Chapter 293 Pressure, Thoughts, and Attack

pressure!

Pressure from within Portugal!

As a Portuguese, Jose Mourinho is still very patriotic. At least psychologically, he is not a so-called "traitor".

In the last two seasons, he coached Porto and led the team to win the UEFA Cup and the Champions League respectively. This made Portuguese fans and the media directly portray him as a hero. Mourinho still cares about this.

However, as a very ambitious football coach, after achieving the highest honor in the Portuguese A League in Porto, he no longer had any goals, so when he was invited by Mr. Abramovich, he was tempted and came directly to the Premier League.

Even if it weren't for the world's highest salary for a coach, Mourinho would have left Porto, and the club transfer method promised by Mr. Abramovich left the championship coach no reason to refuse.

Even though Chelsea is not a top club, wouldn't it be more fulfilling to lead such a nouveau riche team to win more honors than to achieve honors in a top club?

Jose Mourinho is such a person, who deep in his heart desires greater success.

If he could lead Chelsea to achieve the same honors as Porto, obviously, he would be more successful at Chelsea, because in the eyes of fans and the media, Chelsea is a nouveau riche team, while Porto is a wealthy club.

However, Mourinho's job-hopping as a regular coach was considered by the Portuguese media as a rebellion against Portuguese football, especially when Porto and Chelsea were in the same group in the European Champions League.

These Portuguese media unscrupulously used words such as "traitor" and "money-seeker" to describe Mourinho, which made the "madman" who had never cared about media comments feel helpless and depressed.

From an outsider's perspective, Jose Mourinho's decision to leave Porto was the right one, but when you get into it, this normal choice represents "betrayal", especially before Porto's away game against Chelsea, this "betrayal" even has a sense of hype.

But this is exactly what Mourinho cannot accept.

With his "madman" personality, he simply disdains to explain to the Portuguese media that report recklessly why he came to Chelsea in the Premier League. He just sits quietly in the office, studying the tactics for the next game.

Although in the eyes of Europeans, work and life are two completely different things, but as the "protagonist" of this game, Mourinho still "behaved" for once. He decided to use an absolute victory to let the Portuguese media know that in terms of strength, Chelsea is much stronger than Porto. Even without his command as the head coach, Porto will still lose the game!

And he, the Portuguese, Jose Mourinho, made the right choice to come to this club!!

So, at the pre-match press conference, when Mourinho was pressed by Portuguese reporters, he directly announced the team's starting lineup and the formation they would use.

Yes, the 'madman' is not afraid of Porto knowing this at all. He believes that in the face of absolute strength on the football field, any command and tactics are ineffective.

Jose Mourinho has absolute confidence in Chelsea now!

………Goalkeeper: Petr Cech Defenders: John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, William Gallas Midfielders: Damien Duff, Frank Lampard, Claude Makelele, Arkin Robben Forwards: Didier Drogba, Alan Wang, Eidur Gudjohnsen This is the Chelsea formation table that Porto coach Mr. Fernandes got.

It is obvious that Chelsea will fight a real offensive battle in this game. Analyzing the abilities of Chelsea players, it can be seen that the four midfielders must be in a diamond formation. Only on the front line, Wang Li's position is uncertain.

As for Fernandes, the most noteworthy thing about Chelsea is this black-haired boy. His abilities are so comprehensive that it would not be surprising even if Mourinho suddenly had the whim to put him in the center position. He could also be a right midfielder, a shadow striker or even a left midfielder. This kind of player with comprehensive abilities and who can do well in any aspect is really a headache.

Fernandez knew that if they could not defend against the black-haired boy, Porto would lose the game without a doubt. Even though Chelsea had deployed an absolutely offensive formation, Fernandez was not sure that his team could score 3 or even 4 goals at Stamford Bridge.

"Even if we know the opponent's formation, what's the use?" In the visiting team's locker room, Mr. Fernandez rubbed his temple helplessly.

Previously, the Spaniard had been conducting a comprehensive analysis of what formation and playing style Chelsea might adopt. He felt that as long as he knew the opponent's response strategy, the team would at least have the upper hand in terms of playing style. But now that he has learned Chelsea's formation and playing style, and even the list of starting players, Fernandez has fallen into another dilemma - even though he knew the opponent's playing style, he was still hesitant about his own team's playing style.

Obviously, facing the massive attack of a team that is stronger than Porto in overall strength, defensive counterattack is of course the best option. But even with defensive counterattack, can Porto really defend against Chelsea's attack?

Even if counterattacks can lead to goals, can Porto really score more goals than Chelsea?

