In order to make the game more favorable to Manchester United, Ferguson took the initiative to start the war of words that he is good at.

He does this often.

Whenever before the start of the tournament, Ferguson likes to comment on his opponents, for example, when he meets Mourinho's Chelsea, he will sarcastically say a few things, such as "Chelsea disrupt the transfer market", "Chelsea rely on a lot of money to keep the club running, sooner or later there will be problems" and so on.

Arsene Wenger's Arsenal is Manchester United's old rivals.

Ferguson will not let Arsenal go, and last season he also sarcastically mocked Arsenal for 'not taking the initiative to let go' Ashley Cole, "When a player is determined to leave, there is no point in the club's tough retention, what Arsenal should do is take the initiative to let go." ”

Ferguson doesn't mean well, or he values Ashley Cole, he just wants Ashley Cole's performance to be affected when he plays against Arsenal.

It was the same against Millwall.

Ferguson talked about admiring Braniff, he rarely talked about appreciating a player, at first it was just a war of words, if the outstanding Braniff has the heart to come to Manchester United, it will definitely be very beneficial to Manchester United, and maybe it can also have a long-term impact, for example, Braniff has no intention of staying at Millwall, he will have a conflict with the manager Zhang Yang, and he will be refrigerated recently, and his appearance will be affected for a long time.

Ferguson loves to see that happen.

Then, under the analysis of the media and the coaching staff, Ferguson suddenly realized that Braniff was a good choice.

While Ferguson thought so, Braniff himself responded.

This is how the pre-match war of words begins.

The situation after that was unimaginable, Braniff's 'fighting power' was too strong, and his magical brain circuits seemed to exist to make Manchester United uncomfortable.

United lost the war of words.

This is the judgment of the media, because Manchester United has a lot of players, and there is only Braniff on the other side, and the war of words is tied, which proves that Manchester United lost.

The current game is a continuation of the 'lose war of words'.

The Manchester United players gritted their teeth with hatred for Branifer, and they focused on Braniv during the game, even to the extent that they did not let Braniv touch the ball, but Braniv was limited and did not affect Millwall's overall performance in the slightest.

Ferguson saw the situation.

The reason why Ferguson did not prevent his players from focusing on Braniff was that Braniff was the heart of Millwall's midfield, and his position was similar to Scholes's.

The heart of the midfield is so important!

When a team's midfield core is limited to performance, and can't even catch the ball a few times, the team's form will definitely suffer.

Millwall's performance was unexpected, and they did not seem to be affected by Braniff, and the attacks launched by other players were also quite threatening.

Why?

Ferguson hadn't figured it out before, but now he figured it out: the opponent's tactical arrangement is to let Braniff attract the defense, and the real core is not Braniff, but Josh Simpson!

In fact, it can't be said that Millwall is playing a 'double core' tactic, Braniff and Simpson are both cores, but any tactics cannot be played perfectly, the two cores play, and the role of a single core will be obvious, so Millwall must have made relevant arrangements to have such a good performance.

Manchester United have hit the mark!

Ferguson gritted his teeth with hatred and realised that the game could not go on like this, and that he had to do something about it, otherwise United's defence would remain in danger.

While Millwall celebrated his goal, Ferguson called Cristiano Ronaldo over.

C-Ronaldo walked over with some apprehension, and was greeted with an angry scolding that cut his head and covered his face--

"What were you doing! You're a right midfielder, not a central defender, who told you to defend in the middle? Did I say that? Or do you feel like you're doing the right thing? ”

"Idiot!"

"They just want you all to keep an eye on Braniff!"

"How many times have I said that when it comes to the game, you must take care of your position, what have you done!"

“……”

Ferguson scolded C-Ronaldo for nothing.

No matter how high the prestige of C-Ronaldo is in the team and fans, he can only bow his head and bow his head in the face of Ferguson, praying in his heart that the angry scolding will end soon.

What a shame!

C-Ronaldo didn't dare to say anything at all.

In the entire Manchester United team, no player dares to challenge the majesty of Ferguson, not even a word, the people who did it have already left, such as David Beckham, such as Roy Keane, the reason why they left, even because of a small conflict, they themselves wanted to stay at Manchester United, what was the result?

Ferguson was not satisfied, and they had no choice but to leave.

