Last season, Middlesbrough did not stand out in the league and finished 11th in the league. However, Middlesbrough fans are already happy as they have won their first trophy in the club's history, although many clubs don't care about the Carabao Cup at all.

This summer, McClaren brought in Viduka and Hasselbaink to the team's forward line, Middlesbrough's attacking ability has been strengthened, and in the first few rounds of the league, Middlesbrough has also been very strong, with a record of 5 games, 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, leaving them in fourth place in the league behind Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

This has caused many English media to exclaim, "Middlesbrough will be the spoiler in this year's league title race." - With a strong Chelsea and solid performances, no one was foolish enough to think they would have a chance to win the league title.

Round 6 of the Premier League is just around the corner, and the highlight of the game will undoubtedly be the showdown between Manchester United and Liverpool, the Red Devils and the Reds, but perhaps the FA has scheduled this game for 20 September in order to make this game better.

So on September 19th, the first and fourth place in the league, Chelsea vs Middlesbrough, won most of the media attention, and the whole of Great Britain was mobilized to rush to Middlesbrough.

There's a lot to watch in this game, according to The Telegraph – first of all, it's a league standing!

"Now after 5 rounds of the Premier League, Chelsea is firmly at the top of the league with a record of 5 wins, and the fourth place Middlesbrough also has 10 points and ranks 4th in the league, although Chelsea is 12 points ahead of the second place Arsenal, even if this game is lost, it can still be ranked first in the league with a goal difference, but if Middlesbrough breaks Chelsea's unbeaten golden body, then the gap between the top 4 teams is likely to narrow sharply to 2 points, which means that the competition for the top few will be more fierce!"

Secondly, the showdown between the Portuguese manager and the England manager.

"Jose Mourinho is undoubtedly the epitome of Portugal's new generation of managers, and his success in Porto will make his name glorious for decades!! And McClaren is also the best of England's young coaches, at the age of 43 as the head coach of the Premier League team, and has achieved outstanding results, this kind of achievement is also very dazzling, so which of the two will achieve the final success, let's wait and see! ”

Thirdly, the battle of proof for Hasselbaink.

"Jimmy. Hasselbaink is undoubtedly one of the best strikers in the world, having won the Premier League's top scorer in the 98/99 and 00/01 seasons. His performances have been consistent as he has aged, but after the arrival of the Portuguese, Chelsea removed him from the squad and sold him to Middlesbrough for a bargain, and this game was also Jimmy's first game against his old club, what kind of performance will he have? ”

……… Although Mourinho didn't care too much about this game, it is undeniable that this game did attract the attention of the media and fans, and other Premier League teams are eager for Middlesbrough to win, especially Manchester United and Arsenal.

As far as Wang Li himself is concerned, he has a strong impression of Middlesbrough, and it was the team's defender Grining who clashed with him last season that led to his suspension, and that game became his last game in Wolverhampton.

Fortunately, this summer, Grining was sold by head coach McClaren to Premier League promoted Masy Bromwich Albion, otherwise the media would definitely bring up the old story again and hype it up between Wang Li and Grinei.

Before the start of the game, apart from the various media waving flags and shouting from the sidelines, the war of words between the two teams was not very intense, and Mr Mourinho rarely affirmed McLaren's achievements and congratulated Middlesbrough on his achievements this season, much to the frustration of journalists who wanted to get big news.

In front of many reporters, McClaren also admired Chelsea's strength this season, and said that although he had made full preparations before the game, he did not guarantee the result of the game, and hoped that the team could grow in the game against Chelsea. This low-profile rhetoric has led reporters to wonder if he was even intimidated by Chelsea's record.

And this time, Wang Li, who often made nonsense before the game and declared that he would win, was also a lot more restrained, and did not express any opinion on this game, but only declared that he would work hard to score goals, which made reporters think that he was focusing on training.

……… In this game, McClaren still used the same line-up from previous rounds, with new additions Viduka and Hasselbaink undoubtedly forming a double attack, penetrating into the chest and abdomen of Chelsea's defence.

Compared to last season, the Middlesbrough midfielders have not changed much, Boateng, Mendieta, Zenden still occupy the main position, after the departure of Grining, the curly-haired veteran Parloer was promoted, this player was undoubtedly the absolute main force of Arsenal, since 91, he has been with Arsenal for a total of 13 seasons.

