Chapter 805 Substitution Troubles

Manchester United thought that after scoring the first goal, Stoke City would definitely attack and the rest would be easy to play.

However, Stoke City's head coach Pulis was very wretched. He refused to attack even after being one goal behind. He still stayed around the penalty area waiting for Manchester United to counterattack.

Stoke City's players are also very self-aware. They know how big the strength gap is with Manchester United. If they attack and are counterattacked by Manchester United, they may be massacred like Liverpool. And with such a defensive counterattack, they may be able to steal a goal. Ball opportunity.

In addition, Stoke City does not have the offensive means and personnel. They have been promoted to the Premier League for two seasons, and their survival depends on intensive defense and long passes. They can only play defensive counterattacks.

However, Stoke City was still in its own half after falling behind. This was beyond the expectations of the Manchester United players. They were still shrinking their formation and waiting for Stoke City to attack. Unexpectedly, Stoke City actually counterattacked defensively. Carry on to the end.

Manchester United waited for seven or eight minutes and finally realized that if they did not score the second goal, Stoke City probably would not score.

The score of 1:0 is not safe. Stoke City's long pass is still a certain threat. If they are fooled by one in the final stage, Manchester United will not know where to cry.

Manchester United, the world's top club, cannot compete with a relegation team. After seeing clearly Stoke City's intentions, although there were only a little more than five minutes left in the first half, Ferguson waved his hand and the players He attacked decisively again.

With a ball in hand, Manchester United is more confident. When attacking, the two full-backs Gary. Neville and Evra both assisted, especially Gary. Neville, Gao Xiaodong's goal just now was a corner kick created by him. The old captain was even more excited and made assists to the frontcourt from time to time.

Gary. Neville was so excited about his 600th appearance that he forgot his age. He could attack but couldn't take it back.

After Stoke City fell behind, although it was still stuck in the hole, it invested more troops than before in the counterattack, and the fight was on Neville's side.

In the 40th minute of the game, Manchester United's cross from the wing was blocked by Stoke City. Wilson's header was passed to Etherington, who quickly hit Gary along the wing. Behind Neville.

Fletcher helped defend from the wing, and Etherington cooperated with forward Watson, unexpectedly breaking through Fletcher from the inside.

But this time Gary. Neville had already chased back, but Neville no longer had the energy to chase Etherington. He stretched out his foot from behind and stepped on Etherington's ankle.

Etherington fell to the ground, but this was a great opportunity to counterattack. The ball was quickly grabbed by Pennant and brought forward.

The referee Marinel originally wanted to stop the game, but hesitated and allowed the game to continue.

Pennant is a former Liverpool player and a sworn enemy of Manchester United. After moving to Stoke City, he is still hostile to Manchester United and is particularly excited. He dribbles quickly and finds the gap between Ferdinand and Vidic. Suddenly he rises. Foot long shot.

Although Pennant is thin, his shooting power is not small. The ball flies to the lower right corner of the goal, which is very difficult for a tall player like Van der Sar to guard.

Van der Sar was experienced and was mentally prepared for Pennant's shot. He quickly fell to the ground and blocked Pennant's shot from the baseline with one palm.

After the ball went out of bounds, referee Marinell pointed to the corner kick area and signaled Stoke City to take a corner kick, but did not make up for Neville's penalty.

Stoke City players were dissatisfied when they saw Etherington still lying on the ground. Several players came to the referee and asked for a yellow card for Neville.

Neville has already received a yellow card before. If he receives another yellow card, he will be expelled.

The referee Marinel still gave the veteran face. He refused to give Neville a yellow card and asked Stoke City to quickly take a corner kick.

The Stoke City players had no choice but to take a corner kick angrily.

Ferguson on the sidelines saw it clearly, his brows were furrowed tightly.

To Gary. Neville was very dissatisfied with his performance today. He felt that Neville was too impulsive and did not look like a 35-year-old veteran. Ferguson asked Brown to warm up and prepare to replace Neville.

Stoke City's corner kick did not pass Ferdinand and Vidic, and the ball was cleared by Ferdinand.

Manchester United then continued to besiege Stoke City, but Stoke City's iron barrel formation was really good. Manchester United's full attack failed to score another goal in the first half.

The first half ended quickly, and Manchester United's players returned to the locker room with a score of 1:0.

Ferguson didn't say much about the players' performance in the first half. Facing a dense defense, no one had any good ideas. It was already good to score a goal. After Ferguson briefly summarized it, he called Neville to the coaching lounge. , I hope he won't assist so high in the second half, focus on holding steady, pass the ball to Scholes and Gao Xiaodong, and tell him that he may be replaced in 65 minutes.

Gary. Neville is older and knows that he cannot play the whole game, so he happily accepted Ferguson's suggestion.

After the halftime break, the game started again. As always, Stoke City placed all their players in their own half waiting for Manchester United to attack. Once they got the ball, they immediately attacked Gary. Neville's side.

Gary. Neville was also the world's top defender when he was young. Never was he so despised by his opponents, especially on his 600th game anniversary.

After being attacked several times by Stoke City, Neville used his rich experience to steal Wilson. He did not hand the ball to Gao Xiaodong and directly drove the ball up the wing.

Etherington, who was chasing back, was very fast. He quickly caught up from behind and stretched his foot to poke the ball from Neville's foot to his teammate Collins.

Collins then lobbed the ball to Etherington for a quick counterattack.

Etherington caught the ball and turned around, wanting to go down the wing. Neville knew he couldn't catch up with Etherington, so he pulled Etherington down from behind.

There were boos in the stands, and Stoke City fans were shouting "Yellow card, yellow card!"

But referee Marinell let Neville go again and only gave Stoke City a free kick.

Ferguson originally planned to replace Neville in the 70th minute to give him enough face. However, seeing that Neville played too badly today and leaving him on the field, he might be sent off with a red card. Ferguson decisively made the substitution. The decision was made to let Brown come on and replace Neville.

Neville was about to defend the penalty area when he saw the substitution sign. He was very surprised because the second half had only lasted 7 minutes.

Ferguson was sitting in the coaching bench, and standing on the sidelines was assistant coach Phelan. Neville came to the sidelines and said to Phelan, "Are you really replacing me?"

Felan said with a smile: "That's what Sir means."

Neville snorted unhappily, took off the captain's armband without a smile, handed it to Brown, turned back to the bench, put on a cotton jacket and cotton sweatpants, and walked towards the tunnel with a cold face. go.

Ferguson did not expect Neville to react so violently. He became furious, stood up and yelled at Neville, "Gary! Come back here!"

Ferguson still had the power he had accumulated over the decades, but Neville was just hot-blooded, but after being yelled at by Ferguson, he subconsciously stood there.

Ferguson shouted: "Does the TV in the locker room look good? The team needs you to sit here!"

Neville turned around silently, walked back to the bench and sat down, but his face was frosty, and he didn't even answer when Giggs spoke to him.

Ferguson didn't say anything else and just pretended not to see it. Neville had reached the age of hanging up his boots at any time. It would be nice to be obedient and come back. Ferguson couldn't make too many demands on him.

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