The derby is always the big game that comes first.

Since Mourinho took over as coach, Manchester United has maintained an unbeaten record of 40 games at Old Trafford. After experiencing ups and downs at the beginning of the season, their form has gradually improved. In the last round of the 3-1 victory over Arsenal, they played a beautiful scene that amazed the fans.

目前曼城以45分位居英超榜首,而曼联则落后10分排在第2,这是在2013年以后首次两队交锋时为联赛1、2名的局面。

Unfortunately, both teams cannot play with their strongest lineups. Pogba of Manchester United is suspended due to accumulated yellow cards, and Mourinho can only replace him with Herrera. Stones is absent from Manchester City. The England defender has returned to Manchester this weekend to resume training, but when he can play is still a question.

Tactical issues are also one of the topics that people are very concerned about. It is almost common knowledge that Guardiola's team is afraid of defensive counterattacks. Many teams have made deployments in this regard, but so far, in two seasons, no team dares to say that they can completely suppress Manchester City.

Three days before the game, Guardiola called his disciples to the screening room to make tactical arrangements. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the corner kick coach spoke for an exceptionally long time.

Batistuta leaned on Aguero, drowsy, and basically ignored the corner kick tactics. Last night, he played games with Neymar until the early morning before going to bed. However, it should be emphasized that he did not stay up late because of Neymar, but because of the participation of professional e-sports players.

Neymar got in touch with the CS:GO team Little Bees in Paris within less than a season. One of the members, named Zaiwu, was willing to play a few games with him at any time (except during competitions).
Batistuta was not interested in CS:GO at first, but could not stand Neymar's constant provocation. In order to prove that he was not a newcomer, Batistuta borrowed an account to play with them. As a result, he either killed his teammates or failed in the gun battle.

So he fell straight into the pit.

There is never a shortage of trouble-making talents on the football field. Batistuta believes that he has done very well. He does not go out to look for women, does not take drugs, loves to drink but does not drink excessively, and is moderate in partying. It is just staying up late, which is no big deal.

"We all think that Manchester United will adopt a man-to-man marking tactic this time. Pogba's absence will have a huge impact on them... Maybe they can target Smalling and Herrera's back, but to be on the safe side, they should pass the ball more. Manchester United will have a lot of players in the penalty area."

The assistant coach's voice was gradually replaced by Guardiola's. Batistuta half opened his eyes, extracted a few key words from a long paragraph and memorized them in order to respond to the head coach's spot checks, and then continued to doze off while leaning on Aguero's shoulder.

Anyway, some people in the team are not familiar with English, and the translator will repeat the tactical requirements many times, so he can listen along and it won't waste any time.

But the next second—

Guardiola: "Bati, open your eyes, what did I just say?"

"For the space behind him." Batistuta yawned and replied lazily, "I'm not asleep, Pep, I just look sleepy, but I'm actually listening."

"Really? I don't think so." Guardiola crossed his arms. "Then tell me again, do you agree with the hypothesis I just put forward?"

Ok?
The hypothesis just proposed?
Is there such a thing?
Batistuta opened his eyes a little wider, frowned, and looked at the head coach suspiciously. Then he turned his head and looked around the screening room. His teammates all had tense faces, afraid that he would find out something.

Well, that was what he had just missed. Batistuta shrugged and gave Guardiola a positive answer: "You are the boss, I agree, your assumption is definitely correct."

Guardiola smiled with success, then led the applause.

Guardiola: "Let us congratulate Batistuta for his first experience as a left winger in his career."

There was a good-natured laugh in the theater.

Batty: ???
"Wait a minute, me, left wing? Are you kidding?" Batistuta was completely sleepy, staring at the head coach with wide eyes in shock, "What a stupid decision, even if Mourinho likes to park the bus..."

"You mean you think you can't play on the left wing anymore." Guardiola straightened his collar and said slowly, "I thought what you told the reporter was true. You can play in every position in the frontcourt, right?"

Batty blinked, remembering that he had actually said that to the reporter.

"I said that, but that was an interview. We are studying the game against Manchester United now." He was surprised that the head coach would bring this up. "A big rotation in the frontcourt to deal with the man-to-man tactics? Too much, Pep, too much!"

“So you don’t dare,” Guardiola concluded succinctly.

Batty:!
"Screw it, I'll play!" Batistuta responded immediately. "It's just the left side. I just need to reduce my energy to 80%. It's not difficult!"

The screening room erupted in laughter even louder than before, mixed with the sounds of betting wins and losses. De Bruyne became the biggest winner, collecting money from his teammates with a smile of success. Brian, the locker room manager, lost the most, as he had firmly believed that Batistuta would not play on the left.

"You annoying people..." Batty gritted his teeth and raised his middle finger at them, then leaned on the chair and reached out for the money in De Bruyne's hand, "I earned it, give me half!"

Guardiola and Arteta looked at each other and smiled at the same time.

For Batistuta, provocation always works.

……

Back to the point, there is actually no big problem for Batistuta to switch to the left side.

In recent years, tactical innovations on the field have increasingly required wingers to be comprehensive and not just able to pass the ball, so this has also led to the emergence of many inverse-footed wingers, like Robben and Messi, who dribble the ball on the right and then cut inside to shoot with their left foot.

