[As many expected, Manchester City have come out in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Ho-young is the lone striker, with James Milner, Ronaldinho, and David Silva lined up behind him to complete an attacking setup. Behind them, Yaya Touré and Gareth Barry form the first defensive screen.]
The substitutes included Adebayor, Shaun Wright-Phillips, and Robinho.
[One interesting thing is that this looks very different from manager Mancini's earlier statement that he would place Ho-young in midfield. The decision to start James Milner instead of Robinho is the same story.]
[Personally, the choice to bring in James Milner looks like a good one.]
[I agree. It could also be seen as a selection made with Michael Essien's return from injury in mind.]
The starting lineup was not bad.
The problem, however, was that Robinho, who had not been included in the starting eleven, had expressed his dissatisfaction and ended up clashing with Mancini.
It was not petty complaining without reason.
Mancini had kept implying right up until they arrived at the stadium that Robinho would start.
But when Chelsea's Michael Essien returned from injury faster than expected, Mancini changed his plan at the last moment and sent out James Milner instead.
From the manager's point of view, it was an unavoidable decision, but from Robinho's point of view, after spending days intensely training for this match, it was enough to make him angry.
Because of that incident, Manchester City's team atmosphere was not especially good at the moment.
Chelsea, on the other hand, were different.
[And Chelsea respond with a 4-1-2-1-2 formation.]
[Perhaps knowing Ho-young would start as a striker, they have clearly put a lot of thought into the center of the pitch. We will have to see whether they can stop Manchester City's 12-match winning streak.]
Peeeeep!
The whistle blew, and Chelsea took the kick-off.
Early in the first half.
Chelsea took a strategic approach right from the start and put Manchester City under pressure.
In midfield, John Obi Mikel, Michael Essien, and Frank Lampard maintained a triangular shape and gradually took control of the center with their tireless work rate.
And above them, Nicolas Anelka, who started as the attacking midfielder, also joined the midfield battle and helped build possession.
[With such a solid midfield, it is easy to dominate possession. This is exactly the kind of play you would expect from the team with the best midfield in the EPL.]
8th minute of the first half.
Chelsea's possession went over 60%.
Manchester City's James Milner and David Silva tried to break into midfield with their high work rate, but Lampard and Essien never gave them any openings.
"Michael! Tighten the spacing even more! We have to stay compact and attack through the center!"
"Okay!"
A seasoned understanding.
As expected of players who had played together for a long time, they showed tremendous organization and delivered composed football without any sign of shaking.
Instead, they targeted Ronaldinho's stamina, one of Manchester City's weak points, and thoroughly controlled the center.
[That does not mean Manchester City are dominating the flanks either, because they are not. Chelsea are holding their own on the wings as well.]
When Chelsea had the ball, they pushed full-backs Ashley Cole and Ivanović high up and used them as wing-backs.
More precisely, it became a 2-3-2-1-2 formation.
They were not only playing passes through the center, but also occasionally succeeding with crosses from wide areas, allowing them to take the initiative in attack.
Perfect balance.
Ancelotti's tactics, which had been praised by many football experts, were working exactly as intended.
It was the kind of performance that showed just how thoroughly Chelsea had prepared for this match.
[Lampard looks to the right side! Ivanović overlaps!]
[Mica Richards tries to stay with him, but... he sends it in anyway!]
Ivanović's cross came in a half-beat early.
But because it lacked precision, it did not reach Drogba's head.
[Goalkeeper save! Joe Hart punches it away!]
[But the attack is not over yet. Anelka picks up the ball in the second line.]
After Drogba lost the aerial challenge, Anelka broke into the second line and collected the loose ball.
He then switched it to the opposite flank and immediately delivered another cross without giving Manchester City any time to recover.
The build-up was tight and solid.
The attack was quick and direct.
Everything they had prepared was unfolding just as Ancelotti had instructed.
A fantastic rhythm spread across the pitch.
If you were a Chelsea fan, this was a moment when you simply could not stay seated.
"Wahhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Come on you Blues! Blues!"
