Xu Zhu's Successor's Football Journey

Chapter 296 Nothing, We Are Teammates

Fulham's current manager, Chris Coleman, is a 'legendary' coach.

The reason for saying this is because he is only 35 years old this year, even one year younger than Fulham goalkeeper Mark Crossley!
The young head coach, who was born in Swansea, Wales, was still the captain of Fulham in the 00/01 season. Three years ago, Coleman was seriously injured in a car accident and suffered comminuted fractures in both legs, so he was forced to retire prematurely.

With 02 rounds left in the 03/5 season, Fulham's performance was terrible. Coach Tigana was fired. He was ordered in danger and led the team to survive with a record of 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.

Last season, Coleman knew that his qualifications were too low, so he recommended the Welsh coach Mark Hughes to the chairman Fayyad.But Chairman Fayyad is very fond of the former Fulham captain. His prestige in the team is beyond the reach of Tigana. Therefore, Coleman's coaching career continued for another year. During this year, He brought a team that was close to relegation directly to the 9th place in the league, and together with Birmingham and Southampton, they have become the three miracles since the start of the game.

And this miracle was in exchange for Coleman enduring great pain. Even in the first two seasons, Coleman's contribution to Fulham is unquestionable, but many media still believe that he will be the best player in the Premier League this season. The first coach to dismiss get out of class, but anyway, he is also the youngest of the three master Zhuge. So far, he is the youngest young coach in the history of the Premier League.

Now, the youngest Premier League coach faces a conundrum.

On the banks of the Thames, the West London derby at Carl Farmhouse Stadium has gone on to the 17th minute of the first half, and the score board hanging on the left side of the stadium still shows '1:0'.

Since Chelsea's goal in about 8 seconds, the two teams have been in a state of anxiety. Chelsea's defensive counterattack tactics have made Fulham almost powerless. The players on the field know that every large-scale attack means great It may give the opponent a good chance to counterattack.

In this way, Fulham's offense is tied, they dare not let go of the attack, and the threat to Chelsea's defense is even smaller.

Seeing the situation on the scene, the head coach Coleman also became anxious. If this continues, Chelsea will score again sooner or later. Even if he does not have much hope for this game, this situation is definitely not good for the club and fans. confessed.

In the 18th minute of the game, taking advantage of a throw-in, Coleman finally couldn't bear it and walked to the sidelines, called forward Andy Cole and whispered to him, ordering the next tactics.

At this time, the big screen showed that after listening to Coleman's words, Andy Cole's face flashed with astonishment. Pass the words of the head coach to the teammates on the field.

Off the court, Mr. Mourinho saw Coleman's actions, but his face was almost expressionless. In fact, Mourinho was not afraid of the opponent's tricks at all. Even if the opponent attacks with all their strength, it will be difficult to break through Chelsea's goal, not to mention they dare not let go of the attack now.

The Portuguese always believes that in the face of absolute strength, any tactics are useless. Moreover, even if he fights tactics, his Portuguese champion coach will be afraid of the young man in his 30s on the opposite side! ?
.........

After the game restarted, the fans in the stands failed to see what adjustments Fulham had made for five minutes.

And the situation on the field became more and more 'soft'. Both teams had no desire to attack. The game only started for 20 minutes, but it seemed to have entered garbage time.All these scenes bored the reporters and fans, and made them drowsy.

On the court, when Chelsea players can threaten their own pass, Fulham has been in the backcourt. If you only look at the scene, you can't tell who is winning and who is losing, because Fulham has absolutely nothing. The desire to tie the score, they have been wasting time.

The same is true for Chelsea. They don't invest many troops in each attack, and the focus is still on defense-even if Fulham rarely takes the initiative.

In this way, both teams are focusing on defense, and the game becomes boring.

In a daze, many reporters saw the shadow of Serie A on the scene. This kind of game can only appear in the Italian Serie A, which focuses on defense. Now, Fulham on the field is like Juventus. They turned the ball upside down as usual, but they lacked the sudden change of pace of Juventus' offense, and they only made the appearance but the spirit.

Chelsea, on the other hand, like Fiorentina or Parma, always feel that there is more than enough defense but not enough offense. This is mainly because Mourinho's tactics in the first half are defensive counterattacks. Under the premise of the coach's command, no matter what the situation is for the Chelsea players, it will be much easier for the opponent not to attack, so why not do it.

At this time, even Mr. Graham, the anchor of Sky TV, was drowsy. He picked up a bottle of mineral water at hand and drank a couple of sips. He forcibly cheered up and said, "The two teams seem to be playing very Conservative, and the competition in the midfield is not fierce. This is probably the result of the two head coaches fighting wits and courage. Coach Coleman is only 35 years old this year, but he must not be underestimated. At least in this game, the two teams Seems like a tie, although that kind of tie is something that most fans don't like, and oh, neither do I."

.........

