[Football] Bad Boy Batty

The summer heat is gradually fading away. For the South Americans playing in the Premier League, the temperature is just right. But unfortunately, due to the death of the Queen, the whole of Britain is shrouded in an invisible haze. Because of this incident, this year's Manchester Derby is not as lively as in previous years.

In early October, in the 10th round of the Premier League, the match between Manchester City and Manchester United was held at the Etihad Stadium.

Currently, 7 games have been completed (games were suspended during the week of the Queen's death), and the standings have returned to what they should be in the minds of the public.

Arsenal is currently at the top of the table with 21 points after one more game, followed by Manchester City with 19 points, the only team in the Premier League that has not lost a game so far. Manchester United has gradually stabilized after experiencing ups and downs at the beginning of the season, and now ranks fourth in the Premier League with 14 points.

It is worth mentioning that Manchester United's stability was achieved by Mourinho keeping Ronaldo on the bench. This method was opposed by most fans, but Mourinho had a tough attitude and retorted every time the reporter was asked about this at the press conference.

Augustus has not commented on the matter yet. But soon, the editor-in-chief of The Sun tweeted from his personal account that an insider revealed that Manchester United owner and team captain Augustus said in the new season that there was a "time bomb" in the Manchester United locker room.

After being widely forwarded by fans, the editor-in-chief of The Sun changed his words and said that he was the one who said "time bomb", but the popularity continued to increase, so he deleted his post and then cleared his account.

When a reporter asked the Manchester United players relevant questions, everyone remained silent. This made the media and everyone more curious about what happened in the Manchester United locker room. Could it be that Mourinho's familiar "catching the ghost" activity has started again?

If you calculate the time, it has been exactly six years since the Portuguese moved into Old Trafford, which is twice the rumored "Mourinho's three years". Therefore, many fans joked that Mourinho was celebrating his own anniversary, doing double the work, and catching double the moles.

On the last match day of September, Manchester United was tied by Leeds United at home, and the whole thing was pushed to a climax. All the fans saw Ronaldo, who was on the bench, leave angrily after the team was equalized.

Later, news broke that a stadium staff member said that after returning to the locker room, Ronaldo was very frustrated and even broke someone's (censored) wardrobe with a hammer. Specifically, Ronaldo complained to the staff who comforted him at the time: He should have let me play, I can score goals, I can help the team, I should play.

Sky Sports even convened Carragher, Keane, Neville, and Fletcher (Manchester City legend) to do a special topic to analyze whether Ronaldo's behavior is good or bad for the team, and what exactly happened in Manchester United's locker room, and whether it would be more serious than what happened with Ferguson and Beckham back then.

However, they discussed it for an entire afternoon and didn't come up with any useful answers.

"I don't care what's going on with Manchester United lately and you shouldn't care either, because it won't stand in our way of winning no matter what."

In the locker room before the game, Batistuta folded his arms and spoke to everyone like a king inspecting, saying that after a not-so-successful season, he was particularly concerned about this game, which was the first time he faced a strong opponent since the start of the season. Especially since this "strong opponent" was the most successful club last season and their old rival.

"Come here." Batistuta asked everyone to gather around and put his arm around his shoulders. "Today we are facing Manchester United, the Premier League champions last season. Don't let your guard down just because they are in the news recently. A team that can win the Premier League championship will never let anyone bully you! We will go on the court in a while, everyone will do his job, and then Boom! We will win the game! Got it? Win the game!"

The King of Manchester City is giving a passionate speech here, but what is Manchester United doing over there?

In the visiting team's locker room just a few dozen meters away, Mourinho stood in the middle. "Don't judge casually, I am trying to do my best, all my strength, all my strength! To make the team better, my goal is always to win." He said.

After that, he turned around and told some players something. Almost no one spoke beside him, and the atmosphere in the whole room was terrible. It was not until Augustus walked into the locker room and asked everyone why they hadn't gone to the player tunnel that the locker room returned to normal.

