On the evening of February 12, Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester, England.
In the first round of the UEFA Champions League elimination round, Manchester United faced Ajax at home.
Solskjaer stood anxiously in front of the home team coach on the sidelines, and Manchester United seemed a little passive as soon as it opened.
This is Solskjaer's strategy, he wants to start with caution.
I just didn't expect that Ajax, who had weakened many times before the game and seemed to have some lack of confidence, even proactively launched the attack at the beginning of the game, and the team adopted a high position to press and suppress.
This is on the road, at Old Trafford!
Is Yang Yang and his young team crazy?
Really think that the home of Premier League giants Manchester United, is their home of the Dutch League?
Tonight, Manchester United's stands were also full of guests, basically all ran specifically for the Solskjaer platform.
Ferguson, Gary Neville, Giggs, and even Beckham made a special trip back from the United States to watch the game, which made the Manchester United stand like a memory of Class 92, and made Old Trafford fans become Extremely excited and more passionate.
But in this case, Solskjaer started cautiously, but Ajax took the initiative.
In just five minutes, Ajax pressed Manchester United near the penalty area, and Frankie De Jong chose to cross to Yang Yang who pulled out to catch the ball. The latter turned around after stopping the ball, waiting for Matic to approach and move the ball to the left Pulling the side, the left caster rises directly to a long shot.
Yang Yang's long shot of the arc shot was very sudden, and the angle was also very tricky.
De Gea responded quickly and flew to save the ball with one hand. He hit the top beam and bounced back into the court.
Although he failed to break Manchester United's goal, Yang Yang grabbed the opening shot with a kick and hit the crossbar with a long shot, which made all Manchester United fans silent and exclaimed, and also made the Manchester United players sweat.
Solskjaer stood on the sidelines, fearing that the whole back was cold and sweating.
If this goal is scored, then Manchester United is really passive!
"Why did this guy run to Ajax?" Solskjaer scolded inwardly.
But he immediately walked to the side of the court, beckoning Matic to get closer to Yang Yang, try to block him, and stop giving him such a chance. At the same time, he also made Pogba look at Frankie. · De Jong.
According to the statistics of the Manchester United coaching staff and technical analysts, Frankie De Jong is the most frequent player and the most stable player in the Ajax team. He is regarded as the core of the organization of the Ajax midfielder. .
As long as Frankie De Jong is restricted, Ajax's midfield is bound to be greatly affected.
After listening to Solskjaer ’s instructions, Matic and Pogba also said they heard it.
After the test of the past twelve games, Solskjaer has basically established a firm foothold in the Manchester United locker room, and the players have basically listened to him, including the number one core Pogba in the team.
…………
…………
After Yang Yang hit a long shot from the arc and hit Manchester United's crossbar, the game restarted quickly.
In response to the adjustment made by Manchester United, Yang Yang responded quickly on the court, and Ajax quickly arranged it in a targeted manner.
Ferguson was sitting on the guest seat in the stands of the Old Trafford Stadium. He was extremely experienced in coaching, and he soon saw some clues, especially when he was condescending and he was watching the game as a spectator. It is even more eye-catching.
"Pogba is a bit forward, but Matic is relatively late."
Ferguson's sudden sentence made Gary Neville and Giggs both stunned, thinking about the meaning of the sentence, but soon, Ferguson himself said the reason.
"We are also a three-midfielder, Pogba is too forward, Matic dragged in the back position, Herrera can't fill such a vacancy alone, there is a risk of a midfield disjoint."
Ferguson said, Gary Neville and Giggs suddenly realized.
"It has to be cautious. Frankie De Jong and Ndongbele both have strong back-insertion and dribble propulsion capabilities. Once the midfield is disconnected, when it is turned from attack to defense, the midfield is very dangerous."
It just happened to see that Manchester United launched a quick offensive, Pogba forcibly broke through Frankie De Jong's defense, and forcibly broke through to the left side of Ajax's penalty area.
Taliafico returned to his position in time, but was still forced to break through Pogba. The bottom line dribble into the penalty area. Onana firmly intercepted the ball locally, which avoided a crisis.
This seems to be a threat from Manchester United's attack, Pogba played bravely, but in fact, combined with what Ferguson said just now, it also proves that Pogba is too forward because he almost regarded himself as a right-winger. .
In the absence of Sanchez's starter, Manchester United is not too strong right-winger.
"The most terrible thing is Yang Yang. He ran too fine!" Ferguson's brows began to wrinkle tightly.
Obviously, he realized the potential threat of Yang Yang.
