Array football

Chapter 39 Big move
July 4, the day of the game.

Although he had already stepped on the field at Anfield the first day, Duncan was still taken aback.

Outside the bus, the streets are full of Liverpool's red jerseys, red scarves, and red slogans.At a glance, the red sea of ​​people can't see the edge.

Not only the number, but even the age, the span of Liverpool fans is very large.There are three or four-year-old lolita with the Red Army emblem on their faces, young people waving banners, and fat middle-aged people with rosacea.

Duncan even saw an old man in his 60s among the crowd, bringing his whole family to watch the game.The whole family wears uniforms of the Red Army, but they are different: the old man wears the 80s style of the last century, the son wears the 90s style, and the grandson wears the latest style this year.

A family of Red Army loyalists...

Britain is the birthplace of modern football, and many teams have existed for more than a hundred years.There are many fans who were originally fans of a certain team, and they will pass on this love for the team to their children, and the children will pass it on to their children.

So many fans are hereditary fans of many generations.

These fans are extremely loyal to the team. Even if the team is downgraded and downgraded, or even becomes an amateur team, the fans will continue their love without hesitation.

This is the bottom line...

This, as a native of Manchester, Duncan can understand.

Because of Manchester City, there are many such fans.

From a global perspective, Manchester United is indeed the most famous club with the most honors and the widest influence, but narrowing the scope to Manchester City, in terms of the number of fans, Manchester City has far more fans than Manchester United.

Because Manchester City was originally the only owner of Manchester, and later Manchester United struggled in Newton Heath, so they bought Manchester City players and came to Manchester to compete with Manchester United for territory.So for Manchester United, a considerable part of Manchester people have a considerable degree of rejection.

For diehards, Duncan must maintain respect.

Of course, whether Liverpool fans also respect Duncan is another matter.

Among the fiery Red Army fans, the blue bus of Manchester City is so conspicuous.

Some radical Liverpool fans were very dissatisfied with Duncan's arrogant remarks. They gathered around the Manchester City bus, spitting all kinds of obscenities, banging on the bus, and pointing at Duncan.

The attitude was very unfriendly, obviously aimed at Duncan.

Sitting next to Duncan, Diop's face was not very good. Compared with the experience of the Liverpool fans who went to Fulham last time, the Fulham fans were too docile.

"These fans are so enthusiastic." Duncan looked at the fans outside the stadium, smiled, and then... applauded.

Applauding to the fans of the home team is a blatant provocation.

"Boom..." The radical fans outside the bus rushed up like a tide.All kinds of swear words can be heard clearly even through the glass.

"Security! Security!" Diop was so frightened that his face was as pale as paper, and he wanted to jump out of the car and escape immediately.

But fortunately, the bus turned a corner and entered the underground parking lot of Anfield Stadium. The vigilant security personnel kept the excited fans out.

Enter the locker room, change clothes, warm up, and go back to the locker room.

In a blink of an eye, it was before the game.

"Before the game, I have already let go of the big talk, and everyone will not let me lose face?" Duncan asked with a smile.

"Of course not, boss!" Everyone replied with a bang.

"I think the halftime is too long, just half an hour." Trabelsi boasted.

"Everyone is very confident, what if we lose?" Duncan asked.

"With the boss around, how could it be possible to lose?" Samaras also stood up.

"Everyone is very confident!" Duncan nodded.

Barton in the corner was very surprised. He didn't expect that the young Duncan had established the prestige in the locker room in such a short period of time.

Especially the main players such as Trabelsi and Samaras, they also fully support Duncan.

In Barton's heart, his recognition of Duncan increased a bit.

The team has won consecutive games recently, and the atmosphere in the team is also quite good.Although everyone was joking at this time, Duncan knew that no one would underestimate Liverpool.

For Manchester City now, Liverpool is a giant.It's too late to pay attention, so how can you underestimate it?

The specific tactics have actually been practiced recently; the night before, it was conveyed again, so what we need to do now is to let everyone relax and play.

