Chapter 204 Tai Chi
In the match against Stoke City, Falcao and Kennedy scored a goal respectively, plus Hazard's penalty kick, Chelsea, playing away, finally defeated their opponents with a score of 3:1, but the Blues' league ranking remained unchanged at fourth.

After the 12th round of the Premier League, the entire European football world is no longer talking about the Champions League group stage. After Leicester City defeated Watford 2:1, the Blue Foxes successfully squeezed out Manchester City and came to the first place.

Can you believe it? Leicester City was ranked 14th last season. At the beginning of this season, when the team coach Ranieri stated the team's relegation goal in front of dozens of reporters, everyone thought that Leicester City was really going to avoid relegation.

As a result, Leicester City has been very strong since the beginning of the season, and fought its way to second place. After the 12th round, it finally squeezed out Manchester City and came to the top of the list.

At this moment, the BIG6 of the Premier League finally realized the problem, and Manchester City and Arsenal began to regard Leicester City as their title rivals.

Mourinho is not under as much pressure as Pellegrini and Wenger because he and the team management have lowered their expectations for the team's performance this season. After all, given the current situation in Chelsea's locker room, it is undoubtedly a fantasy to win the championship.

The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment; the smaller the expectations, the less pressure!
They just need to make sure they are not squeezed out by Tottenham and Manchester United behind them.

On the afternoon of November 11, Mourinho walked into the locker room of the Cobham base and personally pasted photos of the Tottenham and Manchester United team logos on the wall in front of all the players.

Everyone turned their attention to Terry for Mourinho's incomprehensible move. The Chelsea captain was forced to stand up and walked behind Mourinho: "Jose, what are you doing?"

Mourinho glanced back at Terry and said, "Tottenham and Manchester United! These are our two most important opponents this season. As long as we can surpass these two teams in points, we can qualify for the Champions League next season. You all should know this, right?"

"But what do these two photos mean..."

Hazard pointed behind Mourinho, which were two super-large team logo photos, roughly estimated to be at least 80 centimeters long.

If you didn’t know, you would think this is the training base of Manchester United or Tottenham!
Mourinho didn't say anything, but picked up a pen and drew a big cross on the logos of Tottenham and Manchester United.

"These two photos are to remind you who our opponents are. Beat Tottenham, beat Manchester United, and then qualify for the Champions League next season. This is what we need to do now. Does anyone have any questions?"

Zouma raised his hand. Jiang Yuan, who was sitting next to him, wanted to pull Zouma's hand down, but Mourinho asked Zouma to stand up before Jiang Yuan: "Kurt, what's your question?"

"Eh... I mean, I think we can set our goal a little higher. Leicester City, Manchester City and Arsenal all have 26 points. Even though we are fourth now, we have 4 points, which is only 25 point behind Leicester City, which is in first place!"

"That's right!"

"I think Kurt is right. We should set our goals higher!"

As soon as Zuma opened his mouth, the players expressed their support for him.

Everyone who can sit here is a genius, a top player among millions, and everyone has a sense of pride in their hearts.

Why can Leicester City be first, and why can we, Chelsea, only be fourth?
"Clap clap clap!"

Mourinho gave everyone applause, then walked out and came back with three super large photos.

Jiang Yuan immediately recognized what was in Mourinho's hand. It was a photo of the team logos of Leicester City, Manchester City, and Arsenal.

Afterwards, Mourinho pasted the photos on the wall one by one under the gaze of the players. He did the same thing again, drawing a big cross on the photos with a pen, looking very domineering.

"If you want to compete for the top four, I will fight with you for the top four. If you want to compete for the championship, I will fight with you for the championship!"

"Go! Wow!~~"

"Screw Leicester City. How dare any relegation team compete with Chelsea for the championship? Screw them!"

"..."

Looking at his teammates who were full of energy, Jiang Yuan smiled bitterly.

