Chapter 376: I'm Just That Greedy — I Want Chelsea to Step Directly Into the Ranks of the Giants!
Being able to once again surpass Manchester City, especially with one game fewer played, and reclaim the top spot of the Premier League was an incredible morale boost for the entire Chelsea squad!
For a time, many of Chelsea's young players celebrated on Twitter. After finishing the match against Stoke City, Li Ang also organized a somewhat high-profile team dinner.
Many journalists even knew in advance which restaurant in the city center Chelsea's team would be gathering at.
When the Chelsea players tidied up their appearances and drove downtown for the dinner, the reporters waiting outside the restaurant continuously snapped photos and sent updates back to their outlets.
But today, Chelsea's players clearly didn't mind. Some were even in such a good mood that they cooperated with the reporters, striking poses for them in front of the restaurant.
Had this happened in the past two seasons, if Chelsea's players had dared to be so high-profile during the final sprint for the title, Mourinho would have been blowing up their phones with messages.
But times had changed. Though Chelsea's current group of players was still young, they were now experienced champions.
Mourinho had no worries that, under Li Ang's organization and supervision, this group of youngsters would overindulge.
As long as they understood the importance of protecting their bodies at this stage, maintaining enough energy and fitness for training and matches, then relaxing once in a while was completely fine.
And after the high-profile team dinner that evening, Chelsea's young players showed no signs of fatigue the next day, still completing their recovery training full of energy — they had clearly not let Mourinho down.
Compared to the last two seasons, they were indeed much more mature and composed.
After experiencing countless battles and winning the Premier League and the Champions League, they were already very familiar with the path to the top.
They knew exactly what it took to succeed, how much dull training and post-match recovery they would need to endure — and it was no longer a problem for them.
Li Ang chose to hold this team dinner at such a critical moment, not fearing the high profile, precisely to openly display Chelsea's confidence and to continue putting pressure on Manchester City.
They didn't need to hide their championship ambitions, nor did they need to show any nervousness about Manchester City chasing them.
They were, and would continue to be, the strongest, most fearless team in the Premier League!
Openly showing their confidence was, for them, even more beneficial in uniting the team and boosting the morale of the teammates who had only joined during last summer's transfer window.
Facts proved that Li Ang's decision was correct. After the high-profile team dinner, Chelsea privately solidified their unified mindset towards winning the championship.
After the match against Stoke City, they barely had any time to rest; three days later, they traveled to Norfolk to face Norwich away.
Yet under the live broadcast cameras, Chelsea appeared much more like the home team that day, full of energy.
Facing a Norwich that shrank into defense at home, Chelsea showed no mercy. Instead, they immediately seized the initiative from the start!
Against the struggling Canaries, Chelsea didn't craft any complex attacking plan — they simply pushed high up and attacked down both wings.
This brutal, straightforward style that relied heavily on individual skills completely overwhelmed Norwich's defense.
Norwich, starting with a 5-4-1 formation, had their defensive lines squeezed too tightly without any layering, and they couldn't even push Chelsea back into their own half.
Their fullbacks were repeatedly targeted and broken through by Chelsea. Bertrand and Hazard, who both started today on the left, had a field day tearing down the flank!
With Li Ang and Matić covering for them defensively, they didn't care about losing possession. Their only goal was to hammer into Norwich's defensive flanks!
Less than 15 minutes into the first half, Norwich's right side had already collapsed. Hazard and Bertrand repeatedly reached the byline and sent in dangerous crosses!
Li Ang didn't rush into the box to fight for headers. Instead, he patiently waited outside the penalty area with Kroos.
In the 19th minute of the first half, Bertrand's low cross was cleared by Norwich center-back Russell Martin.
Li Ang, waiting near the left edge of the penalty area, calmly collected the ball.
As he adjusted his steps and attracted nearly all of Norwich's defenders' attention, Kroos ghosted into the dangerous zone atop the penalty arc!
Before he could be double-teamed, Li Ang swiftly slid the ball sideways to Kroos, who, without taking a touch, struck a precise push shot aiming for Norwich's near post!
Their coordination mirrored a goal from a few rounds earlier where Li Ang had finished similarly.
