The First Half of Manchester United (1)
The first match against Manchester United was about to begin, and the players in the starting lineup had already made their way onto the pitch. A short while later, as Ha Sunmoon entered the stadium and settled onto the bench, first-team coach Juanma Lillo approached him.
“You’ll learn a great deal from today’s match. Unlike the Norwich game, the level of the opposition is much higher.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll be watching carefully. I’ve actually been trying to observe how they move for a while now.”
“Good. That’s the right attitude. Which players have you been focusing on?”
“Right now, I’m mainly watching the centre-backs and the defensive midfielders.”
“Not the left-backs?”
“No, sir. I want to observe the build-up process calmly from the beginning.”
“Hmm… That’s an excellent idea.”
Juanma Lillo nodded, as if acknowledging that Ha Sunmoon’s thinking was spot on.
Juanma Lillo. He was the man Pep Guardiola had sought out to learn the art of management as his own playing career drew to a close. That was why Pep Guardiola had always regarded him as a mentor, and still did. Of course, the situation had now reversed—Pep Guardiola had become the far greater manager, with Lillo serving as his first-team coach. Yet the veteran who had once managed for many years possessed a wealth of know-how. His greatest strength was squad management; he had a special talent for nurturing players who felt slightly isolated or mentally fragile. It was an area Pep Guardiola struggled with, and Lillo filled that gap perfectly.
At Manchester City, he had gently guided Sterling and Cancelo. Once they received that kind of care, both players had blossomed. And now, the first-team coach was approaching to look after Manchester City’s newest signing.
Hmm… As expected from a big club. They really do take care of every little detail, don’t they?
Clive Harrison seemed slightly impressed by the sight.
Juanma Lillo stayed with him until just before kick-off, starting with light conversation and then asking a great many questions—how his condition was, how he was managing his body. Thanks to that, Ha Sunmoon was able to spend what might otherwise have been a tedious wait in a state of pleasant tension.
The match began.
Manchester City lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation with one defensive midfielder and two attacking midfielders, while Manchester United deployed a 3-5-2 that placed three centre-backs on the pitch but emphasised midfield numbers. On the left of United’s two forward positions stood Ronaldo, who had drawn attention the moment he stepped onto the field.
It looks more like a 5-3-2 than a 3-5-2, doesn’t it?
Clive Harrison remarked as he watched the game. Ha Sunmoon nodded in agreement.
The balance of play clearly favoured Manchester City. As City pressed high, Manchester United’s players dropped deep to form a solid defensive block, which caused both wing-backs to tuck in and create what looked like a 5-3-2. Once United crouched into that compact shape, City struggled to break them down and were forced to circulate the ball, searching for gaps.
“Manchester City’s players are struggling to find a way through.”
“It looks like the players haven’t fully warmed up yet. Their passing is quite slow.”
After a long spell of meaningless possession, Jesus suddenly lost the ball.
“Luke Shaw wins it! He plays it straight to Ronaldo!”
The moment Ronaldo received the ball, a huge roar erupted inside Old Trafford.
“Ronaldo passes to Greenwood—Greenwood is running! Kyle Walker quickly closes down Ronaldo, but the ball had already left his foot. It reaches Greenwood in a flash and is already at the edge of the penalty area!”
“Greenwood has an opportunity!”
“Greenwood! He beats Cancelo—shoooooot!”
Greenwood, who had been nudging the ball outward with quick touches, suddenly cut inside when Cancelo blocked his path and struck the ball as soon as the angle opened. Thump! But Ruben Dias’s sliding tackle deflected it, sending the ball spinning wide.
“Wow… Their counter-attacks are certainly sharp.”
“Exactly. That’s their pattern. We’ve always been weak against teams that counter like that—until Ruben Dias arrived, at least.”
Similar scenes continued. Manchester City would push forward, lose the ball once, and Manchester United’s players would launch a rapid counter, targeting the space behind.
“Ughhhhhhh.”
“Aigoo…”
In the 37th minute of the first half, Cancelo, who had been attacking down the left, went down clutching his ankle after a tackle from Lindelöf.
“Huh?”
Hmm… Looks like he’s in bad shape?
Clive Harrison immediately went over to check on Cancelo and returned with a grim expression. He gave Ha Sunmoon a signal that a substitution was likely.
“Is it pretty bad?”
