Chapter 576: Did Amrabat Use Something He Shouldn't Have?

Dembele took control of the ball and locked horns with Robertson near the baseline.

The two had clashed before; let's see how this encounter unfolds...

Driving forward with the ball!

Dembele's rhythm was excellent, forcing Robertson to retreat.

Feinting to go down the line, he actually hooked the ball with his right foot and suddenly passed it back to Wan-Bissaka, who was surging up behind.

"Ahead, ahead!"

Tang Ye signaled Wan-Bissaka to compress the Liverpool defense, which was exactly what the Manchester United full-back was currently doing.

Pressing forward with the ball, Fan Daike was forced to retreat into the penalty area.

"Here!"

Tang Ye asked Wan-Bissaka for the ball, but the latter refused, choosing instead to dribble past his opponent himself.

Snap!

Fan Daike cleared the ball; it flew out and landed at Chamberlain's feet, but Tang Ye snatched it back with a reverse move.

"Wow!!!"

Shedding Chamberlain's pull, Tang Ye shifted sideways to close in.

Snap!

【De Bruyne's far-corner curl shot Lv5: Replica (Max)】

Proficiency: 0

The shot soared over Fan Daike's head, precisely aiming for the top-right corner.

"Beautiful, Alisson!"

"An absolutely incredible save!"

"My god, haha, I thought he wouldn't be able to react to that shot..."

The commentators and the fans in the stadium showed equal surprise, because Alisson's save was simply too perfect.

"From the slow-motion replay, we can see Alisson stretched his body to its absolute limit; otherwise, he shouldn't have been able to reach such a tricky shot."

"Liverpool!"

Boom, boom!

"Liverpool!"

Boom, boom!

Tang Ye stood near the top of the arc, covering his face with both hands.

This was Manchester United's best scoring opportunity of the match so far, but the opposing goalkeeper's performance was simply too outstanding.

Gulp!

Swallowing hard, Tang Ye now needed some time to adjust.

"It's fine, it's fine; just stay steady."

Rodri whispered these words into Tang Ye's ear.

Check Dongqiu Di live report: Salah contested for the ball in front of the goal, but his subsequent shot went wide of the crossbar.

"Xuxuu!!!!"

Mocking cheers from the Manchester United fans.

It was already the 28th minute, the score on the field was 0:0, and Ten Hag still wore a frowning expression.

The gap in strength between the two sides was not large; you couldn't say Manchester United was much stronger than Liwupu.

However, Liwupu highly valued today's Double Red Derby, and they had made ample preparations for it.

That was the problem: the strength was comparable, but Liwupu's long-term preparation gave them the qualification to suppress Manchester United.

Snap!

Stopping the ball with his foot, Tang Ye ran past Wijnaldum, and the next second, Wijnaldum fell directly to the ground.

"Hey!"

Tang Ye threw his hands up to the referee: "What is this!"

"That dive was a bit too obvious, haha, Wijnaldum."

"Oh... he's going to get a card..."

The referee ran toward Wijnaldum and pulled out a yellow card, citing a dive by the Liwupu midfielder.

Falling without contact; Wijnaldum was being a bit too cunning.

"Be careful, be careful!"

Ten Hag reminded him again.

Liwupu had been trying to draw a foul from Tang Ye, even risking a dive and a card; the fans knew the reason behind this all too well.

"Liwupu has already gained the advantage now; if Manchester United plays a man down, Liwupu might secure victory in this match directly..."

"..."

"Fan Daike!"

"Straight to Mane!"

Mane's cut inside!

An attack from Liwupu; Wan-Bissaka was retreating.

"Don't block, don't block!"

De Ligt's voice rang out.

Mane had already entered the penalty area, so De Ligt worried Wan-Bissaka would commit a foul and concede a penalty.

Slap!

Mané cuts across, directly finding Salah at the far post.

"Far post!"

That was De Gea's voice; Tang Ye shouted it simultaneously.

Salah easily controlled the ball, used a subtle move to shake off Bailly, then drove straight into the penalty area.

Slap!

With a light push-shot, the ball slipped between De Gea's legs.

Goal!

"Gooo——aaaaaa——lllll!!!"

"Goal!"

"Salah!"

"No issues with this goal, absolutely no issues! A goal for Liwupu!"

In the 33rd minute of the match, with both teams locked in a stalemate, the home side, Liwupu, broke the deadlock.

Tang Ye stood rooted to the spot, watching the Liwupu players run past him.

At the touchline, Salah struck his one-legged pose, while Firmino, sliding in from behind, embraced the goalscorer.

"Wow!!!!"

