Chapter 205 The belated best of October!
"Snapped!"

Corner kick taken.

Later point!

Begovic signaled Zouma to defend the back post, but it was too late. Bennett, who had the advantage of position, jumped high and headed the ball.

With an almost perfect corner kick, Norwich scored a goal!
Zouma and Terry put their hands on their hips, both dissatisfied with their performance in defending the corner kick.

But there was nothing we could do, it went in and it went in. Bennett's header was very clean and there was no suspicion of a foul.

The director was very sensible. After Bennett scored, he immediately gave a shot to head coach Neil on the sidelines. The Scottish coach was touching his Mediterranean sea and looked very excited.

Obviously, the changes he made in the midfield were correct. Since they couldn't beat Chelsea in passing and controlling the ball, let Mbokani shoot from the frontcourt. It would be best if he shot on target, but it didn't matter if he missed the target. After all, if Norwich played passing and controlling the ball, they might not even have a chance to shoot.

"Stand closer together, man to man, man to man!"

Mourinho used his hands and mouth to express his dissatisfaction with Chelsea's goal. Logically speaking, after a good man-to-man defense, the opponent's corner kick should have no chance of scoring. But from the results, Chelsea's man-to-man defense was not well executed. Zouma and Terry were both out of position, which directly led to Mbokani and Bennett being unmarked.

"Blue is the colour, football is the game~"

"..."

The fans in the stands sang Chelsea's team song. After watching football for so many years, the fans knew in their hearts that this moment was the most critical.

Norwich was under pressure for almost 70 minutes and now they finally scored a goal. Their fighting spirit is undoubtedly at an unprecedented high.

At this time, Chelsea players must maintain the state they showed in the first half and use absolute strength to regain control of the game.

Fortunately, Chelsea is no pushover. Under Terry's mobilization, everyone quickly recovered from the previous game state and cheered up to expand the score again.

75th minute!

"boom!"

It was still Mbokani's long shot, but this time it hit Terry's thigh and bounced directly to Ivanovic.

“Go! Move move!”

Terry immediately waved his hand, wanting his players to launch a quick counterattack.

But the problem was that the game was almost at the 80th minute and the Chelsea players were almost running out of energy, so they definitely couldn't launch a counterattack at this time.

Ivanovic did not give up either. He still had to give it a try, so he kicked the ball to the left. Matic took the ball off under O'Neill's pressure and then passed it to Hazard who was waiting for a sprint near the sideline.

"Snapped!"

With a through pass that was accurate to the centimeter, Matic passed the ball to Hazard, who shook off Raymond and started to accelerate towards the baseline.

Norwich responded immediately, O'Neill and Raymond chased back together, together with the full-back Wisdom, the three of them tried to double-team Hazard in the backcourt.

But to be honest, what wingers like Hazard are best at is 1-on-2. Their feints can only affect one person at most, but the change in rhythm can affect the movement of three people at the same time.

"Hazard paused, Wisdom noticed something was wrong and walked inside. O'Neal wanted to intercept, but Hazard continued to change direction."

"Hmm! This fast and slow rhythm is really confusing. It's the same for us from a bird's eye view, not to mention the players on the field. Take O'Neal for example. He guessed Hazard's intention to change direction, but he didn't know at what speed Hazard would complete the change of direction."

"You thought he would sprint at full speed, but he paused before moving on, making all your previous defensive preparations in vain. You can see that Hazard's speed is far inferior to Jiang Yuan, but he can still dribble past people. This is enough to illustrate the importance of rhythm in the top football league."

"Speed, change of direction, rhythm, as long as you have two of these three, then you will definitely be in the top 8 of the British Super League list!"

Hazard cut inside from the left to the middle, and Costa and Jiang Yuan made a cross run on the right, with Costa coming to the right and Jiang Yuan running to the middle. Of course, the purpose of these two guys' runs was not to grab a shot, but to open up the defense and give Hazard a chance to shoot.

Hazard cut inside and saw Jiang Yuan waiting in front of him, and kicked the ball over.

Jiang Yuan understood and pushed the ball into the penalty area without stopping. At the same time, Costa rushed into the penalty area from the right, bypassed Bassong and Olsson, and scored after grabbing the ball.

