Chapter 251: Tactical Victory
Manchester United has always been regarded as the symbol and flag of England's local spirit, and Ferguson has always used this to flaunt the team, especially after the Red Devils won the Triple Crown in 1999, he took this point to the next level. He understands the principle that what goes to the extreme must inevitably decline!
Ferguson was indeed surprised when he conceded a goal less than 3 minutes into the game, but if you think about it carefully, it is not too surprising, because Manchester United's defense has indeed become the team's biggest problem. Manchester United is the third in the Premier League this season. The team has conceded the most goals, and what's even worse is that they have conceded more goals but scored fewer goals.
Many people say that there is a problem with Manchester United's defense, but Ferguson has always opposed the introduction of defenders. The reason is actually very simple. He knows his team better than anyone else. He knows where the problem lies, not the defenders. But the midfielder!
Weird, right? The defense conceded so many goals, but there was no problem. Instead, there was a problem with Manchester United's so-called strongest midfielder?
No, this is not surprising at all, because this was precisely caused by Ferguson!
Ever since he decided to let Beckham go, Ferguson has been thinking about a question, how to fill Beckham's role in the midfield, and how to let Manchester United's midfield continue to operate smoothly?
Veron was originally the ideal candidate, but the problem was that the Argentine was unwilling to play on the right, so he decided to return to Italy.
Ferguson next wants to introduce Ronaldinho. What he values most is the Brazilian's personal ability.
If Beckham can pass the ball out, then Ronaldinho is the type who can bring the ball out. As for Giggs, this player needs space. Once he encounters a dense defense, his The effect is mostly weakened. Scholes can attack from behind, but he cannot deal with intensive defense.
In the past, when Manchester United had Beckham, the usual pattern was very simple. When encountering intensive defense, you only need to do two things.
First, give the ball to Beckham. Second, a player runs into the gap to respond. The rest is solved through Beckham's breathtakingly accurate long pass transfer. He can The ball is accurately passed to every corner of the court.
People can never move as fast as the ball, so Manchester United has used this method almost every time in the past to defeat opponents, because all opponents will encounter a very painful problem, because no matter how the players cover, they will There are gaps, so once they adopt intensive defense, Beckham's long passes and transfers can disintegrate them. But if they don't defend intensively, the strong personal strength of Manchester United players will also crush them.
This is a very difficult problem, and it is also a bargaining chip for Manchester United to compete with opponents in the European arena.
Of course, such tactics and routines cannot achieve victory in every battle. Once they encounter some powerful opponents, such as Real Madrid with amazing ball control ability, or the extremely impactful and targeted team led by Ye Qiu, It is difficult for Manchester United to take advantage of the excellent Ajax, but in the Premier League, Manchester United is invincible.
Without Beckham and Veron, and without the ability to transfer the ball through long passes, Manchester United's midfielder suddenly encountered a problem that it had never encountered in the past few years, that is, once it encounters the opponent's intensive defense, Or what should you do if you encounter strong pressure from your opponent?
Also, it also brought another new problem. Without Beckham's long pass transfer, how can Manchester United's midfielder connect the forwards and defenders?
You know, when Beckham was here in the past, Manchester United could play relatively loosely. The forward players looked for opportunities and gaps everywhere. It was okay. As long as there was an opportunity, Beckham could pass the ball. If Beckham is defended tightly, there will be opportunities for Scholes, Giggs, Keane and others to perform.
Beckham has the ability to accurately transfer the ball over 30 meters, which is something that almost no one in today's football can catch up with. More importantly, he has outstanding running ability. He ran almost the entire game. The running distance is also one of the best in the team.
Think about it, with such a person in the midfield, how can the opponent restrain him?
The other players in Manchester United's midfield can also become more patient and confident because of Beckham's presence, because they have the final bargaining chip. If it doesn't work, just pass it to Beckham and he will be able to move the ball out. With such confidence, what follows is an improvement in the team's ability to hold the ball and control it.
The current right winger is Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese is very young and is far inferior to Beckham in terms of running distance and passing ability. Moreover, his ball-sticking skills are as smooth as the Manchester United midfielder's one-touch ball. Match the misfits.
Then the question arises. Your control is weakened, which means that the opponent's control is improved. Without Beckham, the transfer and advancement of the ball will encounter problems. How to solve it?
It is not that Ferguson has no solution. He is very clear about introducing a striker who can hold the ball to partner with Ruud van Nistelrooy. He has been inspecting Diego Forlan, so he has always tried to put Diego Forlan on the court. The ball holder is used, because Ruud van Nistelrooy is simply not qualified to play the role of the ball holder. The Dutchman's greatest threat is in the penalty area.
That is to say, Diego Forlan took the ball, passed it to Van Nistelrooy, and the Dutchman scored. It seemed natural, but Diego Forlan could not adapt to such a role at all. This was not his style, so the Uruguayan did not perform well. However, in this game, Scholes was in poor form recently, and Ferguson wanted to gamble on Forlan, so he still let Forlan start.
Another way is to press the center back forward!