If Batistuta were here, he would definitely be mocking loudly. Manchester United's current state does not deserve his solemn pre-match speech. He should be more exciting, telling his players that they can definitely win and giving them chicken soup.

All in all, the Manchester derby is approaching, and the balance of victory is gradually sliding towards Manchester City.

……

[Good evening, audience friends, welcome to watch the first round of the Manchester Derby in the 2022-23 season. The Blue Moon Army will host Manchester United at home today. 】

[Before the game, Manchester United was exposed to a lot of negative news. Some people said that Mourinho and Ronaldo had a big quarrel, but today, the two Portuguese compatriots seemed to have reconciled. Someone photographed Ronaldo and Mourinho hugging each other when the players got off the bus, and he also returned to the starting lineup of this game. ]

[As for what Augustus did or what they talked about, we don’t know, but we all know that if this battle is fought well, I believe Manchester United will gradually return to the championship in future games. ]

[First, let’s take a look at the starting lineups of both teams…]

Manchester United's side is slightly different, with De Gea as the goalkeeper; the four defenders from right to left are Ashraf, Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Theo; Augustus and new signing Casemiro form a double defensive midfielder; in front of them, Mbappe and Sterling are on the left and right, Ronaldo is in the middle, and Griezmann is at the front.

Some fans speculated that Ronaldo and Mourinho might have a dispute over position. It is well known that the Portuguese striker has never been a pure center forward who can serve as a fulcrum. Last season, he and Griezmann were able to coexist largely due to the performance of Rashford and Mbappe.

This season, Mbappe does not want to continue playing as a center forward, and Rashford is injured at this critical juncture and is expected to return before the World Cup. Therefore, who will be the center forward to provide support for the attacking group in the frontcourt is a big and thorny problem.

According to the lineup announced before the game, Griezmann was at the front, but it was uncertain what the situation would be like when the game actually started.

Similarly for Manchester City, Guardiola fielded another "strange" lineup, with Ederson as goalkeeper, Walker and Cancelo as left and right full-backs in defense, Ake and Akanji as central defenders; De Bruyne partnered with Messi and Stones in the midfield; Neymar on the left, B Silva on the right, and Batistuta in the middle.

It looks like a formation without a waist, and in fact it is indeed a formation without a waist. Stones' position is the defensive midfielder, but he often forms a three-center-back formation with Ake and Akanji. The flanks are completely left to Cancelo and Walker. Neymar and B Silva move into the middle to focus on attacking the opponent's flanks. Together with Messi and De Bruyne, there are up to 6 people in the midfield at most.

This lineup has appeared once since the start of this season. In that game, they defeated Aston Villa 1-6. Their attacking power is really strong, but the goal difference is not high. Therefore, this lineup has also been criticized by fans as a fragile lineup with high offense and low defense.

[You can see the players from both teams in the player tunnel. Oh, Augustus’ smile is gone today. Even when the Manchester City captain just walked past him, he didn’t show any reaction.]

In the player tunnel, Batistuta also noticed the abnormality of the opposing team.

C Ronaldo stood in front of the team, Augustus stood next to him, neither harassing him nor doing anything like before. For a moment, he suddenly wanted to take the initiative to go over and say something provocative to liven up the derby atmosphere, but the Manchester City captain quickly suppressed this crazy idea.

In the end, the game is the most important thing. …

Since Batistuta guessed the wrong coin this time, Manchester United kicked off first.

After the opening, Manchester City went straight to the point without any attempts, but Manchester United had been controlling the ball in the midfield and backcourt, not giving Manchester City a chance to gain momentum. It was obvious that they wanted to take advantage of their home field to seize the initiative.

But short pass control is not Manchester United's advantage after all. About 40 seconds later, Manchester City intercepted the ball in the backcourt and started to counterattack. Unfortunately, they did not calculate the role of Casemiro. The ball stayed in the midfield for too long and was snatched back by the Brazilian midfielder and the Manchester United captain.

"Don't worry, don't worry!"

