Chapter 18: The Ultimate
Scored?
Before the fans could get their heads off the TV screens, they were surprised to find that Descartes was already on his way to celebrate, and behind him were the confused eyes of the Chelsea players.
It was a very unexpected goal, Arshavin shot from distance, Cech got off his hands, Descartes added to it, and the whole process was strictly as simple and boring.
But it was also an unusual goal, as Cech rarely made such a mistake and as is often the case with such close-range tackles, the goalkeeper usually has enough reaction time to get the ball back under him, knowing that the average striker is still a few metres away if he reacts, because it is not a set-piece and the striker does not appear in the six-yard box.
But it all came too suddenly, and when Arshavin was just about to shoot from distance, Descartes seemed to know the outcome, and at that moment he quickly shook off Terry, who was pestering him, and slipped into the box like a fish.
And I don't know if it's because Descartes' too ferocious pounce affected Cech, or if the previous trauma left too deep a shadow on the reception, this kind of long-range shot that Cech usually pounces a hundred times will not get out of his hand, but this time there was an accident, the ball hit his hand, but he couldn't be held in his arms, when he woke up from the shock and was ready to immediately press the ball under him again, Descartes's feet had appeared in his sight.
Then, everything fell into place.
Or perhaps we can only say that it was because of Ann Jieli's arrival that Descartes was very excited. So this kind of long-range shot, which usually doesn't seem to have much chance, and the striker usually doesn't go for it, he chose to follow up, and then there was a mistake by Cech and his follow-up shot.
Such a seemingly messy and lucky goal, but it has planted a lot of shadows in the hearts of Chelsea players, especially Terry, who is eyeing Descartes, in his opinion, the probability of such a goal may not exceed 1 in 10,000, but Descartes is so lucky, in front of this 1 in 10,000 chance. He was the first to come out on top. Could it be that the woman in the box is really his lucky angel?
With the lack of a manager, Terry could only temporarily act as the team's on-the-spot commander, and he cleaned up his mood. Then he yelled at his teammates, "Don't worry. The race has just begun. We still have a chance, defend, watch defensive! β
The Chelsea players' eyes of disappointment began to coalesce. As the iron army built by Mourinho himself, their psychological quality is indeed better than that of ordinary teams, and such an unexpected goal conceded not only did not disrupt their position, but made their attention more concentrated.
After conceding the goal, Chelsea began to show their iron-clad defence, and in the face of Arsenal's five midfielders and Descartes' alternating attacks, they showed an orderly performance, and although they were behind Arsenal in terms of shots and penetrations, their attack and defence showed no flaws at all, and anyone who looked at it would not believe that it was a team that did not have a manager.
It's a pity that sometimes things on the football field are not how well you perform will gain much, compared with the Chelsea side, although the Arsenal play in this game is a little messy, but more passionate, because their one-arrow Descartes, this game almost showed their own 200% drive, with the ability of such a player, even if only 100% effort is enough for most teams to drink a pot, not to mention that this game was greatly encouraged?
The score was finally broken again in the 35th minute of the first half, Descartes received the ball in front, a realistic feint made Terry believe that he would transition the ball to the side, so Terry subconsciously stretched out his foot to block, who expected Descartes to use this opportunity to pass through the crotch, and then leaned on the body to rely on the complementary Carvalho, a shot with little power and no tricky angle, which made Cech have no temper at all.
Even Cech himself couldn't believe the goal he conceded this time, he glanced at the ball behind him with ghostly eyes, and then looked at his hands, this kind of shot, usually a hundred times can be saved, why did he miss it today?
Cech can only attribute the loss of the goal to the momentum of Descartes, because he can clearly feel that at the moment of Descartes' shot, his eyes are so persistent, and his movements are so crisp, although the quality of this ball shot is not too high, but it is the kind of indomitable momentum that makes his heart subconsciously have the idea that the ball may not be saved, so the ball did not save in the end.
What is this, a psychological shadow?
What Cech didn't know was that on the golf course, there is a very interesting law of golf, that is, at the moment the ball is hit, no one can determine where it lands, but when the golf ball hits the ground, people can have 10,000 inferences to explain why the ball landed here, which is the famous inverse law.
