Chapter 338: Textbook-level counterattack
Clark, the chairman of the English Football Association and vice-president of FIFA, posted a tweet on his personal social media, apologizing to all fans for his speech at 20 pm London time on the 9th: I was drunk at the time, so I was a little excited. After I sobered up, I carefully watched the video recording of the interview and found that there were indeed many unreasonable aspects of my speech.

I (Greg Clark) would like to take this opportunity to solemnly declare that the competitive level of Chinese high school football matches cannot be compared with the Champions League. Whether in terms of player level or technical and tactical complexity, the intensity of the Champions League is higher than that of Chinese campus football matches.

The front page headline of China Sports Daily - The biggest controversy in football this year, which competition is more intense, the ZJ Province Campus Football League High School Group or the European Champions League?

When I woke up the next day, Clark's interview and apology video went viral on the football website. In the morning, a reporter from Qingshan Evening News interviewed Luo Kang, who was the head coach of Qingshan Middle School football team at that time.

"Teacher Luo, I believe you have also seen the video that went viral online recently. The chairman of the English Football Association compared the Champions League with the high school campus football competition in our province. When Jiang Yuan participated in the provincial Super League in 2014, you were the assistant coach of the Qingshan Middle School men's football team. I believe you have a very deep understanding of the intensity of the provincial Super League. In your opinion, is the intensity of campus football games higher than that of the Champions League?"

“Of course not.”

Luo Kang took the microphone and shook his head wildly from side to side: "I, other teachers of our school team, and all the teams, we all think that the level of competition in the Champions League is higher, there is no doubt about it"

"Jiang Yuan is an excellent student and an outstanding graduate of Qingshan Middle School. But in my opinion, it is unreasonable for FA Chairman Clark to make an analysis based on Jiang Yuan's situation alone."

During the whole interview, Luo Kang spoke very fluently. As a physical education teacher, Luo Kang's speaking ability is indeed a bit outrageous. Of course, this is inseparable from the help of the school's Chinese teacher.

"Qingshan Evening News" contacted Qingshan Middle School in advance and expressed its intention to interview the current head coach of the school team, Luo Kang. Principal Wang Hongming responded very quickly and immediately asked the Chinese language department to prepare a draft interview for Luo Kang.

Qingshan Middle School is currently in a period of rapid growth, and there cannot be any problems with its external image!
"Okay, thank you Mr. Luo Kang for patiently answering our questions. We also wish Qingshan Middle School men's football team good results in the next game."

The reporter from Qingshan Evening News bowed slightly in front of the camera and finally said his exit words.

"Qingshan Evening News, all the news of the day"

"This program is sponsored by Qingshan Training Base. Welcome to register for Qingshan Training Base. Students who meet the requirements can obtain a place in the national first-level key middle school, Qingshan No. 1 Middle School for special students."

"Qingshan men's football team is the best in the world; Qingshan youth training is the best in the world. Qingshan training base is waiting for your arrival"

……

Chelsea official: The team's defender Ivanovic has strained the collateral ligament of his left knee and will be out for at least 6 weeks.

On the first day of training back at Cobham, Ivanovic was hit by Chalobah and the Serbian fell to the ground. After diagnosis by Clarkson, it was confirmed that he had a strain.

Because of Ivanovic's ligament injury, Mourinho had to make some competitive adjustments to Chelsea's backcourt.

“We now have two choices.”

Mourinho gave Brown his analysis. The first thing, of course, was to find someone to replace Ivanovic. The team's backup central defender Cahill had the ability to play as a full-back, but the Englishman was already a veteran among veterans. The position of full-back requires a very high speed from the player, and it would be difficult for Cahill to be competent for it.

Therefore, if Mourinho wants to make a substitution at the right back position, the first thing he would do is let Zouma play as a full-back. The Frenchman's change of direction is not fast, but his one-on-one defense outside the penalty area is reliable enough and can bear the impact of Premier League wingers to a certain extent.

Brown fully supports Mourinho's proposal: "I think it's okay, it's better this way"

As an assistant coach of the Blues, Leon Brown has a very clear understanding of the Chelsea players. Although Zouma sometimes gives away goals in the penalty area, he is already considered to be relatively reliable among all the defenders in the Premier League.

