Chapter 274 Your Sword Is Sharp, and My Sword Is Not Bad Either!

Compared with other world-famous goalkeepers of his generation, Valdes may be second only to Casillas in terms of honors. Neither Buffon nor Cech is his opponent in this regard.

But just as the Barcelona Dream Three patron saint has risen to the ranks of football superstars, his shortcomings in goal-line technology have been criticized by fans and the media.

Because he is in Barcelona, ​​and with the rise of Meng San Barcelona, ​​he has won too many heavyweight championship honors.

So to be fair, outside fans have always viewed Valdes harshly.

In terms of goal-line skills, he is no match for top goalkeepers such as Casillas, Buffon and Cech.

But his level of saves is not like what many fans estimate as being only at the top of the second tier in football.

Otherwise, even if he perfectly adapts to Guardiola's tactical system, he has absolute advantages that other goalkeepers do not have in terms of ball-playing skills and range of activities.

It is impossible for Valdez to sit on the position of Barcelona's main goalkeeper for ten years!

Li Ang also had several direct confrontations with Valdes when he was in La Liga.

At least in 2011-2012, and the following season, Li Ang believed that Valdes at least had the first-class save level in football.

The real turning point for Valdez's sharp decline in strength was last season's torn anterior cruciate ligament that cost him the season.

For a veteran, no matter what position he plays, if he encounters such a major injury, he will basically say goodbye to the peak of his career.

At least in Li Ang's memory, after leaving Barcelona, ​​Valdez moved to many teams and failed to show the level of a first-class goalkeeper.

Therefore, he was particularly decisive in his choice of offensive goal this time.

His current long-range shots are famous for their violent power and fast ball speed.

Li Ang didn't particularly care about the pursuit of angles.

This method of hitting the door is best for surprise attacks.

Like De Gea and Joe Hart when they are focused, they can basically react and make corresponding saves.

But for Valdez, an old goalkeeper who has long since lost his form after a serious injury, Li Ang's unreasonable shooting made him extremely uncomfortable.

His brain responded, but his body struggled to keep up with the save instructions given by his brain.

Li Ang wonders if Guardiola will regret his tactical decision to start Valdes.

Maybe Guardiola will figure it out at some point in this game:

Compared with Valdez's resolute execution of his ball-playing tactics, Joe Hart's saving ability may be the defensive guarantee for Manchester City to compete with Chelsea to the end.

But Li Ang hopes that the key time point for Guardiola to figure out this issue can be postponed as much as possible.

It’s better to pick persimmons that are soft and pinch them~

He has scored a goal now, but his teammates are still waiting to sharpen their swords against Manchester City...

Guardiola subconsciously covered his cheeks and did not look at the electronic scoreboard that had changed on the court at this moment.

Li Ang's goal made the blood surge in his chest, but at least at this moment, Guardiola did not feel that Valdes was the main problem in the defense.

“Get the football! Get the football!!!

The two wings should be brought in as much as possible, we must have control of the midfield!

Don't let them get too many chances with the ball in our half! Push the battlefield out! Push through the center line! "

Guardiola immediately stood on the sidelines and further emphasized his tactical requirements to the Manchester City players on the field.

This is actually easy to understand, because one of Guardiola's tactical philosophies is to use the ball as much as possible to avoid the risk of losing the defense.

When the ball is controlled in the midfield area as much as possible, or further, controlled more in the opponent's half, Guardiola's team's defense will certainly be safer.

To put it more simply, Guardiola attributed this conceding goal to his own lack of ball control, which makes perfect sense.

Fabregas took a deep breath and looked at Li Ang who trotted past him after the celebration, with a hint of determination in his eyes.

"Only fighting against Li Ang on a technical level is an absolutely untenable method. If he was in control of the ball, even if I grabbed the ball just now, it would be difficult to break through further... Maybe, I really should let go more concern……"

Fabregas's thoughts were a little complicated, and every performance he had played against Li Ang in the past few seasons quickly flashed through his mind.

Rakitic had no idea of ​​his new midfield partner's change of heart at this moment.

He just moved to Manchester City from Sevilla this season, and he is not one of those young talents from the big clubs.

He climbed from the bottom step by step to where he is now.

He has his own rules of survival. Compared with the gentle and wealthy players, he also understands better what kind of performance should be used to limit the performance of the opponent's core midfielder in such adversity.

But he didn't expect that after the game restarted, he hadn't waited for him to "take action".

