Barcelona is indeed very strong. Their offense suppressed Manchester United, leaving them with no choice but to defend and no room to attack. On this planet, only Barcelona can force the mighty Manchester United into such a situation. If it had been another team, who wouldn't have been pushed to the ground and beaten wildly by Manchester United?
Of course, this is also because Ferguson planned to shrink the Manchester United team. If Manchester United really concentrates on attacking, even Barcelona will be at best on par with Manchester United.
But Manchester United's overall defense is worthy of being called the strongest in today's football. Barcelona's offense was so loud that it couldn't break the defense at all.
Messi is indeed great, but no matter how great he is, he is just one person. In the Copa del Rey against Getafe, he defeated five people to repeat Maradona's classic goal, but it was just because Getafe's defense was too deep. , allowing Messi to pass one after another calmly. Manchester United will not be stupid enough to stretch the defense back and forth to create opportunities for Messi to pass several people in a row.
Compressing the defense as much as possible, Fletcher follows Messi every step of the way, with one or two people protecting him on the flanks at any time. If Messi plans to single-handedly challenge Manchester United's entire defense, let him stand behind this thick "sigh" He hit the wall and was shattered to pieces.
If he is smart and does not have the delusion of defeating the entire opponent's team by himself, then Manchester United's overall defense is not just for Messi alone.
In the first half, the two sides calmed down after a period of fierce confrontation, and the game returned to the track that Ferguson is most familiar with and good at.
No one can do anything about it, the score is 0:0. The referee blew the whistle to end the first half.
As soon as the whistle sounded, Ferguson stood up and left the coaching bench. In front of the TV cameras, his face was expressionless, making it impossible to guess what his mood was at this moment.
"In the home game, there was no goal in the first half, and it was still 0:0. Is Ferguson satisfied or dissatisfied?"
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At the beginning, the Manchester United dressing room was noisy, everyone was busy resting or listening to music to relax. When Ferguson stood up from the corner, it was soon but quiet again.
"In the first halfI won't say nonsense. The problem we have to solve now is not how to defend Barcelona's offense, but how to score their goals."
When he said this, he turned to look at Cambiaso.
Some people followed his gaze and turned back.
"Esteban, is it a little difficult for you to attack and defend at the same time?" Ferguson asked with a smile.
Cambiaso shook his head and said: "It's okay."
¡°It¡¯s okay?¡± Ferguson glared at him, ¡°What does okay mean? Is it barely okay, or is it comfortable?¡±
"Well" Cambiaso thought for a while, "When I come back to defend, I may miss some opportunities because I am in the backcourt. The restit's nothing."
"Pass the ball more, idiot." Ferguson pointed at him. "You ran back and forth like a shuttle in the first half. I even doubt whether you had the extra energy and time to look up and look around. The midfield organizer is not You can do it if you have endless physical strength. You have to observe the situation on the field, look at the movements of teammates and opponents, and then decide how to deal with this attack The midfield organizer does not rely on physical strength, but on the brain. "
Although the tone of Ferguson's criticism was not harsh, he let everyone know that he was indeed criticizing Cambiaso and not joking.
Cambiasso nodded. He also felt that he was basically exhausted in the first half of the first half. How to organize an attack? This question never lingered in his mind. He would wait until he got the ball before looking up for a passing route. If there was a chance, he would pass it. If there was no chance, he would dribble the ball himself. He rarely thinks like Scholes, so so far, most of his passes have been passed directly to the feet of his teammates rather than to the open spaces in front of them.
This kind of ball is not easy to make mistakes, but it doesn't create many good opportunities. You know, basically the attacks that can pose a threat are all penetrating passes like this. Always passing to fixed feet will force the offensive rhythm to stop. At that time, as long as the opponent's defense line is in a good position, it can easily prevent an attack.
In the second half, he doesn¡¯t have to run back and forth so much, but he needs to devote more energy to defense, because Manchester United implements defensive counterattacks. How can we counterattack if we don¡¯t defend? Cambiasso himself is the core of the midfield defense. He is really not used to the way that when the opponent attacks, he watches and waits for his teammates to grab the ball and then gives it to him to organize the offense
¡°Also, although we are defensive and counterattack, defense is very important, but if we only defend without counterattack, we will become?Completely defended. "Ferguson still had no intention of letting Cambiaso go, and he made his own criticisms about Cambiaso's defensive problems.