As for giving away penalties in the penalty area, the forwards in the five major leagues are generally cunning. Even the strongest defenders can give away penalties sometimes, let alone the young Kurt.

Although Brown approved, Mourinho did not seem to agree with his proposal: "Little Kurt... I think we should change the formation. 4231 is not necessarily the best choice."

Mourinho's words were shocking, but Brown remained calm. This was not the first time Mourinho had proposed changing the formation. Before the summer transfer window, the Portuguese coach of the Blues proposed changing the 4231 formation to 343 in order to fully activate the abilities of several Chelsea front-field attackers. However, due to the time constraints, this idea was not implemented.

Now that Ivanovic is injured, Mourinho can take this opportunity to try out a three-back formation.

"Jose, to be honest, you don't look like the Mourinho I know"

Brown looked at his friend in front of him. According to Brown's understanding of Mourinho, the Portuguese should respect defense and then look for quick counterattack opportunities in defense. After joining Chelsea, the Portuguese brought his counterattack concept to Stamford Bridge, creating an all-round Blues team that can both pass and counterattack. Now Mourinho actually wants to reduce the number of defensive players in the backcourt, which is really beyond Brown's expectation.

Mourinho also gave his explanation for this.

"The offensive players in our current starting lineup are obviously stronger than the defensive players. We should play to this advantage. In the entire Premier League, no other team has Eden, Jiang, or even Zlatan. Our frontcourt is the strongest in the entire Premier League."

"So, what you mean is..."

"343, this will also allow Cesc to win a starting position. In the next game against Manchester United, it depends on whether Cesc can seize this opportunity."

……

Stamford Bridge, London.

"Zhuangdianertai, Zhuangdianertai, good evening to all the audience friends"

"Here is the live broadcast of the 16th round of the 17-9 Premier League, Chelsea vs. Manchester United"

"The referee is already looking at his watch!"

"Okay, the game begins. Let me introduce the starting lineups of both teams. Chelsea will line up in a 343 formation today, with Azpilicueta, Zouma, and Terry as the three central defenders. The midfield positions are Fabregas, Hazard, Kante, and Pogba."

"The forwards are still William, Ibrahimovic, and our young star Jiang Yuan. Obviously, this is Mourinho's attempt at a new formation this season."

"Then the visiting team Manchester United, wearing red jerseys and white shorts, attacked from the right side of the screen to the left side"

Manchester United (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: De Gea
Defenders: Blind, Smalling, Bailly, Antonio Valencia
Midfielders: Herrera, Fellaini, Mata

Forwards: Lingard, Martial, Rashford
Head coach: Rangnick

"We're all together, and winning is our aim"

"So cheer us on through the sun and rain"

"B'cause Chelsea, Chelsea is our name!"

The familiar team song was played again at Stamford Bridge. The Blues faced Manchester United, the former champion of the Premier League and one of the current super giants in the Premier League, at home today.

This summer, after Dutch coach Van Gaal broke up with the team, Manchester United management handed over the task of leading the team to Rangnick. The German was the former coach of RB Leipzig and had achieved good results with the team.

The current German coach is still the interim head coach, and Manchester United management has also made a promise that as long as Manchester United can return to the top four of the league this season, Rangnick can sign a formal head coach contract with the club. Otherwise, they will have to say goodbye to Rangnick.

At the beginning of the season, fans had a negative attitude towards whether Rangnick would stay or leave, because compared to the team's former coach Van Gaal, Rangnick was younger and far less famous.

But to be honest, the fact that Rangnick dared to come to Manchester United to stir up this mess is enough to prove his courage.

Less than 5 minutes into the game, Manchester United's possession rate was only 30%, but Mourinho was very anxious at this time.

Rangnick is very fond of attacking, which has led to Manchester United putting the attack line very far forward this season. If it were other teams, it would not matter whether the attack line was put forward or not, but Manchester United's forwards, Rashford and Martial, have strong impact capabilities in the frontcourt.

This has led to a problem at present. Although the ball possession rate is not high, the situation on the field makes Mourinho feel not very good, especially on Chelsea's left side. Zouma is obviously struggling when defending Rashford.

"Beep!"

