Xu Zhu's Successor's Football Journey

Chapter 229 A Bad Start
In the last season, Middlesbrough's performance in the league was not very outstanding, and they only ranked 11th in the league in the end.However, the fans of Middlesbrough are already very satisfied, because they have won the first championship trophy in the history of the club, although many clubs don't care about the tasteless League Cup at all.

This summer, McLaren introduced Viduka and Hasselbaink to the team's forward line. Middlesbrough's forward offensive ability has been strengthened. In the first few rounds of the league, Middlesbrough's performance It is also very strong, with a record of 5 matches, 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, making them ranked fourth in the league after Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

This caused many English media to exclaim, "Middlesbrough will become a spoiler in this year's league championship battle." ---With a strong Chelsea and a solid Arsenal, no one is foolish to think that they will have a chance to win to the league title.

The 6th round of the Premier League is about to begin. The focus of the round is undoubtedly the duel between Manchester United and Liverpool, the Red Devils and the Red Army, but perhaps the FA wants to make this game better. It was scheduled for September 9th.

So on September 9th, the match between No.19 and No.1 in the league, Chelsea VS Middlesbrough won most of the media's attention, and the entire British Isle was mobilized to rush to Middlesbrough .

There are many things to watch in this game, according to the "Daily Telegraph" report——
First of all, this game is a league ranking battle!

"Now that the 5 rounds of the Premier League are over, Chelsea is firmly at the top of the league with a record of 5 victories, and No. 4 Middlesbrough is also ranked 10th in the league with 4 points, although Chelsea is 2 ahead of No. 12 Arsenal. Even if this game is lost, they can still rank first in the league with a goal difference advantage, but if Middlesbrough breaks Chelsea's undefeated gold, the gap between the top 4 teams is likely to shrink sharply to 2 Points, which means that the competition for the top few will be even more fierce!"

Secondly, the duel between the Portuguese coach and the England coach.

"Mourinho is undoubtedly the representative of the new generation of coaches in Portugal. His success in Porto will make his name brilliant for decades!! And McLaren is also the best young coach in England, with 43 He became the head coach of the Premier League team at the age of [-] and has made outstanding achievements. This kind of achievement is also very dazzling, so let us wait and see who will achieve the final success between the two!"

Third, Hasselbaink's battle of proof.

"Jimmy Hasselbaink is undoubtedly one of the best strikers in the world. He was the top scorer in the Premier League in the 98/99 and 00/01 seasons. As he grows older, his The performance has been very stable, but after the arrival of the Portuguese, Chelsea cleared him out of the team and sold him to Middlesbrough at a low price. This game is also Jimmy's first game against his old club. What will happen to him? performance?"

.........

Although Mourinho didn't care too much about this game, it is undeniable that this game did attract the attention of the media and fans. Other Premier League teams wished Middlesbrough could win, especially Manchester United and Arsenal. I hope so.

As far as Wang Li himself is concerned, he has a deep impression on Middlesbrough. It was the conflict between the team's defender Greening and him last season that caused him to be suspended. The match also became his last at Wolverhampton.

Fortunately, this summer, Greening was sold by head coach McClaren to newly promoted West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League. Otherwise, the media would definitely bring up the old story again and hype up the relationship between Wang Li and Greene.

Before the start of the game, apart from the cheering of various media, the war of words between the two teams was not very intense. Mr. Mourinho rarely affirmed McLaren's achievements and praised Middle Congratulating Fort on this season's results, much to the dismay of journalists looking for big news.

In the face of many reporters, McLaren also admired Chelsea's strength this season, and said that although he had made sufficient preparations before the game, he did not guarantee the result of the game. Grow in the game.This low-profile argument made the reporters even wonder if he was intimidated by Chelsea's record.

But this time, Wang Li, who often speaks out before the game and declares that he will win, has also restrained a lot. He didn't express any opinions on the game, but declared that he would work hard to score goals, which made the reporters feel that he was putting his energy into the game. It's all about training.

.........

In this game, McLaren still used the lineup of the previous rounds. The newly joined team, Viduka and Hasselbaink, undoubtedly formed a double striker, going straight into the chest and belly of Chelsea's defense.

Compared with last season, Middlesbrough's midfielders have not changed much. Boateng, Mendieta and Zenden still occupy the main positions. After Greening left, the curly-haired veteran Parlor was brought up. This player was undoubtedly the absolute main force of Arsenal before. Since 91, he has played for Arsenal for 13 seasons.

