Francis had coached many clubs before coaching Birmingham. There were also strong teams, including teams like Tottenham. But in the end, he left in despair. Because of his poor performance, those strong teams directly dismissed him.
After experiencing various victories and defeats, he is now more realistic than anyone else, because at his age, he knows that in football, people only recognize champions.
When playing against Chelsea, Francis was self-aware.
Birmingham's strength is not at the same level as Chelsea's. If they play offense with them, Birmingham will definitely die without a place to die.
Therefore, Francis had already decided on his strategy early.
He caught Chelsea off guard at the start of the game. It would be best if he could score a goal. If he couldn't score, he couldn't continue to fight Chelsea. He had already thought that the main thing in this game was to defend.
It would be best if it could be delayed until a penalty shootout.
Just good luck.
Scored a goal right after the opening kickoff.
So Francis was very happy to play defense.
He just wants to keep a ball.
The Birmingham players also went all out.
They use numbers to defend, and their half is full of their players. As soon as the Chelsea players get the ball, they will press crazily. In addition to the first few Chelsea players, Williams and Lampard pass by
The people and skills are average.
They are both very typical English midfielders.
Fortunately, Lampard and Williams have very solid basic skills and will not concede the ball as soon as they press.
But not being able to hit the ball is the biggest problem.
Hasselbaink and Eto'o couldn't catch the ball at all. Even if they did get the ball, there were Birmingham players in front of them. And Hasselbaink and Eto'o are both fast players.
What is needed is a broad sprint space.
Even if the space is not big, there should be at least a few meters away.
But Birmingham is now fully retreating, and there is no room for them to sprint.
The game just froze there.
Chelsea kept possession of the ball in the midfield and were unable to enter dangerous areas.
"Chelsea is really difficult to deal with. They are not good at attacking in the first place, and now Birmingham is retreating with all its members. It seems that Birmingham has no plan to counterattack at all, and there is no one left in front. Look at the current ball possession rate,
Chelsea's ball possession rate reached 77%. This is the first time Chelsea has such a high ball possession rate this season."
Mortensen looked at the helpless Chelsea players and shook his head.
"How to break down Birmingham's defense is probably Coach Su Yun's biggest headache right now."
Su Yun really had a headache.
This kind of strong attack is indeed not Chelsea's strong point. Facing this kind of defense, even with wide players, it is difficult to block the penalty area. What's more, Chelsea still has some problems on the wing.
How to score against Birmingham.
Chelsea fans were even more anxious.
Seeing Birmingham's full defense there, Chelsea fans were really angry.
"Don't be a turtle! Come out to me if you can!"
"Come out, you cowering turtle!"
Chelsea fans kept calling Birmingham fans "cowardly".
Birmingham fans immediately hit back.
"we are the champion!"
"You guys go eat shit!"
Birmingham fans don't care about that. As long as they can win, as long as they can win a championship, they are very satisfied.
So they don't care how ugly the game on the field is.
They like the current situation.
Because Chelsea didn't have any threatening goal at all. They were all passed around in the midfield, and the final mistake was intercepted by Birmingham players. Of course, Birmingham's offense was immediately interrupted by Chelsea, and then the process was repeated again.
This is the situation on the court now.
Chelsea players were a little overwhelmed.
Because the ball can't be passed in no matter what.
Facing the opponent's intensive defense, Chelsea really had no choice. In the end, Desailly was the only one left in Chelsea's backcourt. Terry sometimes rushed to the frontcourt, while Solin and Panucci were on the sidelines.
Road impact.
Unfortunately, there are more and more people.
But Birmingham's half became increasingly crowded.
Too many people.
Passing the ball is even more difficult.
The game passed like this minute by minute. Su Yun discovered it on the court. Francis really wanted to carry out his obscenity to the end.
This can't go on like this.
The players have already worked very hard.
In the frontcourt, Hasselbaink, Eto'o and even Zola kept moving, hoping to find a space, but Birmingham had too many players.
They just put up a big wall in front of Chelsea.
Layer after layer.
very thick.
After one, there is another.
This is Birmingham's defense right now.
Time passed by minute by second. Unknowingly, the first half was almost over. Chelsea had many shots. It reached nearly fourteen times. Unfortunately, only four of them hit the target. And none of these shots were successful.
It's a threatening herd.
