Football: The Strongest Hexagon Warrior

Chapter 289 Super Horse’s epic performance at Old Trafford 1 (page 12)

"uuuuuu——"

In the 3rd minute of the game, Martin intercepted Carrick's pass to Rooney at the front of the penalty area. He was brought down by Herrera just as he was about to start. The referee Michael Oliver blew the whistle to signal that Herrera had committed a foul. , the Manchester United die-hards in the Stretford Stand booed harshly.

Not only for the referee Michael Oliver, but also for the 'flopping' Martin.

It's a pity that the boos created by Manchester United fans disappeared as quickly as they came.

Martin, who was pulled up by his teammates, had no idea that Manchester United had the home court advantage and couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

Celebrities and fans were so aggressive on social media before the game, but they kept a low profile at Old Trafford.

Martin admitted that he enjoyed playing football in this 'Dream Theater'. The stage was big enough and the home court capacity was full. Unfortunately, the atmosphere could never keep up.

Arsenal organizes the attack in the backcourt and moves the football to the 30-meter offensive zone through layers of advancement.

The home team Manchester United obviously deployed in a targeted manner, especially in marking Martin.

Herrera, who serves as a defensive midfielder, directly marks Martin when Arsenal is attacking and does not give him an easy opportunity to handle the ball.

With his back to the goal, Martin passed the ball to right back Bellerin and looked back. It turned out to be Herrera who had just switched from defense to offense and knocked him down in time.

However, he was not too surprised. Before traveling, he had watched a period of time when Mourinho was coaching Manchester United. Herrera's best performance was undoubtedly the one where he watched Hazard to death throughout the game.

Unexpectedly, Van Gaal, who advocates oppressive total offense and total defense, would also adopt a full-court marking defensive strategy.

It's really uncomfortable to have a defensive player watching you all the time, but... it's also quite challenging.

He wanted to test the strength of Herrera during Van Gaal's coaching.

Turn up the intensity!

In the following period of offense, Martin's offense mainly focused on sorting out and simplifying complex offenses.

That is to reduce the time of ball control and send the ball to the best position as soon as possible through advance observation.

Martin's focus was entirely on organizing the offense. Arsenal's overall offense gave people a mercury-like feeling. The offense was like a tide, as if they were conducting a half-court offensive drill.

There were only die-hard fans in the auditorium who cheered without sparing any effort, and most Manchester United fans watched the game quietly.

Van Gaal, the home team coach directing the technical area, frowned, obviously very worried about the game.

Arsenal's offensive was overwhelming, and their defense was not particularly strong. He didn't know if the team could withstand it during this period.

If you can withstand it, you may score a goal next.

If you can't stand it, you'll be in trouble.

0:6 warning in the first round.

Ten minutes into the game, the score shown on the scoreboard has not changed yet, it is still 0:0.

Martin's performance was slightly affected by Herrera's full coverage, but not significantly, so the team's offense was still in order.

Herrera, who temporarily 'frozen' Martin, felt the pressure growing.

It seems that I can keep an eye on it, but in fact, with the continuous sudden stops and turns, I feel that my physical energy is exhausted very quickly.

Although he was not out of breath, he knew clearly that if this situation continued, it would be difficult to finish half the game.

Looking at Martin, who was still acting calm and calm, I couldn't help but think: Why is this guy's physical ability so abnormal?

……

Arsenal's continuous attack did not yield the desired results. Martin tried to turn the offense high and high, giving up some possession of the ball and giving Manchester United the initiative to control the game.

As the owner of this stadium, you should attack more or less, right?

The style of the game changed, and Manchester United coach Louis van Gaal was stunned...

Soon, he realized something.

Arsenal consciously gave up the initiative and turned the positional battle into a quick counterattack.

But he had to accept this reality.

Playing at home, Arsenal can't be allowed to play away from home for a long time, right?

In addition, only by taking the initiative in the game can we create absolute scoring opportunities.

Although quick counterattacks are the most efficient way to score points, Van Gaal also liked to play with the ball when he was coaching Manchester United. Otherwise, Bastian Schweinsteiger, who is over 30 years old, would not have been bought to Manchester United. It is a pity that he is currently recovering from injury. Otherwise, Definitely the starting lineup.

Sometimes defensive counterattacks also bring a lot of sweetness, but the football concept he pursues is more inclined to the ultimate comprehensive dominance of the offense.

Unlike Van Gaal who was standing in the coach's technical area, Wenger sat on the coaching bench with his legs crossed, turning his head solemnly from time to time to chat with his assistant, and then nodded.

After a few minutes, Van Gaal saw that the offense was going around and around, and he was gaining momentum but not scoring. In addition, because of his age, he was a little tired from standing in the command and technical area for a long time. He couldn't help but sighed meaningfully: "After all, I am still old. .”

If you are older and have achieved achievements, you will inevitably become stubborn about your football philosophy and work behind closed doors.

This is also the fundamental reason why it was difficult for Van Gaal to achieve results at the end of his coaching career.

Manchester United has the initiative in the game. Rashford, who is at the forefront of the striker, is still just a very fast young player with good skills and good shooting accuracy.

He only made his debut in the first team this year, but with many key goals to help coach Louis van Gaal survive the dismissal crisis, he has the reputation of 'pulling the master'.

Such a young player is good at defensive counterattacks. It is difficult to find opportunities against the combination of veteran Koscielny and Gabriel in positional battles, which means that Manchester United's points in the penalty area are directly useless.

Depay joined Manchester United with his outstanding performance in the World Cup in Brazil, but his rough foot skills made him uncomfortable in Manchester United's tactical system, and his performance became increasingly difficult.

Rooney, who performed quite high-profile before the game, is the player who has scored the most goals since the two teams met in the Premier League. Unfortunately, his competitive ability has declined greatly in his thirties, and his performance is far less than that during Sir Alex Ferguson's coaching.

Mata is still in his prime, but his technical characteristics tend to focus on offensive organization, running without the ball and overall view.

Without absolute speed, it won't be able to achieve a very good breakthrough effect if placed on the wing.

Gaining the upper hand but not scoring has also been the main theme of Manchester United during this period.

In the blink of an eye, the game reached thirty minutes into the first half, and the scoreboard had not changed.

Herrera, who was entrusted with an important task in this game, was not easy either. He was in a defensive posture and followed Martin in continuous stops and turns, which consumed his physical energy very quickly.

When Manchester United is attacking, Herrera also needs to hang around Martin, transitioning with the ball and continuing to follow without the ball. However, Martin's running range on the defensive end is still very large, without sudden stops and turns, but with increased continuous lateral coverage. .

In short, the game came to thirty minutes, and Herrera felt that he had played an intense game for six or seventy minutes.

It’s literally twice as much physical effort.

At this time, he had a sense of resentment against coach Louis van Gaal's tactical arrangements for the first time.

Why pass so many horizontal passes?

Isn't he good at threatening the ball with vertical passes?

……