Chapter 699 Foreshadowing
The week before, Manchester City were swept by Barcelona, and this week, Manchester United swept Zenit St. Petersburg.
The former has basically no hope of advancing, and the latter has basically entered the quarterfinals with both feet.
This entry and exit made the local media in Manchester criticize Manchester City's outsiders and praise Manchester United's tenacious fighting spirit in the ice and snow... They don't care how far the gap between Barcelona and Zenit is.
weekend.
The bus is heading to Selhurst Park in south London, where Manchester United will play away to Crystal Palace today.
Sitting in the back row, Sun Wu read the newspaper leisurely. He did not start today. In fact, Pochettino made a big rotation. Only Griezmann still started in the front three. Valencia, Shi Naidelin has been given a rotation opportunity.
"Tsk tsk, Mourinho's life is really bad." Sun Wu looked at the news gloatingly. There were three Premier League teams that entered the knockout round of the Champions League. Apart from the Manchester City duo, there was Chelsea.
In the middle of the week, Chelsea challenged Paris Saint-Germain in an away game. Ibrahimovic broke through Cech's goal with an incredible volley heel. Although Hazard once equalized, Lavezzi and Matuidi each scored a goal.
The 1-3 defeat made it difficult for Chelsea to pass this hurdle... But it's hard to say, Sun Wu vaguely remembers that Paris's favorite thing to do is to make background boards!
But the biggest headache for Mourinho is that Colombian striker Falcao, who has just been on loan for less than a month, has a serious knee injury and is likely to be reimbursed for the season.
At present, only Rooney is left in the Chelsea lineup who can play as a center forward.
After covering his head and laughing for a while, Sun Wu felt that he was a bit stupid... Chelsea is having a hard time, but Manchester United is not much better.
Although Welbeck came back, the coaching staff unanimously decided to use it with caution, and Heibei was not good at getting to the front.
Klose's number of appearances dropped sharply in the second half of the season. Although he has a strong desire to play when he comes back from injury... the World Cup is coming soon, but the medical team recommends that he can only play one game a week at most, and he cannot play the whole game .
Hernandez is still in bed and is said to be back at the end of the season.
In this case, Griezmann will likely have to fight at full capacity.
...
"Goooooooooooooooooal!"
"The French striker's scoring drought lasted only one game!" Mortensen praised Griezmann who was celebrating,
"In the World Cup in Brazil in a few months, Griezmann is likely to become the main striker of the French team!"
Without Sun Wu, Cleverley was also injured. Pochettino chose to use Ryan Giggs and Thiago Motta to organize the offense. Although they are lacking in running ability and coverage, their passing skills Can be called top.
In the 15th minute, Manchester United launched a counterattack. Motta finally didn't have to observe Sun Wu's running position. He sent a precise long pass lightly. Klose headed back from the edge of the penalty area. After dunking the opponent's defender, the left-footed curve ball was sent into the far corner.
"One more goal." Sun Wu, who was sitting on the bench, muttered. Liverpool swept Southampton 3-0 yesterday, and Suarez scored a hat-trick. He has scored 24 goals in the league.
Rotational starter Ashley Young fell to the penalty area line after breaking through before half-time, but the referee awarded a penalty...
Sun Wu covered his face. In fact, in his opinion, it is hard to say whether he committed a foul. Professor Yang has a good relationship with him after adjusting his mentality. He once studied acting skills with him on the training ground...
Thiago Motta made it 2-0 with a penalty kick.
In the second half, the Crystal Palace team still insisted on defending and counterattacking, and Manchester United did not want to kill them all. The flat game lasted until the 70th minute, and the situation on the court suddenly changed.
Crystal Palace coach Tony Pulis, who took office a month ago, replaced his ace Zaha.
The Ivorian striker almost joined Manchester United for a time, and Ferguson was very optimistic about him, but Moyes later chose to give up.
Although Zaha is a winger, his range of activities is not limited to the wing. He has a wide range of running. He actively reaches for the ball and actively looks for opportunities to break through. The double midfielder composed of Motta and Carrick has been successfully broken by him.
In this case, Pochettino replaced Motta with Schneiderlin and Klose with Welbeck, trying to play a defensive counterattack.
Sun Wu, who was warming up, lowered his head and curled his lips quietly. In theory, Carrick and Schneiderlin are a good pair of midfielders. The former can control the ball, organize and fill positions, and the latter is fierce and capable of sweeping up and down. ,But in fact……
In the 78th minute, Manchester United counterattacked. Welbeck dribbled the ball all the way into the 30-meter area and failed to score the ball immediately. As a result, the opponent intercepted the ball and hit a counterattack.
This time, Pang Qiong of the Crystal Palace team did not pass a long pass, but attacked on the ground. He sent a through ball to Zaha who retreated.
"Zaha...wow, beautiful escape!" Mortensen watched in surprise as Zaha threw away Schneiderlin who was grabbing.
Zaha, who started to speed up, rushed all the way to the Manchester United penalty area, and then changed directions and missed Carrick on the road... Although Phil Jones successfully intercepted the ball, Pang Qiong, who inserted in the back row, stabbed the ball away. Chamark leaned on Alderweireld and scored with a shovel shot with his right foot.
Sun Wu, who was standing on the sidelines, deliberately did not turn his head, but Mike Phelan, Miguel, and Jesús who were not far away from him turned their heads at the same time...
After the Champions League away game a few days ago, Sun Wu raised this question in the coaching staff. Although Schneiderlin has a high success rate in tackles, once he is eliminated by the opponent, he has almost no remedial measures. Motta, Carrick and Cleverley are either weak in frontal defense or slow in pursuit...
Moreover, Schneiderlin's sense of position is too weak. When the ball is in the ribs, it is difficult for him to accurately judge whether to deploy defense outside the penalty area or rush into the penalty area to help the central defender defend the opponent's grab.
An excellent defensive midfielder generally has a strong stealing ability, and steals usually appear in the link of the upper tackle, but the upper grab is risky.
How to accurately choose the timing of the attack is very important, and how to remedy it if the attack fails is also very important. Like Mascherano, he does not succeed every time he makes the attack, but he will quickly return to the defense even if he is passed. To make up for the loopholes in the defense, of course, this requires very good tactical capabilities.
As for the other defensive midfielders, if the quality is not enough, you must pay attention to the quantity. In Southampton, Schneiderlin has Wanyama behind him, but in Manchester United, there are only Carrick, Motta and even Cleverley behind him.
In all fairness, Sun Wu raised this question purely for the public, but others may not think so. Everyone knows how much he attaches to Fletcher and Pogba.
There are many injured teammates in the team this season, but Sun Wu only specifically told the medical team and the medical team to pay special attention to the recovery of these two people.
In this game, Sun Wu always stood on the sidelines and did not play. In the end, Manchester United defeated Crystal Palace 2-1 with difficulty and won 11 consecutive league victories, but it also paid a big price.
At the last moment, the Crystal Palace team made a full-scale counterattack. Manchester United was crushed miserably. Carrick received a second yellow card and will be suspended for one game. Schneiderlin also received his fourth yellow card this season. banned.
After the game, Sun Wu specifically mentioned Pulis in an interview. The Crystal Palace team only scored 4 points in the first 11 rounds of this season, but Pulis won 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in five games after taking office.
Sun Wu privately believes that from the perspective of the progress of the game, Pulis defeated Pochettino in terms of tactical preparation.