Chapter 201: The First Big Defeat

Arjen Robben's 'perfect fall' at Stamford cost Reyna a three-game suspension, and Liverpool have said they will not appeal the punishment, but the episode is enough to continue the year-and-a-half-year feud between Liverpool and Chelsea.

Essien tackled Hamann in the Champions League but received a two-game suspension, this time Robben's showy fall intensified the Liverpool goalkeeper's three-game suspension, what kind of grudge will continue next time?

In any case, one fact cannot be changed: Liverpool have completely lost their title hopes, and Chelsea are 15 points ahead of second place than they were last season with only nine points after 27 rounds!

As a result, Mourinho understood Benitez, who was very angry after the game, and the Spaniard was annoyed to visit Robben, who was "probably so injured that he would have to lie in the hospital for two or three months", while the Portuguese was much more honest than before, "If I have to judge Rafa for anything, sometimes we don't think twice before we speak, especially when we lose." ”

Under the "provocation" of the media, the Portuguese did not give in. Not only him, but even his players were reluctant to say anything about it after the game, "Sometimes the game is like a war, and since the coach didn't say anything, I don't have anything to say. "Joe. Cole wisely dodged the question after the game; Gudicini also understated: "Players shouldn't raise their hands on the pitch, although I understand Reina's mood at the time. ”

Years ago, when Arjen Robben appeared on the Chelsea stage as a superstar, he answered the question patiently but firmly in a firm tone: Will he be the new Cruyff? At the time, he disappointed the BBC reporter who asked the question——— he said. Such an assumption is absurd.

Indeed, Cruyff was on top. He is ranked among the four or five top football greats in the world. At the same time, many people have no intention of being disrespectful to the blonde Dutchman (Robben) in front of them. But despite his brilliant goal, he was one step closer to his predecessors, but his bombastic performance last weekend. But he ended up a thousand miles away from Cruyff.

Needless to say, in terms of skills, Robben has been praised for his intelligent raids over the years. In some ways, even Cruyff is no better than him——— Robben never seems to get caught up in the crowd and "hand-to-hand" with his opponents, he always seems to know where to be on the pitch, and he knows the meaning of football so well. But now, his actions have tarnished his reputation. And to the detriment of the beautiful football that once nourished him.

In a way, you could say, in the face of Reina's outstretched slap. Robben's exaggerated fall is a common occurrence among Premier League players. But don't forget the background——— which is often seen as the twilight of the Manchester United-Arsenal rivalry, Chelsea are a team that wants to establish a new order in the Premier League and even Europe, and Arjen Robben is the main player at the helm.

So. Robben can be like Cruyff. Will it bring about a new order, a new world, a revolutionary advance in football tactics?

At least for now, no one can afford to be optimistic. The teams they play in are so different. Even if we admit it, Chelsea are on their way to two consecutive titles; But we probably can't say much more than that. Even if you compare Manchester United and Arsenal back then——— Arsenal was once remembered for its exquisite football; Manchester United stands for a style of football that attacks with lightning speed and passes the ball with ease; Today, we only see highly programmed utilitarian football.

Look at the coaches again. Hear what Mourinho is saying? He always reveled in his 50th Premier League victory, Chelsea could beat 4-0 and so on. He clearly believed that victory, victory by any means, was just. That's why he praised Robben for what he did last weekend.

The critics are right: Ferguson and Arsene Wenger are also reluctant to criticise their players, but they will not at least not be like Jose Mourinho. Narcissistic about the inappropriate behavior of the apprentices. Robben has a master full of tricks: he will always accuse his opponent of faking too many falls, but forget the crazy curse he had on Porto when they took them to the final of the UEFA Cup against Celtic.

Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, Arjen Robben, the team rushing to the title is in the spotlight under the microscope, the media will always find out what is wrong with Chelsea, and the fake fall incident is just a microcosm.

However, Chelsea continued to play on all three fronts, with two FA Cup replays in the FA Cup, with Chelsea thrashing Everton 4-1 at home.

Ibranovic assists Robben to take the lead; Wright-Phillips then converted a penalty and Lampard converted it; Frank Lampard set up Ibranovic's third half-time free-kick; Mikel Arteta pulled one back from the penalty spot in the second half, but John Terry's goal sealed the win.

Perhaps in the near future, Mourinho will be grateful for this "first replay since taking charge of Chelsea", Dutchman Arjen Robben delivered a near-perfect answer just 2 days after the "fake fall storm", and the other takeaway is more important, Wright-Phillips is back!

Duff is injured, Joe Cole has been a little tired from consecutive battles lately, and Jonk is resting!

