Chapter 72: The First Throne of the League

Manchester City's game against Aston Villa finally ended 4:2, Manchester City won another city in the League Cup and entered the next leg of the League Cup.

Before the two-way competition of the cup and the league, Manchester City, under the leadership of Wan Sheng, showed a state of progress all the way.

For Manchester City fans, there is nothing happier than this. When they first heard that Wan Sheng was coaching the team, in fact, most of them had a wait-and-see attitude, and some of them had poor coaching experience. The Chinese are very skeptical - even the seasoned Keegan has left the team, what about a younger Chinese? There are only a very few people who will have expectations for the team in the new season.

This may be because Wan Sheng is too easily distrusted - he is too young and too inexperienced.

The first is Wan Sheng's age. He is only twenty-eight and a half years old. Most football coaches at this age are still professional players, and some of them are not in the football industry, but Wan Sheng is already a top-level league head coach.

The head coaches of the top leagues are often very old, because this position is very demanding and requires a lot of experience and experience, and these are often accumulated by age. The head coach is already very successful, and this standard does not apply to Wansheng at all. He is already the head coach of the top league, and because of this, it is easy to be suspected.

Actually, it's a question of age.

Many veterans of the team are older than him, so after he coaches the team, how can he manage the locker room, and how can these players believe him? When Keegan was coaching, Manchester City's biggest problem was the locker room. This was a very critical issue. Fans were not optimistic that Wansheng could balance Manchester City's locker room.

In the end, Wansheng is Chinese.

The fight against racial discrimination in European football is very severe, but discrimination in football is still ubiquitous. At the same time, there is some truth in it. Many Europeans look down on Asian players, especially East Asian players, because there are several countries in East Asia. There are no great players.

China is no different. Even worse than Japan and South Korea, because there are not many good players in China. Fortunately, Manchester City has Sun Jihai, so Manchester City fans can choose to ignore it.

Now, these questioning voices and even thoughts are all gone!

Because Manchester City's results are really good!

Ten wins and one draw in the league. League Cup into the semi-finals. The league and cup matches are moving forward together. This kind of good result has not been experienced by Manchester City for decades, and it also makes Manchester City fans feel quite happy.

They feel that the team is about to reach its peak!

At the same time, what makes them even happier is that the results of their arch-rivals Manchester United are being crushed by them, and it is very difficult to catch up, which allows them to raise their heads proudly in front of those Manchester United fans.

Manchester City fans know exactly who brought it all, the young man who came to the team that summer. He picked up the pointer Keegan left behind and refreshed City from the inside out.

Now all the Manchester City fans are starting to sing praises for Wan Sheng!

...

November 6. In the twelfth round of the league, Manchester City went to London to challenge Fulham.

The current old farm owners are a bit pitiful. Their lineup was weakened in the summer. The first point is that their main striker Andy Cole went to Manchester City. It is difficult to replace the vacancy after his departure.

In addition, the most important thing is the departure of the main goalkeeper Van der Sar, Van der Sar switched to Manchester United, resulting in Fulham can only use the second goalkeeper.

In addition, the departure of Bonissell, Clark and others has greatly weakened the thickness of Fulham's midfield and backcourt. The media's comment on Fulham is, "They are likely to pay for the excessive blood loss in the summer. "

Fulham's results are not much different from the media comments. After 11 rounds of the league, they ranked fourth from the bottom and have been relegated to the relegation zone.

If they continue like this, relegation will be a problem at the end of the season.

The situation between Manchester City and Fulham is exactly the opposite. Manchester City currently ranks second in the league, but it has the same points and the same goal difference as Chelsea, but there are two fewer goals. The difference between the two teams is also reflected in the game, or directly mapped. the status of both players.

Manchester City's 11 players are all working very hard. It can be seen that everyone is in good shape, while Fulham is different. Their players seem to be in good shape at their home. A few mistakes at the beginning of the game made them directly in a passive state.

At the end of the first half, Manchester City had a 2-0 lead.

But no one expected that Fulham played active in the second half. They used a tough defense to resist Manchester City's attack, and at the same time used a counterattack to quickly regain a goal, and then the game between the two sides became tense again, because 2: 1 is not insurance, Fulham only need a ball to tie the score.

