Starting with Real Madrid kicking the midfielder

Chapter 232 The great recovery of the Premier League, Guam's second battle at the top of the list [The standings data has been corrected]

After the match between Chelsea and Manchester United, the Premier League has entered a temporary rest period, and the next round of the league will not start until ten days later.

However, during this period, the Premier League teams that are still competing in the FA Cup are preparing for the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Chelsea's opponent in this round of the FA Cup is Stoke City, also from the Premier League.

This made Mourinho feel very tangled.

In the current Premier League standings, Chelsea ranks first in the Premier League with 56 points, Manchester City ranks second with 50 points, and Arsenal also ranks with 50 points, but ranks third due to a goal difference disadvantage.

The gap between the three teams is very small, and Manchester City and Arsenal have bitten Chelsea to death.

If Chelsea now have a points advantage of more than three wins, then Mourinho can rest assured and continue to work hard in the FA Cup.

But if there is only six points behind Manchester City, Mourinho is increasingly inclined to give up the FA Cup directly.

In this way, Chelsea's main players will be able to get more rest time, and they will basically only need to focus on the league and the Champions League.

The main players will at most play a Carabao Cup final in early March, and the burden of the game is not heavy at all.

After all, now that almost half of Chelsea's foot is outside the threshold of the English League Cup final, there is not much desire for the FA Cup.

On the contrary, Guardiola, who took over the Premier League team for the first time, still needs to try his best to win the championship trophy in his debut season and prove his ability to the team's top management.

In the case of being eliminated from the English League Cup early, Manchester City has only two ways to go shopping in the FA Cup and the Premier League.

With this reduction and increase, Chelsea has reduced the pressure of multi-line combat, but Manchester City has increased the burden of the game. In the subsequent league competitions, Chelsea's advantage will naturally increase a lot.

However, it is impossible for Mourinho to make a direct decision on this matter alone.

After the game against Manchester United, Mourinho first held a meeting with members of his coaching team.

After unifying the thinking within the coaching staff, Mourinho went to Terry, Lampard and Li Ang for a private conversation.

Li Ang has no special feelings for the FA Cup, after all, he is not from England.

For him, there is not much difference between the FA Cup and the League Cup, they are just a cup competition in England.

So if he was asked to express his opinion, he would definitely prefer to maintain the league and the Champions League. As long as the EFL Cup is won, he believes that Chelsea fans can also understand the team's decision to give up the FA Cup.

Terry and Lampard had to hesitate a little bit, but after the conversation with Mourinho, the two confidants of Mourinho also expressed their understanding of the coaching staff's decision.

After all, past experience has told them that the end of being too greedy is often not very good.

In England, no team has been able to win the Premier League, EFL Cup and FA Cup in a single season at the same time.

The former peak iron-blooded blue team has not achieved such an achievement, and the new Chelsea, which is still in the rebuilding period, needs a down-to-earth planning front.

There is great hope of winning the Premier League championship this season.

Even if they have special feelings for the FA Cup, Terry and Lampard both know the importance and finally made up their minds to follow Mourinho's arrangement.

Next, naturally, the Chelsea players will discuss the matter behind closed doors.

Now there are many non-English players in the Chelsea team, so in the discussion of this matter, the Chelsea team quickly unified their thinking.

After all, for people like Ibrahimovic, Hazard, De Bruyne and David Luiz, it is certainly good to be able to compete for the FA Cup championship.

But if they have to give up this cup competition for the sake of the league and subsequent Champions League matches, then they have no regrets.

After the whole team discussed and made a decision, Mourinho also resolutely arranged the starting list for the second round of the Carabao Cup semi-final and the next round of the FA Cup.

Because they were playing against the Premier League teams West Ham United and Stoke City, no matter how dirty the two teams were, they would not engage in bad defensive confrontations that are common in lower-level leagues.

Therefore, young rotations such as Van Ginkel and Callas, as well as some youth training players, have won the starting opportunity.

After playing against West Ham United on January 1, these young men will play another game against Stoke City on January 22.

Salah is also in the starting 11-man list, but after the game against Stoke City is over, he will rush back to Basel to continue to compete in the Swiss Super League game in the second half of the league.

In order to allow the main players in the first team to get more adequate rest.

Mourinho did not put any main players in the substitute list for the two domestic cup games, and even Li Ang got a chance to rest in these two rounds.

After enjoying a full 4-day holiday, Chelsea's first team of main players returned to the Cobham training base to carry out recovery training step by step.

At the press conference before the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-finals, Mourinho did not attract public attention after releasing Chelsea's starting lineup for this round.

After all, Chelsea had slaughtered West Ham United in the first round, and it is reasonable to send some young players to the second round.

The process of the game also seemed very calm.

Chelsea sits at home and plays steadily against counterattacks, and the lineup of youth training and rotation is not weak, at least not weaker than West Ham United, which is currently ranked in the Premier League's relegation zone.

After scoring a goal in each half, Chelsea finally drew with West Ham United 2-2 at home and steadily entered the Carabao Cup final this season.

