Chapter 206 Four consecutive victories (1)

Unknowingly, in the Premier League, Chelsea has won three consecutive games at the start of the season and has firmly sat at the top of the league standings. Looking at other qualified competitors, Manchester United has one win, one draw and one loss in three games, with four points, ranking tenth in the league, Arsenal has two wins and one loss, with six points, ranking third in the league, and Liverpool has one win, two draws, with five points, ranking sixth in the league.

It is worth mentioning that in the previous rounds, Everton, who had just sold Rooney to ease the club's financial crisis, performed surprisingly strongly. In the first three rounds, they won two games and drew one, accumulating seven points, second only to Chelsea and ranking second in the league. In comparison, Everton's schedule is not easy. In the previous round of the league, they even encountered Manchester United. In this case, they can still achieve this result, which is really eye-catching.

However, compared with Chelsea's performance, these teams with some outstanding performances are nothing. Three games, three big wins, 1-5, 1-4, 5-0, 14 goals in three games, this goal efficiency is really shameful. Although facing the praise of many media, the arrogant Portuguese "modestly" said "the team's overall lineup system has not been perfected", but even this "imperfect" lineup, the offensive ability is really speechless.

Among them, Chelsea striker Alan Wang, the "Dancing Master", and Ivory Coast striker Drogba's performances were absolutely remarkable. Of the 14 goals, these two scored 11 of them. This efficiency made the strikers of other teams look at this season's Premier League top scorer and the European Golden Boot Award at a loss. For example, last season's European Golden Boot Award winner Henry the Great maintained a high efficiency in the first three rounds of the league. The efficiency of three goals in three games was also convincing, but he was only tied with Manchester City's Anelka for the third place in the Premier League scorer list, while Wang Li, who was ranked first, scored twice as many goals as him...

After three rounds, many media commented that Chelsea's forward line, led by Wang Li and Drogba, has undoubtedly become the top forward line in the Premier League. They have even called for Chelsea's offensive ability to surpass Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Of course, the Spaniards may sneer at this statement, but at least many gentleman fans who have a "Great England Complex" have agreed with this view, so the newspapers and magazines that put forward this statement are selling very well. Yes, for these media, they only need to cater to the appetite of the English.

The Daily Telegraph: "Three consecutive wins, who can stop Chelsea?"

"The league has just gone through three rounds, but Manchester United's weak performance, Everton's strong rise, Arsenal's continued stability, Aston Villa's excellent performance, etc. all seem to foreshadow that the Premier League will usher in an era of many heroes. And all these things cannot cover up the glory of Chelsea, the "pound army". Three games, three big wins, they have made a perfect start. Now, who is still laughing at the arrogance of the Portuguese?"

The Sun: "The magical 'dancing master' once again leads the goal spree"

"Three games, fourteen goals, Chelsea's forward line has shown us what goal efficiency is. The savage Dutch beast? The proud French emperor? No, no, no. Now, we only know about England's new star. Yes, it is a new star, but this new star is more brilliant than those 'old predecessors' who call themselves emperors, legendary shooters, etc. Alan Wang, two assists and six shots in three games, dominates the Premier League."

……..

All the praise from the outside world cannot affect the internal training of Chelsea Club. Mourinho still maintains his iron fist and does not relax at all towards these big-name stars.

For a club, especially a team like Chelsea that is competing for the league championship, three consecutive league wins are not a rare thing. In fact, the reason why the media is so noisy is just because these are the first three rounds of games at the beginning of the season, and Chelsea happens to be ranked first in the league.

As a coach chasing championships, Mourinho will not be fooled by these praises. He will not relax on himself or the team until he actually wins the championship.

Now, the entire Chelsea team has been ready for the next round of the league. Their opponent is the newly promoted Southampton team, known as the "Saints". It is said that in order to adapt to the offensive capabilities of the Premier League, Southampton has spent 7 million pounds on the back line. It seems that they intend to use a stable defense to consolidate the team's position in the Premier League.

