i want to be king

Chapter 818

Another gloomy afternoon.

On the northwest outskirts of Birmingham, a black Audi passed the overpass, turned from the southbound M6 highway into the M5 highway, and quickly sped towards the west suburbs of Birmingham.

The M5 highway passes between the two big West Midlands towns of West Bromwich and Handsworth, but Audi drives out from the high-speed exit in the north of the two towns.

Just after exiting the expressway, go around the roundabout to the east, and pass the bridge above the expressway. The east side of the expressway is less than 100 meters away. There is a professional football field on the south side of the road, and a school and a training base on the west side of the football field.

Due to the game in the afternoon, at this moment, the road is quite congested, with a lot of traffic.

There is a small parking lot to the east of the stadium, but it is already blocked.

"Boss, why don't you go down and have something to eat first, and I'll find a place to park in front." The driver leaned his head over and said to the two people sitting in the back seat, his tone was very respectful.

Sitting in the back row were a bald-headed middle-aged man and an old man with a red nose. After listening to the driver's words, the bald-headed middle-aged man put a thick cotton cap on his head and wrapped it in a scarf that covered half of his face, as if he didn't intend for others to see his appearance clearly.

The same was true for the red-nosed old man. Before getting out of the car, he even pulled down the brim of his hat.

In November, the temperature drops sharply.

Audi found a gap on the side of the road and pulled over to park. The two got out of the car, one on the left and the other on the right. They looked around at the bustling scene of people coming and going, and no one paid any attention to the appearance of the two seemingly ordinary outsiders.

The two didn't linger, and went directly to the McDonald's across the road from the stadium.

They drove south from Manchester after lunch. It was a nearly two-hour drive. When they arrived, there was still more than half an hour before the game, and it was the peak time for fans to enter the stadium.

Walking into McDonald's, the bald head went to order two cups of hot coffee. The red-nosed old man sat facing the window. He happened to be able to see the Hawthorn Stadium opposite, and he could clearly see the Manchester City bus parked in the parking lot inside the stadium.

The sky blue body is still easy to distinguish.

"Boss, in fact, I can come alone, you don't need to make a special trip." The bald man sat down next to the red-nosed old man, saw the old man's nose that was obviously redder from the cold, and persuaded.

"I don't have any impression of watching the video or your report. I have to see Manchester City's football with my own eyes." The red-nosed old man trembled a little.

Although he can no longer be seen from the outside, if someone familiar with him hears the voice of the red-nosed old man, he will be able to recognize him easily, the head coach of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson.

The bald head is his assistant coach, Mike Perrin.

Ferguson, who is nearly seventy years old, is not as energetic as before.

Everyone knows that as early as Queiroz's period, he basically ignored the usual training, and only formulated tactics for the opponent and made various important decisions. As for the team's daily life, he basically defended it for the assistant coach.

Queiroz's departure dealt a big blow to Ferguson, so he divided Queiroz's authority into two parts, one for assistant coach Mike Perrin, and the other for Dutch coach Meulensteen.

This time it was Mike Perrin who accompanied him out to spy on the military situation.

"Mike, you are a very talented person, but you must remember that those high-tech methods can only be auxiliary forever. They are indeed very convenient, but at the same time, they will also form a new information gap."

"No matter how clear the video is, no matter how detailed the report is, it is impossible to perfectly restore the feeling of the scene. When our players go to the game, they need to compete with their opponents face to face in the stadium, not through the video and report. These are two very different things."

Mike Perrin nodded, but obviously he didn't particularly listen.

He didn't feel any difference, but he didn't think it was necessary to go south for this trip in such cold weather.

It's already [-], and it's already the Internet age, why can't we keep pace with the times?
But Ferguson is the boss, as an assistant coach, he can only obey obediently.

If you want to change the rules, you can, wait until you become the boss.

The Hawthorn Stadium has opened dozens of doors around, and fans can go to any corner of the stands through these entrances.

The most important thing is that the capacity of the stadium is actually not large, only more than 2 people, and the game is approaching, so the entry speed is very fast. They just sat in the McDonald's for more than ten minutes, and when the driver parked the car and came, the fans had already entered the stadium.

After the three of them tidied up, they left the McDonald's, went straight to the gate where they were standing, and checked in.

……

In the stands of the Hawthorn Stadium, which can accommodate 6000 people, if three people throw it in, it is like a small drop of water in the sea, or a small grain of sand in the desert, which is inconspicuous at all.

The three of them all put on a certain disguise, and no one recognized them when they entered the venue.

After finding the position, as soon as I sat down, I saw the players of the two teams appearing under the leadership of the referee.

