Chapter 21 I Can Not Attack, But You Shouldn’t Attack Me Too

Chapter 21 I Can Not Attack, But You Shouldn’t Attack Me Too

Chapter 21 I Can Not Attack, But You Shouldn’t Attack Me Too

Rangnick was worrying about his career future in the box, but Li Chen on the sidelines temporarily put his worries behind him.

Seeing Ronaldo performing his classic celebration near the corner flag area again, Li Chen jumped up with a smile on his face and said "SIU!"

After getting rid of the negative influence of public opinion, Ronaldo's game state has been getting better and better in recent times, and his scoring luck has never stopped.

To this day, no media will question Li Chen's tactical choice of firmly building an offensive system around Ronaldo.

Just as Ranieri said in an interview with the media when the Portuguese superstar was caught up in a public opinion storm.

"There is nothing wrong with Cristiano Ronaldo, if you give him to me I will let him play every minute of the pitch!

His presence is enough to draw most of the opponent's defensive attention, so how could he be the problem for the team's offense? "

Facts have also proved that having Ronaldo is definitely a blessing for the current Manchester United.

If Li Chen had not taken over as Manchester United head coach.

With Cavani and Pogba injured, and Rashford and Martial in poor form, it is simply unrealistic for Manchester United to expect Greenwood and Big B, who has been thoroughly studied by the Premier League, to shoulder the burden of scoring goals.

In the end, no matter which head coach is in office, he can only rely on Ronaldo's explosive performance to grab points.

If Ronaldo performs poorly again, Manchester United's attack will be hopeless.

This is not alarmist talk, but a completely predictable future.

Fortunately, such a terrible future did not become a reality. Manchester United fans can now sit peacefully in the away team’s stadium stands and enjoy their team calmly suppressing their opponents.

However, this situation will not last long, because Brentford, playing at home, is obviously unwilling to accept the current situation of lagging behind.

They were still fighting back hard, trying to establish a passing connection with their center forward Ivan Toni through rapid advancement on both wings.

Ivan Toni, who had a luxurious personal data of 33+10 in the Championship last season, is still quite strong.

He has a solid body with both speed and strength, strong explosiveness and impact, and the key is that his footwork and sense of smell in front of the goal are also quite good.

At first glance, this center seems to be a little short of the top level in all aspects, but he is also truly all-round.

In some small teams, with the tactical support of the entire team, a burst of momentum can also produce very good tactical effects.

However, Li Chen had already "seen through" the tactical ideas that the entire Brentford team was pursuing at the moment.

Other Premier League head coaches may still be unfamiliar with Ivan Toney and think that he is just a lucky guy who returned to the Premier League with his team from the lower-level leagues in England.

He is no different from those forwards who had a short-lived career in the Premier League in the past.

But Li Chen, who had lived again for more than ten years, had increasingly clear memories. He certainly knew what kind of explosive potential Ivan Tony had.

So before the game officially started, he had already formulated a detailed tactical plan to limit Ivantoni's performance.

Fred and Lindelof, who have strong mobility in Manchester United's midfield and backcourt, have long opened up a pocket of tactical restrictions for Ivan Toni.

As for the rest of Brentford's attacking players?

It’s not that Li Chen looks down on them, but most of their offensive threats come from Ivantoni’s tactical restraining effect.

Once Ivan Toni performs poorly, their offensive threat will naturally be lower.

Two Brentford wingbacks plus another Brentford striker, the three of them have not scored five goals together in half a season...

With such personal abilities, Li Chen really has nothing to worry about!
To put it bluntly, a team like Brentford tightens its defense in the backcourt, and relies only on a center forward with outstanding personal abilities to open up the offensive situation in the frontcourt.

Once the opponent scores first and the team's offensive spearheads are targeted, the tactical problems become almost impossible to solve.

There is no one available, and the players sitting on the bench are of average ability.

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank can only hope that Ivan Toni can fight back and get rid of Manchester United's defense.

But at this moment, Ivan Tony, who was frequently double-teamed by Manchester United on the court, could only curse in his heart.

