Chapter 42: The Self-Defeating Magic Bird

Despite Jose Mourinho's efforts to disrupt Arsenal's morale before the game, Chelsea quickly fell into the back of the game from the first minute.

Young players are impulsive and impatient, but youth also means impulsiveness, and Fabregas, who was irritated by Jose Mourinho, showed his impact at the start of the game, running and organising aggressively in midfield, allowing Arsenal to quickly gain the upper hand.

Arsenal's starting line in this game is still Van Persie and Adebayor, although Wenger has said to give Descartes more time, but his body is always in danger, Wenger does not want to risk using him too much, so he still strictly follows Mr. Mancard's method, usually sending him in the second half.

Van Persie and Bam Adebayor were in very good shape in this game, the two of them, plus Cesc Fabregas's planning behind them, firmly suppressed Chelsea's backline, supplemented by the repeated sprinting of Rosicky and Ljungberg on the two wings, Chelsea couldn't even pass the midfield for a while.

Faced with the disadvantage on the field, Mourinho on the sidelines frowned.

Although Chelsea had beaten Arsenal 3-1 in the Carabao Cup final to claim the title, Mourinho knew very well that every game had its own special name, and he could not beat Arsenal in the same way as that game.

In the Carabao Cup final, Arsenal, who have not won the trophy for two years, desperately need a trophy to soothe the restless hearts of their fans, so they must take the initiative to beat Chelsea, and Jose Mourinho's Chelsea have won the Premier League trophy for the second year in a row, and they are very calm for such a frivolous League Cup. Therefore, Mourinho can completely use static braking, formulate a well-planned defensive counterattack, and wait until Arsenal's sharp energy is exhausted before launching a deadly counterattack.

However, things have changed, and today, the situation on both sides has completely reversed.

Prior to this game, Arsenal had already secured four and had no hope of winning the title, and his Gunners army had completely run out of desire this season; Mourinho is different, Chelsea are currently at the most tense stage of the league title with Manchester United, two games, a three-point difference, any one slip-up is enough to affect the efforts of both teams for a season, so they can't afford to lose, or even draw.

This is destined to be the main attack in this game, while Arsenal can choose to defend or attack with ease.

Jose Mourinho certainly didn't think the professor would be kind enough to let them go, so he had to take his fate into his own hands, and in this game, he fielded Frank Lampard, Robben, Ballack and Wright. Frank Phillips played four attacking midfielders, leaving only Claude Makelele to sweep in front of the backline, while Drogba was the bridgehead to open up gaps and create chances for his team-mates behind him.

As for another superstar Sheva, Mourinho finally made the decision to give him up at the most critical stage of the league, because he knew very well that Sheva's form this season had plummeted, whether it was because he failed to find a way to use him, or because he did not adapt to the environment of the Premier League and the new team, in short, the current Sheva is not Milan's omnipotent "nuclear warhead", so Mourinho did not give him a chance to play at all.

Although this is likely to cause dissatisfaction with his immediate boss and big player Mr. Abu, Mourinho knows in his heart that if he can win the championship this season and win the Premier League three times in a row, then Abu will be patient no matter what he does, on the contrary, even if he uses Sheva out of flowers, as long as there is no victory and championship, Abu can still fire his squid at any time.

This is the harsh reality of competitive sports, where victory is everything.

However, the current situation on the pitch is clearly a departure from Mourinho's original vision.

He originally thought that the bloody Fabregas would lose his cool under his pre-match provocation, thus bringing opportunities to Chelsea's midfield, but he didn't expect that Xiaofa became more difficult to deal with after being provoked, and even the retreating Ballack and Makelele teamed up to block him could not work.

You know, Chelsea's lineup for this game only has a serious midfielder, if he follows Cesc Fabregas all the way, it is equivalent to completely emptying the defense in the middle, and the wolf-like Arsenal players will never let go of this flaw, so that Chelsea will live intact until the second half.

