Chapter 220 You Let Me Choose? Then I Want to Face Bayern in the First Round of the Knockout Stage! [Please Subscribe! ]

Li Ang was indeed more active than usual in today's game.

But he did not intend to teach the young players on the opposite side as many fans thought.

It's purely because he had a rest in the last round of the Champions League and didn't play a game for more than a week. He just held it in for a long time.

In addition, the opponents he faced today were basically future Premier League stars, and the quality of the game was not low, so Li Ang was a little more excited.

But he didn't know that his positivity put psychological pressure on many young players in the Southampton team.

At this moment, Luke Shaw and Ward-Prowse, several young men who were not yet 20 years old, looked at Li Ang with something wrong.

However, in addition to nervousness and a little worry, they still see more challenges that they are eager to try.

After all, who isn’t a young genius?

For so many years, he has grown up in the media and the surrounding fans' optimism and pursuit. The ambition in the heart of a young man of 18 or 19 years old cannot be underestimated.

The desire to challenge after being frustrated made them have no idea of ​​backing down when facing Li Ang.

In terms of scenes, this kind of scene where young talents actively challenge their famous predecessors is naturally loved by fans and media reporters.

But for Pochettino, he is proud of it, but the more troublesome it is for such a situation to occur.

To train young geniuses, of course, they need to maintain enough courage, pride and spirituality.

But when it is necessary to make tactical concessions, these more emotional emotions will become a destructive factor for the stability of the team's performance.

Lallana, who is older, is more stable at the moment. He does not think it is a good thing for Luke Shaw and Ward-Prowse to attack in such a hurry.

Considering the overall offensive and defensive balance of the team, Southampton should not have too many individual attempts to attack with the ball at this moment.

That would only give up the ball rights that were finally won back to Chelsea.

They should prefer to accumulate defensive forces and block Li Ang's unreasonable advance in the middle.

Even Li Ang will distribute the ball in time, but as long as Li Ang's threatening advancement is limited first, then he can double-team Hazard defensively as much as possible.

Then Chelsea's offensive starting point will slowly adjust to the aging Lampard and Ramirez, who is far less threatening than Hazard.

This is the most important thing for Southampton. Otherwise, the defensive pressure exerted by Li Ang on Schneiderlin and Wanyama will always exist.

With the entire center unable to move, no matter how sharp Southampton attacks from the wing, it will not be able to directly reach Chelsea's core.

It's a pity that Lallana can only think about it by himself. He cannot be the master of the tactical adjustment of the entire team.

His head coach Pochettino can only continue to speed up the offensive end.

Li Ang saw that Pochettino had no intention of making any tactical changes, and he knew in his heart that Mourinho had once again touched the opponent's seven inches.

Southampton's current excellent results come from their advancing play from the wing.

And when both wings are strong in offense and weak in defense, you encounter a team with top wingers, such as Chelsea today.

Then Southampton would not dare to slow down the pace and turn the game into a positional battle.

Southampton's victory mode this season is basically to let the two wings break up the opponent's defensive formation, wait for opportunities to send threatening crosses, strive for the first goal, and then solidify the defense to counterattack.

Because there is Lambert's heavy attack in the penalty area, and behind Lambert there is the efficient killer Jay Rodriguez to hit the goal.

Therefore, Southampton's profit from sending threatening passes in the opponent's core is very high.

After scoring a goal, Southampton will use the defense and control advantages of the double midfielders to continuously seduce the opponent to press and attack.

They themselves will wait for opportunities to counterattack quickly and smoothly.

It can be seen whether Southampton can take advantage of a game or even win.

Whether their two-wing offense can overwhelm their opponents in the game is crucial.

It is precisely because Mourinho has seen through this that when arranging today's starting candidates, he directly let the younger Bertrand and Azpilicueta start.

At present, it seems that his starting arrangement is quite effective. Southampton's two wings are basically unable to penetrate Chelsea's defense and get in touch with their forwards.

And since Pochettino doesn't want to engage in a positional battle with Chelsea, Mourinho just wants to slow down the pace of today's game and put it into a positional battle to decide the victory!

This will make the game look draggy and less fluid, which is exactly what Mourinho wants most.

In such a stalemate, Li Ang's technical characteristics are very suitable for fighting tough battles.

Unless Pochettino is willing to completely overthrow his tactics, give up the advantages on both wings, and concentrate his forces in the center to first limit Li Ang's offensive performance.

But in that case, Hazard will be able to rush in very easily alone, and the connection between him and Ibrahimovic won't be scary?

So this is still a tactical multiple-choice question after all.

Pochettino chose to use offense instead of defense and continued to make fuss on both wings, preventing Hazard from having too much room to play.

Mourinho also simply gave Li Ang the freedom to attack in the frontcourt.

Facts have proved that Lallana's defensive interference on Li Ang is minimal, unless he commits a tactical foul, and Schneiderlin can only double-team Li Ang with Wanyama.

