May 22 afternoon, London, Wembley Stadium.

FA Cup final, Manchester United against Chelsea.

Van Gaal's starting lineup was basically the same as Pan Yi expected.

A 4-1-4-1 formation, with Marcus Rashford up front, Anthony Martial and Juan Juan Mata flanked by Wayne Rooney and Marouane Fellaini in the middle.

Behind the lone midfielder, Carrick, is Marcos Rojo, Blind, Chris Smalling and Valencia, with goalkeeper David De Gea.

Compared to the last time the two teams met, United's two main wing-backs Darmian and Ashley Young were replaced, while the back two of Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger also did not play, and of course Louis van Gaal's Dutch compatriot Depay.

This is mainly a tactical change brought about by a change in formation, so Van Gaal needs players who are more comfortable with this style of play, and he also needs to play counter-attacks with Chelsea's strong control.

Therefore, after the opening, Van Gaal did not adopt the tactics of pressing from the top in the opening game, but first stood up the defense and waited for Chelsea to attack.

As a result, from the very beginning of the game, Chelsea were able to get possession and control the tempo.

Of course, in terms of the current overall strength, Chelsea still has an advantage, even if Manchester United does not take the initiative to give up the ball, it must be difficult to grab Chelsea.

Just over two minutes into the game, Chelsea created chances on the left when Jesse Lingard forced his way past Valencia and cut inside to strike a long-range shot from outside the box for the first shot of the game.

Chelsea then created a couple of chances, with Romelu Lukaku, Joao Cancelo and N'Golo Kante each having a shot on target, but it was also from outside the box.

United were passive on the pitch but defended tightly and didn't give Chelsea a good chance.

Louis van Gaal's strategy for this game was very clear, which was to let Chelsea take the initiative to press out and attack, and then wait for an opportunity to play behind Chelsea.

So every time there is a chance to counterattack, Manchester United plays very fast, basically not having too many dribbles in the backfield, but sending two or three feet directly to the front.

Either rely on the straight plug in the midfield to find Rashford in front of him to break through with speed, or directly start the ball in the back to find Fellaini who is inserted in the back to fight for the top, in short, the tactics are very simple.

And if the ball is conceded up at this point, the Manchester United midfield will retreat very quickly and organize a tight defence within seconds.

After all, there are not many troops invested in the front, and Manchester United is not afraid of being counterattacked in attack.

This forced Chelsea to face a positional battle.

Although Manchester United's current defensive line is not the top in the world, it can also be said to have good defensive stability after Van Gaal's adjustment in the past two years.

This, combined with the fact that United were almost all in the box when they retreated, made it even more difficult for Chelsea to break through the United defence.

——

The most active player in the Chelsea squad at the moment is Manchester United veteran Jesse Lingard.

As Lingard, who has the "old master" buff, he has been the most energetic against Manchester United every time, and he has indeed performed well every time.

In addition to his first shot of the game, he then fired from 20 yards away.

Later, he had another back-cut shot high in the box.

It also makes him Chelsea's biggest threat to Manchester United's goal at the moment.

"This kid is very excited tonight!" Arteta laughed.

Pan Yi nodded.

As a Manchester United academy graduate, what could be more exciting than being abandoned by your parent club and facing your old club?

This is also the biggest reason why Pan Yi let Lingard start today.

In fact, with the current Chelsea side, with a 3-5-2 game, Jesse Lingard can only be used as a regular rotation or as a substitute.

After all, among the three positions in midfield, one of the central midfield positions must belong to N'Golo Kante or Nemanja Matic, a position that Lingard could not have played, so he could only compete for two midfield positions.

But now Eden Hazard and Seat B are in good form, and they are basically Pan Yi's first choice.

And on some occasions when it is necessary to strengthen the confrontation, Goretzka is also more useful, and when there is a need for a breakthrough, Gnabry is undoubtedly a better choice.

Lingard's strength lies in his ability to run back and forth, while Pan Yi has a better chance of playing if he plays 3-2-4-1.

But in this 3-5-2 system, he really doesn't have much of an advantage.

Of course, one of the advantages of Lin Huang is his optimistic personality, coupled with Pan Yi's frequent large rotation policy, which also makes Lingard quite satisfied with his current playing time.

Coupled with the team's outstanding results, there will definitely be no complaints.

And every time Jesse Lingard comes on the pitch, he always adjusts himself to the best and runs tirelessly to make the best contribution to the team.

On the pitch now, Jesse Lingard cut off the ball that Fellaini wanted to pass to Rooney through an aggressive tackle in his own half, and then handed it to the left.

Cancelo took a step forward after receiving the ball, spotted an opportunity, and directly sent a long diagonal pass to the big penalty area of Manchester United in front.

