Chapter 1 The Strategy of Manchester United

Manchester United's strategy was to wait, as time passed, Liverpool, with one less player, would definitely be physically inferior to them.

This was their impression all along.

In fact, this idea applies to any similar match. Having one less player does require more physical exertion than the opponent. So many teams with one less player, if they are already in the lead, immediately and unhesitatingly choose to fall back and defend, hoping to hold on to the victory. And the teams that are still behind will desperately attack, trying to even the score before their physical strength is exhausted. If they still haven't evened the score by then, they can only wait to collapse.

But this situation did not happen to Liverpool today.

Not only did they not consume a lot of physical energy, they didn't even consume their usual amount of physical energy.

Because it was very simple, Chen Hero alone shouldered the team's offensive burden, allowing the other Liverpool players to get plenty of rest. If there were cameras dedicated to filming those Liverpool players, everyone would find that many players were simply strolling on the field, and some were even standing still.

How much physical energy could that consume? Of course, standing and walking for a long time can also be tiring, but compared to running at full speed for ninety minutes, it's not worth mentioning at all.

If Manchester United wanted to wait until Liverpool's physical strength was exhausted before launching an attack, they probably wouldn't be able to wait until the end of the game.

And these Manchester United players hadn't even realized this.

Even the shrewd Ferguson hadn't realized it.

Before, their attention was all on Chen Hero, and Chen Hero's every move affected their nerves.

Naturally, they had no time to pay attention to the other Liverpool players.

Even now, it was the same. Chen Hero was still the protagonist of the offense.

The Liverpool players just kept passing the ball to him, letting him attack Manchester United's defense.

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For the Manchester United players, they conceded the goal at sixty-five minutes, and there were still ten minutes until seventy-five minutes. It would not be an exaggeration to describe these ten minutes as "living like years."

Every time Chen Hero jumped up, he made the shadow in their hearts grow a little bigger.

They were always worried that he would score after jumping up.

Even goalkeeper De Gea, who didn't actually need to expend too much physical energy, was breathing heavily. He wasn't tired, he was crushed by the pressure.

Now the only belief supporting them was—as long as we hold out until seventy-five minutes, when the opponent's physical strength reaches a limit, we can attack without restraint! By then, Chen Hero alone will no longer be able to stop us!

These ten minutes were really tough for Manchester United, both on and off the field.

Not just the players, but also the Manchester United fans in the stands and in front of the TV.

They were afraid that Liverpool would score on this attack. If Liverpool took the lead before that, then Manchester United's strategy would be useless—Liverpool would definitely fall back and defend immediately, using their best defensive counterattack, and Manchester United would really have no way to deal with it.

Everyone knew that Liverpool was good at turtle defense and then launching counterattacks.

Fortunately... they finally made it through these ten minutes!

Seventy-five minutes had arrived, and Manchester United was also liberated, they could counterattack!

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In the seventy-seventh minute, Liverpool's wave of attacks finally ended, like a wave, it crashed on the beach and finally slowly receded.

Manchester United was brewing an attack.

They didn't plan to just kick the ball forward.

Everyone knew that Liverpool's defense had excellent heading ability, and Rooney alone couldn't beat Agger and Pepe at all.

So Manchester United adopted a short-pass penetration, pushing the ball into the dangerous area little by little.

This way, at least they could ensure that they retained possession of the ball.

But just as they passed the ball out of the penalty area, they realized that something was wrong.

Logically speaking, the Liverpool players' physical energy was overdrawn, and at this time they should quickly return to defense and fight to the death with Manchester United's attack in front of the penalty area.

Who would have thought that just after goalkeeper De Gea passed the ball to center-back Jonathan Evans, he saw Chen Hero pressing up from behind.

He quickly shouted, "Watch out behind you!"

Evans didn't know what was behind him, and he didn't dare to be careless, so he quickly passed the ball back to goalkeeper De Gea. This was the safest and most foolproof approach.

But Chen Hero directly bypassed him and chased the ball towards De Gea.

Okay... Chen Hero's physical strength is naturally good...

De Gea wasn't flustered when he saw Chen Hero rushing towards him. Chen Hero's pressing was within his expectations, because Chen Hero had good physical strength.

He quickly passed the ball to defender Rafael da Silva on the wing.

But just after passing the ball, he exclaimed again: "Watch out behind you!!"

This time, Liverpool's winger Gareth Bale rushed up.

Rafael was a Brazilian after all, skilled and bold, knowing that there was someone behind him, he didn't directly pass the ball back to goalkeeper De Gea.

Instead, he turned his head to see Bale's position, then made a feint, shook him off slightly, pulled out a little distance, and quickly passed the ball out.

He didn't dare to be too careless, and didn't let the ball stay at his feet for too long.

The ball was passed to midfielder Fletcher, who came up to meet him.

