Starting from playing as a defensive midfielder for Real Madrid

Li Ang was not surprised by the result of a big victory over Maribor at home.

Against a Slovenian First Division team, the majestic Premier League hegemon couldn't win more than two goals in a single game. That was truly surprising and embarrassing.

However, after playing Maribor, Li Ang became more and more surprised that Sporting Lisbon and Schalke 04 failed to win against Maribor in the first two rounds of the group stage.

This Slovenian team, which miraculously entered the Champions League this season, is not a team that likes to show off.

At least in this round of the group stage, they faced Chelsea, who was much stronger than themselves, and they also set up a 442 starting lineup with both wings flying together.

If they hadn't put in some effort on the offensive end and defended without opening the game, Li Ang wouldn't have been able to successfully score from behind in the ninth minute of the first half.

Subsequently, with Drogba and Ibrahimovic taking turns to act as fulcrums to disrupt the situation, Li Ang directly performed wreaking havoc in Maribor's penalty area, scoring a hat-trick with his head and feet.

It is precisely because he has personally experienced the strength of Maribor's defense that Li Ang is even more speechless about the performance of Sporting Lisbon and Schalke 04.

He just felt that his previous evaluation of the two teams' hip-stretching performance had no offensive power. He was simply stating the facts!

After defeating Maribor in this group stage, Chelsea won the first three rounds of Group G of the Champions League and topped the list with nine points.

Another Champions League group match in Group G that started at the same time ended with Schalke 04 beating Sporting Lisbon.

Schalke 04 narrowly defeated Sporting Lisbon 4-3 at the Schalke Stadium.

Both teams understand that if they want to get another qualifying spot in the Champions League knockout rounds in Group G, they basically have to fight each other brutally.

No way, who made them fail to seize the opportunity to score points against Maribor before?

After this round of group stage, Schalke 04 has the opportunity to qualify and currently ranks second in the Champions League Group G with 4 points.

Sporting Lisbon only accumulated one point and unfortunately fell to the bottom of the group.

The last three group matches, especially the Champions League group match against Maribor, are crucial for Sporting Lisbon.

If they still can't win over Maribor to fight for their chance of survival, let alone try to qualify second in the group and play in the Champions League knockout rounds, they might not even be able to play in the Europa League in the end!

Of course, for Chelsea, the fierce competition in the last three rounds of Group G of the Champions League has little to do with them.

In the next round of the group stage, as long as Chelsea securely win Maribor.

No matter how Schalke 04 and Sporting Lisbon fight and what the result is, Chelsea will lock in a group qualifying spot in advance.

And as long as Sporting Lisbon can gain some momentum in the next round of group matches and prevent Schalke 04 from winning, then Chelsea will lock in the right to qualify first in the group in advance!

After a brief analysis, all the Chelsea fans sighed with emotion.

How lonely it is to be invincible~

The new season started with eight consecutive league wins, and they also won the first three rounds of the Champions League group stage, plus a victory in the English League Cup.

Chelsea has already won 12 consecutive victories in three tiers since the start of the new season!

When Chelsea's victory one after another becomes a habit, neutral fans in other leagues take it for granted when they see the news that Chelsea has won again.

England's large and small media and newspapers are even more dedicated to cheering for Chelsea.

It seems as if Chelsea, which has only played three group matches, is already the favorite to win the Champions League this season.

It's definitely not a matter of praising the team. The English media has always been this virtuous. They also promoted it with such great fanfare when Manchester City defeated Bayern in the group stage.

In addition, the performance of the other three Premier League teams in the Champions League has been somewhat weak recently, so it is understandable that the British media pinned their hopes on Chelsea.

Liverpool lost two games in a row in the group stage, losing to Basel and then Real Madrid, making their qualifying situation in jeopardy.

Arsenal had only achieved one win, one draw and one loss in the first three rounds of the group stage. Compared with Anderlecht, which was third in the group, the advantage was not obvious.