Because the ball really couldn't be passed in, we could only hastily kick from the outside.
Lampard and Williams did not have enough space, or the Birmingham players simply did not give them a calm chance to score. Therefore, their shots were hasty.
Although they are all masters of long-distance shooting, it definitely does not mean that they can succeed as long as they shoot.
And there is no shed at all in Birmingham.
Except for Andrew Johnson's shot in the opening game, there was not a single shot in the game.
But now Birmingham leads Chelsea 1-0.
"Dududu——"
The boring battle is finally over.
Chelsea players are all a little listless. Before the game, everyone was full of confidence, thinking that Birmingham was just a piece of cake. But now they can't break Birmingham's goal.
Su Yun had already left the stadium and entered the locker room.
…………
The atmosphere in the locker room was very solemn.
Every Chelsea player was dejected.
Su Yun looked around at the group of players and then laughed. "Why are you all scared?"
The players raised their heads when they heard Su Yun's laughter.
"It's just Birmingham. Are you still afraid of them? Look at your current behavior. You're all dejected. You're just one goal behind." Su Yun shook his head indifferently. "Look at you. I'm really blushing. Why am I like you?
players. Is the game over?”
Just because Su Yun is kind doesn't mean he won't get angry.
Su Yun hates it when players get discouraged like this at halftime.
"If people know that my players are being treated like this by a League One team like Birmingham, how can I go out to meet people? Don't say you are Chelsea players or my players when you go out in the future. Birmingham has
What? Isn’t it just to use numbers to defend? There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Su Yun first criticized the Chelsea players.
Then he continued with a smile: "I see that Birmingham has a lot of loopholes. That's why I am the coach here, but you are my team members."
After hearing Su Yun's words, even Clark next to him looked at Su Yun.
Birmingham's kind of defense. No coach in the world dares to say that his team can break it. Chelsea is even less good at breaking this kind of team's goal. Does Su Yun have a way?
The players were also surprised.
In their opinion, Birmingham is playing completely rogue style.
Who can break this defense?
Su Yun waited until everyone's attention was on him, then slowly said: "Birmingham's desperate style of play is a waste of energy. And more importantly, they need to concentrate. This is very important for their spirit.
The pressure on God is also very high.”
"They won't maintain this high level of concentration for 90 minutes, so you have to be patient. They will definitely have holes in the second half."
"Look here."
Su Yun began to lay out his tactics for the second half.
Birmingham is just a League One team. Their current defense is completely childish in terms of defensive system. They have been able to maintain the lead so far. This is entirely because their players use physical strength to run to make up for their lack of defense.
loopholes.
Physical strength will definitely be an issue.
This is the only loophole that Su Yun can seize. And Su Yun also has to give up the style of constantly controlling the midfield in the first half.
Because holding the ball in the midfield is simply not Chelsea's style.
Chelsea also doesn't have the kind of player who slowly controls the ball in the midfield but can inadvertently deliver a fatal blow.
It's just a waste of everyone's energy and energy.
…………
"From the first half, Chelsea had absolutely no way to deal with Birmingham's defense. How will Su Yun change the current unfavorable situation?"
Mortensen revealed his question mark?
Not only Mortensen, but all Chelsea fans think so.
How will Su Yun adjust?
In fact, Chelsea doesn't have much room for change now. Especially facing a defense like Birmingham's, there is no other way.
Su Yun's approach is always very simple.
Su Yun pushed Williams forward again and began to use him as a center.
Su Yun is ready to speed up the tempo and use quick passes to mobilize the Birmingham players. As long as the second half speeds up by about 20 minutes, Su Yun will not believe that there are no physical problems with the Birmingham players. As long as one of them has physical problems, the defense will appear.
loopholes.
After the start of the second half, Chelsea did not score immediately.
Still the same as the first half.
They were constantly attacking around the Birmingham goal. The only difference was that there were more direct passes. Williams acted as a bridgehead in the front, constantly fighting for headers.
"The second half was exactly the same as the first half. However, Chelsea still had the upper hand and failed to score, and could not find a way to break Birmingham's goal. If this continues, Chelsea will probably be the most frustrated runner-up in the history of the League Cup."
"Chelsea needs a hero now. A hero stands up to save the team. The hearts of Chelsea fans are definitely calling for a hero!"
