Football: Starting from the Ronaldo Template

Chapter 304: The Invisible Manchester United No. 7

The players of the two teams met in the player tunnel, and naturally there was no communication between them.

Chu Feng seemed to smell the smell of gunpowder in the air.

Today's game is more important to them than the league. After all, although the Premier League has gradually become the top of the five major leagues, it is still not as valuable as the Champions League.

However, the competition systems of the two are also different.

Van Dijk looked at Chu Feng, who was wearing the captain's armband, at the front of the team and whispered to Matip, "Always keep an eye on him during the game. Don't hesitate to foul him when you should. Anyway, all our yellow cards are cleared."

Fortunately, there are new regulations in the Champions League that will clear accumulated yellow cards by the semi-finals, otherwise Van Dijk and Matip will still be restricted.

Now they can show their strength and use every possible means to restrict Chu Feng.

Matip nodded vigorously, his expression full of fear.

But he doesn't lack confidence in himself.

Who is the best centre-back in the Premier League?
Without a doubt it's Van Dyke.

However, Van Dijk's success is inseparable from the support of his teammates, especially the replacement and cooperation of other defenders.

Since joining Liverpool, Matip has become Klopp's starting central defender.

He has a very impressive statistic.

So far, according to the data of central defenders in the Premier League, Matip's success rate in heading is as high as 91%, which is several percentage points higher than Maguire.

In addition, Matip previously played as a defensive midfielder, so he also performed well on the offensive end.

It can be said that Matip is Van Dijk's best partner.

Because of his injury, he had not recovered to his best, so in the last match against Manchester United, he played at less than 70% of his overall strength.

"If Manchester United want to cross from the flanks, the full-backs can let them shoot. I am confident that I can stop Manchester United's No. 7."

Matip is not arrogant, but Liverpool's tactics require the two full-backs to press forward to form a pressing system.

If he can grab the high ball in the penalty area, the defender will be under much less pressure.

When the Champions League theme song came to an end, players from both teams walked out of the tunnel one after another, causing cheers from Old Trafford.

"Good evening, viewers!"

“Welcome to watch the first leg of the 2018-19 Champions League semi-final!”

"Manchester United vs. Liverpool at home!"

"There were 76,000 people at Old Trafford today and most of them wanted Manchester United to win."

"Here are the starting lineups for both teams."

“穆里尼奥没有再使用4-3-2-1，因为这套阵型偏向于防守，且不能缺少后场核心坎特，他今天排出的是4-2-3-1的平衡阵型，门将：.”

"Both offense and defense are very balanced, but I didn't expect Scott to start. However, judging from his recent performance, he is fully worthy of a starting spot."

“I am looking forward to seeing how he performs today.”

After Neville introduced the basic situation of Manchester United, Carragher took over the topic and began to introduce Liverpool.

"Liverpool still chose the 4-3-3 formation, goalkeeper:"

"The Red Arrows have been in great form recently, becoming the highest scoring striker partnership in Europe, especially Salah, whose duties have changed. He is no longer a striker like before, but is more likely to retreat and organize the attack with the ball."

"It gives Liverpool more variety in attack."

"As we all know, Manchester United players are relatively tall, which leads to their poor mobility. As long as Liverpool can run in the frontcourt, they can disrupt Manchester United's backcourt defense."

"Opportunities to score goals will appear frequently!"

A few days ago, Carragher went to Liverpool's training base and then became what he is now.

Full of confidence!

It would be several levels more difficult for Manchester United to ensure the order of their defense in the face of Liverpool's "offensive" quartet.

As Neville and Carragher were arguing, the camera shifted back to the pitch.

After Chu Feng and Henderson exchanged team flags, they guessed the sides under the guidance of the referee. This time Chu Feng's luck was not so good.

Henderson decisively chose to kick off.

Liverpool will rush to start in most games because it is more in line with their style, and Klopp has made targeted arrangements before the game.

Even if you can't score a goal, as long as you can gain an advantage, you can continue to snowball and gradually control the tempo of the game, and scoring a goal is just a matter of time.

So why is football like war in peacetime?

