Red Rebels

After the Manchester United game, they will travel to Portugal to challenge Porto away.

Those who have successfully won the right to qualify for the group do not care about this game. Mourinho sent young players including Ismail, Michael Johnson, Cesc Fabregas, Aguero, Mikel, etc., and then The defense is dominated by Philip? Lahm, Vidic, Chiellini and Maicon, and the Spanish goalkeeper Almunia serves as the goalkeeper, and he is also the team's field captain.

It is not difficult to see from this lineup that the competition between the first and second in this group match is not taken seriously, and the victory or defeat of this game has no influence on the group ranking, but the difference in the amount of the game bonus is different.

However, the prize money of the Champions Cup group stage, compared to the first place in the league, it is more important to maintain the advantage of the league first than anything else.

Currently in the league by the strong pursuit from Arsenal, Chelsea.

Arsenal's performance this season is more mature than last season. The introduction of Hangeland has consolidated the defense and made great progress in attack. This has directly made Henry a favorite of European footballers.

Although Chelsea has undergone major adjustments, there is no doubt about Ancelotti's ability to mix and match, especially in the configuration of players. He specially deployed a 4321 Christmas tree formation for Chelsea's tactics, giving play to the characteristics of each player. Combined into a strong team.

From this point alone, Chelsea is undoubtedly a success!

But Abramovich's goal is obviously not just success, he wants a championship, and a very beautiful kind of championship.

It should be said that Ancelotti is leading Chelsea on the right path. After the beginning of the season, Chelsea gradually showed their strength as the season deepened, and now they are pressing for the top spot.

In the Champions League, Chelsea also won 4 wins and 1 draw in the group stage, and there is no problem in qualifying. As long as they win the opponent in the last group match, they can also ensure the first stage of the group.

It is in such a big environment that the decision to give up the last round of the group stage and first try to protect the league is understandable.

Although it is a young teenager, his performance at the Porto Dragon Stadium is still very impressive, especially the little magic combination composed of Ismail, Ribery, Aguero and Messi. Created a lot of trouble for Porto's defense during the game.

The double midfielder formed by Michael Johnson and Cesc Fabregas was slightly weak, which made the midfield suppressed by Porto, resulting in the team falling behind Porto 2:1 in the first half.

However, during the intermission, Mourinho immediately made adjustments, letting Aguero, who was closely guarded by Maniche and underperforming, go off the court and replaced Mikel, who was more capable of defending and intercepting in the middle, to play. This makes the midfield hardness improved.

As a player from the youth training system, Mikel is known as Vieira with stronger offensive ability and more delicate skills, but his defensive ability cannot be compared with Vieira for the time being, and he is still young, with game experience and stability Not as good as the Arsenal captain.

However, Mikel's appearance has indeed improved his midfield. He changed the attacking method of playing the three midfielders in the first half, and avoided entanglement in the midfield more, and played the three outstanding midfielders. The ability to run and support, and the ability to transfer long passes, directly find the point of Ismail in front.

Ismail's height and confrontation ability were vividly reflected in this game. He almost played all the high balls, or created opportunities for his teammates, or directly fought for the goal. Among them, he also had a strong kick from outside the penalty area. The shot hits the crossbar.

After adjustment, there has been a big change, and the offense has gradually become active, but Porto began to make substitutions. They began to be conservative and seek stability. They replaced the striker Fabiano and replaced a defensive back. waist.

After that, the situation on the field came and went. Although the game was very intense, it was finally 2:1, bringing back another loss of the season from the Dragon Stadium.

I have only lost three games this season, one was the Super Cup against Real Madrid, but that game was not taken seriously; the second was the League Cup game, which was also given up psychologically; the third was the championship. The Cup away game against Porto, although it was also considered to be a game that was abandoned by the outside world, but Mourinho never admitted this.

"We will not give up any game, as long as we are on the pitch, we will always have only one goal, and that is to win, it is the culture and tradition of our club, we can lose, we can lose, but the culture and tradition are absolutely It won't be lost!"

The stubborn Mourinho kept repeating these words before the game, as if he refused to admit that he was sending substitutes and youth players to play in Porto. He insisted that there were no substitutes in his team, and all players were the main force .

This did play a role in motivating young players before the game, but after the game, the mood of the young players was inevitably a little disappointed.

……………… In the quiet locker room, all the players dared not speak.

After finally starting in the highly anticipated Champions League, these young players are eager to bring a victory to the team, do their best to show their talents in front of the coach, and fight for their main chips. , but who would have thought that what they gained was a tragic defeat.