For another manager, it may take a bit of brains to choose the two wings. However, Mourinho does not have to worry, there are two less wingers, Chelsea have two, and they are all genuine and international-level wingers, the Blues boss waved the flag, Robben on, Wright-Phillips on! It was the outstanding performances of these two men that gave Chelsea and Blues fans an extra "extra surprise".

Arjen Robben was in full swing after 10 minutes, but before that could be the other Chelsea wing.

In the ninth minute, Wright Jr. forced a foul on a foul when he forced a foul on the spot, and Frank Lampard took a free-kick to complete the Blues' dangerous first corner of the game. The first high point of the night at Stamford Bridge came in the 16th minute, when Hutter crossed forward from the right, Wright won the ball near the halfway line and suddenly activated, shook off Phil Neville with a dummy move, and then took a few steps and then made a quick stop to put Valente behind him, and Wright was like an arrow off the string into the heart of the opposition. After running for more than 50 meters, he fired a shot from the right side of the penalty area, but unfortunately the angle was not good enough and was saved by Everton goalkeeper Turner, and Ibranovic, who was on the rebound, was half a beat slower. Turner's second reaction was good, and he pressed the ball under him.

Although Wright's pass cannot be compared with the classic breakthrough of Maradona, it is also a masterpiece, and the only regret is that this wonderful run did not end in a goal.

That wasn't Wright Jr.'s biggest contribution in this game.

In the 34th minute, he broke through with the ball on the right side, and it shook continuously, dribbling in disguise, and connected two people again. "Stunned, Valente stretched out a foot without a head, penalty!"

The ensuing episode is not hard to imagine, with Frank Lampard calmly firing the shot. The ball went into the net, 2-0, and the team that qualified for the fifth round of the FA Cup already had the answer at this moment. Wright Jr. then had two more amazing performances, in the 63rd minute. He started running with the ball from the midfield again. Feigned to go to the bottom, but in fact, he dribbled horizontally to the middle, but the last shot was a bit outrageous.

Less than 60 seconds after Cahill pulled one back from the penalty spot in the 72nd minute, Wright Jr. was about to burst into the box and Cahill had no choice but to pay a yellow card to bring him down, and it was this free-kick that created a fourth moment of revelry for Chelsea fans, with Hutter's free-kick hitting the wall. Terry stepped back to grab the second spot and fired sideways into the far corner. 4-1!

After the game, everyone focused on Luo himself. After all, the Dutchman has been in the spotlight for the past two days, but the cameras at Stamford Bridge are constantly focusing on Wright, as if to tell Blues fans that another winger has woken up! Jose Mourinho replaced Robben with Joe Cole just before the break, leaving Wright Jr. to play the whole game. The Portuguese, who have always discouraged "going it alone", have also relaxed the requirements this time, so let him "dance" to the end.

At the same time, it is gratifying that Ibranovic has also played well, and the big Swedish man has also begun to really enter his role!

The victory meant a double case for Wright Jr. Three months ago, also against Everton, in the 10th round of the Premier League, Wright Jr. started, but he gave a stupid penalty in the first half, and Mourinho replaced him in the 58th minute. Since then, Wright Jr. has fallen into a slump, and the lingering shadow has been hanging over him, and this early morning, it was also related to penalties, only this time, Wright Jr. was resurrected.

In fact, the real winner is not Wright, but Chelsea. Jose Mourinho was under pressure to buy Wright Jr. at a high price, creating a four-man "terror winger", but the squad with a total price of more than £60 million has never been able to show the lethality it should have since the start of the season.

First Robben was unexpectedly sluggish, then Wright Jr. was affected by the penalty kick and began to "fall asleep", Joe Cole repeatedly experienced what discipline is, only Duff is normal, but often plagued by injuries. Fortunately, around the end of the year, Joe Cole took the lead in breaking out, and many consecutive games became the key to the team's victory, and then Robben recently regained the attacking feeling of last season, and in the early hours of this morning, Wright Jr. was also "alive", leaving only Duff with a slight injury.

Mourinho said: "He [Duff] is not seriously injured, he will be fine after a few days of rest. When Duff also returns, Chelsea's 'winger quartet' will announce the big team. Playing in the Champions League in this state is probably the last thing Barcelona wants.

More important than the dispute is the victory. Liverpool didn't seem to understand, and before they could get rid of their grievances, they lost 0-2 to Charlton Athletic and suffered two consecutive league defeats. Chelsea, on the other hand, are well aware that on the night of Liverpool's replay defeat in the league replay, Chelsea beat Everton 4-1 in the fourth round of the FA Cup to advance to the fifth round of the FA Cup.

