Starting from playing as a defensive midfielder for Real Madrid

When the official announcement of Ibrahimovic's transfer to Chelsea was officially released by the two clubs, Chelsea's players continued to sleep in the morning light in Indianapolis (the previous article was incorrectly written as Miami and has been modified).

Recent training and the hardship of being jet-lagged on the plane made Chelsea's players extremely tired when they first arrived in the United States.

But fortunately, they had a good sleep for the first time in the United States.

Li Ang stretched himself out of bed at around nine o'clock in the morning local time.

There is no training session this morning. Mourinho deliberately postponed the last practice before the friendly match after two o'clock in the afternoon.

Therefore, Li Ang was not in a hurry to rush to the nearby university training ground.

The relevant transfer news that popped up on his phone naturally made Li Ang happy, and he couldn't wait to call Ibrahimovic directly!

"Hahaha! Little Lion, I made a bet with Jose that you would definitely call me first. As expected, I won!"

Listening to Ibrahimovic's hearty laughter on the other end of the phone, Li Ang didn't mind Ibrahimovic's teasing, and asked directly with a smile:

"Zlatan, are you coming to the United States? If so, when will you come?"

"Isn't this nonsense! If I don't come to the United States, I will have to waste more time getting used to you. I will set off this afternoon! I will wait for the result of your first friendly match in New York."

"It's okay. Just make sure you make it in time for the next round. Then we'll meet up with our old teammates and play against each other~"

Li Ang's words made Ibrahimovic burst out laughing again, because after Chelsea played Inter Milan in the first round, they were going to New York to play AC Milan in the second round.

These two teams are both Ibrahimovic's old clubs, but with the addition of Li Ang, the friendly match between Chelsea and AC Milan will naturally become more interesting.

There are still many players in the Milan team who are old friends and teammates of Ibrahimovic and Liang. They can reunite in the United States and have a good time to reminisce about the past.

The communication between the two was very lively and fast. After making an appointment to meet in New York tomorrow, the two hung up the phone directly.

In the hotel where the Chelsea team stayed, as lunch time approached, the Chelsea players who finally gathered in the restaurant also talked excitedly about Ibrahimovic's transfer and joining.

Lukaku is a little distracted now.

On the one hand, he is also very happy. After all, Ibrahimovic is one of the top centers in football. He will definitely learn a lot by being with Ibrahimovic in the new season.

But on the other hand, he was naturally worried about his position.

When Demba Ba and Torres were interviewed before, he was secretly happy.

The two old men in front have not gained Mourinho's trust, and Chelsea has not introduced a new center. So isn't the probability of him becoming the starter in the new season quite high?

Speaking of self-perception of strength, Lukaku, who scored 17 Premier League goals at West Bromwich Albion last season, can be said to have skyrocketed in confidence.

It's not his fault. Any 19-year-old player who can perform like this in the Premier League will have to expand for a while.

So after learning the news that Ibrahimovic had really transferred to Chelsea, Lukaku felt very conflicted.

But at this moment Mourinho did not bother to provide Lukaku with psychological counseling.

There are less than twenty days left before the start of the new season, but Chelsea still lacks a reliable winger on the right.

He and all members of the Chelsea coaching staff were exhausted from picking people.

But I really can’t find a suitable candidate.

Originally, Di Maria was the most suitable. After all, Bale was about to join Real Madrid. Mourinho felt that Real Madrid's priority in renewing Di Maria's contract would definitely drop significantly.

So a few days ago, he personally called Lafayette and discussed the introduction of Di Maria.

Lafayette still has nothing to say about Mourinho. , directly gave the green light for Mourinho to talk to Di Maria in person.

The clubs on both sides have also conducted preliminary negotiations at the official level.

But with Ancelotti's intervention, the transfer went from a sure thing to aborted.

Because Ancelotti watched the previous game in which Mourinho transformed Di Maria into a midfielder and directly promised Di Maria that he would continue to start in the midfield position in the new season.

Well, now Mourinho has shot himself in the foot. Di Maria has received Ancelotti's starting commitment, so he is naturally more inclined to stay in Real Madrid.

Di Maria couldn't dig him out, so Mourinho tried again to recruit Reus and Robben.

As a result, he just asked the club to contact him, and what he got was a cold response from the Bundesliga duo.

Well, Mourinho has also experienced the frustration of not being able to get the players he wants even though he has money and prestige.

Since no top winger can be found from outside that meets his tactical requirements, the only way left is to fine-tune his tactics and tap potential internally.

While Chelsea players were enjoying lunch, members of Chelsea's coaching staff were also discussing in the small restaurant on the other side.

