Chapter 878 Hexagonal Warrior
During one of Manchester City's attacks, Su Dong moved to the left side of the frontcourt again. After receiving the pass from Marcelo, he wanted to break through on the left, but was blocked by Ferdinand who followed him.
As a last resort, Su Dong stopped abruptly to protect the ball, then passed the ball back to Marcelo.
Marcelo passed the ball to Busquets and the team reorganized.
After David Silva received the ball, he completed a one-two pass with Toni Kroos, and the Spanish midfielder dribbled forward.
Di Maria suddenly ran straight into the left side of the penalty area, took away Carrick and attracted the attention of the defensive players.
Su Dong suddenly ran from the left side, horizontally along the front of the penalty area to the middle, and just cut into the front of Manchester United's penalty area.
David Silva understood what he meant and passed the ball to Su Dong.
Ferdinand abandoned Di Maria at the first moment and chose to block Su Dong. As a result, Su Dong did not stop, but stopped David Silva's ball to the middle, and suddenly accelerated to break through Ferdinand's defense.
As soon as he broke through Ferdinand's defense area, Su Dong quickly kicked a powerful long shot with his right foot.
The entire Wembley Stadium was filled with the exclamations of Manchester United fans, mixed with the dull sound of the ball.
The football flew out from the left side of the penalty area like lightning and landed in the lower right corner of the goal.
Van der Sar was well prepared this time. He just dived sideways. The tall and long-legged Dutch goalkeeper was confident that he could save the ball, but what he never expected was that Su Dong's long shot actually bounced after landing in the small penalty area at an even faster speed.
This was completely unexpected for Van der Sar and although he dived for the ball, the ball went over his hands and into the goal behind him.
The whole audience burst into thunderous cheers.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
After Su Dong scored a goal, he raised his hands high, turned around and rushed to the sidelines, heading straight for the stands where Manchester City fans were.
"In the 37th minute, Su Dong scored again, scoring twice!"
"It was a long shot from outside the penalty area, from Su Dong's best area. He used a very wonderful ground-rebounding ball to once again break through Van der Sar's goal, 2-0!"
"Manchester City not only took the initiative in possession of the ball, but also suppressed Manchester United on the pitch."
"Ferguson should reflect on Manchester United's tactics, especially after the first 10 minutes of the game, when Manchester United retreated too far back and played too passively, which led to Manchester United losing their position in the penalty area and midfield."
"Carrick didn't appear in the position he was supposed to be in in time. He was taken away from his position by Di Maria, but can this be blamed on him? Ferguson should reflect on whether it was too risky for Manchester United to arrange such a midfield configuration against Manchester City? Or did he never think about winning this game at all?"
Su Dong rushed out of the stadium excitedly, ran all the way, jumped over the billboards, and finally stopped under the Manchester City fans' stand.
He raised his hands high, roared at the Manchester City fans in the stands, and finally kissed the ring on his left hand vigorously. The live TV camera cooperated very well and switched the picture to the stands, focusing on Wang Chuqing's beautiful face. At this moment, she was full of excitement and pride.
But soon, Su Dong was surrounded by Manchester City players.
2-0! Manchester City got the key advantage!
…
Ferguson didn't lose his composure this time.
It's not that he didn't think about winning, but he didn't expect that Guardiola would adopt such a style of play, and even pulled back center forward Su Dong to play as a free man. It was simply unbelievable.
If it was a player like Messi or Maradona, it would be understandable to play as a free man, but that was Su Dong! Instead of putting Su Dong in the most threatening position, closest to the goal, they let him retreat and pull to the side?
Isn't this nonsense? It's a waste of talent! It's a waste of resources! It's unreasonable!
But Guardiola did it, and it worked wonders! Ferguson really wanted to ask, what is wrong with this world? Why are there hexagonal warriors like Su Dong? In fact, Carrick really can't be blamed for the goal just now.
Why?
Because of Carrick and Di Maria, this was instructed by Ferguson.
The key lies in the fact that Su Dong moved to the side and Ferdinand chose to follow him. At this time, there was a defensive gap on the left side of the penalty area, so Di Maria went in and Carrick had to follow. If he didn't, David Silva would make a straight pass and Di Maria would have a one-on-one chance.
But I can follow it. Okay, there is a problem in front of the penalty area.
Su Dong, who had originally moved to the side, chose to rush back to the middle and take advantage of the gap left by Carrick.
Of course, Su Dong's final long-range shot was very beautiful and was also the decisive factor in the goal, but the entire offensive coordination was like this, and Manchester United really had no effective way to deal with it.
Unless there is one more person in the midfield.
Ferguson really feels helpless now, because he finds that all his pre-match deployments have not achieved the expected results, but he has no way to deal with Manchester City's tactics.
For example, he put Hernandez on the field in the hope of increasing the pressure in the frontcourt and bringing out Hernandez's speed in counterattacks, but in reality, Pepe and Kompany did not give Hernandez many opportunities.
