Chapter 720 Ferguson is confident!
On the evening of March 24th, Ao went to the Schalke Stadium.
In the German Cup semi-finals, Schalke 04 faced Bayern at home.
Schalke 04 took advantage of their home advantage and launched a fierce attack on Bayern at the start of the game, and created a good opportunity in the sixth minute. Kuranyi passed the ball in a quick counterattack, and Baumjohann made a low shot, which was saved by Neuer.
Facing his old club, the Bayern goalkeeper showed no mercy and quickly threw the ball to Lahm to launch a counterattack.
Lahm dribbled along the right and quickly passed the ball to Robben in front of him.
When the Dutchman stopped the ball, facing Westermann's defense, he made a fake move, forced a breakthrough with the ball, and used his speed to bring the ball along the right side to the 30-meter area of Schalke 04 before he was caught up.
After an abrupt stop, Robben glanced at the center, skillfully caught the ball with his left foot, changed direction and cut inside, and sent a diagonal pass with the inside of his left foot, passing the ball directly to the front of the penalty area.
Su Dong sprinted forward quickly, and before Schalke 04's central defender Hedveds, he headed the ball forward and into the penalty area. He then accelerated to catch up and shot the ball directly towards the ball that bounced off the ground.
The ball went straight into the bottom of the goal with tremendous force, and the goalkeeper was unable to reach it.
…
After Su Dong scored the first goal, both teams continued to play vigorously.
Schalke 04 aims to score goals, while Bayern Munich, although seeking to play it safe away from home, is not far behind.
The two teams went back and forth, the ball changed hands back and forth, the game was very intense and the pace was fast.
In the tenth minute, Su Dong blocked the defensive player with his body in front of the penalty area, received a long pass from the backcourt, stopped the ball, turned around and sent a ball behind him.
Robben cut in from the right flank and had a one-on-one chance after receiving the ball, but his shot was saved by the opponent's goalkeeper, and he missed a good chance to score.
The Dutch looked very depressed.
In fact, he had many opportunities, but his shooting efficiency was obviously different from Su Dong.
…
After that, the two sides were in a stalemate with each other going back and forth, and no one could create any good opportunities.
It was not until the 20th minute that Ribery received a diagonal pass from Schweinsteiger on the left, suddenly cut inside, dribbled past the defenders, and rushed directly to the bottom line of the penalty area, lofting the ball in front of the goal.
Su Dong used his body to push Hedveds away, forced his way to the front of the goal, overpowered all the defensive players, and headed the ball into the goal from close range.
The ball was headed directly into the goal by Su Dong, two to zero!
…
After taking a two-goal lead, Bayern continued to play steadily.
Schalke 04 tried to counterattack but were afraid of Bayern's counterattack.
After the second half, Schalke 04 launched an offensive for more than ten minutes after the start. Rakitic, Kuranyi and other players also had opportunities to shoot, but failed to score.
Bayern then launched a counterattack. Su Dong retreated to receive the ball, then dribbled forward to launch an attack and passed the ball diagonally to Robben.
The Dutchman dribbled into the penalty area from the right and passed the ball to the back post. Ribery's follow-up shot hit the side net.
Although this counterattack did not result in a goal, it shocked Schalke 04.
Until the end of the game, Bayern launched another quick counterattack. Su Dong passed the ball to Robben on the right in time, and attracted the attention of the defensive players in the middle.
Robben dribbled the ball all the way along the right side, passed two Schalke 04 players, broke into the right side of the penalty area, dribbled past Moritz, and shot with his left foot into the far corner, sealing the victory for Bayern, 3-0!
In the end, Bayern defeated Schalke 04 3-0 with two goals from Su Dong and a goal from Robben, and successfully advanced to the German Cup final.
In another match, Werder Bremen defeated Augsburg with goals from Pizarro and Marin and met Bayern in the final.
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On March 27th, in the 28th round of the Bundesliga, Bayern played against Stuttgart at home.
The first half was in a stalemate for nearly half an hour, until the 28th minute when Pepe made a long pass to find Su Dong.
Su Dong passed the ball to the left, gave it to Toni Kroos, and then turned around and quickly moved forward.
Toni Kroos got the ball and made a diagonal pass, accurately finding Su Dong who was advancing into the penalty area.
Su Dong volleyed the ball from close range and broke through Stuttgart's goal, making it one to zero!
Just four minutes later, Bayern passed the ball from the middle to the left, and Contento, who replaced Marcelo in the starting lineup, passed the ball directly to Toni Kroos in front, who then made another cross from the left side of the penalty area.
In the penalty area, Su Dong volleyed the ball and broke through Stuttgart's goal again, further expanding Bayern's lead to 2-0! ...
As Bayern will be traveling to Manchester to challenge Manchester United in the middle of the week, most of their substitutes were fielded in this match.
With the team leading 2-0 in the first half, Sudong and Pepe were substituted at halftime.
