After the opening lightning attack, Chu Zheng, Vardy and others immediately followed Ranieri's tactics and retreated to the midfield and backcourt.
As for Manchester United, this is Old Trafford, the Theater of Dreams, their home ground, and they are the Red Devils Manchester United, so there is no reason to be timid.
A wealthy team like Manchester United must attack at home, and there is no reason not to attack!
After Manchester United regained the ball, they did not launch an attack directly through long passes from the backcourt, but through smooth ground conduction, and the formation suddenly pounced on them.
Leicester City, on the other hand, carried out an active and tacit pressing press in the midfield.
At this time, it can be seen from the stands that none of the Leicester City players are walking on the field. Everyone is actively cooperating with nearby teammates to run without the ball. The strong and high energy is extremely obvious.
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Manchester United tried several times to advance through the middle, but each time they were beaten by Leicester City players and could only develop the attack to the wings.
Especially Chu Zheng and Kanter, their stealing and interception abilities are really scary.
Kante's ghostly movement and terrifying sweeping range are enough to give Manchester United players a headache, but there is Chu Zheng who is not much worse than Kante.
Compared with Kanter, Manchester United players are more afraid of Chu Zheng.
Because Chu Zheng has a very deceptive body, he doesn't look like a muscular man, but once you have physical contact with him, you will immediately feel an overwhelming pressure.
In the 5th minute of the game, Manchester United was once again beaten by Leicester City's tacit press in the middle and almost couldn't take care of themselves.
Fortunately, Blind reacted quickly and promptly transferred the ball to the frontcourt with his precise long pass.
Martial pulled aside in time, got the ball and quickly started to cut inside the left rib area at the top of the arc.
And Manchester United left back Rojo came up very quickly and went directly along the wing to meet the ball.
Mahrez and Simpson stood one behind the other in the upper corner of the left penalty area to form a layered defense.
Seeing Martial coming with the ball, Mahrez directly passed over.
He did not stretch his foot recklessly, but was cautious to guard against Martial's sudden increase in speed and sudden change of force.
He knows the thoughts and abilities of Martial, who is also a wide player.
Simpson, on the other hand, slowly moved vertically along the left penalty area line toward the bottom line, and the inside line was released to the outside line for Rojo.
And Simpson did not stay too far away from Mahrez for fear of an accident.
Simpson knows Mahrez very well. This guy is a genius on the offensive end, but his ability on the defensive end is not so reliable.
As for Martial, he has no idea of a breakthrough.
He had been staring at the no-man's land on the left side of Leicester's empty penalty area behind Mahrez and Simpson for a long time.
However, wait and see, neither Rooney, who is on the left side of the arc, nor Rashford, who is at the top of the arc, are in this position.
Chu Zheng was in front of the penalty area in the left rib area. He certainly knew what Martial was waiting for.
But Rooney behind him did not run away, and Chu Zheng was also happy.
Moreover, Chu Zheng actually hopes that Martial will pass the ball because he is 100% sure to intercept the ball directly.
Chu Zheng had already guessed which route Martial would choose to pass diagonally to this area.
Soon, the helpless Martial chose to split sides.
As soon as Martial passed the ball, he immediately wanted to run the area by himself.
But just as he was about to start, he saw Chu Zheng crossing the penalty area line and entering this area.
Suddenly Martial was filled with helplessness and the chance to attack was gone.
Because even if Rojo passes the ball into the penalty area, Martial, who has no advantage in speed or body, will be bitten by Chu Zheng immediately, and he may not even be able to get the ball, and then give it to Lai in vain.
A chance for Manchester City to counterattack.
Before the game, Van Gaal repeatedly emphasized that the ball should be played more cautiously during the attack, the ball should be played more patiently, the ball should be controlled, and the ball should not be easily lost to give Leicester City a chance to counterattack.
Rojo picked up the ball from the wing and looked at Mahrez and Simpson who were standing parallel to each other like goalkeepers in front of him. He was also a little confused and didn't know how to play.
So he chose to pass the blame.
Seeing the ball return the same way, Martial's face was a bit dark. He would die if he directly forced his way down and passed into the penalty area!
But complaints are complaints, Martial still turned around and took four or five steps back diagonally, and then took his right foot and passed it to the back at a 45-degree angle.
At this time, Rashford in the middle ran horizontally to the left side of the penalty area.
Unfortunately, this is no longer the best time.
Moreover, Martial could see very clearly that Chu Zheng was on the left side of the penalty area at the top of the arc, and he did not follow him completely. He was on guard.
Martial believes that as long as he passes the ball on the ground, there is a high probability that he will be directly intercepted by the monster.
This area is obviously a trap set by this guy, and he won't stupidly sneak into it.
In the penalty area, due to Martial taking a few steps back, Leicester City's defense was not allowed to move forward.
But on Manchester United's side, Fellaini moved forward and back at the moment when Martial passed the ball, forming an excellent passing and running understanding.
However, although Fellaini was half a body ahead of Fox, the ball failed to come over.
Martial's pass was too weak, allowing Huth, who was retreating, to head the ball directly to clear the ball.
The ball bounced on the ground and went straight to Rashford in the left rib area of the penalty area.
