Chapter 321 Chelsea Youth Academy

Dongqiudi Morning News (excerpt) - Can't stand it anymore? In the third round of the EFL Cup, Fabregas scored twice and Chelsea lost 2-4 to Leicester City with an all-substitute lineup. It is suspected that they gave up the cup to save the league.

As fans expected, Chelsea gave up the Carabao Cup like last season, and the defeat in this game officially meant that Chelsea was eliminated from the Carabao Cup.

However, despite giving up the League Cup, Chelsea's schedule still seems a bit tight. It is already the 22nd, but there are still two games to be played this month.

The only good news is that because they did not play in the cup match against Leicester City, the Blues starting players have a week to prepare.

Taking into account the physical condition of the main players, Mourinho adopted a 2-training and 1-rest policy, giving the players 2 more days of rest to ensure that the players in the team get no less than 12 hours of sleep a day.

Mourinho's move had a very obvious effect. By the fourth day of training, the resting heart rates of the main players had returned to normal range, which is a sign of good physical condition.

On September 9, two days before the match against Arsenal, Jiang Yuan's family ended their trip to Switzerland and his brother Jiang Hao resumed his training with Chelsea U22. Taking this opportunity, Jiang Yuan visited the Chelsea Youth Football Academy in South London.

Led by technical director Michael Emenalo, Jiang Yuan, dressed in casual clothes, came to the Youth Football Academy.

"Hey, go ahead, Osgood, go ahead and press, physical confrontation, where is your physical confrontation!"

"Ok, beautiful, that's it!"

Head coach Thomas Keys shouted outside the stadium that judging from the number of people on the field and the size of the field, this was a standard 11v11 game. But from the training T-shirts worn by the players, Jiang Yuan discovered that this was a U11 team.

【Chelsea FC Academy U11】

"He's less than 11 years old and he plays the whole game, 60 minutes?"

Jiang Yuan put his hand on the block and looked at Emenalo who was standing beside him. The latter denied Jiang Yuan's guess: "Standard 90 minutes"

???

"It's a standard 90 minutes. These are just kids. Can they handle it?"

Jiang Yuan was a little puzzled. As a professional player, he knew very well how hard it was to complete a 90-minute game. It was really exaggerated that these foreign children under the age of 11 could do this.

Emenalo patiently explained and gave the answer: "U7s play 45 minutes, U9s become 60 minutes, and U11s of course have to play 90 minutes. Those with poor endurance have been eliminated. But in fact, it is not as exaggerated as you think. The intensity of our U11 team games is relatively low. If they play like you in the Premier League, these children will definitely not be able to bear it."

After listening to Emenalo's narration, Jiang Yuan started to observe again and found that these children who were playing in the competition all had good running ability, and more importantly, they knew when to stop and rest.

From Jiang Yuan's perspective, their decisions sometimes have big mistakes, but to be able to do this at the U11 age group is already very good.

"Very good, beautiful!"

"Go in from the bottom, don't shoot at the door, don't shoot directly at the door!"

The head coach, Keith, was an Irishman. He was so focused at the moment that he didn't notice Emenalo and Jiang Yuan coming. Jiang Yuan didn't take the initiative to greet them, but observed from the outside.

There was no sign of Jiang Hao on the field. Jiang Yuan turned around to observe and finally found Jiang Hao sitting on the sidelines waiting.

"Cough cough!"

Emenalo coughed twice. Keith turned his head and was about to greet Emenalo, but he found Jiang Yuan standing next to the director.

!!!

Keith reacted quickly and immediately signaled Jiang Hao in English to start warming up, but Jiang Yuan stopped him: "It's okay, it's okay, you can go on stage whenever you want."

"Hey, Jiang, you misunderstood."

Keith waved his hand: "I asked him to sit on the side so that he could play at this time."

Since Keith said so, Jiang Yuan didn't care. He watched Jiang Hao pull up his socks and tie his shoe laces.

"elder brother!"

Seeing Jiang Yuan appear, Jiang Hao took the initiative to run over to say hello. He has been in the UK for some time, but Jiang Yuan has been busy with competitions, so he has never paid attention to his younger brother.

"Oh my god, look outside, is that Jiang?"

"Jiang? Ah, it seems to be true!"

"Holy shit!"

"..."

The players who were training on the court gradually noticed Jiang Yuan outside the court and became distracted.

As a member of Chelsea's youth training, these little guys' idols are Hazard and Jiang Yuan. After all, they are all in Chelsea's youth training, and their goal must be to become a Premier League player!

In fact, there were Premier League players who visited the youth training academy last season. At that time, it was Ivanovic and Oscar together, but it is obvious that the visitor today is much more famous than the previous two.

Last season's Premier League top scorer!
"Hey, what are you looking at?"

