Chapter 89
On January 15, before Modric, Endrit picked up Alneka at the airport.
Chelsea officials also issued a statement afterwards that Arnneka will officially join Chelsea club for 15 million pounds.
After Arnhem Arnhem successfully joined Chelsea, rumors about Drogba's possible transfer to AC Milan immediately spread like wildfire. According to media reports, AC Milan is interested in offering 30 million euros for Ivory Coast striker Drogba.
But media reports are reports, but Chelsea fans or most English fans do not believe that Drogba will transfer during this winter window: the 07/08 season is almost over, and with Endrit, Chelsea is about to win the championship and the trophy. Is Drogba stupid to leave at this time?
Although AC Milan's offer is very high, is Chelsea a team that needs that little money? Their team does lack a lot of things, but the only thing they don't lack is pounds. Unless Drogba is determined to leave, Chelsea will never let him go.
"I was a little worried that Drogba would want to play in Serie A, but he told me he wanted to win more championships with me..."
Xiao Xiao Luo snorted and interrupted Endrit's words, "Don't change the subject. Is there any need for this matter to be related to you going to the airport to pick up Alneka?"
Endrit coughed rapidly a few times. "No, it really doesn't matter. But I went to pick up Ivanovic before. When Alneka transferred, I didn't go to pick him up. Doesn't this show that I don't value him? This has a great impact on the unity of our team."
"Shouldn't the Chelsea captain be responsible for team unity?" Ronaldinho refused to accept the reason. "Where is Ballack? Didn't Mourinho give him the captain's armband a few days ago? Why didn't he accept it?"
Endrit stretched out his hand and pressed the marshmallow head that the system had conjured up, his brain working at high speed, "Well... because I wanted to practice it in advance, so that when you transfer to our Chelsea in the future, I will be more at ease when I go to pick you up..."
Ronaldinho was shocked by Endrit's words and quickly interrupted him: "I'm from Manchester United, how could I transfer to Chelsea..."
"What if..." Endrit's voice became a little low, "I know this may be difficult, but you know, I really want to play football on the same court with you."
“Ahem!”
Xiao Xiao Luo on the other end of the phone coughed and stammered, "Well, that's fine too, just in case there's a chance in the future."
"Then I," Endrit's voice trailed off, "then I might have to practice again after a while."
"What?"
"I have to pick up another player..."
"Hello!"
…
January 19
Chelsea travel to St Andrews Park to challenge Premier League side Birmingham City.
Birmingham City head coach McLeish lined up a 433 formation to face Chelsea, with goalkeeper Taylor, defenders Schmidt, Quaidreau, Kelly, Ridgewell, midfielders Larsson, Johnson, Mwamba, and forwards O'Connor, Cap, Jerome.
Chelsea fielded a very safe 451 tactical formation in this game. This was due to the fact that several main players were unable to play, and also because Mourinho began to adjust the team's tactical arrangements in the second half of the season.
Although Endrit is known as the Iron Man, he has external plug-ins and is not worried about being injured and missing the game. Mourinho himself also has great confidence in Endrit's physical fitness. However, there are many games in the second half of the season and the intensity is high. Mourinho cannot bet that Endrit will not be injured at all.
For this reason, Mourinho will no longer let Chelsea go all out in order to train Endrit's practical defensive ability as he did in the first half of this season and the first round of the Champions League, but will focus more on the team's defense.
Leaving aside the defense line, before the game started, Mourinho specifically emphasized the importance of midfield defense to the five midfielders who started the game, Wright-Phillips, Sidwell, Cole, Ballack and Malouda.
"After Endrit joined us, I found that all of you were not as focused on defense as before. Because you began to think that since Endrit was guarding the goal, the opponent would not score, so it didn't matter even if you focused all your attention on offense."
"Yes, I allowed you to do this in the first half of the season because our team lacked a more efficient offense. But in the second half of the season, you can no longer ignore the importance of defense in the game. The second half of the season is short and the task is heavy. If you start to improve your defensive awareness when Endrit can't play due to injury, it will be too late."
"In this game, if you don't perform well, I will replace you at any time."
"In this game, offense is not the most important thing."
"Defense! I want all of you to remember this word!"
At the beginning of January, the team had gradually switched from its original offensive style to the current passing and receiving style of overall offense. And now, Chelsea begins to emphasize overall defense.