So according to this set of standards, Batistuta's lateral dribbling after dribbling inside from the left will be very deadly. In addition, with David Silva as a partner, they can easily pack up the opponent's defense if they work well together.

Batistuta started on the right simply because he likes the right side.

He can play on the left, no doubt about it.

The weekend came in a flash. On November 11, the derby day, the entire Manchester City team, led by Guardiola, took a bus to Old Trafford. As soon as they got off the bus, snowflakes fell from the sky. To Batistuta's surprise, he saw Loach in the locker room.

"Why are you here?" Batty asked as he walked over to change his clothes. Loach looked depressed, holding two cups of milk tea in his hands. Batty glanced at him up and down, "You're not on the bus. Did you fly here?"

Loach handed the milk tea to Batty: "I broke up."

Ok?
Batty was a little surprised, then took the milk tea and put it aside. Drinking this before the game would make your mouth dry.

"I'm not surprised at all. Everyone hates white leftists." He patted Niu's shoulder in a comforting manner, "Don't think about it. She's not right for you. You will find someone better."

Loach did not respond and still looked gloomy.

"I was the one who broke up with him," he said.

This sentence surprised Batty. He blinked and said, "You mentioned that?"

"Yes." Loach nodded heavily, "Because she said she would come to the competition site to urge people to eat vegetarian food." He paused, "Today."

what--

What a typical white leftist.

Batty scratched his chin, hooked Loach's neck and comforted him again: "You did the right thing, my friend, we can't let that kind of dirty stuff come to the stadium." After thinking about it, Batty decided to give his younger brother a gift to cheer him up, "Watch this game carefully, Loach, I will score a goal, and then celebrate with your favorite move, which I despise."

Loach was stunned, and then his eyes lit up, and in a second he got rid of his depressed look after the breakup.

"Really? Batty! Are you really willing to do that?" The black boy held Batty's arm and shook him back and forth. "You don't know that I have been waiting for you to do it for 10 years, God bless you, a full 10 years!"

"Of course, you are my best little brother of the year." Batty raised the corners of his mouth, and then patted the little curl on the top of the loach's head like a pet, "Welcome back to the happy single world."

Just as he said this, De Bruyne turned his head and looked at him, then looked away after a few seconds, not knowing what he was thinking.

……

【Welcome to watch today's game. The 175th Manchester Derby has begun... It seems that the two famous football coaches have made arrangements with a purpose. Guardiola did not choose Aguero, who was in good form, to start but replaced him with Jesus, who was more comprehensive. At the same time, he unexpectedly put Batistuta on the left. I wonder if Valencia and Smalling can withstand the impact of this new king of football. Mourinho has limited cards to play. Ibrahimovic is temporarily sitting on the bench. It is worth mentioning that the Magic Bird also brought players from the echelon to the scene today, but rather than saying that he is an echelon player, it is better to say that he is the team owner...】

The race began amid the increasingly heavy snow.

Manchester United's performance after the opening was somewhat beyond Guardiola's expectations. They did not attack right from the start like they did in the last league match against Arsenal. In less than 3 minutes, Manchester United started to defend.

"They wanted to catch Sterling and counterattack." Arteta said to Guardiola. Manchester United had just experienced an attack on the field. The ball was intercepted from De Bruyne's feet. Walker defended in place and did not let Martial get the ball. "That was the rhythm they wanted just now. Mourinho is not in a hurry. He is waiting for our mistakes."

As he was speaking, the referee blew the whistle and gave Kyle Walker a yellow card!
Before the end of the attack, Walker tripped Manchester United's Herrera in the midfield, and the latter fell to the ground exaggeratedly. The referee ruled that this was a foul.

And only 3 minutes and 45 seconds had passed in the game.

"I saw it, he just touched him, are you serious, yellow card?" Batistuta complained to the referee, "That guy almost dived in your face, you were fooled sir!"

The referee of this game is very young, but that does not mean he is inexperienced. He has officiated 13 Premier League games this season.

"I have my own judgment." The referee said, "Go back now, or I will have to remember you."

Batistuta was just dissatisfied, not stupid. "You have to enforce the law impartially, sir," he said as he left. "This is Old Trafford, but we are not pushovers."

After repeating the word "fair" to the referee several times, Batty ran back to his position and continued to play.

However, in the 13th minute, Herrera pulled down Sterling on the wing, and in the 18th minute, Lukaku knocked down Otamendi, but the referee did not make any comments. The dissatisfaction of Manchester City players was accumulating.

It was not until the 25th minute that Batistuta received a pass from Silva and broke into the penalty area. During his lateral breakthrough, he was kicked in the calf by Matic and fell to the ground. The referee still did not make any comment. He did not even stop the game. Manchester United got a chance to counterattack. Although they did not seize it, it was enough to annoy Batistuta.

"Hey! What do you want me to do in order to give the home player a yellow card? Am I going to die on the field?!" Batistuta angrily roared at the referee, "Someone kicked me, that should have been a penalty!"

But before the referee could say anything, someone behind Batty made a loud "Cut" sound and imitated diving: "Don't pretend, baby, we all saw your performance, it was really too clumsy."

Batty turned his head and looked over: "Who the hell do you think you are."

Lingard shrugged indifferently, "Just a player who can't dive," he said sarcastically.

Halfway through the first half, the smell of gunpowder became thicker.

(End of this chapter)

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