On the other side, Mourinho on the Chelsea bench frowned again.

He took the initiative to show weakness and gave up the initiative in the game.

However, Crystal Palace still had the same three or four people attacking and did not press heavily.

That Chinese guy wasn’t fooled?

Mourinho had to admit at this time that the Chinese man whom Mendes praised several times did have some ability.

Chen Ran made the first move and knocked out Robben, Chelsea's sharpest knife. Mourinho dug a hole, but Chen Ran did not fall into it.

In the first round of the fight between the two, Chen Ran had a slight advantage.

Until the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, the score on the field remained at 0:0.

Because this game is the focus of this round of the Premier League, reporters from major media gathered in the stands.

"Tsk, tsk, it seems that this Crystal Palace really shouldn't be underestimated. Even Chelsea can't do anything against them."

"That's right. Chelsea still had the upper hand at the beginning, but they were beaten back by Crystal Palace."

"Don't worry, it's still 0:0 now. There's still half a game left, maybe Mourinho will have some killer moves in the second half."

"That's right. After all, Mourinho is a coach who has won the UEFA Cup and the European Champions Cup consecutively. Compared with the Chinese, he has much more experience. He will definitely have a way to win the Crystal Palace."

"Don't be too optimistic. At least so far, the Chinese man has not been at a disadvantage in the competition with Mourinho."

"Haha, we didn't say Chelsea would win, so we were being very cautious."

...

During the halftime break, Chen Ran did not make any tactical adjustments. It was not the time to reveal his trump card yet.

On Chelsea's side, Mourinho saw that Chen Ran was not fooled, so he stopped pretending.

He replaced Thiago with Kežman and changed the formation from 433 to 442.

Drogba and Kežman served as double forwards, Duff returned to his familiar left wing to play left midfielder, Lampard and Makelele played central midfielder, and Joe Cole played right midfielder.

It stands to reason that there is no problem with Mourinho's arrangement. Duff is originally a left-footed player, but he was forced to switch to the right because of Robben's arrival.

Now that Robben is out, Mourinho has moved Duff back to the left. This is a completely normal thing.

It is a pity that Mourinho does not know the story that happened between Joe Cole and Ronaldo in the League Cup last season.

And it is impossible for Joe Cole to stand up and admit on his own initiative that he cannot beat Ronaldo.

As soon as the second half started, Chen Ran discovered Mourinho's adjustments.

When he saw Mourinho put Joe Cole on Ronaldo's side, he couldn't help but laugh.

He turned around and glanced at Mourinho in the distance, and found that the guy looked confident, waiting to reap the fruits of his formation changes.

It seems that Mourinho does not know about the grudges between Ronaldo and Joe Cole.

Taking advantage of the dead ball, Chen Ran immediately called Ronaldo to the sidelines.

"Chris, have you seen Joe Cole?"

"I saw it. What's your order, boss?"

When Chen Ran mentioned Joe Cole's name, Cristiano Ronaldo also smiled knowingly.

"Receive him as warmly as we did in the League Cup last season."

"Don't worry, boss. I promise to satisfy Mr. Joe Cole."

"Smelly boy."

Chen Ran laughed and cursed, and pushed Ronaldo back onto the field.

The next course of the game left Mourinho completely dumbfounded.

He discovered that Joe Cole, who was used to replace Robben, was also eaten to death by Ronaldo.

Originally, the task of defending right midfielder Joe Cole should have been Crystal Palace left back Chiellini.

As a result, Ronaldo was extremely excited to see Joe Cole, as if he were seeing a relative, and took the initiative to take over the task of defending Joe Cole from Chiellini.

Joe Cole also felt bitter in his heart. When he heard that Mourinho arranged for him to play right midfielder, he knew something was wrong.

Damn it, didn’t you face that guy named Ronaldo again?

However, can he tell Mourinho that he is not good enough and cannot beat Ronaldo?

Obviously impossible.

I just had to bite the bullet.

Therefore, Mourinho saw that Joe Cole, who he had high hopes for, could not get rid of Ronaldo through breakthroughs; he could not get past Ronaldo with his passing skills; he could not beat Ronaldo despite his physical strength.

When the ball reaches Joe Cole, the offense is terminated.