However, these are totally irrelevant to Chelsea players. Although head coach Mourinho also carefully checked the opponent's game information before the game, facing a newly promoted team, no matter how good they are, how strong can they be?

"We don't allow failure at Stamford Bridge," Mourinho said at the pre-match press conference. "We will give our all in this game, which is also a kind of respect for our opponents. I hope this game will be exciting."

Southampton head coach Stroke was also optimistic and said: "We will try to make the game interesting. Although we are a newly promoted team and have always known our position in the Premier League, the glory of the 'Saints' has always given our team the motivation to strive for honors. We will work hard to play every game well."

Having said that, the match between the two teams did not become as "interesting" as Stroke said. At this time, on the Stamford Bridge, Southampton was more like an old turtle that had shrunk into a shell. They seemed to be playing on the principle of "holding one point".

In the current game, Chelsea is attacking with overwhelming advantage, but facing Southampton's 910 tactics, this attack seems very weak. Obviously, after studying Chelsea's games this season, Southampton's head coach Stroke knows that the team has almost no chance of winning in a normal offensive and defensive battle with Chelsea, so he has decided to focus most of his energy on defense.

It is worth mentioning that the performance of Southampton's strengthened defense line was indeed remarkable. The game had been going on for more than 60 minutes, but Chelsea had almost failed to enter the opponent's penalty area. Eight of their nine shots were missed, and only one shot entered the goal frame, which was easily caught by the opponent's goalkeeper Andy Niemi.

In this game, Mourinho still insisted on the 433 formation, and Wang Li returned to the right winger position. In fact, although he was more helpful to the team as a right back, facing a newly promoted team, Chelsea needed a striker who could score goals rather than a midfielder who could break through and attack. Mourinho's arrangement was reasonable.

Looking at the bus-like defense formed by dense white figures in the penalty area, Wang Li felt a little scalp-tingling. After Chelsea showed its strong offensive ability, the opponents they faced would try their best to stop them from scoring goals. In this case, Wang Li could only continue to roam around on the right side of the penalty area, looking for opportunities.

In the 68th minute of the game, Lampard dribbled the ball in the middle and made a straight pass to the outside of the penalty area. Joe Cole took the ball and turned around to shoot, but Southampton defender Klaus Lundekwan made a fierce tackle and made Joe Cole fall to the ground.

Joe Cole rolled around on the grass, hugging his legs. Wang Li ran over to check on him. The referee also ran over, but did not rush to make a decision. Instead, he squatted down to take a look at Joe Cole's injury. It seems that the Premier League referees are also very "humane".

At this time, the protective sock on Joe Cole's right leg had been scratched by the opponent's spiked shoes, and blood was obviously visible inside. The referee waved to the team doctor to come in and carry Joe Cole away on a stretcher.

Mourinho anxiously walked to the team doctor to inquire about the situation. In the Portuguese man's mind, Joe Cole was undoubtedly an important weight in Chelsea's frontcourt attack. His injury would have a great impact on the team. Moreover, during their long time together, Joe Cole's efforts had left a good impression on Mourinho. He did not want anything to happen to Joe Cole.

After a simple examination, the team doctor confirmed that Joe Cole could not play, but also indicated that there was no big problem, which made Mourinho feel a little relieved. Then, he walked to the bench and asked Adrian Mutu to warm up.

In this situation, Mourinho was still rational. In order to strengthen the team's offensive ability, he replaced a pure striker.

The referee showed Klaus Lundekwan a yellow card and awarded Chelsea a free kick outside the penalty area, about 30 meters away from the goal.

The free kick at this point was very dangerous, and a direct shot was likely to result in a goal, so, under the command of the team captain Neil McCann, Southampton quickly formed a four-man wall to block the shooting angle, while the other players also stayed closely around the Chelsea players to prevent them from finding opportunities to make supplementary shots.

