Football: The butcher in the midfield at the start, the magic bird stunned

Chapter 160 The Madman's Past

After a night's rest, the team did not have any spare time and immediately set off to the airport to fly to Venice, the water city in northern Italy, to challenge the Venice team away.

Because Chen Xiaoliang won the best player of October, he completed the task of "winning the league's best player of the month" for the first time in Serie A, and was rewarded with an injury recovery card.

Injury Recovery Card 1→2
In the league standings, Venice currently has 2 wins, 3 draws and 6 losses, ranking 9th with 17 points, and the relegation situation is very severe.

On the contrary, for Roma, which is competing for the fourth place, it currently has the same points as the fourth-placed Inter Milan, and is 4 points ahead of the fifth-placed Atlanta, which is a little bit of a gap.

Surprisingly, after landing from Marco Polo International Airport, hundreds of local fans of Mourinho in Venice gathered at the airport to welcome the arrival of the Roma team.

There are fans everywhere, which is something Mourinho is quite proud of.

Mourinho gave all the players who played more than 10 times this season a holiday, but let them follow the big team to the Pierre Luigi Benzor Stadium, step on the field to familiarize themselves with the environment, and then take the bus back to the hotel to rest.

This stadium is the smallest stadium among the Serie A teams. It can only accommodate 11150 people, which is 11512 people less than the 362 people in the second-to-last Spezia's home stadium Alberto Pico, and successfully "won the championship".

This game was arranged as a special game of this round. In order to attract Asian fans to watch, it was played at 13:30 noon, which is the prime time for Red Country at 19:30.

After entering the stadium, there were no empty seats in the stadium, plus some relatives who were sneaked in by the home team and stood under the stands to watch the game, as well as reporters, staff from both teams, players, coaches, referees, stadium security, operation and maintenance, More than 12000 people piled up in this stadium, which was packed to the brim.

In the starting lineup, Mourinho continued to rotate on a large scale and came up with a 3-5-2 formation. He also wanted to take advantage of the opponent's relatively weaker opportunities to try a different style of play.

The goalkeeper is still the unshakable Patricio;
The three central defenders are Ibanez, Kumbra and Mancini from left to right, among which the Albanian international Kumbra is starting for the first time this season;
Five midfielders, double defensive midfielders sent Wei Letu and Christante, Chen Xiaoliang was placed on the bench;

The left midfielder is Shalawi who has not played for a long time, and the right midfielder is Karlsdorp;
Midfielder Pellegrini;
The two forwards are Abraham and Carles Perez.

When the media obtained this starting list before the game, it was obvious that Mourinho had rotated all the main players who will participate in the national team competition next.

Because the next game is on November 11, it means that within 21 days, players participating in the national team competition will play two World Cup qualifiers.

Especially players like Cesko who have been identified as the main players by the Slovenian national team will play against Slovakia and Cyprus on the 12th and 14th.

Therefore, these 14 days do not mean vacations for some players, but to face long-distance travel and intensive back-to-back games.

If you don't rest anymore, I'm afraid that after the national team's competition, the one who comes back will be an injured number.

However, Chen Xiaoliang, who has no country-to-match mission, is because of a set of technical statistics that made Mourinho determined to let him rest.

In terms of the average running distance of all players in Serie A, Chen Xiaoliang ranked first with an average of 13.32 kilometers per game, far ahead of Inter Milan’s Brozovic’s 12.19 kilometers and Lazio’s Milinkovic’s 11.86 kilometers.

Even if Chen Xiaoliang can run again, seeing his running style, the coaching staff will try their best to let him take turns, although his importance to the team is beyond words.

However, without Chen Xiaoliang, Roma still suffered a blow from the relegation team.

Only 2 minutes into the game, Venice took a free kick from the left. After the ball passed to the middle of the penalty area, central defender Caldara, double-teamed by Kumbra and Mancini, easily kicked the ball into the goal.

The two central defenders still made the same old mistakes. Kumbra thought Mancini would go up, Mancini thought Kumbra would go up, but in the end neither of them made the go up.

Caldara was barely under any defensive pressure and aimed the ball away from an angle away from Patricio.

Mourinho, who was standing on the sidelines, threw away the water bottle in his hand angrily, and received a warning from the fourth official for this.

The Venice fans were overjoyed, they never dreamed of such a fantastic start!
The director of Serie A also pointed the camera at Chen Xiaoliang sitting on the field for the first time.

