Jagged Wings

Chapter 153 Competition
Manchester United has not won the Premier League championship for several consecutive seasons. Since the 2002-2003 league championship, the only championship they won was the League Cup last season.This is the longest Premier League title drought in Ferguson's Premier League career coaching Manchester United!Ferguson's desire for the championship has been suppressed to the extreme. This season, Manchester United has finally taken on a new look under his painstaking training. It has won four games in the first four games and attracted enough attention!The soul-stirring reversal in the Champions League made Manchester United even more confident!

The conceded goal in the 13th minute of the first half of the game did not shake their determination to win. Even Ferguson was sitting on the coach's bench chewing gum as usual.Ferguson does not plan to modify his tactics, because his initial tactics were to play against the opponent, which is consistent with the current situation: if Manchester United wants to equalize, they must attack.So he sat on the bench, didn't say anything, didn't make any gestures.

It's only been 5 minutes since he started and he's in no rush to make adjustments!

Amid United's curses and boos, Arsenal's players ended up celebrating the goal.

The lagging Manchester United planned to organize a counterattack, but they encountered Gilberto Silva, and all their offensives were suspended here in Gilberto!If Sai Bregas can make a key pass when attacking; then Gilberto can stand in front of his central defender when defending, building a trustworthy barrier in front of the back line!
Gilberto without injuries is a terrifying Gilberto. The Brazilian team in 2002 was able to win the championship. In addition to the magic quartet in the frontcourt, Gilberto and Ze Roberto, two midfielders with fierce defense and big players The range of running is also a guarantee for the Brazilian team to win!Gilberto Silva is known as the "invisible wall", he is always there when the opponent turns from defense to attack and presses the defense line!Gilberto's tackles are decisive and fierce. For offensive players, Gilberto is difficult to deal with.And his excellent awareness ensures that he has a high success rate of stealing the ball in defense!

And Gilberto finally came out after a long-term injury, and now Gilberto is 100% Gilberto!
Manchester United's players found it difficult to easily pass Gilberto and directly threaten Arsenal's back line and goal.Coupled with the defense of Cesc Fabregas, who also serves as a defensive midfielder, it is quite difficult for Manchester United's midfield to operate!

In the 17th minute, Manchester United full-back Gary Neville stepped up and made a pass. Saha directly volleyed with his left foot from the left side of the small penalty area and was blocked by defender Senderos.But Saha reacted quickly, followed by another shot from a small angle, which was directly confiscated by goalkeeper Lehmann.

This was the only threatening attack after they lost the ball. Since Manchester United can't attack for a while, Arsenal will not politely wait for Manchester United to "reciprocate".

Less than 1 minute later, Cesc Fabregas made a long pass from the midfielder. Rosicky stopped the ball with his chest at the top of the penalty area and then shot low with his left foot, which was caught by Kuzzak.

At this time, Ferguson was still sitting on the coach's bench, he was still chewing gum, but the expression on his face was no longer as relaxed as before.The Manchester United players on the field seemed to have sensed the emotional changes of the head coach, and they worked harder on the field.

In the 22nd minute, C Ronaldo took the ball from the left and easily wiped out the defense of Hleb and Rosicky.Facing Cesc Fabregas' defense, Ronaldo moved the ball horizontally with his right foot one after another. When he was about to shake the angle, Gilberto made a diagonal stab and directly put Ronaldo who was changing the line to the ground!
There was applause and applause from the Red Devils fans in the stands. This is for Ronaldo's previous series of wonderful performances!

The referee Boll of this game showed Gilberto the first yellow card of the game, and then he awarded Oman United an indirect free kick 23 meters away from the goal and slightly to the right.

"Don't be dazed when defending!" Gilberto tightened the captain's armband on his arm and patted Fabregas.Talent and skills are innate, but defensive experience can only be accumulated step by step!

Fabregas scratched his head in embarrassment, and ran to defend!

