Greenery Reverses The Madness

Old Trafford was filled with Christmas cheer on Boxing Day.

There were people dressed as Santa Claus, and there were also children who made their own championship trophies as if they had received Christmas gifts.

Manchester United plays Newcastle United at home.

Manchester United, which has fallen to second place in the standings, naturally hopes to win the game.

At least captain Ye Yifeng is full of fighting spirit.

You have your Christmas.

I win my game.

Newcastle United is currently ranked 9th in the league. It seems that there is no pressure to avoid relegation this season. It coincides with Christmas, so it is inevitable to feel a little relaxed.

It can be said that the pressure on Manchester United is definitely much greater than that of Newcastle United.

Lukaku did not enter the starting lineup today and sat on the bench.

Mourinho is worried that his emotions will affect his performance in the game.

Santoku is now negotiating with Inter Milan, and they will definitely be able to reach an agreement in the end. Manchester United must sell people in order to recruit players. Now the only one who can sell at a good price is Lukaku.

Therefore, from the perspective of team development, Mourinho also needs to re-adjust the striker.

If Pogba is sold, all Manchester United needs to change is the replacement of the forward role and the change of formation.

Now it is Lukaku who is sold.

Here comes the problem.

Who plays center?

Rashford? Martial?

It seems unreliable no matter how you think about it.

Judging from the centers played by Manchester United in the past, such as Rooney, Robin van Persie, Berbatov and others, it is difficult for Martial and Rashford to reach their level at the center position.

So today at Old Trafford, Mourinho allowed Manchester United fans to see Ye Yifeng appearing at the center position.

Awareness, movement, technology, ability to capture opportunities, ability to seize opportunities, shooting skills, all belong to Ye Yifeng, who is at the top level of the team. He finally left the midfield and returned to the front line.

It's just that it's in a completely new location.

Partnering with him on the front line are Greenwood and James.

During the Christmas Express, the rotation is certain, and it also allows Martial and Rashford to slow down the extremes of the festive atmosphere in these two days and prepare for the next game.

Lingard, Pogba, and McTominay serve as midfielders.

The main back line played its best.

Ye Yifeng, who came to the front line, will definitely need some time to adapt to his playing style.

After the game started, he was under the attack of the back line and the midfield line, so he needed to keep running and frequently observe the surrounding situation. The space was even narrower. Even if his teammates passed the ball to him, he would often just kick the ball.

Running back and forth and passing a lot of passes, most of them are back passes or side passes.

Judging from his performance, he is still doing well.

It's just that it's difficult to have space to control the ball and perform tricks.

Mourinho put aside his distracting thoughts for the time being and carefully observed the team's performance in the game.

After Ye Yifeng adapted to his position and got better, the performance of Manchester United's midfielder still gave them an advantage, but Newcastle United's state was a bit stretched.

Although it was an intensive defense, the zone defense was not effective.

When James and Greenwood fly forward from both wings, Ye Yifeng will take the initiative to run to provide support. Unless the opponent has an offensive advantage, then he will run in the penalty area to grab points.

The quality of the two's crosses was not high. When passing to Ye Yifeng, they lacked the effect of utilizing space and predicting opportunities.

So Ye Yifeng began to try to control the ball at the front edge of the penalty area.

Turning around to break through and encountering a densely defended zone defense, the ball was intercepted. It is still difficult to play as a center.

As a winger, even if he plays with his back on the wing, there is probably only one defensive player behind him. When playing as a center, if you are closely marked, you will easily be blocked by your opponent.

Coupled with the compressed operating space, he realized that the success rate of a forced breakthrough in a positional battle in the middle would be very low.

So he took a step back and created opportunities for the two wingers cutting inside on the basis of containing the defensive forces, or creating opportunities for teammates who came in behind. At the same time, he would quickly turn around after releasing the ball and move forward to grab points.

It's a bit similar to his thinking when playing as a midfielder. Maybe he hasn't completely completed the role change consciously.

But the effect is particularly explosive!

In the 29th minute of the game, Ye Yifeng received a direct pass from Pogba at the front edge of the penalty area. Before he touched the ball, the two defenders behind him closed the door and defended from behind. The midfielder also turned back to defend and rushed towards him.

Ye Yifeng took the initiative to respond and took a step back to knock the ball back to find Lin Huang who then inserted it. The latter sent a through ball to the right rib of the penalty area.

Ye Yifeng restrained and supported, and Lin Huang delivered the threatening ball.

Greenwood quickly cut inside and reached the right rib of the penalty area to receive the ball. After stopping the ball and adjusting, he shot the ball in one go.

The football flew straight to the lower left corner of the goal.

Raise the sword with your hand and defeat it completely!

Manchester United 1:0 Newcastle United.

After Aoki scored a goal, he took the initiative to run to give Ye Yifeng a high-five, and then ran to the sidelines to enjoy the cheers of the fans.

Lin Huangze, who had received an assist, also quickly ran to Ye Yifeng's side, beaming with laughter.

Mourinho clapped his hands and applauded, but he also realized that Ye Yifeng playing center on the court can create more space for the wingers and attacking midfielders.

Because he has the aura of crowd ridicule!

