“Alright, now let’s talk about the Bolton lads.”
“Bolton’s attacking core is Lee Chung-yong, number 7; he has a very wide range of activity.”
“In the second half, while maintaining zonal marking, Sun Jihai, you must mark him tightly; no matter which corner of the pitch he’s in, I want to see you there!”
“Furthermore, the opponent is very familiar with our regular attacking routes. In the second half, you need to infiltrate more through the middle, reduce our wing breakthroughs and through balls, and disrupt the opponent’s defensive setup!”
Huang Hao used the last few minutes to relay all the adjustments he could to the players.
After the adjustments, Cambridge United became much smoother in both attack and defense.
Bolton, on the other hand, reverted to their indifferent state, slowing down the pace of the game.
However, this time, Cambridge United’s front-line players constantly made crisscrossing runs, completely disrupting Cambridge United’s attacking lines, making Bolton’s defense a bit more strenuous.
In the 65th minute of the second half, Huang Hao simultaneously substituted Vardy, Mahrez, and Golonas, attempting to use fresh blood to continue pressuring Bolton.
At this moment, Cambridge United also earned a free kick on the right side of the attacking half.
O'Connor, who had just come on, chose to stand over the ball.
This free kick was about 35 meters from the goal, clearly more suitable for a pass.
O'Connor sent the ball directly to the far post!
At this moment, Van Dijk slowly rounded Ricketts, who was marking him, and suddenly sprinted towards the goal!
By the time Ricketts realized he had lost his man and chased after him, Van Dijk had already deflected O'Connor’s pass towards the goal!
Jääskeläinen, with incredible speed, reached out and blocked the point-blank shot!
However, the ball he parried was directly kicked into the goal again by Ayu, who had rushed in from the middle to support!
Just as Huang Hao sprang from the dugout, about to raise his hands in celebration, he saw the linesman at the far end raising his flag!
Huang Hao immediately covered his head with both hands, looking at the fourth official in surprise!
Seeing the fourth official’s calm expression, Huang Hao knew that even if he used all his might to appeal, shouting and yelling from the sidelines, it would be impossible to change the referee’s decision.
What’s more, from his angle, he couldn’t tell whether Ayu was offside or not.
If he lost his composure too much, it would inevitably affect the players’ performance!
“Excellent, excellent! Keep it up! We can definitely score!”
Having calmed down, Huang Hao began clapping and cheering for the players from the sidelines.
Unexpectedly, right after Bolton took the free kick, Tadić successfully won the ball back in the attacking half, and following Muanba’s foul, Cambridge United earned another free kick opportunity in almost the same spot!
At this moment, time seemed to flow backward, and O'Connor once again stood over the ball.
Ricketts looked at Van Dijk beside him, thinking, “This time, I won’t let you, you stinker, succeed!”
Sensing Ricketts’s gaze, Van Dijk also stared intently into the opponent’s eyes, showing an unwillingness to back down.
As soon as the referee blew the whistle to start play, the two immediately became entangled, pulling and pushing each other.
And O'Connor’s ball, sure enough, came over!
Van Dijk suddenly let go and then charged out!
Ricketts’s reaction was a fraction of a second slower! The moment he let go, Van Dijk had already fallen to the ground!
What was worse, the referee Mike Dean’s whistle really blew!
Dean unhesitatingly awarded Cambridge United a penalty!
“Old man, I suspect we weren’t offside at all just now.”
Darren turned to look at Huang Hao, feeling that his thought process was very peculiar.
“You don’t need to be surprised, otherwise the referee wouldn’t have any reason to be so lenient with us!”
Hearing Huang Hao say that, Darren actually believed him a bit. This penalty was only 2 minutes after Cambridge United’s goal, which indeed seemed a bit harsh.
Lewandowski took a slow run-up, opting for a low shot to the bottom left corner of the goal!
Jääskeläinen quickly opened his body to the right, diving towards the left side of the goal with an extremely graceful posture! Just as the ball was about to cross the goal line, Jääskeläinen’s palm reached behind the ball, directly parrying it out!
Ricketts was the first to rush up, flying up and kicking the ball towards midfield!
Lewandowski stood stunned, unable to believe his penalty had been saved just like that!
Huang Hao sighed deeply in his seat! It seemed that not only was he being targeted by the opponent today, but even luck wasn’t on his side!
As Cambridge United’s offensive intensified, Bolton’s players became more focused on defense.
Even if occasional mistakes allowed Cambridge United to seize opportunities and enter the penalty area, Jääskeläinen still relied on his stable performance to ensure Bolton’s goal remained intact.
Ultimately, Huang Hao still paid the price for his underestimation of the opponent.
Cambridge United drew a blank away against Bolton, and even though the media later proved through analysis that the offside call on Ayu was completely a mistaken judgment, it could not change the outcome of the draw.
The Premier League is like a slowly moving train; once it departs, it won’t stop, leaving Huang Hao enough time to reflect.
Three days later, Cambridge United would once again face their next opponent, Hull City, at Selhurst Park.
