Team Spirit

Chapter 262 The Tragedy of the Door Gods
In the 76th minute, Robben used a change of pace on the right wing to get past Filho, and then cut the ball back from the byline.

Lampard chipped the ball to the far post.

Kompany turned and stretched out his leg to clear the ball, but failed to make contact with it.

Joe Cole takes a shot from a tight angle at the far post.

Fortunately, the angle was small, and the ball was blocked out of bounds by Neuer's body.

Lu Kai looked at Phil and Duff, who were panting heavily.

Duff's stamina declined, and he failed to get back to defense in time, which led to Filho being outmaneuvered by Robben.

Although Filho has made significant progress in the past year, his overall level is barely at the bottom of the first tier, and his reputation is only third-rate. It's normal that he can't stop Robben.

In the 78th minute, Robben launched another attack down the right flank, and despite being surrounded and pressed, he still managed to pass the ball to Lampard who had come back to receive it.

Lampard made a long pass to the left wing.

Joe Cole went one-on-one with Ashley Young, using a series of small-angle feints and an extremely fast step frequency.

Ashley Young, however, didn't falter; he fought and retreated, maintaining his position throughout.

In the final moments, Joe Cole suddenly accelerated, drawing Ashley Young's foot forward before delivering a nutmeg sweep into the penalty area.

Drogba and Lampard vie for the ball in the penalty area.

Vidic, Kompany, and Pepe all tried to stop them, and none of them managed to touch the ball.

Instead, Robben scored with a diving tackle at the far post.

Neuer was powerless to intervene.

“GOAL!!!”

"One to three, Robben has scored, a goal that salvaged some pride for Chelsea."

"With Joe Cole and Robben flying down the wings, Chelsea should have played like this a long time ago."

On the sidelines, Dartford had to use their last substitution.

Vardy replaced Duff, making it a lone striker.

Dzeko dropped back to the attacking midfield position.

Ribery has been moved from right winger to right midfielder.

Lu Kai moved to the left to play as a left winger, helping Firo suppress Robben.

In the 81st minute, Chelsea bypassed Lu Kai's lane and launched an attack from Joe Cole's side.

They are old rivals of Lu Kai, so they are well aware of Lu Kai's strength on the defensive end.

Joe Cole dribbled continuously on the left flank and passed the ball back to Makelele while he was double-teamed.

Makelele played a through ball to the left.

Ashley Cole gets the ball.

Previously, due to the failure of Chelsea's tactic of attacking down both wings, the ball could not cross the halfway line, and Ashley Cole's offensive advantages could not be utilized.

Unless he abandons his defensive position and rushes above the halfway line, but given Mourinho's requirements for the team's defensive formation, such a thing is absolutely impossible.

Ashley Cole is also adapting to the team.

Once he gets more familiar with the situation, he might have more freedom to express himself.

Ashley Cole feigned a cross, shook off Ashley Young, dribbled in the opposite direction, and then delivered a cutback pass to Lampard at the top of the box.

Lampard received the ball, pulled it back, and unleashed a powerful shot.

But Pepe came up very quickly and blocked the attack at close range.

The football bounced behind Lampard.

Terry rushed forward and unleashed a superb world-class shot from over 30 meters away.

when!
The pillar was teetering on the verge of collapse.

"Oh! Beautiful attack, but unfortunately a little unlucky."

"Datford's response was effective, but it was too late. Chelsea's midfield and attack were completely revitalized, and the players had gained confidence and ideas for attacking."

"I feel Dartford are showing signs of not being able to hold on."

"No matter how strong Lu Kai is, he is still just one person. Facing the Premier League champions who are going all out, the Green Gun may need to take some time to mature."

In the 85th minute, Joe Cole again made a breakthrough attempt on the left.

Ashley Young is not giving an inch this time.

Ribery also joined the attack from both sides.

Joe Cole turned and passed the ball back to Ashley Cole.

Pepe immediately rushed over to snatch the ball.

Ashley Cole bumped into Lampard, dodged Pepe, and caught up with the ball, launching a high ball at a 45-degree angle with his left foot from the left flank.

His crosses are excellent, with a high arc and fast speed.

At the far post of the penalty area, Drogba, as if on cue, pounced on the ball, resisted Vidic's interference, and unleashed a powerful close-range shot as the ball fell.

Neuer touched the ball, but it didn't change the outcome.

The football went into the net.

"GOAL! Two to three!"

Chelsea are fiercely closing the gap!

"Drogba has always been Chelsea's most reliable asset. His goal-scoring efficiency at Chelsea wasn't high, but every goal he scored was extremely valuable!"

"That's why Mourinho preferred to substitute Shevchenko rather than Drogba."

"The score has become delicate."

"Chelsea seem to see hope of equalizing."

"The last London derby ended in a 2-2 draw. Is this one going to end in a 3-3 draw?"

Mourinho excitedly pumped his fist on the sidelines.

Drogba rushed into the goal to retrieve the ball immediately, a skill he developed at Greenfield.

But as he was leaving the goal, Ashley Young pushed him aside, and the ball in his hands was knocked away.

