Chapter 319 Confrontation
“Let’s go!”

Referee Atkinson blew the whistle to end the first half of the game, and players from both teams walked towards the player tunnel one after another amid the cheers of fans in the stands.

The score was fixed at 2:1. Chelsea took the lead thanks to Jiang Yuan's two goals. Mourinho was very satisfied with this score, but Klopp was not happy.

There is no doubt that during the half-time break, Klopp will make targeted changes to the tactics for the second half of the game to cope with the situation of lagging behind.

The same was true for Chelsea, of course. Mourinho and Brown had discussed the situation long before the referee's whistle.

At Stamford Bridge, Mourinho applauded the players as soon as he opened the wooden door of the locker room.

clap clap clap!
“The performance in the first half was very good, especially the cooperation in the frontcourt!”

While speaking, Mourinho looked at Jiang Yuan and Hazard sitting opposite him. Without a doubt, these were the two best performing players of Chelsea in the first half.

It was because of the perfect performance of Jiang Yuan and Hazard that Chelsea was able to take the lead over Liverpool at home.

It is true that the Portuguese is a relatively strict coach, but the fact is that no coach will be stingy with praise for his players.

"but!"

Mourinho changed the subject: "You should have felt it, at least I felt it, our backcourt defense was a bit difficult against Liverpool. Several of their players, Mane, Sturridge, and even Coutinho, played very aggressively."

Mourinho's eyes stayed on Pogba for a while, then moved to Zouma: "The feeling I got from this game is that Liverpool's impact on our frontcourt is very strong, which is what I am most worried about."

After hearing the coach's statement, the players in the locker room fell into deep thought. Mourinho was right, Chelsea was very afraid of the opponent's high-pressure defense.

Chelsea's two defensive midfielders, Kante and Pogba, Kante often has to run to the front to support the attack, Pogba alone in the back, it is inevitable that he cannot cover the entire defense. Once Liverpool passes Pogba's defense line, they will face Zouma and Terry.

Mourinho's feeling from this game was that Liverpool was more difficult to play against than Dortmund, and even more difficult than just a little.

In response to this situation, Mourinho needs to make a special emphasis: "N'Golo, and Paul"

Kante and Pogba, whose names were called, looked at Mourinho at the same time. After making sure that both of them were paying attention, the Portuguese continued his speech: "Be sure to pay attention, don't go forward at the same time. Especially when N'Golo goes to the front to attack, Paul, don't run to the attacking midfielder. It's true that you have strong physical fitness. But you have to know that if you run to the attacking midfielder position to attack, if we lose the ball, you will not have time to return to defense."

Although it is said that it is Kante and Pogba, the defensive problem actually still lies with Pogba.

Mourinho looked serious and looked at Pogba in front of him: "I know you are a good passer, but I want to tell you that you are not a front midfielder."

"Our offense is already strong, there's no need to run to the front"

The problem Mourinho mentioned is actually the conflict between Pogba's playing style and Chelsea's tactics. What Chelsea needs is a stable and loyal defensive midfielder, like N'Golo Kante.

Pogba's playing style is somewhat aggressive. The midfielder always wants to run forward to show off his skills, and sometimes even wants to make a wonderful pass to his teammates. It is a good thing for the defensive midfielder to participate in the attack, but Pogba does not have the endurance of Kante after all. He can't even play 90 minutes because he has to attack and defend at the same time.

As for letting Kante and Pogba swap tasks, Kante's endurance would be wasted.

“I know”

Pogba nodded to show that he understood. Mourinho didn't know whether Pogba had listened or not, but he just assumed that he had listened.

To be on the safe side, Mourinho gave Brown a look, and the latter had a secret conversation with Ivanovic. If Pogba suddenly moved forward, Ivanovic would have to fill in the position lost by Pogba even if he had to give up the assist.

"Time!"

Brown shouted from the side, and Mourinho looked down at the Vacheron Constantin in his left hand and clapped his hands, "OK, it's almost time to go out. Get excited, get excited, and keep the passion!"

"correct!"

Mourinho looked at Fabregas who was sitting in the corner: "Cesc, go warm up!"

Brown looked at Mourinho and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he said nothing.

In the player tunnel, Mane, who was standing on the right, took the initiative to greet Jiang Yuan: "Hey, Jiang!"

