Selhurst Park, visiting team's bench.
Chelsea's substitute players were all on pins and needles and felt uncomfortable.
It has entered mid-October, and the temperature in London has dropped a lot. Even if the weather is good today, the highest temperature is only a dozen degrees.
But now their hearts are even colder.
Trailing by two goals on the road and with one less person on the field, it's really hard not to feel guilty.
"Why haven't you changed someone yet?"
"Why hasn't the boss adjusted?"
"Isn't the boss giving up?"
The most puzzling thing is that Pan Yi actually asked the substitute players to do preparatory activities shortly after the start of the second half.
So they ran out to warm up every once in a while, and when they came back, they quickly put on long-sleeved training clothes to keep their bodies warm so that they could play at any time.
But the problem is, it's already 70 minutes, why haven't you changed it yet?
In addition to replacing Ivanovic in seat B in the first half to strengthen the defense, Chelsea now has two substitutions.
It stands to reason that even if it is a normal game, Pan Yi is almost ready to make substitutions at this time, but today there was no movement for a long time.
And now that they are falling behind again, of course the players will be anxious!
At this moment, Pan Yi suddenly turned around and looked at the bench.
In an instant, everyone on the coaching bench and the bench focused their attention on him, waiting for his instructions with excitement.
They knew that it was finally time for the leader to make adjustments!
"You two, get ready."
Pan Yi pointed to Lukaku and Hazard.
All the coaches and substitute players nodded.
This is almost the best adjustment plan they can think of.
Now is the critical moment when we are falling behind, so naturally we have to use our team's most powerful main striker to score a goal.
The two of them have a tacit understanding of cooperation, and their abilities are better than Bamford and Schürrle on the court now.
Therefore, even those substitute players who have not been named still feel that playing Lukaku and Hazard is the best choice at this time.
Pan Yi whispered a few words to Lukaku and Hazard, and then asked the fourth official to prepare for substitutions.
Chelsea forwards Bamford and Schürrle saw it and understood the coach's intention, so they prepared to walk to the sidelines to complete the substitution as soon as possible.
After all, time is precious now!
Crystal Palace fans at Selhurst Park also saw it.
They immediately understood that Chelsea was preparing to change the attacking combination to a stronger pair, and Pan Yi was about to make a last ditch effort!
As a result, boos broke out all of a sudden. This was Crystal Palace fans helping their team to put pressure on the opponent's substitute players! ——
"Haha, I guessed it a long time ago."
Over at the home team's coaching bench, Neil Warnock looked at the fourth official and Chelsea players standing on the halfway line and chuckled.
"It seems that Pan Yi is nothing more than that. Everyone around the world knows that he is going to be their main forward at this time, right?"
"It's a pity that it's too late now to realize that we underestimated the enemy! How dare you hide so many main players from our game, haha..."
"Besides, do you think we don't have a way to deal with your move?"
Warnock has certainly thought about Pan Yi's lack of substitutions.
He also discussed with the assistant coaches, and finally came to the conclusion that Pan Yi wanted to make substitutions after 70 minutes, so that he could use heavy weapons like Lukaku to impact when the Crystal Palace players' physical fitness declined.
As for Hazard, of course he was asked to deliver artillery shells to his fellow Belgians.
So, it's all within Warnock's control!
So, Neil Warnock turned around and shouted to a tall central defender on the bench: "Brad, go warm up right away and be ready to play at any time!"
"Understood." Brad Hangland, who was sitting on the bench, stood up immediately.
This is a tall defender from Norway and an experienced veteran who has been selected for the national team 84 times.
He is 194cm tall and weighs 91kg. He is truly a big guy!
It will definitely be no problem to use him to deal with a young boy like Lukaku!
Watching Brad Hangland running to warm up, Neil Warnock turned his head away with a smile.
At this time, Warnock's eyes almost popped out.
Because what he sees now seems a little different from what he imagined.
At this time, running down the field were actually Chelsea's two central defenders, Terry and Ake!
Pan Yi replaced two center backs with two forwards!
Warnock blurted out a British vulgarity: "Wang Defa, what is going on?"
——
It's not just Warnock who's confused?
All Crystal Palace fans and Chelsea fans present, including various commentators, guests, and even Terry and Ake who were substituted by Chelsea, were a little confused.
This is really a bit nonsensical. How could there be such a substitution?
"In the 71st minute, Chelsea requested a substitution."
"Everyone thinks this substitution is necessary, but what no one expected is that Pan Yi replaced Terry and Ake with Hazard and Lukaku!"
"If we do this, Chelsea will only have Zouma as a centre-back and four forwards at the same time!"
"Even if we are two goals behind, this is too desperate a way to play, right?"
"Pan Yi is Pan Yi after all! He always has the kind of unexpected tricks..."
