Huang Hao felt a slight surprise and a little bit of happiness when he saw Birmingham's final confirmed starting lineup.
McLeish actually deployed a 4-3-3 formation today!
Birmingham typically used this formation this season when facing weaker teams ranked lower in the League.
And today, hosting Cambridge United, McLeish's decision made Huang Hao fully feel his confidence.
Good heavens! This is an attempt to use offense as defense at home, completely extinguishing Cambridge United's hope of catching up!
What made Huang Hao secretly pleased was that, compared to Birmingham's usual 4-2-3-1, today's 4-3-3 moved the team's two defensive midfielders further up into the midfield.
With Casley and Fah's positions advanced, Cambridge United will face significantly less defensive pressure when attacking in the opponent's half!
This way, Birmingham seemed to open the gates on both wings, allowing Cambridge United to attack!
Did McLeish conclude that Cambridge United would play a defensive counter-attack today as the away team, to avoid losing to Birmingham and completely losing their hope of second place?
Huang Hao chuckled to himself, "Defensive counter-attack? When have you ever seen Cambridge United play like that!"
Amidst the cheers of 25,000 fans at St. Andrews Park, referee Chris Varner blew the whistle to start this pivotal match!
What McLeish didn't expect was that Cambridge United immediately took the initiative from the start!
Their high press even pushed directly to the edge of Birmingham's penalty area!
Birmingham, who had deployed an attacking 4-3-3, was pushed back into their own half by Cambridge United before they could even launch their own attack!
Phillips looked at Suxi with some curiosity. By this point, Phillips had almost reached the midfield, and Suxi was still following him!
"Hey buddy, are you planning to just keep following me like this?"
Phillips tried to tease Suxi.
But Suxi didn't respond; instead, he grinned, revealing his white teeth.
McLeish quickly noticed Huang Hao's man-marking tactic from the sideline. A center-back was even following a player all the way to midfield; such obvious man-to-man defense would be too poor if he couldn't see it.
However, Birmingham's Head Coach did not intend to make any adjustments. For an excellent forward like Phillips, a simple man-marking would not pose a sufficient threat.
Phillips decided to continue teasing Suxi and retreated directly to his own half!
At this point, Suxi turned and ran back to Cambridge United's territory.
Phillips was about to smile smugly when he suddenly found Kante of Cambridge United appearing in front of him again.
Phillips's smile vanished, and he became serious. It seemed the impression he left on Cambridge United last time was too deep; this time, the opponent had sent heavy forces to mark him.
Just then, Kedru intercepted Cambridge United's pass in the backfield and immediately passed it forward, launching a counter-attack!
Before Larsson could catch up to the ball, Sun Jihai intercepted the pass first!
Sun Jihai passed the ball back to Pantilimon, who launched a long pass directly to O'Connor in the frontfield.
O'Connor immediately distributed the ball to Mahrez on the right wing, and Mahrez then transferred the ball with a wide pass to the left side of the penalty area!
Vardy dribbled the ball directly to the byline before cutting it back to the surging Tadić!
Tadić shot with his left foot! Hart flew to tip the ball out for a corner! This quick attack by Cambridge United, starting from Pantilimon, involved a total of 4 passes and took less than 1 minute!
Unbeknownst to them, Cambridge United had perfected their minimalist attacking style to the extreme!
Seeing Cambridge United gradually assert pressure on his team, McLeish felt a little worried.
However, this was clearly not a good time to change formations. Once he changed, all the players would feel the Head Coach's retreat, which would severely impact morale!
While McLeish was deliberating, Paul Smith once again dribbled to the edge of the penalty area, but his shot was directly blocked out for a corner by Murphy. Cambridge United had already earned three corner kicks in less than 15 minutes of play.
O'Connor took the corner directly in front of the goal, but the ball's trajectory was a bit low!
The Irish defender Karl's eyes lit up, and he immediately intercepted the ball, launching a long-range run from the backfield directly towards Cambridge United's goal!
Karl saw a clear path ahead and felt even more energized! A long-range run, scoring a goal, his future at the Park Stadium would be bright!
Karl, focused on dribbling, suddenly felt his foot trip over a thick branch! He fell to the ground with a thud!
"This is absolutely a f***ing foul!" Karl angrily pounded the turf! A burning pain instantly shot through his calf!
Varner made no call!
Paul Smith had touched the ball first in the tackle, and there were no excessive movements!
Karl helplessly brushed the dust off himself and limped towards the front of the field.
What Karl didn't expect was that this was just an appetizer prepared by Cambridge United.
In the 17th minute of the first half, Birmingham took a throw-in on the left side of their penalty area. Just as Karl threw the ball to Casley, Vardy directly rushed over!
Affected by Vardy's interference, Casley's header didn't go very far.
Mahrez intercepted the ball before Ferguson!
Mahrez dribbled along the sideline, pushing forward, and after reaching the vicinity of the corner flag, he directly crossed the ball!
