The Godfather of Greenery

Chapter 299 I will definitely repay you!

After the Guardian reporter conducted a customary pre-season interview with Ferguson, he laughed and teased Ferguson, saying that even a blind man could see smoke coming from Ferguson's head!
These words are a bit exaggerated, but they can really describe the embarrassment that Ferguson faced.

Manchester United is now in a very bad situation, and even Ferguson feels that if it is not handled well, it will be a disaster for Manchester United, and the Premier League champion in the new season will still be useless.

There are objective factors that have caused Manchester United to be in such an embarrassing situation, but there are also internal reasons for Manchester United.

Solskjaer suffered a knee injury last season. After surgery, he rested for 5 months. Unexpectedly, he had another knee surgery in early August this year. This operation is very critical and determines whether Solskjaer can Continue his career, but at least until October, Solsk has no way to play again.

The same situation also happened to Saha. The French striker who entered Old Trafford at a high price during the winter break last year was highly expected by Ferguson. Unexpectedly, in a warm-up match, Saha sprained He injured his knee and is bound to be absent for a period of time. He may not be able to come back when he is a guest at Stamford Bridge in the first round of the league.

If Solskjaer and Saha are both natural disasters, then Van Nistelrooy's tragedy is a man-made disaster.

Van Nistelrooy was injured before. After returning to the training ground, Ferguson and the coaching staff hope that he can catch up with the third round of the Champions League qualifiers. After all, for Manchester United, these are definitely the two most important games before the season. The income of over [-] million in the Champions League this season must not be lost.

In order to allow Van Nistelrooy to appear in the third round of the Champions League qualifiers in a better state, Ferguson and the coaching staff drew up a high-intensity training plan for him, hoping to help him adjust his state and rhythm as soon as possible, but unexpectedly Yes, Van Nistelrooy, who had just returned from injury, persisted for a few days before being injured again and had to undergo hernia surgery.

After Solskjaer, Saha and Ruud van Nistelrooy fell one after another, Uruguayan striker Forlan, who has never been reused at Manchester United, accepted Villarreal's offer and announced his switch to La Liga, while Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo is playing After the European Cup, against Ferguson's wishes, he directly joined the Portuguese Olympic team and played in the Athens Olympics.

Coupled with the missed introduction of Heinze and Rooney, Ferguson is now facing a very serious situation, and it can even be said to be very embarrassing, because in the next two weeks, in addition to encountering the mighty Chelsea in the Community Shield Cup and the league, Manchester United will also have to face it. To usher in two UEFA Champions League third-round qualifiers, the opponent is a Romanian team, and their strength is not bad.

There are a total of 8 wounded, and the main attackers are almost free from the battle. Now Ferguson has no available forwards at all, and even on the back line, he can only arrange Fortune, Sylvester, O'Shea and Gary? Such a shabby combination of Neville, Giggs, Djemba, Keane and Berlion in the midfield, Scholes as the midfielder, and Alan Smith came forward.

Compared with Manchester United's shabby half of the bench lineup, Chelsea played completely with the main lineup.

Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, Evra, Cannavaro, Terry and Maicon in the defense, Deco and Makelele in the double midfielder, Ronaldinho, Lampard and Rooney in the frontcourt , the single striker is Drogba.

Putting the two lineups together, Manchester United's momentum has been a lot shorter from the beginning, but Ferguson is also a person who can afford it and let it go. He didn't hesitate at all, and directly put on a defensive position. Allan Smith actively participated in the defense, and the whole team almost stayed in their own half and waited for an opportunity.

The two sides drew 0:0 in the first half. Chelsea's overall state was not ideal, and the rhythm of entering the game was slow, especially Ronaldinho. Although the Brazilian performed well and created many opportunities, it seemed that there was a distance There is still a certain gap in his average level, which always makes people feel that he is missing something.

For example, in the 31st minute, Rooney broke through Fortune on the right and knocked back. Lampard volleyed in front of the goal. The ball was saved by Howard with a single punch, and Ronaldinho followed closely. After the last push, there were no defensive players in front, and even the goalkeeper had fallen to the ground, but the Brazilian's push directly hit the side net.

