Chapter 235: Chelsea Is in Big Trouble Due to the Crisis in Defense? [Please Subscribe! ]

After being defeated by Liverpool, Arsenal fans had not recovered until the end of the 25th round of the Premier League.

The main reason was that this defeat was far beyond the expectations of all Gunners fans.

Even many Liverpool fans still can't believe that they scored a full slap of goals in one game!

In the second minute of the game, when Skrtel scored his first goal of the game from a set-piece opportunity, all Liverpool fans were surprised.

But they definitely didn't have more extravagant hopes.

Arsenal fans also didn't expect that just eight minutes after the first goal was lost, they saw Skrtel score his second goal of the game from a corner kick opportunity!

Losing two goals in ten minutes, both of which went wrong in the set-piece, and the opponent's same central defender scored twice in a short period of time!

When their brains were in a mess, Arsenal fans missed Mertesacker, who was absent from the league due to injury, and Toulalan, who was resting.

If Mertesacker and Toulalan were on the field, Arsenal's interception in their own half would only be more resolute.

They would not give Liverpool such an opportunity in set pieces!

Wenger lost his sense of proportion. When he was two goals behind, he could only ask his players to think more about the offensive end.

So after the forward pressure and the massive attack, Arsenal's nightmare also came.

Liverpool's counterattack was crazy!

If Sturridge and Suarez were not "happy" in the game, Liverpool might have scored 5 goals directly against Arsenal in the first half!

In the end, the score between Liverpool and Arsenal in the first half was 4-0.

In the 56th minute of the second half, Sterling stabbed again and changed the score to 5-0, and Liverpool stopped after that.

You know, this game is the early opening match of the 25th round of the Premier League, so almost all Premier League fans watched this exciting Premier League game in its entirety.

Almost all Premier League players and coaches also learned the news that Arsenal was defeated by Liverpool with four goals in the first half before their respective games, at least in the locker room!

Chelsea players learned this good news from assistant coach Holland when they returned to the locker room for the final mobilization after finishing the pre-match warm-up.

Arsenal, who should have been catching up and could have narrowed the points gap with Chelsea to 4 points in this round of the league, fell behind hard.

Chelsea players were of course very happy.

So they excitedly beat Newcastle 5-0 at home!

It was a bit heavy, but who made Newcastle beat them in the first half of the league?

Now it’s good, they have avenged the loss to the Magpies in the first half, and opened up a 7-point points gap with Arsenal after this round.

If Manchester City had not also won a big victory over Norwich and was still closely following Chelsea, Chelsea's players would have definitely celebrated.

However, when they thought of Manchester City's two consecutive wins and the challenge from Everton, the sixth-strongest team in the Premier League, in three days, Chelsea's players gave up the idea of ​​having dinner together.

The next morning, when other Chelsea's main players were still resting, Li Ang had already called Kalas and Van Ginkel, who did not get a chance to play in the 25th round of the league, to the training base for normal training.

So they also learned a bad news from the coaches earlier than other Chelsea first-team players:

Terry went home to rest after physical therapy yesterday, but he felt uncomfortable in his ankle all the time. He had a detailed examination accompanied by the team doctor this morning.

As a result, Chelsea's old captain was diagnosed with a slight ankle sprain and would not be able to play in the game for at least the next 10 days.

Whether he can even participate in simple training depends on the further diagnosis and analysis of the team doctors.

Fortunately, Terry's accidental sprain on the field did not hurt the ligament, otherwise the situation would be even worse.

In the afternoon, when the other Chelsea first-team players returned to the training base to report, they also gradually learned about Terry's injury.

Mourinho's face looked a little solemn, but he did not show his worries, and he did not want his players to bear an unnecessary psychological burden.

Terry did not participate in the afternoon training, and Gary Cahill replaced Terry in the main vest.

Terry was injured, and Gary Cahill, as his first substitute, naturally had to take over. He is also the most reliable central defender in the Chelsea first team besides Terry.

However, before, he either started with Terry or started with Kalas in the domestic cup in England.

Gary Cahill and David Luiz's partnership this season is rare.

And Mourinho made such an arrangement before, of course, he also had his intention.

To be honest, Mourinho was not very satisfied with David Luiz when he just returned to London to take over Chelsea.

