Chapter 25 Well-deserved February Coach of the Month

Chapter 25 Well-deserved February Coach of the Month

Chapter 25 Well-deserved December Coach of the Month

"The Magpies have had a tough season this season. After changing their coach last month, they have only managed a poor record of 1 win, 2 draws and 4 losses. They have lost all of their last three league games, scoring 1 goal and conceding 11 goals. The team is currently ranked second from the bottom in the Premier League. Eddie Howe has a heavy burden on his shoulders to grab points."

"Fortunately, Newcastle now has the support of the Saudi Arabian consortium and is not short of funds for signings. This winter transfer window is an opportunity they must seize to strengthen the team. If they make good use of the winter transfer window, Eddie Howe should still be able to lead Newcastle out of the relegation zone. His previous performance with Bournemouth can be said to be very good. In the second half of the league, he should have no problem leading Newcastle to grab points and rush to the middle of the standings."

Zhan Jun and Coach Zhang analyzed the current situation of Newcastle, Manchester United's opponent in this round of the league, in the studio before the game.

Although Newcastle was acquired by a Saudi Arabian consortium this season, it is currently backed by a strong team and its rise is in sight.

But unfortunately, the Saudi consortium completed the acquisition of Newcastle too late.

It was already early October and the new season had already started. Newcastle had no time to re-select a head coach to plan the team's reconstruction, nor did they have time to scour the transfer market for a group of strong players.

Coupled with the reorganization of the management, there was some confusion throughout the club, so the team's performance went downhill. Even though the coaching change was completed in time, it failed to stop the decline.

1 win, 7 draws and 10 losses, this is the answer Newcastle handed in in the first 18 league rounds of this season.

The offense is weak and the defense is even worse. Newcastle perfectly fits the current evaluation given to them by the mainstream media:

This is a complete relegation team.

Whether from the individual strength of the players or from the team system currently built by the coaching staff, Newcastle is simply not comparable to Manchester United.

Before the game, public opinion was overwhelmingly optimistic that Manchester United would continue to increase their winning streak, and it all depended on how many goals they could win against Newcastle away from home.

Li Chen is also very confident of winning this game.

However, it was not because he was influenced by the favorable public opinion, but because he and his coaching staff had made sufficient and detailed preparations before the game.

Moreover, he does not think that Newcastle has lost the spirit to win the game as many British media have said.

Because Newcastle has now reached the stage where they have to desperately try to get points and bounce back.

In order to continue to stay in the top league, small teams with little foundation have the ability to perform at their best two or three times every season.

Not to mention traditional English powerhouses like Newcastle with a strong heritage.

Even when a lion fights a rabbit, he will try his best!
Li Chen was determined to win this game, so he paid more attention to studying Newcastle's current tactical details before the game.

In order to eliminate some "X factors" as much as possible, he also took out a new starting lineup and tactical system that he had practiced in training.

As time passed, amid the enthusiastic cheers of more than 5 fans at the scene, players from both teams, holding the ball boys’ hands, stepped onto the brightly lit St. James’ Park Stadium!
Commentators from various countries who were introducing the starting players of the two teams today to their own fans were now looking at Manchester United's starting lineup with surprise.

"Newcastle still used a 451 starting lineup today.

The starting goalkeeper is Slovakia national goalkeeper Dubravka.

On the defensive line, Russells and Fabian Scher formed the Magpies' double central defender combination today, with Javier Manquillo playing as left back and Kraft as right back.

In midfield, Shelvey, Joelinton and Sean Longstaff are in the middle, with Saint-Maximin and Ryan Fraser on the left and right wings of the midfield.

Wilson is the starting center. ”

"There are some big changes in Manchester United's starting lineup and players today!

Manchester United used a 352 starting lineup today.

Goalkeeper De Gea.

On the defensive line, Luke Shaw, Maguire and Varane formed a three-man central defender.

Lingard is the left wingback, Ellanga is the right wing, and the midfield trio is McTominay, Matic and Fred.

C Ronaldo and Cavani formed Manchester United's double striker combination today! "

Along with Zhan Jun's familiar introduction, fans in China who were watching the live broadcast of the game also discussed the changes in Li Chen's starting lineup today.

