Chapter 387: The Rhythm Master finds himself again and helps the team create the best start in Premier League history
7 days of training and extra training accumulated 28 training points (35→63).
In addition to a league mission against Arsenal, as well as 3 assists and 1 goal, although the best player was awarded to Cesco with a hat-trick and an assist, Chen Xiaoliang still got 11 training points and triggered the huge reward of [Achieve a hat-trick in the next game]!
[Reward: This game's reward × (number of goals + number of assists)]
This means that the 11 training points will be multiplied by 4, becoming 44 points! (63→107)
This is also why in the counterattack in the last seconds of the game, when Chen Xiaoliang faced Ramsdale alone, he took the initiative to pass the ball to Rashford on the right, assisting him to score a goal.
The [Big Club Mission] allowed him to draw the star card of Arsenal legend Robert Pires, which gives him +1 to all offensive attributes when attacking with the ball on the left rib (5 minutes)
In the match against Sheffield United, he scored a penalty kick and earned a total of 7 training points (107→114) and 1 breakthrough point (33→34).
Except for Tottenham, the other six teams of the BIG7 all won in this round, especially Manchester City. In the away game against Brighton, they relied on Alvarez's lore to beat Brighton by one goal, even though they had to play away against Inter Milan to ensure the top spot in the Champions League group and Haaland and others were rotated. They continued to lag behind Manchester United by 2 points.
If Manchester United can get at least one point in the next home game against Fulham, they will have 38 points in 14 rounds, surpassing Arsenal's 37 points in 14 rounds last season and Manchester City's 34 points in 13 rounds in the 2017-18 season, setting the best start in Premier League history.
On November 23, Chen Xiaoliang was not even included in the roster. Ten Hag sent out most of the rotation lineup, led by Maguire, Sancho, Ganaccio and others, with Livakovic, Williams and others starting. After defeating Sunderland 2-1 at home and advancing to the fifth round of the League Cup, Manchester United's transfer movements were once again exposed by the media as scouts and informants from other clubs were following them.
After booking Uruguayan international and defensive midfielder Ugarte from Sporting CP for 65 million euros, Chelsea put people like Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Kovacic on the shelf. Pochettino not only wants to strengthen the midfield, but also increase the team's control over the ball.
Riise's high-profile appearance in Salzburg made the outside world think that he was going to help Manchester United negotiate for the 20-year-old French defensive midfielder star Gourna Duarte, but the outside world soon discovered that Riise's negotiations were careless and he was not serious about the talks.
Soon, the Norwegian media discovered that Solskjaer appeared at Molde, the club he once coached.
It was here that he recommended Haaland to Manchester United, who was only worth 4 million pounds at the time. As a result, Manchester United coach Van Gaal and the transfer team thought that this was definitely not a good deal...
Molde who?
The spy-like agents immediately set their sights on the team's young main midfielder Svelt Mansvik.
But although the 20-year-old midfielder performed well in the Norwegian Premier League and the U21 national team, he has no experience in the top five leagues, let alone in the Eredivisie and Portuguese Super League. Once the news was reported, even Manchester United fans felt that buying him would be worse than using Fred and McTominay, or even worse than Van de Beek who has already left the team.
For a while, rumors such as "Manchester United's management is still in chaos", "Van der Sar is not much better than Sanders", "Van der Sar has been actually sidelined, and the transfer is directly decided by the boss Jasim" emerged one after another and became very popular.
Reese couldn't help but call Chen Xiaoliang again: "What should I do? Your feint to the east and attack to the west has been seen through."
Chen Xiaoliang laughed: "It's okay, buy a plane ticket tomorrow and go to Rome to watch a game. Be sure to show up in the stands so that others can see you. And remember to go to the locker room after the game to say hello to Gerrard, and then someone will contact you."
Only then did Reese realize that Chen Xiaoliang's move was not a feint to the east but a mantis stalking a cicada while the oriole was behind.
After another three days of training, a total of seven days of training allowed Chen Xiaoliang to accumulate another 28 training points (114→142). He looked at his own attributes and found that he needed 320 training points to upgrade to the full level 5 right winger position. He decided to wait until the next tough battle to see how Ten Hag arranged his position and responsibilities, and then decide how to use these points.
After all, the overall strength has reached this point, and the training value cannot directly improve the ability above 18. In fact, adding 1 or 2 points to a single ability will not have much direct impact on a game.