Keith shouted, feeling that the players' performance had embarrassed him in front of Jiang Yuan: "Queiroz, come down, let's change someone else"

Queiroz, whose name was called, lowered his head and ran off the court, and completed a positional substitution adjustment with Jiang Hao outside the court.

Jiang Hao plays as a right winger, which is not the same position as Jiang Yuan. But Jiang Yuan also played as a right winger when he first arrived at Chelsea, so it cannot be said that they are completely different.

The competition continued. Jiang Hao got an attack on the right as soon as he came on the court, but unfortunately, Jiang Hao chose to pass the ball back.

Judging from the situation on the field just now, passing back is not the best option, but it does not mean that it cannot be done.

Jiang Yuan continued watching for a few minutes and discovered that Jiang Hao had several serious problems when playing football. The first was that the ball was too far away from his body when he was dribbling, which was not a good thing for players in any position.

Another one is the passing and receiving decision. Jiang Hao's passing and receiving decision is really too immature.

All I can say is that there was a reason why Keys didn't let Jiang Hao start.

Seeing that Jiang Hao's performance on the field was average, Emenalo began to change the subject: "Our youth training is strictly divided according to age, starting from the lowest U7 to U17, all players of these age groups are in the football academy."

"I remember there were some kids under 17 at Cobham."

Jiang Yuan suddenly said that he had been in Cobham for so long and had met many children. Those children were only about 14 or 5 years old, but their ball sense and skills were ridiculously strong.

"Those are particularly talented, so they are sent to the main base for training."

Emenalo explained: "But the main youth players are here"

Jiang Yuan probably understood that, unlike the football academy, the young players at the Cobham base were all geniuses among geniuses. When they were 14 or 5 years old, they had already participated in the training of the U21 and even U23 teams.

If you are one or even two levels higher than your peers when you are young, you will naturally be very successful when you grow up.

Soon, the training was over. Before Jiang Hao could run over, the other young players on the field surrounded Jiang Yuan four times inside and outside.

"Jiang, sign!"

"Can you sign my clothes?"

"I want an autograph!"

Jiang Hao, who was at the far end, looked at his teammates surrounding his brother and asking for his autograph with a puzzled expression. He looked at Queiroz who was standing nearby. The Nigerian had just received Jiang Yuan's autograph and was looking at the Chinese cursive script on the front of his jersey with great pride.

"Queiroz"

Jiang Hao walked over and asked, "Why did you ask him for his autograph?"

Queiroz grabbed his clothes with both hands, his eyes showing longing: "Premier League Champion, Premier League Golden Boot, PFA Best Player! If I have half of Jiang's ability when I grow up, I can buy him countless McDonald's!"

"what?"

Jiang Hao touched his head and asked innocently, "Don't you have a brother who plays in the Premier League?"

???

"Hey, Jiang Hao!"

It took Jiang Yuan about 20 minutes to sign autographs and take photos with the academy's youth players. After finishing, Jiang Yuan called Jiang Hao to his side. The other young players gathered around and wanted to listen to what they were saying, but the two were speaking Chinese and no one else could understand.

"You play too cautiously. You are a striker, why do you keep passing the ball back? Why don't you keep moving forward?"

"Also, when you receive the ball, if your teammates don't pass it to you right away, it means that your position is not suitable, and you should react and make adjustments immediately. You won't have any chance if you just stand there stupidly, you have to run to get the chance!"

Jiang Hao stood there, clutching the jersey in front of him with both hands. Jiang Yuan's tone was a little excited, causing Jiang Hao to not dare to say a word.

"Hey!"

Although he didn't understand, Emenalo could tell from the tone that Jiang Yuan was probably saying something critical, so he immediately came over and said, "Jiang, there's no need to be like this. They're all just kids."

"call--"

Jiang Yuan let out a breath, then realized that he had lost his composure just now.

For a young player like Jiang Hao who is less than 10 years old, shouting loudly will only make him more cautious.

Just like in the competition just now, Jiang Hao was clearly playing as a forward, but after getting the ball he kept passing it back. This timidity is probably related to training.

Jiang Yuan guessed that Jiang Shengping might have scolded him during training just like he did, or that a teacher in China had done something similar.

Emenalo put his hand on Jiang Yuan's shoulder and said, "We have seen many people like you. Parents all hope that their children will become better and want their children to play in the Championship or even the Premier League. But the premise is to be patient with the children. For adult players like you, it doesn't matter if the coach scolds you casually, but for the younger players in the academy, I don't recommend speaking too harshly."

"Thank you"

Jiang Yuan also realized his mistake just now. He should not treat a child who is less than 10 years old the same way as an adult.

"Come, look at mine"

As he spoke, Emenalo asked head coach Case to demonstrate to Jiang Yuan. Case first asked the players around him to rest, then asked for a ball and stepped onto the court with Emenalo.

