Chapter 233: Breathtaking preseason

After two weeks of closed training, the team finally had its first debut on the evening of the 21st.

This time, the opponent was Freiburg from the Bundesliga. The strength was not very good. It was the newly promoted team in the Bundesliga this season, but Ye Qiu planned to use this game to test the performance of the players and the team.

The starting goalkeeper was Van der Sar, the back line was Evra, Gallas, Terry and Maicon, the midfield was Edgar Davis, Makelele and Deco, Ronaldinho and Lampard were behind Drogba, and the irregular 4321 position.

This game was Ye Qiu's first game in charge of Chelsea. Ye Qiu had spent two weeks instilling his tactical ideas into the team. Now it was time to examine the results, so Ye Qiu didn't say much, but just told the players to keep the overall formation compact, and use the team's passing and receiving cooperation and game control to suppress the opponent.

Chelsea did quite well after the opening. Amid the cheers of more than 4,000 Austrian and two teams' fans who came specially, Chelsea firmly controlled the situation of the game.

Freiburg originally wanted to use the opening to play their own advantages, and they also prepared specifically for Chelsea before the game, but in the game, they had to collapse to find that Chelsea's control was too strong. Almost no matter where their ball was transferred, Chelsea could firmly control the surrounding area.

Ye Qiu kept shouting and adjusting on the sidelines, because such a game would allow him to find out the omissions in the players' cooperation with each other, and also allow him to adjust the players' responsibilities and positions, so that both the players and the team can play better and run-in more harmoniously.

Throughout the first half, Freiburg did not play any threatening attacks. They could only create some threats through long passes and long shots, but this was difficult to shake Chelsea's tactical foundation.

Terry and Van der Sar firmly controlled the team's air dominance, and the midfielder suppressed Freiburg tightly. The team's entire defense line boldly pressed forward, even if Freiburg clearly saw that Chelsea left a large gap behind, but what could they do? Counterattack? Is it okay?

It's not that they don't have speedy strikers, but the problem is that their strikers can't be offside. As long as Chelsea's two central defenders, Gallas and Terry, maintain sufficient concentration and tight control at all times, so that the opponent's strikers can't pull into the gap to complete the sprint, then the strikers' speed will be difficult to play out.

If the speedy strikers can't play effectively, the threat of counterattack will be small.

In this game, Ye Qiu was more about adjusting the team's midfield and defense line running-in problem, and the adjustment of the offense was not very obvious, so Chelsea's offense never threatened, which made the whole team take advantage and created a lot of opportunities, but they just couldn't score.

In the second half, when Ye Qiu took a break at halftime, he replaced players such as Van Persie, Gudjohnsen, Joe Cole, Ribery, Parker, Sun Jihai, Robert Huth and Cudicini in one go, so that everyone understood that this was just a warm-up match.

Because of such a large number of substitutions, Chelsea still did not score a goal in the game. There were many opportunities, but they did not seize them. In the end, they could only let their first warm-up match debut end in a 0:0 draw.

All the media, reporters and fans present would not be satisfied with this warm-up match, because they originally expected it to be a hearty victory, a typical Ye Qiu-style offensive football style, but in the end it seemed a bit dull and lacked eye-catching performances.

Regarding this, Ye Qiu said he was not worried when he was interviewed by reporters from the Times and other newspapers after the game.

"We have been through two weeks of high-intensity training. The players are generally tired and lack stimulation and excitement. Moreover, this is just one of the links in our preparation for the league. The real game will not be until mid-August. We still have plenty of time to slowly adjust."

As for his performance of the players in this game, Ye Qiu gave a high score of 90 points.

"I told the players before the game that the warm-up match is a game where the process is more important than the result. We can score a lot of goals in the game, but the process did not meet my requirements. Such a game is zero points for me. But like today, the process of the game met my requirements and our new style. Even if there are no goals, it is a high score."

A sharp reporter at the scene immediately noticed the meaning revealed in Ye Qiu's words and immediately asked with a smile: "Mr. Ye Qiu, we all noticed that Chelsea seemed to be more in overall defense in this game, or in the control of the game. Many people said it was boring, but we all noticed that the opponent even had only 5 chances to shoot, all of which were long shots. Is this the tactical effect you mentioned?"

Ye Qiu laughed, "You can look at it that way, but I want to say that it's not just that. It's complicated to say."

He spent two weeks to instill it in the players. He arranged every requirement for almost every position very carefully, but it was not the kind of dogmatic requirement for players to do what to do. Instead, he pointed out his own requirements and tasks to the players, and let the players arrange and complete them by themselves.

"All I can say is that the Chelsea I want is an iron-blooded army that can be invincible on any stadium. We will not give our opponents any chance, because before they get a chance, we will completely defeat them!"