On the afternoon of November 26, Chen Xiaoliang reappeared in the starting lineup.
goalkeeper David de Gea;
The back four includes Dalot, Varane, Lima and Williams;
Defensive midfielders Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro, central midfielder Chen Xiaoliang;
The three forwards are Kwadwo, Rashford and Anthony.
In this match, although Fulham did not have any obvious threatening opportunities, the game was still full of sparks.
Fabio Carvalho, who transferred to Liverpool from Fulham last season, was loaned back this season. Eager to prove himself, he played as a left winger in the game. When he met his fellow countryman Bruno Fernandes, his eyes were fierce, as if only by killing Bruno Fernandes could he prove that Liverpool blood was flowing in his body.
Of course, he is not afraid that the Portuguese side will hate him. As an English citizen, he has only played for the Portugal U21 team so far. He still has plenty of time to fight for which side the adult national team chooses.
After all, in Portugal, there are Bruno Fernandes, Bruno Silva, Vitinha and Neves in the midfield, and Leo, Felix and Gonzalo Ramos in the front line. It is obvious that he will not get a chance in any position.
The other is the main striker Mitrovic.
The 29-year-old Serbian striker is a typical striker killer, but he may not kill the ball, but also people.
His very brave and aggressive playing style made Ten Hag repeatedly remind the two starting central defenders before the game to remember to protect themselves and not always confront each other head-on.
If this back line gets injured again, there won’t even be anyone left to replace them…
With the help of former Manchester United player Andres Pereira, who played as attacking midfielder, Fulham played quite well.
However, their midfield was really helpless against Chen Xiaoliang. Joao Palinha , saw the real master today.
In terms of tackling ability, he is not much different from Chen Xiaoliang, and he is brave and decisive.
But while he made 147 steals last season, his 14 yellow cards were also the highest in the Premier League, while his 48 fouls ranked 10th in the Premier League.
This is because he received his 15th yellow card in a single season and was suspended for three rounds. He had been suspended for three rounds after receiving five and ten yellow cards before, so his number of league appearances last season was also 35.
If there wasn't this suspension rule, he would probably be able to improve his yellow card record.
These two sets of data put together mean that for every three successful steals he makes, he will be committed a foul, and for every three fouls he commits, he will receive a yellow card.
This season, he still ranks first in the Premier League with an average of 4.15 steals per game, similar to last season, and behind him is Chen Xiaoliang with 3.85 steals per game.
But Chen Xiaoliang's yellow card number was 1, which was due to an argument, while he received 5 and had already been suspended for one game.
This has a lot to do with the timing of his decision, and his inaccurate timing is directly related to his poor physical flexibility and explosive speed.
In this game, Palinha really started to doubt his life.
Under Manchester United's high-pressure attack and high-pressure defense, he ran back and forth between the two flanks and made steals back and forth, but after working hard for a long time and making several steals, he did not provide any substantial help to the team.
In the 23rd minute, Anthony cut in from the right and was brought down by Palinha with the ball.
He stretched his leg to dunk the ball and just regained his balance. Before he could adjust his steps to pass the ball to his teammate in front of him, Chen Xiaoliang who rushed over from the side snatched the ball back.
By the time he adjusted his center of gravity and prepared for a second counterattack, Chen Xiaoliang had already taken a step sideways and passed the ball to the back with his left foot, helping Kva to complete the shot.
Not to mention when attacking, this engineering midfielder with average ball control and receiving skills didn't dare to take two steps under Chen Xiaoliang's defense. When Manchester United pressed high, he could only rely on his height of 190cm to act as a header ferryman in the backcourt.
On the Manchester United side, apart from Chen Xiaoliang, the highlight of the game was Kva.
In 13 league games, he only scored 1 goal and 2 assists, and in 4 Champions League games, he only scored 1 goal. This is really not worth his transfer fee of 85 million euros.
Especially in the two games against Manchester City, he was never able to gain an advantage in the face of Kyle Walker's defense, which made the outside world begin to question whether he could be called a top winger.
Many people even think that he is only suitable for the slower-paced Serie A. When he comes to the fast-paced Premier League, he is no match for Kaori Mitoma.
It would be a lie to say there is no pressure. Kwa’s experience in the past two years can only be described as a dream.
He was bought by Roma without knowing why, won the treble along the way, and joined Manchester United with Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco. You should know that two years ago he almost had no ball to play and had to return to his hometown of Georgia to let his agent at the time promote himself.
