Chapter 249: Belgium No. 9 and a half, start!
The day after the game, a video on Youtube received 457 million hits. The publisher of the video was LAurent_football, a French football blogger on Youtube with 22 followers.

"Hey guys! This is Laurent, I just came out of the Parc des Princes. You should have seen it, the equalizer! Cavani's equalizer!"

Laurent seemed a little excited. From the thick Saint-Germain scarf around his neck, it could be seen that he was a loyal Paris Saint-Germain fan.

"oh my god"

Laurent held the microphone in one hand and rubbed his golden hair with the other hand: "You know, I thought Paris was going to lose at home, but I didn't expect us to kill Chelsea in the last minute."

The video has been edited. The scene suddenly changes here. In the camera, Laurent is holding a microphone and interviewing two passing fans.

"Chelsea, go to hell! Trash! Haha!"

"Two 2 million guys, especially Hazard, I don't know what he plays on the left, my grandma played better than Hazard at Chelsea!"

Because the team just equalized, Paris fans are very excited now. When people are excited, they tend to talk nonsense, just like saying things like "My grandma plays better than Hazard". This is probably the worst time Hazard has been criticized.

"So do you think Hazard and Jiang were the two worst players on the Chelsea team in today's game?"

Laurent raised an eyebrow.

Even a fool knows that Chelsea's problem today lies in defense, but Laurent just kept asking questions based on what the two fans said.

The more unusual the question, the more eye-catching it is.

"That's right! Hazard is trash! And Jiang, Jiang is also trash!"

The two French guys gave the camera their middle fingers together, and people who didn't know would think they won the game.

Laurent was relatively rational: "Well, although Cavani's penalty was very exciting, the final score was still 1:1. As you can see, we did not win the game. Even so, do you think Hazard and Jiang played badly? According to my understanding, their post-match ratings..."

Laurent took out his phone and looked at the data on BT Sports: "Hmm... Hazard 5.5 points, Jiang 6.5 points, this score is not high, but it can't be considered low, right?"

"nonono"

"This is just the first game. Next month, the German army will step into Stamford Bridge!"

"And then blow up Chelsea!"

"Wow, haha!"

……

"Damn it, those French guys!"

In the strength room of Cobham, Jiang Yuan, sitting on a spinning bike, turned off his phone. The video playing on his phone was the blogger Laurent's video. This video was so popular that even Chelsea's players saw it.

Hazard, who was riding his bicycle unsteadily, took off his headphones after hearing what Jiang Yuan said: "You are talking about that YouTube video, right? I saw it last night."

"Not as good as my grandma~"

Zouma imitated the tone of the two fans in the video and spoke fluent French, which made Jiang Yuan almost think that he had turned off the video.

Zouma jumped off his bike and pointed at the Paris fans who were taunting Hazard in the mobile phone video: "Eden, when will you be able to kick his grandmother?"

"fuck you"

Hazard pushed Zouma's phone away and then gave his French teammate the middle finger: "Little Curt, you look exactly like the two Paris fans in the video"

After saying that, Hazard turned to look at Jiang Yuan on the left: "You know, the French are all bastards."

"Oh, come on!"

Zuma took a step back. "Is this how you bully the only Frenchman in the team? This won't work. Jose said we must unite, unite!"

"Kurt!"

Rozovic's voice came from behind: "Why did you get off the bike? The training is not over yet!"

"Ah? Sorry, sorry."

Zuma touched his nose, hurried back to his position, put on foot covers, and stomped hard at an incredibly fast speed.

"and many more!"

Rozovic seemed to have discovered something. The team's fitness coach suddenly ran over and checked Zuma's spinning bike: "Kurt! When did you adjust the resistance to level 1?"

"Hahaha!"

Jiang Yuan laughed. Rozovic asked them to adjust the resistance to level 3 training, which is equivalent to riding a bicycle uphill. Zuma secretly adjusted the resistance to level 1, which is the lowest resistance, which means there is basically no resistance.

Rozovic was just helping Falcao with rehabilitation training. In fact, if Zouma hadn't kicked him hard twice, Rozovic would not have been able to notice that Zouma had adjusted the resistance.

"Uh... maybe I bumped into it accidentally just now."

Zuma smiled awkwardly, and under Rozovic's gaze, he jumped back the resistance: "Rozovic, look, level 3, this is correct, right?"

Jiang Yuan noticed that Hazard took this opportunity to secretly adjust the resistance back.

Oh my god! We agreed to set the level to 3, but after all this time, I was the only one who set the level to 3!

You are so lazy that you have to watch these old-fashioned people!

Rozovic carefully checked Zuma's spinning bike and nodded after confirming that there was no problem.