Before the game started, Birmingham City head coach McLeish had no idea that the miracle of victory they were good at, which had already been achieved against Arsenal and Liverpool, would hit a wall.
After the game started, when the ball was at the feet of Birmingham City players, they would often take long shots directly from Chelsea's half within a few minutes.
The football was saved by Endrit. After the ball passed to Chelsea, Birmingham City players immediately became aggressive. They used their bodies to directly collide with Chelsea players, stole the ball from their feet and immediately launched a quick counterattack.
In previous matches against Arsenal and Liverpool, this quick and crisp counterattack directly bypassed the opponent's midfielders, relied on the players' personal abilities to break through the back line and face the goalkeeper directly, with a 50% chance of scoring directly.
Before the game started, McLeish thought that the obstacle his team would face was the goalkeeper Endrit, who had a clean sheet record in the Premier League, but he never expected that at the beginning of the game, when Birmingham City launched a quick counterattack for the third time, they were shocked that their obstacle was Chelsea's midfield - or, the midfield defense line.
It was the 31st minute after the start of the game, and the score remained at 0:0. Birmingham City midfielder Mwamba received the ball and passed it directly to striker O'Connor outside the Chelsea penalty area.
In Birmingham City's last quick counterattack, the ball was passed to striker Cap, who lobbed the ball in front of the goal, but Endrit jumped high and caught the ball in his arms.
So this time, Mwamba pretended to pass the ball to Jerome on the right, kicked the ball with his right foot over the top, dribbled past Chelsea midfielder Malouda, and then kicked the ball out with his left foot.
The football flew directly to the left side under the action of force, but not long after the football flew out, Wright-Phillips, who had just returned from injury, jumped up from the left side, stopped the ball with his chest, and then headed the ball to his defender teammate Alex.
"God!" The commentator was very shocked. "Wright-Phillips has recovered very well. After returning from injury, he ran very actively and directly disrupted an attack by Birmingham City!"
Ten minutes later, when Ballack intercepted the ball from Birmingham City midfielder Johnson near the center and once again forcibly interrupted a Birmingham City attack, the commentator once again praised him.
"Due to injuries to Terry and Lampard, Mourinho gave the captain's armband to Ballack who had just returned from injury. The latter obviously did not disappoint us. He was in very good form today."
“Beep, beep…”
"The referee, Styles, blew the whistle to end the game. The score between the two sides is still 0:0. It seems that the outcome of today's game will be decided in the second half."
…
Birmingham City dressing room
Head coach McLeish pushed the door open and analyzed Chelsea's tactical play for today's game for his players.
"It's obvious that Chelsea's midfield has stepped up its defense. They had very few coordinated attacks in the first half. Although they had a high possession rate, they only had three effective offensive shots."
"This may be an opportunity. In order to ensure Endrit's appearance rate in the second half of the schedule, Mourinho strengthened the team's own defense in this game, with the aim of making Endrit more relaxed on the field. These arrangements are very likely to make Endrit relax, resulting in a loss of defensive position, and we seized the opportunity to score in one fell swoop."
“So, in the second half, we should try to make long passes, bypassing or directly cutting Chelsea’s midfield.” McLeish looked at the three forwards he had high hopes for, “O’Connor, Cap and Jerome, in the second half, you must always pay attention to Endrit’s position and condition.”
"Hold on for another forty-five minutes. Don't you have the confidence to be the first striker to score against Endrit?"
Chelsea away dressing room
Mourinho applauded the midfielders for their outstanding performance in the first half. "Well done, it seems that you have really remembered the word defense. The midfield defense in the first half was excellent. Even if the goalkeeper in this game is not Endrit, without a goalkeeper, you can completely defend Chelsea's goal."
"But, everyone!" Mourinho raised his voice and swept his eyes over the Chelsea players. "For this game, those fans who followed us all the way to St. Andrews Park, are they expecting only a 0:0 game?"
"Don't you want to take three points from here? If you do, then you can't just remember the word defense in the second half. While focusing on defense," Mourinho's eyes fell on Pizarro, the starting striker in the first half. Seeing the latter's nervous expression because of his words, he retracted his gaze and continued slowly: "Add another attacking point."
"Alneka," Mourinho looked at Alneka who had just joined the team, "You will also play in the second half."
At the very end, Mourinho called Endrit aside for a private talk.
