Chapter Forty-Eight: Homecoming
'Manchester City are ready to make a substitution and Bale is on the sidelines to come on after the Welsh genius has missed two games in a row against Arsenal and Nationals due to injury to the national team, and he will be replaced by ...... Number ten? Robinho? It's a surprise, you know, Robinho just scored......"
When the fourth official held up the substitution sign, the number on the sign was 10.
Robinho didn't seem to expect Linson to replace him, he froze, but this time his face was surprisingly calm, and as he slowly walked off the pitch, David Silva next to him came over and patted him on the back, and as the Brazilian walked off the field, there was also a round of applause in the stands.
The applause was for Bale, who had returned from injury, but more for Robinho, who scored the goal.
The Brazilian smiled as he walked with his hands raised in his hands in thanks, and as he walked to the sidelines, he hugged Bale before heading to the bench, but a palm appeared in front of him.
From Linsen.
Linson's move was risky, as Robinho could well ignore his initiative to "show goodwill" and treat his outstretched hand as air. But Lin Sen knows that he has to stretch out his hand, and there is no other reason, just because Robinho scored a goal, and for Robinho, he seems to have a reason to choose, but in fact, there is always only one right choice.
Robinho can be ignored, but, then what?
Finally, Robinho's mood was not too bad, and he did not ignore Linsen's hand.
The two hands just touched lightly in the air, and the problem was solved.
In the seventy-third minute, Bale replaced Robinho.
Ferguson changed the midfield, Linsen changed the wing, combined with the current score of the two teams, it looks like a very regular substitution. But Ferguson would never have imagined a substitution for this one. Lin Sen can even be said to have prepared for a week.
Trailing 2-0 in the first half, Linsen took aim at the players' tables at half-time, but did not make any tactical adjustments, because he did not feel that there was anything wrong with his tactics. Manchester United's midfield stalwart Paul Scholes is suspended for this game, which is great news, because if there is only one card to take from Manchester United, then Scholes is the one that Linson wants to take the most. In Linson's eyes, Scholes is even more important to Manchester United than Wayne Rooney. Of course, this is not his discernment, not only because this is already a consensus, but also because Linson knows very well what Manchester United will face after Scholes retires, Scholes retired twice, the first time United were in trouble, Scholes returned. The second time he left with Alex Ferguson, United were almost wiped out.
The so-called backbone is nothing more than that. If there is one similar role to pick from Manchester United, it will be David Silva for Manchester City at the moment. Having and not having are two different things entirely. It's just that for Manchester City, the influence of newcomer David Silva is far less entrenched than Scholes.
Ferguson found a replacement for Scholes in this game, South Korean Park Ji-sung, for this. That's fine, but Linson doesn't think he's at the same level as Scholes. That's why Lin Sen is so annoyed that Manchester City will be at such a disadvantage in the midfield, and the two midfielders in the first half of the table Xiàn commented in a sentence of Internet language that is a negative point rolling.
And in the second half. City finally regained their dignity in midfield, and the supported front finally started to create some chances and pull one back with a quick free-kick. But that's not enough. At this time, Bell is a fierce medicine. A fierce medicine that can ignore a qiē tactic under certain conditions.
After just two minutes on the pitch, Bale made Ferguson realise that perhaps he had made the wrong decision by not matching City's offer for Bale in the summer.
Faced with the combined encirclement of Carrick and O'Shea, who were also just on the court, all Bale did was gently send the ball to the empty space in front of him, and then ...... between the two Run over.
Yes, that's how it runs.
That's what Lin Sen said, what he does best.
Run!
When Bale's body poked his head out from between the two of them, to more than half a body, to a position, a meter, two meters......
"It's over! That's it! It's unbelievable! Andy Gray felt as if his teeth were leaking and felt the slightest chill.
Everyone knows that Bale is fast, and Andy Gray, who has commented on many of Tottenham's games, knows it, but for the first time, he found that the Welshman would be so fast when he had a reference.
Bale, who has passed through the encirclement of the two, seems to be like a bird that has been released from the cage, and suddenly feels that the world is so big, and the narrow stadium in the past seems to be becoming vast......
Looking at Bale, who was approaching at high speed, it was still Ferdinand, he waved his hand back to tell Foster not to attack, and then glanced at his partner Vidic, signaled for him to leave it to him, and rushed out of the penalty area.
He's going to settle the fight outside the box! At the very least, leave Bale outside the box!
However, Ferdinand still underestimated Bale's speed, who didn't give him any chance to stop him, and in the face of Ferdinand, Bale first slowed down his movements and made a ready inward move, forcing Ferdinand to lean his center of gravity inward, and then pull the ball with his left foot, and the speed was up again!
Seeing that Bale actually chose the outside, Ferdinand immediately understood that he was trying to pass the ball instead of cutting inside, and he quickly turned to keep up with the opponent while waving his arm......
But by this time, the ball had already been passed.
An inverted triangle pass.
Suarez, who had been waiting for a shot for almost the entire game, only made a slight adjustment and curled the ball straight into the top left corner of the goal.
By this time, Linson had already risen from the dugout, the first time in the second half that he had stood up before the goal had even happened, and at the same time, not far from him, Ferguson also stood up, and the whole of England heard the words that Andy Gray shouted out of his throat from the live broadcast on TV and radio: shot......
Shot!
Suarez's shot was not fast at all. But the angle is tricky enough!
The unpleasant ball went around Vidic's body, and then around Foster's fingertips, and then it seemed like it just touched the net lightly and rolled off......
Facing the empty air in front of him, Lin Sen, who clenched his fists, threw a heavy punch.
2:2!