Around 2,000 Chelsea supporters, The Blues, were roaring as one.
It was the moment Ashley Cole's cross came in.
[Far post! It is floated deep!]
Ashley Cole.
Unlike Ivanović, he was known for his crossing ability, and true to form, he delivered a very sharp and accurate ball.
And then came the next moment.
[Didier Drogba rises at the same time!]
[Kompany is right with him!]
Bang!
Right after a fierce physical clash in the air.
Drogba, boasting monstrous physicality, beat Kompany and got his head to the ball.
And the finish was emphatic.
Thud!
[Gooooooooooooal!]
[Didier Drogba thunders in a header!]
Didier Drogba.
Renowned for his top-class aerial ability, he turned a single shot on target into a goal.
For him, 33 years of age meant nothing.
"Uoooooh!"
After scoring, Drogba roared as he performed his trademark knee-slide celebration.
"Didier Drogba!"
"Tra Lala!"
"Didier Drogba!!"
"Traaa Lalala!!"
The away fans were in complete chaos.
It was still too early to celebrate with only 23 minutes gone in the first half, but today, something about it felt good.
Ancelotti felt it too.
It was still too soon, but it felt like something might happen.
Yet he did not smile.
Instead, he calmed his players and encouraged them.
"Do not be too afraid, just keep doing what we prepared."
Yes, before they were facing Ho-young, they were facing Manchester City.
The only thing City could truly put forward against Chelsea was attack.
Perhaps they had been too afraid.
Now was the time to ride this momentum.
'That's it.'
Certain of it, Ancelotti instructed his players.
Keep the tension, but move a little more aggressively and with greater flexibility.
And the result appeared just 10 minutes later.
[Manchester City seize control!]
"..."
Something had gone wrong.
It was something that happened only 10 minutes after play resumed.
It was hard to believe even while watching it.
Manchester City's midfield had clearly looked fragile.
Even though Yaya Touré had pushed forward, they had been unable to break through Chelsea's surrounding net.
But as Ho-young dropped down from the top, the match began to move in an increasingly strange direction.
Of course, that much had been expected, so Ancelotti responded by bringing Ashley Cole and Ivanović into midfield to help solve the situation.
But that was not the end of it.
The constant physical battles in midfield.
The growing spaces opening up on both flanks.
James Milner and David Silva naturally expanding their range of movement.
Ronaldinho gaining more room as a result.
And with that, the number of touches increasing.
Before they knew it, Manchester City's possession had gone over 50%.
Things that made no sense kept happening one after another.
And at the center of it all stood Ho-young.
It was as if he was creating every situation himself.
It felt like he was looking down at a chessboard from the sky.
In fact, that had once been the trademark of Chelsea's midfield commander from last year, Michael Ballack.
But this was beyond even that.
Ho-young was not content with that alone. He moved the pieces one by one himself, and at times became a piece himself and directly changed the shape of the board.
At times he became a rook and defended, at times a queen and seized control, and at times a knight and struck where no one expected.
That was how he was shaping the board.
[Ho-young is moving busily and taking control of the field. This is incredible.]
[That's right. The players on the pitch may not realize it, but from up here it is obvious at a glance. Ho-young is showing restrained movement. He is distinguishing between where he needs to go and where he does not. Because of that, he is not wasting energy unnecessarily.]
At that moment, Ho-young was slowly stepping into a transcendent realm.
It was an extremely difficult stage.
Sharp vision, thinking ability, and instinct.
Through them, he was compressing and reconstructing the flat view visible to the eye into a three-dimensional form, then creating another pitch inside his own head.
The talent he had shown against Arsenal had grown one step further by creating synergy with Dimensional Thinking and Creativity.
And on top of that, concentration.
Through image training, Ho-young maintained his composure and pushed his mentality to the limit.
He kept trying to see through Chelsea's patterns, and endlessly thought about how he could find the solution.
That was what Ho-young had been doing up to the 35th minute of the first half.
Maybe it had taken a long time.
But there were still 60 minutes left.
