Chapter 319: I Remember Now—That Was His Experience Bar

Dongqiu Di pinned: Manchester United vs Manchester City, Manchester Derby in progress, current score 1:0, Manchester United leading.

«Glory～Glory～ManUnited！」

«Glory～Glory～ManUnited！」

After scoring first in the derby, the Manchester United fans in the stands are now electric.

Guardiola, having adjusted tactics, is rapidly thinking through his next moves.

One pass, then one shot—that's how Manchester United scored just now.

Simple, direct, yet extremely aggressive.

This is Manchester United's biggest strength this season!

«Huh, huhhuhhuh»

Gasping heavily, Guardiola now understands what he must do next.

He will order his players to press hard and disrupt Tang Ye and his teammates' coordination.

After 30 minutes, under Guardiola's command, Manchester City players raised their offensive tempo.

«Forward! Forward! »

Receiving a cross from De Bruyne, Fernandinho seized the chance and quickly passed to Jesus ahead.

Jesus dribbles forward on his own!

«Left! Left! Watch out! »

De Gea shouted while gesturing for his defenders to retreat into the penalty area.

Though Jesus still had some distance from goal, De Gea sensed danger from the striker's movement.

Pass to Sané on the left!

Sané accelerates sideways straight into Manchester United's penalty area!

Back to Jesus!

Jesus doesn't rush—he keeps the ball at his feet, slowly searching for a breakthrough opportunity.

But Smalling remains extremely cautious, giving Jesus no space to raise his leg for a shot.

Yet Guardiola had emphasized this scenario before the match; David Silva suddenly surged into the penalty area from the left.

Fuck!

Valencia tried to intercept Silva, but he had to stay marked on Sané.

Jesus passes to Sané!

Sané!

Shoot directly!

«Goal! »

«Sané scores with a well-timed run inside the box! »

Manchester City players rush out to celebrate; De Gea sits on the ground, shrugging helplessly with Valencia.

Ten Hag shakes his head.

One can only say Manchester City, as league leaders, react with astonishing speed when behind!

Bam!

The third goal of the first half is cleared by Martial; on the bench, Ibrahimović finally begins warming up.

Ibrahimović's entrance could create more headed scoring chances for Manchester United, but their priority is solving their current problems.

After Rashford's goal, Manchester United slowly regained lost possession.

Yet right after David Silva's rushed shot, Manchester United lost the possession they had just regained!

Manchester United's overall possession rate in the first half remains under 30%!

«Behind! Behind! Watch out for number seven! »

Tang Ye shouts loudly, but it's already too late—De Bruyne's through ball finds Sterling perfectly in the center.

«Tackle him! Tackle him! »

Ten Hag yells from the sideline.

Rodri knows Sterling's speed and wants to commit a tactical foul.

But he's half a step too slow; by the time Rodri reaches out, Sterling has already broken free!

Trouble coming!

This is Manchester United players' immediate reaction.

Sterling accelerates with the ball toward the penalty area.

Tries to shake off Luke Shaw with a stepover.

Sterling clearly wants to shoot, but he can't get past Luke Shaw—finally, he opts to pass back to De Bruyne.

De Bruyne adjusts, times it perfectly!

Fires a direct shot!

Bam!

«Brilliant, De Gea! »

«Quick reaction—De Gea successfully blocks the shot! Manchester City earns a corner—let's see how they handle it…»

Walking around the arc, Tang Ye keeps glancing at David Silva.

His original corner-marking target was Sterling, but Manchester City has chosen Sterling to take this corner.

There's nothing Tang Ye can do.

Sterling!

Raises one hand, then delivers the corner!

Bam!

Otamendi leaps!

Thud!

Otamendi's header flies past De Gea and finds the net.

«GOOOO——AAAA——LLLLL!!! »

«Goal! »

«Otamendi scores! »

Though they fell behind first, Manchester City quickly equalized.

Now they've even taken the lead!

Dongqiu Di live report: Manchester City's corner tactic succeeds—Otamendi heads in from the back post, 1:2, Manchester City leads.

【Holy shit, that's insane】

【Didn't Smalling see that? If they jumped together, he couldn't have scored】

【This one's on me, Tang the King】

【Your king's useless】

【Stop the baseless hate—this is clearly the defenders' fault】

«…»

«Pah! »

Watching Manchester City players celebrate near the corner flag, Tang Ye spits on the ground.

Being overturned after leading—of course it feels terrible.

Seeing Rodri walking toward him, Tang Ye steps forward: «Their corner intent was too hidden, and that defender jumped so high—he couldn't have scored otherwise. »

«No problem, no problem, keep going»

Rodri pats Tang Ye's arm; the two walk together toward the center circle.

Along the way, Tang Ye observes Manchester City's celebrations closely.

He's not trying to learn their celebration style—he just wants to study the players.

Those blue-clad opponents have delivered performances that astonish Tang Ye!

All signs confirm: today's match will be anything but easy.

«United! United! »

The stands are a sea of red; fans wave their Manchester United scarves, while the players on pitch focus intently on finding openings.