"I didn't want to say these words to you, because you have maintained a high level of concentration in every game in the past, so I know you won't deliberately relax just because the team has strengthened its defense." Mourinho patted Endrit's shoulder and said in a low voice, "You will do this, right?"
Endrit: ...
"Coach," Endrit said in a low voice, but Mourinho could still hear a strong complaint in it. "You say this to me, it's obvious that you don't believe me~"
"I believe you," Mourinho nodded, meaningfully, "Of course I believe you, but sometimes there are always people who betray my trust, what do you think?"
Endrit remained silent. He knew what the coach meant: his training time with the team had been sharply reduced in recent times. There was no such thing as extra training. When the team's stipulated training time was up, Endrit simply ended the training, packed up and went home.
The change was very obvious, and his teammates all looked at him with satisfaction: Good, good, you finally don't drag us down anymore.
The teammates are happy, but coach Mourinho has been frowning recently. But since he didn't say anything, Endrit pretended he saw nothing and went to work and home on time every day.
"Why aren't you talking?" Mourinho raised his eyebrows. "Are you trying to think of a reason that can explain everything?"
"Coach, my training time has not decreased," Endrit raised his head and looked directly at Mourinho with a sincere look, "In fact, my training time has increased a lot."
Ever since the love system was upgraded, Endrit would automatically enter the virtual imagination space every night after falling asleep and be abused by the football king Pele.
Other players can just play happily without thinking about anything when they are on vacation, but Endritt will train for a long time in the virtual imagination space even on his nights off.
He was not tired physically, but mentally he was exhausted and even irritable. After persisting for almost two weeks, Endrit felt that his mental stress was over the top, so he decisively decided to stop abusing himself and chose to reduce training time during the day.
“Where has it increased?”
Mourinho asked patiently, but Endrit couldn't explain clearly: Telling the truth in the dream would probably make coach Mourinho even angrier, right?
"Efficiency," Endrit thought for a moment and changed the word, "What I mean is that my training efficiency has increased a lot in recent times."
When Mourinho opened his mouth to say something, the staff at the door reminded them that the ten-minute break was up and they should pack up and leave the locker room to go to the field to play football.
Endrit breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave with his teammates when Mourinho stuffed a candy into his hand.
"Don't think too much, I don't blame you." Mourinho touched Endrit's head, "Let's talk after the game."
Endrit groaned and stuffed the candy back into Mourinho's hand. "Then you can eat the candy after the game."
Endrit understood that coach Mourinho was just afraid that he would think too much and affect his condition in the second half of the game.
The reason why coach Mourinho suddenly brought up this topic during the half-time break today was probably because he had not been training hard for some time and had become slack, so he deliberately called him out during the game to scare him so that he would not dare to slack off again and would return to his strongest form when he was leading his teammates in the club.
Endrit knew it, but the problem was, he wasn't slacking off! He was so tired that he had no choice but to do this! He felt that if he continued to practice during the day and at night, he would sooner or later become a psychologist's guest of honor.
…
"Welcome back. You are watching the second half of the 23rd round of the 07/08 Premier League, where Birmingham City plays against Chelsea at home."
"Birmingham City did not make any personnel adjustments, while Chelsea's midfielder Cole was replaced by Alneka. Chelsea's tactical formation changed from 451 to 442. It seems that Chelsea will strengthen their attack in the second half."
Birmingham City manager McLeish's face turned a little dark when he saw Chelsea's changes in the second half, but it was not a big problem - McLeish said so to himself. After all, all teams are pursuing victory. It is very normal for Chelsea to add an offensive point in the second half since they did not score a goal in the first half.
Now it depends on whether Chelsea still pays attention to the defense of the home midfield. If they still do, then Birmingham City still has a chance to win.
In the 58th minute of the game, Birmingham City defender Quaidreau made a long pass in front of Chelsea.
This was a long pass that was intended to fly directly to Chelsea's backcourt, but as soon as the ball reached Chelsea's midfield, Chelsea's current captain Ballack jumped high and hit the ball with his head, changing the direction of the ball. The ball turned and flew towards the side, where Alex stopped the ball and stepped on it.
Quaidreau took a step back and turned to look at coach McLeish standing on the sidelines. The latter had a ruddy face. After confirming that Chelsea was still focusing on midfield defense, he waved his hand, signaling the players to continue moving forward according to the plan during the halftime break.
