On December 13, in the 16th round of the Premier League, Chelsea faced Hull City at home.
This game is only 2 days away from the match against Sporting CP. It is an out-and-out two-match schedule in three days.
If you change a team, it may be a headache. Even if you play a football manager game, you will rack your brains facing a screen of players with "unsatisfied health bars".
But for Chelsea, the previous Champions League game was just a "friendly match" and they did not try their best.
In addition, Pan Yi has already planned such a schedule, and the personnel arrangement can successfully complete the rotation.
Therefore, when facing Hull City, they can still face it in a relatively full state.
Just four minutes into the game, Lukaku opened the scoring for Chelsea with a sweep inside the penalty area.
Then, around the 25th minute, Lukaku broke into the penalty area and was knocked down to get a penalty kick. Hazard scored in one stroke, extending the lead to two goals.
After that, Chelsea still controlled the situation and kept the game in Hull City's half.
Hull City's strength itself is not very strong. Under Chelsea's high pressure, they can only defend with difficulty and cannot take any action to counterattack. This also makes Chelsea play more easily.
After changing sides in the second half, Chelsea scored another goal.
This time it was the knife-wielding defender Yin Vanovic, who broke in from the back row and hit a world wave in the right corner of the penalty area.
In the end, Chelsea easily defeated Tiger City 3-0 at home, winning the first 16 consecutive games!
Such a record naturally triggered a discussion in world football after the game.
Because no one knows where Chelsea will end up!
One day later, Chelsea also booked a banquet hall of a luxury hotel in the city center and held a dinner party.
This can be regarded as a celebration banquet, and it is also a good time to watch the draw ceremony of the Champions League top 16 together.
Except for CEO Ron Gurray who was not present at the draw, owners like Abramovich and chairman Bruce Buck came to the hotel to have dinner with the players and coaches.
Pan Yi also invited Valentina to participate, but she was rejected.
Although after more than a week of body sculpting training, Valentina's physical and mental state have changed a lot, at least not as decadent as at the beginning;
But after all, she still feels a little inferior about her slightly fat figure, so she is still unwilling to show up in such public places.
Pan Yi also understood this and let her go.
Let’s talk about it after a while!
In the hotel, Abramovich also gave a brief speech, to the effect of congratulating the team on their achievements and hoping that the team could continue their efforts and achieve better results in the Premier League and Champions League.
Subsequently, Abramovich also directly announced that this year's championship bonus, whether it is the Premier League or the Champions League, will be directly increased by 50% on the original basis!
This of course also caused bursts of cheers from the audience.
Pan Yi also spoke.
He also expressed optimism about the team's prospects, but still suggested that everyone should pay attention to the schedule during the Christmas and winter breaks.
Although Chelsea no longer has the task of the League Cup, the pressure has been reduced a lot;
….
But why is the Christmas schedule so scary every year?
It is because of the high-intensity Premier League games alone that three or four games are often scheduled to be played in a week.
The Premier League teams will also join the FA Cup competition at this stage, which further aggravates the situation.
In previous Premier League seasons, Arsenal often failed at this stage.
One of the reasons is that they attach great importance to the League Cup, especially the FA Cup. It’s not called “Thermos Cup” for nothing!
It is undoubtedly very risky to force a fourth-line operation when the team's lineup is not very abundant and the depth of the bench is average.
There is a joke that asks "Spring"
What is the sign of the coming of heaven? "
Answer: "First, the days are getting longer; second, the temperature is getting warmer; third, Arsenal is starting to withdraw from the championship competition in various competitions."
Occasionally it is a coincidence, but if it happens often, there is a pattern.
Therefore, Pan Yi also asked everyone to be more vigilant and not make the same mistake.
In his speech, Pan Yi also said that the team's most important goal this season is to win the Premier League and Champions League. Like other cup competitions, everyone can relax and play.
The League Cup has been eliminated, and the FA Cup can go anywhere. This game also gives the young players in the team more opportunities to show themselves.
