Chapter 334
By the time the pre-match ceremony was finally over and the FA Cup final began, everything went as everyone had expected.
Almost shortly after the whistle blew from Winter, the whole Millwall team collectively retreated to their own half, leaving no personnel in the midfield, and all personnel, including striker Harris, were intensively deployed at the back.
All of a sudden, the half-time offensive and defensive drills of Manchester United's main attack and Millwall's main defense, which people predicted before the game, appeared in front of everyone's eyes unsurprisingly.
How to break this iron bucket formation, in the football world, this is an eternal problem.
Even if it is only a Millwall team that has been playing in the second and third divisions all year round, it will not be easy for Manchester United to break it easily.
Patience is the first ingredient to break the bucket array.
Therefore, Manchester United will not be able to pull the pace of attack and defense very fast, and need to slow down and slowly play with Millwall to find holes in the opposition defence.
Blindly fast-paced bombardment can easily turn the game into a chaotic and fast-paced chaos, and this happens to be in Millwall's hands. Compared to Manchester United, this is something that a team in a lower league like theirs is better at.
Therefore, as soon as he came up, Ferguson would definitely not let Manchester United do this. Given that United are far superior to Millwall, the Red Devils are more than capable of slowing down, grinding with the Lions little by little, and winning more securely.
Even with the usual problem of scoring goals this season, it is okay to go back to the last 30 minutes of the game with a quick attack, and at least now is clearly not the time to adopt such an aggressive strategy.
And just like that, with one side pulling back and the other deliberately slowing down the tempo, this FA Cup final inevitably entered a dull rhythm in the first second.
In the first 5 minutes of the game, the pace of the game was dull and slow.
Manchester United once tried to use possession to attract Millwall's players to snatch it out, so as to take the opportunity to gain more attacking space, but Millwall was like a huge turtle that did not move, and in the face of Manchester United's seduction, it was dead in the second half. With Wise, a part-time head coach, in the position of dragging back midfield, even if a Millwall player wants to rush out to grab the ball, he will not dare.
During this period of time, the saddest player on the field was undoubtedly Li Lei, who stayed at the back as the Manchester United goalkeeper, who didn't even touch a ball.
I can only stand helplessly in the backcourt and observe the development of the situation in the whole field, while doing a simple warm-up in a small area back and forth, keeping the heat of the body and not cooling down and stiffening. Judging from the current situation on the field, he feels that he is very prepared to remain in this state without the ball for a long time, or even without running.
Just when Li Lei was about to go crazy in the backcourt, the situation on the field finally changed. Seeing that Millwall didn't mean to press out at all, under a gesture from Ferguson on the sidelines, Manchester United finally began to take the initiative to press forward to attack.
The longer this dull draw drags on, the more Millwall will be happy to see it, but not for Manchester United. Determining the win early was Ferguson's pre-match strategy.
The crushing situation of the overall strength allowed United to quickly get some chances and attacks in the dangerous heart of Millwall. However, with the full defence of Millwall's players, as well as some mistakes and wasted chances by Manchester United's own players, Millwall goalkeeper Marshall's goal has not been breached.
Of those, Ruud van Nistelrooy had one shot on goal and Paul Scholes three. But neither man took advantage of those three shots.
That wasn't what they should be, especially in the ninth minute of the first half, when Paul Scholes was unbelievably unable to hit a goalmouth shot after receiving a back-heeled juggling pass from Cristiano Ronaldo near the baseline on the right. This is a rare, even unbelievable, mistake for Scholes, who has always been consistent.
Obviously, this is not their poor form, but too relaxed and careless, and the nerves of the game in their heads are not completely tense. Because, at their level, no matter how bad the state is, it should never be so bad.
The careless performance of his own attacking players, although expected by Ferguson on the sidelines, also made him very angry.
He knows that his squad will inevitably be careless against a League One side like Millwall, and the gap between the two is just too great. But in order to allow the team to finish and take the lead as early as possible, he also made a point of mentioning it in the dressing room before.
To his disappointment, however, the results have not changed.
This made him both helpless and angry. He knew very well that the first few minutes of the game, when the Millwall players were not relieved of the fear of Manchester United in their hearts, the fear of the Manchester United players, or the time when they were still shrinking and unable to let go of the game, was the best time for Manchester United to score.
But such an excellent opportunity has been wasted by the carelessness and relaxation of his own players.
Although he had seen his players tighten up again after a few roars from the sidelines, Ferguson knew the rest of the game would not be as easy as the first few minutes, and Millwall's resistance would be as tough and even rough as he had anticipated.
And the facts did develop as he expected, and after noticing his players' shrinking on the pitch, Danny Wise, as the head coach and player, immediately led by example, showing them what to do against Manchester United's players.
In the 17th minute of the first half, he made a vicious side tackle and brought down Cristiano Ronaldo, the most active player in Manchester United's team after the opening.
That's not the main thing, though. The most important thing is that in the future, he didn't have any intention of apologizing to Ronaldo, even pretending to be a little bit of an idea, and after getting up from the ground first, he directly pushed Ronaldo who was sitting on the ground and let him fall on the pitch again.
Through this action, he unabashedly showed his ferocity, toughness, and even hostility towards Ronaldo, nakedly, in front of the Millwall players, in front of everyone, without any idea of concealment!
This is knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger!!
"Shh!!h
Not surprisingly, his action immediately detonated the entire Millennium Stadium. Not only did the Manchester United fans boo, but the Manchester United players on the field also gathered at once, angrily rushing to Danny Wise, who had already stood up at this time.
But the former England's No. 1 villain was not flustered at all, as if he couldn't see the Manchester United players who were coming in a rage at this time, but turned his head directly to look at the Millwall players, vibrated his arms, and roared with a hideous face: "You saw it all?!" Have you seen them all?!! Just fuck me like this to them! That's it!! ”
It's like a wolf king calling for the clan!
Fierce boiling!!
Plagiarism!!.