The ball was passed from Chelsea's backcourt to the midfield, and Sidwell waded with the ball and slowly moved forward.
In the 65th minute, Birmingham City midfielder Mwamba made a sliding tackle towards Pizarro who had just received the ball, directly interrupting Chelsea's attack.
Pizarro was knocked to the ground by Mwamba. Referee Styles ran over with a whistle and after communicating with the linesman, he gave Mwamba a yellow card.
Birmingham City head coach McLeish stood on the sidelines, covering his forehead and sighing: What's going on? Why does it feel like our form is completely wrong when we play against Chelsea? When they played against Arsenal and Liverpool before, they have already scored goals! And now... not only did they fail to score a goal, they also received a yellow card?
Game restart
The two teams collided again in the Birmingham City midfield. Pizarro received the ball again and chose to take a long shot, which was directly caught by Birmingham City goalkeeper Taylor.
The score remained unchanged and McLeish made two substitutions in the 72nd minute.
In the 77th minute, Mourinho used his last substitution opportunity. Defender Bridge replaced midfielder Malouda, and the team's lineup instantly became 532.
This was a fairly obvious signal and Chelsea immediately launched an attack after the game resumed.
Two minutes later, Belletti made a long pass from the backcourt to striker Pizarro. Pizarro received the ball in the penalty area and shot directly. The ball went straight into the dead corner and scored.
Birmingham City 0:1 Chelsea
Mourinho was very satisfied. When the players were celebrating excitedly, he called Ballack aside and emphasized the team's strategy of continuing to defend.
Yes, when the 07/08 season entered the second half, Mourinho no longer cared about how many goals were scored in each game. It was no longer important. The most important thing is to conserve more physical strength of the team members, give them appropriate rest, and allow the main players to fully appear on the field and run the entire court in important games.
Game restart
Birmingham City, trailing by one goal, launched a fierce attack on Chelsea's goal. With only three midfielders left, they naturally could not block Birmingham City's long pass as before. But when Birmingham City's players passed the ball to Chelsea's half, striker O'Connor had just run a few steps when he was sandwiched from front and back by Belletti and Carvalho. The ball flew to his feet in one second, and the next second O'Connor had just run a few steps with the ball when Carvalho intercepted it directly.
“Beep, beep…”
Referee Styles blew the whistle to end the game, Chelsea took away three points from St. Andrews Park and won the victory!
"Alneka has just arrived at Chelsea and this was his debut, but he looked a little nervous. Although he did not make some low-level mistakes, he obviously couldn't keep up with Chelsea's game rhythm and was always a step slower when returning to defense."
"With Drogba and Kalou both absent, the pressure on Pizarro and the newly joined striker Arnneka has increased dramatically. Now, Pizarro has proved himself. He withstood the pressure and scored at the end of today's game, taking the victory away from Birmingham City."
"Looking at the second half alone, Alneka's performance was not up to standard. This was not a perfect debut for Alneka. I hope he can integrate into the Chelsea team as soon as possible."
"Chelsea's new defender Ivanovic did not play in this game. It seems that the Serbian needs some time to win the trust of coach Mourinho."
…
After the game, when they got on the bus back to Chelsea, Ivanovic, who had already sat on the bus, waved to Endrit and motioned for the latter to sit next to him. He wanted to talk to Endrit about training together.
"I will go to the team for training tomorrow when I am off," Ivanovic looked at his legendary teammate, "Will you come to train with me then?"
Endrit pressed his eyelids with his index finger and pulled them up. "Look at the red bloodshot in my eyes. I want to sleep in tomorrow. Can I wait until the day after tomorrow? I'll tell the assistant coach when the team practices the day after tomorrow, and I'll practice with you then."
"Yeah!" Ivanovich nodded, very touched and said: "Thank you."
Mourinho turned his head and stared at Endrit seriously. After thinking for a few seconds, he turned his head away silently and made a draft in his mind.
To be honest, he is a little annoyed now. If a player had a sloppy training attitude recently, Mourinho would criticize him directly on the spot. In serious cases, he would not even let him start the game. Only after he corrected his attitude and performed very well in normal times would he consider letting the player start again.
But when this matter falls on Endrit, Mourinho feels a little annoyed. Because it felt like nothing he said was right - in the locker room before, Endrit looked up at him and said that his training time had increased, and Mourinho even felt that Endrit was right at that moment.
