Episode [232]: Mr. Chairman, Have You Made a Decision?

May 19, 2007, London, England, the new Wembley Stadium.

"Okay, now the players from both sides have played, now let's introduce to you the starting list of both sides today." Mark Lawrenson said immediately.

Today's starters are as follows:

Team: Chelsea, Manager: Jose Mourinho, Formation: 4-3-3

Goalkeeper: Petr Cech

Back four [left to right]: Ashley Cole, John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira

Three midfielders [left to right]: Lampard, Makelele and Essien

Forward three [from left to right]: Salomon Kalou, Drogba and Arjen Robben

This is Chelsea's starting list today. Today's defense is full of main players, and there are no surprises. The surprise came from the midfielder. The midfielders Lars Diarra and Michael Ballack did not appear in the starting list, but Essien started. It was a bit of a surprise.

On the forward line, it is still a combination that Jose Mourinho is willing to use. Yes, even if he uses a young player like Salomon Kalu, he is not willing to use Andrei Shevchenko. Moreover, before this game, Abramovich has personally promised that Andrei Shevchenko will definitely start this game. However, now that Jose Mourinho has directly slapped Abramovich in the face, the conflict between the two has become open and transparent.

The fans of the Chelsea team sighed indifferently when they saw this. It seems that the Chelsea club is really going to be in turmoil. These are obviously not what Chelsea fans want to see.

Team: Leeds United, Head Coach: Zhong Zheng, Formation: 4-2-3-1

Goalkeeper: Zhong Zheng

Back four [left to right]: Patrick Evra, Gerard Pique, Kompany and Gary Kelly

Double midfielders: Alexander Song and Albertini

Three forwards [left to right]: Franck Ribery, Joan Gourcuff and Joaquin

Solo striker: Luca Toni

Leeds United's lineup has changed a lot today. The main right back Sarnia in the defense line did not start, but veteran Gary Kelly. This change is beyond everyone's expectation, but it is also within everyone's reason.

Because, more than half a month ago, Gary Kelly has made it clear that he will retire after the end of this season, and Gary Kelly will bid farewell to professional football. This game is the last game of Gary Kelly's career. It is still very humane for Zhong Cheng to let him start. This will be Gary Kelly's farewell battle.

Like Gary Kelly, there is also Albertini who started the midfield!

Albertini will also choose to retire after the end of this season. In fact, this season Albertini is also in a semi-retired state. He is an interior player and coach at Leeds United Club.

Albertini started today for the same reason as Gary Kelly, it was their farewell gig.

Zhong Cheng's starting lineup like this is really very humane. The Leeds United fans were very excited, shouting the names of Gary Kelly and Albertini excitedly, cheering for these two people, and many people even shed tears.

Of course, there were quite a few people who chanted Zhong Cheng's name, but most of them were beautiful fans.

Zhong Cheng made a change today, from 4-1-3-2 to 4-2-3-1, obviously for Albertini's consideration, and at the same time, he also put on a posture of defending and counterattacking.

Of course, this is actually the reason why Mascherano was injured, and Mascherano will soon not belong to Leeds United. It is said that he will transfer to Liverpool. Zhong Cheng must make preparations.

In the new season, Zhong Cheng will naturally have to introduce a right back and one or two midfielders.

Today, Leeds United's forward line has also changed. Yoan Gourcuff appeared in the starting list, and Luka Modric appeared on the bench. This change is something that many people can't understand.

Zhong Cheng stood on the sidelines with his hands in his pockets.

Zhong Cheng didn't have the habit of chewing gum. He just stood there quietly, as straight as a statue, motionless. His tall and straight figure made countless beautiful fans drool...

Jose Mourinho sat firmly on the coach's bench, watching the game calmly.

For whatever reason, Jose Mourinho wants to win this game, whether he leaves Chelsea or not.

Jose Mourinho immediately turned his head and glanced at Zhong Cheng who was standing on the sidelines, raising his eyebrows.

━━━Separation line━━━

Boom!

A crystal-clear goblet hit the ground hard, and it was split into pieces in an instant, with glass shards flying everywhere!

"Fuck! What the hell is the Portuguese guy doing? Why didn't Andre appear in the starting list? Tamar, what is he doing here?" A sound like an angry lion roaring exploded in the VIP box, and the whole box trembled three times.

"Mr. Chairman, don't be angry. Don't you know this guy's virtue? Tucker won't listen to you!" said a deep-sounding voice.

These two are the chairman of the Chelsea club Abramovich and the executive CEO Kenyon.

