Starting with saving Manchester United

April 5, 2:40 PM.

St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew picked up a pen and scribbled on the tactics board the starting lineup for Manchester United's match.

Goalkeeper: Lindegaard;

Defense: Michael Keane, Smalling, and Phil Jones;

Midfielders: Evra, Kagawa, Fletcher, and Rafael, with Juan Mata leading the attack;

Forwards: Welbeck and Hernandez.

This is the three-defender tactic that Manchester United has been using most frequently recently.

When Alan Pardew finished writing the last Manchester United player's name, he threw the pen heavily onto the tactics board with all his might, shattering the entire plastic pen casing on the spot.

Immediately afterwards, this notorious troublemaker in English football slapped the tactics board hard.

Everyone in the locker room was immediately startled.

"This is Manchester United's starting lineup!"

"That's the damn team, what a disgrace to us."

"When they visited St. James' Park, they made nine substitutions."

"Nine players!!!"

All the Newcastle players on the field were intimidated by Alan Pardew's imposing presence.

At the same time, I was also provoked by his words.

Everyone in the world guessed that Manchester United would rotate their squad, because they wanted to concentrate all their efforts on dealing with Barcelona next Wednesday.

But what does this have to do with Newcastle?

Why did Manchester United dare to do this?

Isn't it just that they look down on Newcastle?

Isn't it just that they think they can leave St. James' Park unscathed even with a large-scale rotation?

"I even suspect that if it weren't for that damn Ferdinand getting injured, and if Evans hadn't not fully recovered, they would have rotated all 11 players."

"Look at this list, look at these guys..."

"This is an insult to us from Manchester United!"

The Newcastle players in the locker room were clearly provoked by Alan Pardew, and the atmosphere became intense.

When a weaker team plays against a stronger team, it's easy for the game to get exciting.

What's more, it's at home.

Who wouldn't want to put on a better performance when facing strong teams and win everyone's attention?

"We have no other choice!"

Alan Pardew walked up to the players, his gaze sweeping over each one in the locker room.

"I cannot accept being bullied like this on our home turf."

Even if that team is Manchester United!

"What can a complete novice who appeared out of nowhere do, without even the most basic coaching certificate?"

"Everyone is saying that Manchester United has won five straight games and is out of trouble."

"fart!"

"Moyes just had a six-game winning streak, but in the end he still suffered a crushing defeat."

"They're just holding on by sheer willpower right now, and what we need to do is show even more tenacity and fighting spirit than them!"

"We're going to go out there and tell that ignorant rookie, tell those damn Manchester United bastards, this isn't the place for them to run wild."

"This is St. James' Park!"

"From the very first second of the match, tear them to shreds!"

When Alan Pardew uttered those words through gritted teeth, the Newcastle players in the locker room all had tears in their eyes.

Everyone gritted their teeth and clenched their fists, ready to go into battle at any moment.

On the football field, the most beautiful and moving story, and also the one that is most abundant, is the one about David defeating Goliath!

……

The competition is tough!

Extremely difficult!

Newcastle, playing at home, seemed to have nothing to play for, but they unleashed an unprecedented fighting spirit.

The Magpies' players seem to want to use this match against Manchester United to remind everyone of the glory Newcastle once had.

It reminded the 52,000 Newcastle fans in the stadium that they were once one of the top clubs in English football!

From the very first minute of the match, Newcastle relentlessly attacked Manchester United's formation at top speed.

The home team, having had plenty of rest, took advantage of their physical condition and immediately put pressure on Manchester United, pressing them aggressively.

Typical Premier League pace.

Unusually, Manchester United were put under a lot of pressure by Newcastle from the start.

Especially in the 7th minute, striker Cissé had an excellent header opportunity.

Lindegaard, who replaced De Gea in the starting lineup, tipped the ball over the crossbar with both hands.

That was a very impressive save, showcasing great skill.

But this doesn't change Manchester United's passive situation.

Former Inter Milan full-back Santon delivered another dangerous pass, but Gosling's header went wide.

In the 21st minute, Cissé had another chance in the penalty area. He used his body to shield Smalling and then turned and shot.

The ball grazed the post and went out of bounds.

Three minutes later, Thornton crossed from the right, and it was Cisse again who headed the ball towards goal, beating Phil Jones to it.

This time it went straight up.

Newcastle's relentless and aggressive pressing put Manchester United in a very passive position.

