Chapter 359: A good start, the Roma iron triangle leads Old Trafford!
1-0, the game continues.
The joining of Chen Xiaoliang, together with Kova, Cesco and the arrival of the Roma iron triangle has undoubtedly set off a new high in the Manchester football market.
What many people want to see is nothing more than whether Manchester United, which has been replaced by Qatari tycoons after the Glazer family left, can rise again and step on Manchester City, which has won six Premier League titles in ten years, again, as well as the new duo of Chen Xiaoliang and Haaland's battle for supremacy.
In fact, no one has forgotten Mbappe, but in Paris Saint-Germain's club career there is really no highlight. The attention he received in Ligue 1 was too low, and it became even lower after Messi left. Paris Saint-Germain has always found it difficult to make a breakthrough in the Champions League. We can only wait and see how high Mourinho can bring him.
Fortunately, there will be the European Cup in Germany in the summer of 2024. Every time there is a national team match, it will be Mbappe's moment to shine.
On the field, Manchester United continued to attack, and the triangle configuration of two midfielders and one defensive midfielder seemed to become a echelon formation of attacking midfielder, midfielder and defensive midfielder as the game went on.
Casemiro intermittently made forward runs, B Fee was almost wandering in front, pressing and organizing, and Chen Xiaoliang was the one who kept running back and forth. Whenever Middlesbrough launched a long pass counterattack, Chen Xiaoliang would use his speed that won the silver medal in the 100m at the World Athletics Championships and rush towards the landing point of the ball like a chase.
After playing for 30 minutes, Casemiro couldn't help but think, if I had such a person in front of me when I was in Real Madrid, the team might have won two more Champions Leagues.
In the 31st minute, Kva broke into the penalty area from the left and was double-teamed. His pass was blocked by defender McNair. B Fee received the ball outside the penalty area and took a long shot, but the ball was again blocked by the dense defensive crowd.
Niles received the ball and kicked it forward. Furuhashi Kento used his speed to catch the ball before Dalot who was returning to defense and advanced along the left.
Except for the two central defenders, all the other players of Middlesbrough heard the news and pressed forward at high speed.
The Manchester United players pressing in the front field also immediately returned to defense. Without a doubt, the fastest runner was Chen Xiaoliang.
Manchester United assistant coach Van der Gahe reminded Ten Hag in the coaching booth: "Chen has made five full-speed sprints of more than 30 meters today. Should we remind him to slow down appropriately? I am afraid that his physical fitness will not be able to keep up if he continues like this."
Ten Hag shook his head slightly: "You can't consider him as a 19-year-old player. We need to spend a few games to understand and adapt to his rhythm. Let him play according to his own habits first, maybe he also needs to adapt."
What Ten Hag said is absolutely right, Chen Xiaoliang is also adapting.
Furuhashi Kengo dribbled the ball a long distance along the left side and soon appeared in the left corner of the penalty area.
Varane, who was in charge of this side, retreated from the back position immediately, lowered his center of gravity, created space on the right side of the baseline, and stared at the Japanese striker.
Kento Furuhashi, who was a dominant force in the Scottish Premier League and scored 0.8 goals per game, left Celtic, who monopolized the Scottish Premier League championship, and chose to play for the newly promoted Premier League team in order to try to prove himself for the last time at the age of 29.
Facing the world-class defender Varane, Furuhashi Kento did not choose the difficult cut-in to the middle, but instead chose to force his way down the line along the outside line that Varane deliberately exposed by turning sideways.
Varane immediately turned around and retreated, trying his best to block the inside line, but Furuhashi Kento, who acted one step ahead, still managed to seize a half-body gap!
De Gea has moved towards the near post to prevent Kento Hideo from shooting directly into the near corner with his left foot.
Furuhashi Kengo was not so arrogant as to think that he could resolve the battle by himself under the defense of world-class defenders and goalkeeper. He swung his left foot near the small penalty area, and swept the ball to the middle of the small penalty area while losing his balance and falling to the ground!
