Chapter 389: The top three in the standings are in a stalemate as they face their biggest rival Liverpool!

After 2 days of training, accumulate 8 training points (149→157).

Then Chen Xiaoliang encountered a tough battle.

This was the first time in his career that he spent 80 training points during the half-time break to improve his shooting ability by 1 point (16→17), trying to help the team win all 3 points at Brighton's home ground, the American Express Community Stadium, which can accommodate 31,800 people.

Speaking of Brighton, this small Premier League team ranked first in Europe in terms of transfer revenue in the summer window. While fighting on two fronts in the league and European competitions, it did not fall apart at all due to the departure of a number of key players.

They did not follow the old path of Leicester City, which collapsed after winning the championship. Instead, they took the unique "Brighton Way".

The club owner, Tony Bloom, was a well-known poker player when he was young. He won $3.8 million by playing cards. This alone has already made him better than 99% of the people on earth.

His love for gambling did not lead him astray, but instead led him to set up his own gambling consulting company.

What are you consulting about? Sports, mostly football.

In the gambling industry, people who collect data and conduct analysis and calculations are called actuaries, but in the field of football, they have a different name - scouts.

But in Bloom's hands, the two are actually the same.

They not only recruit offline scouts, but also hire online scouts on the Internet in various football-developed countries. If they regularly provide scouting reports that reach a certain quantity and quality, they can get good remuneration.

It is precisely relying on such a large team of scouts that they can discover potential stocks from unpopular areas such as Mitoma Kaoru, Gross, Ferguson, as well as South American .

Especially in the days when youth training was well developed, when the fans of the Red Country could only criticize the league for being full of match-fixing based on their unknown impressions, Brighton, like many European teams, placed scouts in the J2 and J3 leagues.

Kaoru Mitoma is not an exception. Hiroki Ito who won the Bundesliga's best newcomer award, Yuito Suzuki who was bought by Strasbourg in Ligue 1, Soichiro Kamitsuki who went from Kyoto Phoenix to Schalke 04, Yoshie Homma who went from Albirex Niigata to Bruges in Belgium, plus the now famous Takehiro Tomiyasu who left Fukuoka Hornets, and many , are all players produced by the J2 League.

How can a league where match-fixing is rampant and everything depends on scripts produce so many outstanding youth players?

Of course, in the eyes of those pseudo fans who think that everything is capital and scripts, the five major leagues, the Champions League, the European Cup, and the World Cup are just more advanced scripts.

Even when Chen Xiaoliang was in the Red Country Youth Training Camp of Glasgow Rangers, Brighton arranged online scouts to watch every U16 and U18 game in an attempt to discover the next Chen Xiaoliang.

This season at Brighton, without Caicedo, Jakub Moder stepped up;

After the departure of Kaoru Mitoma, the 18-year-old winger Buonanotte, who has been selected for the Argentine national team, is popular again;

Without McAllister, there is Gross, the older one, and Gilmore, the younger one.

More importantly, they have confidence and fighting spirit.

On this field, they beat Liverpool twice, defeated Chelsea, beat Manchester United, drew with Manchester City and Newcastle last season, and only lost to Manchester City by one goal this season. In this game, they continued to use familiar tactics, controlling the ball in the backcourt, attracting Manchester United's high pressing, and then expanding the width through the two wings, resolutely using the flanks to launch simple attacks.

But this was not enough to help them defeat the powerful Manchester United. After all, in the midfield, even Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea could not contain Chen Xiaoliang.

However, Brighton manager De Zerby abandoned all previous attempts and adopted a completely different strategy in defense.

Different from expanding the width in attack, they shrink towards the center significantly in defense. Whether it is the wingers, double defensive midfielders or two full-backs, they all shrink to the area inside the ribs.

The three midfielders and three forwards all retreated, and even the two forwards Welbeck and Evan Ferguson who played in the first and second half retreated all the way to the central midfielder position to participate in the defense, making these six people form a dense meat grinder in the middle of the midfield.

The dense crowd in the middle meant that Manchester United had no advantage on the flanks during the attack and was unable to score goals effectively.

When holding the ball in the middle, you can shoot or pass it to the sides, but when going down the flank you can only cross the ball. Even in this game, Chen Xiaoliang and Kva's multiple back passes that resulted in shots were directly blocked by the dense crowd.

In order to deal with this kind of defense with all players retreating, Manchester United will have to increase the number of offensive players pressing forward, but doing so will only leave Brighton with plenty of counterattack opportunities after the transition from offense to defense, as they will immediately spread out to the wings and increase the width.

