Chapter 948 Chelsea's Last Fig Leaf
On the evening of December 12, at Stamford Bridge in London.
The referee Mark Clattenburg was guessing the sides of the two captains of Manchester City and Chelsea. In front of the home team's coaching seat, Chelsea head coach Villas-Boas looked a little nervous. He looked around and turned to look at the chairman's stand behind him.
Tonight, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, accompanied by the club's management, was sitting in the stands.
This battle is a big test for Boas.
Chelsea spent 15 million euros on his buyout clause, which set a record for the highest buyout clause for a head coach in the history of world football. But now, Chelsea's results are really not satisfactory, and Boas himself can't stand it anymore.
No matter what, we have to win tonight!
In terms of the starting lineup, Boas still continued the lineup used in the Champions League against Valencia.
The goalkeeper is Cech, the defense is Ashley Cole, Terry, Ivanovic and Bosingwa, the three midfielders are Meireles, Romeu and Ramires, and the front trident is Juan Mata, Drogba and Sturridge.
The entire lineup is exactly the same as in the Champions League in midweek.
This was intentional by Villas-Boas, who hopes the team can continue the tactics and form of the Champions League match against Valencia in midweek.
In that game, the team's defense was very good and the offense was very sharp. It was one of the best games Chelsea has played this season. Boas hopes to see that Chelsea again tonight.
Terry and Drogba, one in front and one behind, were among the best performing players in that game and were also the most indispensable pillars of the team, so Boas did not dare to move them, but he had abandoned Lampard in the midfield for several consecutive games.
For him, this is a kind of persistence to his own idea at the beginning of the season, and it is his last fig leaf to maintain the authority of the head coach. If even Lampard is on the field, then he can really be said to have been defeated in this contest.
By then, his prestige in the locker room will be completely destroyed.
Boas turned around, looked at the field, and fell on Manchester City's lineup.
The Blue Moon also adopted a 4-3-3 formation tonight, with Courtois as the goalkeeper, Marcelo, Pepe, Kompany and Zabaleta as the defenders, Busquets as the back line, David Silva and Toni Kroos in the middle, and Hazard, Sudon and Sanchez in the front line.
As the season progresses, Manchester City and Guardiola have gradually figured out the rules of cooperation between Hazard and Marcelo, and the two players are gradually finding their rhythm in cooperation on the left side.
The main reason is that Manchester City plays a ball possession game, so although both players need the ball, there will be no conflict under Manchester City's ball possession system. Instead, it further enhances Manchester City's ability to control the ball in the frontcourt.
Guardiola also adopts different lineup configurations according to different situations and opponents.
Boas felt somewhat unwilling.
Originally, Hazard was a player favored by both him and Chelsea, but Manchester City got there first.
The Belgian winger has also proven his quality and has performed very well for Manchester City this season.
Although Chelsea also has Juan Mata, if they can get another Hazard, Villas-Boas will have more players at his disposal and will be able to deploy his troops more strategically.
But what Boas feared most was Su Dong.
He is very familiar with this player. Whether he was an assistant coach before or coaching Porto last season, when they met in the Europa League final, Su Dong was the superstar who impressed him the most.
His only hope is that Terry and Ivanovic can defend Su Dong tonight.
Although he knew it was very, very difficult.
…………
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With the whistle of referee Clattenburg, Manchester City took the lead and kicked the ball from Sudong to Sanchez.
The Chilean winger quickly passed the ball back and directly to Busquets.
Since Chelsea is playing at home and wearing blue jerseys, Manchester City will wear red and black away jerseys tonight, which makes the players of the two teams on the field appear extremely distinct.
As soon as Busquets stopped the ball, Chelsea's Drogba came up.
The Spanish midfielder was forced to pass the ball back to the defence.
After several consecutive passes, the ball was passed to Marcelo on the left.
The Brazilian left-back stopped the ball and moved forward. Seeing the right moment, he passed the ball straight to Hazard who had already entered Chelsea's half.
When the Belgian winger stopped the ball, he was blocked by Bosingwa and was forced to cut inside, but Juan Mata in the frontcourt actively returned to defense and sandwiched Bosingwa from the front, while Meireles in the middle was also blocking Hazard. The three of them formed a triangle to double-team Hazard.
Hazard is not tall, has very thin steps when dribbling the ball, has a low center of gravity, and is very skilled in changing speed and direction. The ball seems to be stuck to his feet. Even though he is double-teamed by three defensive players, he still managed to pass the ball sideways to the back of Meireles.
