Chapter 352 The Helpless Old Sir

Why is the area blockade implemented by Manchester United in front of the penalty area completely ineffective! ?

Sir Alex Ferguson was puzzled by this question. You know, Manchester United fielded a lineup of five midfielders in this game, and before the game, Ferguson had clearly arranged the playing style for the players and also told them how to limit Wang Li's performance.

However, at least from the past game time, this tactical blockade did not show its power. Ferguson was sure that it was not because the Manchester United players did not try their best, nor was it because they did not execute the tactics correctly, but the game still went on as usual. For a world-class coach, this was a failure and even more a doubt, which also made Ferguson's desire to explore stronger.

So, in the next 20 minutes of the game, the old knight kept his eyes on the field, especially the area between Manchester United's half penalty area and the center line. In this position, Manchester United's blockade was the tightest, and it was also the starting point for Chelsea's frontcourt breakthrough attack. Wang Li's activity area in the offense was mostly in this position.

“Come on!!! Come on!!! Come on!!!”

As the game progressed, Wang Li played more and more smoothly, and Chelsea's attack also became smoother. Manchester United's goal was threatened again and again, as if it could be breached again at any time, and the enthusiasm of the Blues fans became more and more crazy - their opponent was Manchester United, which once dominated English football, but the game was one-sided, which made them feel sincerely proud.

As a fan, the stronger the team they support, the prouder they will feel. It is really a wonderful thing that the team can overpower Manchester United.

However, all of this seemed to have nothing to do with Ferguson. He still kept his eyes on the court and on Wang Li who was running on the court. He carefully observed Chelsea's tactical play and Wang Li's performance, trying to find Chelsea's offensive patterns and loopholes, and thinking about the next countermeasures.

At this time, the big screen in the stadium also switched to him. The 60-year-old coach was still sitting firmly in the chair, his chin supported by his hands, thinking.

This action gave Creed Pesvak another topic to talk about. He immediately said sarcastically: "Chelsea's attack has left Manchester United coach Ferguson helpless. He just sits there helplessly, hoping that the game will end quickly. Unfortunately, even if the first half is over, we still have the second half. Manchester United's dream of going home with a 1:0 is really difficult to achieve. It is estimated that after this game, Chelsea will get a ticket to the League Cup final."

…………The main executor of the tactics modified by Mourinho was Wang Li himself. The tasks of other offensive players were simple. They only needed to run with Wang Li's position and get out of position to receive or pass the ball. And because Manchester United put the defense focus on the middle, Damien Duff and Arjen Robben on the two sides were very active. In the past 40 minutes, the two of them could pass a through ball or a long pass almost every two minutes, threatening Manchester United's goal again and again in this way.

Faced with this kind of attack, Manchester United could only strengthen their defense, which everyone could see.

In the crisis, Ferguson did not come forward, but Manchester United captain Roy Keane had to step up and command the team to continue to strengthen defense. As a result, for a long time, Manchester United had almost no one in the frontcourt, and even Saha retreated to the back of the midfield, silently watching the backcourt encounter Chelsea's "**".

Although Manchester United played passively, they were not without resistance. Rooney and Ronaldo, who were very fast on the wing, often planned quick counterattacks. However, since many Manchester United midfielders did not dare to rush too far forward, each counterattack was anticlimactic. Without the temporary command of head coach Ferguson, these Manchester United stars played a little conservatively in the attack.

In this situation, the situation on the field was completely one-sided. Chelsea had an absolute advantage in terms of ball possession, number of attacks, number of shots, etc., and Manchester United was overwhelmed by the waves of attacks. However, in fact, with Manchester United defending all the way, Chelsea could hardly find any good opportunities. Although there was absolute pressure in form, Manchester United's defense was airtight. For a long time, Chelsea did not even find a chance to shoot.

The experienced captain Roy Keane's command was very appropriate. He knew very well that no matter how passive the team was, the game had to be dragged to the halftime break. When the strength of the two teams was not much different, after stabilizing the first half, the outcome of the game was still unknown.

…………Before the game, all the media and fans never thought that the game would turn out like this.

Even though most people think that it is difficult for Manchester United to win away from home and that Chelsea is more likely to win, the last time the two teams met, Chelsea only won 3:2, and Manchester United was not in such a passive situation. This makes many people feel a little unbelievable, you know, Manchester United is most famous for playing games after the New Year, but now that Christmas has passed, Chelsea's advantage over Manchester United seems to be getting bigger and bigger.

Could it be that Chelsea's strength has increased again! ?

impossible!!!

In the winter transfer window, Chelsea only brought in a dispensable Czech midfielder, who has not played in the game yet, so how can we talk about the improvement of their strength? ?