In addition, after traveling to Rome for the match in the middle of last week, some of the main players had not fully recovered their physical strength. Brighton's average age on the field was 23.9 years old, and they were well rested at home. In terms of endurance reserves and running enthusiasm, he was obviously more active.

Luck was not on their side either, as Chen Xiaoliang and Casemiro hit the goal frame one after another, making it difficult for Manchester United, who were more aggressive in attack, to score against the opponent.

All the goals in the game came near the end of the second half.

In the 82nd minute, Eriksen took a corner kick from the left. Brighton captain Dunk got the first point to clear the ball. Dalot rushed up outside the penalty area to grab the ball and passed it back to Eriksen who was still on the left. The latter made another cross into the penalty area.

This time, Brighton goalkeeper Steele jumped high on the edge of the small penalty area and punched the ball out again against Cesco who was competing for the header.

This was his seventh save of the day.

On the penalty area line, Chen Xiaoliang leaned against the 19-year-old striker Evan Ferguson who was returning to defense, took the ball off with his left foot, adjusted one step, turned around and kicked the ball towards the goal with his right foot.

Evan Ferguson stretched out his left leg to block the ball, which changed direction and hit the veteran Gross's outstretched right arm!

In an instant, all Manchester United players and staff on the field and on the sidelines raised their hands and shouted handball to the referee!

Players from both teams immediately surrounded the referee. Chen Xiaoliang shouted that it was definitely a penalty, while Gross explained that he did not intentionally open his hands outward.

Referee Thomas Bramall drove away both sides, without even looking at the VAR, and decisively awarded a penalty!

His judgment was also supported by commentators on almost all broadcasting platforms in various countries.

Chen Xiaoliang picked up the ball and walked towards the penalty spot, and his teammates patted Chen Xiaoliang on the back!

He placed the ball steadily and stared at Brighton goalkeeper Steele, his eyes as sharp as if he was about to shoot an arrow.

Steele initially stared at him, neither of them giving in, but after half a minute, he felt uncomfortable with the intimidating look in Chen Xiaoliang's eyes, so he pretended to twist his neck and arms and actively looked away.

“Beep!”

Referee Thomas Bramall blows the whistle!

Chen Xiaoliang suddenly let out a long sigh through his mouth, took a deep breath, and started running!

One step, two steps, three steps!

Right foot shot down the middle!

Steele dives to his right side!

but!

After he exerted force to the right, he saw the shooting route, and suddenly retracted his force, straightening his left leg that was dragging at the end, blocking Chen Xiaoliang's penalty kick!

Brighton's home fans immediately cheered!

Once again but!

Chen Xiaoliang, who was mentally prepared for a second shot, rushed forward immediately, raised the arch of his left foot and kicked the ball hard!

This time, Steele, who had already fallen on the grass on the right side of the goal line, had no time to make a second save and could only watch Chen Xiaoliang shoot the penalty kick he missed into the net.

0 to 1!

Chen Xiaoliang's 16th goal in the Premier League this season!

Everyone believes that in his first season in the Premier League he will break his personal best of 22 goals in a single season in Serie A last season!

However, the game was not over yet. The tenacious Brighton obviously did not accept that after fighting for more than 80 minutes, their efforts of the entire afternoon would be ruined by an unintentional handball.

They launched a frantic counterattack, but were blocked time and time again by Chen Xiaoliang and his teammates.

But fate obviously wants to give everyone a reversal tonight.

In the 93rd minute, with less than a minute of injury time left, Brighton striker March, who came on as a substitute, received a pass from midfielder Enciso while moving from the right side of the penalty area to the middle. At the moment of receiving the ball, he was tripped by Casemiro's left foot, which he did not have time to retract. The referee Thomas Bramall, who could see clearly outside the penalty area, once again pointed to the penalty spot!

But this time it refers to Manchester United's penalty spot!

29-year-old England striker March is ready to take the penalty he created!

Last season, the two teams met in the FA Cup semi-finals. It was he who missed the penalty in the seventh round, sending Manchester United into the FA Cup final.

Today, he wants to avenge his previous humiliation.

The whistle blew, De Gea ran up, and he judged the direction correctly!

But March's left-foot shot was so powerful that the ball flew into the left side of the goal before De Gea's fingers stretched out!

After the goal was scored, Brighton players rushed to the sidelines and hugged each other as if they had won the final of a major tournament!

When the game started again, the referee did not give any more time and blew the whistle to end the game.

