Starting from Manchester United, starting with Maguire

Chapter 16 Proving Yourself in the Premier League

As the top of the five major leagues, the Premier League has countless honors, but the competition is more intense and cruel, especially for a club like Manchester United, which had no shortage of British emperor stars back then, and now has no shortage of big brother stars.

[Ball control: 40, dribbling: 40, foot strength: 70, physical resistance: 57, body balance: 47, bounce: 40, injury resistance: 40, speed: 87, explosive power: 40, physical fitness: 95. 】

Such a numerical panel is very top-heavy: fast but insufficient explosive power; good foot strength but poor body balance and poor confrontation ability; outstanding physical fitness but lacks a proper midfield position.
The extremely unbalanced value distribution prevented Gao Changfeng from making the best use of his own advantages, and even the downstream teams in the Premier League were unable to serve as starters.

However, thanks to Heginbotham for helping him find the right position, Manchester United happened to lack a "defensive midfielder" with strong interception ability, which directly reduced Gao Changfeng's positional competition pressure by half.

Why did Maguire make various defensive mistakes at Manchester United, cheat his teammates, and return to the England national team and still be able to serve as the backbone of the defense?
It's only part of the reason that I can play well and my mind is not clear enough.

The other part is that Maguire is huge and cumbersome. It is perfect for him to confront the opponent's striker physically and compete for the header. However, if the lack of midfield defensive hardness forces him to face the opponent's striker directly, then a few simple passes Skills will make the clumsy him burnt out.

And Manchester United happens to not have a defensive midfielder, either an offensive midfielder like B Fee and Pogba; or a metronome like Van der Beek; at most there are two all-rounders with a balanced offense and defense, McTominay and Fred A midfielder, but unfortunately still unable to provide a tough enough midfield defense.

Most senior fans can see this problem. As the coach, Rangnick is not difficult to find even on paper, but there is no one available.

Well now, Gao Changfeng is back.

On February 2022, 2, Manchester United played against Brighton at home.

With Gao Changfeng, Rangnick intends to maximize his philosophy of high-position oppression and offensive football. A set of 4-1-2-3 formation is embarrassing.

Luke Shaw, Dalot left and right full-backs, Maguire, Lindelof partnered with central defenders, Gao Changfeng single midfielder, B Fei, Pogba double midfielder, Jayden Sancho, Rashford Left and right winger, Ronaldo center forward.

B Fee is an offensive midfielder who is active forward and can help the team create scoring opportunities through running positions; Pogba is lazy but talented, delicate in footwork, and has a strong desire to attack; Luke Shaw, Dallow They are two full-backs who are strong in offense and weak in defense
The team's defensive burden suddenly fell on Gao Changfeng, Maguire and Lindelof. The poor Maguire was nicknamed "aircraft carrier" and "teammate killer", and Lindelof also had "Lindelof". ", the degree of Gao Changfeng's inner collapse can be seen at this moment.

After consecutive draws with the underdogs Burnley and Southampton in the Premier League, Manchester United has long been distracted. The temporary change made everyone even more panicked, and the locker room was panicked.

Facing Manchester United, which has long been unwilling to fight, the Brighton coach chose to remain unchanged and still adopt the team's most familiar 4-3-1-2 defensive formation, with "defensive counterattack" as the core tactic.

In the face of Rangnick's strong offensive and almost defenseless tactics, "defensive counterattack" is the best way to deal with it.

[Mission objective: to win, talent points × 5
Secondary goal: complete three interceptions, talent point x 1; complete an assist, talent point x 2]

Gao Changfeng took a deep breath. The burden of defense was almost all on him alone. Don't think about the task of "complete an assist". He must play seriously and show his best performance.

This battle not only determines whether or not Rangnick's trust can be gained, it is also accompanied by the expectations of countless national football fans. Most importantly, she must also be watching herself in front of the TV.
Seeing the area dedicated to national football fans on the stands of the Dream Theater, the hanging banners are embroidered with the words "Gao Changfeng" with golden silk thread, and I must not disappoint those who support me!

"Mark the man, the opponent's front midfielder."

[The target has been locked for you, Brighton midfielder Model. 】

Anyway, B Fee and Pogba are also world-class stars. Their running and passing firmly restricted Brighton's three midfielders, causing the opponent to be tired of defending and dare not move forward to participate in the attack.

Even the midfielders dare not attack forward rashly, so in front of the striker led by Ronaldo, the Brighton defenders can only do a good job of defense conscientiously, and it is difficult to deliver shells to the frontcourt.

Faced with such a situation, Gao Changfeng thought that he only needed to defend the opponent’s front midfielder, so as to divide Brighton’s front and back courts. The defensive end could only focus on defense, and the two center forwards could not get the ball at all. .

Gao Changfeng's decision was correct, but unfortunately he underestimated Rangnick's determination to implement "offensive football": "Press up! Press high and block their passing routes!"

Under the command of the coach, not only the central and frontcourt players were forced to go up crazily without hesitation in physical fitness, even Maguire, who had a positive attitude towards the game but was not very bright-minded, was also hot-headed, so he simply gave up his defensive position and rushed to the front decisively. Participate in the "high oppression" of passion.

"Hey, why are you going? Come back!" Gao Changfeng and Lindelof called Maguire in turn, but unfortunately they could not shake his determination no matter what.