The performances of Ruben, Ibranovic and John Terry were reassuring to Murina, but it was Sean who started the game even more to the Portuguese. Wright-Phillips played the full game and was well received. With Wright's resurgence at a crucial time in the team's third-tier campaign, Chelsea certainly have reason to dream of a repeat of United's 1998/1999 treble-winning feat of victory.

There's still a league game to play, and after the league, it's the Champions League knockout round!

Middlesbrough are not a strong team in the next round, and Mourinho has reason to believe his side will reach the knockout stages of the Champions League with a victory.

Jose Mourinho made another bold rotation and Jonker, who had Chelsea's attacking guarantee, was once again told he could rest for the second time in five days, and Mourinho defended his biggest ace in the Champions League.

However. On the field, no one expected that Chelsea would lose 3-0.

It was Chelsea who lost by such a scoreline. This is the first time Mourinho has taken office. The last time the Blues lost by three goals was in 2002, when Claudio Ranieri's side lost to Manchester United, and now it's Jose Mourinho's turn.

It all came without warning, with Chelsea beating Everton 4-1 in the FA Cup in midweek, but two goals from Roshenbach and Downing at the start and end of the first half set the tone for the game, with Yakubu's goal just the result of Chelsea's top score. For this heavy defeat, Mourinho was unwilling to accept it. But he had to take it.

'When you lose, it's going to be a bad day, especially when you don't usually lose much. Mourinho said: 'It was my third league defeat in my days at Chelsea and you could say this was the worst. ”

'We lost 1-0 to Manchester City last season. But in terms of content, we shouldn't lose. We lost 1-0 to Manchester United this season, we shouldn't have lost in terms of content, today we lost 3-0, so there are no complaints this time. ”

Mourinho was very convinced of the defeat this time, and although he still had some criticism of Middlesbrough's relentless style, he still praised the opponent's fighting spirit. 'Because of the attitude, because of the spirit of the opponents from the first minute, and because of the way they played, I think they deserved the three points and we deserved to be punished.

"I think 0-3 is a bit too big. Of course, the opponent didn't play with a 3-0 match. In the second half, they had 10 defenders on the field. Defending intensively in their own 20-metre zone, but playing 90 minutes a game, not just 45 minutes, so the first half was decisive. ”

'We started really badly, conceded a stupid goal in the first minute and we should have gone into the half with a 0-1 scoreline, not 0-2. The second goal was stupid and the third goal wasn't important to me because it was the result of all that was the result. ”

Such a defeat must have made Mourinho feel a little uncomfortable, and he even laughed at himself with his own team. 'Chelsea are really experts at saving teams in trouble. Betis hadn't won for a long time, but they won against us, Everton had been losing in a row before, starting to pick up the first points against us, and they have been out of the doldrums ever since, and it was the same today (Myburgh beat Villa 4-0 at home in the last round). In different situations, we have given people a new lease of life. ”

There was also a controversy in the game, when Myburgh's Pogates had a handball in his own box in the first half, but the referee did not give a penalty, which Mourinho mentioned. 'In the dressing room, the players said at 0-1 we should have taken a penalty and if it had been 1-1 it would have been different. But looking at the performance like today, I can't say anything about the referee, even if that's the truth, the problem is with us, we don't have the same attitude towards the game as our opponents. ”

Petr Cech 5, Geremi 5, Carvalho 4, John Terry 4...... In Sky Sports' post-match ratings, Chelsea's defence looks miserable, conceding in six of their last seven games, and the glory of the "bounty" at the beginning of the season is long gone, Mourinho needs to consider what has hollowed out his own iron wall.

The most obvious reason was the absence of Claude Makelele, who last time had the Frenchman, Chelsea sent Liverpool home with a clean sheet, but it was in that game that Makelele was injured and Mourinho had to make changes. Essien has been positioned as a midfielder, but the 23-year-old is 10 years less experienced than the 33-year-old, and he is not as experienced as the Frenchman in selecting and protecting the centre-back.

After Gallas was injured, Essien made a cameo appearance at left wing-back, and substitute Maniche had a knack for passing and playmaking, but he had obvious deficiencies in defence and control and could not cope with Middlesbrough's counter-attack. It can be said that the softness of Chelsea's defense, first of all, is soft on the waist of the midfielder, and the absence of Makelele is like a double layer of armor that has been removed.

Gallas' injury in the 14th minute was to add insult to injury, the scene of him clutching his thigh in pain is somewhat familiar, yes, since the era of Claudio Ranieri, the Frenchman has always been injured in this area, and a thigh muscle strain has become his habitual pain, only this time it came at an untimely time.

