Chapter 1196: Stalemate

Ferguson didn't use lethal tactics in the game, he didn't even use foul tactics.

Since the FA Cup final in Glory's first season at Manchester City, Ferguson has stopped using any foul tactics against Glory, because it was all about assisting Glory......

Ferguson's hat-trick from a glorious free-kick at the time was too impressive......

In this Champions League semi-final, Ferguson, who was playing away, adopted a defensive counterattack strategy.

In Manchester City's home stadium, they still pressed the attack, which was looking for death.

As for Glory, Ferguson didn't actually come up with any countermeasures.

How to curb glory is a worldwide problem, and if he can figure it out, he could even win the Nobel Prize for football – if there is one......

Although he didn't figure out how to deal with Glory, it didn't mean that Ferguson was going to give up the game.

The strategy of counter-attacking is based on the fact that Ferguson doesn't want to lose on the road, or don't want to lose by a big margin.

In addition, he relied on the excellent form of Rooney and Klose.

Since the 27th round of the league in the same city derby, Rooney, who was in a slump before, seems to have found his best form all of a sudden, and has performed well in the following games.

Against Manchester City, Wayne Rooney scored his sixth league goal of the season with a beautiful barb.

And now, 34 rounds of league games have passed, Rooney has scored 12 goals in the league, from 27 rounds of the league to 34 rounds, and Rooney has scored seven goals in eight rounds of the league, such a state can only be described as "hot".

Klose, on the other hand, has been in good form and is now second in the league's scorers list with 24 goals.

These two strikers are Ferguson's biggest reliance.

Attacking on the defensive side requires strikers to be able to take advantage of their chances, and to score in the rare number of chances, they are not in a position to squander those chances.

With the form of these two strikers, Ferguson believes they will be able to capitalise on those few chances to get on the scoresheet for United.

Because the Champions League is played on a home-and-away basis, away goals are important.

So as long as Manchester United can score a goal away from home, it will make it a lot easier for the players and increase the team's hopes of progressing to the final.

If this game can be held to a draw with Manchester City on the premise of an away goal, for Ferguson, he thinks it will be a victory.

And he was ready to lose.

It doesn't matter if you lose, but as long as you don't lose too much.

Lose 1:2 and return to home in the next leg, Manchester United only need to score one goal and win the game 1-0 to eliminate Manchester City.

So before this game, Ferguson had been letting the team practice defensive counter-attacks, mainly defending, with not conceding a goal being the top priority.

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Once the game began, United only took advantage of their kick-off once to give possession to City, while they themselves retreated to their 30-metre zone and were ready for City to attack.

Rafa Benitez is not surprised that United will choose to defend and counter-attack away from home.

A lot of teams have chosen to counter-attack when they face Manchester City away from home, even if they haven't played much on the counter-attack before.

Benitez would be surprised if these teams were to play against Manchester City when they played away from home – he would have thought the opposing manager was out of his head.

After 34 league games, Manchester City scored 88 goals, which is the highest number in the Premier League, and they are also the team with the most goals in the whole of Europe, tied for first place with Barcelona, who also scored 88 goals. They were followed by Real Madrid, who scored seventy-nine goals under Jose Mourinho's side.

The attacking firepower is so ferocious that other teams will choose to avoid it at Manchester City's home stadium.

Ferguson's choice was not a surprise.

It can be seen that Ferguson really worked the defense, and when Manchester United contracted the defense, Manchester City, who were playing at home, had no good way to break the deadlock.

Although the cheers of the home fans were loud, they could not help City to score.

After the start of the game, the two sides quickly became a stalemate. In terms of possession and pass success rate, Manchester City have the upper hand, and the number of shots on goal is also more than Manchester United.

But even so, the score did not change.

Ibrahimovic was suspended for a red card and Dimitar Berbatov started in his place, but was also caught in the middle of a siege by Manchester United.

The main offensive firepower still has to rely on glory.

According to the pre-match training, although Berbatov is a center forward, he is not responsible for scoring goals, he mainly plays his own running and passing in the front court to give glory a chance.

So he will pull more outside the box and give Glory the opportunity to score with a shot into the box.

However, Manchester United's attacking routine against Manchester City also has a defensive strategy, and it will be difficult for Glory to squeeze into the box to shoot.

