I am the king of football

Chapter 242: Goalkeeper Rudy
"Goalkeeper Lindegaard, back four Rafael, Smalling, Ferdinand, Evra, midfielders Ashley Young, Giggs, Carrick, Valencia, forwards Van Persie, Qin Hu."

Standing in front of the players, on the eve of the team's departure, Ferguson announced the team's starting lineup as usual. A new name appeared in front of everyone in the defender position. Smalling, who ranked behind Vidic, Ferdinand and Evans this season, was used by Ferguson.

In midfield, veteran Giggs took the field again, which was a helpless choice due to the poor form of the team's other midfielders.

As for the striker position, the combination of Van Persie and Qin Hu is still difficult to shake. Although their performance in training is average, they are still more reliable than other striker candidates.

All in all, this starting lineup was chosen by Ferguson after studying the team's condition. Although it may not be the best choice, it should not fail against a team like Norwich.

After a few more brief words of encouragement, Sir Alex Ferguson asked the players on the roster to go home and pack their things.

Manchester United's bus drove into Norwich, where the Norwich team is located, that night and disappeared quietly into a local star-rated hotel.

The next day, at Carrow Road Stadium, which can accommodate more than 25,000 people, both teams appeared in front of the fans.

The Norwich team, wearing yellow and green home jerseys, and the Manchester United team, wearing red jerseys, both looked quite conspicuous. After the warm-up, both teams returned to the field for a short break and then followed the referee team into the stadium.

"Okay, the two teams have decided who will have the right to kick off. Manchester United will take the lead and they will attack from right to left in this game~"

As Zhan Jun's voice sounded, the game officially kicked off.

“Sh ...

The whistle sounded, Qin Hu kicked the ball out, and Manchester United started attacking immediately.

Carrick, who was in control of the ball in the midfield, did not pass the ball too much. After spotting the gap between Johnson and Tetti in the middle of Norwich, he directly passed the ball out.

"Qin Hu got the ball in the opponent's midfield. Two players were in front of him. At the same time, Norwich's full-back Garrido also moved towards him quickly. It seems that Qin Hu has been regarded as the opponent's first defensive target in this game."

Faced with such grand treatment from the opponent, Qin Hu did not choose to force it. He had already noticed Van Persie's position when he got the ball. After using his body to forcibly block the opponent who was rushing towards him and create space, he pushed the ball directly out.

"Van Persie got the ball and he chose to kick it directly!"

Outside the penalty area, on the right side, Van Persie kicked the ball directly at the same time as he received the pass from Qin Hu.

"Oh!"

It was a shot that felt very good. When Van Persie passed the ball, he even started thinking about how to celebrate.

However, as time passed, when the ball flew and flew to the goal range, a fist appeared in front of the ball that was supposed to fly into the blind corner of the goal.

"Rudy! Norwich's goalkeeper played bravely. He saved Van Persie's shot from close to the blind corner. Beautiful!"

Even Zhan Jun, who was standing on the Manchester United side, had to praise this save, not to mention the fans at Carrow Road. The more than 20,000 home team fans immediately gave a huge cheer. This made Rudy, who landed like a hero, even more excited. He quickly directed the defensive players in front of him to come over and arrange the defensive corner kick.

After Manchester United took a corner kick, Qin Hu still headed the ball, but although he was always successful with his headers, he failed to break the opponent's goal this time.

Rudy dived sideways and just caught the rebound of Qin Hu's header, which won him another series of cheers.

"Within five minutes of the game, Manchester United had two very threatening shots, which is definitely good news, but the opponent's goalkeeper is also in very hot form. This game doesn't seem to be as simple as we thought."

Zhan Jun's words hit the nail on the head again. When the game started again, the two sides continued to fight. The Red Devils, who were deployed in a 442 formation, were very aggressive. They kept launching various attacks to try to break through the opponent's goal.

As Van Persie and Qin Hu both encountered great obstruction in the middle, they also began to try to seek opportunities on the flanks. Ashley Young and Valencia, two fast wingers, began to appear in people's eyes.

The two's breakthroughs were still quite sharp, but the problem is that even if the wingers may not be able to stop Manchester United's attack, Norwich's defense in other positions is still very good.

This meant that even though the two wingers passed the ball to Qin Hu and Van Persie through crosses and inverted triangle passes, their chances of shooting were not particularly good.

Qin Hu kept trying to shoot into the far corner, while Van Persie pushed the ball towards the goal post to seek an angle, and the two headers were able to catch the high balls that flew in from time to time.

In fact, the quality of both players' shots was still very high. However, since the first time he saved Van Persie's near-perfect shot, the home team's goalkeeper Rudy seemed to have opened up his Ren and Du meridians. He kept directing his defenders to defend in time and made wonderful saves one after another.

When the whistle blew to end the first half, the Manchester United players on the field were all quite confused. They just felt that their attack was one wave after another without stopping for a moment, as if they could break through the opponent's goal in the next second. They never expected that the opponent had been defending them for so long.

"0-0, Manchester United had already made nine shots in the first half, and seven of them were on target. This is a very scary statistic!"

Zhan Jun's tone was also somewhat helpless. Many of Manchester United's attacks in the first half were quite exciting, but the results were not always satisfactory.

"But the home team's goalkeeper Rudy changed everything. He made Manchester United lose all chances to celebrate. They could only find ways to attack the opponent's goal again and again. This was a huge drain on the morale and physical strength of the Red Devils."

On the field, the Manchester United players who had reacted had already started to walk back one after another. They all had their heads hung, obviously exhausted, and there was no conversation for a while.

Ferguson was also at the front of the team and didn't say anything. The team had already played as they should in the first half. If they didn't score, it would be of no use even if the hair dryer was blown like crazy.

At this moment, whether it is the Red Devils coach or the players, what they hate most in their hearts may be the opponent's goalkeeper.

But this is definitely a reward for Rudy. After all, when your enemies hate you, it means you are definitely doing a good job. Compared with Manchester United's deserted atmosphere, the Norwich team walked back to the locker room with laughter around Rudy.

The first chapter is here! Thank you all for your support!!! It is the last day of 23 years, I hope everyone is happy and safe, and everyone will get better and better in the new year!!!

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(End of this chapter)