When Manchester United took a two-goal lead after the opening kickoff, the players on the field made autonomous adjustments and took the initiative to shrink and counterattack. There were 80 minutes left in the game. Ferguson was furious at the performance of the players, but were the players really wrong?
This group of players is rich in experience. They play in top leagues every day and have even reached the top of Europe. Is the choice they made based on their experience wrong?
It's not necessarily wrong, but it's definitely not as comprehensive as the head coach's, especially considering the overall situation.
Not only did Ferguson roar at the players in the first half, but he must have also deliberately warned him during the halftime break. No one knows whether he turned on the hairdryer, but the possibility is not high. After all, Manchester United is leading.
Therefore, in the second half, even if the score was 2:4 and Manchester United still led by two goals with 30 minutes left in the game, the players did not dare to make adjustments on their own and must unswervingly implement Ferguson's tactical arrangements.
The implementation of the coaching arrangements has achieved good results, and they are willing to continue to implement it.
However, in the 66th minute of the game, Pirlo once again sent out a wonderful assist, and when Larsson successfully countered offside from Sylvester and sent the ball into the Manchester United gate, Ferguson woke up!
Although the details of Millwall's goal are different from the second goal just now, the routine is the same.
Manchester United's attack was ended, Millwall counterattacked, and the ball reached the frontcourt, 4 on 4!
When the Manchester United offensive players ran back to defend, the ball had already been scored.
The two goals were exactly the same.
Ferguson wakes up like a dream!
He gritted his teeth and rushed to the sideline again.
Finally, he discovered the problem!
Millwall did not celebrate after scoring and immediately ran towards the backcourt.
During this process, Ferguson turned his head and looked at Aldridge. Aldridge tilted his head slightly and stared at him sharply.
Old man, have you finally discovered it?!
Ferguson's face changed slightly and he suppressed the anger in his heart. He couldn't blame the players. It was his fault and his negligence as the head coach.
In the second half of this game, the pattern was completely different from the first half!
Millwall scored a goal in the first half, and it was a positional battle that patiently pushed through Manchester United's defense.
Manchester United really had nothing to do with this kind of conceding. It was like a frog boiling in warm water and dying.
It was precisely in order to avoid such an ending that Ferguson made Manchester United play more adventurously and aggressively than before!
The two goals Manchester United conceded in the second half were exactly the same.
The most fatal part is the contrast between the offensive and defensive situations of the two conceding goals.
4vs4.
Pirlo, Larsson, Ronaldinho, Henry.
vs
Johnson, Neville, Stam, Sylvester.
What's the problem?
It’s clear at a glance. In this 4vs4, Manchester United conceded two goals. Is it strange?
And this is when there is so much space in the backcourt for the offense to cooperate.
Ronaldinho is so happy. It's been a long time since he's been flat on offense. He can do whatever he wants.
Looking back, what about when Manchester United attacks?
6vs6!
Ferguson regrets it endlessly!
Whether it is 1:3 or 2:4, Manchester United is leading by two goals!
It turns out that the offense is 6 on 6, but the defense is 4 on 4.
The number of people is balanced, but the space in the half court has not changed. The difficulty of 6-on-6 is naturally much higher than that of 4-on-4!
When did this phenomenon occur?
In the 51st minute, when Aldridge ordered the attack.
In the first half, just after the adjustment of not returning to defense by offensive players in the frontcourt, Manchester United scored again. There was not much time left. Manchester United took the initiative to seek stability and defend well, so this change could not be seen.
But starting from the 51st minute of the second half, such changes were clearly displayed on the court.
Ferguson should have discovered it earlier, but just after Millwall scored the second goal, Giggs quickly scored another goal. His joy made him ignore the problem he noticed.
Now that the problem has been discovered, Ferguson must start to solve it.
He immediately ordered Keane and Scholes to withdraw!
This does not conflict with Manchester United's original tactical idea of using offensive suppression.
Ferguson just wants to reverse the situation, so that when Millwall attacks, it is 6vs6, and when Manchester United attacks, it becomes 4vs4.
When Aldridge clearly saw and confirmed Manchester United's on-field adjustments in the 70th minute of the game, he shook his fist heavily.
He was convinced that from this second on, the game would be completely dominated by Millwall, unless there really was some bullshit goddess of fate being ravaged by Manchester United.
Ferguson stood on the sidelines supervising the battle. From the 70th minute on, he had been frowning, in disbelief at the scene in front of him.
Manchester United has almost no decent attack!
Yes, no!
Why?
Why!
Because Millwall has three midfielders controlling the center, and Manchester United only has two in the middle, where is the balance point in 6vs6?
Millwall has one more midfielder, Manchester United has one more defender!
Manchester United's four defenders defended three forwards, but Millwall's three midfielders pressed Manchester United's two midfielders Keane and Scholes.
Once Beckham and Giggs participate in the midfield defense, Millwall's defense will press forward and turn into a high-pressure press. Manchester United will no longer be able to talk about a 4vs4 offense and will instead enter the first half to concede the goal.
In rhythm.
When the two wide midfielders, Beckham and Giggs, no longer knew whether to continue to press on the wing to maintain the threat of the starting position of the attack, or to support the defense of the midfield and backfield, Millwall's fourth goal quietly
Here comes!
Millwall, who firmly occupied the midfield, passed the ball patiently and then Pirlo shot from a long distance in front of the penalty area to make the final decision!
The Millwall fans in the stands went crazy!
If football can really drive people crazy, this is it!
Ferguson was completely disorganized at this moment, but he did not get angry and put the responsibility on the players.
If he had to find one reason, it would be that Millwall's lineup itself is very strong, coupled with Aldridge, who makes his heart feel chilly at the moment.