At the scene, Eddie Howe, with a frown on his face, seemed to have his tactical plan disrupted by Li Chen's starting arrangement.

But it is definitely too late to adjust the tactics now, and Eddie Howe can only wait helplessly for the game to begin.

In comparison, Li Chen, who was sitting in the coaching seat, had a much calmer expression on his face.

After the game officially started, he even had the leisure to communicate with Carrick by covering his mouth as if no one was around.

Newcastle's players on the field also couldn't understand the tactical intention of Manchester United's drastic changes to the starting lineup today.

But now the head coach has not conveyed any updated tactical instructions, and they can only launch a tentative attack on Manchester United according to the plan arranged before the game.

Well, the so-called tentative attack is actually to give the ball to Saint-Maximin, who has the strongest personal ability in the team, and let him try the defensive strength of Manchester United on the right first.

If they can gain an advantage, Newcastle's offensive strategy at the start will definitely be to attack Manchester United's right flank.

But their simple and straightforward opening offensive tactics had long been figured out by the Manchester United coaching staff.

As soon as Saint-Maximin got the ball on the wing, Elanga, who was actively returning to defense, decisively interfered with him closely.

Before he could make any effort to completely break free of Elanga's defense, Fred, who was watching him closely from the side, pretended to double-team him!
Although Saint-Maximin was confident in his footwork, he was not confident enough to break through Manchester United's active double-team defense at the start of the game.

In order to avoid losing the ball, he could only choose to pass the ball back safely.

From then on, as soon as Newcastle showed any sign of creating space for Saint-Maximin to break through, Manchester United would resolutely shrink and double-team the right side!
Once the defensive center of gravity shifted, Manchester United's left flank naturally gave Newcastle one-on-one breakthrough space.

But even seeing such an opportunity, Newcastle's right-wing combination found it difficult to take advantage.

The reason is very simple, my personal ability is not up to that level.

The wing duo of Kraft and Ryan Fraser are at best of the level of a lower-tier Premier League team.

Even if the two cooperated well, they could not pose much threat to Lingard and McTominay on this side.

Not to mention that behind them there is Luke Shaw who has a very fast chasing speed.

Li Chen is telling Eddie Howe clearly that today he is going to lock down your performance on the left!

It's all about the difference in personal ability. If you have the ability to adjust and break through on the right and break the defense, he will recognize it.

Eddie Howe was a little anxious watching from the sidelines, but he really had no choice at the moment.

We only have so many players on hand, and the winter transfer window hasn't opened yet. I can't buy anyone even if I want to. There's nothing I can do!

If his adjustment was useful, he would have made substitutions and sent the two starting players on the right side to the bench.

It's a pity that he can't make a substitution. The players who are substituted in are even less capable, or they will perform worse under his tactical system. It would be better to continue to use Ryan Fraser.

After watching the game situation for a while, Eddie Howe made the decision to give up the initiative in attack in advance.

Now this is the only tactical option left for Newcastle to counterattack Manchester United.

They can't achieve anything by relying on this group of players to attack actively. They can only look for opportunities to steal the ball, attack behind Manchester United's defense, and see if they can try their luck and let Saint-Maximin and Wilson score a goal.

He felt that Li Chen would definitely not miss the opportunity to take control of the game.

As expected, as soon as Newcastle gave up the midfield, Manchester United took over generously.

But the situation of the game did not turn in the direction Eddie Howe expected.

Manchester United did start to actively press forward and attack, but they focused more on the two flanks and outside the penalty area.

If there is an opportunity, cross the ball from the bottom. If there is no opportunity, take long shots from the flanks on both sides of the Newcastle penalty area and get a set piece in the frontcourt.

The three midfielders were all very stable in their positioning and not at all aggressive, especially Fred on the right, who was almost becoming Saint-Maximin's follower!
Eddie Hao just felt a headache when he saw this scene.

No chance, Li Chen didn't give him any chance at all!

Even with the simplest and most direct offensive tactics, Manchester United can still create a lot of threatening opportunities.

