Chapter 604: Win this damn game
"Guys," said Licardo in the dressing room before the game when Simeone had finished his tactics, "I want you to put aside all the distractions and not think about how many points we have now, how many points we have if we win. I know a lot of you are counting that if Manchester City win at home to Manchester United in two days' time, we will be at the top of the table. But I want to tell you that if we hadn't won the game today, we wouldn't have won the title no matter what the outcome of the Manchester City and Manchester United game is! β
"From now on, I want you to have only one thought in your mind: win this damn derby! Kill Chelsea! β
"Whoa!" The players screamed and waved their arms, their faces filled with frenzy, believing that they could help in this game β Ricardo was the god on the pitch!
"Let's go, kill them!" As he walked out of the dressing room and met the Chelsea players in the tunnel, he found John Terry, gave him a look of contempt and said disdainfully: "Do you want to experience what it's like to get a red card for two games in a row?" β
Terry suppressed his anger and ignored Ricardo.
Ricardo didn't provoke him again, but looked at Bosingwa, who should have been the player in charge of marking himself today. "How did you feel last time we met? Do you still remember it vividly? I'm going to get 3 more from your side today. β
In fact, Licardo has always disliked war of words, psychological warfare, and trash-talking, but today's game was so important, he also put down his body and threw himself into it.
Chelsea's line-up has made some major changes to the Barcelona game, with Cech in goal, and Ferreira, Bosingwa, John Terry and Ashley in rear. Cole, midfielders Essien and Frank Lampard, midfielder Juan Mata, and a forward three of Sturridge, Torres and Kalou.
On the QPR side, the goalkeeper is still Saint Handa, and the defenders McConn, Alderweireld, Gary. Cahill, Crichton. Hill, trailing is Thiago. Motta, with Nainggolan and Luka Modric in front of him, and the trident of Ricardo, Ronaldo and Pandev.
Simeone wants the team to press high from the start, take the initiative, counterattack on the spot when there is an opportunity to counterattack, and firmly control the ball when there is no chance to counterattack.
Under such guidelines, QPR has played very proactively.
Just 22 seconds into the game, Ricardo dribbled down the flank, suddenly started cutting inside and then passed the ball into the left side.
Clayton. Hill picked up the ball and played a low ball to goal, Ronaldo scrambled to tackle the ball and the ball bounced off Petr's leg for QPR to take a corner.
The Chelsea players have been very rigorous in their defence and after a season everyone is aware of the threat from QPR's set-pieces, who have picked up a lot of points from set-pieces.
However, just because you know what the other person is going to do doesn't mean you can defend against it.
It's like Ricardo, you know that when he gets the ball on the left, he either cuts inside or goes down, but who can guard him?
Luka Modric takes a corner, Gary. Cahill leapt high through the crowd and pinpointedly the ball to the goal, which changed direction and flew towards goal, but Cech was half a beat slower to pick up the ball from the bottom of the net.
βGoallllοΌ Gary. Cahill scored his first goal since joining QPR! Just 1 minute and 10 seconds into the game, QPR took the lead away from home! β
The blue Stamford Bridge was voicing their displeasure and the Blues fans were booing from the crowd who did not want to be humiliated by the down-and-out city rival.
It's like a city guy who always dismisses his poor country relatives when he sees them.
But if one day the son of this relative in the countryside is admitted to 985, but the son of a city man does not perform well in the college entrance examination and can only read two books...... That's probably how Chelsea fans are feeling right now.
Chelsea fans forget that they've only been on the road for a few years.
"If Ricardo hadn't been injured, they would probably have taken West Bromwich Albion," the commentator said, "and then QPR would have been at the top of the table instead of Manchester United." With or without Ricardo, for QPR, the gap is really very big. Callejon could not take half of the blame for Ricardo. β
Chelsea had just kicked off and were tackled by QPR.
Luka Modric sent in a through-ball that was a little bigger, and Cech confiscated the ball before Pandev could get into place.
'QPR played very aggressively today,' said the commentator, 'and from the start, they had a lot of momentum and Chelsea will definitely have a tough situation today. Will Boas have any tricks? β
In the third minute of the game, QPR made another successful tackle and organized an attack to advance to the vicinity of the Chelsea penalty area, and Licardo shook continuously in the bag, shook off a gap, and passed the ball to the feet of Modric at the edge of the box. Modric lifted his foot and shot, and the ball flew off the line against the post.
However, the Chelsea players quickly got into shape under such pressure and did not make any more passing errors.
However, QPR's high press failed to create any more opportunities to counter-attack on the spot, but it also prevented Chelsea from organising the attack effectively, and the two sides were deadlocked.
In this case, either player is more creative or explosive, and the balance of power can be upset.
With Didier Drogba injured, Chelsea are missing one of the most important flashpoints. QPR, on the other hand, have a healthy Ricardo who has repeatedly threatened the Blues' goal.
In the 10th minute, Modric sent a pick pass on the left side of the penalty area, Licardo inserted a direct left-footed volley from a small angle, the football hit the crossbar heavily, bounced into the field, Pandev took the ball and pushed the ball to McConn, McConn crossed, Ronaldo fell to the ground in the entanglement with Terry, Essien who returned to the defense cleared the ball with a big foot, and the referee signaled the game to continue.
The QPR players were very unhappy with the ball and thought Terry had movement on his hands. However, only Ricardo came forward to negotiate a few words with the referee, and the rest of the players quickly returned to defense.
In the 18th minute, Luka Modric and Nainggolan burst into the box after a one-two, and in the face of Chelsea's intact defence, he did not choose to force a shot, but suddenly knocked the ball with his back.
Ricardo followed up with a curling shot that flew around the defender towards goal, and Cech stretched his body to the limit and barely flicked the ball out with his fingertips.
Ashley. Cole cleared the ball but didn't go far, Nainggolan volleyed in from the edge of the box and Cech made a double save to defuse the crisis.
'So far, it's been basically a QPR bombardment around Chelsea's goal, and Chelsea haven't had any decent chances. Chelsea's attack might have been a little more fluid if Didier Drogba had been available, but Torres played very average today, not even touching the ball a few times. β
"If this trend continues, QPR has a very big chance of winning. Chelsea players...... It seems to have completely forgotten that this is a derby. β