"Beep!"

Pawson blew the whistle and pointed outside the field. The yellow and red flag in the linesman's hand was very eye-catching.

Offside!
shit!

Jiang Yuan shook his hands. He knew without the referee's explanation that Costa was offside when he made the through pass, otherwise it would be impossible for the Spanish center forward to run to the small penalty area and complete the shot in such a short time.

Chelsea's goal was blown off, Norwich breathed a sigh of relief and started their counterattack. Goalkeeper Rudy gestured in the backcourt, signaling his teammates to move forward. As the goalkeeper, he will be personally responsible for this set-piece in the backcourt.

On the way back to defense, Costa gave Jiang Yuan a thumbs up. It was offside, yes, but it was undeniable that Jiang Yuan's pass just now was really wonderful. If you didn't know, you would think it was kicked by William!
Jiang Yuan also responded with a thumbs up. In Porto, Lopetegui attached great importance to his defensive training, but Mourinho was different. The Portuguese believed that the responsibilities of a winger were to break through and shoot, so Jiang Yuan hardly trained in defense after he came to Chelsea.

At Chelsea, Jiang Yuan practiced short passes and one-on-one bursts on the wing the most. The team's coaching staff was very professional, and Jiang Yuan also learned a lot of breakthrough techniques that he had never heard of before.

"boom!"

Rudy kicked the ball with a long kick. The 1-meter-tall English goalkeeper is very good at passing the ball, which is why Norwich chose to let Rudy kick the ball with a long kick.

This guy's long pass is as accurate as a defender's!
"Go and grab it, go and grab it quickly!"

Azpilicueta was directing the ball from behind, while Fabregas and Matic ran over at the same time.

The goalkeeper's long pass had not yet landed, but there were already people standing near the landing point.

"Step aside!"

Mbokani pushed Fabregas away with a strong confrontation, jumped up and won the first point. After successfully winning the header, Mbokani decisively passed the ball back to Dorrance behind him.

Dorrance, who came on as a substitute, played as a single attacking midfielder, but this guy performed more like a No. 9 and a half in the game.

The number 9 is the traditional center forward, the number 10 is the midfielder, and the so-called number 9 and a half is constantly moving between the number 9 and the number 10. In simple terms, the number 9 and a half players are midfielders who move forward, but they are defined as forwards. Compared with the false 9, the number 9 and a half players are not common, because this position requires players to have very strong running and ball-handling abilities, and of course, scoring ability is also necessary.

For example, Dorrance did not pass the ball immediately after receiving the pass from Mbokani. Instead, he relied on his strong ball protection ability and slowly dribbled the ball towards the Chelsea goal.

Then, Dorrance paused, accelerated again and finally entered Chelsea's penalty area.

"Keep an eye on him!"

Begovic pointed at Dorrance, and the goalkeeper's keen sense of smell made him realize that something bad was about to happen.

Zouma reacted quickly, stretching out his hand to hold Dorrance who came in from the middle. Because they were now in the penalty area, Zouma didn't dare to continue the action, but this undoubtedly gave Dorrance the opportunity to continue attacking.

He just moved his body to the right and went directly between Zouma and Terry.

no!

The fans at the scene shouted that it was not good, but fortunately, Dorrance put all his skill points into protecting the ball and dribbling past opponents, and the final shot went wide.

so close!

This was the first reaction of all the fans and players on the Chelsea side. If Dorrance really scored this goal, not only would the score of the game be equalized, but Chelsea's entire defense line would become Dorrance's background!
"call……"

Mourinho folded his arms across his chest, breathed a sigh of relief while his brain was still thinking.

Sharp interweaving runs, agile ball protection and breakthroughs, but the final shot was a little lacking in flavor. Dorrance was like a beggar version of Hazard.

If Dorlan can play as a 9, then why can Hazard do it too?
Thinking of this, Mourinho sat back on the bench, took out his phone, and wrote down a sentence on the memo on his iPhone. But only he knew what he wrote.

The game is still going on. Unfortunately, Dorrance's superb performance today cannot make up for the gap between Norwich and Chelsea.

