Manchester United was the first to show their momentum at the start of the game, which was important to set the tone of the game.
Liverpool was able to shake hands with Manchester United at home in the first half of the season because Comain's tactical strategy of defensive counterattack had good results.
But today, Liverpool had to compete head-on with Manchester United even though it was an away game!
Because Comain believed that Liverpool needed to completely portray the temperament of a king!
And the temperament of a king could not be a utilitarian way of thinking.
In a real top-level confrontation, it was necessary to show the momentum of a head-on confrontation. In other words, it was necessary to show at least the boldness and courage to overwhelm or even crush the opponent on the field!
Liverpool also began to play fast and attacked from the flanks.
In the third minute of the game, Gerard passed the ball to the left flank from midfield.
When Qin Xiong touched the ball, Manchester United was on high alert.
Although Valencia came to the team as a replacement for Ronaldo, he obviously could not reach the heights of Ronaldo. He was more like a conscientious fighter.
One of the important tactical tasks that Ferguson arranged for him was to defend against Qin Xiong. He must follow him like a shadow!
When Qin Xiong moved forward with the ball, Valencia chased all the way from behind. When Qin Xiong was about to come into contact with Qin Xiong, Qin Xiong blocked Valencia's pressing by dribbling the ball at an angle to protect the ball.
After Qin Xiong came to the offensive danger zone 40 yards away from the goal, the defensive midfielder Fletcher rushed over to assist in the defense, but he did not rush to intercept. Instead, he blocked Qin Xiong's path to cut inside, so that Qin Xiong could not change the direction of the ball in advance.
Then he went to Neville's defensive zone, and Neville came up to intercept fiercely.
Qin Xiong was aware before the game that he would be the focus of the opponent's marking, especially a pragmatic team like Manchester United. They were definitely not a team like Real Madrid, who lacked engineers.
He was trapped in a three-sided siege and had no space to break through, so he could only choose to pass the ball.
Qin Xiong passed the ball with his left foot and the football flew between Neville and Fletcher into the penalty area.
Fletcher and Neville were not satisfied. In the end, they still let him pass the ball!
The landing spot of the ball was actually not bad, but Torres was unable to do anything with Ferdinand and Vidic sandwiching him.
The cross was cleared by Ferdinand with a header!
The bounced football landed at Carrick's feet. Gerard immediately counterattacked, and Carrick decisively diverted the ball to the left flank.
Full-back Evra stepped forward to receive the ball from the back to advance the offense.
Kuyt had just run to the flank to stop Evra's advance, but the French full-back had already passed the ball straight to Nani in front.
Nani started again after stopping the ball and went straight to the inside cut line.
He kicked the ball 35 yards in front of Alonso.
An anti-aircraft gun was fired at the football.
But Manchester United's attack was very decisive!
Liverpool wanted to attack from the flank again, but Qin Xiong was closely marked by the opponent.
Kuyt's ability to break through from the flank was limited, so Gerard tried to move to the right flank to cooperate with Kuyt.
After a two-versus-one combination, Gerard charged into the penalty area near the end line. He turned the ball back in the face of Vidic's pressing, and then passed the ball across the ground to the front of the goal.
Torres got rid of Ferdinand to grab the ball, but he did not expect the veteran goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar, to be the first to rush out and press the ball under his body.
Torres felt a lot of pressure. He had to admit that Manchester United's center-back combination was still the best in the world.
Ferdinand and Vidic were recognized as the world's best defensive combination in Europe two years ago.
Manchester United's pass and cut from the flank was almost perfect. It was this simple routine that made Liverpool's flank defense difficult.
In the eighth minute of the game, Nani dribbled and advanced from the left flank of the front field. He came to the front and back of the penalty area and made a two-versus-one combination with Rooney. Rooney slotted the ball diagonally into the bottom line of the penalty area, and Nani rushed behind Johnson to control the ball in front of the bottom line.
After he observed for a while, he passed the ball back to the top of the penalty area arc, where Park Ji-sung received the ball and took a shot!
It was Manchester United's first shot at the goal.
Reina made a wonderful save and blocked the ball out of the end line.
"Liverpool's dangerous situation in front of the goal was resolved by Reina. Manchester United's fast attack was dazzling. They made simple combinations by quickly advancing the offense and then created a chance to shoot. This is a typical Manchester United, simple and efficient offensive combination!"
Manchester United's attack from the corner failed to threaten.
Liverpool had to think about how to attack.
Qin Xiong was often surrounded and marked, which was not a good sign.
For a while, even the Manchester United fans thought that Liverpool's ace was completely restrained by Ferguson's defensive tactics.
For almost five minutes, Qin Xiong could not touch the ball in four attacks. The three sandwiches of Neville, Fletcher and Valencia made it difficult for Qin Xiong to get a good opportunity to receive.
Qin Xiong's mentality was calm. He was never afraid of difficulties. In such a situation, he would calmly think about how to break out of the situation.
He began to take the initiative to withdraw from the dangerous areas in the front field, away from the Manchester United goal, and then began to move from the flank to the middle.
Seeing the change in his activity, Gerrard immediately understood what he meant.
In the 11th minute of the game, Alonso controlled the ball in the middle and back field. After he and Mascherano made a one-two combination to get rid of Park Ji-sung's pressing, Alonso passed the ball to the midfield.
Carrick thought that Gerard would stop the ball, but Gerard ran forward without looking back.
Qin Xiong cut across from behind him to the middle and took the ball away halfway. Fletcher, Valencia and Park Ji-sung, who returned to defend, Qin Xiong still did not have much space to make a breakthrough. Manchester United's partial siege and small cooperation was still very tacit.
Qin Xiong did not intend to control the ball or dribble to advance the offense for a long time. After he attracted the attention of many defenders, his purpose was to free up Gerard and let Gerard become the focus of the offense. This was also what Gerard could understand.
Caught in the middle of many people, Qin Xiong swerved the ball horizontally and swayed the angle before he sent it straight out with a kick.
The football rolled past Carrick and directly into the path of Gerard's running position.
Gerard went straight to the front of the penalty area. He passed the ball diagonally to Torres, who had his back to the penalty area, when Vidic was ready to snatch it.
With his back to Ferdinand, Torres did not turn around to knock the ball diagonally behind Vidic. Gerard plugged in after the ball was sent out. When Vidic turned and tried to pull Gerard to form interference, Gerard took the lead to touch the ball.
Touch the ball and it was a shot!
However, Gerard barely shot the ball because Vidic's body interfered with him after he turned around.
He did not use enough power and the ball flew slowly in the direction of the goal, and the angle was not very good.
Edwin van der Sar steadily received the ball directly into his arms!
"Liverpool's threatening attack formed a shot. Unfortunately, Gerard directly sent the ball into Edwin van der Sar's arms. What a pity!"
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