After arranging a strategy to deal with the Abu Dhabi consortium, Chen Ran turned his attention back to the team.

There is no way, some things will still come when they are supposed to come.

The wheel of history cannot be stopped by Chen Ran's little arms and legs.

Even if the Abu Dhabi consortium really acquires Manchester City Club as it did in its previous life, it will just add another opponent for the championship.

Crystal Palace, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, and if Manchester City is added to the list, the Premier League will be even more lively in the future.

On February 17, in the fifth round of the English FA Cup, Crystal Palace will face the challenge of Portsmouth at home.

However, because on February 20, the Champions League quarter-finals will start again, Crystal Palace will play away first and then home this time, going to Italy to challenge Rome away from home.

Compared with the Champions League, the importance of the FA Cup is naturally not worth mentioning.

Therefore, in the FA Cup match, Chen Ran sent out a lineup mainly composed of substitute players.

Even so, with the goals of Dzeko, Mascherano and Yaya Toure, Crystal Palace defeated Portsmouth 3:2 at home.

While reaching the quarterfinals of the FA Cup, Chen Ran also received a "Level 1 Rehabilitation Card" from the system.

The day after the FA Cup match, Chen Ran took the team to fly to Rome, Italy.

Under the leadership of head coach Luciano Spalletti, Roma not only finished second in Serie A last season, but also won the Italian Cup.

It is the only team that can compete with Inter Milan after the "Calciopoli" incident broke out in Italy.

Moreover, Spalletti also pioneered a striker-less formation tailored for Roma. Even without a serious striker on the field, he still played offensive football with great success.

This time the Champions League draw drew the defending champion Crystal Palace, which frustrated the Roma club from management to fans.

However, Spalletti himself was quite happy.

Because he knows very well that based on the strength of Roma's lineup, it will definitely not be able to compare with Crystal Palace.

So even if Roma were eliminated by Crystal Palace in the end, no one would put the blame on him.

In this way, without any pressure, he can give Crystal Palace a try.

Anyway, the worst result is to be eliminated. If a miracle happens and Roma upset Crystal Palace, then he, the head coach, will definitely be the biggest contributor.

Therefore, Spalletti, who had clearly calculated the pros and cons, came up with his best no-front formation.

Left midfielder Giuly, attacking midfielder Totti, right midfielder Mancini

Midfielder Perrotta, midfielder De Rossi, midfielder Aquilani

Left back Panucci, center back Mexes, center back Juan, right back Cicinho

Dhoni

On the Crystal Palace side, before this game, Chen Ran also received good news. Thiago Silva, who had been injured for more than a month, finally returned from injury.

In the FA Cup match against Portsmouth, Chen Ran sent Thiago Silva on to adapt to the rhythm of the game in advance.

As a result, Thiago Silva performed very well, which finally made Chen Ran feel relieved.

After entering the knockout rounds of the Champions League, there cannot be any relaxation in every game. For this reason, Chen Ran sent out the main lineup that was hidden in the FA Cup game.

center toney

Left midfielder Ronaldo, attacking midfielder Kaká, right midfielder Franck Ribery

Midfielder Vieira, Midfielder Modric

Left back Chiellini, center back Thiago Silva, center back Vidic, right back Maicon

Cech

Spalletti's strikerless formation is indeed interesting. When the referee blew the whistle to start the game, there were no Roma players in the Crystal Palace penalty area.

This made Crystal Palace's central defenders very uncomfortable for a while, because they were used to marking the opponent's forwards, but now they found that there was no target.

We can't let them stay away from the penalty area and run to the midfield to mark Totti, right?

However, when the ball fell to the feet of the Roma team, you could see the Roma players rushing towards the Crystal Palace penalty area like a tide.

Moreover, this trend comes in stages.

First there was Totti, Giuly and Mancini as the first echelon, followed closely by Perrotta, De Rossi and Aquilani as the second echelon.

