In the 37th minute, Malouda passed the ball diagonally in front of the goal. Drogba jumped up in the middle and shook his head to attack the goal. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced out. Ramirez turned around in the penalty area and shot again. The ball missed the post.
In stoppage time, Anelka shot diagonally from the right and the ball hit the side net and popped out.
At the end of the first half, the Blues Chelsea were temporarily trailing Birmingham 0:1 away from home, and Bowyer took the lead for the home team.
Entering the locker room with a trailing score, the mood of the Chelsea players was low, and Ancelotti was already worried about whether this would be his third defeat of the season.
Until he saw Xiao Yu.
Ancelotti called Xiao Yu aside.
"Xiao, how are you resting?"
Ancelotti asked Xiao Yu with concern.
"Beer is great, he can play the whole game without any problem."
After hearing Ancelotti ask about his situation, Xiao Yu also showed off his biceps to show him that he was already full of energy and ready to challenge at any time.
"In the second half, I think Birmingham will definitely put up a tight formation. We need to break the game, and we need to be careful of their quick counterattacks. Who do you think is more suitable?"
Ancelotti asked Xiao Yu as if talking to himself.
It stands to reason that such decisions should be made by An Shuai himself, but Xiao Yu was surprised when he asked himself this question today. However, the number of people available in Chelsea's formation is currently very limited, and Xiao Yu also has an idea in his heart.
"In the forward line, I will play. In the midfield, Tony can play as a defensive midfielder. As for the backcourt, Virgil can also play as a central defender."
Xiao Yu also adhered to the principle of not avoiding relatives, and directly recommended the players he transferred to Ancelotti.
"Okay, you go and prepare first. You can appear at any time in the second half."
Xiao Yu's suggestion was actually very close to what Ancelotti thought. He also looked at the players he brought today. Except for Toni Kroos and Van Dijk, none of the others seemed to be suitable. .
Ancelotti couldn't help but shook his head. At the beginning of the season, he felt that this season's lineup was enough for them to successfully defend the title. However, in the 14th round, nearly 10 people were already missing, and they lost two games. Now the pressure to defend the title suddenly increased. He made a decision. This winter window, Abramovich must strengthen again. If he wants to defend the title and hit the Champions League, the depth of the lineup needs to be greater.
…
In the second half, the two sides changed places to fight again. In the 50th minute, Chelsea continued to pass the ball from the left. Kalou broke through to the bottom line and passed to the goal. Foster grabbed the ball before Drogba.
In the next 10 minutes, Birmingham's iron barrel formation became more and more confident as it defended. Chelsea's offense took absolute initiative on the scene, but it was difficult to attack the opponent's penalty area to form an effective threat.
In the 61st minute, Chelsea intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and counterattacked. Kalou received Malouda's pass into the penalty area and dunked the goalkeeper at a small angle and hit an empty goal. Unfortunately, the ball went over the crossbar.
Then Chelsea made a substitution, Xiao Yu came on and replaced Kalu.
"We saw that Xiao Yu came on the stage. It seems that Birmingham's iron barrel formation really gave Ancelotti a headache. Let's replace him with Xiao Yu to continue the impact."
"Xiao Yu's arrival will definitely bring about a lot of changes, and Birmingham will also have to take corresponding countermeasures."
Xiao Yu's appearance also brought Ancelotti's latest arrangements.
Ancelotti asked Xiao Yu to play as an attacking midfielder, Drogba and Anelka played as double forwards, Malouda and Mikel played as central midfielders on both sides, and Ramirez temporarily withdrew to the defensive midfielder position. .
After this change, Drogba and Anelka entered Birmingham's iron barrel formation. Xiao Yu came on and hit a through ball. The football seemed to have eyes. He passed by the feet of several Birmingham defenders. Passed directly through and came directly to Drogba's vicinity.
However, this pass was too sudden. Drogba did not expect that Xiao Yu could pass it. He was not prepared and just completed the shot in a hurry. The football did not have any power and was beaten by Birmingham goalkeeper Foster. Easy to get.
Drogba also shook his head helplessly and gave Xiao Yu a thumbs up.
Two minutes later, Xiao Yu broke through again in the frontcourt, but Sebastian Larsson brought Xiao Yu down with a sliding tackle. The referee directly showed a yellow card and awarded Chelsea a free kick in the frontcourt.
Because Xiao Yu's free kicks are famous.
Birmingham's defense was very tight. There were all Chelsea players in the penalty area. Birmingham players were just one-on-one defenders. There were only three people on the wall, and they didn't forget to put one inside the goal.
Seeing Birmingham's arrangement like this, Xiao Yu didn't want to waste the opportunity. He ran up and suddenly passed the ball across the ball. Malouda immediately stepped in and prepared for a long shot.
However, Malouda, who hit the defenders with many long-range shots, was also anxious to break the situation, and then passed the ball back to Xiao Yu.
All seven defenders in the penalty area did not come out, trying to keep Chelsea's offense out of the penalty area.
However, Xiao Yu didn't want to get into the crowd. After a fake move, Xiao Yu kicked the ball and Drogba immediately went to grab the spot in the penalty area.
Unfortunately, there were still too many defensive players in the penalty area, and the ball was knocked out of the penalty area by the 194-foot-tall Scott Dance.
Then Mikel from outside the penalty area followed up with a long shot. The football hit the defender and bounced out of the baseline.
Chelsea won a corner kick.
The corner kick was taken, and Chelsea, except for Ivanovic and Alex, all attacked near Birmingham's penalty area. Unfortunately, Malouda's corner kick was still grabbed by Birmingham's tall central defender.
Ramirez shot another long shot from outside the penalty area, but it still hit the defender.
Then Barry Ferguson immediately cleared the ball away.
Taking advantage of this throw-in opportunity, Chelsea made another substitution adjustment and replaced Ferreira with Van Dijk.
Since then, the central defender combination of Van Dijk and Alex has liberated Ivanovic and allowed him to participate more in the offense. Chelsea really needs to break the game as soon as possible.
In the 65th minute, Chelsea's attacker Mikel got a breakthrough opportunity on the right. He cleverly passed the defender and then made a cross.
Anelka followed up in the middle and tried to grab the point, but Birmingham's goalkeeper struck in time to resolve the danger.
Just two minutes later, Chelsea attacked again.
This time, Xiao Yu broke through in the middle, but his shot was blocked by the Birmingham defender with his body.
Subsequently, a corner kick was taken, and Chelsea players scuffled in the penalty area, but ultimately failed to form a threatening shot.
In the 68th minute, Chelsea's attack struck again.
Xiao Yu rushed towards the left, but Birmingham's right back Carl made a move and grabbed Xiao Yu's jersey after being passed by Xiao Yu, but this did not affect Xiao Yu's completion of the pass.
The referee also did not blow the whistle because of the principle of favorable offense, but he also put the whistle into his mouth.
