20demayo Chapter 193
Chapter 193
"Oh? What did I see? Leeds United seems to be making a substitution!? But the first half isn't over yet!"
Seeing Toure standing on the sidelines and adjusting his jersey in the picture, Jon seemed a little surprised.
Not to mention Jon, no one would have thought that Li Shiguang would make a substitution in the first half, including Mourinho standing on the other side. At first, he thought Toure was going to warm up and prepare for the second half when he came out of the bench. It wasn't until he saw the fourth official walking to the sidelines with an LED sign that Mourinho was sure that Li Shiguang was going to make a personnel adjustment at this time.
Staring closely at Li Shiguang who was talking in Toure's ear, Mourinho began brainstorming.
Who would Toure replace if he came on the court?
What he was sure of was that Li Shiguang wanted Toure to go up and help the two defensive midfielders increase their control over the midfield.
But Leeds United also played 4-4-2 today. Could it be that Li Shiguang wanted to replace a striker and put out three defensive midfielders to defend the draw before the end of the first half? But if so, wouldn't Manchester United, who had already taken all three points from Aston Villa yesterday, benefit?
Soon, the fourth official's sign gave Mourinho the answer.
Toure came on the field, and Modric was replaced!
This made Mourinho helpless. Less than 40 minutes into the first half, Li Shiguang made a positional substitution, and the substituted player was not injured. Except for being targeted by Chelsea tactically, there were no obvious mistakes.
Mourinho looked suspiciously at Li Shiguang who was standing on the sidelines waiting for Modric to leave.
Don't you worry that the players will think too much if you do this at this time point?
"Hmm? Positional substitution? Jon, do you understand Li's adjustment?" Looking at Li Shiguang, who was smiling and patting Modric on the back and saying something, Lineker was completely confused. "I don't quite understand. In terms of controlling the team's rhythm and passing ability, Toure seems to be inferior to Modric. I just thought Li wanted to use Toure to replace Torres or Ibrahimovic and play three defensive midfielders!"
Jon nodded, rarely agreeing with some of Lineker's views: "Indeed! But there is one thing I don't agree with. The biggest difference between Leeds United this season and last season is that they have almost never taken the initiative to defend in a draw. With Manchester United already winning, both teams should not be able to accept a draw today! Although I don't quite understand the intention of this substitution, I can be sure that Li definitely wants to regain control of the midfield through this substitution adjustment!"
However, there was not much left in the first half of the game. After Toure came on the court, he did not bring obvious changes to Leeds United's offense in a short period of time.
But what is different from before is that the double defensive midfielder formed by him and Alonso is indeed much stronger than before.
Although it is still difficult to turn around and organize an attack after getting the ball under the stranglehold of several Chelsea midfielders, at least they will not give up the ball easily.
Soon, after the 2-minute stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half of the game, and both sides entered the halftime break.
Mourinho quickly returned to the home team's locker room. After praising his disciples' performance in the first half, he turned to look at Lampard who was wiping his sweat with his head down: "Frank, I need you to continue to control the midfield in the second half. Tell me honestly, can you deal with the new No. 24 of Leeds United?"
Hearing Mourinho's voice, Lampard quickly took the towel off his head, raised his head and answered seriously: "It's a bit difficult, boss, his physical fitness is much better than the previous No. 6. If Leeds United regards him as a transit station, I can guarantee that he will not turn around and pass the ball immediately, but it is indeed difficult to quickly grab the ball from his feet!"
"Okay!"
After getting Lampard's affirmative answer, Mourinho immediately turned his head to look at Essien and Makelele sitting on the other side.
"Michael, put your focus on the offensive end in the second half. As long as the No. 24 receives the pass from his teammate, I want you to cooperate with Frank to intercept the ball as soon as possible!"
"Claude, after Michael goes up, you will be the last barrier in front of our back line. Play to your strengths and increase your coverage area. In the remaining 45 minutes, I will make it difficult for Leeds United to move in the midfield!"
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The 15-minute break passed in a flash, and soon, the players of both sides returned to the game.