Manchester City started high and went low in the group of death. They obviously beat Bayern in the first round, but then they were lost in the cold of Moscow and the fanatical atmosphere of the Olympic Stadium in Rome.

After a round of comparison, although Chelsea has the best luck in the group draw among the teams representing the Premier League in the Champions League this season, their record is also the best.

Chelsea, which almost firmly occupies the top spot in the group stage, naturally has a better chance of representing the Premier League in the Champions League and going further.

The recent defeats in the Champions League have somewhat emotionally affected the players of Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

But the Premier League that came right after them left them no time to review the Champions League games and worry about them.

In the ninth round of the Premier League, all the powerful teams in the Premier League have basically figured out their opponents in the middle and lower reaches.

Well, the same is true for Chelsea. Judging from the name, their duel with Manchester United can be regarded as the focus of this round of the Premier League.

But looking at Manchester United's current mid-table ranking of 11th in the Premier League, the value of this game has naturally dropped a lot.

However, even if the gold content is insufficient, this game still attracted the attention of a large number of neutral fans.

Without him, these fun fans just wanted to see if Chelsea, who had just slaughtered Maribor, would cause another tragedy against Manchester United.

They don't care about Manchester United's life or death, they just want to see rivers of blood flowing. The more topical the game is, the more excited they are.

And in this extremely disadvantageous public opinion environment that the entire network is not optimistic about, the local pro-Manchester United media in Manchester also quickly called on Van Gaal to stop making tactical adjustments!

Usually he plays in a 4-4-2 diamond-shaped midfield and plays in a three-back system. If he can barely win the weak team, then forget it.

To give face to Van Gaal, a famous football coach, the local media and fans in Manchester stopped criticizing him.

But we are about to play Chelsea. Don’t fix your offensive problems. Do your defense well, but don’t lose by a big score at Old Trafford!

These local Manchester media reporters feel that their suggestions are reasonable and have also received support from many die-hard Manchester United fans.

But Van Gaal is also very aggrieved, and he also has something to say!

Before coming to Manchester United, he clearly agreed with Santoku that he would reorganize the midfielder first.

Now Manchester United's midfielder, he doesn't mind if he can make do with it, but at least he has to buy him a core to hold down the formation, right?

As a result, a summer window passed, and Kroos, whom Van Gaal wanted most, was intercepted by Chelsea. Not to mention, Chelsea acted too quickly and too decisively.

But for the alternatives Milner and Xavi Alonso, Manchester United did not even mention a formal offer, and there was not even a transfer scandal, which made Lao Fan quite dissatisfied.

There is no big core available in the midfield, so it is very difficult to rebuild a wealthy team.

Fortunately, the current strength of Manchester United's wing players is still good. Van Gaal has no choice but to look at the food and try to create a new Manchester United with excellent wing attack capabilities and outstanding counterattack capabilities.

Overthrowing Manchester United's inherent lineup and style of play last season and re-establishing a tactical system naturally involves the cost of trial and error.

This is why the outside world has criticized Van Gaal for constantly trying new formations since the start of the new season.

Subsequently, Van Gaal discovered that no matter how the formation changed, Manchester United's current midfield configuration did not have the ability to compete with other strong teams for control of the game.

So he simply stopped competing with other strong teams in the middle, and directly gave up control of the midfield, protected the dealer Carrick, focused on the left and right sides, and implemented a "big circle tactic".

Of course, the current Lao Fan is still trying and making mistakes, looking for new tactical ideas, and he only has a preliminary idea for the large circle strategy.

But even if he hasn't found a specific way to restrain other strong Premier League teams, Van Gaal also knows it.

His Manchester United will only die miserably if it competes with Chelsea in the midfield at Old Trafford.

Moyes' tragic experience last season has already sounded the alarm to Van Gaal.

Don't play against Chelsea, let alone hoard heavy troops in the middle of the midfield to compete with Chelsea for the rhythm of the game.

If you want to take advantage of Chelsea, you must not make these two mistakes!

