Without Robben, Chelsea posed a lot less of a threat to Twain. Otherwise, the game would have been very difficult for him. The Forest team's offense mainly relied on the flanks. If Chelsea had Robben, the Forest team's flank offense was bound to be suppressed. What about now?
Joe Cole was not a true left midfielder at all. Letting him play as a left midfielder was a helpless move. If such a talented player was asked to play as a substitute, he and the fans would certainly not agree. But if he were to play in the starting lineup, he could not be in the middle of the midfield, because it belonged to Lampard and Makelele. Then, Joe Cole could only choose between "sitting on the bench" and "playing in a position that he was not comfortable with for a chance to play." Joe Cole chose the latter.
He was completely restricted on the left flank. Without speed, he could not break through. If he leaned to the middle, it would shrink his teammate Lampard's space, which made him play very awkwardly. Mourinho clearly knew this, so when Robben was there, Chelsea's main offensive direction was the left flank. This game switched to the right flank.
The problem was that Duff on the right flank was a left-footed player. Although he could also play on the right flank, it was not his best position. On the left flank, he could use his speed and continuous changes to shake off his opponent and then directly pass. On the right flank, after he shook off his opponent with speed, he had to use his right foot to hook the football to his left foot and then pass. At this time, the best time to pass the ball was often lost. It completely became a positional battle with the Forest team's rear defensive line. His speed advantage was useless.
What did Chelsea rely on when they could not play on the flanks? They would pass the long ball from the back to the front, looking for Drogba, the black lighthouse, and Keirman to cover. Then Lampard, who plugged in from the back, would use a long shot to seek a scoring opportunity, or let the physically strong Drogba take the ball and turn to attack.
This later became Chelsea's most commonly used offensive routine, which could already be seen in the game against the Forest team.
Twain knew Drogba's strengths and weaknesses, so he specifically arranged for Piqué to mark the Ivory Coast elephant. But Piqué alone could not reassure Twain, because the Spanish kid was far less experienced than Drogba. So, he let George Wood help when he had the chance.
As for the midfield defense, Makelele's offensive threat was almost infinitely close to zero. The main trouble was Lampard, but he could be handed over to the experienced Albertini to defend.
Then the Forest team used their incisive flank attacks to suppress Chelsea's flanks.
This Chelsea team looked strong, but it was not without weaknesses. Paulo Ferreira was a soft spot. If used well, the Forest team could open the door to victory from here.
Although he was officially named the best right back in Europe last season because of his outstanding performance in the UEFA Champions League, he had not been acclimatized since he was brought to the Premier League. His defensive ability was lacking and his offense was not firm enough. Tang En was well aware of these shortcomings. He was familiar with the current Chelsea team.
Mourinho wanted to cultivate his own people at Stamford Bridge, but he chose the wrong people.
※ ※ ※
Ferreira, who had just joined the team, was under a lot of pressure recently. He came to Stamford Bridge with the halo of being the best right back in Europe last season, but now he needed to work hard to prove that he did not actually rely on his relationship with manager Mourinho to get into the Blues squad.
Before the game, the Chelsea fans had already expressed their dissatisfaction with the full-back, who always looked unreassuring. Ferreira himself knew that if he did not show some performance, even Mourinho's trust in him would be exhausted one day.
But the more he thought about it, the worse his performance became. He seemed to be caught in a vicious cycle: performing poorly — getting scolded by the media and fans — wanting to prove himself but being unable to concentrate on the game, continuing to perform poorly — getting scolded by the media and fans — the more he wanted to prove himself, the more he was unable to concentrate on the game, performing even worse — getting scolded by the media and fans — lack of confidence, beginning to doubt himself, performing even worse …
In this cycle, the high-spirited Ferreira from the UEFA Champions League final could no longer be seen.
Tang En was certainly not the angel who came to save Ferreira. On the contrary, he had to help push Ferreira as he fell.
All of the Forest team's attacks today came from Ribéry's side. At first, Duff tried to create opportunities for Chelsea with a personal breakthrough, but he soon found that Ferreira could not hold on alone …
The Frenchman, Franck Ribéry, found that the right back in front of him could only be led by the nose. Every time he took the ball to face the Portuguese, he felt that he could definitely get past him.
"Ribéry has the ball. Look at his movements … Speed up!"
No Forest player went up to seek coordination with Ribéry. They were all plugging in in front of Chelsea's goal, waiting to receive Ribéry's pass. These people seemed certain that Ferreira would be broken through.
As Ferreira retreated, he saw Ribéry suddenly move and hurriedly took a big step to block the Frenchman's path. Ribéry immediately used his left foot to step back the ball, then turned and cut inside.
Ferreira was not willing to fail here. He forcibly changed his center of gravity, intending to continue sticking to the Forest team's number 7 and buy time for his other teammates to come up and support.
What was Ribéry best at? After seeing Ferreira's movements, he directly stabbed the ball between Ferreira's legs, and then used his speed to forcibly break through his opponent and successfully rush over!
Ferreira's turn was slow. When he turned around, he just saw Ribéry's back. At that moment, the image of himself sitting on the substitutes' bench suddenly appeared in his mind.
No … No … I can't lose here. I can't let him break through. Otherwise, it'll all be over … My future, my future … My …
Don't even think about going over!
Ferreira let out an angry roar from the bottom of his heart and lifted his leg to shovel at the Frenchman.
Ribéry, who was caught off guard, fell to the ground. The football rolled out of the end line, and deafening boos rang out in the stands. The referee's whistle could not even be heard amidst the loud boos.
Seeing this scene, Tang En rushed out from his seat. He waved his fist and roared, "Well done!!"
Almost at the same time, Mourinho smashed the tactical board in his hand to the ground. "F * ck!"
The famous English referee, Frank, who was refereeing the game, did not run to the scene of the accident. Instead, he ran to the penalty spot in the penalty area.
"Look at the direction Frank is pointing … This is a penalty kick! No doubt about it! We don't know what Ferreira was thinking at that moment, but this is a penalty kick! He tackled Franck Ribéry in the penalty area! "
The Chelsea players were excited. They all gathered around, wanting to explain to the referee that Ferreira's foul was actually outside the penalty area, and that Ribéry had only fallen in the penalty area …
But Frank ignored them. Instead, he pushed through the crowd and ran to Ferreira, who was still sitting on the ground. He took out a red card from his pocket and flashed it at him.
Ferreira's mind buzzed. He knew he was finished …
(To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. COM. More chapters. Support the author. Support original reading!)
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