Pogba committed a tactical foul and pulled down Rashford. The referee Atkinson ran over and whistled for Pogba's foul, while showing a yellow card to the French midfielder.

Pogba, who was given a yellow card, did not argue with the referee, but spread his hands to Hazard: "Come on, you just let him come over like this? My God, fuck!"

"Forget it!"

Ibrahimovic ran over and pushed Pogba away, and Jiang Yuan also pulled Hazard away to prevent further conflict between the two.

When the referee was drawing the line with spray, the Blues players ran into the penalty area. On the Manchester United side, Mata and Rashford stood behind the ball, whispering something.

"Right! Don't leave any space on the right!"

On the goal line, Courtois held the post with one hand and signaled his defensive players to form a human wall with the other hand. In response, Terry turned around and comforted Courtois: "It's okay, Jiang is not on the opposite side, they can't shoot directly"

"Be careful, be careful!"

Azpilicueta emphasized: "John, you are responsible for number 11, give this to me, they should pass it later"

Although Manchester United got a direct free kick facing the goal, the good news is that several of Manchester United's forwards are generally of average height. Martial, the center forward, is only a little over 180 cm tall and is no match for Terry in physical confrontation.

If nothing unexpected happens, Manchester United will choose to shoot.

Looking to the far end, Manchester United players ran into the penalty area one after another, leaving Bailey behind to protect, and then it was Rashford who was responsible for the free kick.

In the penalty area, Jiang Yuan and Herrera pushed and shoved back and forth. Looking at Rashford standing behind the ball and taking a deep breath, he always felt something was wrong, so he put his right hand behind his back and gave Courtois a thumbs up.

!!!

Courtois' eyes widened, because Jiang Yuan's gesture meant that Manchester United was likely to shoot directly.

Although it is not known why Jiang Yuan made such a judgment, trusting teammates is the instinct of professional players. At Jiang Yuan's suggestion, Courtois moved a short distance to the right.

"Manchester United let young player Rashford take the free kick, which seems to be a bit disrespectful to Chelsea..."

"But considering that Manchester United is going to cross the ball, there is no problem in letting Rashford take the penalty. This player is relatively young. If he confronts Chelsea's tall players in the penalty area, he might get injured. Rangnick's arrangement should be a protection for Rashford."

"The referee blew the whistle, let's take a look at Manchester United's free kick..."

"Rashford runs up, passes... and shoots!"

"Oh! Oh my God!"

He Wei exclaimed in amazement. In the camera, Rashford kicked the ball from a very long distance, which directly passed the human wall formed by players from both teams and fell rapidly from the highest point.

Everyone thought it was a cross, but Rashford chose not to cross.

Snapped!
"It's saved! Courtois saved the ball!"

"Well, Rashford shot directly from the free kick, the speed and angle of the ball were very good, but unfortunately Courtois was in very good form today, and Rashford still didn't score in the end!"

"xuuu!!!"

Various noises were heard at the scene. The home team fans behind the goal applauded Courtois. The latter stood up. Zouma ran over excitedly and bumped chest with Courtois.

"Pretty!"

However, Courtois simply responded to Zouma, and then ran over and high-fived Jiang Yuan.

As expected, the forward understands the forward best. Jiang Yuan could actually see that Rashford was going to shoot directly.

By the way, Jiang Yuan actually knew that Rashford had the ability to use direct free kicks. It seems that the Chelsea coaching staff didn’t know this?
But in the game, Courtois can't care about these things. He now has a very important task, which is to defend corner kicks.

Smalling and Bailly ran into the penalty area. Jiang Yuan wanted to catch one of them on defense, but after careful observation, he found that both Smalling and Bailly were much taller than Jiang Yuan, and their pectoral muscles were more exaggerated than the other.

"Give it to me, give it to me"

Pogba stood in front of Jiang Yuan and took the initiative to help Jiang Yuan block Smalling. At the same time, he gestured forward: "When the corner kick comes out, just run out directly, no need to wait for the ball to be cleared."

It can be seen that the previous yellow card made Pogba a little angry, and now the only thing on his mind is scoring goals.

Manchester United's corner kick was taken by midfielder Mata. The Spaniard is a veteran of Chelsea and some old players in the team, such as Terry and Cahill, are very familiar with him.

