Chapter 818: Premier League Non-mainstream

It's another gloomy afternoon.

On the northwest outskirts of Birmingham, a black Audi passed the overpass, turned from the southbound M6 highway into the M5 highway, and quickly sped towards the western suburbs of Birmingham.

The M5 motorway passes through West Bromwich and Handsworth, two large towns in the West Midlands, but the Audi took the motorway exit north of the two towns.

Just after exiting the highway, going around the roundabout to the east, and driving over the overpass above the highway, less than a hundred meters east of the highway, there is a professional football field on the south side of the road, and to the west of the football field is a school and a training base.

Because there is a competition in the afternoon, the road is quite crowded at this moment, with cars and people coming and going in an endless stream.

There is a small parking lot to the east of the stadium, but it is already blocked by traffic.

"Boss, why don't you guys go downstairs and eat something first. I'll go find a parking spot up front." The driver leaned over and spoke to the two people sitting in the back seat, his tone sounding very respectful.

Sitting in the back seat were a bald middle-aged man and an old man with a red nose. After listening to the driver's words, the bald middle-aged man put on a thick cotton hat and wrapped himself with a scarf that covered half of his face, as if he didn't intend to let anyone see his appearance clearly.

The same went for the red-nosed old man. Before getting off the bus, he even pulled the brim of his hat down.

As November approaches, the temperature drops sharply.

The Audi found a gap to pull over on the side of the road, and two people got out of the car, one on the left and one on the right. They looked around at the bustling scene of people and cars coming and going. No one paid any attention to the appearance of two outsiders who looked very ordinary.

The two did not linger and went straight into the McDonald's across the street from the stadium.

They drove south from Manchester after lunch, a journey of nearly two hours. When they arrived, there was still more than half an hour before the game, which was the peak time for fans to enter the stadium.

After entering McDonald's, the bald man went over and ordered two cups of hot coffee. The red-nosed old man sat facing the window, from where he could see the Hawthorn Stadium opposite and could clearly see the Manchester City bus parked in the parking lot inside the stadium.

The sky blue car body is still easy to distinguish.

"Boss, actually I can come alone. You don't have to make a special trip here." The bald man sat down next to the red-nosed old man, and when he saw the old man's nose, which was obviously redder due to the cold, he advised.

"I don't have any impression just by watching the video or your report. I must see Manchester City's football with my own eyes." The red-nosed old man's voice trembled slightly, and it was not known whether it was because of the cold or the long journey.

Although his appearance can no longer be recognized, if someone familiar hears the red-nosed old man's voice, they will definitely be able to easily recognize him as Manchester United's head coach Ferguson.

The bald guy is his assistant coach, Mike Perrin.

Ferguson, who is nearly seventy years old, is no longer as energetic as before.

Everyone knows that as early as the Queiroz period, he basically stopped caring about daily training and only focused on formulating tactics and making various important decisions against the opponents. As for the daily life of the team, he basically left it to the assistant coach.

Queiroz's departure was a big blow to Ferguson, so he divided Queiroz's powers into two parts, one part was given to assistant coach Mike Perrin, and the other part was given to Dutch coach Meulensteen.

The person who accompanied him out to spy on military intelligence this time was Mike Perrin.

"Mike, you are a very talented person, but you must remember that those high-tech means can only be auxiliary. They are indeed very convenient, but they will also form new information barriers."

"No matter how clear the video is or how detailed the report is, it is impossible to perfectly restore the feeling of the scene. When our players go to participate in the game, they need to compete with their opponents face to face on the court, not through videos and reports. These are two very different things."

Mike Perrin nodded, but it was obvious that he wasn't particularly listening.

He didn't feel any difference, but he thought there was no need to make a special trip south in such cold weather.

It's 2010, and it's already the Internet age, so why can't we keep up with the times? But Ferguson is the boss, and as an assistant coach, he can only obey.

If you want to change the rules, you can, but wait until you become the boss.

There are dozens of doors around the Hawthorn Stadium, and fans can go through these doors to any corner of the stands.

The most important thing is that the capacity of the stadium is not actually very large, with only more than 20,000 people. In addition, the game was approaching, so the admission speed was very fast. They only sat in McDonald's for more than ten minutes, and by the time the driver parked the car and came over, most of the fans had already entered.

After the three of them packed up, they left McDonald's and went straight to the door of their respective stands to check their tickets and go in.

…

In the stands of the Hawthorn Stadium, which can accommodate 26,000 people, three people thrown in would be like a small drop of water in the ocean or a small grain of sand in the desert, completely inconspicuous.

The three of them all disguised themselves to a certain extent, so they were not recognized when they entered.

