Football Feast, Starting From the Acquisition of European Clubs

  Chapter 324 A Different Path

  While the Crystal Palace players were still celebrating their goal, the referee did not let Manchester United kick off, but blew the whistle for the end of the first half.

   At halftime, because Crystal Palace was leading the score and the situation on the field was also good, Chen Ran did not make any substitution adjustments except to beat the players as usual.

   However, out of concern for Crystal Palace's backline, Chen Ran once again emphasized to Vieira, Modric and Yaya Toure in midfield that they should focus more on defense.

   On the Manchester United side, in the dressing room, the Ferguson hair dryer reached an astonishing twelve. The players bowed their heads one by one and dared not come out, for fear of being picked up by the old man and criticized individually.

After    lost his temper, Ferguson finally calmed down a little.

   In fact, his heart is also very contradictory. He wants to order the players to press the attack with all their strength to equalize, or even overtake the score, but he is afraid of being counterattacked by Crystal Palace again.

   Don't look at the fact that Crystal Palace only has Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi in the frontcourt, but Ferguson, who has already learned how powerful they are, will not underestimate the threat of these two guys.

   The half-time break was only 15 minutes in total, but Ferguson's tantrum alone accounted for more than half of the time.

   Before Ferguson made a decision, the fourth official came to urge the Manchester United players to prepare for the game.

   hesitated for a while, and Ferguson finally made no adjustments, waving his hand to get Manchester United's players ready to play.

   Watching the players flee the locker room with relief, Queiroz, a friend and assistant, walked over to Ferguson.

   "Alex, this is not the way to go. We only have Tevez as a striker on the field now, and it is difficult to pose a threat to Crystal Palace's goal."

   "If this game is lost to Crystal Palace, then our Premier League title this season is probably out of the game again."

   "Of course I know." Ferguson glared at Queiroz angrily. That is, Queiroz has been his friend for many years. If it was someone else, he would have sprayed it directly.

   "But Crystal Palace's Ronaldo and Messi are too threatening to counterattack. If I reduce the midfield and backfield players and replace them with forwards, then they will likely be attacked again."

   "Once they are two goals behind Crystal Palace, it's all over. Since that Chinese boy took over Crystal Palace, no team has been able to reverse Crystal Palace by two goals behind."

   "Then let's spend so much time? This is probably what the Chinese people most want to see right now."

  Queiroz also knew that Ferguson's concerns were well-founded. But commanding the game is like marching to fight a war. Many times there is no perfect strategy, and you must gamble at critical moments.

   "Of course you can't just waste it like that."

  Ferguson reached out and patted Queiroz on the shoulder, "Carlos, after you go out for a while, arrange for Saha and Park Ji-sung to warm up. We will start a total attack when the game reaches 60 minutes."

"Ok, I see."

   At the beginning of the second half of the game, the scene of the first half of the game continued.

  Crystal Palace is worried about the instability in the back because Chen Ran, except Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, everyone else is behind to defend.

On the Manchester United side, in order to mark Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, in addition to the only striker Tevez, and the two wingers Ryan Giggs and Nani, most of the players also hoarded in their own half. Inside.

   So although the two teams fought fiercely and played very lively, neither of them was able to create a real scoring opportunity.

   When the game reached the 60th minute, Ferguson gave an order and replaced Giggs and Nani with Saha and Park Ji-sung.

   Saha and Tevez serve as double forwards, Park Ji-sung, Hargreaves and Scholes are three partners in midfield. The team's formation has also changed from 441 to 432, the same as Crystal Palace.

   Seeing Ferguson's substitution adjustment, Guardiola immediately moved to Chen Ran's side.

   "Boss, it seems that Manchester United is going to launch a total attack. Shall we remove a striker and replace it with a defender, and then strengthen the team's defense?"

   "Strengthen the defense? Josep, do you see any players on the bench who are better defensively than the players on the field?"

  Chen Ran shook his head and smiled bitterly, and pointed to the Crystal Palace bench.

   "Eh, one more person is more powerful."

   Following Chen Ran's fingers, after Guardiola glanced over it, he didn't know what to say.

   "Forget it. Now Ronaldo and Messi are holding back Manchester United's defensive energy a lot in front."

