Chapter 858 Half-Time Siege

Last season Chelsea double-killed Manchester United and won the league title by riding on Manchester United's head. They should have had a great psychological advantage over Manchester United, but this season Manchester United's momentum was too strong and it bluffed Chelsea. Even if there was a chance in the first half Due to the home advantage, the game was not so confident. It was only after conceding a goal that it dared to fight against the odds, and the goals scored in the first half were not as many as Manchester United.

Now that Chelsea equalized the score and scored one more player, the players' confidence and momentum were completely different.

After Manchester United kicked off, Chelsea's three lines pressed forward together, almost bringing the defense line to the center circle.

Chelsea were already good at running and physically strong, but now they had one more player. Their pressing almost forced Manchester United to have no more than three passing opportunities, so they could only drive forward.

Gao Xiaodong returned to the center, and Chelsea's right wing also became active, especially Anelka. The 31-year-old Anelka is tall, strong and fast. When Gao Xiaodong played as a left winger, he retreated very deep. Strong, fast and flexible, he and Evra froze Anelka and Ivanovic.

Now Manchester United has one less player to play. Gao Xiaodong has to attack and defend in the middle. He has a heavy task and has no time to take care of Evra. Anelka and Ivanovic gave full play to their strength and height advantages to catch Evra. Fula bullied her hard.

In the 48th minute of the game, Alka turned around and was pulled down by Evra. The referee only sent off Vidic in the first half. This time he showed mercy and pretended not to see the foul.

But five minutes later, Anelka and Ivanovic exchanged headers. Anelka smashed the ball and knocked Evra across to the front of the penalty area.

Manchester United's young center back Smalling quickly stepped forward to block the ball. Anelka feinted a shot and immediately hit a long shot.

Anelka handled everything very well up front and could be said to be at superstar level, but in the end, his long-range shot missed the mark and the ball missed the goal post by almost one meter.

However, Anelka's two successes put a lot of pressure on Manchester United's defense. In the first half, Manchester United's midfielders rarely covered the left wing. They mostly helped defend the right wing, and Now Manchester United's two defensive midfielders need to help defend.

Obviously, both wings are tight, and the center has to make up for the defense. The consequence is that the defense in the center is weakened.

Lampard is also considered a world-class midfielder. His ability to read the game is very strong. He saw that the defense in the middle was weak, and immediately called Essien and Ramirez to attack the middle of Manchester United's penalty area.

In the 55th minute of the game, Drogba headed the ball, and Lampard stopped the ball and passed it to Essien. Essien volleyed vigorously from the front of the penalty area, but the ball was a little on target and was saved by goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.

Then Lampard received a cross pass from Ashley Cole and turned around to shoot.

But the ball hit Drogba and bounced out.

At this moment, Chelsea's soldiers were pressing forward, and the second spot was grabbed by Essien. Essien didn't hit the long shot well in the first time. This time he gave up the long shot and gave the ball to Ashley Cole.

Ashley Cole once again passed the ball across the penalty area. Ramirez inserted a header from the back row and hit the goal. The ball hit Smalling's leg and bounced out of the baseline.

Chelsea took a corner kick, Lampard sent a forward point, Ivanovic's header was bumped back, and the ball flew to the back point.

This is the simplest corner kick tactical coordination, but even the simplest tactical coordination can exert great power as long as there are suitable candidates.

Chelsea ambushed the 1.86-meter-tall Anelka in the back, and his defender was Evra, who was as tall as Gao Xiaodong.

Evra wanted to block the position and prevent Anelka from fighting for the top, but Anelka jumped up high and pinned him down to complete the header.

The ball headed towards the near corner of the goal, but was blocked by Carrick who was standing in the near corner.

This was a successful corner kick. The only thing that was not ideal was that Anelka's header hit the lower corner. If it had hit the upper corner, it might have been a goal.

However, this did not affect Chelsea's morale. On the contrary, Chelsea's morale became even higher due to continuous shooting opportunities.

Many Chelsea fans in the stands had stood up excitedly, waiting to celebrate after Chelsea scored. In their view, Chelsea was very close to scoring.

On-site commentator Andy Gray sighed: "In a strong dialogue, the impact of missing one person is really too great. In this current situation, it is really difficult for Manchester United to hold on for more than thirty minutes. Now it depends on whether Manchester United can We can’t wait for an opportunity to steal one. If Manchester United can steal one through counterattack, the unbeaten golden status may be maintained. If we can’t score, the possibility of Manchester United losing today is very high.”

