On the evening of February 16, Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester, England.
What will be held here tonight is the 25th round of the Premier League, when Manchester United plays Manchester City at home.
That is Manchester City Derby!
In recent years, with the rise of Blue Moon Manchester City, the Manchester Derby has become a globally watched event.
The games and competitions between them are often super dramas in the Premier League, such as the famous 9320 miracle in the 2011-2012 season. Manchester City reversed the championship at the last second, while Manchester United on the other side could only be stunned.
A year later, in the 2012-2013 season, Manchester United defeated Manchester City to win the championship, allowing Manchester United head coach Sir Alex Ferguson to retire honorably.
The gathering of stars from these two teams has also made this ancient industrial city gradually become the center of European football culture.
But this year's situation is a bit special, because after Ferguson left, Manchester United was a little bit depressed.
After 25 rounds of the Premier League, the top three are Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City. Their points are 56, 55 and 54 respectively, which is a one-point gap. At the same time, they have also formed the first group to compete for the championship. .
And what about Manchester United?
They ranked seventh with 41 points, followed by Liverpool with 50 points, Tottenham with 47 points, and Everton with 45 points.
In other words, it is a bit difficult for them to even compete for the Europa League qualification.
At this time, the much-anticipated Manchester City Derby ushered in. Manchester United wanted to take this opportunity to overturn Manchester City and perform a serf singing, while Manchester City wanted to continue to crush this city rival in order to continue to maintain competitiveness for the championship.
Both sides are at war with each other!
…
Dzeko, Aguero, David Silva, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, Jesus Navas, Milner...
In the visiting team's locker room, Manchester City coach Pellegrini was standing in front of the players, his eyes scanning each of their faces.
This veteran coach, who holds a civil engineering certificate and is known as the "Chilean Engineer", is also his first season coaching Manchester City.
He knows that coaching at Manchester City is very stressful.
His predecessor, Italian Mancini, won Manchester City's first English top league title in 44 years of history in 2012.
But just because he lost the league championship and the FA Cup the next season, he was dismissed.
Of course, Manchester City's poor performance in the Champions League was also an important reason for Mancini's dismissal.
But in short, in the current Manchester City, if you don't have outstanding results, you will definitely not stay for a long time.
Now, Pellegrini suspects that if he fails to win this Manchester derby, his bad luck will follow.
Because tonight's game is about whether Manchester City can continue to compete for the championship, and it is also the game that Manchester City fans value most!
Perhaps it is precisely because Manchester City has not posed any threat to Manchester United for a long time, so in the hearts of Manchester United fans, Manchester City's hatred value is probably ranked third after Liverpool and Arsenal, at most third.
Maybe Leeds United will be further ahead?
Ferguson proved this when he said City were just "noisy neighbours".
But it's different for Manchester City fans.
Manchester United will always be their number one rival and their most hated opponent!
So, is the sky in Manchester red or blue?
If we push the time forward a few years or even ten or twenty years, there should be no suspense about this answer.
but now?
It’s really hard to say.
Therefore, Pellegrini is confident to lead these disciples in front of him to conquer Old Trafford and bring victory to Manchester City fans!
"Manchester United is not scary at all now, and Old Trafford is not the devil's home stadium it used to be." Peggong was doing the final mobilization.
"You are also the best players in the world, better than those next door. Whether it is the Premier League or the Champions League, whether it is the World Cup or other competitions, many of you have achieved great success."
"Successful players are never afraid of any challenges! So today, we must defeat Manchester United at Old Trafford and win this Manchester City derby!"
"We want to win the Premier League championship this season! Not only that, we also want to win the Champions League championship this season!"
"Four days after today's game, we will face our first opponent in the Champions League knockout round, Hamburg."
"I believe our German opponents are watching us at this moment, trying to find our flaws."
"Then let's put our best foot forward! Let's scare them!"
"Let us beat Moyes' Manchester United first, and then beat Pan Yi's Hamburg, and move forward with all our strength!"
…
"Ah - chirp!"
In the stands, Pan Yi suddenly sneezed.
"Mom, who is secretly scolding me?" Pan Yi touched his nose.
After the game against Braunschweig that afternoon, Pan Yi and Nagelsmann rushed to Manchester overnight to watch the Manchester City derby.
This is a great opportunity to see your opponent up close!
Due to the importance of this game, Manchester City will definitely go all out to avoid seeing a big fight among the rotation players, and they will also be able to see Pellegrini's latest tactical ideas.
And Manchester United has also entered the top 16 of the Champions League. In fact, it can be regarded as a potential future opponent.
Inzaghi, Pintus and others will stay in Germany to lead the team, and then come to the UK to join Pan Yi after they have rested with the players.