This free kick happened to be given to Pellegrini by the opponent's winger Alamu in the middle, and then Wei Letu, who had just returned from a concussion injury, was forced to foul when defending.

No matter how dissatisfied Mourinho is, it is impossible to make a substitution in the first 3 minutes of the game...

The Roma players also knew what it means to be brave after knowing shame, and immediately launched a full-scale onslaught.

In the 7th minute, Christante made a long pass from the backcourt, and Pellegrini headed back from the right side of the penalty area. Karlsdorp received the ball and passed it straight to Abraham who was plugging in at high speed!

Seeing the number of goals he scored and Cesko getting bigger and bigger, Abraham played harder and harder, and his long black legs surpassed the surrounding defenders in an instant.

Venice defender Hasp saw that he was going to get the ball in the penalty area, so he had no choice but to shovel.

As soon as Abraham's foot touched the ball, he tripped and fell to the ground, rolling three times before getting up.

The referee immediately pointed to the penalty!
Although the Venice team members knew that they were inferior in skills, they were not prepared to surrender.

They immediately surrounded the referee to appeal!The Roma players secretly celebrated on the sidelines.

Just as Pellegrini picked up the ball and put it on the penalty spot, the referee made a gesture to change the sentence!
Pellegrini was already offside when he received a long pass from Christante, and the penalty was invalid!

Now, instead of the Venice players applauding and celebrating, the Roma players surrounded the referee...

Pellegrini, in particular, questioned the referee Aureliano loudly.

The conceded goal just now was due to his defensive eyes, and the penalty kick at the moment flew away because of his offside...

The referee Aureliano was very restrained, just gestured to calm Pellegrini, and then returned to his seat as soon as possible to resume the game.

Fortunately, he was not the referee Maresca in the previous game, otherwise Pellegrini would have already received a yellow card at this time.

Looking at the chaos on the field and Pellegrini's gaffe as the captain, Joao frowned, stood beside Mourinho and said, "Jose, do you really not consider making Chen Xiaoliang the captain?" ?
You know the actual situation of the team. I don’t know about the situation when you were in Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, but at least in my opinion, Chen’s influence on the team’s locker room is something I have never seen since coaching. He has been there, but he is too young to speak freely in the locker room like those veterans. If you give him the status of captain, he can justifiably lead these boys. "

Mourinho shook his head: "How long do you think he will stay in Rome? A lifetime?"

Joao shook his head, improbable.

Mourinho asked again: "Then how long do you think you, me, and Rapetty, our team of 6 people will stay here? Five years? Ten years?"

Joao still shook his head, but this time he did not know.

The competitive pressure of professional football is very, very high. Even if you are a champion coach like Ancelotti and Klopp, who is proud of the current prosperity, you may encounter unprecedented pressure due to a wave of losing streak or winless matches.

It is not uncommon for the team to lead the team to win the Champions League last season and be dismissed by the board of directors in the next season because all four players are empty.

The Italian coach Claudio Ranieri led Leicester City to win the Premier League championship in a fantastic way. He was kicked out the next season because of the decline in the record. Even the fans knew that the decline in the team's record was because the main players were bought at a high price The depth of the team lineup is not enough to support the two-line battle of the Champions League and the league.

However, the board of directors will not give you any reason to make excuses, and will only hypocritically write a sentence in the external announcement, "Thanks to so-and-so for his unremitting efforts during this period, and wish him all the best in the future."

Mourinho and his team did not have more than 3 seasons in Chelsea for the second time, and later Manchester United and Tottenham. Who knows how long they can stay in Rome?
Mourinho lowered his voice, but said seriously:
"Why don't you let Chen be the first captain, because I know he won't be here for long, and the fate of you and me is not entirely yours.

After all, this Roma will return to the Italians and the hands of the Romans. This is their team and we are just passers-by.

Everyone knows that the leader of the AC Milan locker room is the man named Zlatan, but Pioli will not give him the captain because of this. If Romagnoli can play, he is the first captain. Romagnoli cannot play. Even if the team has 11 people from 11 different countries like the previous game, the captain is still the only Italian Calabria.

This is Italy, this is their 'glorious tradition'.

And Roma goes one step further, do you think Fonseca doesn't know that he is not a suitable captain?What's more, Florenzi was still in the team at the time and hadn't been loaned out yet.

