Xu Zhu's Successor's Football Journey

Chapter 345 The Helpless Old Jazz

Why is the area blockade implemented by Manchester United at the front of the penalty area completely ineffective! ?

The old Sir Alex Ferguson was puzzled by this question. You must know that Manchester United formed a lineup of five midfielders in this game, and before the game, Ferguson had clearly arranged the game for the players. And also told them how to limit Wang Li's performance.

However, at least from the past game time, this kind of tactical blockade has not shown its power. Ferguson is sure that this is not because the Manchester United players did not try their best to play, nor because they did not execute the tactics correctly, but The game is still going on as it is. For a world-class coach, it is a failure and even more doubts. It also makes Ferguson's desire to explore stronger.

Therefore, in the next 20 minutes of the game, the old jazz kept his eyes on the game field, especially the position between Manchester United's half-court penalty area and the center line. In this position, Manchester United's blockade is the strictest , is also the starting point of Chelsea's frontcourt breakthrough attack, and most of Wang Li's offensive areas are also in this position.

"come on, come on, come on!!!"

As the game progressed, because Wang Li played more and more smoothly, and at the same time made Chelsea's offense more and more smooth, Manchester United's goal was threatened again and again, as if it might be broken again at any time, and the Blues The enthusiasm of the fans is also getting more and more crazy-the opponent is Manchester United, which once ruled English football, but the game has been one-sided, which makes them feel sincerely proud.

As a fan, the stronger the team they support, the more proud they will feel. It is really wonderful that the team can beat Manchester United to attack.

However, all of this seems to have nothing to do with Ferguson. He still puts his eyes on the court, on Wang Li who is constantly running on the court, and carefully observes Chelsea's tactical play and Wang Li's performance. Looking for Chelsea's offensive laws and loopholes, thinking about the next countermeasures.

At this time, the big screen of the stadium also switched to him, and the coach in his 60s was still the same, sitting firmly on the armchair, resting his chin on his hands and meditating.

This action made Creed Pesvak another topic, and he immediately said sarcastically: "Chelsea's offense made Manchester United coach Ferguson helpless. He just sat there helplessly, looking forward to the end of the game soon. It's a pity that even though the first half is over, we still have the second half. Manchester United's dream of going home with 1:0 is really difficult to realize. It is estimated that after the end of this game, Chelsea will get tickets to the League Cup final."

…………

The main executor of Mourinho's modified tactics is Wang Li himself. The tasks of other offensive players are very simple. They only need to run in accordance with Wang Li's position and pull out to receive or pass the ball.And because Manchester United put their defensive focus in the middle, this made the performances of Damien Duff and Alkin Robben very active on the two wings. Can pass a through pass or a long lob, threatening Manchester United's goal time and time again in this way.

Faced with this kind of offense, Manchester United can only strengthen their defense, which everyone can see.

In the crisis situation, Ferguson did not come forward, but Manchester United captain Roy Keane had to stand up and direct the team to continue to strengthen the defense.As a result, for a long time, there was almost no one in the frontcourt of the Manchester United team. Even Saha retreated to the back of the center line, silently watching the backcourt being "ravaged" by Chelsea.

Although the Manchester United team is very passive, they are not without the will to resist. Rooney and C. Ronaldo, who are very fast on the two sides, often plan to counterattack quickly. However, many Manchester United midfielders dare not rush. It was too forward, and every counterattack was anticlimactic.Without the temporary command of head coach Ferguson, these Manchester United stars played a bit conservatively in offense.

Under such circumstances, the situation on the court was completely one-sided. Chelsea had an absolute advantage in terms of ball possession rate, number of attacks, number of shots, etc. The waves of onslaught made Manchester United a little overwhelmed.But in fact, with Manchester United defending across the board, Chelsea can hardly find any good opportunities. Although there is absolute oppression in form, Manchester United's defense is airtight. For a long time, Chelsea even No shot was found.

The experienced captain Roy Keane's command is very decent. He understands that no matter how passive the game is, the game should be dragged to the halftime break. With the strength of the two teams not much different, after stabilizing the first half, It is still unknown who will win the game.

…………

Before the game, all the media and fans never thought that the game would become like this.

Even though most people think that it is difficult for Manchester United to win away from home in this game, and think that Chelsea may win more, but the last time the two teams played against each other, Chelsea only narrowly won 3:2, and Manchester United's situation is not passive. to this look.This makes many people feel a little unbelievable. You must know that Manchester United is most famous for being good at playing after the game, but now that Christmas has passed, Chelsea's advantage over Manchester United seems to be getting bigger and bigger.

Could it be that Chelsea's strength has increased again! ?
impossible! ! !
In the winter transfer, Chelsea has only just introduced a dispensable Czech midfielder, and he hasn't played in the game yet, so how can we talk about the increase in strength! ?
But in the current form, the gap between Manchester United and Chelsea has indeed widened. It seems that it is only a matter of time before Chelsea scored the second goal.

