Chapter 87: Four-kill Manchester United
“Time is running out for Manchester United and although it is too early to draw a conclusion, we can already foresee that Ten Hag is likely to have an unsuccessful debut season.

Being eliminated from the Carabao Cup and FA Cup by Newcastle in succession was a huge blow to Manchester United.

Especially those Manchester United players who worked with Sir Alex Ferguson and Ronaldo last season, they may not be able to accept such a cruel reality emotionally.

After all, the achievements Newcastle has made now should have belonged to them – even if they couldn’t do so well, at least they wouldn’t be in the vortex of chaos like they are now.

Failure to renew the contract with Sir Alex Ferguson was a huge failure for the entire Manchester United team. In comparison, letting go of Ronaldo and Elanga can only be regarded as a minor loss.

For the current Manchester United executives, whether to continue to support Ten Hag’s reform and reconstruction of the team has become their new problem…”

Owen, who walked into the Sky Sports studio as a special guest today, mercilessly revealed Manchester United’s scars.

As time goes by, Manchester United’s final decision to part ways with Li Chen in the summer window last year seems more and more stupid.

From the starting point of view, it was understandable that Manchester United’s top management rejected Li Chen’s excessive demands at the time.

It would be impossible for any top club to give Li Chen 100% power to recruit players now.

But if we only look at the results, Newcastle, which spent 2 million euros, has not only completed an efficient reconstruction, but is now likely to win three championship trophies in a single season.

What about Manchester United, which also spent more than 2 million euros in the summer transfer window last year?

There is no tactical innovation, no match scene, and among the several new players introduced at a huge cost, it seems that only Casemiro is worth it at the moment.

Martinez has suffered too many injuries, and his height is a disadvantage when facing a team with a lot of headers.

Saint-Maximin is a mixed bag in some games. Whether he can stay at Manchester United at the end of this season depends on how much Ten Hag expects of him.

As for Anthony?
The Brazilian winger is not as good as Saint-Maximin!
Saint-Maximin is alone, and when he performs at his best, he is really good at dribbling past opponents.

But what about Anthony?
Apart from a left-foot shot and diligent running, he really doesn’t have the ability to gain a foothold in a top team.

Manchester United fans are too lazy to scold him now.

Because they have realized that several other “problematic” forwards in Manchester United have struggled because of their ups and downs in form or because they are not compatible with Ten Hag’s tactical designs.

But it is still worth looking forward to after all, and his talent is not bad.

Only Anthony is a complete noob!
He can’t break through or shoot, his passes are sometimes effective and sometimes not, and his ability in confrontation is average. He is really not suitable for playing in the Premier League.

The Sky Sports commentator quickly commented on Anthony.

It’s not that they like to “torture” Anthony, but Anthony’s performance today was really too eye-catching.

His opponent was not Newcastle’s younger main left-back Grimaldo, but Marcelo.

But even facing Marcelo, who is at the end of his career, Anthony was unable to make an efficient one-on-one breakthrough.

So what is his role?

If he really wants to rely on him for defense, then Ten Hag might as well put Dalot in front and Wan-Bissaka behind him.

In this way, Manchester United’s right-wing defensive strength is absolutely the best in the Premier League and even in the entire world football.

Compared to the silent Anthony, Dalot’s confrontation and crossing abilities are at least still online, so Manchester United’s attack on the right can at least make some splashes.

“Perhaps it’s time for Ten Hag to consider replacing Weghorst. The Dutch center forward can help Manchester United’s two wingers to open up offensive space, and Greenwood can also be freed up. He is really uncomfortable playing as a No. 9. If he goes to the wing, he can bring some offensive surprises to Manchester United.”

Another Sky Sports commentator gave his own insight.

And shortly after he said this, Ten Hag did make a substitution.

However, Ten Hag did not let Greenwood return to the right, but directly replaced Greenwood with Weghorst, and then replaced Anthony with Sancho.

With the formation unchanged, Ten Hag seems to want to use positional substitutions to further activate the offensive system.

But Li Chen just felt that Ten Hag was so anxious that he lost his mind and was just playing the piano at random.

If you want to activate an offensive tactic with both wings flying together, Greenwood should not be used.