【Why let Mané enter the penalty area?】

【This is purely Rashford's fault; failing to press Fan Daike here is unforgivable.】

【Goal contributor: Alisson】

【If only Martial had pressed Alisson even once?】

Alisson passed to Fan Daike, Fan Daike to Mané, Mané to Salah; this Liwupu goal seemed almost too simple.

And that was precisely the problem.

It was hard to imagine the league's top-ranked team conceding in such a manner.

Pah!

Tang Ye spat a mouthful of saliva onto the grass, then bellowed at Wan-Bissaka: "I told you to pass! Why did you dribble it yourself?"

Among all the Manchester United players, Wan-Bissaka was the only one who disobeyed orders, and not just once.

"Did you not hear me, Bissaka?"

"I heard you..."

Wan-Bissaka looked somewhat awkward.

"If you heard me, then pass!"

After Tang Ye's shout, he finally got Wan-Bissaka to behave.

He didn't want to scold his teammates, but as Ashley Young had said, keeping the team at peak performance on the pitch was the captain's duty.

Tang Ye gripped Wan-Bissaka's shoulder firmly with his hand: "Be decisive! And pass to his strong foot! Why did you pass to Martial's left foot? Pass to his right!"

Liwupu 1:0 Manchester United; the lead on the scoreboard energized the Liwupu camp.

Liwupu's goal difference was still two fewer than Manchester United's, so unless they won 3:0, even a victory would only leave them tied with Manchester United on 60 points, ranking second.

But one must look at the bright side.

Liwupu had been three points behind; now closing that gap to a draw was undoubtedly a tremendous boon.

"Don't chase goal difference; just hold steady!"

Klopp emphasized to Fan Daike and Robertson: "We only need the three points; forget everything else for now. Take it slow, don't let them counter-attack!"

"Mark Dembélé!"

The 39th minute of the first half!

Tang Ye dribbled to the right-wing byline, with Dembélé running alongside him.

This was a classic coordinated attack.

Tang Ye encountered Robertson's defense and could not advance further.

Then the maneuver began: Dembélé cut inside while Wan-Bissaka surged down the line, with both Manchester United players simultaneously creating passing options.

Robertson could not defend two attackers alone and ultimately had to prioritize marking the cutting-in Dembélé.

Bang!

Tang Ye threaded a through-ball to Wan-Bissaka!

"Don't pass, don't pass!"

Knowing Wan-Bissaka's passing was inaccurate, Tang Ye signaled his teammate receiving the ball not to rush.

This time, Wan-Bissaka finally obeyed, calmly bringing the ball under control.

Meanwhile, Tang Ye initiated his move, dodging Robertson and sprinting toward Dembélé's direction.

"Here!"

Reaching out for the ball, Tang Ye received Wan-Bissaka's cutback.

After controlling the ball, he paused briefly, then continued cutting inside.

At that moment, as Dembélé ran to the right, Tang Ye flicked the ball over to him.

A cross-run from the teammate combination; after receiving, Dembélé decisively played the pass. Slap!

Once again targeting Rashford at the far post.

Rashford controlled the ball with his chest but immediately faced pressure from defenders, forcing him to quickly pass back to Rodri.

Rodri dribbled the ball forward one step.

Bang!

A long-range shot from outside the box, but it was blocked by Fan Daike's sliding tackle.

"Fuck!!!"

Rodri roared at the sky.

If Fan Daike hadn't blocked that, it basically would have gone in.

But Fan Daike did block it; this is the strength of the defender who ranked third for the Ballon d'Or.

"My fault, my fault."

Rodri raised his hand to apologize.

Because of Klopp's specific instructions, Manchester United did almost all the attacking for the remainder of the second half.

But the frustrating part was that despite constantly attacking, Manchester United failed to find a goal; Rodri's long-range shot was actually the best chance in the last few minutes.

"Beep, beep-beep!!!"

"The first half is over; Liwupu is temporarily leading by one goal."

"Yes, overall it feels like Manchester United's forward line capabilities seem somewhat restricted."

"Yes, Manchester United's two flanks have been completely neutralized by Liwupu."

Today Liwupu unveiled a rather special tactic, which roughly felt somewhat similar to Total Football.

Since Manchester United likes to exploit the speed of their wingers, Liwupu simply hid inside the penalty area during defense and refused to come out.

Lingering constantly along the baseline, the speeds of Rashford and Dembélé had nowhere to be utilized.

It's a bit unwilling to admit, but the fact is that Klopp's tactics today were very successful.

At halftime, Tang Ye arrived gloomily beside his spot.

Instead of choosing to sit in his seat, he sat on the ground in front of it.

"Hey, over here!"

Hearing Martial's voice, Tang Ye reached out and caught a bottle of glucose drink.

"Want some Red Bull?"

Rodri drank one-third of a bottle of Red Bull, then handed it to Tang Ye.

