It was an away game and a Premier League team, so Chen Ran naturally arranged a defensive and counterattack lineup.

center toney

Left midfielder Ronaldo, right midfielder Franck Ribery

Defensive midfielder Yaya Toure, defensive midfielder Modric, defensive midfielder Simeone

Left back Chiellini, center back Southgate, center back Vidic, right back Maicon

Cech

Walking into Villa Park Stadium in Birmingham, Chen Ran found that the attendance rate at the stadium today was not very high, and the stands were sparsely occupied.

This is a pretty good sign.

For Aston Villa fans, an ordinary midweek Carabao Cup match against a Championship team is really unattractive.

Even though Crystal Palace is currently at the top of the English Championship and remains unbeaten, for these fans who are used to watching the Premier League, it is just a fight between rookies.

Chen Ran sincerely hopes that David O'Reilly thinks so too.

Unfortunately, he was just wishful thinking.

Able to build the Young Guards single-handedly, David O'Reilly has been criticized for his shortcomings, but his coaching ability is still very strong.

David O'Reilly, who originally didn't pay much attention to the opponent in this game, Crystal Palace, immediately became vigilant after seeing the information collected by his assistant.

Nineteen wins and two draws, with an unbeaten record of 59 points leading the Championship, means that this Crystal Palace has completely surpassed the level of teams at the same level.

For this Crystal Palace, they must now be treated as a Premier League team.

These were David O'Reilly's first reactions after reading the information about Crystal Palace.

For this reason, he specifically asked his assistant to find the videos of Crystal Palace's last five games and watch them again.

Then he started scratching his head.

Damn it, is this what a Championship team should look like?

Why am I so unlucky? It's not good to meet anyone, but I happened to meet the Crystal Palace?

David O'Reilly was very unhappy.

You know, as a coach who once led Leeds United to the semi-finals of the Champions League, he did not come to coach Aston Villa just to avoid relegation.

Competing in the European arena and proving himself once again is his goal.

However, with Aston Villa's current results, it is already very difficult to qualify for the European competition relying on league rankings.

Therefore, David O'Reilly set his sights on the cup competition.

Compared with the FA Cup, which the strong teams attach more importance to, the League Cup is undoubtedly less difficult.

Therefore, winning the League Cup this season has long been set by David O'Reilly as an important task second only to relegation.

This Crystal Palace must be killed.

Originally, David O'Reilly wanted to do some rotations in this game to reserve some physical fitness for the next Premier League game.

Now he has decided not to rotate and play with all the main players.

Then, Chen Ran saw in Aston Villa's lineup the exact same starting lineup as they had in the Premier League game.

Damn it, Aston Villa attaches too much importance to Crystal Palace, right?

Chen Ran pouted. He had been taking chances before, hoping that his opponent would look down upon Crystal Palace because it was a British Championship team.

Now it seems that all is lost.

Forget it, prepare to fight a tough battle.

"Guys, all our previous results were achieved with English Championship teams. It's hard to judge how valuable they are."

"Today is the first time we face a Premier League team, and it is also an opportunity to test whether we are worthy of being in the Premier League. Do you have the confidence to defeat Aston Villa?"

"have!"

The shouts resounded throughout the locker room.

As the referee's whistle sounded, the game officially began.

Although David O'Reilly attaches great importance to Crystal Palace, he is not like those English Championship teams who have to retreat and defend their home stadium.

After all, Aston Villa is a Premier League team with strength and confidence.

Therefore, relying on its two excellent forwards, Aston Villa went all out to attack as soon as the game started.

The Crystal Palace players immediately felt the difference from the Championship game.

The pace is fast and everything seems to be accelerating.

Whether you are catching the ball or passing the ball, you must not hesitate at all, otherwise you must be mentally prepared to be tackled.

Not adapting, many members of the Crystal Palace team seemed to be in a hurry from the beginning and made several mistakes.

Aston Villa immediately seized the opportunity to launch an attack, and formed several threatening shots. If not for Cech's brave performance, the door of Crystal Palace might have been breached.

Fortunately, there are veterans like Southgate and Simeone on duty. They keep calling for instructions and help the team stabilize its morale.

After surviving the first twenty minutes, the young players from Crystal Palace finally adapted to the rhythm of the game and began to show their sharp fangs.

With the cover of Simeone and Yaya Toure, Modric's long pass accurately found Ronaldo.

Ronaldo is very excited today as he faces a Premier League team for the first time.

A series of dazzling fake moves passed two people, and then sent the ball into the penalty area before the Aston Villa defender came up to block it.

"boom!"

Tony carried the Aston Villa defender, grabbed the spot, and smashed the ball hard towards the goal.

Unfortunately, Aston Villa goalkeeper Sorensen was not a vegetarian. He jumped up, made a beautiful side dive, and dragged the ball over the crossbar with his fingertips.

"Fxxxk!"

Chen Ran on the sidelines felt extremely regretful. It would have been great if the goal had been scored, so that he could play defensive counterattacks in a down-to-earth manner.

Crystal Palace's very threatening attack seemed to surprise the Aston Villa players. In the following games, their offensive intensity was obviously weaker than before.

David O'Reilly, who was also standing on the sidelines, reacted very quickly and immediately ordered Aston Villa's two full-backs to stop pressing so high and to always pay attention to Cristiano Ronaldo and Ribery beside them.

It's a pity that Chen Ran, who saw all this in his eyes, sighed secretly.

This David O'Reilly is indeed not a fuel-efficient lamp, he reacts too quickly.

As soon as Crystal Palace took advantage of the gap left by Aston Villa's attack to counterattack, he was immediately discovered and made up for it.

In the next game, Aston Villa still led the attack, but the participation of their midfielders and backfield players has been significantly reduced.

Although this has greatly reduced the pressure on Crystal Palace's defense, it also means that Crystal Palace's counterattack space is not as large as before.

The score of 0:0 remained until the end of the first half.

"Guys, your performance in the first half was very good. It turns out that you are no worse than those Aston Villa players. In the second half, we will continue to work hard and strive to kill Aston Villa and eliminate the Premier League teams!"

"Kill Aston Villa!"

During the halftime break, Chen Ran did not make any tactical adjustments, but just gave the players another shot of chicken blood.

Although the first half of the game was passive, Crystal Palace was not without opportunities.
Chapter completed!