Chapter 27: Skilled Hard-Playing Midfielder
Chapter 27: Skilled Hard-Playing Midfielder
The news that Li Chen and Pogba had completely fallen out quickly sparked a heated discussion in the world of football.
But this time, no spectator thought that Li Chen would be the one to leave the club.
Judging from the efficient means by which Li Chen united a group of senior players and subdued and trained young players after taking office, he does not need to establish his authority within the team by "catching ghosts".
Things are different now. Pogba has met a head coach who is better at controlling the locker room, and his own condition is not as good as before.
In addition, he offended Manchester United's top management, so leaving was a foregone conclusion.
The fans now just want to know whether Li Chen will take drastic measures and keep Pogba on the bench for a whole season.
With the bad precedent of getting rid of the head coach, supporters of the major clubs are not so jealous of Pogba now.
Being strong is one thing, but character and professional attitude are equally important. You can't disrupt the atmosphere of your own locker room just for a strong troublemaker, right?
Pogba was really panicked now, because he found that he really had no way to get Li Chen to continue to use him as an exception.
Even without him, Li Chen still led the team back to the top four in the league standings.
Without him, the new midfield system constructed by Li Chen can still achieve smooth transmission, and the offense and defense are more balanced.
Yes, now with him, Li Chen does have more tactical cards to play, and his appearance can also enhance the fluency of Manchester United's offense - as long as he is willing to play well.
But Li Chen doesn't need to take the risk of adding this tactical change to the team, nor does he want to give Pogba any more chances.
That night, after receiving Pogba's apology call, Li Chen directly gave him two choices.
Either he stays at Manchester United and sits on the bench this season, then becomes a free agent in the summer and goes wherever he wants.
Or he can find Raiola and "sell" himself before the end of the winter transfer window.
Find another club to cover his remaining salary for this season in the form of loan so that he can have games to play and maintain his form.
As for whether Pogba will sign a new contract with the next club or find another target to join after the half-season loan period expires, it has nothing to do with Manchester United.
Li Chen's attitude was very tough and he didn't give Pogba any chance to negotiate.
Such a departure outcome is too cold and cruel for Pogba, but it is what he deserves.
And to put it bluntly, he also has to thank Li Chen for giving him the opportunity to be loaned out.
Otherwise, if they really demoted him to the club's second team, didn't give him any games to play, and wasted his entire season, what could he do? !
Li Chen was not targeting him for no reason. This was a well-founded revenge. The vast majority of neutral fans would not say that there was anything wrong with Li Chen's actions.
Manchester United fans are also fed up with Pogba's professional attitude of playing well for a while and then playing badly for the next, and they will not speak for Pogba.
Pogba, knowing that his career at Manchester United has come to an end, dares not waste any more time.
After receiving Li Chen's ultimatum, he immediately called Raiola for help overnight.
The next morning, the news that Manchester United had unexpectedly loaned Pogba quickly spread throughout European football.
This farce started with quite a bit of fanfare, but within just a day or two, it quickly came to an end.
Mourinho, who was far away in Turin preparing for the match against Empoli, did not show any ease or joy when he was interviewed by local reporters about the matter.
The madman, now with a head full of white hair, just shook his head helplessly and then refused to make any comment on the news.
Perhaps, in his opinion, this matter has been talked about and ridiculed by fans for so many years, but in the end he and Pogba are both losers.
If I had known this, why did I do it in the first place...
After completely solving the locker room threat of Pogba, Li Chen felt extremely relieved.
On the afternoon of January 1, Li Chen, who appeared at Old Trafford with the players, looked refreshed and was chatting and laughing with Carrick.
Commentators from various countries naturally took advantage of the popularity and joked about the "quick showdown" between Li Chen and Pogba.
Of course, Manchester United's fans at the scene could understand Li Chen's good mood today, but the visiting Hammers fans were a little unhappy.
Of course they knew that Li Chen was happy because he had killed Pogba.
But Manchester United is now about to face a strong rival ranked sixth in the Premier League standings!
