fighting.”
Including Brian Kidd, everyone could not believe what they heard.
Brother, you are talking about Chelsea, not Chesterfield.
That is a super battleship that cost nearly 200 million pounds to build this summer. Do you know what you are talking about?
Yang Cheng noticed the expressions of his assistants and immediately smiled.
He didn’t say much and just pulled over the tactical board.
Soon, Chelsea’s formation chart was laid out above.
442!
"A few positions that I can confirm now, goalkeeper Cudicini, two central defenders, Gallas on the left and Terry on the right."
"The two central midfielders are Makelele and Lampard."
"The left midfielder is Duff, and the forward Mutu."
Yang Cheng said while looking at the tactical board Write it out.
Others basically have no opinions.
"The right wing is the most uncertain. It may be Glen Johnson, but it may also be Melchiot. After all, we are only a League Two team."
At this time, Brian Kidd smiled and nodded, and added, "We are not an ordinary English second team, we are the leader!"
Under the tense atmosphere, everyone couldn't help but smile.
"Glen Johnson's defense is very problematic, Melchiot is tall, but slow and inflexible."
"In the combination of Makelele and Lampard Inside, Lampard is often close to this side. "
"The right midfielder is currently uncertain, it may be Joe Cole, or it may be Glenciare, but they are willing to actively return to defense. It’s not strong, which has led to Chelsea’s right-side defense always being a problem.”
"Duff attacks hard from the left. It won't be a big problem whoever plays Bridge or Babayaro."
"As for the striker, it will be normal for whoever partners with Mutu. Hasselbain Gram, Gudjohnson or Crespo "
Veron was once the main player in the current Chelsea team, but the central midfield combination with Lampard did not work well.
In the 442 tactic, especially England's 442 tactic, the role of the two central midfielders is from penalty area to penalty area.
But times have changed.
Now this kind of 442 can no longer be played.
Although Wenger, who currently maintains an unbeaten record in the Premier League, also plays 442, in fact, Bergkamp's role is not a forward, but more like a dropback to connect the striker and midfielder. Player No. 10.
The same thing.
On Chelsea's front line, there are Hasselbaink and Crespo, but it is Mutu who has a stronger position.
Because Mutu can play a role similar to Bergkamp in this tactic.
So, it's actually more like 4231 than 442.
In this case, the characteristics of Veron and Lampard make them play at the same time, and Chelsea's midfield defense will be very problematic.
Makelele, who has outstanding defensive ability, has become indispensable.
As a local player, Lampard is the main player and a well-known iron man.
As a result, Veron could only sit on the bench sadly.
But then comes another problem.
Whether it is Makelele or Lampard, they are unable to bring control and creativity to Chelsea's midfield.
This is not a simple question.
Including later after Mourinho took charge, Chelsea failed to solve this problem.
Therefore, Drogba, a tactical center who is good at feeding back from the center and supporting the midfield, is more suitable for Chelsea than Shevchenko and Torres.
At the same time, this is not a Chelsea family problem.
This is a problem that the entire England, the entire UK, has been trying to solve in the past ten or even more than 20 years.
“Brian.”
Yang Cheng looked at Brian Kidd with a smile. "Do you remember what I told you when we first met?"
"Of course." Brian Kidd nodded.
In that meeting, Yang Cheng talked with Brian Kidd about everything from the major changes in European football to the crux of English football and youth training.
Some things are not a secret. Football people in England, including Ferguson, Brian Kidd and others, all know about it and are working hard to find ways to solve it.
But Yang Cheng’s solution made Brian Kidd particularly interested.
“Although, the current team is still far away from the team I want, but the current Chelsea is not the strongest team in the UK, so I want to play at Stanford Give it a try at the Bridge Stadium.”
Brian Kidd's eyes lit up when he heard this.
He was even so excited that he stood up.
……
On the evening of January 3rd, Stamford Bridge Stadium in London.
In the third round of the FA Cup, the Bayswater Chinese challenged Chelsea away.
Yang Cheng continued to adopt the 433 strategy in this game.
Goalkeeper: Joe Hart;
Defense: Capaldi, Koscielny, Roger Johansson and Steve Jenkins;
Midfield: Huddlestone deep, Martin Roland and Modric in the centre;
Forward: Ribery, Lambert and Devaney.
He did not choose Dave Kitson, who had previously made a splash on his debut and scored a hat-trick, but chose Lambert, who had a more obvious tactical role.
As for the right back, Kevin Fury, who has performed well recently, was replaced by Steve Jenkins, who is more experienced in defense. This also reflects Yang Cheng's thinking in this game.
There is no suspense about Chelsea’s starting lineup.