Who dares to let Ronaldo take a long shot from outside the penalty area?

Just tell me whether you should double-team Cavani who is waiting for the ball in the penalty area.

The two aging superstar forwards relied on their huge reputations to tie down a number of Newcastle defenders.

At this time, McTominay, who is involved in the goal-scoring, and Matic, who is looking for an opportunity to take a long shot, can play their roles easily.

Eddie Howe's reaction was relatively quick. Seeing that among Manchester United's starting players today, only Luke Shaw and Cristiano Ronaldo had top-notch crossing abilities in football, he made adjustments on the defensive end first.

Expand the defense line on the right side of their own half, and then try to increase the intensity of pressing on the left side of the half. Even with tactical fouls, Manchester United cannot take long shots so easily.

His defensive strategy is to prevent Manchester United from getting a chance for a set piece in the frontcourt on the left side of the half.

The opportunity for a set piece on the right can be given, unless Li Chen is willing to let Ronaldo take the penalty outside the penalty area. Otherwise, the set pieces taken by other Manchester United players who are right-footed will be average.

But when he saw Luke Shaw take a free kick towards the Newcastle goal and accurately send the ball to the back post, and Maguire successfully headed the ball into the goal, he covered his mouth directly.

Because he was afraid that he would not be able to hold back and curse out loud in front of the live camera!
It is obvious that when Manchester United was practicing this three-center-back lineup on the training ground, they had already considered the appropriate candidates and methods for taking free kicks in the frontcourt.

They had also trained many times before, when Luke Shaw took a free throw in the right side of the half court, how the players in the middle and back points should cover each other's running positions!
Otherwise, with just a few days of preparation time, how could Li Chen possibly get Luke Shaw to adapt to the new method of taking set-piece penalties on the right side of the half?
"Damn it! You prepared the tactics for so long and used them in the game against Manchester City and Liverpool!

What's the point of using it on us?

We are just a relegation team now, it's not worth it! ”

Eddie Howe was roaring in his heart to vent his anger, and the Newcastle fans at home could no longer hold back and booed in dissatisfaction at the Manchester United players who were celebrating on the field!
Li Chen sat in the coaching seat unaffected, with his hands folded across his chest, smiling very relaxedly.

Yes, he had been practicing this new tactical system privately for more than half a month.

Logically speaking, it should be used in strong dialogues to catch the opponent off guard.

But then again, tactical drills on the training ground are one thing, but whether they are effective in the game and whether they can be played out is another.

Whether a set of tactics is useful or not does not depend on the coaching team's deduction and training results, but must be verified through actual combat.

Li Chen thinks Newcastle is a good training opponent.

The overall difficulty of the match is not great, and Newcastle's current defense is also relatively weak, which is suitable for boosting the confidence of their own offensive players.

Of course, there is another important reason why Li Chen chose to use this new tactical system to deal with Newcastle today.

That is, Newcastle, playing at home, made too big a move.

If we put together a midfield combination with stronger individual technical capabilities, we will have to attack more aggressively to bring out the creative advantages of this midfield combination.

But once we encounter Newcastle's home logging tactics at all costs, not only will it be difficult for our team to play to its technical advantage, but it will not be worth it at all to injure two midfielders.

Therefore, Li Chen has to use a more engineer-type midfield combination to strengthen the team's confrontation intensity in the middle.

From the current perspective, his approach to selecting players is still correct.

Newcastle now has neither the numerical advantage nor the midfield confrontation advantage, and it is difficult for them to counterattack when being suppressed.

Now Manchester United has taken the lead by using the set-piece tactics that they have practiced. They no longer need to attack actively and can firmly hold the initiative of the game in their hands!

Eddie Howe is well aware of the obvious flaws in his team right now.

Actively attacking Manchester United would be tantamount to suicide for Newcastle, so this path is definitely not an option.

He suppressed his impetuous emotions and directly signaled the players on the field to continue to create opportunities for Saint-Maximin on the wing. Apart from that, there was no need to try a large-scale offensive play.

After 18 league rounds, they have only scored 18 goals. With such weak offensive firepower, there is no need to take any more risks.