After experiencing the Copa America and missing the pre-season training and preparations, Ronaldinho's state has obviously been affected to some extent. For this, Ye Qiu also gave consideration. On the contrary, it is the newly joined teenager Wayne Rooney, who has been performing recently. very nice.

In this game, Fortune focused on marking Rooney, who was facing him, but the England boy didn't seem to restrain himself at all because of Fortune's marking. He hit a goal with a powerful kick in the first half I believe that this shot made Ferguson's heart beat faster, and then he got a header and a chance to grab a spot in front of the goal, but they all missed the goal by accident.

The situation in the first half was that Chelsea had the upper hand, but failed to score. Ye Qiu also decided to make adjustments during the halftime break, but this time he didn't play the best No. 12 Ribery.

When Chelsea players walked out of the player tunnel one after another, Ferguson and assistant coach Queiroz were counting the number of Chelsea players. They soon discovered that Ronaldinho was sitting on the bench and Joko Al got the starter.

"What the hell?" Queiroz muttered.

Ferguson frowned. He has always had a very unique sense of tactics and game situations, which belongs to him and cannot be expressed to others. This is the experience and experience he has accumulated over the years of coaching. At this moment, seeing Joe Cole on and Ronaldinho off, a game appeared in his mind.

Not long after, Rui Costa came off the bench in the quarter-finals of the European Cup against Portugal against England.

It is also a substitution with the advantage, and it is also a match-up substitution. Ye Qiu replaced Ronaldinho, who was obviously not in good condition, and replaced him with Joe Cole, obviously to strengthen the team. a pass.

"Gary!" Ferguson walked to the sidelines, waved towards Gary Neville, and pointed to Joe Cole.

Gary Neville nodded after receiving Ferguson's instructions, expressing that he understood and would watch this kid carefully.

As a teammate of the national team, Gary Neville is no stranger to Joe Cole, he is well aware of Joe Cole's strength.

With the whistle of the referee, Drogba kicked the ball to Rooney. Rooney, who represented Chelsea for the first time in an official game, did not seem to be stage frighted at all. Youdao is a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers. Hu Shengwei was pressed by Djemba, turned around to protect the ball, and waited for his teammates to press up before he knocked the ball back to Terry on the back line.

Don't underestimate this ball protection, this is also one of Ye Qiu's key routines, because when Rooney is protecting the ball, Chelsea can smoothly press forward, including the back line, and Terry received Rooney's return knock. At that time, Chelsea's frontcourt had clearly entered Manchester United's 30-meter area.

Of course, if Ye Qiu hadn't had confidence in Rooney's ability, he wouldn't have taken such a risk, because once the ball was broken, if he counterattacked directly, his back would be very dangerous.

After Terry got the ball, without waiting for Alan Smith to approach, he passed it directly to Makelele who retreated.

One very interesting point lies in the positions and movements of Makelele and Deco.

Anyone who has played football knows that when encountering a tight defense, the most difficult part of advancing the ball is that it is easier to respond and get the ball with your back to the attacking direction, because there is no threat. The real difficulty lies in how you face it. take the ball.

Without the ball in the front, it is impossible to complete the advancement, and it is impossible to pose a threat.

And there are two ways to do this, one is teamwork, and the other is the individual ability of the players.

How to cooperate with the double midfielder, which is crucial to control the team's ball advancement and offensive and defensive conversion, is also critical. Therefore, at the moment when Terry wants to pass the ball, if the game screen is frozen, It can be seen that Makelele's position is higher than that of Deco, and the interesting thing about the two is that Makelele is running back, with his back to the attacker, while Deco is facing the attack. square.

When Makelele ran back from the front to catch the ball, Scholes, who was marking Deco, was obviously affected. He wanted to go over to complete the double-team and press immediately, but Makelele didn't let the ball in. He stayed at his feet, but passed diagonally to the place behind Scholes and in front of Deco.

