Chapter 156 Mourinho's ball control and counterattack training

"Jiang, you didn't seem to have enough fun last night!"

The next day in the Cobham dressing room, captain Terry walked over shirtless.

Jiang Yuan put on a pair of orange sneakers: "Well... I guess so. I can't say for sure about her. She is very beautiful and I do like her, but I always feel that she is using me, so I drove her away."

"Ha ha!"

Terry threw his training suit onto the stool and sat down next to Jiang Yuan: "It's a mutual benefit. You give her pounds and she gives you... well, you know what I mean, it's what you think."

The Chelsea captain is almost 35 years old this year, but this does not affect his enjoyment at all.

Jiang Yuan tied his shoelaces and tapped his shoes on the ground twice. "Let's not talk about this anymore. Did Jose tell us what we're going to practice today? What are we going to practice?"

Zuma on the side put his arm around Jiang Yuan's neck and said, "Jiang, you only know how to train. It's boring, boring!"

Jiang Yuan's eyes rolled around in his eye sockets, and he suddenly uttered a word: "Blonde!"

"Come on! Jiang, please stop teasing me. I drank too much last night, but I do like blondes. You know, the smell of white girls is really fascinating!"

Zuma pursed his thick lips, as if savoring something.

Azar picked up a glass of pure water, gulped it down, and then spat it all out on the ground: "Ah, Kurt, don't lead Jiang astray!"

"All right!"

Jiang Yuan showed a helpless expression: "So what are we going to practice today?"

Oscar, wearing a Sony on one ear, said while dancing: "We'll know when we gather outside. Jose doesn't like to announce the training plan in advance. Why, will Lopetegui announce the training plan in advance?"

Jiang Yuan shook his head: "No, I'm just curious about what we're going to practice today. Hu Lun won't tell me in advance. But you know, I just don't expect endurance training."

Hearing about the term "endurance training", Hazard shuddered unconsciously: "Endurance training, God, this thing is really damn bad. But I have good news for you, Jose doesn't like to arrange physical training. We have 3 training sessions in 6 days, and usually only go to the weight room once. Patience training, let me think... It's only once a month, and every endurance training is my nightmare!"

Terry stood up and kicked Hazard in the ass: "Jiang, don't listen to Eden's nonsense. I have never seen Eden run and vomit. He is always lazy. Am I right?"

"Ah? Why is this?"

Jiang Yuan was puzzled. Isn't physical strength the most important thing for a professional athlete? You know, when he was in Porto, he had to train strength every two days, whether it was small or large strength, he had to train anyway. But when it came to Mourinho, it seemed that the importance of physical strength was downplayed?
Hazard dodged and covered his butt, making an innocent expression: "It's not that we don't have physical training at all. We also practice pace and speed frequently. As for strength...Jose believes that this thing depends on self-awareness. This is what he said..."

"Cough cough!"

Zouma coughed twice, then imitated Mourinho's tone: "Damn it, you bastards, don't you go to the gym regularly? Do more bench presses, so that you won't fall down when someone touches you on the field. I won't talk about the penalty area, there were a few idiots who also tried to dive in the midfield. I don't know if the problem lies in the brain or the cerebellum, they are more disabled than disabled people!"

"Hahaha!"

The Chelsea players in the locker room burst into laughter.

"OK OK"

Terry clapped his hands: "It's almost time, let's go to the court, remember to put on your tights, it's windy outside"

……

"Comfortable!"

The two 2-a-side turfs at Cobham Base have just been watered. The grass is now soft to step on, with just the right amount of friction, making it very comfortable to do warm-up runs!
Football training includes watering the field before the game, in order to make the field more flexible, which not only increases the tempo of the game but also protects the players' knees.

Cobham is the training base for Chelsea's first team, and the staff there are all very professional. Jiang Yuan can clearly feel that the quality of the grass here is much better than that in Porto.

"Hey, Jiang, this grass is of good quality!"

Hazard patted Jiang Yuan on the shoulder, and the latter gave a thumbs up: "Great, it feels the same quality as the grass in the game."

"Of course!"

Hazard stopped in front of Jiang Yuan and warmed up side by side with Jiang Yuan: "SISGRASS mixed turf, the best in the world, I remember it cost several million!"

