long live football

In the ninth round of No.20 of the Premier League, in Manchester United's home game against Tottenham Hotspur, the Red Devils resorted to no-front tactics.

As soon as the starting lineup and tactical rankings were announced on the TV, many fans sitting in front of the TV suddenly exclaimed: "What the fuck is this?"

Even the well-informed commentator was surprised: "Although Ruud van Nistelrooy's injury has left Manchester United with no one to rely on on the front line, this 460 tactic... Oh my god, Auston is close to abandoning the center forward This position even puts Ronaldo and Giggs at the top of the midfield! Acting as... a full-back?!"

"How do we play this game without a striker? This is really a deviant way of arranging troops. Although Benitez has played this skill well in La Liga, it does not mean that it is necessarily suitable for the Premier League. Suitable……"

Before Andy Gray could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a harsh noise in the live broadcast room. He stared at the screen and took a deep breath—a team had already scored a goal!

And it was Manchester United who scored the goal!

In the 7th minute, Keane gave the ball to Scholes on the right from the midfielder. Scholes saw that the wing was unmarked and passed directly. Point, then shake your head and attack the goal directly!

The Tottenham goalkeeper couldn't make up for it, and the goal scored!

Manchester United took the lead by one goal in less than 10 minutes!

But this is far from over.

In the 21st minute of the first half, Tottenham launched an attack with great difficulty, but the shot ball bounced high on the goal frame. Gary Neville quickly counterattacked after stealing the ball from the backcourt. Kleberson.

Kleberson broke through the Porto half, Cristiano Ronaldo and Giggs stepped in from the left and right to respond to him, 20 meters from the front of the penalty area, Kleberson gave the ball to Giggs, Giggs Gus broke through to the goal, but when the Tottenham defenders surrounded him, he crossed the ball to Ronaldo.

Ronaldo didn't stop the ball and directly raised his foot to shoot!

The Tottenham goalkeeper flew to save, but the football burst into the dead corner and scored!

2: 0!

With unparalleled speed, Manchester United actually scored two points just in the middle of the first half!

Such an attack made Manchester United fans hooked, but Tottenham fans felt like they were falling into a dream, thinking that this was not reality.

The Tottenham coach shouted from the sidelines, telling the players to step up defense, and then step up defense!

But Tottenham's central defenders stood on the field, like sleepwalking-not that they didn't want to defend, but because they had nowhere to start, they couldn't defend!

At the beginning of the game, when the players with faces almost shrunk to their own half, the Tottenham players were still laughing. They felt that Manchester United's leading striker Ruud van Nistelrooy was injured, and they should get at most three points and at least one point from Manchester United. It's all easy.

But at the beginning of the game, the Tottenham players, especially the central defenders, cried - four midfielders who can attack and defend, plus two wingers who are good at sudden changes, Manchester United's offense seems to have no focus, but in fact it is everywhere. That's the point, everyone can come to the goal and be a threat.

What is this no-front tactic?Obviously the defensive players are facing the biggest dilemma!

However, the head coach of Tottenham was unfamiliar with this tactic and did not think of how to adjust the tactic to deal with Manchester United after the start of the second half. As a result, in the full 90 minutes, the Tottenham players were completely baffled. In the end, they could only 0 :3 leaving Old Trafford in a disastrous defeat.

"Manchester United does not have a high center in the traditional sense, and in the Champions League game against Porto, even their leading striker Ruud van Nistelrooy was injured, which made some teams think that Manchester United lost their ability to score goals and began to become bully. .”

"But they don't want to think about it. Even if a lion is sick, it is still a lion, and it cannot become a sick cat."

Sky Sports commentator Andy Gray commented after the Manchester United VS Tottenham game: "Manchester United's new tactics not only did not make the team's combat effectiveness decline, but even became a little bit sharper - Ronaldo and Giger Although Scholes stands in the position of full-back, their position is not only fixed in the midfield or the frontcourt. Whenever Scholes, Keane and others launch an attack from the backcourt, they can immediately go to respond. In the end, Manchester United's entire midfield formed a huge offensive chain, and every point was a breakthrough point."

"Manchester United, which played without a forward, is far more terrifying than people expected. The opponents of the Red Devils in the next few rounds of the league will feel a headache."

Andy Gray was right, and United's ferocious scoring momentum in the Premier League ensued as his opponents chanted "Wolf!"

In the No.30 round of the Premier League, Manchester United beat Manchester City 2:1 away.

In the No.30 round, the Red Devils reversed Birmingham City 2:1 away.

In the second round of No.30, Manchester United defeated Leicester City 1:0 at home.

In the third round of No.30, Portsmouth put up an iron barrel formation at home, but was still taken away by Manchester United who seized the opportunity to counterattack, and finally lost 0:1.

Five straight wins!

After encountering a series of unsatisfactory matches after the year, Manchester United miraculously maintained a five-game winning streak!

Why can Manchester United achieve continuous success with no front tactics?In fact, it's not because this tactic is perfect and you can definitely win if you use it, but because Manchester United's current situation is very suitable for the no-front tactic.

First, Manchester United's midfielders are more or less offensive. Second, Manchester United's defense is notoriously tough, and they basically don't worry about conceding goals if they don't attack.

But the most important point is that Manchester United's opponents have never seen them use this tactic before!Fresh means unfamiliar, and mysterious means difficult to deal with. When a brand-new tactical system appears in front of you, after a few games of confrontation, other teams in the Premier League are still unable to figure out how to deal with the current Manchester United.

