Chapter 269 No One Can Fight

After the second round of the Premier League, all teams basically ushered in a one-week rest period.

After the first two rounds of games, the Premier League teams can be said to be happy and sad.

Including some of the top teams in the league, facing a not-so-good opening record in the new season, they are now seizing the time to make active tactical adjustments.

For example, Liverpool and Everton, who performed very well last season and entered the European war zone.

Another example is Manchester United, which ranked seventh in the Premier League last season, and Southampton, which ranked eighth.

Although the new season has just begun and the results have to be seen slowly, these teams have basically suffered a big loss from the relegation teams or the mid- and lower-level teams in the league.

The slow-heating game state of the players of these teams is indeed worrying for their supporters.

In contrast, Chelsea and Manchester City, the two champions and runners-up of the Premier League last season, are in a much more stable state.

Chelsea played two newly promoted teams at the beginning of the new season, scoring eight goals and conceding zero goals. The data is good, but it has not yet been tested in a tough battle.

Manchester City played Newcastle at the start of the season, and beat Liverpool 3-1 at home in the second round. The value of the two consecutive victories is still much higher than that of Chelsea.

Although there is little time for analysis of the two games, Chelsea and Manchester City have at least shown that they have more advantages than other Premier League top teams.

Chelsea is as steady as an old dog when bullying weak teams.

Manchester City's players are in good form in the new season, and they can also suppress the strong teams in the Premier League tactically.

These two characteristics are necessary for teams that want to win the championship in the top league.

After the second round of the Premier League, various British media immediately hyped up this season's "double blue war".

A large number of Premier League fans also expressed their views that the final Premier League champion this season will basically be produced between Manchester City and Chelsea.

Last season, Chelsea won 30 league wins, 4 draws and 4 losses, and won the championship with 94 points four rounds ahead of schedule.

And Manchester City finally fixed its league points at 89 points.

Although the final points of the two teams are close, there is a factor that Chelsea no longer cares about the results of the last four rounds of the league after winning the championship in advance.

But in terms of results, Manchester City was indeed the closest to Chelsea in terms of strength last season.

Liverpool and Arsenal were eventually left behind by Chelsea by double digits.

To be conservative, it is not wrong for these two teams to be half a level behind Chelsea last season.

So in the new season, if you want to expect Chelsea's newly established dominance in the Premier League to be shaken.

Most Premier League fans can only hope that Manchester City will give more strength.

It just so happens that the first encounter between Chelsea and Manchester City in the league this season came very quickly.

In the fifth round of the Premier League, that is, in late September, Chelsea will go to the Etihad Stadium to challenge Manchester City.

It is foreseeable that this focus battle of the Premier League will definitely attract a large number of fans to watch.

And the rich main course at the beginning of this Premier League season was served to the fans' "table".

In the third round of the Premier League, the match between Chelsea and Everton can be regarded as an appetizer.

Last season, Everton, under the leadership of new head coach Roberto Martinez, finally achieved a good result of sixth place in the league.

At least after Moyes left office, Roberto Martinez stabilized Everton's ranking.

Three days ago, Everton defeated the opponent in the Europa League play-offs at home and officially entered the Europa League this season.

Maybe it was because they had to focus more on the two-round play-offs of the Europa League.

So Everton only drew with their opponents in the first two rounds of the league in the new season.

But now Everton has successfully passed the play-offs and will not be dragged down by the Europa League for the time being, and morale is also high.

As a Premier League powerhouse in the European war zone, Everton is the first challenge Chelsea has encountered this season.

After buying out Adebayor, who was in poor form, from Tottenham in the winter window last season and reactivating him, Everton has been stable in the top six of the league.

This is also one of the butterfly effects caused by Li Ang.

After experiencing the dilemma of weak strikers at the beginning of the season last season, Everton, which was on the original historical line, would seek the possibility of renting Lukaku from Chelsea.

It was also thanks to Lukaku's outbreak that Everton qualified for the European war after the end of last season, and even almost entered the top four of the Premier League.

But Chelsea valued Lukaku very much last season and was more inclined to keep him in the team for training.

So Martinez did not have too many forward options.

In the first half of the season, in addition to continuing to rely on the magically absent striker Jelavic, he could only further explore the goal-scoring ability of the team's wingers and midfielders.

After the winter window opened, Martinez specifically bought out Adebayor, another "little monster" who has rich game experience but seems to have declined significantly.