"Is this ok now?"

Zuma stepped on the pedal and pushed forward with difficulty, while raising his hands to prove his innocence to Rozovic.

"Wait a moment"

Rozovic bent down, turned the knob on the bike clockwise, and successfully adjusted the resistance to level 5. Then he left with satisfaction.

"wdf?"

Zuma turned around and looked at Rozovic who was walking away, and kept asking questions, but what he got was a word of encouragement from Rozovic: "Little Kurt, level 5, come on, you can do it!"

"Oh, it seems you need to train longer than us."

Jiang Yuan joked: "It's okay, we're training our thighs to resist acid. Your resistance is so high, we can also train our strength at the same time."

"Thigh strength?"

Zuma pulled his shorts up and slapped his quadriceps with his hands, making a "snap" sound.

"My thigh strength is definitely the strongest in the team, no doubt about it!"

Jiang Yuan and Azar smiled at each other without saying anything.

"Please, don't you believe it?"

Zouma was not very satisfied with the reactions of the two. He turned his entire upper body around, looking like he really wanted to get the approval of Hazard and Jiang Yuan.

Hazard spread his hands and said, "We didn't say anything, Kurt. We acknowledge your strength, but this place is not very good."

As he spoke, Hazard pointed his index finger at his forehead, and the meaning should have been obvious.

Zuma is not smart!
"Nonono, don't do this, don't do this, don't you guys recognize my football IQ? Do you know why Jose brought me to Chelsea? It's because of this!"

Zouma imitated Hazard and pointed his index finger at his head.

Hazard pursed his lips and said: "Basketball IQ? If your basketball IQ was higher, we wouldn't have lost the second goal."

"Okay, I admit that the ball was my fault. I didn't keep an eye on Cavani. But..."

Zouma shrugged: "We didn't lose in the end, and there is still the second round. We can beat Paris at home!"

"This……"

Jiang Yuan has a different view on this: "To be honest, I think the second leg at home will not be easy either. Saint-Germain is very strong and should be one of the strongest opponents we have encountered this season, on the same level as Leicester City and Manchester City."

Jiang Yuan was right. Paris' current level was no different from that of Manchester City and Arsenal. The most terrifying thing was that because of the recent large-scale injuries of Manchester City and Arsenal, Paris might be stronger than these two teams.

In addition, the technical and tactical differences between different leagues are huge, and this is Chelsea's first match against a French Ligue 433 team this season. From the first leg of the game the day before yesterday, it was clear that Chelsea did not have a particularly good way to deal with Blanc's formation.

"I feel so too"

Hazard's expression was calm as he analyzed the situation seriously: "Saint Germain's defense was very good. Jiang and I could hardly find any chances. As you can see, the only goal was Jiang's free kick... In the second leg at Stamford Bridge, our chances of winning are really low. If I were to bet, I would bet on Saint Germain to win."

"I'm different, I bet on Chelsea to lose"

Jiang Yuan raised his hand.

Obviously, as the main initiators of the team's attack, Hazard and Jiang Yuan are both pessimistic about the second round of the game.

There is no way around this. Only when you rush to the end line can you feel it firsthand that Paris' backcourt defense is really dense and you can't find any chance at all!
"Why are you saying these things?"

Ibrahimovic wiped his sweat and walked towards Jiang Yuan and others: "The game hasn't started yet, we shouldn't give up. I didn't score a goal for the team the day before yesterday, but I will definitely score in the next round."

correct!

Jiang Yuan's eyes lit up: "Zlatan, you were still a Paris player last month, do you have any way to break their defense? As soon as I got to the bottom, there were at least 6 people in their penalty area. I really admire those guys."

"I do not know either……"

Ibrahimovic hung the towel on the handlebars of Jiang Yuan's bicycle: "But as long as we are determined to win, we will definitely win the game."

"Believe me, we will advance to the top 8, I promise"

After hearing what Ibrahimovic said, Jiang Yuan's mouth twitched.

This guy Ibrahimovic is still a loyal believer in willpower!
determination?

What Chelsea needs to discuss most now should be tactical issues, right?

……

After the first leg against Paris at the Parc des Princes, Chelsea faced their next game, the fifth round of the FA Cup, at home against Premier League giants Manchester City.

This is the second match between Chelsea and Manchester City this season. In the first match, Manchester City almost slaughtered Chelsea, but in the FA Cup match, Chelsea defeated Manchester City 2:1 thanks to Jiang Yuan's two goals.

However, Chelsea was able to win not because of how strong they were, but because of Manchester City's massive injuries.

Since the 18th round of the league, Manchester City's league ranking has begun to steadily decline. Starting with De Bruyne's muscle strain, Manchester City has had 1 players injured in just one and a half months, which is almost three times the number of injuries of Chelsea.

