Chapter 147: The whole process is full of fun

Surrounded by crowded stands on all sides, the green grass became a concert stage.

Accompanied by a group of dancers, Lin Yoona sang this single "Call Me Maybe" in public for the first time.

The time was specially arranged before the game whistle, and the TV live broadcast had already started at this time, so her entire singing was broadcast live by the TV station and presented to all the fans and audiences around the world who were waiting in front of the TV.

The dance designed by Korean choreographer Lee Joo-sun for Im Yoona makes her look dynamic and full of energy.

This lively song with a playful style is also very catchy, especially the chorus, which is simple but beautiful and catchy, and can easily leave a very deep impression on people.

Especially when Yoona sang the most, the explosive sound effects on the scene made many music-loving fans in the stands stand up at the same time and twist their bodies to the melody and rhythm.

When the song finished, the entire St. Mary's Stadium was suddenly filled with the first thunderous cheers of the night.

"The live effect is very good!" Terry Matthews, who was sitting next to Yang Huan, was also infected by the music and his emotions were ignited.

Yang Huan smiled but said nothing.

Of course!

Ever since Psy sang "Gangnam Style" live here last time and it achieved amazing results, he has transformed the sound effects of St. Mary's Stadium, and Yoona and the dancers have been secretly practicing here for several days.

Judging from the reaction of the fans at the scene, this song is still very infectious.

After Lin Yuna finished singing and left the stage, the players of both teams walked out of the player tunnel under the leadership of the referee team.

The scene once again erupted in extremely warm applause and cheers.

As soon as the players of both teams entered the stadium, they immediately lined up in front of the player tunnel.

At this time, everyone realized that Southampton's starting lineup was completely different from usual.

"Change of formation?" Mayor Carol Connie was a little surprised and speechless.

Changing the formation before a big competition is a big taboo as it carries too much risk.

If you succeed, you will be a legend; if you fail, you will pay the most painful price.

Yang Huan knew very well that Bielsa would insist on playing offensive football. Although he didn't know how the game would turn out, he believed in Bielsa and the Southampton players anyway.

"The team has been secretly rehearsing for this for a while. Bielsa must have been prepared. After all, we are facing Chelsea. If we play according to the conventional routine, we will definitely suffer. They have studied us thoroughly, so we can only change the formation."

Yang Huan's explanation is plausible, reasonable and hard to object to.

Carol Connie and Terry Matthews were not professionals, but they just nodded continuously after listening to it.

But Charlene Lahri, who was sitting in the front row in front of Yang Huan, frowned when she heard it. She turned around and looked at Yang Huan worriedly. Her cute little mouth moved as if asking, is it really like this?

Yang Huan nodded without hesitation, it was indeed true!

Chelsea's starting lineup was actually not surprising.

The goalkeeper is Cech and the defense is Ashley Cole, David Luiz, Terry and Bosingwa.

The midfield adopted a diamond formation, with Mikel lagging behind, Essien and Lampard in the middle, and Anelka rushing forward as the attacking midfielder.

This tactical style had been practiced once in the middle of the week. Anelka performed very well in that game and Chelsea defeated their opponents with almost no effort.

The two strikers are indeed Drogba and Torres.

This starting lineup did not surprise Bielsa. It is not difficult to see that before the crucial battle, Ancelotti still believed in the principle of caution and did not make major personnel changes and adjustments.

But Southampton made a bold change.

The biggest change is that in addition to the two main central defenders Benatia and Varane, there is also a Portuguese veteran Jose Fonte in the starting lineup.

The veteran's performance was not ideal at the beginning of the season, and his main position was replaced by Benatia and Varane. After that, he was only able to play in some unimportant games or when the main players were absent due to injuries.

But now, Bielsa has arranged three central defenders, Benatia, Varane and Jose Fonte to start at the same time.

But at the same time, two full-backs who have performed well this season, David Alaba and right-back Carvajal, also started at the same time, which surprised everyone.

Does Bielsa want to play with five defenders? Adopt a defensive strategy?

In midfield, Southampton's three midfielders also started at the same time, Strootman, Vidal and Schneiderlin who was lagging behind.

The starting of these three players will also strengthen the hardness of Southampton's midfield.

There are five players in the back line, three players in the midfield, and only two players left in the front court.

Ibrahimovic and young player Chamberlain who has performed well this season.

Although captain Adam Lallana returned from injury at the last minute, Bielsa still did not include him in the starting lineup.

532 tactics?

This is a signature defensive counterattack!

"It can be seen that when facing Chelsea, a top Premier League team, even Bielsa, who regards offense as his life, has to compromise and adopt a more stable tactic."

The TV commentator analyses Southampton's starting lineup.

"But we also have to see a hidden danger, that is, Ibrahimovic is obviously not suitable for this kind of defensive counterattack tactic. The farther he is from the goal, the smaller the threat. Since we are going to play a defensive counterattack, why not use Barnard?"

Barnard is Southampton's substitute striker. He has made many substitute appearances this season and his performance has been good.

But as the game started, everyone gradually changed their pre-match views.

Southampton did use five defenders, but that doesn't mean the Saints will tighten their defense.

Among the five defenders, the three central defenders were at the back, three against two, restricting the two forwards of Drogba and Torres.

The two full-backs stood further forward and even rushed forward boldly.

Just twenty seconds into the game, David Alaba made a diagonal pass from the left and found Vidal who was pressing in the midfield.

After the Chilean got the ball, he was tackled to the ground by Chelsea's lagging midfielder Mikel.

The Nigerian was given a yellow card just twenty seconds into the game.

The diagonal pass between David Alaba and Vidal won cheers from more than 30,000 fans at the scene.

