The match between Man City and Chelsea is seen as a critical one in deciding this year’s champion. In their previous 11 home matches, Man City bolstered a stunning 3.8 goals scored per game whereas Chelsea only conceded 11 goals in their previous as many away games – that’s when an unstoppable force meets with an unmovable object. Mourinho stated his team will attack Man City, and ‘if I don’t, it’s because I can’t.’ Albeit yet another attempt to ease the pressure of his players, he was telling the truth.
Just as previous showdowns with fellow title challengers, Mourinho opted for David Luiz in the holding role together with Matic, who made his full debut in the league. The two did their job reasonably well. But if we are to single out one magical move by JM, it would be deploying Ramires as an attacking midfielder instead of Oscar. JM’s game-plan was somewhat idealistic: he wants to defend solidly and be able to hit Man City with both quick counters and patient build-up. That requires a good blend of attacking and defending attributes from every single player. Given this requirement, Ramires was a better choice over Oscar. For the other two attacking midfielders, the defensive ability and willingness of Hazard and Willian was exactly why JM let Mata go. Using these three behind E’too ensures the team has enough bodies to stay behind the ball when defending, yet possesses enough pace, aggressiveness and technical ability during counter attacks AND build-up play.
Comparing to their previous games against the big teams, the Blues were more aggressive this time. True, they only had 35% of the possession throughout the match and were defending most of the time; however, when they managed to get hold of the ball, they aimed to hurt City right away. Among their meager 256 passes, almost 40% of them were attacking third passes, demonstrating their willingness to go forward with numbers. Apart from that, it was clear the JM had special orders for Hazard. He made 11 successful dribbles, more than double of his season average. What’s more, goal-scorer Ivanovic’s continuous support in the attacking third also proved JM’s pre-match pledge a valid one. In terms of results, JM can be very proud of his players: they had 18 shots, even higher than their season average for away games. Not bad for a trip to the Etihad.
To be fair, Man City had a good game, or I should say they performed ‘as usual’, except they failed to convert chances. Even with Chelsea’s resolute defense, Man City created 14 chances in the penalty area (in a way, it also showed that Chelsea did not quite succeed in restraining Man City’s attack.) but only 1 was on target. Watching JM winning this game reminds me of his first attempt in El Clasico with Real Madrid. He also planned to take the risk and to attack Barcelona. That time he lost 0:5. Maybe Mourinho understands all too well that the difference between winning and losing can be so close, his smile was somewhat odd when his assistants were cheering around him after the final whistle.
曼城對車路士，被譽為今季聯賽爭霸關鍵之戰。曼城之前11場主場出擊場均攻入3.8球，而車路士之前11常作客比賽只失11球，名副其實最強矛盾之爭。摩連奴賽前明言車路士將會以攻為守，但‘若然大家看不到我們主攻，非不為也，實不能也’；其試圖為球隊減壓之心昭然若揭，但也所言非虛。
摩連奴一如之前面對強隊一樣，讓大衛雷斯出任防守中場，配合首次正選登場的馬迪。兩人在這場比賽表現稱職，但要數摩連奴的神來之筆，不得不提以拉美利斯代替奧斯卡出任其中一個進攻中場。摩連奴這場的game-plan十分‘理想化’：進要可攻，退要可守，每個球員都需要攻守能力平衡。考慮到這點，拉美利斯就要比奧斯卡來得合適。此外，夏薩特和韋利安的防守意識正正就是摩連奴願意放棄馬達的原因，以此三子出任進攻中場，可確保退守的時候有足夠的防守能力，而反攻時的速度又不受影響。
與他們之前面對強敵時的態度相比，這場車路士的確比較進取。沒錯，藍戰士全場只有35%的控球權，大部份之間都在防守，但一旦得到皮球，可看到他們侵略性深高：在他們僅有的256次傳送當中，有差不多四成都是前三分一場的傳球，進攻決心十分明顯。除次之外，摩連奴也明顯對夏薩特有特別指示。今場比賽，他作出了11次成功盤球突破，比他今季場均次數多了兩倍有多。另外，入球功臣伊雲諾域多番參與進攻也印證了摩連奴賽前的言論。就結果而言，相信摩連奴會為他的球員感到十分驕傲，他們在曼城主場製造了18次射門，比起他們今季作客賽事的平均攻門次數還要高。
話分兩頭，曼城今場賽事其實表現也不錯，應該說是保持水準（除了埋門把握一環）。在車路士的嚴密防守之下，仍然在禁區內製造了14次攻門（也反映其實車路士的防守並未很有效制止曼城），只是當中只有1次中目標。看著摩連奴今次凱旋，回想起當年他第一次帶領皇馬出戰國家打比，也是一般的勇者無懼、放手一戰，結果卻是慘敗0:5。摩連奴也知道勝負只在一線之差，完場後助手高聲歡呼時了露出了靦腆的笑容。
SocceRico 