Chapter 44
For Chelsea fans, it is time to look forward after yesterday's game. After the victory, they have begun to look forward to Chelsea's next opponent, Aston Villa.
But for Chelsea players, yesterday's game is not over yet. In the next few days, they will have to repeatedly watch the video of their home win over Portsmouth in the conference room to find out where their problems lie.
They couldn't feel it when they were playing on the field, but after watching the game seven or eight times as spectators, they easily found out the team's problem: the midfield was too weak.
Mourinho's three substitutions in the game were all related to the midfield. The purpose and intention of each substitution seemed different, but in fact they were all aimed at regaining control of the midfield.
In the past period of time, from seeking to buy Alves to finally introducing Belletti, Mourinho's tactical intention this season has been very clear: he wants to build an all-out attacking Chelsea.
This is not the conclusion drawn by the players who have become worms and have crawled into Mourinho's stomach, but Mourinho's response to the media about his introduction of Belletti at the end of the transfer window: "The Brazilian is an attacking full-back, he is not a conventional defender like Ferreira."
Ferreira who was dragged down, oh no, it was Paul, did not have any complaints about it, nor did he look down on his new teammates - the Portuguese went from a starter to a substitute, there was such a huge difference in treatment but he did not complain about it, but worked hard silently, and never became the kind of player who had no skills but jumped around in the eyes of fans.
Belletti, who was attending a tactical meeting for the first time, was called by Mourinho to express his thoughts. Belletti stood up and opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.
He was snatched away from Barcelona by Mourinho. When he was in Barcelona, his tactical position was not very high. The reason why he was bought by Mourinho was because he had certain ability to break through the wing. The first thing Mourinho arranged for him to do after he joined the team was to practice passing: he had to improve the quality of his crosses as soon as possible.
"Whatever you want to say," Mourinho said with a smile, "You can say whatever you think about this game, don't worry about anything."
After Mourinho finished speaking, he couldn't help but look at Endrit as described by The Sun: Yes, if Endrit was not there, he would never speak with a smile or be polite to the players at this time.
It takes time for the team to form new tactics, but now it is the middle of the game, and what Chelsea lacks most is time. If they did not have Ritter, a goalkeeper who can keep the opponent scoreless, and if Chelsea could not guarantee a draw no matter how they played, Mourinho would definitely not give them too much time to understand the tactics and then integrate into them.
He would directly instill his own ideas in them and have them play them out on the field. It didn't matter if they couldn't figure it out or understand it, just play it this way and it would be fine - although there were great risks in doing so, after all, players were not robots, they would do whatever you told them to do.
But time does not allow it, and in order for the team to change its formation and win at the same time, he has no choice but to do this.
Having Endrit doesn't mean they have more training time than other teams. Instead, with Endrit, everyone will have a clear idea in mind. Before Endrit breaks his record of keeping opponents scoreless, he is the strongest backing for Chelsea players. They don't have to worry about the word "victory" for the time being. Their trial and error cost is much lower than that of other teams.
Belletti noticed the coach's gaze, so he also looked at Endrit. Endrit complained a few words helplessly in his heart, but thinking about what he had to do in a while, he still showed a very relaxed smile to Belletti: It's okay, just say whatever you want, I'm here.
Because Belletti was bought by Mourinho and was the player who took on the team's offensive pressure, when Belletti started training, Endrit basically threw the ball to him.
"After I came on as a substitute yesterday, Ritter threw the ball to me twice, but I failed to seize the opportunity. Both times I broke through and passed the ball to my teammates, I failed to pass it accurately."
Mourinho hummed softly, "That's from your perspective, what about from the team's perspective?"
Belletti remained silent. If you insisted on asking him to speak from the team's perspective, he could indeed do so, but as a newcomer to the team, he was pointing fingers at the midfield composed of other veterans. Even with Mourinho's instruction, his days would not be easy.
"Can't tell? Sit down then," Mourinho moved his gaze to another defender, Ben Haim, who also joined the team this season. "Ben Haim, tell me what you think."
Ben Haim stood up, his face a little red, because his performance in the match against Portsmouth could only be described in one word: exhausted.
"I'm sorry, coach. I was playing defense and didn't complete my offensive mission."
"Be more specific."
"I shouldn't have passed the ball to Belletti at the 34th and 56th minute. It was difficult for him to break through, but it was easier for me to break through."
But he did not dare to break through, because the more he did on the court, the more mistakes he would make. As a free transfer player, he subconsciously passed the ball to Belletti, the breakthrough full-back who was specially hired by the coach at a high price.
Mourinho then nodded slightly and let Ben Haim go. After letting him sit down, he turned his head and looked at Ashley, "What about you? What do you think is wrong with this game?"
"It was to attack, but I, uh, I was always on defense."
"Who did you defend?" Mourinho snorted softly, "Tell me, who did you successfully defend?"
Ashley lowered his head silently and dared not speak anymore.
Before watching the replay, Ashley thought that the highlight of the game was that he saved the header from Hredason in front of the goal line. But after watching the replay so many times, he finally understood why Endrit said two hundred pounds.
If Ritter hadn't stepped back a few steps after diving, he would have stepped on Endrit - Endrit almost stood there without moving and watched him perform the save.
"I was running around all the time, but I completely neglected the cooperation with my teammates, especially with Ritter. The save on the goal line should have been done by Ritter. Ritter could have directly saved the ball, and after I received the ball, I should have been able to pass it directly to the middle to initiate a fast break."