   "If you replace one of them, it's easy to defend when you are alone. This is to untie Manchester United so that they can free up more people to devote themselves to the attack. If you think about it carefully, the gain is more than the loss."

   Chen Ran, who did not take Guardiola's advice, chose to believe that the Crystal Palace players on the field could resist Manchester United's attack.

   Facts have also proved that Manchester United, who gave up the traditional wing attack and started to attack the middle, did not pose a greater threat to the goal guarded by Cech.

In the face of Vieira, Yaya Toure and the Crystal Palace midfield barrier composed of Modric, Manchester United's Hargreaves, Scholes and Park Ji-sung, it is difficult to send the ball to strikers Saha and others. Tevez's feet.

   Seeing that the passes were either stolen or destroyed, Tevez, who waited bored for most of the game, couldn't help but ran out of the penalty area of ​​Crystal Palace to ask for the ball.

As soon as   Tevez ran out of the penalty area, Mascherano, who was in charge of marking him, quickly followed.

   Being entangled by his fellow Argentinian, he was about to go crazy. Tevez, who didn’t get a shot at goal for most of the game, this time, as soon as he received the ball, he turned around and took a step laterally, and kicked the goal directly.

   At this time, Tevez's shot was outside the upper right corner of the Crystal Palace penalty area, more than 30 meters away from the goal.

  The angle is too far, the distance is too far, and Mascherano is close by, it is not a good opportunity to hit the door.

   But Tevez, who was suffocated for most of the game, didn't care so much. He didn't plan to score this shot, just to vent his depression.

   However, Mascherano, who was closely watching Tevez, was very conscientious. When he realized that Tevez was going to kick the door, he immediately rushed up and blocked the hole.

"boom!"

  Tevez kicked the ball just to hit the leg that Mascherano stretched out to block the ball, drawing a strange arc.

   This time, Cech, who had already moved in advance, was caught off guard. When he wanted to change direction again, he slipped and fell to the ground. He could only watch helplessly as the ball flew into the Crystal Palace goal from his eyes.

   "Beep!"

   Goal is valid.

   United made it 1-1 with Tevez's **** dribbling.

   Looking at the ecstatic Tevez and the dejected Mascherano on the court, Chen Ran was also speechless.

  Te Meow's Crystal Palace's recent luck is too bad, right?

   Not only did he suffer from constant injuries, but he was also always scoring lucky balls.

   Faced with this situation, Chen Ran couldn't help scratching his head.

   glanced at the "Level 1 Chicken Blood Card" in the system inventory, hesitated for a while, but Chen Ran finally gave up the idea of ​​using it.

  Because once Messi is given the "Level 1 Chicken Blood Card", it means that he can only sit on the bench for the next three games. For Crystal Palace, which is currently under manpower, Chen Ran cannot afford this price.

   And, more importantly, in Crystal Palace's next three games, there is a Champions League eight-for-four. Compared with the Champions League, the importance of the Premier League is obviously not comparable.

   However, Chen Ran didn't want to end the game against Manchester United, so he couldn't use the "Level 1 Chicken Blood Card", so he could use something else.

   So, Chen Ran called out a "first-level sight card" from the system's inventory.

  Because Chen Ran had used the "Free Kick Master Card" for Ronaldo before, this "First-Class Sight Card" was naturally used on Messi.

   After activating the card, Chen Ran called Messi to the sidelines while taking advantage of the dead ball.

   "Leo, in the next game, I'll give you the 'right to fire'. As long as you think the time is right, you can hit the door directly, don't have any concerns."

   "Boss, are you serious?"

   Messi, who was just in his early twenties, looked at Chen Ran naively. Except when he was in La Masia, since he was promoted to the senior team, he has never been given the "right to fire freely".

   The feeling that during the La Masia period, the whole team took him as the core, and he could play whatever he wanted, which Messi misses very much.

   "Of course. In the next game, you can hit the goal as much as you want. Also, tell Ronaldo to make more breakthroughs and create more free-kick opportunities. All the free-kicks today will be taken by him."

   "Oh, okay, boss, I'll definitely bring your words to Chris."

