“Are you satisfied with the current score?”
“I said this is a team not to be underestimated. Do you believe me now?”
Although Carlo Ancelotti rarely lost his temper at Chelsea, he mostly maintained his current state, treating the players with a certain respect. However, his previous coaching halo meant the players dared not disobey the coach's arrangements.
In attack, Carlo Ancelotti would demand that players maximize the use of the field's width, utilizing the quick overlaps of the wing-backs and the inside forwards to cut into the opponent's defensive ribs, quickly forming 'inverted triangle' combinations on the flanks or opportunities for crosses from the byline.
“I hope you take the second half seriously. Letting the opponent attack doesn't mean giving up offensive dominance. If not for luck, we might have been behind in the first half. So, seize the beginning of the second half, score as soon as possible, and kill the game. This match will be much easier! Understand?!”
“Come on!!!”
Terry, the captain on the field today, finally gave Carlo Ancelotti a response.
“Come on!”
Hearing the captain's chant, the Chelsea players also responded.
Carlo Ancelotti then showed a slight smile, clenching his fist at the players.
In the 51st minute of the second half, Chelsea showed their strong team style!
Lampard, after receiving the ball in the center circle, suddenly accelerated towards the right side of the attacking half!
First, using Balack's screen, Lampard directly bypassed Cambridge United's midfielders O'Connor and Kante!
Immediately after, Lampard, who had surged to the right side of the penalty area, used a change of pace to dribble past defender Vida!
The cheers at Stamford Bridge reached a climax as Lampard successfully entered the penalty area!
Unfortunately, at the moment Lampard crossed, both O'Connor and Kante had already rushed back from their half!
Ultimately, Lampard's pass was blocked by O'Connor out of bounds, and this brilliant breakthrough, dribbling past several players, only earned Chelsea a corner kick.
Joe Cole chose to send the corner kick directly to the near post! Drogba unleashed his power!
Despite having two defenders, Vida and Van Dijk, in front of him, he still looped the ball towards the far post of the goal!
The headed ball formed a clear parabola, making it impossible for Oblak at the near post to reach the ball!
However, Drogba's shot was slightly off target, about to glide past the goal and head for the byline!
In the nick of time, Anelka arrived just in time, directly deflecting the ball into the goal!
2:0!
Chelsea, through a corner kick, broke through Cambridge United's goal at the start of the second half!
After the goal, Chelsea's morale soared!
In the 58th minute, Joe Cole threw a throw-in from the left side of the attacking half, directly passing it to Ashley Cole beside him!
Ashley Cole, after receiving the ball, directly moved horizontally into the penalty area!
Anelka cleverly screened O'Connor, just like a pick-and-roll tactic in basketball!
Ashley Cole, without any interference, shot with his right foot towards the far corner of the goal before Vida could close in! Oblak made a clean dive, directly tipping the ball out of bounds!
The Chelsea fans, who were already prepared to celebrate a goal, could only let out a huge groan to express their disappointment!
Huang Hao also began to make substitutions, first replacing the somewhat fatigued O'Connor with Golonas.
Then, in the 65th minute of the second half, he finally brought on Sun Jihai, replacing the young Vida.
Sun Jihai gave Vida a big hug on the sideline, then bent down and touched the grass of Stamford Bridge with his hand, kissed it, performed a prayer gesture, and then walked onto the field!
Soon, Cambridge United attacked Chelsea's half, and Golonas, marked by Anelka, could not turn and break through, only waiting for teammates' support in place.
“Here!”
A voice suddenly came from Golonas's right rear.
Mahrez!
After Golonas confirmed it was a teammate's voice, he directly sent the ball over!
After passing the ball, Golonas was able to turn, but at the moment of turning, he was instantly stunned!
Standing on the passing route at this time was Chelsea's midfield general, Essien!
Mahrez, behind Essien, tried his best but could not get in front of him!
Essien, who successfully got the ball, passed it directly forward to Joe Cole.
Cole quickly looked up, then pushed the ball to his front right, and launched a long pass!
Cambridge United's defense was directly penetrated by Cole's pinpoint pass!
The ball was passed directly into the unoccupied area between Lovren and Van Dijk!
And at this moment, Drogba had already accelerated, passing Van Dijk, and heading straight for the ball!
Bola, the only one who might catch the ball, rushed towards it with all his might! Seeing that both of them arrived at the ball almost simultaneously, Lovren could only slide tackle, hoping to clear the ball towards Oblak in front of the goal!
However, the long run had exhausted too much of Lovren's energy, and his final sliding tackle technique was completely distorted!
Although Lovren touched the ball first, the ball only symbolically rolled forward twice.
Drogba had a clear one-on-one!
The young Oblak stared intently at Drogba, without the slightest fear!
After trapping the ball, Drogba, who had already reached the right side of the penalty area, chose to chip the ball towards the near post! Just as the ball flew out, Oblak's feet seemed to be on springs, launching instantly!
In Drogba's incredulous gaze, Oblak directly parried the ball out of bounds!
Drogba covered his mouth with both hands, staring at Oblak, who was getting up and high-fiving his teammates in celebration, then shook his head helplessly and retreated to midfield.
Cambridge United, in front of them, seemed like hidden masters, seemingly unremarkable, but possessing extraordinary skills!
Poor Drogba had at least four clear scoring opportunities today, but unfortunately, he either shot wide or the goalkeeper saved it.
On the field, Kante, with Ayu's help, directly dispossessed the ball from the tough Essien, kicking it out of bounds.
Chelsea's subsequent corner kick also posed no threat.
Unconsciously, the time had already reached 70 minutes.
The Cambridge United players, unwilling to suffer a clean sheet at Stamford Bridge, also began their counter-attack.
