Chapter 1,122 An Upset Opens the New Season

Gao Xiaodong's villa is very large, with more than a dozen rooms, and the two bodyguards are the kind of people who don't show up without meals. Their stay has not had any impact on Gao Xiaodong. His life still goes on as before. With.

On August 13th, the much-anticipated 11-12 Premier League season finally kicked off.

The opening match is between Liverpool and Sunderland.

As the former hegemon of English football, Liverpool has fallen to the extreme in recent years. Except for a lucky break in 2007 when they won the Champions League, they have never even won a Premier League title. As a result, their archrival Manchester United overtook them in the total number of titles. .

There are many reasons for Liverpool's continued slump in the league, but the fundamental reason is lack of money.

Dalglish, who took over as coach midway through last season, has found a good boss. This summer has become Liverpool's largest net investment. Henderson, Adam and Downing alone spent 49 million, and there are also free players. With Roma goalkeeper Doni joining and Suarez and Carroll bought for 57.8 million at the beginning of the year, Liverpool's lineup is unprecedentedly strong this season, and there is no Champions League competition. The media believes that they have the possibility of challenging the defending champion Manchester United.

The first game of the new season is also the opening game. The strong Liverpool face Sunderland, which ranked tenth last season. Naturally, head coach Dalglish has no choice but to win.

Let’s talk about the black cat Sunderland. This summer, Sunderland smashed the pound and became the most eye-catching team outside the top five. They defeated the giants Liverpool and Arsenal for 12 million to introduce Wickham, and recruited Manchester United as a package. The two veterans O'Shea and Brown have taken over the two relegated Birmingham midfielders Gardner and Larsson. Together with Aim Hammady and Ji Dongyuan, the summer transfer is not over yet. , Sunderland has spent 28.35 million pounds.

Today's Sunderland coach Bruce, as well as captain O'Shea, Brown, Campbell, Barnsley and Richardson have all played for Manchester United. Although Anton Ferdinand has not played for Manchester United, he is the younger brother of Rio Ferdinand. . It can be said that this Sunderland is a veritable "Manchester United second team".

Manchester United and Liverpool have been mortal enemies for centuries. Even if this is not the much-anticipated opening game, Sunderland, which has many Manchester United players, will not let Liverpool pass easily.

The opening game in Liverpool was very intense from the beginning. Less than five minutes into the game, under Liverpool's pressing frontcourt, the Sunderland defender made a mistake in the clearance, and the ball hit Suarez's face. Si took the opportunity to dribble the ball into the penalty area, creating a chance to go to the meeting alone.

Sunderland defender Richardson had no choice but to kick Suarez down from behind and was awarded a penalty kick by the referee.

Suarez personally took the penalty kick, but his penalty hit the stands directly, wasting an excellent scoring opportunity.

Liverpool then continued to attack Sunderland and soon had another scoring opportunity.

In the 12th minute, Liverpool got a free kick opportunity on the right side of the frontcourt. Charlie Adam made a high-quality cross to the front point. Suarez suddenly jumped in and headed the ball straight to the near corner of the goal.

1::0

Suarez scored his first Premier League goal of the season. The Most Valuable Player of the America's Cup returned to the team not long ago, and he opened the door to victory for the team in less than a week of training with his teammates.

Sunderland then gradually launched an attack on Liverpool, and Emohamadi, Larsson, Catmull and others received consecutive shooting opportunities.

Sunderland's offensive was resolved one by one by the Liverpool goal. Liverpool winger Downing even passed several people and then hit Sunderland's crossbar with a long shot.

Downing's shot was one of the best chances for both sides in the first half. Then Sunderland strengthened its defense and the two sides entered a stalemate.

In the second half, Sunderland took the lead in making tactical adjustments and launched an attack on Liverpool.

In the second half, Liverpool wanted to score another goal to seal the victory, and then slowly have fun with this lackey of Manchester United.

However, in the 57th minute of the game, Sunderland made a pass from the right side. Larsson volleyed sideways without being defended from far away. The ball flew directly into the upper right corner of the goal. Larsson's world wave tied the score. 1-1 draw.

Then Liverpool launched a tidal wave of attacks on Sunderland amidst the wild cheers of the Anfield fans. The offensive wave became higher and higher. Sunderland was like a canoe in the wind and rain, and might capsize at any time.

Maybe Sunderland was very lucky, maybe Liverpool was too impatient. For more than 30 minutes after Sunderland scored, Liverpool's players bombarded them wildly, shooting more than a dozen times, but not a single goal. In the end, they were tied 1:1 by Sunderland at home.

Liverpool suffered a big upset in the opening game, and upsets seemed to be contagious. Later, the two giants Chelsea and Arsenal were also tied by the underdogs, and they did not even score a goal.

There were so many upsets in Saturday's game, which put huge pressure on Manchester United and Manchester City in Sunday's game.

Originally, Manchester United's away game against West Bromwich Albion was considered by the media and fans to be a game without any suspense. However, after Saturday's game, the trend changed immediately. Fans and media cautiously reminded fans to avoid a draw, and bookmakers also made adjustments. Manchester United's odds of winning.

The key factor restricting Manchester United's victory is goalkeeper De Gea.

A good goalkeeper is equivalent to half the team. If there is a problem with the goalkeeper, even an extremely efficient striker like Gao Xiaodong cannot fill the hole.

Judging from the performance of the Community Shield Cup, De Gea can be said to be a mixed bag. The first half was rubbish, and the two goals conceded were related to De Gea. In the second half, De Gea performed superbly and helped Manchester United in the community. Won the Shield Cup for the 20th time.

But for a goalkeeper, the most important thing is not magical performance, but stability. A goalkeeper who is awesome today and awesome tomorrow cannot reassure his teammates and fans.

In addition to Manchester United's own problems, his captain West Bromwich Albion is not without any fighting ability.

West Brom is a veteran team established in 1878. It has been playing a role as a lifter in the English arena in recent years. West Brom's strength is outstanding in the British Championship, but it is difficult to survive in the Premier League. However, last season, with the dismissal of Di Matteo and the appointment of coach Hodgson, West Brom's performance has improved significantly, and in the end, West Brom was able to complete the relegation task in 11th place despite various disadvantages.

Regarding the first game against Manchester United, West Brom head coach Hodgson said that this was David challenging Goliath, but Hodgson believed that since Sunderland, Stoke City and Newcastle could draw with Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal , then West Brom also has a chance to draw or even defeat Manchester United.

Manchester United also attaches great importance to the first game of the new season. Ferguson directly stated at the press conference that although Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal were all tied by weak teams, Manchester United will not because Manchester United is the Premier League champion and Manchester United will not play in the first round. Will definitely win West Brom and get a good start to the new season.

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