As a result, Adebayor played 11 times in Tottenham in the first half of the season but only scored 2 goals.

In the second half of the season, he recovered his form at Everton, and scored 10 goals and 4 assists in 18 league games, successfully supporting Everton's offensive system and scoring task.

This made Levy very angry, because in order to stop the loss in time during the winter transfer window, he directly agreed to Everton's buyout offer of 4 million pounds for Adebayor.

Based on Adebayo's performance in the second half of the season, even if this little monster is already 30 years old, Levy is still confident that he can sell him for less than 10 million pounds.

The gap between 4 million and 10 million is huge.

Especially for Levy's temperament, seeing Everton pick up such a big bargain for no reason, it makes him feel more uncomfortable than Tottenham losing money.

Of course, Adebayo's departure caused Tottenham to tap the team's potential in advance, and finally gained Kane, a potential center who scored eight goals in the league last season.

Levy chose to forget it.

Adebayo's outstanding performance in the second half of last season won him praise from many "famous players" in English football.

For the current Everton, Adebayo undoubtedly has a very important offensive tactical role.

Even though he performed very poorly last season and once lost his starting position in Tottenham.

But Mourinho, who is good at using big centers, still formulated a special tactical restriction package for this little monster before the game.

On the afternoon of August 30, Goodison Park was already full early.

Everton and Chelsea players who had completed their warm-up preparations returned to the locker room.

An hour ago, when Mourinho finally released Chelsea's starting 11 for today's game.

The entire English football world was destined to have a heated discussion around their match with Everton.

Because Mourinho chose Maguire, who played well as a substitute in the last game, to start directly in this game!

Fans who don't know Mourinho may have a bad guess.

Mourinho, or Chelsea, wants to take advantage of this wave of discussion about Maguire in the English football world.

But in fact, although Mourinho likes Maguire, he has not yet reached the point of directly rewarding him with starting in order to encourage him.

As for the so-called "getting attention and traffic", it is even more impossible.

Because Mourinho himself is already the head coach with the most traffic in the football world, does he want attention?

It is no exaggeration to say that he just accepted an interview casually.

The reason why Maguire was selected as the starting player in this game was that Mourinho took a fancy to his superb frontal defense ability.

In other words, Mourinho wanted Maguire to make a tactical exchange, directly suppress Adebayor's performance, and make Everton lose its tactical fulcrum on the offensive end.

It's that simple.

However, at this time, Everton's head coach Martinez didn't think of this.

He still held Chelsea's starting 11 list, wondering what Mourinho wanted to do by letting Leon and De Bruyne play in the middle of the midfield today?

Kroos, who played very well in the first two rounds of the league, sat on the bench in this round of games.

Martinez didn't think that Mourinho looked down on him.

He was just wondering if Mourinho wanted to learn from Guardiola to do some on-the-spot tactical experiments.

If this is true, then Martinez feels that his team has a good chance of defeating Chelsea in today's game.

But when he thought of Mourinho's stability in tactical selection and the cunning of tactical psychological games before the game, Martinez felt that it was unlikely that Mourinho would do something.

"They must have done mature and coordinated tactical drills in the offseason, so today's game is De Bruyne controlling the organization of the midfield, and Mourinho is still choosing the best midfield partner for Li Ang?"

After thinking for a while, Martinez finally came up with an "answer" that he thought was most likely to be close to the truth.

After all, De Bruyne also tried to play the No. 8 position several times last season, and the effect of partnering with Li Ang was also good.

Compared with Kroos's stable organization, De Bruyne's advantage is naturally his threatening forward pass no matter where he is on the court.

Thinking of this, Martinez couldn't help but feel envious of Mourinho again.

This midfield partner for Li Ang is almost too picky.

If Kroos and De Bruyne go to other teams, even if they are powerful teams, they will basically be regarded as iron midfield organizers.

Now Mourinho actually wants them to compete for the starting position?

Martinez thinks this is a wasteful way to use players!

After the players from both sides followed the referee team onto the court.

Mourinho felt the slightly resentful look from Martinez next to him, and felt uncomfortable all over.

"He won't guess our defensive tactics today, right?"

Mourinho pulled Holland over with some uncertainty, covered his mouth and asked.

Holland looked at the Everton coaching bench suspiciously, but shook his head repeatedly.

