Lvyin Fengmo

Chapter 225 Against Manchester United
Five days later, on February 5, Lazio played at home against Verona, who was at the bottom of the league.

With only one win in 24 rounds, Verona with 1 points is almost certain to be relegated. Of course, from a theoretical point of view, as long as they win all the last 15 rounds, they may even win the next season's championship with 14 points. European qualification.

Looking at the list of injuries in his hands, Pioli finally decided to rotate all players. He promoted 8 stars of hope from the youth team to the first team, and 5 of them started directly!
Lu Feng, who also started the game, made three shots and one pass in 60 minutes, and Klose, his striker partner, made a pass. When they went off side by side in the 61st minute, the score was already bloody 5-0.

But in the last 30 minutes of the game, Lazio, who had almost all substitutes, conceded two goals in a row, and Pioli almost yelled at the sidelines!
"If 5-0 can be reversed, then AC Milan will thank us!"

The biggest reason why he let all the main players rest is not that Valentine's Day is coming soon, but that they are about to welcome their opponents in the top 16 of the Champions League after Valentine's Day, the "Red Devils" Manchester United! -
"Today we started to focus on Manchester United's tactics, this is the video of their last league game against Chelsea."

In Lazio's tactical class, technical coach David Lucarelli began to analyze the next opponent for the players in combination with the screen:
"Van Gaal prefers to use 4231, it is worth noting that..."

He circled a player on the screen with a laser pointer:
"The Dutchman Blind, this season he has appeared in the position of left central defender many times. Obviously, his height is less than 1.8 meters. If we let this weakness go, we will definitely regret it."

Both Lu Feng and Klose nodded.

Lucarelli continued:

"But we must also pay attention to Manchester United's frontcourt players. Martial is fast, but his shooting skills are average. We must prevent him from cutting inside; Fellaini often inserts into the penalty area at critical moments to act as a center, especially in the final stage of the game. Relax; Mata is technically good, but lacks confrontation, which can increase the pressure on him; Carrick? He is very old..."

Now that there are very few healthy main players in the first team, it is not easy to make up 11 starting lineups, so there is no need to consider who will start for the time being. Arrange game tasks one by one.

Lu Feng's position in this match...is positioned as Shadow Front!
He will cruise behind Klose and deliver the deadliest blow to his opponent! -
2 month 15 day.

After Valentine's Day, Pioli was keenly aware that the training state of several young players was not quite right.

Especially the young players from South America are even more obvious. Their biggest characteristic is their weak legs!
He suddenly wanted to interrupt the training and scold these young people who had no self-discipline spirit, but the weakness in his character finally made him resist this urge.

"After all, it's Valentine's Day...how can I be so unkind?"

His eyes flickered a little, and he inadvertently landed on another area.

Klose was as serious as ever, and Lu Feng was equally meticulous. Compared with those teammates who were vain at their feet, these two forwards were still in a stable state.

Pioli nodded and made a wish to God:

"I sincerely hope that Lu Feng can't find a girlfriend during his time at Lazio."
-
A few hours later, Pioli took Lu Feng, who did not have a girlfriend, to the pre-match press conference.

The first leg was Lazio's home game, so they politely invited Manchester United, who played away, to be interviewed first.

"Our performance in the group stage was a bit difficult. This is not in line with Manchester United's temperament. Fortunately, we have advanced to the knockout round. From now on, we must gradually play at a normal level..."

Van Gaal didn't blush at all.

His team is only ranked fifth in the Premier League, 12 points away from the top Leicester City, and only scored 26 goals in 33 league rounds, which is the fewest goals among the top eight!

The only thing that comforts Van Gaal is that Liverpool, Manchester United's century-old rival, is overwhelmed by them with a 3-point advantage, and they can finally laugh at it.

Van Gaal changed the subject:
"We have had a lot of accidents and injuries in the past two months, so we will be more cautious in tomorrow's game. After all, this is an away game, and the turf in Italy has never been ideal. My biggest wish is that after the game, My players are able to stay fit..."

He made no secret of his displeasure with Italian football, but the Lazio club had no way to fight back.

Everyone knows that although Manchester United's home court is a bit old, but only in terms of turf maintenance, it is absolutely perfect for 100% of the Italian stadiums!

After all, the ownership of Old Trafford is in the hands of Manchester United, while most of the stadiums in Italy are public. There is no comparison between the two in terms of how seriously they maintain the turf.

United captain Wayne Rooney agreed with the boss:

"Yes, we just experienced a strong dialogue with Chelsea at the weekend. Everyone has a lot of consumption. Now it is an away game. Staying healthy is the most important thing."

Strong dialogue?

If you only listen to the names of Manchester United and Chelsea, this evaluation is certainly correct.

But... United are fifth in the table, Chelsea are 5th!
Mourinho, who caught the ghost for half a season, has been kicked out by Chelsea. Abramovich temporarily recruited Hiddink as the firefighting coach, but the results still did not improve much, and the chaotic dressing room was still chaotic.

These two giants that have monopolized English football for the past ten years, the current game is more like a pecking game...

"There is no doubt that Manchester United is the greatest team in England, and I have great respect for Mr. Van Gaal's achievements..."

Pioli is familiar with the taste as soon as he takes a bite.

But he is right, even if Manchester United falls into a trough, it is not comparable to Lazio.Even when Van Gaal was in the most embarrassing situation, he earned much more than Pioli...

But today's Pioli is also different from the past, and his words gradually added some thorns:

"Manchester United have had some more injuries recently, which is unfortunate, but I think Mr. Van Gaal should take a look at Lazio's injury list. We even have enough to form a complete starting squad..."

Van Gaal's face moved slightly, but Pioli continued to say:

"The turf of the Olympic Stadium is indeed not optimistic. On behalf of the city government of Rome, I apologize to Manchester United. I also hope that the city government can increase investment to improve the condition of the turf. However, I think that with Manchester United's current tactical style, this turf is not enough. It won't have any effect, will it?"

The reporters in the audience burst into laughter.

Van Gaal's complexion was even uglier.

Everyone knows that Van Gaal has been coaching Manchester United for nearly three seasons. Not only did he not bring any delicate Dutch offensive football style to the Red Devils, but he made these players forget how to play!

The defense depends entirely on De Gea, long passes from the backcourt, disorderly running in the midfield, and strikers shoot at random. This is the essence of Van Gaal's tactical philosophy at Manchester United!
Then there was Lu Feng's speech as a player representative:

"First of all, I don't agree with what coach Pioli just said."

As soon as he opened his mouth, Pioli's little face turned pale.

This kid... wants to rebel publicly!
I only heard Lu Feng say:

"He just said that Manchester United is the greatest team in England, sorry, as a Liverpool academy player, I have to correct him."

Pioli nodded again and again, and said sincerely:

"You are right, I apologize for what I said just now. Liverpool is the greatest. He sent Lazio one of the greatest loan players in football history. He didn't ask us for a penny. On behalf of the Lazio club, I thank the great Liverpool. .”

Lu Feng accepted his apology, and then continued:
"Considering that the team's current injury situation is very serious, we must save energy as much as possible, so our most important thing is to completely kill the suspense of the outcome of the quarter-finals in the first round!"

Van Gaal's face was livid!
He was originally an arrogant coach, but now he met an even more arrogant one!
(End of this chapter)