"Didn't you say before that sneezing means someone is missing you?" Nagelsman looked at Pan Yi doubtfully, "Why did you turn to scolding you again?"
"Uh... this needs to be sensed." Pan Yi explained casually, "If a beautiful woman is thinking about me, I can naturally sense it. But just now I clearly felt that a smelly man was scolding me!"
"..." Nagelsmann was speechless.
Anyway, it was Pan Yi who said the words, and the right of interpretation will always be in Pan Yi's mouth. Nagelsmann has long been used to it.
"Look, they're entering!" Pan Yi pointed at the court and gently took the topic away.
Nagelsmann looked up, and sure enough.
Under the stands, red Manchester United players and blue Manchester City players were led by the referee team into the Old Trafford turf.
Manchester United, playing at home today, set up a 433 attack formation, obviously wanting to eat up their city rivals.
On the front line, Welbeck is on the left, Mata is on the right, and Rooney is in the center.
Midfielder Carrick is in the middle and deep, with Fellaini and Cleverley on both sides.
The defense is lined up from left to right with Evra, Ferdinand, Jones and R. Da Silva.
Goalkeeper De Gea.
Pellegrini arranged the 4411 formation he often used this season.
The single arrow in front is Dzeko, and Aguero plays a shadow forward behind him.
The midfield four will be David Silva, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, and Jesus Navas.
The back line is Clichy, Demichelis, Kompany and Zabaleta.
Goalkeeper Joe Hart.
"I asked you to study Peggy's Manchester City game before. Do you have any experience?" Pan Yi asked Nagelsmann.
Now Pan Yi attaches great importance to the training of his coaches, so he will test them if he has the opportunity.
With Nagelsmann's understanding and learning attitude, coupled with the guidance of a famous cheating coach like Pan Yi, his growth rate is rapid.
Pan Yi feels that Nagelsmann's ability is now definitely qualified to be the head coach of a team in the five major leagues. It just depends on whether he is willing to go out and work alone.
And if Nagelsmann really goes solo, Pan Yi won't feel any discomfort, but will be happy for him.
Developing players is training, and training coaches is also training.
At that time, the famous coaches of various teams will all be their own apprentices, and Pan Yi will be able to have peaches and plums all over the world. Isn't it wonderful?
Apart from anything else, buying and selling players is easy to negotiate.
Look at the high-end goods that Guardiola will sell to Arteta in the summer of 2022. Tsk tsk... That can send Arsenal to the top of the list!
Oh, it seems to be the other way around. That is what the master gives to his apprentice.
But in fact, the same thing is true. If Arteta develops one day, he will also repay Guardiola, right?
"Pellegrini's football philosophy is indeed quite different from the views of many modern top coaches."
Nagelsmann didn't know that Pan Yi was thinking so much. When he received the teacher's question, he began to answer it seriously:
"His tactics have two important starting points. One is to control the ball, which is to create scoring opportunities; the second is to achieve ball control, and the offensive players can choose their positions flexibly and freely."
"During the game, this Manchester City team is not obsessed with high ball possession. They advocate pushing forward and playing more directly."
"When they face these types of opponents who are obsessed with possession of the ball, they can always generate higher expected goals despite not having as much possession as their opponents."
"In other words, they are willing to sacrifice some of the ball to create more threats, and their offensive methods are unpredictable."
"From their formation structure and offensive running, we can see how Manchester City implements the above principles in actual combat. For example, their initial position is 4411, but when attacking, they often advance the full midfielders on both wings and turn them into a 4231…”
Nagelsmann said while Pan Yi nodded.
His analysis is basically correct and is consistent with the relevant parts of Pellegrini in Pan Yi's system tutorial.
Pellegrini is different from the "proud ones" like Guardiola. He has worked his way up from the bottom.
Peigong's playing career was silent, and after retiring and turning to coaching, he also slowly grew.
After working hard in domestic and South American football for several years, he coached the Argentine powerhouse River Plate and began to attract the attention of European football.
In 2004, "Engineer" became the head coach of Villarreal and became one of the few South American coaches to coach in Europe.
After the Yellow Submarine won the second place in the league and the quarterfinals of the Champions League, Peggong was poached by Real Madrid.
But he failed in all four projects in the second phase of this heavily-financed Galaxy Battleship, and finally left Malaga.
Then he succeeded again.
In the 2011/12 season, Malaga finished fourth in La Liga, won the right to participate in the Champions League for the first time in history, and reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League the next season.
Therefore, after Manchester City fired Italian coach Mancini, Pellegrini officially entered the vision of Manchester City's senior management and successfully entered the Etihad Stadium.
In the process of climbing for many years, he also summed up his own tactical system, or tactical thinking.
Although it is said that every time he takes over a team, he has a clear goal and makes specific adjustments based on the current situation of the team, but there are traces to follow.