Looking at the teams he coached in the past and the central defender combinations he selected, it is easy to see:

In the central defender combinations selected by Mourinho, the central defenders who go up are all flexible, strong in confrontation, brave and resolute, and must also be active in mind.

Whether it is Carvalho, the direct central defender he brought when he first coached Chelsea, or Lucio, who he later selected in Inter Milan, or Ramos, who was reused in Real Madrid.

These defenders all have the above characteristics.

Although Ramos always gives people a relatively irritable feeling after being trained by Mourinho to play as a central defender, Ramos is actually very smart.

Moreover, his explosive ability is very strong, and he is also timely enough to chase back. Sometimes he makes a little mistake, but he can basically make up for the defensive mistakes he made.

So after getting used to these brave but smart central defenders, Mourinho's slight dissatisfaction when looking at David Luiz can be understood.

At the beginning of the season, Mourinho had a private conversation with David Luiz.

He explicitly asked David Luiz to restrain his frequent desire to advance and his overly active enthusiasm to confront opponents.

Because central defenders are not like other positions on the field, and the Premier League is not like other leagues.

First, central defenders should not make too many mistakes. The more powerful the team is, the more they value this.

Second, the offensive players in the Premier League generally have strong impact capabilities.

David Luiz is in the Portuguese Super League, or if he is in Serie A. If he makes 10 mistakes in attacking, he may have time to chase back and make up for his mistakes six or seven times.

But if he makes 10 mistakes in attacking in the Premier League, seven or eight of them may bring devastating disasters to the team!

Mourinho has watched the video of David Luiz's game at Chelsea last season, and he made too many mistakes in attacking.

As a result, Mourinho only dared to arrange Luiz and Terry to start this season, so that Terry could suppress David Luiz's restless heart that wanted to perform brilliantly.

Terry has enough prestige and strength, and he is the captain of the team, so David Luiz can only listen obediently.

So before, under the premise that Terry was holding David Luiz down, Mourinho was still quite confident about this Brazilian central defender who had a dual performance.

But now that Terry is injured, Mourinho can't be at all confident about David Luiz's performance in the future.

Gary Cahill is a relatively stable central defender, and Mourinho likes him very much. Generally speaking, it is okay to use Gary Cahill to replace Terry occasionally.

But if he and Luiz play against strong teams, Mourinho can only remind the Brazilian central defender more in training, and let him listen to Gary Cahill's command.

Li Ang is of course very clear about David Luiz's advantages and his old problems?

But at this moment, he is still quite confident about the central defender partnership of David Luiz and Cahill.

After all, their opponents in the next round are not the top four teams in the Premier League, so it is not too difficult to play Everton.

As long as Matic performs well, David Luiz will not have too many opportunities to face the opponent's forwards. Compared with Mourinho's caution, Li Ang is more relaxed.

After two days of training together, seeing that David Luiz is still relatively obedient, Mourinho is really relieved.

The news that Terry is suspected of being injured has long been known to the media, so at the pre-match press conference on February 10, Mourinho was frequently asked about this by reporters.

Facing the curious eyes of these reporters, Mourinho did not say much and directly announced Chelsea's 18-man roster for this round of games.

Terry's name did not appear on this list, which has confirmed the authenticity of the rumors.

Mourinho did not release any tactical smoke bombs this time, and openly admitted that Terry needed to rest for about two weeks.

If he is lucky, Terry can catch up with the 27th round of the Premier League on February 22.

But in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain on February 18, Terry basically couldn't start.

This is a huge loss for Chelsea, and such news quickly spread throughout Europe after the pre-match press conference.

The British media don't know what the coaches and fans of Paris Saint-Germain think.

But the British media soon discovered that Everton fans were already excited.

Chelsea's overall strength is very strong, but without Terry, Chelsea's defense line has lost a stabilizing force.

This has a significant impact on Chelsea's defense. In any case, this is a good opportunity for Everton to take advantage of!

Many Everton fans even gave advice to their head coach Robert Martinez on the Internet.

In this atmosphere of being hit by an unexpected surprise, the entire Everton team arrived at Stamford Bridge on the evening of February 11 to make final preparations for the game.

Before the players of both teams warmed up, Everton's current starting center forward Eto'o came over to hug and greet Mourinho.

