Chapter 375 This Wave, This Wave Is Called the Wisdom of Trade-Offs

The interval between the two games in the first round of the Champions League knockout stage is quite long.

After Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain finished the first round, they had to wait for nearly a month before the second round of the life-and-death game.

So after Li Ang said that he would wait for Paris Saint-Germain to challenge him, he temporarily put the Champions League aside.

The whole Chelsea team must sprint for points in the league!

At the critical time point when the season enters the second half, Chelsea, without more competitions to drag down, can grab points before other powerful teams.

In comparison, their rest time and tactical adjustment time are also more abundant.

For example, after this round of Champions League knockouts, other Champions League teams in the Premier League will face the challenge of the FA Cup, but the whole Chelsea team can enjoy a comfortable vacation first.

Manchester City and Arsenal need to play two games in the next ten days, one league and one FA Cup, but Chelsea only needs to play one round of the league.

The difference here is huge.

At least at the player level, Chelsea's players are undoubtedly more fully rested.

After enjoying the three-day holiday, they resumed training in a much more energetic state, which formed a sharp contrast with the more serious preparation training photos released by other teams.

When Manchester City and Arsenal were fighting hard to advance to the next round of the FA Cup, Chelsea's players were lying at home watching their competitors' games.

When the players of these two teams finally beat their FA Cup opponents, they did not get any decent rest opportunities.

Chelsea, who had a full rest, had just finished their preparations and welcomed the league challenge opponents with full physical strength.

On the afternoon of February 27, Mourinho led the team to welcome the challenge of Sky City at home.

Compared with the first match between the two teams this season, Sky City's league ranking has risen a lot.

They have now climbed to tenth in the league and are about to break into the top of the league rankings, and there is even a great chance to impact the European war zone.

However, the completeness of their lineup cannot be compared with the previous one. The main central defenders Shawcross and Wilson are on the injury list, and the attacker Bojan has just returned from injury and has to be used sparingly.

It can only be said that Stoke City's head coach Mark Hughes is really good at leading the team to combine the fighting power. He led the remaining team to compete with other mid- and lower-level teams without retreating but advancing, and he has always been able to score points tenaciously.

But today, when facing Chelsea, even if Stoke City is tenacious, it is difficult to make up for the huge gap in hard power between the two teams.

Originally, Mark Hughes was still counting on Chelsea to continue to rest, thinking of using as little overall consumption as possible to defeat the not-so-strong opponent.

But in Mourinho's view, Stoke City, which is not a strong team now, is one of the few hard-rock teams that can pose a threat to Chelsea in the subsequent schedule.

Not being strong does not mean that it will not cause a lot of trouble, and what Chelsea least wants to encounter now is trouble on the way to scoring points!

So Mourinho not only decided to use all the main players to face Stoke City, but also repeatedly emphasized to his players that they must not be careless and stop early.

To play against such a small strong team, it is necessary to defeat it in one go and establish a large enough lead!

Then we will talk about whether to change tactics to save energy.

Chelsea's coaching staff prepared a great tactical surprise for Mark Hughes.

As reflected on the field, it was a 100% shock to the players of Stoke City!

Chelsea, who had rested well, launched a strong siege against them from the beginning of the game!

This was an undisguised aggressive attack. With high pressure and rapid advancement, Stoke City could only hold their heads and shrink in the half court to be beaten.

In the past, they could still show a very tenacious counterattack performance against the siege of strong teams, but who let their main central defenders now all injured?

The defense was really unstable, and the two midfielders could only be tied to the defensive end helplessly, and they couldn't do anything else.

Mark Hughes was a little anxious on the sidelines, but he really couldn't make any tactical adjustments at this moment.

After all, it was an embarrassing game scene caused by the strength injury. He wanted to make his substitute defender tough, but his chicken soup had already been played, and it didn't work now!

The counterattack couldn't be played, and Shaqiri, who couldn't get the ball in front, could only retreat to assist his teammates on the wing to defend.

But when he retreated, Stoke City had even fewer points to get the ball in front.

Often when Stoke City's midfielders and backcourt players kicked to clear the ball, there was only one Arnautovic who was qualified to compete for the ball in front.

As for his striker partner Mam Diouf, he was completely unable to play the role of a fulcrum and was watched closely by Thiago Silva.