But at this time Rashford was surrounded by enemies.
Rashford is facing the goal, with Simpson behind him, Morgan on the left and Kante on the right.
Seeing Kanter's quick push, Rashford was very smart and picked the ball up with his right foot.
However, Kante was smarter. He came to Martial, turned around and tilted his right foot back, and then the ball was hooked to Chu Zheng in the rib area two meters away.
At this moment, Rashford's whole body was swollen, and he felt as if he was naked and naked and was being looked at by Kanter.
Seeing the ball flying high, Chu Zheng immediately turned around and ran straight to the landing point one meter behind him.
At this time Rooney also rushed over.
But when he saw Chu Zheng getting closer to the ball and raising his leg in advance, Rooney, who was old and frail and had suffered a serious decline in form this season, was immediately scared. He didn't fight for it, and actually watched Chu Zheng jump up and stretch his foot to kick the ball away.
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Chu Zheng's kick was not only graceful in posture, but also as accurate as ever.
The ball went straight to Shinji Okazaki, who was five or six meters away in the middle of his left front.
At this time, Smallin, who was in front of Shinji Okazaki on the left, also came over.
Shinji Okazaki knew that he would definitely not be able to handle the taller Smalling, so he raised his right foot and used the outside to directly pass the ball.
At the same time, Mahrez has started speeding along the right rib channel.
After Smalling cleared the air, he was immediately frightened when he saw the ball rolling in front of Mahrez, and quickly started to retreat along the middle.
On the right, Rojo is also chasing desperately.
But Mahrez is no slower than him.
Mahrez rushed to the ball and found that Smalling did not lean towards the rib channel in front of him. He directly waded the ball six or seven meters away, moving his legs very fast.
Maybe the championship is in sight.
Maybe it was due to Ranieri's Italian rhetoric before the game. Mahrez seemed to be much faster today, and Rojo on the wing failed to catch up for a while.
"Here's your chance to fight back!!!!"
"This is Leicester City's super counterattack that has frightened countless Premier League giants this season!!"
Amid the exclamations of He Wei and Zhang Lu, Mahrez rushed to the thirty-meter area in front of Manchester United's penalty area like a gust of wind.
But at this time, Rojo had already caught up to his rear right side and was desperately trying to squeeze in front.
Smalling also blocked the left front, blocking his inside route.
The opportunity to counterattack was about to pass in an instant. Mahrez did not dare to break through on his own, so he chose to cross the ball to the back post.
Smalling failed to block Mahrez's pass.
But Blind, who was at the back, followed Vardy and blocked Vardy's right foot.
Vardy entered the penalty area from the left rib at the top of the arc, rushed to the goal post, met the ball with his left foot and pushed it directly into the near corner.
But under Blind's interference, he pushed the ball onto the side netting.
"fool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The goal didn't go in, but the nearly 50,000 Manchester United fans present were terrified.
Leicester City's counterattack speed is really scary.
From the backcourt to the front of their goal, it gave these Manchester United fans a fleeting feeling. It was really frighteningly fast.
On the sidelines, Ranieri also took a deep breath and his heartbeat slowly slowed down.
Although this attack did not result in a goal, it made Ranieri's heart drop a little.
He didn't know if his speech before the game had any effect.
But now from the beginning, it seems that it is still very useful.
Next to him, Van Gaal was also frightened.
But knowing that Leicester City's counterattack was fast and deadly, he still couldn't restrict it.
In fact, the core reason why Leicester City's counterattack was fatal was the commander Chu Zheng and the two fierce generals Vardy and Mahrez who charged into the battle.
But knowing it is one thing, and starting to restrict it gives Van Gaal a huge headache.
How to limit?
There are only a few ways to restrict a certain player in football matches.
But the difficulty lies in the comprehensiveness of Leicester City's commander.
Accurate passing, wide vision, good defense, fast speed, strong body, and even his dribbling and breakthrough ability is no less than that of a forward.
Sometimes Van Gaal finds it incredible when he thinks about it.
Professional athletes, those with high strength often have poor flexibility, while those with high flexibility often lack strength, so it is difficult to have both.
But Leicester City's midfield commander possesses these two super abilities at the same time. This kind of physical talent really amazed Van Gaal.
Ever since he met Chu Zheng, Van Gaal felt very sorry every time he thought of Chu Zheng.
It's a pity that such a player was born in a football desert country.
If it were in the Netherlands, perhaps there would be another player in the history of Dutch football who is as legendary as Cruyff and has Bergkamp-like attributes.
"Look at Chu Zheng's position when Martial was holding the ball just now!"
"He knew that there was a gap behind the left side of the penalty area where something could be done, but he just didn't get in. He just moved back and forth on the line of the penalty area, always stuck at that crucial point, and dealt with it calmly!"
"Going forward, he can keep an eye on Rooney. Later, he can defend in time. At the same time, he is still near the most dangerous passing line, which makes Manchester United very uncomfortable."
"Yes, in that position, as long as Martial or Rojo dares to take a step, with Chu Zheng's defensive skills and awareness, he will most likely be able to intercept it!" He Wei and Fan Zhiyi were chatting animatedly in the studio.
