Chapter 960 Active Attack

Although Manchester City was double-killed by Manchester United this season and all the players wanted revenge, their desire for the FA Cup championship made them play very cautiously after the start and did not rush forward. They mainly stayed in the midfield and waited for Manchester United. Make mistakes.

Manchester United is the premier club in the Premier League. Now undefeated in the season and in good form, against their rivals in the same city, Manchester City can hide in the backcourt and wait for a counterattack, but Manchester United cannot. They must take the initiative.

Today, Gao Xiaodong and Carrick partnered as a defensive midfielder. Scholes stood in front of Gao Xiaodong and Carrick to organize and coordinate. Manchester United's offense mainly relied on Nani and Valencia on the two wings.

At the beginning of the first half, it was another knockout match that decided the winner. Manchester United did not start the attack aggressively. The two full-backs O'Shea and Evra did not press more than the center circle. They mainly relied on Nani and Valencia's personal ability tore apart Manchester City's defense.

Manic's preparations for today's game were very thorough. He lined up two beast-like defensive midfielders in the middle. Although David Silva and Adam Johnson among the three attacking midfielders are offensive players, they worked very hard on defense today. He spared no effort to return to his own side of the penalty area, assisting the full-backs to flank Valencia and Nani, and not giving Valencia and Nani the opportunity to easily break through and cross.

Under Manchester City's very targeted defense, Nani, who has exquisite skills, was unable to exert his own advantages, but Valencia created a certain threat with his speed.

In the fourth minute of the game, Scholes took the ball and passed it back to Gao Xiaodong. Gao Xiaodong took a step forward and then passed the ball straight to Valencia on the wing.

Gao Xiaodong's pass hit the back of Manchester City full-back Kolarov, giving Valencia the opportunity to give full play to its speed.

Manchester City defender Korolav is not too slow, but Gao Xiaodong's pass was sudden and he had to turn around. If he was slower, he would not be able to keep up with Valencia.

Seeing Valencia catching up with the ball, Korolaf, who was one position behind, made a decisive tackle and tried to destroy the ball out of the sideline.

But Valencia moved one step faster and got the ball out first. Korolaf was unable to touch the ball and directly overturned Valencia.

Valencia only came back from injury after breaking his leg. When he played on the court, Manchester United fans were on tenterhooks, fearing that he would get injured again. Seeing Kraraf knocking Valencia down with such a ferocious move, Manchester United fans were frightened. He shouted excitedly.

"Foul! Didn't scoop the ball! Foul!"

"This is a dangerous move! Yellow card!"

"I think Valencia has broken his leg and is deliberately threatening!"

…

Manchester United players also came to protect Valencia and protested to the referee, hoping that referee Quinn would give Korolaf a yellow card. However, referee Quinn obviously did not want to give a card at the beginning. He just awarded a free kick. Korolaf was not given a yellow card.

Scholes took the free kick. Manchester United players came to the penalty area to fight for the top. Scholes passed the ball into the penalty area. When Berbatov tried to grab the spot, he collided with the opponent's defender and the ball flew. Once in the air, Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart rushed out and knocked the ball out with both fists.

Joe Hart didn't hit the ball far, but Carrick got the ball. Carrick didn't pass it to his teammates. He adjusted his steps and took a long shot, but the ball missed the goal post.

Manchester City took a goal kick, Joe Hart took it with a big kick, and striker Balotelli grabbed the spot. However, Manchester United's two central defenders cooperated very well. One was stuck in position to prevent Balotelli from grabbing the spot, and the other rushed over. The ball is cleared.

The ball fell to Scholes' feet. Scholes did not dare to pass the ball to Valencia. He made a long pass and found Nani on the other side.

As soon as Nani received the ball, De Jong came over from the midfielder position and pounced on Nani.

When Nani waited for De Jong to get close to him, he dunked the ball and wanted to pass De Jong, but Nani underestimated De Jong's ferocity. Nani just picked up the ball and wanted to pass De Jong, but De Jong hit it directly. He swept over with a high whip-like movement.

Nani was frightened and quickly leaned back.

Fortunately, Nani reacted quickly. De Jong's kick just passed Nani's eyebrow arch. The spikes bruised Nani's eyebrow bone, causing blood to flow.

Just now Kolarov tackled Valencia, and now De Jong kicked and injured Nani. This is clearly an attempt to use violence to intimidate and restrict Manchester United players.

The Manchester United fans couldn't stand it. They jumped up and yelled at the Manchester City players that they were barbaric and shameless. They were not football players, but came out of the fighting class.

Nani and Valencia on the field are also the real main players of Manchester United. They are highly valued by Ferguson. When Ferguson saw his disciples being fouled continuously by his opponents, he screamed in anger and ran to the fourth official to ask for the referee. Justice was served, but the fourth official just made peace and did not go to the referee.

The referee Quinn had previously forgiven Korolav and did not issue a topaz card to Korolav. Unexpectedly, only nine minutes had passed and De Jong did it again.

De Jong's reputation has always been bad. In European football, he and Real Madrid's Pepe were both called butchers on the court. The referee was also biased against them. Quinn directly took out a yellow card to warn De Jong.

Seeing De Jong getting a card at the beginning, Mancini looked on with a heavy expression. Although De Jong is fierce, he is indispensable for Manchester City in the defensive midfielder position. If he gets a yellow card, Manchester City's game is not very good. Good fight.

Scholes continued to take the free kick. This time, Scholes did not pass the ball directly to the penalty area. Instead, he used a tactic and passed the ball to Gao Xiaodong.

Gao Xiaodong took two steps forward, wanting to test whether his footwork was correct, but when he saw Carrick cutting into the penalty area, Gao Xiaodong immediately passed the ball to find Carrick who was advancing quickly.

Carrick didn't expect Gao Xiaodong's passing skills and vision to be so good. He just raised his hand and Gao Xiaodong's pass arrived.

Carrick has been recuperating from his injuries since Gao Xiaodong arrived. During competitions and training, he spent three days fishing and two days drying nets, and he didn't have much experience with Gao Xiaodong.

Carrick was not sure about the speed of Gao Xiaodong's passing, and he headed the header over the crossbar.

Although Manchester City mainly defended and counterattacked after the opening, Manchester City was not prepared to defend a draw today. After withstanding Manchester United's attack for almost ten minutes, Manchester City also gradually launched an offensive.

In the 13th minute of the game, after Manchester United cooperated in the midfield, Carrick passed a long pass to Berbatov. Berbatov received the ball and turned around, throwing away the defender Lescott who was marking him, but failed. Thinking of defender Kompany rushing from one side and intercepting the ball.

Kompany intercepted the ball and immediately passed the ball forward, looking for his teammate Yaya Toure.

Yaya Toure took advantage of his height to win the ball and went straight to find his striker Balotelli. However, Van der Sar was experienced and rushed to the penalty area line to get in front of Balotelli to clear the ball. A crisis was resolved.