He is not Drogba or Ibrahimovic, who can "pick up" the ball with his strong body or footwork even when being double-teamed by opponents.
The double-team combination of Lindelof and Fred has made him the king of ball possession losses on the field.

He is still adapting to the pace and intensity of the Premier League this season. Li Chen directly uses his performance during his peak period in the Premier League to formulate restrictive tactics. How can he withstand it?

Brentford's attack quickly came to a standstill as Ivan Toney misfired.

But at this time Manchester United will not be polite to their opponents.

As soon as Manchester United seized the opportunity, they sent a long pass behind Brentford's midfield defense!

Brentford's defensive midfielder Nelgo turned slowly and did not receive much defensive help from his two attacking midfield partners. He could only desperately chase back in the midfield and backcourt again and again.

But his active defensive attitude seemed so futile and powerless under Manchester United's rapid counterattack.

In the 37th minute of the first half, Manchester United seized the defensive flaws in Brentford's midfield and launched another sharp counterattack!
After receiving the long pass from Matic, Ronaldo did not give Nerazzurri any chance to interfere with him. He directly chose to head the ball and gave the ball back to B Fee who was making a high-speed run at this moment!
The Portuguese midfielder did not take any risks this time, but chose to safely pass the ball to Sancho who was running to the side.

Sancho deliberately took the ball a beat slower on the right, pretending to cut inside, but then he passed the ball to Dalot who was running down the flank!
Brentford's defense was now a little messy due to a series of quick passes from Manchester United.

So when Dalot chose to pass the ball horizontally and then looked for Ronaldo who was running through the middle, many of Brentford's defenders chose to intercept at the first opportunity!

Faced with this situation, Ronaldo was not in a hurry to shoot, but just passed the ball to the left side of the opponent's penalty area.

This time, Rashford, who got the ball almost without being marked, played as if he was on the training ground, and easily shot a high-quality far-corner shot!

However, Brentford goalkeeper Lesler, who had previously saved one of his high-quality shots, failed to become the team's hero this time.

Rashford's shot this time was too close and the force of the shot was even greater!

There was nothing that Lossl could do but watch the ball go into the net, and the score was changed to 0-2!

Brentford players' dream of scoring points at home was immediately shattered.

The proactive tactical strategy has left them with almost no hope of a comeback. Instead, the Premier League teams waiting to play against Manchester United can take this as a warning and think carefully about whether to take the risk of testing the solidity of Manchester United's current defensive system...

Li Chen was very satisfied with the result of leading by two goals at halftime.

While retaining a certain counterattack power, he signaled Fred and Matic to move further back, determined to consolidate the lead first.

In the end, Manchester United successfully entered the halftime break with a two-goal lead.

After the short 15 minutes, Manchester United took the lead in making substitutions. Li Chen chose to replace B Fee with McTominay at halftime.

In this way, the intensity of confrontation in Manchester United's midfield is further increased, and the offensive ability of Wright, who is in the attacking midfielder position, is fully released.

At first, the Brentford team didn't understand what Manchester United's substitutions meant.

But soon, McTominay and Fred repeatedly interrupted Brentford's offensive organization with tough upper body confrontation and straightforward tactical fouls!
On the counterattack level, the double-high combination of McTominay and Ronaldo in the middle made Brentford's penalty area panic for a while!
Many veteran fans who have watched a lot of mainstream leagues quickly figured out Li Chen’s intention.

This is using McTominay as a big Boateng!

Although McTominay may not be suitable for playing as a defensive midfielder, this is indeed a "defensive midfielder forward" tactic.

Not only does the forward positioning of the first interception line enhance the front-court defensive capabilities, it also helps Ronaldo reduce the pressure of attacking headers.

Li Chen's adjustment still highlights his determination to not give up the initiative in attack.

Even though the overall tactical adjustment is more inclined to consolidate defense, he still leaves room for counterattack. Once the opponent presses too far forward, he will continue to stab the opponent in the heart!

This kind of tactical play that requires both of them made the Brentford coach hesitate.

As a result, when he finally made up his mind to give it a try, Li Chen replaced Sancho with Lingard.