Although the process was a bit tortuous, he finally passed the ball out.

The Manchester United fans breathed a sigh of relief. The ball was passed out, so they could move forward.

They only managed to breathe out halfway before they saw Chen Hero chasing back, and at the same time Gerrard was also pressing up from midfield.

Fletcher didn't pass the ball immediately, because he hadn't found a better passing route yet.

This pause allowed Chen Hero to catch him. Chen Hero came up with a reasonable charge.

The impact made Fletcher stagger, and if his footwork hadn't been quick, he might have lost the ball.

But by the time he managed to adjust, Gerrard had already arrived in front of him.

Then he discovered that he had actually fallen into a pincer attack by Chen Hero and Gerrard.

It wouldn't be easy to pass the ball out again.

He charged left and right in the two people's encirclement, and finally found an opening, passing the ball horizontally to Shinji Kagawa, who came up to meet him.

As a result, Shinji Kagawa also had a tail following behind him…

And the Manchester United fans watching the game in the stands and in front of the TV saw it more clearly, so they discovered this anomaly earlier than the Manchester United players.

Liverpool didn't retreat to their own penalty area to organize defense, but instead collectively pressed forward and launched a siege in the frontcourt!

How could they look like they were running out of energy at all?

You must know that a high pressing tactic is very physically demanding, and if you don't have enough physical strength to support it, you can't even think about implementing it!

Some knowledgeable Manchester United fans reacted at this time—perhaps Liverpool's physical energy was fine at all!

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Ferguson was another who reacted.

He stood on the sidelines, arms crossed, his face gloomy, constantly wriggling his mouth, chewing gum.

Ferguson was a smart man, he just hadn't noticed it before. So after he discovered that Liverpool's physical energy hadn't dropped significantly, he immediately understood where the problem was.

It was in Liverpool's seemingly reckless tactics!

They used Chen Hero's attack to restrain the attention of the entire Manchester United team, and then allowed the other Liverpool players to get plenty of rest time…

This was really…

Ferguson didn't expect that the other party's reckless tactics were actually so meaningful.

He was deceived by Martin O'Neill!

But considering that he also deceived Martin O'Neill, the two of them were now even…

Ferguson's face was ugly, not just because he was deceived by Martin O'Neill, but also because he knew how dangerous Liverpool's actions were to Manchester United!

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In fact, not only Ferguson, but even an ordinary fan could see it now.

Manchester United didn't expect the Liverpool players to still have the physical energy to carry out this kind of high pressing, and they were thrown into a mess by Liverpool's pressing.

They couldn't even pass the ball forward!

The ball had been wandering in their own backcourt, and everyone could see that it was very dangerous.

Even a player with delicate footwork like Shinji Kagawa couldn't even turn around when he faced Inler.

But he knew that if the ball couldn't be passed out, Manchester United would really be finished. So no matter what, he had to send the ball forward, and simply passing it back and sideways would be useless.

Shinji Kagawa had confidence in his skills, and he planned to move forward and break through Inler's obstruction to send the ball forward.

For the fans, this scene was really thrilling. But for Shinji Kagawa, he knew that danger also meant a huge opportunity. If he knew that even a defensive midfielder like Inler was pressing up now, one could imagine where Liverpool's defense line would be now. Shinji Kagawa didn't even need to look back to know that there must be large areas of space behind them.

As long as he could send a through pass, with Rooney's speed, breaking through the opponent's defense and receiving the ball behind the defense line, it would be the end of Liverpool!

Huge gains always come in pairs with huge risks.

Shinji Kagawa planned to take a risk.

He made a feint with his upper body, leaning to the left, making Inler think that he would break through from the left. Then he used his feet to push the ball to the right.

But he didn't just break through from the right like that.

If it were that simple, he probably wouldn't be able to deceive Inler.

His body turned around, but not directly to dribble the ball, but a move similar to Cruyff's turn.

His right hand pushed Inler, preventing him from getting too close, then he turned around, turning his left foot to buckle the ball on the right to the front.

If all goes well, the ball will pass between Inler's legs, and then he will push Inler, and the whole person will wipe past Inler's left hand side—a perfect and flawless, beautiful turn to get rid of!

But what followed were all Shinji Kagawa's fantasies.

The actual situation was…

The ball he buckled was blocked by Inler's left leg!

And he himself, turned around due to inertia…

When he realized that the ball hadn't come with him, he looked back.

Inler cut across and blocked him behind.

"Inler steals the ball——!!!"

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ps, I'm very sorry!

Yesterday, many friends came to my house to visit the children. I was very happy, so happy that I missed a chapter when uploading the new chapter.

I only realized it after being reminded by readers, and quickly modified the content…

But the chapter name needs to be modified by the editor, and I have already left a message.

Please forgive me…