Chapter 349 Boss, Is It Too Late for Me to Regret Now?

On the night of winning the Silver Pants trophy, Li Ang did not stay in Monaco for long. After having a simple cup of coffee with Ronaldo, Li Ang took a plane back to London.

There was no way. The fourth round of the Premier League was about to start, and Chelsea faced Li Ang's favorite opponent in the Premier League, Manchester United.

Mourinho may think that it is no big problem to play Manchester United without Li Ang, but Li Ang did not want to miss the meeting with his younger brother Lukaku~

That night at London Heathrow Airport, Li Ang, who appeared with his agent team, holding the Silver Pants trophy, instantly killed countless films of reporters.

Li Ang personally did not want to show off like this, but he could not resist the strong request of Mendes who was accompanying him.

After deliberately staying at the airport for a while and leaving reporters with enough time to take pictures, Li Ang was able to go home smoothly.

The joy that Li Ang felt from winning the UEFA Player of the Year award was not as sufficient as he had imagined before.

This award is like an appetizer, Li Ang enjoyed it very comfortably, but what he wanted more urgently was the Golden Ball Award at the beginning of next year!

So Li Ang did not spend too much time playing with this silver pants trophy. Soon after returning home, he asked his agent assistant to put this replica trophy in his honor room.

After going to the training base the next day, Li Ang received congratulations from many base staff and teammates.

But in addition to a polite smile and thanks, he was very calm. This calm attitude once again raised his image in the hearts of all base staff.

The other Chelsea players were more convinced of Li Ang.

It's impossible not to accept it. If they won the UEFA Player of the Year Award, they would be proud for at least two days, not to mention being proud.

As a result, Li Ang was like nothing happened, and there was basically no emotional fluctuation.

The other players of Chelsea's first team could only sigh in their hearts:

Li Ang is too patient, no wonder he is the only man who can compete with Messi and Ronaldo for the Golden Ball!

And seeing that the team leader has been so successful, he can still be so calm and composed.

The young players in the Chelsea team who were yearning for the game could not help but work harder.

Mourinho was very satisfied with this. After the last day of training before the game, he also gave these young players a surprise "reward".

Zouma was successfully selected into the starting 11 list for the match against Manchester United, and Gnabry and Chick were also included in the 18-man list.

Maguire, who has been performing very well since the beginning of the season, was approved by Mourinho on the day of the game and can have a good rest.

The three young players who basically got the promise of playing time were very excited.

In the warm-up session in the afternoon of the game, Li Ang even jokingly reminded Zouma not to warm up too hard, otherwise he would be easy to get weak when he went on the court later.

Other Chelsea main players also made good-natured jokes about Zouma, trying to ease his nervousness.

Chelsea's side was happy in the first half, and the veterans in the team were taking care of the feelings of the newcomers.

In contrast, Manchester United's warm-up atmosphere was slightly silent and serious.

Lukaku was among a group of Manchester United players, but he seemed very out of place.

No one communicated with him, let alone jokes, even simple polite awkward chats were not available.

The little monster finally understood Li Ang's painstaking efforts to persuade him not to join Manchester United.

The locker room of this giant is really not easy to stay in!

The veterans are in their own way, and the players brought by the new head coach are in their own way. Those who speak English play together, and those who speak Spanish are another small circle...

Originally, Lukaku did not think it would be difficult for him to integrate into the Manchester United locker room.

After all, his worth is here, and his ability is enough. Even if there will be no new teammates to curry favor with him, the veterans will at least show him due goodwill, right?

Before reporting to Manchester United, Lukaku thought everything would be too smooth and beautiful, but reality soon gave him a wake-up call.

This Manchester United had a time of unity last season.

At that time, the Premier League entered the second half, and Manchester United was chasing points all the way, and it was about to break into the Champions League zone.

In order to play in the Champions League in the new season, both veterans and newcomers in the Manchester United locker room united together and rushed towards the Champions League zone.

As a result, at the most critical moment of grabbing points, Manchester United met Chelsea...

So Manchester United, which had finally united, suddenly fell apart.

Veterans led by Rooney expressed strong dissatisfaction with the club's top management and coaching staff.

Players who have only joined Manchester United for a few seasons and know that they are trapped in the quagmire of the collapse of the giants have asked their agents to operate the transfer.

Successful ones, such as Di Maria, have already moved to Paris Saint-Germain to continue to receive high salaries.

Unsuccessful ones, like Juan Mata and Fellaini, can't run away, and playing badly will affect their reputation too much, so they can only patiently endure the contract.

The few players who really want to stay and accompany Manchester United to make a comeback, such as Hernandez, were cleared out by Van Gaal.

In this case, it is a miracle that the Manchester United locker room can unite!

The people are not united, and Van Gaal's means of managing the locker room are too tough.