However, at the pre-match press conference of the FA Cup match, Mourinho still released such a match roster.

He was immediately questioned by various British media!

Of course, the argument is still the same old way, what is timid before a fight, violates fair play, looks down on the FA Cup and so on.

To be honest, Mourinho is also under a lot of pressure.

However, after seeing the main players fully rested and returning to the training base, and the quality of subsequent training improving a lot, Mourinho felt that this pressure was completely worth bearing.

A full season is too long, spanning two summers and one winter.

Young players are adaptable.

But in the cold and humid place in England this winter, if the aging veteran wants to maintain his health as much as possible, he can only control the number of appearances per season within a reasonable and scientific range.

Chelsea's first-team veterans have played enough games this season.

League, Champions League, Carabao Cup.

Without the strong performance of these Chelsea veterans, it is impossible for Chelsea to play such a good situation in all three lines.

And Mourinho's understanding of his confidants and veterans soon paid off in the No.20 three rounds of the Premier League.

Terry, Ashley Cole and others who were already a little tired after finishing the winter schedule, after two long rests and adjustments in the January schedule, their training postures are much lighter.

英超第20轮和第21轮之间的4天休假，第22轮与23轮之间的4天休假。可以说给切尔西的老将们回了很大的一口血。

Chelsea, whose players' physical fitness has returned to full strength, sat at Stamford Bridge at home on the evening of January 1th and faced the challenge of Hammers West Ham United.

Well, calling it a challenge might be a bit of a misnomer.

After being brutally slaughtered by Chelsea in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-finals, the players of West Ham United were directly affected psychologically.

Just a week earlier they had played a Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Chelsea's youngsters.

Even Chelsea's rotation and youth training lineup, after all their efforts, they can only draw.

Now that they are once again challenging Chelsea, who are playing with all their main players, the players of West Ham United really have no idea.

Coincidentally, because the last round of the FA Cup was eliminated by Stoke City 2-1, Chelsea, which is now under pressure from various public opinion, also needs a big victory to make those noisy voices disappear.

There is no better test opponent than West Ham United.

Mourinho even directly arranged a starting lineup of 442 for this game, allowing Lukaku and Ibrahimovic to start together.

The pursuit is a double strike with heavy firepower!There is no need for three midfielders in the middle. Li Ang and Matic are enough to handle West Ham United's weak midfield defense.

As for Hazard and De Bruyne, who were supposed to be fixed at the wide midfielder position, in this game they moved forward directly to the winger position!
The veterans are strong and the defense is solid.

Coupled with the extraordinary performance of the young offensive players in front, Chelsea broke through West Ham United's goal early in the first half!

There were no complicated offensive tactics, just two wings flying together and 45-degree bombing!
When enough shells were delivered, Ibrahimovic and Lukaku simply crushed West Ham United's defense repeatedly.

It is not an exaggeration to say that it is an inspection of West Ham United's defense!

Li Ang was also happy to sit in the midfield and dispatch the organization with peace of mind.

He didn't gain any offensive personal data in this game, but in Chelsea's final 7:0 massacre result, he accounted for at least 50% of the credit!

Fans of West Ham also said in interviews after the game.

What they hate the most is not Lukaku, who scored a hat-trick today, and Ibrahimovic, who scored two shots and one pass.

What they hate the most is Li Ang, who sits in the middle of Chelsea and continuously sends the ball to the Chelsea players on the two wings!

After all, the eyes of old fans are always discerning. Without Li Ang leading Matic in the midfield to suppress West Ham United's counterattack, he also sorted out Chelsea's offensive line.

There won't be so many "cannonballs" hitting the heads of West Ham United players!
After this battle, many Premier League fans have a new understanding of Li Ang.

Many Premier League fans feel that Li Ang can also be completely dragged in the team's midfield and serve as a pure No. 8 playmaker.

However, as soon as they expressed these emotions, they immediately attracted ridicule from many La Liga and Italian fans.

"So we always say that at the tactical level, England's football is rough, and there is nothing worth learning from other countries. When Li Ang was in Real Madrid, he followed Alonso to learn how to organize the team. How could he be just a rough player? What about b2b players?"

"Pirlo has said that if Li Ang stays in Serie A, he will be the next organizational master in Serie A. Although he may need to grow up for a few more years, there is no doubt that Li Ang is now He is already the all-around core who is the best at organizing among the younger generation of players!"

The voices of the fans of the two countries immediately reminded many England fans.

Whether it is Harvey Alonso or Pirlo, these two recognized midfielders in the football world seem to be really optimistic about Li Ang becoming a master of organization in the future.

If you know what the two of them call organizational masters, they are basically at the same level as them.This evaluation is not low.

But look at Li Ang's performance as the core of a brand new team for the first time this season.

Fans from all walks of life in the Premier League also have to admit it.The two midfield masters in football did not make mistakes. Li Ang did have this potential.

However, the praise of Ly Ang by the major media in London has already annoyed the fans in London except Chelsea fans.

Arsenal and Tottenham fans won't admit that they envy Chelsea, even though they are.

