Chapter 295: Eager to Set a New Half-Time Record, First Test the Sword with the Sky City

Chelsea and Barcelona's wonderful "fate" in the Champions League has become a topic of conversation for many fans.

The video clips of Chelsea's two-round victory over Barcelona in the Champions League knockout last season were also released by major media outlets.

UEFA's official Twitter account even reposted one or two video clips, which made Barcelona fans furious and felt like they were slapped in the face!

However, in terms of making things up, UEFA this season seems to have learned from the English media.

They just provoked Barcelona fans, and then released the video clips of Barcelona's elimination of Chelsea in previous seasons.

Well, UEFA's official Twitter account offended both fan groups, highlighting that it doesn't want to please anyone and just wants to get traffic.

But you can't believe it, after this operation, the number of comments under UEFA's official Twitter account has increased exponentially.

Regardless of whether the diehard fans of Chelsea and Barcelona cursed harshly, UEFA really got the traffic just right.

As a result, the focus match between Chelsea and Barcelona in February was also preheated and hyped by UEFA in advance.

The big and small media in England are very positive about the popularity.

Before Chelsea's official Twitter account made a statement, the big and small sports newspapers in England could not wait to stand up and declare war on Barcelona on behalf of Chelsea.

Anyway, judging from the performance of the two teams in the match last season, Chelsea's tactical suppression of Barcelona is real.

Moreover, Barcelona did not introduce any big-name stars in the transfer market this summer, but Chelsea upgraded its lineup again.

So no matter how you look at it, it is difficult for Barcelona to gain any advantage in the competition with Chelsea, and the English media are not afraid of being slapped in the face.

This rough, simple and direct logical method is very consistent with the image that the English media has always shown to the outside world.

As for the behavior of the British media provoking public opinion disputes on behalf of the Premier League clubs, the fans of the major Premier League giants have already become accustomed to it.

Many Chelsea fans complained about the controversy online.

But more Blues fans are like Chelsea players.

After teasing the draw for the Champions League knockout round, they turned their attention back to the upcoming Premier League and League Cup.

There is no way, the annual Christmas devil schedule is coming.

The tight schedule of events is enough to create many uncertainties in Chelsea's half-time final match of the league.

If we look at the time period of this devil schedule completely.

Chelsea will play 6 games in a row in the 20 days from December 17 to January 5 next year!

After getting through the Christmas devil schedule, the Premier League teams can only take a breath, and they will have to face another winter devil schedule of three days a game.

After getting through these two devil schedules, the major test of the Champions League 1/8 knockout rounds will come.

So compared to the outside media's blind optimism that Chelsea will still easily defeat Barcelona and advance to the quarterfinals of this season's Champions League.

The coaches and players in the Chelsea team do not have such a relaxed mentality.

After watching the draw ceremony of the first round of the Champions League knockouts, Mourinho led his coaching staff to quickly prepare for the follow-up.

After playing the 16th round of the Premier League with Hull City, Chelsea hurried to Derby County only three days later.

They will compete with Derby County in the quarter-finals of the League Cup at Pride Park.

The competition system is still a single game.

And reaching the door of the top four of this season's League Cup, Chelsea's players naturally dare not be careless, and they must fight the rabbit with the lion, refusing the possibility of entering overtime with Derby County.

So in the game that night, the 30,000 Derby County fans at Pride Park were both regretful and happy to see a Chelsea team with almost all the main players.

Because the home team has been up and down in the Championship for many years, Derby County fans want to see the famous stars in the Premier League up close, basically only in the League Cup and FA Cup.

Derby County's ability to enter the quarterfinals of the League Cup this season has already surprised the fans of Derby County.

Previously, no Premier League team was drawn. Derby County relied on its strength in the top of the Championship League, so it could naturally go all the way to the present smoothly.

But to say that it has always relied on the good luck of the draw to reach the final of the League Cup or even win the championship, Derby County fans also know that such a dream is not realistic.

Fortunately, the team that is likely to send them out is the current Premier League overlord Chelsea.

In addition to being able to see the stars of the top Premier League overlords up close, Derby County fans also seem to care less about losing.

Even if they lose a big defeat in this round of the League Cup knockout, Derby County fans will not blame their players.

On the contrary, if their players can show enough tenacious performance in the fight against Chelsea, they will feel extremely proud and proud of it.

It would be best if they could score one or two goals against Chelsea at home. If they can achieve this, then the more than 30,000 Derby County fans on the scene today will have no regrets.

However, Chelsea's starting players obviously did not think the same as Derby County's fans.