Norwich did not wait for their miracle, but Chelsea was in a state of ease in the following game. In the 75th minute, Mourinho replaced Hazard with Falcao, which is his usual substitution method.

After all, Hazard is prone to injury, and the head coach must take special measures for such players, such as letting Hazard rest early when the team is leading.

It's the same in all sports. If an athlete can get enough relaxation and rest, his ability to resist injuries during high-intensity competitions or even violent collisions will be greatly enhanced.

If the players have rested well, they will be more focused during the game. Concentration can help players intentionally tighten their muscles when they are hit, thereby protecting themselves.

Hazard's shortcoming is that sometimes he is not so focused. Compared with muscle massage, playing fewer games is a better way for him to rest.

In the 86th minute, Chelsea launched another counterattack. Jiang Yuan fell in the penalty area after being maliciously fouled. The referee Bosen decisively awarded Chelsea a penalty kick.

Costa stood up, took a run and shot in one go, completely killing the suspense of the game.

In the end, Chelsea defeated Norwich 3:1 at home. Costa scored a penalty and Jiang Yuan scored a goal. Chelsea took all three points. At the same time, Dorrance's performance on the field gave Mourinho new inspiration.

After the game, ESPN reporters interviewed Diego Costa, who scored twice in the game.

"Diego, first of all, congratulations on your double goal. I want to ask you a question on behalf of the fans. You like to pass the ball to Jiang after receiving the long pass from the backcourt. Is this a tactic formulated by Mourinho?"

"No"

Costa shook his head: "The tactics formulated by Jose are only a rough outline. The specific play depends on the players on the field. The coach is important, but not omnipotent."

After hearing Costa's explanation, the ESPN reporter immediately became interested: "So this is your idea. You think it's more appropriate to pass it to Jiang, is that right?"

Costa smiled faintly and said: "If you are a center forward, when you see Jiang on your right, there is no reason not to give him the ball. What you need for offense is speed and breakthrough."

"So what you mean is that Jiang's breakthrough is better than Hazard's?"

It has to be said that European football reporters' ability to stir up trouble is absolutely first-class. Costa just said that Jiang Yuan's speed and breakthrough are stronger, and the reporter immediately thought of comparing Jiang Yuan with Hazard.

Costa said calmly, with no emotion visible on his face: "Each has its own advantages and disadvantages."

"Ok"

The reporter nodded with a smile on his face: "A local British newspaper reported earlier that Mourinho's fracture was related to a player in the team. So... there is a conflict in the Chelsea locker room, is that right?"

“No, there is nothing wrong with our locker room”

……

After the 13th round, the league standings changed a lot. Of the top 6 teams in the league, only Manchester City lost, and it lost to Liverpool with a score of 1:4.

This also caused Manchester City, which was originally in second place, to collapse directly to fourth place. Arsenal and Chelsea were the most comfortable, with the two London teams rising in the rankings to second and third respectively.

It can also be seen from here that there is a reason why the Premier League is currently one of the top five leagues with the highest ratings. After every game, the ranking of the top 6 changes, which is absolutely not seen in other leagues.

Especially in the Portuguese Super League, Jiang Yuan still remembers the time when he played for Porto. Porto stayed in the second position for 6 months, and only completed the counterattack against Benfica at the end of the league.

**************
The second headline on the front page of L'Equipe - Chelsea's Jiang is firmly at the top of the scorer list with 13 goals in 13 games, followed by Aguero with 12 goals, then Vardy and Kane, both of whom have 10 goals in the league.

The Football Association——Chelsea's No. 7 Jiang won the Premier League's best player in October, and Leicester City head coach Ranieri won the Premier League's best coach in October.

"The Post" - Manchester United is interested in Swedish center forward Ibrahimovic, who has half a year left on his contract with Paris. The Glazer family hopes to wait for Ibrahimovic to sign a free transfer.

The front page headline of Daily Sports: Liverpool beat Manchester City 4-1, Klopp broke the doubts. Is the era of the new German coach coming?

The Sun – There is a serious dressing room conflict in a well-known English football team.

The second headline on the front page of The Sun - After losing to Stoke City in a penalty shootout, Mourinho issued a strict order prohibiting players from consuming alcohol within two days before the game.

……

(End of this chapter)