Chapter 1,126 A Tragic Victory

At the beginning of the second half, Manchester United replaced young midfielder Pogba.

Ferguson made such an adjustment mainly because goalkeeper De Gea's ability to handle high balls and long shots is too poor. Pogba is 1.91 meters tall, can compete for high points, and has a wide defensive coverage area, which can help the two central defenders control high-altitude balls. .

Although Cleverley's ball protection and dribbling are excellent, now that Manchester United has Gao Xiaodong and Nani on the court, there is no need for Cleverley to do such things.

Ferguson's adjustments were very targeted. After Pogba came on the field, his height became a barrier at the front of the penalty area, which resolved most of West Brom's long passes from the backcourt and also helped the two central defenders solve some of their positioning problems. Ball threat.

The defense was slightly more solid, and Manchester United's offensive immediately became fierce.

Gao Xiaodong is still a threat on the left, and Nani, who was relatively quiet in the first half, also became active. He constantly attacked West Brom's right. After Gao Xiaodong and Nani attracted defense from the two wings, Rooney and Berba Tove gained space in the middle and also used his personal skills to frequently attack the penalty area. Under the joint attack of Manchester United from three directions, West Brom's defense failed to focus on one thing and the other, and Manchester United continuously received shooting opportunities.

In the 50th minute of the game, Gao Xiaodong attracted the defense on the left, quickly crossed to the middle, and then passed to the right to find Nani.

Nani received the ball and quickly crossed the ball without waiting for West Brom's left back to return.

At this moment, West Brom's back line was still moving, and Rooney found a gap. The English fat man rushed into the penalty area, jumped high, and headed the ball towards the goal.

There was no one to interfere with Rooney, and the ball was very tricky to head, but West Brom goalkeeper Foster was very familiar with Rooney's shooting habits and reacted quickly. He swooped up and hit the ball with his fingertips. The goalpost flew off the baseline.

This ball is too dangerous! What a pity!

Fans from both sides couldn't help but exclaimed.

At present, the score is still tied at 1:1. Manchester United's players have no time to regret. They quickly take a corner kick and strive to overtake the score as quickly as possible.

Gao Xiaodong sent a tactical corner kick to Nani. Nani did not pass the ball. He dribbled the ball horizontally and tried to hit the goal, but was blocked by his opponent continuously. In desperation, he passed it to Vidic in the penalty area.

Nani is famous for not passing the ball, and he often does not pass the ball when facing Gao Xiaodong. Vidic did not expect Nani to pass the ball to him. This time, something unexpected happened. Vidic subconsciously extended his foot to tackle the ball, and the ball was I didn't touch it, but my thigh was strained because of too much movement.

The ball flew out of the baseline,

Vidic fell to the ground and made a painful gesture of substitution.

Seeing Vidic injured, Ferguson felt cold. He sent Smallin and Fabio to start because Evra and Rafael were injured. If Vidic was injured again, Manchester United's central defender position would be in danger. .

Ferguson quickly put Evans on and replaced Vidic.

Evans is only 23 years old this year, Smalling is 21 years old, Fabio is 21 years old, goalkeeper De Gea is 21 years old, and only veteran Ferdinand is leading the way. Manchester United's back line was already struggling today, and now it is even more dangerous.

West Brom coach Hodgson naturally saw Manchester United's problem. He rushed the players to continue passing, gave up the midfield, and directly attacked Manchester United's defense.

Hodgson's idea is good, but although Manchester United's defense today is young, three of the four are central defenders, tall and have header awareness. What they lack is experience and tacit understanding, and what they are afraid of is quick short passes. Penetration, not afraid of high-altitude balls, not to mention the tall guy Pogba in front of him.

West Brom raised the ball wildly, but the ball was pushed out by Manchester United players.

This is the best time to counterattack, but Manchester United's midfielder Nani doesn't like running very much, Berbatov doesn't even run, and Carrick can't run fast. It's difficult for Gao Xiaodong and Rooney alone to grab the ball and start it. Fight back.

Ferguson saw this problem and quickly made substitution adjustments. Park Ji-sung came on and replaced Berbatov, leaving only Rooney as a forward.

Manchester United dropped a forward and their attack dropped a bit, but the midfielder's fighting, running and defense went to a higher level. Almost 30% of the balls they pushed fell into Manchester United's hands.

In the 67th minute of the game, the ball was grabbed by the diligent Park Ji-sung. Park passed it directly to Gao Xiaodong, and then made a crazy forward move with Rooney.

After receiving the ball, Gao Xiaodong quickly dribbled forward and penetrated West Brom's half.

West Brom's players blocked frantically, trying to steal or destroy the ball at the first opportunity.

The West Brom players had a good idea, but Gao Xiaodong was wearing super glasses, as if he had a "God" perspective. The West Brom players completely blocked Gao Xiaodong's forward path, but Gao Xiaodong knocked his heel. , passed the ball accurately to Carrick running from behind.

Although Carrick is not as famous as Scholes, he also has a beautiful pass. He received the pass from Gao Xiaodong and immediately found Park Ji-sung who was advancing at high speed with a long pass.

Park Ji-sung was not offside. He stopped the ball with his chest and dribbled the ball to the side of the penalty area. He glanced at the center and found that Rooney had inserted himself between the two West Brom center backs, so he vigorously passed the ball across to the center of the penalty area.

Park Zhixing passed the ball very accurately, Rooney arrived just in time, fell to the ground and shoveled the ball into the net.

The ball was so close to the goal that Foster had no time to react and could only watch the ball roll past him into the net.

2:1

Rooney grabbed the point and once again broke through the gate guarded by Foster.

It was of great significance to Manchester United to score when the opponent was attacking fiercely. Rooney raised his hands in excitement and ran to the stands. The Manchester United players also ran towards Rooney, jumped on him, and celebrated with him passionately.

Gao Xiaodong didn't assist with this goal, but he contributed a lot. Without his timely transfer, this counterattack might not have been possible.

"Sky Sports" commentator, former Manchester United captain Gary. Neville specifically praised Gao Xiaodong, "Calm! Smart! Use the most reasonable way to handle the ball. Although Gao Xiaodong did not score a goal or assist, he became more and more like the core and soul of this team."

After losing the ball, West Brom attacked more fiercely, but Manchester United also got more counterattack opportunities.

In the 69th minute, Gao Xiaodong passed the ball long and Park Ji-sung missed the long shot.

In the 72nd minute, Gao Xiaodong scored the ball from the middle and Fabio made a pass from the left, but he gave Nani a high-altitude ball. The unguarded Nani used a header from 13 yards that he was not good at. As a result, The ball went wide of the goal.

West Brom's offense was not threatening, but Manchester United's counterattack was deadly. The game was about to go to a big score, but at this time Manchester United suffered another blow. Ferdinand strained his thigh when making a clearance, but Manchester United had already used After three substitutions, only 10 people can fight.

At this moment, Manchester United's defense is full of young boys, including the goalkeeper and midfielder, and there is still one less player to play. At this moment, Manchester United does not dare to invest too much defensive force in the frontcourt, leaving only Rooney in the frontcourt. Everyone else came back to defend.

West Brom felt that the opportunity had come. Except for the goalkeeper, the entire team moved forward to attack Manchester United in the half.

However, after Manchester United contracted, they were united and never gave West Brom a good shooting opportunity. In the end, Manchester United paid the price of two central defenders and defeated West Brom 2:1 in the away game, winning an unhappy start.