Originally, with Manchester City's ability and state, there was no problem at all with Manchester United, especially at Manchester Stadium, in their home games, the team would be familiar with it, and the performance would be better.

It's a bit of a surprise now, with problems on the right flank and Robbie Fowler looking out of form.

Manchester City's tactics are a whole, they have higher requirements for the whole than other teams, and there are such big problems along the way, which makes the team's attack and defense have holes, while Manchester United is much easier to play in attack and defense.

That's why City didn't start well.

Many people see that Manchester City is a little passive and has scored another goal, and they think that Manchester City is not in form as a whole, but in fact, the real reason is that on the right side, Robbie Fowler did not play well alone, which led to the impact of the whole team.

Wan Sheng knew this very well, so he was ready to make a substitution.

He's not the kind of coach who doesn't give his players a chance, but this game is very important, and Robbie Fowler is too poor, so he was going to make a substitution at the first opportunity, but after thinking about it, he decided to take a look.

It's still too early, and too early substitutions will make the team's layout go down the drain, and it will also cause a big blow to the psychology of the players who are replaced.

So let's see

Wan Sheng began to watch the game seriously, especially watching Robbie Fowler's performance, he didn't understand why Robbie Fowler suddenly performed so poorly, obviously he was in good shape in training.

There's definitely a reason for that.

If it wasn't something that happened in life, it must have been something on the spot, or maybe it was just a moment of inability to adapt to the hot atmosphere, after all, it is normal for a bad performance at the beginning to affect the subsequent mentality and performance.

But when Wan Sheng continued to look down, he found that this was not the reason.

He quickly frowned.

He found that Robbie Fowler was completely afraid of one of the opposing players, Alan Smith. Smith and Fowler are in the opposite position, and he often encounters them in games, he always rushes directly at Fowler, Fowler is a little timid in the face of Smith's defense, and he will hardly steel with Smith.

"Fowler is scared of Smith!" It's obvious.

In the face of Alan Smith's defense, Fowler will hardly choose to break through, he always passes the ball out as soon as possible, and even as soon as Smith has a move, he has already passed the ball, in addition. Fowler is always at a disadvantage when fighting for the ball with Smith, even if he is not at a disadvantage when fighting for the body, but he is still unwilling to go toe-to-toe with Smith.

That's the problem.

When one player is afraid of the other player in the opposite position, you can imagine how it will behave.

Wan Sheng quickly thought of Robbie Fowler's reasons for this, and in fact, Fowler was not the only one, many players did not want to play against Alan Smith, whose reputation for rough play spread throughout England. Playing against him is a physical competition again and again, and you have to be on the lookout for dangerous tackles at all times.

Alan Smith has been called a 'thug' by many media outlets, and many believe that his style of play is similar to that of Robbie Keane, and that's why. Manchester United fans see him as the heir to Robbie Keane.

But Alan Smith is an all-round player, not only with a brutal style of play, but also in midfield, forward and defender, which is why he is a versatile player. He was able to get more minutes at Manchester United and Ferguson was interested in developing him, so he got more minutes.

this game. He played as United's left wing-back.

Let's talk about Robbie Fowler, Fowler's career has been ruined by injuries for several years, he doesn't want to be injured again, Wansheng talked to him about this problem before, and his mentality is better, but it is still very weak to directly oppose a very tough player like Alan Smith, but it is impossible to want a player who is not afraid of injuries at all, especially people like Fowler who have a history of injuries that affect their careers, there will always be some pressure on injuries in their hearts, Wansheng knows that it is difficult for Fowler to get rid of this kind of mental shadow in a short time, He needs more adaptation and confidence, which is piled up by game and time, and some psychological treatment, but Robbie Fowler's performance is definitely a problem now, he is not familiar with the right wing, coupled with the weakness of Alan Smith, the team is completely out of shape on the right side, and even affects the whole team, which is definitely not going to continue.

So Wan Sheng no longer hesitated, and after he made his judgment, he immediately asked Ivan Crewe to warm up, and soon Manchester City raised the substitution card

The game was only in the 23rd minute!

At this time, even if a goal was conceded, no one expected Manchester City to make a decisive substitution, so when they saw the substitutions and gestures on the sidelines, the on-site commentators were stunned, and Belbart was stunned and said, "Manchester City is going to be replaced?" ”

George Woodgate is worthy of being a professional commentator, he reacted immediately, and soon the camera also pointed to the sidelines, "Manchester City is going to make a substitution, it is Ivan Crewe who will play, he is replaced by No. 7, Robbie Fowler!" ”

"It seems that Wansheng can't tolerate Fowler's state anymore, in the previous game, Fowler was indeed a little out of shape, he was entangled by Alan Smith and had no choice, but it's a little early to make a substitution, right!?"

