In the 43rd round of the league, Derby County hosted Preston North End.

The day before the game, the team was still on holiday, the whole team looked unmotivated, although there were some recuperative training in the morning, but the results of the morning training were a bit dismal, and the result was that Derby County did not play very well at home, although in the end thanks to goals from Frank Ribery and Ivan Crewe, Derby County beat Preston 2-1, but the game was difficult to win.

Derby County were criticised after the game.

This may be because Derby County is too strong this season, and they have just won the league championship, facing a mid-table team like Preston Square, both sides have little fighting spirit, but Derby County is at home, and the game is played like this, and the media thinks that Derby County is not good.

But the media can understand this, just like the KT Sports broadcast commentator said-

'In the last round of the league, Derby County beat Millwall to win the league four games ahead of schedule, which is very gratifying, the next four games of the league have lost their meaning for them, they can celebrate early, which is of course gratifying, but it also makes them look like they don't have the slightest fighting spirit.

'It's normal because they won the league and reached the FA Cup final against Manchester United, so they know in advance that they have qualified for the UEFA Cup next season, they have a perfect season and they have every reason to enjoy ±the ↘ success.

"But there won't be any suspense about the FA Cup final."

"Not to mention Derby County right now, even Derby County, who are in the best form, have to rely on God's support to beat Manchester United, so this season is over for Derby."

"They don't have the fighting spirit and motivation so far, and their games will be boring. We'll just have to watch next season's Derby, there's nothing to see in Derby this season."

This is the conclusion of many media outlets.

Derby County fans also felt that the media analysis was correct.

At the end of the season, Derby County have already won the league title and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup. It's the kind of result that every Derby County fan is very happy with, but after the celebration, the next is fatigue and they will no longer have the motivation to fight Manchester United, so the season is over early, even if they still have an FA Cup final to play.

After this game, no one believed that Derby County could still create any miracle.

This team, devoid of motivation and fighting spirit, has no hope left, of course, in fact. In the eyes of the media, even Derby County, who have the drive and fighting spirit, still have no hope of facing Manchester United in the FA Cup final.

Perhaps this is just an excuse for them to make this assertion more resolute.

However, Wan Sheng didn't care about what the media said at all, the reason why this game was difficult was not a matter of motivation and fighting spirit, and he believed that the team would definitely be able to easily defeat Preston if the game was played normally. The important thing is that the day before was still on holiday, they didn't do anything to prepare at all, and the three-day holiday made most of the players in the team not in good physical condition. That's the key reason why the game was so hard.

As for the media's push for the FA Cup final in 20 days, Wan Sheng just shook his head, and for Derby County, it was the only game worth putting his energy into. It was also the last game of the season, a very high-profile game, and the media's attention on Derby County was also on that game. The media, who don't want to see Derby County doing well, will naturally say something bad.

Wan Sheng didn't care at all.

In fact, after the game, Wan Sheng asked the whole team to continue training normally, without going to vacation, and he himself began to study Manchester United.

If you want to beat your opponent, you have to know your opponent.

Manchester United is definitely an opponent that needs to be carefully studied, this team is definitely much better than Derby County, if you are careless, don't want to win at all, even if you are not careless, if you want to beat Manchester United in the FA Cup final, it is also a bit of a miracle, so Wansheng is not sloppy about this at all

To study the opponent, you must first study the head coach.

However, the name of Scotsman Ferguson is known by a fan, and there is no need to study it at all, and Manchester United dominates English football, in fact, there is no need to study anything at all, the media report is enough, and for a team like Manchester United, there is actually no style to speak of.

They are a strong team in attack and strong defensively, and playing against smaller teams is completely overwhelming, and it only makes sense to pay attention to Manchester United's unique style when playing against opponents in the same division.

Derby County clearly do not have that qualification.

Wan Sheng is very clear that the team's overall attack is not as good as Manchester United, and the defense is also not as good as Manchester United, in this case, it doesn't matter what style Manchester United has, if the game is played normally, Manchester United can win with an overwhelming advantage.

That's the difference between the two teams.

Wan Sheng paid close attention to Manchester United's line-up and videos of their recent matches.

Manchester United have been overpowered by a strong Arsenal side this season and are not currently at the top of the league table, but they have been getting better and better in the second half of the league season, especially with a home win over Arsenal that ended Arsenal's 57-game unbeaten run in the league.

Maybe Manchester United is the best time they have been all season.

