Chapter 372: Away game against PSV Eindhoven, but the focus is on the Manchester derby
When a team that is inferior to ours in both technical and tactical capabilities no longer dares to frequently use physical confrontation due to a drop in morale, there is basically no connection between them and winning.
Especially when Chen Xiaoliang was around, they didn't even dare to make any big movements, for fear of bringing disaster upon themselves.
In this way, Manchester United completely dominated the field, pressing Leeds United into the offensive third zone and achieving a half-court siege.
But this does not mean that the game is won just like that.
Among the 11 players on the Leeds United field, only 3 are English. The rest, such as goalkeeper Joel, is Spanish, defender Wöber, is Austrian, Koch is German, etc. These international players do not have as strong a sense of the rivalry culture in the Rose Derby as the native English players, and playing rough English football is not the style of football they originally advocate.
Even though they are behind now, for them it is just a matter of playing normal football again.
In the Premier League, no team can be underestimated at home.
Until the 90th minute and the injury time, the score was still 1-1, which made Manchester United fans very anxious.
In the game a day earlier, Manchester City beat Tottenham, whose performance has been very unstable recently, 4-1 at home. After drawing with Newcastle away in the first round, they achieved a wave of 7 consecutive victories and temporarily led Manchester United by 1 point with one more game played.
No matter which big club the fans are, they never want to come down after topping the standings. Moreover, it seems like yesterday that Arsenal led for most of last season but were eventually overtaken by Manchester City and could never get back to the top.
In order to win 3 points, Ten Hag
At 93 minutes and 55 seconds, Eriksen started his run-up and took a corner kick from the right corner flag area.
The ball flew to the back point, but no one could grab it at the first point. Taylor Adams, who replaced Ailin, kicked the ball out of the penalty area in the chaos.
But this time his foot shape was wrong. He didn't lift the ball but kicked a fast low ball. Chen Xiaoliang, who happened to be stationed outside the penalty area, swung his left foot and hit the low flying ball!
Taking advantage of the force of the ball, the ball flew towards the goal at an unprecedented speed!
However, because it was the left foot and the reaction was quick, there was not enough time to adjust the angle.
The ball first hit the substitute midfielder Roca and refracted, then flew to the right side of goalkeeper Joel, who blocked it.
The ball fell right in front of Tinbell after a few errors. The new Dutch player lifted his left foot in a somewhat awkward manner, but he made the best of it and used his will to fight to the end to score the winning goal!
He was very excited after scoring the goal. It should be said that the whole Manchester United team was very excited. However, an interesting scene took place on the sidelines. The old coach Allardyce complained to the fourth official why the 4 minutes of stoppage time was up and the ball had just been cleared away, but the referee did not blow the final whistle to give Manchester United a second chance to attack.
Seeing this scene in the broadcast, many fans of other teams also began to complain:
[It’s not the first time that the English Football Association has helped Manchester United. What’s so strange about that?]
[There was Ferguson time in the past. It wouldn’t end until a goal was scored. Just get used to it.]
[Penalty League, Referee League, Extra Time League, our factory should have this treatment, we won it in the Premier League last season]
…
Manchester United fans immediately started to fight back:
[I saw someone say that Ferguson time has returned. That is really the scene I dream of, proving that my Magic is back on the right track]
[Stop talking, I admit that Manchester United controls the English Football Association, UEFA and FIFA]
[Are Arsenal fans starting to lose their reputation again? Wasn't last season's defeat enough?]
…
In short, keyboard to keyboard, whether many people like it or not, quarrels between fans have become an inseparable part of football, all over the world.
With 8 consecutive wins and 24 points, this Manchester United team has created the best start for the club since the establishment of its predecessor Newton Heath United.
But the media quickly pointed out that such a start is not unique in Premier League history.
From the perspective of points gained, Manchester City in the 2011-12 and 2017-18 seasons, and Liverpool in the 2019-20 season, all achieved a super start with 11 wins, 1 draw and a total of 34 points in the first 12 league games of the season, and both won the Premier League championship of that season.
There is also Manchester City in the 2018-19 season, also under Guardiola, and Chelsea in the 2014-15 season, when Mourinho returned to the club for the second time. They had 10 wins and 2 draws in the first 12 rounds, accumulating 32 points and also won the final championship.
Next is the start that Arsenal achieved in the first 12 rounds last season with 10 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, accumulating 31 points. Historically, Manchester United in 1993-94 and 2006-27 and Chelsea under Mourinho in 2005-06 also achieved such a start and won the final championship.
