Chapter 84

After Christmas, Chelsea, which had been criticized by the media for its weak forward line, returned to the battlefield with a 433 formation. This was the 20th round of the Premier League held at Stamford Bridge and also Chelsea's last game in 2007. Two days after the game ended on the 29th, people will officially enter the new year.

In this game, Mourinho did not let Drogba stand alone on the front line, but instead let Pizarro, Sheva and Kalu form a three-man front line.

In the midfield, Ballack, Lampard and Essien are in charge, while the four defenders are Ben Haim, Carvalho, Alex and Ferreira.

The absence of John Terry, Wright-Phillips and Cole made the entire Chelsea lineup look a lot shabby. Many non-Chelsea fans couldn't help but post complaints online after seeing the lineup for today's game.

[Just looking at Chelsea's current lineup, no wonder our Ritter called on everyone to join Chelsea at the press conference. 】

[To be honest, with Ritter guarding the goal, I always feel like I can do it myself. The worst case scenario is 0:0. Once I get on the field, I can just kick the ball away (thumbs up)]

[Kick the opponent away?] Are you going to play football on the field or to fight? I’m afraid the referee will give you a red card on the spot? 】

[But then again, has the number of cards Chelsea received decreased recently? 】

[Nonsense, with Endrit guarding in front of the goal, Chelsea defenders don't need to do the same as before. With fewer fouls, the number of cards will naturally decrease, okay? 】

[There have been recent rumors that Crouch is going to transfer, and Ritter had invited Crouch before, so is there a chance? Any chance I'll see these two play in a club? ! 】

The Internet is a rich world, and fans can quickly divert their attention and even quickly forget what they have said. But for Mourinho, the days when he was targeted by the referee, or the days when Chelsea as a whole was secretly targeted by the FA, seemed to have not been too long ago.

Ever since Abramovich started the money era in the Premier League with his spending spree, and Chelsea won the Premier League title for two consecutive seasons... all this has seriously disrupted the FA's plans. Changing the original Premier League dominance is just a small matter. The FA even strongly supported Chelsea when it first competed for the championship. After all, the rise of new forces will make the game more exciting and attract more new fans who didn't watch football before.

But at the same time, the internal consumption of the Premier League brought about by Abramovich and the rising salary levels of players have also made many clubs complain. Other clubs naturally don't want to keep up, but if you don't keep up with this arms race, then you'll see your performance plummet and your players will be eager to transfer.

This development model has certain benefits in the long run, but the disadvantages are also obvious and are right in front of us.

So from last season to this season, Chelsea always encounters some referees in the game that make Chelsea fans hate them.

Some time ago, the Prime Minister of England directly expressed his hope to see more English players in the Premier League, which already shows the bias of the FA. Not to mention that on the original world line, the FFP bill that UEFA will introduce in September 2009 will hit Chelsea hard.

And now, Mourinho really feels that the one million pound check given by Abramovich is too little, because the highly-regarded England goalkeeper Endrit is there, and the latter always expresses his love for Chelsea clearly. The European Cup was successfully advanced because of Endrit's efforts. Therefore, the FA will definitely not intervene at this time to affect the fairness of the game.

"Excluding those damn off-field factors that shouldn't exist and affect competitive fairness, we at Chelsea can already be called the best in the entire Premier League..." Mourinho couldn't finish his words. He stood in the locker room and looked around at the players who were staring at him intently. He lowered his eyes slightly and coughed softly. "Anyway, in this game, I hope you can play your best and win this game."

In the 2004-05 season, Mourinho's 433 formation was very popular. Robben and Duff broke through like the wind, and their teammates passed the ball to the two wings. Center forward Drogba was only a support for the wingers and the players who came in from behind, and was a flag that was selectively sacrificed.

Now, in every game without Drogba, Chelsea fans have to be on high alert, fearing that they will be shaved bald again in this game.

The reason why Chelsea, which was the public enemy of the Premier League teams in the past few seasons, was able to launch wave after wave of attacks was because of the strong breakthroughs of the double wingers and the containment of the opponents. But now Chelsea has lost all of these, let alone two, they can't even find a player with top breakthrough ability.

Robben is gone, and every player Chelsea wants to buy has some shadow of Robben.

But Robben cannot be bought back. Although the winter transfer window is about to open and the checks are ready, the transfer market this year is not very good - or in other words, even if there is enough money and even if Endrit is in the team, most of the players Chelsea likes will not choose to transfer in the winter window.

Why? Because the 07-08 season has not yet ended, if a player from the same league transfers, there will be some embarrassing situations. Most players do not want to have conflicts with their old club where they have stayed for a long time, such as Crouch and Alneka.