In this case, Stoke City's offense and defense were like being clamped tightly by Chelsea's two steel pliers.

The defensive players had strength defects and their performance ceiling was just like that. The offense was purely dragged down by the defense, and they could not play any decent counterattacks, let alone threaten Chelsea's goal.

Under the huge defensive pressure exerted by Chelsea, it was difficult for Stoke City's defenders to avoid making mistakes.

Especially their two substitute central defenders, because of their position, if they made a mistake, it would be a fatal mistake. Li Ang just liked to take advantage of the opponent's central defenders' defects.

So the time when Stoke City's goal fell came earlier than many fans expected.

Just after the 20th minute of the first half, Li Ang advanced from the midfield with the ball, and finally made a straight pass in the right side of the Stoke City half to help De Bruyne successfully break into the heart of the Stoke City penalty area!

This time, it was because Stoke City's left center back Muniesa stood too far forward that caused a defensive error, and De Bruyne made an easy run to get the ball!

And then the work of Chelsea's forward combination was very simple.

De Bruyne passed the ball in front of the goal from the right side of the penalty area, and Suarez made a run in the middle to complete the goal!

Stoke City goalkeeper Butland was directly annoyed by his two substitute center backs at this moment.

One person had a problem with his position and was easily hit from behind, and one person was stuck in defense but was lonely, and the opponent overtook him against the defense and completed the goal!

With such a teammate, how can he complete the save? !

At least he interfered in place to make the opponent's forward uncomfortable, and didn't shoot at such a close distance!

But despite being depressed, Bartra didn't yell at his two central defenders to vent his anger.

The season is still going on, and they don't have to play the rest of the game after Chelsea scored.

No matter how angry he is, the two people will have to stand in front of him to provide him with defensive protection in the next few or even dozens of games.

It can be said that he had expected such a game situation in advance. Bartra muttered a few words and didn't say anything more.

Mark Hughes off the court had the same idea. He was angry, but the strength of the substitute central defender combination was like this, and there was no way to improve it temporarily. Just bear with it!

Many players on the Stoke City field were helpless and relieved at the moment of losing the ball.

After that, they focused more on the offensive end, and no longer protected their own defense as carefully as before.

As a result, with this change of thinking, they performed much better than before.

At least they could launch a counterattack smoothly and get a few shots, so that Chelsea goalkeeper Oblak would not be bored to the point of playing with a few steps...

But for Stoke City, the slightly improved situation of the game was not enough to stop Chelsea's firm pace of scoring goals.

Li Ang took advantage of Stoke City's substitute central defender Muniesa once and tasted the sweetness. After that, he kept making things against this short Spanish central defender.

In the 34th minute of the first half, Li Ang took the ball again and launched an attack in Stoke City's half, but this time he did not directly pass the ball behind Muniesa.

Instead, he first transferred the ball to the feet of Hazard on the other side.

After passing the ball, he decisively moved forward, and kept raising his hand to signal Hazard to pass the high ball!

Hazard understood it instantly when he saw Li Ang's raised gesture.

He aimed at the back of the penalty area where Li Ang was running and directly kicked the ball to the middle!

Hazard's passing choice made Stoke City's full-back Peters, who was carefully guarding him, relieved.

But at this moment, the two Stoke City defenders in the penalty area were facing a formidable enemy!

The football passed through the high-altitude area in front of the penalty area, and one of Stoke City's starting central defenders today, Volscheid, subconsciously looked at the back point.

His partner Muniesa had already stood in the key defensive position, but Volscheid felt even more worried at this moment!

Because there were no other Stoke City teammates beside Muniesa to assist him in defense.

He was only 1.79 meters tall and was about to have a one-on-one battle with the strong Li Ang in the air!

Volscheid, who had already imagined the "tragic" scene that was about to follow, even turned his head slightly and closed his eyes.

And in the next moment, when he shifted his sight again, he saw Muniesa's figure almost being carried over in the air, Li Ang who completed the head-shaking action and the football flying quickly towards the goal!

Barland definitely reacted quickly to make a save this time!

He no longer blamed Muniesa. At least this time, his brave Spanish central defender teammate won him enough time to save the ball by being knocked over!