"Xiao Xiao Jiang, watch out, I'm on the right side now. The opposing defender is 2 yards (1.8m) away from me, but you see now, the defender's center of gravity has not turned over."

Keith protected the ball with his left foot and pointed at Emenalo in front of him: "There is no need for us to pass back at this time. You are like your brother, you also have speed, so we can try to break through."

After that, Keys dribbled the ball with his left foot and rushed forward to break through. Emenalo stretched out his foot to perform a tackle, but Keys reacted quickly, alternately pedaling with his left and right feet, successfully protecting the ball and completing the pass at the same time.

Jiang Yuan looked at Jiang Hao beside him. It was obvious that his expression was much more relaxed than before, as if he had really heard it.

Emenalo walked straight towards Jiang Yuan and said, "I don't know why you are a little nervous, but I hope you won't be so strict with your brother. He has an older brother who earns nearly 30 pounds a week, but he is still training hard in the academy. He has done very well."

"My opinion is that you shouldn't put your own pressure on him. Young players should relax a little bit."

Jiang Yuan stood there, unable to utter a word for a long time.

……

At 9:24 PM Beijing time on September 12, there is still half an hour left before the 6th round of the Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea.

London, England, Emirates Stadium, visiting team locker room. "Today our opponents are quite strong, so the challenges we face are also quite big"

"but!"

Mourinho suddenly emphasized: "We got enough rest after the last game, so that we can achieve good results in this game"

"Come!"

At Mourinho's call, the players gradually reached their hands to the middle.

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Chelsea, go ahead!"

……

"Zhuangdianertai, Zhuangdianertai!"

"This is the 16th round of the 17-6 Premier League, the match between Arsenal and Chelsea. The venue of this match is the Arsenal Emirates Stadium in London, and the referee is Michael Oliver."

"The referee has blown the whistle. Now let me introduce the starting lineups of both teams. First up is the home team Arsenal. They have adopted the 4231--- formation from last season!"

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Petr Cech

Defenders: Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal

Midfielders: Coquelin, Cazorla, Ozil
Forwards: Walcott, Sanchez, Iwobi
Head coach: Arsene Wenger
"The visiting team Chelsea are wearing grey and black striped jerseys. Hey, Jiang Yuan, go get the ball!
"Chelsea put pressure on Arsenal right from the start. Thanks to Jiang Yuan's tackle, Chelsea successfully defended Arsenal's attack."

"Hey, let's see, this gray and black jersey matches Jiang Yuan quite well."

"Well, I think the most classic one is blue. Of course, red is the best, haha!"

"..."

"Started out the season - nothing stopped us~"

"Everything was going Wright Wright Wright!"

“Walking in a Bergkamp Wonderland~”

“When Parlor was our Ray of light”

In the first few minutes of the game, the chorus of fans is often the loudest.

The Gunners' home stadium has 6 seats and the number of people on site even exceeded 6. This is a London derby and also a contest between the fourth and fifth places in the league this season.

If Chelsea can beat Arsenal in today's game, they can step on the corpse of their opponent and enter the Champions League zone. If it is a draw or a defeat, Arsenal will still be behind Chelsea.

As the league champion last season, Chelsea's current ranking is even lower than Arsenal, which is unbearable for the Blues fans.

The game lasted until the 30th minute. Both teams had their own attackers and defenders, but the overall situation was still -. Jiang Yuan's free kick hit the target and Ozil's long shot hit the sky.

Combining the previous matches between Chelsea and Liverpool, it can be seen that the levels of the Premier League BIG6 this season are almost the same, especially Liverpool and Manchester City. The state of these two teams is visibly good.

Although there were no goals, the game was still quite exciting overall because of its fast pace.

However, at 37 minutes, this balance was broken.

"For Arsenal...Mustafi's interception in the backcourt was very beautiful. He guessed the rhythm that Hazard was changing. It seems that he had done some research on this Belgian star before the game."

"Mustafi, pass it to Coquelin, Jiang Yuan goes to grab it, but Coquelin reacts very quickly and turns beautifully to get rid of it."

"Cazorla on the right is asking for the ball"

"..."

"Sanchez, rush in from the middle to grab the point!"

“GOOOOOOO—LLLLLLLLL—OOOOOOOOO!!!”

“Alexos Sanchezzzzz!!!!”

The director was also very understanding. He gave the camera to Mourinho as soon as Sanchez scored a goal. At this time, the Portuguese coach of the Blues had his hands in his pockets.

There is no expression on his face, but it is certain that Mourinho is very unhappy now.

If we lose the London derby, wouldn't that be more painful than killing him?

"Fuck!"

Zouma on the back line roared in anger and complained to Terry, neither of them would give in. Because the goal was not a mistake by Zouma or Terry, but a mistake by Chelsea's entire back line.