If Greenwood is substituted, it would be more appropriate to replace him with Pellistri than Sancho.

You let Big Brother play as attacking midfielder and take up all the offensive ball possession, so why put Sancho on the field?

They don’t design any tactics for Sancho to get the ball, but they want him to perform. What do you want to do? !
He once again realized Ten Hag’s tactical stubbornness.

It’s really that he doesn’t know how to adapt until the moment of life and death concerns his dismissal.

Seeing that Ten Hag had lost his sense of tactical arrangement, Li Chen decisively signaled his frontcourt players to press B Fee and Rashford with all their strength.

As expected, the attacking midfielder became more and more anxious as he watched the game time quickly pass.

When he gets anxious, he likes to make risky vertical pass attempts.

In addition, Newcastle double-teamed him, and his passes became more and more hasty and aggressive.

In the 79th minute of the second half, B Fee’s risky long pass was blocked by Ramos who was extending his defense line.

Joelinton retreated to receive the ball and headed it to the right.

Elanga, who came in, chose to accelerate immediately!
At this time, Luke Shaw, who had followed Ten Hag’s tactical instructions and stood too far forward, was still desperately chasing back in Newcastle’s half.

In a blink of an eye, Newcastle completed an extremely fast attack and defense transition!
Elanga completed the forward pass smoothly.

Madison stepped on the ball and sent a 45-degree arc cross.

Havertz following up the middle left Maguire with no time to pay attention to the back of the penalty area.

Ronaldo quickly got forward and once again completed the header half a beat ahead of Lindelof!

De Gea finally caught the ball this time, but his fingertips were not enough to drastically change the direction of the ball.

Amid the passionate and excited commentary from commentators from various countries, countless fans witnessed the historic moment when Ronaldo scored a hat-trick against Manchester United!
The game has ended early.

Newcastle achieved another complete victory over Manchester United, and Ronaldo used three goals to once again prove to Ten Hag that he would never be a problem for Manchester United’s reconstruction!
Everything has been concluded. Ten Hag and Manchester United lost completely in last year’s summer transfer window.

After the game officially ended, a large number of reporters flocked to interview Ten Hag and asked him how he felt at the moment.

However, Ten Hag did not give them this opportunity. He quickly walked back to the player tunnel without even the slightest intention of comforting the players on the field.

The reporters who lost their first target of interviews turned around and ran to the Newcastle players on the field. But their colleagues had already surrounded the focal point of the Newcastle team.

After finally getting rid of the reporters, Li Chen returned to the locker room and took a short rest. Then he pulled Ronaldo away from the noisy players and went to the post-match press conference.

His action really made the reporters waiting at the scene focus their attention on Cristiano Ronaldo, who performed a hat trick today.

Knowing that he was being used as a shield by Li Chen today, Ronaldo could only patiently respond to sensitive topics related to Manchester United.

However, Li Chen couldn’t escape in the end. After a period of free time, he was still asked by reporters about his views on Manchester United’s current situation.

After carefully considering his words, Li Chen gave an answer that surprised the reporters.

“There are always various difficulties during the reconstruction period, especially for a big team like Manchester United.

I believe that Manchester United’s top management will make a detailed adjustment plan based on the team’s current situation.

If I have to make a suggestion, I just hope that this time Manchester United’s top management can be firm in their choice.

With a rebuilding cycle of 2-3 seasons, maybe they should give Ten Hag more trust and time. The more difficult the moment, the more trust should be given to the head coach. I still say that I wish Manchester United all the best…”

Li Chen’s answer in support of Ten Hag continuing to deepen reforms at Manchester United was, as expected, reported on the headlines of major British media the next day.

Even Ten Hag himself was shocked by Li Chen’s words.

He never expected that when public opinion was heavily criticizing his coaching and employing players ability, it was Li Chen who first stood up and expressed his understanding of his situation.

Regardless of whether Li Chen truly supports him or is just pretending, to be honest, Ten Hag was really moved when he saw the news.

Ten Hag, who originally didn’t want to pay attention to the reporters who were laughing at him, changed his mind.