In particular, the problems with player coordination caused by large-scale rotations made it difficult for Manchester United to launch quick counter-attacks.

Often, after winning the ball in their own half, they would pass it around in succession and then lose possession.

Fortunately, Newcastle's ability to seize opportunities was also lacking.

Especially in the first 30 minutes of fast-paced, frantic pressing, Newcastle failed to break through Manchester United's goal, forcing them to slow down their attack.

At the very least, the intensity of the pressing in the attacking third has been greatly reduced.

After Manchester United gradually stabilized, the advantage of their three-man defense in controlling possession in their own half became apparent.

But this also exposed a problem with Shinji Kagawa.

"He's really not a qualified midfield playmaker!"

Yang Fan sat in the away team's coaching bench, shaking his head repeatedly.

Why do I say that?

Manchester United struggled to get the ball up the pitch, forcing Juan Mata to drop back to receive the ball and link up play.

This is the problem.

Previously, Ferguson always used Shinji Kagawa as a winger, which caused a lot of dissatisfaction.

Klopp once said that Shinji Kagawa's best position is in the middle, not on the flanks.

What about this match?

Yang Fan placed him in the central midfield, giving him maximum authority to organize the attack. Everyone revolved around him to launch attacks and organize the offense, hoping that he could deliver an outstanding performance.

Judging from the results in the competition, it was just average.

Very general.

"As the Jazz have said before, the decision to buy Shinji Kagawa was indeed a bit rushed. Mainly because he only had one year left on his contract, he was performing well, and his price tag wasn't high. Most importantly, I went with the Jazz to watch the German Cup final where Dortmund beat Bayern 5-2, and he scored right at the start—he was so eye-catching!"

In the end, even Mike Phelan himself couldn't help but shake his head.

A good performance in the Bundesliga doesn't guarantee the same success in the Premier League.

Especially for players like Shinji Kagawa, whose physical strength is relatively weak, this weakness wasn't very noticeable in the Bundesliga.

Most importantly, the Bundesliga has a more relaxed defense, while the Premier League is faster-paced and involves more physical contact.

Another point is that sometimes the support of a team can make it more difficult to evaluate players.

Just like Shinji Kagawa.

When he played as the number 10 at Borussia Dortmund, he performed exceptionally well, seemingly capable of anything.

When he arrived at Manchester United, Ferguson discovered that his passing, especially his forward passes, was actually quite average.

Here's a statistic: Who is the best player in Manchester United this season at creating scoring opportunities?

Rooney!

Rooney's ability to deliver threatening passes this season is the best at Manchester United.

Zooming out to the Premier League, he ranks second, only behind Juan Mata.

Of course, Juan Mata joined during the winter break, so he wasn't included in Manchester United's rankings.

Shinji Kagawa is ranked 6th in Manchester United and outside the top 20 among all midfielders in the Premier League.

Just like in this game, with him as the core, it's easy to see that he basically doesn't have any ideas when passing the ball; he just passes it in a general and indiscriminate way.

Looking back from 2026, Yang Fan believes that Shinji Kagawa's rise to prominence was due to the support of Borussia Dortmund's overall tactics.

Playing alongside stars like Lewandowski, Götze, Gündoğan, Sahin, and Reus made him seem omnipotent and capable of everything.

Currently, his greatest strengths are his positioning and receiving; his technique is considered very good among Asian players.

But his physical strength is too poor.

However, he is quite diligent.

After Yang Fan took over the team, he didn't play a single minute. This time, he gave it his all when he finally got on the court.

no way!

Yang Fan sighed inwardly.

If it weren't for that old guy Giggs constantly scheming against him, Yang Fan would have preferred to use Giggs rather than Shinji Kagawa.

At the very least, Giggs isn't a great person, but he's incredibly skilled and clever on the field.

"What do we do now?" Mike Phelan asked anxiously from the side.

He himself was somewhat surprised after asking the question.

He didn't know when it happened, but he had actually started to get into the habit of asking Yang Fan for his thoughts.

"We can't let Newcastle's momentum wane!"

As Yang Fan finished speaking, he quickly stood up from his seat, walked to the sidelines, and shouted at Mata.

"Juan, stick it on!"

"Chris, move forward, move forward, engage them!"

Yang Fan was shouting very loudly on the sidelines. When the live TV camera switched to him and gave him a close-up, they even caught his shouts.

