BEEP!!!
With the referee's sharp whistle, the highly anticipated Manchester Derby officially began!
Manchester City kicked off and immediately passed the ball back to their defense to build up.
"Press them in midfield! Don't let them pass it around comfortably!"
Ling charged straight into Manchester City's formation from the kickoff, rushing aggressively toward Fernandinho, who was receiving possession.
The other Manchester United players followed closely behind in a coordinated wave, executing Mourinho's pre-planned tactics with intense, incredibly organized pressing.
"Don't retreat!" Kevin De Bruyne shouted sharply to his teammates.
Fernandinho, hearing his playmaker, stopped his intended backward pass to the center-backs and instead forced the ball forward to De Bruyne, who had dropped deep to support.
De Bruyne received the ball smoothly under pressure and immediately played a slick one-touch pass out to Bernardo Silva on the wing.
Manchester City began their difficult, intricate passing game on the left flank under massive duress.
But no matter how high Manchester United's pressing intensity was, Manchester City managed to keep possession, albeit with some visible difficulty and frantic movement!
And at every single critical moment of possession transfer, the same brilliant figure could be seen organizing the chaos—Manchester City's number 17!
In the authoritative football magazine FourFourTwo's recent ranking of current global midfielders, the Belgian maestro Kevin De Bruyne unsurprisingly took first place.
Second was Luka Modric, and third was N'Golo Kante.
And De Bruyne's flawless performance in these opening few minutes completely silenced any debate about that specific ranking.
He was unplayable.
As time passed, Manchester City's passing game grew increasingly fluid and confident despite the red shirts swarming them.
But they didn't push forward recklessly to attack, instead, they steadily built their territorial advantage, completely starving United of the ball.
A dagger drawn is not as frightening as one hidden, because you never know exactly when your opponent will strike.
'We can't let this continue!' Ling thought to himself, making a frantic forward gesture to his midfield line.
ROAR!!!
Amid the wave-like roar of the Old Trafford crowd, the red-clad Manchester United players surged forward en masse, abandoning their deeper blocks.
Even if the space behind their defense was now wide enough to gallop horses through, they didn't care.
They established an absolute high-intensity pressing system through sheer numerical superiority in the opponent's half, using the simplest physical method to disrupt Manchester City's elegant passing game!
The tactical approach might have been crude and exhausting, but it was incredibly effective at causing panic.
However, risk and reward go hand in hand.
If Manchester City could somehow bypass the press and deliver a long pass over the top of the midfield, neither Harry Maguire nor David Luiz would have the pure pace to catch up with Manchester City's electric forwards.
After all, Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero, and Bernardo Silva were all typical agile, quick players who thrived in open space.
Gary Neville: "Manchester City's passing rhythm has been completely disrupted again! Regardless of whether Manchester United's high-risk tactics are strategically appropriate or not for 90 minutes..."
Jamie Carragher: "This momentum alone is completely exhilarating to watch! It's pure Premier League chaos!"
Neville looked up at the sky, and in the dazzling glare of the Old Trafford floodlights, he seemed to see his own reflection.
And that invincible, aggressive Red Devils Manchester United of the past!
Carragher, for once, didn't reflexively argue back, because he felt the exact same way.
It was a brilliant spectacle.
As Manchester City's formation was forcefully pushed back by the pressing wave.
When the ball finally reached Aymeric Laporte's feet at the back, Ling decisively stepped up to aggressively block his long-passing angle down the line, while Mahrez on the opposite flank tucked in to cut off the diagonal passing lane.
Aymeric Laporte looked around in rising confusion and panic.
With all nearby passing options tightly marked by red shirts, he had absolutely no choice but to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper under immense pressure.
"Don't pass it to me!" Ederson yelled.
Before Ederson could even finish his desperate sentence, Laporte had already played a slightly under-hit ball back.
Then, to his utter horror, Laporte saw Ling smoothly and instantly shift his pressing target, accelerating with terrifying speed once again directly toward Ederson.
The entire stadium held its collective breath in tension. Ederson hesitated for only a fraction of a moment before resolutely charging off his line to meet the ball.
