At this moment, Mourinho, who was nervously observing the situation on the field from the bench, was unaware that he had been ruthlessly dismissed by Abramovich.
Seeing Kaká's long-range shot from outside the box graz the post and go out of bounds, Mourinho's brow furrowed even more.
After the restart, the game continued for almost five minutes, and Chelsea were still on the back foot.
Makelele's appearance was practically useless.
Mourinho originally put him on the field to help Essien mark Sneijder.
Seeing this, Li Shiguang immediately ordered Kaka, who had moved up his position at the start of the second half, to move back and stand parallel to Sneijder.
This forces Makelele to divert his attention to guarding against Kaká.
But Makelele, who was already 34 years old, was no match for Kaka. In just a few minutes, this was the third time that Kaka had broken through his defense head-on!
Chelsea, who have been under constant pressure and under attack in their own half, have also lost their chance to attack. No matter how strong Drogba is, it's all in vain if the ball can't be passed to him!
It's no exaggeration to say that...
Mourinho's substitution of Makelele for Malouda not only failed to improve Chelsea's defense, but also crippled their attack!
The Portuguese manager was aware of the problem, but he was in a difficult position. He couldn't just bring on Makelele, change the formation to 4-4-2, and then immediately switch back to the previous 4-3-3 with a different striker.
If I really did that, wouldn't those despicable media outlets seize on it? If I win this match, that's fine, but if I lose, I'll probably be drowned in their spittle!
He glanced at Shevchenko sitting on the bench.
For some reason, the words Mendes had said to him a few days ago came back to mind, and were clearer than ever before.
Mourinho withdrew his gaze, staring blankly at the players on the field, and finally let out a heavy sigh in his heart.
Screw it! Who cares!
····
In contrast, Li Shiguang was much more excited.
Seeing his players' high morale, Li Shiguang didn't sit idle. He stood on the sidelines, waving towards Chelsea's half, encouraging his players to attack! If anyone was even slightly slow with the ball in the backfield, Li Shiguang's friendly greeting would immediately ring out from the sidelines!
in this case.
The Leeds United players were naturally not going to be complacent and were determined to overtake the score as soon as possible.
Fifty-ninth minute.
Kaka once again humiliated Makelele before passing the ball to Adriano, who received it just outside the penalty area and laid it off to Bale, who made a high-speed run down the left and unleashed a long-range shot.
The ball was blocked out of bounds by Cech with all his might.
Three minutes later, Leeds United launched another attack. De Bruyne crossed the ball from the right flank, the ball soaring over the heads of all the Chelsea defenders in the penalty area and heading straight for the far post. Kaká made a clever diagonal run, shaking off his defender before heading the ball into the net.
Kaka's header drew gasps from the entire stadium, and from a television perspective, it was a sure goal.
Unfortunately.
The football, aimed at the goal, struck the outside of the goalpost and bounced out of bounds!
····
"Beautiful! Kaka's header!!... Oh no!! What a pity, the Elland Road post denied their home team!! But during this period, the situation on the field was clearly one-sided. Chelsea were playing too passively, and Leeds United's morale soared after scoring, pressing Chelsea hard in their own half..." Lineker shouted excitedly, and after saying the previous part, he still seemed to have more to say, "I haven't seen Leeds United like this in a long time. After equalizing, they played with a lot of confidence and were quite aggressive... I have to say, Lee's adjustments at halftime were perfect! He completely grasped Mourinho's mentality. Look at Chelsea's performance after Mourinho brought on Makelele, it was even worse than before! I even suspect that Lee had already figured out how Mourinho would deal with him when he made the adjustments! But what I find strange is, didn't Mourinho think about making any changes? If they continue playing like this, losing is only a matter of time!"
"How do we adjust?" Jon asked helplessly. "Lee simply had Kaká drop back, which easily neutralized Makelele's marking of Sneijder after he came on. Now Chelsea has switched to a 4-4-2 formation. Are you suggesting that Jose bring on another striker and go back to a 4-3-3? Just like you said, that's exactly what Leeds United is doing. They're completely preventing Chelsea's attack from receiving any support from their supply lines!"
It's clear that Jon, as a Chelsea fan, was a bit resentful when he said this. He was directing his criticism at Mourinho, and from his professional perspective, it would be very difficult for Chelsea to win today's game!
Jon's words also reminded many fans watching on TV that many people thought Leeds United could dominate Chelsea for those ten minutes mainly because they had just equalized and were in high spirits.
Most Chelsea fans believe that if their team can get through this phase, they will definitely find a chance to counterattack, just like in the first half, and regain control of the game!
But now that Jon has said that...
The vast majority of people suddenly realized!
It turns out that the main reason the team was being dominated was Mourinho's disastrous decision!
In a short time.
In the living rooms of countless rooms across London, shouts of abuse erupted...
····
The harsh reality soon presented itself to Chelsea fans.
Sixty-fourth minute.
Chelsea, who were feeling really stifled, finally got a counter-attack opportunity.
Before the ball could reach Drogba, who had already run to the edge of Leeds United's penalty area, it was blocked by Alonso and coincidentally landed at Modric, who was also running back.
When Modric received this unexpected pass, he was facing away from the direction of the attack.
Upon seeing him receive the ball, Drogba in front and Lampard beside him quickly rushed up, intending to use their bodies to force Modric out of Leeds United's immediate counter-attack.
But Modric didn't turn around at all; instead, he flicked the ball behind him with his heel.
Behind him was Kaka, who had retreated to the vicinity of the center circle.
After receiving the pass from Modric, Kaka immediately turned around and dribbled forward with great strides!
"Here we go again!! Kaka dribbles forward!! In front of him is a vast open space and Makelele, who poses almost no threat to him, like a scarecrow!!"
at the same time!
Lineker's excited shouts came right from the televisions of every fan watching the game...
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