To be honest, I still don't know what this law does to our lives or production, but that doesn't stop me from being unaware of it, because it's something that the "experts" have summed up, and it's impossible for the experts to become "experts" by doing nothing, right? So we have to allow them to say something very philosophical, even though it doesn't seem useful to us.
This is actually similar to some very interesting research on the football field, there was once a British football research institute did a very boring study, they after thousands of players kicked penalties and summed up, and finally came to the conclusion of "perfect penalty": more than 65 kilometers per hour, kick to the left and right corners of the goal, this kind of penalty is not saved by any goalkeeper.
This "perfect formula" immediately sparked laughter, and even Baggio, who was far away in Italy, quipped: "If only this penalty formula had come out earlier, then I would have said to the penalty in the '94 World Cup: 'I'll take the penalty'!" β
Of course, what we're talking about has nothing to do with this game. But suffice it to say that Descartes' two goals were too ...... Relaxed and unexpected, it was as if there was really a lucky angel in the dark who blessed him, so that the Chelsea defence always inadvertently made big mistakes.
However, Descartes himself did not think so, and he attributed it all to the arrival of Angeli who made him in good shape, so Descartes continued to work hard, and at the end of the first half, he once again had his own hat-trick.
It was a "difficult" goal, as Arsenal had been preceded by a series of non-stop kicks up front. After the Chelsea defenders were fully focused on Descartes' feet. He slipped the ball into the box with a hidden through ball to Theo Walcott, and the Chelsea defenders were shocked by the leak and rushed to the little tiger, who would have thought that Walcott would only be determined to be a green leaf in this game. Hell-bent on fulfilling his best friend's performance in front of his fiancΓ©e. So he knocked the ball back to Descartes. In this unexpected return, even Terry, who had been keeping an eye on Descartes, was deceived, and Descartes had to smile shyly at the big empty door.
The "streak finale" that was hyped by the media before the game. After only 45 minutes, the result was already decided, and Chelsea, who had brought infinite surprises to everyone before this game, inexplicably raised the flag and surrendered in the first half, and no one could figure out why this was why Chelsea played badly? Don't be, anyone who knows a little bit about the ball can see that they are almost impeccable in both attack and defense, the only problem is that Descartes' shooting percentage is too high.
How tall?
At this time, most of the media reacted, so they hurriedly checked the information of the first half, and at a glance, everyone was stunned, 3 shots on goal!
Yes, three shots, three breaks, 100 per cent shots!
No one believes that this is a normal statistic, and even Chelsea Football Club's own staff can only look up to the sky and sigh after getting this data: "God is going to kill me, I have to die!" β
However, in the midst of the media's mourning, there is still a group of people who have not given up.
That's the players from Chelsea.
This group of Chelsea players can be said to have been deeply engraved in the bones of Uncle Bird, in their hearts, they will never give up, even if they fail, they have to stand and die vigorously. There are many people who cup Uncle Bird's dead duck mouth, thinking that he is still holding himself up after losing to Barcelona in a row: "We have never lost to Barcelona in an 11-on-11 situation", especially some Barcelona fans, who regard this kind of remark as ironclad proof that Uncle Bird can't afford to lose. It's a pity that they won't understand that it is Mourinho's "stubbornness", this "can't afford to lose", that makes Chelsea's players despise everything in their hearts and never compromise on the blood, and it is this bloodiness that supports them not to sink like those nouveau riche after frequent changes of coaches, but always stand at the top of the Premier League, until they miraculously reversed Barcelona in a desperate situation and finally won the European Champions Cup.
Many people think that it is the credit of Di Matteo, and even the "Buddha coach" himself thinks that this is his own tuning, so in the second year after winning the championship, he sold meritorious players in a big way, ready to completely brand this team with his own brand, the result is that Chelsea, which seems to have completed the "metabolism", performed weakly in the subsequent league, and Di Matteo, who had just won the Champions League, also left the bridge in a hurry after half a season.
This is actually because Di Matteo did not see clearly that it was not his so-called technical flow that supported Chelsea to win the Champions League, but the blood surging in the hearts of these old players and their uncompromising attitude.
Now, with three goals down at half-time and the media unanimously looking down, this group of Chelsea players are starting their way from the dressing room.
