Courtois, Kompany, Pepe, Busquets, Sanchez, Toni Kroos, Sudon, David Silva, Di Maria, Hazard, Xavi Martinez.
Ferguson looked at the Manchester City lineup in front of him and was very surprised.
Although there is no position chart on the list, nor is there any tactical positioning for each player, with Ferguson's familiarity with Manchester City, he was able to immediately discover the unexpected aspects of this list.
That means there are no full-backs.
Neither Marcelo nor Zabaleta appeared in the lineup, but sat on the bench.
Instead, at the same time as Pepe and Kompany, Javi Martinez also appeared.
According to Guardiola's usage of Javi Martinez this season, the Spanish midfielder will obviously be transformed into a central defender by him. Does this mean that Manchester City will arrange three central defenders to play in this game?
There are no full-backs and three central defenders. Is this trying to replicate the three-back system from the days of Cruyff and Louis van Gaal?
When Cruyff and Van Gaal were coaching Barcelona and Ajax, they both used three defenders. With the evolution of tactics, this style of play has gradually fallen out of favor. It has not been seen again for more than ten years.
The three-back style has become popular.
With the current development speed of the information age, this style of play can be classified as an ancient formation.
Ferguson had experienced the era of Cruyff and Van Gaal and had seen various types of tactics, so he immediately remembered it, and he guessed that Guardiola wanted to use a three-four-three formation.
But this brings up a question: when did Manchester City adopt this style of play?
Ferguson posed the question to assistant coach Mike Phelan, but he did not receive the information.
"From the time Javi Martinez joined the team until now, Manchester City has never played a three-back." Mike Phelan is a responsible assistant coach. He has all the information he needs to prepare, otherwise he would not be promoted to Ferguson's right-hand assistant.
The Dutch assistant coach René Meulensteen on the side also nodded repeatedly. Although he is responsible for training and technology, pre-match preparation is also part of his job, and he is naturally very clear about it.
"Then this is strange. We haven't played on a regular basis, but today we suddenly changed our formation?" Ferguson was a little puzzled.
Could it be that it is because of too much psychological pressure that Guardiola is worried about gains and losses and wants to take a risk?
Ferguson has been coaching for so many years and is no stranger to this situation.
Many times, fans and the media will accuse a head coach of changing his tactics on the spot, or even think that he is stupid, but these are layman's opinions, and no one in the professional coaching circle really sees it that way.
No one who can become a head coach in a top league is a fool, and no one is weak.
Just like Guardiola at this moment, there are only two reasons for his sudden change of formation.
One is that changes occurred within the Manchester City team that outsiders didn't know about, forcing him to change his formation; the other is that he had actually been prepared for this.
But judging from the past period of time, Guardiola has never played with three defenders, so it is obviously not the latter, but the former.
What happened to Manchester City? Could it be an opportunity for Manchester United?
…………
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In fact, nothing happened in Manchester City.
Guardiola suddenly wants to play with a back three simply because his kink syndrome is back.
Manchester City's three defenders have actually been working together for a long time, but they are mainly used in the team's daily training and have never been used in official games, so the outside world has no way of knowing.
But this style of play was determined when Guardiola decided to introduce Javi Martinez.
Manchester City has always insisted on passing and controlling the ball as the core, so no matter how the team's tactics change or how the formation adjusts, there will basically not be any big problems. It will always revolve around the passing and controlling game.
It's just that this time when facing Manchester United, Guardiola suddenly decided to adopt this style of play, which is really surprising.
The reason is also related to the team's current shortage of full-backs.
Bellerin and Trippier are still a little immature, Zabaleta continues to fight on multiple lines, Marcelo does the same, and Leighton Baines is injured, which makes Manchester City's full-backs a little nervous.
Guardiola felt that instead of exposing the wingers for opponents to fight, it would be better to take the initiative to change formations.
Are there any risks in changing formations?
The three-back play is equivalent to freeing up the wing positions, which will definitely give Manchester United's Ashley Young and Nani more room to play, and will also place higher demands on the three central defenders.
As for the benefits, they are very obvious.
There is one less person in the defense and one more person in the midfield and frontcourt, which will give Manchester City an even greater advantage in passing and controlling the ball.
To put it simply, this style of play is more radical, it depends on the effect.
…
Before going on the field, Su Dong stood in the locker room, his eyes slowly passing by every teammate around him.
Everyone's face was filled with solemnity because they all felt the weight of this game.
The previous Manchester derby did not carry much weight because Manchester City did not have the qualifications to challenge Manchester United.
But all of this has completely changed since the massacre last season.
In the past, Manchester United looked at Manchester City with disdain, thinking it was a "noisy neighbor" team, but now, they truly regard Manchester City as a league competitor.
