Full-level pass, please call me the speaker of the Three Lions

Chapter 398 The sky in Manchester is red! [Subscribe]

As referee Paul Tierney blew the whistle to end the first half, the home Red Devils returned to the locker room with a 3-1 advantage and relaxed smiles on their faces.

When Mourinho finally entered the locker room, he first high-fived the players one by one, then came to the center of the locker room, applauded generously and said loudly:

"Good job!"

"That's it!"

"I need you to stay focused in the second half! The game isn't over yet!"

After a lecture, Mourinho also made substitutions.

That’s right, in his opinion, although they were already two goals ahead in this game, they could still do better!
Especially on the defensive end!
Although there is no clean sheet, he hopes that the team will not concede goals rather than continue to score goals!
Considering that the opponent would definitely make substitutions against Ling Feng in the second half, Mourinho also made predictions in advance.

Fellaini, who had a mediocre performance in the first half, was replaced by Herrera, who had better running ability.

Herrera not only has a large defensive coverage area, but also has excellent footwork and can share some of Ling Feng's ball distribution tasks.

In this way, even if Ling Feng continues to be double-teamed in the second half, there will be an extra support point in the midfield.

Then, Blind, who made a mistake in the first half, was replaced by Smalling.

These two substitutions are just "corrections" to their starting lineup.

"In the second half, the opponent will definitely try every means to restrict Ling Feng, so others will have a chance!"

"Wayne, Anthony, run more into open space and switch positions with Ling Feng."

"Zlatan, you can retreat and get the ball"

Although Mourinho's football philosophy is always criticized by the media, fans and opponents as "utilitarian" and "ugly".

In many games, Mourinho would use the "parking the bus" tactic combined with defensive counterattacks. This style of play, which seeks victory while trying not to lose the ball, is indeed a bit "boring" from the scene.

It also runs counter to the offensive football in today's football.

However, they seem to have overlooked one fact:
The essence of a football match is to win!
No matter what tactics you adopt, as long as you win the game, it is a good tactic!

Besides, Mourinho is not incapable of attacking!

On the contrary, whether he was coaching Chelsea, Inter Milan or Real Madrid, he personally created many classic games in which teams won big or slaughtered their opponents.

Especially in this game, his opponent is his "arch-enemy" Guardiola!
Therefore, he intends to use the result of the Manchester derby to tell everyone:

Mourinho is not just good at parking the bus!

In the visiting team's locker room, Guardiola also showed his decisiveness as a head coach.

He first analyzed the team's current difficulties one by one, as well as the areas where the players need to improve on the court.

This Manchester derby means a lot to him.

It was not only his first Manchester derby after taking over Manchester City, but also his first confrontation with Mourinho in the English arena.

Everyone says Mourinho is his nemesis.

However, the proud Guagua scoffed at this statement.

Therefore, this game cannot be lost!
In order to tie the score, or even reverse the game and win, he had to solve an urgent task:
How to restrict Ling Feng!

In the forty-five minutes of the first half, Ling Feng completed two shots and one assist, dominating the game on his own!

If they continue like this in the second half, they will not only lose, but will also lose miserably and ugly!

This is definitely not what Guagua wants!
However, looking around the locker room, Gua Gua couldn't help but wonder:
"Alas, we still have to continue buying people."

With only these people at hand, Guardiola could only entrust the important task of "restricting Ling Feng" to Fernando and Yaya Toure.

He first replaced winger Nolito, who had no chance to get the ball, with defensive midfielder Fernando.

Then the striker Iheanacho was replaced by Yaya Toure, the only midfielder who might be able to limit Ling Feng.

At this time, Guagua didn't care about his personal grudge with Yaya Toure.
. . .

After a short intermission, players from both sides returned to the court again.

What surprised the fans was that the coaches of both teams seemed to be in sync and made personnel adjustments one after another.

And there are two of them!
"Manchester United made personnel adjustments. No. 17 Blind and No. 27 Fellaini were replaced by No. 12 Smalling and No. 21 Herrera."

"Manchester City also made changes, replacing Nolito and Iheanacho"

With the appearance of two powerful midfielders, Fernando and Yaya Toure, Manchester City's formation changed from 4141 to 4231.

