Chapter 644 There’s Trouble!
This is an exciting summer transfer season!
David Moyes stood nervously in front of the coaching booth at Wembley Stadium in the western suburbs of London, staring ahead with a frown on his face. In front of him, behind him, on both sides, there were crowds of football fans, enough to make one shudder.
It turns out that being the head coach of a top team requires so much responsibility!
Moyes is only now beginning to understand why Ferguson said such a strange thing to him a few months ago.
"I don't doubt your ability on the court at all, I'm worried about your ability outside the court!"
In Moyes' ears, the sound of Ferguson saying these words to him seemed to ring again.
At that time, he had just watched the live broadcast of Southampton's victory over Stoke City on TV, and cruelly received a death sentence. In the last season of his coaching career, after leading for more than half a year, he lost the league championship at the last moment!
At that moment, he saw an old man who was very old and dying.
He had never seen such an old-fashioned feeling in Ferguson, but at that moment, he felt it.
I'm afraid that until the day Ferguson goes to his grave, he will never forget the humiliation he suffered that day!
And now, as Ferguson's successor, he has been given a lot of titles by the media.
The Community Shield match, which was originally a "useless" game, was hyped up by the British media into a revenge battle with a Hamlet flavor.
This has invisibly put even greater pressure and burden on Moyes.
From the beginning of preparations this summer to now, Manchester United's overall performance has not been convincing, especially in the International Champions Cup, where Manchester United suffered three consecutive defeats in the group stage and was shamefully eliminated.
After that, the performances in the two warm-up matches after returning to the UK can only be described as disastrous.
The performance on the court is not satisfactory, and the actions off the court are even more worrying.
With Ferguson's retirement, Moyes brought in the coaching team he had worked with for many years, including former chief assistant coach Mike Phelan and the coaching team from the Ferguson era, including the famous Dutch coach Meulensteen. It was natural that they had to make room.
Scholes, the most creative core of the midfield, retired. Although Giggs continued to stay in the team, strengthening the midfield has become the focus of Manchester United's transfer.
If the transfers in European professional football are a soap opera, then the unlucky Manchester United plays the inglorious role of the unlucky guy who picks up the soap in this soap opera.
From buying Fabregas to fill the vacancy left by Scholes, to Vidal, and then to Thiago, the players that Manchester United had their eyes on were blocked by their opponents one after another, and they missed the opportunity again and again.
When he was at Everton, Moyes's signings were usually based on economic practicality. Sometimes, for a transfer fee of just a few hundred thousand pounds, Moyes would allow Everton's team to haggle with the other party for several months.
But the situation is obviously different now!
Manchester United is a wealthy club, and the players they target are all in high demand. If you don't have enough courage to act early, they will be snatched away by others as soon as you turn your head, and you won't even have time to cry.
This is true for Vidal and Thiago too!
Moyes felt that he was totally unsuited to Manchester United's transfer operation method. He was used to and good at slow start and wasting time, but this style was obviously not suitable for the transfer of wealthy teams that were staging an arms race all the time.
Now, Fabregas has announced that he will stay with the team, Thiago has gone to Bayern Munich, Vidal has gone to Real Madrid, and none of the players that Manchester United are targeting have come.
Not only in the midfield, the problems in the defense are even more serious.
Full-backs, center backs, Manchester United's entire defense needs to be reorganized, but now there is not even a target to lock on.
Moyes was extremely busy, but he failed to achieve any results. Instead, all Manchester United fans and the British media were very dissatisfied, thinking that his performance was very poor and not up to standard!
In this situation, the pressure on Moyes' shoulders is so great that outsiders can't even imagine it!
He really needs a championship trophy to prove himself and to ease the pressure on his shoulders. Even if it is just a useless Community Shield, it can make him feel relieved.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but turn his head and glance at Southampton on the field.
The Saints' performance this summer was also unconvincing. After losing three key players, Gareth Bale, Neymar and Vidal, the new players Suarez and Sanchez are still in the process of adapting, and the team's offense is lackluster.
So, yesterday, at the last press conference before going south to London, Moyes made it very clear when facing the media, "I will try my best to make the Community Shield a good start for my coaching of Manchester United!"
In order to be more confident, Moyes did not make any changes to the team's tactics and starting lineup, and still used the lineup and tactics of Ferguson's era.
The goalkeeper will be De Gea, the defense will be Evra, Vidic, Phil Jones and Rafael, the midfield will be Giggs, Cleverley, Carrick and Valencia, and the double forwards will be a combination of Van Persie and Rooney.
Southampton also cannot be careless in this game.
The 'goalkeeper' will be Neuer, and the back line will be David Alaba, Javi Martinez, Varane and Azpilicueta.
The double defensive midfielder is still Modric and Toni Kroos, but after the transfer of Vidal, James Rodriguez replaced him.
The front trident was also adjusted. Hazard performed well in the International Champions Cup and firmly occupied the position of left winger. Ibrahimovic was the center forward. The right side was a bit surprising. Bielsa chose Sturridge.