But Manchester City's passing and control tactics are too mature—they amplify Manchester United's existing problems in building from the back.

«Papapa»—after endless fumbling in the back, they still can't pass the ball out.

Valencia receives the ball, prepares to pass to Mkhitaryan ahead, but immediately faces pressure from De Bruyne.

No choice—he must pass back to Bailly.

De Bruyne shifts direction toward Bailly, while Sané sprints toward Valencia.

«Huff, huff»

Breathing hard.

Tang Ye has returned to the backline, but Manchester City's blistering high press leaves him with no good passing options.

Bailly is forced to pass back to De Gea.

Jesus charges toward him; De Gea is forced to hoof the ball out of bounds.

Ssshh—

Familiar feeling!

This is not the first time this season De Gea has been forced to kick the ball out of bounds!

Seeing United's struggles on the pitch, Ten Hag clenched his teeth, his mood growing worse.

Manchester City's pressing tactics are simply too well-executed, presenting a serious tactical dilemma for United's coaching staff.

They struggle to find any effective way to counter City!

"Beep, beeeep!"

Half-time whistle: the score remains 1-2!

Tang Ye spat his gum into the wrapper and shook his head.

For most of the first half, he had been thinking, constantly calculating the possible runs of the opposing players.

To be honest, the volume of data he had to process was far too difficult for GGBond, whose high school math score was only thirty-some points!

As he walked off with Rodri, Tang Ye made a decision—a very important one.

When he got home tonight, he would go straight to bed and rest, giving his brain a proper break.

The game had to wait!

……

Half-time, United's locker room.

Ten Hag first outlined his substitution plan for the second half.

At the start of the second half, Ibrahimović would replace Martial.

Tang Ye nodded slightly, memorizing this key point.

Zlatan was much taller than Anthony, so after this substitution, Tang Ye needed to attempt more crosses into the box.

During training, Tang Ye had already seen how deadly Ibrahimović's headers could be!

"Then in defense, our wingers must track back—Marcus, you must remember this."

Ten Hag stared at Rashford.

Rashford never tracked back, and Ten Hag's dissatisfaction with him had been building for days.

Unfortunately, Rashford's offensive contributions were undeniable, and United lacked forwards—so all these factors combined left Ten Hag unable to bench him as punishment.

"Their front-line pressing is fast—even the full-backs join in."

"Kyle Walker—you've seen his passing impact in attack."

Ten Hag adjusted the magnetic flags on his tactics board: "What do we do when the full-backs push up? Just stand there?"

"No! Absolutely not! We need to push their full-backs back!"

"…"

"Come on, United!"

Shouting loudly, Tang Ye and his teammates stormed out of the locker room—and ran straight into De Bruyne.

"Hey, Kevin."

De Bruyne wasn't good at initiating greetings; Tang Ye knew this well, so he walked over and slapped hands with him.

As they walked out together, De Bruyne brought up the World Cup.

"I heard you got Germany. That's not good news."

"What can I do? I don't even remember who drew the lots—if I'd drawn them, I'd have yelled at him!"

De Bruyne laughed heartily: "I watched the draw too. The guy who drew must've been Maradona."

Maradona!

Tang Ye felt the name was strangely familiar, but he couldn't place it right away.

He must've heard the name many times before.

Think harder…

Oh, right!

【Maradona's Eagle Vision Template (Legendary)】

He recalled the Miracle Chest he'd opened on the plane.

Tang Ye remembered who Maradona was.

It was his experience bar.

……

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back—this is the second half of the Premier League Round 16 clash between United and City!"

"In the first half…"

Tang Ye starting, plus the Manchester Derby—today's match had insane hype.

Just from CCTV's viewership data, the audience was at least 1.8 times higher than for any previous United match.

Live online viewership in the second half seemed poised to break even higher!

After watching the first half, anyone could predict the second half would be just as thrilling.

How would United respond to City's pressing now that their weakness had been exposed?

DQZ Real-Time Report: 48th minute of the second half, Ibrahimović replaces Martial.

Ibrahimović comes on as a substitute for the starting Martial.

Will this substitution sound the counterattack's call for United?

On screen, Ten Hag paced in front of the substitutes' bench.

As expected, City continued their high press in the second half, keeping the ball firmly in United's half.

Ten Hag sought a way to break City's pressing, but their passing and control were simply too fast.

City constantly penetrated defenses with passes, using intelligent movement to create overloads in the final third!

57th minute of the second half!

Sané received a long pass on the left flank and immediately cut inside.

Ma Ta was in position.

Ma Ta blocked Sané's cutting shot.

But Sané never intended to shoot himself.

Pah!

Passed to De Bruyne on the right!

Look at De Bruyne!

Adjusted one step!

Pah!

Shot!

A 45-degree cross from De Bruyne!

The ball flew at high speed; Smalling and Luo Huo both retreated.

Jesus and Sané prepared to attack the ball!

At this moment, United's goalkeeper made a risky move—De Gea charged out of the box, raised both hands, snatched the ball before Jesus could reach it, and fell to the ground.

"Oh!"

De Gea's bold choice paid off!

"Good job, David!"