On the Middlesbrough side, Aribo and Chuba had already rushed up. If the ball went over, it would most likely be shot into the net.
De Gea quickly fell to the ground and poked the ball that passed in front of him with his left foot. Going down to the ground and defending with his feet is his usual goalkeeping technique.
The ball changed direction, and Chuba, who was covering the middle, failed to kick the ball, and the ball rolled towards the penalty spot, which was exactly where Aribo was!
The sudden change of direction caught another defender, Lisandro Martinez, off guard. He brushed aside the defending Chuba and rushed towards Aribo desperately!
Aribo raised his foot, a golden opportunity, and scored a goal against Manchester United in the first game of the season. Is there a better plot than this? !
Just before his raised left foot, "swish", a mark was left on the grass, and a foot poked up from the left side of his body and shoveled the ball towards Manchester United's goal!
Seeing the bright red jersey, this is a tackle from our own people!
This time, not only Lima was caught off guard, but even De Gea was stunned!
At that moment, the goalkeeper's subconscious seemed to be searching for Maguire and Lukaku on the field, but his subconscious immediately told him that one of them was on the bench and the other had left the team long ago!
De Gea raised his hand but couldn't reach it. All the players on the field were staring at the flying ball. The ball drew an arc, hit the crossbar and flew out of the bottom line!
"Oh...selling cakes"
"Fuck..."
Fans from different camps, nationalities and languages in the stadium all exclaimed in amazement. Even the head coaches of both teams seemed unable to react and stared towards Manchester United's penalty area with an incredible look on their faces.
On one hand, I was thinking, “It was almost an own goal,” and on the other hand, I was thinking, “It was almost a tie.”
Chen Xiaoliang stood up, patted the mud on his body that was stuck to him due to the sliding tackle, and then reminded his teammates to pay attention to their corner kick defensive positioning.
De Gea came back to his senses after confirming that the ball had gone out of bounds. He couldn't help but ask, "Brother, were you serious just now?"
Chen Xiaoliang laughed and rubbed De Gea's shoulder: "You'll get used to it. Don't worry, it will definitely be facing outside the door frame."
Middlesbrough took a corner kick from the left side, the ball went directly to the crowded area on the penalty spot. Casemiro held back the opponent's midfielder Balise, preventing him from heading the ball. Kwa, who was returning to defense, kicked the ball forward with a big kick.
Chen Xiaoliang, Rashford and Anthony rushed forward again.
Although Chen Xiaoliang is not the most familiar teammate Anthony, he has a basic understanding of his character.
Like most Brazilian players, Anthony also loves to show off his skills and footwork, but what he can show off is relatively limited, so almost every day when he has nothing to do on the training ground, he has to do his signature compass spin.
He has a set of skills for cutting inside with his left foot, but his dribbling and passing are not very outstanding. However, there is one thing that makes him stand out in the competition with Sancho and other young players, and that is running back and forth regardless of his physical strength.
When defense is needed, he retreats faster than anyone else, greatly reducing the one-on-one defensive pressure on the right back. When there is an opportunity for counterattack, he can immediately move forward along the right side to find an opening, allowing him to always maintain a point on the right side where he can pass the ball when the ball is passed on the left and center.
He is also a typical happy person in the team. He has a good relationship with the Spanish and Portuguese players and has no suspicion of Chen Xiaoliang. Especially after the friendly match against Barcelona, as long as Chen Xiaoliang wants the ball or runs to the right position, he will pass the ball to him as soon as possible.
All I can say is that while his strengths and weaknesses are equally obvious, this player is the type that works particularly hard and whose strengths outweigh his flaws.
At this time, Anthony caught up with the ball, then his body shook, and he began to dribble the ball in a cramp-like manner, taking two steps at a time and shaking his body up and down when he lay down, and his speed immediately slowed down.