The ball bounced off the left side of the arc of the penalty area and landed towards the penalty area.

Mbappe cut in quickly between the centre-backs of Blind and Smalling and sprinted straight into the box before the two of them.

Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea decisively abandoned the goal, and the timing was also just right, almost when Mbappe hit the goal, his hands just sealed.

The ball bounced high off De Gea's hand and into the right side of the box.

Romelu Lukaku was quick to catch up with Smalling, stopped the ball and quickly passed it back into the area on the edge of the box.

Lingard also rushed to the outside of the Manchester United penalty area from behind, stopped the ball before Blind had time to interfere, and hit a right-footed volley into the far corner.

But his shot was saved by De Gea.

De Gea's second reaction was really fast!

He almost had just come out to block Mbappe's shot before immediately returning to the line before scrambling to save Lingard's shot.

The whole Wembley stadium was cheering for De Gea.

It was a spectacular, even great, save!

If this goal is conceded, Manchester United are in danger!

After all, today's Manchester United mainly plays a defensive counter-attack, and one of the things that teams with this style of play are most afraid of is conceding first.

Even Pan Yi on the sidelines couldn't help but praise De Gea's wonderful save.

Although De Gea's technical characteristics are not in line with Pan Yi's attacking system, he will play a very important role when Manchester United use a squatting style of play.

His goal-line skills and reflexes are absolutely top notch in the world!

It is precisely because of his presence that Manchester United has the capital to play defensive tactics.

Otherwise, how could there be such a long-standing saying:

Picturesque up front, De Gea at the back! ——

The time is ticking by.

Chelsea were firmly in control and were constantly attacking United.

United were not without a fight, but two or three counter-attacks failed to threaten, which led to the appearance of Chelsea falling to the ground against Manchester United.

But that doesn't necessarily bode well.

As the saying goes, if you don't score all the time when Chelsea have a clear advantage, the mentality of the players on both sides will change.

The attacker may become agitated, while the defender will become more confident.

This is the turning point where some swing or anti-counter teams can win.

So Pan Yi also walked to the sidelines and began to make some on-the-spot adjustments.

He signaled his players to spread the two wings a little more when attacking, and the two wing-backs could be more resolute.

Mainly, Chelsea's recent attacks have been centred in the middle, but due to the contraction of United's formation, the centre of the pitch is now very crowded.

As a result, it was difficult for Chelsea to play a fluid link in the middle, often finding a breakthrough after a number of backsteps on the edge of the box, and finally had to shoot from distance.

That's why Chelsea's shots from distance were mostly from distance after the break.

Therefore, Pan Yi is to let his players pay more attention to the wings, in addition to the wingbacks, including the likes of Hazard and Lingard, they can also develop to the left and right, and after opening the defense line from the side, they can then turn back to the middle.

"Eden, you have to get the ball more, pay attention to the breakthrough and cooperation on the wing!" Pan Yi shouted towards Hazard, who was closest to him.

Also playing in the midfield position, Hazard is indeed a little too low-key compared to the more excited Lingard today.

He doesn't get the ball much and doesn't break through much.

This also leads to Mbappe, who is more biased towards Hazard's side in terms of position, and there are not many opportunities to get the ball, so it is difficult to threaten Manchester United's defense with speed.

Therefore, allowing Eden Hazardo to break through with the ball and play down the flanks could be a key to breaking the deadlock for Chelsea.

The Chelsea players also began to implement the latest instructions from the head coach as soon as they heard them.

More often than not, the ball is brought down to the flanks and then broken through by either wing-back, or by two midfielders who pull the wings.

Make the most of the width of the venue!

Lingard and Eden Hazard will also switch positions frequently, taking turns attacking the opposing full-backs on the flanks.

This in itself is the characteristic of Pan Yi's 3-5-2 formation.

These two players are midfielders when attacking in the middle and wingers when attacking on the wings, and they are not in fixed positions.

Such a flexible, wide-ranging run will make it difficult for the opposing defenders to find the right personnel to do targeted defense.

Gradually, the game went into 30 minutes and Chelsea's attack picked up.

Jesse Lingard was forward from the right this time, with Marcos Rojo coming in to defend and Hazard coming in from the middle to meet him, so Lingard passed the ball to him.

Both midfielders are on the right side to create a strong attacking wing to force Manchester United's left-back Marcos Rojo.

When Hazard came, Manchester United defender Michael Carrick hurried over to defend, but Hazard stopped and accelerated, just avoiding Carrick while continuing to dribble horizontally.

At this moment, Hazard is still some distance away from the penalty area and cannot form a threat from long range, so Manchester United's defense is relatively lax.

Wayne Rooney, who also plays as a midfielder, came up to block and let Rojo return to the defence in time, and Carrick in the middle was also in place.