From Pogba to Zoumatari to goalkeeper Courtois, no one has performed as well as they should for their price.

How can they not even keep an eye on Sanchez, who is less than 1 meters tall?

But it doesn’t matter, we’re just one goal behind, it’s not a big problem.

"Chlease!"

"xuuuuu!!!"

"xuuuuu!!"

"Beep, beep, beep!"

There were only boos and false whistles at the Emirates Stadium, which made the Blues players a little nervous when they received the ball.

With the help of their fans, the Gunners made the most of their home advantage.

As a rival in the same city, Chelsea would definitely not sit still and wait for death when they fell behind. When the game came to 40 minutes, Pogba got the ball in the backcourt and immediately looked for Jiang Yuan who was in the front.

Even though Pogba may be distracted on defense sometimes, his passing accuracy is really amazing.

Hazard thought Pogba's pass was meant for him, so he jumped up and tried to touch it with his head, but he missed.

Snapped!
The ball hit the ground, bounced back and was controlled by Jiang Yuan who rushed up from behind.

"Fuck, stick it on, stick it on quickly!"

As one of the central defenders, Mustafi was very nervous when he saw Jiang Yuan dribbling the ball on the wing, so he reacted immediately and let Bellerin stick to him.

No matter how strong or fast a player is, he is very afraid of being closely tracked, because once he is closely tracked, turning around and going to the bottom will become a problem.

On Jiang Yuan's side, seeing Bellerin running towards him, he quickly gave up dribbling the ball, stepped on the ball and passed it to Azpilicueta who was coming up from behind. The latter passed the ball to the middle, and Ibrahimovic stopped the ball with his chest and passed it in front of Hazard.

"Hazard, you got the ball at the top of the arc, do you want to consider moving it forward?"

"Find Jiang Yuan, left, pass to Jiang Yuan's feet"

"Jiang Yuan, look at Jiang Yuan again!"

"Suddenly accelerated down the line! But Mustafi was very fast and Jiang Yuan lost the chance to shoot directly in the penalty area."

"Ibrahimovic stepped back, and Jiang Yuan made a wonderful pass with his heel."

"Ibrahimovic shoots directly!"

"Ouch!"

The CCTV commentator and the Blues players on the scene exclaimed together. Ibrahimovic's unexpected toe-poked shot hit Cech's calf. The ball bounced out and landed at Koscielny's feet, who cleared the ball with a long kick.

"shit!"

Ibrahimovic roared angrily, and after venting his anger, he gave Jiang Yuan a thumbs up: "Good pass!"

This attack was very clever, but Ibrahimovic's last shot was a little short. But there was nothing to be done, because Koscielny had already physically confronted Ibrahimovic before he shot.

The physical confrontation between central defenders in the Premier League is so severe that even a player like Ibrahimovic who is good at the final kick can’t do anything!
“Let’s go!”

After referee Oliver blew the whistle, the first half of the game was over. The Blues players walked towards the locker room with a look of disappointment on their faces.

In the locker room, Mourinho was surprisingly calm. As the team coach, the Portuguese knew that if he was not calm at this time, no one in the team would be calm.

"There are still problems with backcourt defense"

Mourinho's first sentence pointed out what he thought was the problem: "Because the defense is not solid enough, we don't get any offensive opportunities."

Pogba and Kante are two very strange people. Even though they are fellow French people, they have no tacit understanding in cooperation.

The biggest problem is that Chelsea needs both Kante's defensive coverage ability and Pogba's offensive creativity, so Mourinho must put them on the court at the same time.

After hesitating, Jiang Yuan chose to stand out: "Actually, I think N'Golo can stand a little bit back, and Paul can just come to me directly. When I'm attacking, N'Golo will lean to the left, so that if I lose the ball, I can make up for it in time later."

"..."

Jiang Yuan's words plunged the Blues locker room into silence. Of course, Jiang Yuan was not a person with low emotional intelligence.

"I just want to play like this, it depends on Jose"

After listening to Jiang Yuan's narration, all the players in the locker room turned their eyes to Mourinho, who then looked at Brown.

They had thought about the tactic that Jiang Yuan mentioned, which was to use Chelsea's terrifying offensive ability in the frontcourt to make up for their shortcomings in defense in the backcourt.

In Mourinho's view, this style of play is feasible.

But there is also a very fatal problem...

"Are you sure you have the strength to sustain it?"

Mourinho looked at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan remained silent when asked this question.

Yes, if the second half is played like this, Jiang Yuan is destined to run around all the time. Although Jiang Yuan's endurance is second only to Kante and Matic in the team, he is essentially a striker and cannot run around like a defensive midfielder.

"that's all!"

At the far end, William, who was sitting on the bench, stood up.
……

(End of this chapter)