Mister Legend

Chapter 522 The Great Showdown
Lucas Torreira, a Uruguayan international born in 1996, joined Arsenal from Sampdoria in Serie A in the summer of 2018, and soon occupied Arsenal's main midfield position. Li Moody regards him as the indispensable core of the team.

Looking at the performance at the Emirates Stadium in the past two years, the outside world evaluates it as the top ten defensive midfielder in the Premier League, and it is the midfielder most relied on by the Gunners in the Emery era.

However, after Li Mudi entered the team and introduced Ndidi from Leicester City, Torreira's role has changed, and the task on the offensive end has become heavier.In the ten games he has played this season, the Uruguayan star has contributed 1 goal and 3 assists, which is close to about 47% of the data obtained in a total of 50 appearances last season.

What surprised the outside world even more was that Torreira also showed his world-class passing skills. There were only 779 turnovers in a total of 80 passes, and the success rate was infinitely close to 90%.On the basis of so many total passes, there can still be such a high success rate, and the position is still in the midfield. In the previous five major leagues, only a few top superstars such as Toni Kroos can do it.

Arsenal were able to perform at a historical level at the beginning of this season. Torreira's connection and all-round performance in the midfield played a huge role in it. The degree of importance is not at all weak.

However, it seems that the excellent performance on the pass organization side in the past two and a half months has made many people forget what level this player's real defensive ability is at. The evaluation given by the FM system is: marking 15, stealing 16, Prediction 17, defensive position 16, except for the height (only 168 cm), strength and some poor headers, it is a proper world-class defensive midfielder value.With 18 passes, 16 receptions and skills, it is absolutely not controversial to say that Torreira is the most comprehensive midfielder on both offensive and defensive ends.

After discovering Manchester United's intention to mobilize Ndidi on a large scale, Li Mudi responded immediately, asking the Uruguayan to reduce the frequency of forward penetration and temporarily forming a defensive mode with double midfielders.Although Torreira will be at a disadvantage in terms of speed, whether it is against Lingard or Rashford, the two wing backs Bellerin and Kolasinac are both at a disadvantage in this regard. The good players, with their assistance from the side, can still control the opponent more effectively, avoiding the situation where Endidi runs around alone, and instantly cracked the insidious strategy of the home team coach.

It’s just that because it’s an away game, the opponent’s strength is still very strong, and with the support of more than 6 fans, Li Moody is not arrogant enough to take the initiative to attack and suppress the home team, so in terms of control of the ball, he is still It is Manchester United who want to occupy a certain advantage.

Seeing that his coup didn't have the desired effect at all, Mourinho had no choice but to ask his players to return to normal offensive tactics while keeping an eye on the opponent's formation changes. The speed of the ball has increased, hoping to get more opportunities to face Arsenal's back line.

Torreira retreated more. Although it had an excellent effect of protecting the defense, it also made the visiting team lack a very critical support point when counterattacking. Mkhitaryan was almost completely strangled by Matic. , the two strikers Aubameyang and Lacazette, under the key care of the Manchester United defenders, can barely take advantage of their speed and occasionally run out of better space, but no one passes them for nothing. It's just useless.

So in the first 15 minutes or so of the game, neither side could create a threatening offensive. The situation looked very balanced, but there was also a serious lack of highlights that made the audience shine, which somewhat did not meet everyone's previous expectations. value.

Since entering the world's field of vision in the early 90s of last century, Manchester United's offense seems to be known for its integrity, and it is rare to establish a single organizational core.Starting from one of the strongest midfield lines in history formed by Beckham, Roy Keane, Scholes and Giggs, the Red Devils' attack basically appeared on the field as a whole.

During the period, Ferguson Ferguson and other coaches also introduced Veron, Kagawa Shinji, Mkhitaryan and other successful organizers in other teams, but they all showed serious symptoms of acclimatization at Old Trafford. In the end, it returned to the overall offensive tactical style.

The power of this strategy is naturally unquestionable, but often at critical moments, because of the lack of a core who can turn the tide on his own, he is helpless in difficult situations. Missing an important championship title is inseparable from this tactical style.

Finally, this situation turned around in the summer of 2016. At that time, Pogba, the world's No. [-] midfielder and Manchester United's own youth training player, returned to Manchester by breaking the world football transfer fee record. Red Devils fans have seen a bright future in which the team will be extremely strong after a new core is established.

Unfortunately, under Mourinho's tactical thinking, the French midfielder, who had almost conquered the entire world at Juventus before, seems to be becoming less and less able to play football.He has changed from a top box-to-box superstar in the world to an ordinary character who can't attack or defend well. It's hard to see his signature subtle passes and explosive shots from the back row in the past. , People just find that Pogba's position on the field is constantly moving back, especially when facing a strong enemy, he almost becomes a midfielder, but this is really not the most suitable way for the French to play.

Although Mu Niao is very fond of transforming players and letting them appear in new positions for the overall benefit of the team, there are not many successful examples, but many failed cases.For example, let Gudjohns play in the midfield, and the result is that the number of goals scored by the Icelandic forward dropped from 12 to 2; Mikel, who was once considered a genius midfielder, became a The Brazilian winger Kennedy, who made many insulting remarks on social media, was used as a left back many times in the second period of Mu. Unfortunately, the current Manchester United The coach will be dismissed from the Blues soon after, otherwise the Chinese people would be even happier.

Obviously, in the use of Pogba, Mourinho's approach is exactly the opposite of the general opinion of the outside world, and it is extremely unpopular.However, as Manchester United's opponents, Li Moody and other Premier League coaches are still very happy to see this happen.