Rooney spotted the opportunity and made a tackle on the ground, only to get down early.

Hazard changed the tempo with a series of small broken steps, tricking Rooney into falling to his feet, and then shrewdly avoided it.

At this point, he was given a short gap in unguarded time, so he glanced at the box and sent a long diagonal pass with his left foot.

I saw the ball pass diagonally from the right side of the periphery of the penalty area to the edge of the small penalty area.

Mbappe squeezed forward smartly, rushed behind two of United's centre-backs and scrambled sideways to intercept the ball in mid-air before the onrushing goalkeeper David De Gea.

But Mbappe also struggled to control the ball or form a shot at this point, as Blind rushed up and blocked the way the ball could pose a threat.

Mbappe also reacted quickly, and as soon as he saw that he had missed the best opportunity to shoot, he immediately picked up his left foot again, grabbed ahead of Blind, and passed the ball back, just in front of Blind.

At this time, Lukaku just arrived at the horse, faced the ball passed back by Mbappe's inverted triangle, and shot directly angrily.

De Gea was still on the other side of the goal, and Lukaku sent the ball straight into the United goal!

"The ball is in!!!!!"

'In the 32nd minute, Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring for Chelsea!'

"It was definitely a brilliant offensive combination!"

'Eden Hazard's cut inside on the right, a long diagonal left-footed pass, Mbappe knocked back the triangle, and Lukaku cut in and fired a furious shot.

"Chelsea's whole goal coordination was very skillful and tacit, and the United defenders couldn't touch the ball the whole time, and they couldn't stop it at all!"

'We can also see that Chelsea manager Pan Yi's fine-tuning of the team's tactics has had an effect. Jesse Lingard and Eden Hazard pulled to the flanks to form an attacking press, making it difficult for United to defend. ”

"Hazard's timely pass, Mbappe's return, Lukaku's shot, all in one go! Such a three-dimensional attack is the key to Chelsea's ability to tear down Manchester United's defence. ”

'It was a very important goal because it broke the half-hour parity on the pitch right now.

'Now that Chelsea are ahead, can United maintain their counter-attacking style of play?'

——

"It's over."

The moment Lukaku scored, Van Gaal's heart flashed with this sentence.

Manchester United have been able to draw one and lose one against Chelsea in the league this season, and they have been able to fight until the end, and one of the key points is that they did not allow Chelsea to score first.

Being scored first by Chelsea often means the beginning of a psychological breakdown, especially when you're ready to play on the counter-attack.

Everyone could feel the disadvantage and the pressure on the pitch today, but they were able to withstand it because they hadn't been breached yet.

But now?

Van Gaal remembered the fear of being bombarded by Pan Yi last season......

In the final analysis, it is still a matter of strength.

Not only do Chelsea have the advantage of passing possession, but they are also clearly slightly better than Manchester United in terms of overall quality of their players.

So Van Gaal can only try to pull back a little tactically.

But now that Pan Yi has used his fine-tuning tactics to score first, it will be difficult for Manchester United to do.

"This world, after all, still belongs to young people." Van Gaal let out a long sigh and said.

Van Gaal suddenly felt that he was indeed getting old.

Seeing that the 30-year-old Pan Yi was high-spirited and scolded Fang Xuan, while the 65-year-old himself was facing the dilemma of leaving class, Van Gaal's heart was really full of melancholy.

What if Jose Mourinho came to take over Manchester United?

Can you really compete with such Pan Yi and such Chelsea?

It's a team that makes people desperate when they score a goal.

Unless Pan Yi is no longer in the Premier League......

——

Although Van Gaal was already in awe of Pan Yi, he still made adjustments when the game entered the second half.

He moved Valencia forward from wing-back, leaving Smalling, Blind and Marcos Rojo in the back to form a three-centre-back position.

In midfield, it was Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick who formed a back two, with Juan Mata and Valencia on the left and right.

Wayne Rooney was also pushed forward to the centre-forward position, with Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial splitting up to form a front three.

Louis van Gaal has adjusted his formation to an aggressive 3-4-3 and is ready to give it a go with Chelsea!

After all, this may be his last game at Manchester United, and if he doesn't fight, he won't have a chance in the future!

And after such adjustments, Manchester United's midfield has indeed improved a lot.

After all, the players are no longer cowering in the back, but boldly pressing forward, and they have received more support from each other.

In the 60th minute, Carrick sent a through ball in the midfield, Rooney got rid of David Luiz and shot from the rib of the box, but Martinez, who was quick to react, blocked the ball.

Marcus Rashford's follow-up shot was blocked by Van Dijk in time.

This is already Manchester United's most dangerous attack so far in this game.

