Some people say that from the moment Wenger took charge of the Arsenal, the Premier League launched a vigorous European reform.
Ferguson was the first to respond to this trend and tasted the benefits. The arrival of players such as Stam played a major role in Manchester United winning the UEFA Champions League in 1999. So at the beginning of the new century, he introduced Veron from Lazio at a sky-high price.
This is a huge gamble aimed at revolution.
As the world's top midfielder at the time, Veron was known for his passing ability and was a role that Ferguson had high hopes for. He hoped that Veron's arrival would inject more European elements into Manchester United and bring the runaway wild horse of Manchester United under control.
, achieve sublimation at the technical and tactical level.
They won the Triple Crown in 1999, but whether it was against Juventus or Bayern Munich, Ferguson clearly saw the obvious gap between Manchester United and the European giants, and he wanted to do his best to make up for this gap.
When Veron first arrived at Manchester United, he once showed outstanding strength, but soon fell into a slump.
He can't adapt to Manchester United, and Manchester United can't adapt to him.
In addition, Manchester United's lineup was built with the Class 92 team at that time, so they were naturally hostile and resistant to Veron, the sky-high-priced superstar who came from the air. He would definitely touch the cheesecake of the old team.
Although Ferguson had always defended Veron, in the end, he had to choose to give up.
At this time, Arsenal, relying on the French gang and European elements, was invincible in the Premier League and even won the championship with an undefeated season.
Chelsea, owned by a Russian rich man, has also experienced the Ranieri era and ushered in the Mourinho era. The Portuguese madman not only brought the most advanced European technical and tactical concepts, but also the most advanced training concepts.
Under the strong pressure from Arsenal and Chelsea, Ferguson continued to struggle and groped for a way out of Manchester United. Class 92 also gradually fell apart during this groping, marked by Keane's departure from the team.
Veron was a foreign monk who couldn't read the Premier League, so Ferguson chose Carrick, a local monk.
Carrick is a very unique English player, or I should say, he is one of the few English players with a very European style of play. His ball distribution and scheduling are quite rare among English midfielders.
, is also what Manchester United urgently needs, so he was appointed by Ferguson as the core midfielder of the new generation of Manchester United lineup.
But Carrick also has very obvious problems with England's midfield. First of all, his forward passing ability is very poor. In other words, he basically can't pass many threatening balls. Compared with Veron, the gap is even more skillful.
Therefore, Ferguson chose veterans Giggs and Scholes to assist Carrick. Carrick was responsible for distributing the ball and scheduling, while Giggs and Scholes were responsible for passing the threatening ball forward.
Secondly, Carrick's defense was weak, so Ferguson arranged for Fletcher and even modified Anderson to cooperate with Carrick.
Originally, Ferguson had high hopes for former Bayern midfielder Hargreaves. Unexpectedly, this English midfielder just arrived at Manchester United and played well for half a season before he was seriously injured and missed the game. He has never been the same player since then.
Brave.
Finally, there are the shortcomings of Carrick's own technical characteristics. His ability to break away is considered the best among English midfielders, but in continental Europe, his ability is still seriously insufficient. This will be a problem in the Champions League, especially the knockout rounds.
The exposure was very obvious, so Carrick's position could only be to stay behind to avoid the opponent's midfield stranglehold.
This style of play helped Ferguson win his second Champions League, but the core problem has never been solved and hidden dangers have always existed.
Manchester United is still like a runaway wild horse, unable to control the rhythm skillfully.
Rhythm is a metaphysics, an art of competing for time and space.
Manchester United is on this side of the English Channel, but it is on the other side of the Channel.
…
When Ferguson adopted a 4-3-3 formation, took out Scholes, and arranged Carrick, Fletcher and Gibson, Manchester United was already destined to attack in the opening game, and they would attack desperately.
Two goals are the best reward for Manchester United's courage and determination to fight against all odds.
But at the same time, Manchester United's rhythm is like a kite with a broken string, flying higher and farther.
Especially when Heynckes on the sidelines realized this and started asking Modric to press forward and press Carrick like Pirlo did against AC Milan, Manchester United's rhythm was disrupted.
Carrick and Ferdinand are the two most European players in the Manchester United team, one is a midfielder and the other is a central defender. However, Ferdinand is restrained by Sudong and has difficulty extending a helping hand. Once Carrick is pressed by his opponent, especially a
Modric was not enough, so Heynckes simply asked Ribery to move in the middle and increase the pressure on Carrick.
This immediately made Carrick unable to resist.
His own ability to hold the ball is not strong. After being pressed so tightly by Bayern, he began to struggle left and right.
Unfortunately, without Scholes and Giggs, Ferdinand could not run away, and the contact points around him suddenly disappeared.
Neither Fletcher nor Gibson are very good at receiving the ball, let alone getting the ball.
So, gradually, Manchester United's pace could no longer slow down.
Rhythm is something that can be said to be amazing, but it can be said that it is not amazing, and it is very simple.
How simple is it?
You want to go slow?