"Wow?"

Jiang Yuan didn't know why Mane wanted to say hello to him, but he still took the initiative to hug him. Mane was only a little over 1 meters tall, but his muscles were really strong. Jiang Yuan felt that if he and Mane collided, they would probably suffer a lot.

After the hug, Mane shook hands with Jiang Yuan again: "Can I have your jersey? Um... I mean, after the game."

"sure"

Jiang Yuan was quite straightforward and agreed immediately. Jiang Yuan would not refuse a jersey if his opponent asked for it, except in special circumstances.

"Let's go!"

Zuma patted Jiang Yuan on the butt. Jiang Yuan came to his senses and found that Ivanovic in front of him was 3 meters away from him, so he hurried to catch up.

As the green grass came into view, the lights of the stadium shone on his face.

"Chelsea!"

"Jiang, oh my god!"

"Zlatan!"

Chelsea has so many stars that the fans need to shout out more names. Some fans came to watch the game for the first time, and it can be said that it is a very happy thing to see so many stars at one time.

"Okay, dear audience friends, the second half of the game will start now"

"Neither team has made any substitutions so far. Fabregas and Falcao are already warming up on the bench."

"Hey, speaking of Fabregas, Coach Zhang, it seems that Fabregas has not started in the Premier League this season."

"Yes, in fact, we can see that Fabregas' situation this season is a bit embarrassing. Because we say that the joining of two defensive midfielders, Kante and Pogba, directly led to Fabregas losing his tactical position in the team, which is quite uncomfortable. But Mourinho asked Fabregas to warm up at the beginning of the second half today, which shows that he still hopes to make use of Fabregas."

"Teacher Zhang Lu's analysis is very accurate. Let's take a look at the second half of the game. Before the game, the two teams were ranked second and fourth respectively, which shows that the difference in absolute strength between the teams is actually negligible. I personally think that if either side wants to win this game, they will need a little bit of luck to help."

The game was in the 55th minute and Mourinho asked Fabregas to warm up at the 45th minute. In the current weather in London, 10 minutes of warm-up was enough, but Mourinho still did not let Fabregas play.

On the court!
Snapped!
After Mane received Mignolet's hand-thrown ball, he started to attack. The sudden acceleration surprised Kante, and he immediately chased after him.

There is not much difference in height between the two, but if we only compare speed, Kante is definitely no match for Mane.

Sure enough, after just a few seconds, Mane completely got rid of Kante. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan immediately accelerated and ran over: "I'll do it, I'll do it!"

With the help of his teammates, Kante decisively gave up chasing after Mane and instead began to closely mark Coutinho.

"Mane, race with Jiang Yuan on the wing!"

"Wow, is this a football match or a track and field competition? The two players are almost the same speed."

"Hey, that's not right, Jiang Yuan seems to be a little faster!"

"Jiang Yuan, speed up and fall directly to the ground!"

"wowwww!"

The fans cheered at Stamford Bridge, and Jiang Yuan's tackle after chasing back directly destroyed Liverpool's counterattack.

This speed battle was really exciting for the fans at the scene. Both players are very good at sprinting, and the visual impact of their running was exaggerated.

The fans enjoyed the show, but the two players who just performed were really miserable.

"shit!"

Mane fell to the ground and helplessly let go of his hands. Jiang Yuan was also panting. If it were a normal situation, Jiang Yuan would never return to defense like this.

But there was no way. That was Liverpool's counterattack. If Jiang Yuan didn't go back, with Mane's speed, he would probably face the central defender.

"Come!"

Jiang Yuan reached out to Mane who was lying on the ground, and with some effort he pulled Mane up.

There was no technical foul in this tackle, but we all play in the same league, so we still have to maintain good relations.

Mane patted Jiang Yuan's arm, then ran back and motioned Klein to come over and kick off.

Although Mane's explosive pass was disrupted by Jiang Yuan, Liverpool's attack was not over yet. Klein passed the ball to Lallana on the wing. After getting the ball, Lallana, Mane and Henderson made several consecutive small-scale cooperation. Finally, Mane passed the ball to Coutinho in the middle.

"Get up!"