Here in Peigong, formation is less important. The important thing is that the overall organization is tight and the operation is orderly. He also hopes that the team can play a smooth offensive with various methods.
Therefore, in his team, positional roles change more frequently, and only the roles of center backs and full-backs on the defensive line change relatively rarely.
Of course, this does not mean that the defenders under Pegong have less responsibilities.
Manchester City's full-backs will make full use of the width of the field, playing a particularly important role in organizing in the midfield and backfield, or moving forward.
When controlling the ball in the midfield, the two full-backs also frequently move in high positions, occupying the sidelines and providing width.
Due to the positioning of the full-backs, the midfielders and forwards can choose their positions more freely in the center, which also makes Manchester City more efficient when advancing forward.
"Today Manchester United played a high-pressing game, and they were aggressive from the start." Nagelsmann suddenly stopped his tactical analysis of Peigong and pointed to the court.
Pan Yi also saw that Manchester United's three arrows pounced directly on Manchester City's defense after the start, trying to take advantage of the fact that everyone was still warm at the start and force the opponent to make a mistake.
But Pan Yi quickly shook his head and said: "Pellegrini seems to have his own way of resolving high-post presses. Did you see that the two full-backs, Clichy and Zabaleta, are both here?" Pulling the opponent’s pressing formation and making it difficult for the opponent to close all passing lanes.”
Nagelsmann thoughtfully said: "Yes. And at this time, the advantages of their players' flexible position selection and greater mobility are also reflected. The two midfielders in the middle, Yaya Toure and Fei Hernandinho's positions are closely connected and occupy the space on both lines. As long as one of them receives the ball, the other can provide the line, which is indeed not easy to be blocked."
Pan Yi nodded in agreement with Nagelsmann: "Since the full-backs on both sides are widely spaced apart, Manchester City's center is extremely important. They not only have to ensure that the two midfielders are closely connected when organizing the offensive and are not isolated. "It's just in case, once the ball is lost, the two of them can ensure the numerical advantage in the middle."
Nagelsmann thought: "Except for the full-backs and midfielders, the other players..."
Pan Yi said:
"Whether it is left midfielder David Silva or right midfielder Navas, they will often move into the center, close to Fernandinho. In addition, shadow forward Aguero will also retreat deeper to meet the needs of Aguero. Ature.”
"In Pellegrini's Manchester City system, Aguero and the two wide midfielders can choose their positions flexibly and freely, rather than being limited to the initial position on paper."
"At any moment in the backcourt organization phase, any one of Aguero, David Silva, and Navas can drop back to receive the ball. The first benefit of this approach is: disrupting the opponent's pressing team shape."
"It is worth noting that when they retreat, how will striker teammate Dzeko react? He usually maintains a high position and maintains close contact with the teammates behind him. This way the division of labor is clear and avoids too many players retreating. The pass, as this often results in drawing the defender toward the ball carrier."
"In this case, if Manchester City's ball goes forward, Aguero, David Silva or Navas can quickly pass the ball to the dangerous area in the middle, and Manchester City has the numerical advantage in the middle. The area can form a through-ball opportunity..."
At this time, Nagelsmann suddenly shouted: "Really! Look!"
On the field at this time, Manchester City had David Silva holding the ball across the center line, and then handed it to Aguero who retreated to get the ball.
After receiving the ball, Aguero turned around and immediately sent a threatening through ball, hitting the opponent's back line.
Manchester City center Dzeko used a smart movement to dodge the opponent's defense, half-turned and volleyed, and the ball went straight into the dead corner!
Less than five minutes into the game, Manchester City took the lead away from home!
The originally noisy Old Trafford stadium suddenly became quiet like a speaker that had been turned off.
"Awesome, awesome." Nagelsmann shook his head for a while and nodded for a while. I don't know whether he was praising Manchester City's sharp offense or praising Pan Yi's analysis.
"It's really good." Pan Yi also followed, but he was praising something else. "Dzeko is a very good center. He is tall and strong but not bulky. He also plays smart and is very difficult to guard."
"It feels like an enhanced version of Mitrovic." Nagelsmann laughed. "He is a little taller than Mitrovic, but a little lighter than him. I don't know why Manchester United didn't play Vidic today. I feel Jones can't guard him."
"I heard it was a minor injury," Pan Yi said, "but to be honest, I think even if our team sends dedicated personnel to guard against Dzeko, they may not be able to guard against it."
"Oh?" Nagelsmann was slightly surprised, "But he doesn't score many goals. Is he harder to guard than Messi?"
"Players of his type are not measured by goals." Pan Yi answered the question, "As you just said, he is an enhanced version of Mitrovic. Now he is at the peak of his career. The fulcrum role in the team is still very prominent. Besides, when the team needs him to score goals, he will also step up. Didn't he just score one?"