With the current situation in the Premier League, it is impossible for Manchester City and Manchester United to give up on this derby match.
As Ferguson said, this is not three points, but six points.
"Everyone!" Su Dong shouted in a deep voice, "I hope everyone can show their best tonight and try to teach Manchester United a painful lesson at Old Trafford. In this way, I believe
, From now on, they will not dare to look down upon us anymore."
"We will use another hearty victory to tell Manchester United and everyone that we are not noisy neighbors, we are Manchester United's mortal enemies!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! All the players in the locker room applauded in unison.
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Following the referee's whistle, Welbeck kicked the ball to Rooney and Manchester United took the lead.
After Rooney got the ball, he did not pass it back to his own half. Instead, he dribbled the ball directly into Manchester City's half, trying to get close to Manchester City's formation, but Hazard, who was the first to do so, immediately moved towards Rooney.
come over.
The England forward quickly kicked the ball to his right and handed it to Nani.
Nani stopped the ball on the wing. When he was about to dribble the ball forward, he found that David Silva had already pressed up. Together with Di Maria, he trapped Nani on the wing and kicked the ball directly.
Out of bounds.
Smalling stepped forward, took the ball from the wing, and threw the ball to Fletcher with both hands.
Fletcher stopped the ball, and Di Maria was already near him. Manchester City pressed hard in the midfield, forcing Fletcher to pass the ball back to Evans, the central defender.
But in the middle, Su Dong was like an arrow, quickly approaching Evans, forcing him to pass back to goalkeeper De Gea.
After Evans returned the pass, he tried to avoid Su Dong to meet De Gea, and immediately ran along the penalty area line to Manchester City's right wing, which is his own left wing, widening the distance between the two central defenders, making it easier for De Gea.
Pass by Hea.
Su Dong did not continue to pester Evans, but suddenly accelerated and rushed directly to the penalty area.
De Gea received a pass from Evans on the left side of the small penalty area. As soon as he stopped, before he had time to react, he saw Su Dong suddenly speeding up and coming towards him. This shocked him and he moved the ball horizontally to the left.
He took two steps and made a long pass with his left foot.
Su Dong tried to block with his kick, but was a beat too late.
Su Dong was not discouraged when he failed to grab the ball. He grinned at De Gea and quickly ran back.
He cannot allow himself to be in an offside position.
De Gea's pass did not go far due to Su Dong's interference. It just landed on the outside of his own 30-meter area and was snatched by David Silva who was catching up.
A positive one.
After David Silva grabbed the ball, he immediately took it forward. Two players, Fletcher and Nani, approached him at the same time.
When Di Maria saw Su Dong on the left, he immediately ran to the center, driving away the defensive player, and at the same time prepared to receive David Silva's pass. However, Su Dong just ran out of the offside position and he happened to be standing.
In the left corner of the penalty area, he immediately pointed to the center, ready to receive David Silva's pass.
With the two defensive players Fletcher and Nani following him, David Silva took just two steps and was caught up. But before passing the ball, he saw Su Dong's gesture and immediately
The ball was passed to the left side of the penalty area designated by Su Dong.
I saw Sudong, who was originally in the left corner of the penalty area, suddenly shake off Smallin, sprint horizontally, get ahead of Ferdinand who was on the ball, and take David Silva's pass to the center.
This poke was very light, just enough to avoid Ferdinand and at the same time adjust the ball's momentum.
After Su Dong blocked Ferdinand with his body, he caught up with the football on the left side of the top of the penalty area. Without stopping the ball, he shot directly with his right foot.
After kicking this shot, Su Dong jumped into the air.
He almost exerted all his strength.
The ball flew past Evans at lightning speed, and without waiting for De Gea to make any save, it went straight into the right side of the Manchester United goal.
At this time, it was only thirty-six seconds before the game kicked off!
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!"
"too fast!!!!"
"Manchester City scored against Manchester United in just thirty-six seconds of the opening game!!!"
"Oh my God, this is so unbelievable!"
"One to zero!"
"It only took Su Dong thirty-six seconds to score Manchester United's goal. He amazed us all!"
"After Manchester City opened the game, they adopted a step-by-step pressing tactic against Manchester United. De Gea, also under Su Dong's pressing, made a passing error and passed the ball directly to David Silva.
This gives Manchester City this opportunity to counterattack quickly."
"Once upon a time, goalkeeper was the strongest position of Manchester United, but now, De Gea has become the weakest weakness in Manchester United's lineup. We even suspect that Manchester City formulated pressing tactics specifically for De Gea, which forced the Spanish goalkeeper to make mistakes.
, which in turn created an opportunity for Manchester City to score a goal."
"Manchester United conceded a goal less than a minute into the game."