'Am I spoiling my child too much? '
Mourinho gritted his teeth secretly and decided silently in his heart that he must be serious when talking about Endrit! Be cool! Be cruel! It made Endrit cry bitterly and he even regretted coming into this world!
After returning to Chelsea, everyone packed up in the locker room and went home. Endrit, who was about to drive home with his teammates, was stopped by Mourinho.
Talk now?
Endrit stopped, a little flustered. He doesn't want to train any more, but how can he make coach Mourinho accept that he is not decadent and no longer training seriously, but is just relaxing his mind appropriately and not putting himself under pressure?
"Let me drive you home."
"Ah?" Endrit looked up in confusion, "Aren't we going to the office to talk?"
"I'll take you to dinner first." Mourinho pursed his lips, "We'll talk after dinner."
After I finish scolding Endrit, he will not be in the mood to eat, so I'd better take this kid to eat first.
"What do you want to eat? It's my treat."
Endrit looked up at Mourinho, and after confirming that the latter was still sullen and unhappy, he asked tentatively, "Can you eat anything you want?"
"Um."
"So, fried chicken?"
Mourinho glanced down at Endrit, his brows furrowed. "Fried chicken? Sure."
Forget it, this kid will be scolded soon, so just let him eat what he wants.
Mourinho agreed directly, but Endrit didn't dare to eat as much as he wanted. He just ate a small fried chicken leg and stopped eating.
"Not eating anymore?"
Endrit nodded.
"Okay," Mourinho packed up a portion of fried chicken and took it away. "Although this food is delicious, you athletes should eat less of it. When you retire one day, you can eat whatever you want..."
20:00 PM
Mourinho called Endrit into the study and began to ask him about his recent slackness in training.
"I don't know what happened to you recently, but if it was before, you would have agreed to Ivanovich's extra training tomorrow. Even if you have something else to do tomorrow, you would not have specifically asked the assistant coach to change the training content when we trained together the day after tomorrow, but would have chosen to do the extra training instead."
"Ritter, I need a reason. I need you to tell me, how long will you last like this? Don't you love football as much as before?"
Endrit raised his head and looked at Mourinho, letting the latter feel his sincerity. "Coach, I haven't slacked off in training. I love training as much as before. The reason why I haven't trained more recently is because I feel that sometimes blindly training more doesn't actually improve my abilities. I have been using my free time to watch Pele's games recently. I have been thinking about what I should do to make a successful save if my opponent is him."
Mourinho said nothing until Endrit said he had come up with some ideas recently.
"Pele's speed and physical confrontation ability are both top-notch, and his physical strength and jumping ability are also excellent. But for a goalkeeper like me, the real reason why Pele is difficult to defend is that his body coordination is too good. When I thought he would lose balance and fall, not only did he not fall, but he also changed direction at the same time..."
Mourinho sat up straight and looked at Endrit who was speaking seriously.
"His long-range shots are difficult to defend. At first, I couldn't be sure how his ball flew to me, especially his free kicks that hit the ground and the ones that bounced off the crossbar and into the goal..."
Seeing that Mourinho no longer frowned, Endrit breathed a sigh of relief and continued: "I still love football, and I don't mind continuing to train a lot. But when I found that if I wanted to continue to maintain the previous training volume while thinking about how to defend better, it would make my brain dull and make me feel very tired mentally, I didn't want to do that anymore."
"I consulted a psychologist, and he said that everyone has limited energy. I can't keep myself tense all the time. I need to learn to relax properly." Endrit lowered his head silently, opened his eyes wide and tried to hold back some tears. "I'm sorry, coach. I just don't want you to worry. I will try my best to adjust myself."
Mourinho reached out and patted Endrit on the shoulder, "I'm sorry, Ritter, I scolded you today."
"But you know, I don't mean to blame you, I'm just worried about you. You know Beckham, right? I'm just like Coach Ferguson at that time," Mourinho silently pulled out the person he was criticizing, "I have too high expectations of you at this moment. I'm worried that you will start to slack off after not training for a while and find that it has no effect on your strength for the time being. From not training to skipping training, your talent will be completely wasted."
"But I am different from Coach Ferguson. I will communicate with you properly and we will not become enemies..."
Endrit didn't say anything, his forehead was full of question marks: When did coach Mourinho scold him? How come he has no impression?