After being scooped up by Everton with a generous annual salary of 7 million pounds in the winter window, Cheetah saved Everton's weak forward with three goals in six games.

Mourinho was also very happy to see that the veteran who won the Champions League with him in Inter Milan in the past returned to the mainstream league and rejuvenated his second spring.

However, in addition to being happy, he also teased Eto'o and told him not to play too well today.

The photo of the two hugging and greeting on the sidelines undoubtedly once again evoked the good memories of many Inter Milan fans.

However, when the game really started, Eto'o obviously could not let the game go because of the friendship of his old mentor.

Everton, who played 4231 today, seemed to be putting their money on Eto'o.

They constantly used the two wingers to attract the defensive attention of Chelsea's midfielder Matic, and then sent Eto'o the ball directly behind Chelsea's defense.

Everton's tactics were so direct and not difficult, so Everton's players got into the game quickly.

With a veteran center forward who could finish steadily, was experienced and reliable, Everton's offensive cluster instantly had a clear goal.

Anyway, they just wanted to make a fuss around Eto'o and constantly attack Chelsea's defense today.

Originally, Mourinho could still sit still at the beginning because David Luiz was keeping a close eye on Eto'o?

The previous few defenses were also relatively successful, and did not give the aging African cheetah too many opportunities to speed up.

Chelsea's offensive development was relatively smooth. Today, Li Ang and Oscar suppressed Barry and McCarthy's performance.

Chelsea, who played 433, quickly created many threatening opportunities on the offensive end.

Everything went smoothly according to Mourinho's pre-match plan, and Mourinho also believed that Chelsea was only a matter of time before they could break the deadlock.

But the game happened to have some small accidents when you thought it was least likely to have waves.

In the 23rd minute of the first half, Everton, who was gradually suppressed by Chelsea, defended a solo breakthrough by Hazard, and the old midfielder Barry sent a diagonal counterattack long pass in time!

Everton's tactical play was very clear, that is, to speed up in the counterattack!

Barry's long pass accurately found Everton's right winger Mirallas.

Hazard's Belgian national team teammate had taken the ball on the right and rushed straight to the Chelsea penalty area!

Li Ang was chasing back quickly, so Matic was more assured to intercept Mirallas first and compress his dribbling space.

Mirallas saw this and quickly knocked the ball to Barkley.

Barkley has a good long-range shot.

But when Leon was about to chase back to his own defensive third zone, David Luiz only needed to cooperate with Gary Cahill to tightly hold the penalty area defense line.

Even if Barkley took a long shot, it would not matter. At this distance, Barkley could only barely test Cech.

But David Luiz didn't know what kind of wind he had. At this time, he decisively attacked and ran towards the ball at Barkley's feet!

This scene made Leon's scalp numb!

Even if Barkley was not a particularly good organizer, in this situation, no matter how stupid he was, there were at least two ball routes in front of him!

Pass the ball to Pienaar to the left and to Mirallas to the right!

As expected, Barkley directly knocked the ball horizontally again and passed it to Pienaar, the left side forward beside him.

David Luiz missed, and his mind might have cleared up at this time. He turned around quickly and chased back.

But how could Pienaar, who finally got this offensive opportunity, indulge him?

A fast and fierce ground pass was sent from Pienaar's left foot!

At this moment, there were only Gary Cahill and Ivanovic who was moving inward in Chelsea's penalty area!

Bertrand, who had pressed forward with Hazard and took turns to attack Everton's right side, had just chased back to the penalty area line.

Facing Eto'o's exquisite positioning, Bertrand didn't even have time to use tactical fouls!

In the back of Chelsea's penalty area, Eto'o, who was only half a foot behind Pienaar who passed the ball, also burst out with super fast speed to grab the point!

He completed the shovel shot before Cech went down to save!

The football rubbed the inside of the far corner post of Chelsea's goal without any suspense and rolled into the net!

Eto'o, who scored the goal, rushed to the corner flag area of ​​Chelsea's half with great excitement.

David Luiz was also dumbfounded at this moment.

He touched his fluffy long hair and looked very guilty.

Mourinho has rarely lost his temper in public this season, but at this moment, he stood on the sidelines and started to curse angrily, which was rare!

Li Ang suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.

No matter how confident he was, he couldn't trust David Luiz 100% at this moment!

Chelsea's defense line today, won't really be in trouble? !