"Lee Probert, this kid is weak in law enforcement, and Manchester City will suffer a bit." Ferguson couldn't help laughing after seeing the referee entering the field clearly.

West Bromwich Albion has never been a clean team, or it should be said that none of the teams in the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League is clean, including the previous Manchester City.

If you want to gain a foothold in a highly competitive and brutal league like the Premier League, you must work hard.

Manchester City was the same before, even they were more fierce than anyone else, but in the past two years, they have stepped up their signings and Guardiola has reorganized the team's skills and tactics, which has caused Manchester City to become a literary youth in the Premier League.

As everyone knows, the style of Manchester City in the past was also disgustingly dirty.

Otherwise, why would Keane choose revenge when facing Manchester City?

Of course, Ferguson never denied that Manchester United's style of play is also dirty. Even a player like Scholes plays dirty. This should be regarded as an important part of the traditional culture of English football.

In other words, this is the mainstream, and the set of Wenger and Guardiola is considered non-mainstream.

……

After the game started, Manchester City, as always, controlled the ball.

It is difficult for West Bromwich Albion's overall strength to compete with Manchester City, especially in the face of Manchester City, which is full of main players.

Ferguson's eyes kept lingering on the Manchester City players, and he kept talking, while Mike Perrin sat aside, took off his gloves, and kept recording Ferguson's words with a small notebook, for fear that he would forget it later.

There are many things Ferguson is interested in Manchester City, and one of them is the young player named Trippier at the right back.

Guardiola has let him start for the third consecutive game. What a lot of trust and cultivation.

But judging from the scene, Ferguson was quite disappointed with Trippier.

Or it should be said that it did not bring him any surprises.

The footwork is good, the passing is good, and he works hard, but that's all, and he doesn't see much aura.

Maybe it's because of the youth training.

Ferguson thought to himself.

Manchester City's Trippier is much worse than the two Brazilian teenagers in the Manchester United team, whether it is talent, talent or strength, Ferguson is really a little disappointed.

If such a player is in Manchester United, he can only be loaned out for training.

"If Guardiola still starts Trippier in the next game, we will attack Manchester City on the right!" Ferguson said loudly.

Obviously, he already knows Trippier's strength.

At this time, the game had just passed less than 10 minutes.

……

In the midfield, Guardiola hid Toni Kroos and let Gareth Barry start. Milner replaced Sanchez on the right side of the front field. This is obviously Guardiola's intentional suspicion before the game.

After the opening, West Bromwich Albion has been grasping the defense, the players ran actively, and Manchester City failed to win the opponent in one go.

But when the game progressed to No. 20 minutes, Manchester City's left side completed a beautiful offensive coordination.

After Marcelo dribbled the ball across the center line, he quickly passed the ball to Di Maria.

The Argentine winger opted to dribble and cut across, but it didn't work and he had to pass back to David Silva.

David Silva chose to run on the left side and completed a collision with Marcelo. After David Silva got the ball on the left side, he was already standing outside the left corner of the penalty area.

As soon as the ball was stopped, David Silva sent a diagonal pass, bypassing the defender and sending it to the left side of the penalty area.

Su Dong ran over to catch the ball, blocked the central defender behind him with his body, turned around after stopping the ball, and sent a cross with his left foot to the left side of the front of the small penalty area.

Di Maria, who cut inside just now, suddenly reached the front of the small penalty area, and swept Su Dong's cross into West Bromwich Albion's goal with his left foot, one to zero!

"pretty!!"

Ferguson applauded excitedly.

Like him, many fans at the scene thought the goal was beautiful.

The most important thing is the passing and cutting cooperation between players, which is very smooth.

"This kind of continuous crossover, Manchester City is playing more and more slippery now. As long as one of the defensive players fails to keep up, they will immediately mess up. This will be very troublesome." Ferguson frowned.

Guardiola's team did not play so skillfully last season, but this season has obviously slipped.

The biggest change is actually the part where Su Dong leaned on the defensive player in the penalty area, stopped the ball and turned to make a pass. Without it, Manchester City's attack could not enter the penalty area and hold the ball at all.

Santa Cruz just couldn't hold the ball last season.

Ferguson couldn't help but weigh in his mind, if Manchester United's defensive players come to defend, can they defend Manchester City's passing and cutting cooperation?

He actually has no idea.

……

Just 5 minutes after the goal, it was another Manchester City steal near the halfway line, which was quickly handed over to David Silva.

The Spanish midfielder directly instigated a long pass attack. With a strange arc, this long pass landed precisely on Su Dong's side after he went forward.

(End of this chapter)