And Pan Yi obviously saw the signs of Manchester United's counterattack.

He thought about it for a moment, and then made his own adjustments.

This time, it's a direct exchange of two people in a row!

Eden Hazard and Jesse Lingard were replaced in midfield, with Goretzka and Bench B.

This is mainly due to the fact that both Hazard and Lingard still consume a lot of energy after a long period of interspersed runs in the first half.

At this time, the switch to the B seat, which has excellent ball control ability and more running ability, can cause more problems for Manchester United's defence.

The replacement of Goretzka is for the sake of offensive and defensive balance.

In such a cup final, with a one-goal lead, Pan Yi still has to take a comprehensive look at the situation on the field, so that his midfielder can improve his interception ability and give Manchester United some intensity.

And don't look at the two attacking midfielders in a row, in fact, under the escort of Goretzka + Kante, seat B, including Mbappe and Lukaku on the front line, can liberate more powerful offensive firepower!

In fact, this is also true.

After the substitution, Chelsea quickly stabilized their midfield position again, allowing United's barely assertive attack to be pressed down again.

Instead, Chelsea responded with a couple of dangerous attacks and forced David De Gea to make a couple more crucial saves.

On 75 minutes, Van Gaal also made a substitution.

He replaced Carrick with Depay!

At this point, United's formation became a somewhat deformed 3-3-4, with four strikers attacking up front!

It can be said that Van Gaal is completely out of the way.

In attack, Wayne Rooney, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Depay will all press up front, while Juan Mata and Valencia on either side will also break through from the flanks to support the strikers.

This style of play still poses a certain threat to Chelsea, but their shortcomings are also obvious.

With so many people attacking, the defense line must be unstable!

Basically, only United's three centre-backs can stand in their own positions, with a maximum of Fellaini – in fact, the tall Belgian is still a regular competitor in the Chelsea penalty area when attacking.

As a result, Chelsea often form a posture of playing more and less when counterattacking.

In the 86th minute, it was Valencia who cut in quickly on the wing and was about to accelerate forward, but was entangled by Cancelo.

Cancelo isn't slow either! That's why Pan Yi started with him today instead of Marcos Alonso.

The pair mingled on the flanks and the ball went out of bounds.

Cancelo got up from the ground very quickly, rushed directly out of bounds to pick up the ball and threw it to Mbappe in front.

Mbappe kicked his foot and shook off Flanei who came to defend in front of him, and the front was almost flat!

He led all the way to Manchester United's backfield and began to dribble towards the penalty area.

At this time, Lukaku had also pulled to the right side of the top of the arc, blocked Blind with his body, and raised his hand to ask for the ball.

Mbappe passed the ball to Lukaku, and he was the first to step forward as fast as he could, straight into the top of the arc.

Lukaku also understood it, and sent the ball directly without stopping the ball, which happened to the line that Mbappe inserted in front, so that the Frenchman rushed into the big penalty area with the ball and went straight into Blind's defense area just now.

But Chelsea's attacking combination had long been noticed by Smalling, who wrapped up Mbappe all the way, forcing him to be unable to face the goal directly and had to make a sharp stop to pass the ball back.

Lukaku has also completed the turn, inserted into the penalty area, met Mbappe's pass, and directly pulled out his leg and shot angrily.

But Blind reacted faster, took the first step, and flew to block the eye-catching.

Romelu Lukaku's shot hit Blind right on the back of the net and bounced off the penalty spot.

At this moment, there is chaos in the forbidden area.

Everything happened in an instant, and even when Carrick, who was back to defense, was still looking for a trace of the football, the B seat, which was running as fast as a rabbit, had quickly plugged in!

He rushed to the penalty spot before everyone else, met the falling ball, and shot straight away.

De Gea spread his arms and fell straight to the side to seal the angle, but the ball was too fast.

B's shot was as if he had exhausted all his strength, and he blasted the ball straight into the Manchester United goal.

"The ball went in again!!!!!"

'In the 86th minute, Chelsea scored again!'

'Chelsea played an effective counter-attack, with Romelu Lukaku and Mbappe up front putting together a series of beautiful combinations, then forming a shot and finally scoring!'

"Bernardo Silva! It was a goal from bench B, who had just come on as a substitute! ”

"This is another magical substitution of Pan Yi! Of course, the substitute players have made contributions, which is also a regular plot for Pan Yi......"

"Two to zero! So far, there should be no suspense in this game! ”

'Blues fans should be able to say safely: 'Chelsea, it's the champions!'

What the narrator said soon became a reality.

A few minutes later, the referee blew the final whistle.

Chelsea beat Manchester United 2-0 to win the FA Cup!

At the same time, it is also their sixth trophy of the season!

(End of chapter)