…
After talking to coach Mourinho, Endrit began his new training career.
For Endrit, not training more is just a cover-up. In fact, his actual training time and training efficiency have increased significantly compared to before.
And to Endrit's teammates, Endrit, without any extra training, was simply radiating an extremely bright glow all over his body!
When Chelsea's king of curling finally stopped curling, his Chelsea teammates who were forced to curl inward because of Endrit's presence finally had the days of going to get off work and leaving on time.
Endrit walked on time, and they followed Endrit's lead.
"I'm so happy!" Makelele couldn't help shedding tears of emotion, "I finally get to have some fun after a day of training!"
"Go have a drink!"
"I haven't had a sweet time with my girlfriend for a long time! I was so tired before that I fell asleep as soon as I got home..."
The whole Chelsea exuded a relaxed and happy atmosphere because of the disappearance of the King of Roll. Mourinho watched coldly as they returned to the training state before Endrit was promoted to the first team.
"If it was a year ago, I would never have thought that such a normal training state would make me happy." Alex said he had something to say, "Sure enough, human happiness is all about comparison."
…
January 24, Goodison Park, League Cup semi-final, Everton vs. Chelsea.
In the 69th minute after the opening, Cole scored a long shot outside the penalty area, and Chelsea successfully advanced to the League Cup final with a one-goal advantage.
On January 26, Chelsea officially announced the signing of Argentine striker Franco Di Santo.
January 27, DW Stadium, FA Cup round of 32, Wigan Athletic VS Chelsea.
In the 53rd minute after the opening, Alneka scored with a lob and scored his first goal for Chelsea.
In the 82nd minute, Wright-Phillips scored with a long shot from the left and Chelsea advanced smoothly.
January 31, Premier League Round 24, Stamford Bridge, Chelsea vs Reading
In the 32nd minute after the opening, Ferreira assisted Ballack to score, and Chelsea won another goal 1:0.
February 2, Premier League Round 25, Fratton Park, Portsmouth vs Chelsea
In the 55th minute after the opening, Cole assisted Alneka to score successfully, and Chelsea won three points again.
February 10, Premier League Round 26, Stamford Bridge, Chelsea vs Liverpool
Chelsea's starting lineup was 433: goalkeeper Endrit, defenders Belletti, Carvalho, Alex, Ashley, midfielders Makelele, Ballack, Lampard, forwards Wright-Phillips, Cole, Anelka.
Liverpool's starting lineup was 442: goalkeeper Reina, defenders Finnan, Skrtel, Carragher, Riise, midfielders Mascherano, Gerrard, Lucas, Bebar, forwards Kuyt, Crouch.
February 10th, 16:00
Referee Riley blew the whistle to start the game.
The pace of this game was very fast. In the third minute after the start, Belletti committed a handball foul in the backcourt and was given a yellow card by referee Riley. Two minutes later, Alneka quickly counterattacked and passed the ball to Cole in the middle. Cole dribbled forward but was stopped by Liverpool defender Skrtel halfway.
Mourinho silently wrote Cole's name in the small notebook.
In the 15th minute after the start of the game, Liverpool defender Finnan made a cross from the right, Crouch received the ball and dribbled past Makelele and headed the ball from the left side of the penalty area, but the ball went wide of the near corner and did not go in.
Three minutes later, Liverpool defender Riise passed the ball from the left, but the force was too strong, the angle was too great, and the ball's parabola was too high. Crouch jumped up and headed the ball back to the midfield before quickly breaking through the Chelsea players defending him. Liverpool midfielder Bebar, who had just received the ball, passed the ball back in time. Crouch easily received the ball in the frontcourt and shot with his left foot outside the penalty area.
The football went straight to the right side of the goal. Endrit dived to the right and the football hit the post and flew out of the goal.
Crouch raised his chin and mouthed to Endrette, "I'll definitely get in next time."
Endritt's eyes were on the football, and he didn't notice Crouch's actions at all.
In the 20th minute of the game, Liverpool midfielder Gerrard dribbled the ball from the right side, broke through Carvalho's defense and passed the ball to the midfield. Crouch jumped and headed the ball.
Endrit was a little surprised because the angle of the ball was very straight. Although it was at a high altitude, Endrit jumped up and reached out to take the football into his arms.