Duncan is very satisfied with the state of the players.

"Are you ready?" Duncan looked towards a certain direction in the locker room.

"No problem at all!" Barton stood up, his knuckles cracking.

"Don't be too gentle with the Jie team, don't give me face." Duncan said.

"That's necessary, boss, just watch it." Barton smiled ferociously.

The pre-match preparations are over and everyone leaves the locker room.The coaches and substitute players entered the field first and sat on the bench, while the starters stood in the tunnel, ready to appear.

Diop walked in the team, his face was a little ugly.In fact, Diop knew it from the announcement of the starting lineup last night.

He was deceived!

Diop clearly remembered that in the tactical preparation meeting against Liverpool, Duncan himself said that Barton would not start.

For this reason, he also specially revealed it to his good friend Jonny.

In Diop's view, now that the team's performance is stable, his little thoughts have risen again.

But now Button has appeared in the starting list. What's going on?

Diop looked at the others, and the team doctor Ginobili was at the end. Although Ginobili is the team doctor, he is also a member of the coaching staff, so he has the right to participate in the coaching staff meeting.

"Hey, Ginobili." Diop deliberately took two steps slowly and landed next to Ginobili: "Button hasn't played an official game for a month, and he started such an important game. Is his condition guaranteed?"

Diop was smart enough not to ask directly, but to insinuate.

"The old injury has recurred and we need to rest for a few days, so we can only send Button." Ginobili shrugged.Barton came on, replaced by Dubbo.

"Really?" Diop wondered.

"Really!" Ginobili said sincerely.

"Okay." Diop was dubious and reluctantly accepted.

But when he got to the bench, Diop looked left and right, but he couldn't tell that Dabo was injured.

Sensing Diop's attention, Dabo smiled at Diop and turned his head back.

On the field, players from both sides have entered the field, and the majestic national anthem of the British Empire is being played.

After the national anthem was played, the on-site host began to announce the start of the two sides.

Seeing Gerrard in Liverpool's starting line-up, Duncan smiled.

On the other side, when Benitez saw Barton among the starters, he clicked, and the four words came to the bottom of his heart.

Soldiers never tire of cheating...

Dry!
I rub!

Too shameless!
10 minutes into the game, Benitez sat there, a series of swear words came to his mouth, and he forcibly pressed them down.

With that appearance, he looked like an honest man who had been cheated out of his wife.

On the other side, Duncan is naturally wearing sunglasses and a cool outfit.Although the sunglasses blocked Duncan's expression, the corners of Duncan's mouth turned up, betraying his thoughts.

Contrary to the expressions of the two head coaches, the situation on the field is one-sided.

Liverpool attack, Manchester City defend.

It's one-sided, but it's still giving Manchester City face.

Manchester City's current performance is like that in a street fight, the victim squatting in the corner, holding his head in his hands, and shouting "Don't slap your face".

They are here to be beaten!

That's right, Duncan played Benitez once. In the war of words before the game, Duncan opened his mouth and said that he would settle the battle at halftime.But when it came to the game, Duncan played defense resolutely.

"Wow, it seems that Duncan's aggressive attack declaration before the game is so suspicious. Manchester City put on a defensive posture as soon as they came up, and had no intention of attacking at all. Liverpool believed it was true, and they sent Jay Ladd. I don’t know how Benitez, who was duped, thinks now?”

Benitez is of course very depressed. In the previous few days of training, although the possibility of Manchester City's suspicious formation was not ruled out, their targeted tactics still focused on defending Manchester City's offense, especially against Samaras and Mi. Much defense.

Needless to say, Samaras scored seven goals in five games; Mido even scored twice in the last game.

In this game, Samaras and Mido did play, but so far, the two have not crossed the midfield line yet.

After 10 minutes of the game, Liverpool had a six-footed goal, and the ball possession rate even reached more than 80%.

Manchester City's possession rate is less than 20%, of which Isaacson's kicking time accounts for more than half.

On the pitch, all Manchester City players retreated within 30 meters of the backcourt, and there were 10 people standing in front of the gate.

