The Portuguese Has Had Enough of Him? The French-Speaking Faction Complains to the Boss, While Tang Long Lazily Reads a Novel!

Mourinho has been holding back his ambition for a long time!

He'd been holding back his anger ever since he returned to Chelsea from Real Madrid.

After winning their first league title since returning to the Premier League, they were in high spirits and full of ambition!

The 54-year-old the Portuguese is in the prime of his coaching career.

After being sacked by Real Madrid in the summer of 2013, Mourinho was determined to reclaim everything he had lost in La Liga in the Premier League!

I want to reclaim my dignity as a coach here!

Returning to his birthplace, Stamford Bridge, in his second season, he led the Blues to a hard-fought victory, battling against Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal to win the Premier League title.

This summer, with Abramovich's strong support, the Portugal coach is full of ambition, attempting to make a big splash in the transfer market, further strengthen the squad, and create Chelsea's second dynasty!

The arrogant Mourinho believed that with his immense influence in the football world, coupled with Abramovich's continuous financial support, football talents from all over the world would flock to him at his command.

However, the transfer market is unpredictable, and everything that happened one after another dealt a heavy blow to this arrogant Specialone!

First, in the battle for Tang Long, they lost to Manchester City, the rising stars of the Premier League;

As a second choice, they set their sights on De Bruyne, but Manchester United intercepted their bid halfway through!

Meanwhile, Petr Cech, a key player in the team and the undisputed first-choice goalkeeper during Mourinho's first stint, also transferred to London's arch-rivals Arsenal due to family issues.

These three setbacks completely enraged Mourinho!

He immediately bought the diminutive striker Pedro from Barcelona, Baba from Augsburg, and Begovic from Stoke City.

After that, talented individuals such as Kenedy, Hector, Stanjilo, and Bauer also came to join him.

With key players from last season's title-winning team, such as Diego Costa, Fabregas, Hazard, Matic, Mikel, Terry, Ivanovic, and Azpilicueta, all back in the squad, it's fair to say that this Chelsea not only retains its core strengths but has even been strengthened in certain positions!

In terms of personnel, it will only be better than last season, not worse!

However, the public is not optimistic about Chelsea winning the title again.

At the beginning of the season, in the odds offered by betting companies, Manchester City was the favorite to win the Premier League title, followed by Manchester United, while the defending champions Chelsea could only be ranked third.

The media's tone is the same; after all, just look at the transfer market—the Manchester clubs have turned Europe football upside down this summer!

Manchester United signed Icardi, the Serie A Golden Boot winner, for a record-breaking fee of over €100 million.

And they once again spent a fortune to bring De Bruyne from Wolfsburg to partner with him.

Manchester City were not to be outdone, with Tang Long, Ranocchia, Sterling...

These are all renowned young players in Europe football, greatly strengthening the team in all three lines: attack, midfield, and defense!

Perhaps because the new signings of the Manchester clubs are far more famous than those of Chelsea, these two teams have attracted the attention of the vast majority of the media since the beginning of the season.

Mourinho, who is used to being in the spotlight and the focus of the world, seems to have lost some of his luster.

So much so that after 13 rounds of the season, almost halfway through, Mourinho has appeared in the media and newspapers far less often than Pellegrini and Van Gaal!

However, the shrewd and calculating Mourinho was not in a hurry at all;

He bided his time, moving forward silently, waiting for the right opportunity to arise.

When the time comes, Mourinho, who can't stand being left out and is unwilling to be second to anyone, will surely raise his arms and shout, drawing the spotlight of the whole of England back to himself!

Manchester City, currently leading the league, has key players in all three lines sidelined due to injury, with some injuries lasting for months.

Furthermore, Mourinho learned that the stubborn Pellegrini was still using the original passing and possession tactics, but the results were not ideal – Mourinho felt that it was time for Chelsea to make a counterattack.

[Christmas champions? Mourinho says Chelsea have to give it their all!]

First, the London -based newspaper, the Times, launched a declaration in support of Mourinho.

"In the history of the Premier League, the team that wins the Christmas title has a very high chance of winning the final Premier League title!"

"The title of Christmas champion is both an honor and a pressure."

"José Mourinho believes he can shoulder this responsibility and pressure. Perhaps it's been too long, but many fans have forgotten that 10 years ago he arrogantly claimed to be the most special one."