Rashford reached for the ball on the left and Chen Xiaoliang reached for the ball on the right. Anthony saw that Chen Xiaoliang's side was more open and it was more convenient for him to pass the ball to the right with his left foot, so he passed the ball to Chen Xiaoliang.
Livramento, who stayed behind, retreated while blocking Chen Xiaoliang's front.
Livramento, who came from Chelsea's youth training, is considered a talented full-back by many people, but in all scout reports, he is also a glass man.
Before he was 20 years old, his knee joints and anterior cruciate ligaments had already suffered serious injuries. Such "fragile knees" posed a hidden danger for his entire career.
As a holder of an English household registration book, young players under the age of 20 like Livramento are undoubtedly very popular, as the Premier League stipulates that each team must have eight domestically trained players and four youth players. This means that if Chelsea buys him back, he can activate two registration places and also the place reserved for introducing foreign players.
Due to the scarcity of outstanding local players in England and the mandatory nature of the registration rules, similar to when Manchester City was first invested in by wealthy people, it was often unable to complete the team's youth training, resulting in a corresponding reduction in the overall number of registrations.
For example, if the country has 8 youth training positions, but the team only has 3, then the total number of applicants must be reduced by 1 from 25 to 24.
This will affect the team's bench depth during the long season, which is also the reason why English household registration books are particularly valuable in the booming Premier League.
But Livramento's knees were so terrible that after selling Reece James, Chelsea considered again and again and still gave up the £39 million buyback clause this summer, and was eventually picked up by the newly promoted Middlesbrough.
But as a young player with balanced defense, technique and assist abilities, a healthy Livramento is still one of the right-backs worth paying attention to in the entire league.
He knew that Chen Xiaoliang was fast, so he kept changing direction slightly to the left and right while retreating to block Chen Xiaoliang's forward route. At the same time, he tried to keep a distance of about 4 meters between the two of them to avoid being overtaken by Chen Xiaoliang in one step.
On the other side, Nathan Patterson, who switched to defend, blocked Rashford and tried to force him to the outside, blocking his route to receive the ball inside.
There was no problem with Livramento's defense, but Chen Xiaoliang had long been accustomed to the opponent deliberately keeping distance to hinder his speed during quick counterattacks.
He dribbled the ball to the front right and changed direction, rushing towards the right side of the penalty area.
Livramento also moved to the right while retreating, continuing to block Chen Xiaoliang.
Without waiting for his center of gravity to settle, Chen Xiaoliang changed direction again and dribbled the ball towards the top of the penalty area in front of the left. This time, without waiting for Livramento to move, he pushed his right foot directly to the front left, and the ball rolled out along the grass.
The ball passed by Livramento and rolled to the left side of the field, slowing down as it rolled, as if it had stopped, but it was right in front of Rashford who was moving at full speed.
Rashford received the ball and rushed into the penalty area. He took two steps on the left side of the penalty area. Facing Nathan Patterson who was close to him on the inside, he stopped suddenly and lightly knocked the ball behind him with his left heel. The ball just hit the outside of his right foot!
Even if Nathan Patterson wanted to stop and pounce, it was too late. He could only watch Rashford hit the center of the ball with the inside of his right foot.
Dean Henderson was already guarding near the goal post, and Rashford's shot went straight to the far post, with no arc, no upper or lower corners, it was just a fast shot.
He dived towards the left side of the goal, trying to stop the ball when it was halfway.
But he was helpless, because he met two opponents today who liked to shoot with great force, and the distance was so close that he didn't have much room to react.
The ball hit the net inside the far corner of the goal, 2-0!
Rashford ran to one side of the stands with his right index finger pointing to his right temple. This is his standard celebration move!
In the Penguin live broadcast room, Zhan Jun was talking about the highlight of Newcastle's home game against Manchester City. The game was commented by Lou Yichen and Liu Yue.
Lou: "A classic defensive counterattack! There was no unnecessary movement. From the clearance in the backcourt to the final goal, there were only three passes! Xiaoliang's pass stopped just in front of Rashford. From the bird's-eye view, it looked like it turned the corner close to the grass!"
