Now Chelsea pays attention to advancing layer by layer, paying more attention to the last pass, Drogba's role is similar to Klose's role in the penalty area, Drogba is not Klose after all, the most important thing is that the two people's response methods are different, Drogba has always been accustomed to carrying the opponent with his body, winning the ball, and getting used to the hard touch of the Premier League.

Klose is used to the ball at his feet, his good header is mainly very good when attacking the goal, and when used as a fulcrum, his body and header are currently not taking advantage of the opponent.

But what are Chelsea walking now, it's the ground.

Drogba is not used to Villas-Boas's style of play, so for a lot of the time since the game started, he has basically been in the center of the post.

He's older, and he used to be between five and five against Benatia, but now he's almost completely below and doesn't get many shots on goal.

Wen Sheng also made a special effort to prevent him from outside the penalty area, because Drogba's long-range shot at his feet was also a must.

So don't look at the first ten minutes or so Chelsea's fierce attack, in fact, there is not much threat to Crystal Palace.

Ten minutes later, Palace adapted to Chelsea's style of play and the midfield advantage began to become apparent, with Villas-Boas's biggest Chelsea problems coming from midfield.

The teenager Romeu debuted from La Masia, his foot skills are very good, and when he was in Barcelona, the outside media gave him the title of "Busquets II", but in fact he is not half a star away from Busquets.

Leaving aside his future, the worst thing about Busquets now is experience, Busquets has firmly sat in the main starting position after Guardiola came to power, Yaya Toure was sold to Manchester City because of Busquets' existence, Romeu did not play a few games in Barcelona, and after this transfer to Chelsea, he was immediately entrusted with the responsibility by Boas.

Not to mention the dissatisfaction of the veteran players in the Chelsea squad, he has not adapted well to the pace of the Premier League game, and is far behind Sergio Busquets in terms of ball handling ability and defensive positioning.

The other two players, Ramirez and Meireles, are not top-class midfielders in their own right, and their division of labor is almost confused.

Unlike Crystal Palace, the division of labor is more clear, so it is normal for them to not be able to control the midfield.

Crystal Palace's formation gradually pressed upward, defending high and attacking at a fast pace, suppressing Chelsea.

Between the 18th and 24th minutes, Crystal Palace took advantage of the change of attack and defence between the two sides to create a wave of attacking climaxes, and Chelsea were in danger in front of goal.

Villas-Boas was anxious on the sidelines, having already played Crystal Palace once in the Europa League final, when the two sides were evenly matched, and this time he saw Crystal Palace again, he already felt that Crystal Palace were even stronger.

The midfield was clearly out of control, and the only time he was pleased was that his backline was solid, he didn't make mistakes, and there were several times to disrupt Palace's fast chances.

Once this period passed, Crystal Palace's attack slowed down, and Chelsea had the strength to go through this dangerous period, and they were more or less accustomed to Crystal Palace's style of play, with the two sides battling fiercely in various positions on the pitch, and the intensity of the game increased.

Before you know it, the time of half-time is over, and the two sides are evenly matched with each other's offense and defense, with Crystal Palace having a slight advantage.

"Ian, the first half is over, what do you think of the performance of both sides?!" Martin. Taylor and Ian. Wright discussed the first half of the game in the commentary box.

'I think Crystal Palace are doing better when they're away from home! Chelsea were at home, but they fell below in terms of control of the midfield and failed to control the midfield! I think Palace should have been a little more patient, they haven't invested too much in attack! Defensively, they also failed to fully defend Chelsea's wings, allowing the opposition to create some chances! "Ian. Wright commented.

Martin. Taylor nodded, Crystal Palace's strength lies in their ability to tackle and control well in midfield, but Chelsea are not terrible either, and their threat on the flanks is always present.

Juan Mata's role as a wide midfielder, opposing Larsson and N'Golo Kante did not do a good job of defending him, and he made a few good passes, but it was not that he and Drogba did not have enough tacit understanding, and Chelsea might be able to score.

On the other side, Sturridge is a slamming and rushing character, hitting Maggio several times, and Maggio is really a little embarrassed.

"We need to be patient!" Wen Sheng is not a fool either, his sense of smell on the field is his talent, and he quickly found the problem, and he also emphasized patience in the dressing room when explaining the second-half tactics to his players.

In the first half, he was afraid of the threat of the opponent on the wing, he adopted the strategy of attacking quickly and the full-backs not pressing too much, and the team played four different times, Larsson and Maggio did not press well at the time, wasted a lot of energy, and there were some mistakes in defense.

The forces on the attack line don't seem to be enough, giving the opponent a chance to stare to death.

"In the second half we had to keep the ball and ..... from here" Wen Sheng pointed to the tactical board and talked eloquently, he asked the players to gradually control from the back, advance slowly, keep the formation tight, and collectively put pressure on the opponent.

"We're going to have a success rate! Try not to lose possession in the front court, use your brain when passing, and don't put our defense in a dangerous situation! ”

Meanwhile, in the Chelsea dressing room, Villas-Boas was explaining his demands and was interested in making a substitution, wanting to bring on youngster Sergio Romeu.

Romeu has started his last three games, but the results have not been ideal.

On the pitch it looked like he was running aggressively and playing the ball decisively, but he was in a defensive position and lost his position from time to time, which also led to the team conceding goals.

He is not reconciled to let him be replaced by Frank Lampard, of course he has experience, but his running ability is not as good as before, and he is worried that it will be worse, not to mention that it is contrary to his idea of vigorously supporting newcomers and building his own lineage.

Lampard also has a problem of not being able to control the ball, which is not to say that Lampard's skills are really bad at his feet, but on the contrary, he has good skills at his feet.

Frank Lampard has the same problem as Steven Gerrard, they are both very technical, but the way they play in their respective teams is completely different from the way they play in the playmaking midfield, and they are not at all comparable to the ability of technical midfielders such as Andrea Pirlo and Xavi to get rid of the situation.

In the early years, they developed in that direction, and it was not ruled out that they could become midfielders like Pirlo and Xavi, but now, it is certainly impossible.

Frank Lampard's most outstanding ability to score from the front of the goal, his scoring ability has been declining over the years, and the managers of the post-Mourinho era have not found a new way for Lampard, maybe Lampard himself does not want to change, in short, Villas-Boas thinks that using Lampard is not necessarily better than Romeu.

After thinking about it, Boas eventually put the issue aside and let Romeu try it out, and Lampard could wait a little longer.

The inability of the midfielder to play against the opposition in the first half was a problem that could not be refused, but unfortunately he really did not have a reliable midfielder.

Essien is certainly the best candidate, but he was injured in August due to cruciate ligament surgery and has yet to return.

Another midfielder who Villas-Boas relied on, Mikel, also missed the game due to injury.

So in this game, Boas was actually quite unlucky, his waist was not hard, and he could only ruthlessly send a low-profile combination like Ramirez, Meireles and Romeu.

"Juan, more retreat in the second half, don't stick the ball in the midfield, put the ball at Juan's feet and let him organize!" Faced with this dilemma, Villas-Boas had to let Juan Mata drop back a little deeper, just as De Bruyne played as a winger at Crystal Palace.