After much thought, Van Gaal finally decided to simply give up the initiative in the midfield and use the speed advantage of the two wings to create a tactical routine to see if he could successfully steal the chicken.

If you can't steal the chicken, just like those reporters said, passive defense is the only way to go. If we play like this, Manchester United still hopes to get a point at home.

On the afternoon of October 26, the Manchester United players, who had made full tactical preparations, completed their warm-up amidst the cheers of the fans at Old Trafford.

But in Manchester United's home dressing room, Van Gaal, who had received Chelsea's starting eleven, had a very strange look on his face.

There is a hint of embarrassment hidden in the relief and relaxation.

Because today Mourinho directly arranged a rotation lineup!

Yes, in this round against Manchester United, the Chelsea coaching staff has no idea of ​​sending pure main players to play.

Even in the past two rounds of games, the main players in the Chelsea team have actually recovered their game and physical condition through rest.

But Mourinho still sent out a rotation formation just like he had played against Crystal Palace and Maribor before.

Except that Mourinho doesn't think Manchester United can cause Chelsea too much trouble in the game.

The only reason why Mourinho is worried that Manchester United's tactics in this game may cause injuries to Chelsea players...

Face hurts!

Many local reporters in Manchester and countless die-hard Manchester United fans only felt their faces hurt after seeing Chelsea's starting eleven!

Chelsea's "contempt" is a naked humiliation for Manchester United!

At least now Manchester United fans only feel that their anger level is full!

Di Maria returned to the locker room after the warm-up. After listening to the assistant coach talk about Chelsea's starting situation for this game, he suddenly understood what Li Ang had been saying to him before, "Don't worry."

Emotional Li Ang is really not joking. Chelsea really have no intention of having a big fight with Manchester United at Old Trafford in this game? !

To say that this is Mourinho's humiliation of Manchester United, Di Maria doesn't think it is.

Although Mourinho sometimes speaks arrogantly before and after the game, he has never made a tactical decision to deliberately humiliate his opponent in an official game.

But now as a Manchester United player, it is difficult for Di Maria to speak for Mourinho in the locker room.

After the players from both teams have lined up in the tunnel, they follow the referee team onto the court.

The Manchester United fans who got the news at the scene were furious at the Chelsea players who booed!

However, the Chelsea players who started today were relatively calm.

It’s no wonder that Mourinho decided to use rotation in the game against Manchester United.

The strange thing is that Manchester United's playing style, which has slowly changed tactics in the past few league games, has become increasingly rough.

Perhaps because he wants to protect the deep-lying Carrick as much as possible, Van Gaal now likes to use Fellaini and Herrera to start in the midfield.

In terms of rhythm control and coordination skills in the midfield, Manchester United can't see anything right now.

But in terms of the roughness of the confrontation and the number of fouls, Manchester United's midfield combination is far ahead in the Premier League.

Players like Li Ang, Matic and Ibrahimovic in the Chelsea team are certainly not afraid of suffering.

But Hazard, who has made great efforts in the national team game and has been feeling some discomfort in his ankle since returning to the club, Mourinho will definitely not let him start.

Even De Bruyne, who only played half of the last round of the Champions League group stage and felt some discomfort in his thigh muscles, was also given a leave by Mourinho in this round of the league.

The two Belgian stars are all resting, so Chelsea's offense will naturally be somewhat compromised.

However, the outstanding performance of Lukaku and Salah in the last round of the Champions League group stage also reassured Blues fans.

Matic, Kroos and Li Ang all started today, and Chelsea's midfielder still has the absolute upper hand.

Even if Terry rests on the back line, with Matic's sweeping protection, the central defender partnership of Maguire and Silva still looks quite stable.

So despite Chelsea continuing to rotate, the starting lineup and the strength of the players are still overwhelming Manchester United.

Never mind what the Manchester United fans and players on the field thought and how angry they were.

After the game started, the strength gap between them and Chelsea was quickly reflected in the offensive and defensive competition.

Manchester United gave up control of the midfield first, and Chelsea was naturally happy to take over.