Gary Neville: "Ederson clears it with a desperate big kick!"
Jamie Carragher: "Ling seemed to have entirely anticipated it! He throws himself and sticks out his foot to block the clearance! The ball deflects violently back toward the goal!"
Gary Neville: "Oh! What a massive shame for United!"
Watching the deflected ball roll agonizingly just past the post and out for a corner kick, Neville couldn't help but complain into his microphone.
If only Ling had been a little luckier with the angle of the ricochet... Manchester United taking the lead right from the start would make the rest of the match much more comfortable, as they wouldn't have to maintain such lung-busting, high-intensity pressing for the full 90.
Ederson, visibly shaken, took the ball thrown by the ball boy for the restart.
Just thinking about what had just happened made him shudder.
What on earth was Laporte thinking, passing back to him from such a close distance with Ling lurking?!
And Guardiola had specifically warned them all week before the match—Ling had an incredibly sharp sense for anticipating passes and had already made several crucial, goal-scoring interceptions in the attacking third this season.
During the English League Cup match between the two sides, Laporte had occasionally lost his composure under Ling's pressure, leading Guardiola to ruthlessly substitute him off.
After all this time, how could the defender still not have learned his lesson?
Did he want to repeat the humiliating scene from the final?
"Sorry, Ederson, that was my fault," Laporte took the initiative to admit his mistake, raising a hand.
He didn't know exactly why, but every single time he faced Ling, he felt completely flustered and rushed.
It was like he was constantly second-guessing his own abilities.
His usual ten-out-of-ten performance would inevitably drop to a shaky six.
Laporte patted his own head, took a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart, and spoke to his defensive partner.
"Captain, keep an eye on the space behind me later. I'll engage him."
Vincent Kompany nodded grimly.
He understood exactly how Laporte felt.
After all, being repeatedly, physically dominated by Ling had, to put it bluntly, left a deep psychological scar on many top defenders in the league.
Not to mention, Laporte had also recently suffered a serious knee injury, making him slightly slower on the turn.
"If you feel unsure on the ball, Aymeric, you can proactively give up some possession and play it long," Kompany offered a kind, pragmatic reminder.
Although it would weaken Manchester City's core philosophy of passing and control, it was still vastly better than risking another similar catastrophic situation near their own goal.
Laporte forced a tight smile. "I've adjusted pretty well now, Vinny. I'm good."
Seeing his partner's false bravado, Kompany didn't say anything more.
Manchester City's goal kick was played short to Oleksandr Zinchenko on the left flank.
The Ukrainian's ability to drive forward with the ball was quite good, but when he tried to showcase his skills to escape his own half, he noticed that the Manchester United players strangely weren't pressing him as intensely on that side.
An Asymmetric Defensive System?
Guardiola glanced over at Mourinho on the touchline and analyzed quietly with Arteta.
"Manchester United knows our primary attacking strength usually lies on the right side with Kevin and Bernardo, so their defensive focus is heavily skewed that way. As for the left flank... they've intentionally left it slightly open?"
It's a trap!
Guardiola suddenly looked up, realizing the danger.
Zinchenko comfortably carried the ball near the halfway line and passed it sideways to De Bruyne, who had drifted inside to receive it.
But in that exact split second the ball was played, Manchester United launched their press!
Their entire formation moved as one unit, like a sharpened chisel, aggressively driving into Manchester City's midfield.
N'Golo Kante quickly closed down De Bruyne with terrifying speed.
It was true that Kante wasn't physically imposing, standing much shorter than the Belgian, but he still managed to completely hassle and disrupt De Bruyne effectively.
Harassed from behind, De Bruyne found no forward passing lanes and noticed his space rapidly shrinking as red shirts converged, so he had absolutely no choice but to pass the ball back out wide to Zinchenko to relieve the pressure.
But Manchester United's coordinated press wasn't over yet.
Ander Herrera and Aaron Wan-Bissaka quietly pushed up from their deeper positions, tightly marking David Silva and Zinchenko respectively!
---
After the season is over there will be a scene of international football, do you still want me to change his country? or we just leave it china ?
PS : The goalkeeper fic will be release on monday