Every goal in a football match involves a bit of luck, but behind every bit of luck, there are countless efforts.
When Leeds United finally crossed the mountain of Manchester United, in the fourth round of the League Cup draw, there was amazing luck and they drew the weakest team, Ald from the fourth level English League Two.
Schott.
What is this if not luck?
Manchester City's opponent is the Premier League relegation team Wolves.
In the words of the British media, this is almost a guarantee that Leeds United will advance to the quarterfinals.
This indeed made the Yorkshire Post happy for a long time, and Leeds United fans were also overjoyed.
But soon, they woke up.
Leeds United CEO Fernando Lucas said in an interview with the media: "We accept any result of the draw. After defeating Manchester United, we are no longer afraid of any opponent!"
Sarri also said that the draw will not make Leeds United blind and careless, but will only make the team more cautious.
And the facts also proved that the game against Manchester United was indeed too fierce.
In the eighth round of the British Championship over the weekend, Leeds United challenged Brighton away from home, and the result was a 3-3 draw.
This draw did not affect Leeds United's position as the leader, and even the lead remained at three points. However, Brighton is currently ranked sixth in the British Championship. Leeds United was scored three goals, and the defensive problems are evident.
…
When Leeds United encountered Brighton's sniper away from home, Manchester City was beaten at home.
Everton, led by Moyes, set up a steel barrel formation at the Etihad Stadium.
Next Wednesday is the second round of the Champions League group stage. Manchester City will rotate in this game, and Moyes is very aware of this, so he set up a tight defense in the game.
This is very rare.
Moyes has never been an extremely conservative coach, but tonight he even gave up all possession of the ball and stayed in his own half, even on the outside of the penalty area, to face Manchester City with a steel barrel formation.
Captain Phil Neville and teenager Rodwell, plus Fellaini, formed the midfield.
On the front line, Moyes even took the main forward Saha, putting Tim Cahill in front, with Osman and Coleman on the wings.
This targeted and conservative tactic brought huge trouble to Manchester City.
The offense can't find a breakthrough, and the pass can't find any space to penetrate.
Everton's players didn't even want to counterattack and concentrated on defending.
This caused Manchester City to immediately fall into a melee as soon as they attacked the frontcourt, and their offense was hit hard again and again.
Gao Shen adopted a 442 formation tonight.
Fernandinho and Yaya Toure play in the center of the midfield, with Sturridge and Robin van Persie forming a double striker.
But obviously, this effect is very poor.
In the first half, Manchester City had an overwhelming advantage and created more shooting opportunities. Everton even only had one shot in the first half, but Manchester City's shooting threats were very few, and most of them were from far away.
Mainly shooting.
The attack effect is very poor.
During the halftime break, neither side made any substitutions.
Everton still responded with strict defense, while Manchester City strengthened their individual breakthroughs in the frontcourt, especially Hazard and Robinho on the wings, who were more active in dribbling the ball to instigate attacks, but the effect was not ideal.
…
"We need a goal!"
Seeing Gao Shen coming back, Carlo handed over a bottle of water and whispered.
There is nothing new about this, or in other words, even the ordinary fans in the stands can see that.
When encountering this kind of iron-barrel formation, the most difficult thing is often to score the first goal. As long as you break the opponent's goal and break the deadlock, many things will be solved easily.
In fact, Everton's defense will no longer be as resolute as it is now.
They will be distracted.
Because some players will not be willing to lose the game zero to one.
But the problem now is, how to score a goal?
Gao Shen didn't understand all of this, but he still shook his head and said, "Wait a moment."
After Carlo thought for a while, he nodded in agreement.
What Gao Shen said by "waiting a little longer" meant that the time was not yet ripe.
Now that we are at this deadlock, all we have to fight for is consumption.
Hazard and Robinho are both taking turns to consume Everton's wide players, and more importantly, Gao Shen is waiting.
Moyes must also be paying close attention to the consumption of his players. Once the consumption exceeds the warning line, he will want to make substitutions.
The best time for Gao Shen to make substitutions is to use the time window when the opponent's players are almost exhausted to rush in before he makes the substitution.
In the 63rd minute, Tim Cahill pressed Jerome Boateng when an attack failed, but he fouled and was shown a yellow card by the referee.
The Everton players felt very depressed about this and walked away cursing.
Feeling a little restless!
Gao Shen turned to look at the coaching bench. Analyst Carlos Vargas noticed it and immediately raised his hand and nodded towards him. Gao Shen immediately looked at the bench and pointed at De Bruyne, signaling him
Go warm up.
More than a minute later, De Bruyne came back and stood in front of Gao Shen.
"Remember what I told you? What is your biggest advantage in passing?" Gao Shen hooked De Bruyne's neck and asked him to get as close to him as possible.