Seeing the name of this opponent, Huang Hao’s brows furrowed again.
His thoughts were also pulled back to a year ago.
At that time, Cambridge United was still struggling in the EFL Championship, and in the second round of the English League Cup knockout stage, they upset Premier League Hull City with a 4-1 victory.
And in the post-match press conference, Huang Hao and Brown also engaged in a war of words, neither giving an inch. They also successfully formed a grudge.
Unexpectedly, this season, Huang Hao led Cambridge United to the Premier League as well. The two teams became opponents again a year later.
Time had passed; their defensive core Michael Turner and attacking core Campbell had long since left the team.
With the lesson from Bolton, both Huang Hao and the Cambridge United players became serious. In Huang Hao’s words, you have to take one step at a time, and eat one bite at a time. Until Cambridge United could win the Premier League title, they had no right to underestimate any opponent.
On August 29th, Selhurst Park was once again filled with 26,200 fans.
Today’s Cambridge United, in terms of appeal, was already completely on par with their city rivals, Crystal Palace.
Facing Hull City, which had many veteran players, Huang Hao, in addition to his regular tactical arrangements before the match, also instructed his players to conserve as much energy as possible in the first half and then exploit Hull City’s lack of stamina in the second half to deliver a decisive blow.
However, Pantilimon’s continued absence still left Huang Hao feeling somewhat unsure.
Aside from having his defenders build a solid defense in front of Oblak as much as possible, Huang Hao could only pray that Oblak would grow up quickly. Huang Hao was quite confident about this, after all, in his previous life, Oblak had also become a starter at sixteen.
After kick-off, Hull City played like the home team, and after a few minutes of probing, they began to frequently threaten Cambridge United’s heartland.
It seemed that Brown must have really hyped up the Hull City players before the match.
And the Hull City players did not disappoint, quickly getting Brown excited!
Just 13 minutes into the first half, Barmby, who had joined Hull City from Everton, easily stole the ball from Kante’s feet in the backfield, then quickly dribbled into Cambridge United’s attacking half.
The moment Kante breathlessly chased back from the attacking half, Barmby decisively passed the ball to Hunt on the left wing.
Hunt, near the touchline, seeing that Sun Jihai had not yet closed in to press, directly kicked the ball high towards the far post!
Although Lovren was marking Daniel Cousin at this moment, Cousin, with superior explosiveness and speed, still managed to create distance from Lovren with a sudden acceleration!
The moment the ball was about to land, Cousin, who was on the move, directly chose to volley!
The ball whistled past Oblak’s ear, and Oblak stretched out his divine hand, changing the ball’s direction and sending it out for a goal kick.
Yes!!
Huang Hao praised himself fiercely; world-class players were indeed different.
While Huang Hao was still pondering this question, Mahrez’s cross in Hull City’s attacking half was blocked by Brad and fell to Ghilkeaney’s feet! The Togolese used his excellent speed to directly beat Cambridge United’s left-back, Van Dijk!
This young player, hailed as Cambridge United’s future star,
At this moment, he could only watch helplessly as Ghilkeaney, as if on fire wheels, flashed past him!
Ghilkeaney did not intend to run solo from the backfield all the way into Cambridge United’s penalty area; after easily getting past Van Dijk, he directly passed the ball to Giovanni in the attacking half!
Lovren quickly rushed over from the middle!
However, Giovanni lightly nudged the ball forward, gaining the upper hand in their speed contest!
After shaking off Lovren, Giovanni only had Sun Jihai left in front of him!
Before Sun Jihai could even run in front of Giovanni, he saw the ball whizzing past his head!
Damn it! Behind me!
Sun Jihai’s heart sank, and he quickly turned around!
Cousin was already in a shooting position, more than two meters away from him!
Although it was too late, Sun Jihai still gritted his teeth and charged forward!
Giovanni’s pass had a little too much power, and when Cousin controlled the ball, it still bounced out a short distance.
Even so, before Sun Jihai could catch up, Cousin still shot the ball towards the goal!
Unfortunately, affected by the control, Cousin’s shot grazed the right post and flew out for a goal kick!
Oblak, in front of the goal, let out a long sigh of relief!
When it was just him and Cousin in front of the goal, he really didn’t have enough confidence to defeat this experienced striker.
However, this young player, only 16 years old but entrusted with heavy responsibilities, did not disappoint Huang Hao.
Five minutes later, Cousin’s free-kick shot from the edge of the penalty area, after curving around the wall, rapidly dipped towards the right side of the goal!
Oblak made a quick diving save, pushing the ball out directly, successfully averting the danger!
This successful save greatly encouraged Oblak.
As the first half neared its end, Ghilkeaney once again cut in from the byline to the front of the goal, and Oblak once again saved a point-blank, tight-angle low shot!
He ensured Cambridge United did not concede any more goals in the first half!
Intensify pressing, zonal marking, and dealing with these experienced veterans, it’s crucial not to be careless.
With Huang Hao’s instructions, Cambridge United’s players were full of vigor, attempting to stir up some trouble for Brown in the second half.