But if he doesn't keep up, it is obviously unrealistic to expect the 30-year-old Ballack to have to juggle the attack and follow Cesc Fabregas as well.

At this time, Mourinho suddenly had a self-defeating feeling, he didn't expect Xiaofa's style to suddenly change in this game, no longer fixed in the middle, but in every corner of the front court, he wanted to immediately replace the Ghanaian buffalo Essien, and completely squeeze the active Xiaofa to death, but in the same way, every player on the field is a big name, and now it's only ten minutes into the game, who can he replace?

No matter who is replaced, this is a huge insult, and I believe that there is no need to wait for the player to make a statement, the media will definitely flock to him to criticize him, and then report the news of the team's infighting.

With Mourinho's surname, he certainly won't be afraid of the media bombardment, but he can't help but take into account the emotions of his players. In every team Mourinho has led, he has been known for maintaining players, and although it was unpleasant at Real Madrid and in the dressing room, the details are complex and we will get to know them later.

In the face of the explosive Fabregas, Mourinho could only helplessly give instructions to the players on the field, Ballack simply retreated completely, directly formed a double back with Makelle, and then used the zone defense to control Fabregas's attacking space.

Ballack, who was fully back in midfield, immediately showed his all-round warrior style, he was in charge of the right flank, Makelele was in charge of the left, and Fabregas was always firmly eyed wherever he went, and after ten minutes of activity, the momentum of the small law was finally pressed down by Chelsea.

But with a small law, the rest of the Arsenal team began to rush again.

This season has definitely been a mixed season for Robin van Persie.

When Bergkamp announced his retirement before the season, Van Persie was a little sad, but more excited, because Bergkamp's departure meant that he finally had a place in the team's forward line after waiting for two seasons.

But then the professor brought in Bam Adebayor and Descartes, plus Walcott who could play as a guest striker, and Van Persie immediately felt the pressure.

Thankfully, Van Persie was able to get a starting spot at the start of the season, as he was the team's "veteran" after all and was more familiar with the environment.

Van Persie, who successfully partnered Thierry Henry, once performed very brightly, he opened the scoring against Manchester United and shined, but it was after this goal that he inexplicably cracked his ankle in celebration and entered a three-month recuperation period.

Taking advantage of Van Persie's injury, Adebayor successfully took his place, and then Descartes gradually shone after half a year of special training, and when Van Persie returned to the team, he was stunned to find that he was no longer the second choice on the front line.

Holding his breath, Van Persie then began to try to reclaim what was rightfully of his own, giving his best every time he came on to try to put his best foot forward.

However, the ankle injury still dragged him down, and although he tried desperately to express himself, his form was always up and down, and he never established himself in the professor's heart.

It wasn't until the end of the season that his ankle injury finally healed, and Van Persie, who was back to health, was like a tiger coming down the mountain, finally able to show his full strength.

And this game is the moment when he broke out.

When Cesc Fabregas was blocked outside the box by Ballack and Claude Makelele, Van Persie began his performance in the box, first receiving a header from Bam Adebayor on the 13th minute, a volley that hit the crossbar of Chelsea, and then a successful counter-attack at the edge of the box seven minutes later, bursting into the box and shooting coldly, Chelsea's goalkeeper Cech stabbed the ball with his fingertips in a panic, and the ball unfortunately slid out.

In the 28th minute, Van Persie's moment finally came. He received an assist from Clichy on the left and dribbled straight down the middle, and after a series of interceptions from Pacos Ferreira and Carvalho, he fired a long-range shot into the top left corner of the Chelsea goal before John Terry came up, and the shot was on the outside of the instep in an exaggerated arc that Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech was judging if it was likely to be on target, and the ball had already flown into the back of the net.

Van Persie was so excited after the goal that he took off his shirt and rushed to the spectators on the sidelines, and although the Chelsea fans on the sidelines booed him, he still felt a kind of relief - that was the resentment and helplessness that had been held back for most of the season.