Not only was he unable to create shooting opportunities, but several were blocked by Cristiano Ronaldo. Crystal Palace made several solid counterattacks and almost scored.

The other Chelsea players were so scared that they no longer dared to pass the ball to Joe Cole.

This made Mourinho furious on the sidelines.

What's going on?

First Robben had a problem, and now Joe Cole has a problem.

How come every player who is usually a good player starts to get upset when they meet Crystal Palace?

Thinking of this, Mourinho glanced at Chen Ran in the distance bitterly.

Could this Chinese man have used some mysterious Eastern witchcraft to put a curse on the Chelsea players?

Now, Chelsea's Duff on the left can't take advantage of Maicon. And Joe Cole on the right is completely useless.

The two wingers were misfiring, and the two forwards Drogba and Kežman in the penalty area did not receive enough support, so naturally they had no decent shooting opportunities.

Chelsea only relied on Lampard's two long shots from the center to create a slight threat to the Crystal Palace goal guarded by Cech.

This situation lasted until the 60th minute. Mourinho finally couldn't bear it anymore and called Gremi from the bench again.

After a simple warm-up, he replaced Joe Cole, who came on the field in the first half, with Gremi.

When Joe Cole came off the field, Mourinho looked grim and ignored him.

Seeing Mourinho's substitutions, Chen Ran secretly chuckled.

Mourinho is at the end of his rope.

Each of the players replaced is less threatening than the other.

However, this can't be blamed on others, who asked him to drive away wing players Zenden and Grenchar.

Seeing that Chelsea's offensive power on the field was being continuously weakened, Chen Ran looked at the time and saw that the game had been going on for nearly seventy minutes and it was time to take action.

Turning to look at the bench, Chen Ran called up Crouch and Fabregas.

After a brief warm-up, Chen Ran replaced Yaya Toure with Crouch, and replaced Modric with Cesc Fabregas.

Crystal Palace changed from a 451 defensive counterattack tactic to a 442 twin tower tactic.

At this moment, Chelsea's air defense pressure in the penalty area increased dramatically.

Terry's height of 187cm is okay, but Carvalho's height is only 182cm.

As for Crystal Palace's current two strikers, Tony is 193cm tall and Crouch is 201cm tall.

Terry is only 23 years old this year and is far from reaching his peak.

It was already very difficult to defend Tony, who was taller and stronger than him.

On the other side, Carvalho was not known for his height and strength, and now he was struggling to defend Crouch, who was nearly 20cm taller than him.

On the two wings, both Ferreira on the right and Bridge on the left have been completely suppressed by Ronaldo and Ribery.

As soon as Chen Ran changed his formation here, the effect was immediately apparent.

Originally, with one of Terry and Carvalho pressing closely and the other assisting in defense, Tony still showed no threat.

But now with Crouch, Terry and Carvalho can only focus on each other.

However, both of them were at a disadvantage when fighting for the header, which caused great harm to goalkeeper Cudicini.

Crosses from the two wings were constantly converted into shots by Tony and Crouch.

Chelsea's goal suddenly fell into a state of turmoil.

When Mourinho saw this scene on the sidelines, he immediately felt that something was wrong. Crystal Palace was about to launch a general attack.

But now that he has used up the substitution quota, he has no way to replace a central defender to strengthen defense. It seems that he can only find a solution with the existing players on the field.

Thinking of this, Mourinho didn't care that the ball was still dead. He immediately shouted loudly on the sidelines and called Kežman, who was doing nothing in front, to come over and arrange the changes.

Soon, Chen Ran saw Mourinho's latest adjustments.

He asked right back Ferreira to move in and play right center back to help Terry and Carvalho defend Tony and Crouch.

Then let the right midfielder Gremila go back to play the right back, while Kežman pulls to the right to play the right midfielder, and Drogba stays in front to play the lone forward.

Chelsea now has a 541 formation again.

Mourinho no longer thinks about how to win this game.

His current thinking is very simple, just don't lose.

Chen Ran took a look and thought, oh, Mourinho was forced to do this by himself.

Then I'll light another fire.

Immediately, Chen Ran brought Evra on again, replacing right back Maicon.