Courtois reminded loudly that when facing a player like Coutinho who is good at long-range shots, you must defend closely at the first time, otherwise if you give Coutinho a chance to turn around, Chelsea's goal will be in trouble.

Kante reacted very quickly, and before Coutinho could turn around, he had already stuck to him. However, Coutinho played a trick, with a flick of his right foot, he successfully shook off Kante and passed the ball to Milner who followed up, who passed the ball straight to Sturridge.

Sturridge comes from the bottom, and Ivanovic is defending 1v1 at the bottom line!

Sturridge's ball protection level is very high, and his dribbling speed is also good. He pretended to pass the ball back and finally successfully passed the ball to the middle.

The ball was sent to the front point, with an average height and a downward drop. The ball hit the grass and then came to Coutinho's feet. The latter raised his leg and hit the ball from top to bottom.

Snapped!
The sound was rang out, and Coutinho's volley ball bounced in the small penalty area and finally went into the net.

This ball was so unexpected that Courtois had just made preparations to save the ball when it went into the goal.

"GOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!"

"A goal from Philippe Coutinho, Liverpool equalized the score again!"

"Oh my God!"

The CCTV commentator expressed his emotion, saying that Liverpool's attack was really good.

No one thought that Sturridge would pass the ball forward, catching Chelsea off guard.

"oh my god!"

Mourinho hugged his head and then shook his hands hard, as angry as he could be.

Under the gaze of the camera, Coutinho came to the home team's stands and danced rhythmically with his teammates.

Jiang Yuan and his teammates looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

After the score was equalized, Mourinho's original substitution adjustment should have been postponed, but he chose to do it early.

"The fourth official raised his card. Liverpool and Chelsea made substitutions at the same time. For Liverpool, No. 27 Origi replaced No. 15 Sturridge who had just completed an assist."

"For the home team Chelsea, Fabregas will replace Kante. This substitution is a bit unexpected!"

"Well! Actually, when we look at this game, Kante's performance is very outstanding. It is indeed puzzling that Mourinho chose to replace Kante at this time, but I think Mourinho should have his own considerations."

"The problem is, without Kante's help in the frontcourt, how will Chelsea attack next?"

The fans at the scene were a little anxious, and the director's camera was given to Wijnaldum who was dribbling the ball. After equalizing the score, the momentum of Liverpool players was extremely high, and Origi soon found an opportunity and sent a cross to Coutinho.

Snapped!
It was a long shot, but luckily Courtois pushed the ball out, otherwise Coutinho would have scored a hat trick.

"In the 68th minute of the game, Liverpool got a corner kick opportunity. This was the 6th corner kick Liverpool got in this game."

"Judging from the number of corner kicks, the tempo of today's game was quite fast."

"Wijnaldum! Corner kick!"

"It was given to the back post, the closest one was Lovren..."

"Hey, what's going on? Why are there no Chelsea defenders around Lovren?"

"Lovren jumps up! Heads the ball!"

"The ball is in!"

"In the 69th minute of the game, Liverpool reversed the score with Lovren's header!"

"Incredible goal!"

As the CCTV commentator said, Liverpool's third goal was very different from the first two. The third goal was entirely caused by the mistakes of Chelsea's defensive players.

Can you imagine, Lovren has already walked into the small penalty area, but there is not even a defensive player around him!

"Roar--!!!"

As McLaughlin's voice sounded, the Croatian defender roared to vent his inner excitement.

The score was reversed, and the goal was scored by the defender, how can this not make people excited?
"Damn it, what the hell are you doing!?"

Courtois yelled after scoring: "This number 6 is empty, completely empty, what the hell are you doing!"

Several Chelsea defenders felt embarrassed after being scolded by the goalkeeper.

Jiang Yuan looked at Zuma, who in turn looked at Fabregas. There was no doubt that Lovren was under Fabregas's charge.

Although his teammate's mistake led to the loss of the ball, Zouma remembered what happened in the locker room before and finally did not complain to Fabregas.

I don’t know what Mourinho is thinking. Substituting Fabregas, who is in poor form, at this time is simply putting pressure on Chelsea’s defense.

Zouma endured it, but Pogba couldn't and directly spread his hands to question him. The latter wiped the sweat off his face with his clothes and looked a little embarrassed.

"Fuck!"

"Fuck you!"