Whoever wins the midfield wins the world. Manchester United cannot afford to take the risk of letting Johnson also play in the midfield to counterattack. So it is natural for the midfielder to become passive.
Can three defenders and three midfielders defend Millwall?
Not necessarily. But when faced with the change to three defenders in a field battle, AC Milan has used actual combat to tell all coaches the effectiveness of this tactic, especially the three defenders in the formation who all have good reputations.
Aldrich lowered his head and closed his eyes and waved his fist slightly.
4:4, we haven’t won yet, there are 8 minutes left in the game.
Pirlo did not celebrate after scoring. Millwall's players were like an army. Henry hugged the ball from the goal and turned around and jogged away from the backcourt like everyone else.
The eyes of the Manchester United players were full of disbelief, and some even had a faint gleam of fear in their eyes.
Millwall. What kind of monster is it!
Ferguson bowed his head and sighed on the sidelines, waving his hands to let the players counterattack defensively.
Maybe the offensive threat will be greatly reduced, but at least they won't be taken advantage of by the opponent's huge midfield advantage. They can calmly organize attacks to tease Scholes and Keane. It's really sad to watch, and there is an inexplicable pain.
Seeing Manchester United start to defend, Aldrich instructed Klinsmann to make the substitution.
In the 85th minute of the game, Millwall made adjustments.
Klose comes on.
The loser is: Materazzi!!!
"Hall actually replaced a centre-back with a striker! What is he going to do? What is he going to do?! Are you really not afraid of Manchester United's counterattack? Or are you obsessed with winning to the point of going crazy! The score is now 4:4!
4:4! It’s a draw!”
The Lions fans at the scene responded with cheers to Aldridge's substitution.
Of course, the fans wish that Millwall could simply adopt a 0-0-10 formation with ten forwards.
A minute later, Aldridge replaced Gattuso with Lampard.
This substitution seems to be nothing.
But Aldridge stared intently at Lampard from the sidelines.
He needs to know how well Lampard can execute his tactics in the little time left.
The game was coming to an end. Manchester United played a defensive counterattack again. Ferguson replaced two players in a row, allowing Solskjaer to wait for an opportunity to counterattack. Irvine came on to strengthen the defense of the back line. After all, Millwall had an extra forward.
.
Whether it is Ronaldinho, Henry, Larsson, Nedvěd, or Pirlo, at this time, either due to physical strength or because the opponent is focusing all their attention, their performance will inevitably be restricted.
If Millwall wants to win, they need a surprise team.
Will this surprise player be Klose?
Wasn't Manchester United surprised when Aldridge brought on Klose for Materazzi?
Klose ran directly into the penalty area and was at the forefront of the striker. Will his threat be ignored by Manchester United?
If he can become a surprise player, he will definitely have the strength to crush Stam or Johnson. Unfortunately, he doesn't have it now.
Therefore, replacing Klose to cause an accident is just a cover.
The real killer move was the player he replaced later: Lampard!
When it comes to defense alone, Lampard is not as good as Gattuso, but when it comes to offense, Lampard is definitely better than Gattuso. After playing, he not only helps Millwall to control the midfield more firmly, but at the same time, he can also create his own.
threaten.
When the game was about to enter stoppage time, Millwall created a good opportunity in the frontcourt.
Ronaldinho saw that there were too many people in the penalty area, and there was no room for him to cut inside. Manchester United was now in a five-back formation.
So he pulled out, got the ball on the left and dribbled twice. Beckham knocked him down from behind. The referee signaled a foul to Beckham and gave Millwall a free kick.
After Ronaldinho stood up, he quickly held down the ball and fired a quick kick without even straightening his waist.
He kicked the ball towards the center.
Scholes stared at Pirlo, who had a better chance, but he chose to leak the ball. Nedved moved forward, Keane followed him closely, and the missed ball fell to Lampard.
In front of him, Giggs double-teamed Larsson, which was a bit far away from Lampard, and it would be too late to defend again.
Lampard chose a long shot without being marked.
Aldrich raised his chin and muttered to himself on the sidelines, speaking out what was in his heart.
"What I want is your long shot! Let me hit it in!"
The starting position of this long shot is just two meters in front of the penalty area. This is an area where the long shot should be of high quality, unlike the long shot from forty yards away which is as accidental.
All the fans stood up and watched nervously the long shot from Lampard.
The ball passed through Manchester United's defense like a cannonball and headed straight for the goal.
However, the angle is somewhat correct!
The powerful slamming door that was less than half a meter above the ground almost flew to one meter to the right of Fan Degu.
Van der Gou fell to the ground and blocked the ball with both hands. He blocked it, but Lampard's long-range shot was too powerful and it was impossible for Van der Gou to hold the ball.
Lampard saw the ball being blocked and held his head in his hands. The next second, the ball popped up and suddenly flew towards the Manchester United goal.
I saw the ball hanging directly on the net and then rolling down.
All Manchester United players were stunned as if they had been struck by a bolt from the blue.
Henry got up from the crowd, opened his arms and ran wildly on the sidelines!
It was him who flew out when the ball bounced back into the penalty area and kicked the ball back into Manchester United's goal with the soles of his feet. This also caused Manchester United to be kicked directly into hell after landing from heaven!
Keane, who opened the scoring for Manchester United, kicked the goal post hard and kept muttering to himself with a ferocious expression: "Why? Why? Why? Why!"
Why Millwall just won't be beaten!
0:2,1:3,2:4!
Why the hell don’t you give up!
Why not collapse!
Why not surrender!
Why not... on earth... why...
After Henry scored the ball, Aldridge slowly raised his arms, made fists with both hands, and then waved them down heavily. When he raised his head again, his calm expression disappeared and was replaced by a cheerful smile.
The moment when the winning streak record of the five major European leagues will be refreshed is just around the corner! (To be continued...)