Ten Hag, who attended the press conference after the game, expressed regret for the result, but he did not think the team's performance was bad. It was just that Brighton played too well on the defensive side, and at the same time, their players had to play two games in a week after being transferred to the national team, and they were too tired.

However, Manchester City, who beat Wolves 2-1, although had the same record of 13 wins, 2 draws and 41 points as Manchester United, topped the list with 43 goals scored and 11 goals conceded, 2 more goals than Manchester United, which scored 41 goals and conceded 11 goals. Manchester United fell to second place for the first time after the first round.

This inevitably made Chen Xiaoliang feel a little annoyed.

But there are still people who add fuel to the fire.

"Torino Sports Daily", the media that Chen Xiaoliang had almost forgotten, and the female reporter Portman whose breasts were bigger than her head, appeared in front of Chen Xiaoliang again.

After making great strides in the third line and receiving overwhelming praise in the second season, he, as the number one black fan, has lost the market to stir up trouble and can only play the role of yin and yang occasionally.

But today, after a series of winning streaks, we were equalized by Brighton, which was a great opportunity for revenge.

In front of a large group of reporters, Chen Xiaoliang did not want to get angry at first. After answering a few questions from Sky Sports reporters, Portman moved the topic forward:

"What do you think of Casemiro's stupid foul at the last minute? His reckless action made your penalty meaningless."

This sentence is full of traps. If you follow what she means, it would be tantamount to admitting that Casemiro is reckless and stupid.

Chen Xiaoliang didn't even look at Portman, who was wearing a very low-cut V-neck. This pretentious woman only made him feel disgusted: "Everyone has bad luck sometimes, and Casemiro was unlucky tonight. He did nothing wrong, and this will not affect his importance to the team. He is a very important member of our team."

Chen Xiaoliang wanted to leave after he finished speaking, so Portman quickly asked loudly: "So you still admit that he ruined today's game. Is the club buying Milinkovic-Savic to replace him?"

Chen Xiaoliang could no longer suppress his anger, and turned to look at the woman who deliberately posed in a coquettish manner in front of the camera and whose eyes clearly showed ill intentions: "You want to hear the truth, right?"

Portman nodded immediately, and the reporter next to him passed the microphone to Chen Xiaoliang: "I believe the fans also want to know what you think of him."

A hint of sarcasm flashed across Chen Xiaoliang's lips. "Then let me tell you, I will never blame any of my teammates. Casemiro is a great player, and you are a complete idiot!"

After saying that, Chen Xiaoliang turned around and left quickly.

Thirty minutes later, the interview video with three swear words had been circulated on the Internet around the world, and Manchester United players were now walking towards the bus in the parking lot.

Of course, the Manchester United players who were holding their mobile phones also saw the video, and Anthony handed his phone to Casemiro who was in a depressed mood.

Casemiro, like everyone else, was a little surprised after watching it, because Chen Xiaoliang did not show any unhappiness after returning to the locker room. Instead, he kept encouraging his teammates and kept saying that 13 wins and 2 draws is still the best start in the history of the Premier League. Although Manchester City has temporarily overtaken, there are still 23 rounds of the league. No matter how strong the opponent is, the one who fights to the end is the real winner.

They didn't expect that Chen Xiaoliang would get so angry at the reporters. They haven't been in Serie A in the past two years. Only Cesco and Kva knew how many times Portman, this superficial woman, had slandered Chen Xiaoliang.

Casemiro immediately waited outside the door of the bus. After Chen Xiaoliang got on the bus, he followed him in and sat next to him.

“Hey Chen, I saw your interview, thanks for speaking up for me.”

Chen Xiaoliang chuckled: "What are you doing? Can we two grown men stop saying such sentimental things?"

The other players in the car had completely lost their usual post-match excitement because they had lost 2 points and the top spot. They were a little nervous when they saw Casemiro taking the initiative to find the captain to explain. Unexpectedly, Chen Xiaoliang took up the topic with a joke. Everyone laughed immediately. B Fee, who was sitting in the vice-captain position in the second row, even stood up and patted Casemiro.

Chen Xiaoliang held out his hand: "Brothers! Who do we want to fight next?"

Everyone: "Liverpool!"

Chen Xiaoliang: "Fuck, make it louder!"

Everyone: "Li! Wu! Pu!!!"

Another group of reporters gathered in the parking lot certainly did not miss this scene. Soon, the popularity of "Chen Xiaoliang was furious and incompetent. He did not dare to confront Casemiro and instead scolded the female reporter" was surpassed by the Sky Sports video "The Manchester United team was not depressed by the draw. Chen Xiaoliang motivated the team to face Liverpool with high morale."