Ye Qiu's words were spread through the media, and immediately attracted a lot of attention. Many people were curious about this Chelsea, but it was obvious that in the eyes of everyone, even Chelsea fans, the debut of this team with a total value of more than 200 million was not successful, and it could even be said to be a failure.

The opponent was a newly promoted team in the Bundesliga, but Chelsea did not show commendable strength throughout the game. Although they controlled the situation, it was more because the opponent was too weak, so Ye Qiu's debut was a failed work.

But just 4 days later, in Graz, Chelsea welcomed a local amateur team.

Even if it was just a match with an amateur team, there were still 2,000 fans at the scene.

This time Chelsea did not disappoint the people who came to the scene, and Ye Qiu's team completely dominated the game.

The starting lineup is still the same as the previous game, but it is obvious that the players' condition has improved, and the players' running range and positions in the game have been adjusted, and the cooperation between the players has also been improved.

Just 2 minutes into the game, Ronaldinho dribbled the ball from the left and cut inside, then passed it low into the penalty area. Drogba used his body to hold two defenders and shot through the opponent's goal, 1:0!

Typical Ye Qiu's attacking style, a typical Premier League start, the game was completely under Chelsea's control.

Immediately afterwards, Lampard expanded the score in the 21st minute, and then Ronaldinho also scored in the 28th minute.

In the 34th and 39th minutes, Lampard scored twice, and performed a hat trick in the first half, helping the team to take the lead 5:0, and in the 43rd and 44th minutes, Maicon and Ronaldinho also scored again, and the team finally ended the first half with 7:0.

This made the Chelsea fans who came to the scene very excited. In their opinion, this is Ye Qiu's football, with a tide of offensive, clean and refreshing, which is highly praised.

What is even more rare is that Chelsea made 15 shots in the first half, all of which were shots within the 30-meter area, and scored 7 goals, which was very efficient, but their opponents only had 1 shot, which was far away from the goal and did not create any threat at all.

Judging from the performance in the first half, Deco's organization and strategizing in the midfield were very general-like. Of course, this may be related to the harassment and pressure he suffered; Ronaldinho's ability to get the ball in the frontcourt is absolutely amazing. Even though Lampard scored the most goals, the Brazilian's performance was the most eye-catching. Almost every time he got the ball, he was cheered by the fans.

But the goal performance only lasted half the game. In the second half, Ye Qiu made a large number of substitutions and tried different lineups. Even though Joe Cole, Van Persie and Gudjohnsen scored goals and helped the team beat the opponent 10:0, this was still unconvincing in the eyes of many people.

There is only one reason, the opponent is too weak!

Ye Qiu did not deny this, but he also mentioned that Chelsea's game was still just a warm-up match, and the focus was on examining the team's tactical coordination routines and offensive and defensive systems. He thought the result of the game was not important at all.

"For me, the score is not important at all. What is important is that I see the players' performance and condition are gradually recovering. I see the efforts and concentration of each player. I see that we are becoming more and more like a whole."

"Ronaldinho is indeed a phenomenal player. More importantly, he knows how to help himself and his teammates score goals and play his tactical role in the team. I think this is more important than anything else. Lampard, Davis, Deco, Drogba, Makelele and other players are all very important members of the team."

"Our defense line performed very steadily in this game. I think they are very good. Cannavaro performed well after coming on in the second half. He has been absent from team training for a long time. I firmly believe that after he recovers from injury, he will bring more help to the team and play a greater role."

Although the game was won, there are still praises, concerns and doubts from the outside world. This is not surprising. After all, it is only the preparation stage now. The team has not really played a satisfactory result, which is difficult to be convincing.

Look, just now the opponent was defeated 10:0, and then there was an embarrassing 1:0 victory.

The opponent was Stuttgart from the Bundesliga, and their defense was excellent. Although Chelsea firmly controlled the game, Stuttgart did not show any omissions in defense. In the end, Ronaldinho and Deco cooperated in the first half. The Brazilian relied on his personal skills to carve a hole in the opponent's defense and scored a goal.

The score of 1:0 was hardly satisfactory, but Ye Qiu was still satisfied with the team's performance. As he said in an interview with reporters, "In the past three games, we have never allowed the opponent to shoot more than 5 times, which is very telling."

However, some media refuted that it was because the opponent was too weak, but the media supporting Chelsea believed that Chelsea was also not in the best condition. I believe that when Ye Qiu adjusts the team to the best condition, Chelsea will be stronger than it is now.

The club officials also expressed satisfaction with the team's current situation. They remained unbeaten in three warm-up matches. If there is still any objection to this, it is really a bit unreasonable. Abramovich reiterated his trust and support for Ye Qiu through the official.

