Starting from playing as a defensive midfielder for Real Madrid

Among the celebrating crowd, Li Ang patted Trippier's head affectionately. He now likes this new teammate who plays football with his head so much!

In the process of scoring this time, he and Cross grasped the final key passing link.

But if you want to reward according to merit, Trippier's smart inside advancement must account for at least three successes!

Perhaps Trippier is not as good as Bertrand in terms of forcing a pass through the bottom and passing people one-on-one, but his offensive choices are much smarter than Bertrand.

He can complete the regular task of a full-back forward and attack, and can also take the ball to the middle to complete key advances at important moments, helping Li Ang and Kroos reduce the tactical burden.

This kind of teammate with balanced offense and defense, strong ability to read the game, is so lovable. Li Ang did not hide his appreciation for Trippier at all.

After Lao Mu celebrated passionately off the court, he subconsciously looked at Bertrand, who was cheering on the bench with other rotation players.

To be honest, both Mourinho himself and other coaches on the Chelsea coaching staff actually like Bertrand.

Although this guy sometimes makes some small mistakes on the court, his and Hazard's wing offensive combination has actually made great contributions to Chelsea's re-emergence.

And although Bertrand is always a little unstable on the defensive end, he is obedient enough and does whatever the coaching staff asks him to do.

Mourinho was annoyed with him some time ago because he made too many mistakes and failed to improve, but now that he thinks of Bertrand's strengths, he finally relents.

He decided to give Bertrand more opportunities to adjust his performance in subsequent games.

Azpilicueta played very well defensively on the left, but on the offensive end, his cooperation with Hazard was still not as good as Bertrand's.

At present, the Chelsea coaching staff has not yet determined the starting positions of the two full backs.

If I have to say it, Chelsea now only has one full-back who can sit firmly in the starting lineup, and that is Azpilicueta.

Who can let the Spanish defender play on both sides, and who can reassure Mourinho the most in terms of defensive strength?

Apart from him, Trippier and Bertrand are still in Mourinho's inspection period.

At most, Trippier's appearance ranking is higher in Mourinho's mind now.

As long as Bertrand himself still has enough energy, it is not impossible for him to return to the main lineup later.

Thinking of this, Mourinho's eyes looked at Bertrand much softer.

However, he will definitely not directly communicate with Bertrand about subsequent appearance adjustments at this time.

After making up his mind to have another encouraging talk with Bertrand in private, Mourinho returned his energy to the game.

Guardiola and the entire Manchester City team's "perseverance" in offensive football caused them to concede this goal.

This is Guardiola's insistence, but for Mourinho this is an important warning.

When the players on the Chelsea field finished celebrating and returned to halftime, Mourinho faced Li Ang who was looking over and made a tactical gesture to continue to stabilize the defense.

Li Ang nodded calmly to indicate that he understood. In fact, Mourinho did not need to explain, he would also ask his teammates to continue to defend well.

After all, they are playing away from home today, and Manchester City's offensive status is better than usual with the support of the home court.

Of course Chelsea can also play against Manchester City, they have the strength.

But it is not cost-effective to face the pressure of Manchester City's full firepower to fight to the death.

It is safer to focus on defense first and counterattack well.

Not to mention too much, today the whole Chelsea team can accept taking away one point from the Etihad Stadium. They don't have to win this duel with Manchester City, but they must not lose!

Without taking too much risk, maintaining a tie and winning is the most important thing for Chelsea.

After all, the league is not a one-and-done deal. They don't have to decide the outcome in one game, and the season is still long.

As long as they can continue to put pressure on Manchester City, the entire Chelsea team firmly believes that the final winner will still be them!

After the game restarted, Chelsea, who once again adopted a defensive posture, undoubtedly gave Guardiola a headache.

But no matter how difficult it feels now, the entire Manchester City team will have to grit their teeth and press forward!

There is no way, Chelsea can accept away games to maintain a tie and win, but they can't think like this.

What they are striving for today is to win at home and use this victory to completely break their inner demon of always losing to Chelsea.

If Guardiola issues tactical instructions to suspend the attack at this moment, his players will directly fall into doubts about the coaching staff's tactical thinking.

Therefore, Guardiola and Manchester City's coaching staff have no choice at this moment. They must withstand the pressure and continue to give confidence to the players on the Manchester City field.

However, Guardiola can still make some timely adjustments in the arrangement of offensive tactics.

For example, let Aguero withdraw from the penalty area more frequently to meet his teammates.