But from the current situation, the gap between Manchester United and Chelsea has indeed widened, and it seems that it is only a matter of time before Chelsea scores the second goal.

"It's incredible, Chelsea are so strong."

At this time, even the court billiards commentator who had always been "neutral" sighed: "The gap between Manchester United and Chelsea is too big. I can't believe this is a world-renowned Premier League match. Something may have gone wrong with Manchester United. They played too passively. In this case, their head coach didn't make any adjustments. If this continues, Chelsea will win!?"

Back on the court.

Every collision between Chelsea and Manchester United, one attacking and one defending, touched the hearts of many people. However, Manchester United defended very steadily and it was difficult for Chelsea to find opportunities to shoot, even Wang Li was the same.

Facing Manchester United's human wave tactics, Wang Li himself had a headache. He kept running back and forth, and even tried to get his teammates to pass the ball back in the backcourt to pull Manchester United's defense and look for offensive opportunities. However, under the command of captain Roy Keane, Manchester United's defense was indeed very stable.

In the 43rd minute of the first half, looking at the timer hanging above the court, Wang Li became secretly anxious. He was about 10 meters in front of the penalty area, running continuously, with exquisite footwork and ability, which made the Blues fans enjoy it. This was certainly not a performance, but he wanted to use his personal ability to pull Manchester United's defense line and create opportunities for his teammates.

It sounds complicated, but the actual situation is very simple. After Wang Li received the pass from his teammate, he did not dribble forward at all, but just slowly moved sideways with the ball, forcing the two Manchester United midfielders to press forward, but Wang Li did not force himself, nor did he pass the ball. He used exquisite techniques to keep the ball under his feet, and even caused C. Ronaldo next to him to fall down and make a tackle. Wang Li did the same after he dodged, which attracted Manchester United midfielder Scholes from behind, and other players also wanted to go over and "teach a lesson" to this black-haired boy who was teasing Manchester United.

However, Manchester United captain Roy Keane stopped them by shouting. The experienced Keane knew very well what the other side wanted to do. The current game was related to the trophy that Manchester United had the best chance of winning this year. This was not the time to act on impulse.

In this situation, Wang Li's intention was not achieved, and the triple-teaming was too much for him, so he could only pass the ball back to Lampard.

However, during this process, although Chelsea's offense did not have any breakthroughs, it made Sir Alex Ferguson's eyes light up in the Manchester United coaching booth on the sidelines. He finally discovered the unusual performance of Chelsea in the offense compared to the previous game.

Because after he failed to observe Wang Li, he kept watching the movement of Arjen Robben on the left.

In this game, the highlight of Chelsea, apart from Wang Li who shone throughout the game, was Robben's performance. In the first half of the game, Robben made a series of threatening passes, forcing Manchester United to strengthen the left defense. Therefore, in the last few minutes, it became difficult for Robben to play a role.

But he has been working hard, and this effort is achieved by constantly running to adjust the most appropriate distance between him and Wang Li and find space to receive the ball.

In this way, it was easy for Ferguson to see the truth. He discovered that in every Chelsea attack, Robben's movement almost revolved around Wang Li. This was normal if it happened only for a moment, but when it happened several times in a row, Ferguson noticed something strange.

Logically speaking, as a left winger, Robben's main job is to break through to find opportunities, initiate attacks, find a position to receive the ball or attract defensive players, but now he has made finding a position to receive the ball his priority, and has been constantly adjusting his position without considering whether the defensive players next to him will go to support the middle, which is very puzzling.

With the breakthrough point, the subsequent observation work became much smoother. In the next wave of attack, Ferguson found that the Irishman on the right, Lampard, and even William Gallas who assisted were all doing the same thing, with little difference.

This discovery made Ferguson suddenly enlightened but also troubled at the same time, because even though he knew the reason why Chelsea's attack was much smoother than last time, he could not come up with a good response strategy in a short time.

………

The first half was over soon.

Although Chelsea pressed the game throughout the entire half, the score of 1:0 was only barely acceptable.

At the same time, the statistics in the first half also showed that Manchester United was completely suppressed. Chelsea controlled the ball for 71% of the time despite having an all-round advantage, but only had 9 shots, while Manchester United only had a pitiful 3. If we only look at the number of shots, scoring one goal in nine shots is an acceptable efficiency. However, if we look at the ball possession rate, the score does not reflect this.

"Manchester United's players finally made it to the half-time break. I hope head coach Sir Alex Ferguson can adjust the tactics appropriately in the locker room and slightly reverse the passive situation. If the game continues like this, I will almost fall asleep. The gap between the two teams is too big." Even though it was already halftime "break", Creed Pesvak's chattering mouth was still mocking Manchester United, which made the Red Devils fans in the stadium very angry, but they had no confidence to refute - Manchester United really played too badly in the first half.