As a result, Manchester United only had Gao Changfeng and Lindelof staying behind, and the other players were all on top. This coke spoiled Brighton coach Porter: "Bigfoot, give me a long pass!"

"Defensive counterattack" has always been the simplest and most efficient football tactic. Its purpose is to exchange the least ball possessions for the most goals. The three words to describe it are destructive, late strike, and swift as the wind.

Under the enemy's intensive defense, the Manchester United players who practice "high pressure" consume a lot of physical energy but find it difficult to find a good chance to score. The defense in the backcourt also has many omissions.

After B Fee, who tried to break through with the ball at the top of the opponent's penalty area, was intercepted by Brighton's midfielder Bisuma, the opponent immediately kicked a long pass and drove the ball towards Manchester United's half.

At this time, Manchester United had only three defenders in the half, Gao Changfeng in the midfielder, Lindelof in the center and De Gea in the goalkeeper. Everyone else pressed the opponent's half and couldn't return to the defense in time.Brighton has a midfielder and two centers, and the offensive number advantage is very obvious.

Facing his teammate's high-altitude long pass, Model was about to ferry the header, but was confronted by Gao Changfeng in time. The quality of the header was reduced and was cleared by Manchester United defender Lindelof who caught up.

The perfect cooperation between Gao Changfeng and Lindelof received unanimous applause from the fans. Rangnick also broke out in a cold sweat and realized his mistake. He recalled Maguire and ordered him to be a "delayed central defender".

The first half ended with Manchester United's crazy attack and Brighton's intensive defense. More than a dozen kicks and five shots were on target. However, Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez played bravely and gave Manchester United zero goals in the half.

After halftime "high pressure", Manchester United's offensive players were already exhausted, especially the elderly Ronaldo clutching his ribs and panting in pain.

Faced with such a situation, Rangnick not only did not change tactics or make adjustments, but desperately encouraged everyone to continue to implement "high pressure" in the second half and strengthen the offensive firepower. Goals are a matter of time.

At the beginning of the second half, the physical condition of the Brighton players who had experienced half-time defense was naturally far better than Manchester United, and the counterattack began.

Brighton's three defensive midfielders took decisive positions to participate in the attack. Gao Changfeng's tactics of defending against Model alone failed instantly. This time he had to face the enemy's four midfielders.

In desperation, Gao Changfeng had no choice but to give up defending against Model, and ran back and forth in the midfield to intercept the enemy's pass. B Fei also returned to defense in time to build a midfield barrier with Gao Changfeng, but the lazy Pogba Choose to turn a blind eye to the opponent's counterattack, and do not want to run actively to consume physical energy.

Two-on-four in the midfield, Gao Changfeng's top-heavy weakness of the numerical panel was instantly exposed. Kong has extraordinary physical fitness but lacks experience in interception, stealing and positioning, and just blindly relies on a lot of running to defend the midfield.

This is easy to use in the English Championship, but it is a bit clumsy in the Premier League where the skills and tactics are perfect and the players cooperate with each other.

After running left and right for more than 20 minutes, Gao Changfeng failed to complete an interception, and the defense led by Maguire was also hit with many holes. The goalkeeper De Gea has made three key saves, and he attacked frantically in the first half Manchester United fell into a passive and beaten situation in the second half.

Under unfavorable circumstances, Gao Changfeng heard the encouragement from the national football fans on the spot, and immediately rekindled his fighting spirit, and a way to break the game came into being spontaneously.

Since I can't complete the midfield interception, then I will go to the back.

The "lag back waist" was born!
Gao Changfeng ran behind Maguire to defend. This choice really worked. Even if the Brighton striker passed Maguire, he could not avoid the necessary physical confrontation. Gao Changfeng used his strong physical strength and speed to always make up the defense in time , Taking advantage of the opponent's physical imbalance to complete the steal.

Except for a round of strikers for Brighton in the 70th minute, the dull game continued until stoppage time.

Gao Changfeng saw that there was still half a minute left in the game, and it was time to launch the final attack.

After breaking the football at the foot of the enemy's substitute striker Arzat, Gao Changfeng quickly made a short pass to find Lindelof, who dribbled the ball forward steadily to find a lore opportunity.

If they draw with Brighton, Manchester United will be hopeless for the fourth this season.

The physical exhaustion of the central and frontcourt players does not mean that the defenders are unable to fight again. Maguire once again launched his offensive attributes and penetrated into the enemy's penalty area.

Gao Changfeng also relied on his indelible fighting spirit to overdraw his physical fitness again, gritted his teeth and sprinted forward.

Lindelof and Gao Changfeng rushed to the opponent's half and passed the ball decisively. The latter tried his best to raise the ball to find Ronaldo in the penalty area. In terms of lore and header ability, Ronaldo is still at the end of his career. It is the first in the world!

Maguire jumped up before Ronaldo and headed the ball into the enemy's goal. When he landed, he accidentally stepped on Ronaldo's leg. The sound of the collision between the shin guard and the studs was very clear.

Fortunately, Ronaldo has a strong body and was not trampled by Maguire.

Manchester United beat Brighton 1:0.

Although the plot is somewhat different from what was imagined, Gao Changfeng's assist helped Manchester United complete the lore, and he successfully proved his worth through this battle.

[Congratulations on completing the task, you have obtained talent points × 8]

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(End of this chapter)