C Ronaldo who made this free kick came to take the penalty!
Because it was an indirect free kick, Arsenal did not discharge the wall, but crowded with Manchester United's players on the penalty area line.Reyes came running while Gilberto directed the defensive positioning to his teammates.

"I have an idea!"

"say!"

"When they take free kicks later, we can..." Reyes covered his mouth to prevent the other party from judging what he said from the shape of his mouth!
"Fuck me, is this okay?" Gilberto stared, but it made sense after thinking about it, so he conveyed the spirit of the meeting to his teammates one by one.

The teammates who got the news stared and stared in surprise, but since the captain agreed, they had nothing to say.

C Ronaldo stood in front of the ball, looking at the whispering Arsenal players in doubt, at a loss!
The referee "beep" a whistle, indicating that Ronaldo can serve. Ronaldo adjusted his mentality, then raised a gesture, and kicked the football with two steps in the run-up!
Just before Ronaldo kicked the football, all the Arsenal players suddenly started to rush out of the penalty area as if they had made an appointment!At this time, Manchester United's offensive players happened to rush towards the penalty area, so the two sides that were originally mixed together were separated like stickers that were suddenly pulled apart. The Arsenal players were all outside the penalty area, and the Manchester United players were all in the penalty area.

The attacking Manchester United players only have the ball in their eyes, so who cares about the Arsenal players?Rooney headed past Lehmann's goal with no one defending!

The referee was also dumbfounded and even forgot to whistle.Only the far side referee could see clearly, he raised the side flag high: offside!
The referee's whistle sounded!

Rooney, who ran more than ten meters to celebrate the goal, looked back suspiciously, only to find that the Arsenal players were covering their mouths and laughing outside the penalty area. Rooney immediately woke up!
Damn, I've been tricked!

The Arsenal players collectively made offsides, and all the Manchester United players were directly offside. Honest Rooney's lips trembled with anger!
"This kind of tactics actually appeared on Arsenal... This is really..." Martin Taylor, who has commented on football for 30 years, was also speechless for a while, and it took a long time to squeeze out a sentence: "Too wretched...too limitless..."

"It's shameless! It's shameless!" The Manchester United fans in front of the TV loudly waved their fists to complete him.

This tactic occasionally appears on weak teams, but it is not normal to appear on Arsenal.It's like an elegant mature woman's actions and behavior are always so elegant and well-bred, but one day this lady suddenly swears at people in the street with her shirt off her arms, that is definitely a ruinous thing!
Arsenal are doing such a thing now, and their "shameless" offside tactics seem to be quite successful this time.Some Manchester United players ran to the linesman, indicating that they were not offside, but the posture of the Arsenal players running out just now made it difficult for the linesman to judge whether it was offside in an instant, so Manchester United's protest was useless!

The game continued, and as time passed, when Manchester United found that they could not break through Arsenal's defense, the tenacious Manchester United chose to strengthen their offensive.The elderly Neville kept stepping up and assisting on the left, making people wonder if he had taken the rejuvenation pill?
Putting most of the troops into the offense is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the chances of getting the ball are increased, and on the other hand, there are more spaces for the opponent.Taking advantage of Manchester United's massive pressure, several extremely fast players in the frontcourt of Arsenal began to display their long pass skills.Both sides chose to attack by coincidence, so it can be seen that their goal is to attack and attack!

Arsenal got the chance to counterattack and Fabregas passed the ball to Torres.The Spanish striker took the ball with his back at the front of the penalty area. Manchester United Brown, who was defending him, slipped suddenly. Torres immediately turned around and broke into the penalty area, and then swayed past another Manchester United central defender Ferdinand who came up to him, and shot a low shot with his right foot from 14 meters away. , The football was caught by Kuzzak!
"We made offside!" The defensive backbone Ferdinand saw that his side's defense was tight, and chose a more reasonable tactic.

Arsenal's next few counterattacks were overshadowed by Manchester United's offside tactics.

"Do you think this will kill us?"