"Otherwise, let Oscar give it a try first. After all, he was tested in the Premier League last season. Even if he can't open a gap on the right, at least he can still shoot and pass from behind."

"What we lack now is not the offensive means of running in from behind and threatening passes. Eden can cut inside and tear apart the opponent's defense. Lee Ang can complete the running back and threatening passes."

"Then it's best to choose a player with a balanced offense and defense on the right side."

"That's still a dead end. Don't we lack such a player in our team now? How about we let Li Ang make a cameo on the right first?"

"It's still not appropriate. This is a complete waste of Li Ang's current ability. Only in the middle can he radiate the entire front and rear fields and support the overall offense and defense."

"If it doesn't work, let Ramirez try to make a cameo. Anyway, we are still experimenting with the lineup now. We will continue to buy people in the future..."

Listening to the buzzing discussion in his ears, Mourinho rubbed his temples.

And at this moment when his thoughts were confused, a name that had not yet been discussed as a priority by the coaching staff suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Perhaps, now that we have reached this point, why not try more boldly?"

Mourinho's thoughts gradually became clearer, and the sound of his tapping on the table became more and more rhythmic...

On the evening of August 2, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, players from Chelsea and Inter Milan were greeting each other friendly in the tunnel.

Because the nature of the game was just a warm-up match, both teams sent many young players.

On Chelsea's side, De Bruyne, who was selected as the starter, is still a little confused and in disbelief.

Li Ang has always watched De Bruyne's reaction.

From the end of the afternoon training session, when Mourinho announced the starting lineup for tonight's friendly match, De Bruyne has been looking like this with surprise and trepidation.

Li Ang felt a little funny, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

Who would have thought that De Bruyne would once become a strong contender for the world's No. 1 midfielder in Manchester City.

Now he is still pleasantly surprised to get a starting position in Chelsea's friendly match.

"Kevin, do you remember the tactical arrangements the coach gave you?"

Li Ang suddenly turned around and asked De Bruyne.

This made De Bruyne's brain quickly wake up.

"I remember...coordinate your attack, pay more attention to the side, and you can send more passes behind the opponent's defense..."

Before De Bruyne could finish speaking, Li Ang patted his shoulder and back with satisfaction.

"Such a tactical mission must not be difficult for you, right?

First win a stable starting position, and then prove to the boss that you have more talent and passing ability. Don't worry, I will help you, Kevin. "

De Brau was very grateful for Li Ang's comfort and promise, and he also understood the correctness and importance of what Li Ang said.

He must first prove to Mourinho that he can integrate into this tactical environment and system, and be qualified to compete for the starting position. Only then can he use his performance to gain more tactical resource tilt and tactical freedom.

And today is a great start!

Lukaku, who also qualified to start the warm-up match tonight, seemed a little more heartless.

Even though at noon he seemed worried about Ibrahimovic joining, all that could be seen on his face now was joy and excitement.

At 8 o'clock in the local evening, the game officially started amid the cheers of tens of thousands of local residents and enthusiastic tourists.

Inter Milan, who kicked off first, quickly deployed their formation to test the opening long pass attack.

Chelsea also stabilized their line, with Li Ang first completing the defense for the top.

Chelsea's starting lineup is 4231, and the starting candidates are not much different from the media speculation before the game.

Starting goalkeeper Cech.

The left back is Ashley Cole, the center back combination is Terry partner David Luiz, and the right back is Bertrand.

In the midfield, Ramirez and Lampard formed a double defensive midfielder, with Li Ang as the attacking midfielder.

The left midfielder Hazard, the right midfielder De Bruyne, and the forward center are Lukaku.

Except for the fact that De Bruyne will serve as the right midfielder and the media speculation before the game that Oscar will make a guest appearance in the starting lineup, the starting candidates for the other positions are basically consistent.

Overall, Chelsea's current starting lineup is very solid in the backcourt.

Although on the defensive end, except for Bertrand and David Luiz, Chelsea's players are slightly older, but they still have strength and rich experience, which makes them difficult to deal with at first glance.

In the frontcourt, Chelsea has started a youth storm.

The 22-year-old Hazard, Leon and De Bruyne, as well as the younger Lukaku, who has just turned 20.

Such a young offensive foursome will undoubtedly arouse the interest of fans and media.

And because Li Ang is in the team, today's International Champions Cup friendly match between Chelsea and Inter Milan has gained a lot of attention in East Asia.

When the game started, it happened to be around 8 o'clock in the morning in Huaguo.

Although this viewing time is not considered normal, it is quite friendly to fans in China and throughout East Asia.

When they first saw the scene of Li Ang running on the pitch wearing Chelsea's blue jersey, many Chinese fans felt a little weird.

However, when they saw that Li Ang had truly become the core of Chelsea's midfield, the mood of the Chinese fans also cheered up!