Unable to handle Rooney and the others for the time being, Chef Fan decided to start a new team. He made a lot of signings in the summer transfer window and put together another team.

At this stage, Van Gaal just wants to quickly get results to prove himself, and he is too lazy to sort out the complicated relationships in the locker room.

Little did he know that the more he thought about it, the lower the possibility of Manchester United getting results.

Lukaku directly became a "victim" in this complex locker room struggle environment.

He actually performed very well in the first three rounds of the game, scoring two goals in three rounds, and also scored the winning goal to help Manchester United get the first victory of the new season in the third round of the league.

Manchester United fans like him very much, but as the new main striker that Van Gaal strongly advocated to introduce this summer window, he is not popular among the veterans in the Manchester United locker room.

Anyway, Lukaku himself can't figure out why he can score goals and help the team win, but he can only get the cold face of Manchester United veterans.

He doesn't like the atmosphere in the Manchester United locker room at all.

He misses his brothers in Chelsea, the intimate team atmosphere where they can talk about everything, and even more misses the boss Li Ang who will only lead newcomers to actively integrate into the team and will never take the lead in excluding newcomers!

It's a pity that he didn't listen to Li Ang's words at the beginning. He was overwhelmed by the beautiful vision of joining a giant.

Regret it now?

It's too late...

Li Ang is not very clear about Lukaku's current difficult situation. After all, he hasn't contacted Lukaku recently since Lukaku transferred away.

But he knows very well that Lukaku is definitely not doing well in Manchester United recently.

Not to mention that the major British media are keen to report the struggle between Manchester United's veterans and coaching staff in recent times.

Even if Li Ang only judges based on his memory of Manchester United during this period, he knows that Lukaku will not get any good results if he is involved in the locker room struggle.

But he can't do anything else except sympathize with Lukaku.

After all, the road is chosen by oneself. If you choose the wrong one, as an adult, you can only bear it yourself.

Fortunately, Lukaku had won enough championships at Chelsea before going to Manchester United. He had both the league championship and the Champions League championship, so he had no regrets...

At 3 pm on August 29, the fourth round of the Premier League match between Chelsea and Manchester United started on time at Old Trafford.

In the past two seasons, Manchester United has not won a single game against Chelsea!

To be honest, from players to fans, Manchester United is now psychologically traumatized by Chelsea.

Facing Chelsea, they can lose in any way.

Chef Van Gaal suffered enough from Chelsea last season.

In the first game against Chelsea in the new season, he did not dare to be careless at all, and pragmatically put out the 541 iron turtle formation.

Mourinho also scratched his head after looking at Manchester United's starting lineup.

He really didn't expect that one day Manchester United would be the first to admit defeat to the opponent at Old Trafford.

But it must be said that Van Gaal's tactical choice successfully helped Manchester United reduce the probability of being defeated by Chelsea.

Seeing Manchester United's bus formation, neither Mourinho nor Chelsea's starting main players had any desire to bite the ball hard.

After the game started, Chelsea, who kicked off first, controlled the ball in the midfield and patiently involved Manchester United's central defense.

Li Ang looked at Fellaini and Herrera who stood conservatively in front of him, and then looked at Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin who seemed to be wingers on both sides of the midfield but actually tended to defend more in the middle.

In his heart, he couldn't help but sigh at Van Gaal's strange tactical arrangement today!

"Is it necessary? Is it necessary? What's the difference between this and directly putting four midfielders?

You are Manchester United, the top Premier League giants, where is your backbone?!"

Li Ang complained a few words in his heart, but he ignored the fact that his boss Mourinho often liked to put four midfielders on the court.

Once Manchester United came up with this formation, it was clear that they had to stay at home today.

They don't care whether they win or not, they just want to stabilize and not lose.

Li Ang can understand the Manchester United players' desire to establish a defensive position first.

But as the man who likes to break Manchester United's goal the most, he doesn't like to waste too much time on attacking Manchester United's midfield defense.

The smartest way to attack this kind of bus formation is to constantly pull the opponent's defense.

It just so happens that the four midfielders sent by Manchester United today are not too fast. Li Ang just thought about it for a while and quickly decided on a way to deal with Manchester United's four midfielders!

"Eden! Come, come here..."

Taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity in the opening stage, Li Ang called Hazard back quickly, and then took the time to quickly tell him a few words in his ear.

Hazard nodded while listening, and then showed a knowing smile, and made a "rest assured" gesture to Li Ang.

The director was very smart to capture the little movements of Li Ang and Hazard on the court.

At this moment, many fans were also very curious about what Li Ang said to Hazard.

However, their doubts did not last long.

Because soon, Hazard retreated to Chelsea's midfield and cooperated with Li Ang to unveil their new tactical strategy.

Chelsea also changed to a four-midfielder formation, but compared to Manchester United's four midfielders who were all crowded in the middle, Chelsea's four midfielders made full use of the field space.