In August, Chelsea ushered in the last warm-up match in Austria, and the opponent was Roma from Serie A.

Capello's team is also currently training in Austria. The two sides hit it off and played a warm-up match.

As a result, Ye Qiu's Chelsea defeated Capello's Roma 2:1 in this game. Capello's team became the only team that broke Chelsea's goal since the warm-up match, but unfortunately, Roma only had 5 shots, and still failed to break Ye Qiu's data in the first game against Freiburg.

Capello expressed his high affirmation of Chelsea after the game, believing that this is a team with great control over the game.

"It's hard for me to describe the feeling, because their control is very strong, just like being strangled by a strong and powerful arm. We tried hard to break free and tried every way to get rid of it, but we couldn't do it at all. In the end, we could only watch ourselves suffocate bit by bit."

"The outside world's evaluation of Chelsea is wrong. This is a very strong team. I think they can win something this season!"

Ye Qiu also responded to Capello's praise, thinking that Roma's attack was somewhat unexpected for him. Capello proved his coaching ability in Rome. He is indeed one of the best coaches in European football today.

The coaches of the two teams praised each other, but the media was not interested at all. They just thought that the performance of the two teams was not satisfactory. Obviously, both sides were adjusting.

Ye Qiu and Chelsea also returned to London together the day after the end of this warm-up match.

The opponent of the third round of the Champions League qualifiers came out, it was Slina from Slovakia.

According to the intelligence obtained by the scouts sent out by Ye Qiu, Slina is a strong team in the Slovak Super League. It has won the Slovak Super League championship for two consecutive years. It currently has the absolute strength to challenge for three consecutive championships, so it cannot be careless.

Although it is only a team in the Slovak League, Ye Qiu dare not be careless at all and is preparing carefully. After all, this is the first game of the new season, and it is going to be an away game. Chelsea must be cautious to avoid capsizing in the gutter.

After returning to London, Ye Qiu analyzed and sorted out the team's warm-up match performance in Austria and the training situation. Then, through meetings and reports, he distributed a performance data and analysis report during the training period to each player, hoping to help them improve and adjust.

For this, the players are generally satisfied, because the head coach's work is very meticulous. Similar things that can make them more aware of their performance and shortcomings, other teams don't do much, but Ye Qiu has made great efforts, and even pointed out the direction for them in the report through the coaching staff.

From returning to London in early August to going to Slovakia to play on the 13th, Ye Qiu arranged a warm-up match during the whole process. The opponent was Reading from the English League One, which is near London. Chelsea went to play away.

This is also necessary to adjust the team's status. After all, after the high-intensity training and reserve in Austria, Chelsea still needs to adjust the team's status when returning to London. Ye Qiu is very clear that the Premier League is different from other leagues. It is necessary to get into the state as soon as possible to ensure that it can stand firmer.

I still remember that Arsenal's head coach Wenger said, "In the Premier League, you must make a good start, because the fans will not allow you to play poker slowly for 30 minutes while the game is going on, and then get to the point. They like to enjoy the exciting climax from the beginning."

For Ye Qiu, the journey to win the Premier League is the same.

Many people say that the schedule before and after the Christmas holiday is a devilish schedule, and the lack of a winter break is also the biggest challenge for winning the Premier League. Ye Qiu has no experience in this, and so does his coaching staff. He can only learn some information left by the previous coaching staff through Chelsea, such as Ranieri's preparations for the Christmas holiday and winter break schedule, and get some experience from it.

Therefore, according to Ye Qiu's idea, he must strive for as many advantages as possible before the winter break and Christmas holiday, so as to avoid being left behind by the more experienced Manchester United and Arsenal in this devilish schedule.

Therefore, Ye Qiu needs the team to enter the game state as quickly as possible after the start of the season.

In the away game against Reading, Ye Qiu no longer insisted on the previous way of playing the game separately with the main and substitute lineups, but disrupted it and played it in the first and second half. As a result, the performance of this game was not very satisfactory. Although Chelsea finally won 3:0, it made Reading create a lot of threats.

The latter also became the team with the most shooting opportunities against Chelsea this summer, with a total of 9 shots.

Ye Qiu was not satisfied with the course of the game, but it was obvious that there were many reasons for this, including both player factors and tactical reasons. Among them, Sun Jihai, who replaced Maicon as right back, seemed a little unconfident in front of big-name teammates. He was not decisive enough in handling the ball several times and made mistakes, which did disappoint Ye Qiu.

After returning to Harrington, Ye Qiu immediately found his compatriot, gave him a good beating, and then encouraged him greatly, hoping that he would be more confident.

At this time, Eliza brought back a message to Ye Qiu, which made Ye Qiu very happy.