"We can't give up!" Captain Terry wrinkled his distinctive age markings, shook his fist vigorously and roared, "We're not here to honor the King, we're going to mess up their celebration!" β
"Yes." Frank Lampard, a lifelong friend, did not hesitate to step behind John Terry and went on to say: 'We didn't have a chance at all, Descartes should have been substituted in the second half, without him. Arsenal are not much better than us! β
"Even with him, we're better than Arsenal!" Drogba, who is as strong as a black bull, ravaged his jersey in frustration and hummed with disbelief: "He was just lucky in the first half, that kind of ball, usually impossible to kick in." β
"I'm sorry, it's all my fault." As the team's invisible boss, Cech is usually a quiet man, but his character and attitude are unanimously embraced in the Chelsea dressing room: "I don't understand why those two goals didn't save, but I promise I won't make another mistake like that in the second half!" β
"We don't blame you." Terry patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, then looked around. In his deep voice, he said, "You should know. It was a difficult game for us and a lot of people called us 'spoilers' before the game, but I don't think so, Chelsea are a team with tradition. Our goal should not be to be someone else's background. We have only one goal. That's the champion, and no matter how strong the opponent is, we shouldn't be willing to accept defeat. I'm going to give all my strength to fight for this game, and who of you wants to come with me? β
"Count me in!" Lampard held out his hand.
"And me!" Drogba also handed out his swarthy swarthy slap.
"Me." Cech.
"Me!" Ashley. Cole.
"And me!" Carvalho.
β¦β¦
Ray, who has been sitting next to him as if in a daze. The corners of Wilkins' old man's eyes were a little moist, this team did unexpectedly well, although he is only an acting coach, or when Van Gaal comes, he will return to his youth team, but he is also proud of these players, at this time, did not give up and fight against fate, how many such teams can there be in the world?
I'm so proud of you! Although Wilkins did not shout, he silently cheered for them in his heart.
As the second half began, Chelsea's players found that Arsenal had replaced their top scorer, with a score of 3:0 at half-time, which made Arsene Wenger have moved his mind to the next round of matches, because Arsenal have already qualified as the group leader in the Champions League group stage, so relatively speaking, their current schedule is relatively loose, except for one or two League Cup games, they currently need to deal with only the league. The only thing that worries Wenger is the European qualifiers for the World Cup, which will start again in the middle of the month, and this round of the competition has reached its most intense stage, all the national teams that have not yet secured a place in the group will do their best, and the Arsenal internationals will undoubtedly become the labor of these national teams.
How nice it would be if there was no tournament like the World Cup! Arsene Wenger let out such a depressed sigh as he watched the players on the pitch run back and forth intently.
However, before his exclamation could end, a sudden roar pulled him back from his fugue state, and then he saw the African lion-like Drogba beat Vermaelen and slammed a powerful header from 5 meters in front of the goal, Almunia couldn't reach the header, and the score became 1:3 in time.
Wenger frowned slightly, he didn't see the whole process of this goal, but when he swept the fiery look in Drogba's eyes, a bad feeling enveloped his heart, so the previously upturned Erlang's legs were lowered, Wenger straightened up, and began to stare intently at the changes in the situation on the field.
Just five minutes after Drogba's goal, Wenger couldn't sit still because John Terry had scored again!
This is a corner, an ordinary serve, an ordinary contention, the only thing that is not ordinary is that Arsenal lost the air again, Terry grabbed Galla's head this time and smashed the ball into the door of Arsenal.
Two attacks, two headers, the dormant Blue Lions finally showed their hideous fangs, and the high-altitude bombardment that once made Arsenal smell changed its color, struck again!
"It's so shameless!" It was only then that Arsene Wenger finally understood that Chelsea had made their big move: a long pass from the back, finding Drogba, and then a group of people in midfield scrambling for the second place like crazy, forming an attack on the Arsenal goal.
This trick seems quite familiar? Yes, this is the flip board of Arsenal's 451 attack! If I don't say it, I'm afraid many people won't notice that Chelsea also played 451!
