Chapter 357 Becoming a Pursuer Is Not Necessarily a Bad Thing

Mourinho was relieved when he saw Li Ang in the locker room, who was still discussing the game control issues in the first half with Kroos.

After the absence of Li Ang in the past two league games, several midfielders in Chelsea actually had no problems in their individual performance.

Taking them out individually to review their performance, Matic was diligent in defense, and Kroos was also very stable in organization.

As for De Bruyne?

De Bruyne, who made three assists in two league games, has been praised by various British media!

In an interview with the media, Mourinho repeatedly stated that he would not question the strength of the new midfield combination of three people.

This is the truth, he really thinks so, but he also hid the "lower half" in this sentence.

This lower half is that this new midfield combination needs more game time to play its normal power.

In the past, when Li Ang was in the midfield, whether he was partnering with Kroos and Matic, or playing as a double central midfielder with De Bruyne, he could actively adapt to the opponent's playing habits.

And these players naturally distribute the ball control with him as the core.

To put it bluntly, all the midfielders in Chelsea are absolutely convinced of Li Ang's strength, and Li Ang also knows their respective strengths and characteristics very well.

So as long as Li Ang can start normally, no matter which midfielder partners with him, they can play smoothly, and any omissions on the defensive end will be promptly remedied by Li Ang.

But when Li Ang was picked out of this versatile midfield, the Chelsea midfield trio, who did not clearly establish a new core, would naturally have a certain split in terms of cooperation.

It just so happens that their respective abilities are very strong. Even if there is a rhythm fault in cooperation, they can still do their job well and make Chelsea's offensive system run smoothly.

So on the defensive end, their cooperation problems will increase the pressure on Chelsea's back line.

For example, in the last league game, Maguire did not keep an eye on Cavani's advance at the last moment, which led to the team being scored an equalizer.

Intuitively speaking, Maguire himself must have a problem.

But if we analyze it further, we will find that before Maguire and Cavani had a one-on-one match, it was De Bruyne's defense that had problems first.

His slow defense allowed Cazorla to receive Ramsey's through ball and successfully penetrate Chelsea's defensive third zone with the ball.

This is very fatal. At that time, Matic and Kroos each had a defensive target and could not move their positions easily.

So De Bruyne's defensive omission allowed Arsenal to successfully seize the last chance.

If it were Li Ang, even if he lost his defensive position at the first time, he would decisively intercept in the next one or two seconds of critical defensive time, or directly knock down Cazorla who had the ball!

De Bruyne can certainly play a dazzling performance in the midfield position of 8 or 10.

His talent is very outstanding, and Chelsea's coaching staff has never doubted that he has the ability to play superstar performance in multiple positions.

But he had played on the front line for two full seasons before, and it was really difficult for him to suddenly adapt to his new midfield position seamlessly.

His reaction on the defensive end was a little slow, but this problem can be improved.

Mourinho has thought of some plans to let De Bruyne integrate into the midfield system more quickly.

He believes that after enough games, De Bruyne, Kroos and Matic can also establish a tacit defensive cooperation.

Many seemingly troublesome problems are actually just trivial matters.

And now seeing Li Ang taking control of the midfield, the other Chelsea midfielders naturally gathered around him to communicate.

Mourinho also felt relieved.

As soon as Li Ang came back, these small problems were instantly solved.

Coordination error?

Defense disorder?

Not exist.

With Li Ang in the midfield, other Chelsea midfielders will not easily make such small mistakes.

After all, no one wants to be dragged to the base for extra training by Li Ang when they should rest later~

Mourinho has a bottom line in his mind, and he doesn't need to adjust his tactics too much for this game.

After all, Wolfsburg's tactical trump cards are almost all presented in the starting lineup.

Their center forward Dost was directly targeted by Maguire today, and only Draxler was quite threatening on the front line.

But this talented winger in German football was targeted by Li Ang again today.

After transferring from Schalke 04 to Wolfsburg, Draxler still couldn't get rid of Li Ang's targeting, which was unlucky enough.

Mourinho had no doubt that Li Ang could suppress Draxler to the point where he could hardly play today.

So in this case, if Wolfsburg wanted to break the balance of the game, they needed their second striker Schurrle to stand up.