This also relieves some of the psychological burden on the players. Otherwise, if they compete for victory in all games and have a tight string in their heads all the time, it will be easy for them to collapse.
In addition, when the team is winning continuously and is almost invincible, the players' complacency also needs to be controlled.
There are mostly young players in the team. When they achieve such good results, they will be put in the spotlight. Fans all over the world are talking about them, which also adds many fans to them.
There will even be more commercial endorsements and activities.
When there are more and more external temptations, players with high professionalism will handle them well and still put more energy into training and competition.
And some young players will just float up, and then float further and further, and finally fall down and it will be very painful.
This is also an important reason for many "Injury Zhongyong" type players.
And listening to Pan Yi's teachings, the players also nodded one after another. Of course they understand what the coach expects of them!
After Pan Yi's speech, the draw ceremony for the top 16 of the Champions League began in Nyon, Switzerland, and the small balls representing each team began to be taken out of the glass jar one by one.
Due to the principle of avoidance of the same group and the same country, Chelsea, who qualified first in the group, will not encounter Arsenal, Manchester City and Dortmund.
In this way, their opponents can only be between Atletico Madrid, Basel, Schalke 04, Paris Saint-Germain and Shakhtar Donetsk.
In fact, for Pan Yi and Chelsea now, it doesn't matter who is drawn in the top 16. Anyway, if they want to win the championship and maintain victory, they have to defeat them all.
But if you must choose, it would definitely be better to choose Basel or Schalke 04, which are relatively weaker.
However, with Chelsea having such a strong momentum now, wouldn't it be too unchallenging to play in Basel or something like that?
….
Therefore, Chelsea "naturally" got the second place in the strongest group.
Paris Saint-Germain!
Another eye-catching aspect of this game is that Pan Yi's two old players in Milan, Yin Bu and Thiago Silva, are now the backbone of Paris Saint-Germain.
This draw result made Chelsea players whisper among themselves.
Although Pan Yi also felt that he was being targeted a bit, he still stood up and took advantage of the situation to encourage everyone:
"I like this lottery result very much."
"I just like to chew hard bones, so that we can prove our strength, don't you?"
"Our goal is the ultimate championship, and if the opponents we eliminate on the way to the championship are all unknowns, it seems too boring."
"So let's get ready, let's take Paris!"
There were bursts of applause and cheers from the dining table.
Pan Yi continued: "It's just that by the time we actually leave for Paris, it will be two months later."
"We still have to do the things in front of us first and play the latest games first."
"When we have truly passed this harsh Christmas schedule, we can face the challenge of Paris Saint-Germain in the best mental and competitive state!..."
This is emphasized once again.
Next, the draws of other Champions League teams
It was done quickly too.
Bayern Munich VS Shakhtar Donetsk.
Porto VS Basel.
Real Madrid VS Schalke 04.
Barcelona VS Manchester City.
Juventus VS Dortmund.
Hamburg vs Atletico Madrid.
Arsenal VS Monaco.
Apart from Chelsea vs. Paris Saint-Germain, the most popular of the remaining matches is of course Barcelona vs. Manchester City.
They meet again!
And they met in the top 16 of the Champions League for two consecutive years.
In addition to the grudge showdown between them, the two games of Juventus VS Dortmund and Hamburg VS Atletico Madrid are also quite interesting.
Especially Hamburg VS Atletico Madrid. When Hamburg won the championship last season, they defeated Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals.
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"Potter", this is because the local area is famous for its ceramic industry.
But it is precisely because their high-flying tactics are so famous that when people talk about Stoke City, they often think of the nickname "City in the Sky" first.
The club gets a special title because of a style of play, which is quite special in the history of football.
Of course, if you just say it is "high" or "British style of play", it is actually not very special.
After all, in England, there are many teams that play long passes and lobs. Although it is difficult to achieve as extreme as Stoke City, there are still some.
What is truly impressive about Stoke City, and even a pioneering tactic that can be recorded in the annals of football history, is the throw-in grenade tactic!