Unexpectedly, after the second half, in the 46th and 50th minutes, Stuttgart took advantage of Bayern's unstable position and scored two goals in a row, successfully equalizing the score.
This seriously disrupted Heynckes' deployment. Although Robben and Ribery came on as substitutes, Bayern was eventually tied 2-2 by Stuttgart at home and failed to get all three points.
After the game, Heynckes publicly admitted that he made mistakes in controlling the game, but he believed that this would not affect the overall situation of the team. He believed that Bayern could get a satisfactory result in the Champions League at Old Trafford in the middle of the week.
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"Heynckes is such a bad old man!"
On a flight back to the UK from Germany, Ferguson complained to his brother Martin Ferguson, who was sitting next to him.
As Bayern's performance improved, Heynckes, whose career had originally fallen into darkness, was completely revived and became the most sought-after coach in European football. Many people even began to scramble to support him.
Ferguson's opinion of Heynckes is not low, but not as high as rumored by the outside world.
Heynckes has his own advantages, but also disadvantages, and his most obvious advantage is his stability.
Really as steady as an old dog!
No matter what the game is, he can arrange his troops steadily and without making any obvious mistakes.
For a team like Bayern, especially with a top attacker like Su Dong, as long as the team itself does not make mistakes, the possibility of the opponent making mistakes is very high, and Bayern's victory is a high probability event.
This is the biggest advantage of having a top scorer like Su Dong.
Watertight, this is Heynckes' label.
Even before the game, he seemed to have guessed that Ferguson would come to spy on the military situation, so he deliberately broke up the trident and some players, preventing Ferguson from seeing Su Dong, Ribery and Robben playing together on the spot.
"Hehe, does this old guy think that I can't guess what he is thinking just by playing this trick?" Ferguson laughed with some pride.
"Since the beginning of this season, the form of Ferdinand and Vidic has obviously declined, while Bayern's two wings Ribery and Robben are both very sharp. Add to that Su Dong, and my fear is that our defense will be very difficult." Martin Ferguson said with some worry.
Ferguson looked at his brother who looked very much like him and laughed.
"No matter how strong your wing is, you are still just a wing. You still have to score goals in the middle. So you can see that Stuttgart's wing was completely out of position in the second half, but did Bayern score a goal?"
Martin Ferguson suddenly realized something.
"Bayern's offensive core is only Su Dong. No matter how strong Ribery and Robben are on the wing, without a center forward, their threat will be greatly reduced. In terms of scoring ability, they are not strong."
Ferguson's reference standard is obviously the world-class level of Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi. Otherwise, Ribery and Robben's offensive power can be regarded as world-class stars.
"But this is also the most troublesome thing. When they were at their peak before, Ferdinand and Vidic couldn't defend against Su Dong. Can they do it now?" Martin Ferguson was still a little anxious.
Ferguson chewed gum, still smiling, "So, when facing Bayern, you can't always think about defense. You can't defend. Heynckes' tactics are too stable. If you waste time with them, your defense will be breached by Su Dong sooner or later."
"So..." Martin Ferguson vaguely guessed something.
Ferguson narrowed his eyes and said, "So, don't fight with Bayern Munich by attrition, but win by surprise."
This is also the experience Ferguson gained after losing several games.
Facing a stable team like Bayern, if you play it safe like him, the game will fall into a stalemate and become a war of attrition, and Su Dong's superb personal ability will often play a miraculous role in such a stalemate.
Therefore, facing Bayern, being conservative is equivalent to slow suicide.
Of course, a blind attack will result in a more miserable death, as proven by countless precedents.
But Manchester United is different. The Red Devils are not only strong, but also not blind.
Bayern has a natural flaw, and it has been for several years, that is Marcelo on the left.
This Brazilian defender is notoriously strong in attack but weak in defense. Even in one-on-one defense, he is not very reliable, not to mention that he often goes forward to participate in the attack and even uses himself as a winger.
It can be said that attacking behind Marcelo is an offensive strategy that all teams will consider when facing Bayern.
The difference is that some teams will take advantage of it, while others will use it to create smoke.
Ferguson has also played this side, so he knows the effect.
If we talk about Bayern's defense, the most obvious weakness is the left side, which is also the area where Ferguson is most confident of making a breakthrough, but Manchester United did not make good use of it in the previous few times.
But this time, Ferguson felt that this would be a critical point.
After coaching for many years, Ferguson felt more and more clearly that there is no fixed pattern for the head coach to deploy his troops.
Sometimes conventional tactics and surprise victory are two sides of the same coin. The key lies in grasping favorable opportunities and how to expand the results of victory.
It is basically impossible to have a long stalemate against a team like Bayern. Players like Suarez, Ribery and Robben may change the situation and turn the tide at any time. Therefore, Manchester United must seize the opportunity from the beginning, expand its advantage, and then tip the balance of victory.
Ferguson is already confident about this!
(End of this chapter)
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