Chapter 444: Won the League Cup!
Looking at Ibrahimovic celebrating with open arms, the tens of thousands of Saints fans in Wembley Stadium all showed disappointment.
You know, Southampton did not concede a goal in this competition before entering the League Cup final against Manchester United this season.
Even in the two rounds against Liverpool, the opponent was not allowed to score.
The defensive skills are evident!
It is worth mentioning that a reporter told Ibrahimovic the news before the game.
The response from the Swedish God Tower was also quite domineering:
That’s because they didn’t meet me!
The great thing about Ibrahimovic is that he can often turn the awesomeness he boasts into reality!
With Ibrahimovic's goal, he not only ended the Saints' clean sheet record in the League Cup this season, but also made himself the first player in the League Cup final after George Eastham in 1972. Second oldest goalscorer!
After taking the lead, Manchester United played more confidently.
Although compared to Ling Feng, there is a clear gap between Mata's personal ability and physical fitness.
However, his foot skills and passing vision, especially in series offense, are definitely the top midfielders in the entire Premier League.
Seeing Mata running tirelessly and actively in the frontcourt, constantly threading the needle in the frontcourt, both the fans in the stands and the media reporters in front of the TV were sincerely impressed by Mata's professional attitude. respect!
You know, in the winter window three years ago, Mata, who lost his main position at Chelsea, was sold to Manchester United by the then head coach Mourinho for 37 million pounds.
At that time, the relationship between Mata and Mourinho was bad, and Mata had no shortage of criticism and accusations against the madman.
I thought that after coming to Manchester United, I would be able to escape the clutches of the "madman".
What Mata never expected was that just two and a half years later, Mourinho, who was dismissed from Chelsea, would actually become the new helmsman of the Red Devils!
Due to the unhappiness between the two when they broke up, as early as last summer window, all media predicted that Mourinho would purge Mata.
However, Mata stayed at Carrington with his diligent attitude in training and games, as well as his outstanding strength.
Now, as the only Grand Slam player in the team who has won the World Cup, European Cup, Champions League, and Europa League, Mata is not Mourinho's first choice in midfield.
But he has still become an important rotation for the team in the midfield position.
The British media also have their own opinions on the story between the two.
“Mata, with his hard work and perseverance, made Mourinho re-recognize his own value”
“Mourinho should be glad that he kept Mata, otherwise , the drama of Lukaku and De Bruyne’s counter-attack will happen again!”
Many fans also joked:
"What a big game Mourinho played! When he was coaching at Chelsea, he sold Mata to himself three years later!"
Seeing that Mata was so good in this game, the live broadcast camera not only showed Mourinho sitting on the bench many times, but also focused on Ling Feng sitting behind him from time to time.
Of course, no one thinks that Mata can shake Lingfeng's star status with just one game.
They just think Mourinho deserves to be the world's top coach!
Even without the star player Ling Feng, they still had the upper hand in the finals.
At this moment, Ling Feng is thinking about what kind of dishes will be served at the celebration banquet in the evening after winning the championship.
However, Southampton is not so easy to decide. Soft persimmon.
Conceding the ball first did not make them retreat, but instead aroused their determination to win the game!
Moreover, it’s not like they didn’t
In this game, the Saints mainly play on the two wings, through Tadic and Redmond
In addition to Kante and goalkeeper De Gea, the players in Manchester United who have played the most time this season are Just count the two starting full-backs.
Therefore, under the successive attacks of the Saints, both Valencia and Luke Shaw were under tremendous pressure.
The young and strong Luke Xiao is okay and can withstand it for the time being.
But the older Valencia was obviously overwhelmed by the tricks of the "Serbian magician" Tadic and the back-breaking attack of left back Bertrand.
If Kanter hadn't repeatedly come to the wing to help defend, Valencia might have become a team earlier
Even so, Tadic sent several accurate crosses from the left.
It’s just that Gabbiadini in the middle failed to seize the opportunity.
Being able to defeat Liverpool and reach the League Cup final is enough to illustrate the strength of this Saints team.
For a time, Southampton pressed the attack, and Manchester United's defense was also in a state of turmoil.