Because no matter which of their two defensive midfielders is singled out, they can't limit Li Ang's brutal advance one-on-one.

Sitting at home, Chelsea, who has the home whistle, really has no hesitation in pushing the ball in the middle.

Before the game, Wanyama thought Li Ang would play some technical offense with them.

After all, Li Ang had dribbled in the previous two games and achieved considerable tactical results.

But when Li Ang played physical confrontation with him, he found very sadly that he could only barely keep up with Li Ang's rhythm in dynamic confrontation!

Li Ang's strength and endurance far exceeded Wanyama's expectations!

So much so that he had to put down his face and asked his partner Schneiderlin and himself to double-team Li Ang early.

With their double-teaming, Southampton's entire central defense gradually collapsed.

Because Li Ang could always pick the ball out in their double-teaming.

Whether it is to pass the ball to Ramirez, Hazard, or to Ibrahimovic, Chelsea's steady progress will not stop.

Pochettino had already finished two bottles of mineral water before the first half was even half an hour old, and he could not help but feel anxious.

He also experienced Li Ang's terrifying growth ability again.

After all, he is a coach who has played against Real Madrid in La Liga.

Pochettino is a witness to how much Li Ang has improved in the past three years.

And watching Li Ang constantly sabotaging in his own half, Pochettino had to admit that it was difficult for him to find a way to limit Li Ang's performance.

Perhaps there is only one way to mobilize heavy troops to defend the center line.

Even if Pochettino is unwilling, he must consider the necessity of implementing this tactic at this moment.

"If we can get one point away from home, we are lucky.

It doesn't matter if we defend a game occasionally..."

A voice suddenly sounded in Pochettino's mind, but what followed was his insistence on his tactical ideas and his doubts about his own defense.

"Can we really defend one point by just relying on the number of people to defend? Chelsea now has too many tactical means to break the bus, which is very risky!"

The two voices intertwined in Pochettino's mind at the same time, making him more and more undecided.

In terms of on-the-spot adjustments, Pochettino and many head coaches have the same problem.

That is, they are too entangled and hesitant between their satisfaction with their tactical ideas and the unfavorable game situation on the field.

Sometimes they suspect that it is because their players did not resolutely implement their tactical ideas, which led to this unfavorable situation.

For Mourinho, he often takes the players' full use of their abilities as the premise, and then considers whether there are flaws and loopholes in the pre-match tactical formulation.

If any part of the tactics is used by the opponent, Mourinho will make a rehearsal adjustment in his mind. If the tactics can be changed, he will change the tactics. If the tactics cannot be changed, he will directly change the players!

Of course, this is also due to Mourinho's involvement in various tactics. Even though he likes a safe victory the most, this does not prevent him from often commanding the team to play a hearty and aggressive attack.

There are many tactics that can be played, and there are many tactical trump cards at hand. In addition, Mourinho only wants to win, and he doesn't care about the process of winning.

So his on-the-spot adjustments always seem to be particularly timely and effective.

But this does not mean that Pochettino is not good. In fact, coaches like Mourinho who make too decisive on-the-spot adjustments are outliers and a minority in the football world.

So it is normal for Pochettino to hesitate at this moment.

Let alone him, most of Southampton's fans will hesitate for a while between whether to continue to strengthen the wing attack and defend with all their hearts.

But by the 42nd minute of the first half, they no longer need to worry about it.

Because Chelsea used enough patience and tactical suppression to welcome the fruits of their deserved advantage!

Li Ang, Ibrahimovic and Ramirez patiently passed the ball five times in a short distance outside the right side of Southampton's penalty area.

And when the ball returned to Li Ang's feet again, he made a tactical bait for Hazard.

With his eyes fixed on Hazard, Li Ang used his heel to knock the ball in front of Lampard who was inserted in the middle!

Before the game, Pochettino emphasized many times that Li Ang must not be given the opportunity to shoot without being guarded in front of the penalty area.

Southampton's defensive players obviously listened to it.

Their strict defense of Li Ang did prevent Li Ang from getting a chance to shoot in the entire first half.

So he gave this opportunity to Lampard, the big brother in the team!

And when he saw Lampard adjust his pace and calmly kick the ball in front of the top of his own penalty area, Pochettino was numb!

This time, Li Ang didn't just use Hazard as a tactical bait.

He also took himself into account, completely attracting the defensive attention of Schneiderlin and Wanyama!

And the Polish goalkeeper Boruc also felt very powerless at this moment.

That's Frank Lampard!

How dare his own defensive players let him shoot calmly in such a position? !

Boruc gritted his teeth and made a save. He could only do his best to defend the goal while praying in his heart that the goddess of luck would take care of Southampton again!

Unfortunately, the crisp sound of the football rubbing against the net finally rang in his ears!

