Array football

Chapter 23 Attack!

Newcastle are not a weak team.

In the 90s, under the leadership of Kevin Keegan, Newcastle was once the biggest opponent of Ferguson's red Manchester United. They launched an offensive to the league title several times.Now 37-year-old Andy Cole made his debut in Newcastle and made his name.

However, in the late 90s, with the departure of Kevin Keegan and Andy Cole, Newcastle gradually declined, and they were no longer the magpies that could compete with Manchester United.

The current Newcastle is actually very similar to Manchester City.

Both teams changed their coaches in the middle of last season, and the summer transfer period was very large, bringing in many players.Manchester City bought Cody LS Maras, Isaacson and others, while Newcastle bought Duff, Babarok, Parker and other players from Chelsea in a package.

At the beginning of the season, the media once predicted that Newcastle and Manchester City would become the two dark horses.Moreover, Newcastle still has the UEFA Cup to play, with a striker line composed of Owen and Duff, maybe both lines can achieve good results.

But things backfired. Throughout the season, the performance of the two teams was not good. Manchester City went directly to relegation, and Newcastle was also ups and downs in the middle, and their performance was not satisfactory.

After more than half the season, Manchester City has changed their head coach.As for Newcastle, although the head coach Rhodes' position has been questioned, Newcastle's triumphant progress in the UEFA Cup has given the club still confidence in him.

However, this fig leaf was quickly removed.

In March, in the UEFA Cup round of 3 knockout rounds, Newcastle won 32:4 at home, but lost 1:0 in the away game. In the end, they were eliminated because of the disadvantage of away goals.

Rhodes was once again pushed to the forefront.

Back in the league, everyone discovered that their positions were not stable.

Manchester City behind them is only 5 points away from them, and 3 points behind Manchester City is the relegation zone.

The gap of only 8 points, not to mention the extravagant hope of the European war, maybe a negligence, will fall into the relegation zone!
Looking at Manchester City's brave performance after the coaching change, more and more public opinion is inclined to change the coach and let Rhodes get out of class.

Under such circumstances, the league game against Manchester City became the last straw for Rhodes.

For Rhodes, there is no way out, only to win!

To defeat Manchester City, we must first contain their offense.

Samaras and Andy Cole are naturally two people who cannot be avoided.In fact, it's not just Rhodes, the entire Premier League is paying attention to Manchester City and their god-level striker.

Yes, god-level striker!
In the two games, Samaras scored 5 goals and assisted 1 goal; Andy Cole assisted 3 goals and scored 1 goal.The duo netted six of the seven goals.

This is a phenomenal striker combination!

This kind of efficiency, even Chelsea's Drogba + Shevchenko, is beyond the reach.

Of course, while attracting more attention, more people are thinking about how to defend against this striker combination?

Both Jewel and Southgate failed, and now it's Rhodes' turn to face this problem.

Especially after the last round, Duncan "arrogantly" declared that he wanted three consecutive victories, as if he didn't take Newcastle seriously, which made Rhodes especially depressed.

Moreover, Rhodes is not the only one in Newcastle, as well as the fans and the club. Rhodes can be sober, but others will not buy it.

So although Rhodes didn't want to lie down, Duncan had no choice but to fire the map cannon.No matter what, he has to make preparations for the battle.

March 3, the 31st round of the 2006-2007 Premier League, St. James' Park Stadium, the player tunnel.

Samaras was full of spring, talking and laughing with Andy Cole.The highlight performance of the two games made him selected for the national team.In the midweek qualifying match, Samaras scored a goal and showed a very good state.

In this game, Samaras was full of confidence in the face of Newcastle, who was like a lagging dog.

Sitting on the bench at St. James' Park, Duncan was also curious about how Rhodes won the battle of redemption.

Newcastle is very motivated from the club to the fans. If they can't win, then Newcastle's head coach will be replaced in the next game.

After the game started, Rhode's formation made everyone really confused.

Whether it's standing or starting, Newcastle can't be more ordinary.

Hey, do you think this is a battle of life and death?

In the home team stands, some fans have already sent boos.

To be honest, Newcastle's lineup is not too weak.

In the 4231 formation, Ameobi acts as a single striker, behind him, Duff, Emre, and Solano line up, and Butt and Parker serve as double midfielders.

Because the center is weak, Newcastle's offensive is mainly concentrated on the wing.In particular, the "ex-Chelsea Left Corridor" of Duff on the left and Babarok on the left back are extremely powerful in attack.

The whistle blows and the home team kicks off.

Newcastle striker Ameobi knocked back, midfielder Butt crossed, and winger Duff has already inserted.

Manchester City's right midfielder Sinclair followed two steps and had to give up.Duff was famous for being a fast Irish horse, but it was not something he could catch.

The right back Trabelsi was ready to fight, but Duff didn't bother too much. In the middle, he just kicked the goal hard!
The ball was so powerful that Manchester City goalkeeper Isaacson didn't dare to neglect and threw the ball away.

Defender Richards recovered from a cold and started this game, but his condition was mediocre. He was completely at a disadvantage in the fight with Newcastle striker Ameobi.

Ameobi returned the header, Butt stepped in, shot hard, and the football hit the crossbar and popped out.

Just as the defensive player wanted to let out a long sigh of relief, his heart immediately raised his throat.

Newcastle's midfielder Solano appeared at the back point, and a lion shook his head, but the football happened to hit the leg of Manchester City's central defender Dunn. Left back Sun Jihai caught up and drove the ball out of the sideline with his big foot.

The goal was missed, and Ameobi hammered the court angrily.

In the stands, the fans of the visiting team exclaimed.

Newcastle's opening three tricks are really powerful!

wrong!

Duncan found that Newcastle started fiercely, and two of these three shots were completed by midfielders.

The lower back is pressed up?
Duncan turned his head and looked at the bench on the other side. Rhode felt a little sorry for the loss, but he was not depressed.

This is a deliberate tactical arrangement!
Duncan got the answer he wanted immediately: Newcastle is going to attack in this game!
Sure enough, in the next game, Newcastle launched a ferocious attack.Except for the two central defenders, all other players overwhelmed the half court, increasing their offensive firepower!

Duff, Ameobi, Butt... In just 15 minutes, Newcastle scored seven shots.

On the other hand, for Manchester City, Andy Cole only touched the ball twice, and Samaras was even worse, not once.

"Newcastle's game is to use offense to suppress Manchester City's offense!" After watching for 15 minutes, the commentator also understood Newcastle's tactical intentions.

In this desperate situation where there is no way to retreat, Rhode resolutely placed his bet on the attack.

He knew he couldn't defend against Samaras, so he didn't defend at all, and instead used offense as defense.

Of course, this is not unfounded. Rhode watched Manchester City's first two games in detail and found that in the two games, although Manchester City scored seven goals, they conceded three goals.

The offense is great, and the defense is sloppy.

This is Rhodes' conclusion.

In Rhodes' view, Manchester City seemed to be split into two parts on the field.One part is the god-level striker of Samaras + Andy Cole, while the other part is a scum-level defense line composed of other players.

Although it is impossible to explain the completely different performances of Manchester City's offensive and defensive ends, Rhodes has grasped the key to defeating Manchester City!
In Rhode's view, tactics like Middleburg's are stupid. He knows that Manchester City's striker is the strongest, but he still has to start from here.

To defeat an opponent, one must seize the weakness.

Manchester City's weakness is defense.

Therefore, Rhodes made a seemingly reckless, but actually well-thought-out deployment.

attack!

(End of this chapter)