"Martinez doesn't have this ability. If his tactical insight is so sharp, he would have been poached by the upper-middle team in the Premier League. How could he have led Wigan Athletic to relegation?"

Holland didn't believe that Martinez could see through Chelsea's defensive tactical intentions within an hour after getting Chelsea's starting list.

Mourinho felt that Holland made sense, but he was still mentally prepared for Martinez to see through his defensive tactics in advance.

After taking over Everton last season, he was able to lead the team into the top six of the Premier League. Although there was an element of luck in Adebayor's performance, Martinez also had some skills... right?

Mourinho never likes to make the mistake of underestimating his opponent.

He felt that his opponent today was more or less a capable young coach, and even if there was a gap between him and Pochettino, who transferred to Tottenham this season, it should not be much different.

So after the game officially started, Mourinho looked at Adebayo's running and ball possession on the court with a serious face.

If Adebayo would withdraw more from the penalty area to retreat to get the ball and pass the ball later, then Mourinho would have to make timely adjustments to the defensive tactics...

However, as the two teams' offensive tests ended at the beginning of the game, Mourinho's worst-case scenario of tactics being cracked did not appear.

Adebayo still played in the same style as usual.

After the opening, he wanted to try his best to gain the upper hand in the one-on-one confrontation with Maguire or Silva, and take the ball to help his teammates create offensive space.

But obviously, Adebayo still underestimated Maguire's confrontational power and his terrifying suppression in the header!

Adebayo, who is 1.92 meters tall, keeps his weight at around 80 kilograms all year round, which allows him to have good confrontation ability and agility in running that is not common in other big centers.

When he was young, Adebayo was actually very obsessed with footwork. To a certain extent, he should not be called a little monster by fans.

If he was younger and in a different era of players from Ibrahimovic, it would be more appropriate for him to be called "Little Ibrahimovic".

So he is not a conventional type of pillar center.

When he was playing for Arsenal, he actually liked to play mismatched tactics.

At that time, the defenders in the Premier League were stronger than him, but not as fast or flexible as him.

And the defenders who were more flexible than him were easily suppressed by him in terms of strength.

Now that he is older, Adebayo is the same as Ibrahimovic.

Both of them have gradually learned to use their bodies and fulcrums more reasonably in the transformation to create offensive space for the team.

But the biggest difference between Adebayo and Ibrahimovic is that Ibrahimovic thinks more clearly and walks more smoothly on the road of weight gain.

So Ibrahimovic, who transferred to the Premier League last season, did not suffer any disadvantage in confrontation, and no Premier League central defender was seen to limit Ibrahimovic's performance one-on-one.

Adebayor is still somewhat immersed in his past years of dominating the Premier League.

It is impossible to gain a lot of weight, anyway, the tall star central defenders in the Premier League are all old.

The new generation of central defenders generally have enhanced mobility and reduced their size. In terms of power confrontation, Adebayor feels that he can still take advantage.

But today he met a freak heavy central defender in the new generation!

Maguire's height of 1.94 meters and weight of 95 kilograms are really terrible.

The key is that this kid always has a fierceness that likes confrontation, and his jumping ability is relatively good.

So after being forced into a one-on-one confrontation and fighting for a few high balls head to head, Adebayor felt that his head was always in a buzzing state!

After seeing Maguire suppressing Adebayor's defensive header in the frontcourt, Li Ang felt a slight headache.

Good guy, it seems that this little monster who moved the Premier League met the "British aircraft carrier", so he had to kneel down!

As long as he didn't force a turn and take risks to grab the ball without the defensive protection of the back midfielder, Maguire would be a top front defender.

This has nothing to do with his current age and whether he has rich defensive experience.

The main reason is that his physical talent is too outstanding, and that big head is too advantageous for high-altitude balls!

Mourinho may not have thought that he would achieve such an outstanding defensive effect by sending Maguire to start today.

Turning his head again, he looked at Martinez, who was still fidgeting, as if he had no idea how to deal with this tactical dilemma.

Mourinho also decisively changed his previous view of this colleague.

Well, this guy led Everton to qualify for the European War last season. It seems that he was really lucky and ate the bonus of Adebayor's explosive performance.

Now that Adebayor has no room to play, Mourinho can sit in the coaching seat and enjoy the offensive performance of his disciples.

I don’t know if it’s because they are playing at home today, but Martinez’s opening tactics are relatively active.