But after the referee blew the whistle, Li Shiguang found that Essien's position seemed to be more forward than in the first half.
After noticing this, Li Shiguang quietly glanced at Mourinho., a sly smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Hey, Mourinho, you are still in the trap!
Just like Mourinho thought that Li Shiguang would not take a defensive position in the case of a draw, how could Li Shiguang not know what he was thinking?
Manchester United had already won yesterday. If they could not beat Leeds United at home today, Chelsea would be at least 7 points behind Manchester United with 55 points, which Mourinho could never accept.
That's why he asked Toure to replace Modric, just to let Mourinho see that Lampard could not handle Toure alone, you have to add people! Otherwise, when Toure and Alonso regain their footing, the control of the midfield may not still be in Chelsea's hands!
Now seeing that Chelsea has almost become a position of three central midfielders, Li Shiguang knows that Leeds United's opportunity is coming!
So he took the opportunity of Leeds United's sideline ball and quickly called Alonso to the sidelines and whispered his arrangement in his ear.
"Xavi, find a chance to communicate with Toure. Pay attention to the space behind Essien after he comes up. No matter how fast Makelele can run, he can't cover the entire midfield by himself. You two find a chance to push the ball into their ribs!"
"Okay!"
Alonso quickly agreed and immediately ran back to Toure and whispered a few words.
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Essien's joining did put a lot of pressure on Toure.
Before, when Lampard was alone, he could still find a chance to cooperate with Alonso and try to pass the ball forward.
But since Essien targeted him, it was not so easy. Most of the time, he could only pass the ball back immediately after receiving the ball, otherwise he would be knocked to the ground by these two people at the first time.
But because of this, Essien's position became more and more forward, and sometimes Leeds United directly kicked the ball to Chelsea's half in the backcourt, and he didn't go back.
As time passed, Mourinho became more and more anxious. Seeing that the only way for Leeds United to kick the ball across the half court was a long pass, he also put aside the last worry in his heart, stood on the sidelines and kept waving his hands towards the goal of Leeds United, signaling his disciples to press forward.
In this situation, the game came to the 84th minute, Kalou's shot was confiscated by Schmeichel. After getting up, Schmeichel ran to the sidelines without any extra movements and threw the ball to Lahm on the left.
Under Mourinho's rule, Chelsea's players are still very disciplined. Seeing Leeds Lenovo launch a quick counterattack, the players who just finished the offensive round each found the target assigned to them by the coach, so Lahm had just taken a few steps with the ball, and Geremi, who had just come on as a substitute, came up to meet him.
Facing an opponent with abundant physical strength, Lahm did not think of breaking through. He slowed down his speed, then slightly adjusted the angle, and passed the ball horizontally to Alonso who was waving for the ball in the middle.
Seeing Lahm actively slow down the pace and pass the ball to the middle, the Chelsea players who were just running back to defense also slowed down their running speed and subconsciously changed the direction of their bodies, trying to intercept the ball in the front court.
Ballack, who had already engraved the determination to resolutely implement the coach's tactical intentions on the court into his blood, rushed to Alonso who was ready to receive the ball. Due to excessive physical consumption, Ballack did not hold back when he was close to Alonso's body, and knocked Alonso staggered.
But to his surprise, after Alonso was knocked away by him, he did not see the football he imagined on the lawn! This discovery made Ballack stand there for two seconds.
"Wuhu~ The German seemed to be fooled by Alonso, and he missed the ball to Toure behind him!"
Lineker, who was watching the game from a God's perspective, immediately teased.
"And taking advantage of the moment when Ballack was stunned, Alonso, who had adjusted his balance, had already passed him to the center line, and Toure also passed the ball back! It was an unexpected two-on-one combination! Leeds United suddenly accelerated again!"
At this time, Alonso, who had received the ball again, had already run to the center line. Three of the four Chelsea midfielders had been left behind, and only Makelele, who was running towards this side with big strides, was left in front of him!
"Claude! Stop him even if you get a card!" Seeing this scene, Mourinho was furious and rushed to the sidelines to shout to Makelele!