Smalling bent down and patted De Gea's head; the goalkeeper quickly rose to his feet.

Ten minutes later.

The screen showed the teams' possession stats again.

After the half-time tactical adjustments, United had regained some control, but their possession still hovered at just 33%.

"Huff… huff… huff…"

Tang Ye ran on the pitch, adjusting his breathing.

City's constant high press forced him to sprint back and forth between front and back lines—this drained his stamina severely.

And possession.

33% possession, plus targeted marking—he struggled to find opportunities to launch long passes forward!

"As you can see, City still control the ball."

"Fernandinho is signaling for support."

"Pass to the overlapping Delph!"

After receiving the ball, Delph drove forward a few steps, then played a through ball to Sané.

"Wow!"

Pah!

Amid the crowd's gasps, Sané reached the byline and delivered a low cross.

Aimed at the six-yard box!

Jesus!

Bang!

Jesus slammed a close-range shot; De Gea dove to save it, but Jesus's strike was perfectly placed—the ball rolled just past De Gea's foot and into the net.

"GOOOO——AAAAA——LLLLLL！！！！"

"Goal!"

"Jesus!"

At the moment Jesus scored, Tang Ye instinctively glanced at the assistant referee.

The goal was not offside!

"Fuck."

Tang Ye clasped his hands over his head, knowing he had to accept this reality.

Man City is now leading 3-1!

"Bluemoon～"

"Yousawmestandingalone～"

"…"

The song of Man City echoed across Old Trafford.

In the 72nd minute of the match, Man City led by two goals in this Manchester derby.

The Blues had completely dominated the Red Devils and held full control of the game!

After Jesus's goal, Ten Hag made his second substitution.

Ashley Young replaced Luke Shaw.

Ashley Young, immediately upon entering, received the captain's armband and began shouting the names of the Man United players on the pitch.

"Defenders push up! Attack! We're going to attack!"

DQD Real-Time Report: Jesus scores from a rebound, Man City leads 3-1!

【Fuck, this is straight-up G】

【Man United just needs more training—Man City's tactics are too polished】

【Guardiola is truly insane; Ten Hag's in-game coaching is as useless as shit】

【Anyone at the stadium, throw Tang the Ball King a throat lozenge—he's out of voice】

The second-half situation made Chinese fans realize one thing.

This season, Man City and Man United sit first and second on the league table, looking roughly equal in strength.

But they're not!

Man City's tactical system is far more refined than Man United's!

What do we do!

In the front row of the bench, Fan De shook his head, recalling what he had seen on Ten Hag's computer earlier.

Unless GGBond summons the Crimson Flame Mech, they're almost certainly done!

The match continued. By the 76th minute of the second half, Man United found their long-awaited attacking opportunity.

Rodri took the ball and immediately looked for Tang Ye!

Thud!

A low, long pass delivered!

Tang Ye!

OK, Tang Ye received the pass from his little brother Luo De!

De Bruyne rushed in to tackle!

Tang Ye remained calm, first checking the far post area.

Then he observed De Bruyne's exact positioning!

His mind raced—he chose to pass the ball to Rashford on the left.

He pointed to the space in front of him!

Rashford played a through ball!

"Man United's one-two combination!"

"After months of coordination, Tang Ye and Rashford's partnership is now seamless."

"Tang Ye!"

"Take the ball into the box!"

Seeing Tang Ye's intent to drive forward, Ibrahimović decisively moved deeper into the penalty area.

Because of Ibrahimović's presence, Man City's two center-backs dared not step out.

Now, the man marking Tang Ye is Kyle Walker!

Faking a pass, Tang Ye shifted sideways and easily shook off Walker.

Into the box!

Otamendi couldn't hold back—he moved to tackle.

"Give me!"

Rashford shouted loudly.

Tang Ye glanced out of the corner of his eye.

Though Rashford called for the ball, Tang Ye didn't believe it was the best option.

He pushed the ball from his right foot to his left, creating space from Otamendi.

Look at the top-left corner of the goal!

Swing your leg to strike the bottom-right!

"Oh my gosh!"

"Tom!"

"What a brilliant goal!"

On the sideline, Ten Hag roared.

Tom's solo goal!

So strong, Tom!

"Hah!"

As the scorer, Tang Ye was, of course, ecstatic.

He dodged Ibrahimović and sprinted toward the sideline.

Sliding tackle!

Swish-swish-swish—!!!!

【You gained 15 Reverse Points】

With his team trailing by two goals, Tom knew he had to step up now.

And he did step up!

Rashford knelt on the grass and wrapped his arms around Tang Ye's neck.

"Hah, Marcus!"

Seeing Ma Ta also approaching, Tang Ye, still seated on the ground, happily raised both hands, ready to high-five Ma Ta.

But Ma Ta grabbed Tang Ye's arm and yanked him straight up from the grass.

"Still behind! One goal behind!"

"Get up, Tom!"

That's right!

Uncle Ma Ta is right!

Even though Tang Ye had just scored a beautiful goal, Man United was still behind.

Only ten minutes remained before the match ended.

They had to seize this final chance!

…

(End of Chapter)