"Mm, I'll have a little."

To avoid feeling the need to use the toilet during the match, Tang Ye only took a small sip.

Sweet things are extremely helpful for alleviating a bad mood; this statement is absolutely correct.

With half a bottle remaining, after asking around and finding no one wanted it, Tang Ye simply placed the drink on the bench.

"What the hell were you guys doing in the first half?"

Ten Hag had arrived!

"Have you noticed? We've been completely neutralized, our two most important flanks."

"If they keep hiding, we definitely can't attack from the wings; why must we persist in attacking from the wings?"

Ten Hag drew a vertical red line in the middle of the tactical board with his pen.

"If they play a compact defense, we can attack through the center, take set pieces, or even switch play back and forth between left and right."

Gesturing with open hands toward Tang Ye: "Why stubbornly hammer away at the right flank? It's unnecessary; switching between the left and right flanks is what you need to do."

Mr. Erik made a lot of sense; Manchester United indeed needed to adapt.

"Fan Daike is a bit impenetrable; he's defending very well,"

Tang Ye said.

"He will expose his positioning; we have sufficiently good attacking players, so he cannot maintain perfect defense forever; I emphasized this issue during our previous meeting."

"Just charge straight into the center; the opportunities in the middle are definitely greater than on the wings; it's easier for us to find scoring points in the center."

Finding scoring points is also a method, though of course, it is a last resort.

Anyway, attacking through the center is never wrong, or alternating between the left and right flanks works too.

"Let Rashford shake up Alexander (Alexander-Arnold); we can do this."

After a quick adjustment, Tang Ye finally sat in his seat, received a banana handed over by the team staff, and shared it with Rodri.

Quickly peeling it, he ate the tip of the banana and discarded the rest.

"Ousmane, you can go to the baseline with Bissaka; pass to Bissaka at the baseline, then you cut inside to receive from me."

"Let's go!"

Tang Ye and Dembélé bumped fists.

This action suddenly made Tang Ye think of something, so he tugged at the captain's armband and then signaled for his teammates to stand up.

"Get up for a moment, everyone get up!"

The players gathered in the middle, and Tang Ye signaled for them to put their arms around each other's shoulders.

"We are currently down by one, but I feel we can turn this around, and then..."

And then what?

Tang Ye couldn't think of anything either.

But it didn't matter.

"Come on, come on!"

"3, 2, 1!"

"United!"

The second half has begun!

Liwupu made no move; Manchester United made the first substitution adjustment.

Amrabat came on as a substitute for De Jong, who had performed poorly in the first half.

Both players belong to the Tenchi Army.

Ten Hag knows his players very well, so this substitution posed no theoretical problem.

In the 52nd minute of the second half, Amrabat immediately delivered a remarkably precise pass to Tang Ye, who was waiting up front.

Slap!

He decisively struck the ball into the penalty area!

"..."

"Hmm, it's clear that Manchester United's tactics have improved significantly in the second half."

They had regained some footing, but Liwupu still held the advantage.

The Liwupu players were now frantic; apart from taking three points from Manchester United, they wanted to do nothing else.

Alexander-Arnold passed to Salah!

Salah dribbled forward.

Luke Shaw slowly retreated, denying Salah any angle to cut inside.

With no other option, he could only pass back to Alexander-Arnold.

Alexander-Arnold sought another route.

Slap!

"Another 45-degree cross!"

"Driving it into the box!"

"Firmino!"

"Header!"

"Brilliant, Amrabat!"

"Hey, wait!"

Firmino's header first struck the ground, bounced up toward Amrabat, and was then blocked away by Amrabat.

It seemed fine at first glance, but upon closer inspection...

"Hiss... Did Amrabat use some improper method to cover that position..."

Beep beep beep beep!

The stadium grew noisy; the Liwupu players near the penalty area all slapped their left hands against their right, shouting, "Handball! It's a handball!"

"Beeeeep!!!"

Before the Liwupu players could shout a few more times, the referee decisively awarded a penalty to the home team.

Amrabat committed a handball foul!

"Damn..."

The situation was starting to look unfavorable...

The Manchester United players tried to protest, but it was largely useless.

From a god's-eye view, Amrabat's handball was not obvious, but from the referee's position, it was crystal clear.

The 56th minute of the second half!

While leading by one goal, Liwupu earned a penalty kick.

Stepping up was their primary penalty taker, Salah, who had performed well in this match!

"Salah! Mo~ Sa~ Lala~ h!"

Before the penalty even began, the director cut to the stands behind the Manchester United goal, where several fans held Salah's jersey high above their heads.

The Liwupu fans knew they were about to extend their lead!

"Beeeeep!!!"

Salah...

Run-up!

Slap!

(End of chapter)