Regarding the FA Cup semi-final between York City and Manchester United, English football is of course generally optimistic about Manchester United.
No matter how you say it, Manchester United is still a wealthy team, a strong Premier League team led by Mourinho, and Mourinho is famous for his ability to play in cup competitions.
Although York City is the League One champion and has a "record" of defeating Tottenham and Arsenal, this team is not at the same level as Manchester United after all.
In the eyes of many people, they are at best a Championship-level team that will be upset, and they are not much different from the previous Fulham and others.
And in this atmosphere, when Pan Yi was interviewed by the English media, he directly started embarrassing mode against Mourinho's Manchester United.
How to blow?
He never mentioned the fact that they could only rank sixth in the Premier League, but only talked about Manchester United's League Cup championship, especially their performance in reaching the quarterfinals of the Europa League.
In Pan Yi's words, Manchester United's performance in the European competition is extremely competitive. It is almost the face of the Premier League in the European competition. Chelsea will be ignored by me.
This is actually irritating Mourinho again.
Pan Yi almost told Mourinho clearly: Brother, if an excellent and powerful team like yours goes to Wembley Stadium to play against a small English team like ours, they should boldly let their hands and feet go. Attack!
The purpose of this is to allow Mourinho to attack.
If a strong team like Manchester United is determined to play defensive counterattack, how can York City still play?
To be honest, with York City's current strength, being able to win against two strong teams, Tottenham and Arsenal, relies entirely on counterattacks after solid defense.
If Manchester United has so many good players to defend and York City to attack, it will be really difficult with players like Baker and Armand.
In addition, the current Manchester United, after a year of coaching by Mourinho, is really good at defensive counterattacks, but the positional battle after controlling the ball is still almost meaningless.
So of course Pan Yi hopes that Manchester United can focus on offense, so that York City can have a chance!
Pan Yi once irritated Mourinho when he was in Milan. In the end, Mourinho led Real Madrid to play offensive football at San Siro, which ended up getting Pan Yi's way.
Now the old trick is repeated...
Maybe it might still be useful.
Mourinho is like this, sometimes he is quite emotional.
Besides, as Pan Yi said, no matter what, York City is just a League One team. Is it reasonable for Manchester United to put up a defensive posture against such a team?
In the end, Pan Yi encouraged his team, and also PUAed Mourinho:
"Yes, Manchester United are a team with a great history and it might take York City a hundred years to catch them."
"But we are not afraid of such opponents. I have talked with my players and they are very excited to meet Manchester United at Wembley Stadium and are looking forward to a beautiful offensive battle with Manchester United!"
"York City is ready. Together with Manchester United, we will give the fans a wonderful game!"
——
One side is bragging about Manchester United, while on the other side York City is preparing step by step, organizing and preparing for the game in an orderly manner.
Having already won the championship in English League One ahead of schedule, all the team's focus has now shifted to the FA Cup.
Pan Yi also personally came to the training base to serve as a temporary assistant coach, discussing tactics with Scaloni and De Zerbi.
They already have a very clear understanding of Manchester United's basic playing style and player characteristics.
The main thing now is what tactics Mourinho will use at Wembley Stadium.
Although Pan Yi used a provocation method before the game, he was not sure whether Mourinho would really take the bait, so they still had to be as cautious as possible and be prepared for everything.
For example, for the start of the game, the coaching staff prepared a variety of different possibilities, including whether Manchester United would use attacking tactics? Or should we choose to be anti-counterattack from the beginning? Or is he controlling the ball in a decent manner?
In fact, based on Manchester United's strength advantage over York City, even if Mourinho chooses to use defensive counterattacks as the main tactic, they can still attack at the beginning.
The purpose of doing this is not necessarily to score goals, but to disrupt the opponent's rhythm of the game and test the opponent to facilitate the next game.
Apart from anything else, Pan Yi often did this when he was coaching, so he also had to guard against Mourinho suddenly doing this.
However, when the two teams came to Wembley Stadium on April 23 and Pan Yi also got Manchester United's starting lineup, Wei Wei was still a little surprised.
Mourinho actually deployed a 3-5-2 formation instead of the 4-2-3-1 he originally preferred.
The starting players are as follows:
Goalkeeper: No. 1 De Gea.
Defenders: No. 3 Bailly, No. 5 Rojo, No. 36 Darmian.
Midfielder: No. 25 Valencia, No. 21 Herrera, No. 6 Pogba, No. 27 Fellaini, No. 18 Ashley Young.
Forwards: No. 19 Rashford, No. 9 Ibrahimovic.
This feels like a replica of the 3-5-2 Pan Yi used at Chelsea last season.
However, Pan Yi can also understand Mourinho. The main reason is that Manchester United currently does not have a really useful attacking midfielder, but they have several good central midfielders and defensive midfielders.
