Chapter 964: Dominate the Game

Manchester United's senior players are also aware of the danger of the situation, but Manchester City's morale is high and they have mastered the rhythm of the game. It is almost impossible for Manchester United to turn the situation around in the last few minutes of the first half. Manchester City will not let Manchester United do it. A good team.

So at this time, Manchester United's wisest choice is to hold on to the last five or six minutes. After five or six minutes, there will be halftime. In 15 minutes, the coach can make targeted deployment and substitution adjustments, and there will be a 15-minute break. Minutes, at that time Manchester City's morale may not be able to continue.

When the team needs to defend, Gao Xiaodong returns to the midfielder position, Valencia and Nani return to the midfield, leaving only Scholes and Berbatov in front, one responsible for the transition in the counterattack The ball, one is responsible for scoring goals.

Gao Xiaodong had just returned to the defensive midfield position and immediately completed an interception. Yaya Toure dunked Carrick in the middle of the penalty area and then volleyed hard. Gao Xiaodong stretched out his foot to block it, and the ball fell to Valencia's feet. .

Valencia tried to use its speed to launch a fast break, but Manchester City pressed quickly from the high post. Before Valencia could pick up the speed, the ball was lost.

After Manchester City stole the ball, the ball was passed to Silva, who launched a counterattack on the spot and continued to siege Manchester United's penalty area.

Silva is still Manchester City's most creative and threatening player. He dribbled the ball in from the wing and made several sudden stops and starts laterally, attracting the attention of Manchester United players to himself. Finally, as if there were eyes in the back of his head, Silva kicked his heel and gave the ball to Barry who was inserted in the middle.

Barry also has a good long-range shot, but his running position is wrong. Barry wants to stop the ball before shooting, but Manchester United has so many defensive players at the moment. Barry only stops for a moment, and Valencia pounces. , Barry moved the ball away from Valencia, Carrick also arrived, Barry shook Carrick away again, Gao Xiaodong arrived again, he rushed over with a diagonal thrust and shoveled the ball out of the sideline with one kick.

In the 43rd minute, Balotelli pulled out to attract Manchester United's central defender Ferdinand, and then quickly distributed the ball. Kolarov passed the ball from the left. After Balotelli passed the ball, he used his speed to throw away Ferdinand and quickly intervened to grab the point. .

This is a good cooperation. Compared with Balotelli, Ferdinand is indeed old and his explosive power cannot keep up.

However, when Balotelli was about to touch the ball, Gao Xiaodong took the lead and shoveled the ball out of the baseline from Balotelli's side.

Gao Xiaodong made three consecutive key saves and won applause from Manchester United fans.

Previously, when Gao Xiaodong came to Manchester United and achieved core status in less than half a season, some Manchester United fans still didn't understand. Gao Xiaodong's performance at this moment perfectly explained why he rose to the top so quickly. It was not because of his sky-high transfer fee. It's not because he is someone Ferguson likes, but because of his irreplaceable role in offense and defense.

The tacit cooperation between Balotelli and Kolarov almost succeeded, but Gao Xiaodong unexpectedly ruined it at the last moment. Balotelli was very angry and shouted at Gao Xiaodong: "Gao, can you Don't follow me."

Gao Xiaodong said with a smile: "Who is following you? I am following the ball."

"You actually said I was a ball?" Balotelli became even more annoyed.

Gao Xiaodong was speechless and turned around to defend the corner kick next to the goal post.

Manchester City's previous high-altitude corner kicks did not compete with Ferdinand and Vidic. This time when Silva took the corner kick on the right, it hit the outside directly. Kompany stopped the ball on his chest and shot hard with his right foot from 25 yards, but the ball missed the right post. Missed the goal.

After Kompany's powerful shot, the first half of the game has ended, and there is only one minute of stoppage time. However, the ball is in the hands of Manchester United. As long as Manchester United successfully consumes this minute, they can take 1: Back to the locker room with a score of 0.

