The heat was rising in the visiting dressing room at St.
Mary's Stadium. starter The eleven players who started the game were all sitting inside, breathing heavily.
Even Cech, as the goalkeeper, is no exception.
The first half of the game ended with a score of 0-0, but that didn't mean the game was dull.
On the contrary, the pace of this game was very fast, and the situation was very tense, one after another, without any let-up.
This also results in very serious physical exertion for the players.
Especially for several senior players in the Chelsea squad.
"Many players have physical problems."
Ancelotti's chief assistant Demichelis observed the players' condition, then walked back to the coaching area and reported the situation to Ancelotti.
Ancelotti had a stern look on his face, because he found that Southampton was more difficult than he thought.
Demichelis was Ancelotti's assistant when he was coaching at AC Milan.
He was the best expert in the world-famous Milan laboratory.
He was poached by Ancelotti with a lot of money and came to Chelsea, becoming Ancelotti's right-hand man.
What he is best at is physical fitness and player body control.
"The rate of consumption is faster than expected.
We can't control the rhythm at all.
It has simply become a war of attrition," Demichelis said with a look of helplessness and a bit of anger.
From a war of attrition perspective, Chelsea are at a disadvantage.
On the one hand, the players are aging seriously, and on the other hand, there are schedule issues.
Chelsea have been playing since Christmas without stopping.
After surviving the devilish Christmas schedule, January is immediately ushered in with intensive competitions.
It’s hard to get through January, and the schedule in February is equally intensive.
More importantly, the Champions League competition that Abramovich values will also reignite the war.
Logically speaking, Chelsea's lineup is not generous and they should selectively avoid some dispensable fronts, such as the FA Cup.
However, before the game, boss Abramovich gave a death order that Southampton must be won in this game no matter what.
Ron Gurley's words even vaguely revealed that once he loses, An Celotti will be dismissed.
This is also the reason why Ancelotti had to face the scalp in the first half even though he knew it was a war of attrition.
"How long can it last?"
Ancelotti asked with a cold face.
The most conspicuous thing about him is undoubtedly his gray hair.
"We can hold on for at most twenty minutes in the second half.
If it's more, there will be problems."
Demichelis predicted.
Ancelotti closed his eyes and said nothing, but everyone could see that he was distressed.
The situation on the court is now very deadlocked.
Neither side has been able to break the deadlock, and neither side is willing to make adjustments and changes casually.
"Or, let's hold on to a draw," Demichelis suggested.
He was not aware of the bet between Yang Huan and Abramovich.
The issue he considered was that according to the FA Cup schedule, if there was a draw in the first round, there would be a second round, and Chelsea would be at home. .
Wouldn't it be nice to go back to Stamford Bridge and defeat Southampton?
Ancelotti also found this proposal very tempting and the best decision for Chelsea at the moment.
But, is Abramovich willing?
At the same time, in the home team's locker room, the players were also gasping for breath, but the atmosphere was very different.
"Master Huan asked me to tell everyone that he is very satisfied with everyone's performance in the first half and wants everyone to keep up their efforts and defeat Chelsea."
Although it was conveyed verbally by Luis Borini, it still made everyone in the locker room jump for joy.
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"Don't worry, Master Huan, we won't let him down."
"Yes, Louis, tell Master Huan that Chelsea is dead."
"We must let Chelsea die at St Mary's Stadium" "Well said, let's see if they dare to act wild in front of us in Southampton again."
Each of the players seemed very excited, very excited and very high-spirited.
Head coach Bielsa walked out at this time, taking a tactical drawing board with him.
"Okay, everyone, be quiet," Bielsa said calmly as always.
If they hadn't seen his excited expression on the playing field just now, I believe everyone would have doubted that anything else could move him.
"We did a very good job in suppressing Lampard and Essien in the first half, which was very good."
Everyone in the locker room looked at the Argentine madman and listened to what he said.
"Mikel got a yellow card.
He became very cautious.
This is an opportunity.
We ignored it in the first half and we have to take advantage of it in the second half."
This yellow card given twenty seconds after the start should have been used, but the Southampton players seemed to have forgotten it.
Bielsa had to remind the players again at this time.
This is Southampton's opportunity.
"I won't say much about defensive issues.
Positioning, assisting defense and response must be done well.
Manuel must pay more attention in front of the goal and direct the defense line and positioning."
After Neuer was called out, he nodded heavily at the coach.
In Bielsa's tactics, he, the goalkeeper, has gained a lot of freedom and tactical power, and can even command the defense.
Some people say that he is a sweeper-style goalkeeper, dominating most of the penalty area.
"One more thing, we have to be calm and patient in the second half.
The situation in the first half was in our favor and we will continue to play like this in the second half.
Don't be anxious and pay attention to seizing the opportunity."
Although Bielsa didn't say anything about the timing, everyone knew that he would observe from the sidelines.
When the time comes, Southampton will seize the opponent's loopholes and fight to the death.
"Don't worry, this game is still under our control," Bielsa concluded calmly and confidently.
All the players laughed.
This is Bielsa's style So they often say that if Bielsa does the pre-match mobilization, it's over.
Because it's too calm "What the hell happened?"
