Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 477 He definitely can't outrun me

This is Moyes' tenth season in charge of Everton, and there is no doubt that he has been successful in his tenure at the club.

In ten seasons, Everton have only been in the bottom half of the league table twice; the rest of the time they have been in the top eight of the Premier League, and this season is no exception.

With the league nearing its end, Everton are still in fifth place, right behind Arsenal, which is quite an achievement.

It was precisely because of these consistent results that Moyes was handpicked by Ferguson to become the manager of Manchester United.

This is undoubtedly a success for Moyes' coaching career. As Ferguson's successor, coaching a top club is an honor for most head coaches.

But now Moyes is having a terrible headache.

The reason lies in what Ferguson said.

I'm best at dealing with Shan Yongzhuo?
God, please have mercy on me!

Moyes felt like he was about to cry. Every time Everton faced Manchester City, he had racked his brains, but they still suffered several heavy defeats. The few wins were really just due to good luck.

Although Moyes is currently riding high on his success, he remains quite clear-headed. Manchester City is in excellent form, and Everton's idea of ​​challenging them is just wishful thinking.

However, he dared not stand up and refute Ferguson's words, for Ferguson was the one who guided him into Manchester United.

Moreover, Moyes did want to prove himself, just in case he succeeded.

The title of "the only head coach who can contain Shan Yongzhuo" is very tempting.

Therefore, in a pre-match interview, Moyes wisely refrained from provoking conflict: "As the world's number one player, no team would dare to say for sure about defending him, and the same goes for us."

"To defend against him, you have to give it your all."

"We will do everything in our power, and we will strive to defend our home turf."

"As for the result, it depends on the players' performance; the rest is up to God."

Moyes spoke calmly in an interview with The Guardian. After all, it would be embarrassing if he made a boast and was later proven wrong. He is not Ferguson; he is still very afraid of being proven wrong.

Manchester City has not responded to this.

In fact, Shan Yongzhuo was thoroughly fed up with Ferguson.

"Wouldn't it be better for this old man to retire peacefully?"

"Even when there's no match for him, he has to come out and diss me. He must have a lot of free time..."

So he didn't bother to respond.

On the day of the match, Goodison Park was packed early in the morning, with Everton fans in attendance and a significant number of Manchester City fans also present.

The match was about to begin amidst the anticipation of the fans.

Everton launched their first attack after the kickoff.

However, Everton's attack felt somewhat constipated, with a very monotonous style of play: going down the flanks and crossing from the byline – a completely traditional English style of play.

Such a tactic was naturally inefficient, and the first wave of attacks was quickly ended.

Those watching the game are used to this.

In fact, Moyes' teams have never been known for their attacking prowess. At Everton, Moyes had a midfielder like Cahill who could play as a striker and was somewhat creative in attack.

This Everton team is now entirely reliant on defense; their attack follows a single pattern: crosses from the byline.

However, Everton this season has changed their old habit of starting slowly.

Moreover, Nigerian striker Anichebe, who recovered from injury in 2010, has been in excellent form this season after two seasons of recovery and adjustment. Anichebe is a favorite of Moyes and a typical center forward in Moyes' attacking system. He is tall, strong, and has impressive speed and explosiveness, allowing him to wreak havoc in the opponent's penalty area on his own.

This is exactly the striker that Moyes likes best.

In addition, the midfielder Fellaini is tall, which makes their attacking style seem monotonous this season, but it is simple and effective, and they have achieved remarkable results.

However, despite being under Moyes' leadership for so many years, the team's core style has remained unchanged: absolute defense.

The balance between defense and offense is roughly 70/30.

After their first attack failed, Everton immediately adjusted and switched to their preferred defensive mode.

When Manchester City launched their attack, Shan Yongzhuo immediately became the focus. Even when he didn't have the ball, he was the center of attention on the field, and the cameras would always look at him first.

However, people soon noticed that Shan Yongzhuo did not stand still and wait for the ball as usual. Instead, he moved slightly back and kept running around, sometimes sprinting to the front, sometimes returning to receive the ball, and if he didn't receive the ball, he would run back again. He even moved left and right.

"Is he helping to stretch the defensive line?"

"Or is Dan's role in this match to disrupt Everton's defense by making more runs?"

We don't know yet.

What people know is that Shan Yongzhuo played as a midfielder in this match.

Manchester City fielded a 4-2-3-1 formation, but with Dzeko leading the attack and Shan Yongzhuo anchoring the central midfield position among the three midfielders.

Shan Yongzhuo was willing to accept such an attempt, and was even somewhat eager to try it.

In the previous 4-2-3-1 formation, Shan Yongzhuo would always be at the front, but in this match Guardiola had him lurking behind Dzeko.

Although nominally avant-garde, he was given absolute autonomy.

In this way, Shan Yongzhuo was happy to give it a try.

Then Everton got annoyed.

For example, Haitinga, who was responsible for defending against Shan Yongzhuo, was having a tough time.

Heitinga came through Ajax's youth academy and spent most of his career at Ajax. After joining Atletico Madrid in the 2008 season, his performance was not very satisfactory, and he moved to the Premier League to join Everton in the 2009 season.

Heitinga's performance after joining Everton has been quite good. Although he is not an absolute starter, he is still a very important member of the team.

Heitinga is not tall, only 180 cm, and not particularly fast, but his strengths are his quick reflexes, agile movements, and fierce defense.

Moyes assigned him to closely guard Shan Yongzhuo, hoping that Shan Yongzhuo would not easily shake him off thanks to his agility.

But now, Heitinga is in great pain.

He was indeed very proactive, constantly running after Shan Yongzhuo. Even though the other man kept running, seemingly tireless, and could complete sprints back and forth continuously, Haitingjia also tried his best to keep chasing.

"hold onto!"

"His physical fitness is average; he definitely can't outrun me!"

"If I can wear him down, I'll have done a great job!"

Haitinga silently cheered himself up, unaware that Shan Yongzhuo's endurance had already reached a high of 86 points.

These points are already considered top-notch.

Although it hasn't been shown before, Shan Yongzhuo's actual physical abilities are much higher than Haitinga's.

(End of this chapter)