Beep! ! !
With a loud whistle, the game officially begins!
Firmino passed the ball back to Fabinho.

Liverpool's formation instantly changed as they rushed towards Manchester United's half, with their two wingers in completely different positions.

Mane roamed around Wan-Bissaka, while Salah was closer to the middle.

Asymmetric attack.

This is a tactic pioneered and developed by Spanish football.

When fans talk about tactical masters, Guardiola is always the first one mentioned, but in fact Klopp is also very good.

Absolutely top European level.

Gegenpressing!

The tactical philosophy based on running is like crazy heavy metal music, which can burst out tremendous energy in an instant.

Fabinho did not get entangled with Pogba and quickly passed the ball to Salah on the right.

McTominay immediately moved closer.

But Salah used a simple change of center of gravity to create some space and accelerate forward directly.

Football is a sport that depends on talent.

Most people’s achievements after a lifetime of hard work may not be as great as those geniuses’ achievements in just a few years.

At this moment, Xiaomai felt tremendous pressure, as if a stone was hanging in his heart, making him so nervous that he had trouble breathing.

But he turned around quickly and followed.

However, the Egyptian Pharaoh's sudden stop and dunk once again threw McTominay away.

Whether in terms of agility of movement or physical strength, Salah is the leading one.

Chu Feng saw it clearly in the frontcourt, Liverpool's midfielders all moved forward from the back.

Three contact points were formed in an instant.

Manchester United's weakness of not choosing three defensive midfielders was blatantly exposed at this moment.

Matic blocked Wijnaldum and Fabinho, but was helpless against Liverpool captain Henderson at the far end. Before Luke Shaw came forward to assist, Salah kicked the ball not far in front of Henderson who was making a forward run.

"The advance amount is just right, Liverpool are going to continue organizing?"

"no!"

"Henderson made a long pass, the target was Mane on the left!!!"

Carragher's roar rang out.

When he thought about Liverpool's quick attack and possible goal, his mood was like boiling water.

Why can Mane become Liverpool's starting winger?
First of all, his physical fitness, burst, speed, strength, jumping, physical fitness, air stay, reaction, etc. are all excellent.

Secondly, his athletic ability. He has excellent mobility, moves very fast without the ball, and has outstanding muscle endurance. He can sprint repeatedly and maintain the quality of his movements after high-speed sprinting.

The last is tactical awareness, which is also the core competitiveness.

How to insert forward, diagonally, and reversely.
Mane's tactical awareness has not only improved greatly this season, but he has also formed a tacit understanding with his teammates.

He accelerated when Salah made the cross and hit the offside line at the same time.

Wan Bissaka was caught off guard and thrown away.

Under the nervous gazes of fans from both sides, Mane steadily unloaded the ball in front of him, made a slight adjustment and then shot with his left foot!
boom!
The football flew towards Manchester United's goal like a cannonball.

Wan Bissaka made a tackle at the critical moment, and his toes just touched the ball, causing it to go to the sideline. The ball hit De Gea's arm and bounced out of the bottom line.

"Oh, what a pity! Liverpool almost scored a goal with their initial attack!"

"But I think Liverpool's attack set the tone for this game, and their next attack will only be more fierce."

"I don't know if Manchester United can hold on."

Carragher said arrogantly.

As he said, although Liverpool failed to score, it greatly boosted morale.

This is also a psychological game.

The Manchester United players were not as fragile as imagined. Chu Feng reminded Wan Bissaka: "Mane is faster, you can go deeper and let Mahrez retreat to make up for the defense."

Even though this will lead to a reduction in offensive intensity, Manchester United must now consider defense first.

Liverpool and Manchester City are different.

If we play tight defense against Manchester City, we will probably be treated like a dog and run around.

However, Liverpool does not have that kind of passing and controlling ability. They rely more on mobility, allowing players to break through the defense with technology.

The denser Manchester United's backcourt defense is, the less space Liverpool will have.

"Ok."

Wan Bissaka wiped the sweat off his face in shock.

Fortunately, the final tackle was quick enough, otherwise he would have become the sinner of Manchester United.

As a result, he raised his vigilance to the highest level, closely watching Mane's every move and not letting Senegal out of his sight.

