Chapter 985 Small Twists and Turns

Leading 2-0, and it was an away game. Almost half of Manchester United had already entered the quarterfinals, so during the halftime break, the atmosphere in the locker room was very cheerful.

Sun Wu had no intention of standing on the opposite side of the players. After all, he was different from Mourinho and Ferguson. However, McFerran stood up and reprimanded the most noisy Luke Shaw.

Well, this is the so-called division of labor. With an old man willing to take the blame, Sun Wu will be much more relaxed.

Sun Wu made no adjustments, but pulled Alderweireld and Van Dijk and whispered a few words.

Walking out of the locker room, Rojo asked a few questions curiously, and Van Dijk grinned, "You'll find out later."

Two goals behind at home, even though he knew it would be difficult to enter the quarterfinals due to the strength of the team, the Valencia coach still played the last card.

"Paco came on as a substitute." Zhan Jun recognized the young players gearing up on the sidelines at a glance. "Paco is a talented forward from Valencia's youth training. He is the ace of the Bats this season, but he was injured in the last round of La Liga. .”

Zhang Lu added: "I should have played injured."

Sun Wu knew that this striker was a big parallel import and was brought to Barcelona by Enrique next year, but Enrique was tricked to death...

But soon Sun Wu discovered that he was wrong!

In the 53rd minute, Mustafi cleared a corner kick, Parejo made a direct pass from a long distance, Paco held up Rojo who was defending in front, and then crossed to find the right back Cancelo who was actively advancing.

Cancelo broke through in a straight line to attract Van Dijk to cover, and then passed across the middle. Paco showed his clever ability to move without the ball. He moved laterally to get rid of Rojo, and took the ball to form a one-on-one with Alderweireld.

"Beep!"

A sharp whistle sounded and the referee quickly showed Alderweireld a yellow card.

Alderweireld, who knocked down Paco, and Van Dijk, who was running over, looked at each other, and Rojo suddenly realized that he came over and whispered: "You want to shuffle the cards?"

Alderweireld and Van Dijk have already received two yellow cards in the Champions League group stage. If they get another one, they will be suspended. The quarter-finals are okay, the opponent is not strong, and they are leading 2-0 away from home. But if it goes further, the suspension may cause the defense to become unstable.

Alderweireld walked away expressionlessly... Sun Wu did tell him that he could shuffle the cards if possible.

But this time it’s really not a shuffle!

Paco's movements were very coherent. He stopped the ball with his left foot and shot with his right foot. Alderweireld was staggered and had no choice but to shovel.

Rojo's eyes were confused, Van Dijk was holding back a smile, and Sun Wu was also grinning, but this mentality quickly disappeared.

"goooooooooooooooooooooooooal!"

"Valencia has pulled one back, there is still hope!" the Spanish commentator shouted: "Paco scored directly with a wonderful free kick, what a beautiful goal!"

Sun Wu's eyes widened. In the information collection before the game, it was not mentioned that this guy had a free kick!

In fact, Sun Wu didn't know that in the original time and space after he traveled, Paco went to Dortmund and performed very well, and repeatedly scored such direct free kicks.

After regaining a victory, Valencia's morale was boosted, but they did not press forward to try to equalize the score, but started to defend harder. After all, it was a two-round match.

In Sun Wu's eyes, Valencia's defense was full of holes in the first half, but now the opponent uses diligent running and tough collisions to make up for the holes.

And because Alderweireld received a yellow card, Valencia's counterattacks basically went to the left, staring at the Belgian.

In the 67th minute, Sun Wu made an adjustment and replaced Alderweireld with Coleman, then asked Pavard to retreat to the right center back and Coleman to play the right wing back.

In fact, Paco is not fast enough and his explosive power is average, but he is very capable of running without the ball and makes bold moves near the penalty area. However, Pavar is not afraid at all, and Paco soon calms down.

In the 76th minute, Valencia, which had been unable to attack repeatedly, finally lost the ball again. Salah dribbled the ball in from the right wing and the Valencia defender intercepted the ball.

But the ball fell right in front of Sun Wu. He immediately sent a pick-up pass. Coleman stepped in at high speed and crossed into the penalty area. Although Harry Kane and Griezmann did not grab the point, the Valencia defender The ball hit his own door.

"Oh, unlucky Valencia, own goal." Zhang Lu said with a smile: "3 to 1, if this score is maintained until the end of the game, it should be said that Manchester United has basically ended the suspense."

"Almost, almost." Zhan Jun is more cautious and cannot say anything nonsense. "In the history of the Champions League knockout rounds, there has never been a precedent of leading 3-1 away from home and being eliminated at home."

Sun Wu then replaced himself with Fletcher to strengthen his defense, and retreated to start a defensive counterattack. He sat on the coaching bench and talked to Rolf and McFerran.

"For the goal just now, you should advance into the penalty area instead of waiting for Salah to pass." McFerran drew a sketch on the tactical board. "Passing the threatening ball is your biggest feature, but in the 343 formation, the side The road attack develops into the middle, and you have to get open."

"Well, it's my fault." Sun Wu nodded and admitted, "If I pushed forward, I might not be able to score, but Salah probably wouldn't steal the ball."

This is the biggest problem in Manchester United's current 343 formation. If Sun Wu goes forward, the midfielder lacks a player who can pass the threatening ball. Herrera is too mediocre in this aspect, but Bernardo Silva has this ability. But he won't be able to return until March.

Sun Wu has no good solution for this... I know some excellent midfielders who can pass threatening balls, such as Pjanic, but how could they be willing to attack me!

At that time, Rakitic was not well-known and only gave Sun Wu a hand. After that, he was never treated like this again. The fact that Pogba decisively left after one season of cooperation also gave Sun Wu a bad reputation in this regard.

Sun Wu stared at the tactical diagram for a long time, then took the pen and scribbled a few strokes. Rolf asked in surprise: "Wing guard?"

"But in this case, the wing attack will be weakened, and the two central defenders on the left and right will bear a lot of defensive pressure. They must be in good position." McFerran is not optimistic.

"But at the same time, the offensive level will be stronger, and there will be more routes to choose from." Rolf had a different opinion, "I think we can try it."

After the two assistant coaches argued quietly for a while, Sun Wu said with a smile: "Let's try it on the training ground first. In the Manchester Derby in the second half of the season, we must come up with something new, otherwise Guardiola will be disappointed." of."

As soon as Sun Wu finished these words, the referee on the field blew the whistle to end the game.

Although there were minor setbacks, Manchester United still defeated Valencia 3-1 in the away game and was on course to advance to the quarterfinals.

Manchester United was the first to appear in the Champions League quarter-finals. Another game played at the same time was Paris Saint-Germain's away game against Atletico Madrid. The latter relied on its solid defense to make the former's attack weak. At the same time, former Manchester United central defender Miranda returned to Atletico Madrid. His header gave Atletico a 1-0 win.

Sun Wu hopes to meet Atletico Madrid again, but he feels that the victory is a bit overwhelming. Diego Costa went to Stamford Bridge, Lucas was transferred to Manchester United by Sun Wu, and Griezmann had been poached long ago.

And Simeone spent 30 million euros to buy Jackson Martinez... Tsk, tsk, it's hard to put it into words, 2 goals in half a season, including a penalty kick. For this reason, Simeone loaned Cavani, but Old teammates can't play in the Champions League.