However, Manchester United wants to do so, in the season is not very stable, as the league progresses, they will become more and more stable, after Christmas, many teams have all kinds of problems, but Manchester United is getting better and better, this may be the background of the giants, they can always adjust the state, will not experience too many twists and turns.

Manchester United's squad is also quite strong.

Their strikers have to talk about Dutch striker Van Nistelrooy, who was once PSV Eindhoven's true goalscorer, scoring 60 goals in two seasons before joining United in 2001 for £19 million, a record amount for England at the time, and scored 23 goals in his first season with United, where he scored 23 goals in 32 appearances.

Van Nistelrooy won the 2001-02 England PFA Footballer of the Year season with his outstanding performance.

Last season, Ruud van Nistelrooy won the Premier League title for Manchester United and broke the record for goals scored by a Manchester United player in a European competition. Ruud van Nistelrooy scored 12 goals for United in the Champions League (including 14 in qualifying), breaking the record for most goals scored in a single season in the Champions League, earning him the UEFA striker of the year in 2003.

Van Nippon remains strong this season and has scored 27 goals so far.

Such a striker goalscorer, known as the 'King of the Penalty Area', is definitely a headache for every team, and United's attack around Ruud van Nistelrooy has made Van Nistelrooy's individual performance vivid.

Behind Ruud van Nistelrooy is Paul Scholes, who knows a little bit about Scholes, Manchester United's famous 'loyal'. Having played for Manchester United all his career, the key is that he has always been the main force of Manchester United, the table has never been outstanding, but I don't think it is bad, Scholes is almost an all-round frontcourt, and he also does a good job defensively, he can always cooperate well with his teammates, and can also give Ruud van Nistelrooy the strongest support.

Manchester United also have Roy Keane, the core of the defence and the greatest captain in Manchester United history, in the middle of the midfield, who can also give a lot of support up front in attack.

The biggest headache for Wansheng is the two wings. The partnership between the Wales captain and the 'king of the left' and the future world superstar C-Ronaldo is definitely incomparable to the Derby County wing, which is perhaps Manchester United's strongest position.

In addition, Manchester United's defense is also very good. The combination of England's most expensive defender, Leo Ferdinand, and French stalwart Silvestre, is enough to make Manchester United the most powerful team in England's defence.

In addition to these star players, United also have the 'first substitute up front', Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who can score on the pitch, Gary Neville, two winged defensive stalwarts, and O'Shea. Phil Neville, who is an all-round 'jack of all trades' and plays well in every position, and young talents such as Saha and Fletcher, even if a few are unavailable. Manchester United are also enough to put together a team of luxury, at least definitely incomparable to Derby County, and even the team has three fronts, eleven positions, and no position can compare.

No, there is a position that may be comparable, and if the 'strong barrier' is activated, goalkeeper Oakes may be able to compare with Manchester United goalkeeper Howard, but the goalkeeper position doesn't make much sense.

In short, Manchester United is really a difficult opponent for Derby County to compete with.

The two teams play each other normally, and the hope of victory for Derby County is slim, Wan Sheng can almost certainly draw this conclusion, especially the tactics that the team is good at using are all-out attack and defense, and use full-court pressing tactics to obtain suppressed offensive football, in the case of inferior strength and difficult to suppress, if you use this tactic to deal with Manchester United, it is almost equivalent to giving up the victory.

Manchester United will have many ways to deal with Derby County's tactics, such as the individual play of the stars, directly breaking through the defense, so that the whole field pressing is meaningless, or Manchester United relying on continuous passing cooperation, maybe directly hit the team's defense, and for example, they can even choose to play long balls and hang, directly using the individual ability of the forward team to find shooting opportunities.

That would be a team's goal in jeopardy.

In short, the normal tactics were directly passed by Wan Sheng, and if you play the game like that, unless God stands behind you, the team will not have a chance.

So what to do?

The first point is that if you want to win, you have to defend well, and if you don't defend well, you will lose the game, so it is crucial to defend well and not let Manchester United break through the defense.

But Manchester United has a lot of stars, the overall strength of the team is very strong, and it is impossible to defend well by relying on full-court pressing, so you can only shrink the formation.

And then, fight back?

If it is just a normal defensive counterattack, it is still a little hopeful to drag the score to extra-time, but there is still little hope for such a victory, after all, it is a bit unrealistic to expect Manchester United not to score in the whole game, and Wan Sheng will not bet on luck.

He'll need to do some more tactical planning. (To be continued......)