His fingertips touched the football. At least at this moment, his heart was still full of hope.

But then, the huge power transmitted by the football through his fingertips made his mood plummet!

The ball was too fast, and Li Ang's head-shaking action was too stretched. He tried his best to only slightly deviate the direction of the football. This was his limit of saving!

After completing his saving duties, Bartland quickly looked back at the moment of falling to the ground. Unfortunately, what he saw in the end was the scene of the football crossing the goal line and hitting the net!

He still failed.

Li Ang, who scored a goal in this game, kicked Stoke City, which was clinging to the edge of the cliff, into the abyss!

Chelsea's players on the field began to celebrate collectively with ease and joy.

But Mourinho on the sidelines was not satisfied yet. He was still making tactical gestures, asking his disciples to maintain the current offensive rhythm.

He was going to beat Stoke City to death with one blow after another!

Beat them until they had no chance to fight back!

Seeing Mourinho still signaling the team to continue attacking in the live camera, many Stoke City fans were so angry that they cursed!

But their emotional outburst could not change the situation of the game at this moment.

Chelsea was still attacking and exerting pressure.

Even though Stoke City stubbornly held on to the last minute of the first half.

But in the 61st minute of the second half, Stoke City was still knocked on the door by Chelsea for the third time in the whole game!

It was Suarez again!

The Uruguayan striker maintained his efficient scoring rate this season. In the second half, he received a half-solo opportunity after receiving a diagonal pass from Hazard, and decisively shot into the far corner!

This goal was also his 28th league goal this season!

With Chelsea playing one less game, Suarez was able to score 28 goals in 26 league games, which can be said to be extremely amazing!

If Suarez can stay healthy and have no problem with shooting in the subsequent schedule.

He may even have a great chance to hit the super record of 40 league goals in a single Premier League season!

In terms of shock, it may not be as shocking as the record of Messi and Ronaldo scoring 50 goals in a single league season.

But if we only talk about the difficulty, being able to score 40 league goals in a single Premier League season is no less than scoring 50 league goals in a single La Liga season.

Such a statement will certainly cause great controversy on the Internet, but it is not wrong to say that it is more difficult to score in the Premier League than in La Liga.

Li Ang's number of goals this season is destined to be incomparable to Suarez, but he has quietly increased his league goal number to 19.

In addition to the 13 league assists he sent before, it is not a problem for Li Ang to achieve double 20 league data this season.

However, Mourinho did not continue to give Li Ang and Suarez more time to brush data in this league.

After successfully achieving the goal of leading by three goals, Mourinho began to make substitutions.

Li Ang and Suarez, the two goal scorers, were replaced one after another, and then Hazard was also replaced by Salah.

In the later game time, Stoke City did not struggle to counterattack, so the score of the final game was fixed at 3-0.

Chelsea took the lead in the battle for points, and after completing the early game, they also transferred the pressure to the entire Manchester City team.

As a result, Manchester City, who appeared on the field the next day and challenged Newcastle away, really couldn't withstand the pressure and was forced to draw by Newcastle at home!

So far, Chelsea, with 23 wins and 3 draws, has successfully surpassed Manchester City, with 23 wins, 1 loss and 3 draws, with a goal difference advantage in one round less, and regained the top spot in the Premier League standings!

The long season game between the two teams has also undergone an important change after the end of this round of league!

It's not that there is a big problem with Manchester City's coaching staff, nor is it that Guardiola's team record has been affected by the whole thing.

They simply played too many games, and now they have lost sight of the key points-grabbing stage!

Maybe it's also because they didn't win any decent championship trophies in the previous seasons.

So after seeing Chelsea decisively give up the two cup competitions in England, the entire Manchester City team has more ambitions to win the championship.

Until now, they have done quite well, reaching the final of the League Cup and the final quarterfinals of the FA Cup.

But dragged down by more cup games, they finally ate the bitter fruit in the league.

Chelsea, which was lightly equipped, benefited from the wisdom of its head coach and has started to rush on the road to the final points!

Damn, most of the stored data was lost, so I had to re-record the game data in the afternoon before writing. The second chapter is still being updated, there will definitely be, but it will be after midnight. I will never wait, and those who can't wait can check it out tomorrow morning.