This halftime break was indeed a relief for Manchester United players. They had persisted in the backcourt for too long, which had caused the team's morale to drop to the extreme in the last moments of the game. No player likes to play passive defense all the time, even a defender.

If he had a choice, although Chelsea's offense had not made much progress, Wang Li hoped that the game could continue like this until the end of the game without a break, because in this way, Chelsea would almost certainly win - although even if the opponent regained their momentum after 15 minutes, Wang Li did not think they had any hope of winning.

But the rules of football will not change for Chelsea, and the players returned to the locker room.

…………After returning to the locker room, amid the laughter of Chelsea players, head coach Mourinho came to the locker room with a smile on his face. It was obvious that he was very satisfied with the team's performance in the first half. Although only one attack was scored, in the Portuguese's view, the goal was very close to Chelsea.

“You all performed very well. Although it was a pity that we only scored one goal in the first half, we were very close to victory. This is the first round of the League Cup semi-finals. I hope to work hard to score a few more goals in the second half to keep the League Cup final ticket firmly in our hands, so that we don’t have to fight to the death at Old Trafford. If we only win 1:0, then we are the loser.”

Seeing the players nodded in understanding, Mourinho continued: "Mr. Chairman has told you Chelsea's goal for this season. This goal is difficult to achieve. I think so too, but championships are won one by one. As long as we beat Manchester United, the next opponent will be Liverpool. I believe that team will not cause us any trouble. One trophy is already in hand. If we add the league championship, we only need to fight for one of the Champions League trophy or the FA Cup, and we will have won three trophies. I think this goal is not too far away. Do you have confidence!?"

"Yes!! Boss." The players responded one after another.

"Keep working hard in the second half and score more goals!!"

Mourinho didn't have much to adjust in the second half. He believed that even if Ferguson noticed Chelsea's style of play, he wouldn't be able to come up with a solution in a short period of time. At least he hadn't thought of it yet, right? ?

Therefore, as long as the team continues to play like this, a big victory is almost within reach.

In fact, Ferguson's current state is the same as what Mourinho thought. After a period of observation and thinking, he has fully understood Chelsea's style of play - maximizing Wang Li's personal ability.

This style of play, which was almost like "a heavy sword without an edge, great ingenuity without refinement" and highlighted Chelsea's advantages, made him extremely anxious and he was unable to come up with any countermeasures.

Now, Manchester United has strengthened its zone blockade in order to limit the personal ability of Chelsea's offensive core Wang Li. However, Chelsea has done the opposite and used the running positions of the front offensive players to maximize Wang Li's personal skills, thus breaking Manchester United's zone blockade tactics against Wang Li.

Manchester United has only 11 players in total, and among the 11 players, there are only 9 players except the goalkeeper and the single center forward.

In the penalty area, more than 3 people must be left, and at least two people must be left on both sides. In this way, there are only 4 people who can participate in the defense in the middle. This calculation is completely wrong. Manchester United cannot put only 2 people on both sides, and there must be 2 or even 3 people to defend Wang Li. How can Manchester United attack? ?

Even though Saha has performed well this season, Ferguson does not think he can score goals by himself.

In short, Chelsea's tactics almost completely maximized Wang Li's performance. From the scene, it seemed that Manchester United had been playing 11 against 12, 13 or even more. This was the most important reason why the team was suppressed in the first half.

Now, Ferguson has a clear understanding of the tactics and forms of the two teams, but he can't think of a strategy to deal with them. In fact, the thought "Why Rooney was introduced instead of Allen" occasionally flashes through his mind. At least in that case, he won't have to worry about this headache.

However, as the team's head coach, Ferguson still had to bite the bullet and arrange tactics: "I believe you must be in a bad mood now, and so am I. If we continue to play like this, the score may become 2:0, 3:0 or even more, and then we will have no chance to win back to the semi-finals at Old Trafford." "So, we must strengthen our defense and limit Chelsea's goals, so that we have a chance to keep the suspense at home, and the key is to strengthen the defense against the opponent's No. 21, understand!!"

Facing Ferguson's words, the Manchester United players who were lowering their heads were all full of doubts. You know, if Manchester United behaved like this in normal times, this Scotsman would definitely curse mercilessly, but now it's not the case. The head coach is actually "gently" speaking reason! ! ?

Make sense!!?

This situation even made Manchester United players feel a little at a loss. They didn't understand what was wrong with Ferguson now.

However, they still understood what the old Sir meant - continue to strengthen defense, that is, the tactics in the second half are still defense, try to maintain the score of 1:0. This tactic even made these usually arrogant Manchester United stars feel a little unacceptable.

But facing Ferguson's stern face, they could only choose to accept it...

(To be continued)