"Then why didn't you do it?" Mourinho was not so tolerant of Ashley, a veteran player in the team and his own direct subordinate. "Do you not want to play or are you weak? There are plenty of people who can play if you don't want to! If you are weak, just don't play! After the midfield defense line is useless, you don't know how to play when facing the opponent's attack directly, right?"
Ashley lowered his head even lower, not daring to say a word.
"Is it a problem of coordinating with your teammates? I think you didn't use your brain when you went on the field! You did tackle the opponent's ball several times, but where is the ball? Huh? There were basically Portsmouth players around you, and you shoveled the ball out from under the opponent's feet and it was caught by another player on the opposite side. If you weren't wearing our Chelsea jersey, I almost thought you were the opponent's player!"
Mourinho took a deep breath and looked at the last of the four defenders, Chelsea captain John Terry. The first thing Mourinho did when he came to Chelsea was to hand the captain's armband to the opponent. Over the years, John Terry has never let Mourinho down on the field.
However, in yesterday's game, John was at a disadvantage in the confrontation with Portsmouth striker Utaka, and the commentator could see that he was "struggling a little".
In the second half, John Terry was even knocked to the ground by the opponent - this kind of low-level mistake should not happen to John Terry!
"I'm sorry, coach," John Terry stood up. "I haven't been in a good shape recently. I will adjust myself as soon as possible."
Mourinho hummed coldly and said, "If you get knocked down by the opponent again in the next game, you should take a good rest and find your form."
John Terry quickly agreed.
Mourinho's face looked much better. He motioned for John Terry to sit down and then looked at the four starting midfielders: Lampard, Malouda, Mikel (Obimiki) and Wright.
The worst performers in this game were not the defenders but the midfielders. However, Mourinho was the first to criticize the defenders. This was not to make an example of them, but because the midfielders played so badly in this game because there were certain problems with the tactical system, and the reason why the four defenders played so badly was entirely due to the abilities of these guys themselves.
Compared with the previous 433, the 442 played on the field yesterday was equivalent to directly removing one of the three defensive midfielders and replacing him with a center forward - the offensive ability was increased, but the defense and control ability of the midfield was greatly reduced.
The three defensive midfielders had strong control capabilities and the midfield barrier was always open. If the opposing players wanted to break through the backcourt, they had to first ask the midfielder for consent. But now Mourinho has reduced the number of defensive players to five. Lampard often runs forward to look for scoring opportunities, which means that the defense is equivalent to having one less person. In this way, won't several defenders have to face the attack in the frontcourt directly?
In the past, there were young midfielders in the front, but now without them watching, several defenders were immediately kicked out of shape by the Portsmouth team.
At the end of yesterday's game, Mourinho asked Belletti to replace midfielder Mikel and let Michael, who was originally playing as a defender, play as a defensive midfielder in order to see what changes the team's return to a three-defensive midfielder configuration could bring to Chelsea - but perhaps his decision was a little late. Michael did stifle the opponent's attack in the defensive midfielder position, but there was not much change in the offense that Mourinho expected.
"In this game, our defense was terrible, especially in the midfield, which was directly penetrated by the opponent. This was not what I expected, but I can accept it because the current tactics will indeed bring such negative effects, but..."
Mourinho knocked his hand on the table. "The defensive failure was due to the defenders' perseverance, but since the number of offensive players has increased, why was the only goal in the last game still scored by Malouda's personal ability?"
"Why haven't we improved our offense with more offensive players? Are you willing to keep playing 1:0 like this? Or do you think you can just lie back and wait for 0:0 with Ritter in front of the goal?"
"Where's your teamwork? Didn't you practice well on the field before? How come you can't play well in the game?"
"How about this, I think we should stop playing offensively and play defensively. I'll let Ritt and Drogba work together. Ritt will pass the ball directly from the backcourt to the frontcourt, and then Drogba will score. After the score is 1:0, we will park the bus in front of the goal and no one can score. We will keep this 1:0 victory until we win the Champions League."
Mourinho turned to look at Endrit, "Ritter, how about it? Are you okay?"
Endrit faced the gazes of many players. Although he had expected this, he still swallowed hard at this moment: "Coach, I..."
Mourinho's eyes were grim and his voice was cold, "Yes or no?"
Endrit decided to let Mourinho buy two meals. "If that's the case, why can't I just kick the ball into the other side's goal?"
Mourinho paused, "You can do this?"
Endrit smiled and said, "Coach, who knows if it will work before we practice? If we only practice once, who knows if we will succeed the next time? Coach, maybe we can play it, but we didn't succeed because we didn't practice enough."
"That's right, coach." John Terry said quickly, "I think the reason why we played like that in the last game must be because we didn't practice for enough time, so there was a problem with coordination."
"That's right," Endrite nodded, "The reason they lost is because they didn't practice enough, not because they are not good enough."
"That's right, the reason we lost was because of practice..." John Terry couldn't finish his words. He turned his head and gave Endrit a helpless look.
Endrit smiled innocently: Don't look at him like that, in Mourinho's eyes, Chelsea lost. Winning only means winning points, but losing means losing a lot to the opponent.
Today he was just playing cooperation. Mourinho had already agreed with him yesterday to treat him to a meal.
………
"Coach?! You said you'd treat me to a meal, but you're just asking me to eat for free..."
"Isn't this an invitation?" Mourinho snorted softly, "I treat you to dinner every day."
Endrit angrily stripped off all his food and immediately stood up and said, "I'll go to the club by myself tomorrow, coach!"
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