Chapter 233 A Bad Start

Last season, Middlesbrough's performance in the league was not very outstanding, and it only ranked 11th in the league. However, Middlesbrough's fans are already very satisfied because they won the first championship trophy in the club's history, although many clubs don't care about the League Cup, which is a tasteless thing.

This summer, McClaren introduced Viduka and Hasselbaink to the team's forward line, and Middlesbrough's offensive ability has been strengthened. In the first few rounds of the league, Middlesbrough's performance was also very strong, with a record of 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in 5 games, making them fourth in the league after Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

This made many English media exclaim, "Middlesbrough will be a spoiler in this year's league title race." - With a strong Chelsea and a steady Arsenal, no one is stupid enough to think they will have a chance to win the league title.

The sixth round of the Premier League is about to begin. The focus of the round is undoubtedly the duel between Manchester United and Liverpool, the Red Devils and the Red Army, but perhaps in order to achieve better results in this game, the FA has scheduled this game on September 20.

Therefore, the fourth place match between Chelsea and Middlesbrough attracted most of the media attention, and the entire British island was mobilized to rush to Middlesbrough.

There are many highlights in this game. According to the Daily Telegraph:

First of all, this game is a battle for league rankings.

"Now that five rounds of the Premier League have been played, Chelsea is fourth and has 12 points on second-placed Arsenal. Even if they lose this game, they can still rank first in the league with a goal difference advantage. However, if Middlesbrough breaks Chelsea's unbeaten streak, the gap between the top four teams is likely to narrow sharply to 2 points, which means that the competition for the top few places will become even more fierce."

Secondly, the duel between the Portuguese head coach and the English head coach.

"Mourinho is undoubtedly the representative of the new generation of Portuguese head coaches. His success in Porto will make his name glorious for decades. McClaren is also a leader among young coaches in England. He became the head coach of a Premier League team at the age of 43 and achieved outstanding results. This result is also very dazzling. So who of the two will achieve the final success? Let us wait and see."

Third, Hasselbaink’s battle of proof.

"Jimmy Hasselbaink is undoubtedly one of the best strikers in the world. He was the top scorer in the Premier League in the 98/99 and 00/01 seasons. As he got older, his performance remained stable. But after the Portuguese arrived, Chelsea cleared him out of the team and sold him to Middlesbrough at a low price. This game is also Jimmy's first game against his old club. How will he perform?"

………

Although Mourinho did not care too much about this game, it is undeniable that this game did attract the attention of the media and fans. Other Premier League teams were eager for Middlesbrough to win, especially Manchester United and Arsenal.

As for Wang Li himself, he has a very deep impression of Middlesbrough. Last season, it was the conflict between him and the team's defender Greening that caused him to be suspended, and that game also became his last game in Wolverhampton.

Fortunately, this summer, Greening was sold to the newly promoted Premier League team West Bromwich Albion by head coach McClaren, otherwise the media would definitely bring up the old matter and hype up the relationship between Wang Li and Greening.

Before the game started, apart from the various media cheering on the side, the war of words between the two teams was not very intense. Mr. Mourinho rarely affirmed McClaren's achievements and congratulated Middlesbrough on their performance this season, which made the reporters who wanted to get big news very depressed.

In front of many reporters, McLaren also admired Chelsea's strong performance this season and said that although he had made sufficient preparations before the game, he could not guarantee the result of the game and hoped that the team could grow in the game against Chelsea. This humble argument made reporters even wonder if he was scared by Chelsea's record.

This time, Wang Li, who often made bold statements and declared victory before the game, was much more restrained. He did not express any opinion on the game. He just declared that he would try his best to score a goal. This made reporters feel that he was focusing all his energy on training.

………

In this game, McLaren still used the lineup from the previous rounds. The new players Viduka and Hasselbaink undoubtedly formed a double striker and penetrated directly into the heart and abdomen of Chelsea's defense.

Compared with last season, there is no change in Middlesbrough's midfield. Boateng, Mendieta and Zenden still occupy the main positions. After Greening left, the curly-haired veteran Parlour was promoted. This player was undoubtedly the absolute main force of Arsenal before. Since 1991, he has played for Arsenal for a total of 13 seasons.

In this game, Mourinho still used the combination of Drogba and Wang Li. The two were almost invincible in the Premier League and always brought a lot of goals. In the middle, Thiago Mendes got the chance to play. He and Makelele formed a double defensive midfielder formation to protect Chelsea's defense.

