Chapter 75 Rumors

Talking about the grievance between Liverpool and Manchester, it goes back a hundred years. At that time, Liverpool was one of the most famous ports in the UK, and its early prosperity was also based on port trade.

When the Industrial Revolution came, Liverpool was already in decline.

As an industrial city in the northwest, Manchester was very dependent on Liverpool's port transshipment at first, but when the Manchester Grand Canal was opened at the end of the 19th century, most ships could bypass Liverpool and go directly to Manchester, which undoubtedly aggravated Liverpool's decline. Manchester and his Grand Canal have been one of Liverpool's hatreds ever since.

After the Industrial Revolution, both Liverpool and Manchester gradually declined, but the hatred between the two cities remained.

Manchester people hate Liverpool deeply, and Liverpool people hate Manchester deeply. The hostile relationship between the two cities has been integrated into every aspect of life, and football has become a real battlefield.

In the past, the city of Manchester could only be represented by Manchester United, because after the rise of Manchester United in the 1990s, they kicked Liverpool off the throne of English football, turning them from a real giant into a "decline aristocrat".

Manchester United manager Ferguson once said, "My greatest achievement is to kick Liverpool off the fucking throne." He can always remember the joy of leading Manchester United to overwhelm Liverpool. "Every Manchester is proud to beat Liverpool. "Because the other side, like us, is the most successful club in England. We can't stand the other side's victory, it's like we're being trampled underfoot."

In short, it was Manchester United who represented Manchester and Liverpool before, but now it is different. Manchester City has a better performance than Manchester United, so challenging Manchester United to "dominate Manchester" has become a top priority.

In fact. Manchester City has a fan base in this regard.

In the city of Manchester, there are more Manchester City fans than Manchester United fans, because many fans believe that Manchester United is an "international team" and their influence is international. The owner is also American. They simply cannot represent Manchester.

Manchester City is different, it is a completely basic Manchester team.

Because of this, when Wan Sheng talked in front of the media, 'Only we can represent Manchester', it will cause all kinds of discussions.

The media supporting Manchester City are excited, and of course they are happy to see City rise and represent Manchester United in the near future; neutral media are also very interested in this matter. Manchester City vs Manchester United. It was originally a landscape unique to English football; only those pure Manchester United media would stand up to criticize Wansheng and ridicule him for his overreaching.

Regarding these, Wansheng did not refute anything.

In fact, he just put forward a slogan to cheer Manchester City fans, and there is no real meaning, but he said it with a purpose.

Since he came to the Manchester City club and took over as the coach of Manchester City, he had to face a problem, that is, the sworn enemy Manchester United.

Even if he does nothing. But as long as Manchester City's performance is good, it will always be against Manchester United. And the relationship will become more and more hostile, every Manchester United fan will regard him as a mortal enemy, and everyone who supports Manchester United will hate him.

It's bound to happen unless he leaves Manchester City.

Wan Sheng is not afraid of these. He came to Manchester City and was ready to fight to the end with Manchester United, so now when he leads the team to the top of the league, there is no need for him to keep a low profile. The first mover' advantage, the headache will be Manchester United.

Now the match against Liverpool is an opportunity, so Wan Sheng said it, and his words were reported by many media and regarded as a challenge to Manchester United.

A lot of the media was talking about it, so it quickly traced back to a fundamental problem - the results of Manchester United and Manchester City.

In the first game at the beginning of the season, Manchester City beat Manchester United. The next match between the two teams is worth looking forward to, but the most important thing is the results of the two teams in the league. At present, Manchester City ranks first, and Manchester United is behind Chelsea and Wigan Athletic, ranking second in the league. Fourth, this kind of achievement is still a little too difficult to catch up.

After beating West Ham United 2-1 away in the last round, Manchester United won three consecutive league victories and also rose to fourth place in the standings, 13 points behind Manchester City with one game less, but Manchester United's The three-game winning streak made Ferguson see the hope of fighting for the championship.

After learning Wan Sheng's remarks, Ferguson immediately sarcastically said, "That Chinese doesn't care if he has some achievements. He wants to represent Manchester unless he wins as many championships as Manchester United first."

Then he talked about the league.

"In football, things change fast and the title fight is far from over. City have been on the rise, but they've reached their peak and I'm sure they're starting to slip. Chelsea have had a few pauses, I think their luck will dry up a little too."

The pause Ferguson said refers to the battle at Old Trafford. Manchester United defeated Chelsea 1-0 and continued the winning streak, but Chelsea did not stop. After leaving Old Trafford, the blue The army has also won twice.

The meaning of his words is obviously not to give up the competition this season.

There are more people concerned with Ferguson's time at Manchester United. After all, he is 64 years old. Regarding this, Ferguson still sees a long-term view. When asked how long he will stay at Manchester United, he said that there are at least two to 3 years.

"I'm still able to make long-term plans," Ferguson said. "I'll be here next season and I'm sure the club will support me by next summer. Of course, I can't be here for 10 more years. , maybe not even four years, but I can make plans for next season."

