Chapter 361 Someone is helping me defend, I will participate more in the offense!
Yep, football games don’t always involve defense.
Seeing Xia Xing being praised as a defensive genius by his teammates, Pogba felt a little unhappy again.
And he did show his strength with actions.
In the mismatch, Pogba made several long passes in succession, showing his world-class passing ability.
Relying on the sudden forward shot with strong impact, he also scored two wonderful blasts.
The team's second goalkeeper, Romero, was unable to do anything.
That would deny the strength of France’s talented midfielder!
Compared with Pogba, Xia Xing's passes are much less.
He does not deny more organizational control and focuses on participating in defense.
That made Pogba even more proud.
However, his pride did not last long...
At the beginning of August, Manchester United arranged four friendly matches.
The wrong legs include Wigan Athletic, Borussia Dortmund, Galatasaray and Everton.
Several teams have different strengths, and Mourinho plans to test several new tactical arrangements of his own.
In training matches outside the team, Mourinho has determined some starting personnel choices.
Mourinho initially decided on a 4-3-3 formation.
With the striker there, the center will naturally be able to take the lead. Ibrahimovic's current strength is still not at the world's top level.
Behind him, shadow striker Wayne Rooney and the Manchester United captain went up front to link up.
Behind him, the combination of Fu Xiaxing, Pogba and Carrick, alternating between old and new, is excellent both offensively and defensively.
Goalkeeper De Gea is one of the strongest goalkeepers in world football.
Those few players are the absolute main players, and others need to be adjusted.
Such as wingers, such as full-backs.
It is very likely that veterans Rooney, Carrick and Ibrahimovic will not be able to persist in all the games throughout the season and must fight frequently.
The players who are looking for breakthroughs also need to be adjusted, and their merits must be determined.
There is not a big gap in strength between the Manchester United players in Dangdong, so the choice is not easy and needs to be determined through training and games.
In the first game, Mourinho sent a lineup dominated by veterans.
The striker is Ibrahimovic, and beside him are Rooney and Mata.
Behind him are Xia Xing, Pogba and Carrick.
The back four is Ashley Young, Smalling, Blind, Valencia.
Goalkeeper De Gea.
Facing Wigan Athletic, Manchester United has a huge strength advantage.
In the 2012-2013 season, Wigan Athletic was previously relegated from the Premier League.
In the 2014-2015 season, they were relegated from the Championship.
During the season, they finished first in League One and returned to the Championship.
They invested a lot that season and expected to return to the Premier League.
For Manchester United, that warm-up match was just a small test of their abilities. Trial and error is allowed.
Throughout the game, Manchester United naturally had an absolute advantage.
Previously, they also won 2-0 and got a good start in the friendly match.
Mourinho was not very satisfied with that game.
The team's offensive frequency is not small, but the efficiency is not high.
Especially the cooperation between the midfield and the frontcourt requires continued running-in.
In that game, Xia Xing retreated appropriately to protect Carrick and Pogba, playing as a pure defensive midfielder.
Carrick serves more as the team's metronome and organizes long passes.
In that way, Pogba took over the responsibility of attacking in the midfield.
Several shots were very threatening, and the passing and movement also showed great overall vision.
His short passing ability is average, and his running ability with the ball is not top-notch.
Even if he faced a mistake like Wigan Athletic's, he still couldn't create scoring opportunities through his personal ability.
But he really likes to press forward with the ball.
He has Kaka's drive but not Kaka's dribbling skills.
Moreover, we missed the ball twice, which almost caused a disaster.
Fortunately, Xia Xing was behind him to cover up the ball and the ball was passed to the east, so there was no problem.
In the past, relying on Rooney's long shot and Ibrahimovic's header, Manchester United easily won the wrong leg.
It was so difficult to play against a team that plays in League One during the season. Mourinho was a little unhappy in the locker room after the game.
But he didn't get angry. After all, when he first came to the team, he had private conversations with several players.
In the second game, he replaced most of the players, especially the midfield and frontcourt.
The center forward is Rooney, with Rashford and Martial on the wings.
Midfielder Xia Xing, Pogba and Mkhitaryan.
That kind of attacking combination is much younger.
Facing Dortmund, Manchester United went all out to attack.
In that game, Mourinho planned to test his offensive capabilities.
It's a pity that the team played poorly in the half.
1 to 3, that was the score at halftime.
Manchester United fell behind.
Mourinho looked unhappy.
Manchester United's offensive players are very active, but they are slow to return to defense.
And the control of the midfield is also very poor.
The three players in the frontcourt were very close together, and Pogba and Mkhitaryan in the midfield were also actively attacking.
In that situation, they often go back to their defensive strength.
Although Xia Xing's defense covers a large area, it is still unable to support itself.
Dortmund's quick attack was very effective. With three passes and two passes, it tore apart Manchester United's defense and scored a goal.
During the halftime break, Mourinho made extensive adjustments.
He directly traded Rooney, Xiamar and Pogba for Fellaini, Lingard and Herrera.
At this time, the forward line became Rashford in the center, with Lingard and Mkhitaryan playing as wingers.
Xia Xing's midfield partners have also become Fellaini and Herrera.
In the players tunnel, Mourinho found Xia Xing alone to talk.
"Xia, he felt that my previous contribution to the offense was too small."
"Well, that's true."
"Why?"
"My teammates are very aggressive, and the team always has to have someone to defend them."
"Um……"
"Um."
"Someone helped me defend in the east half, so I participated more in the offense! He wanted to see what my offensive capabilities were like in that Manchester United team."
"good!"
Xia Xing's words were very clear, and Mourinho was also very clear in his heart.
But now he doesn't want to easily dampen Pogba's offensive enthusiasm.
Among the summer signings, Pogba is the only player Mourinho has not proposed to introduce.
The club has been paying attention to Pogba for a long time and has been in contact with his agent Mino Raiola.
After Mourinho joined the team, the management did not make any other requests and could not satisfy him as much as possible.
The only suggestion was to ask Mourinho for his opinion on whether to introduce Pogba.
Mourinho made no mistake.
Pogba is indeed a good player, and he is very helpful to Manchester United's commercial brand.
And the club has been talking about it for a long time, but because of his coaching, that work has failed?
It's not appropriate or feasible.
So Mourinho agreed without hesitation.
Mourinho has always disliked Pogba's dislike of returning to defense.
But there is no other way, the team needs talents like Pogba, and he must try his best to make full use of his strengths and avoid weaknesses.
During training, he begged Pogba to participate more in defense, and Pogba agreed.
But whether on the court, sometimes Pogba has difficulty controlling his offense and desire for performance.
Now, he simply traded for Pogba.
That's normal in friendly matches.
In the east half, the responsibility of organizing the team's offense rests with Xia Xing!
(End of chapter)
This chapter has been completed!