I found my seat and just sat down, then I saw players from both teams coming out on the field under the leadership of the referee.

"Lee Probert, this guy's enforcement is too lenient. Manchester City is going to suffer." Ferguson couldn't help laughing after seeing the referee entering the field.

West Bromwich Albion has never been a team with a clean style of play, or rather, among the mid- and lower-level teams in the Premier League, none is clean, including Manchester City before.

If you want to gain a foothold in a fiercely competitive and cruel league like the Premier League, you must work hard.

Manchester City was like this before, and they were even more aggressive than anyone else. However, they have massively increased their signings in the past two years, and Guardiola has reorganized the team's technical and tactical skills, resulting in Manchester City's transformation into the literary and artistic young people of the Premier League.

Little did people know that Manchester City’s style used to be extremely dirty.

Otherwise, why did Keane choose revenge when facing Manchester City?

Of course, Ferguson never denied that Manchester United's style of play was dirty. Even players like Scholes played dirty. This should be considered an important part of the traditional culture of English football.

In other words, this is the mainstream, while Wenger and Guardiola's approach is non-mainstream.

…

After the start of the game, Manchester City controlled the ball as usual.

West Bromwich Albion's overall strength is difficult to compete with Manchester City, especially when facing Manchester City with all its main players.

Ferguson's eyes kept lingering on Manchester City players and he kept saying something. Mike Perrin sat aside, took off his gloves, and kept writing down Ferguson's words in a small notebook, for fear that he would forget them later.

Ferguson has many interests in Manchester City, and one of them is the young right-back named Trippier.

Guardiola has started him for the third consecutive game, which shows great trust and cultivation.

But from the scene, Ferguson was quite disappointed with Trippier.

Or rather, it didn't bring him any surprises.

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He has good footwork, good passing, and is quite hardworking, but that's all. I don't see much talent.

Maybe it’s because of youth training.

Ferguson thought to himself.

Manchester City's Trippier is far inferior to the two Brazilian youngsters in Manchester United in terms of talent, ability and strength. Ferguson is really a little disappointed.

If such a player was at Manchester United, he would only be loaned out for training.

"If Guardiola still starts Trippier in the next game, we will attack Manchester City on the right!" Ferguson said in a loud voice.

Obviously, he has already realized Trippier's strength.

At this time, the game had just been going on for less than ten minutes.

…

In midfield, Guardiola kept Toni Kroos out of the game and started Gareth Barry. Milner replaced Sanchez on the right side of the frontcourt. It was obvious that Guardiola deliberately created confusion before the game.

After the opening, West Bromwich Albion kept focusing on defense and the players ran actively, so Manchester City failed to defeat the opponent in one go.

But when the game reached the 20th minute, Manchester City completed a beautiful offensive combination on the left.

Marcelo dribbled the ball through the center line and quickly passed it to Di Maria.

The Argentine winger chose to cut sideways with the ball, but it didn't work, so he could only pass it back to David Silva.

David Silva chose to run on the left side and completed a wall pass with Marcelo. After David Silva got the ball on the left side, he was already standing outside the left corner of the penalty area.

As soon as the ball stopped, David Silva made a diagonal pass, bypassing the defender and sending the ball to the left side of the penalty area.

Su Dong ran over to receive the ball, blocked the central defender behind him with his body, stopped the ball, turned around, and sent a cross with his left foot to the left side of the small penalty area.

Di Maria, who had just cut inside, suddenly rushed to the front of the small penalty area and swept Su Dong's cross into West Bromwich's goal with his left foot, making it one to zero!

"pretty!!"

Ferguson clapped excitedly.

Many fans at the scene thought, like him, that the goal was a beautiful one.

The most important thing is the passing and cutting cooperation between the players, which is very smooth.

"Manchester City is getting better and better at this kind of continuous cross-position substitution. If one defensive player fails to keep up, things will be messed up immediately. This will be very troublesome." Ferguson frowned.

Guardiola's team did not play so skillfully last season, but they have clearly done so this season.

The biggest change is actually the moment when Su Dong leaned on the defensive player in the penalty area, stopped the ball, turned around and made a cross. Without it, Manchester City's attack could not enter the penalty area and could not hold the ball.

Santa Cruz just couldn’t hold the ball last season.

Ferguson couldn't help but wonder in his mind, if Manchester United's defensive players came to defend, would they be able to defend against Manchester City's passing and cutting cooperation?

He actually had no idea.

…

Just five minutes after the goal, Manchester City intercepted the ball near the center line and quickly passed it to David Silva.

The Spanish midfielder directly launched a long pass attack. This long pass had a strange arc and accurately landed on the side of Su Dong who was advancing.

(End of this chapter)