"He always pulls Matic and Herrela intentionally or unintentionally. This is not like his style, because he is already thirty-two years old, and neither speed nor breakthrough is dominant. Area to run, but he does n’t! ”
"You mean ... he deliberately?" Giggs responded fastest.
Gary Neville also quickly realized, "He is to use himself as a decoy, to attract defensive attention, and then let his players attack our defense."
On the court, Manchester United quickly planned an attack.
Ashley Young quickly moved forward to the right of the outside of the penalty area of Ajax, and passed the ball diagonally into the penalty area.
Milliton pressured Rashford, grabbed the first goal, header header, and destroyed a United attack.
At first glance, it broke into the restricted area again, which seems to have created a dangerous situation.
But in fact, such an attack is not threatening at all.
This also made Ferguson, Gary Neville and Giggs all start to look worried.
"This team's high position is too difficult to press, and Solskjaer is too cautious to open the game, and he has given way to the advantage. Now the ball rights and rhythm are in the hands of Ajax. We seem to have a certain advantage. In fact, There is no threat. "
"But as long as we are a little careless, our opponents may penetrate our midfield at any time."
As expected, Ajax made an attack before Ferguson's voice fell.
Frankie De Jong dragged in a very backward position and sent a long pass after receiving the ball and quickly passed to the right behind the Manchester United defense. Sancho advanced forward with a very fast speed and penetrated the Manchester United defense. After getting the ball on the right side of the penalty area, he tried to pass the ball back to the middle and cooperated with his teammate Jovic, but was blocked by Manchester United left back Luke Shaw.
Ajax's subsequent corner kick also failed to create a threat, and it seemed that the thunder and rain were small.
But after this attack, Pogba's position was obviously a bit higher, especially when Ajax took the ball.
His task was to suppress Frankie De Jong. When Ajax kept going back in midfield, Pogba naturally also pressed forward, and gradually, the area of midfield was pulled away. Neutral.
The more the gap is pulled, the more dignified the faces of Ferguson and others are.
It's just that fans at Old Trafford stadium are very excited because they see the team acting very positively, and they have repeatedly made threats.
It seems that it is only a matter of time before the goal to break Ajax tonight!
…………
…………
Yang Yang is not conservative at all, still adopting high position to press and oppress, but in detail, he is still very well arranged.
The essence of football tactics lies in the details.
When he realized that Pogba's position was inadvertently higher, he began to realize the opportunity.
The opportunity does not mean that it will appear immediately.
So Yang Yang waited patiently.
Until the twenty-seventh minute.
During this period, Manchester United broke into Ajax's penalty area twice, but none of them could create a threat.
To outsiders, this is a sign that the Red Devils are getting closer and closer to the goal.
At the moment when all Manchester United fans were waiting for the goal to arrive, Ajax broke the ball in the midfield, while Ndongbele took advantage of Pogba to take the initiative to fight.
Both French midfielders have very strong bodies. After a little contact, Pogba and Ndongbele both fell to the ground. The Manchester United midfielder was signaling the foul to the head referee, but the main The referee did not pay attention.
After Frankie De Jong grabbed the ball and didn't hear the whistle, he passed forward immediately.
Yang Yang ran to meet, after getting the ball, turned and brought forward.
Martíc approached for the first time, and Herrera was also facing the enemy, and her attention was all on Yang Yang.
But while everyone was waiting for Yang Yang's next move, he suddenly passed the ball to Neres.
The Brazilian left winger stopped the ball inwardly, throwing away Ashley Young and sending a straight kick behind the ball.
Jovic succeeded in anti-offside and rushed into the penalty area first, pushing directly without stopping the ball.
De Gea responded quickly and tried to block, but the result was a step slower.
The ball swept past De Gea's side and got directly into Manchester United's goal.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL !!!!!!"
"A counter goal from Ajax!"
"Luca Jovic!"
"He calmly seized this single-handed opportunity and set the first record for Ajax!"
"From a slow-motion replay we can see that Yang Yang passed the ball to Neres under the pinch of two Manchester United midfielders."
"The Brazilian drew the ball inwards, broke through Ashley Young and passed straight behind, Jovic quickly counter-offside and successfully scored with a single-handed push. . "
"Obviously, this is the tactic that Ajax played before the game."
...
From Pogba's forward pressure, to Yang Yang's retreat, pulled out of Matic, attracted Herrera, and then passed to the front of the penalty area. When Neres was cut, there was no defensive player at Manchester United's front.
This is the opportunity Yang Yang wants to create!
Even if he didn't score himself, his players were able to take the opportunity to score!
This is his tactical value!
It is also the tactical goal he wants to achieve!