Oblak took a goal kick from the backfield, and the ball directly crossed midfield, going to the left side of the attacking half.
Gotze, who came on as a substitute, calmly brought down the ball in front of Carvalho, then sent a diagonal long pass, directly transferring the ball to the right side of the penalty area!
After the ball successively passed Terry and Ashley Cole, it smoothly landed at Jordan Ayew's feet!
Jordan Ayew attempted a cross, but Ashley Cole, who had quickly fallen back into position, directly extended his leg and blocked the ball out of bounds!
Golonas and Gotze executed a tactical corner kick, then quickly tapped the ball to the edge of the penalty area!
Lewandowski unleashed a powerful shot!
The ball directly hit Anelka's face and bounced out of bounds!
Anelka cursed under his breath, covering his face and crouching on the ground, unable to stand up for a long time!
Sun Jihai ran to the sideline, picked up the ball, looked at his teammates beside him, and directly threw the ball to Kante!
The 168 cm Kante obviously couldn't compete with Balack for this header, so he could only pull Balack's shirt, preventing Balack from getting in front of him!
Kante overlooked Paulsen, who was close by!
Before Balack could fall, Paulsen directly blew the whistle for Kante's foul!
Chelsea won a free kick on the left side of their own penalty area. Carlo Ancelotti also took the opportunity to replace Anelka with Kalou.
Ivanović sent a long ball directly towards Cambridge United's backfield with a powerful kick!
Lovren, Kante, and Mahrez surrounded Drogba, who was under the landing spot!
However, the ball in the air seemed to have a clear outward spin!
Ivanović's target was not Drogba, but Malouda, who was outside the three-man encirclement!
After receiving the ball, Malouda took a touch forward, escaped Sun Jihai, and then quickly crossed from the byline. The unprepared Cambridge United players watched helplessly as Lampard soared high and powerfully headed the ball into the goal!
3:0!
Chelsea, leading by 3 goals, noticeably slowed down their attacking rhythm.
On the contrary, Cambridge United, unwilling to be clean-sheeted, frequently threatened Čech's goal with counter-attacks. Lewandowski, facing Terry, easily poked the ball with his toe, surprisingly dribbling past the opponent with a perfect run and ball control!
Before Terry could catch up, Lewandowski passed the ball to Gotze in the middle!
Gotze, near the penalty spot, chose to push the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal!
The in-form Čech made an exceptionally brilliant save this time! A beautiful diving save directly blocked the ball out of bounds!
In the subsequent corner kick, Čech even rushed out of the six-yard box, plucking the ball from the air in front of Van Dijk, ending Cambridge United's attack!
Carlo Ancelotti looked at the vibrant attacking play of Cambridge United, feeling a mix of emotions.
This was Stamford Bridge! This was Chelsea's home ground!
But Chelsea's players seemed not to have heard Carlo Ancelotti's shouts.
Two minutes later, Cambridge United launched another attack.
Mahrez, on the flank, used a change of direction to create space from Ashley Cole, then crossed the ball to the front of the goal again!
The ball accurately landed at the feet of the newly introduced young Harry Kane, and Kane directly volleyed it!
The ball grazed the left post and flew into the goal!
Kane, after scoring, was still a bit disbelieving; this was Čech's goal, after all! Seeing the Cambridge United players rushing towards him, he finally believed that he had truly scored.
Injury time quickly ended, and Paulsen finally blew the final whistle!
“There are no regrets. Chelsea under Carlo Ancelotti is in a League of its own. To score a goal at Stamford Bridge, we are already very satisfied.”
Huang Hao appeared very humble. After leaving these two sentences for Stewart, he and his players boarded the bus back to Cambridge United's base.
The reporter savored Huang Hao's words, then shook his head. If this was published, it would be completely uninteresting!
Standing on the stage of the top League and competing against many famous coaches, Huang Hao became increasingly humble.
Or rather, he still had nothing to be proud of.
Unless the opponent angered him, he would still focus more on improving his level, after all, only championships could convince everyone.
Unbeknownst to them, Cambridge United's grueling schedule had thus completed three matches. And the last one was against their good friend, Manchester City, currently ranked sixth.
In the new season, Manchester City became the most dazzling presence in the Premier League. The arrival of the Middle Eastern tycoons, who had invested heavily last season to bring in Robinho, Ben Haim, and Phillips, aimed for the Champions League. The result was a tenth-place finish.
In the new season, the Middle Eastern tycoons continued to pour in 100 million, buying Barry, Given, and Santa Cruz, but Mark Hughes's team is currently only ranked sixth, still 6 points behind fourth place. According to unofficial rumors, Mubarak is very dissatisfied, and if Manchester City's performance does not improve, Mark Hughes's dismissal is imminent.
However, what troubled Huang Hao the most right now was English Football Association's somewhat perverse fixture schedule.
For the match against Manchester City, Cambridge United only had two days to prepare!
Excluding one day for recovery training, the actual preparation time was only one day!
If Cambridge United chose to arrive in Manchester a day early, then the preparation time would be virtually zero...
However, Hughes's team was not having an easy time either; Manchester City's many stars had not achieved the 1+1=2 effect.
After Cambridge United survived this round, they would get 7 days of rest.
But Manchester City would face the challenge of Europa League Group A opponent Hertha Berlin in 4 days. Then, 3 days later, they would travel to Anfield to challenge Liverpool!
And then, 3 days later, Manchester City would also travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United again in the League Cup fourth round...
After looking at Manchester City's schedule, Huang Hao took a deep breath, instantly feeling that Cambridge United was quite fortunate.
At the same time, Cambridge United's League Cup fourth-round opponent also emerged, and to Huang Hao's surprise, Cambridge United's fourth-round opponent was actually their arch-rival, Peterborough United!