He accepted an interview with the Manchester Evening News, reiterating that he still has the confidence to lead Manchester United to success, while also implicitly expressing his gratitude to Li Chen for his support.

This statement did not allow Ten Hag to quickly and smoothly overcome the public opinion storm, but the upcoming international match day still helped him relieve the pressure.

The England team, which had just won the World Cup, naturally became the focus team in the new round of European qualifiers.

Now that he has recovered from the car accident and can work normally, Southgate has taken over the coaching of the England national team from his assistant coach.

Southgate is in an awkward situation now as Li Chen led England to win the World Cup in Qatar and was knighted for it.

Countless eyes are also watching England’s performance in the next two European qualifiers.

It is conceivable what kind of public pressure Southgate will be under if the England team loses points unexpectedly.

However, Southgate, who has a strong ability to withstand pressure, quickly strangled Italy’s proactive offensive with a low-profile defensive counterattack, and finally defeated Italy with one goal away from home to get the precious three points.

Three days later, facing the Ukrainian team of average strength, Southgate chose a steady and solid advancement tactic and won again with a score of 90-2 after 0 minutes.

Two consecutive wins in the European qualifiers gave Southgate the confidence to confront the media again.

No matter how the media and fans compare the tactical style of England’s previous World Cup team with the current one, Southgate remains unmoved.

After all, he led the team to victory. Even if the scene of victory was not very good-looking, winning is the bottom line.

Even Maddison, who has already secured a place in the England national team, is not playing well again.

England now mainly plays a 433 formation, so logically speaking, he definitely has a place in the midfield.

But Southgate prefers to use an engineer-type midfielder to partner Rice and Bellingham.

His pecking order in midfield is even behind Henderson and Gallagher.

Southgate prefers to use him on the wing, but he does not have a complete tactical plan for using the wing midfielder.

Under such circumstances, Madison felt unhappy even though he played both World Cup qualifiers.

When Li Chen saw his midfield core returning to the club in a depressed mood, he couldn’t help but curse Nanmen a few more times in his heart.

I can understand you saying you don’t need this type of technical midfielder.

If you don’t need it, just call him over and put him on the bench or simply don’t call him. Why do you make him start in two consecutive games in an inappropriate position?

Isn’t this deliberately destroying Madison’s passion for the game and his self-confidence?
In order to prevent the national team’s bad experience from affecting Madison’s performance in subsequent games, Li Chen also temporarily modified the tactical plan for the next game against Manchester United.

On the afternoon of April 4nd, Li Chen not only let Madison, who had played in two European qualifiers, continue to start in the league, but also rarely adopted a 2 starting formation.

The two main midfielders, Joelinton and Guimaraes, were given a rest.

Li Chen directly arranged for Palinha and Longstaff to provide defensive support for Madison.

In front of him is Cristiano Ronaldo, and on the left and right wings are Anthony Gordon and Havertz.

Madison, who was free to display his offensive talent, quickly became the focus player at St. James’ Park.

However, Madison, who had the offensive ball, did not choose to pass the ball or shoot randomly as he pleased.

On the contrary, he played more calmly, and in that calmness he found more threatening channels to pass the ball forward!

Ten Hag instructed Casemiro and McTominay to limit Madison’s performance early in the first half of the game.

But even though the two of them consciously double-teamed Madison several times, the Newcastle midfielder, who was in excellent form today, still found an opportunity to complete a fatal connection with Luo!
In the 21st minute of the first half, Madison got rid of McTominay and sent a precise diagonal pass to help Ronaldo break the deadlock!

In the 28th minute, his overhead pass almost helped Ronaldo score his second goal.

Unfortunately, this time De Gea made a timely move to resolve the danger in front of the goal.

But 5 minutes later, the frontcourt attack led by Madison still knocked on Manchester United’s door.

Anthony Gordon’s shot from the back of the penalty area helped Newcastle successfully extend their lead.

In the 54th minute of the second half, Madison received a long shot from Ramos during a corner attack and ended the suspense of the game himself!

Manchester United didn’t score a goal until the 89th minute of the second half when Rashford scored a goal.

After this battle, Newcastle successfully defeated Manchester United four times this season.

The Magpies have firmly earned the title of Red Devil Killer.

(End of this chapter)