Eddie Howe's calm analysis and decision-making saved Newcastle's reputation as a powerful team.

Li Chen was waiting for him to make a mistake before making his first move, and then continued to attack Newcastle's defensive weaknesses, trying to win the game as soon as possible.

As a result, Eddie Howe endured until the 60th minute of the second half of the game!
Before this, Newcastle, who had been attacking cautiously and had worked hard on midfield defense, did not give Manchester United any chance to break through their defense.

Of course, they also benefited from the home whistle, relying on big moves on the defensive end to repeatedly stop Manchester United's offensive.

But no matter what, Eddie Howe still resisted the urge and helped Newcastle gain dozens of minutes of stalemate.

It was not until the 60th minute of the second half that Newcastle, after replacing two forwards in succession, launched a large-scale attack, seemingly wanting to take a gamble with all their might!
Unfortunately, Newcastle met a Manchester United team that was more stable than them today.

As Newcastle pressed forward, Li Chen made decisive adjustments, first shrinking his team's formation and defense line.

He then replaced Elanga with Greenwood, and signaled Ronaldo to move more to the right. This adjustment immediately broke through Newcastle's defense on the counterattack!
Eddie Howe actually saw through Li Chen's intention when Li Chen made tactical adjustments, but he really had no choice at this time.

Newcastle can only rely on Saint-Maximin's personal ability to attack Manchester United's left side.

If we can't make progress on this road, then we will be even more frustrated on the middle and right roads.

If you want to get points at home, you have to take this risk!

Eddie Howe gambled everything and fulfilled his responsibilities as a head coach.

But unfortunately, Saint-Maximin was unable to break through against Varane and Fred who were in excellent form today.

Li Chen arranged his team's most flexible defensive midfielder and the fastest central defender to this side, which eventually made Saint-Maximin autistic.

Greenwood, who was pressing behind Newcastle's left defense line, did not disappoint Li Chen's expectations of him. In the 76th minute of the second half, he received a header from Ronaldo, cut inside and shot into the far corner!
This shot fully highlighted Greenwood's talent and also showed how adept Li Chen was at using him.

Try to use other forwards or offensive players in the team to help Greenwood create offensive space.

Greenwood avoids too much confrontation with the opponent's defenders, and as long as he has a chance to shoot, he will be a real threat!
Two completely different offensive ideas, two natural goals, Li Chen led the team to three points with meticulous pre-match preparations and excellent on-the-spot adjustments!
As soon as this victory was achieved, Manchester United became infinitely close to Chelsea. Currently, they are only one point behind Chelsea and continue to consolidate their fourth place in the league!

Arsenal, who have overtaken their city rivals Tottenham with the advantage of goal difference, are now one win away from Manchester United.

In general, the battle for the top four in the Premier League this year will be extremely fierce. Before the sprint stage of the second half of the league, the teams ranked 3rd to 6th in the standings are already in a close race.

Below Tottenham, West Ham United and Wolves are also eyeing the top six places in the Premier League standings.

The increasingly fierce battle for points will undoubtedly greatly consume the physical reserves of the Premier League teams participating in the European competition.

But it has to be said that it is precisely this highly competitive nature that has made the Premier League the most commercially successful and most popular league among fans in the world.

As soon as the final match of the Premier League half was over, the fierce battle between Manchester City and Liverpool certainly amazed the audience.

But the team that is most popular among the media and fans right now is Manchester United, which has won seven consecutive league games by changing its coach!
If we include a Champions League group match in between, Li Chen led the team to 8 consecutive wins after taking office!
For a while, almost all mainstream media in Europe regarded Li Chen as the young coach most likely to become a leading figure among the new generation of head coaches.

Manchester United's supporters are even more fortunate that their management, which is fond of making trouble, changed the coach in time. This time they were also lucky enough to get such an outstanding young coach!

Otherwise, I really don’t know who Manchester United, which was in the midst of turmoil at the time, should have invited to win seven consecutive victories and return to the top four in the league standings.

Manchester United seems to have the dawn of resurgence once again.

This time, many fans, including those who used to laugh at Manchester United, believe that Li Chen will be the best candidate to lead Manchester United to a successful reconstruction.