In this game, Mourinho still used the combination of Drogba and Wang Li. The two are almost invincible in the Premier League and always bring a lot of goals.On the middle road, Thiago Mendes got the chance to start the game. He and Makelele formed a defensive formation with double midfielders to protect Chelsea's defense.

After the start of the game, just like the previous few games, Chelsea's offensive is still very stable. Under the guidance of Mourinho's tactical thinking, the players know that as long as they can take the lead in the first half, then the subsequent games will be very stable. It's a lot easier to play, they are used to this tactic.

However, Middlesbrough's defense is very solid. After several seasons of adjustment and running-in by McLaren, their defensive ability is definitely one of the best in the Premier League. Chelsea want to break through the opponent's goal in a short time. It is indeed not an easy thing to do.

In this game, McLaren did not make any adjustments to Chelsea. The defensive ability of the 442 solid formation has been proven, and their offense relies more on the rich game experience and stable performance of the two forwards. Although Many Middlesbrough fans believed that the team should not count on two veterans to win the game, but McLaren proved it with results ---
The role of veterans is often much stronger than that of new stars!
Middlesbrough's 5 goals in the first 9 rounds have proved this point.

Only 20 minutes have passed on the field, but the Chelsea fans who came with the team already know that they are going to face a difficult game today, because at this time, the high scoreboard on the west side of the riverside stadium shows the score is- 1:0.

Go back in time to 3 minutes ago.

Another wonderful attack from Chelsea, with Lampard at the center, Gremi, Wang Li and Joe Cole made [-] consecutive inversions in the opponent's half, directly penetrating Middlesbrough's defense , It also made the Blues fans in the audience hooked, but Drogba's shot was drawn directly into the arms of goalkeeper Schwarzel, and then Middlesbrough counterattacked.

Boateng on the center line received the pass, and he and Zenden on the wing cooperated three times in a row, allowing the football to go directly to the bottom line on the right, and then Zenden passed back to Parlor, who lobbed the ball in. In the penalty area, Thiago, who returned to defense at this time, raised the header to clear the siege, but pushed the ball to Viduka's feet in the penalty area. The latter reacted directly with a volley.

For this ball, goalkeeper Petr Cech has nothing to do.

In fact, this goal can also be regarded as Chelsea's own own goal, and even the teammates next to Mendes complained about Mendes' classic overhead pass.

"Thiago doesn't seem to be in shape." On the Chelsea bench, assistant coach Clark turned to Mourinho.

Mourinho rested his chin on one hand, tilted his head and stared at the stadium, and said: "He has not yet adapted to the fierce confrontation in the Premier League. He performed very well in Porto before, and he is one of the young people I am optimistic about."

Clark shook his head and said, "Maybe, but since he came to the team, his performance has not been very good. I hope he can quickly adapt to the Premier League."

"This game is not easy to play." Mourinho said, turning his head and glanced at McLaren on the opponent's bench, "If we can't tie the score in the first half, the opponent is likely to adopt the same strategy. With Middlesbrough's defensive ability, if the whole game retreats, it is easy to hold for 45 minutes."

At this time, on the playing field, Hasselbaink once again made a breakthrough from the middle, Thiago Mendes stepped forward to defend, but was pushed away by a collision, the former got the opportunity to kick directly from the penalty area line Leng shot, but fortunately the football deviated from the post and flew out of the bottom line.

Seeing this situation, Clark couldn't help turning his head and suggested: "Sir, I think you'd better consider replacing Thiago. His performance is really terrible. If he concedes two goals in the first half, the game will be over." It's getting harder."

Mourinho frowned, he knew that what Clark said made sense, but after thinking about it, he said: "Wait a little longer, it's only been 20 minutes now, maybe it's better to give him a little time to adapt? "

Clark turned his head, didn't say anything more, and shifted his gaze to the game again.

But it didn't take long for Mourinho to regret it...

In the 28th minute of the game, Mendes made a tackle on the penalty area line, but he shoveled on the leg of the opponent's forward defender Mendieta. The referee immediately ran over and showed Mendes a yellow card and awarded Middles Fort scored a free kick 35 meters from the goal.

However, Mendieta was also taken to the sidelines by the team doctor for brief treatment.

Hasselbaink stood in front of the ball. Since he came to Middlesbrough, he has directly become the player's first free kicker, but this time he did not choose to shoot directly, but took the ball with one foot. Hanging to the small restricted area.

In the chaos of Chelsea's penalty area, Viduka went straight to the top and headed the ball into the net. This was his second goal of the game.

At this time, Mourinho couldn't bear it anymore. He replaced Thiago Mendes with Scott Parker.

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(End of this chapter)