At this time, Chelsea's first free kick taker Lampard stood in front of the ball. He took a long breath and jumped a few times on the spot to find the feeling of taking a free kick. But at this time, he saw Wang Li, who was closely guarded by an opposing defender in the penalty area, winked at him.

Lampard nodded calmly. After such a long period of cooperation, he already understood what the black-haired boy meant. Although he wanted to shoot by himself, he also knew that the efficiency of such a goal was not high. When the team had not yet opened up the situation, of course, the overall situation should be given priority. Now, perhaps due to the negligence of the opponent's head coach, there was only one person defending the black-haired boy. Lampard knew that this was almost the same as having no one defending him.

At this time, Drogba and Bridge were standing on the left side of the penalty area line, waiting for scoring opportunities at any time, while Wang Li and Geremi stood on the right side of the penalty area. Most of the other Chelsea players stood near the center line to prevent the opponent's counterattack. After all, in Mourinho's tactical thinking, defense is the most important.

Under the gaze of everyone in the stadium, with a slight "beep" from the referee's mouth, Lampard took two steps back, took small steps forward, and while running, swung his right foot directly at the bottom edge of the football.

Under the gaze of all the fans in the stadium, Southampton's wall jumped up in reaction. To everyone's surprise, the ball was not fast, nor did it go towards the goal, but flew towards the left side of the penalty area.

That's where Wang Li and Gremi are.

At this moment, Wang Li took a step forward in the direction where the football was coming from, and used his inner strength to prepare to jump up and head the ball. This was a great opportunity, even though he was not good at heading.

Looking up at the sky, when the ball was about to fall, Wang Li performed a Qinggong technique to be on the safe side and suddenly jumped up, but at this moment, he felt someone pulling his jersey.

The defender who was defending Wang Li closely obviously would not let him head the ball so easily. After finding that he could not get a good point, he secretly pulled Wang Li's jersey hard, which made Wang Li's body unbalanced in the air. He knew that even if he forced the shot, it would be difficult to exert any force.

In a flash, Wang Li, who was in the air, caught a glimpse of Geremi on the left side of his body from the corner of his eye. Without thinking, he tilted his head, and the ball hit Wang Li's head and jumped towards Geremi in disguise.

At this time, almost everyone in the stadium was looking at Wang Li. Geremi was obviously ignored. Even the Southampton defender who was defending him next to him did not expect Wang Li to choose to pass the ball.

Facing this opportunity, Geremi was very excited, but he still suppressed it, swung his right foot towards the flying ball, and shot it directly with a powerful volley---

"The ball went in. It was Geremi, No. 14 Geremi, who made a powerful volley and helped Chelsea open up the situation. Southampton's tortoise tactics collapsed under this volley. In the 67th minute of the game, Chelsea finally scored a goal, one to zero"

The Blues fans in the audience cheered loudly with excitement. This game was obviously the most difficult game for Chelsea in the new season. After waiting for nearly an hour and a half, the goal finally came. However, they did not complain. After all, the team finally scored a goal. For a newly promoted team like Southampton, this was almost a death sentence for them.

Stroke on the sidelines closed his eyes helplessly. He originally thought that his tactics would succeed, but this goal completely kicked him into the abyss. Perhaps compared with Aston Villa, Southampton had done well enough at Stamford Bridge. At this time, he could only comfort himself in this way.

After scoring the goal, Geremi was obviously very excited. He hadn't experienced the feeling of scoring a goal for a long time. He held his cheeks tightly with both hands, walked to Wang Li who was still lying on the grass, and reached out to pull him up.

"Thank you, Alan."

After thanking him, Geremi gave Wang Li a warm hug. Then, his Chelsea teammates enthusiastically celebrated like a "human monk". It was uncomfortable to lie under the crowd. However, for Geremi, he hoped that he could have this kind of "enjoyment" in every game.

Perhaps this is another tragedy for professional players?