Chelsea fans at the scene are venting their dissatisfaction. Five goals so far, the ticket price is definitely worth it.

The problem is, the home team is going to lose!

"come on! come on!"

Ibrahimovic waved his hands in the front court, trying to mobilize the atmosphere of the fans in the stands. At first, not many people responded to him, but soon, as fans led one by one, the home team's stands became more and more passionate.

"So cheer us on through the sun and rain~" "B'cause Chelsea, Chelsea is our name~"

call--

Jiang Yuan let out a long breath and high-fived Hazard again: "Come on!"

"come on!"

At this time on Twitter, the term #CHELIV was becoming a hot search, and fans of both teams and neutral fans began to discuss the game together.

[I told you guys that Chelsea is no match for Liverpool. Liverpool is too strong this season. If Liverpool played against Dortmund, the Germans wouldn't even be able to score!]

[Oh my god, Jiangdu has already scored 2 goals, but they still can't win. I feel that Chelsea's defense has big problems this season]

[Why did the head coach buy Pogba? He should have let Paul go to Manchester United]

[Why is Fabregas doing this? Are you a professional footballer? You are not as good as the employee of the bakery next door]

【Chelsea is terrible! 】

[The current Chelsea team is divided into two parts, the front court and the back court. The stronger the front court is, the weaker the back court is.]

[Defense, pay attention to defense, don't kick randomly, what are you doing? ]

[You all said that Jiang hurt the team by playing in the Olympics, but now Jiang is the best performer. Those who said Jiang hurt the team, do you feel better now? ]

[I understand now. The British and Spanish are unreliable. We have to give the opportunity to the Chinese.]

[Ah, I remember there was only one Chinese person in the entire top five leagues]

[So? Just tell me whether the only Chinese person is trustworthy or not.]

【sharp! 】

In the following time, Chelsea, under the command of Mourinho, began to pass the ball back to the backcourt, with the aim of temporarily slowing down the pace of the game and preparing for the final sprint.

But Liverpool under Klopp is a team that likes to press high. Mane and Origi, who came on as a substitute, pressed the ball at the same time, forcing Pogba and Fabregas to pass the ball back constantly and run at the same time to prevent their teammates from finding the passing point.

"Fuck!"

The constant defense made Pogba a little irritable. After getting the ball again, Pogba no longer chose to pass back, but made a few small movements with his left and right feet, forcibly getting rid of Henderson who was pressing him in the backcourt.

"Oh!"

Pogba's behavior made the fans in the stands exclaim. If Pogba had made a mistake and lost the ball in this position, Liverpool could have directly taken a one-on-one chance.

Fortunately, Pogba had strong footwork and did not give Liverpool any chance to expand the score.

Mourinho originally planned to curse, but considering that Pogba did not lose possession of the ball, he swallowed the words that were about to come out.

In any case, since the dribble was successful, Mourinho should not have cursed on the field, but should have waited until the end of the game before pointing out the facts of Pogba's action.

"Pogba, carry the ball forward, your teammates are all running!"

"Hazard's position is not bad!"

"Pogba! Pass the ball!"

"Wow, Pogba's through ball from the backcourt accurately found Hazard in front. The pass was placed in a very good position. Wijnaldum and Lallana in the middle didn't react in time!"

"Hazard dribbled the ball forward, and there were teammates on both sides to support him, but Hazard chose to do it himself!"

"Inside the penalty area, Matip made a move with his hands. He fell to the ground! Hazard fell to the ground!"

"Referee! What is the referee going to say about this ball?"

The moment Hazard fell to the ground, all the players in Chelsea's frontcourt moved in unison and ran towards the referee Martin Atkinson, shouting words like "penalty" and "penalty".

Finally, under the gaze of more than 4 people at the scene, referee Atkinson walked to the top of the arc.

Blow the whistle and then point to the spot.

"Penalty!"

"It's a penalty!"

Stamford Bridge fell into chaos at this moment, with cheers everywhere in the stands, some shouting for Hazard and some praising Atkinson for his wise decision.

The people in the Chelsea camp were relieved, but as for Liverpool, Henderson ran to the referee to complain: "You need to look again, our player's action is not enough to make him fall to the ground. I promise, you need to look again, you will have a new conclusion!"