“Yes… They might have to take him off.”
The medical staff soon raised the substitution board, and Pep Guardiola brought on Zinchenko at left-back. Nothing else of note happened after that, and the first half came to an end.
“It’s frustrating,” Pep Guardiola said.
“How about changing the attacking players? Dropping Gündoğan doesn’t seem to be helping. The opponent has overloaded the midfield, so we need to increase our numbers there too.”
“Or we need a player who can run hard enough to overcome that.”
After a brief discussion with Juanma Lillo, Pep Guardiola made another substitution. He brought Sterling on at left wing, moved Foden from the left wing to centre-forward, and shifted Bernardo Silva from centre-forward to the left central midfield role that Gündoğan had vacated.
With Gündoğan’s withdrawal, the flow of the second half changed noticeably. The movement became much quicker. Even when battles for the ball broke out in midfield, City no longer lost out physically. Aerial duels to clear the ball were followed by fierce contests to win the second ball, and the game began to turn rough.
“Zinchenko! He goes forward and delivers a cross!”
“But Wan-Bissaka’s tackle stops him!”
Whoa. That one took both the ball and the man. He’s not injured, is he?
“Wasn’t that a foul?” Ha Sunmoon asked Fernandinho, who was sitting beside him.
But Fernandinho simply shook his head.
“This is the Premier League. Something like that… hmm… Zinchenko’s going to have a tough time. Wan-Bissaka is a good tackler. If he knows the referee won’t call those as fouls… he might start going in even harder.”
Fernandinho’s concern soon became reality.
Whoosh—
“Aaaaargh!”
The left side of Manchester City’s attack—Sterling and Zinchenko—became the target of a relentless tackle show from Wan-Bissaka. As the referee continued to show no interest in blowing his whistle, City’s entire left-flank attack died completely. At the same time, the frequency of United’s counters increased, and Manchester City’s defence began to wobble.
The back three of Dias, Stones, and Walker were all excellent defenders and managed to hold firm, but there were moments when the sheer number of United attackers led to shots flying straight at Ederson.
Are we slowly getting pushed back? This doesn’t feel like a good trend at all.
Urgh… Even Ha Sunmoon frowned as he watched the increasingly unfavourable situation.
Thud!
“Hey!”
“That’s a foul!”
Wow… Look at them getting shoved around.
Manchester City’s attack on the right wasn’t faring any better. Whenever Jesus tried to do something, Maguire used his physicality, and once again the referee barely called any fouls. For a team like Manchester City that preferred beautiful football, frequent unpunished fouls quickly caused the game to unravel.
In times like this you have to give it back just as hard…
“In times like this you have to give it back just as hard…”
Huh? I just heard two people say the exact same thing.
Ha Sunmoon looked at Fernandinho in surprise.
“What? That’s right. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If the referee is letting them get away with it, we have to hit back. Otherwise only our players will keep getting hurt.”
“But if we do that… they might give us cards in retaliation.”
“That’s why you have to be the one doing the harassing first. Scratching away at them and breaking them down is a skill too.”
Oh! So there was a player like this on the team. I guess even Brazil gets rough when it needs to, huh?
“It’s not that hard to scratch away without picking up cards. It’s not even that dirty. So who’s going to start the fight first?”
“But…”
“I’m not saying we should punch them or deliberately injure anyone. It’s about showing that we’ll respect what deserves respect. Otherwise only our players get hurt. Like that.”
Peeeeep—
At that moment, Zinchenko collided heavily with Bruno Fernandes and collapsed, clutching his knee. The impact had driven his knee hard into the ground.
Oof…
Shocked to see Zinchenko injured, Ha Sunmoon shot to his feet.
“See? Ha. Get ready. You need to warm up.”
“M… Me?”
“You’re the only full-back left on the bench. When the manager starts complaining, start warming up. You’re going on right away.”
He’s right. Move. The captain’s telling you to.
Fernandinho, who had read the flow of the game quickly, spoke to Ha Sunmoon. With a slightly flustered expression, Ha Sunmoon hurriedly took off his jacket and headed to the warm-up area.
While Ha Sunmoon was awkwardly loosening up, the medical team decided Zinchenko’s condition was serious and requested a substitution.
Fucking hell… those bloody referees…
Pep Guardiola turned away, his face twisted with fury.
“Tell Ha to get ready.”