Everyone has fallen into Mourinho's trap. What's the bullshit of "companion you to compete for the championship"? Isn't Mourinho the one who desires the trophy the most in the entire Chelsea team?
But it’s okay, this is the passion that Chelsea needs now!
……

At 11 pm on November 21st, London time, two hours before the 2th round of the Premier League match between Chelsea and Norwich, Chelsea players took the team bus and were surrounded by a group of Chelsea fans in blue jerseys as soon as they arrived at Stamford Bridge.

"Mourinho, there were rumors that you wanted to buy Lukaku. Is this true?"

"Jiang, give me an autograph, give me an autograph!"

"Eden!"

"When will Courtois be able to return to play?"

"..."

Surrounded by the home team's fans, the players entered from the back of the stadium. On the way, Jiang Yuan did not forget to give his autograph to the fans.

Although we can't sign much, the intention must be there and we can't let down the fans who come to support us.

……

"Zhuangdianertai, Zhuangdianertai!"

"Here is the live broadcast of the 13th round of the Premier League, Chelsea vs. Norwich"

"The referee is already looking at his watch!"

"Okay, dear audience friends, the game has begun! Now let me introduce you to the starting lineup for this game!"

"First up is the home team Chelsea, wearing blue jerseys. Original starting right back Ivanovic has returned from injury, and Zouma has returned to his central defender position."

"..."

"Then the away team Norwich, wearing dark green shirts and yellow shorts, attack from the left side of the screen to the right side"

Norwich (4-4-1-1)

Goalkeeper: Rudy

Defenders: Martin Olsson, Bassong, Ryan Bennett, Wisdom

Midfield: Brady, Mulumbu, Gary O'Neill, Raimondi, Howson

Striker: Mbokani

Head coach: Alex Neal
"Hiss, we can see that Norwich coach Neil's lineup today is a bit strange, 4411, this formation rarely appears in the Premier League this season. Instead, Mourinho used 4231, which is currently the most popular formation in European football."

"If I remember correctly, Norwich should be the only team in the Premier League this season that has used the 4411 formation. Judging from Norwich's current ranking in the standings, Neil's new trick doesn't seem to have any effect..."

"But that's how football works. We can't guess what will happen until the game is over. Let's just enjoy the performances that both teams give us!"

The competition is live!

Chelsea still takes the initiative. This season, except for the third round match against Manchester City, Chelsea had a disadvantage in ball possession, but had an advantage in all other games.

Even Arsenal under Wenger only had 45% possession of the ball against Chelsea. You can imagine how good the passing and controlling abilities of Chelsea players are.

Today, Chelsea’s opponent is Norwich, a team that was promoted to the Premier League this season, commonly known as a “newcomer”.

Promotion is certainly inspiring, but these newly promoted teams all have one big characteristic: they are generally very weak, especially when facing strong teams in the top leagues, the disadvantages of the players' individual abilities will be infinitely magnified.

So how big is the gap in personal ability between Chelsea and Norwich players? In terms of market value, Hazard + Costa + Jiang Yuan, three people can replace Norwich's 11 starters.

Before the game, Mourinho said in the locker room that if they lost the game, he would let the players strip naked and run around the Thames. Mourinho was of course joking, and he would not run naked. Anyway, if they really lost, Chelsea players would not have a good time.

27th minute!

"After getting the ball, Howson wanted to move towards the Chelsea penalty area from the middle, but I think this is a bit taken for granted. Chelsea is not a Championship team!"

"Wow! Here they come, Matic and Fabregas, both pressing together. Hausen knew he couldn't do it anymore and wanted to pass the ball, but he didn't! Matic blocked his position and helped Fabregas get the ball. It was very beautiful!"

"Chelsea can launch a quick counterattack, Norwich's players are replaying, center forward Mbokani is pressing Fabregas, he wants to buy time for his teammates to run back"

"Fabregas chose to pass the ball back to Zouma, who made a long pass directly to Hazard!"