The No.11 person is Button. At this time, Button is sticking to Gerrard like a cowhide plaster.

"Go away!" Gerrard opened Button's hand that was pulling his jersey, and stared.

"Don't drive me away." Barton stuck closer.

"Referee!" Gerrard raised his hand.

When the referee looked over, Barton had already spread his hands, pure as a lamb in spring.

When the referee was out of sight, Barton posted it again.

Although in terms of ability, Barton is worse than Gerrard, but the ubiquitous small moves and defense without loopholes make Gerrard very uncomfortable.

Barton's task in this game is to restrain Gerrard.Another midfielder, Mido, is responsible for assisting defense and blocking Gerrard's pass.

And most importantly, Barton and Mido were used by Duncan in the two dragons out of the water formation.

The other two dragons out of the water formation was used on the double central defenders Richards and Mills.In the pre-match training, the main central defender Dunn collided with his teammates and sprained his knee, so Mills started this game instead of Dunn.

Barton served as the captain of the game.

With Captain Button's close defense and Mido's sideline defense, Gerrard was like a bird in a cage.

Although other Liverpool players tried their best to establish a relationship with the captain, the effect was not very good.With the body protection of the two dragons out of the water, Barton has shown an amazing ability to predict, always one step ahead of time, and destroy it with his feet.

It's fast and clean!

Sometimes Gerrard retreats to get the ball and wants to pass the ball, but Button's midfield partner, Mido, can always appear on Gerrard's passing route.

Once or twice is enough, but after three or four times, Gerrard also went crazy: Do you want to do this?
Every time it is such an accurate defense, it makes Gerrard miserable!

"Gerrard is undoubtedly the focus of Manchester City's defense. To defend him is to defend Liverpool! Judging from the opening few minutes, Manchester City's defense against Gerrard is simply excellent! Barton, who focuses on defense, is steady, accurate and fighting spirit High-spirited, even reminds me of Manchester United's Hargreaves!"

The fans at home were even more silent.

Their leader was guarded and confined to death.

If I could use one word to describe it, it would be embarrassing!
How can this be?

Gerrard is one of the best midfielders in the world, how could he be forced into such a mess by a random person in a small club like Manchester City?

Not scientific!

In the KOP stands, the fans of the Red Army showed disbelief in their eyes. Even when encountering top defenders like Makelele, the omnipotent Jie team has never been so embarrassed, right?
On the court, the Jie team, who was already tough-looking, twisted their forehead lines together.

"Since when have you been able to defend like this, boy?" Gerrard was helpless. He and Button were no strangers. They were teammates of the national team and their positions on the field overlapped, so they were not strangers.In Gerrard's impression, Barton's defense relied more on his strong body and fierce movements.If we really want to talk about consciousness and anticipation ability, Team Jie can only hehe.

But in this game, Button was not only physically, but also conscious, which brought Button's overall defensive ability to a higher level.

"Are you scared?" Barton grinned grimly: "Hurry up and prepare for the Champions League. I bought it and you will score goals!"

"I bought it too." Gerald said.

"Oh?"

"But I bought it for this game!" Gerrard said, suddenly turned around to catch the ball, and then shot hard.

Isaacson concentrated and threw out with one hand.

"I missed someone!" Isaacson clapped his hands dissatisfied.

"My fault!" Barton quickly raised his hand. Gerald was too cunning to distract himself with words.

"You won't have another chance!" Barton stuck to Gerrard again.

The two got entangled again.

On the sidelines, Duncan muttered in a low voice, "Barton, you must guard against it!"
Before the start of the game, the array system issued another mission.

System task: "Tough defense", in the first half of the game, Liverpool won't score!Reward: New Formation: Four Elephant Formation!Activation condition: Array system level 3.

Four-element array?

Duncan was ecstatic in his heart. After waiting for a long time, the second formation finally appeared!