Henderson put his hands flat on his chest in a pleading gesture, but before Atkinson could answer, Chelsea players came over and pushed Henderson away.

"fuc..."

Henderson originally wanted to curse, but when he found out that the person who pushed him was Ibrahimovic, he swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

You can't afford to offend this person. He's really going to hit you.

"Eden!"

Zouma ran over to help Hazard up from the ground, and the latter took the ball from William. The Blues' first penalty taker threw the ball to Jiang Yuan.

This choice was expected by the fans. After all, Hazard's penalty kick level is not much better than Jiang Yuan's. In addition, Jiang Yuan now has two goals, so he is naturally the best taker of this penalty kick.

Liverpool players still wanted to argue with the referee. Zouma and Ibrahimovic walked into the penalty area to protect the penalty spot to prevent Liverpool players from damaging the grass. Hazard signaled Jiang Yuan to dribble the ball first to get a feel for the shot.

clap clap clap!
After a few dribbles with the instep of his foot, Jiang Yuan walked towards the penalty spot with the ball in his arms.

"Hey, China boy!"

Mignolet walked out of the goal, spread his arms and waved them in front of Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan wanted to beat Mignolet up, but in the end reason prevailed and he chose to complain to the referee.

Atkinson pointed at Mignolet and yelled, "Get back in the goal! It's going to be a penalty!"

"Casual!"

Mignolet shook his hands and looked relaxed, but everyone knew that he was the most nervous among the 22 players on the scene.

"Jiang Yuan stood on the penalty spot. It was obvious that the fans of both teams were very nervous. This was because Jiang Yuan's penalty kick was likely to affect the outcome of the game."

"The camera turned to Mourinho and Klopp. The expressions of the two head coaches were very serious!"

"Okay, the referee blew the whistle, let's take a look at Jiang Yuan's penalty kick"

"approach……"

"Hit the door!"

"Hey, the ball was saved! Mignolet saved the ball!"

Seeing the flying ball, William rushed forward and shot the ball, which hit the crossbar. After bouncing out, it came in front of Jiang Yuan again. The latter tightened his core and headed the ball violently.

“GOOOOO—AAAAAAA—LLLLLLL!!!”

"hat trick!"

"It's a hat trick!"

McLaren just shouted it out, and that wave almost scared the Chelsea fans at the scene. Jiang Yuan's first penalty kick was guessed by Mignolet, but fortunately the ball was fast enough and Mignolet couldn't hold the ball.

call--!
In the camera, Jiang Yuan, who completed the hat trick, did not celebrate immediately, but held his head with both hands on the spot: "Damn, I'm scared to death!"

He was so scared that he could not speak his native language. It would have been terrible if Jiang Yuan had not scored that penalty kick.

"Fuck, huh—"

Jiang Yuan frowned and looked at the scoreboard on the sidelines, feeling like he had survived a disaster.

“Haha, good shot!”

"hat trick!"

Chelsea's players rushed over and surrounded Jiang Yuan.

Regardless of whether the penalty was scored or not, the ball was successfully scored in the end, and Jiang Yuan also got a hat trick.

Jiang Yuan originally wanted to apologize, but seeing that his teammates were happier than each other, he didn't say anything in the end and decided to enjoy the joy that the hat trick brought him.

McLaughlin turned up the volume of the microphone: "Who makes the goal!"

"Jiang!"

"Again, who made the goal!"

"JIANG"

"Jiangggggg——!!!"

"hat trick!"

It was already evening in London, and the noise from the stadium was so loud that residents within a few hundred meters could hear the screams. The LED lights hanging at the top were flashing in the sky. If you didn't walk out of the stadium, you wouldn't even know what time it was.

In general, the Chelsea fans at the scene were quite excited because the score was tied.

As for the Happy Beans players, it's a bit bad. According to the Happy Beans theory, the number of goals in a match between two strong teams is generally not too many. Those who bought scores such as 2:1, 1:2, or 1:1 in this game will definitely lose a lot.

There is a chain effect behind everything. Once the Happy Beans players lose money, the income of the foot bath shop will drop sharply.

At the end of the game, Liverpool counterattacked with Stewart's steal. As one of the Premier League's top teams, Liverpool's counterattack speed is also quite exaggerated.