"Given that his magical substitutions have often worked in the past, I still reserve my opinion this time and first look at the specific positions of Chelsea players after the substitution."
The play on the field soon resumed.
After Lukaku and Hazard came on the field, they indeed ran towards the forward line, and after playing for a while, Chelsea's new formation slowly emerged.
Lukaku and Bamford now form a double center, while Hazard and Schurrle form double forwards on their left and right.
Behind them, Kante and Matic still provide support in the double defensive midfielder position.
As expected, Zuma was the only one standing at the back!
However, the two wing-backs, Marcos Alonso and Ivanovic, have retreated significantly, so that Chelsea actually formed a three-back situation in many cases.
In other words, Chelsea's formation at this time is actually a bankrupt version of the extremely offensive 4-2-4 formation.
After all, there is one person missing!
So this formation is 3-2-4.
Three defenders, two midfielders, plus four forwards!
In defense, although Marcos Alonso and Ivanovic are wing backs, they are both very tall and have good defensive capabilities, so they can be used as center backs.
When attacking, these two wing-backs will quickly jump in, echoing the four forwards in front, and it will instantly become a six-man offensive line.
At this time, Chelsea's formation will become a more terrifying 1-2-6, launching a more violent attack on Crystal Palace's defense!
"We can see that after the substitutions, Chelsea seemed to quickly control the situation."
"Is it really so effective? This is amazing!"
"Actually, it's not difficult to understand if you think about it. The individual abilities of Chelsea players are inherently better than those of Crystal Palace, and they did not fall behind in the previous one-hour game."
"Players like Lukaku and Hazard have also been in excellent form recently. They are now coming on as substitutes and are real new forces. However, after more than an hour of hard work, the Crystal Palace players' physical strength has declined to a greater or lesser extent. "
"Furthermore, Pan Yi's sudden desperate play also caught Crystal Palace a bit off guard, and they didn't know how to deal with it for a while. So now, although Chelsea has one less player to fight, they still have the advantage on the field."
"So now it's time to see if Crystal Palace can withstand this wave... Wait, let's see Chelsea's attack!"
At this time, the entire Selhurst Park fans were screaming in surprise.
It was originally an attack by Crystal Palace, but when midfielder MacArthur was preparing to pass the ball, his leg was cut off by Kante, who was looking at him with quick eyes and quick feet. Then he quickly handed the ball to Marcos Alonso on the left, and Chelsea launched an attack. Quick counterattack!
Crystal Palace's defense was also very fast. Although Alonso wanted to dribble the ball forward, Crystal Palace's right back Martin Kelly and midfielder Jednak immediately double-teamed over. Alonso could only temporarily hold the ball. Protect and look for another opportunity.
But the ball is still in Chelsea's favor.
Alonso soon saw Lukaku running from the center to receive the ball, and passed the ball to him in the middle.
This is what Pan Yi specially ordered Lukaku to do before he came on the field.
That is, although he and Bamford are double centers, they must pay special attention to taking turns retreating to get the ball in the rest of today's game to act as an attacking midfielder or shadow forward.
After all, there is one less person on the field now!
At this time, everyone needs to run more and respond more actively, so that the team's operation will not suddenly get stuck in any link.
Just like this 3-2-4 formation, it is obviously top-heavy. If no forward retreats, there will be a larger space in the middle.
Lukaku obviously listened to Pan Yi's words. As soon as he saw Alonso encountered an obstruction, he immediately turned around to pick it up.
Another forward, Bamford, is on the offside line at this time, which can also suppress the opponent's center back and prevent their overrunning from causing a local numerical advantage.
At this time, Lukaku got the ball. This position was a little past the arc in the center circle and close to the top of the arc in the opponent's penalty area.
Then, he immediately heard his fellow Belgian - Hazard shouting: "Hanhan, this way!"
"Hanhan" is Pan Yi's "nick name" that he often calls Lukaku in the team recently, and it soon spread among the team, and everyone called him that.
And Lukaku also immediately saw Hazard starting on the left wing.
It was Chelsea's pull from the center to the wing, and then from the wing to the center that caused a small crack to appear in Crystal Palace's defense.
There is no defensive player next to Hazard!
Almost as soon as Lukaku heard "Hanhan", he quickly kicked a through ball.
The ball passed through the gap between the Crystal Palace center back and full back.
Then, Hazard kicked off his Hot Wheels, grabbed the ball directly, and rushed towards the Crystal Palace penalty area!
"Look, Chelsea has a single shot!"
"Hazard's solo shot!!! Can he score this goal?"
At this time, Selhurst Park Stadium had suddenly changed from the exclamation just now to the current silence.
Both the Crystal Palace fans at home and the Chelsea fans from the visiting team held their breaths as they watched this one-on-one goal that was formed in the blink of an eye.
