Grass roots glory

Chapter 927 Start the confrontation with BIG6
"After Zhou returned to Manchester United's core lineup, Van Gaal's team immediately ended many winless games. The very dramatic point is that Manchester United has also become a single-core team. state, but the final performance of this season still needs to be seen. Everything depends on Van Gaal-whether he is willing to learn the lesson, even if he no longer emphasizes his so-called authority, and gives Zhou the full status he deserves, like Jurgen Ke People like Lopp are very happy to cooperate with Zhou. If Van Gaal is willing to let go of his figure, Manchester United's next peak should not wait too long."

Jamie Carragher has published a commentary on the BBC's column, looking at Manchester United's outlook for the entire season.

Although he used to be a central defender of Liverpool, his views are very objective and have not been influenced by the "tradition" of the BBC. When talking about Zhou Tiancheng, he pointedly pointed out the role of the Chinese football champion on the Red Devils.

Van Gaal always has that stubborn attitude when facing reporters. The part where Chinese reporters interviewed Van Gaal at the door of the locker room did not attract enough attention in England, but everyone saw Van Gaal’s attitude at the subsequent press conference. .

No matter what the reporter asked, he just lightly emphasized one sentence: "The scene like today is what we should see, and this is just the beginning."

As for why Zhou Tiancheng was cut out of the tactical system before, why he made a concession and returned to the starting lineup this time, how to look at the difference between the team before and after... Van Gaalton avoided talking about these issues.

Did he really not realize it?

During training, he quietly asked Fellaini to strengthen tackles and interceptions, and to consciously use defense to lead the attack. Even the direction of the tackle, Van Gaal asked Fellaini to be in the same direction as Zhou Tiancheng.

"Start again, Marouan, don't you understand what I'm asking? Defense is just destruction? Listen, I'll say it again. Every tackle has to create an opportunity for the attack. As a defensive player, your duty is to With one tackle, to get the ball from the opponent to someone we can attack, understand?"

Fellaini nodded slightly, and winked at Zhou Tiancheng, but Zhou Tiancheng just smiled.

"Hey, Zhou, can't you see it? It seems that he has changed a little bit. The meaning just now was to let me try my best to send the ball to your feet. Can't you hear it? This old man has a weird temper, but now it seems It can still be rescued, at least it's not completely stupid... Hey, good thing, why don't you look excited at all?"

Zhou Tiancheng spread his hands: "What's so exciting about this, anyway, I'll do what I have to do, if I really don't want to see...you will never be able to ask a blind man to applaud your performance, can you? "

Fellaini was stunned for half a second, Zhou Tiancheng's statement was very new, but after thinking about it carefully, it seemed to be so reasonable!
Without any superfluous news or signs, in the away game against Leicester City in the fifth round of the league, Van Gaal "let it go" and arranged Zhou Tiancheng into the starting list.

Just silently announcing Zhou Tiancheng's return and his timely correction of mistakes, it is not easy to have such an attitude to want Van Gaal to admit that a player's position as the pillar of the team is as difficult as reaching the sky.

This game against Leicester City is a trend that no one expected.

The two teams played together and became a goal battle.

Although they are newly promoted in the Premier League, Leicester City's combat effectiveness at their home court, the King Power Stadium, is amazing, and they have pierced Manchester United's goal three times.

The most depressing player in the audience is probably De Gea, who was beaten by the British Championship champion three times, which is indeed a bit of a drop in price for him.

But he was the only one who was depressed. In the end, Manchester United took three points here.

At 5:3, Zhou Tiancheng killed the suspense of the game with a world wave and a set kick after the team equalized twice and took the lead.

The opening and closing scenes, with Manchester United under Zhou Tiancheng, can indeed make people excited, but the hidden danger of three conceded goals cannot be covered up by five goals.

The only critic in the Manchester Evening News was Evans.Most of the defensive gaps exposed by Manchester United in this game were basically opened from his side, and two of the three goals originated from his defensive side.

Leicester City's combat effectiveness at home is not ordinary, and they are also newly promoted. The newly promoted scored three goals. The "Manchester Evening News" hit the nail on the head: If it weren't for the genius performance twice a week, Van Gaal would never even think about taking three points.

But with Van Gaal's character, he doesn't care about the process as long as the result is achieved.

After several rounds of trials, he no longer wavered, locked Zhou Tiancheng and Fellaini firmly in the middle of the midfield, and switched formations between 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 according to the opponent's situation. What remains unchanged is the three-back system.

In the sixth round of the league, they reversed the "Hammer Gang" West Ham United 2:1 at home, defeated Everton with the same score at home in the seventh round, and drew with West Brom 2:2 in the eighth round.

Manchester United's defense is still unstable, conceding goals every game, but Zhou Tiancheng's return has completely activated the offensive ability.

After eight rounds, Manchester United has five wins and three draws. The good news is that since the start of the season, except for the League Cup, which should have been the last loss, they have not lost at the Premier League level.

Not many wins per game, but step by step, Manchester United returned to the top three in the standings, only two points behind Manchester City and Liverpool.

The media pays attention to the standings during this time period, because Manchester United's next two league rounds are the highlight, which will most directly affect the current league standings.

In the ninth round, they played against the Blues at home against Chelsea. In the tenth round, they played the first game of the Manchester City Derby and challenged Manchester City as a guest at the Etihad Stadium.

There are many teams in the Premier League championship group, but Manchester United's return to the top four in the standings is regarded by some English media as a signal.

Everyone has gradually accepted the current Premier League "BIG6". The rise of Manchester City as an upstart BIG6 and the turnaround of Tottenham in North London have subverted the traditional pattern.

Prior to this, the "BIG4" dominated the Premier League: Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea.Mainly the first two, the main color of the Premier League king is red.

In the past few seasons, Manchester City has actually replaced Manchester United, representing Manchester's competitiveness in the Premier League.

But Manchester United "low-key" played back to the top three, and those who had sneered at them before had to look sideways.

It can indeed threaten these two leaders in the "BIG6", and people have to wonder whether Manchester United can squeeze out their rivals in the same city and return to the traditional pattern.

But this is just a guess. When it comes to tactics, no one knows what Van Gaal thinks about it.

They hadn't played against a strong team in the previous rounds, and Manchester United also took advantage of the schedule. In the first eight rounds, there were two "BIG6" games against each other, so they had a chance to digest the point difference left by Van Gaal's death.

The real test now falls to Van Gaal.

(End of this chapter)