Starting with saving Manchester United

Chapter 109 Victory is assured! Dismember Real Madrid!

write a letter?

This was never Yang Fan's goal.

He doesn't expect the players to write very well.

Why do that?

It was purely to manipulate the players' mentality and get everyone to start working towards the same goal.

The match on the night of the 24th!

It's like a promise!

But that's not enough.

Starting from the 14th, the team has been holding a meeting for half an hour every day.

Why?

Dismantle Real Madrid!

What does that mean?

When the players sat in the meeting room, and Paul Brand started playing the video materials, everyone understood something.

The.

The video footage comes from Real Madrid's match recordings, but it's not a compilation of Real Madrid's best performances.

Instead, it collected all of Real Madrid's mistakes over this period of time.

Midfield passing errors, defensive lapses, and missed opportunities by the forwards —

Yang Fan had Paul Brand collect all the mistakes made by Real Madrid players individually and by the team as a whole, edit them into video highlights, and show one segment to the players every day for analysis.

Why does Cristiano Ronaldo waste shots?

Why are Coentrao, Marcelo, and Carvajal always so slow to get back on defense?

How to disrupt Xabi Alonso's passing and playmaking?

Why is Ancelotti still unwilling to use Casillas after Mourinho sidelined him?

All the seemingly minor details eventually converged into one core issue.

How can we make Real Madrid uncomfortable?

Everyone spoke freely, expressing their opinions based on their position, role, and opposing players, and brainstorming ways to create problems for their opponents and uncover their weaknesses.

Yang Fan's tenure as manager of Manchester United was short, only two months.

But in the past period, he has held tactical meetings before and after every game, allowing all players to speak freely.

Everyone gradually developed this habit.

This time is no exception.

Yang Fan asked Jackie Kay to take meeting minutes, recording all the ideas the players had put forward and making two huge fishbone diagrams.

A report titled "Real Madrid is doomed to lose!"

It contains all the reasons that players pointed out that made Real Madrid uncomfortable and caused them to make mistakes.

Another one is called "Manchester United Must Win!"

As the name suggests, the previous document was about collecting the reasons for Real Madrid's mistakes, while this document is about Manchester United's targeted strategies to exploit Real Madrid's weaknesses and mistakes and leverage their own strengths.

Yang Fan and the coaching staff, on the other hand, based on the ideas and approaches put forward by the players, and by uncovering Real Madrid's problems and weaknesses, especially targeting Real Madrid's dangerous players, such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.

Or perhaps it was the pressure and counter-pressing against Modric after losing possession in midfield.

Another issue is the interference with Xabi Alonso.

One point to emphasize is the need to mark Ramos and Pepe closely when defending set pieces in your own half.

Take all these specific problems, combine them with the actual situation, discuss them with the players, analyze them according to the RACI matrix, formulate clear countermeasures, and come up with a practical solution.

What happens after we have a plan?

After resting for two days over the weekend, Yang Fan added a new training exercise: simulated sparring.

Have Manchester United players simulate Real Madrid players.

For example, Nani imitated Cristiano Ronaldo, Welbeck imitated Gareth Bale, Januzaj imitated Isco, and Mata imitated Modric.

Manchester United's players are indeed far behind Real Madrid's stars, and their characteristics are not entirely the same, but this is just a simulation, more about practicing targeted tactics and game strategies.

Unlike Real Madrid, who aim to both win and create an attractive spectacle, Yang Fan doesn't have such high standards.

If we lack strength, we'll make up for it with willpower.

But one thing is clear.

That is to put near-suffocating pressure on the opponent, just like Atletico Madrid did, and dismantle Real Madrid's organization and attack!

While simulating drills and regular training, cameras all around the training field capture various mistakes made by the players.

Some were passing errors, others were mistakes in tactical positioning.

At the end of the training, immediately review the footage, make corrections, and improve as needed.

Time passed day by day.

Manchester United's training camp in the suburbs of Marbella is still bustling with activity.

Except for his first day in Spain, when he shouted the slogan "We are determined to win the Champions League" during a team meeting, Yang Fan never mentioned winning the title again.

No one mentioned it during the entire training camp.

What everyone discussed most was the various details and feasible solutions.

As Yang Fan said before, there will be a meeting every day, half an hour long, to dismantle Real Madrid!

He, the coaching staff, and the players all did the same.

They practically tore Real Madrid apart, broke them apart, and crushed them.

Gradually, as people saw and thought more, everyone began to realize that Real Madrid wasn't all that great after all.

They make a lot of mistakes, make a lot of errors, and waste opportunities. They're just a bunch of good-for-nothings!

Through this breakdown, the players also overcame their fear of Real Madrid and rebuilt their confidence and strength for the Champions League final!

The analysis and training sessions over the past few days have given Manchester United players a deeper understanding of Real Madrid's players and tactics.

This will help them handle various unexpected situations in the competition more calmly.

It continued until the morning of the 23rd.

The team will depart for Lisbon this afternoon.

There's one last training session today.

During the morning tactical meeting, Yang Fan did not allow the players to analyze or discuss the issues further.

Both fishbone diagrams are filled with densely packed reasons and solutions. Although there are many, they are not messy at all; they are very clear and organized.

On the last day, Yang Fan also unleashed his final trump card!

Seize the opportunity!

From the start, they launched a relentless, aggressive attack on Real Madrid!

Manchester United's coaching staff had some reservations, but Yang Fan persisted.

Ancelotti's coaching style has always been very stable, even somewhat conservative.

Real Madrid possesses an overwhelming overall advantage; they have superior ball control, are faster, have sharper counter-attacks, and boast better individual skills.

How could Manchester United win under normal circumstances?

What can they use to fight Real Madrid to the death?