Listen to a song sung by Stoke City fans at the time: "We only score from throw-ins..."
This is the Irish midfielder Rory John Delap in their formation.
The guy had a curious hobby of throwing things out of the family window when he was just two years old, and was professionally trained in the javelin before joining football.
Delap, who has amazing arm strength and accurate throwing, has no outstanding football talent. He can only start his career with Carlisle United, a low-level team in England, and later moved to Derby County, Southampton, Sunderland and other teams.
Stoke City coach Tony Pulis, who was still in the Championship at the time, had a keen eye and loaned Delap from Sunderland.
….
Then, the foul ball grenade tactic that can be said to shock the world appeared.
With an average speed of 60 kilometers per hour, a maximum throwing distance of 40 meters, and the huge power to throw the football directly into the opponent's small penalty area, Stoke City relied on this trick that worked repeatedly and eventually advanced to the Premier League.
In the Premier League, this tactic is also extremely sharp, especially when dealing with some technical teams, it makes opponents very uncomfortable.
Delap's real masterpiece came in the 11th round of the 2008-09 Premier League season, when Stoke City, as a newly promoted team, faced Arsenal at home.
In the first half of the game, Delap took a throw-in and directly assisted Fuller to score;
In the second half of the game, Delap repeated his old tricks, throwing the byline ball into the Arsenal team, crossing Shawcross, and finally being hit by Olofyana in the chest. In the end, Stoke City won 2: 1 wins.
After this campaign, Stoke City only scored 13 goals in the first 11 rounds of the Premier League this season, one of which was directly scored by Delap, and the other 7 goals were all thrown by Delap. Scored later!
Delap's grenade throw-in tactic has almost become unsolvable in the Premier League.
This defeat has made Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger always worried, thinking that the opponent used "hands" instead of "feet" to kick the ball, unlike real "football".
Even many years later, Wenger, who became FIFA's technical consultant, proposed that football's throw-in rules be changed to be kicked with the feet. This shows how deeply Delap "hurt" him...
Of course, Delap's throw-in ball is not just thrown away, it still needs a lot of supporting facilities.
Needless to say about tactics, Tony Pulis has a throw-in tactic specially designed for Delap. There is even a proper name for this tactic called "Drap Predator".
In terms of introducing players, Stoke City only selects those 19-year-old and strong rugby-type football players to fight for the top in the penalty area.
In order to maximize the power of Delap's throw-in, Stoke City even reduced the width of the home stadium's Britannia Stadium to the limit within the limits of Premier League rules, only 64 meters (normal About 68 meters), and increase the distance between the billboard and the edge of the football field (3 to 5 meters).
Also, at Stoke City's home court, there are special large towels on the sideline, including in the hands of ball boys, specially provided for Delap to wipe the football to minimize the risk of slippery balls. The friction is reduced.
All this is to allow Delap's throw-in ball to be thrown farther and more accurately!
However, now that Chelsea meets Stoke City again, they don't need to worry about being hit by a grenade.
Because at the end of 2013, this "Popeye" had retired.
And precisely because of his departure, this classic tactic of Stoke City also disappeared.
After all, this tactic relies too much on this special skill. Looking at the world of football, there may never be another person who can throw throw-ins as fast, far and accurately as Delap.
After Delap left, the power of Stoke City's high-altitude bombing tactics also declined. Later, Tony Pulis also left, and only then did he join Crystal Palace.
….
The current head coach of Stoke City is former Manchester City coach Mark Hughes.
He is a person who advocates technical football, but he also knows that the transformation of Stoke City cannot be rushed. After all, the players in the team are still a group of senior players, and they cannot be allowed to go to Zhang Fei to embroider overnight.
Therefore, Stoke City now combines the tactics of advancing from the backcourt and long passes.
The forward line is still two tall men, 20 Crouch and 19 Arnautovic, but behind them is Bojan, who is not tall but has delicate skills.
