Chapter 208 The Little Monster that Was Fooled by Li Ang (a Funny Chapter)

Chelsea's winning streak at the start of the season was finally interrupted.

According to Chelsea's performance in previous games, it was not right for them to be tied by Norwich at home this round.

But look at the tight schedule of European teams recently.

It is reasonable for Chelsea, whose lineup is older, to have such a draw.

Many fans of other Premier League teams who had watched Chelsea win six consecutive league games and achieve a remarkable record were relieved at this moment.

"I was scared to death. I thought Mourinho would recreate the strength of winning the championship in the first season as soon as he returned to the Premier League. Their bench is still a little weak after all."

"Chelsea will play Schalke 04 in the next round of the Champions League. I hope they can fight harder so that we can also get an advantage~"

"Manchester City fans? Come on, Chelsea just drew with Norwich. In the next round, Chelsea will play the Champions League and play the league with you at home. Old Premier League fans don’t know how terrible Mourinho’s home win rate is?"

"It depends on the state of Chelsea’s other players at that time. Maybe Mourinho will use rotation when playing in the Champions League? Anyway, they have won two consecutive group matches.

Li Ang’s physical fitness and state are really awesome. If other Chelsea players are not bad, I am optimistic that Chelsea will restrain Manchester City to win..."

Chelsea’s draw attracted a lot of discussion and comments from Premier League fans.

There are many views of gloating, and of course, there are also Premier League fans who have watched the game for a long time and gave rational analysis.

In their opinion, Chelsea now has big players on the central axis who can hold the team in check.

There is little possibility of big fluctuations in performance, but the team has many problems.

The first is that the performance of the young players in Chelsea, except Li Ang, has fluctuated greatly.

When they play well, their performance looks very good.

But when they encounter difficulties, these young players need more training, and it is not realistic to expect them to save the team in times of crisis.

The second problem, of course, is that Chelsea has a large proportion of veterans.

Chelsea's current lineup age structure is very interesting, most of the players are either too young or too old.

The starting lineup is currently in its prime, only David Luiz and Ramirez.

Later, Matic has established a foothold in the starting lineup, and Ramirez may have to withdraw from the stable starting list and rotate with Lampard and De Bruyne.

So no matter how it changes, Chelsea's starting lineup will basically only have two players of the right age who are in their prime.

And on the bench, Chelsea also has the same problem.

The age of the players is either too young or too old.

This also leads to the situation that once Chelsea's veterans have physical problems or are in poor condition, the stability of the team's strength will be greatly reduced.

Fortunately, Chelsea spent a lot of money to introduce Li Ang this season, otherwise, the current Chelsea midfield main force is Oscar and Lampard.

If you want to talk about attacking from behind, there is certainly no problem with the combination of Oscar and Lampard.

But in terms of the combination of sweeping defense and organizing offense, neither of them can meet Mourinho's current requirements.

Moreover, the midfield combination of the two of them cannot provide Chelsea with a bottom line on the defensive end.

This is something that all Premier League fans have to admit.

With Li Ang's support in the middle, Lampard can play more easily, and Matic also has the most suitable partner to build a steel wall in front of Chelsea's central defenders.

Even David Luiz, who has always been criticized by various British media in the past season and a half, does not seem to be aggressive now.

After all, when he attacks, whether it is Matic or Lampard who now plays as a defensive midfielder.

Both will follow Mourinho's instructions and fill in more positions for him.

So the Brazilian central defender, who was previously radical and somewhat brainless in the mouth of the British media, has transformed himself this season and become one of the top central defenders in the Premier League.

In cooperation with Terry, the central defender who is still at the top level in football.

Although Chelsea's current central defender combination is a bit old-fashioned, it is solid on the defensive end.

In summary, many old Premier League fans have a clear view of the problems that Chelsea has now.

However, they all admit that Mourinho's transformation of Chelsea's entire defensive system can be said to be very successful.

With the current defensive level, plus Li Ang who almost does not need to rotate and can always maintain his form.

Chelsea's record fluctuations are destined to be less than other competing teams in the league.

It is too early to say that Chelsea is the biggest favorite to win the Premier League this season.

But there is no problem in saying that Chelsea is a strong contender for the Premier League title this season.

It depends on whether the other young players in Chelsea can have further transformation in this season's winter schedule.

Especially look at Hazard and De Bruyne.

If the two of them can play better, Mourinho's offensive tactics can also be better reflected.

After all, from the first period to now, when Mourinho's team's offense is the most sharp, there are two wingers who are at least first-class in football to support the system.

Without strong wingers, Mourinho can certainly find a way to deal with it by changing the formation or playing other formations.

But when his two wingers are strong enough, the team led by Mourinho will be as strong as the fans expect.

At present, it seems that Hazard has reached the first-class level in Chelsea.

If his performance can be more stable, perhaps he will reach the top level in the next two seasons.

De Bruyne's talent shown when he was on loan in the Bundesliga is not bad at all, but he still needs to show better performance in the Premier League to prove himself.

As for Lukaku, another member of the Belgian Three Youngsters who is now combined with the two of them...

To be honest, all Premier League fans last season could still see what the future development path of this Belgian little monster would be like.

But let alone them this season, Chelsea fans are a little confused, not knowing which direction their coaching staff wants to train Lukaku.

And in the Chelsea team.

Lukaku, who stayed in the Cobham training base with Li Ang to practice before the national team was called up, is now a little distressed.

In the last round of the World Cup qualifiers, Lukaku was pressed on the bench by Benteke for a full 90 minutes in the Belgian national team.

Lukaku, who has successfully transformed in the club, is still quite happy.

He likes Mourinho's development advice to him, and he himself feels that he is happier playing on the wing.