In this game, Mourinho still used the combination of Drogba and Wang Li, the two are almost invincible in the Premier League and always bring a lot of goals. And in the middle, Thiago. Mendes was given the chance to start, and he and Claude Makelele formed a defensive duo at the back to protect Chelsea's defence.

Chelsea's attacking momentum was as solid as in previous games, and with Jose Mourinho's tactical thinking, the players knew that if they could take the lead in the first half, the rest of the game would be much easier, and they were used to that tactic.

However, Middlesbrough's defence has been solid, and after several seasons of adjustment and run-in, McClaren's defensive ability is definitely one of the best in the Premier League, and it is not easy for Chelsea to break through the opponent's goal in a short period of time.

In this game, McClaren did not make any adjustments for Chelsea, the defensive ability of the 442 solid formation has been proven, and their attack is more dependent on the rich experience and consistent play of the two forwards, although many Middlesbrough fans believe that the team should not expect two veterans to win the game, but McClaren has proved with results - the role of veterans is often much better than that of new stars!

Middlesbrough's first five games, nine goals have proven this.

It was only 20 minutes on the pitch, but the Chelsea fans who came with the squad already knew they were in for a tough game today, as the scoreboard on the west side of the Riverside Stadium was already -1-0.

Rewind to 3 minutes ago.

Another brilliant attack from Chelsea was centred on Frank Lampard, with Graimi, Wang Li, Joe Murphy at the centre. Cole smashed his feet thirteen times in the opposition half, penetrating the Middlesbrough defence and leaving the Blues fans in the crowd to the delights, but Drogba's shot went straight into the arms of goalkeeper Schwarzel, and then Middlesbrough counter-attacked.

Boateng on the halfway line received a pass, and he and Cenden on the wing combined three times in a row to make the ball go directly to the right baseline, and then Cendon passed back to Parl, who hoisted the ball into the penalty area, at this time Thiago rose to clear the ball with a header, but pushed the ball to the feet of Viduka in the penalty area, and the latter reacted directly to a volley.

On this ball, goalkeeper Peter. There was nothing Cech could do.

In fact, the goal could also be regarded as Chelsea's own goal, and even the team-mates next to him complained about Mendes' 'classic overhead pass'.

'Thiago doesn't seem to be in shape.' On the Chelsea bench, assistant coach Clarke turned to Mourinho.

Mourinho rested his chin with one hand, tilted his head and looked at the pitch and said: "He hasn't adapted to the fierce competition in the Premier League, he has performed very well in Porto before, and he is one of the youngsters I like. ”

Clark shook his head and said, "Maybe, but since he came to the team, his performance has not been very good, I hope he can adapt to the Premier League game quickly." ”

"It's not going to be a good game." Mourinho said, turning his head to look at McClaren on the opposing bench, "If we can't tie the score in the first half, the opponent will probably use the same tactics, with Middlesbrough's defensive ability, if you drop back at full, it will be easy to hold on for 45 minutes." ”

At this time, on the field, Hasselbaink broke through the middle again. Mendes stepped forward to defend, but was squeezed away by a collision, and the former had a chance to shoot directly from the line of the box, but fortunately the ball flew off the post.

Seeing this, Clarke couldn't help but turn his head and suggested: "Sir, I think you'd better consider replacing Thiago, his play is really bad, if you concede two goals in the first half, the game will be even more difficult." ”

Mourinho frowned, he knew that what Clark said was very reasonable, but after thinking about it, he still said: "Wait a little longer, it's only been 20 minutes now, maybe it's better to give him a little time to get used to it?" ”

Clark turned his head, didn't say anything more, and turned his gaze back to the game.

But it didn't take long for Mourinho to regret it...... In the 28th minute, Mendes made a tackle on the edge of the penalty area, but it was shoveled into the leg of the opposing defender Mendieta, and the referee immediately ran over to show Mendes a yellow card and awarded Middlesbrough a free kick 35 meters from the goal.

However, Mendieta was also carried to the sidelines by the team doctor for brief treatment.

Jusselbaink stood in front of the ball and has been the player's first free-kick taker since he arrived at Middlesbrough, but this time he didn't opt to shoot straight at goal, instead lobbing the ball into the six-yard box.

In the chaos of the Chelsea penalty area, Viduka swooped straight into the net for his second goal of the game.

At this time, Mourinho finally couldn't take it anymore, and he used Scott. Parker, for Thiago. Mendez

(To be continued)