But he is a native of Rome and a direct descendant of this club's youth training camp. He is the best candidate to inherit their 'tradition'. "

Joao hesitated for a while, lingered in his mouth for a while, and finally asked: "Jose, isn't it your habit to break the tradition?"

"It's not that easy."

Mourinho didn't answer this topic again, just let the words rot in his stomach.

He also wants Chen Xiaoliang to be the captain and Patricio to be the vice-captain to completely complete the reform and transformation of the team.

If he was 10 years younger, he would definitely do it.

But at this time, he was burdened with much more than the fledgling Gerrard.

Gerrard has too much autonomy and space in the Soviet Super League and on platforms that are not in the spotlight like Rangers. He can boldly implement his own experiments and ideas. In the worst case, he will fail and find a small and medium-sized team to coach. up.

There are many cases of this kind of legendary player coaching, and Xavi of Barcelona is one of them. After a year and a half of training in a team like Al Sadd in Qatar, which is far inferior to Rangers, he came back to become one of the largest clubs in the world. head coach.

The same example is Zidane, who was directly promoted from the Real Madrid B team, and even the training process was exempted;
Lampard, who coached Derby County in the British Championship, did not succeed in the Super League, and still won the position of head coach of Chelsea;
And Mourinho's least favorite person - Guardiola, his first job in charge of the Barcelona B team, which is a reserve team in the third league... and the second year he became Barcelona head coach;

What’s more, like Pochettino, his first job as a coach was as an assistant coach of the Espanyol women’s football team… After only one month in office, he replaced Jose Mane, who had a poor record, as the first line of the Espanyol men’s football team team coach.

These people are the stars of their respective teams, so it should not be a surprise that Gerrard will be appointed as Liverpool's manager one day.

Another example is Gary Neville and Thierry Henry, who are also legendary players. One was in Valencia and the other was in Monaco. Investing, being a commentator, and saying something that is not surprising and endless, you can still stay in the spotlight and participate in the football industry at all times.

There are also Oliver Kahn, Edwin van der Sar, and Maldini. After retiring, these people joined the parent team and became managers, embarking on another path to influence football.

But Mourinho can't, he doesn't have any capital to replicate the above trajectories.

When he was young, he was an amateur player who couldn't be more amateur. At the age of 24, he retired from the Portuguese fourth-tier league, Comosio Chamber of Commerce and Industry, without the honor of half a dime.

The first coaching job was in 1987, in the youth team of Setubal Victory Club, a small team in the Portuguese Super League, as a physical coach for a while, and a guest assistant coach for a while;

Unwilling to be in the youth team, he then went to a smaller team - Amadora Stars, which is a long-term team that has been in the Portuguese second-tier league Liga Liga. There, he can seriously be an assistant coach of the first team;
If the beginning of this kind of plot is placed in a novel, 95% of the readers may run away as soon as it comes up.

After four years of being a muddle-headed coach with a muddle-headed head coach, someone who really changed his life came.

In 1992, the famous England coach Bobby Robson came to Portugal as the head coach of Sporting Lisbon.

However, with the football knowledge and coaching experience that Mourinho has learned in the past few years, he is not qualified to join Robson's coaching staff at all professionally, but he is good at English and Portuguese, so he caught him. Given the opportunity, I simply started translating.

During his two-year translation career, he continued to learn from the old England coach and gained the trust of the other side.

When the latter coached the Portuguese overlord Porto from 1994 to 1996, he still took Mourinho with him. In addition to translation, he also started to participate in the formulation of tactics.

Until the summer of 1996, Robson was poached to Barcelona as the head coach and brought Mourinho over again. The Portuguese talents really came to a great platform and learned the most advanced club management principles and coaching in the football world. train of thought.

At that time, Mourinho not only knew English, but also learned and proficient in French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Russian and Catalan.

And another person who changed him was the famous Dutch coach Louis van Gaal who came to Barcelona after Robson left.

It is precisely because of his proficiency in Dutch that Mourinho's main job at that time was still translation, and he also served as one of several teaching assistants.

In these three years, he has witnessed the maturity of Guardiola, the rise of Harvey, and learned the representative thinking of Dutch football.

In 2000, Mourinho, whose contract expired, returned to his hometown and was appointed as the head coach of Benfica. After only 9 months, he resigned because he did not agree with the philosophy of the board of directors.

In 2001, he went to a mid-lower team, Leiria, and led the team to rank 5th in the Portuguese Super League for one season, creating the best result in team history.