This adjustment not only increased Manchester United's running coverage area on the right, but also further cut off the passing connection between Carlos and Ivan Toni.

Well, Ivan Tony is destined to stay in jail at the center position today.

Li Chen pressed forward step by step, and his deadly moves made it difficult for Thomas Frank to resist.

In the hesitant atmosphere within the team, Brentford's final desperate battle failed to show momentum.

In the end, Manchester United easily defeated Brentford with two goals away from home, and Li Chen also achieved his fifth consecutive league victory since taking over Manchester United!

At this point, Manchester United has swept away the poor performance of last month. After five consecutive wins, they have surpassed Tottenham with 1 points by a slight advantage of 31 point and returned to the top four of the Premier League!

Although there is still a big gap between Manchester City with 41 points and Liverpool with 40 points, Manchester United can indeed catch up with Chelsea with 36 points!

If we work hard, we can catch up with Chelsea soon after the second half of the league starts, and it is not impossible to enter the top three in the standings.

After the end of this round of the league, various British media, as usual, praised Manchester United for their five consecutive wins.

Some media said that Manchester United was the most dominant Premier League team in the whole of December, while some media focused on praising Li Chen and Ronaldo, saying that they were the well-deserved best Premier League coach and best player in December.

Even though December has not yet ended, Manchester United has not yet played the 12th round of the Premier League against Brighton.

But looking at the hype of these media, it seems that Brighton had already surrendered and given Manchester United three points in advance, helping Manchester United to achieve a perfect record in the league in December.

Under the influence of overwhelming public opinion propaganda, Brighton's players were naturally irritated.

Yes, looking at their performance in recent league games, they are definitely no match for Manchester United. In terms of fame and momentum, they are no match for Manchester United.

But at least they have climbed to the tenth place in the Premier League table this season through hard work.

This is a very good ranking for a small club at the halfway point of the league, why does public opinion still look down on them? !
For a moment, the Brighton players who were looked down upon by the media held their breath and wanted to prove themselves at Old Trafford three days later!
Brighton's head coach Potter said in an interview with reporters that many British media made a big mistake this time and underestimated the fighting spirit of the Brighton team.

In other words, they will definitely try their best to fight back against the media's contempt in the league match against Manchester United.

Li Chen was very dissatisfied with the British media's behavior of helping Manchester United make enemies for no reason.

But things have come to this point, it is impossible for him to come out to explain or show goodwill before the big battle. The only thing he can do is to make more adequate tactical preparations to deal with Brighton's offensive backhand.

On the evening of December 12th, the 19th round of the Premier League focus match between Manchester United and Brighton, which was watched by many fans before the game, kicked off on time at Old Trafford.

Manchester United players, who have won five consecutive league games recently, are under a lot of pressure after all.

In addition, Li Chen repeatedly emphasized before the game the need to pay attention to Brighton's midfield ground penetration and high-pressure play, so Manchester United's starting players played somewhat safely, even conservatively, at the beginning.

This is undoubtedly not conducive to Manchester United's fight for the initiative in midfield.

But throughout the opening stage of the game, Brighton, who had more ball possession, did not pose a significant threat to Manchester United's defense.

Because their left and right central midfielders were entangled and defended by Manchester United's frontcourt players, the energy they put into organizing the attack was greatly reduced compared to before!

Manchester United fans watching the game finally understood the intention of their head coach in arranging Lingard and Elanga to start the game today.

The two wingers with strong running ability moved inwards, and even a pig could see that it was to limit the two Brighton midfielders from organizing the advancement!

With Manchester United playing like this, they really didn't have any decent attack in the early stages of the game, but they couldn't attack, and Brighton couldn't organize any penetration either!

By using this trick, Li Chen finally reminded the fans of his identity as Mourinho's direct disciple.

Mourinho's greatest strength has never been his ability to coach the team's offense or defense, but his ability to drag the opponents into the game and disrupt the battle!

I can choose not to attack actively and threaten your defense line, but the premise is that you also stop attacking, and we can all self-destruct together, so that I can see your ability to respond first.

then…

I have nine ways to kill you!

Nine kinds!

(End of this chapter)