No wonder Birmingham City fans even complained on local forums after the disastrous defeat to Manchester United: The mysterious Manchester United is too difficult to deal with, Ferguson should come back quickly, at least his tactics come and go There are just a few types, so people don't have to worry about being surprised after the opening game.

The "Manchester United Phenomenon" appeared in English football for a while. People were talking about "no-front tactics", discussing why it has been popular from La Liga to the Premier League, and even discussing who came up with this genius idea and made Manchester United win. Five in a row?

All kinds of media can't wait to start expressing their views:

"The Sun": "Surprise move + surprise soldier, Manchester United won five consecutive victories"

"Sunday Mail": "The no-forward tactic is very suitable for Manchester United now. Although I don't know who came up with this idea, it is really suitable. Although Manchester United, on the surface, without a forward is equal to losing a stable scoring point. , but it allowed other midfielders to get more chances to score goals."

"Observer": "Although the momentum of Manchester United's new tactics has been unstoppable recently, other teams had better not blindly imitate-if you also have a super stable defense and a world-class midfielder who can attack and defend. , that's optional."

"Mirror" even made a special topic "No Frontal Tactics New Direction for Future Football Development? ", which said: "The no-forward tactic was actually used by the Russian team as early as the 1992 European Championship, but it did not attract much attention at that time. This is probably because there were still many traditional centers in world football at that time. Why, if there is a good center, how can the team abandon it?"

"However, in recent years, with the rise of wingers, traditional high center forwards have become less and less popular, and it is also difficult to find. Even stars in world football that meet the standards of traditional centers, such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Didier Drogba , Klose, etc. They can't be called 'standard centers' now, because Ibrahimovic's foot skills are too delicate, and he prefers to play footwork instead of grabbing headers. Klose and Drogba can attack and can Defensive, often act as a defensive barrier for the team."

"Football's shortage of center forwards gave birth to no-front tactics. When Benitez first tried this style of play in Valencia, he was reprimanded by the media as 'rebellious', but look at Valencia now, they are almost booked. This season's La Liga champion! The second team that dared to try something new is the Red Devils Manchester United, and we have seen the results with our own eyes. Manchester United, who thought that Ruud van Nistelrooy's offensive power would be weaker after recovering from illness, have advanced five league rounds triumphantly. Now they are far from the league. The second place in the standings, Chelsea, is only 1 point behind, and maybe only one round of the league will take place, and the standings will undergo new changes..."

This trend later also affected other media on the European continent, but while paying attention to the new changes in Manchester United's tactics, they also noticed the rising star in the Red Devils dressing room-Cristiano Ronaldo.

In the last five rounds of the league, he has contributed a total of 4 goals for the team, and almost every start has been accounted for. This efficiency is really not low, and in the game of Manchester United VS Birmingham City, it was even Ronaldo. A super-long shot tied the score and paved the way for the subsequent reversal. Such a result made Manchester United fans call out: The transfer fee of more than 1240 million pounds is worth it!

The name of Cristiano Ronaldo is widely praised in the British Isles. The media and fans believe that Sir Alex Ferguson made a very good deal last summer. It will bring a very considerable income to Manchester United in the transfer market.

At the end of all the discussions, the same voice was collectively issued-who came up with such a bold idea of ​​​​changing Manchester United's traditional tactics?

Ferguson lying on the hospital bed and just finished the operation?Probably not.

Is that the team's acting head coach, Walter Smith, or someone on his coaching staff?

Just when everyone was guessing, the FA announced the winners of the "Premier League Manager of the Month in March" in early April, which directly pushed Manchester United, which has been in the limelight recently, to the top, and indirectly caused the secret to be revealed. Shake it out!

The winner of the Premier League Manager of the Month for March is Walter Smith!The reason for the award is: using extremely bold and novel tactics, changing Manchester United's existing game system, and winning five consecutive victories in the league.

The best coach of the month in the Premier League is the most precious award in England besides the best coach of the year.Winners will receive a trophy and a bottle of champagne worth thousands of pounds.There are a total of 20 teams in the Premier League, and only one coach can win this honor every month. The competition is naturally very fierce. Even figures like Ferguson and Arsene Wenger can only get it twice a year at most. The team's performance was not good, and they didn't even get one in a season.

However, after accepting the award, Smith directly said to the BBC reporter who came to interview: "I deserve this award. It should be awarded to my assistant, Karl Alston."

Smith himself revealed the answer! —that was the headline in the sports pages of many newspapers the next day.

The reporter then went to interview the officials of the FA. The FA spokesperson seemed a little embarrassed. He just said: "We only choose which team to award the trophy to based on the performance of each Premier League team that month. It’s just the coach. Do you say that Auston is more suitable to win the best coach of the month than Smith? Then we can’t re-award him a trophy unless he becomes the acting or official manager of Manchester United.”

The FA official's answer made everyone who knew the truth feel very sorry for Karl, but Karl himself didn't feel much. What he cared more about at the moment was whether Ferguson would agree to his request.

The author has something to say: PS: The best coach of the Premier League in April 2005 was the acting coach of Manchester City Stuart Pierce, so not only the official coach, but also the acting coach should be able to win this award, but there is Walter on top of Karl · Smith, he himself has no hope of winning.