In the 29th minute, Fabregas made a long pass from the backcourt to the frontcourt. Torres used his head to ferry the football to Rosicky. Manchester United defenders raised their hands to signal that Rosicky was offside, but the linesman did not raise the flag and the referee did not whistle. Onside!
Rosicky succeeded in anti-offside, dribbled the ball into the penalty area, and then shot the goal 11 meters away from the goal, which was saved by the goalkeeper Kuzzak who attacked in time.

Kuzzak, who had saved Demba Ba's shot, jumped up from the ground, waved his fists, and roared loudly at his defender teammates: "Look at what you are doing! How can he break into the penalty area so easily!"

"He's offside!" Ferdinand retorted.

"But the line referee didn't raise the flag!" Kuzzak pointed at the line referee, waving his arm, "You shouldn't have given up the game!" He was very annoyed at the poor performance of these "pig-like teammates"!
"Okay, okay..." The good old Scholes came up to smooth things over.

On the other side, Rosicky, who wasted this one-handed ball opportunity, covered his face with his hands, looking very frustrated.Originally, the left midfielder's starting lineup did not occupy a game and turned the opponent over. Now that he is starting again, his performance is still not good. Could it be that he is really destined to be a substitute?
The game was still going on, and the Manchester United fans in the stands saw that their team was playing against Arsenal, but their penalty area was precarious, so they kept cheering for their team.

This is our home ground, this is Old Trafford!
In the face of Arsenal's sharp counterattack, Manchester United is no longer as aggressive as before in the offense. Otherwise, if the opponent scores another one, it will really be worth the candle!

In this way, the time came to the end of the first half, and the referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half.Players from both sides left the court and entered their respective locker rooms.They have 15 minutes, and these 15 minutes are more important for Manchester United, because if they want to save the defeat in the second half, they must plan well in these 15 minutes.

In the locker room of Manchester United's visiting team, Manchester United coach Ferguson's hair dryer is turning on. He is very disappointed with the team's performance!He saw that his team was like a mouse that wanted to eat the food in the mousetrap in the first half. He wanted to attack, but he was afraid that Arsenal would counterattack, so he stopped attacking and he was still one goal behind.The idea of ​​both ends of the first mouse made this half the worst performance of Manchester United since the start of the game!
Not only are their ideas contradictory, they also have very few effective offenses, few shots, and almost no threatening offenses. The busiest player is not the striker but the goalkeeper Kuzzak... From the perspective of the 45 minutes of the first half, From the score to the scene, Ferguson was very angry!
"...Look at what you played in the first half? I counted, you only had four shots in 45 minutes, and only one of them was within the range of the goal frame. The offense was not threatening. Our defense line There has to be a lot of pressure. Arsenal are an attacking team, they are good at attacking and they are only good at attacking. If we can put pressure on their backline, we can break this situation. But you are not doing it at all !"

The head coach's words made all the offensive players bow their heads in silence.He is scolding them.In the first half, Manchester United's offensive players did not do well enough. There were not many opportunities, and they were all wasted!

However, Manchester United's lack of offensive opportunities is caused by Gilberto and Cesc Fabregas' double defensive midfielders on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is the result of the suppression of offensive players such as Reyes!

How could Ferguson not understand this truth?
He knows that the opponent's midfielder's superiority in numbers makes the Gunners who are already good at handling the ball more comfortable, and with double insurance to escort them behind, Reyes, Rosicky, Hleb and other offensive players in the frontcourt no longer have to worry about it. They always make a wonderful combination.

To achieve Manchester United's offense, we must first disintegrate Arsenal's offense!
To understand Arsenal's offense, the first thing to deal with must be Reyes, who was the assists leader and second-ranked shooter in the Arsenal team last season.At this time, Ferguson suddenly thought of the relationship between Reyes and Rosicky. Rosicky made three intermissions this season as a substitute for Reyes.
And because Reyes played the same position as Rosicky, Rosicky replaced Reyes every time, so the relationship between the two must not be much better.

Thinking of this, Ferguson made his own adjustments to the team's second half. First of all, it is necessary to strengthen the defensive strength of the midfield.