Snapped!
"Give it to me!"

Sure enough, if anyone wants to understand Mata, it has to be the old team member Terry. The Englishman rushed out of the small penalty area and headed the ball directly to block Mata's corner kick.

Terry's purpose of giving this corner kick was very clear, which was to give it to Hazard in front.

"Chelsea cleared the corner and gave it to Hazard. Rashford rushed over. Hazard was a bit dangerous. Is there any outlet to pass the ball?"

"Wow, Hazard used a wonderful pull-ball to turn around and get rid of Rashford. Hazard went around and was still looking for a position to pass the ball."

"Kante is asking for the ball, Hazard pass the ball to Kante!"

"Kante, run forward with the ball! Chelsea is about to start a counterattack!"

Stamford Bridge was in full climax. Rangnick, who was standing in front of the Manchester United bench, had a serious expression on his face and frantically signaled the players on the field to return to defense.

Even though Chelsea had a high possession rate of the ball, Mourinho's counterattack is never a joke!
In the shot, Kante pushed forward frantically, while Pogba and Hazard crossed their positions, trying to create as many passing opportunities as possible for Kante. The grass on the entire field was instantly in a mess, and completing the pass in this situation was undoubtedly a test for Kante.

But this is not something Jiang Yuan needs to worry about. His teammates will handle the rest. What Jiang Yuan needs to do now is to get rid of Manchester United's defensive players as much as possible and create a possible counterattack goal opportunity.

In the backcourt, Kante brought the ball to the center circle. As a veteran giant, Manchester United is always very calm in such situations. The defensive players were running around, and Kante had no idea who to give the ball to.

It’s true that Kante can run, but his passing vision is just average!

But the problem is that Chelsea has more than one midfielder, Kante. Pogba suddenly went around, and Kante understood what he meant and pulled the ball back with his right foot, passing the ball directly to Pogba.

After receiving the ball, Pogba looked up and made a long pass from the center circle. Here it comes!!!

Seeing the ball flying towards him, Jiang Yuan was delighted. His original jogging turned into a sprint. The extremely fast change of direction successfully helped him get rid of Valencia's defense.

Because it was a corner kick counterattack, Manchester United's two tall central defenders did not have time to return to defense. This was definitely Jiang Yuan's best chance.

In the air, Pogba's long pass flew over Valencia's head and flew diagonally in front of Jiang Yuan's body.

De Gea rushed out from the goal line in front. According to the current situation, the best way is to use his body to get the ball off and then shake off the goalkeeper. However, Jiang Yuan is not sure whether he can gain an advantage in the 1v1 with De Gea after stopping the ball, so...

Jiang Yuan chose to shoot directly!
"boom!"

There was a crisp sound of hitting the ball, Jiang Yuan received a long pass from Pogba in the air and volleyed the ball directly. De Gea raised his hands, and the Spanish goalkeeper touched the ball, but the area of ​​​​hit was not big enough, and the ball went into the net after deflection.

“GOOOOOOO—AAAAAAAAAAAA—LLLLLLLL!!!”

"What an amzing goal for Jiang Yuan!"

“Look at this!”

"Oh my god, Wohoo!"

The two CCTV commentators exclaimed in amazement as Jiang Yuan completed an extremely difficult volley in front of millions of people, directly breaking through the Manchester United goal defended by De Gea.

To use He Wei's words: Chelsea's counterattack made Manchester United lose all their temper!
"Jiang!"

Boom!

"Jiang!"

Bang bang bang!
Amid cheers, Jiang Yuan and Hazard both slid to the left and knelt at the same time. When they stood up, they threw an uppercut accompanied by a roar.

"Good ball, good ball"

Ibrahimovic hugged Jiang Yuan's neck. Even Da Fengxian, who was known for only scoring magical goals, couldn't help but marvel at Jiang Yuan's volley.

In addition, Pogba's role in this attack is also very important.

Can you believe that a pass of this accuracy was kicked from the center circle?
Clap clap clap!

Mourinho applauded and then returned to his seat on the bench.

Although these Chelsea players seem to be lazy at ordinary times, their talents are really extraordinary!

"Come come!"