Of course, many Real Madrid fans in China must be in quite complicated moods at the moment, but for Li Ang, they can only wish and support him.

Although Li Ang has never given any positive response to the media about the reasons for leaving Real Madrid.

But with the spread of some rumors and the fact that Li Ang was officially established as the core of the midfielder after transferring to Chelsea.

Real Madrid fans are gradually understanding Li Ang's current positioning demands.

From not understanding to understanding, it is actually a question of empathy.

Doesn’t today’s Li Ang deserve more offensive tactics and core status?

When this issue was put nakedly in front of all Real Madrid fans, they really couldn't say the word "not worth it".

If he continues to stay in Real Madrid, Li Ang can only continue to share the small part of the offensive kicking rights with the rest of his teammates.

Because of Ronaldo's presence, it is impossible for Li Ang to adopt more offensive tactics.

Real Madrid cannot give this support. Even if Ronaldo is willing to make tactical sacrifices for the time being, in the long run, the probability of conflicts between the two on the field is not small at all.

So after this period of calming down, Real Madrid fans can only convince themselves to relax and accept the reality.

When there are no Real Madrid games, watching Chelsea's games and continuing to support the Little Lions has become the natural choice for most Real Madrid fans.

At this moment, Li Ang was just like when he was still at Real Madrid. He showed his special defensive skills at the beginning of the game.

Because he no longer plays as a defensive midfielder, Li Ang has fewer opportunities to directly face the opponent's offensive characters.

But correspondingly, he now has more opportunities to face off against his opponent's offensive core.

Because of the high tactical freedom given by Mourinho, Li Ang's sweeping coverage in the midfield is very large at this time.

He didn't even hit the ball in the first 5 minutes, but he had already taken the ball away from Guarin and Alvarez one after another.

After stealing the ball for the first time, he directly launched a long pass to counterattack to find Hazard on the side.

Unfortunately, Hazard's passing attempt was unsuccessful, and instead was intercepted by Cambiasso. Inter Milan took advantage of the situation and launched a quick counterattack.

So after collaborating with Lampard to steal the ball for the second time, Li Ang decisively held the ball and moved forward quickly!

In comparison, the current Hazard, let alone Di Maria, is even far inferior to Callejon in terms of tactical execution.

Hazard still needs more training in games and supervision from the coaching staff.

If he doesn't break this habit of sticking to the ball, Chelsea's current counterattack efficiency will be slowed down a lot.

When Li Ang deliberately approached the right side of the midfield, Inter Milan's defense naturally locked more of De Bruyne, who was supporting him from the side.

However, Li Ang made an extremely beautiful pass from east to west two seconds later!

He did not pass the ball to De Bruyne who was on the edge, nor did he pass the ball to Hazard who raised his hand again. Instead, he sent the ball directly over the top, fed the ball to the left suddenly, and exploded at speed. Damn Lukaku!

This is considered normal in the eyes of the Chelsea coaching staff.

After all, after so many days of training, they have gradually accepted Lukaku's habit of dribbling the ball.

But in the eyes of the fans at the scene, the passing and running cooperation between Li Ang and Lukaku was extremely beautiful!

After all, who would have thought that such a dark and tough young center like Lukaku would suddenly step aside to compete with his opponent for speed? !

Li Ang's passing was also clever and timely.

The fans at the scene couldn't help but subconsciously cheer and applaud!

At this moment, Campalonia, who was playing as the right center back, was embarrassed by Lukaku's brutal attack.

Lukaku, who plays in the middle, naturally has a general sense of position and is submissive in confrontation.

But what does this have to do with Lukaku, who I brought along to make a big splash?

With enough space on the counterattack, Lukaku's impact cannot be underestimated.

The combination of speed and tonnage allowed him to almost cut inside and enter Inter Milan's penalty area.

But in the end, the double-teaming of Campalonia and Ranocchia still caused Lukaku to make a mistake with the ball.

Hazard's hands were tired, and in the end he still didn't get Lukaku's ball-protecting return pass.

And Li Ang didn't say much when he saw Lukaku finally taking the ball out of the baseline.

Well, Li Ang has actually already had psychological expectations for this mallet...for the performance and mistakes that this kid Lukaku may make.

What he wants now is for Lukaku to show his power of attacking from the wing first and make Inter Milan's defense fearful.

As long as the goal is achieved, he never thought of relying on Lukaku to tear apart Inter Milan's three-center-back defensive system.

After a counterattack failed, Li Ang looked at Lukaku's thumb raised high to him and shook his head.

Then he called on his teammates in the frontcourt to follow him and quickly return to defense.

After Li Ang's offensive and defensive performance these times, Chelsea fans are naturally very happy!