"Mikel's tackle was too casual. Vidal was still 30 meters away from the goal and the threat was not great. Besides, Terry also came back behind him. This shouldn't have happened." The commentator analyzed the situation.

But soon, it was still in this position.

Chamberlain moved to the left and cooperated with David Alaba before passing the ball to Vidal.

The Chilean rushed up quickly and shot the ball directly when he was still more than 20 meters away from the goal.

The ball went slightly above the crossbar, but it still made people break out in a cold sweat.

"This foot is too hard!" The on-site commentator had to change his words.

Within thirty meters, if Vidal is given a chance, he can score with a long shot.

After two consecutive attacks that showed momentum and threat, Southampton continued to increase its offensive efforts.

The two full-backs moved actively on the wing. Among the three midfielders, Stroman and Vidal took turns moving forward, especially Vidal, who made strong forward runs. Schneiderlin was more of a drag, keeping an eye on Anelka.

Chamberlain in the frontcourt actively moved to both sides to provide support.

This made Southampton's entire attack seem to be not very strong, but the effect was very good and threatening.

Southampton insisted on a head-on confrontation and attack against attack, but Chelsea was no pushover either.

Ancelotti's team is also very strong overall and gradually took control of the situation of the game.

Anelka got the ball in the frontcourt and wanted to break into the penalty area, but was tackled by Schneiderlin and Benatia.

But immediately afterwards, Essien passed the ball and Drogba shot from the edge of the penalty area, but the ball went slightly wide of the baseline.

Lampard then made a lob pass to the left side of the penalty area, and left-back Ashley Cole quickly inserted himself, stopped the ball and made a cross.

Benatia headed the ball away in the penalty area, beating Torres. Anelka came in and made a long shot from outside the penalty area, which hit Schneiderlin. The French midfielder had to be temporarily removed from the field for treatment, but he soon continued the game.

As soon as the game started, the two sides were like tit-for-tat, and went straight into a bloody hand-to-hand combat with bayonets.

There was no temptation, no disguise, just a direct confrontation with real weapons.

Southampton is not as sophisticated and stable as Chelsea in controlling the situation, but they are just as good in creating threats.

The two sides engaged in a fast-paced offensive battle, and the game situation was ups and downs. All the fans who came to the scene were thrilled while their hearts were also lifted.

In a competition like this, who can tell who will win or lose?

Yang Huan was attracted to the game from the very beginning because the pace was too fast.

To paraphrase a phrase from the movie world, the whole thing was hilarious.

Although he had great confidence in the team, he was also very nervous and uneasy, and it made him feel frightened.

He is like this, let alone the people around him.

Mayor Carol Connie and Sheriff Terry Matthews were also very excited, especially the latter, a veteran Saints fan, who stood up from his seat and shouted excitedly from time to time.

The Saints fans in the entire Southampton Chairman's Stand, as well as Southampton's political and business celebrities, were all terrified by the scene. They could always hear screams, just like watching a horror movie in the cinema.

Although Yang Huan is not a professional, he has watched football for so many years and can more or less understand the game.

Bielsa's tactics are head-on.

The three central defenders at the back restricted Chelsea's two forwards, and although the midfield seemed to have only three players, there were actually four.

Whenever Chelsea had the ball, Chamberlain kept harassing Mikel, Schneiderlin always fell back to restrict Anelka, Stroman and Vidal were freer and had a larger area of ​​activity, but they basically faced Essien and Lampard.

On Chelsea's two wings, Ashley Cole was quite active. Carvajal's side was under a lot of pressure and focused on defense, but Bosingwa was relatively average and did not participate much in the attack, so David Alaba was able to actively move forward and create threats.

The midfield is restricted to one-on-one situations, so the two flanks become the key.

Chelsea played with a back four, with the full-backs positioned further back.

What’s even worse is that Chelsea’s two forwards and attacking midfielder Anelka basically never go to the sidelines.

This means Chelsea's flanks can only rely on the two lagging full-backs to carry the ball forward.

But because Chelsea had no regular wingers, Southampton's full-backs pressed forward, with the focus on guarding Chelsea's two full-backs.

Therefore, in the battle between full-backs, the right side was basically level. Carvajal was basically able to defend against Ashley Cole, but his strength in participating in the attack forward was not great.

But Southampton has the advantage on David Alaba's side against Bosingwa.

The Austrian often had the ball in Chelsea's half and was able to create threats whenever he got the ball.

Bosingwa also got the ball in his own half, but to create a threat, he had to dribble the ball into Southampton's half.

This creates Southampton's advantage in local areas.

So on the surface, Chelsea controlled the game situation, but it was difficult to organize an effective attack.

Southampton seemed passive, but in fact they were constantly creating threats.

"The situation of the game has become very clear now!"

After watching the fast-paced game for twenty to thirty minutes, the on-site commentator had a thorough understanding of the lineups of both teams.

"Southampton's biggest advantage is on the wing, especially on the left side of David Alaba. Their weakness is in the front line. It is difficult for Ibrahimovic to seize the opportunity alone in front. The combination of David Luiz and Terry is very solid."

"Chelsea's advantage lies in their two forwards. There is a lack of threatening interaction between Drogba and Torres. If they can use their personal abilities to break through the limitations of the three defenders, then Chelsea's chance will come!"

Speaking of this, the on-site commentator had a look of anticipation on his face.

"Both sides have advantages and disadvantages. It depends on who can convert their advantages into goals as quickly as possible."

As the commentator was speaking, the interaction between Drogba and Torres began.

"Drogba intercepted the ball and Schneiderlin lost it in front of the penalty area..."

"Southampton is in danger!"

"Find Torres and pass the ball in..."