Drogba didn't want to clash with the vice-goalkeeper, and wasting time at this point would be detrimental to Chelsea, so he left without a word.

Enraged, Mourinho yelled from the sidelines, "That damned little black guy with the broken leg, he should be sent off with a red card!"

Ashley Young's approach was absolutely correct. Although Drogba didn't fall for it, the Green Gun did manage to dampen Chelsea's morale.

At the same time, Ashley Young found the players in the back line, scolding and motivating them, winding them up, and becoming more and more like a leader.

With such a deputy, Lu Kai can save a lot of trouble and thus focus his attention on the reading competition.

However, he still caught snippets of Ashley Young's words:

"I should have been able to handle things calmly and effortlessly!"

"Now we're scrambling and stumbling around in a panic!"

"Kompany, Neuer, cheer up! Louis, you're choking up!"

"Are we really going to let them tie the score?"

"It's worthless!"

Inspired by Ashley Young's battle anthem, the Green Guns' defense was revitalized.

In the 88th minute, Ashley Young brought down Joe Cole on the wing. Although it was called a defensive foul, he successfully prevented Joe Cole from making a move.

Ashley Young punched the stands.

There was thunderous applause.

In the 92nd minute, four minutes of stoppage time were added to the match.

Robben received the ball on the right wing, but Lu Kai quickly moved up to help defend and also gave Robben a physical challenge.

Robben stumbled and was forced to race against Filho.

Phil intercepted the ball and immediately made a long pass to Dzeko in front.

After Dzeko secured the ball, he didn't rush to launch a counter-attack because Vardy was offside.

Vardy then returned to receive the ball and moved it to the left.

Chelsea and Dartford players are rapidly closing in on this side.

Once both teams had set up their formations, Vardy passed the ball back to Barton.

Barton makes a cross pass to Pepe.

boom!
Pepe, without stopping the ball, chipped it directly into the penalty area and delivered a through ball over the top.

This completely stunned Lampard, who was standing next to him.

Because in the eyes of Chelsea players, Pepe is a young defensive expert, an impulsive and reckless man, and sometimes he even plays as a center-back.

How could such a brilliant pass happen to him?
But in reality, Green Gunners have been developing Pepe for several years, and he is fully capable of playing as an all-around defensive midfielder. He is a stronger defensive version of Motta, and Motta is a more technically gifted version of him.

In terms of passing accuracy, Pepe is actually no weaker than Motta.

If Phil is currently unknown, then Pepe is infamous because he got into several fights with Patton when he first arrived, and is thus stereotyped.

Now let's look inside the penalty area.

Lu Kai easily slipped in from the left flank, and Vardy's pull to the side and Dzeko's pull from the top of the arc both played crucial roles.

But this run was actually a mirror image of Ashley Young's previous run down the right flank to receive Motta's through ball.

They all exploited the weakness in Chelsea's midfield after their wing play became more aggressive, striking directly and killing them instantly.

Outside the penalty area, Lu Kai stood ready, unleashing a powerful volley as the ball hurtled down from the sky.

The football bounced off the ground, soared past the diving Cech, and struck the top of the net from the inside of the goal.

“GOAL!!!”

"Four to two!"

"Lu Kai scores twice, sealing the game!"

Chelsea fell short!

"Pepe delivered a Motta-esque assist that was truly remarkable."

"Lu Kai's positioning was nothing short of ghostly, and he played a dominant role on both offense and defense in the final moments."

"It's a pity for Chelsea. If they had played with this formation and form from the beginning, Chelsea probably wouldn't have gotten these three points."

"Three whistles sound, the game is over."

"Congratulations to Dartford, they've beaten the Premier League leaders. So, does that mean Portsmouth is now in first place???"

away from the spectrum.

After Chelsea were defeated by Dartford, Portsmouth, a small team, surprisingly overtook Manchester United to take the lead.

Their schedule in the early part of the season was quite sweet, with four wins and one draw in the first five games, playing against very weak opponents.

Their high-scoring, open style was aggressive, but not economical, and could result in a significant loss of points. As a result, they failed to remain in the European qualification zone after the season ended.

"Good game!" Lu Kai greeted Chelsea players Drogba, Lampard, Joe Cole, and others after the match.

The Chelsea players, on the other hand, looked rather bitter.

Because they could have won.

Neither side's players would deny this.

At the post-match press conference, Mourinho received more questions than Lu Kai, the Man of the Match.

Reporter: Could you explain Chelsea's tactical errors in making changes to their formation in the first and second halves?

Reporter: What do you think of the team's performance before the tactical change?

Reporter: Chelsea fans are fed up with the team's stagnant attack. With superstars like Shevchenko, Drogba, Lampard, and Ballack, yet producing such results, you should probably consider being sacked!

Reporter: It's unbelievable that you left Robben and Joe Cole idle. You're too stubborn. You lack the ability to maximize the potential of all players like Alfred did.

Mourinho was so angry he almost threw a water bottle at the reporter.

Is this even human language?

Which of these star players could possibly start in the same game?
Perhaps fielding a starting eleven comprised entirely of midfield and forward stars would satisfy the fans, but the effect...

How could Lu Kai not know Mourinho's predicament?
He covered his mouth and chuckled to himself.