"It's unbelievable, Chelsea are so strong."

At this time, even the blind court billiards commentator, who has always been "neutral", expressed emotion: "Manchester United's strength is too far behind Chelsea. I really can't believe this is a world-renowned Premier League giants. Manchester United Maybe something went wrong, they played too passively, and in this case, their coach didn't make any adjustments, so if this goes on, Chelsea will win!?"

Get back on the court.

Between Chelsea and Manchester United's attack and defense, every collision has affected the hearts of many people. However, Manchester United's defense is very stable, and it is difficult for Chelsea to find a chance to shoot, even Wang Li is the same.

Faced with Manchester United's crowd tactics, Wang Li himself felt a bit of a headache. He kept running back and forth, and even tried to make his teammates fall in the backcourt to pull Manchester United's defense and look for offensive opportunities.However, under the command of captain Roy Keane, the Manchester United team is indeed very stable.

In the 43rd minute of the first half, looking at the timer hanging above the court, Wang Li also secretly became anxious. He was running about 10 meters in front of the penalty area, with exquisite footwork and ability, Let the Blues fans enjoy watching it. Of course, this is not a performance, but he wants to use his personal ability to pull Manchester United's back line and create opportunities for his teammates.

It sounds complicated, but the actual situation is very simple. After Wang Li received the pass from his teammate, he didn't dribble forward at all, but just slowly dribbled the ball laterally, forcing the two Manchester United midfielders to step forward. Pressed, but Wang Li did not overpower, nor did he pass the ball. He used exquisite techniques to keep the ball under his feet, and finally provoked C. Ronaldo who was next to him to tackle the ball. Wang Li got out of the way It will still be the case in the future, which makes Manchester United midfielder Scholes also attracted from behind, and other players also intend to go there, "teaching" the black-haired kid who played Manchester United.

However, Manchester United captain Roy Keane stopped them by yelling. The experienced Keane knew exactly what the opponent wanted to do. The current game is related to the trophy that Manchester United is most likely to win this year. It's not the time to be impulsive.

In this case, Wang Li's intention was not achieved, and the double-teaming of the three made him a little bit too much, so he could only pass the ball back to Lampard with one kick.

However, during this process, although Chelsea's offense did not have any breakthrough points, it made Sir Alex Ferguson's eyes shine on the sidelines of Manchester United's coaching bench. He finally discovered the unusualness of Chelsea's offensive performance compared to the previous game .

Because after observing Wang Li to no avail, he has been watching Alkin Robben's running position on the left.

In this game, if you want to talk about the highlight of Chelsea, apart from Wang Li, who shines throughout the game, Robben's performance is the most brilliant.In the first half of the game, Robben sent out a series of threatening balls, so that Manchester United had to strengthen the defense on the left. Therefore, in the approaching minutes, Robben tried to make a difference. Disaster.

But he has been working hard, and this effort is to adjust the most appropriate distance between him and Wang Li through constant running positions, and to find space for receiving the ball.

In this way, it was easy for Ferguson to notice carefully. He found that every time Chelsea attacked, Robben's movement almost revolved around Wang Li. It was normal if it happened temporarily, but several times in a row It was all like this that made Ferguson aware of the strangeness.

It stands to reason that as a left winger, what Robben should do is to break through to find opportunities, initiate offense, find the receiving position or attract defensive players, but now he regards finding the receiving position as the focus, and has been It is confusing to constantly adjust your position without caring whether the defensive players next to you will support the middle.

With a breakthrough point, the subsequent observation work will be much smoother. In the next wave of offense, Ferguson found that the Irishman on the right and Lampard and even William Gallas who inserted the assist did not It is the same, almost the same.

This discovery made Ferguson suddenly enlightened and at the same time entangled, because even if he knew the reason why Chelsea's offense was much smoother than last time, he could not come up with a good coping strategy in a short time.

...........
Soon the first half was over.

Although Chelsea played the entire half under pressure, the score of 1:0 was barely acceptable.

At the same time, the statistics of the first half also showed that Manchester United was completely suppressed. Chelsea had 71% of the ball possession time under the overall advantage, but the number of shots was only 9 times. In contrast, Manchester United only had a poor 3 Once, if only from the number of shots, nine shots scored one goal, this efficiency is acceptable, but if you look at the ball possession rate, the score really does not reflect this.

"Manchester United's players have finally made it to half-time. I hope they are in the dressing room. Coach Sir Alex Ferguson can adjust his tactics appropriately and reverse the passive situation a little. If the game continues like this, I will almost fall asleep. The gap between the two teams is too great." Even after the "break" at halftime, Creed Pesvak's chirping mouth was still satirizing Manchester United, which made the Red Devils fans in the stadium very angry At the same time, there is no confidence to refute-Manchester United really played too badly in the first half.

