Rochdale is located just over an hour's drive north of Manchester city and has a capacity of up to 8,000 fans at Spartland Road.

As the first warm-up game of the season for the new Manchester United, the game attracted more than 1,500 fans, all of whom were excited to see the club by knowing that the club had brought in several quality players this season, including a Brazilian international.

The new Manchester United squad underwent a minor overhaul, with Jonathan Maiten still playing the main line up front, but his partner was replaced by Croatian teenager Olich.

Ricky Willens on the left wing, Aleksandar Hleb on the right, Brazil international Juninho Junior in central midfield, Karl Maternson at the back.

The left wing-back and central defenders have not changed, they are still Evra, Abidal and Garay Turner, but the right wing-back has become Stanson, this player is very active on the training ground, the defensive skills are not weak, and at the same time have a certain attacking power, unlike Kevin Evan can only blindly defend.

Almunia remained the main goalkeeper and David Green was on the bench.

Just two days ago, Peter Schmeichel announced his departure from Manchester United, and he is still considering where his next destination will be, and in an interview with reporters, he said that he did not rule out staying in Manchester.

However, there are two teams in the city of Manchester, Manchester City and the new Manchester United, which one will be chosen, it is difficult to say for the time being, and Portugal's Sporting Lisbon is still not dead on him.

Anything is possible until there is a contract!

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When the referee blew the whistle for the start of the game, Rochdale launched a fierce attack on the new Manchester United, and they may have done a certain understanding of the new Manchester United beforehand, knowing that the left side of the new Manchester United defense is a big problem, so they specifically attacked the left side of the new Manchester United as soon as they started.

Ricky Willens is 21 years old, and after a season of training in the Northwest Division B, his strength has improved a lot, he is very fast, and his one-on-one passing ability is very average, but because Bruce gave him absolute freedom in the left half of the frontcourt, he appeared to be very active on the field.

Rochdale has obviously noticed Richie Willens' characteristics for a long time, so he has specially assigned him a defense against his surname, no matter which area he runs to, there will always be players to follow, which greatly limits Richie Willens's play.

In the 12th minute, Ricci received a pass from Evra on the left side, faced the opponent's right fullback, and wanted to use his speed to break through, but was cut off by the opponent and played a counterattack.

Fortunately, Evra was assigned a heavier defensive task in this game, and the forward insertion was not high, which made the opponent's counterattack not play.

In the 15th minute, Karl Maternson broke the ball and passed to Juninho Jr., who again found Rich Willens, who cut in quickly on the left, but was cleared early by the opposing centre-backs because the pass was too obvious.

In the 17th minute, Eric Abidal cleared the ball with a header, Evra made a long pass, and Jonathan Maiten was cleared by Rochdale's right wing-back on the left side of the header under the interference of the opponent.

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Perhaps due to the absence of Darren Lyons, the new United began to attack Rochdale's right from the left after slowing down Rochdale's attack in the first half, creating a number of chances within minutes, but they could not threaten from the beginning to the end.

Xiao Yu, who was sitting in the stands, saw this kind of scene and had to sigh, in the end, it is a professional team in English and C, although it is not said that its strength must be stronger than New Manchester United, but at least in terms of control of the game, it is more than a step ahead of New Manchester United.

In last season's Northwest Division B, the reason why the new Manchester United was able to play well was mainly because the opponents were some amateur teams, but now, as soon as they meet professional teams, the new Manchester United is immediately exposed to all kinds of problems.

"If it continues like this, this game is probably going to be tragic!" Although he was very reluctant to see it, Xiao Yu really had such an intuition.

Sure enough, when Walsh, who was sitting next to Xiao Yu, was still doubting Xiao Yu's judgment, Rochdale scored.

In the 21st minute, Rich Willens was cut off with the ball, the opponent's very smart long pass behind Evra, the striker went to the left side of the new Manchester United to take the ball and then adjusted the cross slightly, and the high school striker who was outflanked in front of the goal pressed Eric Abidal to head into the net, 1:0!

This was the first goal conceded by the new Manchester United in a warm-up game this season, which also made the new Manchester United players who were originally full of confidence stunned.

Rochdale's goal was the same as last season's new Manchester United against the amateur teams in the North West Division B, which was very simple and capable, with three or four passes to solve the problem.

It's ironic that the enemy's usual tricks are being used on oneself by the enemy!