Of course, Chelsea are by no means emulating Arsenal. Because since Mourinho took charge of the Blue Bridge, they played 451 for most of the time, although in the middle because of the arrival of Sheva and the strong instructions of Manager Abu, they played 442 for a period of time, but once the results were frustrated, Uncle Bird immediately changed the formation back to his preferred 451, and 451 is equal to the concept of iron-blooded defense, which is also the most intuitive feeling that Uncle Bird's Chelsea brings to all audiences.
It wasn't until this formation evolved into an invincible weapon in the hands of Arsenal that people began to recognize that the original 451 could also be used to attack.
And Arsenal's 451, the first trick is to get the ball alone in front. All the players behind him stepped forward en masse. Inflict a storm on the opponent's defense.
Now Chelsea have copied it, with the only difference being that Arsenal are using the individual skills of Descartes or Robin van Persie up front to pick up the ball and wait for reinforcements. Chelsea, on the other hand, exploited Drogba's air dominance. It's a complete fight!
It's a kind of shooting yourself in the foot!
Facing such a "hard" Chelsea. Wenger's neat white hair was completely messy in the wind, and this move was too poisonous and too ruthless. Because Arsenal used this trick, they swept all the roads in the Premier League this season, and there was almost no opponent under them, but Chelsea now used a trick to change the stars, and beat Arsenal itself to the point of losing his temper!
If Descartes is still on the field, Wenger naturally does not need to panic, because when it comes to seizing opportunities, it is not Descartes' opponent to be tied to Drogba, but unfortunately, because he thinks he has the chance to win, he has replaced Descartes early, and Van Persie, who was replaced, although he is also a good player, but when the team is in a contrarian trend, Van Persie does not have the energy to turn the tide.
At this time, Van Persie, after all, was not the general Fan who was "thighed" later, and his overall view and ability to create opportunities had a natural gap compared to Descartes, which was a talent that could not be envied.
The only thing Wenger can do at this time is to quickly replace the aging Galla with the tall Koscielny, and at the same time replace Rosicky with Diaby in midfield, so that Arsenal have two tall defenders, although they will lose a certain number of points in attack, in Wenger's opinion, at least the most important thing is to stabilize the score first.
These two substitutions are not exquisite, at most they can only be regarded as decent, with Koscielny's stalking, Drogba's ability to play the ball in the front court has indeed been greatly affected, but without Rosicky's organization, Arsenal's counterattack has gradually drowned in Chelsea's muscle forest, at this time the most depressed can only be Van Persie, who was replaced in the second half, because he found that since he played, he has hardly gotten any decent opportunities, facing Essien, Terry, this muscle monster, He was completely lost in the cold November wind.
Arsene Wenger's substitution might have been hailed as stabilizing the tempo if the game had been over, but no one could have imagined that Chelsea, who had already played their senses, would not stop there, and they finally equalised with a long-range strike from Frank Lampard with three minutes remaining.
In the face of this goal, Arsenal's midfielders have an unshirkable responsibility. Song, Denilson, Diaby, in the final stage of the game, Arsenal almost put three midfielders, but they were still found by the "magic lamp", when Lampard shot from a distance, there was almost no decent interference, especially Denilson, who was closest to him, and did not even make a run to intercept.
Wenger's face was already white with anger on the sidelines, he threw his tie to the ground hard, and then stepped on two feet in anger, and then went to the coach's bench, holding his head with both hands and began to think, and the TV commentators on the sidelines lost no time in teasing: "It seems that the professor has been so angry that he has nothing to say about this conceded ball, he hugged his head deeply, is he missing Descartes who left the game before?" β
Of course not! Wenger is by no means missing Descartes at this time, he is thinking about Arteta at Everton!
If they could get him at the start of the season, how could the team be so reliant on Descartes? With Arteta's playmaking at the back, even if Rosicky is gone, the team will never be without a chance, that damn Denilson, he's had enough!
Denilson, who was still walking around in a daze like soy sauce on the field, didn't know that he had been sentenced to death in Wenger's heart, although the team had an excellent record this season, but his position was exactly what Wenger wanted to replace, in the professor's opinion, if Arteta could be used to fill Denilson's position, then this Arsenal team would really be perfect, if there were a few more strong enough substitutes, then the team would be simply impeccable, Xiaode, your good days are over! (To be continued......)