This genius, who came out of the La Masia youth academy and almost swept the scoring records of all Barcelona youth teams, did not develop as expected as an adult, but coming to a team like Stoke City with a lot of bad guys, it is true Technology helps the poor.
And Mark Hughes' transformation of the team is obviously successful.
This season, their performance has been firmly in the middle of the standings. The two games they defeated Arsenal 3-2 at home and swept Liverpool 6-1 also made everyone realize that the new Stoke City team is in the process of Rise up and become the terminator of the wealthy team!
Therefore, their home game against Chelsea also has high expectations.
------------------
When the referee blew the final whistle, more than 20,000 Stoke City fans in the Britannia Stadium cheered and celebrated.
But they didn't win.
The reason why they are so excited is because they did not lose either!
The score on the scoreboard at this time is 0:0.
Stoke City drew with Chelsea!
This can be said to be a very great achievement for a team whose mission is to avoid relegation.
After all, Chelsea this season is an invincible and powerful team!
And this draw also means that Chelsea's winning streak in the Premier League also stopped at the 16th game.
This made Stoke City head coach Mark Hughes so excited that he punched the fans in the stands in celebration.
But Pan Yi stood in front of the visiting team's coaching bench without saying a word.
It is of course impossible to say that he was not depressed.
If the team didn't win, how could he be happy as the head coach?
It's just that today is really a bit weird.
First of all, under the cold weather in the northwest of England, Chelsea's players seemed to suddenly become less good at playing football.
Errors in passing and receiving began to increase, especially under the pressure of Stoke City's midfield consisting of five strong men, making it difficult for Chelsea to organize an effective offense.
During the halftime break, Pan Yi immediately made adjustments and asked Kanter to replace Chik in order to strengthen the defense and protection of the midfield.
This move also stabilized Chelsea's position and began to play an effective offense.
It's just that Stoke City's goalkeeper Begovic also failed today, making eight effective saves in the game, and Lukaku also missed many scoring opportunities in a row.
In the end, Chelsea could only draw a goalless draw with their opponents and end their winning streak.
At the post-game press conference, a reporter asked:
"The day after this game is Christmas Eve. Do the young players at Chelsea feel a little absent-minded? Is this the reason why Chelsea cannot continue to win?"
….
Pan Yi said that he is willing to take all responsibilities:
"My players have done what they can do. I know that they have tried their best. The responsibility for not winning today lies with me because I was not prepared for the Christmas schedule."
In fact, Pan Yi also understands that the unstable state of Chelsea players has a lot to do with playing the game the day before Christmas.
Why is the Christmas schedule so difficult?
In addition to the abnormal schedule of three games in five days and two games in three days, "Christmas" itself is also a very important factor.
In this most important holiday for Westerners, in most leagues, everyone should go home for the holidays and spend time with their families, girlfriends, wives and children.
As a result, in the Premier League, playing games during such a holiday period inevitably makes it difficult for people to be 100% spirited.
Therefore, in such games, the competition is often about which player can concentrate more and devote more energy to the game.
Obviously, Stoke City are better in this regard.
But Pan Yi doesn't blame the players for this.
This is human nature.
To be fair, if you are asked to work overtime on New Year's Eve, even if you are paid overtime, deep down you still won't be as motivated as you would normally be at work...
The reporter added: "Actually, the record of 16 consecutive victories is already very impressive. You don't have to feel too upset about this draw."
Pan Yi also smiled and said, "Thank you for your comfort. In fact, I'm not that upset at all."
"In the world of football, there is no winning team forever, and even undefeated teams cannot remain undefeated."
"So this draw, in my opinion, cannot even be regarded as a trough for our players, but just an inevitable necessity reflected by the laws of football."
"And I even think today's draw is a good thing for us."
"We have already broken the record, and if we keep thinking about how to extend this record, it will make the players too nervous on the court. This draw will allow us to be more relaxed for the next games."
"After all, the championship is the most important thing."
"Then, let us happily spend my first Christmas in the UK. Then, we will consider the following games, including the upcoming winter window transfer period."
"Merry Christmas!"
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