Even when setting the ball, you can see Ibrahimovic returning to his own penalty area and completing a header to clear the ball.
In Southampton's offensive tactics, in addition to crosses from the wing, set kicks are also a killer.
Especially the Dutch central defender Van Dijk, who has just taken over from Fonte who left the team and became the team captain, is Southampton's first point of attack in set-piece tactics.
Therefore, when Southampton gets a set kick opportunity, the Saints captain will also come to Manchester United's penalty area.
It is worth mentioning that in this game, in fact, It’s Mourinho’s on-site inspection of Van Dijk
During the winter window, Mourinho wanted to win over the solid Saints captain to make up for the team's shortcomings in central defenders.
Unfortunately, the Saints, who just let go of former captain Fonte, have plenty of money and are unwilling to sell two captains in a row in the middle of the season.
After all, they are not Arsenal.
Since the start of this game, Mourinho has also focused on Van Dijk's performance.
In his opinion, Van Dijk definitely has all the qualities to become a world-class central defender.
Physical fitness, defensive awareness, ball-playing skills.
And in the set-piece attack, Van Dijk showed his extremely aggressive offensive attributes!
Even under Ibrahimovic's marking, Van Dijk still hit the ball and slammed the ball towards the goal with his head.
Had it not been for a slightly too correct angle and a slight touch from De Gea with his fingertips, the ball might have flown into the goal instead of hitting the crossbar.
And this goal also shocked everyone on the Manchester United bench into a cold sweat.
If Van Dijk scores this header, the two sides will be back on the same starting line.
This will only boost Southampton's morale and make it more difficult for Manchester United to play in the second half.
“What a risk!”
“Yes, I almost scored!”
“By the way, I heard that the boss wants to buy him. If he can join the football team The team’s defense will definitely make the team’s defense more stable”
Hearing Rooney's words, Ling Feng also raised his eyebrows.
Since moving to Southampton in the summer window of 2015, Van Dijk has rapidly grown into the top central defender in the Premier League.
Van Dijk's speed and confrontation are both top-notch.
Even if he is beaten behind, he can use his speed to chase back and then use his long legs to poke the ball away.
Especially this season, when Southampton has suffered a serious loss of core players in the midfield and frontcourt, the defense he leads has also kept the Saints in the middle of the league and prevented them from directly collapsing.
These days, excellent central defenders are a scarce commodity on the market.
If Van Dijk can join Manchester United, it will definitely be a huge improvement to Manchester United's defense.
Bailey is a attacking central defender, while Van Dijk is a replacement specialist and backcourt commander. The combination of the two,
Lingfeng in the frontcourt, Kante in the midfield, and Kante in the backcourt. Van Dijk, this central axis, tsk tsk tsk.
It’s simply not too beautiful!
Of course, this is the most ideal situation. Southampton will definitely not be willing to take action with such an excellent central defender.
And they are not the only club interested in Van Dijk.
However, if Manchester United wins the league title this season and then makes a breakthrough in the Champions League, they will definitely be able to occupy a favorable position in the "Battle for Van Dijk" in the summer window.
The premise is that Manchester United's management and transfer department do not make any mistakes, but obediently implement Mourinho's signing plan.
Thinking of this, Ling Feng couldn't help but smile:
Why should I worry so much? !
No matter who plays the central defender, as long as he is there, Manchester United will have the strength to compete for the championship!
. . .
After Van Dijk missed the closest opportunity to score, the first half of the game also ended.
Manchester United returned to the dressing room with a one-goal advantage.
During the halftime break, Mourinho did not make any personnel adjustments, but only praised the performance of his disciples.
Soon, the two sides returned to the field again.
Easy side to fight again, Southampton continued to attack wave after wave.
However, although the ball can be pushed into Manchester United's backcourt, it can also be passed into the penalty area.
But it is always possible to win without scoring.
On the contrary, Manchester United once again seized the opportunity to switch offense and defense.
In the 63rd minute, Manchester United intercepted the ball in the midfield!
Seeing that there was no Ling Feng catching the ball in front, Kanter also directly dribbled the ball forward in the middle.
The sudden advance caught the Southampton players off guard.
It wasn't until he passed the center line that Saints midfielder Ward Prowse stepped forward to intercept.
