Chapter 602 I Will Never

Toni Kroos was standing in the center circle. When he saw Danilo coming up to the right to meet Vidal, he immediately ran to the right along the center line. Danilo knocked the ball back, and the German knocked it back to Varane.

Because of this transition, Stoke City had to slow down their pressing.

But before Stoke City could catch their breath, Varane passed the ball to Javi Martinez, who made a long pass and accurately reached the frontcourt and found Ibrahimovic.

Suddenly, before Stoke City had time to catch their breath, they had to continue to intensify their pressing.

The Swedish center forward won the ball and Neymar scored the second goal.

After the Brazilian grabbed the ball, he quickly passed it to the left. David Alaba had already rushed forward quickly, and after receiving the ball, he went to the bottom line. With this, Southampton's attack line also advanced to Stoke City's penalty area.

But this wave of attack still failed to work. The ball was passed into the penalty area and was cleared by Robert Huth.

The ball had fallen to Southampton, and Modric received it and passed it to Toni Kroos.

The German turned around and knocked the ball back to Neuer at the front of the penalty area.

Suddenly, everyone on the Saints team realized that they needed to control the tempo a little.

In this game, Toni Kroos played relatively backwards, forming a ball-control formation with Javi Martinez, Varane and goalkeeper Neuer.

The two full-backs, Danilo and David Alaba, pressed very high up, even higher than Toni Kroos at many times. In addition, Neymar cut inside and Gareth Bale made a diagonal run into the penalty area, making the two full-backs look more like wingers. The entire burden of offense and defense on the wing fell on them.

The ball was passed skillfully back and forth between Southampton's midfield and backcourt, and the overall formation was slowly pressing forward.

Stoke City retreated slowly but had no intention of exerting pressure or pressing on Southampton's backcourt possession formation.

Firstly, Crouch's height makes it difficult for him to actively participate in pressing and oppressing like other players.

Besides, he is alone and cannot do anything.

Another very important reason is that the average age of Stoke City's frontcourt is over 30 years old.

There is no need to say much about Crouch, he has been famous for a long time and is 32 years old this year. Etherington is also 32 years old, Whitehead is 31 years old, and Walters is 30 years old.

The youngest player in the entire midfield is French midfielder N'Zonzi, who is 24 years old.

But what can one person do?

Therefore, such an advanced age makes it impossible for Stoke City to adopt front-court pressure and pressing tactics. To do so, not to mention whether the effect can reach the expected level, the physical energy consumption itself is probably not something Tony Pulis can bear.

Sometimes, everyone knows that high-intensity pressing and oppression in the front court is a trend, but it may not be applicable.

Tony Pulis chose the tactical style that best suits Stoke City, which is to give up pressing and oppression in the frontcourt.

But in this case, Southampton would have to control the ball.

From the beginning, Southampton's ball possession rate was consistently over 70%, completely dominating the game.

Stoke City adopted a compact style of play in the midfield and backcourt, and defended patiently.

Although Southampton controlled the game situation and launched several threatening attacks, they either failed to create any threats or goalkeeper Begovic performed well.

Begovic is one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League this season. Not only has he attracted the attention of top teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, but even Barcelona wants to get him, which shows his strength!

Southampton controlled the ball patiently.

Toni Kroos is very smart. He always keeps in mind the pre-match arrangements and arrangements made by head coach Bielsa.

That is, we must not allow Stoke City a chance to breathe, and we must constantly use ball control tactics to wear down their resilience and consume their physical strength, because they are old and will definitely not be able to handle it.

But as the team's deep-lying organizer, Toni Kroos must always remember not to be impatient.

Once the team becomes a little anxious, he must stabilize it immediately and stay calm and rational.

In Bielsa's words, as long as Southampton maintains enough patience, they will definitely win!

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At Manchester United's training base in Carrington, west of Manchester, Ferguson sat in his office, silently looking at the TV screen in front of him.

Sitting next to him was Everton's head coach Moyes, who had come all the way from Liverpool.

This little Scottish fellow is very much here to listen to the teachings of his elders!

After all, he took over Ferguson's job, and his biggest task was to continue the empire that Ferguson had worked so hard to build.

But he didn't expect that he arrived at the wrong time, as it was the make-up match between Southampton and Stoke City.

So, after talking for an afternoon, Moyes was asked by Ferguson to stay and watch the game together.

"Tony Pulis's defense is very targeted. He arranged the inward and diagonal runs from both sides very tightly. Especially the midfielder, he always kept the defense in front of the defense line, which shows his skill!"

Even Moyes had to admit that Tony Pulis is definitely the best defensive coach in the UK.

It’s a pity that his offensive achievements are really not commendable.

Let me ask you, how could any normal and rational head coach pile so many veterans in their early thirties in his midfield and frontcourt?

Not to mention that veterans are prone to injuries, just in terms of physical energy consumption and recovery, veterans are definitely at a disadvantage compared to young players.

The competition in the Premier League is so fierce that so many veterans will definitely not be able to cope with it.