The double defensive midfielders are Fernandinho and Fernando, the attacking midfielder is Yaya Toure, and the striker is De Bruyne who plays as a temporary guest.

The purpose of this arrangement is to restrict Ling Feng!

So, after the start of the second half, the fans were able to see a very obvious phenomenon:

Whether in the middle or on the right, Ling Feng will be surrounded and pressed by two or more players!

Compared with D. Silva and De Bruyne in the first half, Yaya Toure and Fernando, who came on as substitutes, are both strong players with excellent physical fitness and better defensive abilities.

Moreover, Yaya Toure and Fernando did not hesitate to confront Ling Feng physically.

Therefore, since the start of the second half, Ling Feng's difficulty in catching the ball has been significantly more difficult than in the first half.

Although Yaya Toure's physical function and physical fitness have declined significantly.

However, it is not a problem to defend Ling Feng and continue to exert defensive pressure in a short period of time.

In Guardiola's view, as long as the dangerous Ling Feng is restricted, Manchester United's offensive threat will definitely be greatly reduced.

In this way, they will be able to slowly take control of the situation on the field and pose a threat to Manchester United's defense through better passing and control techniques than Manchester United.

However, while Guardiola attached great importance to Ling Feng, he underestimated other Manchester United players.

Soon, he found that his team was just like the Barcelona team of the past.

And Ling Feng of Manchester United is like Messi of Barcelona!
Once Messi (Ling Feng) is closely guarded by the opponent, his teammates will be able to get more space and better attacking opportunities.

This is also the key role that superstars play in indirectly influencing the battle situation in addition to their personal abilities!
Although Ling Feng does not have superstar teammates like Villa, Iniesta and Xavi like Messi.

But Ibrahimovic, Rooney and Kante are not that bad!
With the tight defense of Yaya Toure, Fernando and Fernandinho, Ling Feng was indeed caught in a brief silence.

Manchester United lacked Ling Feng, a super explosive point, and could only shift the attack to the left.

Rooney became the core of the offense.

However, with Rooney's current ability, he is not enough to become the core of the organization and effectively connect the frontcourt offense.

Even though Rooney, Martial and Ibrahimovic played some passing and cutting cooperation on the left and in the flank space.

However, he was always just a little short of scoring a goal.

Seeing that the situation was becoming tense, Mourinho made another substitution.

Replace Martial with Rashford.

Although Martial still had a sour face when he left the field.

However, Ling Feng also took the initiative to go up and patted him on the back, "Good kick, buddy."

When he left the field, Mourinho took the initiative to hug him and comforted him:
"Well done!" The two men's words comforted Martial, who was depressed.

At least his efforts were noticed by his teammates and coaches.
It cannot be denied that this substitution had an immediate effect!

Just five minutes later, Ling Feng retreated on the right to receive the ball, and then made a series of wall passes with Rooney, breaking out of the entanglement between Yaya Toure and Fernando.

Then, when Kolarov was fighting and retreating, he simply raised his left arm and sent a 45-degree diagonal pass, finding Rashford at the far end!

"Pretty!"

Rashford first stretched his legs to take the ball off, and then facing the defense of Manchester City's right-back Sagna, he did a very clever bicycle kick, and with the outside of his right foot, he shot directly into the far corner of the goal!

The ball flew out, splashing grass clippings.

Even though Bravo predicted the direction of the shot at the first moment, he still flew to save the shot.

But Rashford's shot was very tricky and also curved.

In the end, under the astonished gazes of Bravo and many Manchester City fans in the stands behind him, the ball passed over his fingertips and flew into the goal behind him!

"Goal~~~"

"The goal was scored by Marcus Rashford!"

"This 18-year-old young player has once again scored for the team!"

"The score on the field is four to one!"

"The victory is decided!"

With Rashford's goal, Manchester City players and fans, including Guardiola, all realized a cruel fact:

They have already lost this game.
However, some people are still unwilling to accept this result.

For example, Guardiola, De Bruyne, David Silva
It was not until this time that Guardiola woke up from his dream and finally realized that the way to restrict the opponent's core players was to be led by the opponent.