The answer is, there's simply no way!

In Yang Fan's previous life, Atletico Madrid fought a war of attrition against Real Madrid in the Champions League final, but in the end, Atletico Madrid collapsed first.

In Yang Fan's previous life, Bayern Munich played too comfortably in the two matches against Real Madrid, and as a result, they were defeated by Real Madrid's counter-attacking style.

In the first leg at the Bernabéu, Dortmund's rhythm was disrupted by Real Madrid's opening goal, resulting in a 0-3 defeat.

All of this is repeatedly reminding Yang Fan of one thing.

Whatever you do, don't let Real Madrid establish themselves and play comfortably!

Then the only option is to use unconventional tactics to catch the opponent off guard.

Therefore, the best approach is to launch a strong attack from the start, try to score a goal, or pick up the pace of the game and force Real Madrid to fight tooth and nail against Manchester United!

But how do we launch a preemptive attack?

There's a reason for this.

It's not the kind of situation where everyone shouts slogans and rushes out aimlessly.

That's just plain stupid.

Real Madrid didn't have to do anything; their counter-attacking style completely blew Manchester United apart.

Yang Fan's final tactical meeting was to convey the team's opening attacking tactics, devised by the coaching staff, to the players.

Our goal is very simple.

"15 minutes, 15 minutes at most."

"We want to send a signal to Real Madrid in the first 15 minutes of the game."

"We're going to Lisbon on a death mission!"

"We need to dominate Real Madrid both in terms of momentum and psychology!"

The initial aggressive attack took a lot of energy.

This is especially true for an aging team like Manchester United.

But Yang Fan felt that even without scoring a goal, as long as it disrupted Real Madrid's rhythm and strategy, it would be worth it!

Because the most important thing is confidence and morale!

Of course, Yang Fan didn't have as many psychological burdens as Ferguson, and he didn't insist on winning the championship standing up.

Yang Fan can be very flexible; as long as he can win, it doesn't matter if he lies down.

Therefore, after 15 minutes of attacking pressure, regardless of the outcome, the team immediately switched to a defensive counter-attacking strategy.

However, Yang Fan's meticulously prepared counter-attacking strategy for Real Madrid in this match was completely different from his previous ones.

The final training session on the 23rd was designed around these 15 minutes.

Manchester United again traveled by private jet from Malaga to Lisbon.

Many Manchester United fans who had received advance notice went to the airport to greet him.

Because of Cristiano Ronaldo and Coentrao, Real Madrid clearly has a greater appeal among local fans in Lisbon.

Manchester United is far inferior in comparison.

Upon arriving in Lisbon, Manchester United took a bus directly to the Stadium of Light for a pre-match training session to familiarize themselves with the pitch. The training was very low-intensity and was semi-public with media and fans present, so no actual drills were conducted.

After training, there will be a routine press conference.

Including Yang Fan, as well as star players such as Rooney and Van Persie, all of them must participate.

It's basically the same old problems, nothing new.

After finishing all that, the team left the Stadium of Light and returned to their hotel, by which time it was already completely dark.

Along the way, the brightly lit Portuguese city was filled with the atmosphere of the Champions League final.

Upon arriving at the hotel, Yang Fan had just stepped into the lobby when he heard Woodward's hearty laughter from afar.

And there was the joyful hug from Manchester United CEO Steve Dainton.

How so?

Woodward isn't a bad person. He's the kind of easygoing, outgoing, and enthusiastic white European who, especially with his baby face, gives the impression of being simple-minded.

But if you actually believe it, you won't even know when he'll sell you out.

Therefore, Yang Fan has always been quite cautious in front of Woodward.

"How was it? How were the results of the 10-day intensive training?" Woodward enthusiastically pulled Yang Fan aside to talk.

Yang Fan glanced at the players entering the hotel, smiled and nodded, saying, "Don't worry, everyone is very motivated."

Looking up, everyone had three green lights above their heads, and they were all a deep, almost dripping green.

Moreover, reports from Andy Walker indicate that the players are in quite good condition.

"While our team was training, Real Madrid was also secretly training, probably figuring out how to counter us," Woodward laughed.

Yang Fan was not surprised.

After the players had all checked in, Yang Fan noticed that there was no one else around except John Mottaf, and immediately asked, "Ed, have you made a decision about what I told you last time?"

Woodward glanced around, shook his head, and sighed. "I've consulted with the authorities, but their response from the US is: follow the contract!"

Upon hearing this, Yang Fan cursed inwardly.

Before he went to Spain, he made a special phone call to Woodward.

Logically speaking, the team's performance has improved significantly in the last two months, not to mention in the league, they have even reached the Champions League final.

Shouldn't we show some sincerity and give the players some extra rewards to motivate them at this point?

This is perfectly normal, isn't it?

Which of these teams—Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, or Barcelona—didn't offer big prizes to motivate their players?

But what about Manchester United?

There wasn't a sound at all!

Act in accordance with the contract?

Isn't that ridiculous?

Woodward saw through Yang Fan's thoughts and shook his head, sighing, "I can't help you with this either. Old Mr. Glazer just passed away, and the three Glazer brothers haven't reached an agreement yet, so there are many things I can't do."

Yang Fan did not doubt Woodward.

Given Woodward's current situation, his desire to win the Champions League may not be inferior to Yang Fan's.

It's probably really impossible to move.

"Yang, I really did my best!"

At this point, Woodward gently tugged at Yang Fan's arm, "But don't worry, as long as you lead the team to victory, I'll give you the bonus tomorrow night."

"Not only the £500 million for winning the Champions League, but also the £100 million for qualifying for the Champions League, every penny will be paid."

This is probably the limit of what Woodward could achieve.