Seeing Van Persie's goal, Mourinho finally understood a fact: Wenger is not him, Arsenal will never change his style because of time and external reasons, Arsenal will always have only one tone, that is, attack, attack, and attack!

Maybe he is too utilitarian and conservative, so he also thinks of Wenger as a person like himself, he originally thought that Wenger would use a defensive counter-attacking approach in this game, as he did in the League Cup, to slowly tease him and his Blues, but he didn't expect Wenger to be an idealist at all, no matter at any time, any opponent, his Arsenal always insisted on his own style of play.

At this time, Mourinho remembered last year's Champions League final, facing Barcelona at that time, Wenger was not afraid, and he worked hard to fight with Barcelona in the dark, and now facing a Chelsea that is eager to score points or it will be at the end of the road, how can Wenger show weakness?

Mourinho, who finally figured it out, didn't hesitate anymore, and with a wave of his hand, the Ghanaian Buffalo Essien came into play to replace Wright, the only small character in the team. Phillips, Ballack on the right, Frank Lampard in the middle, Arjen Robben continued to eat alone, and Chelsea reverted to the same line-up they had in the Carabao Cup.

Seeing that Chelsea had reverted to that muscle forest combination, a sneer appeared on Wenger's face, and he wanted to point at Mourinho's nose and criticize loudly: "The same trick has no effect on Saint Seiya!" However, he was not a Saint Seiya Xiaoqiang after all, so he suppressed the contempt in his heart and also made a change of surname.

Under Rosicky, on Descartes.

Arsenal became 433 again.

This is definitely not a formation that Arsenal are used to, but Arsene Wenger has found it perfect against Jose Mourinho's muscular forest.

Since Mourinho wants to play defensive counterattack, then his frontcourt will definitely not invest too much, Gilberto and Diaby teamed up to guard the midfield is more than enough, on the other hand, Van Persie on the left, Descartes on the right, can firmly suppress Chelsea's two fullbacks in the back, without the assistance of the wingback, Mourinho's counterattack is impossible to talk about.

Supplemented by Xiaofa and Ljungberg in the middle, plus Adebayo, a bridgehead who is not inferior to Drogba, Arsenal's attack has suddenly become high-end.

Facing Arsenal's 433 for the first time, Mourinho's team was really a little uncomfortable. Although Cole is good in attack and defense, but in the face of Descartes who runs like a mad dog, he is completely out of temper, Carvalho and Adebayor in the middle are not heavyweight opponents at all, so he can only let the captain Terry to defend him, lost Terry's forward pounce, Fabregas was liberated again, with his state in this game, a Makelele could not restrain him at all, Essien also had to deal with the older and more tricky Ljungberg, Chelsea's back line suddenly had a sense of storm.

Mourinho, who was a little stunned by Arsenal's dazzling attack, also felt that there was no way to go to heaven and no way to go to the ground, football matches are like this, no matter how strong you make a targeted arrangement, in the face of a team that has exploded, you have nothing to do.

Now the Arsenal players on the pitch have clearly played with momentum, their cooperation up front is smooth, and they completely ignore Chelsea's defence, and I believe that even if Mourinho is really given ten Makelele, he will not find a way to deal with it.

When he had no choice but to look at the team's last line of defence, goalkeeper Cech, Mourinho could only look at the team's last line of defence.

The only thing that can make him feel fortunate is that Cech has also entered a state of possession of gods and demons in this game, in the face of Arsenal's pervasive bombardment, he is as high as a pill to resist, trying to protect the goal, although the game is only half played, but all the spectators on the sidelines believe that the best player of this game is none other than Cech.

In the first half alone, he saved at least three of Arsenal's must-score goals, and incidentally ruined one of Bam Adeio's solo appearances.

Chelsea were able to return to the dressing room with a 1-0 scoreline, and Mourinho couldn't have been more grateful to Petr Cech and, if possible, to the Petr Cech family. (To be continued.) )