The advantage of the echelon is: if the first echelon's attack is blocked, the second echelon can arrive in time, whether it is to strengthen the offensive power or to counterattack on the spot to destroy the Crystal Palace's counterattack, it is simply a stroke of genius.

Therefore, despite the fact that there are usually no Roma players in Crystal Palace's penalty area, their sudden attack method of attacking forward at the same time is really difficult for ordinary teams to withstand.

Seeing that the Crystal Palace players were not used to Roma's style of play, Guardiola moved closer to Chen Ran again.

"Boss, should we strengthen the defensive strength of the midfielder position?"

Faced with the offensive method in which the Roma team is divided into two tiers and a total of six players advance forward at the same time, the Crystal Palace defensive midfielder position with only Vieira and Modric appears to be very weak.

Chen Ran also discovered this problem, but these Roma players usually stay in their midfield and backfield. They will only attack forward when they get the ball. Once the attack is blocked, they will quickly retreat to their own half.

Field defense.

If Crystal Palace's offense was sacrificed to strengthen its defense because of this, Chen Ran would be a little unwilling.

But Guardiola's concerns are not unreasonable. The momentum of Roma's group charge is quite scary. Vieira and Modric alone are indeed a bit weak as a defense barrier.

After much deliberation, Chen Ran finally came up with a solution.

Didn't the Roma players start to move forward collectively after getting the ball? So, as long as they are not allowed to easily grab the ball, they will naturally have no chance to move forward.

After making up his mind, Chen Ran turned to look at Guardiola beside him.

"Josep, you go immediately and inform the players on the field to press forward from now on and use the offensive tactics you designed."

"Pinch the Roma players into their half. Once they lose the ball, they would rather commit a foul than give them a chance to advance forward."

"Um...Boss, do you mean to use offense to suppress the opponent's offensive?"

Guardiola was stunned when he heard this, and it took him a long time to react. His suggestion was to strengthen defense, but Chen Ran directly launched a full-scale attack.

"That's right, it's all about attacking with attack. Fighting with attack, our Crystal Palace has never been afraid of anyone!"

"Okay, I understand."

Soon, Guardiola passed Chen Ran's order to the players on the field.

Under the gaze of more than 60,000 home team fans at Rome's Olimpico Stadium, Crystal Palace, except for goalkeeper Petr Cech and the two central defenders Thiago Silva and Vidic, all crossed the halfway line.

"What does Crystal Palace want to do?"

"Are you too arrogant? This is the home stadium of Roma."

"Full pressure, is Crystal Palace about to launch a general attack?"

"I didn't expect that Chinese guy to be so courageous. Crystal Palace's formation is so high up. Isn't he afraid that Roma will hit them in a counterattack?"

"Being so suppressed by the opponent at your home court usually only occurs when two teams with disparity in strength play against each other. If you can't beat Crystal Palace back, then Spalletti will be too embarrassed in front of the Roma fans.

."

...

Seeing Chen Ran's latest adjustment, the commentators from major TV stations became anxious for him before Spalletti could react.

As for Spalletti, seeing the changes on the Crystal Palace field, he could no longer sit still. He quickly walked from the bench to the sidelines and began to shout loudly to his players not to retreat and to push back the Crystal Palace formation.

Originally, Spalletti had already calculated the pros and cons of this game very clearly. Everyone knew that the Roma team was not as strong as the defending champion Crystal Palace. Losing the game was normal, and no one would blame him.

However, the same loss will have different impacts depending on the situation.

Crystal Palace now pressed hard, suppressing the Roma team and unable to get out of the half.

If he lost in such a frustrating way, Spalletti could imagine what would happen to him later.

From the fans to the media, the overwhelming boos and abuses will definitely be inevitable, and even the club owners may leave a bad impression on him.

This was not the result he wanted.

Therefore, under Spalletti's strong request, Roma players began to fight fiercely with Crystal Palace in the midfield, trying to push back Crystal Palace's formation.

However, Spalletti did not realize that by doing so, the Roma team had abandoned the style of play they were good at and began to unknowingly enter the game rhythm designed for them by Chen Ran.