On the court, seeing that the opponent seemed to give up the attack, near the middle circle, Joe Cole even ran back from the frontcourt, and had time to joke with Wang Li: "Oh, Shit! They are really pussies. Don't attack, waste game time."

"Haha, it's you kid who wants to score a goal. Hurry up and steal it, maybe you will have a chance." Wang Li looked at Joe Cole's dull face and said with a smile. Of course he knew that Joe Cole wanted to score. Ball, you know, in the recent games, Joe Cole seldom got the chance to play. This time he has the opportunity to start. If he can't perform well, he may end up on the bench again.

"What should we do? Are we going to keep playing like this?" Joe Cole asked suspiciously. In the absence of a head coach, in terms of offense, he can only ask Wang Li. The whole team knows that the head coach intends to Make him the core of Chelsea's attack.

Watching Fulham's half-court, the opponent's players kept turning their feet, Wang Li frowned. If the game continues like this, it will really make people lose their spirits.

After thinking for a while, Wang Li ran to Joe Cole and said, "Stand as close as possible, and I will pass it on to you if you have a chance."

"You have a way to make them attack?" Joe Cole wondered.

"Come on, don't talk so much nonsense." Wang Li ignored his doubts and said directly: "Just wait for the pass, otherwise I will give someone else the chance to score."

Hearing this, Joe Cole immediately shut his mouth, smiled and quickly ran towards the frontcourt. Now, he wants to score a goal like crazy.

After notifying Joe Cole, Wang Li turned his head and ran towards the backcourt. After a few minutes, the whole team knew Wang Li's plan, and they were bored with this kind of game now. This season, they have long been accustomed to the kind of game that scores many goals. They don't pay attention to teams like Fulham at all. They are so conservative in this game. There are still many people complaining.

However, each of them didn't want to offend the head coach Mourinho by rashly changing their tactics. In that case, the main position might be lost. Blame everyone, with the club's attitude towards this black-haired boy, he won't blame him at all, besides——
Chelsea's big-name stars all understand the truth that you must learn to adapt to the situation on the court.

.........

The whole game has gone on to the 35th minute. At this time, the scene is still the same. The two teams seem to have no desire to attack, and now the ball is in the hands of Chelsea.

Under the watchful eyes of all the fans, Chelsea's backcourt is aimlessly flipping. From the perspective of Fulham players, Chelsea is also wasting game time. It is the same as the tactical purpose of coach Coleman, which even Let them have a feeling of finding a bosom friend.

Many Fulham players think that at least the first half will end in this situation, yes, they have already prepared for it, facing the crazy Chelsea team, defending 1:0 in the first half is nothing at all Embarrassing, even if it's a west London derby.

on the field.

Lampard received the ball and kicked it back to Ricardo Carvalho, who then kicked it to the captain John Terry who was standing parallel. At this time, the opposing forward Thomas Radzinski symbolized He ran over aggressively to grab the ball, and you could tell from his lazy movements that he had no hope of stealing it at all.

In fact, Terry passed the ball to the left casually, and the ball was delivered to the feet of defender William Gallas. S came running.

At the same time, Wang Li, who was near the middle circle, raised his right hand and snapped his fingers lazily.

Seeing this scene, William Gallas twitched the corner of his mouth, and just when Malblanc, who was rushing over, thought he was going to pass a short pass to John Yeye, Gallas accelerated instantly and passed Malblanc .

The fans in the audience who were still looking directly at the stadium could see clearly that at this moment, Chelsea's two full-backs, Gallas and Paulo Ferreira, and midfielders Lampard and Gremi moved towards the rich at the same time. Lehm ran at halftime. Many fans were drowsy and didn't realize what happened at all. They watched Chelsea's attack suddenly accelerated, and turned their heads to ask the people next to them what happened.

This is especially true for the Fulham players who are among them. Many of them have not reacted to this sudden change of rhythm.

But the Chelsea team didn't care about the opponent's situation. After William Gallas dribbled the ball past Malblanc, he passed the ball steadily and quickly to Wang Li in the middle circle.

After Wang Li got the ball, he changed direction and swayed away the opponent's forward Andy Cole, and then went straight to the hinterland of Fulham.

At this time, the Fulham players finally realized what happened, and they immediately started to prepare to return to the defense. However, without mental preparation, the sudden change of rhythm must be somewhat uncomfortable, so Fulham's defense was still half a beat slow. Even their normal form of play has slipped a bit, making it easy for Chelsea's attacking players to run into good positions up front.

After Wang Li passed Andy Cole, he took two steps forward, looked up at the frontcourt situation, and then chose to pass the ball.

Graeme!
Undoubtedly, Gremi's position on the right is the best. He is on the right side of the penalty area and there is no defense around him at this time.

A diagonal pass of about 30 meters should be counted as a long pass, but there is no doubt about Wang Li's footwork. The football quickly passed the sides of the two opposing defenders and passed to Gremi. As soon as he took off his right foot easily, the football stopped firmly under his feet.