David Silva quickly followed up and, without stopping the ball, sent a straight pass to meet Hazard's cross.
The ball went straight into the penalty area from beside Ivanovic.
Su Dong, who was originally cruising near Terry and Ivanovic, suddenly started and sprinted forward at the fastest speed.
Terry was thrown away almost the moment Su Dong started. Ivanovic chased him for a while, but was soon squeezed behind by Su Dong, while goalkeeper Cech left the goal and tried to catch the ball first.
But Su Dong got there before Cech and kicked the ball towards David Silva's pass, allowing the ball to avoid Cech's attack.
After getting out of Cech's way, Su Dong did not slow down. He caught up with the ball on the left side of the small penalty area and easily shot it with his left foot.
The ball went straight into the bottom of the goal.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!"
"The game lasted less than a minute. Strictly speaking, it was only 26 seconds. My God, it only took Manchester City 26 seconds to break Chelsea's goal."
"Su Dong made a run from behind and successfully beat the offside trap. He passed the attacking goalkeeper Cech and shot into the empty goal, scoring the first goal for Manchester City, 1-0!"
"Before the game, Guardiola repeatedly stressed that scoring first was crucial when facing Chelsea. Unexpectedly, Manchester City scored just 26 seconds into the game. Is there a better start than this?"
After Su Dong scored a goal, he rushed out of the stadium excitedly and ran all the way to the corner stand where Manchester City fans were. He thanked the fans who followed the team all the way south, while also kissing the ring on his left hand.
Now that the whole world knows that he is going to get married after the end of this season, kissing the engagement ring is only natural.
…
In the stands of Stamford Bridge, Chelsea owner Abramovich had a grim face as he watched Manchester City players surround Su Dong on the field and celebrate the opening goal.
"He almost became our player," Abramovich said solemnly.
Back then, Mourinho wanted to bring Su Dong in several times, and even applied to Abramovich in person many times. He repeatedly emphasized that Su Dong would become the world's top scorer.
But at that time Abramovich was only thinking about Shevchenko. Even later, between the Soviet Union and Shevchenko, Abramovich chose the Ukrainian nuclear warhead without hesitation.
As a result, the whole world knows that Shevchenko failed to play at the expected level at Chelsea, and failed to lead Chelsea to the top of the Champions League, which made Abramovich a laughing stock of countless people.
Even now, there are still many people secretly laughing at Abramovich's stupidity behind his back.
At this moment, watching Su Dong break his own goal just 26 seconds into the game, it was impossible for Abramovich to say that he had no regrets. After all, if he had Su Dong, he might have won the coveted Champions League long ago.
Where else is it needed like now?
After Peter Kenyon left the club in 2009, his right-hand man Ron Gourlay replaced Baldhead as the team's chief executive.
At this moment, when he heard Abramovich's sudden and even somewhat inexplicable words, he blurted out that the team should still introduce a strong center forward to replace Drogba, preferably a center forward like Su Dong.
But when the words were on the tip of his tongue, he swallowed them back when he saw that Chairman Bruce Buck and the boss's assistant Marina Granovskia were both expressionless.
During his years at Chelsea, especially when working alongside Peter Kenyon, Gurley saw very clearly that Chelsea was a one-man show under Abramovich, and everyone's purpose here was only one, and that was to make the boss happy.
As long as the boss is happy, anything can be done.
Just like Boas.
The boss had high expectations for him at the beginning, and was even willing to spend 15 million euros in severance pay to poach him.
That's 15 million euros, enough to buy a top-notch star.
What was the result? The season is not even halfway through, and Villas-Boas has completely lost Abramovich's trust and is basically on the verge of being fired. If he loses this game, he will be fired tonight, and no one will be surprised.
Gourlay even had a feeling that Abramovich came here to supervise the game, perhaps intending to fire Boas on the spot.
This is true for the head coach, the CEO and everyone at the club.
If there is anyone who is irreplaceable, it is Abramovich.
Thinking of this, Gurley didn't want to say anything more.
Because he knew that no matter what he said, it would be of no use at all.
Many times it is not something he can change at all. Chelsea's genes and operating rules have been determined since the day Abramovich acquired the team.
In contrast, Manchester City's Abu Dhabi consortium gives the management a lot of room to play, and basically doesn't care about things. Even Chairman Mubarak is like a mascot, Soriano and Begiristain are the directors of development, running Manchester City on a prosperous path, and head coach Guardiola is as stable as a rock, showing signs of coaching for a long time.
Perhaps, the Premier League is ushering in, or has already ushered in, the Manchester City dynasty.
(End of this chapter)
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