Even George Woodgate, who has always had confidence in Wansheng, said so, and it is conceivable how other media commented on the substitutions, and they all thought that it was too early for the substitutions, after all, the game was only 23 minutes old, and the players on both sides were even just in their state at this time, so to speak, the game had just entered the heat.

Before that, it was normal to have players who were out of form because they hadn't fully adapted to the game.

Robbie Fowler is certainly not doing well, but maybe he is doing much better next?

Many people think so, so many TV commentators who broadcast the game live questioned, "Wansheng's substitution is a bit hasty." ”

"It's his denial of sending out a starting lineup!"

"He should have given Fowler more time, after all, it's only 20 minutes, and Fowler's performance is not that bad"

Robbie Fowler, who is the party concerned, also felt very depressed, being replaced so early, it would feel uncomfortable to be replaced as any player, but at the same time, Fowler actually took a long breath.

Against Alan Smith, the pressure was too much.

This 'savage' guy. The action was too rough, and he was almost tackled in the opening few times, and then he always subconsciously defended himself, and he also had some shadows in his heart against Smith.

He was well aware of the reasons for his poor performance, but when he thought that 'the consequence of impulsiveness is injury', he always felt worried, so his performance suffered.

Fowler was still unhappy to be replaced so early.

At the end of the game, although he waved his hand with Ivan Crewe, the dissatisfaction on his face could be clearly seen by anyone.

Wan Sheng didn't comfort him. Instead, he directly waved his hand to signal him to do a good job, and said, "Watch how the others kick here!" He didn't name names, but everyone knew who he was talking about.

Robbie Fowler was a little dissatisfied, but he was still convinced of Wan Sheng, so he put on his coat and put his hands on his knees to look at it carefully.

At this time, Ivan Crewe has become the protagonist on the field.

Just now, Robbie Fowler was also the protagonist, and that's because his performance was really poor. The camera pointed over and over again, as United had broken through here on several occasions and he would be on camera, but it wasn't a good mirror.

Now Ivan Crewe is not the protagonist because of his performance on the field. On the contrary, it was the appearance that had a special meaning for him - it was the first time he had been given a chance to play since arriving at Manchester City.

Quite a few media outlets are also introducing Ivan Crewe.

Ivan Crewe was a minor celebrity last season, with a very consistent run in the league and the UEFA Cup, and a few times he was named England's best of the round, but this season Ivan Crewe's form has plummeted. He struggled to even get a chance to play, and with the fact that he didn't make it to the England squad, he was gradually forgotten by the fans.

Now he's back in the spotlight. 'Replacing Robbie Fowler is Ivan Crewe, who was very consistent and outstanding at Derby County last season and was the second-highest scorer for Derby County, who opted to come to Manchester City last month.

'But since coming to Manchester City, he hasn't been able to play, the first two times in the squad, but he still hasn't played.

'Now he's got early minutes and we can expect him to perform' all that can be said of the media that support Manchester City.

The neutral media and the hostile media will not say much about Ivan Crewe at all, because in their opinion, Ivan Crewe is not very famous, and he is not young, and there is no value in talking about it at all, he just replaces the underperforming Robbie Fowler, and that's it, Manchester City's entire lineup always attracts attention in the middle of the midfield and the front court, because these two positions have Morris, Joey Barton and the young and promising youngster Darren Bent.

What these media didn't expect was that Ivan Crewe attracted a lot of attention with his performance, because his confrontation with Alan Smith was quite exciting.

Needless to say, Alan Smith's rough style of play is not weak at all, he is not as rough as Smith, but he does not fall behind at all, the two are physically opposed, and Ivan Crewe still has a little upper hand.

The two faced off several times in a row, and Ivan Crewe did not show weakness, but took advantage of it.

This is somewhat surprising.

Alan Smith's strength is still worthy of recognition, coupled with his style of play is a bit rough, it is difficult for ordinary players to take advantage of him one-on-one, but now Ivan Crewe has done it, he has been lackluster when he was in Derby County, and he has not been given a chance to play in Manchester City, how can he have such a strong state?

Many people are puzzled by this, because just with his current performance, it can be proved that Ivan Crewe is a very good player, how can such a player not get a chance to play in Derby County, and even leave the team in the winter!?

So they paid more attention to Ivan Crewe's performance

Wan Sheng was also a little surprised to see Ivan Crewe's performance, but not too surprised.

He believes in Ivan Crewe.

It's not just a mental confidence, it's also a statistic, and that's Ivan Crewe's stats.

Ivan Crewe was one of the first players to train with him, and by the time he left Derby, Ivan Crewe's all-round ability was second only to Morris, and he was excellent in all aspects, and two were stronger than Morris. One is his best free-kick, and the other is physical.

Due to the long-term mixing in the lower leagues and can only be a substitute player, Ivan Crewe's body is not weak, coupled with the long-term insistence on individual training for physical confrontation, Ivan Crewe's physical confrontation evaluation has long exceeded '85', which is quite high.