Speaking of the center back pressing forward, this is actually Ye Qiu's tactic when he was in Ajax, because at that time Ye Qiu used Lucio's forward pressing to improve the control and pressure ability of Ajax's midfield, so Ferguson tried to let Ferdinand and Silvestre also press forward to increase the connection points and control of the midfield.
But then came another serious problem. Keane is not Makelele or Gilberto Silva's type of defensive midfielder. He is an all-around covering type. Therefore, once the center back presses forward, it will inevitably lead to a gap in the back. As long as the front court control and pressure are not enough, the opponent is very likely to pass the defense.
Therefore, Manchester United's defensive problem is not the defenders, but the midfielders!
So is it okay to keep Beckham?
It's not that simple. Ferguson has amazing tactical qualities. Let's not talk about whether he is willing to keep Beckham. Even if he is willing, the problem is that players are changing dynamically. Keane is getting older and older, and his injuries are increasing. The coverage and control of the midfield are getting weaker and weaker. This is an indisputable fact.
In other words, whether to keep or not, Manchester United has to seek change. In this case, just let go!
Therefore, many people think that Ferguson's abandonment of Beckham is a stupid move. In fact, there are passive components, but also active components.
However, he did not expect that after losing Beckham, Manchester United encountered setbacks in the introduction of players such as Veron and Ronaldinho, which led to the overall transformation of his team being cut off, and finally caused the current passivity of Manchester United.
From Ye Qiu's high-profile shouting before the game that any Premier League team can beat Manchester United, Ferguson knew that things were not good.
He has been covering up a fact. Others say that the problem lies with the defenders, and he has always said that the defenders are not performing well. This is because he does not want others to know where Manchester United's problem lies. Because once the problem is known, with the tactical qualities of a professional head coach, he can quickly find targeted tactics, and the Manchester United dynasty will collapse.
But in the game, Ye Qiu did just that!
First, Chelsea defended on the left, so Ye Qiu put Gallas on and used the Frenchman to limit Cristiano Ronaldo. This does not mean that Ye Qiu is afraid of him, but a balancing strategy, because Ye Qiu wants to attack the right with all his strength.
In this game, Maicon was very active, and Ronaldinho, Lampard and Deco also frequently moved on this side. Chelsea's entire right side was very active, and Chelsea's active right-wing attack meant that Manchester United's left side was completely suppressed.
After losing Beckham and Veron, the only threat for Manchester United is the left side. Now even the left side is suppressed, which means Manchester United has lost all the chips. Although Van Nistelrooy and Diego Fran are the front line combination, their technical characteristics can't get the pass behind them. What can they do?
No threat at all!
But on the other hand, the lack of threat in offense means that Chelsea's offense is more threatening, and the defensive pressure will increase, especially in the midfield. Chelsea's strong midfield lineup can easily crush Manchester United. What should we do if the midfield loses power?
The three lines on the football field are like water flow. The midfield is concave. Either the forwards come back to fill it, or the back line goes to fill it.
So, after Chelsea scored, they didn't want to keep the lead at all, but continued to chase Manchester United. Manchester United's defense was full of mistakes, and the defenders were in a dilemma, surrounded by dangers, and very embarrassed.
Ferguson sat in the visiting team's coaching booth, frowning. He had no solution, because the two players he introduced this year, Djemba and Kleberson, did not show the strength and effect he hoped for, and now he lacked the most basic surprise weapon.
Without surprise weapons, there would be no back-up, and without back-up, it would be difficult to change this passive situation!
At this moment, Ferguson really had the idea that Manchester United had lost the possibility of winning the championship this season, because he clearly saw that more teams would benefit from Ye Qiu's tactics in this game and use it to deal with Manchester United, and the only thing he could do was to gamble again.
French striker Louis Saha must be taken down before the winter break!
Saha has not scored many goals, especially after entering the Premier League, but the French striker has an advantage that Manchester United needs very much now, that is, his ability to turn around with his back to the ball.
The central defender's forward pressure caused loopholes in the back line, which had been revealed by Ye Qiu. Ferguson could no longer pretend not to see it, otherwise, this year's Manchester United might not even enter the Champions League qualification zone, and even the League Cup would be in danger.
Never underestimate the tactical qualities of professional head coaches, they make a living from them. As long as your shortcomings are exposed, they will let you know what it means to be pushed down by everyone and beaten by everyone.
So Ferguson had to change again, and take the striker back to the midfield route, let Saha come back to receive the ball from the midfield, and then through his turn around with the ball, cooperate with Van Nistelrooy in front, and Giggs, Scholes and others who came in from behind, I believe this can temporarily stop Manchester United's problems.
But this is only temporary, because time is not good for Manchester United, Keane, Giggs and others are already old.
Just when Ferguson thought of this and made up his mind, Manchester United lost the ball again on the court.
After taking the lead, Chelsea attacked for a while, but Manchester United stubbornly defended the situation. After that, Chelsea slowed down the offensive, but firmly controlled the rhythm and patiently looked for opportunities to launch another attack.