Flat!
Lin Sen, who seemed to have concentrated all his previous emotions on that punch, was quickly drowned out by countless shouts, then the coach's seat, then the stadium, and then the entire city stadium were drowned in cheers, and no one knew what Lin Sen shouted out of his mouth with his mouth wide open at this time.
At this time, half of Manchester became an iceberg. Half became a flame.
The red and blue war, at this moment, is finally equal.
"I can't believe it! The score became two to two! Manchester United, who also led by two goals in the first half, was actually equalized by Manchester City, a shot from Luis Suarez! But more credit for the goal goes to Bale, the Welshman almost single-handedly destroyed United's right side defence, he was just too fast! Twenty-seven million, if Bell can maintain such a table, why not?! ”
"Same as the last game. Lin's substitution paid off a miracle, and Ferguson needed to make some changes, and Carrick didn't seem to be able to help them control the situation. ”
The TV camera didn't give a close-up to Lin Sen this time. It was given to Ferguson on the other side.
The smile on the corner of the old man's mouth finally disappeared, and he turned around and said something to assistant coach Mike Phelan, and then Mike Phelan got up and walked to the bench, quickly. Two United players stood up and prepared to warm up.
With less than fifteen minutes remaining, the score was a draw, away from home, and the opponent was Manchester City, who had won four in a row......
If you put these factors on another team and another manager. The manager's choice will be more conservative, however, United have no intention of compromising because Ferguson is not going to give in.
The advantage that was snatched from him, he must snatch it back!
The two players who are ready to play, one is Valencia and the other is Owen, both are attacking players.
Valencia replaces Park Ji-sung and Owen replaces Berbatov. Ferguson's signal is very clear: Manchester United, never give up attacking!
In the face of Ferguson's substitution, Linsen also reacted quickly, replacing De Jong, who already had a yellow card on him, with Xavi Martinez.
In the last ten minutes, the task of the Spanish lad is very simple, that is, to assist the defense with all his might, and the offense does not need him to participate, and Linson also handed him a small task, which is to target Owen.
Valencia aside, from the moment Owen appeared on the sidelines, Linson noticed that the top of the former England golden boy was actually a calm blue.
That's the color of coolness.
At this point, being able to maintain absolute calm, Irving obviously can't be measured by a mere backup striker. Linson wants a shutout, but he definitely doesn't want his team to be killed.
After replacing Valencia, Manchester United, who completely regained the bombardment of crosses from the wings, finally got a chance in the 81st minute, unwilling to lead the equalized Manchester United by two goals to form a siege, in the midfield a series of passes from behind, the ball finally came to the feet of Giggs, who had become a fine Giggs deceived Vidal's defense with a simple smash, and then a curling ball hung directly to the back point, where Owen had raised his hand high, and in front of him, Dunn, who should have been staring at him - leaked!
The moment Owen received the ball, he felt his heart was cold, and in front of him, there was no one to stop him, only young Hart was looking at him with nervous eyes, and all he needed to do was swing his legs and shoot...... Then, he will be the headliner of tomorrow's newspapers, and the glory of the past will briefly return to him at this time.
But......
His shot was not quite complete!
Because the moment he shot the goal, a foot suddenly stopped him diagonally from behind, which did not stop Owen from completing the shot, but it did affect the quality of his shot.
Hart made one of his most beautiful saves of the game, the ball touched his fingertips and slammed into the crossbar and bounced straight back into the pitch.
Got a chance, but didn't take it!
Owen hugged his head and fell to his knees in the box, his disappointment overflowing, and there was a huge sigh from the stands of the visiting team at the City Stadium, and countless Manchester United fans also hugged their heads, unable to believe that a stunner had passed by their own team......
However, the game did not stop because of this, let alone end there!
The ball that popped up was missed by Dunn and kicked it into the frontcourt.
At this time, there are three people in the frontcourt, all of whom are Manchester United players. One is Rio Ferdinand, who is always nailed to the back, one is Michael Carrick in midfield, and the other is Patrice Evra on the left.
The ball flew into midfield, Carrick was the closest, and just as he was in possession of the ball, a figure had already cut in from the left at high speed.
Carrick subconsciously wanted to pass the ball forward, but at this time, the offense and defense were switching, Manchester City, which had a numerical advantage in the backfield, was resuming the formation, and almost every Manchester United attacking player would be surrounded by Manchester City players, Carrick just hesitated, and saw that Bale had rushed to his face, perhaps he was shocked by Bale when he lost the ball last time, he came and turned to pass back.
There is nothing wrong with the return pass as it is the safest way to pass the ball.
However, Carrick overestimated the power of his pass, or rather, he underestimated the speed of Bale's pursuit!
O'Shea, who had been chasing back when Bell was starting, could only helplessly watch Bell get farther and farther away from him, and when Ferdinand found that the distance between him and the ball that should have been closer was actually getting farther and farther away as the figure in front of him kept approaching, he was suddenly a little shocked in his heart!
Almost everyone stood up at this moment, not only Linson, not only Ferguson, but also tens of thousands of Manchester City fans, all subconsciously stood up from their seats, and then stared all their eyes on the figure that seemed to be flying......
The ball, right at his feet.
Rio Ferdinand, who had just been standing in front of him, was behind him, and it was just a one-man ball past one of the world's most powerful centre-backs.
Lin Sen was right, if he could do what he did best, it would be extraordinarily simple.
When Bale saw that United's last line of defence had finally dropped out, he noticed Foster's gaze.
Equally horrified.
Just as Bell and Foster stepped in, the ball flew out of Bale's feet like a birdie and ......
Homing home. (To be continued......)