Before the game began, Bates was chattering in Abu's ear, constantly promoting his own team, as if Chelsea were the supremacy of the Premier League and other teams were just stepping stones to the top of the game.

After a few minutes, though, Bates' expression was a little unnatural, and Abu was a little playful, and the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned to betray his heart.

Bates's only purpose in touting Chelsea is to sell Chelsea for a good price, as if it were a commodity that must be beautifully packaged to be more valuable.

That's why he invited Abu to watch today's FA Cup game, rather than any Premier League game.

The Premier League is full of uncertainty, and even the league leaders are likely to be overturned by the vice-captain in a league game, so the relatively cautious Bates chose such an FA Cup game.

Throughout, Bates didn't see Notts County as a team of the same tier, even if Chelsea were knocked out of the FA Cup by Notts County last season, and even if Notts County were so strong in the third line this season, they couldn't change his ingrained perceptions and beliefs.

In his opinion, even if it is away from home, Chelsea will be able to easily beat Notts County, showing Abu a super strong Blues in front of him, so that the Russian oligarch around him may have tens of millions of pounds more in his pocket.

The idea is good, but in practice, there seem to be some deviations, and these deviations also cast a haze on Bates's psychology.

From the moment they started, Notts County were buzzing with the momentum of 20,000 home fans and charging towards Chelsea's position.

Loew's tactics were simple, strengthening the flanks and attacking from the flanks, which would also be able to contain the two fast horses on the Chelsea flanks and prevent the Blues from playing their strongest game.

In practice, this tactic works.

Although the Danish fast horse Glenschal's attack on the flank was very sharp, Iniesta's strong pressing with Leiton-Baines made Glenschal's advantage impossible to play at all, and he could only stay in his own half to help defend, otherwise Chelsea's right side would not know what to be blown up into.

Although Chelsea's left side has a strong attacking ability, he just encountered a frontcourt player with sapper attributes, Kuyt, who directly defended him enough in the frontcourt, plus the assistance of Lahm, so Chelsea's left side also achieved nothing.

As a last resort, Chelsea had to find a way to open things up from the middle, but Ranieri soon found out that his plans had fallen through.

While Frank Lampard is entering the prime of his career, Petit is already in the late stages of his career, and with one of them as a B2B midfielder and the other as an engineer-type midfielder, it has been difficult to open up the situation when it comes to organising attacks.

In addition, the two strikers in the front, Hasselbaink, and Gudjohnsen, who replaced the injured Zola, are simple goalscorers, and the support for the midfield is far from enough.

It can be said that Chelsea's overall attack is simply not playing, and even with individual ability, it is difficult to really threaten Notts County.

Notts County, on the other hand, played well in attack, defended solidly, dominated midfield, and were able to deliver the ball to a position that could threaten the Chelsea goal.

Not long after the opening, several sharp attacks from Notts County shocked the Chelsea goalkeeper into a cold sweat and made Bates in the box black-faced.

'Chelsea are very strong!' Abu said with a smirk, but anyone could feel the irony in Abu's tone.

Bates really wanted to play on the pitch himself, he couldn't understand, how could Chelsea be such a Premier League powerhouse, and even Notts County could not beat a League One team?

It also made him lose face in front of the potential buyer of the tycoon Abu, which is really a bad feeling.

You're all going to score a goal! Defeat Notts County!

Bates kept screaming in his heart.

If this game is in front of Abou and Chelsea can't win it, it will really be a joke.

If Abu had given up on buying Chelsea because of this, his plans to sell the team would have fallen through and Chelsea would continue to sink into the abyss.

David doesn't care about watching the performance next door, Bates is destined to be a small person, and he will not be regarded as an opponent by David, only Abu has the support of terrorist funds, and Chelsea will really have the strength to impact the giants.

In the 12th minute, Meireles suddenly dribbled forward, disrupted Chelsea's defensive formation, and a hidden kick hit the feet of Di Natale, and the Italian striker successfully countered offside and scored with ease in a heads-up face to Chelsea goalkeeper Cudicini.

After the goal, Di Natale rushed to the stands and roared in celebration, and the fans in the stands responded with a roar of applause from the goal-scoring striker.

David paid a little attention to the image in the box, and just stood up and clapped in celebration.

And Bates next to him was already pale, and the situation on the field had made him have no face to say anything to Abu.

Just now, there was a lot of chatter praising Chelsea's strength, but within a few minutes, Chelsea were hit by a goal from Notts County, and their faces were about to be swollen by themselves.

And Abu still has an expressionless face, and no one knows what he is thinking in his heart, so Bates is also very worried about Abu, for fear that if Abu is unhappy and doesn't buy it, then Chelsea will be bad.

But the more anxious Bates became, the worse Chelsea's performance on the pitch became, and less than five minutes after conceding the goal, Notts County seized the opportunity to extend the score again.

It was Di Natale who scored the goal, with the Italian striker bursting into his best form today and making it difficult for Chelsea's backline.

This season, in the competition for the main position of the center forward with Villa, Di Natale is actually slightly disadvantaged, so more often Di Natale starts in the league, while Villa will start in the more important League Cup.

Despite plenty of playing time, Di Natale wants to prove that he fully deserves to be in the starting XI and that he will not be afraid to compete with Villa.

Di Natale's goal had left Chelsea feeling a little overwhelmed, a feeling of powerlessness that would be hard to come by even against the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool, and Notts County's control of the game felt a little scary.

Even Bates, who was in the box, stopped talking at all, because he knew that at this time, even if he said it extravagantly, the team's poor performance on the field would still leave a bad impression on Abu. (To be continued.) )