On the sidelines, Guardiola, Southgate and Simeone gathered together to discuss the current game situation.

"I previously suggested that the boss strengthen the defense of the midfielder position, but instead of strengthening the defense, the boss went all-out attack. Now it seems that the boss is still very powerful, and he destroyed Roma's offensive routine with one move."

Guardiola sighed while watching the game on the field.

"Haha, I don't think that Spalletti is very smart either. Doesn't he know that he has fallen into the trap designed by his boss?"

Southgate curled his lips disdainfully and glanced at the bald head on the Roma bench.

"Gareth, please stop making sarcastic remarks. This is Roma's home ground. If Roma is pinned down by our Crystal Palace and besieged in the half-court without any ability to fight back, Spalletti, the head coach, will be scolded to death."

No."

Simeone did give Spalletti a fair word.

"Do you think the boss has taken into account what you just said, Diego?"

"I'm afraid that's true. How smart the boss is. What he's best at is digging a hole and then waiting for you to jump in."

"Oh, it's so miserable to be against the boss!"

...

At Spalletti's request, although the Roma players ran and fought hard, the Crystal Palace players' personal abilities were so strong that it was difficult to get the ball from them without fouling.

Therefore, after fighting for a long time, Crystal Palace still suppressed Roma in the middle of the half.

However, the physical exertion of Roma players far exceeded normal conditions.

At the end of the first half, when the physical fitness of Roma players entered the bottleneck period early, Crystal Palace finally had a chance to score.

According to the offensive routine designed by Guardiola, the Crystal Palace players continued to use short passes to stretch Roma's defense.

Due to the excessive consumption of physical energy, the arrival rate of Roma players has dropped significantly, and half-beat situations continue to occur.

Spalletti on the sidelines also noticed this problem, but he looked at the time and found that the first half was about to end, so he decided not to make adjustments for the time being and wait until the halftime break.

At this moment, Modric passed the ball to Ronaldo on the left with a big kick.

In front of Roma's right midfielder Aquilani, Ronaldo used his head to return the ball to Chiellini, then turned around Aquilani and started to advance at high speed.

At this time, due to the full pressure of Crystal Palace's formation, Chiellini's position has also passed the center line.

After receiving the ball passed back by Ronaldo, Chiellini, who had already developed a tacit understanding with Ronaldo after working together for several years, did not pause at all and directly passed the ball forward to Ronaldo who was advancing.

Realizing that something was not going well, Roma's right back Cicinho rushed forward to intercept Ronaldo.

Cristiano Ronaldo didn't make any fake moves this time, he just pushed the ball forward, and then directly competed with Cicinho for speed.

Cicinho is also a full-back who is known for his speed. He has never been afraid of speed.

But Ronaldo would not make it easy for him. While the two were competing for speed, Ronaldo continued to use his strong body to hit Cicinho.

And after several years of training, Ronaldo now has very rich competition experience.

He was not the type to hit Sicinho head-on, but just touched him once and then left, and then touched him again and left again.

This will not cause the referee to blow the whistle, but will also allow Cicinho to constantly oscillate between losing balance and regaining balance, and his speed will inevitably be affected.

Soon, Ronaldo left Cicinho behind and rushed directly into Roma's penalty area.

This time, Roma's right center back Juan had to step up to intercept Ronaldo.

Facing the taller Juan, Cristiano Ronaldo used his special heel to knock the ball past him. While knocking Juan to the ground, he also smoothly moved the ball inside.

Before another Roma center back, Mexes, could rush over to cover up the defense, Cristiano Ronaldo took a shot and the ball flew directly towards the upper left corner of the Roma goal like a shell.

Goalkeeper Doni also reacted quickly, flying up and trying to save the ball.

Unfortunately, Cristiano Ronaldo's shot came from a very tricky angle. Even though Doni tried his best, he was unable to touch the ball. In the end, he could only watch the ball fly into the goal he was guarding.

"GOAL!"

Before the end of the first half, Crystal Palace led Roma 1:0.
Chapter completed!