Batistuta dropped back to remind his teammates that he knew Casemiro, and in fact they all should know him, as they had suffered from him in almost every game against Real Madrid in the past few seasons. Plus, with Augustus by his side now, it was not a good idea to force through at the start.
"Johnny!" He called the England defender (maybe the defensive midfielder now?) and gestured to him to pass the ball to the wing. "It's just the beginning, don't be impatient, look for an opportunity!"

They want to open the show? Then let them open the show.

Go to the wing first to consume energy, then kick forward when the body is warm and then increase the intensity. Batistuta believes that they still have an advantage in the midfield.

In the 3rd minute, Manchester City attacked from the wing. Neymar dribbled the ball and fought with Ashraf at the sideline. During the process, he was knocked out of bounds by Moroccan defender Ashraf. The referee immediately stopped the game and showed a yellow card to the Manchester United full-back.

[Oh! Less than 5 minutes into the game, Manchester United received a yellow card. It seems that the referee's penalty standards today are quite strict. The players had better not do any tricks, otherwise they may suffer a big loss. ]

Ashraf was a little dissatisfied with this, but he also knew that his action just now could be judged or not, and he could only blame himself for his bad luck if he encountered a referee with less strict standards.

Manchester City won a free kick on the left side of the frontcourt.

"Don't worry, get up quickly, we've got a yellow card and a free kick." Batistuta stretched out his hand to pull Neymar up, then raised his chin towards De Bruyne who was rushing over, "The ball is too far, you take the shot, look for Ake at the back post."

Yes, this ball is not suitable for a direct shot, but a tactical one would be too wasteful, so I just went into the penalty area and tried a header.

Since the second half of last season, Ake has suddenly become another pillar of Manchester City's defense, capable of both attack and defense. So far this season, he has made several wonderful interceptions and scored three headers, averaging one every two games.

De Bruyne nodded.

Then, under the cover of Batistuta and Neymar, he successfully kicked the ball to the back point. Sure enough, Ake got a header, but unfortunately Casemiro judged the position accurately and blocked his position in advance. Ake failed to head the ball smoothly and the ball was finally picked up by De Gea.

Tsk, Casemiro.

Batistuta smoothed his hair and returned to his seat. He had a hunch that the Brazilian midfielder would be their biggest obstacle today.

……

This idea was soon fulfilled. Just after half of the first half, Manchester City's only few chances were all ruined by Casemiro. He was in surprisingly good form today, as if he had absorbed the (state) of others.

However, what was very dramatic was that when the game was in the 33rd minute, Manchester United was attacking from the backcourt. Casemiro collided with Stones while dribbling the ball, and then he sat on the ground and couldn't get up.

With the World Cup coming up next month, the hearts of all the Brazilians present were on edge.

As the new captain of the Brazilian team, Batistuta rushed over at the first opportunity. Stones did not receive a yellow card, which was a good thing for Manchester City, but he was not concerned about the derby now.

Manchester United's team doctor also quickly entered the field. After giving them enough space, Batistuta squatted down and said, "Cas, how do you feel?"

"I-I feel something wrong with my thigh." Casemiro looked up and said.

Batistuta saw a hint of fear in his eyes and knew that he was worried that he would miss the last World Cup in his career because of this.

Indeed, the Brazilian team cannot do without him.

"Don't hold on." Batistuta patted his shoulder. "I'm not saying this to you as the captain of Manchester City or Brazil, but as a friend. I don't want you to have any regrets in the end."

He knows that as a professional player he has a responsibility to the club, but at this point in time, he believes no one wants to get injured.

Casemiro pondered for a few seconds, then whispered something to the team doctor. Batistuta stood up and soon saw the team doctor making a substitution gesture towards the bench.

This is for Brazil, Batistuta thought as he turned back to half court.

35 minutes into the first half of the Manchester derby, Casemiro left the field due to injury and Mourinho had no choice but to replace him with B Fee.

At this time, no one knew, and no one could imagine, how great an impact Casemiro's departure would have on Manchester United, and how drastically the situation on the field would change, to the point of breaking the Manchester Derby's record that had been dormant for many years.

(End of this chapter)