Chapter 86: The Struggle for British Supremacy (2)
Teach Rangers and these Scottish fans a lesson, this is not Li Lei's idea alone, but the common opinion of the whole Manchester United team. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info
If Ferguson and Rangers manager McLeish still had a master-apprentice relationship in Aberdeen back then, and could not put down their bodies to openly fight, then the players on both sides have no such scruples at all.
While Lee Lei and the others were grinding their fists to teach their owners a good lesson at the Ebrox Stadium, the Rangers players were also boosted by the morale of the Scottish fans, and they were bound to take a good look at Manchester United at home and experience what it was like to be a national hero for a while.
In the end, I don't know if it was McLeish's tactical arrangement, or the Rangers' self-made initiative under the excitement of the players, after the start of the game, as the side that was generally not favored before the game, they were very active and strong to open up the offensive posture with Manchester United.
And such a seemingly unwise choice, which is expected by the outside world, no matter what the final result is, at least in the first five minutes, still seems very powerful.
The Rangers players played so confidently and aggressively, apparently not only because of what Li Lei and they expected, but Manchester United were caught off guard. Just two minutes after the start of the game, the home team Glasco Rovers got the statistics of the first shot on target of the game to the huge cheers of the whole stadium.
Dutch winger Molse's cross from the edge of the box allowed Danish midfielder Lowenkrantz to have a shot on the edge of the box after a cross from the edge of the box. When Li Lei's vision was disturbed by the crowd in front of the goal, fortunately, this shot did not fully hit the power, giving him plenty of time to observe and react.
"Hmm~"
At the Ebrox Stadium, Li Lei made an agile side pounce to firmly press the football under him. It wasn't a difficult save, but it was enough to sound the alarm bells. Don't be careless and too confident, you can't people, it's too embarrassing to be ***.
After standing up with the football in his arms, Li Lei, just like Richard had taught him before, began to shout to Ferdinand and others at the back: "Attention! Attention, guys!! It seems that they really want to do something, don't be too careless to let them sneak up. ”
"We got it." Ferdinand, who knew that he and others were too negligent in defending this time, allowed the Rangers players to get the opportunity to shoot so easily, and immediately patted his chest as the backbone of Manchester United's defense, and responded to Li Lei with a "you can rest assured" attitude.
Li Lei nodded reassuringly and did not speak again. For Ferdinand, he is still very relieved. As a novice goalkeeper, he knows that he is not good at speaking too strongly, and he must stop at the right time.
Moreover, he also believes that with the skills and experience of Manchester United's defensive players, they should not make consecutive mistakes to the point where he needs to continue to dictate to him as a newcomer.
So, he immediately put his mind at ease.
On the other hand, he still looked a little immature, but he had already tried to start directing and reminding the backline, so that Ferguson on the sidelines nodded secretly.
The growth and maturity of Li Lei will largely determine Manchester United's plan for the goalkeeper position in the following seasons, including this season. The goalkeeper is a very important position, and even if Li Lei and Ferguson are put aside from his close relationship, Ferguson will pay close attention to Li Lei's performance for a long time.
To some extent, this can be regarded as Ferguson's long-term assessment of whether Li Lei can be qualified as Manchester United's first goalkeeper. I don't dare to say what will happen after that, but at least judging from the satisfied look on Ferguson's face now, Li Lei is still very satisfied with him so far.
Li Lei on the field naturally did not know that his every move was being closely watched by Ferguson, and at this time his full attention was focused on the game. Outside the goal shortly after the start of the game, the Rangers continued to press down on the Manchester United defence amid the shouts and cheers of the fans.
But fortunately, they quickly came back to their senses, and the established Manchester United did not let them easily get a threatening kick-up shot, which made Li Lei, who has been closely following the Rangers' attack, secretly relieved.
Once the opponent forms a siege on the penalty area, the goalkeeper, a position that does not seem to require much effort, is often the most draining, and it is necessary to pay attention to and interpret the opponent's offensive at all times, and cannot relax for a moment.
After five minutes, Manchester United, who had the upper hand in strength, began to take over, and the expressions on the faces of the Scottish fans gathered at the Ebrox Stadium began to become less agitated and excited.
Although on the surface, the Rangers' offensive continues, the established United have begun to brew a counter-attack in the shadows, trying to deal a hard blow to the Rangers.
Finally, in the 7th minute of the first half, Rangers Italian midfielder Vanoli barely broke through with the ball and was cut off by Phil Neville. The England midfielder, who has always dared to work dirty, and was somewhat unknown in United's glorious class of 92, began an impressive performance for him.
Taking advantage of the Rangers' heavy pressure, he took the ball and rushed forward strongly, and while shaking off an oncoming Rangers midfield defender, he played a quick and effective collision with the retreating Ruud van Nistelrooy, and planned the entire Rangers defense at once.
"Shhhhh
Feeling threatened, the Rangers fans in the stands immediately let out shrill boos in an attempt to distract him. But in the end, Phil Neville calmly completed the final pass after attracting enough defensive attention, setting up Gary Neville's first shot of the game and the first goal of the game.