He never thought that when the game was about to end, the two Leeds United midfielders who had been suppressed for nearly 90 minutes still found an opportunity!
But Alonso did not give Makelele a chance to foul.
As Li Shiguang said, in realityMakelele, who was already a single defensive midfielder, moved to the left half of the field where Alonso was, and a large space behind him was immediately exposed.
Alonso, who was carrying the ball, just looked up, exerted force with his feet, and made a precise diagonal long pass, and the ball was sent to Chelsea's right rib.
And Ibrahimovic was rushing towards the space at a very fast speed!
Seeing Ribery break through Chelsea's defense, Lineker, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly raised the tone of his commentary and shouted at a very fast speed: "A wonderful pass from Alonso, Makelele didn't touch the ball even if he stretched his legs as far as possible! Beautiful! Ibrahimovic poked the ball with his long legs, wiped past Carvalho who rushed up to block him, and scored a single goal~~~~"
"Ibrahimovic is very fast! It's hard to imagine that he can still have such abundant physical strength when the game has reached the 84th minute! Can I understand that Chelsea is shooting itself in the foot? Their suppression of Leeds United throughout the game caused Ibrahimovic and Torres to have nothing to do most of the time, so he could show such a strong explosive power near the end of the game!"
At the same time, in the audience of Stamford Bridge, more than 40,000 home fans were also trying to interfere with Ibrahimovic's dribbling with the ball with huge boos.
But for the Swede, the louder the opponent's boos, the more excited he is!
Today, the player standing in front of Chelsea's goal was replaced by Cech wearing a helmet from Cudicini. This was his first game after returning from a serious injury. Seeing Ibrahimovic break through the last line of defense in front of him, Cech, who didn't want to lose the game right after his return, immediately opened his arms and rushed out from the goal line, trying to stop Ibrahimovic outside the penalty area.
But how could Ibrahimovic miss such a one-on-one opportunity!
Facing Cech who had rushed to him and was about to fall to the ground, he just flicked the ball to the left and easily dodged it, and then sent the ball into the empty goal amid the boos of the audience!
"goooooooool~~~ Ibrahimovic! He scored the winning goal against Chelsea!" Lineker jumped up from his seat excitedly, jumping and hopping behind Ron who was covering his face, "Ron! Ron! Did you see that? It's Li again! Leeds United will beat Chelsea twice this season~ They still maintain their threat to Manchester United!"
Speechless Ron didn't want to pay attention to his old partner at all. He certainly knew that even with the extra time, it would be difficult for Chelsea to equalize the score in the remaining time.
When Alonso received the pass from Toure, he knew that Chelsea was in danger.
Mourinho wanted to defeat Li Shiguang by suppressing him in the midfield, but in the end, Li Shiguang seized the opportunity in the midfield and killed him with one blow!
After scoring the goal, Ibrahimovic seemed very excited. He didn't care about the boos in the stadium at all. He even ran behind the billboard on the sidelines despite the abuse from more than 40,000 home fans. He put one hand to his ear to pretend to listen, and waved the other hand upwards, indicating that the Chelsea fans could boo louder!
Of course, he was responded to with more intimate greetings and various mineral water bottles thrown at him. Kompany was so scared that he rushed over and sent Ibrahimovic, who wanted to continue provoking, back to the bench, and hugged Li Shiguang, who was standing on the sidelines, to celebrate wildly.
Chelsea's players seemed very disappointed, and they all stood on the field with their heads down in silence. But this is understandable. No one can accept the feeling of occupying the advantage for more than 80 minutes, but the result was that the opponent scored first.
But as the backbone of the team, the always arrogant Mourinho kept clapping on the sidelines, loudly reminding his disciples that the game was not over yet, and we still had a chance to equalize!
But the reality is cruel. After the celebration, Li Shiguang replaced Ibrahimovic who scored the goal and Alonso who made a wonderful pass with Mascherano and Silva after the restart.
Leeds United, who retreated across the board, did not give Chelsea a chance to equalize the score.
After 4 minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the game.
While Leeds United continued to catch up with Manchester United, they also completed a double kill against Chelsea this season with two one-to-zero scores!