Fabregas took the lead and made a strong confrontation with Li Ang in the midfield!

In terms of pure physical confrontation ability, Fabregas is definitely not Li Ang's opponent.

But on the football field, the defensive side has too many ways to interfere with the attacking side.

Tactical fouls can basically be committed by any player.

And today, with the home whistle, Fabregas made an aggressive tactical foul on Li Ang for the first time, but he didn't even get a verbal warning from the referee!

Such a scene made the Manchester City fans at the scene stunned.

After all, since Guardiola arrived at Manchester City last season, whenever they played against Chelsea, Manchester City was basically the more passive side in the confrontation.

Especially the Manchester City midfielders who faced Li Ang.

Not to mention Fabregas and David Silva who often retreated, even Yaya Toure and Fernandinho before, they couldn't get any advantage against Li Ang.

But now the situation is reversed. Fabregas, who took advantage of the home whistle, has more and more confrontational actions.

But Li Ang's retaliatory actions are more likely to be verbally whistled by the referee!

Such a situation on the field makes it difficult for Manchester City fans not to get excited.

Mourinho did not expect that the referee who enforced the law today would obviously give Manchester City more home advantages.

This is definitely not a black whistle. The existence of home whistles has always existed.

If today's game was played at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's players on the field would only give Manchester City a more fierce confrontation.

After rubbing his temples, Mourinho stood on the sidelines.

Perhaps it would be more beneficial for Chelsea to decisively switch to a defensive counterattack tactical rhythm at this moment, but such an idea only flashed through Mourinho's mind.

Since a tactical upgrade is to be completed this season, in such a tough and key battle, Chelsea's players need more firm support from the coaching staff!

Not willing to take too many risks is a character trait of Mourinho that is neither a shortcoming nor an advantage.

But compared to this, being indecisive is what Mourinho fears more.

Once a tactical decision is made, it must be resolutely implemented to the end!

Chelsea players who fight on the field need to do this, and their coaches who are playing tactical games off the field must lead by example!

"The boss signaled us to keep fighting with them! Fight for the ball, don't stop! Don't retreat!"

Leon saw the tactical instructions made by Mourinho, and he shook his clenched fist fiercely, conveying the firm determination of the coaching staff to his teammates around him!

This is still an adventure. No matter when, it is a very risky move to fight against the team coached by Guardiola.

But Chelsea's players chose to trust their head coach and teammates at this moment!

No destruction, no construction.

Chelsea just needs such a hearty battle to further declare its existence to the European football world.

And what these players wearing Chelsea's blue jerseys have to do is to fight to the last minute on the field, on the battlefield that belongs to them, just like their predecessors!

The tactics chosen by Chelsea surprised many commentators.

In the past, Mourinho used this offensive tactic of grabbing the start more than once at Chelsea and even at Real Madrid.

But often after scoring the first goal, Mourinho's team will quickly turn to the stage of shrinking the formation.

But after scoring a goal today, Chelsea still maintained the high-pressure tactics they implemented at the beginning of the game!

This style of play is extremely aggressive, but at the same time, Chelsea's backcourt also left Manchester City with enough space for counterattacks.

Guardiola didn't know what Mourinho's tactics were today.

But he knew that this was Manchester City's opportunity!

The Manchester City players on the field were under great pressure, but even if there was greater pressure, they had to withstand it at this time!

Fabregas put aside his past pride and used the effective defensive moves he had learned all his life on the defensive end against Li Ang.

Although Li Ang was surprised, he didn't feel irritated.

After all, compared with the dirty opponents he had encountered in his previous career, Fabregas's defensive moves were relatively clean.

And he didn't have too much responsibility for organizing the team now.

It wouldn't cause much interference to Chelsea's offensive operation if he entangled with Fabregas for a while in the off-ball running.

Li Ang was more concerned about whether Terry and Matic, who often retreated to assist in defense, could withstand Manchester City's threatening counterattack after his teammates pressed almost all the way.

In terms of counterattack speed, Manchester City is definitely enough.

Navas and Aguero can be regarded as counterattack fast horses, and Silva's speed is also enough.

Add to that the long pass guidance ability of Fabregas and Rakitic.

Li Ang felt that except for the lack of a high point in the frontcourt to get the ball, Manchester City is already an absolute first-class team in counterattack.

Just when Li Ang was alert, David Silva of Manchester City retreated to get the ball.