The Fulham players must have thought the same, so they kept trying.

This situation made the second half of the game very intense, and the two sides fought very fiercely. For Manchester City, Dunn, Sinclair, Joey Barton, and Distin, who came off the bench, all received yellow cards. Lem also had three yellow cards, and there was no red card at all.

In this way, the game time passed a little bit, and finally Manchester City withstood the pressure, and Fulham also insisted to the end, and neither team scored any more goals.

The score was fixed at 1:2.

Manchester City had an away win, but only those who watched the game would know how difficult it was.

Wansheng also admitted after the game, "I didn't expect the game to be so difficult. We didn't play tough enough, but they were very tenacious. This is where we need to improve."

Then he praised his players, "Ferreira and Silva are good, they still need more games."

"Fulham's defense in the middle is very solid, which is their advantage. They found their form in the second half. If they keep doing this, they will definitely not be troubled by relegation..." Wan Sheng quipped his opponent in the end.

In any case, winning is easy.

However, not many people in England care about this game, because the other battle at the same time is more attractive, that is the battle between Manchester United and Chelsea.

The battle between Manchester United and Chelsea is an eternal topic!

When Chelsea died suddenly at the feet of Real Betis, Manchester United was once again molested by Lille, and two 0-1 deprived Manchester United VS Chelsea of ​​the heavy sense of history, now. It's more like a simple, bloody brawl - two powerful beasts, both needing to score three points at Old Trafford like mad dogs just to stay alive!

Ferguson and Mourinho have a "dynasty" blueprint in mind.

Ferguson didn't think it had expired, so he said "I want to get Chelsea done" after the crushing defeat to Middlesbrough; Mourinho thought it had already happened.

Without the Champions League setback, before stepping into Old Trafford this weekend. Both may think of 1996 in their minds. Manchester United smashed Blackburn 5-0 and started to dominate the autumn night - Ferguson saw the suppression of the upstarts, and Mourinho saw the subversion of the old order.

But after a tragic night in the Champions League, their ** suddenly became so simple - a victory, a victory that made the whole team feel good.

Mourinho needs to win, 1-0, not 4-3.

Chelsea have just experienced the pain in Spain!

"What's wrong with our defense?" Galla made mistakes, Carvalho made mistakes, and even Cech, the always-steady Czech goalkeeper, made mistakes.

The Portuguese madman watched it for 90 minutes with a gloomy face. Then drop a word. "It was the worst performance of the team since I came to Chelsea, it was unbelievable. My players thought it was a knockout game and they were 4-0 up."

Chelsea have conceded 7 goals in the last 7 games.

Let’s not mention the Champions League and cup matches for the time being. When it comes to the league alone, Chelsea still has Manchester City, a deadly opponent, so Chelsea needs to win. Otherwise, their situation will be even more brutal - they will be pushed out of the league's top spot.

But the reality is really cruel, because victory is what Ferguson needs most now.

On the night of losing to Lille. Lord Ferguson had only the last trace of faith left, "Beat Chelsea and get back the habit of winning, and everything will be easy."

"The newcomers are all unqualified." The curse of the old captain Roy Keane is still reverberating.

Ferguson's character made it impossible for him to admit at the beginning of the season that his "rebuilding Manchester United plan" had collapsed, so he pinched Keane's voice and said to the players, "We have to save ourselves."

Don't mention the countless classic comebacks of Manchester United in history. There is no comparison between this time and then. On the night of losing to Lille, Ferguson was very sober, "No one will help us, we must get out of the slump by ourselves."

Therefore, in this battle, Manchester United and Chelsea will use the most "blue-collar" way to fight for survival.

Despite the brutal situation of the game, Mourinho expressed confidence before the game that he believed the game would not be a big problem because his team would be well mobilized to face top games, "They are a very good club. , with great coaches and great players, they can do better than they are and that's why I say this game is dangerous for us."

"Neither of our teams have lost many games, but we have just lost one game before. This match will be difficult. I think it will be a high-level game."

Regarding the prospect of the game, Mourinho said, "I hope Manchester United lose the game, but in the end they can win the league runner-up and successfully qualify for the Champions League."

