Chapter 1025 Klopp’s Envy and Hatred
April 28, Old Trafford.
When he saw Manchester United's starting lineup, Klopp couldn't help but sigh. To be honest, Uncle Zha envied Sun Wu.
Well, the word envy may not be accurate. It should be said to be envy, jealousy and hatred.
Ferguson retired in a hurry that year, and Moyes and Van Gaal also made many signings, but the main lineup still followed the Ferguson era.
Three years ago, Sun Wu came to Old Trafford and teamed up with Pochettino to carry out a purge in three transfer windows, creating a brand new Red Devils. In addition to Phil Jones, De Gea and Fletcher, , everyone is new.
Among them, Sun Wu's ruthless vision has been recognized all over the world. The stars he nominated or personally introduced basically all performed outstandingly. The only miss, Shaqiri, was not abandoned because of his competitive state. .
Last summer, Sun Wu introduced seven stars in one breath. Except for Falcao, the others were unknown, but after one season, they were all highly praised by people in the industry.
Most of the newcomers were recognized in the first double red meeting of the season. Klopp was a little envious at the time, but now it has risen to envy and hatred.
What Klopp envies is that these seven stars will greatly enhance Manchester United's bench strength. What he is jealous of is Sun Wu's vicious vision that almost never makes a mistake. What he hates is why?
Why didn’t I discover Van Dijk and Fabinho? Why didn’t I grab Mane and Salah?
Compared with the FA Cup semi-final three days ago, Sun Wu made great adjustments to the starting lineup today.
Pavard starts in place of Coleman, Alderweireld starts in place of Phil Jones, Luke Shaw starts in place of Lucas, Milner starts in place of Mane, and Harry Kane starts in place of Griezmann.
The starting 11 remove the central axis of De Gea, Van Dijk, Kanter and Sun Wu who are basically impossible to adjust. Only Salah and Fabinho continue to start.
But Manchester United's overall strength has not declined. Why doesn't this make Klopp envious? ?
Of course, Sun Wu chose to let Milner start as the left winger, which would affect the quality of Manchester United's offense to a certain extent, but he didn't care. Today, Manchester United's main task is defense.
this point,
Klopp also sees clearly that this is an away game and Liverpool's task is to score goals.
"We saw that Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Charlton, and Manchester United's 1992 golden generation came to the scene today." Zhan Jun followed the camera and recalled everything. "The last Old Trafford king Cantona also came. We also have one of the best captains in Manchester United history, Roy Keane, here. It’s really a star-studded day.”
"Liverpool's legendary captain Gerrard, who retired last year, is also in the stands." Zhang Lu added: "There are also Liverpool's owner John Henry and Liverpool's CEO Martin Broughton."
"The referee blew his whistle, and the first leg of the 2015-2016 Champions League semi-final between Manchester United and Liverpool officially kicked off."
This is the Old Trafford Stadium, and Manchester United wants to avoid conceding goals, so Sun Wucai hid Griezmann and Mane and let Milner start.
As Sun Wu expected, Klopp made adjustments in the midfield. Shinji Kagawa became the starting midfielder. This Japanese attacker has nothing unique in organization, so the two wingers arranged by Klopp today are Lallana and Gotze, of the two defensive midfielders in the last game, only Nzonzi, who was better defensively, started, and Emre Can replaced Henderson in the other position.
Sun Wu expected everything, but Klopp did not. At least he did not expect that Manchester United would not defend after the opening, but would press hard high up the pitch.
In the 3rd minute, Salah took the ball from the right and cut in and passed. Sun Wu kept the ball and pushed it back to the right. Pavar made a pass from the bottom and Harry Kane's header was slightly higher.
In the 5th minute, Milner and Luke Shaw worked together to steal the ball from Alexander-Arnold on the left. The latter sent a 45-degree cross. Bailly headed ahead of Harry Kane to clear the ball, but Frye from the outside Toru overpowered Shinji Kagawa with a header, and Sun Wu's powerful long-range shot from 30 meters away from the goal was lifted over the crossbar by Joe Hart with one hand.
Klopp on the sidelines looked at the passive situation on the court with a sullen face, and kept complaining in his heart, Best is crazy, Manchester United is crazy, risking his life from the beginning, this is simply unreasonable!
But today Klopp considered that it would be difficult for Liverpool to get a chance to counterattack. The faster Sturridge and Depay failed to start. Shinji Kagawa needs to return to defense. The front three of Firmino and La Neither Rana nor Gotze are extremely fast attackers, which results in the low quality of Liverpool's counterattacks.
"It's a bit surprising. Different from the double red match last time, it entered a feverish state from the beginning today. Manchester United's high press caught Liverpool off guard." Zhan Jun shook his head and said: "If we keep playing like this, Liverpool will lose the ball sooner or later."
"But if we keep playing like this, Liverpool will always find opportunities to counterattack with high quality." Zhang Lu had a different opinion.
Hearing McFerran's roar, Sun Wu glanced at Klopp, who called Firmino over and was whispering something.
Sun Wu frowned and hesitated for a while, then made a continue gesture to his teammates, but secretly pulled Fabinho.
In the 9th minute, Milner, who crossed into the middle, received a cross pass from Kanter. Sun Wu ran over to respond, but Milner hesitated. At this moment, a foot suddenly inserted between Milner and the ball. A powerful collision followed.
"Firmino stole the ball!" Mortensen shouted: "The Brazilian actually retreated so deep!"
There is naturally a reason for retreating so deep. Firmino, who is not very fast, did not pass the ball, but pushed forward with the ball. It was not until Van Dijk pressed forward that he sent the diagonal ball.
Gotze on the right immediately sent a diagonal ball from the ground, and Shinji Kagawa quickly started to shake off and followed Alderweireld!
"Danger!" Liverpool fan Zhan Jun blurted out. Shinji Kagawa threw away the defensive player in the penalty area. Although the angle was a bit small, as long as there was a cross pass, Lallana on the other side was cutting in at high speed.
Shinji Kagawa indeed chose the safest cross pass, and Lallana also successfully got rid of Pavard who was following him closely.
But at this moment, a red figure slid in and appeared in front of Lallana. He stretched out his long legs and took the risk to touch the ball first...
"Shinji Kagawa's biography... oh, so dangerous!"
"Fabinho made a clearance at the critical moment and Lallana missed!"
"Manchester United dodged a bullet!"
Zhang Lu, who had been nervous and silent, breathed a long sigh of relief, "Fabinho is so brave. He touched the ball first. This may very well turn into an own goal!"
Sun Wu, who ran back, was also patting his chest to calm his racing heart. Klopp's ability to adjust on the spot was also excellent.
Klopp temporarily asked Shinji Kagawa and Firmino to switch positions. The former had speed and the latter had better passing ability. He immediately launched a wave of high-quality counterattacks. If Sun Wu hadn't told Fabinho to pay attention to his defensive position , this time Tietie lost the ball.
Sun Wu raised his head and glanced at the scoreboard. It showed the 10th minute and 23 seconds. The original plan was to attack for a quarter of an hour, but it seemed that it was going to end early.
But soon, Sun Wu changed his mind. Football is round... many things were unexpected before the game.