Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions-Chapter 739 - 528: Soaring through the Night Sky at Old Trafford! He performed the Winged Shooting!

Chapter 739: Chapter 528: Soaring through the Night Sky at Old Trafford! He performed the Winged Shooting!

-[Haha, the essence of human crossing!]

-[If they keep crossing like this, won’t they break Moyes’ Premier League record of 81 crosses in a single match?]

-[I don’t know, but it seems like Stones and Otamendi’s foreheads are getting swollen from all the headers!]

-[I can see it now, Manchester United is trying to take down the master with wild punches!]

-[You won’t believe it, but Icardi’s headers are truly impressive, very intuitive, the ball always seems to gravitate towards him.]

-[Why else would they call him Iron Man? Do you know the word beryllium?]

-[Tang Long hasn’t made any remarkable moves yet, I feel like Icardi’s presence in this match is highlighted more than Tang’s, right?]

"Good job, keep this score until halftime, I am confident we can take them down." Pellegrini glanced at Guardiola, secretly pleased, no matter high or low tactics, as long as it wins, it’s a victory.

Seeing Manchester United about to score again, Tang Long suddenly called out urgently—

"Andrei, get back to the central defender position!"

Ranocchia hesitated, he had been thinking about this, but Guardiola hadn’t mentioned it, so he wasn’t sure if he should move;

As he hesitated, Guardiola also issued the same instruction: "Follow Tang’s orders, get back to central defender, quickly!"

When Tang Long shouted, it suddenly reminded Guardiola, "Oh? I just kept thinking Kompany couldn’t play, yet I forgot about Ranocchia."

Chiwo, on the side, also suddenly realized, joyfully said: "That’s right, Andrei and Icardi were teammates at Inter, he knows how to handle the kid, I forgot about that too!"

Actually, neither Guardiola nor Chiwo had forgotten that Ranocchia was originally a central defender.

Even during the team training the day before the match, because of Kompany’s injury, Ranocchia returned to the central defender position with the A-team, partnering with Stones.

But due to Pellegrini’s unexpected strategy of abandoning ground control, opting for a simple and direct wing crossing play, Manchester City’s coaching staff was caught unprepared and momentarily forgot about it.

Icardi saw Ranocchia running toward him with a grin, grabbing his arm, his heart immediately sank:

"What are you doing, let go!"

"Mauro, hello, we finally face off again!" Ranocchia, standing 195 cm tall, towering over the 181 cm Icardi.

Those deep blue eyes unique to Italian men sent a chill down Icardi’s spine~

He quickly jerked his hand away, escaping from his former teammate’s grasp, and ran off.

Across the Premier League, Argentine forwards fear neither Koscielny nor Ivanovic, and aren’t even afraid of hardy confrontations with Kompany, but they’re afraid of Ranocchia alone.

As Tang Long privately told Ranocchia: "You are Mauro’s Achilles’ heel, the only one in the Premier League who can handle him!"

...

"Ah!"

Icardi let out a scream as he fell to the ground.

Just as he landed, Ranocchia also deliberately fell, heavily crushing him, pressing Icardi’s face against the ground, twisting it terribly. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The referee blew the whistle indicating a foul, Manchester United players demanded a card, but the referee indicated none, "Outside the box, no card!"

Lately, Icardi has been tangled with Ranocchia in the box making him helpless, De Bruyne, Ashley Young, Rooney’s series of crosses, all cleared out by Ranocchia, leaving no chance for Icardi to seize any shots.

Icardi had no choice but to pull out of the box, seeking opportunities.

Ranocchia wasn’t going to let him run? A central defender tracking a forward never gives up the chase.

With a dominant header, the goal kick from De Gea was violently disrupted by Ranocchia overpowering Icardi!

"You fouled me, Andrei!" Icardi rose up, rubbing his face and lamenting.

Ranocchia winked at him and headed back into the box.

De Bruyne executed a free kick cross!

"Mine!"

Icardi just wanted to jump when a large obstacle came before him, he faked a move to evade, but the obstacle followed like a shadow, ending up with a rushed jump, missing the ball entirely.

It was Ranocchia!

Manchester United initiated another kick from the back, Icardi tried to leap for the header, Ranocchia pulled his jersey from behind, as Icardi fell, Ranocchia released his grip, also conveniently falling down before Icardi hit the ground.

"Referee, he’s pulling me from behind!"

"...I saw it, but anyway, it’s not a penalty!"

Chiwo watching this scene, smiled knowingly.

This is the cleverness of Italian defenders, pulling opponents in the box, if there’s a tendency to fall, the hand must release at the last moment, unlike some honest local England defenders who keep a firm grip even after the opponent has hit the ground hard.

This detail, Chiwo taught Stones many times, Stones showed progress, but after all, he’s young, needs more experience, yet in practicality, not as seasoned as the 28-year-old Ranocchia.

After several rounds of struggle, Icardi gradually lost his fighting spirit.

Every time he didn’t get the ball, he blamed his teammates for not delivering well.

"Too heavy, you crossed it heavily, Kevin!" he complained, gesturing at De Bruyne.

"What’s wrong with you Yang, are you blind, didn’t you see me pointing to the front post!" he scolded Ashley Young as blind.

"Wayne! I wanted a high ball, not a half-high ball!" even captain Rooney received some reprimands from Icardi.

Almost every Manchester United teammate who was supposed to supply ammo to Icardi got a round of complaints.

Who feels good hearing such comments?

They inherently disliked this crossing strategy, a few years ago, Manchester United under Moyes suffered criticism for mindless crossing, ultimately leading to a dismissal, and now under Pellegrini, why revert back to the old ways?

Manchester United players unconvinced, we’ve been playing ground ball for half a season, why switch to a crude crossing strategy when meeting Manchester City, do we lack the capability to challenge them on ground play according to Pellegrini?

Previously, Icardi could score, which helped cover many issues.

But once he couldn’t receive the ball, teammates’ rebellion thoughts arose.

"Stop giving him high balls, he can’t catch them, let’s attempt the ground on the flank!" De Bruyne took the lead.

"Follow Kevin’s instruction!" Rooney backed up.

Manchester United’s attacks gradually weakened.

The players, at home, didn’t fear playing ground with Manchester City.

This is Old Trafford, we’re ahead, with 76,000 fans cheering us on!

"Glory Glory United!"

"Glory Glory United!"

"Glory Glory United!"

Amidst the cheers, Manchester United players showed even stronger fighting spirit, running and competing with unwavering determination.

As halftime drew near.

Almost invisible for 45 minutes, Tang Long emerged from nowhere, performing a diagonal tackle, cleanly intercepting De Bruyne’s ball, completing his first interception of the match.

This time, Tang Long’s invisibility stemmed from observing the situation.

Especially noting Manchester United goalkeeper De Gea’s positioning habit.

He noticed, whenever De Bruyne held the ball upfront, De Gea began positioning ahead, standing along the edge of the penalty area.

Tang Long intercepted the ball, without glancing at the goal’s position, quickly adjusted his balance, eyes fixed strictly on the football, charged forward, a left-foot flick lifting the ball thirty centimeters high, followed by a powerful right-foot strike!

After striking, his body leapt high by inertia, legs naturally extending in mid-air, arms spreading wide.

"Go!"

Whoosh—

His entire body assumed the posture of soaring with widespread wings, frozen mid-air!

And that struck football, resembling a bird freed from constraints, zigzagging, ascending and descending, flying towards the goal guarded by De Gea...