Once upon a time, these two clubs also had such organizational cores.

It's a pity that now one betrayed his home team and went to Manchester City as the core after returning to the Premier League.

The other thing is that people are enjoying a good life in Real Madrid now.

It has only been more than a year since the transfer, and he has basically won the club's honorary grand slam, but this is something that Tottenham can't give at all.

I owned it in the past, but now I can only reminisce about it, while enviously watching my rivals in the same city enjoy such happiness.

The tough-talking Arsenal and Tottenham fans on the Internet may have their teeth broken in reality.

However, with the arrival of the fourth round of the Premier League No. 20, fans of the two teams have the confidence to gloat about Chelsea's misfortune.

Because in the No.20 four rounds of the Premier League, Chelsea will go to Manchester's Etihad Stadium to challenge Manchester City, which is now closely behind them and only six points away from them!
Chelsea's victory over Manchester City in the first half of the league was reviewed by countless Premier League experts and fans.

One of the important reasons for Chelsea's victory is recognized as Li Ang's explosive performance.

In other words, most Premier League fans now think so.

Without Li Ang's extraordinary performance like a god's help, Chelsea would still have to pay a big price if they wanted to beat Manchester City with a clean sheet.

And this kind of extraordinary performance is often something that can't be met, how can it explode directly when it is said to explode?
So in this matchup between Chelsea and Manchester City, most Premier League fans think that the two teams will fight very fiercely-if Mourinho and Guardiola want to directly decide the winner in this round.

On the other hand, if the two head coaches are calm enough and rational enough, it does not rule out that the two top Premier League teams start their games cautiously and end in a dull situation.

But such a scene is definitely not what the Premier League media and a large number of neutral fans want to see.

For the fans of Arsenal and Liverpool, they also hope that Chelsea can fight to the death with Manchester City, both sides will suffer!
Now that the second half of the league has been played, it is not yet time to sprint at full strength.

But basically the pattern of the Premier League has been laid down.

Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal, these three teams have little difference in points, and one or two wins and losses may lead to a change of ownership in the current top three positions in the Premier League standings.

For Liverpool, there is still an 11-point gap between them and the current top team Chelsea. It is difficult to catch up, but there is still a lot of hope for a counterattack.

And Tottenham, Everton and Manchester United, who are even further behind, do not belong to the championship group.

They basically have to compete for the fourth place in the Premier League.

Seeing the current situation in the Premier League, many Red Devils fans felt sad again.

At this time last year, they had already led Manchester City by a large margin, and they were just waiting to win the Premier League championship a few rounds ahead of schedule.

But this year, let alone competing for the championship, they are struggling to compete for fourth place!

After the mentality was broken by the massacre by Chelsea, in the last round of the league, Manchester United had to rely on Wayne Rooney's lore before the end of the game to defeat the Premier League deputy squad leader Cardiff City.

What is the level of Cardiff City now?

After the 22nd round of the Premier League, Cardiff City only won 4 of them, scoring 17 goals and conceding 38 goals!
A proper fish belly within a fish belly.

But even in the face of such an opponent, Manchester United was in a stalemate with the opponent for the entire regular time of the game, a full 90 minutes!

Looking at the current situation of Manchester United in this way, the strength has already fallen. After being defeated by Chelsea, for ten days, the heart has not gathered.

How can it be a tragic word!
However, Manchester United's misery, in the context of the return of the Premier League to the era of chaos, and the recovery of various powerful teams, it seems insignificant.

In recent years, when the Premier League reached the No.20 second round of the second half of the league, three of the top four teams had more than or equal to 50 points. This is the first time this has happened!
If not in the previous game.There are too many points given to weak teams. In the 22nd round, Liverpool should be able to accumulate almost 50 points like Arsenal and Manchester City.

But such a scene is enough to make the FA happy.

Leaving aside the other powerful clubs, let's just talk about Liverpool.

After sinking for so many years, it finally regained its strength in the league and once again contributed to the rise of the Premier League.

After all, the topic and popularity of the established giants are guaranteed, especially now that Suarez is getting better and better.

Following the Golden Boot battle between Van Persie and Rooney in the 11-12 season, the Golden Boot battle between Suarez and Cavani once again helped the Premier League attract a lot of attention.

In the era of melee and surging traffic, Manchester United's degeneration is the tragedy of the Red Devils fans, but it is also the luck of other newly emerging powerful teams in the Premier League.

After saving money for the stadium, Arsenal, who can invest more money in the transfer market in the future, is eyeing the Premier League crown.

After Manchester City snatched a foundational Premier League championship from Manchester United, it has now welcomed the famous football coach Guardiola, vowing to build itself into a new football giant from scratch.

Liverpool has risen from the bottom and wants to revive the glory of the big Liverpool that dominated the Premier League in the past.

And above them is the most powerful contender for the new generation of Premier League supremacy, the new Chelsea led by Mourinho to reshape!

Qin (Manchester United) has lost its deer, and all the heroes in the world are chasing it!

When the wind and cloud meet, make great achievements, at this time!
(End of this chapter)