After    explained Messi, Chen Ran returned to the bench and sat down.

   For today's game, he has used a "Hawkeye Guardian Card", a "First-Class Sight Card" and a "Free Kick Master Card".

  Except for the "Level 1 Chicken Blood Card" that I didn't dare to use, almost all of them are about to catch up with the importance of the Champions League final.

   Everything that can be done has already been done, and the next step is to see the performance of the players on the court.

   For Chen Ran's on-the-spot command ability, Cristiano Ronaldo has been convinced over the past few years.

   After receiving Chen Ran's latest order, he immediately strengthened his dribbling and breakthrough.

  Unfortunately, after Cristiano Ronaldo scored a free kick in the first half of the game, the Manchester United players who learned their lesson were very cautious.

   Anyway, there are many of them. If one person can't defend, only two people, if two people can't, only three people.

   When he double-teamed Cristiano Ronaldo, he did not move easily, but blocked his route to the Manchester United penalty area and drove him to the sideline.

  Cristiano Ronaldo, who was found to be ineffective several times, had no choice but to pass the ball to Messi who was nearby.

   And Messi, who was granted the "right to fire free" by Chen Ran, seemed to have opened the seal, and his activity increased sharply.

   Since Cristiano Ronaldo alone has attracted the defensive attention of two or three Manchester United players, the defensive pressure around Messi is significantly less.

   After receiving a pass from Ronaldo, Messi first played a fried ball to pass Hargreaves, and then he swiped the ball lightly and passed Heinze, who rushed over to grab the ball.

   After running for a while with the ball, I saw Park Ji-sung coming from Ronaldo to make up for the defense. Messi flicked the ball horizontally, and out of the way of Park Ji-sung, he directly shot a curved ball with his left foot.

  The ball drew a wonderful arc and hit the crossbar of Manchester United's goal heavily. When the ball bounced back, goalkeeper Kutzzak just threw himself sideways.

  So, the ball hit Kurtzzak's back again and bounced into Manchester United's goal again.

   "GOAL!"

  With Kutzzak's assist, Messi helped Crystal Palace lead Manchester United 2-1 again.

   As soon as this goal was scored, the entire Highbury Stadium suddenly boiled again.

   "Unbelievable, really incredible! This Messi scored after two consecutive goals. His ability to dribble the ball is too strong."

   "After Tevez scored Crystal Palace's goal through refraction, Messi also scored Manchester United's goal with a rebound. It seems that God is not partial, and there is no one-sided side on Manchester United's side."

   "Judging from Messi's increasingly outstanding performance, it is estimated that no one will say that it is a wrong decision for the Chinese to exchange Ibrahimovic for Messi in the future."

   On the sidelines, it was very different from the elated atmosphere of the Crystal Palace bench. The Manchester United bench was quiet and scary, and the players even slowed down their breathing.

   Sir Alex Ferguson looked gloomily at the Crystal Palace players who were celebrating a goal in the stadium, chewing gum quickly without saying a word.

   He has paid enough attention to Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, the two Crystal Palace strikers, and specially arranged special personnel to mark them.

   And he is also very clear that the players on the Manchester United field have done their best, and they dare not relax the defense of Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi.

  But even so, Manchester United were still scored by Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi.

   It can only be said that these two players bought by the Chinese are really too strong in personal ability.

   It’s really unstoppable!

   At this moment, Ferguson couldn't help but feel powerless in his heart.

   It seems that it is too difficult to defeat Crystal Palace from the front, I am afraid it is difficult to achieve.

   Then, we can only find another way.

   Thinking of this, Ferguson turned his head and glanced at the few substitute players left on the Crystal Palace bench not far away.

  Crystal Palace's injury situation is very serious this season. Although they have given up the FA Cup and League Cup, the remaining Champions League and Premier League, the Chinese can't give up anyway.

  The schedule of the final impact stage of the Premier League is very abnormal. Coupled with the consumption of the Champions League, Crystal Palace's patchwork back line is likely to have new injuries, which will cause a complete collapse.

  The most important thing now is that the FA must impose additional penalties on Pepe as hard as possible.

   At this moment, although the game is not over yet, Ferguson's mind has drifted to other places.

   (end of this chapter)