"Oblique pass, boss, I remember everything you said." De Bruyne replied seriously.
Gao Shen nodded, "Very good, now you can start your performance!"
De Bruyne listened carefully.
"Let Yaya Toure step in and attract Phil Neville and Rodwell. They will definitely defend at the front of the penalty area."
That is Yaya Toure's most threatening area, and Moyes will definitely pay great attention to it.
"Then pass the ball to the outside of the right corner, so you should be able to gain some time, and your task is to try to pass the ball diagonally behind you to find Van Persie or Sturridge, do you understand?"
The layout is very clear and there is no room for ambiguity at all. How could De Bruyne not understand it?
"When you go up, tell Van Persie and Sturridge to pull back first and then jump in. When you pass the ball, pay attention to the goalkeeper's position and don't hit it too close."
De Bruyne kept nodding.
"Go ahead." Gao Shen patted De Bruyne's shoulder hard, encouraging him to work harder.
The Belgian obediently ran to the sidelines quickly.
This time he is replacing Robinho.
The Brazilian winger worked hard, but the effect was not particularly satisfactory.
His opponent tonight is the experienced veteran and former Real Madrid player Drenthe.
After Leighton Baines moved to Manchester City, Drenthe became Everton's first choice at left back.
…
"When is it?"
Moyes felt a little worried when he saw De Bruyne standing on the sidelines, preparing to make a substitution.
Advanced on-the-spot command has always been unpredictable.
If he makes a substitution at this time, there is no guarantee that he will not pose a threat to Everton.
"Sixty-five minutes." The assistant coach shouted from behind.
Before I knew it, I had been guarding for more than an hour.
"Are they okay?" Moyes asked again.
"Philip is having a hard time."
Philip is Phil Neville, the younger brother of Gary Neville, Everton's captain and main defensive midfielder.
I am thirty-four years old, and given my age, it is normal for me to struggle under the pressure of such a high-intensity competition.
Moyes hesitated.
The situation is not clear enough now, so it is not easy to change people.
His original plan was to hold on for another ten minutes or so, and at the 75th minute, he asked Saha to come on and strengthen the attack.
Does anyone really think that he would want to defend it to the end?
This is not his Moyes style at all!
Thinking of this, Moyes gritted his teeth, walked to the sidelines, and motioned Rodwell to get closer to Neville. At the same time, he also asked Fellaini to move back a little bit to ensure that the front and center of the penalty area were solid.
After the arrangements were made, he relaxed a little.
…
"Manchester City has made substitution adjustments."
"Belgian youngster Kevin De Bruyne replaced Brazilian winger Robinho."
"Robinho performed very hard tonight, but the effect of the breakthrough from the wing was not very good. Now that Kevin De Bruyne is replaced, I don't know if the situation will change."
"We can see that De Bruyne has brought profound latest instructions."
"In the past few years, his superb on-the-spot command has been praised by everyone. I wonder if he will shine again tonight?"
"Look at this time, Manchester City is still attacking, leaving it to Hazard on the left."
"Hazard still wanted to try to break through with the ball, but Hibbert was very stable on this side and passed back without a chance."
"Ex-Everton player Leighton Baines came up and passed the ball across to Fernandinho and passed it to Yaya Toure."
When Yaya Toure got the ball, Everton's entire formation had retreated to the outside of the penalty area.
Fellaini, Rodwell and Phil Neville were lined up in a row, giving the impression of being transformed into a city wall.
The Ivorian midfielder kept the profound instructions in mind and drove the ball forward.
Robin van Persie ran back from the front, attracting the attention of the Everton players, as if he was coming to meet Yaya Toure.
This immediately made Everton's three midfielders tense up, trying to compress Van Persie's space.
Yaya Toure "saw" that Van Persie had lost the space to get the ball, so he did not go to the left, but spiked the ball to the right. He "discovered" that De Bruyne was leaning on the outside and raised his hand to ask for the ball. He immediately
Passed the ball over.
De Bruyne turned his back to the right sideline and took a special look at the penalty area before stopping the ball.
Sturridge is on the right side of the top area of the arc, making a gesture to move forward to the right side of the penalty area, as if he is going to meet De Bruyne.
But Distin kept following him.
If Distin doesn't follow, then De Bruyne only needs to pass the ball towards the bottom line on the right side of the penalty area, then Sturridge can get the ball in the penalty area, hit the goal himself if he has a chance, or cross the ball if he doesn't.
Teammates can always create a threat.
Therefore, Distin had to follow.
De Bruyne also knew this. At the same time, he also saw Drenthe preparing to approach him and goalkeeper Howard standing on the right post, so he stopped the ball forward and quickly raised his right foot.
Kicked a diagonal pass.
The football flew out from De Bruyne's right foot, quickly drew an arc, passed over Drenthe's head, and landed at the back of the goal.