When Scholes wanted to press Makelele, Deco had already inserted from behind him for the first time. After getting the ball, he faced the attacking direction directly, and Chelsea's attack this time was also pressed by Manchester United. He successfully completed the transition from facing away from the goal to facing the goal by touching the ball with two feet, and Deco took the ball forward and backward, successfully threatening the 30-meter area.

Facing the attacking side, Deco has a lot of choices, and any of his choices will obviously affect Manchester United's defense, so Manchester United's defensive players are staring at him like a big enemy. This time he chose to pass diagonally to the left Get Joe Cole.

Joe Cole drew near the left line, and Deco's pass was lightly unloaded by his left foot. Good guy, the ball stuck to his instep like lead, Gary Neville For a while, he chose to closely mark Joe Cole, but at the same time, Lampard quickly slashed diagonally from the center to Gary Neville's back, and Keane subconsciously followed Lampard.

Lampard's move directly pulled Keane away, and after Joe Cole protected the ball, he quickly dribbled the ball from the left along the penalty area line and cut into the middle. The whole process happened in the blink of an eye. There is no room for Manchester United players to breathe and think.

Gary Neville followed to defend Joe Cole, but the latter was at the top of the arc of the penalty area, and before Djimba got close, he made a diagonal pass and was assigned to Manchester United's right flank. Rooney pulled to Manchester United's left back Fortune In the middle with the left central defender Sylvester, after getting the ball, he rushed to the bottom line quickly and directly broke through Sylvester who was grabbing up.

It's not that the Frenchman was reckless, but at that moment, it was absolutely impossible for him to let Rooney hold the ball in the penalty area, otherwise, he would just kick and shoot, so no matter what choice he made at that time, the risk was great.

But Sylvester is not a coward either. When Rooney broke through, he followed Rooney tightly, and did not give Rooney the slightest chance to face the goal. This is the benefit of experience. He allows you to break through. But if you are not allowed to stop, if you don't stop, you will not be able to kick. If you kick in a hurry, it will be difficult to hit the right position and exert force.

However, Rooney can be regarded as quite vigorous. He couldn't kick his feet, so he simply didn't do it by himself. He directly used his speed advantage, highlighted a gap, lobbed the ball, and made a pass to the back. This is also the cleverness of the England boy.

Sylvester raised his foot to intercept, but the ball was obviously higher than his raised foot, how to block it?
O'Shea's height is indeed not short, 1 meters, and he is not without the ability to resist Drogba, but the most rare thing about Drogba, a giant elephant, is that he needs to be tall and explosive. , Sensitivity is required, and most importantly, his physical confrontation is absolutely abnormal.

Under the ravages and shadows of Drogba, O'Shea didn't even have a chance to jump up. He saw the Ivorian jumped lightly and directly pushed Rooney's pass into the goal of Manchester United, which was close at hand, 1:0!

Even Drogba himself didn't expect the chance of scoring to fall on him. He defended his teammates as always. Originally, he thought that Rooney would hit the goal by himself, but he didn't expect that Rooney couldn't get rid of Sylvie. Ster, can only pass the ball.

After scoring the goal, Drogba was so excited that he didn't know what to say. After rushing to the sidelines, he muttered all the way. No one could understand what he wanted to say, but the only thing that was certain was that he was crazy!Le crazy!

In the second half, Chelsea scored a goal in the first attack. Ferguson on the sidelines shook his head. After the ball was cut horizontally, he keenly found Rooney who was inserted into the right rib. This is definitely a wonderful stroke.

Sometimes the game is like this. If the ball is passed well, it is a goal. Even if the ball is passed a little bit worse, the goal may fail. Ronaldinho seemed to perform well in the first half, but It's actually a little bit worse.

This conceded goal also sounded another wake-up call for Ferguson. Keane alone can no longer support Manchester United's midfield.