Chelsea's midfield, led by Li Ang, did not want to give Derby County any hope of a successful resistance from the beginning of the game.

After forcibly speeding up the tempo of the game, Chelsea played at Pride Park like the rebirth of Barcelona in Dream Three!

The ball possession transmission, sharp through passes, and the tried-and-tested flank threat attack...

There was no need to use half a game to prove the huge gap in strength between Chelsea and Derby County.

It only took 18 minutes for Chelsea to completely crush the confidence of the Derby County players with two wonderful combined goals!

It can't be blamed on Li Ang for taking the lead in this ruthless move. If there is any blame, it should be blamed on the head coach of Derby County for being very stubborn in this game. Not only did he arrange a 433 starting formation, but he also wanted to compete with Chelsea in the opening stage of the game.

If he played like this, let alone Derby County, even if Guardiola led Manchester City to play in person, he would not get any advantage in front of Chelsea.

The two goals at the beginning woke up the entire Derby County team.

However, the Derby County fans at the scene had enough fun.

Chelsea's offensive style today was very sharp and beautiful. For the audience who bought tickets to watch the game, the quality of such a game is completely worth the ticket price they paid.

In the subsequent process of the game, even though Derby County quickly adjusted its tactical thinking and chose an economical defensive counterattack style.

Chelsea still used a bloody 7-0, which engraved a big "miserable" word in the hearts of Derby County players!

Drogba, who started today, and Torres, who came on as a substitute in the second half, both scored goals.

Lukaku was even more unique and directly performed a hat trick!

The personal data that Li Ang got in this game was not luxurious, but just a simple pass and shot.

After taking the lead in breaking into the semi-finals of this season's League Cup, Chelsea does not need to be burdened by the League Cup for the time being.

Because the League Cup semi-finals will not start until more than a month later.

The third round of the FA Cup will not be played until January 4.

So now Chelsea can focus on the next three Premier League games and prepare for a perfect end to the first half.

In the next three Premier League games, Chelsea will face tough opponents.

The first game against Stoke City was already a relatively easy game.

In the second game, Chelsea will play against West Ham United, which is currently ranked fourth in the Premier League, and the third game will be against Southampton, which is currently ranked sixth in the Premier League!

Although the temporary league rankings cannot truly reflect the exact strength of these two teams in the long season.

But the Premier League has already played 16 rounds, and West Ham United and Southampton can still rank among the top six in the league, which fully demonstrates their current hot game state.

Although the outside media are very optimistic that Chelsea can win these three Premier League tough opponents with an unbeaten record.

But they are basically skeptical about whether Chelsea can continue to maintain a perfect record and end the half.

However, Chelsea players, who have already blocked the interference of external public opinion, are still very confident in achieving the goal of a perfect half-time victory.

After all, their biggest advantage lies in the scientific rotation that started early ahead of all Premier League teams.

Ibrahimovic, Terry, and even Lampard, these important veterans have not had any injuries or physical problems so far.

At least half of the main players of the first team who just finished the quarter-finals of the League Cup will take turns to rest in the league match against Stoke City.

They will accumulate strength for the 18th round of the Premier League, which is the focus of Chelsea and West Ham United.

And the main players of Chelsea who took turns to rest in that game will go all out to face Southampton in the final half of the game!

Mourinho has already made a rotation plan.

So all the players in Chelsea's first team are very confident at this moment.

Who plays and who rests is all within the plan. Those who should fight for the game should fight with all their strength, and those who should rest should stay at home honestly, accompany their families, and accumulate physical strength.

If they can complete the devil's schedule step by step and really win the league half-time record, it will be the most perfect spiritual reward for Chelsea's players.

After all, no team in the Premier League has achieved a tough record of winning the league half-time before.

Before this season, the best record of the first half of the Premier League was set by Mourinho's first period, the iron-blooded Blues in the 2005-2006 season.

The Blues at that time became the Premier League half-time champion of that season with a record of 17 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.

Last season, Chelsea had a half-time record of 16 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, almost breaking the old record of that year.

Although Mourinho and Li Ang have always been committed to these records, they will strive for them if they can, and it is not a pity if they can't.

But now that the record is within reach, and they only need to work harder to break it, it is definitely unrealistic to say that they are not tempted.

The internal mobilization work has been completed long ago. With the determination and confidence to create a new history for the club, Chelsea visited the Britannia Stadium on the evening of December 22 and had a fierce competition with Stoke City.

In the past, when playing against Stoke City, other Premier League clubs must be wary of the set-piece bombing ability of this "Sky City".

