On the afternoon of May 14th, Wembley Stadium, London.
FA Cup final, Manchester United vs Manchester City.
The game went as Gao Shen expected. Ferguson was never willing to give up the initiative to Manchester City, so he still adopted the midfield combination of Sneijder, Carrick and Lars Diarra, with Park Ji-sung playing on the left.
But Ferguson did not adopt a high-position pressing tactic in the opening game, but started steadily.
This resulted in Manchester City successfully getting the ball and controlling the rhythm from the beginning of the game.
In terms of overall strength, Manchester City still has a clear advantage.
Just over two minutes into the game, Manchester City created an opportunity on the left. Gareth Bale broke through O'Shea and created a corner kick when he made a pass. Yaya Toure made a long shot from outside the penalty area.
It became the first shot of the game.
After that, Manchester City played steadily and created several opportunities in succession.
Manchester United was relatively passive on the scene, but the defense was very tight and did not give Manchester City a good chance.
This is also Manchester United's biggest bargaining chip.
According to the media's interpretation before the game, Ferguson should tighten the cage, let Manchester City take the initiative to press out and attack, and then wait for opportunities to hit Manchester City behind.
Manchester United seems to be playing the same way.
So every time they attack, Manchester United plays very fast, but after losing the ball in the frontcourt, the midfielder and backfielder retreat even faster.
This forces Manchester City to face a tough battle.
The power of the central defender combination of Vidic and Ferdinand needs no further explanation. It is definitely the best in today's world football.
Although Manchester City conceded fewer goals, the combination of David Luiz and Kompany is more powerful in passing the ball and long passes. When it comes to defense and stability, Manchester City's central defender is really not as good as Manchester United.
Of course, if Gao Shen really wants to change, Gao Shen will definitely not change, because he likes David Luiz and Kompany.
…
Yaya Toure was extremely active from the start.
In addition to taking the first shot of the game, he then took another long shot from 20 meters away.
Later, he once stepped in and headed the ball over the penalty area.
At the eleventh minute, he even started directly at about 40 meters away.
Of course, the quality of this super long shot is very good, but it is a little too high.
"This kid is very excited tonight!" Carlo laughed.
Gao Shen nodded.
Just last night, after the team arrived in London, someone from the hotel delivered a pre-ordered Big Mac cake.
It was specially prepared by Gao Shen to celebrate Yaya Toure's twenty-eighth birthday.
The Ivorian looked very moved and made a wish in front of everyone, saying he wanted to score a goal in today's FA Cup final.
In fact, as early as yesterday afternoon, before the team set off, Yaya Toure had approached Gao Shen. He wanted to start in the Champions League final because he wanted to face Barcelona, but Gao Shen could not give him a definite answer.
Javi Martinez has been very stable throughout the season, and his combination with David Silva and Rakitic is also quite smooth. There is no reason for Gao Shen to take down Javi Martinez in the final and let Ya.
Enter A. Touré.
What does this make the Spanish midfielder think?
It's like Gao Shen can't prevent Yaya Toure from playing in the FA Cup final.
Therefore, Yaya Toure is really playing the FA Cup final like the Champions League final and beating Manchester United like Barcelona.
Of course, Gao Shen promised to create opportunities for him to play as much as possible.
But no one can guarantee this kind of thing.
Just when Gao was thinking deeply, Manchester City once again stole the ball in their own half.
Sneijder wanted to pass the ball to Park Ji-sung, but was intercepted by Zabaleta and the ball was handed to Yaya Toure.
The Ivorian pulled to the right wing, took a step forward after receiving the ball, and saw an opportunity. He directly passed the ball diagonally and sent the ball directly to Manchester United's penalty area in front.
The ball landed on the left side of the top of the arc in the penalty area and then rebounded and fell towards the penalty area.
Van Persie quickly got in between the two central defenders Vidic and Ferdinand, and rushed straight into the penalty area ahead of them.
Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar decisively gave up the goal and the timing was perfect. Almost when Van Persie hit the goal, his left foot touched the ball, and his hands just happened to block it.
The ball hit Van der Sar's hand, bounced high, and fell to the left side of the penalty area.
Van Persie quickly caught up, stopped the ball before Ferdinand, and quickly passed the ball back to Bell on the left side of the penalty area.
I saw the Welshman rushing into Manchester United's penalty area from the left corner. Before Vidic had time to interfere, he stopped the ball and fired a volley with his left foot, trying to hit the ball to the far corner.
Everyone knows how threatening Gareth Bell's shot is in Bell's area.
But this time, the Welsh winger's shot was saved by Edwin van der Sar.
This will be the Dutch goalkeeper's last game at Manchester United. He also showed great tenacity. After attacking, he immediately ran back to the goal and saved Bell's left-footed shot.
The entire Wembley Stadium burst into warm applause for Van der Sar.
This is a very exciting, even great save!
If this ball is lost, Manchester United will basically be finished!