Liverpool takes a corner kick.

Van Dijk was afraid of Manchester United's counterattack, so he stayed in the midfield and closely guarded Chu Feng.

Neither Matip nor Maguire were able to get the ball, and in the end Luke Shaw cleared the ball with a long kick.

The football flew across half court towards the center circle.

Chu Feng quickly predicted the first landing point and ran over in advance, but Van Dijk did not slow down at all.

The two of them wrestled madly on the spot!
"This guy's physical fitness is really scary. I'm obviously taller and heavier!"

Van Dijk was pushed back half a step and complained silently in his heart.

His physical fitness can be said to be T0 level in football. He is 1.92 meters tall and weighs 91 kilograms. In addition to his strong strength, he also has excellent explosive power.

This season, he single-handedly defended many speed forwards and even set a record of 13 rounds without being passed, but it was finally broken by Chu Feng in the Red Derby.

So Van Dijk didn't want to fight Chu Feng head-on, but instead directed his teammates to cut off Chu Feng's passing points.

No matter how strong you are, can you accomplish everything by yourself?
Of course not.

Chu Feng headed the ball back to Pogba, but the latter was disturbed by Fabinho, resulting in a decline in the quality of his pass.

"Mahrez failed to get the ball and Robertson knocked it out of the sideline."

"Through these two quick transitions, we can see Liverpool's mobility and Manchester United's limitations in attacking from the front."

"Let's talk about Liverpool first. They returned to defense very quickly after losing the ball and set up a defensive line in the backcourt in time, delaying Manchester United's counterattack."

"Let's talk about Manchester United. Because the two wingers were positioned far back, Chu had no one to support him in the frontcourt. And because Van Dijk put enough pressure on him, Chu had no chance to stop the ball. This was a very critical defensive strategy."

"In Manchester United's previous attacks, Chu often acted as an organizer and planned secondary attacks in the frontcourt, but now he doesn't have that opportunity."

Carragher spoke into the microphone.

Neville stood beside him with a gloomy look on his face.

Although what Carragher said was unpleasant to hear, it actually makes sense.

In the counterattack from back to front, Manchester United's mobility was relatively weak, and it was Chu Feng who held the ball and created time and space for his teammates.

But now he is facing too much pressure and there are no teammates nearby to support him.

The end result is an obscure offense.

Chu Feng frowned and looked at Van Dijk, silently calculating in his mind.

Liverpool clearly placed their hopes on the frontcourt, hoping to suppress Manchester United's defense with offense, thereby relieving the pressure on their own defensive players.

Chu Feng has seen this trick before, but there are very few teams in the football world as crazy as Liverpool, or even none at all.

"Continue with the previous tactics."

Chu Feng gestured to his teammates. In the 90 minutes of a football match, the one who laughs last is the winner. Liverpool's tactics are bound to consume a lot of physical energy.

Before the game, Mourinho said: "Klopp's tactical concept is to create enough advantages in the first 60 minutes of the game to make up for the subsequent problems. But as long as we persist in the early stage."

Use dense defense to stop Liverpool while conserving energy.

Since Liverpool placed their hopes in the early stages, Manchester United will place their hopes in the late stages. The two teams will compete to see who can withstand the pressure first.

Fifteen minutes passed by unknowingly.

Manchester United's defense kept retreating, as if they were parking a bus in front of the goal.

This gave Liverpool fans an opportunity to mock.

"Damn you Manchester bastards, defending with your ugly turtle shells!"

"You still dare to say that you are a wealthy club? Have you ever seen a wealthy club park a bus? Stop telling lies to confuse yourself!"

"Coward!"

"Why don't you set up a double bus!?"

"."

The voices of more than 2,000 Liverpool fans were completely drowned out before they could even make a single ripple.

But Manchester United fans are somewhat dissatisfied.

They believed that as long as the opponent was Liverpool, they must attack without hesitation, and it would be best if they could make those Liverpool country bumpkins bleed.

This kind of passive and negative defense is really not entertaining.

It’s still the same old question, is the viewing experience more important or the results more important? Perhaps most people would choose the results.

But as more and more honors come, fans naturally want something more entertaining.

