Starting with saving Manchester United

Chapter 91 A Rookie's Lucky Break

On the evening of the 23rd, in Munich, Germany, on Säbener Straße.

Guardiola and his core coaching staff reviewed last night's Champions League semi-final match in the meeting room.

The second leg will be played at the Allianz Arena in Munich, and time is running out for Bayern.

For Bayern Munich, after losing 0-2 away in the first leg, the first thing to consider when returning home is to attack.

How to score two goals in the shortest amount of time?

This is a crucial challenge for Bayern in the second leg next Wednesday!

With this in mind, the Bayern coaching staff needs to consider how to develop attacking tactics.

Especially this aggressive attack after the opening!

"Judging from the first leg, we can see that Manchester United had a very meticulous defensive setup specifically targeting Mandzukic."

Spanish analyst Carles Pranchat, who was Guardiola's go-to analyst at Barcelona, ​​followed him to Bayern Munich, where he was responsible for analyzing opponents' tactics and designing set-piece attacking and defensive systems.

"In the first leg, we were quite active on both flanks, while our opponents defended the middle and flanks, leaving the flanks open for us to attack, just like Barcelona."

"Look—"

Pranchat released several videos from the match, mostly showing Bayern attacking down the flanks and crossing to Mandzukic, while Manchester United countered with targeted defense.

"They adopted a three-defender formation, with Vidic marking Mandzukic, one player blocking the attacking post, and another guarding the defense."

"When our players cross from the wing, Mandzukic is often double-teamed by two players when the ball reaches the near post or the center. Even if he manages to get to the ball, let alone attack the goal directly, there is no one to support him."

"What if we don't look for Mandzukic?"

Pranchat released several more videos, all showing passes behind Mandzukic or Mandzukic at the far post, with the same result.

"No one's there to help!"

Pranchat's purpose in sharing several videos was to show everyone that Mandzukic alone cannot carry the attack in Bayern Munich's three-man defense system against Manchester United.

"I think we need someone to show up here, here, or here and here."

Pranchart pointed out many different positions in the video footage that were making up for the gaps in Bayern's attack.

Ribery and Robben are indeed very strong, but they are ultimately wingers.

Bayern Munich appears to be playing a 4-2-3-1 formation, but theoretically they also have a number 10 position.

In reality, during the game, Toni Kroos mostly played as a midfielder, or even a deep left midfielder.

This prevented Bayern's number 10 from making timely forward runs to fill the gaps left by Mandzukic's runs and stretching of the defense.

"Carles, what do you think?" Guardiola asked.

Pranchat noticed that everyone's attention was on him.

But he was not intimidated at all.

"We have two players who can fill this role, Thomas Müller and Mario Götze, both of whom have strong positioning and attacking ability from deep within the attacking line."

"Thomas Müller is good at scoring goals and making runs. I think his attacking partnership with Mandzukic would be the most threatening."

"Götze's ability at the number 10 position will be key to us suddenly speeding up the pace of the game once we gain possession."

Previously, this role was often played by Iniesta or Messi when they were at Barcelona.

In the current Bayern Munich, Ribery is a winger, and when he appears in the middle, his performance is not as eye-catching.

Robben was even worse.

But Götze is different.

The young German player's dribbling skills are indeed impressive.

"So, Carles, you mean Thomas Müller for the number 10 position in the next round?" Assistant coach Domenech Torrent asked with concern.

"That's right, and if we want to play even more aggressively, Götze can come on at the same time."

Pranchart's suggestion caused an uproar in the meeting room.

Wouldn't that mean we have to change tactics?

Thomas Müller and Götze are both on the field, while Ribery, Mandzukic, and Robben are unavailable.

That makes five people.

Are they trying to emulate Manchester United's three-man defense?

It's obviously unrealistic.

Bayern Munich hadn't prepared for this before.

More importantly, if the full-backs are taken out, whether it's Alaba, Lahm, or Rafinha, how can we attack down the flanks?

If we maintain a four-defender formation, the only position that can be moved is the defensive midfielder.

"No, that's too risky!" Torrent shook his head.

Pranchat didn't insist, shrugging, "I said, I was thinking from the perspective of scoring a goal."

Pranchat's last words left everyone in the meeting room speechless.

A glint of light flashed in Guardiola's eyes.

"Champions League! Champions League! Champions League!"

"The whole world is focused on the Champions League right now, who cares about us fighting relegation?"

While Guardiola was busy studying tactics in Munich, Norwich City manager Neil Adams was complaining in his cramped and shabby office in eastern England.

Sitting opposite him was assistant coach Mark Robson, a very experienced and capable assistant.

No wonder Neil Adams went crazy.