Crystal Palace's 35-year-old Argentinian goalkeeper Speroni also reacted very quickly and gave up the goal immediately.
But Hazard is also very adaptable.
He made a fake move to take a shot, causing Speroni to fall to the ground to save;
But instead of shooting, Hazard suddenly moved the ball horizontally, past Speroni's entire body that was rushing towards him.
"It's over, nice shaking!"
"Now in front of Azar, there is only an unguarded gate!"
"Hazard gave a gentle push...the ball went in!!!!"
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
"Chelsea took advantage of this quick counterattack and pulled a goal back!"
"If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time Lukaku and Hazard touched the ball after coming on as substitutes!"
"The result was the first time between two people, resulting in this wonderful goal! Crystal Palace's defense instantly seemed full of loopholes!"
"The score is now one to two and Chelsea are still behind."
"Let's take a look at this slow-motion replay again. Lukaku and Hazard cooperated very well. The two cooperated at the front of the penalty area to tear apart the Crystal Palace defense. Hazard's subsequent handling was also quite calm."
"This kind of cooperation is actually quite common in Chelsea's previous games. The only difference today is that it was Lukaku who passed the ball, and it was Hazard who completed the final blow..."
"Pan Yi's desperate play has paid off! It feels like at that moment, the Crystal Palace players were a little stunned!"
"Haha, what I just said is right, Pan Yi always has some strange tricks, and they always work! Then, it depends on what game the head coaches of both sides have in less than 20 minutes left. Bar!"
——
"Boss, our replacement...should we still change?"
On the home team's bench, the assistant coach was leading centre-back Hangeland to head coach Neil Warnock.
This substitution order was made by the head coach before Chelsea scored, but just when the Norwegian defender had almost finished warming up, Chelsea also scored.
So the assistant coach was a little confused as to whether the head coach would change his mind.
"Change, why don't you change?! Damn change it for me!" Warnock was furious.
Chelsea's substitution and goal really raised his blood pressure.
Of course, the mood of leading by two goals is completely different from that of leading by one goal.
How comfortable I was just now, how nervous I am now.
After all, on the football field, a one-goal lead is really not an advantage. Being equalized is a matter of seconds!
But now he can only replace Hangeland.
Hazard played well in the goal just now, but the biggest contributor was Lukaku.
It was precisely because he retreated to get the ball this time that he scored this goal.
And it was during this pullback that Crystal Palace's central defender Delani, who was supposed to be marking Lukaku, failed to follow in time, allowing Lukaku to take the ball and pass the ball so comfortably.
So Warnock decided to let Hangeland go up, and the focus was still on guarding Lukaku!
Since this Delani is not behaving well, let him come down and rest.
Moreover, Hangeland is also stronger than Delani, and may really be able to inhibit Lukaku's performance better.
Of course, Warnock yelling at the assistant coach was just a way of venting, not that he really had any objections to the assistant coach.
After all, the cooked duck feels like it’s taking off! He was angry and scared.
The assistant coach could only silently go to the fourth official.
Of course he didn't dare to say anything, for fear of accidentally provoking the angry head coach.
——
But Warnock seems to have forgotten one thing.
Now Lukaku is not only tall, but also fast!
The legendary forward who combines "one high and one fast"!
In fact, such a forward is the most terrifying in theory.
Just like the future Haaland.
No, to be precise, they are tall, fast and strong!
When they are in good form, you really don’t know how to defend them because there are so few weaknesses!
In reality, this type of forward will be affected by various factors and may not perform well, but in the game, they are the best.
Just say Lukaku, in several generations of FM games, he is very invincible.
He is tall, super strong, and fast, and his technical and mental attributes are not too bad. He is just killing people on the court.
And Lukaku on the court today is actually close to this state.
Under Pan Yi's careful guidance, he is gradually getting rid of his original bad habits and moving towards the goal of becoming a true all-around forward.
When retreating, he can turn his back to make a fulcrum, and when advancing, he can attack the bull. How could you not love Lukaku like this?
But for the Crystal Palace defender, it was very uncomfortable.
After the substitution, since Chelsea now has two centers in Lukaku and Bamford, both of whom are not slow and have good mobility, this makes it difficult for Crystal Palace to defend.
Under their active running, it can even give people the illusion that it is Chelsea who is playing 11 against 10 on the field!
In the 79th minute, this "illusion" seemed to become a fact.
Lukaku retreated again, and at this time the opponent's Norwegian central defender Hangeland quickly followed up and stuck to him.
But Lukaku first used his body to resist the opponent, and then unloaded a long pass from the backcourt from Zouma.
Hangeland tried to kick the ball away, but Lukaku immediately passed the ball back to Matic who was receiving the ball in front of him.