As the head coach, you are so relaxed and composed. Don't you underestimate our strength?
It's a bit arrogant!
So what if you are third in the league? Don’t forget that both of your Manchester United giants were eliminated by us in the Carabao Cup!
The angry Hammers fans booed Li Chen early on.
Although some confused Manchester United home fans didn't understand the reason, they immediately retaliated against the visiting fans with even louder boos.
However, despite the loud noise in the stands, Li Chen and Moyes on the sidelines shook hands and exchanged ideas in a friendly manner.
After the pre-match lining-up ceremony, the players of both teams returned to their respective positions, and commentators from various countries took the opportunity to introduce today's starting lineups of both sides to the fans.
When playing against West Ham United, which is currently ranked sixth in the league standings, Li Chen did not make too many tactical changes and still used the variant 433 formation that is most suitable for the current Manchester United.
After resting for 10 days, many of Manchester United's main players have recovered to their best physical and mental condition.
Ronaldo and Martial looked much lighter, while Sancho and Fred even jumped on the spot several times before the game started.
The more mature Matic put his hands on his hips and looked carefully at the opponents he would face today.
B Fee tightened the captain's armband on his arm, concentrated and clapped his hands hard, signaling his teammates to get into the game state as soon as possible.
Luke Shaw, Maguire, Varane, Dalot...
The Manchester United defenders lined up on the back line looked relatively relaxed.
The successive victories have given the players on this defensive line the confidence to win.
The active coverage and defense of their teammates in front of them gave them enough confidence to perform.
In comparison, the players on the West Ham United field looked much more serious at this moment.
After all, they are no longer facing the Manchester United team with a chaotic tactical system and frequent defensive mistakes in the middle of the first half of the season.
What they have to face is the Red Devils Manchester United, who are now earning points crazily in the league and have already caught up with Manchester City and Liverpool!
They are the challengers, even though they are praised by the outside world as one of the teams that has given the fans the most surprises this season. But they still know in their hearts that it is very difficult to beat this hot Manchester United at Old Trafford.
With pressure in mind, one will naturally play very cautiously at the beginning of the game.
Fortunately, the 4231 starting formation they are playing now has a relatively high defensive tolerance rate.
Even though they lost possession of the ball several times due to Manchester United's aggressive pressing in the early stages, they were still able to plug the loopholes in their defense by returning to defense in a timely manner.
The high-pressure stance that Manchester United adopted at the start of the game today surprised the reporters on the scene.
Li Chen has talked about his team-building principles and ideas many times before, indicating that he will not quickly build a high-pressure tactical system at Manchester United.
But the tactics he used today are very different from the tactics he has always promoted.
However, before the reporters on the sidelines could figure out more about Manchester United's high-pressure tactics.
After maintaining high pressure for the first four or five minutes, Manchester United decisively contracted its formation and returned to a normal balanced posture in dealing with the opponent.
Well, now the reporters finally understood.
It seems that Li Chen just wanted to get a head start and put some pressure on West Ham United to see if he could get some advantage.
West Ham United's defense was tight, so Li Chen decisively changed his tactics, still focusing on a safe layout and not giving the opponent a chance to switch between offense and defense.
This little trick is very interesting. Is it oppression from the high position?
It seemed like they were pressing, but also like they weren't. It came quickly and went even faster. Before the opponent could react, Manchester United started playing the tactic of pressing in the middle and low position and the midfielder retreating to control the field.
Moyes scratched the back of his head and gave a few dry chuckles in self-deprecation.
He must have scared himself. He thought Manchester United had changed their temperament and would play high pressure from the start, so he signaled the whole team to consolidate their defense first.
Unexpectedly, Manchester United is just a "paper tiger". After all, it is not a top team like Manchester City and Liverpool. How can it make sense to only play high pressure for four or five minutes?
Moyes, feeling that he had been tricked by Li Chen, quickly signaled his disciples on the field to spread out their formation and launch real high-pressure against Manchester United!
Moyes is still quite confident in this regard.