But not only that, after the new Manchester United conceded the goal, it launched a more fierce offensive against Rochdale, and basically concentrated on the left side, but Rochdale obviously clamped down on Rich Willens, and Evra was afraid of being counterattacked, so he did not dare to rush too forward, which made the new Manchester United's attack on the left side thunderous and rainy.

Hleb on the right worked hard, but could not get the support of his teammates, and ran into the gap several times, but no one passed the ball to him, and Bruce beat his chest on the field.

The new Manchester United who have not been able to attack for a long time conceded another goal in the 34th minute, Rochdale still played the left side of the new Manchester United, and after the two players cooperated with Evra, the low flat ball was passed to the front of the penalty area, and the opponent's central midfielder took the ball and shot from a distance, Almunia couldn't save, 2:0!

The two goals conceded were almost identical, and the fans in the stands were in an uproar.

You know, last season, especially in the latter part of the season, the left side of the new Manchester United played exceptionally well and was invincible, and the two left wings were a nightmare for almost all teams in the Northwest Division B, but just a few months later, the entire left side was blown up.

Is there really such a big gap between the amateur league and the professional league?

"If we can't solve this problem, the prospect of us competing in the national league in the new season is probably still no fun!"

As an old fan who has watched football for many years, Xiao Yu can naturally see the seriousness of this problem.

The introduction of too many players, the cooperation with each other is not tacit enough, many foreign players have not been able to integrate into the team, which makes the team look very strong, but can not play, after all, there are 11 people playing on the football field, without team cooperation, even the big names such as Real Madrid's galaxy superstars will be tragic.

After being poured two goals in a row, the players on the field of the new Manchester United began to become worried, they wanted to attack, but they were worried about being counterattacked, but they didn't attack, but the opponent already had two goals in hand.

Although this is just a warm-up game with the surname of the soldiers, Bruce has given a request before the game, and every game, whether it is a warm-up game, a cup game or a league match, the new Manchester United must win!

After conceding a goal, they became timid, and Rochdale also slowed down the tempo, this is a team that is known for defensive counter-attacks, which is also the capital of Rochdale who has been based in the League C for decades and has always been in the middle of the table.

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In the dressing room of the new Manchester United at half-time, it was quiet that only the staff in the laboratory were holding instruments to test some data for the players, which would be fed into the computer and then analysed.

One by one, the players sat listlessly like defeated roosters, or lay down, and the new players did not dare to speak on such occasions, and the veteran players who were on the team last year did not dare to speak, and everyone could see that Bruce's iron-clad face was showing his anger.

Finally, when the personnel in the laboratory had finished monitoring and left, Bruce coughed.

'We had a terrible first half, maybe you would say that the opponent was a League C team, they were stronger than us, but I don't think so, you look at the current staffing of our players, Ribeiro, Brazil international; Jacek Kłović, Poland international; Ivica Olic played for Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga last season, while Pete Crouch moved from the Premier League. ”

"In terms of purely staffing, I don't think we're going to lose to the opposition, but why were we two goals down in the first half? And according to statistics, we only had two pitiful shots in the first half, and all of them shot to the stands, I'm really worried, if I accidentally hit Xiao Yu, I and you will not be all finished! ”

Bruce's last sentence caused a burst of laughter in the locker room, although it was small and sparse, but it washed away the solemn and gloomy atmosphere in the locker room.

"It's a rare opportunity to practice, I'm going to play as a league, I want to get a win, Jacek in the second half for Ritchie, Patrice, your responsibility is to defend, remember, defend first, then think about attacking forward, understand?"

Evra was assigned a task and immediately stood up and nodded in agreement.

In addition to making changes to the left flank, Bruce replaced Juninho Jr., who had a poor first half, and Dane Christian Paulsen replaced him in a double midfield, and then replaced Jonathan Maiten, who had a poor first half, with Kicic to partner Olic up front.

"We have to lower our body in the second half, we are a team that is guaranteed to the national league, we were in the Northwest Division B last year, so we are a weak team, we have to play defensive counterattacks, but this does not mean that we are weak, when the opponent comes out to play, we will recover, and then wait for the opportunity to rebound quickly, like a spring, understand?"

Bruce's hands made a spring pressure and rebound movement in front of the player, making it clear to the player that he did not want the kind of blind defense, but the kind of premeditated defensive counterattack, and strive for a victory!

ps: I watched the FA Cup Red Rebels vs Rochdale game, the atmosphere was so warm, and fireworks were set off on the field, wow, interested friends can go and take a look!

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