Liu Yue: "He has a very Kevin De Bruyne feel, but his speed is much faster than Ding Ding's."
Lou: "Rashford played very confidently. This move was not the first time he used it. He used it once against Arnold in the league against Liverpool. It was almost the same position and the same shooting trajectory!"
Liu Yue: "That was five years ago. Lukaku assisted him and Sanchez was still the No.7 player for Manchester United."
With a two-goal lead and the extremely unequal situation, the game was basically over in the first half.
In the second half, Ten Hag replaced Rashford, Anthony and B Fee in the 60th minute, allowing Cesco, Sancho and Fred to come on to find the feeling of the game.
It would have been fine if no one else came, but as soon as Cesco came on, he completely activated Kva on the left side.
As a winger, he could use his personal ability to try to attack the goal directly during a quick counterattack, but in most of Middlesbrough's dense defense tonight, without skilled coordination, he could only create chaos at most, but could not form a high-threatening killing intent.
After all, he has only been in the team for half a month, and Rashford is also a nimble striker, so Kva is not yet familiar with the cooperation with his new teammates.
But after Cesco came on the pitch, Kva found a stable assist point. He kept dealing with Livramento on the right side, and with his repeated changes of direction and fast and slow rhythm, he sent several accurate crosses to Cesco.
The 195cm tall Cesco focused on bombarding the 183cm tall McNair, and finally in the 79th minute, the two Roma brothers teamed up to break Middlesbrough's goal.
After breaking through on the left, Kva suddenly stopped and dribbled the ball, then dribbled it to his right foot and made a cross.
Cesco, who came in from the back row, was pulled apart by Chen Xiaoliang, Fred, Sancho and others. He jumped up, glided in the air, and headed the ball towards the left near post.
Poor Dean Henderson faced his old club. Although he made 6 successful saves, he still conceded the third goal.
The score of 3-0 was maintained until the end.
Manchester United got off to a good start.
After the game, the players saluted and thanked the team. Aribo, Nathan Patterson and Niles all came over to chat with Chen Xiaoliang. They had never imagined that the young man who was sweating profusely with them two or three years ago, had become a top star in the football world in such a short time and had become omnipotent!
Chen Xiaoliang is also getting familiar with his new home court.
The fans at Old Trafford are obviously more accustomed to victory. Most of them will leave after the game, and only a few will stay and wait for the players to leave before leaving.
Unlike in Rome, a big win can keep many people staying and waiting for the players to thank the team repeatedly before leaving.
What’s more, the fact that the game ended at around 4 p.m. also made Chen Xiaoliang feel a little surprised. In the past, he would get home late at night after a game and would wash up and go to bed directly. But now, after washing up in the locker room, his nightlife has just begun!
He then took Nathan Patterson, Aribo and their old acquaintance David to the famous restaurant MANA in the city for a small gathering.
The Manchester Evening News published the headline that day, "Roma's three stars lead the opening game." The three of them contributed two passes and two goals, making great contributions. In addition, Chen Xiaoliang also made a key tackle while chasing back 70 meters.
On the same evening, the rest of the Premier League matches also started one after another.
Newcastle drew 1-1 with Manchester City at home. Eddie Howe spent almost every penny given by the Saudi owner. Several big players signed in the summer window showed good form in the game and declared to the entire Premier League that his promotion to the BIG7 was well deserved.
After the change of coach, Chelsea performed well and defeated newly promoted Burnley 2-0 away.
Liverpool defeated Brighton, who had sold many of their main players in the summer, 3-2 at Anfield, with Gvardiol scoring the winning header.
Arsenal, who lost the championship in the final stage of last season, beat Crystal Palace 4-1.
West Ham lost 1-2 to Tottenham at home, giving their opponent, who also changed their coach, a good start.
At the end of the first round, except for Manchester City and Newcastle who drew, the rest of the BIG7 all won 3 points. The crazy new season of the Premier League civil war has officially begun!