Falling behind 0-1 requires the overall pressure and once you encounter a counterattack. The backline is likely to be directly exposed to the forwards, and this is a time when a fast, mobile defender like Gallas is needed to stabilize the back, not to mention that there is only one centre-back on the bench, Hut. The Frenchman's sudden departure meant that Mourinho had to change his approach to fill the void.

Maniche came on and Essien dropped back to Gallas at left wing-back, further weakening Chelsea's midfield defence.

Middlesbrough's counter-attack in the second half was easy through midfield, and Chelsea's inability to keep the pressure on the opposition was an important factor. Maniche was characterised by shifting the ball and receiving the ball, making it unrealistic for him to carry the burden on Makelele, with a through ball from him creating a chance for Carlton Kerr in the second half. He also had a long-range shot, but when Myburgh's Roshenbach and others broke through in midfield, it was rare to see him effectively intercepted.

Mourinho made a change at half-time. Wright Phillips replaces Joe Cole. Carlton Cole replaced right-back Graimy and 442 became 352. It's the worst gamble, but it's both a gamble and a win and a loss, with home games against Bolton Wanderers and Fulham this season. Mourinho won the result with such a bet. Against Newcastle in the FA Cup last season, they made three substitutions at half-time and lost, and this time they couldn't turn the situation around.

Jose Mourinho must have liked to see the number 25 on the bench, but unfortunately Jonker did not sit anywhere, and Mourinho's carelessness or audacity created his biggest defeat.

In the 68th minute, Yakubu shook off John Terry one-on-one, which was the price of changing the back three. 'The third goal doesn't mean much to me,' Mourinho said. "It's a consequence of everything that came before."

The 3-0 scoreline was a bitter pill to swallow and a sobering shot that put Chelsea's problems on the table. Behind the "two stupid goals conceded" (Mourinho's post-match words) is a long-standing "goal".

For a long time, no one could say who Chelsea's main full-back was, Gallas has been making cameo appearances, and has been moving left and right, and the other position has tried Orno, Johnson and today's Grammy, but it has not been satisfactory, and after Gallas's injury, Chelsea have lost the only "wing-back" they can rely on.

In addition, Gallas's usual filling of the gap on the wing means that Terry and the Frenchman, the "statistically least conceded centre-back partner", are out of line, and Carvalho, who led to Yakubu's breakthrough to score the third goal, seems to be unable to shake off the ups and downs. Chelsea have been lacking consistency in the backline, where they need to be fixed the most, and the lack of personnel reserves is not something that can be solved by one or two changes in the lineup, and the "full-back goal" has plagued Mourinho last season and still seems to be haunted.

Unlike on the pitch, Chelsea need to be loved off the pitch, in the words of CEO Kenyon, who are desperate to change their image after becoming a public enemy of the Premier League, but it will not be easy. "Everyone wants to be loved, doesn't they?" "There are some people who can feel pleasure when they are hated, but we don't. ”

One of the reasons why Chelsea are hated is probably the way Mourinho speaks, which is frank and direct to those who like him, and arrogant and arrogant to those who dislike him. "There's an opinion that Mourinho is arrogant," Kenyon said, "but we don't think it's hubris, we have to draw the line between self-confidence and arrogance. ”

In Ferguson's eyes, Jose Mourinho was an arrogant man, and the Portuguese's public declaration that he was prepared for Chelsea to win the Premier League title on 9 April naturally angered the lord. "We're used to him playing with us," Mr. Ferguson said, "and we know it's in his nature."

Alex Ferguson warned Mourinho that you can be crazy now, but one day you will suffer, and the lord himself has had infinite glory, but after being eliminated by Benfica in the Champions League, he experienced the heat of the world. 'Chelsea won the league on 9 April? It may be possible, but as long as we have games to play, other things are possible. ”

'Jose Mourinho is used to saying something special, but one day it will be his [unlucky] turn, maybe, someday."

I don't know if the 3-0 defeat to Middlesbrough was "one day" as Ferguson said, but Mourinho suffered the biggest defeat since taking charge of Chelsea, and he lost without temper. 'We lost 0-1 against Manchester City and 0-1 against Manchester United, but in terms of content, we shouldn't have lost, today we lost 3-0, and rightfully so. Mourinho said.

This is perhaps Mourinho's philosophy, even if it is a fiasco, he always looks at it on the positive side. After being held to a draw by Charlton, he said, "If you drop a point at home for the first time in January, I think it's a great achievement", adding after the big defeat that "it's only my third league defeat in two years in charge".

Jonker once summed up Mourinho's way of saying, "He always keeps the pressure to himself and doesn't let his players stand on the cusp of the storm, which is one of his greatest strengths. ”

Obviously, Mourinho didn't want to frustrate his players too much after the defeat, and his words sometimes angered others but benefited others. (To be continued......)