The classic battle in which Arsenal was stunned by the Sky City grenade tactics is still talked about by countless fans.

The major Premier League giants have basically suffered from Stoke City's set-piece tactics.

If Stoke City had not made much tactical change compared to before, Mourinho would have paid special attention to the threat of Sky City's set-pieces in the frontcourt in this game.

But last season, Mark Hughes, the head coach who took over Stoke City, had already begun to promote the ground and technicalization of Stoke City's tactical play.

Stoke City's play is no longer as simple, rough and direct as before.

And the fact that Mark Hughes led Stoke City to the top ten of the league last season seems to silently prove that his transformation of Stoke City is correct and effective.

In terms of data changes that can be accurately seen, Stoke City has made considerable progress in terms of wins and goals conceded compared to the previous two seasons.

But such progress is more reflected in Stoke City's further stable suppression of the middle and lower teams in the Premier League.

Looking at this point alone, you can't help but say that Mark Hughes is a head coach with a very good coaching level.

But his delicate tactics also made Stoke City lose some of the toughness and confidence in disrupting the Premier League during Pulis's coaching period against the Premier League's strong teams.

In other words, the tactical distinctiveness of Stoke City has decreased, and the team's characteristics are no longer so obvious.

After all, everyone is following the ground flow and technical flow tactics, so the victory and defeat are determined in the same system.

This is naturally good news for the strong teams in the Premier League.

After all, no one wants to be inexplicably broken down by Stoke City's high-profile attack.

If you follow the technical flow, everything will be easy to say, at least your style of play has routines and is predictable.

Without frequent set pieces and high ball impacts, it also means that emergencies on the field will naturally decrease.

And against a team determined to play a technical flow, Mourinho has too many styles to choose from in his tactical library.

In the game that day, Chelsea directly arranged a set of 442, focusing on the retro formation of counterattacks on both wings.

Both De Bruyne and Kroos got a chance to rest.

Leon and Matic guarded the middle, while Hazard and Salah were on the left and right wings.

The two strikers are Ibrahimovic and Lukaku.

Yeah, a classic one tall and one fast!

On the defensive line, Mourinho sent out Triga and Maguire's double central defender combination today.

Bertrand is the left back, Ivanovic is the right back.

Begovic is the goalkeeper.

With this formation, Chelsea's main idea of ​​​​two-wing counterattack tactics today is almost exposed.

Sitting at home, facing Chelsea who gave up the midfield control at the beginning of the game, Stoke City's players immediately felt the thorny.

Mark Hughes was speechless. He really didn't expect Mourinho to be so humble.

If he were to coach the current Chelsea, against a team in the middle of the league, no matter how cautious he was, he would not give up the initiative of the game at the beginning!

In a dilemma, under the encouragement of the home fans, Stoke City's players on the field could only bite the bullet and take over the ball.

They took the initiative to attack Chelsea.

As a result, at the beginning of the game, Li Angzhen just honestly dragged back with Matic to protect his own penalty area.

Chelsea's passive defensive posture puzzled Stoke City's players.

But after repeatedly getting the ball across the center line easily, Stoke City's offensive players gradually let go of their courage.

To increase investment on the offensive end, more players are undoubtedly needed to participate in the forward pressure.

Bojan and Arnautovic, as the main ball-holding attackers in the frontcourt of Stoke City, are very excited to play a role in the match with Chelsea.

In contrast, Crouch, who needs more support from teammates, is always worried that his team is pressing too hard.

He does not think that it is a good choice to adopt aggressive tactics under the clamor of fans.

Especially their opponent is Chelsea, who has never lost in the Premier League.

Crouch, who has rich game experience, does not think that Mourinho and the Chelsea players on the field are crazy today.

So when the tenth minute of the opening, he found an opportunity to whisper a few words to his old partner Walters.

He wanted Walters to remind Bojan not to rush to break through and send threatening passes.

But in the 13th minute of the first half, after Bojan received a cross pass from Arnautovic, he still kicked a quick through ball in the offensive and defensive entanglement with Matic!

Crouch couldn't care less about cursing in his heart at this moment, and could only bite the bullet and try to get the ball.

But Leon's reaction speed was obviously much faster than he expected!

While he was still wrestling with Terry, Leon had already kicked the ball away!

Maguire, who had been mentally prepared, took control of the ball before Bojan, and then led the ball forward.

Maguire, who was tall and strong, looked quite like that while holding the ball.

After all, he was originally an offensive midfielder, and he had this job under his feet.