Pogba twisted his body and rushed over from behind, then knelt on one knee in front of Jiang Yuan, motioning the latter to put his feet up.

"woww!"

The fans in the stands screamed, and after Jiang Yuan stepped on Pogba's thigh, the Frenchman made a shoe-wiping gesture.

Speaking of shooting, it has to be Jiang Yuan, the top scorer in the Blues. If it was someone else, there would be no chance of kicking the ball.
It is true that Ibrahimovic can play magical balls, but he does not have the flexibility of Jiang Yuan. In other words, if it was Ibrahimovic who made the forward run just now, he would not have been able to reach this position at all.

The extremely fast movement coupled with the perfect control of the ball's landing point, and of course the coordination of teammates' movement, the prerequisites for Jiang Yuan's shot were indeed a bit outrageous, but it also reflected the difficulty of this shot from the side.

"Top man!"

Jiang Yuan stood up and patted Pogba on the shoulder, who also patted Jiang Yuan: "Top man!"

……

The sudden volley goal boosted the morale of the entire Chelsea team. The Blues, who already had an advantage in the situation, now successfully expanded their advantage, which made the Manchester United players on the field feel a little breathless.

Soon, in the 30th minute, Chelsea's frontcourt was connected again. It was still Pogba's pass, but this time the person who received the ball was not Ibrahimovic, but Azpilicueta who had just finished going down the right.

"Perfect! This is what we said before, Pogba's passing vision is really amazing. After changing to 4 midfielders, Pogba's touch time has obviously increased, and Chelsea's offensive opportunities are mostly initiated from Pogba."

"Well, let's take a look at Chelsea's wing attack. After Azpilicueta got the ball, he and Blind formed a one-on-one situation. Blind was watching closely, so it might not be realistic for Azpilicueta to go to the baseline by himself."

"Kante runs over to receive the ball, Azpilicueta passes it back, Kante kicks a high ball directly into the penalty area, Terry!"

"Terry header!"

"The ball is in!"

"In the 32nd minute of the game, Chelsea's old captain John Terry scored with a header!"

"Oh my God, Chelsea has extended their lead to 2 goals!"

Bang bang bang bang!
"Chelsea!"

Boom!

"Chelsea!"

bang bang
Amid cheers, Terry slid on his knees passionately, and his celebration after standing up brought the Chelsea fans on the scene into a climax.

"Well, in the 9th round of the league, the Chelsea captain finally scored his first goal of the season."

"I have to say that Kante's handling of the situation was really smart. The Manchester United defenders' attention was on Jiang Yuan and Hazard. With Ibrahimovic in the penalty area, there was basically no one marking Terry!"

“2:0, from John Terry’s header!”

In the first half, Chelsea took the lead in the score by virtue of the home advantage. The anxious Manchester Red Devils fought back desperately but could not find any particularly good opportunities.

In the 40th minute, Martial used a ghostly movement in the frontcourt to help get a through ball from Mata, but his final shot was blocked by Courtois.

It seemed that Courtois was stimulated by Rashford's direct free kick at the beginning of the game. His condition was extremely good throughout the first half, which made Manchester United fans very regretful.

During the half-time break, fans of the football club hung their respective team logos and spoke freely in the comment section.

[What happened to Courtois? Has his Ren and Du meridians been opened? ]

[I declare today that Boba is the best midfielder in the world. He can attack and defend. He is invincible! ]

[Jiang Yuan is awesome too. Wow, that volley. Actually, I saw it before he shot the ball. His body movement didn’t seem like he was going to stop the ball.]

[Do you see how it works? If someone else kicks the ball, are you sure it can go in? ]

[No, so what does Rangnick mean by this high-pressure pressing? Is it to leave the backcourt empty for Chelsea to attack? You can press high, but at least put someone in the backcourt. What's the point of doing this? With Chelsea's attack, it will only take a few minutes to beat you? ]

[Rangnick, a famous coach, capable! ]

[When Pogba was transferred, I thought it was outrageous that he cost more than 1 million. Now it seems that this price is still a good deal. You get what you pay for.]

[Mourinho is also a true god. With Jiang Yuan and Pogba, Chelsea really made a lot of money]

In the Manchester United locker room, Rangnick and captain Valencia criticized the entire team.