Especially Alneka, whose Bolton team is in a critical period of relegation. If Alneka transfers in the winter window and Bolton is relegated this season - some death threats may have been on the way.

"Before the game, Chelsea officials said that Ballack had recovered well and was expected to play. In this game, Ballack did start. I hope to see his outstanding performance."

In this game, Chelsea played against Newcastle United at home. Newcastle United coach Allardyce fielded a 352 formation. The formation changes are relatively flexible, but it requires a high level of ability from the full-backs. It is usually an oppressive style of play used by strong teams against their opponents. ①

Mourinho actually didn't feel anything when he saw the opponent's formation, but after he said a few more words about the opponent's lineup in the locker room, all the players walked out of the home team's locker room in a heroic and high-spirited manner, ready to let the opponent Newcastle United see what Chelsea's iron fist is.

The game starts and Newcastle United kicks off.

Chelsea's backcourt, who played quite aggressively from the start, received a yellow card less than five minutes into the game. After receiving the card, Alex didn't even dare to turn around and look at Endrit.

Newcastle United, who adopted this formation, were not at all inferior to their opponents. Midfielder D. Faye received a yellow card for a foul on Chelsea 7 minutes later.

The two yellow cards allowed both teams to calm down a little, and there was no physical conflict between the two sides for a long time afterwards.

In the 28th minute after the opening, Chelsea broke the deadlock. Kalou made a cross to assist Essien to score. Chelsea led their opponent Newcastle United 1:0!

The ball was in the hands of Newcastle United. In the 38th minute, Newcastle United striker A. Smith took a long shot, which was easily caught by Endritt.

Endrit, who opened the game at the end of the first half, threw the ball to Ben Haim and the game continued.

In the 44th minute, Newcastle United midfielder N. Butt intercepted the ball and passed it to his teammate O. Martins, but the ball was intercepted by Pizarro halfway through its flight.

One minute passed in a flash, and referee Riley blew the whistle to end the first half.

Ten minutes later

Game restart

Newcastle United, who were one goal behind, no longer kept a low profile and stole the ball from Chelsea's midfield in the eighth minute of the second half.

In the 62nd minute, Newcastle United midfielder N. Butt lobbed the ball from outside the penalty area.

Under N. Bart's expectant eyes, Endrit jumped up and hit the ball directly onto the grass. The ball bounced off the ground and was stepped on by Alex.

Newcastle United coach Allardyce was unsteady on his feet. After directing the players to launch a counterattack without scoring a goal, Allardyce made two consecutive substitutions, changing 352 to 451, focusing on defense, hoping to prevent Chelsea from scoring any more goals in this game.

But Allardyce never expected that his substitution made Chelsea players even more excited.

In the 85th minute, Pizarro assisted Kalu to score in the penalty area.

Chelsea leads Newcastle United 2:0!

Many Newcastle United fans who travelled with the team could no longer bear to watch it, and empty seats appeared one after another on the Stamford Bridge field.

But the game continued. Two minutes later, Newcastle United players committed consecutive fouls, and N. Butt and goalkeeper S. Given received yellow cards respectively.

In the injury time, Mourinho replaced Ballack with Sinclair and Newcastle United also made a substitution, but Newcastle United failed to score until the final whistle.

“Beep, beep, beep…”

"Let us congratulate Chelsea for their 2-0 win over Newcastle United!"

"In this game, Newcastle United coach Allardyce arranged a 352 formation, but they were unable to put pressure on Chelsea as they said in the pre-match interview. On the contrary, Newcastle United only had 36% possession in this game!"

"In addition, Newcastle United only had three effective shots. Endritt, who was fully focused on the game, must have had numb legs because he didn't have to move at all when standing in front of the goal."

"Chelsea had 16 shots, eight of which were directly off target, and six shots were too straight and were easily caught by Newcastle United goalkeeper S. Given. Apart from the two goals that scored, Chelsea had relatively few threatening shots. If we only look at this data, Chelsea's shooting efficiency is low and it is relatively weak. But what if Endrit is added?"

"Oh God, if I were ten years younger, I would definitely go to Chelsea to play, right up front, as a striker, what if I got in?!"

"Compared to Chelsea's more powerful 433 in the 2004-05 season, Chelsea's current 433 focuses more on overall coordination and passing. Normally, such a 433 is more difficult to play well, because Chelsea's overall coordination was only practiced this season. But what is surprising is that although the shooting efficiency has been greatly reduced, Chelsea's winning rate is higher than before."

"What are you talking about? Are you really surprised? Hey!"

As soon as the commentator finished speaking, the camera was focused on Endritt, who was looking down and taking off his gloves on the court.

Everything is self-evident.