But fortunately, he still remembered the requirements and teachings of the coaching staff in his big head, and he didn't get carried away.

After advancing the ball about ten meters, Maguire sent a long pass, which was more accurate to Lukaku who came back to meet the ball in place of Ibrahimovic.

Lukaku did not let down the chain this time, withstood the defensive interference of N'Zonzi, and used a standard back-to-back pass to pass the ball back to Li Ang who was running!

Li Ang, who had only performed well on the defensive end and had been silent on the offensive end for more than ten minutes, kicked out at this moment, and it was a threatening diagonal pass!

Hazard, who was running without the ball, had already started the sprint mode in the empty area on the right side of Stoke City's back line, which had been pulled apart when Maguire sent a long pass.

The diagonal pass sent by Li Ang was slightly stronger, leaving enough space for Hazard to move forward.

That's why Stoke City's right back Bardsley, who was not very fast, was directly left behind by Hazard by more than two body positions!

After catching up with the ball, Hazard even had time to slow down and observe the running situation of his teammates in the penalty area.

After taking in the running trends of all the teammates in front, Hazard sent a low pass with a very fast rotation speed!

The ball quickly passed the front point of the penalty area, and Ibrahimovic and Shawcross also stopped fighting at this moment, looking at the area where the ball landed!

Lukaku rushed forward very fast, but he was just a tactical bait.

Because Li Ang, who was faster than him, had already inserted himself in the middle of Stoke City's penalty area!

Facing the fast-spinning football, Li Ang directly made a standard lion's head shake!

The ball was very fast, and Li Ang's head shake was also powerful.

In addition, Begovic, the main goalkeeper who guarded the goal for Stoke City last season, is now standing in front of Chelsea's goal.

Stoke City's new goalkeeper Butland, whose saving ability still needs to be honed, didn't react at all, and could only watch the football being quickly pushed into the lower left corner of the goal behind him!

Li Ang, who scored his 16th league goal, patted the Chelsea team logo on the left chest of his jersey and ran all the way to the bottom line.

And Mark Hughes's white hair was also messed up by the cold wind blowing through the stadium at this moment!

The time point when the balance of the game was broken was so early, Mark Hughes was in trouble, and the more than 20,000 Stoke City fans at the scene also panicked for a while!

For Chelsea's players, this was a perfect opportunity for them to win the game more easily.

After all, once the ball went in, Stoke City had no choice but to attack~

After Mourinho celebrated passionately, he sat in the coaching seat and chatted with Holland, and the wrinkles on his face seemed to have a few more smiles.

After the Chelsea players on the field gathered together to celebrate, they also cleared their minds with Li Ang's reminder, and became more determined to play defensive counterattacks in the future.

Mark Hughes was still very courageous after all, and he let his players delay the pace of full-force attack.

Stoke City's players on the field also surprised Chelsea and did not give Chelsea too many counterattack opportunities in the second half of the first half.

But when the second half of the game reached the 60th minute, facing the situation of falling behind, Stoke City had to make a desperate effort.

In the previous game, Chelsea's midfield and backfield players, who saved a lot of energy by shrinking their defense, were very tough to withstand the pressure of the game in the decisive stage.

Stoke City's offensive penetration tactics didn't work, so they picked up their old business of header bombing halfway.

But after Mourinho replaced Bertrand with Gary Cahill at a critical moment.

In addition to the goalkeeper, Chelsea has eight header players over 1.85 meters tall!

Although Lukaku and Ibrahimovic did not return to the penalty area every time.

But as long as Stoke City has a set-piece opportunity in the frontcourt, they will return to their own defensive third zone and contribute their defensive strength.

Maguire and Terry naturally became the most shining defensive combination on Chelsea's back line at the moment.

Li Ang constantly used his mobility to play guerrilla warfare on the defensive end, and he would go to make up for any problems.

Hazard and Salah, who are slightly short in stature, seem somewhat out of place in Chelsea's lineup at the moment.

But they can continue to contribute huge strength on the counterattack.

In the 82nd minute of the second half, Salah ran for 40 meters after receiving Matic's long pass!

In the end, he passed Stoke City defender Muniesa and made a crucial cross pass to assist Hazard to score the winning goal!

Chelsea defeated Stoke City and took away a crucial 2-0 victory from the Britannia Stadium.

After forcibly biting the first hard bone, Chelsea used the excellent test results to silently announce to the outside world their confidence in winning the next two rounds of the league.

The 17th consecutive victory in the league was achieved, and the half-time victory was already within the sight of the Chelsea team!