Four-element formation: According to the innate gossip, the formation is set according to the directions of the five elements of east, south, west, north and middle. The four players move their feet in circles according to the changes of the directions. One advances and the other retreats, and the offensive continues!
Although it is very obscure, but according to Duncan's one-night research, he also has some experience.

This "four-element formation" is a pure offensive formation. As the name suggests, the four-element formation can be used on four players.The effect of the formation should be similar to Barcelona's "no front tactics" in the 2011 Club World Cup.

The four players are constantly interspersed in the frontcourt, and each player has no fixed position. Through continuous large-scale running and passing and cutting cooperation, they tear apart the opponent's defense.Everyone is not a traditional striker, but everyone can shoot!
This kind of tiki-taka tactic is what Barcelona's "Dream Team Three" later became the "Cosmic Team" of Weizhen Huanyu.

Although the "Dream Team [-]" led by Ronaldinho is also impressive, but until the formation of the "Dream Team [-]" featuring tiki-taka, Barcelona was not called the Cosmic Team.Their tactics centered on ball possession tactics have made teams all over the world panic.

Although the whole world knows that this tactic is awesome, except for the Spanish national team, no team in the world can successfully transplant Barcelona's tiki-taka.

The tiki-taka of the Spanish national team was achieved because they had 7 Barcelona players in their starting lineup.

The reason is that the realization of tiki-taka requires very strict conditions. It requires a combination of excellent tacit understanding, strong tactical literacy, and extremely fast speed.

Otherwise, no matter how good you are, you won't be able to blend in. Henry and Ibrahimovic are two examples.

Both Henry and Ibrahimovic have proven to be one of the best strikers in the world, but under Barcelona's tactical system, there are varying degrees of incompatibility.

Without the kind of tacit understanding established since childhood that exists even with eyes closed, trying to imitate tiki-taka will make you look like a tiger instead of an anti-dog.

However, the emergence of the "Four-Elephant Formation" made Duncan see the dawn of tiki-taka.The existence of the formation forced tacit understanding into the players, making tiki-taka possible in Manchester City.

And the content of this task is to keep Liverpool clean in the first half.

If you want to seal Liverpool, then you must freeze Gerrard, the core of Liverpool, and not give Gerrard any chance!

So Barton's responsibility is very important.Of course, it is also necessary to prevent the sudden outbreak of other Liverpool players!

Duncan stood up suddenly and walked to the sidelines.

"Miduo! Don't stand still, kid! Hurry up and grab the ball!!"

"Coach, the ball is in our hands now!" Mi Duo's face was dark. Do you want me to grab my own ball?
"Oh, keep going, I'm practicing my voice."

In the previous game, Duncan has been sitting and commanding, never standing up.

So when Duncan stood up, the commentator was not calm at first.

"Wow! What did we see! What an amazing scene! Duncan actually stood up!" The commentator, who had been tedious in explaining because of the boring game, suddenly raised his voice.

To the ears of those who don't know, these words sound like decades of paralysis, cured by a magical prescription from an old military doctor, and then he lost his voice.

Perhaps aware of the ambiguity in the words, the commentator immediately explained: "In the previous games, Duncan has been sitting and directing. This is the first time he has stood up since he coached six games!"

Not only the commentator, but even on the sidelines, there were two cameras aimed at Duncan at the same time.

On the big screen at the scene, the image of Duncan even appeared.Once this shot was given, it was a full 20 seconds.

It can be seen how surprised the live director was.

Not only the director, but even the fans watching the game, after seeing Duncan stand up on the big screen at the scene, there was a huge, buzzing discussion.

"Are you going to zoom in?"

Some fans sitting on the upper floors even stretched their necks and glanced at the sidelines.

Benitez also glanced at Duncan. This young head coach seemed to have jumped out of a crack in the rock, and suddenly became the hottest topic in the Premier League.

In the reporter media area on one side, those long guns and short cannons seemed to have received instructions, and turned at the same time, and then turned on countless dog-eyed flashes!

"Kacha Kacha", the shutter sounded!
Incredible!

Big news!