"The ball is in a high position. Hazard is running forward and he passes it directly to Costa with his chest! Wait, why is Costa in this position? Forget about that for now. Costa passes the ball to William, who then passes it to Jiang Yuan."

Jiang Yuan stretched out his right foot while running at high speed. The moment his ankle touched the ball, it was as if his foot was coated with 502 and it directly sucked the ball.

Jiang Yuan then faced Mulumbu and Brady. He pushed the ball from his right foot to his left foot, and then from his left foot to his right foot, and his center of gravity changed accordingly.

It's not Jiang Yuan who is moving with the ball, but the ball is moving with Jiang Yuan!

"Fried meatballs! Jiang Yuan's fried meatballs are amazing! He passed it directly between Brady and Mulumbu!"

"1 over 2! 1 over 2 again!"

"Oh my god, in order to deal with Chelsea's explosive points on both sides, Neil arranged a full five midfielders, hoping to create a numerical advantage when defending, but I didn't expect Jiang Yuan to directly break through the two defenders on the left."

"Neil's tactics were resolved by Chelsea players with their personal abilities!"

As Jiang Yuan broke through to the end line, Stamford Bridge became noisy.

The fans at the stadium were not much more noble than those watching TV. Most of them watched the goals, and tactics were secondary. So whenever a player entered the opponent's penalty area, the cheers at the stadium were always loud.

"Hey!"

Costa shouted in the middle. At this time, Jiang Yuan was playing one-on-one with Olsson on the wing. In order to facilitate Jiang Yuan's passing, Costa needed to speak actively.

Jiang Yuan swayed left and right, and finally chose to pass the ball to William.

"To the left!"

Jiang Yuan pointed in the direction of Hazard. He wanted William to transfer the ball to the left where there were fewer defensive players. However, after looking left and right, William did not do so. Instead, he passed the ball back to Jiang Yuan.

!!!

Since William passed the ball back, Jiang Yuan was not polite. He took the ball and cut inside, then shot violently with his left foot!
The "bang" sound of the shot was followed by the "pop" sound of the save. Goalkeeper Rudy successfully defended Norwich's goal, but because Jiang Yuan's shot was so powerful, Rudy failed to hold the ball.

no!

Rudy thought to himself that this was not good. This kind of save that didn't get the ball out of the penalty area was often the most dangerous!
Sure enough, Costa, standing in the small penalty area, used his body to push Bassong away and shot into the goal from a small angle.

“GOOOOO—AAAAAAAAAAAA—LLLLLLLL!!!”

"COSTA!" Chelsea's fierce attack at the beginning of the game finally paid off. Jiang Yuan's long-range shot with his left foot was saved, but Costa's follow-up shot after moving finally penetrated Rudy's defensive goal.

As commentator Huang Jianxiang said 10 minutes ago, with the continuous violent attack, scoring a goal was only a matter of time.

“Pa pa pa! good!”

Outside the court, Mourinho, standing in front of the bench, gave two thumbs up. His right hand was still bandaged, and the photographer took a close-up shot of the bandage on Mourinho's hand.

The English Premier League is the best. You can say that the English Premier League is not the best league in the world, but it is definitely the most worthy competition in the world. The players have a lot of fun, the referees have a lot of fun, the fans have a lot of fun, and the most amazing thing is that even the head coach has a show to perform outside the stadium!

In the last match against Liverpool, Mourinho and Klopp were both punished for their off-field "confrontation". Klopp was suspended for one game and fined 3.5 pounds for starting the fight.

Mourinho's punishment was slightly better, he only had to pay a fine of 1.5 pounds.

Overall, Mourinho made a profit, but he was not very happy because he would rather be suspended than let Klopp take advantage of him.

As Mourinho said before, if Jiang Yuan and Terry had not pulled him back at that time, Klopp would now be lying in the ICU ward of Wellington Hospital instead of training with the team at Melwood (Liverpool's first team training base).

