green showman

Chapter 689: Manchester United's Vulnerabilities

In a hotel in London, chess pieces on the tactical board were being tossed over and over again, and the discussion had lasted for nearly an hour.

"The key is Januzaj." Sun Wu curled his lips, "He is a guy with no sense of teamwork, and his brain is not very good."

"Best, I think you're prejudiced against him..."

"Miki, well, I have a prejudice against him, what about Evra, Motta, Schneiderlin, Griezmann and even De Gea?" Sun Wu snorted, "The Belgians are right. Yes, we were all wrong!"

Pochettino ignored their argument, staring at the tactical board with his hands folded.

The two conceded goals yesterday were due to problems on the left. It seems that Evra or Motta, who helped defend the left, should be responsible, but in fact the root of the problem lies with Januzaj.

The Belgian winger was unable to threaten the opponent's defense line with continuous breakthroughs, causing Fulham's right back to dare to press forward and assist when counterattacking. This allowed Holtby to complete breakthroughs along the sideways twice. Evra must be in a 1VS2 situation. Inferior, and Motta's weak running ability and narrow coverage are also exposed.

In fact, Pochettino has no major loopholes in the tactical details. The key is that Januzaj has no way to create a threat, and at the same time, the return rate is low, which makes the defense on the left frequently make mistakes.

"Ashley Young or Giggs are fine, but Welbeck is also good if it doesn't work." Sun Wu insisted on his point of view, "No matter how bad it is, Klose's injury is about to heal, let Griezmann retreat a little."

"But the French like to cruise behind Klose, not a winger." Miguel objected, "At least from a tactical point of view, his ability to pull the side is not as good as Januzaj."

"But at least Griezmann is out of his mind!" Sun Wu's voice became louder, "Look at the video of the last game, that Belgian thought he was a combination of Ronaldo and Messi!"

"Griezmann is more threatening in the penalty area." Jesus tried to smooth things over, "Maybe with Ashley Young, he played well last game."

"The number of successful breakthroughs on the training ground is not as good as Best's!" Miguel snorted. "Giggs has physical problems, and it is difficult to keep up with the rhythm of the high press, and Welbeck has just returned from injury."

Uh, but ah!

After some debate, everyone turned their attention to Pochettino who made the decision. He will play Arsenal tomorrow. The training for adapting to the field has ended, but the starting list has not yet been released. This is a rare phenomenon this season.

……

At the pre-match press conference, Pochettino was in a state of confusion in the face of reporters' inquiries. He didn't know what the choices he made would lead to.

The conflict between Miguel and Sun Wu about Januzaj has become public, and Mike Phelan is faintly standing on Sun Wu's side, and Jesús naturally supports his old colleague Miguel.

In this case, Pochettino chose to make peace.

In the starting lineup, he chose Januzaj to continue the starting lineup, but removed Motta and replaced him with Cleverley.

To Pochettino's surprise, Sun Wu didn't complain and accepted the result calmly.

At the beginning of this season, Manchester United lacked manpower in the defensive midfielder position. In the end, Sun Wu proposed to rent Inter Milan's defensive midfielder Mota. This Italian was the main player when he first arrived. benefit.

But with the arrival of Schneiderlin, Motta changed from a defensive midfielder to an organizer. This change made Motta's position in the team awkward.

In fact, if Pochettino chooses double defensive midfielders, Motta and Schneiderlin can at least be a good partner on paper, but the key is that Pochettino needs Motta to do more offensively.

Threatening the goal with passes and long-range shots, running without the ball to open up space for Sun Wu and Griezmann, running wildly when pressing in high positions, and needing to return to defense quickly when defending, and also have to help defend the left .

This is too difficult for Motta. He has been working hard in Serie A. He is used to controlling the rhythm and organizing offense in the midfielder position. It is difficult for him to contribute so many running and sprinting times in each game when he is already in his 30s. He is also very uncomfortable rushing to the frontcourt for high-position pressing, and he has not even adapted to the fast ball conversion and offensive and defensive rhythm changes brought about by high-position pressing.

This is determined by Motta's professional resume and playing style.

Sun Wu knows this well. If there is a strong center forward, Pochettino may choose a double midfielder formation, but now, he can only increase the offensive manpower by letting Motta's position premise.

In this case, the combination of Motta and Januzaj has become Manchester United's biggest loophole.

In fact, Motta has told Sun Wu privately that he will not stay at Manchester United next season, although there is a buyout clause in the loan contract.

The reason why Sun Wu did not raise any objection to Pochettino's decision was, on the one hand, to respect the authority of the head coach, and to avoid disputes with Pochettino on the surface; Yesterday, came off the bench in the reserve team and performed very well.

The position of Motta or Cleverley seems ordinary. In terms of organizing offense, they are only Sun Wu's deputy, and in defense, they are only assisting defense. The key player is Schneiderlin.

But in fact, this position has very strict requirements. It must have a strong running ability, be able to provide support on offense, have a high defensive presence rate, have a good ability to break through and score the ball, and even need to kill. Entering the penalty area increases the number of people grabbing points, and retreating to the penalty area to complete the clearance becomes the first starting point for the counterattack.

In other words, this position needs a great B2B!

Of course, Sun Wu is very clear that in the next few years, in terms of B2B, the name of Pogba will definitely be among the best players!
……

Walking out of the locker room, Sun Wu and Arsenal captain Arteta high-fived. The Spanish midfielder was also from La Masia. Sun Wu remembered that he later retired and became Guardiola's assistant coach.

Arsenal's performance this season has been ups and downs, very unstable. The record at the beginning of the season was poor. Later, after introducing Yaya Toure and Ozil, they once won six consecutive victories, but then suffered consecutive defeats from strong opponents. Manchester United humiliated Wenger by a big score at home this season.

In the small round robin, Arsenal was the worst performer. In the first half of the season, they only drew with Liverpool once, and lost consecutively to Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United. In the last round of the league, they were just swept by Liverpool led by Klopp 5-1.

Sun Wu glanced at Wenger who was walking out of the player tunnel. He vaguely remembered that this season, when Arsenal lost to Chelsea, Salah scored his first goal after coming to the Premier League. Rinho almost staged a full-scale martial arts.

Sun Wu pondered in his heart, perhaps his appearance would cause the professor to retire a few years earlier...

At this time, the referee picked up the ball on the ground and walked out first.

Arteta and Sun Wu, who were leading the caddy, followed closely behind.

In this game, neither Ferdinand nor Evra started, and Sun Wu, as the captain of Manchester United, walked out of the player channel with his head held high.

Oncoming applause and boos sounded at the same time, Arteta looked stern, while Sun Wu looked around with an expression of indifference.

Although the current Manchester United team has many shortcomings, and there is even a gap between Januzaj and his teammates, Sun Wu is confident that he can defeat the Arsenal team in front of him!
(End of this chapter)