In the stands, Abramovich was venting his anger on Ron Gurley.
"Forty-five minutes, you can't handle a League One team.
It's simply embarrassing."
As if he hadn't finished venting, he walked up the aisle for a few steps and then cursed: "We have so many stars, such high salaries, and so many bonuses.
What's the use of connecting a rubbish English League One team?
The team can’t take care of it, what do they do for food?”
Ron Gurley had a helpless smile on his face, bearing the anger from his boss.
Pinizahavi, on the other hand, had an expression that had nothing to do with me.
He sat aside, silent, but he was thinking in his heart whether he should send the information about several young generals that he had finally found out to Nan.
What about Ampton?
Chelsea is undoubtedly his biggest financial sponsor, and they also attach great importance to youth training.
However, in the past two or three years, Abramovich has been tightening his money, although this winter saw a lot of bleeding, including Torres and David.
Louis, but the financial budget is limited, are you still willing to introduce players for the youth training?
Relatively speaking, Southampton is undoubtedly more promising.
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Yang Huan has made it clear that Southampton will continue to increase its recruitment efforts in the next few years to enhance the team's competitiveness.
Although many people doubt where Southampton's money will come from, with Yang Huan as a big benefactor, is money a problem?
"Pini" Abramovich suddenly called Pini Zahavi.
"Ah" Pinizahavi was startled, thinking that his thoughts had been exposed.
"Our team still has some problems, especially in the midfield.
Do you have a suitable candidate?"
When Pinizahavi heard that the business was coming, he immediately smiled and nodded, "Yes, Arsenal has already considered selling Fabregas."
"Really?"
This is a midfielder that Abramovich admires very much.
In his opinion, Fabregas is the representative of creative midfielder and will be a booster for Chelsea to play offensive football.
"In terms of price, Arsenal's expectations are £60 million."
Pinizahavi’s words were like a bucket of cold water, dousing Abramovich’s enthusiasm.
The subprime mortgage crisis and the European debt crisis caused heavy losses to his assets, and now he is really reluctant to spend so much money anymore.
As for Torres, he is a striker and a transfer signing during the winter break.
He is an emergency player.
"I think if we try to negotiate as much as possible, we should be able to negotiate around £50 million."
The price is similar to Torres.
After all, he is the captain of Arsenal.
Abramovich said nothing, looking down at the court with a cold face.
As soon as he saw him like this, Pinizahavi knew that there was no chance.
The Abramovich of today is no longer the Abramovich before the financial crisis.
After about half a minute of silence, Abramovich turned around again and looked at Ron Gurley.
"Go tell Ancelotti, I want to win, I want him to lead Chelsea to defeat Southampton" Finally, he spoke almost through gritted teeth.
Ron Gurley stood up immediately, nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go right away."
After that, he walked towards the stairs.
After fifteen minutes of play, the two sides returned to the court.
"It can be seen that the head coaches of both sides did not make substitutions or adjustments during the halftime break."
The commentator analyzed the changes in the second half, but found that there was no change.
Neither the tactics nor the players have changed much, which directly leads to the situation not changing much either.
The second half of the two sides still continued the situation of the first half, and the situation was still stalemate.
The tempo was fast, the two sides fought fiercely, the ball was transferred frequently, and both sides were going back and forth against each other.
But it has never been able to create many threatening opportunities.
Time passed by minute by minute.
Start at forty-five minutes, jump to fifty minutes, jump to sixty minutes Neither side seemed to be moving.
Fans watching the game gradually realized that Southampton's left wing was obviously becoming more and more active and began to create several threatening attacks.
But relatively speaking, Chelsea's trident is sleepwalking in front.
No one pulled aside, no one moved, and there was no spark of passion.
The condition of the right back Bosingwa on the right is not very ideal either.
With the depletion of physical energy, the running ability of Lampard and Essien has also declined a lot, and the protection of the two wings has also weakened.
In this case, once David Alaba and Carvajal, two full-backs who almost let Bielsa be used as a full-back, are inserted, coupled with Chamberlain who is actively pulling out, it is easy to maintain the position.
A two-on-one situation develops on one side of the ball.
Seeing holes in the team's defense and formation, Ancelotti immediately asked winger Malouda to warm up after entering the 60th minute.
Five minutes later, in the 66th minute, Chelsea made their first substitution adjustment of the entire game.
Malouda replaced Mr.
Torres for £50 million.
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Torres only had one shot in the entire game and his performance was very poor.
Malouda's appearance also heralds an adjustment in Chelsea's tactics.
From the 442 midfield diamond position at the beginning, it switched back to the 433 familiar to the team last season and the first half of this season.
Malouda and Anelkara moved to the wing, and Drogba was alone.
Top at the front.
As soon as he saw Malouda come on as a substitute, Bielsa, who had been squatting on the sidelines, suddenly stood up from the ground.
He rushed to the sidelines, waved his hand gestures, and shouted loudly at the players on the court.
He is also making adjustments to the team's situation.
All the Southampton players were immediately aware of this.
The moment Bielsa said at halftime has finally come His gestures seemed to be shouting loudly: Comrades, victory is at hand, let's go for it: