Chapter 345 700 million viewers witness the Manchester Derby!
"Van Gaal really knows how to pick the right time. If it was at the beginning of the season, he wouldn't dare to make such a big statement even if he had the guts!"
"That's right. Manchester City is now full of injured players, the head coach is absent, and they just lost a game. It can be said that they have fallen into a trough in all aspects!"
"Manchester United are lucky. If this game had been played two rounds earlier, I think their chances of winning would be less than 30%. Now that they are facing a Manchester City team like this, it's hard to predict who will win!"
After Van Gaal made his big talk, he immediately attracted ridicule from many fans.
The majority of fans are quite disdainful of his behavior of taking advantage of others' misfortune.
But Manchester United fans don't care about this, they see hope of defeating Manchester City away.
The scene of the Red Devils being humiliated by Manchester City at Old Trafford last season has become an eternal pain in their hearts.
If they fail to take revenge on Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, this thorn will probably remain stuck in their throats and cause them continued pain.
Before the game, BBC Sports interviewed some experts and celebrities to ask them about their views on the game.
Among the celebrities interviewed, more than half felt that Van Gaal's Manchester United had a chance to win away from home.
"Manchester City has too many injured players. The striker, midfielder and defender, the entire central axis is shaken. Injuries of this scale have a great impact on the team's combat effectiveness."
"Manchester City's head coach is absent and the acting coach is suspended. The team has no tactical advantage at all. I believe Van Gaal can rely on his better on-the-spot command to defeat Manchester City!"
The experts' opinions are very consistent, and almost none of them are optimistic about Manchester City playing at home.
And they all believe that Manchester City’s weakness lies in the lack of tactical arrangements and on-the-spot dispatches from the head coach.
Although Pellegrini is not a famous coach with outstanding on-the-spot command ability, his ability in this regard is definitely better than that of Manchester City's assistant coach.
After all, the old coach has led the team for so many years and has encountered all kinds of situations. The accumulated experience alone is beyond the reach of these assistant coaches.
Manchester City's reliance on the on-the-spot command and adjustments of the assistant coach is definitely not as good as the shrewd Van Gaal. After all, the latter is a famous coach and is definitely capable.
So even if Manchester City can hold on at the beginning, they will probably still lose in the second half, especially after Van Gaal makes adjustments based on the situation of the game.
…
Amid the pessimistic outlook from the outside world, there is also a pessimistic atmosphere within the Manchester City team.
Players are always easily distracted during training, and some players always habitually look towards the head coach's position at the edge of the field.
In the past, there was always an old man with silver hair standing on the sidelines to supervise their training.
At that time, the players would complain that the coach was too strict in training, which made them feel a little overwhelmed.
But now, after the old man on the sidelines disappeared, they felt a little uncomfortable.
"What's wrong with the coach? Why hasn't he recovered after so many days?"
"I don't know, why don't we go to the hospital?"
Having said that, everyone looked at Lin Quan.
Lin Quan nodded: "Then go, and check on the captain and the others to see how they are recovering!"
So, after the training, everyone drove to the hospital to visit their coach and teammates.
"Why are you here?"
In the ward, Pellegrini was very surprised to see the players suddenly appear.
"Coach, we came to check on you! How is your condition?"
Pellegrini was wearing a hospital gown in the ward and looked a little haggard, but his mental state was still good.
At least he did not fall into a coma or have all kinds of instruments inserted into his body as the players had guessed.
This made Manchester City players feel relieved, the situation didn't seem that serious?
Hearing what the players said, Pellegrini pretended to be relaxed and said:
"Haha, it's no big deal. I'll be able to return to the team and continue working soon!"
Pellegrini's answer boosted the players' morale. They felt that as long as the head coach returned, the team would be able to quickly get out of the trough.
"You are here for the next game, right? I have something to tell you. I have studied the tactics for the next game and the tactics that Manchester United may adopt these days..."
Pellegrini is a workaholic and he never stops working even in the hospital.