No opponent will underestimate him!

If there is anything missing, it is the hope that Ye Yifeng can exert his terrifying finishing ability after running in.

Newcastle United are indeed not in good shape, maybe because they are too happy during Christmas.

If there is any obvious change in Ye Yifeng's feeling, it is that he is at the forefront of the penalty area, completely within the range of his long-range shots, and his opponents dare not foul him easily.

For fear of giving Manchester United a dangerous free kick opportunity.

In the 44th minute of the game, Pogba suddenly passed the ball diagonally back while dribbling forward. Lingard followed up and sent a direct pass.

Ye Yifeng's lateral movement led the defender to follow up, but he seized the opportunity, stopped the ball and turned around in the opposite direction. He turned around, but he knocked the ball into the right rib area of ​​the penalty area with his heel.

Both Newcastle United defenders were marking him. As a result, Greenwood once again entered the right rib area of ​​the penalty area and posed a threat. However, Ye Yifeng's cool move of turning around and knocking the ball with his heel made him react slowly. If he had started early, he would have been able to Copy previous goals.

When they caught up with the football this time, the goalkeeper had already attacked, but Master Aoki decisively chose to poke the ball towards the center of the goal.

Ye Yifeng couldn't catch up, and there were defenders blocking him in front.

But James sprinted to the back of the goal like a bolt of lightning, flew and shot the ball into the empty goal!

The cheers and applause at Old Trafford were deafening!

Mourinho stood up and applauded the team's performance.

There seems to be nothing wrong with this idea of ​​using fast players as wingers.

Ye Yifeng seemed to have kicked his loneliness away.

No goals, no assists.

But the fans in the audience could see that he activated two wingers!

Let Greenwood and James better utilize their own characteristics and strengths!

At half-time, Manchester United led Newcastle United by two goals.

Back in the locker room, Mourinho asked the team to play more conservatively in the second half.

Focus on defensive counterattacks.

After all, this is just the first game of the Devil's schedule.

Even though Manchester United has one less round and one less League Cup game, their trip to Qatar is not just a vacation. After all, they played two games.

Plus the cost of traveling across Eurasia, these all need to be taken into account.

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again.

Newcastle United did not launch a counterattack, and Manchester United became conservative again, so it turned into a positional battle and left it to James and Greenwood to attack alone.

Ye Yifeng follows up at a high speed in the middle. Only when the wing breakthrough is successful, he will start decisively.

The two young players each made great achievements, their confidence soared, and their breakthrough success rate was also very high. Ye Yifeng frequently sprinted into the penalty area to try to respond.

But the quality of their crosses suddenly became a bit terrible.

Perhaps only Ye Yifeng has a point, which requires very high accuracy in passing.

As a result, Ye Yifeng felt lonely.

It wasn't until 60 minutes into the game that Newcastle United began to counterattack, and they had to try hard anyway.

After all, I didn't come here with the intention of giving Manchester United three points for Christmas.

What if the counterattack succeeds?

Didn't Manchester United send them a Christmas gift package?

In the 64th minute of the game, Manchester United defended successfully in the backcourt, and Pogba smoothly sent a direct pass from the backcourt.

Ye Yifeng led the ball while running and suddenly stopped and changed direction to smash the ball past midfielder Sean Longstaff. Then he rushed forward and James and Greenwood rushed up. He closed his eyes and passed the ball to the left. .

The Newcastle United defender quickly returned to defense. James dribbled into the penalty area and saw the defender rushing towards him to block his shooting route, so he passed the ball back to the center to find Ye Yifeng, who was following up.

Center back Fernandez turned around and pounced on Ye Yifeng. The latter dropped his shoulders, faked a shake, and then continuously knocked balls with his feet to break through the back-cut route.

The moment Fernandez was passed, turning around and trying to catch up was already a fantasy.

Ye Yifeng, who was close to a single goal, calmly pushed the ball into the lower right corner of the goal.

Goalkeeper Dubravka was helpless.

Old Trafford cheers!

They couldn't be more satisfied this Boxing Day!

Ye Yifeng scored his 25th Premier League goal this season.

Manchester United 3:0 Newcastle United.

Seal the victory.

Mourinho is in a good mood, at least seeing the effect of Ye Yifeng's switch to center.

If Ye Yifeng struggles playing center, he will definitely let Ye Yifeng go back to playing winger.

Lukaku was in a different mood.

Watching Ye Yifeng celebrate his goal in the corner flag area, the wild cheers of the Red Devils fans echoed in his ears.

well.

I haven't left yet!

It's as if United have adapted well to life without him.

Newcastle United are completely out of business.

admit.

If they continue to counterattack, they will probably continue to be defeated by the Manchester United Athletics team's defense again and again.

The pace of the game slowed down, but James and Greenwood watched as Newcastle United's slightly tighter defense continued to break through, and their efficiency began to decrease.

In the 74th minute of the game, Ye Yifeng cheated to increase the prize pool.

The sudden appearance of Kewell from Liverpool made him feel a little bit pained.

A minute later, Mourinho made a substitution on time and asked him to clock out.

Martial, Rashford and Lukaku appeared.

All the front three were replaced.