After the whistle blew, both teams' players left the field one after another.
The television broadcast focused more on Toure, who helped Leeds United equalize, and even captured Li Shiguang affectionately patting Toure on the shoulder from the sidelines.
Toure's performance in the first half certainly deserves praise from Li Shiguang. Most of Leeds United's threatening attacks originated from him, and he also helped his team equalize.
In the away team's dressing room, the Manchester United players seemed somewhat dejected after their lead was pegged back to the equalizer, and no one spoke.
Ferguson had already yelled at his players once on the field, so seeing this, he stopped criticizing them and instead started encouraging them.
"Guys, don't be so down, we haven't lost yet. There are still 45 minutes left. We overlooked Toure in the first half, but it's not entirely your fault; it was partly my oversight. I didn't expect Leeds United to make such a change in midfield." Ferguson glanced at Carrick and gave his protégé an encouraging look. "We need to make some adjustments now, Wayne..."
Upon hearing his name called, Rooney looked up at Ferguson.
After a moment's thought, Ferguson began to make arrangements: "You need to drop back in the second half. Dimitar can handle the attack alone. I need you to do more linking play in midfield."
"Mm." Rooney nodded.
Then Ferguson looked at Scholes, who was panting heavily: "Paul, can you still run?"
Scholes nodded: "Running for another 20 minutes shouldn't be a problem."
"Okay, when you switch from attack to defense in the second half, drop back a bit deeper and help Michael defend Leeds United's number 8. Don't let him have an easy opportunity to pass the ball forward or start running. Don't save your energy. I'll have Park ready to take over for you."
After Scholes nodded in response, Ferguson clapped his hands and said to his players, "You all played very well in the first half. Although it was a bit of a pity that they equalized at the end, it's not a big problem. I want you to maintain this level of pressure from the start of the second half and try not to give them any chance to organize a quick counterattack!"
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Meanwhile, in the home team's locker room, Li Shiguang, like Ferguson, was also making adjustments for the second half.
"Everyone played exceptionally well in the first half! They not only withstood the opponent's relentless attacks to a great extent, but also quickly equalized the score. I think Alex must be making adjustments right now, after all, he just suffered a big loss against Yaya."
Li Shiguang's description immediately drew laughter from the players. Cannavaro even patted Toure on the shoulder and started to jeer, causing a slight blush to appear on Toure's dark face.
After laughing, Li Shiguang pulled over the whiteboard next to him and started talking while drawing.
"I don't know if Alex will make a substitution at halftime, but I know he will definitely keep a close eye on Yaya in the second half."
"Assuming they don't make any substitutions, he'll most likely move Rooney to the attacking midfield position, and have Scholes move deeper to help Carrick cover Yaya. If that's the case..."
Li Shiguang turned his gaze to Podolski: "Lucas, I may need you to make a sacrifice. I might have Rivaldo replace you. When attacking, we'll play with two midfielders, and when defending, Yaya will drop back and guard the midfield with Javier."
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Soon, the 15-minute break ended, and the players from both sides stood on the field again.
Li Shiguang glanced at Ferguson's side, thinking to himself that the old sage had really kept things stable and hadn't made any personnel adjustments.
However, Rheinkel, who was in the studio, did offer some comments on Ferguson's inaction.
"Okay, we see that neither side made any changes at halftime, sticking with the lineups from the first half. I can understand Lee not making any changes, as his midfield adjustments showed good results today. But Carrick has already suffered a few times against Toure. Doesn't Ferguson plan to make any changes in that position? I thought he would bring on Park Ji-sung or Brown to strengthen the defense against Toure!"
Lineker had just finished his analysis and Blackwell hadn't even had a chance to respond when the referee blew the whistle to start the second half. So the two of them quickly turned their attention back to the television screen.
Leeds United kicked off the second half.
After kickoff, Leeds United did not rush to attack, instead passing the ball around in their own half. Manchester United, on the other hand, followed Ferguson's instructions in the dressing room and pressed forward with all their might, intending to force Leeds United to lose possession through high pressing and then launch an attack.
In this situation, Bale, who was controlling the ball on the sideline, passed it across to Mascherano in midfield. Mascherano then passed the ball back to Cannavaro, who immediately launched a long ball towards the left flank.
There, Bale had already made a high-speed forward run and overtook Evra.
"Whoosh... a precise long pass from Cannavaro!" Eddie Gray shouted excitedly as Bale received the ball smoothly. "Bale is fast, but Evra is chasing him closely!"
Indeed, although Bale received the ball, he did not completely shake off Evra, who was chasing closely behind him. Furthermore, his speed was reduced due to dribbling, and it looked like Evra was about to catch up with him.
"Over here, Gareth!"
Fortunately, Toure's voice came just in time to Bale's right. Without hesitation, he swept the ball with his left foot in the direction from which the voice came.
Seeing Bale pass the ball, Toure quickly shook off Carrick, who was gently tugging at his jersey, and tried to rush over to catch the ball.
To Toure's surprise, he had only taken two steps forward when he saw a red figure appear in the path of the ball, poking it directly at Ferdinand on the edge of the penalty area.
"Ah...it's a bit of a shame. Scholes appeared just in time in front of Toure and intercepted the ball," Eddie Gray said with regret.
On the sidelines, watching Scholes' deep defensive retreat, Li Shiguang stroked his chin and looked at Ferguson beside him.
Hmm? Something's not right!
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