Except this time, their roles were reversed: Kroos attracting defenders before passing to Li Ang had become Li Ang feeding Kroos.
And the result was just as perfect. Both were lethal with such push shots from this distance.
Norwich goalkeeper Ruddy had his view obstructed by a mass of players, and by the time he realized Kroos had already shot, the ball had pierced into the goal!
After scoring, Kroos stretched his arms wide, laughing, and ran toward the corner flag with Li Ang.
During their hug, facing the live broadcast camera, Kroos kissed the finger where he often wore a ring.
This celebration move once again melted the hearts of countless female fans watching on TV!
Handsome with a playboy face, tall and elegant, but a loyal and devoted man — who could resist that?
Commentators from various countries praised Kroos' outstanding performance this season.
Despite shining as a No. 8 midfielder, Kroos never abandoned his ability to deliver dangerous passes forward.
Thanks to tactical adjustments by the coaching staff and Li Ang's willingness to cede some attacking duties, Kroos had far more chances to push forward this season compared to last.
By now, Kroos had recorded 5 goals and 10 assists across all competitions!
Such a performance truly deserved lavish praise!
With his personal stats flourishing, Kroos was in excellent spirits, hugging Li Ang tightly and saying something that made both of them beam with smiles — likely some overly sweet mutual compliments.
Chelsea's team celebration didn't last too long. After all, they were only playing a relegation battler — the goal was worth celebrating but not getting too excited over.
After opening the scoring, Chelsea's relentless pressure on Norwich turned into wave after wave of goals.
Eventually, Chelsea left Carrow Road with a commanding 4–0 victory!
Meanwhile, Norwich head coach Alex Neil, who couldn't prevent the humiliating defeat, was immediately sacked by the club's management after the match!
This young manager had been a hero last year, leading Norwich to promotion, but failing to keep them up meant he could only accept the cruel reality of dismissal.
Now, Norwich urgently needed to find a new manager to try to scrape enough points from the remaining dozen league matches to survive.
In a way, Chelsea's ruthless thrashing helped Norwich — without such a disastrous loss, perhaps the higher-ups would have continued to hesitate. Now, burning their bridges might give them a slim hope of survival.
After another full three points, Chelsea only rested for three days before rushing off again, this time to face Southampton away.
Under Dutch coach Ronald Koeman, Southampton continued to show fierce competitiveness this season and were strong contenders for a European spot.
They were currently sixth in the Premier League, only four points behind fifth-placed Tottenham and six points behind fourth-placed Arsenal.
At a glance, their strength didn't seem too far from Arsenal, the current gatekeepers of fourth place.
At least in terms of the starting XI, Southampton could compete with Arsenal and Tottenham. Their real weakness was in squad depth.
Facing such an opponent, Chelsea's coaching staff dared not show any negligence.
You could say Southampton weren't that strong, but if you dared to underestimate them, they could easily bite back hard!
Thus, even though Chelsea's main squad had already played two back-to-back league matches, Mourinho still decided to field a full-strength lineup against Southampton!
On the afternoon of February 27th, Chelsea clashed fiercely with Southampton at St. Mary's Stadium!
Almost simultaneously, Manchester City's high-profile battle against Tottenham kicked off at White Hart Lane.
The two super teams fighting for the Premier League top spot had already entered a white-hot stage of competition.
Facing tough opponents, both sides aggressively seized the initiative from the very first minute.
Tottenham were all about fast-paced, run-and-gun football. They wouldn't back down to Chelsea, and even less so to Manchester City.
Thus, at White Hart Lane, it was an all-out battle — Tottenham and City going blow for blow, thrilling neutral fans.
Meanwhile, over at St. Mary's Stadium, the more pragmatic Southampton chose to deliberately slow down the game tempo.
Koeman was good at organizing defenses and had great confidence in his approach.
Facing Chelsea today, just like Norwich and Stoke before, he immediately deployed a five-at-the-back formation.
But even with five at the back, Southampton's defense was much more solid. Koeman had good reason to pragmatically aim for points at home.
Chelsea tried to launch a blitz at the start, but after about ten minutes of continuous pressure, they still couldn't find a good way to break down Southampton's defensive shell.