In 2002, he was appointed head coach of Porto.

Everyone knows what happened next.

From 1987 to 2003 when he led Porto to win the UEFA Cup and created the first success in his coaching resume, Mourinho struggled for 16 years.

From the age of 24 to 40, these 16 years are the effort required for a coach without a prominent player background to reach the threshold of a wealthy family.

And he is still the lucky one, because he met Bobby Robson who was willing to give him a chance, support him, and train him.

I don't know how many people like him can only stay in the low-level leagues or small teams forever, and be an unknown staff member in the coaching staff.

However, even if he is full of honors and has no player background, the head coach is still just a mercenary.

After Lampard dismissed get out of class from Chelsea, he would still receive applause from the fans when he returned to Stamford Bridge. When Mourinho led Manchester United and Tottenham back to the Blue Bridge, he would already face boos.

After Tottenham was fired, many people said that he was no good, and no top team would want him anymore.

And once he loses again in Rome, it may mean that he, who is nearly 60 years old, can only go to some second-tier or even low-level areas to continue his coaching career like Lippi, Hiddink, and Capello. pension.

Inter Milan is no longer Moratti's team, and Real Madrid, which is going smoothly, will not think of him again. Manchester United and Tottenham are enemies, and it is impossible for Chelsea to give him another chance to enter the palace.

So when he comes to Rome this time, he can't mess around, at least he can't put on the posture of wanting to single out the entire league and mocking everyone like when he took over Chelsea at the age of 42.

He must have a good relationship with the boss, avoid obvious confrontation with the board of directors, and at the same time play the role of a referee in the locker room, instead of suppressing a certain faction too targetedly.

The drama of "female team doctor" and "catch the ghost" can no longer be staged.

It's not that they don't want to break the tradition, but that the time has not yet come.

The key to pry open that gate is a champion.

The two chatted, thought, and watched. Roma was pressing on the court, while the Venetian was constantly looking for opportunities to counterattack.

In the 14th minute, Venice cut off the through ball from Wellertu, launched a counterattack from the right and directly passed a long pass to the frontcourt. Nigerian center David Okrek and Ibanez sprinted with all their strength to grab the half goal. At that time, Ibanez was pushed out directly by a card position!

Facing Kumbra's replacement, Okrek hit the goal from a small angle, but fortunately the ball was high.

Just as Mourinho was about to speak, Joao said first: "Jose, we really can't spend so much money, Pinto has promised us to sign three players, and the central defender can only be considered next summer. "

Mourinho looked at Ibanez who got up from the ground in a panic, his face remained unchanged, but he sighed in his heart.

He already regretted putting Chen Xiaoliang on the bench.

In the 27th minute, Roma pushed forward aggressively, and Pellegrini crossed the penalty area obliquely. Mancini, who was pressed into the penalty area, got the ball and knocked back to Abraham. The latter hit the goal and hit the right post!
Pellegrini grabbed two points and shot again!

It hit the Venetian's dense defenders again.

Weiletu received a rebound and shot again, and finally ended with a high.

The director immediately showed the camera to Sesco who was sitting next to Chen Xiaoliang on the bench.

Karlsdorp was shown a yellow card because he complained to the referee Aureliano that Pellegrini's shot hit the defender's hand just now.

Roma are still wasting a lot of chances because of their poor shooting skills.

In the 32nd minute and the 35th minute, two good chances, one missed by Abraham and one by Pellegrini with muscle weakness.

Tactical success always requires the player's final touch, which cannot be changed by the head coach.

Near the end of halftime, Rome's attack finally ushered in the result.

In the 43rd minute, Shalawi made a cross from the left. After Abraham Shajiba's header shot turned into a ferry, Pellegrini put in a kick in the middle and kicked again. The ball somehow came to the back post. At Perez's feet, he easily pushed and succeeded, and Rome tied the score at 1-1!
Add 2 minutes.

At the last moment of stoppage time, Abraham received a long pass from Christante in the penalty area, stopped the ball in the chest, held the goal hero Caldara of Venice, turned around and shot neatly, and made another victory!
短短2分钟，罗马从客场1比0落后逆转为1比2领先！

When the referee whistled, the proud expressions of the players appeared again.

It seems that halftime is over, the game has been completely killed, and the 3 points have been firmly secured.

　Thanks to the club director [Master Erqian] for the monthly pass!

　　Thanks to the club director [gtang] for the monthly pass!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)