The hardness of this defensive sweep!

The rhythm of switching from defense to offense is controlled!

The accuracy of this combination of long and short passes!

All we can say is that there is nothing wrong with the 81 million paid by our club!

They are more and more satisfied with the 22-year-old midfielder who can lead both offense and defense.

However, Li Ang was not very satisfied with the slightly stalemate situation on the court.

The wings are not fast enough to advance quickly. The center cannot be used as a fulcrum to attract the opponent's defense and then play the ball.

Before Ibrahimovic was in place, their frontcourt attacking four wanted to rely on Real Madrid's previous offensive mode to leverage the situation, but it seemed that it was still not feasible.

So Li Ang made a quick decision after a short period of thinking. If his teammates couldn't change, he had to change first!

As for how to change, the previous experience of playing in Milan and the tactical inspiration brought to Li Ang by Uncle Jon played a key role at this moment.

Of course, it's not XJBT's offensive style, but a decisive blow after midfield!

In the 16th minute of the first half, the game situation was deadlocked for a long time, but it was broken by Li Ang and Lampard again.

Inter Milan's young forward Icardi can be regarded as a calf who is not afraid of tigers.

If he was stuck in the penalty area right now, Li Ang wouldn't say anything.

Even the younger version of Fudo Meio has excellent scoring ability and a sense of touch in front of goal.

But he had to pull out of the penalty area to receive the pass from his teammates and turn around to advance, but he didn't take Lampard and Li Ang seriously.

After being intercepted like a sandwich cookie, Icardi sat on the turf angrily and raised his hands to complain to the referee about a Chelsea foul.

But at this moment, the referee had already followed Li Ang's advance and ran away.

Before Cambiasso made a forward pressing interception, Li Ang slipped the ball directly to De Bruyne who followed him on the right.

De Bruyne, who had hardly performed well before, was extremely clear-headed at the moment.

He remembered the tactical arrangements Mourinho explained to him in detail before the game started.

In fact, he doesn't like this kind of tactics that are arranged and fixed on a certain route.

He will feel that this is a constraint on his talent and a distrust of his passing ability.

If it had been earlier, he would have forgotten the head coach's arrangements after he got on the court.

But today he endured his temper because of Li Ang's persuasion before the game and the trust he showed in him!

If Mourinho had asked De Bruyne to try his best to support Lukaku before the game or help Oscar create space for forward penetration.

De Bruyne may not be so obedient.

But asking him to assist him has been quite good to him these days, and he has been encouraging him to fight for the starting Li Ang, then he is very willing!

After receiving the ball and pulling wide, try to attract the defensive power of Inter Milan's midfield and backfield as much as possible.

In De Bruyne's wide field of vision, Leon and Lukaku appeared at the same time accelerating forward.

Intuition tells De Bruyne that at this time, it would be a better offensive choice for him to send an overhead pass directly behind the Inter Milan defense.

But he quickly suppressed this thought.

It's not that he thinks he can't pass the ball past Inter Milan's defense and intercept it.

But he thinks that there is a 90% probability that Lukaku will not catch the good ball he passes!

My teammate of the Belgian national team seems to be a black and tough player who eats cakes.

In fact, the sense of position in front of the goal and the sense of grabbing points are a mess!

So De Bruyne finally sent a wide arcing cross from behind.

This pass penetrated Inter Milan's defensive arrangement almost horizontally, and Cambiaso's interception did not interfere with the movement of the football!

On the route of football, Li Ang, who had already reached the top of the Inter Milan penalty area, did not hesitate at all.

He took advantage of the situation and led the ball into Inter Milan's penalty area!

Lukaku's previous forward penetration was not completely ineffective. At least Ranocchia had been taken out of the defensive position by his random rush.

And this is what Li Ang wants, Lukaku's "void deterrence"!

After swinging his legs slightly, Li Ang held his breath, suddenly exerted his strength, and completed a close range blast!

Handanovic was already ready to dive into the far corner, but as soon as he kicked the ground hard, a bad thought flashed through his mind!

Because Li Ang's explosive shot in the penalty area didn't seem to hit any angle, it just rushed towards the center of Inter Milan's goal!

"What a shame!"

Handanovic only had time to curse one last time in his mind, and then he could only watch helplessly as the football hit under the crossbar in the middle of the goal, and finally bounced into the goal!

While Inter Milan's crossbar was still buzzing and trembling, the enthusiastic fans at the scene had already raised their arms and cheered and screamed for Li Ang's violent volley goal!

And Mourinho clapped vigorously on the sidelines as if he was relieved!

Integrate offense and defense, effective in breaking the situation!

Now Li Ang is an offensive and defensive system alone!