Yes, as long as you can hold the ball and control the ball under the opponent's pressing pressure, then you can slow down.
Otherwise, if the opponent presses you a little bit, you will just kick it. Why are you so slow?
Manchester United can't hold the ball at all now. When Bayern reacts and applies pressure, Manchester United can only continue to maintain a fast pace, but this is really a double-edged sword for Manchester United.
In the first 20 minutes or so, Bayern didn't even have a shot, and all their energy was devoted to pressing and pressing.
Manchester United's ball possession rate is getting higher and higher, even as high as 65%.
But only Ferguson on the sidelines knew clearly that this was a hot potato.
He dreams of Manchester United having such a possession rate when facing Bayern, but not in this way.
The only thing Ferguson can do is to constantly remind the players on the sidelines to stay focused, and at the same time ask Rooney to drop back more to connect with the midfielder and increase the number of points for the ball.
He could only wait.
When Bayern's wave of speed-up is over and they need to rest, then consider it as over.
After all, football is a ninety-minute game, and any team needs to allocate physical fitness reasonably.
But Ferguson was still very worried and he had no idea.
…
Murphy's law says that the more you fear something, the more likely it will be.
When Ferguson repeatedly reminded the players on the sidelines, worrying about Bayern's pressing pressure, Manchester United's midfielder indeed had a problem with the ball.
When Carrick received a pass from Fletcher, Modric had already rushed to him as soon as he stopped the ball.
The England midfielder was taken aback. He was afraid of being caught by Modric and wanted to pass the ball forward to Rooney, but Modric stepped forward and blocked it.
The ball hit Modric's leg, was refracted, and fell to the feet of Bastian Schweinsteiger not far behind him.
After stopping the ball, Xiaozhu took two steps forward and quickly sent a direct pass to Ribery who ran over to ask for it.
Ribery ran towards the center from the left. After receiving the ball, before Gibson could get close, he quickly sent an overhead diagonal pass with his right foot.
The ball was passed diagonally from the left rib to the right side of the penalty spot in the penalty area.
When everyone's eyes followed the trajectory of the football and fell to the right side of the penalty spot in the penalty area, they saw Su Dong suddenly and quickly moving forward.
Vidic tried desperately to stop him, trying every possible means, even using his hands and feet, to stop him, but Su Dong stopped suddenly and then accelerated suddenly, broke away from Vidic's entanglement, and rushed into the penalty area first, with his right foot high
Lift high.
Once in the penalty area, Vidic did not dare to make any more moves, but Su Dong, who is tall and has long legs, took the ball out of the air with his foot. The ball landed against his instep like a shot put.
This kick to stop the ball is enough to shock people!
As soon as the ball stopped, Su Dong also stopped, causing Vidic next to him to also stop suddenly. He was afraid that Su Dong would change his foot and hit the goal with his left foot. But what he didn't expect was that Vidic just stopped.
Su Dong suddenly dribbled the ball forward again.
The two of them just passed by each other. After Su Dong got half way out of the way, before Vidic could react, and regardless of the fact that Van der Sar had already struck near the penalty area, Su Dong fired an angry shot.
This sudden shot caught both Vidic and Van der Sar off guard. The ball passed directly from the right side of Van der Sar, grazed the right post and flew into the Manchester United goal.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
"In the 26th minute, Bayern's first shot of the game!"
"Su Dong scored for Bayern, one to two!!!"
After scoring the goal, Su Dong did not run out to celebrate the goal as usual. Instead, he ran straight towards the Manchester United goal, picked up the football with his foot, turned around and ran towards the center line.
"A very wonderful offensive combination."
"Bayern's players completed a beautiful cooperation. After stealing Carrick's pass, Ribery passed the ball behind him, creating an excellent opportunity for Su Dong."
"Look at this stop. It reminds me of Bergkamp's stop back then. It's very, very subtle."
"The subsequent shot was also very calm. Su Dong scored halfway through Van der Sar's shot."
"Su Dong seemed to have a very strong desire to win. He did not intend to celebrate his goal, but directly returned to the midline with the ball in his arms, indicating that the game should be restarted quickly."
Bayern's players also responded to Su Dong's call, quickly returned to their positions, and signaled the referee to quickly restart the ball.
Right now, Bayern's morale is high and Manchester United is taking a huge hit. This is the perfect time to strike while the iron is hot.
Manchester United can score two goals in the first six minutes, can't Bayern change their colors?
Ferguson was obviously aware of this problem, and immediately yelled at the players from the sidelines, telling them to be steady, not to be hasty or chaotic.
But at the beginning of the game, when Rooney kicked the ball back to the midfield, Bayern players led by Su Dong had once again pressed in front of Manchester United's defense.
This once again reminded Ferguson of his thoughts when he was determined to reform Manchester United's tactics at the beginning of the century, and he felt a sense of sadness in his heart. He seemed to have returned to the miserable situation when he faced Juventus and Bayern in 1999.
.
If you can't hold the ball, you won't be able to play in the Champions League!