Not to mention the frequent offensive probing, it seems that there is no intention to counterattack at all.

Facing Everton’s active offensive tactical arrangement, it would be a waste for Chelsea not to counterattack.

It happened that De Bruyne was partnered with Li Ang in the midfield today, and the two’s 45-degree diagonal long passes were more threatening than the other.

Chelsea played relatively steadily on both offense and defense today.

In the previous few counterattack opportunities, Hazard and Salah, who started the game, failed to grasp them, and lacked a certain accuracy in shooting.

But in the 28th minute of the first half, when Li Ang suddenly followed De Bruyne’s counterattack long pass.

The tilted stadium situation was immediately completely pressed towards Chelsea!

Salah has a strong impact on the court with the ball, but today he had too much desire to show off.

In the two previous counterattack opportunities, he missed the best time to pass the ball when the ball was given to him.

Li Ang did not scold him loudly on the court.

This time, Li Ang followed the forward attack and directly signaled Salah, who had entered Everton's bottom line, to pass the ball back to him at the most appropriate time.

If other Chelsea midfielders asked Salah for the ball now, Salah might not give it to him.

But seeing that it was Li Ang who raised his hand, Salah returned the ball to Li Ang without saying a word.

Before Li Ang took the ball, he had already observed the running of his other offensive teammates in and out of Everton's penalty area.

So after receiving the pass from Salah, he just made a slight adjustment, and then used his left foot to pass the ball directly to the empty area on the left side of Everton's penalty area!

Ibrahimovic's running in the middle and Li Ang's pass once again formed a silent tacit cooperation.

When Everton's defenders were almost attracted by the defensive attention of Li Ang and Ibrahimovic's passing and running.

On the left side of Everton's penalty area, Hazard, who was not guarded, stopped and shot in one go!

His powerful shot aimed at the far corner of Everton's goal was very decisive.

Everton's old goalkeeper Howard had just stepped on the ground to make a save, and the ball had already rolled directly into the far corner of Everton's goal!

Hazard was very happy after scoring a goal. Amid the cheers of Chelsea fans at the scene, he rushed to Everton's bottom line and slid to celebrate.

Li Ang deliberately waited for a while, then took Salah's shoulders and took him to celebrate with his teammates.

There is no need to preach, Salah is very smart, just like De Bruyne last season.

They originally had their own fixed playing habits, but after entering the top league, they needed a process of adaptation and adjustment.

After they tried to use the previous core playing style but could not play efficient data and performance, they would understand that there was something wrong with this playing style.

There are many players who will not take the initiative to change when they encounter problems.

Many so-called talented players who once dominated the small leagues became mediocre after reaching the top leagues. Basically, they were ruthlessly eliminated by strong teams because they were unwilling to take the initiative to change.

But for Li Ang, Salah, like De Bruyne, does not have the possibility of not being able to play in the Premier League.

Some young players may need stricter control and teaching, such as Lukaku, who just needs a guide to teach him how to better play his abilities.

But young talents like De Bruyne and Salah, they just need more tolerance and time to adapt...

In the 42nd minute of the first half, Salah once again broke through Baines's defense, and finally passed the ball to Ibrahimovic who was in the middle of the penalty area before Distin made up for it.

Ibrahimovic quickly connected the action and pushed the ball to the middle of the goal. This time Howard saved in time and blocked Ibrahimovic's shot in the first time.

But facing Li Ang, who was like a ghost and advanced into Everton's penalty area to make up for the shot, Howard was powerless to save the situation.

Salah did not gain any personal data in the process of scoring this time, but his performance was recognized by all Chelsea players on the field.

Ibrahimovic laughed intimately and rubbed Salah's curly hair.

After Li Ang and Hazard celebrated, they also smiled and high-fived Salah and hugged him.

Standing on the sidelines, Mourinho was in a good mood. He felt that his previous approach of asking Li Ang to find a way to integrate Salah into the team's tactical system as soon as possible was extremely correct.

As long as Salah maintains this state of continuous improvement, he will be able to serve as Chelsea's killer on the right side in the second half of this season, ready to break the balance of the game at any time.

By then, in the Champions League, Mourinho will have more confidence to fight any team without losing!

As for the new season of the Premier League?

Mourinho only wants to say.

Including Manchester City.

Humph, there is no one who can fight!