Ferguson kept his eyes fixed on the TV screen, unwilling to look away for a moment, but he was muttering to himself as he continued Moyes' words.

"Bielsa is a cunning old fox. He knows Stoke City's weaknesses. Since it is the last game of the season, he is not in a hurry. He uses ball possession tactics to fight a war of attrition. The key lies in the second half!"

The first half had been going on for more than twenty minutes and the score was still zero to zero.

But everyone knows that if this situation continues, the later the game goes, the greater the pressure Stoke City will face.

Moyes also nodded continuously, "Bielsa's team is very good at suddenly exerting force at the last moment, so I guess Southampton will have another wave of crazy attacks before the end of the first half."

Ferguson still nodded calmly. Any Premier League coach should be able to see that there is nothing strange about it.

"In the second half, Bielsa must have something else up his sleeve!"

These words made Ferguson's eyes light up, and he couldn't help but exclaim.

"Stoke City's performance this season is very interesting. They got 28 points at home, scored 21 goals, and conceded 22 goals. They got 14 points away from home, scored 13 goals, and conceded 23 goals. It can be seen that the biggest difference between this team's home and away games is not in defense, but in offense!"

Judging from the performance throughout the first half, Stoke City almost completely gave up the intention to attack and just focused on defense.

Tony Pulis set up a solid defense at St. Mary's Stadium, clearly telling Southampton that he was here for a draw!

If we refer to Moyes' data, it really fits Stoke City's positioning.

Since our away offensive capabilities are not good, I might as well not attack and focus on defense.

"But there is another very interesting statistic. This season, Stoke City scored 15 goals and conceded 18 goals in the first half. But in the second half, Stoke City scored 19 goals and conceded 27 goals. They scored four more goals than in the first half, but conceded nine more goals!"

Moyes' words immediately made Ferguson frown.

He understood what Moyes meant.

This season, many Premier League teams are strong in the first half but tend to collapse in the second half.

The most typical example is Newcastle, which always collapses in the second half.

There are also teams like West Ham United, Queens Park Rangers, Wigan Athletic, Reading and others who all performed poorly in the second half.

Manchester United's performance in the second half was not ideal either, and they even ranked sixth in the Premier League, behind Southampton, Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

But in the first half, Manchester United had a slight advantage over Southampton.

It can be seen that the problems of Manchester United and Stoke City are exactly the same.

That is because there are too many veterans in the team, which makes it difficult for the team to maintain a high level of performance in a 90-minute game. They always perform well in the first half and then begin to decline in the second half.

There is no way unless you are willing to reorganize the team's lineup!

"If Tony Pulis' team can hold on in the first half, then they can grit their teeth in the second half and maybe they can hold on. A draw might not be impossible!"

When Moyes said this, he glanced at Ferguson and found that the latter looked unhappy.

I suddenly felt sad. What else could I do?

Southampton is so strong, is it possible for a mid-level team like Stoke City to compete with them?

There was one more thing he didn't say, which was that if Stoke City lost the ball in the first half, no matter how magical Tony Pulis was, it would be difficult for him to turn the situation around in the second half.

That's why Ferguson looked so ugly.

It can be guessed that Southampton did not put all their efforts into the attack after the opening. Bielsa really wanted to score goals at the end of the first half and in the second half.

Therefore, Stoke City’s first test came before the end of the first half!

Ferguson was in a state of trepidation, watching the TV screen. Southampton still controlled the ball, and Stoke City was still hiding in its own half, defending tightly, setting up a solid defense, and looking like they would never show their heads.

But for some reason, even though Ferguson knew that Stoke City's defense was the best in the Premier League, he was still worried.

After all, the gap in strength between the two teams is too big!

Does this mean that I am really going to end my coaching career empty-handed?

No!

I don't!

I will never!

Ferguson looked at the TV screen with gritted teeth. He was very unwilling, extremely, extremely unwilling!

He absolutely could not allow himself to end his coaching career in such a humiliating way!

This is not fair to him!

Moyes, who was standing by, saw Ferguson's reaction and felt very sad in his heart.

The proud Sir Alex Ferguson was scared, and so was he.

Southampton is so strong this season, what about next season?

Can he lead such a Manchester United to fight against Southampton?

Can he even reform Manchester United's tactics and reorganize their lineup while still maintaining their top four position in the league?

Moyes is really not sure!

Just when the two of them were thinking about their own things, they saw Toni Kroos on the field get the ball, face pressure, quickly pass the ball to Modric, and suddenly changed his previous lateral movement style and rushed forward quickly.

Modric also understood what he meant, and after receiving the ball, he quickly knocked it back, completing a beautiful two-pass pass in the middle.

As soon as Toni Kroos moved forward, Southampton's entire midfield and frontcourt immediately followed suit.

The German commander finally sounded the horn for Southampton's fierce attack before the end of the first half!

Moyes glanced at the score column on the TV screen. There were still about ten minutes!

It seems that Southampton has still seized on Stoke City's defensive weakness!

In the next ten minutes or so, Stoke City may lose the game at any time!

So, the two people in the office almost held their breath and watched the live broadcast on TV intently.