"Icardi paired with De Bruyne is very strong, Tang Long paired with Agüero is also very strong. But with Mourinho, Chelsea will never fall behind in the Premier League title race!"

"Regardless of the outcome, Mourinho's timely statement reminds us that the Premier League title has never been a two-man show between the Manchester clubs – don't forget there's also Chelsea!"

Manchester City without Agüero has become stagnant!

Subsequently, Tang Long's old adversary, the traditional right-wing conservative media outlet, the Daily Telegraph, resurfaced!

"With Agüero, Manchester City can thrash their city rivals Manchester United 7-1 away from home."

"Manchester City, without Agüero, can't even beat Swansea!"

"Tang played the full 90 minutes in both matches."

"This newspaper reiterates that, based on the variables involved, one conclusion can be clearly drawn—Tang is very strong, but he is ultimately just a supporting player for this Manchester City. He cannot decide the outcome of the game; the soul of the Blue Moon will always be Argentina superstar Agüero!"

After returning to Manchester from Wales.

Pellegrini gave all the players a severe dressing-down on the training ground!

Apart from Tang Long, every starting player received criticism.

In Pellegrini's words, it means you didn't execute the tactics I practiced in training very well.

"If the team continues to perform like this, I will have to make changes to the current starting lineup. You understand what I mean?"

"Chief Executive Berishitan has told me more than once that although Manchester City is very rich, Manchester City will never employ a lazy person!"

Pellegrini served as a wake-up call for the players.

Although Manchester City remain at the top of the league table after drawing a match, the gap between them and Manchester United has narrowed to two points.

Two points, just the difference of one game, it makes you wonder~

Chelsea, who had been relatively unknown at the beginning of the season, have quietly caught up.

Pellegrini felt that although the team was competitive before, they weren't competitive enough!

Then let's keep rolling it up!

Although there is an UEFA Champions League group stage match against Sevilla on Thursday night, Manchester City's players dare not take a break.

The gym was packed with people by 8 a. m. the next morning, a scene I had never seen before.

Inside the gym, the exercise bikes were making a loud racking noise, and there was even a queue for the bench press!

So much so that the two physical trainers working overtime couldn't keep up with the workload and were just as exhausted and sweating as the players.

The first team has just started their regular training sessions, and most of them have already changed into at least two different short-sleeved shirts!

After training, everyone would choose to do extra practice and then have lunch in the canteen, making Manchester City's canteen equally bustling with activity.

Now, not only are the physical trainers overwhelmed, but even the cafeteria ladies are starting to get overtime pay!

Pelle sat in the head coach's office, listening to assistant coach Rayne report on the players' extra training sessions.

Seeing this lively scene, I nodded in approval.

That's right, these are my players, all ambitious and good lads!

With this kind of spirit, let alone a draw, even if we lose, we can quickly get back up, and the Premier League title will eventually be ours.

"Everyone is practicing extra, that's great! Elimination of the bottom performers—that's exactly the effect I wanted!"

Just as Perinigrini was in high spirits, Toure walked in with Nasri.

Both men were members of the French-speaking Faction. As soon as Pellegrini saw them, he knew they had arranged to come and must have something to discuss.

"Boss, I have something to report," Toure with a serious face. "We're all training extra, but Don hasn't!"

"Yes, Mr. Pellegrini, he left right on time, and we have no idea what he went to do."

Pellegrini paused, then turned to look at assistant coach Rayne.

Rayne hesitated for a moment, then nodded, agreeing with the two French-speaking Faction players.

Seeing that Rayne nodded, Nasri was overjoyed and quickly added:

"That's right. Tang has been arriving right on time these past few days and leaving right away. I don't think I've seen him eat lunch in the cafeteria. And sometimes, while everyone else is in the locker room after showering and discussing how to do extra training in groups, he's just playing with his phone, like he's watching some kind of video?"

Playing on your phone?

Pellegrini's face immediately darkened.

He was well aware of Tang Long's strength.

Although the last match ended in a 0-0 draw, Tang Long repeatedly created opportunities for the forwards in midfield and frequently advanced the ball in the backfield with skillful passing and control. If Tang Long had not been on the field, the game would have been even more unpleasant.

But everyone else went to do extra training, where was Tang Long?

Playing on your phone in the locker room is unacceptable.

Although Pellegrini was somewhat unhappy.

However, he was equally unhappy about the players tattling on him.

This is because it means he is unfamiliar with some aspects of the locker room and needs to learn about them through reports from his subordinates.