At this time, it is obvious that goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar cannot be allowed to take big shots. It is best to control the ball in the backcourt. If it can fall to the frontcourt, it is the safest.

Manchester City players also understand this.

They did not give up at the last minute. Their 4231 formation directly changed into a 244 formation at the last moment. The four players in the frontcourt pressed against Manchester United's four defenders, and the four players in the midfield pressed against the four players in the center of Manchester United. Not allowing them easy possession of the ball in the midfield and backfield.

Manchester City's scramble was extremely risky. Once Manchester United tipped the ball to the forward's feet, Manchester City's goal would be in danger.

Manchester City coach Mancini also looked a little worried. He did not arrange it like this. This was because the players were excited and did it themselves.

At the last moment, the defender faced a one-on-one pressing by his opponent. No one dared to get rid of him. Even Evra, the most skilled defender among the defenders, did not dare to control the ball. When the ball came to his feet, he quickly passed it to Scott. ers.

The players in the midfield are also being marked, and Evra still trusts his old teammate Scholes more.

Scholes did not have a passing point. Manchester City's man-to-man defense was very tough, and the pass was also a wild ball. When Scholes tried to catch the ball, he stopped the ball to one side, preparing to get rid of Toure's marking. But Yaya Toure had long legs and fell to the ground with a shovel, destroying the ball.

Scholes chased again, but was already a step too late. Adam Johnson pushed the ball ahead of Scholes.

Scholes had a chance to foul when Adam Johnson got the ball, but Scholes didn't want to give his opponent a set kick at the end. He gave up the foul, stopped and turned around, and was ready to go after Adam Johnson.

But what Scholes didn't expect was that he had just turned around and found Gao Xiaodong rushing over from nowhere and snatching the ball from Adam Johnson's feet.

Scholes breathed a sigh of relief. The opponent's offensive was booming. If they got the ball at this time, they might really be able to cause damage to Manchester United.

After Gao Xiaodong grabbed the ball, he dunked back, just in time to shake the chasing Adam Johnson.

Adam Johnson was first robbed and then dunked. He was a little annoyed. He reached out from behind and grabbed Gao Xiaodong's jersey.

Gao Xiaodong was waiting for Adam Johnson to commit a foul. He immediately threw him down, and he fell on the ball.

The fans in the stands were shouting "foul", but they did not cheer for the way Gao Xiaodong fell. In fact, Gao Xiaodong was very particular about this, because if he did not fall on the ball, if the referee did not Blow, then the opponent is a quick counterattack.

The referee Quinn was really prepared to make a penalty. He wanted to give Manchester City a chance to attack, but Gao Xiaodong suppressed the ball. He could not continue the game without blowing the whistle. When he saw Adam Johnson stretched his foot from Gao Xiaodong He kicked the ball under his body and wanted to kick it out. The referee Quinn quickly blew the whistle and awarded Manchester United a free kick.

At this moment, there are only more than ten seconds left before the end of stoppage time. If a free kick is taken, the first half of the game is probably over. The Manchester City players are very annoyed, but they forget the most basic common sense to prevent the opponent from taking a quick free kick.

Gao Xiaodong held the ball in his hand and climbed up slowly, like a panda. But seeing no one in front of him, Gao Xiaodong suddenly pushed the arch of his foot and passed the ball to Nani who was sneaking forward.

At this moment, Manchester City's players wanted to continue pressing. The players were pressing forward. Gao Xiaodong passed through all the defenses with a pass. After Nani rushed over, he faced goalkeeper Joe Hart directly.

At this time, Joe Hart also ran out of the penalty area. Seeing Nani going to the meeting alone, Joe Hart was afraid of Nani's lob, so he turned around and ran back in fear.

Of course Nani would not let go of such an opportunity. He didn't wait for Joe Hart to return to the penalty area and lobbed a shot from 40 meters away.

Nani's footwork was very beautiful, and the ball flew accurately over Joe Hart's head and into the net.

2:0

In the first half of stoppage time, Gao Xiaodong quickly took a free kick, and Nani's lob shot helped Manchester United expand the score.