Toni Kroos was standing in the center circle, and as soon as he saw Danilo on the right coming up to meet Vidal, he immediately ran along the center line to the right, just as Danilo knocked back, and the German took advantage of the situation to knock back and gave it to Varane.

In this transition, Stoke City's pressing had to slow down.

Before Stoke could catch their breath, Raphael Varane fed the ball to Xavi Martinez, who played a long ball and found Ibrahimovic with precision.

Suddenly, before the whole Stoke City had time to take a breath, they had to continue to press harder.

The Swedish centre-forward won the ball and Neymar was second.

After the Brazilian grabbed the ball, he quickly split to the left wing, David Alaba rushed forward quickly, received the ball and went to the bottom line, so that Southampton's attacking line also advanced to the Stoke City penalty area.

But the attack didn't work, and the ball was cleared by Robert Hout in the box.

The ball had already fallen to Southampton, and Modric received the ball and passed it to Toni Kroos.

The German turned and knocked the ball back to Manuel Neuer at the edge of the box.

Suddenly, everyone on the Saints team knew that it was time to control the rhythm a little.

In this game, Toni Kroos was more at the back, forming a possession phalanx with Xavi Martinez, Raphael Varane and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

The two full-backs, Danilo and David Alaba, pressed very high, even more than Toni Kroos in many cases, plus Neymar cut and Gareth Bale slanted into the box, making the two full-backs look more like full-backs, and the burden of attacking and defending the whole wing fell on them.

The ball skillfully passed back and forth in Southampton's midfield, and the overall formation was slowly pressing forward.

Stoke City retreated slowly, but had no desire to press and press Southampton's possession phalanx at the back.

First of all, Crouch's height makes it difficult for him to be as active in pressing and pressing as other players.

And he's alone, it's hard to scream alone.

Another important reason is that the average age of the Stoke City team is over 30 years old.

Needless to say, Crouch has been famous for a long time, he is thirty-two years old this year, Etherington is also thirty-two years old, Whitehead is thirty-one years old, and Walters is thirty years old.

The youngest in the entire midfield is French midfielder Nzonji at the age of 24.

But what can a person do?

Therefore, such a high age makes it impossible for the Stoke City team to use front-court pressing and pressing tactics, not to mention whether the effect can meet expectations, but also to say that their own physical exertion is probably not something Tony Pulis can afford.

Sometimes, everyone knows that high-intensity frontcourt pressing and pressing is a trend, a trend, but it may not be applicable.

Toni Pulis opted for the tactical style that best suited Stoke City's team, which was to give up pressing and pressing up front.

But then they have to let Southampton control the ball.

From the very beginning, Southampton dominated the game with over 70 per cent possession.

The Stoke City team adopts a compact and shrinking style of play in the midfield and backfield, and patiently defends well.

Don't look at Southampton's control of the game and a few dangerous attacks, but either they failed to create a threat or goalkeeper Begovic played well.

Begovic is one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League this season, not only has he attracted the attention of big clubs such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, but even Barcelona wants him, which shows his strength!

Southampton were very patient with the ball.

Toni Kroos is smart and he always keeps in mind the pre-match arrangements and set-ups of head coach Bielsa.

That is, we can't let the Stoke City team have a chance to breathe, and we have to keep using guò possession tactics to wear down their resilience and consume their physical energy, because they are old and will definitely not be able to bear it.

But as the team's playmaker, Toni Kroos must also keep in mind that he can't rush.

As soon as the team is in a little anxious, he must be the first to steady, calm and rational.

In Bielsa's words, with enough patience, Southampton will win!

…………

…………

In Carrington, west of Manchester, inside Manchester United's training base, Ferguson sat in his office, silently watching the TV screen in front of him.

Sitting next to him was Everton manager David Moyes, who had travelled all the way from Liverpool.

This little Scottish fellow has come to listen to the admonitions of his predecessors!

After all, he took over Ferguson's class, and his biggest task was to continue the country that Ferguson had worked so hard to fight.

It's just that he didn't expect that he came in a coincidental time, and it happened to be a make-up match between Southampton and Stoke City.

So, after an afternoon of talking, Moyes was left by Alex Ferguson to watch the game together.

"Toni Pulis defended very well, with very tight cuts and diagonal cuts on both flanks, especially in the midfield, always in front of the defensive line, which is quite effective!"

Even David Moyes has to admit that Toni Pulis is definitely the best defensive manager in England.

It's just a pity that his attainments in offense are really flattering.

Just ask, how can any manager with a normal point and a rational point pile up so many veterans in his early thirties in his midfield?

Not to mention that veterans are prone to injury, let's talk about physical exertion and recovery, veterans will definitely suffer more than younger players.

The competition in the Premier League is so fierce, and with so many veterans, it must be unbearable.

Ferguson's eyes were fixed on the TV screen, unwilling to leave for a moment, but his mouth was muttering to himself what Moyes said.