Mourinho stood on the sidelines, his arms folded across his chest, looking forward. In fact, he is a very stubborn person. Although things have changed with age, the only thing that remains unchanged is his desire for victory.

He doesn't care how good the game is.

"Boss, can we really continue like this? If the pressure in the backcourt can't be relieved, it will probably explode soon."

Faria's face was filled with worry.

This tactic is too challenging for the players, and any mistakes will have serious consequences.

And this is Manchester United's home ground.

Even if the two teams draw in the end, Manchester United will suffer!
"It's okay. It doesn't matter if you concede a goal. Remember what I said in the press conference?"

Mourinho asked softly.

Faria thought about it carefully and was no longer panicked.

Take the worst case scenario, that Manchester United concedes a goal to Liverpool, but he firmly believes that Manchester United will be the final winner!
Because there is a spirit within Manchester United.
35th minute of the first half.

Liverpool's attack did not weaken at all, and the intensity even became higher and higher.

Still advancing from the right side.

McTominay did not move close to steal the ball, but chose a safe position, blocking most of the opponent's passing routes.

Seeing this, Salah did not stop, but accelerated forward to attract Luke Shaw and McTominay, and before the two of them formed a siege, he relied on his powerful explosive power to force a breakthrough!
The cheers of Liverpool fans rang out instantly.

McTominay made a decisive tactical foul, but the Egyptian Pharaoh just shook his body, withstood the confrontation and slipped into the penalty area.

After Maguire in the middle was attracted to the attention.

Firmino moved forward to the right and Salah passed the ball in time.

The Jade-faced Young Man did not pass the ball again!
"Push the shot into the far corner!"

"De Gea made a world-class save—"

Neville's voice stopped abruptly.

He saw the ball bounce back into the penalty area and was volleyed into the goal by Mane.

“Goal, goal, goal!!!”

"Under Liverpool's high-pressure attack, Manchester United still made mistakes. Perhaps it can't be said to be a mistake, but Liverpool did too well!"

"Salah's sudden attack on the wing directly tore through Manchester United's defense."

“Then everything becomes very simple!”

Carragher roared with his face flushed. He had been looking forward to this scene for too long, and the pent-up emotions were finally released.

The Liverpool fans in the away stands were also excited by this goal.

They all stood up and cheered.

"Press the damn Manchester United into the half court!"

"I heard that Manchester United has the most expensive striker in football, but why didn't I see him today? Is he sitting on the bench?"

"The invisible Manchester United No. 7!"

"."

This time, the voices of Liverpool fans spread far and wide, echoing in Old Trafford.

Finally it reached the ears of the silent Manchester United fans.

They looked at the field in disbelief.

Even though they were suppressed by Liverpool in the early stages of the game, they were still full of confidence in the team and believed that Manchester United would be the first to break the deadlock.

But the score of 0:1 on the scoreboard clearly tells the reality.

We are at the top of the Premier League standings and were the Champions League champions last season. How could we fall behind in the Manchester derby?
Are we really going to be defeated by Liverpool?

Chu Feng also heard the taunts. He quickly walked towards the Manchester United players, high-fived them and asked everyone to look over. Then he said in a relaxed tone: "Don't worry too much about the score in the early stages of the game. You just need to remember the tactics arranged before the game and execute them well. As for the rest, leave it to me!"

Stealth?

He did not play much of a role before, but that was within the overall tactical framework, as long as Manchester United switched back to offensive mode.

He will shut up Liverpool fans.

What we need to do now is to stabilize the tempo of the game and not let Liverpool take advantage of the situation to expand the score.

McTominay rubbed his head: "I was a little hesitant when I committed the foul. I will be more decisive next time."

In fact, he relaxed his guard a little just now because Salah was in control of the ball, so he subconsciously thought that Salah would not break through.

Then it was broken through without warning.

"I should also be standing forward and close the door with Scott in advance."

Luke Shaw also took the initiative to ask questions.

"Well, Arnold didn't start today and Liverpool rarely go over the wing, so you can be bolder in your positioning."

Chu Feng comforted.