Less than 10 minutes into the game, the first shot on goal was the perfect start for United.
But correspondingly, it was a huge psychological blow to the Rangers players who were ambitious to snipe Manchester United before the game.
However, Li Lei didn't think that this game would be smooth sailing because of this goal. Although he didn't know much about wanderers, he knew very well that no matter when, where, or in that industry, anyone who could be the overlord of one side was easy to mess with.
He believes that this should also be true in football.
After a brief moment of celebration on the goal, he quickly regained his composure and waited for the onslaught that Rangers could have predicted.
It's time for me to teach you a lesson, Li Lei gently slurred a little saliva on the glove, rubbed his hands together, and then slapped his hands fiercely, looking at the Rangers players in front of him like a cold knife.
As Li Lei expected, after the restart of the game, Rangers launched a fierce counterattack against Manchester United, and made a frantic pressure on Manchester United's ball-handlers. Although this is an extremely physically demanding style of play, the Rangers players who are eager to equalise can't care so much.
Under such circumstances, Manchester United, who had not yet recovered from the joy of scoring, was really uncomfortable by the Rangers' desperate style of play, and the scene and attack that had just become fluid became difficult again.
In this regard, the veteran Ferguson sat firmly on the Diaoyu Tai and did not give any instructions.
He knows very well that under the Rangers' life-fighting style of play, such a temporary disadvantage is inevitable. But as long as the United players can survive this period of passivity, there will be plenty of time to completely take the initiative. At this time, the best way to deal with change is to respond to all changes with the same.
As for whether United's defence can survive this difficult period, Ferguson is still confident about the issue.
It's just clear that his confidence is a little too much. At least in today's game, Rio Ferdinand has been a little out of shape, lacking concentration and looking like he has been distracted by something else.
Li Lei actually noticed this before the game. It's just that after Ferdinand assured him, he thought that with Ferdinand's strength and experience, he should be able to adjust soon and be fine.
But, obviously, this is not the case.
In the 15th minute of the first half, Rangers' Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta fed a high, floating, average-quality ball to the Rangers strikers in the Manchester United box.
With the high-altitude ball handling of the centre-back duo of Rio Ferdinand and Silvestre, handling such passes is not a big problem. But just in case, Li Lei, who was already relieved in advance, did not relax too much, but continued to focus on the football in the air and the two forwards of the Rangers in the penalty area.
Then, the facts soon proved that Li Lei's caution this time was very wise.
Because, in the face of such a simple high-altitude ball, Ferdinand somehow made a huge mistake. While it was true that Rangers striker Aviradze was disrupting in front of him, that doesn't explain why he made a mistake in his spotting and stupidly stopped the ball to Morse's super low-level mistake.
When Dutch striker Morse was lucky to get the ball in front of the small penalty area, Li Lei instantly broke out in a thin cold sweat all over his body. Fortunately, he had an eye on it before, otherwise, he might have only watched Morse complete the shot and score this time.
It can be seen that Morse is also unprepared for the big pie that has fallen from the world. The first time, a not very difficult stop, but let him stop wide, which made him unable to shoot directly and comfortably.
It's just that he was afraid of the interference of Sylvester next to him, so he didn't plan to make any more adjustments, and directly took advantage of the situation to poke his toes and complete a clever stab.
The shot was not powerful, but it was better than stealth and suddenness.
Coupled with the fact that he was shooting very close to the goal at the edge of the penalty area, Morse was already looking forward to the moment when the goal would come, and how he would celebrate with a tsunami of cheers from the audience.
But at this moment, Li Lei's figure in front of the door, which was so swift that he fell to the ground and pounced on the side, made Morse, who was looking at it, can't help but chuckle in his heart.
Under his somewhat horrified gaze, Li Lei's legs completed a lightning-like lower fork, and the flexibility training that had suffered a lot before showed its effect at this moment.
If it weren't for that, even if he reacted fast enough, he probably wouldn't have been able to complete such a quick lower body, and he turned sideways, gritted his teeth, and tried his best to make a crucial save with the fingertips of his left hand, creating a chance for the stunned Ferdinand to make up for it.
Although the process of this save was a little embarrassing, Li Lei would not show it.
I saw that he quickly got up in the regretful sigh of the Rangers fans in the audience, walked to the side of the goal, pouted at the Scottish fans, and raised his right fist high with a cold and dragging expression.
Disappointment to disappointment, how could a Scottish fan, whose temper is not as hot as an English fan, allow Li Lei, a rookie, to be so arrogant on his turf.
So, in the next moment, Li Lei quickly got what he wanted.
Boo, shrill boos!
He enjoyed the boo, and raised his eyebrows triumphantly, the disdainful sneer on the corner of his mouth resurfaced.
And that's just the beginning!
At this time, the curvature on the corner of his mouth was so cold!
Rebellious!!
Supercilious!!!