With this expectation from almost the whole world, Manchester United faced the challenge of the 20th round of the Premier League three days later.

However, this time, Manchester United did not use the "correct" tactics to defeat their tough opponent Wolves.

Manchester United, playing at home, only drew 2-2 with Wolves, ending their winning streak in the league.

Not only did the two goal posts at Old Trafford deny Manchester United players a goal in the first and second half respectively, but Wolves also earned a penalty kick in injury time after a controversial breakthrough and fall.

When Raul Jimenez scored the penalty kick that equalized the score, Li Chen ripped off his tie and several suit buttons on the sidelines.

He did not hide his anger at all, and in the post-match press conference he even made sarcastic remarks about the referee Atkinson.

"Yes, we all know that Mr. Atkinson is a referee with a relatively lenient standard of penalty. The fact that three of my players fell in the Wolves penalty area today and didn't get a penalty is enough to prove this."

"You mean the last penalty? The referee team has their own penalty rules. I can't say anything more about it. Maybe the replay after the game can explain everything."

"The Manchester United fans at home have every reason to be angry because we were the better team today and we deserved a win. This is not to belittle our opponents. I am just stating my opinion: we did play better today, it's that simple."

……

Li Chen's speech received support from the majority of Premier League fans after the game. Not only Manchester United supporters, but also fans of other Premier League teams mostly stood on Li Chen's side this time.

After all, they all noticed that the referee Atkinson's call standards at the last minute of the game were inconsistent with those before.

The replay also fully showed Bailly's decisiveness and correctness in intercepting the ball.

Bailly first completed the tackle and then touched Podence's calf. At most, he did not retract his foot in time, which was not a malicious foul at all.

If this can also constitute a penalty, then in the first half of the game, when Ronaldo and Sancho were pulled down by the opponent's defenders in the Wolves penalty area one after another, a penalty should be awarded!

As the party in the right, it was completely reasonable for Li Chen to express his dissatisfaction, and Manchester United Club immediately lodged a complaint with the English Football Association.

Of course, the result is equally obvious.

The English Football Association must protect referees, which is not only to protect the authority of the referees, but also to maintain the authority of the English Football Association.

Besides, there are similar controversial games in the Premier League every season.

Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal...

Which of these Premier League giants has not been treated like this, and which one has not benefited from it?
Li Chen's dissatisfaction also stopped at this point. He also knew very well that the English Football Association would not reflect on itself for this.

He saw this very clearly when he played in the Premier League with Mourinho.

So he expressed his dissatisfaction at the first opportunity, but did not take any further action afterwards. He wanted to remind the English Football Association in this way to "restrain" himself and his team.

He will not learn from his teacher Mourinho to be outspoken and directly offend the top management of the English Football Association and the entire refereeing system, but he also does not want to be an honest child who accepts everything.

Only the crying child gets the candy. Just don't make such a fuss that the "adults" think you are immature.

The English FA was very satisfied with Li Chen's conscious performance.

Four days later, Manchester United once again faced the challenge of Burnley at home.

In this round of the league, the referees sent by the English Football Association strictly abided by the basic rule of consistency in penalty standards.

Manchester United didn't receive much favor from the home team, but they didn't suffer any loss either.

Li Chen finally led the team to a 1-0 home win over his former club Burnley. Thanks to Chelsea's two consecutive draws, he overtook Chelsea by one point and led Manchester United to climb to third place in the standings!
For a moment, Manchester United fans felt like they were celebrating Christmas again. Even if they met fans of their city’s rivals on the street, they could still hold their chests high and show some courage.

The next day, the Premier League officially announced the candidates for the best coach and player in December 2021.

Li Chen and Cristiano Ronaldo were selected as representatives of Manchester United.

The media believes that this month's best player selection is the least suspenseful one since the start of the new Premier League season.

Throughout December, Li Chen led Manchester United to an unbeaten record of 12 wins and 6 draw in the Premier League, and also led Manchester United from seventh place in the league directly back to third place in the league!