"You have been a defensive midfielder for too long, Esteban. Active defense is a good thing, but think about your own mission first. What are you here for?" He looked at Cambiaso and asked.
Cambiaso replied: "Organize an attack."
"It seems that you haven't run confused yet. If you keep running to the side, how can you organize an attack? In the end, you are just a person, not a monster that can be killed at any time."
"Then what should I do?" Cambiaso asked.
Ferguson looked at the other people in the locker room. Some of them were listening intently to the conversation between him and Cambiaso, some were closing their eyes and concentrating, and some were simply listening to music.
He coughed and then said to Cambiaso: "It's simple, trust your teammates."
Cambiasso turned around and looked around, and he found that many teammates were also looking at him.
"Okay, guys!" Ferguson dropped Cambiaso and slapped his hands hard, making everyone look up at him. "In the second half, we have to score goals. This is not an away game, just get a draw. We can't relax defensively, let me be a little bolder offensively If we lose the ball, I don't want to see turning around and running back. You guys counterattack for me on the spot. If you can steal the ball, attack directly. If you can't steal it, you have to interfere with their progress - you know how to do it."
"The first half of the first half was okay, but in the second half we put too little pressure on Barcelona, ??which is not okay. Work harder in the second half. If those bastards think we don't have the energy to counterattack, give them a good look!"
He punched the palm of his hand.
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On the other side, Rijkaard was writing and drawing on the tactical board. He was telling his men how to break through Manchester United's dense defense.
"Esteban Cambiaso obviously needs to organize the attack. If I were Alex Ferguson, I would not let him continue to focus on defense in the second half. In this way, Manchester United's defense will definitely have holes to exploit. . Their overall defensive formation is maintained very well, and there is no way to break it apart by passing the ball alone. Fletcher is not a threat to you, Leo." He looked at Messi sitting aside.
"In the second half, add more breakthroughs, rush in to find opportunities, and disrupt their defensive formation. The biggest fear of this kind of overall defense is that one or several individuals in the opponent have excellent breakthrough ability."
He tactfully criticized Messi for not being excited enough in the first half.
Indeed, except for the shot that passed three people at the beginning, Messi's performance soon became dull. Some people may speculate that he has just returned from injury and has not yet adjusted to his best condition. But in fact, Messi just lost some interest because of the huge contrast between his previous expectations and the subsequent reality.
After all, how can passing Fletcher compare with the sense of achievement of passing star players like Cambiaso or Cristiano Ronaldo?
Messi also knows where the problem lies, and he has to take it seriously in the second half. Anyway, for whatever reason, it's a good thing for him that Cambiasso isn't guarding him.
??Recently, the media criticized Barcelona for suffering from "Messi dependence syndrome." This issue can be viewed from two aspects. On the one hand, Rijkaard is said to be incompetent, and on the other hand, Messi is praised for being too powerful.
When Barcelona attacks, everyone will try their best to give the ball to this little man, hoping that he will perform miracles.
So since Manchester United doesn¡¯t pay attention to me, I will make you regret it! He clenched his fists.
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After the game restarted in the second half, just like the first half of the first half, Barcelona wanted to score and Manchester United also wanted to score. The two sides started to attack, and the situation changed.
During this period, Manchester United had three opportunities to score, and Barcelona also had two opportunities to attack Manchester United's hinterland. It's a pity that no one was sure of it, but it frightened the two head coaches on the sidelines - no matter which side got a shooting opportunity, the two head coaches would leave their seats. The difference is that Rijkaard only stood up slightly, while Ferguson jumped out of the coaching bench.
After fifteen minutes of exciting confrontation, both Manchester United and Barcelona realized that this confrontation put their own goals in a very dangerous position, as evidenced by the five opportunities that the two sides directly threatened the goal.
So we had a very tacit understanding and at the same time chose to be conservative.
It¡¯s not surprising that Manchester United¡¯s solid defense is in line with their usual style. Barcelona also defended its counterattack, which was incomprehensible.
"Barcelona wants to fight Manchester United's defensive counterattack?" the commentator asked in surprise.
Ferguson is in his seatGet up. He knew why Rijkaard suddenly became conservative again. Because after the confrontation just now, he found that Manchester United's offensive strength is not weak, and being more conservative in key games will help win the victory.
This head coach, who is famous in world football for his artistic football and offensive football, had to succumb to reality and chose a more secure game defense even though his position was unstable. (To be continued.)