Li Ang noticed that during their previous encounter with Southampton, he hadn't played, meaning he hadn't yet matched up against their new center-back Virgil van Dijk. His eyes were filled with appreciation.
Others might not yet realize the true quality of this Dutch center-back who had transferred from the Scottish Premiership to Southampton last summer, but Li Ang knew him all too well.
The trio of Van Dijk, José Fonte, and Targett in the center of defense wasn't just sufficient for Southampton; even for a top-four Premier League club — excluding Chelsea — it would have been more than enough.
With such a powerful central defense and three defensive midfielders ahead of them, no wonder Koeman had the confidence to spring a tactical surprise on Chelsea at home.
By tightening the back and deploying the forward pairing of Pellè and Mané, Southampton's starting lineup was no joke when it came to counterattacks.
When Chelsea's siege after nearly 20 minutes yielded little result, Li Ang decisively signaled to his teammates to slow the tempo, fall back a bit, and maintain compactness instead of stretching the formation too thin.
On the sidelines, Mourinho also picked up on Southampton's tactical intentions. Seeing Li Ang already making adjustments, he had no objections — better to observe how Southampton would respond next.
But after another ten minutes, Southampton remained disciplined. Mourinho immediately realized that Koeman's plan today was simply to aim for a draw.
He wasn't giving Chelsea any opportunities to exploit transitions between attack and defense!
Frankly speaking, if Koeman chose to play this way, Mourinho didn't have many effective countermeasures either.
Southampton had every right to defend for 90 minutes. If Chelsea wanted to force a win, they would have to risk exposing themselves to counterattacks.
Of course, if Chelsea were content with just one point from today's match, they wouldn't need to take many tactical risks.
Southampton had invested so much into defensive tactics that their attacking threat was weak — they could only rely on lucky counterattacks.
As long as Chelsea deployed their defense properly, they could manage the pressure.
After weighing the pros and cons several times, Mourinho could only choose to be patient and wait a little longer.
In the end, the two teams finished the first half in a goalless draw. At the start of the second half, Chelsea showed great determination by choosing to fully press forward!
Despite the risk of being countered by Southampton, Chelsea managed to rack up seven shots within the first 20 minutes of the second half.
Unfortunately, Southampton's Dutch goalkeeper, Maarten Stekelenburg, was in outstanding form, making six saves in the second half to keep his team's goal intact!
Mané, from a counterattack initiated by Pellè's header, nearly broke free for a one-on-one but ultimately shot just wide, with Oblak managing to tip it onto the post.
The ball didn't go in, but the scare was enough to rattle the entire Chelsea team.
They had taken risks without reaping the rewards, but at least they hadn't conceded.
Ultimately, Mourinho could only sigh in admiration at Southampton's outstanding defensive performance.
"Get me a full dossier on that Dutch center-back! As detailed as possible!"
After deciding to tighten Chelsea's formation, Mourinho almost gritted his teeth when requesting Virgil van Dijk's full scouting report from Holland.
Whether or not Mourinho had developed an admiration for Van Dijk was unclear, but he certainly wanted to understand the defender's technical attributes in more detail.
He didn't want Chelsea to suffer another tactical surprise due to insufficient pre-match information next time they met.
Seeing Chelsea voluntarily retreat and settle, Koeman also let out a long breath of relief.
It hadn't been easy!
Since arriving in the Premier League, this was the first time he had managed to match Mourinho tactically.
And to be able to snatch points from today's Chelsea — no matter how — gave Koeman a sense of pride.
At full-time, Koeman approached Mourinho with a broad smile to shake hands.
Mourinho forced a wry smile; it was rare for him to be so thoroughly tormented by an opponent's defensive tactics.
The only consolation was hearing, shortly after, that Manchester City had drawn 3–3 with Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
Had City seized the opportunity to overtake Chelsea and reclaim the top spot, Chelsea's entire squad would have been devastated.
Two wins and a draw — Chelsea had completed this phase of their Premier League points grab plan relatively perfectly.
Before the second leg of their Champions League knockout tie against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea had reclaimed the top spot in the league, and the whole team was brimming with morale.
Although they had expended a bit more energy than expected, the results more than justified the effort.