But just when Manchester United wanted to open up a second battlefield and increase the intensity of pressing and counterattacking on both wings.

But they have to admit that Chelsea's offensive and defensive strength on both wings after the rotation can still stabilize their head!

Manchester United's Luke Shaw and DiMaria on the left are very good offensively, but when faced with the defensive combination of Matic and Azpilicueta, it is difficult for them to take advantage.

Rafael Gamatta on the right wanted to play technical penetration, but when he met Ashley Cole, who was extremely experienced in defense, Li Anga made it even more uncomfortable for the two of them!

Di Maria on the left can still use his speed advantage to rush up from time to time, creating some opportunities for Van Persie in the penalty area.

Mata on the right does not have this physical advantage. He cannot cooperate with his teammates, and his room for performance on the offensive end is really very small.

This is also the most important reason why Mourinho was determined to sell Mata when he returned to Chelsea.

Mata needs a lot of opportunities to hold the ball, but he prefers to play as a playmaker on the wing.

Playing as a pure winger, his explosive ability is not enough to break the game. Playing in the center, his confrontation is not good enough.

In addition, Mourinho was determined to correct Li Ang at the time, so naturally he had no choice but to sell Mata.

In comparison, Hazard and De Bruyne are obviously more suitable wing partners for Li Ang.

In today's game, Mata was targeted for misfire at the beginning, which further proved that Mourinho was right to sell him.

It's not that Mata isn't outstanding, but that his technical characteristics really don't fit Mourinho's tactical system.

Correspondingly, Mourinho put Lukaku and Salah on the left and right to attack Manchester United's defense, and the tactical effect was extremely outstanding!

Luke Shaw is strong in offense and weak in defense. He often cooperates with Di Maria to advance forward and then fails to defend in place.

Salah simply didn't feel comfortable with him.

And Lukaku crushed Rafael purely in terms of confrontation!

The two are not at the same level of confrontation at all. Even though Herrera retreated many times to help Rafael limit Lukaku's performance, the defensive effect was average.

In desperation, just over ten minutes into the opening game, Van Gaal had to let Fellaini and Herrera switch positions, using Fellaini to make a tactical exchange with Lukaku.

But with Lao Fan's adjustment, Li Ang, who smelled an opportunity, suddenly took Azpilicueta to attack!

After the two teamed up to steal the ball from Di Maria's feet, Li Ang directly dribbled the ball past Herrera and headed straight for Manchester United's defensive hinterland!

Fellaini bravely left his defensive area and quickly stepped forward to intercept Li Ang.

But when he lost his position, Li Ang directly lobbed the ball in front of Lukaku, who was already accelerating on the right side of Manchester United!

Raphael looked at Lukaku who was coming towards him aggressively, and his scalp was numb!

But he bravely stepped forward in the end!

Then he was bounced away by Lukaku's sudden advance...

This scene made the Manchester United fans at the scene shake their heads and exclaim.

And after Lukaku broke into the bottom line of Manchester United's penalty area and sent an inverted triangle pass, which was deliberately passed by Ibrahimovic, Old Trafford was even more nervous and fell into silence!

Li Ang, who inserted in from behind, met the ball directly from the right side of Manchester United's penalty area and shot furiously!

Li Ang played this shot very decisively, without any delay!

De Gea reacted very quickly!

He showed off his ability to save as the top goalkeeper in football today!

But again, after Li Ang hit such a powerful shot in the penalty area that went towards the blind corner, he himself could not guarantee whether the football would be knocked away.

Li Ang himself doesn't know if this kind of shot is systematic or not. Anyway, it's just one effort to defeat ten goals. How to break it? Let me ask you, how does De Gea break it? !

De Gea ultimately failed to pounce on Li Ang's powerful volley.

And just when he was slapping the ground and roaring in annoyance, Li Ang had already rushed towards the corner flag area excitedly, and celebrated with a high-jumping fist pump!

Rotation?

A slap in the face?

Right~

What they are beating today is the face of the Premier League's biggest club!