Manchester United is like forming a movable wall in front of Glory, and no matter where Glory is, the wall is always in front of him.

The two sides remained at a stalemate until the end of the first half.

In between, Manchester City did get some chances, not just glory, others too, but they didn't take them. Berbatov, for example, had a good chance in the box, but his shot was blocked by Van der Sar with his knee.

And Manchester United's counter-attack can indeed threaten Manchester City's goal.

Ferguson's counter-attacking routine for Manchester United is like this: a long pass from the back goes straight to Klose, and Klose uses his bounce and header skills to ferry the ball to Rooney, who is inserted at high speed, and uses Rooney's speed and skill to attack Manchester City's backline.

It's a simple routine, but sometimes it's that simple to get unexpected results.

In the first half, one of United's most dangerous attacks was played like this.

Klose's header was flicked back, Rooney cut forward at high speed, and then received the ball from Klose, dribbled the ball into the Manchester City penalty area, and chose a long shot from the edge of the box.

The ball arced through the air, bypassing on-attacking goalkeeper Joe Hart, before concentrating the crossbar under the horrified gaze of all the City fans......

Then it bounced back and was kicked out by the returning centre-back Lucio.

It was the closest United came to scoring in the first half.

After the ball was not scored, Rooney held his head in his hands, looking very annoyed.

In fact, Ferguson was more annoyed than him in the dugout......

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The first half was 0-0 and Ferguson's strategic goal was halfway through.

With half the time to go, it would have been better if United had scored in the second half.

But Ferguson was in his right mind and didn't feel he could try more in the second half just because he had managed to keep City at bay in the first half.

Defending and not conceding a goal is still his number one goal.

In the game against Manchester City, the most fearful thing is self-righteousness, feeling that the first half did not concede a goal, and there was a shot at the post, threatening Manchester City's goal, so in the second half you can try to attack more.

This mentality often leads to teams that do so conceding in the second half and ultimately losing the game.

There are too many examples of this.

Ferguson has looked at other teams that City have played and found that many of the losing teams have thought this way – it's not a good thing to think too much.

At half-time, Ferguson warned his players not to think that their counter-attack in the first half threatened City's goal and that they could go unchecked in the second.

β€œβ€¦β€¦ In the second half our main task was to defend and the tactics were the same as in the first half, with no changes. He said with a straight face, using Yan SΓΉ's expression and voice to remind his players that this is a very strict thing, and they should not have any other ideas.

Meanwhile, in City's dressing room, Benitez asked his players not to rush in the second half: "The integrity of the defence has to be maintained, and what United are waiting for is the huge void behind the defence after we rushed to press in the second half. They're looking to draw away from home and if they can score away goals that would be even better, we can't let them get what they wanted......

Neither side made any tactical or personnel changes, just to make the players more cautious. The Champions League semi-finals are played over two legs, and if anyone makes a mistake, they don't even have a chance to save it.

It's not the same as a league.

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again, and soon everyone saw that there was no difference between the first half and the first half.

Manchester United are still on the counter-attack.

"Well, while it was a bit surprising that Alex Ferguson would have opted to defend on the counter-attack, it has to be said that he did so well, at least in the first half United did not concede a goal. It's still remarkable to be able to keep City without scoring for 45 minutes......" Alan Hansen said shortly after the start of the second half.

"We all thought it didn't matter if Ibrahimovic wasn't there, as long as City were still there. Now it seems that in fact, Ibrahimovic's absence from the game still has a great impact on Manchester City, and Manchester City's offensive firepower is one person, making it easier for Manchester United to defend. If Ibrahimovic is here, the two will let Manchester United divide the forces when defending, so that both of them, whether it is Rong or Ibrahimovic, the defensive pressure on the two of them is not as great as it is now, and they will both have a chance to ......take advantage of it."

It stands to reason that this should be a good thing for Ibrahimovic, but Ibrahimovic, who was sitting in a special area of the stands with his teammates, was not happy now.

He frowned and snorted heavily from his nose.

His eyes were always fixed on Glory.

Aren't you amazing?

Can't you be in the limelight without me?

Then you give it to me again!

I don't want to be unable to even make it to the final! I580