The West Ham United he led was able to reach the top six of the Premier League for two consecutive seasons by keeping up with the development trend of football tactics.
West Ham United, which combines high pressure with rapid advancement and efficient counterattacks, already has the capital to challenge the top four Premier League teams.
This was demonstrated by their previous 3-2 wins over Liverpool and Chelsea in the league.
The biggest gap between West Ham United and the top four teams in the standings now lies in the lack of key stars and the lack of depth on the bench.
With only one league match, 90 minutes, Moyes is confident of a - tie with Manchester United.
Even considering Manchester United's current hot form, Moyes feels his team has a great chance of escaping Old Trafford unscathed.
So he doesn't want to use overly conservative tactics against Manchester United.
At the very least, they have to use their favorite style of play to create enough pressure on Manchester United's defense, so as to achieve the tactical goal of attacking instead of defending.
The Manchester United fans at the scene were somewhat nervous as they watched West Ham United's active and fierce pressing posture.
Although they defeated West Ham United 2-1 in the first half of the league, Manchester United also relied on Lingard's goal in the 89th minute of regular time to defeat the Hammers.
As a result, before long, Manchester United was eliminated from the League Cup by the Hammers at home.
After that, the Hammers became more and more courageous, defeating Liverpool and Chelsea in the league, and losing 1-2 to Manchester City away.
Such a strong dialogue record is really good.
Manchester United fans are very confident about their team's current state, but they dare not say that they can definitely beat the Hammers at home.
There are even many Manchester United supporters who are worried that Li Chen will choose to attack recklessly because he is playing at home.
However, after watching the development of the game for a few more minutes, these inexplicably nervous Manchester United fans finally felt relieved temporarily.
Because Manchester United still managed to stabilize its line under the opponent's high-pressure defense today and had good control of the ball.
The key is for the front three to frequently retreat and participate in passing the ball.
Among them, Sancho's newly developed back-to-the-basket support made the home fans shine!
In terms of speed and head-on physical confrontation, Sancho is no match for the current group of defensive beasts in the Premier League.
However, whether the organization method of back-to-the-basket ball-handling can be played out does not entirely depend on the physical strength of the players. It is actually a skill-based job.
Turan during his time at Atletico Madrid was a leader in this regard.
If you want to say that Turan's dribbling skills are very delicate and superb, and how strong his body is, that's not necessarily true.
He can master the post-up assist, but the key is his outstanding ball handling and protection skills as well as the smart way of using his body.
Li Chen's appreciation and expectations for Sancho are not as simple as just making him a beggar version of Isco.
Under Manchester United's current tactical system, the more successful B Fee's transformation is, the more important Sancho will become to the operation of Manchester United's front offensive system.
However, it is undoubtedly impossible to achieve top performance in the Premier League by relying solely on technical skills under a specific tactical system and a style of play that avoids confrontation.
Therefore, before other teams conducted more detailed research on Sancho and further restricted his performance, Li Chen opened up another development path for him in advance.
That is to be a technically skilled "hard-core midfielder".
It is necessary to selectively increase physical contact with opponents on the wing.
You are not required to carry the opponent's central defender and main defensive midfielder, but to withstand the interference of the opponent's full-back with your back, and hold the ball to create offensive space for your teammates. You can do this, right?
Technology can open the valve to the upper limit of performance, but diligent running and necessary tactical sacrifices can allow a midfielder to start the transformation into the core of the team.
Li Chen's painstakingly prepared thick stack of transformation suggestions and sincere communication attitude finally moved Sancho.
With trust in Li Chen, Sancho took the initiative to take on tactical responsibilities on the training ground that he did not want to take on in the past.
Change is achieved little by little.
And today, facing West Ham United's active defense, Sancho really used his back-to-the-basket support method, which he had never used on the field before, to open up a new offensive channel for the team!
At this moment, the only thing left in the young England midfielder's heart was gratitude towards Li Chen and the determination to carry out the transformation journey to the end.
Become a skilled and tough midfielder and embark on his own path to greatness!
(End of this chapter)