But in the Belgian team, there are too many players who can play on the wing now, and the national team coach also needs him to gain a foothold in the middle.

Otherwise, between Benteke, who is more suitable to play as a center forward, and him. The national team coach will naturally prefer Benteke to start with Hazard and De Bruyne.

This makes Lukaku feel very depressed.

As another international match day approached, the confused Little Monster did not want to report to the national team early as usual.

So he stayed at the Cobham training base, and while training with Li Ang to vent his depression, he inevitably wanted to find someone to talk to.

In terms of comforting people, Li Ang has always done a very good job.

Besides, others are not sure what path Lukaku will take in the future and what formation he is most suitable for. How can he not know?

So Li Ang, who had no psychological burden at all, pulled the little monster to sit on the side of the training ground after the first day of training with him, and comforted him with earnest words.

"You have to have more confidence in yourself, Romelu, you also feel that you are playing more comfortably now, and you can make continuous progress in training and competition, right?"

Lukaku looked at Li Ang innocently and nodded vigorously.

"Yes, I like the boss's arrangement for me now, but in the national team..."

Li Ang waved his hand and then patted Lukaku's big head.

"So I said you should be more confident in yourself. Do you have to do what the national team coach needs you to do?

Then he asked you to sacrifice a certain amount of speed and gain weight in order to make you have a stronger static confrontation in the middle. Are you willing to do that?"

When Lukaku heard Li Ang say this, his slightly confused eyes instantly became clear.

"How can that be possible?! The boss said that I should maintain my current weight. Maybe I need to lose some weight accordingly in the future. My speed and burst can guarantee my versatility in the wing and the middle..."

Looking at Lukaku's head shaking like a rattle, Li Ang also laughed.

"That's right, so, other people's suggestions are not necessarily correct.

I tell you, Romelu, this international match day, at least in the first World Cup qualifier, you will definitely start, do you believe it?"

"Ah? Why?"

"Hey, did Benteke score in the last round of World Cup qualifiers?"

"No."

"That's it!"

Li Ang continued to analyze for Lukaku with confidence.

"What position is suitable? What tactics are needed? In fact, the national team coach wants a striker who can score goals!

Your data in the Premier League last season is not much different from Benteke's. Benteke had a minor injury before. The coach of your national team used him as a starter in the last round, but he didn't score. Shouldn't he send you up this round to see the effect?"

The more Lukaku listened to Li Ang's analysis, the clearer his mood became. In the end, he even slapped his thigh hard!

"You are right! Li Ang, why didn't I think of it before? As long as I can score more goals, no matter what kind of playing style I prefer on the court, Mr. Wilmots will give me more starting opportunities..."

Seeing that Lukaku was obviously excited, Li Ang had to pat his shoulder and back first, signaling him to calm down.

"Think it through? But there is one thing I have to remind you, in the national team, you still have to move more in the middle, and try not to pull to the side frequently.

In that case, whether you are comfortable with it or not is one thing, but don't occupy the space for your teammates on both sides. "

Seeing that Lukaku was listening carefully at this moment, Li Ang continued to give suggestions.

"Get behind the opponent's defense more often. In national team games, sometimes it is not that difficult to score goals. If your team likes to play defense and counterattack, it will be even better.

Use your speed, understand? Make more use of your speed and impact, and find gaps at the right time. Grabbing points in the penalty area is not your strong point, so try to avoid it.

Also, from now on, you should try to move more on the right side, and communicate more with Kevin. He can play on the wing or in the middle, and it is convenient for him to switch positions with you. "

"Move more on the right side?"

"Yes, after all, your primary task is to score goals. If you move on the right side, it will be more conducive to your cut-in shot. You have to practice more in this regard. If it doesn't work, use your small burst to shake off the opponent, and then come with a clean burst shot! "

Li Ang was so excited that he directly pulled Lukaku to practice on the training ground.

The practice was not complicated. It was just outside the right side of the penalty area, Li Ang pressed inside the penalty area line to defend, and Lukaku directly burst inside to shake off the angle and shoot.

It was definitely not beautiful. Lukaku relied on bursting to gain space for kicking.

His left foot was very powerful, so Li Ang did not suggest him to pursue arcs and angles like Robben.

It was just to use force to break through tricks, cut inside, burst and lie down, and then burst and shoot!

Of course, Li Ang estimated that Lukaku would not be able to learn Robben's cutting-in technique...

So he just let him practice a simple and rough, but equally effective cutting-in shot.

This effectiveness does not necessarily guarantee a goal. It is also good to make the opponent's goalkeeper lose his hand and create a few corner kick opportunities.

Lukaku practiced vigorously. Li Ang finally looked at his slightly curly short hair, and seemed to remember something and spoke directly.

"Romelu, why don't you shave your hair! "

"ah?"

"Reduce air friction, maybe you can run faster then?"

Li Ang gestured, but he didn't expect that his suggestion with a hint of bad taste would get Lukaku's serious nod after thinking about it.

So four days later, the image of a bald boiled egg appeared so clearly in the starting lineup of the Belgian national team!

In the World Cup qualifiers against Croatia, Lukaku also used his speed and impact to make Croatia's defense suffer!

Keeping in mind Li Ang's advice, Lukaku, who always kept rushing, made Lovren and Joel Luka complain in turn.

And in the 36th minute of the first half, Lukakula moved to the right, suddenly cut inside, and then shot with his left foot to penetrate the goal guarded by Pletikosa.

The commentators of various countries who explained this World Cup qualifier were all excited!

And Lukaku was even more passionate, constantly patting his bald forehead and rushing towards the live camera!

"Brother Lion, you really understand me!"