The comment with the most likes under this news is:
[Fans of a certain team: Please stop talking if you want the ball]
In addition to Manchester City's 4-1 win over Tottenham, Liverpool drew 2-2 with Brentford away from home, ranking third with 6 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss and 19 points;
Arsenal beat Sheffield United 3-0 at home, ranking 6th with 5 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses and 16 points;
Newcastle beat Bournemouth 1-0, and they are still unbeaten with 5 wins and 3 draws and are ranked 4th;
Crystal Palace lost 1-2 at home and failed to stop Chelsea's attack. The Blues are ranked 5th with 6 wins and 2 losses and 18 points.
Tottenham, which ranks 9th with 3 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses and 10 points, is already in the top three in the sack odds list, even though the new head coach Glasner has not yet warmed up to the coaching seat, second only to the heads of Sheffield United and Wolves, who are at the bottom two.
In this game, although the scores of players from both teams were not very high, Chen Xiaoliang still won the best player of the game with a goal and unparalleled on-field deterrence, and accumulated 10 training points (45→55).
In addition, he also got an unexpected reward. Due to the revision of the league mission, he had never received the hat trick reward against Wolves [Reward: Reward for this game × (number of goals + number of assists)]. In that game, he received 16 training points, plus the multiple of 3 goals, which was a "huge" reward of 48 training points (55→103)
However, there is still a long way to go before reaching the upgrade requirement of 160 points for right winger LV4.
After 8 rounds of the league, not only are the two Manchester City giants making great progress and gradually widening the gap with other strong teams, the data competition between Chen Xiaoliang and Haaland is also fierce.
In the last game, the team beat Tottenham 4-1, Haaland scored twice. He has scored 14 goals in 8 league games, plus 1 assist, and his form is better than last season.
Chen Xiaoliang scored 11 goals and provided 3 assists. After joining Manchester United, with Casemiro's strong clearance behind him, he had more direct shots on goal than in Roma, so his number of goals naturally increased a lot compared to last season.
The two have also been given many titles by many media.
For example, Haaland is the best player without the ball, and Chen Xiaoliang is the best player with the ball;
There are also claims that Haaland is the best scorer in the penalty area, while Chen Xiaoliang is the best scorer outside the penalty area, and so on.
But the arrogant French media does not want to see another era of two-man show in today's football. Under Mourinho's counterattack philosophy, Mbappe, whose statistics have also soared this season, has scored 11 goals in 7 league games. With Dybala, who is willing to be a supporting role and constantly holds the ball in the frontcourt and sends through passes to Director M, the gap between him and Neymar on the court has been bridged.
With 6 wins and 1 draw, Mourinho's Paris has gradually dispelled the fans' doubts about defensive and counterattacking football before the season with its strong record.
After all, French fans even dared to boo Messi. Losing the World Cup final has become a pain in their hearts, so what does it matter if they boo Mourinho a few times now?
Compared to the lively public opinion, the Manchester United team was much calmer. After resting for a day in Carrington, they embarked on a journey to the Netherlands.
At this time in the team, Chen Xiaoliang's unique and shocking way of speaking and the aura that intimidated the opponents in the last game had already convinced all the players including B Fee.
No matter it is coercion or sincere submission, it’s always just one word: submission.
After all, in modern football, players are becoming more and more valuable and delicate, and the flavor of assetization and commercialization is becoming stronger and stronger. Players, especially star players, have become the most important visible assets of major clubs.
The behavior of top football teams relying on their reputation, record and other aspects to attract star players to join is essentially no different from the investment behavior of ordinary companies.
But this has also resulted in some phenomena that are different from the past.
For example, the evolution of media.
In addition to some accurate reports, fans can usually see a lot of groundless or even unfounded reports, linking a certain player with a certain giant, claiming that the giant's scouts or head coaches have chosen to buy him.
In essence, this is a business between agents and the media. I spend money and you make up stories. The players' popularity also gradually increases by forcibly getting involved with wealthy clubs.
At the same time, there is also an opposite operation, such as Real Madrid's official media Spanish Channel 6, Marca, etc., they will actively and intensively publish a large amount of transfer news within a period of time. The purpose is usually two: to shake the opponent's morale or interfere with market judgment.