Originally, the central midfielders O'Shea and Scholes who started this game are both offensive and defensive talents, but they are still stretched. Now, Ferguson is considering adding another person to defend Reyes.

He set his sights on the roster for the game at hand.The substitutes were warming up outside, and there was no one else in the locker room except for the eleven starters, and he had to find players who could be replaced from here.

Ferguson directly set his sights on the defensive midfielder. To be honest, Manchester United's midfield is still the weakest link. Only Park Ji-sung and Carrick are barely available.But Park Ji-sung is injured, and Carrick consumed too much in the last game, so I'm afraid it will be compromised!

I can only find a way from the players on the field!At this time, Ferguson saw Rooney who was resting, and suddenly had an idea in his mind.

He called Rooney and Fletcher over.

"In the second half, we will play five midfielders. Wayne, you retreat to the right midfielder position, and Darren, you return to the midfielder to help defend!"

"Okay, boss!" Rooney nodded. As a world-class striker, Rooney has excellent tactical execution. Although he is a striker, he never complains when he does dirty work.

This makes Ferguson appreciate him very much.

"Darren, when you reach the midfield, pay attention to cutting off the small-distance cooperation of Arsenal's frontcourt players. If you really can't defend, let go of the line of Reyes and Rosicky, and only allow the pass to appear between them. Between the two, in Arsenal's tactical system, the positions of Reyes and Rosicky overlap...do you understand?"

"I understand!" Facing the "wink" thrown by Ferguson, Fletcher understood it very well: let these two people who are uncomfortable with each other increase, and there may be unexpected gains!
In the Arsenal dressing room, there were laughter and laughter.

In the first half with Manchester United, not only the score was ahead by one goal, but the scene was not inferior.This makes the Arsenal players very excited to chat.Speaking of their respective performances on the court, they can only be described as elated and dancing.

Torres patted Reyes and Cesc Fabregas on the shoulders and said happily: "It's done! It's done!"

"You did a good job, gentlemen!" Wenger's voice sounded, reminding everyone to quiet down.

"We're going to do the same in the second half. I want you to remember that it's not safe to lead by one goal. This is Old Trafford, Ferguson's home ground! We don't care what Manchester United do in the second half, we continue to play ours in the second half. Football! Antonio, can you still see your wonderful double-double in the second half?" Wenger asked with a smile.

"I want to practice five people!" Reyes stretched out a palm and said confidently.

"I'll make room for you!" A voice sounded abruptly, it was Rosicky on the other side.

The locker room was suddenly quiet for two seconds, and everyone was a little dazed for a while.Everyone knows that Rosicky and Reyes are in a competitive relationship, so the relationship between the two can be regarded as good or bad, but no one will believe it if they really say it is good enough to make a fool of each other.It would be appropriate if the words came from Torres' mouth.But then again, with the degree of friendship between the two of Torrey, this kind of talk has long been "unspoken", right?
So why did Rosicky say that? To please?throw in the towel?
It doesn't seem to be!
In fact, Rosicky's thoughts changed after that one-shot miss.To be honest, before I came to Arsenal, I did have a sense of arrogance in my heart, but after seeing Reyes' performance, he knew that it might be difficult for him to compete, at least it would take a long time.Since he is preparing to fight for a long time, Reyes, who has the right time, place and people, must have an advantage over himself, so he wants to turn this competition into a healthy competition.

Reyes read such a meaning from Rosicky's eyes: come to compete, just look at individual performance!
Rosicky doesn't really want to present flowers for his competitors, but creating opportunities for his teammates is also a kind of "competitive performance". If the ball hits a counterattack, isn't that a failure in the competition?So this is not flattering or admitting defeat, but a "declaration of war" on another level. Reyes happened to understand Rosicky's idea.

Alright, then let's have a real fight with swords and guns. Everyone should show their "talents", and no one should drag the other party down.

Reyes and Rosicky bumped their fists in the air!
(End of this chapter)