The two new players, Suarez and Sanchez, were placed on the bench by the Argentine madman.
As soon as the game started, Southampton revealed its intentions.
That is to use the left wing composed of David Alaba and Hazard to attack Manchester United's right wing.
The first shot of the game was made by Hazard who took the ball from the left and passed it diagonally to the right, finding Sturridge, who made the shot. Although it was not dangerous, it was surprising.
After that, Southampton still did not change its past fierce nature and insisted on attacking from the left.
Although Moyes has coached Everton for many years, no game has ever been as tense as today.
He stood on the sidelines, brows furrowed, staring at the court, motionless.
"We're in trouble on our right!"
Assistant coach Steve Round came over, shook his head and spoke worriedly.
"Southampton has a lot of tactics on the left. Hazard is very good at dribbling. Whether he is going down the flank or cutting inside, he is very threatening. It is already very difficult for Rafael to cope with him, and then there is David Alaba who comes in from behind!"
Southampton's current tactic is to attack very resolutely on the left. Once David Alaba "inserts" in, Javi Martinez, Varane and Azpilicueta will be a bit like a three-back configuration.
"Phil Jones loses his position so easily, it's pretty damning!"
As soon as Steve Round finished his words, Southampton organized another attack on the field.
After Hazard cut into the middle, he received a pass from Modric and made a delicate two-on-one combination with James Rodriguez in a small area, and passed the ball directly into the penalty area. Ibrahimovic followed up and shot, but it was slightly off target.
This wave of attack made everyone in the entire Wembley Stadium break out in cold sweats and sigh in unison.
It was almost a goal!
Moyes also sighed. Manchester United's midfield is very weak, but isn't the defense even worse?
Ferdinand sat in the stands during this game. Phil Jones was known as the Flying General. He was very powerful but unreliable.
Vidic and Evra are old and no longer as brave as they used to be.
It can be said that Manchester United’s midfield is very poor, but it is not as good as the defense!
"David, do you want to let all the players in the frontcourt come back and stabilize the situation first?" Steve Round suggested.
Moyes was a little hesitant. Would anyone accuse him of being conservative if he retreated?
You know, Manchester United and Southampton are both strong teams in the Premier League. If the Red Devils are suppressed by the Saints, where will the Red Devils fans put their face? Will the fans be angry at me at that time?
But just as Moyes was hesitating, Southampton launched another attack on the field.
After Toni Kroos intercepted the ball in the midfield, he quickly passed it to Modric. After the Croatian got rid of the defender, he passed the ball to Hazard.
The Belgian faced Rafael with the ball and resolutely chose to cut inside with the ball.
The Brazilian right-back had to keep up, and Hazard suddenly passed the ball to James Rodriguez who was running in from behind.
The unguarded Colombian midfielder made a lob pass and moved the ball diagonally to the left.
David Alaba rushed in from the left, and after steadily receiving the pass from James Rodriguez on the left side of the penalty area, he rubbed the ball with his left foot and made a cross, sending the ball into the penalty area.
Ibrahimovic quickly followed in the middle of the penalty area, blocked Vidic with his body, and then faced the ball with a lion's head, heading the ball to the lower left corner of the goal.
The ball bounced after hitting the bottom and hit the goal line!
De Gea was completely helpless in the face of this shot that was so close to the goal!
After Ibrahimovic completed the shot, Phil Jones, who was supposed to be in front of Ibrahimovic, finally arrived!
"In the ninth minute, just nine minutes into the game, Southampton broke through Manchester United's goal!"
"Left-back David Alaba assisted Ibrahimovic to score with a header. What a wonderful combination!"
"From the slow-motion replay, Southampton quickly launched a counterattack after stealing the ball from the midfield. After a series of passes, it reached the front court. James Rodriguez's pass was so wonderful. The field of vision was so wide that he could see David Alaba coming from behind!"
"Phil Jones lost his position too easily. He and Vidic should have clamped Ibrahimovic on the left and right, but after he left his position, Ibrahimovic was like no one was guarding him!"
"It's Manchester United's defense, or the back line!"
"In fact, as early as last season, when Ferguson was the coach of Manchester United, the defensive problem has always been the focus of everyone's doubts, because among the top seven teams in the league, Manchester United's number of goals conceded ranked second from the bottom, only slightly better than Tottenham Hotspur. This is completely inconsistent with Manchester United's goal of winning the championship!"
"Since Moyes took over the team, there has been a lot of calls for reforming the defense, but whether it is from the International Champions Cup or from this Community Shield game, Moyes has not been able to improve Manchester United's defensive problems."
When the commentator came to this point in his analysis, the camera happened to give a close-up of Moyes, who was standing in front of the coaching bench with a stern face.
This made the commentator sigh with emotion: "The outstanding performance last season has exhausted Manchester United's last bit of strength. When Scholes retired and the team's offense fell into a dilemma, if the defensive problem is not solved well, Manchester United will be in danger this season!"
I believe that anyone who sees Moyes’ expression at this moment will find that this conclusion has already been written on the Scottish coach’s face!