Vardy, who had returned to the penalty area, headed the ball towards the goal!
The ball was caught by Hart with both hands!
McLeish looked at the frenzied Cambridge United players, his mind rapidly calculating that with the dense schedule, if Cambridge United's main players ran like this without regard for their stamina, they could last at most 60 minutes!
Since that was the case, as long as his team held out for the first 60 minutes, when Cambridge United's players ran out of stamina, it would be Birmingham's hunting time!
Thinking this, McLeish's heart settled a little.
As one of the three teams with the fewest goals conceded in the EFL Championship, McLeish was still very confident in Birmingham's defense!
As McLeish expected, although Cambridge United dominated the first half, frequently threatening Birmingham's goal, goalkeeper Hart made many saves, and with the excellent performance of Birmingham's defenders, Cambridge United still couldn't break through Birmingham's goal.
Karl even used a free-kick from the frontfield to almost score past Pantilimon!
Persevere, as long as we persevere until the second half, there will definitely be no problem!
McLeish became even more determined in his thoughts.
However, McLeish seemed to have forgotten another troublesome matter that had not yet been resolved.
Fah again intercepted Cambridge United's attack and booted the ball to midfield.
Larsson, under Tadić's entanglement, headed the ball to Ferguson.
Ferguson dribbled towards Cambridge United's frontfield, with Kante and Tadić closing in from both sides for a pincer defense.
Ferguson confidently dribbled, attempting to force his way through the two of them!
Kante, without a word, directly slid tackled!
Ferguson, brought down, clutched his calf, in excruciating pain!
Smith, who had initially received the ball in the frontfield, saw the situation and gave up the attacking opportunity, immediately kicking the ball out of bounds. Birmingham's team doctor immediately ran onto the field to examine Ferguson's injury!
Huang Hao also stood up and came to the sideline, trying to understand Ferguson's injury.
McLeish looked at Huang Hao and finally couldn't help but say:
"Can you tell your players to be a little more careful? Are you playing football or rugby?!"
Huang Hao glanced at McLeish, shrugged his shoulders, and made an incredulous expression, then did not respond.
McLeish instantly flared up, grinding his teeth in anger! And just then, Birmingham's team doctor turned to the coaching bench and made a substitution gesture.
F***! The usually refined McLeish couldn't help but curse!
The match had only been going on for 32 minutes, and Ferguson, Birmingham's absolute core midfielder, could no longer continue the game!
As Birmingham's offensive orchestrator this season, Ferguson alone had contributed 12 assists!
Helplessly, McLeish brought on 25-year-old Moses. This Ghanaian had only appeared 12 times in the EFL Championship this season, 7 of which were as a substitute. This meant that Birmingham's midfield offensive organization could only be entrusted to captain Fah, and Fah was also a representative of strong defense over attack.
What made McLeish even more furious was that Varner had not called a foul on Cambridge United players these past few times, let alone issued a card!
The naive McLeish had never thought that foul training could also be an important part of a team's daily training module.
Such a devious idea, perhaps no other Head Coach in the world could come up with it besides Huang Hao!
Now, the only self-comfort was that with three defensive midfielders holding the line, Cambridge United would likely not be able to score easily.
Just hold on until the second half, and you're dead!
In a flash, the first half had reached the 44th minute, and O'Connor's corner kick once again came to naught.
Birmingham seized the opportunity to organize a quick counter-attack!
After receiving the ball in the frontfield, Karl once again charged towards Cambridge United's penalty area!
All three of Cambridge United's defenders rushed towards Karl, leaving Phillips in the center completely open!
Karl, dribbling the ball near the byline, suddenly saw Sun Jihai make a sliding tackle, which startled him! Although he avoided the tackle, his subsequent cross was directly blocked by Lovren!
Phillips waved his right hand vigorously in the center, clearly very dissatisfied!
Lovren quickly transferred the ball to the right wing, and Tadić, after receiving the ball, accelerated rapidly, quickly approaching Birmingham's penalty area!
Seeing two Birmingham players defending in front, Tadić immediately passed the ball to Smith in the center, and before the ball even landed, Smith took a volley shot!
Hart again tipped the ball out for a corner!
This was O'Connor's sixth time standing over the ball in the first half, but none had posed a threat. O'Connor was a little frustrated. This time, he tried to calm himself down and carefully observe his teammates' positions.
After some thought, O'Connor chose to loft the ball directly to the far post!
In the crowd, Lovren jumped first, heading the ball towards the goal!
The ball hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced directly to the ground!
Hart, who had been momentarily disoriented, immediately prepared to dive and save the ball! Josh Pasc, quick-footed and sharp-eyed, blocked the ball into the goal!!!
Mikel and the Cambridge United fans behind the goal instantly jumped up!
0:1!!! Cambridge United captured St. Andrews Park in the dying moments of the first half!
McLeish sat stunned on the coaching bench; his grand plan had ultimately fallen through!