green showman

Chapter 670 Tactical Changes
On January 1, the Premier League officially kicked off the second half of the season. Manchester United drew with their Welsh team Swansea in the first round at home.

Swansea completed the same great reversal as Manchester United in the last round of the league, except that Manchester United reversed Cardiff City, while Swansea reversed Manchester City, which led to Manchester United overwhelming Manchester City in the standings for the first time this season.

Currently Chelsea ranks first with 52 points, Liverpool ranks second with 49 points, Manchester United ranks third with 47 points, and Manchester City ranks fourth with 45 points.

Swansea is the biggest surprise of the Premier League this season. The combination of Bernie and Michu ranks first in the Premier League in terms of goals scored. Michu scored 17 goals, while Bernie contributed 13 goals. Last 6 assists.

To be able to play such a performance, there are quite a few players in the Swan Sea lineup that are familiar to Sun Wu, such as Routledge who broke through sharply, such as Everton's main center back Williams, and Tottenham's left back Ben Ben. Davis.

However, Manchester United, who played the main force, basically did not leave any chance for Swansea in this game. The crazy high position pressing at the beginning of the game made the opponent's midfield chaotic.

In the 11th minute, Sun Wu made a pass from the right, and Thomas Muller hit the ball into the near corner with his calf in the small penalty area, 1 bar 0.

In the 18th minute, Griezmann steals the ball in the frontcourt and sends an oblique plug. Thomas Muller inserts into the penalty area and scores twice, 2-0.

In the 28th minute, Motta took a corner kick, Ferdinand's header was blocked, and Thomas Muller scored a hat-trick with a supplementary shot, 3-0.

"Schneiderlin allowed Manchester United to invest more energy and manpower in the offense." Zhan Jun commented sharply: "Motta took on more organizational tasks, which allowed Sun Wu to run in a wider range and position more flexible."

"Of course, it's not without problems." Zhang Lu said after a series of compliments: "Griezmann is placed in the center forward position, although he will retreat or pull the side, but the frequency is less than when he is playing the second striker. , and the left winger Giggs' running ability has declined greatly due to age, and Motta's forward penetration frequency and range are not enough, which leads to Manchester United's lack of strength in the back row when attacking."

"And wing defense is also a problem." Zhan Jun nodded and said: "Although Giggs is working hard, he is not forgiving after all. Thomas Muller on the other side is too flexible to run, and it is difficult to get back to him immediately. In the defensive position, this caused Schneiderlin to have to cover the loopholes of the two flanks laterally."

Leading 3-0 in the first half, Sun Wu made a penalty kick at the beginning of the second half and Motta scored. After that, Sun Wu and Thomas Muller were both replaced, and Cleverly and Janu came off the bench. Zai.

The topic discussed by Zhan Jun and Zhang Luyuan thousands of miles away is also circling in the minds of Sun Wu and Pochettino. You must know that the next round of the league is a key away game against Chelsea.

After adding Schneiderlin, a new problem appeared... The two wingers were a bit weak, because Klose couldn't support him physically, Pochettino simply let the Germans go back for vacation, and Hernandez still While recovering from his injury, Lukaku, who wanted to buy, was marked by Chelsea for a high price of 5000 million pounds. Pochettino could only push Griezmann to the center position.

After Griezmann's position premise, he was able to have a chemical reaction with Thomas Muller, who was retracted, and Sun Wu, who had a position premise, but it also weakened Manchester United's wing.

Griezmann, who originally played as the second striker, was the only breakthrough player in the Manchester United team. Now he is shifted to the center. Whether it is Giggs or Ashley Young on the left, it is difficult for Pochettino to be satisfied.

The right side is similar, or even worse. Originally, Erwa was quite well-behaved and would return to defense in time, but now with Schneiderlin, Erwa is now running around with a lot of fun... It took half an hour to perform a hat trick. It proves it.

That's why Pochettino decided to recall Januzaj, the Belgian winger he hopes will replace Griezmann.

Sun Wu, who was sitting on the bench, was not very optimistic about this... Although in the second half, Januzaj first created threats on the right and then on the left, and also assisted Lingard, who came off the bench, to score the first goal of the season.

However, the weakness of the Belgian's lack of return to defense in time, lack of active running and ineffective defense was also exploited by Swansea. In the 85th minute, Ben Davis made an assist and bypassed Januzaj who was pretending. A cross from the side assisted Bernie to score with a header, which made De Gea unable to complete a clean sheet in this game... The unlucky Spanish goalkeeper has only completed 3 clean sheets this season, and the Golden Glove Award is basically out of play.

In the last 10 minutes, Swansea's counterattack was very threatening. The two wingers suppressed Manchester United. Without Sun Wu on the field, it was difficult for Manchester United to send a very insightful pass. Januzaj and Giggs His running ability and defense awareness made Manchester United's defense miserable.

So, the day after the 5-1 sweep of Swansea, Pochettino held the most important tactical discussion meeting of the season in his office.

"Muller is back in position?" Jesús in front of the tactical board picked up the No. 13 pawn and moved to the side. "At least one side must be guaranteed, and the left side can be handed over to the Belgians."

"Januzaj played a total of 125 minutes in the two games and tried 22 breakthroughs, 7 of which were successful." Sun Wu reported a series of statistics without hesitation, "while Griezmann tried to break through every game in the first half of the season. The number of times is only 5.1, and the number of successful breakthroughs is 2.3 times."

"Ahem." Mike Phelan nodded, "Swansea needs Januzaj to break through to create opportunities, but Manchester United is different. Breakthroughs need to be used wisely. Swansea doesn't care if the breakthrough is interrupted, but Manchester United does. "

"And the defense is not timely. Thomas Muller or Valencia on the right say they are wingers, but they are actually full-backs or midfielders." Sun Wu also said: "But the left side is different, the left winger or the second forward. , There will be problems if you don’t return to the defense in time, and Luke Shaw is also a person who likes assists, so you can’t always press high in every game, the robot also needs to work hard!"

Seeing that no one else said anything, Sun Wu continued: "Schneiderlin's appearance has greatly reduced the pressure of returning to defense in the midfield. We can't put the cart before the horse..."

While speaking, Sun Wu picked up the No. 13 chess piece and moved it to the inside, then pushed forward to the restricted area, and then pulled it out and placed it outside the large restricted area.

"Best, just say what you want." Pochettino sighed in his heart with his arms folded. The Chinese obviously had a relatively mature idea in his heart, but he refused to say it directly.

Sun Wu hesitated, glanced out of the corner of his eyes, Miguel and Jesús smiled half-smiles, Giggs and Mike Phelan gave an encouraging look.

"First, Griezmann goes to play the center forward." Sun Wu pushed the No. 10 chess piece into the small penalty area, "Thomas Muller played a role almost as a second striker or a front midfielder, responded from the outside, moved flexibly, inserted into the penalty area to find Space, of course, high pressing and positional defense need to go back to the right flank."

"What about the left side?"

"Giggs, Ashley Young or Januzaj."

Miguel pouted, "Is this different from the last game? It's exactly the same!"

"It's different." Sun Wu stretched out his hands and pushed the No. 25 and No. 18 chess pieces forward for a short distance.

No. 25 is Valencia and No. 18 is Luke Shaw.

(End of this chapter)