At the same time, Lukaku immediately turned around, bypassed Hangeland, and rushed into the Crystal Palace penalty area!
This is an obvious anti-offside tactic!
The success of this tactic depends largely on the tacit understanding of passing and running.
Obviously, Matic understands Lukaku's intentions.
He didn't hesitate at all, he simply pushed the ball forward without stopping!
The ball drew a straight line on the grass, and then appeared between the small penalty area and the large penalty area, almost near the penalty spot.
At this time, Lukaku, who was running at full speed, rushed over and did not stop the ball at all. Instead, he took advantage of the situation and pushed directly.
At this time, Crystal Palace goalkeeper Speroni thought Lukaku would dribble past him like Hazard, so he did not move to the ground in advance.
So in the eyes of everyone in the audience, Speroni seemed to be frozen at this moment, just watching Lukaku score the ball into the door behind him.
"The ball goes in again!!!"
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
"This time it's Lukaku! He successfully countered offside and then pushed the ball in!"
"He completed a pass and a shot in less than ten minutes after coming on as a substitute!"
"His outstanding performance also helped Chelsea equalize the score!"
"This is really incredible! Ten minutes ago, who would have thought that Chelsea, who seemed to be in dire straits, would still have such a strong fighting capacity?"
"And all of this is due to Chelsea coach Pan Yi's magical substitution!"
"Really, I can't find any words to describe it except magic! It's simply amazing!"
"The game ends in about ten minutes now. So, what is Pan Yi thinking now?"
"With one less player in the away game, a draw and one point is actually an acceptable result. Will he recycle the formation a little bit to make this crazy offensive formation more stable?"
"Or, he wants to be even crazier..."
——
Over at the home team's coaching bench, Neil Warnock looked very ugly.
Standing on the sidelines, he wanted to yell, but he had to suppress the anger in his heart.
He also heard loud boos from the fans in the stands.
Although he felt that it should be booing the visiting team's celebrating players, he didn't know why, but he always felt that the fans were also booing the home team.
A two-goal lead, an extra man, and now it was leveled within ten minutes.
What happened during this time!
At that moment, Warnock felt a little helpless.
At the same time, he also felt the gap between himself and Pan Yi deep in his heart.
Pan Yi's substitutions and formation changes were so bold, but he was just shocked and puzzled after seeing it, but he could not provide an effective response in a short time.
No, he did respond, that is, he made a substitution at center back and replaced Delany with Hangeland.
But it turns out that this is of no use.
In other words, compared with Pan Yi's divine substitution, his substitution has no effect, and may have counterproductive effects.
Because Delani is faster than Hangeland! But he was replaced.
In this defense, Hangeland basically acted as a wooden stake during the entire process when Lukaku successfully countered offside.
Probably he just took advantage of his large model to let Lukaku get around a little bit, and then he had no way to stop Lukaku at all.
Chase back? nonexistent.
The huge disadvantage in speed makes it difficult for Hangeland to face some ordinary speed forwards, let alone a 200-pound assault tank like Lukaku.
"We can't go on like this." His assistant reminded carefully from the side, "Actually... it's not unacceptable at all."
Warnock understood what his aide meant.
After the substitutions, Chelsea's offense surged higher and higher. The Crystal Palace goal was like a washed-up ship that could sink completely at any time.
It can also be said that even if there is one more person in Crystal Palace, it is a bit fanciful to want to reverse the situation on the court and score another goal to win or something.
The morale of the players on both sides is completely different!
Chelsea's players were running around the field like they were on stimulants, and it didn't look like they had played for more than 80 minutes.
The Crystal Palace players all looked tired and confused, almost not knowing what to do.
In addition, the players of Crystal Palace consume a lot of physical energy. Let alone counterattack, it is a bit difficult to keep up with Chelsea's rhythm.
"Forget it, what you said makes sense." Warnock showed a determined look, "Let's hold on to these ten minutes."
At this time, he no longer had the ambition before the start of the game, nor the complacency he had ten minutes ago.
But he didn't want his assistant to see anything, so he could only accept the assistant's opinion "reluctantly".
How should I put it, although it is a bit embarrassing to fight 11 against 10 like this...
But even if they fail to win, even if it's a draw, it still ends Chelsea's winning streak!
Although it is not as satisfying as winning, after all, this is something that strong teams like Manchester City and Arsenal have not been able to do. Warnock and his Crystal Palace are also very proud!
Thinking of this, Warnock stood up.
He began to prepare the final arrangements, making substitutions and adjusting tactics.
Eleven people are trying their best to guard you against ten people. It's impossible that they can't guard you, right?
Thinking about it, Warnock couldn't help but glance at Pan Yi and spat:
"NND, how did he train as a player? How come ten people have played until now and still have the physical ability to launch such a strong attack?"
(End of chapter)