"Bielsa is a cunning old fox, he knows the weakness of Stoke City, anyway, it is the last game of the season, he is not in a hurry, he uses possession tactics to play a war of attrition, the key is to watch the second half!"

More than 20 minutes into the first half, the score is still 0-0.

But everyone knows that if this situation continues, the further the game time goes, the more pressure will be on Stoke City.

Moyes also nodded, "Bielsa's team are very good at making a sudden attack in the final moments, so I suspect that before the end of the first half, Southampton will have another wave of attacks. ”

Ferguson still nodded indifferently, which should be seen by any Premier League manager, and there is nothing unusual.

"In the second half, Bielsa must still have a hand hidden!"

These words made Ferguson's eyes light up, and he couldn't help but sigh.

"Stoke City's table this season is very interesting, 28 points at home, 21 goals scored, 22 goals conceded, 14 points away, 13 goals scored, 23 goals conceded, it can be seen that the biggest gap between home and away is not in defense, but in attack!"

Judging by the table throughout the first half, Stoke City almost completely gave up the will to attack and thought about defense.

Tony Pulis set up a bucket formation at St Mary's Stadium, and it was clear that the carriage was going to sue Southampton and I was here for a draw!

If you refer to Moyes's number jù, it is really in line with the positioning of Stoke City.

Anyway, the offensive ability of the away team is not good, so I simply don't attack and concentrate on defense.

"But there's another rather interesting number jù, this season Stoke City scored 15 goals in the first half and conceded 18 goals, but in the second half, Stoke City scored 19 goals and conceded 27 goals, four more goals than in the first half, but conceded nine more goals!"

Moyes's words immediately made Ferguson frown.

He understood what Moyes meant.

There are a lot of Premier League teams this season that are in the first half and prone to collapse in the second half.

The most typical is Newcastle, which always collapsed in the second half.

There were also teams like West Ham United, Queens Park Rangers, Wigan Athletic, Reading and many others, and the second half was a terrible one.

Manchester United's second-half record was not ideal, and they even finished sixth in the Premier League, behind Southampton, Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

However, in the first half, Manchester United were narrowly ahead of Southampton.

It can be seen that Manchester United and Stoke City have exactly the same problems.

That is, there are too many veterans in the team, and it is difficult for the team to always maintain a high level of performance in a 90-minute game, always showing a good performance in the first half and starting to decline in the second half.

It can't be helped, unless you're willing to restructure your roster!

"If Toni Pulis's side can hold on in the first half, then grit their teeth in the second half and maybe they can hold on, and a draw is not out of the question!"

At this point, Moyes glanced at Ferguson and saw that the latter's face was very unsightly.

I suddenly sighed in my heart, what can I do?

Southampton are so strong, is it possible for you to let a mid-table team like Stoke City go to the bottom of their game?

He still hasn't said the next thing, which is that if Stoke City concede a goal in the first half, it will be difficult for Tony Pulis to recover in the second half, no matter how magical it is.

That's why Ferguson's face is so ugly.

As you can guess, Southampton didn't give their best in the opening kick-off, with Bielsa really wanting to score at the end of the first half and in the second half.

Therefore, before the end of the first half, it is the first test of the Stoke City team!

Ferguson was all worried, looking at the TV screen, Southampton was still controlling the ball, and the Stoke City team was still cowering in their own half to defend tightly, putting on an iron bucket formation, looking like they were killed and did not show their heads.

I don't know why, I know that Stoke City's defense is the best in the Premier League, but Ferguson is still not at ease.

In the final analysis, the difference in strength between the two teams is too big!

Could it be that he really wants to end his coaching career empty-handed?

No!

I don't!

I never!

Ferguson gritted his teeth and looked at the TV screen, he was very unwilling, very, very unwilling!

He must not allow himself to end his coaching career like this, with such humiliation!

It's not fair to him!

Moyes, who was on the side, took in Ferguson's reaction, but was very embarrassed in his heart.

The haughty Sir Alex Ferguson was scared, so why wasn't he?

Southampton have been so strong this season, what about next season?

Can he lead such a Manchester United team against Southampton?

Even, will he be able to reform Manchester United's tactics and restructure the Manchester United squad while still retaining the top four in the league?

Moyes really wasn't sure!

Just when the two were thinking about each other, they saw that after Tony Kroos got the ball in the stadium, he faced the pressure and quickly passed to Modric, and he suddenly changed his previous style of lateral movement and rushed forward quickly.

Modric also understood it, and after receiving the ball, he quickly knocked it back and completed a beautiful two-by-one central advancement cooperation.

As soon as Toni Kroos moved forward, Southampton's entire midfield immediately followed.

The German commander finally blew the horn of Southampton's onslaught before the end of the first half!

Moyes glanced at the points bar on the TV screen, there were still ten minutes or so!

It seems that Southampton still has grasped the defensive weakness of Stoke City!

In the next ten minutes, Stoke City may announce the loss of the city gate at any time!

So, the two people in the office almost held their breath and watched the live TV intently. R1148