As Arsenal and Chelsea have become more and more adept at playing double ribs, the protection of the defense line by a single midfielder has been greatly challenged. How can you protect both left and right ribs at the same time with one midfielder?
You can play against a weak team, because the strength of the two offensive players on the two flanks of a weak team will be relatively weak, and the response will not be obvious. But against strong teams like Chelsea and Arsenal, their two ribs have a very high degree of response. Ronaldo Dinho's most famous offensive routine at Chelsea is actually to dribble the ball in from the left and then pass it diagonally to the right rib. It can be said that it has been tried and tested.

Sometimes, many things are doomed!

Following the Joe Cole mall, as soon as the second half started, Chelsea broke through Manchester United's goal. Ferguson immediately made adjustments, replacing Fortune and Djemba with Fletcher and Phil Neville. Ferguson was obviously interested in this. The performance of the two players was very dissatisfied.

But the substitution still cannot change the situation of being passively beaten, nor can it stop Chelsea's attack.

In the 54th minute, Sylvester and O'Shea made a mistake under the strong attacking pressure of Chelsea. O'Shea made a big-footed clearance, and the kick went wide, directly in front of Lampard, standing on the penalty spot. Naturally, Lampard nearby would not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, kicked directly, and the ball crashed into the upper left corner, 2:0!

The situation turned around. In the first half, Manchester United defended vigorously, but in the second half they were suddenly defeated.

In the 58th minute, Chelsea launched another wave of offense. After Joe Cole got a pass from the left, he tried to cut inside, but suddenly gave it to Evra who inserted in the back. The French left back quickly got the ball. Down to the baseline cross.

Drogba still firmly occupied the commanding heights in the penalty area this time, but under the joint double-teaming of O'Shea and Sylvester, the Ivorian failed to get a chance and could only choose to ferry the ball with a header. After a while, the ball fell to the back point. After Rooney shook off Phil Neville, he quickly plugged in and poked at the incoming ball. The ball went straight to the bottom of the net, 3:0!

Only 13 minutes into the game, Chelsea went down to three cities in a row. The situation changed drastically. The Chelsea fans in the stands of the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff were all overjoyed, singing the team's team anthem and shouting for the players. The name, the scene is finally a bit lively.

There is no way around this. Although this game is the Community Shield Cup, which is a bit similar to the Super Cup in other leagues, it actually has little influence. At least judging from the attendance rate of the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, it is estimated that 3/1 is empty.

In fact, this is also a problem that has always existed since the reconstruction of Wembley Stadium and the transfer of various finals to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, that is, the attendance rate has always been difficult to satisfy. If it is the League Cup and the FA Cup In the finals of the [-] finals, that would be a bit better. After all, these two events still have some influence, but the attendance rate of other events is very bad.

Although Chelsea and Manchester United were playing this game, the attendance rate was only about 3/2.

It is estimated that this also has something to do with Cardiff being too far away from London.

After winning 3:0, Chelsea had no intention of giving up because of this. The team still kept attacking Manchester United. Seeing that the team had no hope of making a comeback, Ferguson replaced four young players in one go. , are basically unknown, and obviously want to stay focused on the mid-week Champions League.

The Community Shield is not a strict competition, but a charity competition, so there are no more restrictions on the number of substitutions. Especially before the game, Manchester United called for all substitutes to play the Community Shield. As a result, the FA I was always very dissatisfied, and finally made a compromise, agreeing to let the opponents bring 7 substitutes, but 6 can be used.

In the final analysis, this event is just a more official warm-up match for all teams.

But in the 81st minute, Chelsea still hit the goal with a kick from Deco, hit Sylvester and turned into Howard's goal, 4:0!

This goal made Ye Qiu on the sidelines visibly excited. As soon as the whistle blew for the end of the game, he couldn't wait to walk up to Ferguson, and smiled and said to Ferguson, who had a frighteningly gloomy face. He almost jumped out of words.

"4:0, great!"

"I really hope that you can scold us again before the league starts. Conservative, ugly, etc. are fine, but please don't brag. I will definitely repay you!"

(End of this chapter)