He also took over Norwich midway through the season, on April 6th, a little later than Yang Fan.

Former head coach Chris Hughton was sacked because Norwich's relegation situation was extremely precarious.

At the time, Norwich was ranked 17th in the Premier League with 32 points.

Next up are Sunderland with 29 points, Fulham with 27 points, and Cardiff with 26 points.

What about upwards?

West Bromwich Albion with 32 points, Swansea City with 33 points, Aston Villa with 34 points, and Hull City with 36 points.

There are also two teams with 37 points: Crystal Palace and West Ham United.

In other words, from 11th place down, 10 teams are fighting to avoid relegation!

The situation regarding avoiding relegation is extremely dire.

Neil Adams led the team in two games, both of which ended in narrow defeats.

They narrowly lost their first match 0-1 away to Fulham.

A week later, they narrowly lost 2-3 to Liverpool at home in the 35th round of the Premier League.

Although they played very tenaciously in both matches, the results were unsatisfactory.

In the 35th round of matches, Sunderland surprisingly defeated Chelsea 2-1 away from home, securing three valuable points.

With this victory, Black Cat has temporarily made peace.

Norwich, however, has been mired in relegation trouble, dropping to the 18th-placed relegation zone.

Cardiff City also managed a draw against Stoke City.

As a result, both Fulham, at the bottom of the table, and Cardiff, at 19th, have 30 points, just 2 points less than Norwich.

Crystal Palace, in 11th place, has 37 points, 5 more than Norwich.

But there are only three rounds left in the league.

"We have no choice but to take risks and win, just like Sunderland did!" Neil Adams said with a great sense of urgency.

If he avoids relegation, he can stay on as manager.

"Manchester United are on a hot streak lately, winning nine straight games," Mark Robson noted.

"That's right!"

A flicker of jealousy flashed in Neil Adams' eyes.

They were all putting out fires midway through, so why is there such a big difference between people?

I've suffered two consecutive losses, but what about Yang Fan?

A 25-year-old rookie without even a coaching certificate has managed to achieve a 9-game winning streak.

Is this even reasonable? Is this fair?

The only explanation is that Yang Fan was lucky and struck gold, managing the formidable Manchester United!

He himself was unlucky enough to coach Norwich.

However, this weekend at Old Trafford, I must thrash Manchester United just like Sunderland upset Chelsea, make a name for myself in one fell swoop, and climb out of the relegation zone!

"Manchester United will definitely be distracted by the Champions League second leg next Wednesday, while Bayern Munich, playing at home, still have a very high chance of winning."

"Therefore, I can be fairly certain that Manchester United will make significant rotations in this weekend's league match."

"It's even possible that all the starting players could be rotated out."

Neil Adams wasn't wrong to think that way.

Yang Fan did the same thing before.

"Most importantly, we have no other choice!"

"so----"

"We'll attack aggressively over the weekend, score a goal, then defend defensively, let Manchester United push forward, and then launch counter-attacks against them!"

Neil Adams' eyes lit up as he said this.

He could almost see Norwich leaving Old Trafford with a victory, heads held high.

Similar scenes have occurred repeatedly at Old Trafford this season.

West Bromwich Albion left with a 2-1 lead.

Everton and Newcastle left with a 1-0 lead.

Fulham left with a 2-2 draw.

They could do it, and Neil Adams believed that he and Norwich could too.

It can even be done better!

"We still have two days, let's carefully study how to play!"

Yang Fan was unaware of the potential hostility lurking outside, preparing to harm him.

After making some moves on the IGInode platform on the evening of the 23rd, he temporarily put it out of his mind and threw himself back into Manchester United's intensive preparations.

Moreover, the timeframe is next Wednesday when they visit Allianz Stadium.

As for the league match against Norwich this weekend, Yang Fan really doesn't care.

They had even made it clear within the team early on that they would continue to rotate players extensively.

Concentrate all forces on the Champions League match next Wednesday!

But on the afternoon of the 24th, he suddenly received a call from his agent, Simon.

His account was immediately frozen.

That evening, after get off work, he met the British agent at a coffee shop in the Carrington neighborhood.

"Excuse me, Mr. Yang, it's just routine."

Upon meeting, Simon immediately took out a voice recorder.

Yang Fan casually gestured for him to make himself at home.

These things need to be recorded in the archives.

In many online novels that Yang Fan had read in his previous life, stock trading and futures trading seemed particularly easy and simple.

It's actually really difficult in reality.

Because there are a lot of restrictions.

Even platforms like IGInode have a whole host of constraints and rules.

Of course, there are far fewer other unregulated third-party platforms, but the question is, if they are all unregulated, would you dare to use them?

It's like trading Bitcoin.