In this situation, it would be unfair for Chelsea not to win again.

Considering Manchester City's injuries, winning this game did not bring much joy to Chelsea's players. In Mourinho's words.

"We should have won this game."

Winning Manchester City is certainly good news for Chelsea, because they have officially advanced to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup. Considering the elimination from the League Cup, the FA Cup is the last cup championship that Chelsea can compete for.

However, there were different opinions among Chelsea management on whether to go all out to compete for the FA Cup. The final result of the discussion was that if Chelsea was eliminated in the round of 16 of the Champions League, then they must go all out to compete for the FA Cup.

If they advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, it will depend on the schedule at that time. Whether to give up the FA Cup will depend on the schedule and opponents. After all, every step forward in the Champions League knockout stage can get a huge bonus, which will be of great help to Chelsea's summer transfer window.

The knockout stages of the Champions League and the FA Cup have begun to slowly progress, while the race for the Premier League title has also entered a white-hot stage. Six days later, on February 6, London time, the 2th round of the Premier League will be played against Southampton.

There are still 3 days until the game, Chelsea Cobham.

"Here here!"

"Pass it here!"

"nice shot!"

"..."

The Blues players were playing an 11v11 match, but Mourinho on the sidelines seemed a little absent-minded.

Brown glanced at Mourinho next to him and said: "This is the first time I've seen you distracted during training."

"Um……"

Mourinho shook his head: "I can't help it. I've been under a lot of pressure lately, with the League Cup and the Champions League coming one after another. The most important thing is that our situation is complicated now. The locker room is stable for the time being, but the game..."

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Chelsea is strong on paper, but its hard power is rather mediocre.

Maybe they can beat weak teams, or even beat weak teams. But if they meet strong teams, Chelsea will have a very hard time.

Just like playing against Paris, there were 4 defenders and 2 midfielders in the penalty area, and 2 defensive players at the bottom line. Jiang Yuan and Hazard had no other choice but to pass the ball to Ibrahimovic. And because there were so many people in the penalty area, Ibrahimovic had no chance to get the ball.

"You are too nervous. Actually, we are not weak."

Brown patted Mourinho on the shoulder. Chelsea is now second in the league, and is only 2 points behind first-placed Arsenal. It can't be that bad.

"The issue is……"

Mourinho wanted to shout, but he held back: "The problem is that if we don't beat the strong teams, our final result will be just like this."

Second in the league and in the last 16 of the Champions League, this is the best Chelsea can do at the moment. If they want to go one step further, it is simply impossible for Chelsea to do so at their current level.

But Mourinho is an ambitious man, and his ambition has led to his current state of abnormal anxiety.

Brown did not speak at the first time, and paused for about 10 seconds. Seeing that Mourinho did not continue speaking, Brown whispered: "Perhaps, we can consider letting Hazard go to the middle. Just like you said, we have strong breakthrough players on the wing, and we also need strong breakthrough players in the middle. We can try it in the next game. As long as we are leading in the midfield, we will put Hazard in the middle."

"Midfield?"

Mourinho blew his nose: "Maybe we can start directly with the starting lineup"

Beep!
Mourinho asked Brown to blow the whistle and then signaled the players to gather.

"Guys, let's stop here for today's competition"

"what?"

Terry raised his right hand: "Jose, according to what you said before, we should play for about 20 more minutes"

“Change of plans”

"Eden, William, and Jiang, the three of you come out. By the way, go get a few logo plates from the box, and then follow Mr. Leon."

"The rest of the players will stay here, and Rozovic and I will train you."

……

Located 3.2km away from St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton's Giddy Bridge pub is always crowded with naked fans during Southampton matches. Apart from the cold winter in London, nothing can make these Saints fans wear shirts.

"Oh when the Saints, go marching in~"

"Oh when the Saints go marching in~"

"..."

The pub was crowded and very lively. The owner of the pub was Lady Chatterley, who was now very busy.

"Ma'am, German Wheat"

A man over 1 meters tall walked to the front of the bar, and Lady Chatterley, who had free time, poured a large glass of beer for the man. One glass was about 9 ml and the price was very cheap, only 800 pounds.

The uncle picked up the beer glass and took a big gulp.

"what!"

The advantage of watching a game in a pub is that you don’t have to buy those expensive and unpalatable industrial beers sold around the stadium!
"Ma'am, what do you think of today's game?"

The uncle rested his arms on the bar, looking up at a mounted TV in the distance, which showed Chelsea players warming up.