The Premier League took great pains to arrange the date for this Manchester derby. Before the Christmas schedule in December, it specially arranged a 7-day gap without Champions League and national team games, so that the two most successful clubs in English history have sufficient rest time to prepare, thus kicking off the December Christmas schedule.

The next games for both sides are basically highlights. After the Reds derby on December 10, Manchester United will play away against Emery's Aston Villa, face Newcastle at home on Christmas Eve, and play against Tottenham at home on the last day of 2023.

Including Brighton, with whom they just drew, there are 3 BIG7 teams, plus two teams in the top 10 of the standings, and a Champions League home game against Bayern. December will be a real test of Manchester United's quality this season.

As for Liverpool, they beat Nottingham Forest again with a score of 5-2 in this round, which makes them lead the Premier League scoring list with 46 goals, making them the team with the strongest offensive firepower.

And because of Manchester United's draw, the gap between the two teams is only 3 points. In addition, in the second round of the league between the two sides last season, Manchester United lost 7-0 at Anfield, breaking the century-old record. If there is a mistake in the next game, it will not only add new and old grudges, but also make the 3-point advantage disappear.

This season, Liverpool spent nearly 300 million pounds in the summer to buy three midfielders, Barella from Inter Milan, McAllister from Brighton and Ward-Prowse from relegated Southampton, and two defenders, Gvardiol from RB Leipzig and van der Ven from Wolfsburg.

At the same time, seven high-paid players including Milner, Matip, Naby Keita, Firmino, Fabinho, Thiago and Chamberlain were let go.

Increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, getting rid of the old and welcoming the new, this move is no less than that of Manchester United, and it is also the largest investment made by Fenway Group since it took over Liverpool.

At a time when Chelsea has spent over £1 billion in three transfer windows and Manchester United and Newcastle are also on a shopping spree, club owner Henry also understands that if the team does not participate in the arms race and adjust the age structure and midfield and backfield lineups, it will inevitably continue to miss out on the Champions League.

Nunez and Gakpo, who were bought last season, have been fully integrated into Klopp's tactical system this season after half a season of running-in and active preparations in the summer, forming a new Red Arrow Trio with Salah.

Due to the six-day preparation period, after the team returned to Manchester the next day, Ten Hag did not give the players a day off, but instead went straight into recovery training and physical therapy with a physiotherapist.

Brighton's defensive retreat in the middle of the field in the last game sounded a wake-up call for Ten Hag.

In previous games, when Chen Xiaoliang held the ball in the middle, the opponents were forced to double-team him. When the width on the two wings remained unchanged, there would be gaps in other areas.

In the previous game, Brighton actively shrank in three lines and gave up the width on both wings. Even when Chen Xiaoliang was pulled to the wing to attack, they still shrank in the middle.

This was of course a helpless move thought up by the weak team, but it did have a very good defensive effect. Not only was Chen Xiaoliang surrounded in the middle and unable to use his proud speed to open up space , but the large space on the wing also became useless.

After two more days of scheduled training, Ten Hag, with the help of coaching team including Van der Gage and McLaren, developed a targeted training plan for this game. While mobilizing the players' mentality, he also issued an extremely strict gag order to the entire team.

Although Liverpool, which scored 46 goals, is the league's offensive king, they conceded 21 goals, 10 more than the two Manchester City giants. Among the BIG7, they are only ahead of Tottenham, who are at the bottom, which means they concede 1.5 goals per game.

Klopp certainly knows this, so when he was asked about 7-0 by a nosy reporter before the game, he said that such a score would only happen once in a hundred years, and that Manchester United this season is obviously more terrifying.

However, like Ten Hag, he told reporters that the team is ready to win.

At 15:00 on December 10th, the list of players for the much-anticipated 213th England national derby was announced. The visiting team Liverpool:

goalkeeper Alisson;

The back four: Arnold, Van Dijk, Gvardiol and Robertson;

The three midfielders are Barrera, Bajcetic and McAllister;

Left winger Nunez, center forward Gakpo, and right winger Salah.

There weren't many surprises in this lineup. The only uncertainty before the game was who would partner with Barrera and McAllister in midfield.

Klopp finally chose the young Bajić, and simply started a youth storm.

On the Manchester United side, the fans were shocked and shouted that Ten Hag was actually doing something like Guardiola!

goalkeeper David de Gea;

The back four: Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Lima and Dalot;

Double defensive midfielders Fred and Casemiro, central midfielder Bruno Fernandes;