During his hospitalization, he carefully studied Manchester United's tactical play in recent games, and determined the starting lineup and tactics for the next game based on Manchester City's current lineup.
He even planned in advance what situations and times to make substitutions because he was worried about his assistant coach's lack of on-the-spot command skills.
It can be said that Chilean engineers have done their best in every detail.
After listening to his arrangements, the players immediately felt confident.
Although the team's lineup is still incomplete, they have a lot of confidence in defeating Manchester United at home! After staying in the ward for a while, the players said goodbye and left.
Lin Quan was cautious and deliberately stayed behind. After the other players had left, he went to find the attending physician who was treating Pellegrini and asked him about his condition.
Sure enough, the situation was completely different from what Pellegrini said.
According to the doctor, Pellegrini suffers from an aneurysm, a very dangerous disease that can cause death if it ruptures.
"Does this disease affect his ability to work normally?"
Lin Quan asked with concern.
"certainly!"
The doctor replied with a serious expression:
"For patients with this disease, we recommend that they be admitted to hospital for treatment as soon as possible and do not recommend that they continue to work, because fatigue will aggravate the condition and increase the risk of aneurysm rupture, which will threaten the patient's life safety."
After hearing the doctor's answer, Lin Quan suddenly felt something was wrong.
The old coach might not be able to continue coaching after being suddenly diagnosed with this disease.
The club must have already started looking for a suitable successor, right? The team can't always be without a head coach...
November 2, Etihad Stadium.
The entire Premier League is focused on the two teams at this stadium! Although the team is in a trough, the outside world is not optimistic about Manchester City's home win.
But before the game started, tens of thousands of Manchester City fans still flocked to the scene.
They held various banners supporting the team, sang Manchester City's team song, and walked into the stadium with their heads held high.
The fans of the Blue Moon team used their actual actions to interpret the die-hard spirit of never giving up and never abandoning to the outside world! Seeing Manchester United coach Van Gaal step into the stadium, the Manchester City fans at the scene collectively booed, and some fans near the visiting team's coaching seats even greeted Van Gaal's family.
Hearing the boos and insults, Van Gaal, who stepped into the stadium, glanced disdainfully at the Manchester City fans in the stands: "Humph, a bunch of idiots, you will cry after the game is over!"
He doesn't like the atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium or the fans here.
If possible, he hoped to use a bloody massacre to teach these damn guys how to respect a world-class coach! In the player tunnel, players from both sides were waiting to enter.
Although there were many familiar people on both sides, no one intended to say hello.
Under the outside publicity, this game has turned into a life-and-death battle.
Soon, under the guidance of the referee, players from both teams led their caddies out of the player tunnel and onto the court.
When the host introduced the players from both teams, every Manchester City player who came on the field was met with deafening cheers and support from the fans.
When the Manchester United players were introduced, there were only boos and insults in the stadium.
A few years ago, Manchester City was still very weak. Manchester United was at its peak at that time and did not take its neighbor next door seriously at all.
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At that time, the Manchester derby was the Red Devils' performance stage. Although it was passionate, it lacked the tension of being evenly matched.
But in recent years, with the gradual rise of Manchester City, the games between the two teams have truly taken on the flavor of a derby.
As a result, the Manchester derby gradually became popular, and more and more fans chose to watch the Manchester derby. In the entire Premier League, its popularity was second only to the Red Devils derby that had lasted for decades.
This time is probably the closest between the two teams, and who will have the last laugh depends entirely on their respective performances.
Such a suspenseful game naturally attracted countless people's attention.
According to official statistics from the Premier League, this Manchester derby attracted a total of 690 million viewers around the world.
The popularity of this game is almost as high as that of the World Cup! At 18:30 on the evening of November 2, the first round of the Manchester derby of the 2014-15 Premier League officially kicked off under the attention of the public.
In this game, Manchester City's formation was 442 and Manchester United's formation was 433.