Moreover, for the second leg at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea could play from a position of rest and defensive strength.
A one-goal lead might not have seemed completely secure, but for Chelsea, being one step ahead meant controlling the entire dynamic of the battle — they were determined to qualify!
On the night of March 9th, Chelsea welcomed Paris Saint-Germain to Stamford Bridge for the second leg of their Champions League knockout clash.
It was a life-and-death match for PSG, and another critical step for Chelsea on their path to European glory this season.
Both teams desperately wanted the win, so once the match began, Chelsea and PSG both started cautiously, probing each other's defenses.
But no matter how conservative the opening was, the match naturally evolved — PSG grew increasingly aggressive, while Chelsea remained increasingly composed.
This had been inevitable ever since the end of the first leg, when a victor had already been decided.
Sure enough, after the initial probing phase, Chelsea settled into a steady rhythm, content to defend their one-goal advantage.
PSG's players, on the other hand, could not be satisfied with the status quo.
They had to attack. They had no choice!
Even if it meant repeatedly crashing into Chelsea's defensive wall and getting bruised and battered, they had to stay pinned on the offensive!
But as the minutes ticked by and the stalemate continued, PSG's entire squad began to understand just how resolute Chelsea were in their defensive stand.
They wanted to keep calm and find a way to break Chelsea down, but the relentless passage of time inevitably stirred anxiety.
Laurent Blanc struggled to suppress his players' growing restlessness and barely held out until halftime.
The 0–0 halftime scoreline suited Chelsea perfectly. For Blanc, it was not ideal but still acceptable.
However, PSG's patience had reached its limit. Blanc knew he couldn't keep suppressing his players' emotions and tactical instincts.
Thus, at the start of the second half, he decisively changed tactics, pushing PSG into a do-or-die offensive mode!
Flooding forward, PSG unleashed immense attacking power.
Today, they were also much smarter — their offensive tempo was more flexible.
In the first leg, following Chelsea's tempo in positional battles had led to nothing.
In this leg, they chose to play on the move. Even though Chelsea packed their defense tightly, PSG's players opted to run relentlessly.
This tactical shift perfectly activated Higuaín and Lucas Moura.
Di María remained the all-around wing warrior he had always been, his consistent and brilliant play ensuring PSG's dominance down the left flank.
It even forced Li Ang to shift his positioning more towards the left to help Matić contain Di María's impact.
However, Di María's past experience playing in midfield at Real Madrid gave him many ways to break through.
He didn't have to stay pinned on the frontline, battling Chelsea's defenders — his retreating runs to receive and distribute opened up more space for his teammates.
Mourinho found himself hit by a boomerang he had thrown years earlier — after all, he was the one who had once reshaped Di María into a dynamic midfielder.
Watching Di María take on the offensive core role for PSG, driving wave after wave of attacks against Chelsea's defense, Mourinho didn't know whether to feel proud or frustrated.
But at a crucial moment, Li Ang once again stood up!
Just as he had once dedicated himself to containing Messi one-on-one, he now poured all his effort into shutting down Di María!
Li Ang never had any psychological burden about sacrificing his own attacking prowess for the sake of team defense — and once again, he succeeded.
He sacrificed his offensive contribution but completely neutralized PSG's most dangerous wing wizard!
Blanc was left in utter despair. He couldn't believe that even with his players performing so brilliantly, they were still undone by Li Ang's near-impenetrable individual defense.
Aside from peak-form Messi, there was no player in world football who could break through Li Ang's personal marking.
Not even today's reborn Di María!
When the final whistle blew, the live broadcast camera immediately zoomed in on Li Ang — dripping with sweat but exuding pure exhilaration rather than exhaustion.
No personal offensive stats today, but Li Ang had once again led Chelsea to overcome a formidable opponent with flawless defensive brilliance!
Aggregate score: 1–0.
Chelsea had smothered the transformed PSG, reaching the Champions League quarterfinals for the third straight season!
Under the brilliant starry skies of London, Li Ang clenched his fists and roared at the heavens!
He was greedy — greedy to use this season's Champions League run to lift Chelsea firmly into the ranks of Europe's true giants!
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