After Ferguson scolded C-Ronaldo angrily, his emotions seemed to be almost vented, and he said the point of the conversation, "Don't help Braniff again!" Your position is on the right side, and your work is also on the right side, tell other people not to be affected by the pre-match news, go to the game normally, and pay more attention to the other midfielder of the opposing team, the player surnamed Simpson! ”

————

Alex Ferguson felt United were 'on the move' and the players were defending Braniff to give space to the rest of Millwall.

Zhang Yang doesn't think so.

Although they knew that Braniff would be heavily defended, Millwall did not deliberately make any adjustments, and Braniff remained the heart of the midfield, rather than a furnishing that was placed there to attract firepower.

Millwall is a 'two-core' tactic, with United focusing on one core of defence, and the other core will naturally have more room to play.

In fact, Millwall has a lot of cards, but Simpson is not the only one.

In the middle, Darren Bent has Darren Bent up front, Simpson and Braniff in midfield, and Livermore in the back who can be a long-range threat.

Millwall can bloom more in the middle, even if Manchester United is not affected, it is impossible to limit all the points to do targeted defense, and in the wave of attack just now, Braniff also played a role, he handed the ball back to Quaresma, so that Quaresma could calmly hand over to Simpson, which can be regarded as disrupting Manchester United's defense.

With the resumption of the game and the United players increasing their defence against Simpson, Braniff was less of a defensive threat and began to be more agile and work more with his team-mates.

In the next two waves, Millwall scored within 30 metres of Manchester United's goal.

Although there was no direct threat to the goal, the advance of the attack was enough to show that United's approach of diverting the defensive force did not have a direct effect.

The United players even found that their shifting of defence had the opposite effect, with some coordination between the two when Braniff was active and Simpson was behind.

When the two cores played together, Millwall's attack became much sharper, the football was easily transferred from the left and right flanks, and the Manchester United defence was also driven and could not be effectively restricted.

Millwall's attacking force is more than just a strong middle. The two wings, Pire and Quaresma, are also not to be underestimated, and often Millwall's attack starts with a tentative start.

When the football is in the midfield, the players will observe the opponent's defensive position, and the side will come from the side when there is a chance, and the side is not good for fast attack, so it will be slowly passed from the side to the middle.

This style of play is quite flexible.

This is also one of the effects of the 'dual-core' style of play.

If there is only one core player, the position of the core player is directly related to the direction of the attack, but in the case of two core players, the left, right, and center can all become the direction of attack, and the offensive center of gravity can also be adjusted according to the opponent's defensive layout at any time.

In the face of such a flexible attack, Manchester United have some 'old-fashioned' defence, and even with many stars, there are not many options.

In the 42nd minute, Millwall attacked from the right, Quaresma and Simpson made a one-two, and after shaking off Scholes, Quaresma broke through to the bottom line, and then hoisted the ball in front of goal with a big foot.

The ball was a little too high and a little too far for Darren Bent to head the ball directly into goal, so he simply flicked his head and handed the ball to a team-mate outside the box.

Braniff met the ball and pushed sideways, followed by Livermore, who used to be a big foot.

"Bang!"

The ball rushed forward quickly, but unfortunately the force was not suppressed, and it flew high over the crossbar.

This attack made Manchester United fully appreciate the difficulty of Millwall's attack.

Millwall has also suppressed the home team Manchester United in terms of the situation with their recent offensive, and the possession rate has exceeded 50%, which is higher than Manchester United's possession.

It was a surprise that the game had come to this point, and the reporters in the media gallery discussed the game and also gave praise to Millwall's performance.

"Millwall were so good that they were able to overpower Manchester United at Old Trafford!"

"Very few teams can do that. Remember last season, Millwall was suppressed by Manchester United at home. ”

"The current Millwall seems to have changed teams, but in their main lineup, except for the two wings, there is not much change, and the middle is the center of gravity of Millwall."

"Maybe that's the 'dual-core' tactic?"

"Just relying on this set of tactics, Zhang Yang can have a foothold in world football."

“……”

In the lamentation of media reporters, Ferguson is also lamenting the growth of Millwall.

If last season, Millwall still relied on luck and the opponent's underestimation and ignorance to get good results in the league, then this season, Millwall has already stood firm with strength.

Millwall's performance, relative to the line-up, was simply outstanding.

Looking at this Millwall team on the field, Ferguson must also admit, "That young Chinese is really amazing!" ”

But now it's the game.

Ferguson watched half the game carefully, and also had some clues about how to deal with Millwall, and his face showed a relieved expression.