But can Schurrle, a second striker who is not delicate enough in the middle and not fast enough in pulling to the side, really break Chelsea's chain defense?

Mourinho is skeptical about this.

And when the second half of the game started, Li Ang once again led his teammates to teach Wolfsburg players a hard lesson on the defensive end!

He just happened to have a lot of energy and nowhere to vent recently. The frustration of not playing two league games was directly directed at Wolfsburg today.

Draxler felt the vigorous physical energy and the unbelievably full mental state of Leon, and then compared it with the difficulty of advancing with the ball.

He couldn't help but fall into doubt about his own strength again.

He thought he had grown a lot, and he was a real star in the Bundesliga.

But why did he still feel so powerless and difficult to compete against Leon again?

Leon was like a machine that would never feel tired, and he was even more happy to snatch the ball from his feet.

He was not Leon's opponent in physical confrontation, and he had to bow to Leon's strength in the technical level that he was proud of.

After being suppressed for half a game, and being intercepted by Leon many times at the beginning of the second half, Draxler's mentality was completely broken!

Hei Jin was speechless watching on the sidelines, but he didn't dare to scold Draxler casually at this moment.

This guy is now in a state of explosive and sensitive mentality. Don't criticize him if you really criticize him to death. That would be more trouble than gain.

In desperation, Hei Jin could only signal Draxler to try to switch positions with right winger Caligiuri.

This is also a solution. After all, Li Ang would not continue to switch positions with Matic to defend him on the left just to target Draxler. That would be a completely self-depreciating behavior.

After getting rid of Li Ang's defense, Draxler's confidence in getting the ball has slowly returned to him.

But Caligiuri, who switched sides with him, was miserable.

He was like going to jail when he played against Li Ang at this moment. Anyway, no matter who Wolfsburg replaced in the half guarded by Li Ang today, they would be defeated.

It was like Wolfsburg's efficiency in attacking with a lame leg was really low.

When the game was worn out to the 65th minute of the second half, Chelsea, who was still in good physical condition, took advantage of the situation and launched a counterattack against Wolfsburg!

The Wolfsburg midfielders, who had wasted too much energy in the front, were not able to return to defense at this time.

Li Ang frequently inserted himself into the back and sent threatening through balls with Kroos in response to the two central defenders in the Wolfsburg penalty area who were both very tall and not flexible enough to turn!

Dante and Naldo had to carefully defend against Hazard and Suarez who were behind them at any time and could be offside at any time.

These two tall central defenders were tortured by Chelsea's rapid offensive at the moment.

But just when they thought Chelsea would continue to play this fast advancement, Li Ang suddenly changed his rhythm!

After dribbling the ball again and disrupting Wolfsburg's backcourt defense, Li Ang withstood Gustavo's defensive interference and suddenly passed the ball to the top of the penalty area arc where the Wolfsburg double central defenders left enough space when they retreated in time!

De Bruyne, who was not considered the main character of the attack before, formed a tacit pass-run cooperation with Li Ang at this time!

Diagonal insertion, taking the ball, and rubbing and shooting after a slight adjustment were all done in one go!

Benario was so angry that he wanted to curse!

He couldn't understand how his teammates dared to give up this important area in front of the top of the penalty area!

He jumped up hastily to save the ball and failed to intercept De Bruyne's confident shot.

After successfully expanding the lead to two goals, De Bruyne and Li Ang were also close and linked shoulders, and rushed to the corner flag area to celebrate together!

There were only the last twenty minutes of the game, but the suspense of the game was basically gone.

Chelsea fans at Stamford Bridge sang and celebrated, while English media reporters on the sidelines looked at each other.

In the end, the game ended with Chelsea's strong and steady defense.

The media reporters who were still criticizing Mourinho's tactical arrangements after the last round of the Premier League seemed to have turned into firm Mourinhoists at this moment.

It can only be said that it was not difficult for them at all!

After accepting interviews from several familiar reporters in a formulaic manner, Li Ang joined his teammates in the celebration at home.

After two consecutive wins in the Champions League death group, Chelsea also defeated two of the strongest opponents in the group.

This achievement is indeed worth a little celebration for Chelsea players.

In the next round of group matches, Chelsea will go to Moscow to compete with CSKA Moscow and the cold weather in Moscow.