Especially Herrera, a strong player who is good at running, when he defeated Chelsea, he simply executed the man-to-man tactics in basketball to the best of his ability, making Hazard miserable.
Coupled with Fellaini's high points and Pogba's organization and scheduling, Manchester United's midfielder truly achieved orderly offense and defense.
On the forward line, the combination of Rashford + Ibrahimovic, one high and one fast, can also ensure offensive firepower.
In this way, it can basically be confirmed that Mourinho will still play offensive football in today's game.
And this was within Pan Yi's expectation.
Come on, York City is ready!
——
"Viewers, welcome to watch the FA Cup semi-finals of the 2016-2017 season."
"Tonight, we will be broadcasting live at Wembley Stadium for everyone. The teams facing each other are York City, the champions of English League One, and Manchester United from the Premier League!"
"The current situation of these two teams is pretty good. Manchester United is going very well in various cup competitions. They have also adjusted after experiencing the initial difficulties in the league and just defeated the leader Chelsea. Their morale is high. .”
"York City has already secured a place in the English Championship for next season, and has also eliminated Tottenham, Arsenal, Swansea and other Premier League teams in the FA Cup. The momentum is also very strong."
"Many people say that although York City is only a League One team, their strength has actually reached the Premier League level, otherwise they would not be promoted to the Championship so easily. There are also many people who are optimistic that they can win next season. Entering the Premier League in one fell swoop and achieving three consecutive promotions!”
"Of course, the most important reason why York City can give everyone so much confidence is the existence of Pan Yi. The boss who knows the most about football in the world will always give the team's coaching staff the greatest support at critical moments."
"When he served as a technical consultant for the Dragon Country national team, he also helped the Dragon Country team fight all the way up from the bottom of the group. After three consecutive victories, he also had hope of qualifying. Being able to succeed on both fronts really makes everyone Everyone is amazed by Pan Yi’s extraordinary abilities!”
"Okay, now both teams are standing in their own half, and the referee will blow the whistle soon."
"Today York City still used their most commonly used 4-3-3 formation. The goalkeeper is Isaacson, and the back line..."
"Manchester United responded with a 3-5-2, which looks like the two sides are going to start a fight. Their starting goalkeeper is De Gea, and the three defenders are..."
"The game officially begins and Manchester United takes the lead."
"Sure enough, York City took the initiative to press forward as soon as the game started. This is quite bold, after all, they are facing Manchester United!"
"On Manchester United's side, Ibrahimovic passed the ball back to central defender Rojo after the kick-off. Rojo was born as a full-back, but under Mourinho, he took advantage of his accurate passing and stood in front of him. In the central defender position. Now he directly passes a long pass to the frontcourt."
"However, York City had already prepared for this ball. Two midfielders, Rice and Alonso, pinched Rashford one after another, and the ball came to the feet of the York City player."
"And Manchester United did not stay in their own half. All their players pressed forward quickly and seemed to be pressing the whole game."
"It seems that just as Pan Yi said in the interview before the game, today will be a wonderful game!"
At this time, Pan Yi was sitting in the stands watching the game.
Seeing that Manchester United chose to press forward and try to press in the frontcourt, Pan Yi nodded gently.
Mourinho really still wants to eat York City in one bite.
But York City was well prepared for this.
I saw the four defenders Alphonso Davis, Westerman, De Ligt, and Fiyasu Jianyang lined up in a row and began to pass skillfully.
At the same time, the three midfielders Rice, Alonso and Kulusevski also actively moved around to create enough ball routes for the backcourt.
In this way, in order to get the ball back quickly, Manchester United can only launch more intense pressing and pressing, whether it is forwards or midfielders, they all press forward to block as many York City ball points as possible. .
Under the pressure of Manchester United, York City really failed to find a forward path for the ball when it reached the midfield, and immediately passed it back to De Ligt in the defense.
On Manchester United's side, the fast Rashford also rushed over immediately.
But De Ligt was very calm. He calmly stopped the ball in front of him and stared straight ahead, as if waiting for something.
When Rashford was about to get close to De Ligt, the Dutch central defender suddenly raised his leg and made a long pass.
The ball quickly drew a beautiful arc from the edge of York City's penalty area, crossed a large area of the stadium, and fell directly behind Manchester United's defense.
Mourinho on the sidelines couldn't help but exclaimed: "Behind! Behind on the right!"
I saw that Manchester United's right wing, that is, York City's left wing, quickly passed a black lightning beside the wing-back Valencia.
Cameroon winger Thomas Amang was sprinting at an extremely fast speed, quickly caught up with De Ligt's pass, and strode into Manchester United's penalty area with the ball.