Compared with Chelsea, Manchester United is even more underestimated, and Keane's bombardment of teammates has added fuel to the fire.

"What can Smith do? He just runs up and down, like he's lost, he doesn't know what he's doing!" This is Keane's evaluation of Alan Smith. Positioned as his successor.

But Ferguson chose to support the rookie, so Roy Keane could only be suppressed. As long as you flip through the news about Manchester United, you don't know the point, because many people think that after Ferguson chose to support the rookie, he And Roy Keane's concern has completely entered freezing point, that is to say, Roy Keane's departure from Old Trafford has entered the countdown.

So, in this game, Roy Keane can only sit in the stands.

Then he was taken aback.

...

Although Keane was very dissatisfied with the rookie and Ferguson, he still supported Manchester United, but what he did not expect was that the most popular player in the game was the rookie he said--Smith straightened his back. Is a well-deserved best of the game, and the only goal from the teenager Fletcher.

Chelsea lost, they lost to these two young men.

One trick is popular all over the world. Beckham became Manchester United's signature star by curveball. Smith is not comparable to Beckham in terms of strength, status and influence, but he also relies on his best trick—— Tackle has become today's alternative protagonist.

Speaking of which, Ferguson asked him to play in midfield, and his inspiration also came from a tackle. During the away game against Fulham last season, Smith, who was a striker, scored after tackling the ball in the opponent's penalty area. Ferguson was amazed and moved since then. The idea of ​​cultivating Smith into another Keane.

Manchester United tackled 25 times, Smith alone accounted for 11 times!

It is conceivable how much trouble this Manchester United man is in the eyes of Lampard and others. In just 10 minutes of the opening, Smith used a tackle from behind to tell Lampard that today I am "partner" with you. A considerable proportion of the tackles and 5 fouls were given to the Chelsea midfielder. In a sense, Smith became a tactical counteracting card for Ferguson. His instructions were to destroy the opponent's organization in midfield center.

In the second half, the city of Manchester United was precarious. Smith and his teammates fought hard to hold on, and withstood a sigh of relief. In the 50th minute, he blocked Lampard's volley in front of the goal. In the 64th minute, he missed Del Horno's strong shot in front of the empty goal. In the 69th minute, Joe Cole was in a corner kick. He volleyed the ball to the goal, but it was this Manchester United tough guy who flew forward to block the shot. After the game, Sky Sports gave Smith a game-high 9 points, saying he used his performance to "let Keane speak his mind".

After the game, when he received the champagne, which symbolized the best of the game, Smith was very emotional. He was very grateful for Keane's scolding.

"I think everyone knows where the motivation comes from," Smith said. "As a player, you can't just take accolades and take criticism. I think the best place for you to defend yourself is on the pitch. Everyone should do this." Smith also revealed that Keane's words were not as fierce as the media revealed, and the Manchester United boss had communicated with them privately.

"Kean told us his thoughts, the manager trusted us, we never doubted our quality."

At the same time, Fletcher also became the protagonist after the game, because he scored the only goal in the game, it was in the 31st minute, Scholes scored the ball from the left, C-Ronaldo made a cross from the left, Frye The small-angle header near the bottom line of the right rib of the penalty area was headed towards the middle, but the ball that seemed to be ferrying passed the goalkeeper Cech and Terry who was returning to the goal line. door.

As bizarre as the goal was, it made the difference.

Therefore, Fletcher also received unanimous praise after the game. Both newcomers performed well and decided the outcome of the game, which made the old Jazz laugh from ear to ear. He greatly praised the two, "Best in the game. There's nothing wrong with Smith, but there are three or four guys who are good enough and it's hard to pick one. Fletcher is in good shape, otherwise he'd be hard-pressed to score that goal."

What the old jazz didn't realize was that in the training base of the sworn enemy in the same city, a young Chinese, this face that always made him grit his teeth, was also smiling from ear to ear.

Because Manchester City won...and more importantly, Chelsea lost!

So Manchester City relied on the opponent's loss, jumped three points ahead, and took the top spot in the league for the first time! (To be continued ~^~)