Nagelsmann thought for a moment and nodded: "Indeed. This kind of more comprehensive player is indeed more difficult to guard because there are fewer weaknesses. So what should we do?"
Pan Yi said: "It's very simple. It means that he has less contact with his teammates and makes Peigong's rotation system not run smoothly. Let's watch the game first, and you can think about it later."
The game continues on the field.
Nagelsmann also gradually realized that Manchester City's offense does rely heavily on their front four, namely Dzeko, Aguero, David Silva, and Navas.
On paper, these players have at least three different positional responsibilities: center, shadow forward and winger. In today's actual combat, they are rotating positions all the time, playing different positional roles in the same game.
The linkage, rotation, and passing and receiving of the four frontcourt players are key factors in Manchester City's smooth attack.
Aguero and David Silva will drop deep, but at the same time, they will frequently weave in behind the opponent's back line.
In the 25th minute, Aguero moved to the left and played a one-two with David Silva at the front of the penalty area, while Navas and Dzeko were responsible for rushing into the penalty area and outflanking him.
This outflank also resulted in a shot. David Silva passed the ball to the small penalty area. Unfortunately, Navas, who followed up, hit the ball too high.
A few minutes later, Aguero dropped deep to respond, and David Silva rushed into the penalty area, but the shot angle was not good and was caught by De Gea.
Although no goals were scored, Nagelsmann also understood the offensive method of this Manchester City team.
Although it may look like "running around," there are many guiding principles involved that make it seamless and effective.
First, players are close to each other. This means that the two wide midfielders, or wingers, rarely stay wide.
As long as Manchester City advances the ball, the forwards basically occupy the center and are close to each other, making it easier to cooperate in a small area and cross the opponent's defense line.
Second, passing and running, every player in the frontcourt is good at using this method to tear apart the opponent's defense.
Third, weave in behind the back line and push forward. Manchester City is not only good at controlling the ball, but also is unique among Premier League teams with its excellent ability to penetrate forward and threaten the ball behind the ball.
In the 42nd minute, Aguero advanced with the ball after receiving the ball in the low post. Dzeko on the striker saw the opportunity and immediately penetrated behind the opponent's back line.
This time, Aguero sent a precise pass without hesitation. Dzeko took the ball and shot again. Another exquisite cooperation goal appeared!
The first half is not over yet, and Manchester City leads by two goals on the road!
"So do you understand?" Pan Yi asked suddenly.
"I probably understand." Nagelsmann replied. "It seems that Dzeko scored two goals, but the key to both goals is actually Aguero. He connects the two wingers and the center. If he can To inhibit his performance is to inhibit Manchester City's offense."
Pan Yi nodded slightly: "You are right, but not entirely right. Akun is very strong, just because of his comprehensive ability. But Manchester City's offense does not rely entirely on him. The current four-man field is not playing smoothly. When the time comes, their midfielders, especially Yaya Toure, will step up, so we also need to make targeted arrangements for their midfield..."
In the second half of the game, Moyes asked Manchester United players to increase their focus on the wandering style of Manchester City's frontcourt personnel. This also had a certain effect, and Manchester United also gained some offensive opportunities.
But Manchester City's defense is also very tough.
They adopted a proactive man-to-man high press in an effort to deny their opponents possession of the ball.
And if the pressure on the opponent's two central defenders results in the midfielder being at a numerical disadvantage, one of Manchester City's central defenders, usually Demichelis, will step forward to support the midfielder to implement the necessary pressure.
This is also the high requirement Pellegrini places on his players: to be consistent and disciplined when pressing.
For example, Manchester City winger Navas must not only mark his target, but also block the opponent's forward passing line.
The Manchester City players carried out the coach's intentions and moved as a whole, so they were often able to drive the Manchester United players back and restrict the opponent's possession of the ball.
Even against Manchester United on the road, Manchester City still maintained a very aggressive defensive strategy most of the time, leaving Manchester United with nothing to do.
However, Manchester City is different from other teams that press high: they prefer to regain the ball in the midfield rather than just forcing the opponent to play long passes.
Therefore, although Manchester City is good at possession of the ball, its number of tackles and interceptions still ranks high in the Premier League.
Manchester City defended Manchester United's attack, and its own counterattack was also sharp.
As if to verify Pan Yi's statement, in the 80th minute, Yaya Toure took the ball directly to the front of Manchester United's penalty area in a counterattack, and shot a powerful shot through the door guarded by De Gea again.
0:3!
In the end, Manchester United ended the Manchester City derby with a disastrous defeat at Old Trafford.
Although Manchester is not by the sea, it seems that the entire city tonight is sea blue...
(End of chapter)