It is even more impossible to play a head-on attack, which almost means failure. Even without talking about Chelsea's performance in the Premier League, in the first two Group H Champions League group matches, Chelsea won 1:4 and 5:1 respectively. This big score victory made all European teams realize the horror of the Blues' offensive ability. Even many newspapers and magazines such as Spain's "Marca", France's "France Football", England's "The Sun" and so on have labeled Chelsea as the team with the strongest offensive ability. The forward line composed of Alan Wang and Didier Drogba is even labeled as the most powerful forward line in the world.

All these factors show Chelsea's excellent offensive ability. So, how should Porto respond?

………Stamford Bridge, London, England.

Soon, the game that European media and fans had been looking forward to for a long time finally arrived.

London in November is always drizzling, and today is no exception. The sky is gloomy. The dark clouds block the sun, and the air is very humid, as if raindrops may fall at any time, which makes people walking on the street feel depressed.

"What a terrible weather." In the player tunnel, Porto midfielder Ricardo Quaresma kept complaining while shaking his moganshi. In this summer, Quaresma was abandoned by Barcelona and used as a bargaining chip to bring Deco back from Porto. Quaresma always felt bad about it. Fortunately, with his performance, Quaresma has gained the trust of Porto head coach Fernandez.

"It might rain. I should have changed into long-spiked shoes earlier." Postiga grumbled beside me.

"It's okay. It won't drizzle. London is always like this in this month." Defender Sitaridis, who just joined Porto from the Greek league this season, said with a smile.

"It's better if it rains, so that those Chelsea players will play unstably, which is more beneficial to us." Diego, a 19-year-old young player, laughed and turned to look at the Chelsea players in blue jerseys next to him. From his eyes, we can see that he still yearns for the Chelsea team. As a Brazilian player who just landed in Europe this season, he is still far from being a Premier League quasi-giant like Chelsea.

"That's true."

Compared to the Porto players who were chattering endlessly, the Chelsea players on the left side of the player tunnel were much quieter. They just stared at the field, waiting for time to pass, looking forward to getting on the field and participating in the game.

Before the game, although head coach Jose Mourinho did not say much to them or ask for anything, his expression and actions made all the players understand what he meant. To them, this game was not just an ordinary Champions League group match, but also a fight for the will of the head coach. Out of trust and respect for Mourinho, everyone knew very well that this game could only be won, and preferably a big win!

So, they are watching the stadium silently, waiting for the game to start, and using real actions to prove themselves, Chelsea, and the head coach's choice!

………“Beep…”

With the referee's whistle, the starting players of both teams began to enter the field.

Although the weather was gloomy, the Blues fans who came to watch the game were obviously still enthusiastic. The thunderous cheers from the audience boosted Chelsea's morale and made the Porto players feel an invisible pressure.

Then, a voice with an authentic English tone in the broadcast studio made them more stressed - "... the players of both teams are starting to enter the field, let's take a look at Chelsea's starting lineup... Oh my God, this is exactly the same as the list announced by the coach, the great Mr. Mourinho before the game. Obviously, in the eyes of Mr. Mourinho, Porto are just a group of clowns. Even if they knew Chelsea's lineup in advance, it would be impossible for them to win at Stamford Bridge."

"... Let's take a look at Porto's starting lineup for this game. The goalkeeper is Baya, the defenders are Sitaridis, Jorge Costa, Pepe, and Areias, the midfielders are Quaresma, Leal, and Maniche, and the forwards are Diego, Postiga, Alberto, and Fabiano."

"... Sorry, I can only briefly say their names. You know, the names of Porto players are too long and very difficult to pronounce. But unfortunately, the strength of their players is inversely proportional to the length of their names. I couldn't find a single player whose name I had heard of in the list. What a pity. I was expecting them to produce a Ronaldo to make everyone excited. Even if they won this game, for the great Chelsea, this victory was as easy as rubbing a helpless little girl. It couldn't bring any sense of accomplishment at all..."

In the anchor room, Creed Pesvak's metaphor made all the Chelsea fans burst into laughter. Although many Porto players had no idea what he was talking about, it did not prevent them from knowing from the laughter of the Chelsea fans that it was definitely not a good thing.

This also made them very angry. Head coach Fernandez had never encountered such a stadium anchor. He didn't even have time to shake hands with Mourinho, and hurried to the fourth official to protest.

Unfortunately, the fourth official of this game was an Englishman. He just responded with a smile and did not even record anything. You know, in order to achieve a greater home advantage, Chelsea also increased the volume in the anchor room. This made many Premier League teams dissatisfied with the anchor at Stamford Bridge and kept appealing, but the FA always replied that it didn't matter at all and it was a normal way to gain home advantage.