Even the experts on the sidelines couldn't help but applaud Van der Sar's save in their hearts. At the same time, they were also disappointed that their team failed to score first.
You know, in the Bell area, Gareth Bell's hitting rate is extremely high!
"Van der Sar is really..." Gao Shen kept shaking his head.
He really can't say much about a player like Van der Sar.
Gao Shen walked to the sidelines and signaled to the players to spread the two wings wider when attacking.
Manchester City played in the middle several times in a row and passed long balls. They need to move more to the side to take advantage of the two wingers.
The middle lane is already too crowded. If we continue playing like this, it will be difficult to create a threat in the middle lane.
Instead, you should open the defense from the side and then switch back to the center.
"Aryan, get more balls!" Gao Shen shouted towards Robben, who was closest to him.
He felt that Robben was a bit low-key tonight.
This may also have something to do with Yaya Toure being too active.
Either a long shot or a long pass, and Robben will have nothing to do.
…
The game time is passing bit by bit.
Manchester City firmly controlled the situation and kept attacking Manchester United.
Manchester United was not powerless to fight back, but they failed to pose a threat after two or three counterattacks, which made the scene look a bit like Manchester City was overwhelmingly suppressing Manchester United.
But this is not necessarily a good sign.
The advantage is too obvious, but he has not been able to score for a long time. This is exactly a dangerous call-up.
Gao Shen is also paying close attention to what's happening on the court. If something goes wrong, he will ask the team to slow down the pace and focus on defense.
And in the 34th minute, after Manchester City stole the ball in their own half, when they advanced to the Manchester United half, they found that the Red Devils had organized their defense again, which made the Manchester City players quite depressed.
When Yaya Toure got the ball, Gao Shen called him and signaled him not to rush the ball.
Just now he made another long pass into the penalty area. Although it was a threat, it was difficult to be effective.
If nothing else, does Van Persie have a chance of winning in a head-to-head confrontation with Vidic and Ferdinand?
After hearing Gao Shen's shout, Yaya Toure chose to lead forward, spotted the opportunity, and passed the ball to Hazard.
Hazard played as an attacking midfielder tonight. After stopping the ball sideways, he took two steps forward and passed Carrick, who had a false shot. He distributed the ball to the right wing and handed it to Robben who was close to the right wing.
, and then quickly insert himself.
His task is not only to link up, but also to cruise behind Van Persie when attacking.
Robben stopped the ball to the inside, accelerated his body, cut inside to avoid Evra, and continued to dribble the ball laterally.
At this moment, Robben is still some distance away from the penalty area and cannot pose a threat from long range. Therefore, Manchester United's defense is relatively lax. Sneijder comes up to block it, allowing Evra to return to the defense line in time. Kary in the middle.
Gram is also in place.
Sneijder saw the opportunity and fell to the ground to tackle the ball, but the kick ended too early.
Robben's continuous small steps changed the rhythm, causing Sneijder to fall to the ground. He cleverly avoided it and got a very short unguarded free time. He glanced at the penalty area and sent a diagonal shot with his left foot.
Long pass.
I saw the football passed diagonally from the right side of the outside of the penalty area to the front of the small penalty area.
Robin van Persie moved forward smartly, rushed behind the two Manchester United central defenders, got ahead of the attacking goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, stepped sideways, and intercepted the ball in mid-air.
The Dutch center is a left-footed player, and stopping the ball is a skill in itself. At this time, he can use his body to block Van der Sar.
Although the goalkeeper can use his hands, it will be difficult to grab the ball unless Van der Sar tackles Van Persie.
However, Van Persie couldn't easily control the ball or shoot because Vidic rushed up.
But the Dutch center himself reacted quickly. As soon as he saw that he had missed the best opportunity to shoot, he immediately picked up his left foot, got ahead of Vidic, and passed the ball back. It happened to be passed to Vidic just now.
on the position.
At this time, Hazard arrived just in time, met the kick passed back by Robin van Persie, and fired an angry shot.
In front of the Belgian goalkeeper, there was almost no goalkeeper guarding the goal, and he sent the ball directly into the Manchester United goal.
"goalllllllllllllll!!!!!!"
"Thirty-fourth minute, Hazard! Eden Hazard opened the scoring for Manchester City!"
"This is definitely a wonderful offensive cooperation!"
"Robben cut in from the right and made a long diagonal pass with his left foot. Van Persie volleyed back and Hazard fired in. Manchester City's entire goal coordination was very skillful and there was quite a tacit understanding. Manchester United's defensive players were all involved throughout the process.
If you can’t touch the ball, you can’t stop it!”
"One to zero!"
"This goal is very important. It broke the balance that had been maintained for half an hour."
"If, today, Manchester City can win at Wembley Stadium, then Hazard's goal will be worth thousands of dollars!"
"Of course, this goal is also due to Robben's cutback and Van Persie's return."
"Manchester City's offense was really very three-dimensional and left a very deep impression on people. Manchester United tried to defend, but they couldn't defend it no matter what."