Let Sterling no longer blindly rush to the wing, but should move in appropriately to catch the ball and contain Chelsea's defenders, and also make room for Kolarov behind him to penetrate.

Manchester City should play more patiently on the offensive end, and Manchester City's starting players are also capable of playing more delicately on the offensive end.

The more difficult and backward we are, the less we should panic and hurry.

Fortunately, the vast majority of the Manchester City players who started today are experienced veterans, and the one who truly lacks experience is Sterling.

Therefore, the tactical adjustments made by Guardiola were quickly implemented and supported by the players.

Manchester City pressed fiercely on the court, but their offensive organization was not impatient. Instead, it was very methodical and continued to pull Chelsea's defense horizontally.

For an average strong team, if Manchester City pinned them down in the half-court and constantly strained the defense, the defensive players might not be able to last 15 minutes and would have to expose a lot of holes in their defense.

But Chelsea still firmly controlled the defensive rhythm at this time.

The overall movement of their defense line is very compact. Even if someone occasionally loses his position, nearby teammates will remind him in time or directly help him cover up.

Chelsea can still show such composure when dealing with the siege of Manchester City.

On the one hand, Mourinho's superb methods of training the defensive line are due to this. On the other hand, the reason is of course Li Ang's ubiquitous coverage and interception!

If Manchester City's offense focuses on the wing, then Li Ang will not pay too much attention to it, but as long as Manchester City has the slightest idea of ​​​​penetrating through the middle, it must first get past him.

This kind of defensive method is exactly the same as when Mourinho led the team to play Barcelona.

Anyway, it is to prevent the team led by Guardiola from taking advantage of the midfield!

If Manchester City can really force the wing and rely on the personal ability of offensive players to break through Chelsea's defense, then Mourinho and Chelsea's players will recognize it.

But it turns out that relying on muscular gangsters and a group of highly motivated defensive players to station troops in the middle, such a simple play method can very well restrain the performance of teams with poor skills!

After all, penetration in the middle also requires room for technical display. Manchester City wanted to open up the situation, but Chelsea just didn't give them the space to open up the situation!

Cutting off the rhythm and destroying the smoothness of the game... Chelsea, who played "ugly football", did not care at all about the mood of neutral fans watching the game.

Li Ang and Matic directly turned into foul masters at the last moment of the first half of the game. Their frequent fouls with small tricks made Manchester City's offensive players miserable!

But if you want to appeal to the referee team, their little actions are not worthy of a card at all. At most, they interrupt the rhythm of the game and continue to disgust the Manchester City fans.

The playing style of veteran players like Li Ang and Matic caused the blood pressure of the home Manchester City fans to rise sharply.

After the short intermission ended, and as soon as the second half of the game started, Li Ang, who jogged out of the player tunnel, received a wave of "friendly greetings" from the scene.

However, Li Ang just laughed it off, and now this scene of wild boos from the audience has no effect on his mentality at all.

After the second half of the game started, Li Ang still led his teammates to shrink the half-court to consolidate the defense.

Amid the overwhelming boos and jeers at the Etihad Stadium, the Chelsea team ignored it and instead ran harder and pressed harder.

Of course, Manchester City's offensive players were not to be outdone. The main players of the two teams were much more aggressive on the court, and the smell of gunpowder on the court was getting stronger and stronger.

The referee on duty immediately became the most nervous person on the court. He did not dare to forget the "feat" of Li Ang getting a red card in retaliation for a foul.

So Li Ang soon felt that the referee was wary of him, which made him somewhat dumbfounded.

Yes, he did take revenge on his teammates by kicking someone and receiving a red card, but that was because his opponent made too big a move first.

He himself is not a violent maniac. As long as his opponents don't mess with him, why should he take the initiative to receive a red card and be suspended?

Li Ang felt that the referee was a little too worried, but he had no idea how "important" he was to the FA now!

Compared with himself, the Football Association is now more worried about the damage to his external image, fearing that he will make any foul behavior that violates the express rules of the stadium.

After all, he is the next "Mr. Golden Ball" to come out of the Premier League after Cristiano Ronaldo. What Li Ang now represents is also the face of the Premier League.

Can Chelsea's referees, who have been warned by the FA's top brass before every game, not be nervous? !

Fortunately, Li Ang behaved very rationally today and never had any large-scale conflicts with Manchester City's offensive players.

The referee felt relieved when he saw this, but he still did not dare to relax his strict control of law enforcement standards.

Gradually, players from both teams began to receive yellow cards.