After the game started, just like the previous games, Chelsea's attack was still very stable. Under the guidance of Mourinho's tactical thinking, the players knew that as long as they could take the lead in the first half, the subsequent games would be much easier. They had become accustomed to this tactic.

However, Middlesbrough's defense is very solid. After several seasons of adjustments and running-in by McLaren, their defensive ability is definitely one of the best in the Premier League. It is not an easy task for Chelsea to break the opponent's goal in a short time.

In this game, McClaren did not make any adjustments against Chelsea. The defensive ability of the 442 formation has been proven, and their offense relies more on the rich game experience and stable performance of the two forwards. Although many Middlesbrough fans believe that the team should not rely on the two veterans to win the game, McClaren proved it with results.

Veterans are often much more effective than new stars.

Middlesbrough's record of 9 goals in the first 5 rounds has proved this.

Only 20 minutes had passed on the field, but the Chelsea fans who came with the team already knew that they would face a difficult game today, because the tall scoreboard on the west side of the Riverside Stadium showed the score was -1:0.

The time goes back to 3 minutes ago.

Chelsea had another brilliant attack, with Lampard as the core. Geremi, Wang Li and Joe Cole passed the ball back 13 times in a row in the opponent's half, directly penetrating Middlesbrough's defense and making the Blues fans in the audience cheer with excitement. However, Drogba's shot went directly into the arms of goalkeeper Schwartzel, and then Middlesbrough launched a counterattack.

Boateng received the pass on the center line, and he and Zenden on the wing cooperated with each other three times, allowing the ball to reach the right baseline directly. Zenden then passed the ball back to Parlour, who lofted the ball into the penalty area. At this time, Thiago, who was returning to defense, headed the ball to clear the ball, but the ball was headed to Viduka's feet in the penalty area. The latter reacted and shot directly.

Goalkeeper Petr Cech had no way to deal with this ball.

In fact, this goal can also be regarded as Chelsea's own own goal. Even the teammates next to him complained about Mendes' "classic overhead pass".

"Thiago doesn't seem to be in shape." On the Chelsea bench, assistant coach Clark turned to Mourinho and said.

Mourinho held his chin with one hand, tilted his head and stared at the court, and said: "He has not yet adapted to the fierce confrontation in the Premier League. He performed very well in Porto before and is one of the young people I am optimistic about."

Clark shook his head and said, "Maybe, but his performance has not been very good since he came to the team. I hope he can adapt to the Premier League games quickly."

"This game is going to be difficult," Mourinho said, turning to look at McClaren on the opposing bench. "If we can't equalize the score in the first half, the opponent will probably use the same tactics. With Middlesbrough's defensive ability, if they retreat throughout the game, it will be easy for them to hold out for 45 minutes."

At this time, on the field, Hasselbaink broke through from the middle again. Thiago Mendes stepped forward to defend, but was bumped away. The former got the chance and shot directly from the penalty area line. Fortunately, the ball deviated from the goal post and flew out of the bottom line.

Seeing this situation, Clark couldn't help but turn around and suggest: "Sir, I think you'd better consider replacing Thiago. His performance is really bad. If we lose two goals in the first half, the game will be more difficult to play."

Mourinho frowned. He knew what Clark said made sense, but after thinking about it, he said, "Wait a little longer. It's only been more than 20 minutes. Maybe it would be better to give him some time to adapt?"

Clark turned his head and without saying anything more, shifted his attention back to the game.

But it didn't take long for Mourinho to regret it...

In the 28th minute of the game, Mendes made a tackle on the penalty area line, but it hit the leg of the opponent's forward Mendieta. The referee immediately ran over and showed a yellow card to Mendes, and awarded Middlesbrough a free kick 35 meters away from the goal.

However, Mendieta was also carried to the sidelines by the team doctor for brief treatment.

Hasselbaink stood in front of the ball. Since he came to Middlesbrough, he has become the player's first free kick taker. However, this time he did not choose to shoot directly, but kicked the ball into the small penalty area.

In the chaos in Chelsea's penalty area, Viduka rushed directly and headed the ball into the net, which was also his second goal in the game.

At this time, Mourinho finally couldn't help it, he replaced Thiago Mendes with Scott Parker

ps: I recommend my friend’s new book “Rebirth in the World of Immortal Cultivation”, which is about the cultivation and upgrading process. I personally feel it is pretty good.