Baker in the middle has already caught up, and Lin Liangming, who plays on the right today, is a little slower, but he is also moving forward quickly.
"York City's counterattack was very fast and very well-organized, and Rice was also chipping in."
"This is the style of York City. They are all working hard when defending and very crazy when attacking."
"Let's see how this offense goes..."
At this time, on Manchester United's side, Bailly was at the very back of the defense. When York City launched this long pass attack, he was also the first to return to his position.
Facing Aman who was coming with the ball, Bailly did not dare to take a shot easily and could only retreat again and again to avoid being directly broken through by him with his speed.
But Aman was getting faster and closer. When he rushed into the penalty area, Aman chose to poke the ball towards the bottom line. After avoiding Bailly, he accelerated to catch up.
Bailey immediately turned around to chase, but Amon attacked head-on and was faster. He had already caught up to the left side of the small penalty area, grabbed the ball before it went out of bounds, and passed the ball across.
Right in front of the goal, Baker was like a heavy tank, rushing past Dalmian's blockage, rushing to the goal, facing Amon's cross, and pushing the ball.
The ball hit the net!
Until this moment, Wembley Stadium erupted in exclamations from the fans, followed closely by carnival.
"Goallllllllllll!!!!!!"
"Only one minute into the game, York City scored against Manchester United! This is so surprising!!"
"It's only been a minute!!! York City's quick counterattack was very exciting."
"De Ligt's long pass was just right, Amon's breakthrough with the ball was also quite threatening, and then there was the English Golden Boot Baker's easy push."
"These three young players have made great progress since coming to York City, especially Amon. He seems to be no longer the forward who only dribbles with his head covered and likes to shoot wildly."
"York City leads Manchester United 1:0! This makes Mourinho a little uncomfortable."
"The 3-5-2 formation he deployed today should be to suppress York City in the opening stage, and then use his numerical advantage in the midfield to control the game and ultimately win."
"But he never expected that York City would counterattack them with an opening attack!"
——
After Pan Yi scored a goal from Baker in the stands, he jumped up excitedly and cheered to celebrate the goal with the surrounding York City fans.
"Well done, boys!" Pan Yi shouted happily, regardless of whether the players on the field could hear it or not.
This tactic specially prepared for today's Manchester United worked, and of course he was happy.
He was sure that Mourinho would attack at the beginning, so after they pressed out, he used De Ligt's long pass to quickly hit behind.
If fans just watch the live broadcast, they may not be able to see clearly the entire development process of this goal. They will just think, "Wow, why are there so many people suddenly?"
After all, York City was suppressed by Manchester United at the beginning. It felt like almost all the players were in their own half. Why did they suddenly reach the opponent's penalty area? Did you score a goal?
This is because they were limited by the live camera, which was focused on De Ligt with the ball.
In fact, when De Ligt stopped the ball, Amon, Baker and Lin Liangming all rushed forward immediately to hit Manchester United behind.
As for which side it was, it wasn't drilled so carefully. It was just whoever rushed the fastest would pass the ball to whose side it was.
The result... of course Aman ran the fastest!
De Ligt's task is to accurately send the ball directly in front of that person.
As the best ball-playing central defender in the team, De Ligt also completed his task perfectly, otherwise there would be no Amon dribbling and passing.
At this time, the live broadcast camera was also aimed at the coaching bench.
On the York City side, Scaloni was excitedly celebrating with De Zerbi, Caskey and others behind him;
On the Manchester United side, Mourinho had a hint of shock on his face.
When he was a guest at Wembley Stadium, he thought of many possibilities and imagined that the team would concede the ball first, but he never expected that the team would concede the goal in the first minute. This is too outrageous!
This counterattack is really sharp!
The extremely fast winger, the center who grabs points in the middle... Why are they so similar to what they are best at?
But the problem is, the opponent is just a League One team! Why is his tactical execution so strong and how quickly he switches from defense to offense?
Pan Yi, this brat, is really awesome. Even if he is the boss, he still has such a deep imprint on the team!
Mourinho turned around and looked up towards the stands, but Pan Yi could not be found for a while.
Today's stadium is all red, because whether it is Manchester United or York City, the traditional color of the jersey is red.
"This won't be another kind of double-red meeting in the future, right?"
Mourinho inexplicably thought of such a possibility, but his thoughts quickly returned to the court.
The top priority now is how to equalize the score as soon as possible!
He immediately took out his tactical board and drew a few strokes on it.
Of course, he also saw the loopholes in Manchester United's backcourt this time, so he wanted the two wing-backs of Valencia and Ashley Young to retreat slightly, but the pressure of the double forwards and the three midfielders constant.
In this way, the pressure on York City can be maintained, and the defense can be made more stable to avoid further problems.