Ranieri made appropriate rotations.
Obviously, with the league championship in danger, Tinker still hopes to make a difference in the cup.
Goalkeeper: Cudicini;
Defense: Babayaro, Gallas, Terry and Melchiot;
Midfielder: Gronzal, Makelele , Lampard and Joe Cole;
Forwards: Hasselbaink and Mutu.
Yang Cheng guessed a wrong position, and that was Duff.
Although Ranieri attaches great importance to the cup competition, he obviously does not take the Bayswater Chinese from English League Two seriously.
Not only him, but in the eyes of most people, when the Bayswater Chinese come to Stamford Bridge, they are basically at the mercy of others.
If nothing else, after Jonathan Steed left the team, any player in the Blues team was worth almost as much as the entire Bayswater Chinese team.
Faced with the huge disparity in strength, what else do they have to worry about?
Officer of this match is Alan Willey.
He was obviously also worried that the Bayswater Chinese from League Two would take some rough actions, so he gave a few more warnings before the game.
But as soon as the game started, the whole stadium was in an uproar.
This is the first time that the Bayswater Chinese have shown their football to fans around the world on TV.
As soon as the ball was kicked off, it was a continuous pass, very skillful and smooth.
Chelsea's two forwards tried to grab the ball, but they didn't touch the ball at all.
But when Modric took the ball on the right side of the center circle and turned around, trying to break through Makelele, the French midfielder approached decisively, squeezed Modric away with his body, and forcibly snatched the ball away.
Although Makelele is not tall, he has strong physical confrontation ability.
This wonderful defense won Makelele a warm round of applause.
More than 38,000 fans attended the game, of which only 5,000 were Bayswater Chinese fans.
However, it is hard to say how many die-hard loyalists there are among these 5,000 people.
After losing the ball, the Chinese team players began to actively attack.
Soon, under the interference of Lambert, Martin Rowland successfully snatched the ball back.
Yang Cheng made some arrangements for this game, such as grabbing the ball decisively after losing the ball, and trying to control the ball in the midfield after grabbing the ball.
Because Chelsea only has two midfielders, and they are both in relatively deep positions in the middle.
The Bayswater Chinese controlled the ball in the midfield. When the forwards did not actively fight back, Lampard and Makelele had to take the initiative to move forward.
Lambert, as the center, took the initiative to follow back.
In this case, Chelsea's defense naturally pushed forward.
When the game reached the 4th minute, the Bayswater Chinese seized an opportunity.
Martin Roland was pressed by Lampard and passed the ball to Modric.
Under Makelele's interference, Modric reluctantly passed the ball to Lambert who was retreating.
Lambert didn't stop the ball and passed it directly back to Huddlestone who was in the gap.
At this time, the young England midfielder stopped the ball, looked ahead, and made a long pass.
At this moment, all the fans at the scene suddenly realized the danger and let out waves of exclamations.
Ribery, wearing a red jersey, was like a sharp knife on the left, sprinting forward quickly, running all the way, chasing his teammates' long passes.
Finally, at the left corner, Ribery successfully stopped Huddlestone's long pass.
But by the time he adjusted, Melchiot had already returned to his defense.
Ranieri, who was born in Serie A, is still very strict in defense.
One on one!
Ribery did not give his opponent a chance to breathe and kept approaching with the ball along the baseline.
When Melchiot had his back to the left side of the penalty area, Ribery suddenly made a fake move to go to the baseline. In fact, he wanted to get rid of Melchiot and dribble the ball to the left side of the penalty area. Take away the corner.
Melchiot showed an expression that showed that this was indeed the case. He was not fooled and immediately caught up with him.
But when he moved, Ribery made another sudden stop and changed direction, smashing the ball and going to the baseline.
Melchiot, who is 1.87 meters tall, has built up all his muscles in order to cope with the Premier League.
Facing the short and nimble Ribery, his tendons became a burden for him, and he was easily thrown away by Ribery.
Ribery skillfully dribbled the ball continuously with both feet, breaking into the left side of the penalty area from the baseline. Facing Terry who was chasing all the way, he made an emergency stop and barely avoided Terry's block. Passed the ball back to the left corner of the small penalty area.
At this time, Martin Roland, who was chasing closely, rushed over and faced Ribery's return pass with a push.
In response, the ball drilled directly into the bottom of Chelsea's goal net.
The entire Stamford Bridge stadium fell into a deathly silence.
Everyone looked at what happened in the stadium in disbelief, watching the original 0-0 score on the scoreboard quickly become 0-1.
Everyone was shocked!
Thanks again to all the readers for your support! ! I beg you to collect it! I beg for all kinds of votes! Thank you! !
(End of this chapter)