Chapter 203, Challenging the Premier League Order

On January 31, the Manchester United soldiers took a bus to the Stoke area to adapt to the Bet365 stadium in advance and prepare for tomorrow's league game.

Sitting on the bus, Jin Taige was full of emotions.

Today is the last day of January and looking back on the past 30 days, what a busy month.

In January, Manchester United won all the games, four league games, two League Cup games, two FA Cup games, and eight consecutive victories, allowing Manchester United to advance by leaps and bounds on all fronts and march towards Kintag's goal of the Triple Crown .

In January, Kintag went through untold hardships and finally ushered in three new aids from De Bruyne, Nainggolan and Salah.

In January, Kintag sent away the withdrawn and surly Anderson.

In January, because of the request for a salary increase, he had a conflict with Rooney, and eventually the generals fell apart and fell apart. Although he was reluctant to stay in the team this winter, Kintag had already made up his mind. During the summer transfer period, he must clear Rooney from the team!

The last important thing in January is the replacement of the Champions League roster.

Before Jin Taige led the team to leave, he had already adjusted and changed the list of players participating in the knockout round. The upper limit of the number of participants in the Champions League is 25 people. At the beginning of this season, Manchester United's first team had a total of 24 people, so Kintag only reported 24 people. This winter, because of Anderson's departure from the team, the roster lost another player, and Kintag adjusted Fletcher out of the roster, leaving only 22 players on the roster. For the three vacant places, Jin Taige reported all the three new aids in the winter. So far, the 25-man squad is strong and strong. Jin Taige is looking forward to the coming of the Champions League knockout round!

Although at the beginning of the season, Kintag shouted the slogan of the triple crown, but Kintag asked himself, he felt that the possibility of winning the triple crown this season was indeed very small.

Kintag is not an arrogant person. He understands that Manchester United's current starting lineup is not considered a top-level configuration in the Premier League, let alone compared with other giants in Europe? Although this season, I have introduced several excellent young new players, but they are still far behind Ronaldo and Messi. Regardless of De Bruyne, Salah, or Mahrez, Icardi, they are not the big stars who will make the wind and rain in the later generations. If they want to realize their talents, they still need time and training. These all depend on games and training There is no rush to accumulate.

Not to mention my current lineup, even in the past few seasons, Sir Alex Ferguson has been defeated in the Champions League and has not made a breakthrough. Scholes retired this season, Giggs and several other veterans began to decline in their state and physical strength. With the current lineup and state of the players, it is really difficult to win the Champions League.

Even so, Jin Taige still shouted the slogan of the triple crown.

Because he understands in his heart that for football games, this is often the case-seeking to win is a draw, and seeking a draw is a loss.

If at the beginning of the season, I told the players that the goal of this season is to keep the top four places in the Champions League, and then try my best to play in the Champions League and strive to qualify for the group stage.

If this is the case, then it is estimated that the players who have achieved their goals have already begun to slack off.

Now Kintag only wants to win the League Cup and win Manchester City; then desperately grab points in the league and strive to defend the league championship; in the Champions League, Kintag can only do his best.

On February 1st, the winter transfer period ended.

During this winter transfer period, European football did not have any big deals. Rooney’s expected change of club did not happen, and he stayed at Manchester United in the end; while Manchester United is a relatively expensive club, their purchase Acquired three new players.

Chelsea bought Matic, and then sent the meritorious veteran Essien to AC Milan. Mata, who performed very well last season, was rumored to be at odds with Mourinho, and finally did not transfer and leave.

Other teams are just making minor repairs, without any major moves.

De Bruyne and Salah, who changed clubs, worked hard to show their value on the court; while Rooney and Mata, who wanted to leave but did not leave, also worked hard and prepared to use excellent performances And a good state paves the way for your future.

On the afternoon of February 1, Manchester United faced Stoke City at the Bet365 Stadium.

Manchester United have played against Stoke City twice this season. The first time was in the ninth round of the Premier League. At that time, Manchester United lost 0 to 2 at home and was taken away by the opponent; In the quarter-finals of the League Cup, Manchester United beat their opponents 3-0 and advanced smoothly.

Today is the third time the two teams have met this season.

This season, in addition to the traditional Premier League top six, there are three teams that have performed very well, namely Everton, Southampton and Stoke City.

Under the leadership of Moyes, Everton continues to threaten the traditional order of the top six; while Southampton has achieved good results with a group of talented players in the team.

But the sudden rise of Stoke City has surprised many people. Stoke City's style of play this season is very simple, that is, a long pass from the midfielder to the penalty area and a header to solve the problem. Campbell, the three forwards have scored 16 goals in total, and the core midfielder Charlie Adam has also scored 5 goals. This season they even hope to compete for a ticket to the Europa League.

So this game is also eyeing for Stoke City.

Jin Taige did not dare to underestimate his opponents, he still formed his strongest lineup to fight against his opponents in the away game.

However, just 18 minutes into the game, Stoke City scored.

This time it was the midfielder Charlie Adam's pass. Crouch headed the ball and the old Manchester United player Campbell shot through the net in front of the goal.

1 to 0! Stoke City lead the score!

In the next game, Manchester United encountered a lot of trouble. In this game, Stoke City actually lined up a three-forward lineup. This is obviously the rhythm of wanting to win three points. In the face of the opponent's attack, Manchester United's defensive players are particularly focused to prevent another loss of the ball, and they must strive to equalize the score as soon as possible.

At the end of the first half, Crouch's header was firmly embraced by De Gea. He drove the ball forward with a big foot. At this time, Mahrez on the left dribbled the ball and broke through. After passing Stoke City's defense line, Van Persie was already waiting in front of the goal. Mahrez made a long pass with one foot on the ground and went straight to Van Persie.

Stoke City goalkeeper Begovic had already locked his position, blocking the route of Van Persie to receive the ball.

But no one expected that a figure suddenly appeared at the front point, and with a header, the ball was smashed into the net.

It was Rooney, who had ended his suspension, who scored the goal!

1 to 1! Manchester United equalized the score!