Chelsea are not stupid either. Jiang Yuan stuck to Mane at the first moment and put the brakes on Liverpool's attack with one move.

Among Liverpool players, no one except Mane has extremely fast speed. Mourinho emphasized in the midfield that if Chelsea lost the ball in the frontcourt, what Jiang Yuan needed to do was to keep an eye on Mane.

Without an engine, even the most powerful car cannot be driven.

In desperation, Stewart made a long pass directly to the front, and Coutinho took the initiative to cooperate with Origi.

Jiang Yuan scored a hat trick, and Coutinho scored 2 goals, so of course he also wanted to get a hat trick.

At the last moment, Fabregas finally stood up for a while, and with a perfect tackle he snatched the ball from Coutinho's feet, ending Liverpool's attack.

"Good!"

Pogba clapped his hands and cheered. He didn't hold his position well just now. If Coutinho had really scored a goal, Pogba, as a defensive midfielder, would have been scolded.

Although the attack failed, Liverpool's momentum was still there. In the final moments, Mane tried desperately to find opportunities in the frontcourt.

Considering that Chelsea still has the Champions League to play later, Mourinho certainly couldn't let Jiang Yuan stay on the field all the time to compete with Mane, so he replaced Jiang Yuan with Falcao at the beginning of the stoppage time.

Liverpool became more and more aggressive, and the Chelsea fans in the stadium became a little anxious.

"Beep! Beep beep!"

"Beep!!"

"Beep——!!"

Once the extra time began, there were false whistles everywhere on the field.

The home team fans are not fools. The situation on the field is now completely in Liverpool's favor. It would be better to end the game early and accept the draw. Otherwise, it would be really painful if they concede a last-minute goal in injury time.

“Beep, beep, beep—!!!”

The whistle sounded again, but the players heard it clearly, this time it was the referee who blew the whistle.

"Okay, dear audience friends, with the referee's whistle, the game is over."

"In the end, the Blues Chelsea, playing at home, drew with Liverpool with a score of 3:3, and both teams got 1 point at the same time."

“Well, fans of both teams may not be very satisfied with this outcome, but if you ask me, Manchester City and Tottenham are definitely the happiest, haha!”

"That's true. A draw between two strong teams is the result that other strong teams want to see the most. Because they didn't win this game, Manchester City is still at the top of the standings with four wins. Tomorrow morning Beijing time, Manchester City will face Bournemouth at home, and Tottenham will also play against Sunderland at home. The results of these two games will directly determine the top of the Premier League standings after the fifth round."

"Back to Chelsea, the Blues are already halfway through their tough schedule this month, but Coach Zhang, we can see that Chelsea's schedule is really tight right now. There is also a League Cup match the day after tomorrow, and the opponent is last season's runner-up Leicester City."

"In fact, I think that among Chelsea's opponents in September, Leicester City is relatively easier to deal with. Even though Leicester City was the runner-up last season, don't forget that Leicester City was hollowed out by other teams during the summer transfer window."

"The main runner-up players, like Kante, have moved to Chelsea..."

The two commentators chatted slowly, and the Chelsea players on the field also began their final thank-you segment, but this content was not broadcast live on CCTV.

……

Chelsea Twitter: First hat trick of the new season, congratulations to No.7 player Jiang Yuan!

《Metro地铁报》——曼城4：0伯恩茅斯，热刺1：0桑德兰，曼市蓝月联赛前5轮全胜积15分高居积分榜第一！

Manchester Evening News front page headline: Guardiola is the answer? Manchester City has not lost a game since the new coach took over!
Mourinho responded to the reporter's question: Cesc (Fabregas) performed mediocrely in the recent training match, which is why I didn't let him start. But I believe Cesc can adjust back, he is a very good player.

Football Emperor Daily: Arsenal beat newly promoted Hull City 4-1 away and ranked fourth with 11 points. Chelsea dropped to fifth after a draw.

The Sun's front page headline: In a good mood! After the hat trick, Jiang went shopping with his Uzbek model girlfriend at the adidas mall.

Spain's Mundo Deportivo quoted Italy's Turin Sports Daily as reporting: If Jiang scores 25 goals in the Premier League this season, his Ballon d'Or points may exceed Leo Messi.

……

(End of this chapter)