Manchester United fans are also aware of the seriousness of the situation. Now Manchester United can't defend, and there is no chance to counterattack. The rhythm of the game is completely in Chelsea's hands. This kind of fate is no longer in their own hands. It makes Manchester United fans very uncomfortable.

"The game was played too passively!"

"If this continues, we will definitely concede a goal!"

"You may not be able to defend, but you must have a chance to counterattack. Now it's time to defend. If you can't defend, you won't be able to counterattack!"

"Where's Gao Xiaodong? Why is Gao also invisible?"

"Gao Xiaodong must stand up, otherwise he will lose!"

"I didn't see two Chelsea players hanging around Gao Xiaodong. Gao Xiaodong is in trouble today."

…

The Manchester United fans in the stands were talking anxiously, but they were helpless about the situation on the field.

After Ferguson started the second half, he didn't sit still for a while. He couldn't sit still. Chelsea's attack was too fierce and all the Manchester United players couldn't defend themselves. There was no chance of counterattack.

The key for Manchester United now is not only that one person is missing, but more importantly, without this person, Manchester United has lost its balance.

The two wingers were severely suppressed, and the once stable center has now become the hardest hit area. Smalling and Ferdinand's cooperation is not tacit, and they have become the target of Chelsea players' attacks.

The position of central defender is very important and often requires experienced players. Now that Vidic was unexpectedly sent off, Ferguson can only let the tall Smalling play.

Ferguson was helpless when it came to Gao Xiaodong's invisibility. Fletcher in the middle could not organize an attack at all. Carrick could only make long passes at most, and his organizational skills were not much better than Fletcher's. All the tasks of organization and counterattack in the middle fell to him. Gao Xiaodong, but now Chelsea has one more player and is running aggressively. Gao Xiaodong has very few chances to get the ball. If he occasionally gets the ball, he can't pass it out because there are no teammates to respond and he can only dribble by himself. In possession of the ball, at this time, Chelsea players came up to grab it. Gao Xiaodong could only create a chance for a set kick.

Ferguson looked at the crooked people on the bench. In this difficult situation, it would be useless to replace anyone else, unless there is another player with both offense and defense like Gao Xiaodong. In this way, the Manchester United midfielder with one less player may be able to compete with Chelsea. Counterbalance it.

Is Gao Xiaodong invisible? In the eyes of outsiders, Gao Xiaodong was invisible, but Gao Xiaodong did not give up his efforts. He always sought opportunities to counterattack and score goals.

With one less player, the strength of the two sides is very different, and Manchester United has very few opportunities to counterattack. As Manchester United's most relied-upon offensive organizer and initiator, Gao Xiaodong must seize every possible opportunity while assisting his teammates in defense.

After 60 minutes of the game, the snowflakes suddenly became larger, like goose feathers, flying in abundance, and the players' vision was slightly affected.

This situation is even more unfavorable for defensive players. Skaters are also slippery in the snow, and any mistake in defense may cause great harm to goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.

Chelsea's players are experienced. When they saw this situation, they immediately reduced their ground cooperation and increased long-range shots and crosses from the wing in an attempt to create defensive errors for Manchester United.

In the 65th minute of the game, Chelsea left back Ashley Cole made a pass from the wing, and Ferdinand beat Drogba to head the ball out.

Ferdinand was really experienced. Even though the penalty area was so chaotic, he was still clear-headed. When making a clearance, he still flicked the ball in the direction of Gao Xiaodong.

Although Ferdinand felt that even if Gao Xiaodong got it, it would be useless, at this time, it was Gao Xiaodong who Ferdinand trusted the most.

Chelsea's players were eager to score. When Ashley Cole passed the ball, the players in the center ran towards the penalty area, preparing to grab the point. They saw that Ferdinand grabbed the spot and did not move back.

Because Gao Xiaodong had the task of counterattack, as soon as he saw Ferdinand grab the ball, he immediately ran sideways to see if there was any hope of grabbing the ball.

Ferdinand's header came over. Gao Xiaodong was very happy and almost gave Ferdinand a thumbs up. He went over to get the ball as quickly as possible.

Even when the offensive was raging, Chelsea did not relax its surveillance of Gao Xiaodong. Defender David Luiz gave up on Rooney, but he immediately looked at Gao Xiaodong's position.