In the 37th minute, Norwich controlled the ball in the backcourt. Jiang Yuan, Costa and Hazard formed a triangle and pressed forward at the same time, using man-marking tactics. Finally, Costa snatched the ball from O'Neal.

"Jiang, move forward!"

Costa pointed to the right baseline, signaling Jiang Yuan to run quickly.

After being teammates for almost 4 months, everyone now has a better understanding of the characteristics of the new player Jiang Yuan.

The Chinese kid is the fastest. If you want to counterattack, just pass the ball to him!

In order for Jiang Yuan to advance smoothly, Costa took the ball alone in the middle and ran towards Norwich's defense line. Because of his presence, Mulumbu and O'Neill could not spare time to guard William and Jiang Yuan.

At the same time, Jiang Yuan found the opportunity and started his advance on the right.

"Snapped!"

Jiang Yuan didn't even need to reach out. When Costa saw that Jiang Yuan was almost in position, he directly sent a precise pass.

As the team's main center forward, Costa may not be good at long passes, but he has absolutely no problem with short passes.

It was a straight pass, the ball rolled past Olsson and went straight in front of Jiang Yuan's running direction, and the latter stopped the ball with almost no pressure.

"Wow!"

The cheers of fans rang out in the stadium. Jiang Yuan originally wanted to pass the ball, but after hearing the voices of the fans, he changed his original idea. Now he only wanted the fans' cheers.

Fight!

Jiang Yuan became ruthless, stretched out his left hand to hold Olson's body, then stepped his right foot inward and rushed in directly in front of Olson.

"here!"

"this!"

Costa and William stretched out their hands almost at the same time. The positions of both of them were pretty good. The inverted triangle passed to William so that he could make a long shot, and the direct pass to Costa gave him an opportunity to compete for the header.

At this crossroads of thinking, Jiang Yuan's brain was working rapidly.

"for you!"

Jiang Yuan looked at William with his eyes and his body towards William. After shouting, he raised his right leg and prepared to do an inverted triangle.

Mulumbu thought Jiang Yuan was going to give an inverted triangle, Rudy thought Jiang Yuan was going to give an inverted triangle, everyone thought Jiang Yuan was going to give an inverted triangle.

As a result, Jiang Yuan made a direct dunk and turned around at the same time, and the ball was less than 30cm away from the baseline.

At this critical moment, Jiang Yuan raised his right leg and kicked directly.

"GOOOOOO-AAAAAAAAA-LLLLLLLL!!!!"

"JIAN-GGGGGGGG!!!"

"Nanbo Seven...Jiang!!!!!!!"

"Score from a 0-angle! A nearly perfect score from a 0-angle! Jiang Yuan's violent volley helped Chelsea score another goal!"

The moment he saw the ball hit the inside side of the goal, Jiang Yuan changed direction and rushed directly to the right corner flagpole, thinking as he ran.

What kind of celebration should be done for this kind of goal?

Got it!

Jiang Yuan remembered what his high school physical education teacher taught him. He stood on the spot with his legs apart and recited a formula in his mind: a big watermelon, half on the left, half on the right, and cut in the middle.

The fans at Stamford Bridge were confused by Jiang Yuan's celebration, but the domestic fans watching CCTV5 knew what Jiang Yuan was doing.

This is Tai Chi!

[Fuck! I was wondering why this move looked so familiar. It turns out to be Tai Chi.]

[You know what, Xiao Jiang's Tai Chi is very standard. He must have learned it professionally. He is very thoughtful! ]

[Jiang Yuan is really sensible. Look at the British guys at the scene taking videos with their phones. It really makes me happy.]

[Isn't it a bit weird to be doing Tai Chi when my whole body is made of muscles?]

[Just tell me if it looks good or not. This action is also the first one done by someone else.]