Duncan actually stood on the sidelines and directed!
Does the sun really rise in the west?

Counting this, Duncan has coached Manchester City for six games.In these six games, whether it was offense or defense, whether it was leading or falling behind, Duncan sat firmly on the Diaoyutai in every game, with a calm and unchanging attitude.

For this reason, although the five-game winning streak has made most of the media have a positive attitude towards Duncan's ability, there are always a group of people who talk about Duncan's "indifference".

This is also the most powerful evidence for the "lucky coach said".

But in the sixth game, against Liverpool, Duncan stood up and commanded!
"He seems to be communicating with Mido. What exactly is he talking about? Go forward? Concentrate? Don't be distracted? Have a drink after kicking?" The commentator became even more curious about the purpose of Duncan standing up for the first time. He even made a guest appearance as a lip-speaking expert to study Duncan.

In fact, although the commentators are full of passion, they will not be surprised.It's just that the contrast between Duncan's previous calmness and his current performance is too great.

Commentators, reporters, on-site cameras on and off the field...

At this moment, Duncan's sense of presence instantly killed 22 players on the field.

Even the players on the field felt that there was something different, and followed everyone's gazes, looking at Duncan one after another.

"Look at the wool! Are you as handsome as me? Hurry up and compete!" After speaking, Duncan turned around and sat back on the bench.

"What's the boss' order?" Taking advantage of the dead ball, Barton ran over, rolled up the captain's armband, and asked Mido.

"The boss said...he wanted me to grab the ball..." Miduo said, but he wasn't sure either.

"Steal the ball? Do you mean to strengthen the defense?" Barton imagined, still wearing the captain's armband: "This armband is a bit loose."

"Probably so." Mido's eyes wandered.Let Mi Duo say that the head coach's appearance just now does not seem to be arranging tactics, it is simply a snake mental illness!
"I see, thank you!" Barton patted Mido on the shoulder, and went to his teammates one by one to convey the "central instructions".

Mi Duo looked confused: Thank me for what?Did I say something?
Mido is not the only one who is confused, Liverpool's players are also confused: Manchester City is going to make a big move?
Even more confused than Liverpool players is Liverpool coach Benitez.

He sat not far away and could hear Duncan's words, so he was even more confused.

However, there was a war of words before the game, and Benitez had to guard against it, so he also carefully speculated on Duncan's words.

"If you are purely defending, you don't need the ball. Duncan wants players to grab the ball, so he must counterattack!" Thinking of this, Benitez looked up and looked at the positions of his players.

Sure enough, the mad attack couldn't stop, and the two full-backs and midfielder Alonso both crossed the half-court.

There is a lot of space!
So Benitez also walked to the sidelines and called Alonso's name, asking him to lead the team back and pay attention to defense.

In a Liverpool team, if Gerrard is the leader and guides the way, then Xabi Alonso is the helm and the rhythm.The division of labor and cooperation between the two made Liverpool move in the right direction.

After receiving the instructions from the head coach, Alonso immediately ordered Liverpool to shrink, and the formation that had been aggressively pressing down retreated a lot.Liverpool's offensive is correspondingly weaker.

Manchester City's defensive pressure suddenly decreased a lot.

"What's going on, why is Liverpool's offensive suddenly weak?" Richards and Mills looked at each other, a little puzzled.In the first half, the pressure on the pair of central defenders was great. The striker combination of Bellamy and Crouch, one high and one fast, made Manchester City's double central defenders almost breathless.

If it weren't for the help of the Erlong Chushui formation, Manchester City's goal would have already fallen.

Liverpool lowered their offensive, while Manchester City players still carried out Duncan's "full defense" signal, so the situation on the field suddenly became stalemate.

Liverpool is attacking cautiously, Manchester City simply does not attack.

Unknowingly, 30 minutes passed in the first half.

Liverpool's contraction did give Manchester City some opportunities to attack, but in the attack, Manchester City was very stingy in deploying troops.Even once, after Samaras intercepted the ball in the frontcourt, because no one in his team got in, Samaras forced himself to protect the ball, and under the close contact of three Liverpool players, he completed a shot.