In the 38th minute of the game, Ronaldinho suddenly pulled to the right side and retreated to receive Maicon. After receiving the pass, the Brazilian immediately fell into the double-team of Keane and O'Shea, and quickly knocked back to Maicon who came in from behind.
The Brazilian right back got the ball and passed it diagonally to the penalty area, trying to pass it in, but Ferdinand defeated the Ivorian in the header with Drogba and headed the ball away, but the ball did not fly far. Deco inserted from behind, stopped the ball with his chest, and then directly passed the ball behind him. The ball passed quickly past Ferdinand.
Lampard entered the Manchester United penalty area from behind. Facing Sylvester who ran over to block, Lampard stopped the ball first and shot with his right foot. The ball passed through Sylvester's raised feet and went straight into the far corner of the goal. Howard made a save, but it was too far away. 2:0!
The whole Stamford Bridge was crazy!
All Chelsea fans were cheering and shouting the name of Lampard, the hero of the goal!
Even though Chelsea has been the leader of the Premier League this season, the fans still lack confidence in the team. So when they saw the team completely control the situation in the game and completely overwhelm Manchester United, they were surprised, amazed, and couldn't believe it.
But now, if they didn't believe it after scoring one goal, Chelsea would score the second goal. Who else would not believe it?
Chelsea has always been one of Manchester United's most troublesome opponents. Even in 1999, when Manchester United was at its peak, Chelsea beat Manchester United 5:0 at home, making the Red Devils hate this game even after winning the treble.
A year later, Chelsea tied Manchester United 3:3 at Old Trafford, and the game ended in a 1:1 draw at Stamford Bridge, which made Manchester United, who were determined to take revenge, suffer a lot. In the 01/02 season, Chelsea defeated Manchester United 3:0 at Old Trafford again, making the Red Devils lose face. After returning to Stamford Bridge, the Blues also lost 0:3, which was considered a draw.
In the last season, Chelsea's results were 2:2 at home and 1:2 away, and they did not disappoint the fans in the end.
It is not difficult to see from the results of the past few years that Manchester United does not have the psychological advantage over Chelsea that it does when facing other teams. If the results of the same period are calculated, Chelsea is more qualified to represent London to snipe Manchester United in Manchester, because Arsenal still has a blood feud of losing 1:6 at Old Trafford.
It is also because of this that this game will attract many London celebrities to Stamford Bridge. At the very least, no one wants to watch the team they support lose the game, right?
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After losing two goals in a row, Manchester United has been completely suppressed by Chelsea.
Especially after scoring the second goal, Ye Qiu took advantage of the team's high morale and asked the players on the sidelines to continue to pursue Manchester United and never be soft, so as to score another goal directly in the first half and determine the outcome of this game early.
But Ferguson is not a fuel-saving lamp. What storms has the old Scottish man not seen?
Being able to bend and stretch is his creed, so when the game was unfavorable, he chose to be conservative and asked the team to tighten up on three fronts and not give Chelsea any more chances to score. Otherwise, Manchester United would really be finished in this game.
Winning, including Ferguson, no one still has confidence in Manchester United. The key is to try not to lose, or to lose with dignity.
Don't underestimate the word dignity. If you can score a goal, Manchester United will save face. Although the team's morale will be weakened by the defeat, it will not fall to the bottom. However, if you lose without any ability to fight back and lose without dignity, the players will definitely be hit in their hearts and their morale will never recover.
You know, the league is a long-term battle, and morale is very important. In Chinese terms, it is a one-shot victory, then a second decline, and a third exhaustion. When this momentum is exhausted, even gods can hardly save the defeat of this season, and it is even possible to lose the Champions League qualification. Then the cost of Manchester United losing this game is too high.
After all, he is Ferguson. Ye Qiu has to admit that this old man is very resilient and tenacious, and he can use all means to win and achieve his goals, including conservativeness that is controversial among fans.
In the first half of the game, Manchester United finally maintained a score of 2:0 in the deadlock, which also left Manchester United with a glimmer of hope, even if it is extremely weak, it is still hope, because the Red Devils have no shortage of precedents of big reversals.
"If we can complete a big reversal in such a crucial game and such an unfavorable situation, then Manchester United will definitely be the strongest contender for the Premier League title this season!" Andy Gray obviously knows better than anyone the importance of fighting spirit and morale to a team, so he believes that Manchester United still has a chance.
On the contrary, his partner, Richard Keys, obviously did not believe that Manchester United had a chance to turn the tables, because Manchester United was too passive in the first half, and almost the entire 45 minutes were under Chelsea's control.
"Unless there is some subversive change during the game, otherwise, it is hard for me to believe that Manchester United still has a chance to turn the tables on Chelsea, because this is obviously not a match of the same level. Manchester United is completely at a disadvantage and extremely passive, while Chelsea has completely taken the initiative."
The subversive changes that Richard Keys mentioned include red cards, because Cristiano Ronaldo and Keane in Manchester United have been controversial this season. The former was called the king of diving by the English media, and the latter used means to create red cards for the opponent many times.
In this kind of strong dialogue, if one side is missing one person, the situation of the game will be completely reversed!