"Well, I definitely hope we can win, but Chelsea is not an easy opponent"

Lady Chatterley said as she shook her glass of wine. As a local resident of Southampton, the 55-year-old Lady Chatterley has been a Southampton fan for 46 years.

The uncle grabbed the glass with one hand and said to the densely packed fans in the pub: "Southampton!"

"Southampton!"

……

"Zhuangdianertai, Zhuangdianertai!"

"Here is the live broadcast of the 2015th round of the 16-28 Premier League, Southampton vs. Chelsea"

"The game has started. We can see that the team wearing red and white striped jerseys and black shorts is the home team of today's game, Southampton, while the team wearing blue jerseys is Chelsea!"

"Now let me introduce the starting lineups of both teams, starting with the home team Southampton!"

Southampton (5-3-2)

Goalkeeper: Fraser Forster

Defenders: Cedric Soares, Van Dijk, Jose Fonte, Taggart, Portland
Midfielders: Romeu, Crassi, Steven Davis

Forwards: Austin, Sean Lang

Head coach: Ronald Koeman
"Except for the injured Rodriguez, Southampton's starting lineup has basically not changed. Then there is the visiting team Chelsea... Hmm? Jiang Yuan is playing as the left winger today, William is on the right, and the center is... Hazard!?"

"Well, Mourinho has put out this lineup again. This is the second time I see Hazard appear in the middle!"

The commentators of Channel 5 were very surprised, and the fans at the scene and in the live broadcast room were obviously also very surprised. The last time they played against Manchester United, Hazard was replaced by the attacking midfielder position in the second half, and everyone thought it was Mourinho's idea.

But now it seems that Mourinho was well prepared for this.

A super winger worth 7500 million euros plays as attacking midfielder, what a big deal!
Less than two minutes into the game, the fans in the stands of St. Mary's Stadium were already beaming with joy.

"Ugh! Mourinho, are you giving away points?"

"Don't look down on us!"

"You asshole, there's a price to pay for your arrogance!"

"..."

As one of the top teams in the UK, Southampton fans are very aggressive. Mourinho was a little upset by the fans' abuse, but there was nothing he could do.

Fabregas still played on the left today. In the 7th minute, Baba defended Austin who was at the bottom. On the way Austin passed the ball back to Romeu, the ball was intercepted by Fabregas.

"Chelsea, counter attack"

"Klasi wanted to come up and grab the ball, Zouma supported him from behind, Fabregas passed it to Zouma, and Zouma passed it to Mikel!"

"Mikel through ball!"

"Beautiful! Chelsea used a very wonderful long-range pass to break through Southampton's high pressure"

"William gets the ball on the right"

"Hey, don't tell me, I'm a little uncomfortable seeing William playing as a right winger..."

ta!

As a Brazilian, William is very flexible. After stopping the ball, he kicked the ball with his right heel and passed directly behind Portland.

Immediately afterwards, William passed the ball to Hazard who was in the middle. After receiving the ball, the latter immediately looked for Jiang Yuan on the left, but Cedric and Van Dijk were both watching Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan ran left and right near the sideline but could not find a suitable gap.

Helpless Hazard could only choose to dribble the ball forward by himself, and Mourinho was urging him off the court. Hazard played as a number 9, and players in this position need to have very strong ball-holding and dribbling abilities.

"There's someone behind you!"

Crassi, who was returning to defense, wanted to steal the ball from Hazard from behind, but the Belgian superstar heard William's reminder.

"here!!!"

Just at this moment, Ibrahimovic raised his hand in the penalty area, and Hazard put his right foot on the grass and kicked a high ball into the penalty area.

"Watch him, watch him!"

The Southampton goalkeeper signaled his teammates to pay attention to Jiang Yuan's advance on the right, but Ibrahimovic's attraction to these defenders was too strong.

Outside the small penalty area, Fonte and Ibrahimovic collided, but Fonte, who took the initiative to collide, almost fell down. Then Ibrahimovic completed a jump on the small penalty area line.

But instead of shooting, he smashed the ball to the ground with his head.

The ball was hit in the direction of Jiang Yuan's left side and bounced on the grass.

"Snapped!"

Jiang Yuan leaped up and headed the ball into the goal.

“GOOOOOOO—AAAAAAAAA—LLLLLLLLL!!!!”

"JIANG!!!"

Because it was Ibrahimovic's back pass, there was no offside issue. After seeing the ball hit the net, Jiang Yuan immediately got up from the ground and decisively rushed to the left corner flagpole, venting his excitement with a roar.

Of course, he did not forget Ibrahimovic's pass and turned around to hug the Swedish center who was running towards him.

"Good!"

Even though Ibrahimovic is in his 30s, his muscles are very strong!
……

(End of this chapter)