As long as they can communicate, there is no problem. What he is afraid of is that everyone will not speak, after all, that means everyone is extremely depressed.

At the end, he looked at De Gea and said, "David, can you play your part? You are the Premier League Golden Glove winner, don't let the other team score easily."

"I made some mistakes in the two consecutive saves just now. I don't know if there will be similar situations later. As long as we don't let Liverpool take long shots, it will be fine." De Gea rinsed his gloves with water to increase the stickiness of the gloves' surface.

Then he seemed to remember something, raised his eyebrows and said to Chu Feng: "Chu, you have to show your strength too. The more threat you provide in the frontcourt, the less pressure we will have in the backcourt."

Chu Feng nodded.

He thought so too. Although Liverpool cut off the connection point, would he be silenced because of this?
Of course not.

Since no one could support him, he would try to do it himself.

Let’s not talk about whether he can succeed or not. If he doesn’t even dare to do it, he would be embarrassed to receive the highest salary in the Premier League.

What's more, in front of him is Van Dijk, the current top central defender.

Am I weak?

Mourinho often told him: "Human potential is endless, but it is locked in a cabinet, and confidence is the key."

Chu Feng had no doubt about his potential, after all, he had a lucky life!

No matter how confident you are, it's okay.

Beep!
As the whistle sounded, the game resumed.

Chu Feng passed the ball back to Pogba, then ran straight to Liverpool's defense line and wandered around the offside line.

Do you dare to let Van Dijk defend him alone?

As long as Liverpool had that idea, Manchester United would immediately start making long passes.

"Liverpool's counter-attack rhythm seems a bit chaotic."

Neville racked his brains, but could not come up with the real answer.

After all, he is a lousy coach.

Mourinho on the pitch gave the answer: "If you overlap Liverpool's dynamics with Chu's movement, you will find that he disrupts Liverpool's pressure."

Faria still didn't quite understand.

"For example, if we attack on the right side, should Liverpool press forward and use their numerical advantage to press high?"

“But at the same time Chu would run into space on the same side, forcing Liverpool players to not get forward.”

"That prevented Liverpool from pressing effectively."

Mourinho could only give a simpler explanation.

Faria suddenly realized: "It sounds simple enough."

Hearing this, Mourinho almost laughed out of anger. How could it be that simple?

Not only do we need to analyze Liverpool's defensive situation, but we also need to guide Manchester United's offensive direction.

Just looking at that tricky running route, if it were Balotelli, his brain would probably have crashed.

Moreover, it was because the physical fitness of Liverpool players declined, otherwise Chu Feng would not be able to break Liverpool's pressure.

“There’s more space in the midfield.”

Pogba had a distinct feeling after receiving the ball again.

His previous performance was mediocre because he had too little space to hold the ball, but now he can finally let go.

This time Liverpool didn't want to be restrained again, so they chose to press forward madly to surround Pogba.

Pogba is the "black Zidane". He made a V-shaped pass to pass Fabinho and then made a straight pass to Chu Feng.

"Watch the left side!"

Van Dyke warned sharply.

Because Robertson was too far forward, he could not catch up with Mahrez.

As long as Chu Feng passes the ball diagonally with his back turned.

Van Dijk will definitely not be able to grab the ball, and Manchester United will have a one-on-one opportunity.

Must be destroyed!
Matip seemed to have heard Van Dijk's thoughts. He didn't have the confidence to snatch the ball from Chu Feng's feet, but others could.

So he pulled Chu Feng down.

Beep!
The referee blew the whistle to signal a foul and Manchester United got a free kick in the frontcourt.

"It was very acceptable for Liverpool to stop Manchester United's attack with a yellow card."

"Unfortunately, it's a bit difficult because it's so close to the goal."

Neville shook his head.

And just as he expected, the ball was snatched away by Alisson.

Chu Feng panted and looked at the scoreboard. The first half was almost over and the extra time would probably not be too long.

Seeing that Manchester United was showing signs of gaining momentum, Liverpool decisively chose to strengthen their defense to stabilize the situation.

In the end, the first half of the game ended with Manchester United 0:1 Liverpool.

Liverpool went into halftime with a lead.

(End of this chapter)