And Boruc had no way to keep Southampton's goal intact again, just like he rejected Ibrahimovic's close-range shot at the beginning of the game!

"The ball is in!!! Frank Lampard! He used his signature shot in front of the penalty area to score Chelsea's first goal in this game!!!

This is also Lampard's fifth goal this season! Amazing efficiency! The sword is still sharp!!!"

"Too bold! Dare to let Lampard shoot calmly in this position?! Southampton's defensive players are too bold!"

Zhan Jun and General Fan exclaimed in the studio of Sina Sports!

On the court, Lampard, who scored a beautiful goal, also excitedly ran to the bottom line and punched and roared to celebrate!

Mourinho also had some surprise in his eyes when he celebrated on the sidelines.

He actually didn't expect that it would be Lampard who opened the scoring for Chelsea today!

After all, Lampard and Matic stayed in their own half today and didn't have many offensive opportunities.

As a result, Li Ang patiently laid out the bait and reactivated Lampard, the long-range killer who scored 15 goals in the Premier League last season!

Pochettino, who was still thinking about whether to defend to get a point, now has no more worries.

After dragging out the remaining few minutes of the first half, Southampton started the second half and launched a fierce offensive!

Pochettino knows that when facing Mourinho, once the score falls behind, he must strengthen the offense as soon as possible.

Don't delay!

Because Mourinho is an expert.

You think about fighting to the death after 70 minutes, but by that time, your players have lost their morale and can't support their physical strength.

As a result, Mourinho's team is still running quite vigorously!

Pochettino, who had been struggling to win against Mourinho's Real Madrid, had suffered enough in this regard.

So he had already mobilized his players during the halftime break.

Without any fluke mentality, Southampton, who was desperate, was still quite threatening on the offensive end.

But what Chelsea wants now is that they make this active offensive decision.

Still the same sentence:

You don't attack? Then how can I counterattack and lock the victory!

In the second half, Chelsea just defended the half court and waited for an opportunity to counterattack Southampton.

At this moment, Li Ang also completed the position change with Lampard and retreated to the more important position of defensive midfielder.

This made Li Ang feel like a dragon brother.

He is the real offensive and defensive hub of Chelsea. In defense, he has to constantly look for precious opportunities to counterattack and lock the victory.

It is not necessary for him to directly assist the striker in the front court to kill with one blow. What he needs to do more is to find the most suitable counterattack path.

When he was able to pass the ball accurately to this counterattack path, he also had to make sure that his teammates could advance in time and send the ball more accurately into Southampton's penalty area...

The trivial defense and frequent observation did not make Li Ang feel exhausted.

Instead, he became more and more excited and calmer.

In the 71st minute of the second half, when Southampton's Luke Shaw made a cross, Terry took the lead in Lambert's header, and Li Ang started to advance instantly!

Ramirez, who received the ball from Terry, did not hesitate and made a diagonal pass directly in front of Li Ang!

Wanyama gritted his teeth and simply shoveled!

Li Ang jumped flexibly after poking the ball, avoiding Wanyama's tackle, and then pushed off the ground to accelerate and continue to advance!

But just when everyone thought he would continue to dribble forward, he adjusted his pace and then sent a diagonal long pass straight to Southampton's right!

Hazard also just completed a high-speed overtaking of Chambers at this moment!

The speed advantage made him leave Chambers far behind in the state of running without the ball.

Hazard, who stopped and dribbled, quickly cut into the Southampton penalty area with the ball.

Before the two central defenders of Southampton returned to defense, Hazard sent a reverse triangle back pass!

At this time, Ibrahimovic, who had been following behind, also accelerated suddenly and completed the final shot in the middle of the penalty area!

Facing such a close-range push, Boruc was the peak of Cech and Buffon, and it was difficult for him to make a successful save!

As soon as the ball went in, the game basically lost all suspense.

Because Mourinho didn't care about celebrating too much, he had already called Kalas and Ivanovic to warm up on the sidelines!

Li Ang no longer thought about counterattacking at the last moment, and honestly squatted in his own half with Matic, and resisted Southampton's desperate counterattack!

In the second half, Osvaldo, who was a substitute for mediocre, came on the field, but Lambert, who didn't score a goal in the end, was very anxious.

But he was injured and couldn't play to his full potential.

Southampton, who lacked finishing ability, made a lot of passes in the final moments, but they scored very few goals.

After the three minutes of injury time, the referee blew the whistle to end the game!

After winning this tough battle, Chelsea's lead at the top of the table was consolidated by several points. Li Ang, who was in a good mood today, also accepted an interview from Sky Sports after the game.

The reporter asked a lot of questions today, some about the league, some about the upcoming English League Cup, and even about the Champions League.

Li Ang also responded jokingly.

"Champions League? Well, if I can choose by myself... then I want to pick a strong enough team to play Bayern Munich directly in the first round of the knockout stage, how about it?!"