However, before that, Kanter had already sent a very penetrating diagonal kick!
The ball passed through the rib space and just found Rashford who was driving forward at high speed from the left!
One position ahead of right back Cedric, the talented young man from Carrington dribbled the ball into the penalty area and completed a powerful shot!
With a bang, the ball hit the net!
The two goals were both quick counterattacks after stealing the ball in the midfield!
Moreover, the entire process from initiating the offensive to sending the ball into the opponent's goal takes no more than ten seconds!
In this League Cup final where the star player did not appear, Mourinho used his signature Mourinho counterattack to stun Southampton!
However, after taking a two-goal lead, the Manchester United generals became a little relaxed.
In the 75th minute of the second half, the tenacious Southampton finally passed a cross from the wing, and the team's winter window champion Gabbiadini shot in front of the goal and regained the victory!
With fifteen minutes left in the game, the score gap was once again one goal.
There is still time!
Southampton saw hope of equalizing the score and attacked more aggressively and fiercely.
Seeing this, Mourinho had no time to angrily scold the players on the field, but made timely substitution adjustments:
Replaced Jones, who had just been out of position, and replaced him with another The famous central defender Rojo!
Then replace Fellaini and bring on Carrick!
The purpose of replacing two people in a row is naturally to stabilize the situation on the field.
The former is to increase the hardness of the back line, while the latter is to add a ball control and release point in the middle.
With Carrick coming on the court, Manchester United’s midfield control It has been strengthened a lot.
The power of Southampton's frontcourt pressure was suddenly halved.
As the team's metronome, Carrick can help the team control the rhythm of the game during the ball possession phase.
And with his ball-playing ability, he can often take out the ball and hand it to his teammates when the opponent is pressing.
Moreover, in addition to Mata, Carrick can also use his precise long pass to hit the ball directly behind Southampton, allowing the two wingers Rashford and Lingard to have
As time goes by, Southampton's offense becomes more and more impatient.
But he was afraid of Manchester United's sharp counterattack and did not dare to press forward with all his strength.
In this way, with Manchester United deliberately controlling the rhythm, the final unknowingly came to the last minute of regular time.
At this time, Mourinho also showed the cunning side of the world's top coach.
I saw that he used up the last substitution place again and replaced Ibrahimovic with "Little Pig" Swainsteiger!
While delaying time, also add a midfield manpower to strengthen the defense of the midfield.
Finally, with the referee's long whistle, the game ended!
Ling Feng and other substitute players, who had been waiting on the sidelines for a long time, rushed into the court immediately and celebrated with their teammates on the court.
Manchester United defeated Southampton with a score of 2-1 at Wembley Stadium and won the first championship on four fronts this season!
And this is Mourinho's first championship since taking charge of Manchester United!
Although the League Cup is not a very valuable trophy.
But size is also a champion.
As for Ling Feng, although he did not participate in this game.
However, the feeling of lying on the crown is not bad.
“The game is over!”
“Manchester United has become the champion!”
“Mourinho used his commanding art to tell everyone that even if he is not in the league Feng, the best player in the Premier League, can still defeat his opponents and win the championship!”
"He deserves to be the world's top coach!"
With Manchester United winning the championship, Ling Feng and Kante have become the only two players in the history of the Premier League to represent different teams and win the League Cup for two consecutive years!
It’s a pity because we just won the League Cup last year.
After winning the championship again this year, the system only symbolically awarded a few free attribute points.
However, Ling Feng didn’t care.
After all, no matter how small a mosquito is, it’s still meat!
It is worth mentioning that before the start of the league finals, Manchester United's mortal enemy Liverpool modified the introduction on their official Twitter - Liverpool Club has 41 championships and is the club with the most championships in England.
After Manchester United won the League Cup again after seven years, Manchester United's number of championships also tied with Liverpool.
Therefore, in this introductory sentence on Liverpool’s official Twitter, the word “one” must be added after “the club that has won the most championships in England”!
And immediately after the game, Manchester United’s official Twitter also sent out a championship poster, and then secretly provoked Liverpool’s official media:
"This is the most successful team in England!"
(End of Chapter)