The former has been repeatedly staged before important Champions League matchups, such as last season's Champions League semi-final between Real Madrid and Manchester City. These Spanish media all said that Haaland has decided to join Real Madrid.
But let alone the parties involved, even experienced fans can see that these so-called inside information, except for these Spanish media, are hardly covered by the media of other countries, and at most they are quoted and forwarded.
The latter is to create waves in the market. For example, Bellingham, through the intensive voice of official mouthpieces, said that Real Madrid wants to sign Bellingham, Bellingham only wants to go to Real Madrid, in order to interfere with the judgment of the parties themselves and the judgment of rival clubs.
These behaviors promote the spread of football information, but they also lead to a bad thing for players, that is, some people will tie their future career development to the media instead of focusing on the court.
In addition to the media, another point is the agent.
Since players have been assetized and become important investment products, not only do clubs need this product to be able to maintain and increase its value while performing its function, but agents also hope that the players they have worked hard to invest in for the long term can quickly appreciate in value.
In this way, injuries become everyone's common enemy.
Agents will consciously encourage players not to go to the national team to participate in friendly matches, will ask the club on behalf of the players to let the players rest in low-quality cup competitions, and will even bargain with the head coach over the players' playing style and position on the field.
The most typical representative here is the late Raiola. He advocated constantly finding new clubs for players, achieving salary increases, signing fees and commissions through transfers, and improving the players' status in negotiations with clubs.
As long as the club does not meet the core demands of the players, he will start to manipulate player transfers, even at the cost of strikes, privately releasing club scandals, and instigating competing clubs to adopt a tough attitude in transfer negotiations.
At the same time, we can also see more and more strange scenes where players clearly inform the club that they are injured, but run to scenic spots such as beaches and islands in the Middle East and North America to enjoy delicious food and beautiful scenery.
In the irreversible era of money-driven football, these are products that would naturally emerge under normal logic, but topics such as sportsmanship and professional ethics that emphasize traditional football values have become scarce and alternative.
The fan club nature of football has also exacerbated this phenomenon.
Apart from die-hard fans, when talking about one-man-one-city players like Totti and Giggs, the younger generation of fans would label them as conservative or even stupid.
When talking about the idol players they support, even if it is later proved that a certain transfer step was wrong, these fans will take the initiative to excuse their idols.
As a bystander, sometimes there seems to be an illusion that their idols will share the money they earn and the girls they pick up with them.
The creation of fan clubs and the creation of confrontations to hype topics are inevitable phenomena based on the commercialization of football and the commodification of players mentioned above. No matter whether you are a bad player or a king of football, you have a price. At this price, whether you are a football player, a basketball player, or any other sports player with a market, capital will lead you by the nose and maximize your value.
Under this trend, there are fewer and fewer iron-blooded players, and players like Stam who had to get stitches on the spot are almost extinct.
There is an unavoidable problem here. Fan circleization means idolization of players. Any good-looking player will pay attention to his or her image rights. They will get stitches on the sidelines and have scars on their faces. What about the female fans who earn money from their image rights?
When the players on the field have eight hundred other thoughts in their minds, football can no longer be pure.
Therefore, one can imagine the shock of the Manchester United players when they saw that Chen Xiaoliang dared to try to engage in a head-on kicking fight with the opposing player.
They also didn't know that Chen Xiaoliang was fearless and had the chance to be immune to a serious injury.
They only know that this man is willing to give up even the players' most precious feet. Who else would dare to mess with him?
They arrived at Eindhoven and stayed at the temporary training ground. Although the two teams were rivals at the moment, PSV coach Van Nistelrooy still took the initiative to visit Manchester United.
Not to mention others, Van der Sar and Fletcher who traveled with the team are old acquaintances of his.
But Van Nistelrooy is also cautious. He doesn't want to be like Lazio's old smoker Sarri. As a young coach, he still hopes to try his luck in the group of death.
If we create a miracle, we can advance as the second in the group. At the very least, we can strive for the third place and play in the Europa League.
Van Nistelrooy watched Manchester United's training. Although Ten Hag did not show him the most core tactical drills, Van Nistelrooy still saw what he wanted to see.
Manchester United are too tired.
Except for the black-haired boy who kept running, everyone else seemed to be consciously saving their energy.
In addition, he also knows that Manchester United will next have a battle with Manchester City for the top spot.
Van Nistelrooy's eyes rolled, and on the surface he was still smiling with Van der Sar and the others, but he actually had a plan in his mind.