After Wan Sheng left Derby County, he lost all the bonuses of 'coaching skills', the team's tactical adjustments and his own lackluster ability, resulting in Ivan Crewe's poor performance, and he was not liked by the new manager Adrian Boothroyd. As a result, the number of appearances suffered, which made him dissatisfied with coach Boothroyd, and naturally the game form was also affected.

But Ivan Crewe's ability is still worth affirming.

He has at least reached the level of the main player of the mid-table team in the Premier League, and now he has come to Manchester City, with various game skill attributes, the double ability bonus of the elders of the players' union, and in terms of personal ability attribute evaluation, he is not even weaker than Joey Barton, and there is a gap with Morris, but it is not too much worse. In the opposite position against Alan Smith, the performance will naturally not be underwhelmed.

Comparing a statistic, Ivan Crewe's comprehensive ability evaluation value is '87', and Alan Smith's comprehensive ability evaluation value is only '86'. And Ivan Crewe also has bonuses from various coaches' game skills, so it is normal to not fall behind in the match against Alan Smith.

When he saw Ivan Crewe's performance, Wan Sheng took it for granted, he just played his normal strength.

Wansheng is actually quite satisfied. Because it was Ivan Crewe's first appearance for Manchester City.

It's good to be able to play at a normal level on the first appearance, after all, it is not only the individual ability that affects the player's performance, but also the cooperation of the whole team. Ivan Crewe has struggled to get playing time and because of this, City's tactics are a bit different from those of Derby County, and Ivan Crewe is unfamiliar with the rest of his team-mates, so he needs more training to adapt

Ivan Crewe was feeling very excited at this time, having not played in the Premier League for almost three months.

He was a little disappointed that he had been in the squad twice before and had not been able to get playing time, but now he was finally on the pitch and was on the pitch after 20 minutes of play, still on the right wing, which he did best.

This position makes him feel very comfortable, and Alan Smith to match, hard-hitting, he doesn't feel anything, a player like him from a low-level league, he is not afraid of the barbaric style of play at all, the lower the league, the lower the technical content of football, the more emphasis is placed on physical confrontation, the Premier League is also a high-level league anyway, and the roughness of the confrontation is difficult to compare with the upper second, or even third-level leagues.

Having been through too many lower leagues, Ivan Crewe has long been accustomed to it, and when Smith tries to intimidate him with his rough movements, he plays football with ease, as if he were playing against his opponents.

Alan Smith was immediately annoyed!

He had found a lot of confidence in the previous position against Robbie Fowler, so he felt that he should continue to do so, and it was Ivan Crewe, a guy he didn't know well, but he seemed to be kind, so he fought in the same way, but it didn't work out well.

Seeing the opponent 'playing' skills in front of him, Alan Smith couldn't help but fall directly to the ground to tackle.

His movements are very big!

Ivan Crewe was startled and prepared, and as he moved the ball forward, he immediately dodged to the side, but his movements were still a little slow, and he was taken to the ground by Alan Smith.

"It's a foul!" Belbart immediately shouted.

The City fans in the crowd booed, they had long been unhappy with the rough action of Alan Smith, and now the guy has tackled their players again, and although they are not familiar with Ivan Crewe, this does not affect their support for the whole team.

The cameras point to Smith and Crewe, who are on the ground.

Smith got up from the ground and innocently raised his hands, and then Ivan Crewe also stood up, rubbing his right leg, but it didn't seem to be a problem.

Seeing this scene, Wan Shengchang exhaled, he didn't want to see any more players injured.

The referee, Webber, rushed over, ignored Smith's innocence, pulled out a yellow card at him and awarded City a set-piece.

Weber's decisiveness is also for a reason.

This is the Manchester derby, the whole of England and even the whole of Europe are concerned, and broadcast live to the world, the penalty naturally can't be too big, the key problem is that Smith's action just now is too obvious, that is, a deliberate tackle, regardless of whether Ivan Crewe was tackled or not, but it must be Ivan Crewe who is sympathetic, because the scene just now is too easy to get injured, but Alan Smith has a bad reputation, coupled with too dangerous actions, he will definitely not receive any sympathy.

Alan Smith couldn't run away with a yellow card, even though he innocently explained to the referee that he hadn't tackled anyone just now, and it was pointless.

Of course, Alan Smith couldn't change the decision, but many people noticed the set-piece.

This position is less than 30 meters from the goal, about 60 degrees from the goal, and if it is a superb free kicker, it is likely to go straight in.

But do Manchester City have free-kick masters?

There may be only one Anelka that can be thought of, but the Frenchman was injured and didn't make the squad at all, and the youngster David Silva is also half of the list, but he is in the same situation as Anelka, injured and unable to play.

Thinking of this, the Manchester United people were all relieved. (To be continued......)