Three days later, the whole Chelsea squad travelled to play against a stubborn Middlesbrough side.In this game, Robben was injured unexpectedly before the game, Joe Cole was not healed, Ballack was also not good, and only Makelele could barely make a comeback.So Jose fielded a line-up of Drogba, Shevchenko, Frank Lampard, Junior Kalou, Makelele, Essien, Terry, Carvalho, Bridge, Ferreira, and Cudicini.One of the funniest is to shove Drogba to the right as a right winger!
Although Drogba ran to the middle again from the start of the game, as soon as Drogba ran, Essien, one of the two backs set in this game, had to play the right winger in the precedent position, so that Jose had no choice but to replace Makelle with Wright, who still had not recovered his form, in the second half, so that the left and right wingers were in place.Chelsea's extreme counter-attacking style relies heavily on wingers, who need both speed and breakthrough, and are never positional battles but surprise battles, and can quickly tear apart the opponent's flanks in the counter-attack, so as to deal with the pressure of the central soldiers.Neither Didier Drogba nor Frank Lampard are speedy players, and if they want to counter-attack advantageously, they have to rely on the wings.However, Kalou Jr. was not known for his speed, and Wright left City without the agility on the touchline, so Chelsea's attacking style was rather lackluster throughout the game.Of course, there were some bright spots, such as Shevchenko's powerful shot in the first half that bounced off the feet of the opposing defender and refracted into the net, finally opening his first Premier League goal.However, the goal could not hide Chelsea's lack of attack and even defence, and in the final 10 minutes of the game, Chelsea suddenly collapsed, and Middlesbrough scored twice in a row to turn the game into defeat.As for the all-around attack, excellent speed, and sharp breakthrough Wiwi, this one was simply not brought by the team.Chelsea's explanation was that Wiwi had picked up an injury in training before the game.Wang Ai himself did not come out to refute, so the reporters could only sigh.This is really too much face for Shevchenko, and he didn't play two games, so that Shevchenko can play to his heart's content.In fact, Jose and even Wang Ai have this plan.Although Shevchenko was voted by the media as Chelsea's best performer, he actually only had three shots on goal and scored a fluke goal, and his quality in Milan was still not fully displayed.Of course, Chelsea weren't lying, as Wang Ai had three days off all summer, which was not enough to relieve him, so he did suffer a minor injury due to fitness problems during the pre-match training match.Of course, this injury is not so bad that he can't even play, but Jose has let him rest for the long-term of the team, and no one can say anything.With Shevchenko's barely scoring goal and the World Cup Golden Boot continuing to fade, it seems that the outcome of this battle is even more murky.For example, Ferguson, Wenger and others have initially formed a judgment: the Ukrainian may be difficult at Chelsea, and it will be difficult to reproduce his edge in Milan.His style of play is too contradictory to Chelsea's tactical system.And the situation of Wiwi is not clear for the time being, after all, it is a young player.Therefore, when asked by reporters, these two people unanimously chose not to express their opinions.Unlike before the game, when they hinted that the rivalry between Shevchenko and Wang Ai would be a hidden danger for Chelsea, now that the hidden danger has been exposed, they don't need to heat it up and just wait for the result.The next game is four days later, on August 27, when the Chinese have returned to the team for 12 days, unless it is really a serious injury, how can they make a debut, otherwise it is impossible to say anything about all aspects.Only when Ukrainians and Chinese are on the same field can they really see who is higher and who is lower.Having a Chinese is scary enough, and if he cooperates with the Ukrainians, then what is the point of Manchester United's rebuilding and Arsenal's revival?
The result was not as they expected, three days later, the day before the third round of the league, Chelsea announced the squad, responding to the speculation of the outside world: not only Wang Ai will get the start in this game, but even Ballack, who has been recovering from injuries and is highly expected by the outside world, will also get the start!
At the same time, Cech will also return, with only Drogba being "out of form" and on the bench.The whole lineup is like this, Shevchenko is a single striker, Lampard is a single forward, Wang Ai, Ballack is a left and right winger, Makelele and Essien are two backs, Terry, Carvalho are two central defenders, Bolaruz and Bridges are the left and right wingbacks respectively, and the goalkeeper is Cech.Yishui's international players, among which the captains of the national team are Terry, Shevchenko, Ballack, and Wang Ai!
Not to mention how big the psychological shadow of Blackburn is in the face of this lineup, anyone with a discerning eye can see one thing, that is, except for Ballack and Shevchenko, the formation and main personnel are almost exactly the same as last season, four backs, two backs, two forwards, one forward and one forward.Judging from the list, although Ballack replaced Drogba, Ballack almost never played as a center forward, and Jose could not have allowed him to adapt to an unfamiliar position in the first game.So, it was Shevchenko who really replaced Drogba.It was after two games of probing, especially after scoring on the pitch, that Shevchenko was given a chance to fully integrate into Chelsea's established squad.Drogba has a huge role to play in this position, so what about you?
If Shevchenko scores another goal, or assists more, or even helps the team win, then Drogba is really dangerous.Chelsea could simply have swapped Sheva and Drogba in the same way as they did last season.Of course, judging by the boss's and the outside world's affection for the Ukrainians, the Ivorians will have to be prepared to play as a substitute for a long time.In anticipation, all the Chelsea stars were cautious, either cleverly avoiding the topic or simply giggling.Finally, at half past three in the afternoon, the two sides showed up at the Ewood Park stadium in Blackburn.After the group photo, everyone dispersed, and Shevchenko played as a lone striker.Wang Ai and Ballack stood on either side of him, with Frank Lampard in between.The four of the world's top stars are also the four who are full of contradictions, and even Wang Ai, Shevchenko and Ballack have never cooperated!
Will the addition of these two big names make Chelsea even more invincible or will they part ways ever since?
Even Qu Bo, who was sitting on the Blackburn bench, couldn't help but stand up for his teammate Wang Ai.At 16 o'clock, with the referee's whistle, the battle between the two teams and between the treacherous Chelsea teammates officially began!
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