[Soft but not soft, firm but not hard]

[Fuck, you are so active? ]

[Brother upstairs, why do you look so familiar with Jiang Yuan? You two don't know each other, right? ]

[Of course I know him. My teacher's classmate's son's friend's uncle's daughter goes to the same school as Jiang Yuan, Qingshan Middle School. Isn't that awesome!]

【6】

[There are people doing Tai Chi as a celebration move. I have never seen such a thing in my life.]

Jiang Yuan was "touching the watermelon" with his hands in front of him, and his body movements were extremely smooth. Hazard, who ran over to celebrate, also became interested and imitated Jiang Yuan's movements to practice Tai Chi.

Then came William, Zouma...Except for Costa who stood still, everyone else joined the Tai Chi team.

"Take a deep breath..."

Jiang Yuan guided the Qi upward, and the others followed suit. The Chelsea players on the field were like old men and women exercising in the park in the morning.

"Spit it out slowly..."

"call--"

Africans generally have thick lips, and Zuma intentionally exhaled more air, making his lips look like a sausage.

Terry slapped Zuma hard and said, "Little Kurt, are you not in your right mind? Didn't you hear Jiang say, 'Exhale slowly'? It won't look good if you exhale so quickly!"

After saying that, Terry looked very proud and performed the upward and outward breathing exercises in front of Zuma.

Apart from Jiang Yuan, Terry has the strongest learning ability among the eight people from Chelsea who participated in the Tai Chi celebration!

"wowwww!!!"

"This is tai chi! tai chi!"

In the corner stands, a few British youths who knew Jiang Yuan's actions shouted loudly, as if they were afraid that someone didn't know how knowledgeable they were.

The phrase tai chi also became famous in the UK.

At least Premier League fans remember this thing.

Mourinho also imitated Jiang Yuan and did a few rounds, but after retiring for so many years, his cerebellum seemed to have atrophied a little. Others were practicing Tai Chi, but he was really rubbing a watermelon!

2:0, this was the score at the end of the first half. Chelsea, playing at home, lived up to expectations and led the newly promoted Norwich by 2 goals.

Lopetegui gave the tactical outline for the second half in the team's locker room, which only consisted of seven words when translated into Chinese.

Just keep suppressing and hitting!
"Okay, welcome back everyone, this is the second half of the Premier League match between Chelsea and Norwich"

"Let's watch the game. Chelsea has not made any substitutions yet."

"Then it was the visiting team Norwich. Dorrance replaced Howson. Although they were two goals behind in the first half, Neil still chose to use the 2 formation in the first half, even though this formation had very obvious weaknesses in offense."

"Oh! Chelsea still maintained their aggressive style in the first half. Jiang Yuan got a yellow card right after coming on the field. This tackle was indeed a bit dangerous. Jiang Yuan seemed a bit anxious. Now they are in Norwich's backcourt. Even if they don't regain the ball, Norwich can't launch a quick counterattack."

"Mulumbu quickly sent a free kick to Mbokani, who was in the front. He was a center forward from Congo. He was 1 meters tall, which was not considered tall among the centers in the Premier League, but was pretty good."

"Fabregas wanted to steal the ball, but his physical confrontation was obviously not as good as Mbokani. Mbokani passed it back to Dorrance who had just come on the field."

Neil seemed to have a specific plan for the team's tactics in the second half. After Dorrance got the ball in the frontcourt, he gently pushed the ball in front of Mbokani. The latter took a long shot directly, but it was unfortunately saved by Begovic.

"???"

Jiang Yuan, who was watching the whole process from behind, was full of question marks. Mbokani shot directly without even running to the top of the arc. It was too reckless. If William and Jiang Yuan shot at this position, they would definitely be scolded by Mourinho.

But if Jiang Yuan thought about it carefully, he would understand that Norwich now had no chance to score a goal. The only way was to take a long shot from outside the penalty area.

"Beep!"

Referee Craig Pawson blows the whistle, Norwich corner kick!
……

(End of this chapter)