Such an attack can only be described as harassment, and for Liverpool, which has already made full preparations, it will definitely not cause any waves.

Now that the opponent is defending, we don't need to be so conservative!

As the midfield commander, Alonso naturally has full tactical freedom.Although the coach said to defend, Alonso can make his own judgment based on the situation on the field.

To attack!Alonso has made his decision!

If you want to attack, you must grasp the breakthrough point, and the middle road obviously cannot open the situation.From the first half to now, Manchester City's two midfielders have successfully defended Gerrard, and Alonso couldn't find a passing line.

Since the middle road cannot be opened, it is natural to make a fuss from the side road.

In this game, Liverpool deployed the speedy combination of Pennant and Kewell on the wing, with the intention of breaking the deadlock with speed.This also provides Liverpool with richer routines when they can't start the situation in the middle.

After carefully analyzing the situation on the field, Alonso suddenly made more long passes to the two sides.

Manchester City's two full-backs, the pressure increased sharply.

The left back Trabelsi is okay. He was originally bought by Manchester City to play as a central defender and has a strong defensive ability.Even if you fight for speed, you won't be weaker than Mark Gonzalez.

But on the right back Thatcher's side, facing Liverpool's left midfielder Kewell, it was a bit difficult to defend.

With Thatcher's ability, he can barely play against an average team.But if you encounter a slightly better wing player, the weakness of slow speed will be fully exposed.

Whether it is speed or defensive ability, Kewell has stabilized Thatcher.

In just 5 minutes, Thatcher's side was successfully broken by Kewell three times!

Kewell is an Australian international, characterized by fast speed and strong dribbling ability.But he is not an inside shooter like Robben. Kewell is more like a traditional winger who likes to break through and pass.

For a while, the air defense sirens were sounded frequently in the restricted area of ​​Manchester City!
In defense, a central defender with accurate judgment and excellent jumping ability is a must.

From this point of view, Richards' height of 181cm is sufficient, his body is strong, and his jumping is not bad.Although the defensive awareness is flawed, but with the help of Erlong Chushuizhen, it made up for Richards' deficiencies in defensive ability, allowing Richards' defensive ability to leap to a quasi-first-class level.

There are even rumors that the head coach of the England national team has also noticed the recent outstanding performance of this Manchester City youth training product, and intends to recruit him into the national team in the recent warm-up match.

But this game, the quasi-first-class Richards, obviously met his opponent.

His opponent is Crouch, who is 2 meters tall.

The height difference of 20 centimeters is enough to make Crouch kill Richards in seconds, and it is enough to make any god-level predictive ability a joke.

Crouch in the penalty area is as conspicuous as a lighthouse in the dark.

That's exactly what happened!
Although Richards can predict the landing point, he rarely grabs the ball in front of Crouch's overwhelming height.

But God is fair, he gave Crouch a good height, but gave him better foot skills.

That's right, Crouch, who is 2 meters tall, has a thin body and insufficient waist and abdomen strength. Although he can grab a header, it is difficult to hit a powerful header.

But Crouch loves to use his feet to control the ball and protect the ball. With a height of 2 meters, he is completely blind's glasses and deaf ears-a decoration.

Crouch is confident in his technique at his feet, definitely surpassing his header.

Of the 13 goals scored by Crouch this season, only 3 were headers, and the remaining [-] goals were all scored with his feet.

On January 2007, 1, in the league game against Bolton, Crouch even shocked the Premier League with an earth-shattering barb shot.

A tall man of 2 meters can actually stage such a crazy barb?

While shocked by Crouch's excellent foot skills, countless people lamented that Crouch was so tall, but did not take advantage of it: Bai grew up so big!

Of course, poor header ability does not mean that Crouch will not take advantage of his height, he can create opportunities for his teammates by ferrying.

At this time, the elusive Bellamy became Manchester City's most troublesome figure.

(End of this chapter)