One of Ferguson's plans was to find new players for Manchester United, and after declaring no interest in Ballack, he revealed some clues, saying that his number one target will come next summer, "In January, we will probably only bring in A few people, just to ensure sufficient personnel, the one we really want to sign can only be brought in next summer."

"This man will not be able to represent us in the Champions League this season and his club will not sell him until next summer. But I am confident that the club will support my work in the summer and Manchester United will get the players they need."

Next, the media interviewed who Ferguson took a fancy to. The two clues he revealed were also very interesting. First of all, the player must have appeared on the stage of the Champions League this season. Therefore, even if he transfers, he will not be able to represent Manchester United in the remaining stages. Secondly, he is very important to the team. Until a replacement is found, the old club will not easily let him go.

Ballack has been ruled out. British media speculation focused on two people. AC Milan's Gattuso and Lyon's Maruda became the focus.

But until next summer, who this man is remains a mystery, and only Ferguson himself really knows the answer.

...

At the same time, Liverpool, one of the focuses, has no time to care about Manchester's 'civil war'.

As the defending champions of the UEFA Champions League, their team has been exposed to many problems, of which the most headache for coach Benitez. Maybe it's the team's front line.

Wednesday night is the Champions League group stage. Liverpool's opponent is Real Betis from Spain. Compared with Liverpool, Real Betis is only a rookie in European competitions. The mood is full of contradictions.

On the one hand, the team's hard-won four-game winning streak came to an abrupt end on this day, but on the other hand. This is the fifth game in a row that the team has maintained a "clean"; although the history of the club never winning a Spanish team at home (3 draws and 1 loss) has not been rewritten, but Liverpool's unbeaten run in the Champions League continues to 13 games.

This is since the opening of the Premier League. Liverpool's fifth "nothing" in 19 games in all competitions, and 0-0 is enough for Liverpool to secure a place in the knockout round of 16.

Two weeks later, the Champions League Premier League derby at Stamford Bridge may allow Chelsea to grab the top spot in the group, but it cannot change the fact that the two teams advance together. Even in Liverpool's European championship last season, they could not. He barely made it through the final group game with a final blow from captain Gerrard.

(Liverpool relied on the 'defending Champions League' this season to win a place in the competition, but was assigned to a group with Chelsea)

However, embarrassment and chagrin were also accompanied by a festive atmosphere, because no matter from which point of view, this was a game that the home team should have easily won.

In this game, in 90 minutes, Liverpool shot up to 25 times (8 of which hit the door frame), far more than the opponent Real Betis' 6 times (only two shots on target). On the scene, Real Betis had 54% of the ball possession, but the number of times they entered the 30-meter area in front of the home team's goal was very few, let alone an actual threat to Liverpool's goal.

What is even more embarrassing is that the high center Crouch, who has played for Liverpool for the 16th time this season, should also have scored his first goal since joining Anfield.

In just four minutes in the middle of the first half, Crouch had three great chances in a row, and his left-footed volley in the second half was blocked by the arm of visiting defender Rivas. go out.

In UEFA's post-match technical statistics, Crouch alone has 10 shots!

But...not a single goal.

What a huge irony!

Crouch's nervousness and weakness in the face of the goal also seemed to be infecting his teammates, with Riise squandering a beautiful volley in the second half and expressing his desire to become the second Emlyn Hughes (Liverpool history) before the game. Gerrard, the only captain who has won the Champions League twice, received a brilliant pass from Keville when the game was about to enter stoppage time, but watched his powerful push shot by the visiting goalkeeper Dobb. Russ blocked it so successfully that he shook his head repeatedly when he was replaced.

"If Crouch can keep playing today, then I will be very satisfied", no surprise, even though Crouch has been up to 21 hours and 8 minutes from his last goal, coach Benitez still provides again "In my opinion, he is the best of the game, and he has performed really well in the last few games. In any case, we have successfully qualified, which is a huge improvement compared to last season."

Whether it was a blessing or a curse, another mediocre appearance still did not break Crouch's self-confidence.

"It was another embarrassing night, but the important thing is that the team achieved the results we wanted," Crouch, who was replaced by Cowell in the 84th minute, said in a post-match interview, "As long as I can get the first One goal and I'm sure more goals will follow."

But no matter what the 'tacit' coaches and players say, Liverpool's front line has become a huge problem.

The media commented, "The game against Manchester City, how Liverpool score will become a crucial issue."

At present, Manchester City has conceded the fewest goals in the Premier League. Needless to say, its defensive ability is not easy. It is not easy to break Manchester City's goal, and Benitez's Liverpool striker itself has problems. mockery.

The match between the two teams could have gone smoothly. After all, even if Wan Sheng said, 'We can represent Manchester in the future', but that is the future, not now, this is not the match between Manchester United and Liverpool, but a news before the game, let us Tensions suddenly grew between the two teams - Benitez approached Robbie Fowler privately and the two had some conversations, with Robbie Fowler likely to return to Anfield in the winter! (To be continued ~^~)