Abramovich was very angry when he saw Chelsea's starting lineup. This damn Jose Mourinho once again ignored his words. Why would he rather use Salomon Kalu, a young boy, than give the European striker Andrei Shevchenko a chance?

Didn't the damn guy hear himself saying that Andrei Shevchenko must start this game?

Abramovich's face was very ugly, gloomy.

It can be seen that Abramovich has tolerated it to the limit. It seems that Jose Mourinho has really stayed at the Chelsea club for a long time.

Kenyon immediately said: "Mr. Chairman, Mourinho's virtue is like this, as if he is the owner of the Chelsea team. He has no self-knowledge at all. On the contrary, he still thinks that he is extremely smart. He is God first and his master second. Why would he listen to the opinions of us mere mortals!"

Of course, when Kenyon was in charge of the Chelsea team, he was so glorious. He was really one man and one man above ten thousand people. At that time, he seemed to own the whole world. His first season at Chelsea was the most comfortable season for Kenyon. Because he was in control that season, the club was almost in his hands.

But since the arrival of this Jose Mourinho, Kenyon's status has become a bit embarrassing. Not only has his rights been taken away a lot by Jose Mourinho, but he has to follow Jose Mourinho's advice more at the club, which makes him already dissatisfied.

Kenyon's position in Chelsea is really embarrassing, and he is already tired of this feeling.

Now that Jose Mourinho and Abramovich are making trouble like this, he is naturally happy to see it, and it is very cool. It is best to get rid of Jose Mourinho, so that it will be perfect, completely perfect.

Now Kenyon just slightly mentions Jose Mourinho's faults beside Abramovich, and Abramovich's opinions on Jose Mourinho will become bigger and bigger.

Of course, Kenyon also knows how to measure, some things don't need to be said too much, a little is enough.

Sure enough, after hearing this, Abramovich's face became even uglier.

Bang, Abramovich slammed on the table again, he was really angry.

Abramovich looked very plain and said: "Chelsea club, does everyone only know Jose Mourinho, but don't know me Abramovich?"

Kenyon pondered for a while, then said weakly: "I really don't know this? You know, I basically follow you, you don't know, how do I know?"

Abramovich turned his head and took a fixed look at Kenyon, nodded after a while and said, "Yes, I promised too much power to that Portuguese guy, which led to today's unmanageable situation. Don't worry, I will add some burdens to you when the next coach comes!"

Kenyon's eyes lit up, and he said in surprise, "Mr. Chairman, have you really decided to change the coach?"

Abramovich looked into the court with both eyes, and nodded imperceptibly. Kenyon's eyes were the same, and he was overjoyed, it was done!

━━━Separation line━━━

On the court, the referee looked at the players on both sides who were standing in their positions, and found no accidents, and then he blew the whistle in his mouth: beep!

"Okay, the referee of this game has blown the whistle to start the game!" Mark Lawrenson said.

The first to kick off was Chelsea, wearing blue jerseys, attacking from the right side of the screen to the left. Today, Leeds United is wearing a white home jersey, attacking from the left side of the screen to the right.

However, it is clear that Leeds United did not show any signs of attack at the beginning of the game.

Leeds United put on a counterattack posture from the beginning, even Luca Toni stood near the center circle, and even returned to his own half to participate in the defense.

This made the Chelsea players frown a little!

Because Chelsea Club is also a defensive counterattack tactic, if Leeds United does not attack, it is still a bit difficult for them to defend and counterattack, because Leeds United's defense line is very compact and complete, it is really not easy for Chelsea to tear through Leeds United's defense.

However, the counterattacks of Leeds United and Chelsea are still not the same.

Leeds United's defensive tactics rely on super-strong overall defense, super-strong oppression, and fierce overall pressing to carry out a strong defense. Leeds United's defensive front is relatively low, almost all in their own half. The Chelsea team's defense is more of a high-position press defense. The fight is to steal the ball directly on the spot, relying on the high-speed passing and speed of three or four players in the frontcourt to surprise the opponent with lightning speed.

Now, Chelsea are in control of the players, they are slowly attacking forward.

Because the Chelsea people know very well that they must attack at this time. The Chelsea man probed the attack and the football was diverted to Arjen Robben wide. Before Arjen Robben could catch the football, it was posted up hard. Arjen Robben staggered and almost lost his footing.

Arjen Robben frowned. Leeds United's defense was really too strong. This was the last defense Arjen Robben wanted to see. Every time he played against Leeds United, his performance was not particularly good. He always felt like a pair of invisible hands pinched his throat, which made him very uncomfortable.