After attracting the pressing of Kroos and Hazard, he knocked the ball horizontally to Fabregas who raised his hand.

Fabregas just looked up and observed, and Li Ang secretly said in his heart that it was not good!

Just when Li Ang decisively turned his head and started to chase back.

Fabregas had already sent a precise diagonal long pass, directly finding Jesus Navas who was already speeding up on the left!

Aguero acted as a tactical bait in this counterattack.

He attracted Matic's defensive attention, and facing Terry who was lagging behind, Navas didn't give the opponent a chance to get close to him at all, and directly forced overtaking and ran towards Chelsea's bottom line!

Azpilicueta was desperately chasing back, but his speed of chasing back was obviously not comparable to Navas who was attacking forward.

For Chelsea, the only good news may be that Aguero and Silva at this moment are both being watched by special people.

But Navas did not pass the ball back to his forward teammates when he approached Chelsea's bottom line.

Instead, he knocked the ball directly to the sideline of Chelsea's penalty area!

Fabregas stopped his forward steps because his tactical intention had been achieved.

Watching Rakitic stop the ball at the top of the Chelsea penalty area, Guardiola almost rushed out of the coaching seat!

Rakitic took a deep breath, smoothed the ball with his right foot, and then directly rubbed a large arc shot that went straight to the upper right corner of Chelsea's goal!

The angle of the shot was very similar to Li Ang's previous goal angle!

The difference is that Li Ang's powerful and violent long-range shot is more about speed and strength.

Rakitic's shot is more about angle and accuracy!

Facing Rakitic's wonderful shot, Cech reacted and moved in advance, and also made a wonderful save!

Although he is getting older, Cech used his rich experience to make an advance prediction, so he still has a chance to disrupt Rakitic's shot.

At the critical moment, Cech seemed to stretch his fingertips desperately, that is, this limit of less than half a centimeter, allowing Cech to successfully touch the football!

The trajectory of the football running towards Chelsea's goal was slightly changed, and it finally hit the junction of Chelsea's goal post and the crossbar, and bounced back to Chelsea's penalty area!

Thiago Silva, who returned to defense, did not hesitate too much and kicked the football directly to the side!

Bertrand, who retreated to get the ball, heard Li Ang's shout to him at the first time!

"Ryan, kick the ball!"

Seeing that Leon, who had just run to the edge of his own defensive third zone, turned around and started to move forward, Bertrand roughly estimated the distance and sent a diagonal long pass!

Rakitic didn't even have time to regret, so he decisively turned his head and started chasing back, and Fabregas was one step ahead and ran straight to the landing point of the football!

Leon probably glanced at his teammates who were running in front of him.

And looking at Fernandinho and Fabregas who were rushing towards him, he also quickly adjusted his position.

With his back to Fernandinho, Leon jumped up with all his strength and stopped the long pass sent by Bertrand with his chest.

Then, in the surprised eyes of all Manchester City fans, he decisively knocked the ball back to Kroos who was coming up!

Yes, Leon did not choose to force himself to turn around and guide the attack this time, but used a standard fulcrum to take the ball, allowing Kroos to smoothly take over the offensive organization!

Li Ang cast a trusting look at Kroos. He said nothing, but at this moment, Kroos and he were in tune!

Kroos took a step forward with the ball and stretched his body, then sent a flat and threatening long pass to Manchester City's penalty area!

He did not give the ball to Hazard or De Bruyne who could send a threatening cross.

Kroos went straight to the point and made a lob pass to Ibrahimovic who was running forward!

He did start to play the No. 8 position after transferring to Chelsea.

But he is also the most talented threatening passer in world football!

He can now not make multiple forward pass attempts in a game, but this does not mean that he has lost his threatening pass ability.

Ibrahimovic, who rushed into Manchester City's penalty area, jumped up very comfortably, cushioned the ball with his chest, and then made a close-range volley!

Valdes was shot without temper, and Chelsea scored their second goal of the game in the 31st minute of the first half!

Mourinho finally got excited. He rushed out of the coaching booth and opened his arms while roaring on the sidelines!

He admitted that Guardiola might still be the best coach on the planet in terms of offensive tactics.

He is indeed not as good as Guardiola in this regard.

But he will continue to learn, imitate and improve, so that his team can slowly make up for the shortcomings in terms of offense!

Perhaps, after today's game, he can also confidently declare to Guardiola:

Your sword is sharp, and my sword is not bad either!