Hazard and Li Ang were on the left and right sides of the field, with Matic and Kroos in the middle.

Suarez and Salah now seem to have become two strikers, and both of them are capable of retreating to receive the ball and then dribbling forward.

After a slight adjustment, Chelsea's midfield began to press forward as a whole to test the attack.

However, they did not pass the ball forward much, and more of them opened up the formation to make lateral passes.

Hazard and Li Ang both have strong ball protection and dribbling abilities. The two are now on both sides of the midfield. No matter who is the ball holder, the Manchester United midfield defenders dare not neglect it!

Kroos and Matic are in the middle, and their ability to dispatch and transfer the ball is top-notch.

So Chelsea's ball possession is very smooth, the ball speed is fast enough, and the pass is very accurate.

After the lateral pass is pulled apart, Li Ang and Hazard may receive the ball at any time to try to break through.

This is a great test of Manchester United's midfield defenders' sweeping coverage and supplementary defense capabilities.

If Schweinsteiger is still in his peak state, then there is no problem. He can use his strong running ability to make up for Fellaini's lack of lateral sweeping.

But the fatal point is that Schweinsteiger's condition has declined significantly.

Not only is his physical condition declining significantly, but also his desire for championship honors is almost gone.

He has many Bundesliga titles, Champions League, six titles, and even World Cup titles!

Schweinsteiger has no shortage of championships. To put it bluntly, he came to Manchester United to get a high salary for retirement.

His physical condition is not as good as before, and his mentality has become very Buddhist. It is completely impossible for you to let Schweinsteiger fight for Manchester United now.

Apart from Schweinsteiger, the other three players in Manchester United's four midfielders today are not very capable.

It's not that Li Ang looks down on people, but Herrera, Fellaini and Schneiderlin, the three of them really don't have the ability to play as the starting main force in a prosperous giant.

Although they are diligent, facing Chelsea's fast passing, it is difficult for them to take the initiative to attack and put pressure on defense, and even to continue to stabilize the line!

Fellaini felt very frustrated, after all, his defensive strength is frontal interception.

Asking him to follow Chelsea's fast conduction and move horizontally quickly at this moment, that would be completely difficult for him!

Van Gaal was also very anxious watching from the sidelines.

He probably expected what kind of tactical adjustments Chelsea would make in the face of the lineup he arranged today.

But he really didn't expect that his four-midfielder defense system would be so quickly affected by Chelsea that it would be difficult to stabilize the situation!

The game has only been played for seven or eight minutes, and Fellaini is a little unstable and about to fall off the chain.

Van Gaal really didn't dare to think about it. When the two teams' offense and defense speed up further, how will Fellaini hold on?

Just when Van Gaal was considering whether to replace Fellaini in advance in the first half and replace him with Ashley Young to enhance the defensive flexibility of the midfield.

Li Ang, who had not tried to break through before, suddenly took the ball into Manchester United's midfield hinterland in the right midfield!

Schneiderlin, who was guarding Li Ang, couldn't keep up with the speed and was directly left behind by Li Ang who burst into speed!

Fellaini retreated immediately, forcing Li Ang to cut inside.

But his move gave Kroos, who was inserted from the midfield, enough space to move forward.

Li Ang decisively passed the ball in a triangle, and after Kroos got the ball, he sent a diagonal long pass without any hesitation!

He had already observed that the ball passed to Hazard was very accurate.

Manchester United's seemingly solid midfield defense fell apart at this moment!

Because Schweinsteiger couldn't keep up with Hazard's pace!

After passing Schweinsteiger and Damian, two Manchester United defenders, in two or three steps, Hazard went down the bottom and then sent a cross to the back of Manchester United's penalty area!

Hazard's cross was very smart.

The football bypassed Smalling, the tall central defender in front of Manchester United's penalty area, and Suarez, who was competing with Blind for a point, had already taken advantage of his position at the back of the penalty area!

Suarez, who had done his best to complete the header, was originally planning to run to the bottom line to celebrate.

But De Gea, who was at the peak of his career, saved Manchester United with a miracle save that seemed impossible!

Well... or half of it was saved.

Because just after he saved Suarez's header, Li Ang, who came out from the middle of the penalty area, volleyed the second point without stopping the ball!

This time, De Gea was a god descending to earth, and he couldn't make a second save!

After breaking through Manchester United's goal again, Li Ang finally showed a comfortable smile on his face.

He called his teammates beside him to celebrate with him in the corner flag area.

At this moment, Lukaku, who was standing in Chelsea's half and had not touched the ball for five minutes, looked at the familiar scene of the past with envy.

Thinking back to the past, he and his teammates gathered around Li Ang to celebrate happily...

But now, happiness only belongs to his former teammates, and he has nothing but depression and frustration!

"Boss, is it too late for me to regret now? I don't want to stay in Manchester United anymore!"