This intermission was indeed a relief for the Manchester United players. They persisted in the backcourt for too long, which made the morale of the team drop to the extreme at the last moment of the game. No player likes to keep passive defense. Even as a defender.

And if there is a choice, although Chelsea's offense has not made much progress, Wang Li hopes that the game can continue like this, without rest until the end of the game, because in this way, Chelsea will almost surely win——
Although even after 15 minutes, the opponent regained their momentum, Wang Li didn't think they had any hope of winning.

However, the rules of football will not change for Chelsea, and the players have returned to the dressing room.

…………

After returning to the locker room, amidst the cheers and laughter of the Chelsea players, coach Mourinho came to the locker room with a smile on his face. Obviously, he was still very satisfied with the team's performance in the first half, although Only one attack was scored, but in the eyes of the Portuguese, the goal was already very close to Chelsea.

"You all performed very well. Although it is a pity that we only scored one goal in the first half, we are very close to winning the game. This is the first round of the semi-finals of the League Cup. I hope to work hard to score more in the second half. A few goals, so that the League Cup final ticket is firmly in our hands, so that there is no need to fight to the death at Old Trafford, if we only win 1:0, then it means that we are the loser."

Seeing the players below nodded knowingly, Mourinho continued: "This season, Mr. Chairman has told you about Chelsea's goal. This goal is difficult to achieve. I think so too, but the championship is One by one, as long as we beat Manchester United, the next opponent is Liverpool. I believe that team will not cause us any trouble. One trophy is already in hand. If we add the league title, we can only win. You need to fight for one of the Champions League trophy or the FA Cup, and you have won three trophies. I think this goal is not very far away, do you have confidence!?"

"Yes!! Boss." The players replied scatteredly.

"We will continue to work hard in the second half and score more goals!!"

Regarding the second half tactics, Mourinho has nothing to adjust. He believes that even if Ferguson is aware of Chelsea's style of play, it is impossible to think of a way to deal with it in a short time. At least until now, he has not thought of it! ?
Therefore, as long as the team continues to play like this, a big victory is almost in sight.

In fact, the old Ferguson is in the same state as Mourinho thought. After a period of observation and thinking, he has fully understood Chelsea's style of play-to maximize Wang Li's personal ability.

This kind of style of play, which is almost "the epee has no front, and the big tricks don't work", which highlights Chelsea's advantages, made him dejected, and he couldn't think of a way to deal with it.

Now, Manchester United has strengthened the area blockade, the purpose of which is to limit the display of Chelsea's offensive core Wang Li's personal ability, but Chelsea is doing the opposite, using the frontcourt offensive players' running positions to maximize Wang Li's personal skills , Thus just cracked Manchester United's area blocking tactics against Wang Li.

The Manchester United team has only 11 players in total. Among the 11 players, there are only 9 players except the goalkeeper and the single center forward.

In the penalty area, there must be more than 3 people, and at least two people on the two sides. In this way, only 4 people can participate in the defense in the middle.And this kind of calculation is completely wrong. It is impossible for Manchester United to put only 2 people on the two sides, but there must be 2 or even 3 people to defend Wang Li, so what about Manchester United's offense! ?

Even though Saha has performed well this season, Ferguson doesn't think he can bring goals by himself.

All in all, Chelsea's tactic is almost completely maximizing Wang Li's performance. From the scene, it makes people feel that Manchester United has been playing 11 to 12, 13 or even more. This is the most important thing that the team has been suppressed in the first half. reason.

Now, Ferguson has a clear understanding of the tactics and form of the two teams, but he can't think of a strategy to deal with it. Even speaking, he occasionally flashes in his mind 'why it was not Allen who was introduced at that time but Rooney's idea, at least that way, he won't have to worry about it.

However, as the head coach of the team, Ferguson still had to bite the bullet and arrange tactics: "I believe that you must be in a bad mood now, and I am the same. If we continue to play like this, the score may become 2:0. 3-0 or more, then we have no chance of winning back the semi-final at Old Trafford."

"So, we must strengthen our defense and limit Chelsea's goals, so that we have the opportunity to keep the suspense at home, and the focus is to strengthen the defense against the opponent's No. 21, understand!!"

Faced with Ferguson's words, the Manchester United players who were lowering their heads were all full of doubts. You must know that if Manchester United behaved like this in normal times, the Scot would definitely curse mercilessly, but not now. , the head coach actually reasoned in a 'docile' way! ! ?
Be reasonable! ! ?
This situation even made the Manchester United players a little at a loss. They didn't understand what happened to Ferguson now.

However, they still understood the meaning of the old jazz's words --- continue to strengthen the defense, that is to say, the tactic in the second half is still defensive, trying to keep the score of 1:0. This tactic even makes these usually proud and arrogant Manchester United The stars feel a little unacceptable.

But in the face of Ferguson's stern old face, they can only choose to accept...

(End of this chapter)