Yang Fan had never even considered it.

Why?

Because we can't get the money.

For small transactions, it's better than nothing.

What if the amount is too large?

How do you explain the sudden appearance of such a large sum of money in your bank account?

Which government would let you off the hook?

Anti-money laundering mechanisms are no joke; they can get you arrested in no time.

However, legitimate channels often face regulatory and tax issues.

Just like Yang Fan now.

Yesterday evening, he placed a 24-hour limit buy order for gold futures on the IGInode platform at a price slightly below the market price.

At that time, the price of gold futures was around $1280.

Yang Fan placed a limit buy order at $1270.

It started at $1283.9 on the morning of the 24th and fluctuated around that number throughout the morning.

As a result, it suddenly dropped to $1268.4 in the afternoon, and then quickly climbed to $1299.

It fell back to $1290.6 at the close.

Yang Fan's limit orders were $1270 each, which he managed to buy.

Most importantly, Yang Fan invested £60 with a leverage of 100.

In other words, it is actually equivalent to £6000 million.

This is already a super big order.

The key point is that Yang Fan himself was also surprised.

According to his plan, he placed limit buy orders for the next few days, all around $1270.

Wait until around May 1st, then make a move based on market conditions.

That way it won't attract attention.

Unexpectedly, an accident still occurred.

All these factors combined immediately caught the attention of the back-end regulators, especially since it was Yang Fan's first transaction.

This led to the emergency freezing of his account and Simon's trip north from London to Manchester.

"As you can see, the market is too chaotic right now, with ups and downs. Everyone is watching and waiting. Those who think there will be a war are bullish, while those who think there won't be a war are bearish."

Yang Fan explained his operational intentions.

"I think the possibility of returning to the level of early January, falling below 1260 points, is very, very small. The lowest point in April was 1277."

"I told you before, I firmly believe they will fight, but I don't know when."

"So I thought that if it dropped to 1270 points, I would buy the dip, so I tried to open a trade, but I didn't expect—"

Yang Fan's statement is reasonable.

Simon also felt that Yang Fan was just too inexperienced and didn't know how to read market conditions, which is why he placed orders recklessly.

Unexpectedly, a blind cat stumbled upon a dead mouse.

Moreover, IGInde did not suspect Yang Fan of insider trading, but was concerned about his financial situation, which falls under risk control.

Most importantly, 100x leverage is indeed a bit too high.

"Is this illegal?" Yang Fan looked like a typical "newbie".

"Mr. Yang, it's not illegal. There's no regulation on how much leverage is currently available. 100x leverage in gold futures is quite common, but it's only suitable for professional institutional traders. For beginners—"

Yang Fan shook his head and said, "I don't understand either. I just chose it when I was operating the system. I saw that there was another option to choose higher, 200 times, but I didn't dare to choose it."

"I did the math myself, and as long as the drop isn't too big, there shouldn't be much risk, right?"

"With your current funds, you're safe for now as long as the index doesn't fall below 1260 points," Simon replied.

Yang Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief. "It was too risky to do something like this for the first time. Next time I'll just choose 30x leverage."

黄金要跌破1260点，差不多就是要回到13年的12月底和14年的1月初。

Yang Fan had planned and figured all of this out beforehand.

However, Yang Fan was well aware that gold prices would rise after the union building massacre in early May.

The key is not to make it too obvious.

In the UK, spread trading is considered gambling, so it is exempt from capital gains tax and stamp duty.

However, it must also be subject to strict regulation.

Just like Yang Fan, if he makes even the slightest move, the platform's backend will immediately sound an alarm.

"Mr. Yang, are you planning to invest long-term or short-term?" Simone asked routinely.

"I originally planned to hold onto it for a few days and see how the situation and market conditions changed, but now I'll definitely sell it as soon as it's unfrozen."

Simon couldn't help but laugh.

Yang Fan's frightened behavior is consistent with his impression of rookies.

In his view, Yang Fan was just a newbie who was easily alarmed by the slightest disturbance and could always find a bunch of conspiracy theories under his fingernails.

"By the way, I want to sell. Can you handle the process for me?" Yang Fan asked.

"Of course, our platform charges handling fees and overnight interest, so we can also entrust operations, but an authorization statement needs to be signed."

Yang Fan nodded.

That's a good option.

Set a target price, entrust Simon to handle it, and sell it once it arrives, saving a lot of trouble.

Surely no one would worry that a small retail investor like Yang Fan could manipulate the gold futures market, right?

If you don't make much money when you sell, retail investors will also lose a transaction fee and overnight financing fee.

Therefore, the platform is guaranteed to make a profit.

You should unfreeze the account and cash out as soon as possible.