This kick also caused a burst of amazement from the fans in the audience. They were really shocked by the black-haired boy's footwork on the field.

"God, Diop run faster!!"

At this time, the commentator on the scene also realized the crisis. A winger was unguarded on the right side of the penalty area. Everyone knew what it meant——
Sure enough, the next moment the commentator's worries came true!

Unguarded, Gremi looked up at the penalty area, then kicked the ball into the penalty area with a straight kick.

At the same time, Drogba, who was in the penalty area, threw off the defensive player next to him in an instant, turned around and ran towards the goal, and Joe Cole on the right side of the penalty area was unguarded. The nearest defender There is also about one meter, but his position and the goal present an oblique angle of less than 45 degrees. It is very difficult to stop the ball and turn around to shoot, but the football has already rolled towards him quickly——
At this moment, Joe Cole, who was eager to score a goal, struggled a little, but finally jumped up on the spot and passed the ball.

If Joe Cole stopped the ball and turned around to shoot, it is still possible to score, but in the end he gave the ball to Drogba behind him. In his flash, the latter is almost [-]% able to score. This is the choice difference.

As a substitute player for Chelsea, everyone knows what a goal means when the team has not been able to stabilize the main position. This decision is really difficult, but Joe Cole made it.

Goalkeeper Mark Crossley and defender Bocanegra were both fooled by Joe Cole's shaking. When they realized that the ball had missed the pass, it was already too late. Drogba followed up on the left with an easy kick. A push puts the ball into the net.

“Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!””

Graham, who had been dull for nearly half an hour, stood up directly at this moment, as if he wanted to shout out the dullness of the entire first half in this voice——
"Didier Drogba!!! Very easy push! Chelsea's attack is so sudden, it reminds me of the old lady Juventus in Italy, they are very good at this style of play , However, fans and friends, you are not mistaken, this is the Premier League, the 13th round of the Premier League, the West London Derby!!"

The Blues fans, whose eyelids were loose for half the game, finally became excited again at the moment of scoring a goal!

.........

On the coaching bench of Chelsea, Mr. Jose Mourinho, who watched the whole game carefully, was also surprised by this goal. He did not arrange such a tactic at all. This was obviously directed by the black-haired boy on the field, because he I saw Wang Li snapping his fingers unconsciously when Chelsea suddenly attacked——
That action is exactly the same as the command action when training tactics!
At this time, Mr. Mourinho's face was normal, and he didn't delve into the tactical changes made by the players on the field privately. Of course, most of the reasons for this were due to the goal.

If this attack fails and the opponent is given a chance, the Portuguese will definitely have another idea in his mind. What he hates the most is that the players do not follow the tactical arrangement, so the game will not be in his hands.

As a football coach who wants to get better results, this is very important.

However, that kind of thing did not happen. Now the score has been rewritten to 2:0. Mourinho is also a little happy in his heart. He turned to Clark and said, "This kid's command ability is not bad."

Assistant coach Clark looked at the Chelsea players celebrating their goals, and turned his head in doubt: "He directed this attack?"

"I think so, at the start of the offense, he made a commanding motion."

Mr. Clark, who is in charge of daily training, of course understood what Mourinho meant. He also raised his right hand and made a gesture of snapping his fingers. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to have the talent in this area, and there was no sound at all between his fingers. However, Clark I didn't care about this, and asked instead: "Is this?"

Seeing the Portuguese beside him nod his head, Clark said with some emotion in his heart: "His progress is too fast, maybe after Christmas he will be able to grow into a qualified offensive commander."

Mourinho pursed his lips, stared at the black-haired kid on the field, shook his head silently, and said, "It's still far from being a real commander."

.........

On the court, Drogba, who just scored a goal, looked very happy. This is his fourth consecutive game. The scoring drought has passed. These days' games have allowed the Ivorian monster to regain his confidence.

Of course, in this excitement, Drogba did not forget to thank Gremi who passed the ball and Joe Cole who missed the ball, especially Joe Cole. Shrewd, he clearly knew that in that situation, even he himself would probably choose to stop the ball and shoot instead of passing it to his teammates——
Especially in a situation like Joe Cole's where the substitute and the main force are vacillating!

Therefore, when Joe Cole stepped forward to congratulate him on his goal, Drogba directly put his arms around him, with that honest expression on his face again, but this time, he brought some sincerity.

"Thank you!"

A very simple sentence contains many meanings. The important thing is that Joe Cole has already obtained the friendship of this foreign creature from Côte d'Ivoire.

"It's nothing, we are teammates." Joe Cole smiled heartily, patted Drogba on the shoulder, turned and ran towards his own half.

Wang Li next to him smiled silently when he heard this sentence, and couldn't help but gave his thumbs up to his back.

.........

(End of this chapter)