On this point, Ten Hag, who has trained De Ligt, Frenkie de Jong, Ziyech and others at Ajax, had a one-on-one talk with Kva.
The advice he gave was very simple, which was not to pay too much attention to statistics, but to seize every opportunity to play against weak teams and bully them.
Chen Xiaoliang also said something similar to Kwa on the way home from training.
He felt that Kwa was too eager to defeat the wingers in the opposing team to prove himself in the future. This idea would put him under psychological pressure, making him want to win but afraid of losing when facing strong teams, and would also make him lose his spirit when facing weak teams.
The league is a long process. 3 points against Manchester City are 3 points, and 3 points against Leeds United are also 3 points. Only by beating the weaker teams can we ensure that the team's performance will not be ruined in 38 rounds of games.
Didn’t you see Arsenal last season? They ranked second in the BI6 with 6 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses, and got 19 points, second only to Manchester City with 21 points, but finally lost the championship because they were not as stable as Manchester City in bullying the weak.
The words of these two people enlightened Kwa, who was stuck in the second-year rookie wall in the top five leagues, and instantly became cheerful.
Just as I mentioned the food, it arrived.
In the 11th minute, he received a straight pass from Williams on the wing, passed right-back Cedric and right center back Adarabioyo, and shot into the near corner to open the scoring for Manchester United 1-0.
And the beautiful shot after passing two people instantly ignited the hot atmosphere at Old Trafford.
In the 23rd minute, after Chen Xiaoliang stole the ball from Palinha, he rushed to the left goal post after being offside, received Chen Xiaoliang's pass and shot, but the shot was saved by Fulham goalkeeper and former Arsenal goalkeeper Leno, creating a corner kick opportunity.
In the 43rd minute, Casemiro intercepted Andres Pereira's ball in defense and made a long pass from the backcourt. After receiving the ball, Kwa broke into the left side of the penalty area, attracted the goalkeeper's attention and passed the ball to the other side, helping Rashford score a goal and change the score to 2-0.
Seeing that Kva was in great form in the second half, Ten Hag took the initiative to let him stay on the court.
After Rashford was replaced by Cesco in the 64th minute, Kva's threat on the wing became greater.
In the 71st minute, he broke through the 32-year-old Cedric on the left for the fourth time of the game, and cooperated with Cesco in an inverted triangle, helping his good friend score his sixth league goal of the season, and the score became 3-0.
By this time, the mentality of both sides on the field had changed drastically.
Fabio Carvalho, who had been fighting with Bruno Fernandes, who played as a defensive midfielder, for the entire game, suddenly lost his temper. During the quarrel, the two players each received a gold war god card and were angrily replaced by the head coach, his Portuguese fellow countryman Marco Silva.
Palinha worked diligently, and seeing that Chen Xiaoliang was defeated time and time again, he not only failed to successfully steal the ball from Chen Xiaoliang, but was also knocked down once by Chen Xiaoliang's back and forth swinging of his left and right feet. At the same time, he suffered two losses , and had two bruises on his back and left leg.
Mitrovic didn't even get a chance to shoot, and while looking at the "Argentine Butcher" Lima, he couldn't help but burst into cursing, which in turn was met with boos from the entire audience and his own mental breakdown.
As for Manchester United, which was leading by 3 goals, after replacing several main players, the whole team saw that Kvart was like a god tonight. From Chen Xiaoliang to Maguire who replaced Varane, they kept passing the ball to the No. 77 left winger to help him build confidence.
Encouraged by Kva, Williams, McTominay who replaced B Fee, and Maguire who was also substituted, all fought actively and then passed the ball to Kva.
When everyone adds fuel to the fire, in the 82nd minute, Anthony cut inside and was knocked down by Palinha. The ball rolled to McTominay's feet and the referee indicated that the attack was in favor.
McTominay passed the ball to Chen Xiaoliang on the left flank. After receiving the ball, Chen Xiaoliang forced his way inside towards Fulham's right midfielder Lukic. He made two consecutive moves to shoot with his right foot. Then, after attracting the attention of all the defenses in front, he made a ghostly through pass that quickly passed under Lukic's crotch, drew a slight arc on the ground, passed by right center back Adarabioyo and rolled to the outside of the left goal post.