However, the game had restarted at this time, and Manchester United's players seemed hesitant.
According to the team's pre-match plan, they should have scored a goal first, but unexpectedly, York City scored first.
So, what to do now?
Continue the offensive tactics, or slow down a little and defend for a while?
The players' opinions began to become somewhat inconsistent, and many people looked to the sidelines to see what Mourinho thought.
But Mourinho is still preparing the tactical board at this time, waiting for some details to be finalized before conveying it to the field!
Just such a small amount of time quickly led to disagreements among Manchester United's players on the court.
During a quick counterattack after stealing the ball, Fellaini made a passing error.
After Alonso stole the ball, he quickly passed it to Rice to instigate a counterattack.
Rice stopped the ball, turned around, and passed forward.
Baker caught the ball sideways and immediately rushed forward with the ball. He tried to rush into the penalty area between the two central defenders Bailly and Rojo. After attracting the attention of the defense, he sent a ball from behind.
I saw Aguo cut in behind Bailly, got ahead of the goalkeeper, pushed the ball into the Manchester United goal again.
In just over five minutes, York City scored another victory!
Everyone in the entire Wembley Stadium was stunned.
Needless to say, Manchester United fans, some of them haven't found their seats yet and are already two goals behind. How can this be justified?
And York City was also stunned by the happiness that came instantly. Everyone opened their mouths and even forgot to cheer.
It wasn't until Amon rushed to the stands of York City fans to celebrate that they burst into thunderous cheers and called Amon's name crazily.
Mourinho was even more confused.
He looked at the tactical board in his hand, then at the York City players celebrating on the field, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
Is this...is the speed of scoring a goal too fast? ——
Pan Yi in the stands was really happy!
He originally thought that grabbing a goal would be great, but unexpectedly, Manchester United bought one and got one free, so they gave another one as a gift.
A two-goal lead in the first five minutes. What better start to the game?
At this time, in the York City coaching bench, Scaloni, De Zerbi and others also looked confused.
They didn't expect that the competition would go so smoothly!
So now...just let it go!
Get your defense in place first.
At this time, Mourinho's latest instructions were finally conveyed to the field. Manchester United played more offensively and defensively, and it was not so easy to attack again.
After all, this is Manchester United! The players' personal abilities are still above York City.
When they defended carefully, York City really couldn't break through the opponent's defense for a while.
Of course, York City is now leading by two goals. They are not in a hurry, and the two sides have begun a stalemate for a period of time.
And such a stalemate lasted until the end of halftime.
After the first half, Scaloni did not ask the players to continue to increase their offensive intensity during the halftime break.
One word is: hold on, don't wave!
After changing sides and fighting again in the second half, York City still wanted stability and did not dare to press out easily. Instead, they waited for the opportunity to counterattack.
Manchester United kept probing and trying to attack from all angles and directions, but failed.
By the 60th minute, Mourinho replaced Rooney and Mata, which strengthened the team's frontcourt offense.
Three minutes later, he replaced Martial again, almost using a five-forward posture to launch a fierce attack on York City's position.
However, Manchester United's defense was a little loose at this time. The York City players on the court once again launched a wave of fast-paced attacks and began to frequently create dangers inside and outside Manchester United's penalty area.
Among them, Baker and Rice both had good scoring opportunities, but their shots missed the goal slightly and failed to convert into goals. This made the York City fans at the scene very disappointed.
If these two goals were scored, there would be no suspense in this game.
The game remained stalemate. Although the competition was fierce, neither side could gain anything in the end.
In the end, York City defeated Manchester United 2-0 at Wembley Stadium and successfully entered the FA Cup final this season! ——
The moment the whistle sounded at the end of the game, Pan Yi raised his hands high, clenched his fists and cheered!
Then he walked down the stands and went to his own coaching bench, shaking hands and hugging the coaches and players one by one to celebrate.
This is the first time in the history of York City that it has been able to reach the finals of such a heavyweight competition!
On the other side, Mourinho had two words written all over his face: disappointment.
But when he saw Pan Yi approaching, he still managed a polite smile and greeted Pan Yi.
He was obviously unwilling to accept this game. He felt that his team was only disrupted by the two goals conceded at the beginning. If everything goes normally...
"If you give me another chance, we will not concede a goal, let alone lose." Mourinho said a little angrily.
"Let's talk about it next season, or the season after next." Pan Yi smiled.
Anyway, he won today, no matter what you say.
It is indeed not easy for York City to meet Manchester United in the British Championship next season, but it will be easy in the Premier League next season. Let’s talk about it then.
No matter what the result of the game is, Mourinho will always come back after the game!
But now, it is time for York City to celebrate their victory.
FA Cup final!
we are coming! ! !