'No fighting spirit'

'No creativity'

"No hope!"

"It's hard to imagine that this could happen to Manchester United"

Rangnick shouted every word, and it was obvious that the German was really angry at that moment.

For Rangnick, every game this season is crucial because it will affect his future.
You know, in other clubs, Rangnick would never get the same salary as Manchester United!

Looking around at all the players sitting there, Rangnick continued: "Our tactic is high-pressure defense. What I hope to see is that you can press Chelsea into their half and make those English guys... sorry, make those Chelsea players unable to pass the ball."

"Instead of what you did in the first half!"

Rangnick stretched out his right hand and made a "a little bit" gesture: "I said pressing, not a little bit of pressing. I mean, come on, what does a little bit of pressing mean?"

Rangnick looks at Lingard: "A little bit of pressing is like a little bit of pregnancy"

"puff"

Many players in the locker room couldn't hold back their laughter. Captain Valencia, who was standing next to Rangnick, laughed out loud.

"Ok?"

Rangnick looked back at Valencia, and the latter was so scared that he immediately shut his mouth and pretended nothing happened.

"I mean, you either get pregnant or you don't, you either press or you don't press, but don't press at all"

"Do you know what I'm talking about?"

Rangnick raised his hands and pointed to his forehead: "These ideas must be rooted in your brain. Ask yourself"

“What kind of football do I want to play?”

After saying this, Rangnick was silent for a while. After the excitement passed, the German's mood stabilized a lot: "Our opponents are very strong. Jiang, Zlatan, and Hazard are all top players. Look at your current venue. This is Stamford Bridge. We are now playing a top football game."

"So, we can't make any mistakes, absolutely not any mistakes, otherwise we will die!"

The speech was very passionate, but as the interim head coach, Rangnick's status in Manchester United is really very ordinary. When the German was speaking, Martial, Lingard and Rashford, three young men, looked around, and it was not known whether they listened to what the coach said.

Rangnick didn't say anything about this. He is a very decisive person in sports. If Rashford and Lingard do this kind of "little pressing" again in the second half, he will teach these two young men a good lesson after the game!
In the Chelsea locker room, Jiang Yuan handed Pogba a bottle of his favorite blueberry-flavored Gatorade: "Paul, thank you!"

What forwards like most is a super midfielder like Pogba who has a broad vision. Pogba is not only good at passing the ball, but also has high emotional intelligence.

He knelt on the ground with one hand to wipe his shoes, which gave Jiang Yuan great face!

"Wow!"

Pogba took a deep breath and quickly asked Jiang Yuan to sit down next to him: "It's just a pass, it's a small matter, as a team..."

"No, no, no, you are very accurate. Really very accurate!"

Jiang Yuan patted Pogba on the back twice. He was telling the truth. Among all the midfielders he had worked with, Pogba definitely had the broadest vision. He could notice Jiang Yuan who suddenly made a forward run at a glance, and he could always pass the ball to the right position. It was so cool!
Hearing what Jiang Yuan said, Pogba licked his lips, feeling a little secretly happy. The next second, he changed the subject: "Manchester United gave me an extra 2 pounds to play for Zhou Xin, but I ended up coming to Chelsea. Do you know why?"

"Because we're the defending champions?"

"nonono!"

Pogba leaned back with his upper body: "Because of the forwards, Hazard, Jiang, and Zlatan, this forward lineup is too attractive to me"

During the summer transfer window, fans did not know that Hazard had been completely transformed into an attacking midfielder, so in Pogba's eyes at the time, Chelsea's forward line was Jiang Yuan + Ibrahimovic + Hazard.

This forward line can be said to be top-notch in the entire five major leagues.

"Especially you, Jiang!"

Pogba pointed at Jiang Yuan's nose and said, "I feel the tacit understanding between you and me. Can you feel it?"

"what?"

Jiang Yuan was stunned for a moment: "What did you feel?"

"What a tacit understanding!"

Pogba shouted: "I can always give the ball to where you run, what does this mean?"

"What does it mean?"

Pogba put his arms around Jiang Yuan's neck and said, "That means I'm the most suitable midfielder for you, man. I was born for you!"

Jiang Yuan: Uh...

……

(End of this chapter)