The last time the two of them cooperated, Kva's shot was saved. This time, after he took the ball forward, he first made a fake push, tricking the opponent's goalkeeper Leno into squatting to save the ball. Then he took another step sideways and pushed the ball into the far corner, scoring the goal leisurely and easily.
4 to 0!
The score was frozen and the game soon ended!
With 2 goals and 2 assists, Kwa won the Premier League Man of the Match award for the first time in his career without any suspense.
As Ten Hag and Chen Xiaoliang said, Manchester United fans did not hesitate to praise Kva. They shouted Kva's nickname in the stands and gave him the nickname "Rhythm Master", highlighting his characteristics of dribbling and being good at changing rhythm.
At the same time, when Kva changes direction with the ball, his left and right hands will keep shaking and swaying up and down. This is because his height is 183 cm, the same as Chen Xiaoliang, but for this kind of flexible breakthrough, he must use the swing of his arms to help the body maintain balance.
To the fans, it seems like they are dancing in a nightclub to the DJ's beats.
The fans of the Red Country made up a jingle based on his tendency to look down at the ground when dribbling the ball and his No. 77 jersey number:
[Lower your head, Keke 77]
The 4-0 victory not only created the best start in the Premier League, but also gave the main left winger a huge confidence boost, which was a double blessing for the whole team.
At the same time, with continuous training and appropriate weight loss, Maguire's performance has improved significantly after coming on as a substitute recently.
Of course, this also has a lot to do with Chen Xiaoliang's sweeping in the central midfielder position helping Casemiro reduce the pressure of frontal defense, allowing Casemiro to help Maguire behind him more with ground defense.
Lindelof is almost recovered from his injury and will be able to return to the field after 1-2 weeks of recovery training.
In this round, all the BIG7 won except Tottenham. It was Chelsea who gave Tottenham a losing streak with a score of 5-2 at home. Pochettino completed his revenge on Levy. Even at the end of the game, Tottenham fans deliberately sang songs that praised Pochettino in the past to satirize Levy's short-sightedness and ignorance in running the team.
As if Levy was fighting with the fans, the club announced the next day that Austrian coach Glasner, who had been in office for only four months, was fired and the first team would be temporarily led by assistant coach Ryan Mason.
Tottenham fans were almost sick of watching this scene, and after the news came out, Pochettino, Mourinho and Conte all expressed their support for Glasner and criticized Levy.
Tottenham fans even directed their criticism at Kane, questioning why he wanted to stay with the team. They hoped that the team would be completely destroyed so that Levy could sell the club as soon as possible and bring the team back to life.
In this regard, the famous transfer reporter Romano said that Kane was tired of Levy's amateur behavior and was ready to start his plan to leave the team.
Tottenham’s turmoil naturally has nothing to do with Manchester United, but it has invisibly helped Manchester United a lot.
For a while, the media focused on Kane's possible next club and Tottenham's next head coach. Only the Italian media were concerned about what Riise was doing at the Olympic Stadium in Rome to watch the league match between Roma and Fiorentina.
It is an open secret that Manchester United still needs a defensive midfielder after officially announcing Benzema. The media listed the names of Cristante and Pellegrini, and even considered the name of Beauvais. Some even said that they might refer to Benzema's transfer and re-sign veteran Matic, or Van der Beck, whose performance in Rome has improved this season.
Of course, Fiorentina's Moroccan midfielder Amrabat is also considered a possible transfer target.
However, soon, the entire Manchester United team that was playing against Lazio arrived in Rome. The club's CEO Van der Sar and technical director Fletcher also traveled with the team, but the sports director Mutaf was nowhere to be seen.
The media also said that Van der Sar personally had finalized Roma's transfer target and allowed Mutaf to stay in Manchester to handle other transfer matters.
The Manchester Evening News also "just in time" released the news that Murtaugh was negotiating Fred's transfer with Fulham sports director Tony Khan and included a photo of the two meeting at Carrington.
But in fact, Riise received a call from Mutaf the day before Van der Sar arrived, just as Chen Xiaoliang had said in advance. He quietly arrived in Rome on his boss Jassim's private plane, but the negotiating party was not the Roma club, but Roma's city rival Lazio.
There, a midfielder, whose contract with the club is about to enter the last six months and who has worked diligently and loyally for the Blue Eagles for eight and a half seasons, is preparing to sign a personal agreement. At the end of his career, he will join a real giant and assist the Golden Ball winner who swept Serie A at the age of 18 and completely defeated him, to pursue championships and glory.
