Grass roots glory

Chapter 915 Drawn by the relegation team again
The next day, the UK's "Sky Sports" featured an exclusive interview with Zhou Tiancheng in a special program on the resumption of the first round of the new Premier League season.

"In the new season, Manchester United did show a good state in the first round. It seems that Van Gaal and the team are still in the honeymoon period. It seems to have a new look, whose credit should be credited for this?"

"Manchester United's confidence seems to be really strong. Zhou once again reiterated his thoughts. He wants to restore the glory of Manchester United's dynasty. It seems that he is not just trying to attract attention and talk big in front of the fans when he joins, but Manchester United Can he support his ambition? Even he himself said that Van Gaal has a bad temper, what will such a person bring to Manchester United? It is not clear yet, we have to wait for the honeymoon period between him and the team to end. Maybe when Manchester United will start If they don’t win, it’s time to see their true fighting power.”

"However, as long as you maintain this state and Zhou is around, it is really not easy to lose!" The guest commentator also told the truth.

"Then wait until he doesn't play. England's games are more intensive than the Bundesliga. Van Gaal should pay more attention to the league and the FA Cup, but there is also the League Cup. He shouldn't be allowed to play, right? It should be given to other young players. People have a chance."

Among the Premier League clubs, there is such an unspoken tacit understanding: Generally, the League and the FA Cup are more valued, while the League Cup is used to train the team's young people. Even if the Premier League clubs want to use the main force to play, Generally, you have to wait until the semi-finals. There are no low-level league teams, and it is related to the final ownership of the championship. These luxuriously equipped Premier League teams will gradually pay attention.

After Manchester United have played the next round of the league, they will usher in the first round of the League Cup this season.

However, their opponent in the second round of the league is Sunderland, which is not strong.Ranked No.14 in the Premier League last season.Not in the relegation zone, but the biggest task every season is relegation.

And if you can rank the Premier League teams with a "fate hard index", it is estimated that no one will dare to compete with Sunderland for the first place.Successfully relegated for seven consecutive seasons, and escaped twice in the final round.They are the toughest small team, but they just can't go down.

This is the characteristic of the Premier League. If there are no big benefactors to spend money to compete for the championship, the remaining teams will fight for relegation. There is basically no championship team, because the current Premier League structure has expanded to "BIG4". "BIG6", there are a total of six teams in the championship group, almost occupying the upper half of the entire standings.

Of course Manchester United is still in this list.This is based on their historical background and influence in the Premier League. The media at least believes that they are capable of influencing the championship.

According to last season's ranking, Manchester United's failure to be kicked out is regarded as a cost, but this season, at least the state of the first round, let people see that they hope to do great things.

So when he came to Sunderland's away game this time, Van Gaal naturally came with the idea of ​​winning streak.He has one big goal early in the season: at least until he meets Chelsea, a real threat, he hopes the team can maintain the momentum of the first game of the league.

When we meet Chelsea, it will be the ninth round of the league.Van Gaal has a lot of ambitions. If he can really realize his ideas, eight consecutive victories will be enough for the team to establish a decisive advantage.

But this goal is still just an idea of ​​​​Van Gaal.It's really not that easy to become a reality.

At least for this second game, Manchester United ran into trouble away from home.

At the Sunderland Stadium of Light, they ran into the opponent's 3-6-1 iron barrel formation.

The opponents are defending intensively in the middle, and almost all of them are shrunk in the backcourt to compress the space. Manchester United can easily turn the game into a half-court offensive and defensive drill, but when entering the core area, what Zhou Tiancheng has to face is a moving wall.

Three midfielders stood in front of Zhou Tiancheng, forming a dense human wall, three steps beyond the arc top of the penalty area, and the area exceeding 35 meters was already like this without giving a little chance.

Zhou Tiancheng tried several times to quickly cut in between the gaps with the ball, but he was greeted by the opponent's unceremonious kick.

After being kicked twice, Zhou Tiancheng knew he couldn't force it.We can only seek direct passes to find the wing, and seek opportunities to score from the ribs.

Van Gaal was very anxious on the sidelines, standing on the sidelines, waving his hands to signal the formation to continue to press upwards.Unable to start the situation for a long time, he even wanted all three central defenders of the team to press up.

Fortunately, Zhou Tiancheng was pretty good, so he didn't need to say much, he knew how to break through the dense defense.Constantly speeding up the rhythm of passing the ball, he formed many consecutive one-foot passes with Ashley Young and Di Maria, and the right wingback Valencia behind him was completely activated.

In the No.403 minute of the game, he received a header from Zhou Tiancheng in the middle, followed by a low pass from the right to the center, and assisted Mata with a low shot to break the deadlock.

Van Gaal breathed a sigh of relief. In this scene, as long as the first goal can appear, there should be no problem.

Originally thought that Sunderland, who was behind, would change its tactics and attack with all its strength in the second half.As a result, they still maintained the tactics of the first half.Obviously this is clever, the attack will definitely lead to a worse death.

Van Gaal continued to signal the whole team to press forward. As a theoretical Dutch coach who believed in total defense, he would not allow the team to satisfy the one-goal advantage and play half-time master ball on the court.This is also not in line with the mental outlook of aspiring to compete for the championship.

But Manchester United didn't seize the opportunity again in the second half.Rooney and Van Persie, who scored in the last game, completely lost their previous form under the rough muscle flow confrontation of the opponent. Even if they barely turned around to get a chance to face the goalkeeper, they each hit a plane once.

The consequences of missed opportunities can sometimes be severe.In particular, Manchester United's three central defenders had nothing to do throughout the game. Suddenly something happened, and they couldn't react at all for a while, which was fatal.

Sunderland seized the opportunity of Manchester United's high pressure and attacked the space behind with a long pass. Manchester United's three central defenders gritted their teeth and chased back, but the opponent's American striker Altidore was obviously faster.Evans was the one with the quickest reaction, so he managed to catch up. Seeing that the opponent was going to kick him, he panicked and subconsciously shoveled.

But the opponent has already entered the restricted area ahead of time with this step...

"Evans is really not calm now. De Gea is already attacking with all his strength, but he gave the opponent a penalty kick and a big gift package to equalize the score." Bob Clem said directly.

Altidore took the penalty himself and tricked De Gea to equalize the score.

There are still 10 minutes left for Manchester United. According to today's offensive, this time is actually enough, but the key is that no one on the front line can stand up.

Zhou Tiancheng couldn't get close to the opponent's penalty area at all. As long as he had the intention of kicking, at least three players fell to the ground to block, and another player aimed at his leg.

The other players were still unable to complete the finishing touch. Rooney and Van Persie were completely out of shape. Van Gaal replaced Welbeck at the last moment, but this strong black man put most of his energy into fighting the opponent physically. Well, he doesn't suffer from physical fitness, but his shooting sight hasn't improved much.

The score of 1:1 has been fixed on the score board until the referee blows the final whistle.

(End of this chapter)