After landing, Endrit put the football on the grass, adjusted the angle and kicked the football to Lampard's feet. After receiving the ball in the middle, Lampard led the team forward and passed the ball to Alneka outside the penalty area. Alneka raised his leg and shot, but the ball was blocked by Skrtel before it flew to the Liverpool goal and went out of the baseline.
Chelsea got a corner kick, which was taken by Alneka. The football went straight to the goal, but was blocked by Gerrard halfway. This time, the football did not roll out of the baseline. Mascherano pulled the football back before it rolled out of the baseline, and the ball returned to Liverpool again.
In the 41st minute after the start of the game, Lampard and Babel competed for the header. Before the ball was divided between them, the referee Riley ran over with the whistle: Babel was given a yellow card for handball.
From this point until the end of the first half, the situation on the field did not change at all.
During the half-time break, Mourinho came to the locker room and said a few words.
"In the second half, you need to strengthen your offense, and at the same time, your defense cannot fall behind." Mourinho smiled. "It hasn't been long since we beat Liverpool 2:0 last time. I think you won't let me down in this game, right?"
"You guys have been playing football so happily during this period, I'm sure you will be very happy to win the game, right?"
The last time Chelsea played against Liverpool was on December 20 last year. It was the quarter-finals of the English League Cup, and Chelsea won easily 2:0.
But in today's game, after coach Mourinho said this in the locker room, the players sitting in the locker room felt a jolt in their hearts: it was obvious that the coach was very dissatisfied with their lack of extra training during this period. But they had been winning the previous games, so coach Mourinho allowed them to continue to be so happy.
But if this game ends in a draw, they will not be happy for a long time.
Chelsea players reappeared on the field full of fighting spirit. At the start of the second half, Chelsea players played more actively than in the first half.
Ballack came on first and tried to steal the ball, but was soon called for a foul by Riley and Liverpool got a free kick opportunity.
Endrit looked at Ballack, who looked up at the sky and covered the captain's armband with his hand, as if he was missing some good times in the past.
In the 52nd minute, Anelka made a cross from the left, Makelele received the ball and shot it hard. The ball flew close to the goal and went wide.
In the 64th minute, Mourinho replaced Wright-Phillips with Malouda. Three minutes later, Malouda, who had just come on, took a corner kick. Alex tried to head the ball, but unfortunately it went wide.
In the 81st minute, Chelsea had the most threatening shot of the game. Ashley made a cross from the left side of the penalty area, and Balke volleyed the ball after receiving it. The ball hit the right post of the goal and flew out.
The last nine minutes of the game were extremely long and torturous for the Chelsea players on the field. In the last minute, Ballack tried a long shot. The ball finally did not go wide, but was caught by Liverpool goalkeeper Reina.
“Beep, beep…”
The game ends, Chelsea 0:0 Liverpool.
After the game, in the locker room
Mourinho folded his arms, sneered, and turned away. Everyone looked at each other and sighed, covering their faces: It's over, their happy days are gone forever!
Until the last second of February 10, coach Mourinho did not announce the vacation news. The players did not dare to say a word and ran to the team training early the next day.
"Where's Ritter? Why hasn't he arrived yet? Is there a traffic jam?"
Lampard immediately called Endrit, but Endrit, who was lying on the bed, responded with a nasal voice, "Isn't it a day off today? Coach Mourinho sent a message yesterday."
"You have today off?!"
"Um."
Lampard hung up the phone with a click and looked up at his teammates who had gathered around him. "He said he's on vacation today."
"He's not coming today?!"
What surprised Chelsea players was not that Endrit had a day off today, but that he actually did not come to training when they were training!
The team resumed normal training on the 12th. The Chelsea players who were training silently looked at Endritt who was leaving at the appointed time, and they were a little dazed.
"He's really just gone like that? He's not training anymore?"
"He's not going to roll us up anymore?"
When things developed to this point, Chelsea players were shocked but not unacceptable. It wasn't until they found that when coach Mourinho assigned them new training tasks, the effect of their additional training was not as good as Endrit's training when he left on time, that everyone became a little defensive.
"No! I don't believe it! It's not true!"
Chelsea players a few weeks ago: Good, good, good! Ritter finally stopped involving us! The world couldn't be better!
Current Chelsea players: Ritter, you'd better come and roll us up, it will be even more painful for us if you don't roll us up.
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