As a result, many Premier League teams began to follow suit... A few minutes before the game started, at this time, all the reporters had already pointed their cameras at the Chelsea fans in the audience, and many fans were shouting with all their might: "Chelsea must win!"

Another fan group erected a banner several dozen meters long on the east stand of the stadium, which read "Result 10-0, Allen scored 5 goals!"

"It's really... spectacular!" A Portuguese reporter couldn't help but exclaimed as he watched this scene.

Such loud slogans and warm home atmosphere as the one at Stamford Bridge are definitely rare in other leagues. This also shows the confidence of Chelsea fans and the popularity of the Premier League.

"Chelsea! Chelsea! Chelsea!"

In such a home atmosphere, I believe every Chelsea player will fight hard.

Seeing the enthusiasm of Chelsea fans, the Porto fans who were suppressed by their momentum were obviously unwilling to give up. In a corner of the west stand, they all stood up and waved their hands to cheer for Porto. Unfortunately, the number of people was too small. Compared with the Blues' more than 40,000 fans, it was really a drop in the bucket and not worth mentioning.

In this warm atmosphere, the game finally began with the referee's whistle.

………After receiving Chelsea’s starting lineup, Mr. Fernandez felt more confident in his heart.

The Spaniard felt that Chelsea would definitely launch a massive attack at the start of the game, taking advantage of their home advantage. Obviously, judging from the current situation on the field, he guessed right.

In the warm atmosphere of the home court, and in order to win with absolute advantage, Chelsea launched a fierce attack towards Porto's heartland at the beginning of the game.

This was all within Fernandez's expectations, and now he felt that Porto had some hope of winning.

For Chelsea, they must win this game just for the sake of head coach Mourinho. Otherwise, not only the head coach but they themselves will definitely become the laughing stock of the media after the game, which is absolutely unacceptable to the players.

Therefore, at the beginning of the game, Wang Li, as the team's offensive core, began to organize a massive attack. This attack even made Porto feel that Chelsea had given up on defense.

Although Porto still played the 433 formation from last season, this 433 was more defensive, that is, in order to deal with Chelsea's attack, Mr. Fernandez still chose to counterattack after consideration. The reason why this 433 formation is more defensive is that in the players' positions, a triangle is formed between every three players, making the regional defense more compact, and the regional defense from midfield to backcourt is very tight.

From this point of view, Fernandes' tactical arrangement was still influenced by Mourinho at Porto last season.

………In this game, Wang Li was the team's offensive core. Even in this game that was related to his own reputation, Mourinho still arranged him in the attacking midfielder position, just to make him adapt to the position of commander. This shows the extent of the Portuguese's trust in Wang Li.

Therefore, after Chelsea players get the ball, they will look for Wang Li's position first, and pass the ball to him when there is a chance. When they cannot pass the ball, they will find other ways.

As soon as the game started, Porto coach Fernandez in the coaching booth had already realized that this black-haired boy was the offensive core of Chelsea, which made him a little overwhelmed.

The Spaniard never thought that Wang Li would become the offensive core of Chelsea! !

Even from the position at the beginning of the game, he only thought that Wang Li's position was a shadow striker, so he specifically instructed the team's defensive players to block the front of the penalty area tightly to prevent the black-haired boy from finding an opportunity to shoot from a long distance, and even to use fouls in unimportant positions to stop Chelsea's attack.

Under this arrangement, Fernandez felt that it was enough, so he did not let some defenders specifically mark Wang Li.

Now, he regrets it!

However, the Spaniard was also very calm. He did not make any changes based on this. Changing tactics at the beginning of the game is definitely a taboo in on-the-spot command. In that case, the team may not know how to play the next game, and it will also seriously affect morale.

………Chelsea’s first wave of attack ended with the ball passed by Wang Li into the penalty area being kicked directly out of the danger zone.

However, Porto's counterattack failed at all. As soon as Quaresma crossed the center line with the ball, he was blocked by a beautiful tackle from French general Claude Makelele. The former fell to the ground and he finally realized how fierce Chelsea's defense was. If it was a game in the Portuguese League, there would never be such a "violent" steal at the beginning. Obviously, the physical confrontation in the Premier League is not comparable to that in the Portuguese League.

After this wave of offensive and defensive contact, Porto players discovered a strange problem - Chelsea's offensive speed was faster!

Everyone knows that Chelsea's defensive counterattack is very fast, but in this game, they did not defend and counterattack, and the game had just begun, but Chelsea's passes in the offense were mostly straight passes, and there were very few stop-ball passes.

This kind of passing method is very common in the game, but at the beginning, many players have not been able to integrate into the game. It is easy to make mistakes if they attack with this style of play.

This is really incredible.

(To be continued)