"Tang is Tang, and you are you. If you can reach Tang's level, you don't need to train extra. It's up to you!"

"Toure, Nasri, you're both veteran players in the team, you've been playing for Manchester City for five or six years now. We're in a special period right now, so you can talk to me about things that are detrimental to unity. Remember, you absolutely cannot go out and spread these things, especially to the media, understand?"

Toure nodded silently.

He clearly felt that Pellegrini's statement that Don could skip extra training while other players had to was extremely unfair.

How old is this kid? I could be his uncle. When I was young, I won the treble with Barca. When it was time for extra training, I still had to do it properly!

Nasri's mind went blank for a moment, a sly glint flashing in his blue eyes.

He nodded vigorously, "Don't worry, boss. I'm just giving you an internal report. I absolutely won't go out and tell the media. I'm very tight-lipped!"

At the same time.

Inside Sevilla Football Club.

The players are training incredibly hard!

On the training field, the coach would frequently blow the whistle to stop the game and point out the shortcomings of certain players' technical movements and passing choices in a stern tone.

"You're playing Manchester City midweek, do you really want to slip to third place in the group and have to play in the UEFA Europa League?"

The Sevilla players shook their heads, saying they weren't playing anymore, they never wanted to play in this awful UEFA Europa League again!

Even if we win the UEFA Europa League this time, it's still not as good as advancing from the group stage to play in the UEFA Champions League UEFA Champions League knockout stage.

After all, the UEFA Europa League, no matter how you look at it, can't compare to the excitement of the UEFA Champions League.

Moreover, after losing to Inter Milan in the UEFA Europa League final last season, the UEFA Europa League has become increasingly less attractive to this group of Sevilla players.

They wanted to prove themselves in the UEFA Champions League and shed the somewhat mocking title of "Kings of the UEFA Europa League".

The players have an extremely high desire to win!

Compared to Manchester City, Sevilla not only has a home advantage this time, but they also have a very complete squad.

Only one or two substitute players were injured; all the starting players are healthy.

Let's take a look at the UEFA Champions League Group B standings after three rounds.

1. Manchester City 9 points

2. Juventus 4 points

3. Sevilla 4 points

4. Borussia Monchengladbach 0 points

After three rounds, Manchester City have secured three consecutive wins in the group stage and sit atop the standings, with no doubt that they will advance to the next round.

Borussia Monchengladbach have failed to win any of their three matches, are currently at the bottom of the table, and their elimination is virtually certain.

The key lies with Juventus and Sevilla, who are ranked second.

Sevilla's players understand that they must compete with the Serie A giants for second place in the group, otherwise, if they slip to third, they will really have to play in the UEFA Europa League!

Strike while the iron is hot; the entire Sevilla team is united and determined to secure three points against Manchester City at home!

Flights from Manchester to Sevilla were delayed due to thunderstorms.

The plane finally landed at the airport at 11:30 p. m. on Wednesday, a full five hours later than scheduled.

The Manchester City players emerged exhausted, dragging their suitcases with heavy steps.

Manchester City will be fielding a depleted squad for this trip, as three injured players –Silva, Ranocchia, Agüero– are not present and are still undergoing rehabilitation at the training ground.

The team was already short-handed, and with the flight delays and the players' long journeys, their morale was not very high.

Tang Long, however, was engrossed in his phone the whole way. Even when he was walking off the plane, he was dragging his suitcase while looking down at his phone.

Nasri casually walked past Tang Long, glanced at his phone, and inwardly snorted.

"Toure, look at that guy Tang," Nasri gestured with his chin towards Tang Long, "What time is it, and he's still reading a novel!"

Toure felt a sense of disbelief and glanced in the direction of Tang Long from afar, looking at his phone.

Toure could understand watching short films, but reading novels was something he just couldn't comprehend.

After all, most of the teammates Toure encountered in his career were not highly educated. Reading novels is something cultured people do; how could we footballers possibly be cultured?

"What's he looking at?" Toure asked Nasri curiously.

"Who knows? The densely packed square characters are probably Chinese. It must be a novel! I don't understand it, but he's been looking at it ever since the flight started being delayed. He's probably been looking at it for seven or eight hours now, without even blinking."

"Are cell phones really that fun? Watching videos and then reading novels, you'll go blind from all that."

"Heh, you're still worrying about that? So what if he's blind? As long as Pellegrini is around, he'll always be a starter!"