This was already Ho-young's stage.
The game started right now.
[Manchester City are tightening the noose around Chelsea. Possession has risen into the 66% range. Chelsea's once-dominant midfield is collapsing helplessly.]
[Looking at Ho-young's work rate over the last 10 minutes, that is only natural. Manchester City are taking control through numerical superiority and domination.]
A reversal of the tide.
Chelsea's heat faded.
Manchester City rose instead.
Tak!
And the flow broke.
[Ho-young drops diagonally downward.]
[At the same time, David Silva cuts inside through the center.]
[Ronaldinho moves into the open space on the right to fill it. He draws Essien out.]
[Milner drives into the center and receives Silva's ball.]
[Ah, the center is open again! Chelsea have to wake up!]
Chelsea's players were unable to regain their senses, as if caught under a spell.
"Left side! Watch Silva on the left!"
"Stick tight!"
John Terry and David Luiz fought desperately to control the box while communicating with each other.
Manchester City's players, on the other hand, said nothing.
They simply anticipated the next move based on Ho-young's movement and built their link-up play accordingly.
[David Silva continues his run into the first line! He forms a front two with Ho-young!]
[The center is open again!]
[But James Milner looks toward the right flank!]
[Ronaldinho is breaking into the wide area!]
Chelsea's defensive line was solid.
As the side with the fewest goals conceded in the EPL, they quickly rebuilt their defensive line and responded thoroughly.
On top of that, Michael Essien also dropped into the box to strengthen the defense.
It was at that very moment that Ronaldinho's low cross came in.
"Gah!"
Essien charged over with beast-like reaction speed and stretched out his leg.
At that distance, it had to reach.
But it did not.
The reason was simple.
Ho-young was faster.
And then.
Tak.
Ho-young controlled the low cross with the tip of his foot, then flicked it up over his own head.
It was a piece of skill that also took out Ramires, who was charging in from behind.
Then John Terry came rushing in from the side.
Alongside Rio Ferdinand, one of the best centre-backs the EPL had to offer.
He seemed like a giant tree blocking the way completely.
But what did that matter?
Ho-young did not avoid him and simply forced his way through.
No matter how much John Terry was a master of dirty play who never shied away from contact, in front of Ho-young he was nothing more than an aging defender.
An old tree.
Ho-young drove through him brutally with his lively muscles.
Bang!
"Urgh."
John Terry let out a groan and was thrown aside.
The perfect shooting chance came at that very moment.
It was when Ho-young's eyes turned toward the goalkeeper straight ahead.
Petr Čech.
One of the greatest goalkeepers in EPL history.
His strengths were his stability and how rarely he made mistakes, and he hurled himself forward while sharply watching Ho-young's two feet.
But those strengths meant nothing here.
Thud!
How could he possibly stop Ho-young's finishing when it had risen to this level?
[Gooooooooooooal!]
[Ho-young, Ho-young has done it!!]
The pitch was swallowed by shock.
Chelsea's players, who had been defending with everything they had, stared blankly at one another.
They could not understand at all what had just happened.
In the time it took to blink once, the ball had somehow ended up in the net.
Ho-young.
It was him.
"Hooo!"
After scoring his 21st league goal, he ran across the ground with his arms spread.
Then he sprinted like a madman toward Manchester City's goal.
He punched the air toward the sky-blue flags waving on the opposite side.
The Citizens.
Manchester City's supporters exploded and shouted with one voice.
"Wohooo!"
"We are City!"
"Here's to you, Woo!"
"We are City!"
"Young!!"
A thrilling sensation wrapped around his entire body.
At this very moment, it felt as if he had become the master of City.
And it was at that very moment.
[Mastered Concentration (SSS-)↑]
[In 14 days, you will be able to combine all possessed talents that are deeply related to 'Concentration' into one.]
The integration of mentality-related talents.
Could there be a happier moment than this?
Even so, Ho-young put his joy aside and quietly returned to the halfway line.
There were still 60 minutes left in the match, and there was much more to show.
And much more to covet.
(To be continued.)