Yes, unfortunately lost!

Even the football commentator in charge of explaining the game had to mention in the post-match summary that Porto used extremely conservative tactics to win the game in the second half. Despite the excellent performance of the second team, their youth prompted them to win the game after all. Couldn't beat the old-fashioned Porto, but they won a bright future in this game.

Mourinho stood quietly at the gate of the dressing room, wearing his Armani coat with his surname. Although the club had won an Armani endorsement contract for him, he still hugged the one his wife gave him. No coat.

He knows better than anyone the talent and strength of the players in front of him. If it were three years later, these players would definitely beat Porto to the ground. But three years ago today, Porto no matter what. In terms of experience and control of the game, he is better than these young players.

Young is young, even if they are talented, no one can ask them to suddenly become world-class stars.

Just like Cesc Fabregas and Michael? Johnson, these two organizational midfielders, Mourinho thinks they can take over Beckham's class, their talent is even better than Beckham, and they They are also very mature and capable, and their skills are basically formed, but they cannot replace Beckham.

Why?

A mature star will gradually develop his own understanding of football games based on the accumulation of experience, develop a judgment on the rhythm of the game, analyze the situation, and then predict what may happen next and make predictions in advance. Judgment, destroying the opponent's offensive and defensive intentions.

But Cesc Fabregas and Michael? Johnson and others obviously do not have this ability. They are still young and need to accumulate!

Or someone wants to say that Ronaldo was only 17 years old when he made a name for himself in Eindhoven?

But it must be understood that the football environment in 1994 and 2004 was completely different. Back then, the single midfielder was rampant, such as Guardiola, Redondo, etc., but now? A single defensive midfielder can no longer meet the needs of the team. Even if Guardiola and Redondo are reborn, they will not be able to repeat the era of one person supporting the backbone of a team!

Today's football is more and more about the whole, and more and more about teamwork, so it is said that this is not an era that belongs to Pele, belongs to Maradona, and belongs to the alien Ronaldo!

………………When a few players couldn’t help the repressed silence, raised their heads and looked at the head coach, Mourinho came over and clapped his hands vigorously, attracting the attention of all the players. attention.

"I'm waiting for you to speak, guys, I think you probably have something to say to me!" After a pause, Mourinho gave the players a little space to think, "About the game? About the result? Or The explanation for your loss?"

Michael Johnson and several other players moved their lips consciously and seemed to want to speak, but Mourinho suddenly waved his hand vigorously and made a gesture of sweeping away everything.

"Those are not important!" Mourinho suddenly pointed at the players and said, "You are my players, you are responsible to me, I let you participate in the game, and you are destined to bear all the consequences, maybe now in the post-match news The reporters waiting at the press conference will think that you are doing a mess, but in my eyes, you are doing well, yes, not bad!"

Mourinho specially emphasized his tone to set off his firmness and affirmation.

"I don't think how bad you guys were in the game, on the contrary, conservative Porto won a game with ugly tactics, that's all! If anyone asks, what do I value? Then I can tell you, I value It's not the 3 points brought about by the victory or defeat of this game, but what I value more is what you can learn from this game and what you can comprehend!"

After a pause, Mourinho continued to speak after the players had digested their words, and the mood improved a little.

"Control! It's always been our strength, but this game we lost control of the ball and space in the first half, and in the second half, we controlled the ball and space, but lost the rhythm, training tomorrow After that, the coaching staff will send each of you an analysis report, and I hope you can answer this question with your performance in future games!"

Having said that, Mourinho looked at the time and smiled.

"It's been 15 minutes since the press conference. I believe those reporters are still waiting. They just can't wait to see the sadness and resentment on our faces after our failure. I don't want them to see all this. You should understand, When you leave this locker room, what kind of expression should you give?"

"Understood!" [ban^] Starter

"Know!"

The players answered in unison.

"Very good, I'm going to the press conference. Although the loser has the right to arrive late and leave early and be in a bad mood, I prefer to take advantage of this rare opportunity to scold that group of stalkers!"

After speaking, Mourinho turned and left the locker room.

Behind him, the young players who seemed to be depressed just now, have adjusted their emotions at this moment. They are all young people, and their emotions come and go quickly.

But the moment he walked out of the locker room, Mourinho, who seemed relaxed just now, frowned like a mountain.

It is indeed a good thing to qualify for the first stage of the Champions League group stage, but the busy winter break schedule will give him a headache, especially the 4 games from the 19th to 22nd rounds of the league, which are arranged in the two weeks of the New Year. Held inside, plus the cold weather, this will be the biggest test of all!