Today, the core of the French national team is still not active at the high end of the offense. Judging from the situation on the court, his ability is still there, but it seems that there are not small problems in his personal attitude, and he has not used his teammates to drag him back and forth. The space created afterwards boldly pressed forward, causing the Arsenal players to not pay too much energy in defending him.

But the reason why Manchester United still maintains the status of the world's top giants after Ferguson retired is not only because the old books left by their ancestors are thick enough, but also because their strength has indeed been maintained above a certain level.Even though it has been a bit far from qualifying for the championship in recent years, it has been able to win the Champions League for three consecutive seasons, which still shows that the team's strong team background still exists.When the number one star in the ball is not in good condition (or the subjective willingness to participate in the game is not strong), there will naturally be other people who will stand up and help the team solve the problem.

Andreas Pereira was born in the Brazilian midfielder with Belgium on New Year's Day in 1995. Although he switched from PSV Eindhoven to Manchester United's youth training camp at the age of 17, after eight years, he has become a Rarely has a record of representing the first team, always being loaned to other teams for training.Last season, with the departure of Mata, this former genius, who is no longer young, finally ushered in a turning point in the Red Devils, and used not much playing time to impress Mourinho with his good performance. Got a contract extension.

This season, when Herrera suffered injuries, Pereira has become an important rotation in the midfield, and because of technical characteristics, he is often given more organizational tasks by the head coach. One of the players with the most passes after coming down.

Today against rivals Arsenal, the Brazilian midfielder began to use his excellent passing awareness and skills to try to break the deadlock many times when the team's overall tactics were not performing well, and finally achieved certain results. The imagination of 19 combined with the crossing ability of 14 and the passing ability of 17 allow this player with good dribbling ability (he is a Brazilian after all) to get more choices when facing the opponent's defender, resulting in Marking is far more difficult than Rashford, who can only use speed impact.After he deliberately changed positions with his teammates frequently, even with Ndidi next to him to defend from time to time, the visiting team's right winger Bellerin felt very headache.

No.301 minutes, Pereira, under the restraint of Master La, used his left foot, which is almost as flexible as the main right foot, to pass a precise 45-degree oblique pass to help Lukaku in the penalty kick Four meters to the left of the point, he got a chance to hit the goal with a header.Fortunately, Leno's attention was concentrated enough to block the ball out of the bottom line with a dive and one arm, avoiding the unfavorable situation of falling behind.

Five minutes later, Lingard won a free kick about 5 meters away from the visiting team's goal in a front-right position outside the penalty area. Andreas Pereira, who took the set kick with an attribute of 24, did his part. Before the penalty spot, even Pogba, who also has an excellent free kick skill, did not comment.

As a result, this direct attack with a strong arc nearly grazed the Arsenal goal post and slammed into the lower part of the crossbar, and then fell at an extremely fast speed, hitting near the goal line and then bouncing high. up.The German goalkeeper Leno, who had just made a flying save but failed to get anything, reacted very quickly, completed a half-up movement at almost the limit speed, and then immediately took the ball into his arms while keeping his attention on the ball The position relative to the goal line avoids the tragedy of an own goal.

But before he landed again, deafening cheers erupted in the entire Old Trafford stadium, and Manchester United players also began to rush towards Andreas Pereira, surrounding him in the middle celebrated.

At the same time, the Sky Sports commentator who was sitting on the live broadcast seat and broadcasting the game live, also shouted the iconic words "GOOOOOOOOOOO——al!" The logo of Manchester United 1-0 Arsenal is displayed.

However, just when Arsenal's players, mainly Leno, wanted to find the referee to defend, the celebrations of the home team players stopped abruptly because the referee Kevin Friand signaled to go forward. The ball's effective whistle never blew, and he didn't make a finger-to-center motion, which means there's some controversy, at least so far.

Sure enough, after only 30 seconds, Kevin Friand, who had been pressing his left hand on his cochlea, gave his instructions. The free kick just now was not scored, and the game continued.

Seeing this kind of reverse plot, Manchester United players and more than 6 spectators obviously cannot accept it, but the latter can express their dissatisfaction through huge boos, but the former can only suppress this tone first down, as their opponents had begun a quick push.In less than ten seconds, the ball flew from the hands of the away team's goalkeeper to 20 meters in front of the home team's penalty area. If it wasn't for Matic's timely blocking, Lacazette would even have to enter a direct kick It's within range.

In the end, in order to prevent the gap left by the two central defenders who were still chasing back at high speed from being exploited by the opponent, Mourinho's favorite general and the experienced Serbian midfielder used a slightly dangerous tackle. Together with the ball, the Gunners' counterattack was terminated.Although he received a yellow card for this, it prevented a major threat that his own goal might encounter, and the price was worth it.

However, in the next 1 minute, Arsenal's free kick, which was a bit far from the opponent's ball, was not sent, because the Manchester United players had surrounded the referee and wanted to ask for an explanation, because many people They are all convinced that the previous direct free kick was definitely scored.

Fortunately, although the FA and the Premier League have always resisted the introduction of the VAR system, they have long used the most advanced and accurate goal-line technology in the world.Through the careful observation of the off-field technical team, Friander received [-]% affirmation from his colleagues through the earphones. At that time, a ball about one finger wide did not cross the goal line. According to regulations, it was not a goal.

After the appeal was invalid, the Red Devils had no choice but to accept this cruel result.

On the sidelines, Mourinho's face had turned livid, making others feel palpitating.

(End of this chapter)