It would be better to play the football that you are good at, which will be more threatening!
"Rahim! Come over here and help!"

"Toure! Take the ball and move forward!"

"Kevin, get in behind me"

So, everyone could see that Guardiola, who had been sitting in the coaching booth with a distressed look on his face in the first half, came to the sidelines, constantly shouting at the players on the field and making gestures.

This scene was captured by the media at the scene and became the material for the next day's media news.

Especially compared with Mourinho, who was sitting not far away with his hands in his pockets and looking calm and composed, the signs of victory and defeat between the two were even more obvious!

However, Guardiola doesn't care at all how the media views his "ugly" or "embarrassing" performance in this game.

In his opinion, even though the team was already three goals behind and the game had already been decided.

However, until the last moment of the race, you should not give up easily and you should not stop running!

What's more, the season has just begun.

The league consists of thirty-eight games, and losing one does not mean the end of the world.

The key is to learn lessons and nourishment from failure, so that in the next game, you will not lose so badly, or even win!

It was this unyielding spirit that allowed Manchester City to create many excellent opportunities in the final moments of the game.

When the game reached the 83rd minute, Sterling got the ball on the right, faced Luke Shaw's one-on-one defense, forced a breakthrough and made a cross, causing a chaos in the penalty area.

Bailly cleared the ball not far away and it landed right in front of De Bruyne.

The latter shot directly, penetrating De Gea's defense and bringing the score to 4-2.

This was also the final score of the game.
As referee Paul Tierney blew the whistle to end the game, Old Trafford erupted with deafening cheers again!
Ling Feng, who played the entire game, scored two goals and provided two assists, raised his right fist and saluted Ferguson in the stands.

That confident face seemed to be saying:
Grandpa, just enjoy your retirement life!

With me here, Manchester United will be revived!

The head coaches of both teams on the sidelines immediately stepped towards each other and shook hands and greeted each other.

This was also the first face-to-face conversation between the two since the 2013 European Super Cup.

"Jose, your team played great football."

"Thank you."

"You're right. That kid is really good. But I don't think he has reached Leo's level."

"On the contrary, I have a feeling that this kid will surpass Leo in the future!"

In order to prevent the nosy media from knowing their conversation through lip reading, the two covered their mouths when they whispered.

Therefore, apart from the two of them, no one would know that such a conversation had taken place between Gua and Mu.

Once this conversation is made public, it will surely trigger another round of public opinion storm.
After bidding farewell to Guardiola who turned and walked into the player tunnel, Mourinho walked to the center of the field in high spirits and celebrated the victory of this city derby with the players.

The Red Devils fans in the stands had already sung the team song "Glory to Manchester United"

This day is destined to be a lucky day for Red Devils fans!
Although Manchester United has a slight advantage in the Manchester derby in the past two seasons.

However, they were all wins by a single goal or narrowly.

Judging from the game scene and results, they almost controlled the entire game!
Of course, if you are not blind, you can see that this change is entirely due to the black-haired young man wearing number seven on the field!

Two assists and two goals, dominating the game!
Just like Cantona's domineering and decisive leadership qualities!
A cross as accurate and deadly as Beckham's!

An unstoppable long free kick like Cristiano Ronaldo!
The new Red Devils number seven seems to have all the advantages of his predecessors!
In the post-match interview, Mourinho also praised his beloved apprentice:

"I have already said that Ling Feng has reached the level of Messi and Ronaldo. And in this game, his performance proved my point!"

"Manchester United and I are very happy to have such a superstar!"

"I think he has grown into someone who can compete for the Ballon d'Or!"

It is not uncommon for a head coach to praise his own players.

The key is recognition from the opponent!

At the post-match press conference, Guagua took the initiative to take responsibility for the loss in front of many media:

"The loss of this game is my fault."

"Ling Feng? He definitely caused us a lot of trouble, and was also an important reason why this game was so difficult for us."

"Of course, I still think he is not at Messi's level."

However, such an evaluation is not convincing in the context of losing the game.

The Red Devils fans just thought he was just being stubborn.

An hour after the game, Ling Feng posted a victory photo of Manchester United players in the locker room on his social media.

And the text says:
"The sky over Manchester is red!"

(End of this chapter)