Chapter XXVII: Midfield Crisis

Failure is so unexpected. No one could have imagined that Manchester United, who had been in such good form before, would suffer a defeat in the Netherlands.

After the game, Carlo Ancelotti attributed the reason to the lack of rest and fitness problems in the team.

Manchester United returned to England from the Netherlands with the shadow of defeat. Having just suffered a defeat, there were not many smiles on the faces of Manchester United's players.

They have been winning games since the start of the season, not even a draw, and the sudden loss is quite a morale blow to the team. This was even more of a headache for Ancelotti.

Ancelotti was already suffering from morale issues, and to add insult to injury, United suffered two injuries in a row on the first day of training after returning from the Netherlands.

First, Herrera touched his thigh muscles and walked to the sidelines without confrontation in training. Then in the confrontation training, Phil Jones and Fellaini collided, Phil Jones did not have any problems, but Fellaini was injured and will miss at least a week.

Manchester United's defensive solidity this season is largely due to the fact that the three midfielders of Fellaini, Herrera and Kramer have done a very good job of protecting the front of the backline, but this time the sudden loss of two main players still has a great impact on Manchester United.

In midfield, Carrick is a trusted veteran and at such a moment, Carlo Ancelotti is very comfortable to have him on the pitch.

If you don't change the formation, Carrick's replacement for Herrera shouldn't be much worse, and perhaps Carrick's experience will help more. But Fellaini was also injured, which made Ancelotti scratch his head a little.

His first consideration was for Phil Jones and Blind to play in that position. Both players play at the back and have experience in defending midfield. But they all have their own certainty. Phil Jones has strong frontal defense and physical confrontation ability, but in the midfield position, Phil Jones is inexperienced, and Ancelottius thought about it and ruled out Phil Jones first.

And then there is Blind, Blind played as a midfielder for most of the season when he played for Ajax, and the effect was not bad, he had a very good sense of position in this position, and he also played a long ball dispatch. It's just that in a fierce and fast-paced league like the Premier League, Ancelotti doesn't have much grasp of how effective Blind is in the midfield position.

And after Blind came to Manchester United, he still played at the back most of the time, whether it was a central defender or a left-back, and it was still very rare to play at the back.

However, United's next game is just two days away, away to Southampton. Carlo Ancelotti had to make his choice sooner rather than later.

Ronald Koeman's side have had a poor start to the season, picking up just one win after five league games.

However, injuries to Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini have made Ronald Koeman feel that this is an opportunity to pick up points against Manchester United.

Manchester United have just lost the Champions League and lost their generals. The overall trend of the whole team is downward. Despite five consecutive wins in the first five league games, Koeman believes United's winning streak will not last long.

Perhaps at St Mary's, Southampton could bite off a piece of meat from a tired Manchester United.

When Ronald Coman got his hands on Manchester United's starting line-up, the Dutchman grinned.

Everything was as he expected, Carrick and Blind took the place of Herrera and Fellaini, and Manchester United were still in the 4321 formation!

Carlo Ancelotti has relied on this formation to win five consecutive league games, and in this case, Ancelotti will not consider changing formations. With enough midfielders, Carlo Ancelotti's priority is to fill in the gaps for Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini.

In other positions, Di Maria returned from injury, but Carlo Ancelotti did not put him in the starting line-up for the sake of safety, but put him on the bench.

Ronald Coman looked at Blind's name on the starting line-up and a smile appeared on his lips.

…….

In the fourteenth minute of the game, Ronald Koeman was smiling even more proudly on the sidelines.

Mane !!! He received a header from Italian striker Pelle and burst forward at high speed to shoot from the edge of the penalty area!! 1 to 0!! Southampton!!! Southampton lead Manchester United 1-0. Just look at the noise made by the fans at St Mary's Stadium right now, United conceded a goal after just 14 minutes of the game!! ”

Carlo Ancelotti frowned on the sidelines.

From the very beginning of the game, he had a premonition of danger. In fact, even before the goal, United's defence had been threatened by Mane's pace on several occasions.

And the crux of all this is on Blind.

That's right, Blind has a good sense of position and a good pass. But he has a rather fatal weakness, that is, his physical confrontation ability is not good!

Southampton took advantage of that. From the very beginning of the game, Southampton's attack tried to break through from Blind.

High school striker Pelle is as tall as 193 centimeters, and he frequently sticks to Blind's side and bullies Blind with his body. And around Pelle, whether it's Wardplau or Mane, and Tadic on the other side, they are quite fast. Sadio Mane, in particular, is like a black cheetah on the pitch, and when he adds up to his speed, there aren't many people in the entire Premier League who can catch up with him.

Height + speed.

Southampton took advantage of Blind's weakness and opened a gap from him in this way.

And the goal in the 14th minute also proved that Ronald Coman beat Ancelotti in terms of tactical arrangement.

Southampton was just a very simple long ball from the back that hit Pelle's head, and Blind couldn't do anything about Pelle, Pelle easily flicked the ball back, Mane chased after him, and before Hummels cleared it, it was a shot that was simple and direct.

There's nothing De Gea can do, the goal goes into the corner!

Manchester United is in crisis now!

Blind had to adjust this point. Or arrange someone to assist Blind's defense.......... or... Replace him directly!

Running out of a substitution in the 14th minute? Ancelotti was reluctant, so he signaled the midfield three midfielders to change their positions, Blind moved his position to the middle, and moved forward, responsible for withstanding the opponent's No. 16 Ward-Plau, while Carrick and Kramer were slightly back, stretching the depth of the midfield defense, so that even if the opponent wanted to repeat the old trick, it could not be easily penetrated by Mane with speed like the first goal conceded.

Carlo Ancelotti misses Fellaini so much now, and if Fellaini is in midfield, he won't be afraid of Pelle's header!