Now, Chen Ran changed his formation again, and Crystal Palace's formation became 343.

Didn't Mourinho want Ferreira to take it back and help Terry and Carvalho defend Tony and Crouch?

Then I will push Ronaldo to the front line.

Use three forwards to continuously suppress Chelsea's three central defenders.

Ronaldo's height is also 187cm, while Ferreira's height is only 181cm.

When it comes to heading for the ball, whether it's Toni vs. Terry, Crouch vs. Carvalho, or Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Ferreira.

Crystal Palace's forwards all had the upper hand.

When right back Maicon was removed, Chen Ran asked Chiellini to move in and play a three-back system with Southgate and Vidic.

It is more than enough for three people to defend a lonely Drogba.

After Evra came on, he took over Ronaldo's position as left-back.

Anyway, Evra can play all positions on the left from front to back.

Chen Ran sent Evra up, and together with Ribery on the right, he could ensure that the two wingers continued to send crosses to the three forwards.

This time, Mourinho's wishful thinking of relying on the number of people to make up for his defensive disadvantages in headers has completely failed.

Not only did it not change the unfavorable situation, but the addition of Cristiano Ronaldo made this disadvantage worse than less.

Seeing Chen Ran's substitution adjustment, Mourinho immediately knew that something was wrong.

However, he has no room to adjust now.

what to do?

Mourinho never expected that he, the new Champions League champion coach, would encounter such a big crisis in his third game in the Premier League.

The Chinese from Crystal Palace is indeed a powerful character as Mendes said.

Not only have I cracked all of my own tricks, but now I've even forced myself into a bit of a corner.

In desperation, Mourinho was forced to move the left back Bridge into the left center back role, helping the other three center backs to defend Crystal Palace's three forwards, and then pulled the left midfielder Duff back to play.

Left back.

Chelsea's current formation has become a weird 631.

Now, it was Chen Ran's turn to be dumbfounded.

Damn it, this Mourinho is also the new Champions League champion coach. Facing a newly promoted Premier League team, is it shameless to fight like this?

Chen Ran was also impressed by Mourinho's pragmatism.

This guy is an absolutely horrible person.

Only care about the results, not the process.

If this were placed in a fantasy novel, Mourinho would definitely be an evil leader.

What Mourinho did not only shocked Chen Ran, but also shocked the media reporters in the stands.

"This...Is Chelsea playing a formation with four central defenders and six defenders?"

"It seems true. With this 6-3-1 formation, is Mourinho planning to give up offense completely?"

"Isn't this Mourinho the new Champions League champion? Why was he forced to this point by that Chinese?"

"Who knows? Is Mourinho too weak, or is the Chinese guy too strong?"

"It seems that Mourinho is too weak. Last season's Champions League final was a duel between two dark horses. Without the participation of wealthy teams, the quality was still a bit worse."

"It seems that our evaluation of Mourinho needs to be readjusted."

"That's right. It must be that Mourinho has a false reputation. It's definitely not possible that the Chinese is too powerful."

...

At this time, the game had already gone on for eighty minutes. Counting stoppage time, there were only ten minutes left at most.

Chen Ran also used up all the substitution quotas on hand.

Opposite Mourinho, who was completely defensive regardless of his face, Chen Ran was completely convinced.

Because just now, Mourinho did another jaw-dropping thing.

He also moved Drogba from the forward position back to the penalty area, just like when defending set pieces, specifically to help his defenders fight for headers.

This time, Chelsea's formation on the field has changed to 730.

Mourinho completely gave up attacking. He concentrated all Chelsea players within a 30-meter area of ​​his own side.

Chen Ran was a little dizzy, we are Crystal Palace, not Barcelona.

This is just an ordinary Premier League match, not the Champions League final.

We are just a newly promoted team from the Premier League. Is this the case for you, Mourinho?

Damn it, since Mourinho thinks so highly of me, wouldn’t it be a disappointment to you if I couldn’t win this game?

Chen Ran was heartbroken and immediately shouted to the Crystal Palace players from the sidelines.

Of the three centre-backs, except for Southgate who stayed behind, Vidic and Chiellini were all moved into Chelsea's penalty area.

Chen Ran only had one order: go up and grab the header.
Chapter completed!