The SISGASS hybrid turf that Hazard mentioned is also widely used in official leagues. 95% natural grass + 5% artificial grass makes the field both comfortable and durable.

The weather in England is cold and gloomy. In order to ensure the quality of the turf, clubs usually give the turf a so-called "sunbathing", that is, using artificial lighting equipment to supplement the light of the turf. The three major teams in London, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham, spend no less than 100 million pounds a year on turf sunbathing!
"Great!"

Millions of pounds just for a training base and a few patches of grass at Stamford Bridge. Jiang Yuan had a direct sense of the wealth of the Premier League teams. No wonder Ms. Marina didn't even blink when she offered him a weekly salary of 2.2 pounds!
"Beep beep beep!"

Leon Brown blew the whistle, and the players trotted to Mourinho to gather. The team's Portuguese coach took a notebook and began to announce the training plan: "Good morning, guys!"

The players looked at each other, but no one dared to speak.

Mourinho shrugged: "I'll assume you've already said hello to me. Let me first tell you about our schedule this month. On the 5th, there is a warm-up match with Fiorentina in the United States, but that warm-up match is no longer important. It's enough for us to be there. The key point is the 8th!"

"On the 8th, our first Premier League game of the season is against Swansea at home, and then there are two away games, against Manchester City and West Bromwich Albion respectively. I admit that the schedule is a bit tight, but everyone is the same. I hope you can get off to a good start at the beginning of the league."

"But to be honest, judging from your form during the summer break, it's going to be hard to win three games in a row, so my requirements are not high. At least get 3 points in the first three rounds. Can you do it?"

Mourinho's eyes swept over the players one by one.

"It must be possible!"

Terry answered directly.

"Very good! As an athlete you must be confident! Next, Leon will tell you in detail the training requirements for today!"

Mourinho closed the notebook and assistant coach Brown stepped forward: "Good morning, everyone. Today's training is about ball possession and counterattack. It will last for 35 minutes. The requirement is..."

"Possession counterattack, what is this?"

Jiang Yuan nudged Terry's arm, and the latter raised his hand: "Leon, we have a newcomer who doesn't know the rules!"

Jiang Yuan: Uh...

"Almost forgot!"

Brown slapped his head and was about to explain to Jiang Yuan, but Mourinho, who was standing behind him, suddenly said, "Just start, you can learn the rules slowly, I believe you!"

Believe me?
Believe it or not!

Jiang Yuan took the yellow vest handed to him by the staff with a confused look on his face. Mourinho was indeed a bit unfriendly to the newcomers.

There is no other way, just learn while playing!
Brown divided the players into groups, with 12 people in Group A and 10 people in Group B. Generally, Group A consists of midfielders and forwards (including goalkeepers Courtois and Begovic), while Group B consists of a defender combination represented by captain Terry.

"Hey, beep!"

Brown blew the whistle, Courtois passed the ball to Hazard, and the so-called "ball control and counterattack training" officially began.

"Jiang, take it!"

Hazard kicked the ball directly to Jiang Yuan on the opposite side. Seeing Jiang Yuan receiving the ball, Brown quickly shouted: "Jiang, pass the ball with two kicks!"

"Ok!"

Jiang Yuan shouted, pulled the ball with his left foot to adjust the position, and it was a kick.

Pass the ball with the outside of the left foot, this is the second pass.

“Here!”

Facing Terry's pressure, Fabregas stood with his left and right feet in front and back and let the ball pass. Falcao reacted quickly and caught the ball directly.

"What are you standing there for? Go and grab it!"

Mourinho shouted, Terry did not dare to delay, and called Zouma to press forward together. Falcao made a long pass over the top, and the ball flew over the heads of four B team players towards Jiang Yuan.

"Take it!"

Jiang Yuan knew that he couldn't stop the ball, so he simply headed the ball, but unfortunately it was blocked by Ivanovic.

"Fuck!"

Jiang Yuan cursed loudly, and Team B got the ball and started attacking Team A's goal.

Courtois and Begovic were on the same side, defending a small goal respectively. At this time, the two Chelsea goalkeepers were already waiting in front of the goal!