Rooney retreated with the intention of strangling Busquets, but the Spanish midfielder did not stick to the ball and was always moving, kicking the ball out quickly, making it impossible for Rooney to defend against Busquets.
As for attacking, no kidding, when has Busquets ever pressed forward?
The targeted defensive tactics did not work, but the hidden danger of Hernandez appeared.
Without Fletcher, the central midfield was weak, so Valencia and Park Ji-sung had to retreat to the middle, leaving the wing open. Marcelo and Zabaleta were both very active, and Su Dong also frequently moved to the wing.
This damn guy has really good eyesight!
Su Dong, David Silva, Toni Kroos, and even Di Maria, these players took turns to attack Carrick, and the unlucky Red Devils midfielder ended up miserably.
He not only has to block the midfield, but also has to retreat to the defense line in time to fill the position. When switching from defense to offense, he is also responsible for passing the ball.
Not to mention that Carrick is just an ordinary mortal. Even if he was given a pair of wings, he would probably be like this.
Ferguson knew very well that what the team needed now was to strengthen the midfield defense, but there was not much he could do.
When facing Arsenal in the league before, Ferguson once swapped Park Ji-sung and Giggs, letting Giggs go to the wing to give full play to the Korean's running and covering abilities. However, Park Ji-sung performed poorly in the center of the midfield, lost his position when defending, and was scored by Arsenal midfielder Ramsey.
From then on, Ferguson didn't dare let Park Ji-sung come to the middle.
Now, unless Ferguson is willing to make substitutions in the first half, we can only continue to defend like this.
…
The first half ended with Manchester City's wave of attacks.
After taking a two-goal lead, Manchester United invested more manpower in defense and Manchester City slowed down its offensive slightly. Ultimately, they failed to score again in the first half, but the performance of Manchester City, especially Su Dong, was still very eye-catching.
During the half-time break, Guardiola did not make any adjustments to the team's lineup.
With the team leading 2-0, he believed Ferguson would try to counterattack, but this was premised on the fact that Manchester United had to be able to stabilize the team's midfield, so he concluded that Ferguson would choose to make substitutions.
Hernandez did nothing in the first half. If nothing unexpected happens, he will most likely be substituted off. He should be replaced by midfielder Fletcher or Anderson. The purpose of the substitution is simple, which is to strengthen the midfield defense.
If Manchester United wants to counterattack, they must first stabilize the midfield and the defense. To stabilize the midfield, they need one more midfielder. Fletcher or Anderson are the best choices.
It is basically unrealistic to make adjustments to tonight's starting lineup.
From the current perspective, Ferguson's starting tactics tonight can basically be said to have failed.
He obviously didn't get any advantage from Manchester City.
Guardiola adjusted the team's tactics. He told Su Dong that he would be allowed to decide his position based on the situation on the field. When necessary, he could move up and return to the center position to directly suppress Manchester United's defense.
This was also a problem exposed in the first half.
Neither Di Maria nor Sanchez could suppress Manchester United's defense, and the two players' ability to seize opportunities was not strong enough, which led to Manchester City missing a lot of opportunities in the first half.
If Guardiola's starting tactics were based on the bet that Ferguson would specifically restrain Su Dong, then the tactical adjustment in the second half was based on the bet that Ferguson would play it safe. Manchester City, who were leading by two goals, also needed players like Su Dong to suppress Manchester United's defense.
If the frontcourt is suppressed, the midfield will be more relaxed and the team's goal will be more stable.
As for scoring goals, we were already two goals ahead, so was there any need to take risks? …
Things seemed to be going just as Guardiola expected.
When the two teams returned to the field, they found that Manchester United had indeed made substitutions.
Fletcher replaced Hernandez.
This was a substitution that was not surprising at all, and even the commentator on the scene said he had guessed it.
"Manchester United's midfield loss in the first half was too obvious. It would have been strange if Ferguson hadn't replaced a midfielder at halftime to strengthen the midfield defense."
If this is true, then everyone will wonder if Ferguson is plotting something. Of course, Ferguson may also be hurt by his own willfulness and end up losing even more miserably.
Now, they just strengthened the midfield and blocked Manchester City's attack and penetration, leaving only Rooney in the frontcourt. This basically curbed Manchester United's attack, but at least the defense was stabilized.
Fortunately, Manchester City also had two goals in hand and was not in a hurry, continuing to control the ball steadily.
Sometimes it is like this, each side is predicting the other's tactics. Manchester City guessed Manchester United's tactical adjustment in the second half, but Manchester United adopted a slightly conservative tactical strategy, leaving Manchester City with no effective solution.
After Fletcher came on, the reinforcement of the midfield was obvious.
Although Manchester City still had a huge advantage in ball possession, their offense could no longer be as willful as in the first half.
The game therefore fell into a stalemate.
(End of this chapter)
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