Not to mention that they must win, as long as they don't lose to CSKA Moscow at that time, they can maintain the advantage of ranking first in the group when the group schedule is halfway through.

In a good mood, the Chelsea team also organized a team dinner on the night of the victory over Wolfsburg.

The schedule is actually not very loose at present. In four days, Chelsea will go to St. James Park to compete with Newcastle in the eighth round of the Premier League.

But considering that the last league record was slightly fluctuating, Li Ang will also be suspended for one game.

Terry and Li Ang both felt it necessary to hold a dinner at this time to cheer up the whole team.

Mourinho had no objection to this. It was just a more relaxed team dinner, not a strange party.

He also generously gave the whole team a day off. Chelsea's main players have not lacked games recently and are in good shape.

Compared with more rigorous training, what Chelsea's first-team players need now is adequate rest, proper mental relaxation and more scientific recovery training.

Facts have proved that Mourinho's proper relaxation management is still very effective.

After a team dinner and a comfortable day of rest, Chelsea's main players were in a very good mental state.

On the afternoon of October 3, during China's National Day, Chelsea went to the away game and played a fierce game with the Magpies.

Today, Mourinho still arranged a midfield combination of Kroos + De Bruyne + Matic.

However, unlike the previous two league games, Kroos no longer played as a double central midfielder with De Bruyne, but partnered with Matic to form a double defensive midfielder.

Such a deployment makes Chelsea's defense look more stable.

And more importantly, De Bruyne has more tactical freedom in the midfield.

Kroos's organization, forward dribbling and threatening passes are all on De Bruyne's shoulders.

But he did not feel a lot of pressure because of this, he was quite excited!

Mourinho is reducing the defensive burden on De Bruyne so that he can devote more energy to the offensive organization end.

As for the problem that he may not be able to return to defense in time after losing the ball, it is not a problem with Kroos and Matic to cover him.

This is also the tactical arrangement that the Chelsea coaching staff discussed in a short period of time that is most suitable for the new midfield trio.

In the game, De Bruyne, who almost only needed to attack with all his strength today, quickly opened fire and assisted Suarez and Hazard to score in succession in just half a game!

However, Li Ang, who was watching the game in the box today, was in a good mood, but his expression on his face was a little weird.

Because he felt that the style of play adopted by his team today was very similar to the style of play during Solskjaer's coaching in Manchester United in his memory.

De Bruyne also looked like a big B Fee.

The simple tactic of dog holding a frisbee is actually quite suitable for the current configuration of Chelsea's midfield and frontcourt players.

This set of play is simply invincible when counterattacking!

Of course, the effect will be more obvious when playing against teams in the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League. If you meet a strong team, this tactic is still easy to be understood and dismantled.

However, Mourinho obviously only used this specific tactic occasionally, and Li Ang just joked about it in his heart.

In the end, Chelsea defeated Newcastle 3-0 away, De Bruyne assisted and scored twice again, Suarez, Hazard and Maguire scored successively.

Chelsea also swept away the depression of being tied by the same city rival Arsenal at home in the last round of the league!

But they still did not regain the top spot in the league, because Manchester City also won in the early game.

At present, Chelsea's record in the Premier League is 7 wins and 1 draw, with 22 points and ranked second in the standings.

Manchester City has won 8 consecutive games since the start of the game, and is strongly ranked at the top of the standings!

Arsenal, currently ranked third, and Tottenham, ranked fourth, both have a record of 5 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, and have been left behind by the two monster teams in front.

It is rare to become a chaser from a leader. This feeling is quite strange for the players in Chelsea's first team who have won two consecutive league titles.

After all, they have always been under great pressure to win the championship in the past. This pressure has made them successful and has been urging them to move forward and build their own three-peat dynasty.

But now Manchester City has taken the initiative to bear such public pressure for them, and they themselves do not feel how lost. On the contrary, they are emotionally relaxed.

Li Ang does not think this is a bad thing.

Winning the league championship is not a 100-meter race, but a marathon that tests the will and comprehensive strength of the contestants.

Manchester City's strength growth has always been within Li Ang's expectations. It is unrealistic to suppress such evolving competitors from beginning to end.

So occasionally competing with Manchester City as a pursuer will also help Chelsea's players calm down and exercise their will.

As for the Premier League this season?

It's too early to talk about this now.

Let's wait and see!