Seeing Gao Xiaodong trying to clear the ball, Louis immediately went over to stick to Gao Xiaodong. His intention was very clear. It would be better if he could stick to Gao Xiaodong and wait for his teammates to return to defense. If he couldn't stick to it, he would commit a foul, even if he used a yellow card to end Manchester United's game. Counterattack opportunities are also cost-effective. Judging from the current situation, it will be difficult for Manchester United to create more than three counterattack opportunities.

Gao Xiaodong has the awareness of all positions. He knows exactly what the defensive players are thinking at this time, and then he immediately comes up with an idea to deal with David. Louis' method.

Gao Xiaodong ran forward quickly, as if he was going to catch the ball, David. Lewis was ready to commit a foul. Of course he couldn't let Gao Xiaodong stay away from him. He ran very fast and followed Gao Xiaodong closely.

However, Gao Xiaodong shamelessly stopped suddenly when he was still far away from the receiving point.

David. Louis was watching the ball while running with Gao Xiaodong. He felt that Gao Xiaodong had to run at least three meters more to head the ball or stop the ball with his chest, so he was still speeding up and ran into Gao Xiaodong's back.

Of course Gao Xiaodong would not stand up straight and let David Luiz hit him. He had already arched his back when he made an emergency stop, which was just right for David. The juncture of Louis' chest and abdomen knocked Louis so hard that he sat on the ground and almost lost his breath.

Gao Xiaodong had already thought about his next move. He quickly turned around and chased the ball as if nothing had happened.

At this moment, the ball had already landed on the ground. Before it could bounce, Gao Xiaodong pressed the arch of his foot forward and stopped the ball in front of him, preparing to hit Chelsea's half. ,

However, at this time, Gao Xiaodong could see through his super glasses that Essien, who was returning to defense, was almost behind him.

Gao Xiaodong suddenly moved the ball horizontally, avoiding Essien, and quickly moved forward with the ball.

Essien moved laterally and continued to pursue Gao Xiaodong. After Gao Xiaodong dribbled the ball through half-court, three Chelsea players rushed towards him. Gao Xiaodong then moved the ball to the outside and then walked to the outside.

Chelsea's defensive players continued to chase Gao Xiaodong, but Gao Xiaodong suddenly made a diagonal pass at this time and passed the ball to Nani, who was running in at high speed from the wing.

Being surrounded by three people, you can see Nani on the wing. This is definitely due to the super glasses. The radius of vision of ordinary people is not that large.

When Nani intervened, no one followed him. Gao Xiaodong took the player in the middle to the other side. As long as Nani stopped the ball, he could immediately rush to the penalty area diagonally. Even if someone came to defend, Nani would take the ball. Pass to Rooney, who runs in at high speed in the middle, and there is a lot of hope of scoring.

But now it was raining and snowy weather, not only his vision was blocked, but his feet were also slipping. Nani made a mistake when stopping the ball with the arch of his foot. He slipped and the ball went over his foot and flew out of the sideline.

This was Manchester United's best chance in the second half, but it ended in this way. Gao Xiaodong was really depressed. He cursed Nani angrily and ran back to defend.

The counterattack organized by Gao Xiaodong made Chelsea a little nervous. Terry no longer dared to blindly attack forward, and Essien and Ramirez were more active in returning to defense. However, this kind of good situation is rare. Less than ten Minutes later, Chelsea's players were carried away by the frenzy of attack and pressed forward again.

In the 70th minute, Chelsea head coach Carlo Ancelotti saw that he couldn't score even if he played one more player, so he made a substitution and replaced him with David. Luis was replaced by Bosingwa; Anelka was replaced by Zhirkov, who continued to strengthen the attack.

Manchester United continued to defend and counterattack. After resisting for almost five minutes, Ferguson also made substitution adjustments. Anderson came on and replaced Carrick to strengthen the running and physical confrontation in the midfield.

Manchester United's substitutions had no effect. Under Chelsea's siege, both Anderson and Carrick played a very small role. It just depends on who has better luck.

The game entered the 80th minute, and the score was still 1:1. Chelsea people became nervous and anxious.

Manchester United is now missing a central defender Vidic, and Manchester United's strength has dropped to its lowest level during the strong period. If Chelsea still cannot seize the opportunity to win at this time, Chelsea will not have to compete for this championship.

Ancelotti rarely used up the last substitution place. Midfielder Ramirez came off and forward Torres came on. Chelsea put three forwards and a winger in the frontcourt, launching the most violent half-time siege against Manchester United. .

On-site commentator Andy Gray said: "Manchester United gave up Vidic at halftime, and Gao Xiaodong failed to show his magic. If Chelsea still can't win, then God really wants Manchester United to surpass Liverpool."