On Chelsea's side, Matic and Salah received cards successively, while on Manchester City's side, Aguero and Fernandinho mainly received yellow cards.

The Argentine striker still couldn't control his temper well.

He received the card not because he pressed too hard against Chelsea's defenders, but because he kept chattering dissatisfied with some of the referee's decisions, and finally cursed in front of the referee and was shown a yellow card.

Guardiola stood on the sidelines and couldn't help but cover his forehead. He is now only grateful that Otamendi missed this powerful dialogue today because of his injury.

Otherwise, in the current heated duel atmosphere, he really didn't know what amazing moves the Argentine central defender with the same bad temper would do.

The game time will not be suspended with these fragmented fouls, it is still passing quickly.

In the 70th minute of the second half, Mourinho quickly replaced Matic, who had received a severe warning from the referee for another tactical foul.

Van Ginkel came on as a substitute, and Leon and Kroos retreated directly to the midfielder position.

In the 76th minute of the game, Cross committed a tactical foul and pulled down Sterling, who was advancing with the ball. The referee immediately showed Cross a yellow card!

But the Manchester City players were not satisfied with the referee's decision this time. They began to put pressure on each other collectively, believing that the referee had condoned Chelsea's ugly fouls that constantly disrupted Manchester City's offensive rhythm!

Li Ang was eager to make the noise as big as possible.

He first separated several Manchester City players who were questioning the referee, and then when Aguero violently pushed him, he decisively sat down on the turf!

Aguero seemed to be more energetic when he saw this, and he kept chattering and wanted to lean over and grab Li Ang's collar.

Does the referee think this is okay? !

He immediately blew the whistle very firmly and signaled the surrounding players on both sides to move away first.

Then, under the nervous gaze of tens of thousands of Manchester City fans, he called Aguero aside and showed him another yellow card!

Two yellows turn one red!

Aguero was sent off directly by the referee because of his irrational performance!

Guardiola stood on the sidelines with his hands on his hips. He didn't know if he was out of breath, but there was a smile on his face.

He was somewhat annoyed by the strict standards of today's law enforcement and referees, and even more annoyed by Aguero's aggressive behavior.

You say you push people, forget it, pushing and shoving on the football field is inevitable, but you have to hide it!

Overthrowing Li Ang, who had just maintained his dignity as a referee, in front of the referee?

What kind of stupid move is this special code!

Guardiola didn't even bother to go to the fourth official to complain.

Aguero was still defending himself with an unbelievable look on his face, but after the referee on duty made a firm penalty, he could only walk off the court dissatisfied and angry.

Manchester City's home fans booed with strong dissatisfaction!

But Li Ang, who aroused the anger in Aguero's heart and indirectly caused him to be sent off by the referee, was smiling and covering his mouth to communicate with his teammates.

Regret and self-blame?

No no no!

Li Angke did not feel guilty at all for contributing to Aguero's sending off. On the contrary, he was very happy!

Because Chelsea will once again "capture" Manchester City without any blood at the Etihad Stadium.

Aguero himself insisted on risking his own life and ruined the team's last hope. How can you blame him?

Mourinho was overjoyed when he saw Aguero being sent off. He quickly made the final tactical adjustments, replaced defensive players one after another, and firmly maintained the one-goal lead!

In the end, after the referee's three whistles were blown, the entire Chelsea team ignored the overwhelming boos and hugged together to celebrate excitedly!

Of course, Li Ang, who once again became the absolute center of attention, did not escape the interview requests of reporters on the scene.

However, when asked by a Sky Sports reporter whether he deliberately annoyed Aguero, Li Ang shook his head repeatedly.

"I just can't stand their collective behavior of putting pressure on the referee. As for Aguero? He has to pay the price for his own impulse. I did not induce any foul!

You all knew very well when watching the live broadcast of the game that he directly pushed me down, but I did not choose to fight back. In this case, I was the victim. I chose to be patient for the sake of the smooth progress of the game. This is what happened. fact! "

The reporters at the scene looked at Li Ang's confident appearance and complained in their hearts about his shamelessness.

"What do you think about the Manchester City fans booing you the whole game?"

Another reporter dug a hole for Li Ang, but Li Ang responded with a smile:

"They are free to do whatever they want. I don't have any opinion, but I still want to advise Manchester City fans:

I know you are in a hurry today, but please don’t be anxious yet..."

It’s the last day of 2023. Foodie wishes all the book lovers to put aside the troubles and regrets of the past year, and live happily, have a successful career, and have all their dreams come true in 2024!