"Stop it!"

Azpilicueta stretched out his foot to intercept, so Ivanovic turned around and passed the ball to Terry, whose violent shot broke through the seven-man goal defended by Courtois.

"Beep!"

Brown blew the whistle and wrote it down with a pen: "Team B scores 1 point!"

"My mine!"

Jiang Yuan waved his hands repeatedly to take the blame. During his communication with Fabregas, he roughly understood what this training was like.

Team B needs to seize the ball from Team A through pressing, and successfully break through the small gate defended by Courtois or Begovic to get a point. Then Team A can get 20 point by completing 1 consecutive passes. It seems that Team A is more likely to score, but in reality, the difficulty of scoring for both teams is about the same.

"Come again!"

Jiang Yuan clapped his hands. Although he didn't know why Mourinho wanted to make things difficult for him, now that he knew the rules, he roughly understood how to play.

Don't let the players on Team B get the ball!

"Both teams ready? Beep!"

Courtois fished the ball out of the net and threw it to Hazard, and the second round began!

"coming!"

The three defenders Zouma, Ivanovic and Azpilicueta pressed towards Hazard who had the ball at the same time, almost blocking all the passing routes of the Belgian, but this did not pose any problem for the players of Team A.

Hazard stopped the ball with his chest, took a step back, and kicked the ball directly at the bottom of the ball with the instep of his right foot.

"shit!"

Terry raised his head, and Hazard knew that he couldn't pass the ball, so he could only kick it high.

Then comes the problem for Team A. Most of Chelsea's players in the midfield and frontcourt are not tall, so it may not be easy for them to handle the ball.

There was no way out. Seeing the ball flying towards him, Jiang Yuan looked left and right, first pushed Matic away, then jumped high and headed the ball!
"Take it!"

The ball bounced off Jiang Yuan's forehead and flew towards Falcao.

Since Jiang Yuan's shot was made in a confrontational situation, the angle and speed of the ball were not well controlled. Zouma, who was running over, used his thigh to take the ball away before Falcao and stopped it steadily at his feet.

The players of Team B are not restricted to two kicks. Now it is Team B's counterattack. Team A must complete the attack and defense transition in just half a second. Falcao stands in front of Zouma to form a 2V1. Zouma wants to pass the ball, but the nearby players of Team B are being guarded one by one by the players of Team A.

Jiang Yuan lowered his head, pointed at the ball under Zuma's feet, and suddenly asked: "Can I grab it?"

Hearing this, Brown almost laughed out loud: "Nonsense, I told you to go and grab it!"

"Oh"

Jiang Yuan, who was standing on Zuma's right, responded, put his left thigh on the ground, folded his right leg, and then swung it out violently.

"wdf!"

Zouma was so scared that he jumped up. Jiang Yuan's tackle destroyed Team B's possession of the ball. Falcao reacted quickly and ran to Zouma's left side to catch the ball that Jiang Yuan had tackled.

"Good!"

Mourinho spread his hands and looked at Brown beside him with a smug look: "1300 million euros, both left and right wingers can play, can attack and defend, do I need to say more?"

Brown rolled his eyes at Mourinho and said: "Jose, I admit that his defense is very strong, but you also know that in actual games there are not many opportunities for strikers to tackle the ball."

Mourinho waved his hand: "It's OK as long as he can be used. At least his contribution on the defensive end is much better than William's."

"Oh? Are you planning to make a substitution on Chelsea's right wing?"

Brown seemed to notice something and raised his eyebrows.

Mourinho pouted: "You think too much. There is still a difference between 2000 million and 4000 million. Compared with Jiang, William can better activate Eden's potential in attacking on the left. After all, William's dribbling is more than a little better than Jiang."

"So you are determined to make Eden the core. Aren't you afraid of being targeted?"

Hearing Brown's question, Mourinho licked his lips: "I told you a long time ago that when Eden is on the left, no coach will make other choices. If he is targeted..."

"If you are targeted, Jose, what are you going to do? The single-core system has long been proven to be problematic. Eden is strong, but he is not Cristiano and Rio after all. In other words, what if Eden is not in good shape this season? Do you want to put the fate of the entire Chelsea team on him?"

