Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 213 Chelsea's Number 9 Curse

"The ball is in!"

TV commentator Gary Lineker excitedly shouted, "Goal! Manchester City have scored just two minutes into the game!"

"The man who unlocked the scoring opportunity is still that man! The man who leaves the opponents with no solution!"

"Of course, the biggest credit for this goal goes to David Luiz. He seemed to be distracted, which allowed Shan Yongzhuo to break through him very easily."

"This was a very unacceptable mistake. Perhaps at that moment he was praying to God to help him defend against Shan Yongzhuo."

"You have to understand that when facing Shan Yongzhuo, the world's number one striker, and in my opinion, he is very likely to become the greatest striker in history, any small mistake could have fatal consequences."

"This goal should serve as a wake-up call for David Luiz. When facing Shan Yongzhuo, you absolutely cannot let your guard down for even a moment, because that could be fatal!"

Lineker seized the opportunity to criticize David Luiz, and indirectly praised Shan Yongzhuo wildly.

However, viewers watching the game on TV didn't think anything of it.

First of all, Lineker is the most famous ardent supporter of Shan Yongzhuo. Praising Shan Yongzhuo is almost a daily routine for Lineker, and he is known as the number one Shan Yongzhuo supporter.

He even said that even at his peak, he couldn't match Shan Yongzhuo's performance by a third.

This shows just how much this person flattered Shan Yongzhuo.

However, there's not much to say about this goal; it was just a classic shot from near the penalty area line, typical of Shan Yongzhuo's style.

The most striking thing was David Louis's absent-mindedness, which seemed somewhat unbelievable.

At that moment, he was like a wooden stake.

"what are you doing?"

"You're dealing with Shan Yongzhuo!"

"Damn it, David, pull yourself together!"

The Chelsea players surrounded David Luiz and complained, which greatly annoyed him.

"Don't worry, I won't make a mistake!"

David Louis gritted his teeth, while Terry on the other side said sarcastically, "David, I hope you keep your word."

"If you don't think it's going to work, then let's switch. You can keep a close watch on him!"

"Forehead……"

David Louis didn't have a very good impression of Terry, so he couldn't help but retort.

Terry gave a dry laugh, said nothing, and walked away.

Keep an eye on Shan Yongzhuo?
Sorry, I, John Trico, do not have Stockholm syndrome.

I'm getting old, I'd better go deal with Ruo.

Watching Terry walk away, David Louis didn't say anything more, but he became even more convinced that Shan Yongzhuo's conversation was definitely meant to distract him.

As Thiago Silva said, it's an ancient Eastern wisdom, something like the Thirty-Six Stratagems.

"Damn it, I won't fall for that trick again!"

David Luiz stared at the Manchester City number 10 celebrating below the away stands, clenching his fists and speaking through gritted teeth.

On the other side, another man was also looking at Shan Yongzhuo with a complicated expression, feeling a mix of emotions.

He is the freckled Spanish heartthrob, Fernando Torres.

Torres has not had a very happy time since joining Chelsea.

Although Chelsea valued his arrival highly and he didn't need to worry about his starting position, he seemed to be cursed with Chelsea's number 9 jersey.

On the field, Torres' performance was quite active, and he didn't seem to be really uncomfortable. He was also able to cooperate well with his teammates.

But Chelsea's number 9 curse struck him again.

Torres always seems to falter when it comes to the final shot.

Since joining Chelsea two months ago, Torres has yet to score a single goal, and even missed an open goal once.

This is clearly not the state Chelsea wanted to see. They spent 6000 million euros to bring in Torres, hoping that he could continue his outstanding performance at Liverpool and take over Drogba's mantle.

Activating Torres's scoring touch has become Ancelotti's top priority recently.

However, after Torres joined Chelsea, he completely lost his magic and was even labeled a flop. In fact, this doesn't necessarily mean that Torres was a flop.

On the one hand, the ups and downs of injuries have indeed affected Torres' form, and his explosiveness and sprinting ability have declined significantly.

But this is not the core factor.

More importantly, his playing style doesn't really fit with Chelsea's.

When he was at Liverpool, Liverpool's style of play was standard counter-attacking. The main way to attack was for Gerrard to send through balls from the middle, and Torres would use his speed and superb skills to sprint and powerfully attack the opponent's defense.

This style of play was almost always effective. During Torres' time at Liverpool, Premier League defenders suffered greatly at his hands. Even top defenders like Vidic found Torres to be a nightmare.

However, Chelsea now is a slow team with a lot of slow, possession-based passing combinations.

They value control of the midfield and the attacking power on both flanks.

Chelsea's best attacking style is to use high balls down the flanks to find a target man, or to score through Lampard's forward runs and shots.

While Lampard shares many similarities with Gerrard, the two are also quite different.

Lampard is not a player who particularly likes to drop deep and deliver long through balls on the counter-attack. On the contrary, he prefers to make forward runs and score more often than Gerrard. You could even say he is a striker with the title of midfielder.

With a slow-paced, controlled attacking rhythm, Torres lost the space to sprint, which was his greatest strength, making it difficult for him to utilize his abilities at Chelsea.

Repeated injuries affected his ability to compete, causing his performance to decline rapidly.

Now, seeing Shan Yongzhuo displaying such prowess, Torres felt quite uneasy.

His transfer fee to Chelsea wasn't much less than Shan Yongzhuo's transfer to Manchester City, but their performances were worlds apart.

As a top striker, Torres was naturally unwilling to accept this.

However, he didn't have any good solutions.

"Perhaps I should ask him how he maintains his form."

"But we don't know each other..."

"How can I become friends with him?"

Seeing Shan Yongzhuo celebrating, Torres was caught in a dilemma.

The game starts again.

Chelsea launched a fierce attack after conceding the first goal.

And they were indeed able to gain the upper hand on the field.

Manchester City fielded a midfield pairing of De Jong and Yaya Toure in the central midfield position. While this rugged duo is undoubtedly strong in defense, interception, and sweeping, their weaknesses are also quite obvious.

Insufficient self-control.

Therefore, Manchester City's attacks have generally relied on the two flanks. Even when they rely on the middle, players like David Silva need to move towards the center to facilitate the transition.

Of course, Mancini's 4-2-2-2 formation doesn't really expect the middle lane to play a significant role.

Mancini's tactical philosophy relies heavily on the two wingers who have been converted into attacking midfielders.

Therefore, facing the combination of Lampard and Essien, De Jong and Yaya Toure were clearly unable to control the midfield situation and could only defend passively.

Manchester City's midfield collapsed almost immediately, and Chelsea used their midfield advantage to firmly control the game.

However, Chelsea now faces their biggest problem since losing Anelka this season: a lack of attacking firepower.

While Chelsea built an advantage, both Torres and Malouda squandered chances time and again, failing to convert their lead into goals.

In football matches, especially when two equally matched teams are playing, if one side gains an advantage but fails to score, it is very easy for the other side to launch a counterattack.

Chelsea has encountered such a situation.

Manchester City can easily launch beautiful counter-attacks by relying on their two flanks. Although the first two counter-attacks were ineffective, they finally succeeded on the third one.

This time it was in the 11th minute of the match. Kolarov broke through on the wing, and his final cross was cleared out of bounds by David Luiz.

Then, Cech and the other Chelsea players saw Shan Yongzhuo heading towards the corner flag.

A very bad premonition rose in their hearts.

(End of this chapter)