"We've seen that the game has now reached a stalemate."

"But the Manchester United manager is still demanding that the players push forward."

"Manchester United have indeed played very poorly from the start of this match until now."

"This is largely due to the fact that they rotated nine players."

"But clearly, Manchester United's goal is not a draw, but to win away from home."

……

"Do you want Mourinho to regret this?"

When Manchester United launched another attack and passed the ball forward, Welbeck controlled the ball and turned, but Coloccini intercepted it first and quickly passed it back to the goalkeeper.

As Juan Mata walked back, panting, a question his coach had asked him before the match suddenly flashed through his mind.

Want to?

Of course I want to!

How could I not want to?

As one of the best players for Chelsea, the Premier League, and even Europe last season, Mata is full of confidence and ambition for the future.

But after Mourinho arrived, he was relegated to the bench.

In just six months, he was sold to Manchester United.

Such a huge fluctuation was not because Juan Mata performed poorly, nor because he did anything wrong.

It's all because of just three words: Inappropriate!

Mourinho's tactics do not favor players like him.

When Mata arrived at Manchester United from Chelsea, he was determined to make everyone see him in a new light.

But during Moyes' time, he appeared more often on the wing.

He tried hard to adjust himself and adapt to Moyes' tactics, but his performance was inconsistent.

Until Yang Fan arrived.

It was dawn in Mata.

Especially after Yang Fan asked about it, this thought took root in his mind uncontrollably, growing stronger and stronger.

Manchester United launched another attack.

Shinji Kagawa passed the ball to the left wing and gave it to Evra.

Evra moved forward down the left flank, attempting a direct pass to Welbeck.

Thornton got there first, clearing the ball with a long kick and sending it forward.

Mata immediately followed his teammates and retreated quickly.

As the ball crossed the halfway line, Michael Keane quickly moved forward, getting ahead of Cisse, and headed the ball back into Newcastle's half.

However, Newcastle's players immediately counter-pressed, forcing Shinji Kagawa to pass back to his own half to find Smalling, who was orchestrating the play in the center.

Under pressure from Cissé, Smalling passed the ball back into the penalty area to find Lindegaard.

Mata could see from afar that Cissé was still relentlessly chasing towards the penalty area.

The Spaniard turned around and glanced behind him; the cunning Hernandez was already ready to make a run forward at any moment.

On the other side, Welbeck is also ready.

This is a sure thing that Lindgard will go for a big kick!

With that thought in mind, Mata no longer hesitated and turned to sprint.

As expected, Lindegaard controlled the ball and moved it to the right side of the penalty area, avoiding Cisse, before chasing after it and kicking the ball forward with a long kick.

At the same time, Manchester United's two forwards quickly started their run, sprinting forward at top speed.

Newcastle's center-back Coloccini was prepared, keeping a close eye on Hernandez and quickly dropping back.

Hernandez is not known for his speed, and by the time he caught up, he couldn't beat Coloccini in the header.

The Argentine center-back won the first ball.

But the Mexican striker was clever; he knew he couldn't win the contest, so he didn't jump at all, but instead tried to interfere when Coloccini jumped.

Coloccini got to the ball and tried to head it back into the penalty area, but he missed the target.

The ball went high but not far, landing on the left side of the top of the arc.

Newcastle's other center-back, Williamson, quickly tracked back to defend.

Just as the 1.94-meter-tall center-back was about to head the ball, Welbeck quickly darted out from the side, preemptively heading the ball towards the penalty spot inside the penalty area.

A red figure swiftly emerged from the middle, and with no one marking him, he used his left foot to deflect the ball to his left, fooling the onrushing goalkeeper Elliott who quickly moved to intercept.

Mata quickly caught up and made a move to unleash a shot.

Elliott didn't have time to think further and immediately lunged sideways.

But the next moment, Elliott felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

Mata, who had been feinting a shot, actually cut the ball back, barely getting past Elliott before unleashing a right-footed shot.

The football quickly nestled into Newcastle's unguarded goal.

"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!"

"In the 39th minute of the first half, Manchester United's third shot of the match, Mata's first shot of the game, broke through Newcastle's goal!"

Manchester United take a 1-0 lead!

Mata jumped up excitedly and rushed off the field to celebrate, running right up to the live camera.

Mourinho, did you see that?

I'll make you regret this!