As the core player with the strongest and most outstanding performance during this period, there is really no reason for Ronaldo not to become the best player in the Premier League in December together with Manchester United!
There is still some time before the final results of the selection are officially announced, but the vast majority of fans believe that there is no suspense.

A group of Manchester United legends who have been quiet in recent years also jumped out at this moment, not to be outdone, and said that Li Chen is the well-deserved Premier League coach of the month in December.

At this moment, Li Chen, who has become the center of public opinion in the Premier League, has no mood or time to pay attention to his personal awards.

After receiving the news from Rangnick that the communication with the top management during the winter transfer window had again been fruitless, Li Chen no longer had the idea of ​​continuing to discuss the matter with Woodward.

He immediately started an emergency meeting with his assistants. There was only one topic to discuss:
Should we completely give up the FA Cup for the sake of the league and the subsequent Champions League?

With Manchester United's current bench depth and barely complete personnel configuration, they can still support fighting on two fronts, but fighting on three fronts will most likely cause problems.

Fortunately, Manchester United had been eliminated from the League Cup by West Ham United before Li Chen took office, otherwise the situation of fighting on four fronts would be enough to give Li Chen a headache.

If Li Chen makes his choice based on his personal opinion, the FA Cup will definitely be a tournament that must be abandoned.

But Carrick's persuasion finally made Li Chen decide to wait and see the subsequent opponents in the FA Cup.

"Since it is difficult for us to reach the final of the league and Champions League this season, if we can win a domestic cup championship, it will be a successful season for Manchester United supporters..."

Li Chen was touched by Carrick's words.

He does feel he has an obligation, both to himself and to this current Manchester United side, to keep supporters happy and content.

Of course, Carrick's words also reminded him of something.

That is, if he wins the FA Cup, he can activate the "talent growth of players under 20 years old" function in the auxiliary system.

This function really interested Li Chen.

In order to be able to use this function earlier, it is barely acceptable to try for the FA Cup this season.

So Li Chen quickly made a decision to first get through Middlesbrough in the third round of the FA Cup, and then look at the subsequent draw results before deciding whether to continue along this path.

On January 1, when other major Premier League teams were still busy trying to strengthen their teams during the winter window, Manchester United, which had been silent, faced the challenge of the FA Cup at home.

Facing Middlesbrough from the Championship, Li Chen once again used the 352 starting formation.

Except for the two forwards being replaced by Greenwood and Martial from Cristiano Ronaldo and Cavani, and the defensive midfielder being replaced by McTominay from Matic, the rest of the starting lineup is exactly the same as Manchester United's previous match against Newcastle.

Middlesbrough, who intended to play a midfield strangulation tactic, hit a wall when they met Manchester United's engineering-type midfield trio.

Both teams were actively playing a war of attrition in the first half. Li Chen didn't care whether the scene looked good or not. He only cared whether the players on the field had fully implemented the tactical intentions of the coaching staff.

Fortunately, the young Manchester United players trained by him are now very obedient.

Except for Martial, who is physically fragile, many Manchester United starting players including Greenwood spared no effort in dealing with their opponents.

After the 55th minute of the second half, Li Chen successively replaced Rashford, Ronaldo and B Fee.

A wave of continuous pressure directly threw Middlesbrough's defense into chaos.

And when Ronaldo received the ball and shot into the goal from the left side of Middlesbrough's penalty area, a massacre victory came naturally!
Ronaldo scored twice, Rashford and Martial each scored, and B Fee assisted and scored twice!

In the end, Manchester United defeated Middlesbrough 4-0 at home and successfully advanced to the next round of the FA Cup.

In the subsequent FA Cup fourth round draw, Manchester United was lucky enough to draw Nottingham Forest from the lower league.

Li Chen was in a good mood and gave the whole team a day off. On the afternoon of January 1, he led the team to start preparations for the 12nd round of the Premier League.

Before this round of the league officially started, the Premier League officials also announced the results of the league's best selections in December last year.

Li Chen and C Ronaldo were unsurprisingly elected as the best coach and best player of the Premier League in December!
After the official news was announced, various British media and fans had only one unified evaluation:
Deserved!

(End of this chapter)