However, after the start of the game, Manchester United's formation changed to 4141. Van Gaal was finally willing to change his stubborn tactical style of play. The miserable results at the beginning of the season showed that his style was not suitable for Manchester United at all.
If he had listened to outside advice earlier, perhaps Manchester United would not be so far behind the top team in points.
Currently, Manchester United is 11 points behind Manchester City in the standings. It should be noted that the league has only reached the 10th round, and Manchester United has been left behind by such a huge gap in just 9 games.
How bad must Van Gaal's previous team performance be!
It’s no wonder that the Red Devils fans are so furious. This is almost the worst record in the team’s history. Who wouldn’t be angry?
After the start of the game, Manchester City played very actively.
They frequently used both flanks to attack Manchester United.
This meant that Manchester United's full-backs were tightly trapped in their own half, unable to devote much energy to the attack.
So, judging from the situation on the field, it seems that Manchester City is gradually gaining the upper hand.
In the 8th minute, Milner broke through the wing and made a straight pass.
Lin Quan suddenly came in from the left rib, squeezed out the opponent's midfielder Fellaini, and shot directly after receiving the ball.
The shot was very sudden. From the time Lin Quan started to the time he completed the shot, the whole process took less than 2 seconds.
Because Lin Quan attacked too quickly and suddenly, Manchester United defenders Smalling and Rojo had no time to block him.
The football flew straight towards Manchester United's goal! As Lin Quan's national team teammate, De Gea had witnessed Lin Quan's strength in the Spanish team's training and games, so he had always been on guard against Lin Quan.
From the moment Lin Quan suddenly started moving, De Gea judged that he was likely to shoot directly.
As it turned out, his judgment was accurate.
Facing Lin Quan's high-quality shot, De Gea jumped high and lifted the ball over the crossbar in the air.
He originally planned to take the ball off, but the ball was too fast and powerful, so he didn't dare to try it easily. He could only use a safer method to hit the ball out first.
Manchester City won a corner kick.
Lin Quan stood in the corner area, took a look at the penalty area, and made a gesture to move forward.
After seeing his gesture, Van Dijk cleverly ran back two steps, then suddenly turned back, thus shaking off the Manchester United defender who was guarding him.
Van Dijk got the first point and headed the ball into the goal.
But the ball was headed slightly off target and hit the post before flying out of the bottom line.
This wave of Manchester City's attack made the Manchester United fans at the scene tremble with fear! Although the opponent injured several generals and the head coach was also absent from the game.
But the opponent's fighting power should not be underestimated! Especially the guy wearing the number 10 jersey from Manchester City. Every time Manchester United fans see him holding the ball, they feel as if their hearts are being grasped by someone's hand, and they feel suffocated and unable to breathe!
Lin Quan alone brought them such a huge sense of oppression!
On the sidelines, assistant coach Redel clapped his hands excitedly, giving applause and encouragement to the players.
In this game, he played completely according to the tactics set by Pellegrini. According to the old coach's tactics, Manchester United's adjustments in the first half should not have come so quickly.
It will take some time for Van Gaal to see through Manchester City's tactics, so this is a great opportunity for them to grab points.
Once they broke the deadlock and took the lead in the first half.
Then it will be very convenient to adjust tactics in the second half!
Manchester City has the simplest, yet most terrifying tactic - defensive counterattack! Although defensive counterattack is the first choice for weak teams against strong teams, it does not mean that strong teams cannot use it.
On the contrary, when a strong team uses this tactic, the power will be even more terrifying.
Clubs such as Barcelona and Real Madrid experienced this deeply in last season's Champions League.
So, what Manchester City lacks now is just a goal! In the visiting team's coaching booth, Van Gaal sat in the coaching booth, looking relaxed.
But in fact, he was also very nervous inside, not as calm as he looked on the outside.
Manchester City's attack was so threatening that Van Gaal felt a little overwhelmed.
Fortunately, it was not Manchester City in its prime. If they had met an opponent with a full lineup and the head coach was not sick and hospitalized, Manchester United would have been in real trouble.
(End of this chapter)