This is what they mean by "even a skilled cook can't make a meal with too much rice."

Besides Mourinho facing a barrage of criticism and Lu Kai leading his team to the top of the Premier League, the biggest news in this match was Ashley Young's "useless" anthem.

It's a short music video that plays in the last few minutes of this episode of the Green Gun documentary.

The video edited together Ashley Young's reprimands and encouragement to the backcourt players, but it used Ashley Young's own crying face, especially the scene where he says "Why are you crying?"

It is said that this was Modric's idea.

Unexpectedly, the music went viral, causing a surge in the documentary's viewership.

Modric received a cash gift from the documentary crew as a token of his gratitude.

Ashley Young, on the other hand, became a laughing stock.

Of course, he has always been seen as a source of amusement by fans.

But Ashley Young doesn't see it that way. He feels the video damages his illustrious image and is being used by his rival Modric to smear him.

That way, people won't remember the scene where Modric was elbowed by Lu Kai.

……

After the match against Chelsea, Green Gunners' schedule started to get tough.

Or to put it another way, Green Gun's schedule in the early part of this season was nothing short of hell.

Apart from Newcastle and West Ham United, who are mid-table teams, Liverpool, Everton, Tottenham, and Chelsea are all teams within the European qualification zone or even the Champions League qualification zone.

In the next few rounds, their opponents will also be teams from this region – Bolton, Blackburn, Manchester United, Aston Villa, Reading, and Arsenal.

Even Reading, a newly promoted team that should have been the sweet spot, has unexpectedly broken into the European qualification zone this season, which is simply outrageous.

In mid-October, the Green Gunners tied with Bolton and Blackburn.

With three draws and one win in their last four matches, their ranking has slipped to eighth in the Premier League, but that's still a good result.

During their match against Blackburn Rovers, the Greens were playing at home, and fans displayed Akinfenwa's tifo in the stands, moving the "ground monster" and "premier League's most powerful player" on the bench to tears.

As a special player, Akinfenwa naturally couldn't play as a starter at Blackburn, but he was still an important rotation player, and his development was much better than in his previous life.

Given Green Gun's background and personal qualities, his commercial development is the best in Blackburn; he's not a superstar, but he's better than one.

After this match, Green Gunners will prepare to fly to Türkiye to play in the Europa League.

But before that, the focus of all of Europe had shifted to London.

Chelsea goalkeeper suffered a serious injury during a match against Reading when he was struck in the head with a studs by Reading striker Stephen Hunt, resulting in a 0.5-centimeter skull depression.

The patient experienced bleeding from the ear canal, which also resulted in the leakage of cerebrospinal fluid, posing a life-threatening risk.

For a time, the whole of London, Britain, and Europe mourned for this talented goalkeeper.

Sky Sports immediately contacted Lu Kai, who had mentioned this issue in the post-match press conference after Greenfield defeated Chelsea.

Lu Kai said at the time: "Cech is one of the best goalkeepers in the world at present. He is like an impenetrable wall. Otherwise, we might have been able to establish a greater advantage in the early stages."

“But I think Cech is a bit too aggressive. I hope he can be mindful of his body when making saves and find a balance between playing and being healthy.”

"Because only health can support a long career, and performance over a long career is the most important basis for judging a player's final outcome."

"He's still so young, and I hope he stays this shining forever."

However, neither Mourinho nor the reporters present listened to these words until Cech was seriously injured.

Sky Sports reporter: "Lu, how did you predict Cech's serious injury?"

Lu Kai: "I didn't make any predictions. I was just stating what I saw. In our match, Cech and Terry had a violent collision."

"Compared to what has happened in the past and present, I am actually more concerned about what we can do in the future."

“When Cech was injured and it was determined that he needed a stretcher, the stretcher took three minutes to arrive at his side, and no immobilization was done on his neck.”

"You know, at that time, the bone spurs in his brain could have killed him at any moment."

"After he collapsed in the locker room, his chief team doctor was called onto the field to treat another player's minor injury."

"During this time, Cech's ambulance was cancelled by staff because some people thought it was just a simple concussion."

"From the Reading players to the Chelsea staff, I'm not blaming any one person. This is not a situation that any one person could create or be responsible for."

"This is due to the immaturity of the rules."

"We should establish corresponding rules to ensure the safety of players on the field. We play football because we are alive!"

Lu Kai's interview quickly spread throughout the industry.

The team's stars, including Zidane and Guardiola, immediately shared the post.

Other British and Premier League stars followed suit, and the trend subsequently spread throughout Europe.

Soon, FA senior executive Joyce, together with England national team manager Stanley, Dartford FC's Zhu Xi and Lu Kai, drafted the "English Football Emergency Regulations".

This is a small step forward in the professionalization of football.

But for some players, this is a huge step forward, a leap across life and death.

This also became another strong achievement for Joyce in his campaign for the FA.

However, compared to the rapid growth of fame, the process of solving some real-world problems is actually quite tortuous.

Sure enough, Lu Kai received a call from Abu:

"Lu, I've heard that traditional Chinese medicine is amazing. Can you help Cech?"

(End of this chapter)