"..."

Mourinho was silent, pursing his lips for a long time and unable to utter a word.

……

After the training, Team A won the game by a small margin of 3 points. Now they are all lying on the mat to rest. The poor 10 members of Team B, as the losers, had to run a penalty of 5 km.

Jiang Yuan learned from Terry that compared to asking everyone to run endurance, Mourinho prefers this kind of punitive endurance training.

You might ask, if someone wins every training session, then he won't have to train endurance for a long time? But the fact is that the training content of every Chelsea player in the last three months is recorded in Brown's notebook.

Isn't it Mourinho who has the final say on who wins and who loses?

"Bro, tell me, you should be quite gentle with your actions, right?"

Jiang Yuan, lying on the mat, looked at Sean, the Birmingham native who was the physiotherapist responsible for relaxing his muscles.

Sean squeezed out a little essential oil and rubbed it on Jiang Yuan's thigh little by little: "Jiang, you are lucky to meet me. My technique is the best in Cobham base!"

Xiao En's confidence made Jiang Yuan relax his guard: "Sure, brother, I feel relieved when you say that!"

After saying that, Jiang Yuan lay down on the mat. Sean took out a half-moon fascia knife, dipped some essential oil on the front and back, and then slowly moved it on Jiang Yuan's thigh.

"Oh, bro, not bad! Very good!"

Jiang Yuan looked up at the sky over Cobham and gave Sean a thumbs up.

This method is really great!
But what Jiang Yuan didn't know was that Sean had a habit of "warming up", that is, he would not use his full strength right away, but would give the athletes some time to adapt.

Just as Jiang Yuan was about to close his eyes and sleep, Sean's fascia knife reached Jiang Yuan's crotch and moved down little by little, using such force that it almost flattened Jiang Yuan's quadriceps.

"Hiss, fuck! Oh, shit~shit!"

"Oh my god! Shit!"

Jiang Yuan suddenly started wailing wildly, and it took him a long time to realize that something was wrong.

As we all know, the harder the physical therapist uses the fascia knife, the more pain the athlete will feel; and the more pain the athlete feels, the better the muscle relaxation effect will be.

and so……

The so-called first place in technique at Cobham base actually means that Jiang Yuan was assigned to the physiotherapist who could massage people the most painfully.

"shit!"

Jiang Yuan raised his head and yelled, finally understanding why a newcomer like him could use the "best" physiotherapist in the team. It turned out that this was the one left over by others!

"Brother, fuck, can you be gentler, hiss - gentler!"

Jiang Yuan grabbed the pad under his butt with both hands, and his whole body was covered in sweat.

However, Sean was dismissive: "Be gentle, why should you be gentle? If you are gentle, the effect will not be good. Jiang, if you don't relax well, you will get hurt easily!"

"Oh my god! It hurts so much, can you please be gentler? I'm dying of pain now!"

Sean finished relaxing his thigh and raised the fascia knife: "Are you in pain?"

Hearing Xiao En's concern, Jiang Yuan nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes, why don't you be gentler? In fact, the effect doesn't have to be that good!"

Sean shook his head: "What does your pain have to do with me?"

After saying that, Sean reapplied essential oil on Jiang Yuan, changed to a disc-shaped fascia knife and started working again.

"Shit! Sean, why are you like this!"

"what--!!!"

There were sounds coming from the Cobham training base one after another. It was obvious that Jiang Yuan was not the only one suffering.

"Hey, don't get up! Someone help me, Jiang is resisting the fascia knife, this will cause injuries! Help me hold him down!"

……

"Oh my God……"

Terry, who was running around the grass as punishment, glanced at Jiang Yuan and the others who were yelling and panicked: "Today is actually a fascia knife relaxation, I thought it was a massage!"

Zuma, who was running in front, shook his body and said, "Sean is still as ruthless as ever. When I came here before, I didn't know anything, and it was Sean who relaxed me! Terry, why didn't you remind me then?"

Terry patted Zouma on the shoulder and said: "Don't you know that this is a step that new players must go through when joining Chelsea? We are all brothers and we must bear the pain together."

Zuma: "Terry...thank you on behalf of Jiang!"

……

(End of this chapter)