0-5, Manchester United finally won 5-0 against Southampton away and entered the semi-finals of the League Cup.
The next day, when they returned to Manchester, their semi-final opponents also came out, and Chen Xiaoliang met his "old club" - Tottenham Hotspur.
According to the rules, the semi-finals will be played in two home and away legs. The first leg will be held at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London on January 12, 2024. A week later, the two teams will move to Old Trafford for the second leg.
Since the Premier League has set up a two-week winter break from January 1 to January 13 , it means that after Manchester United plays against Tottenham away on December 31, they will play two more games against Tottenham.
As soon as this schedule was released, it immediately attracted heated discussion in the media.
"Levi's narrow vision missed an absolute superstar like Chen Xiaoliang"
"Son Heung-min can still go a few more rounds in Chen Xiaoliang's hands"
"Harry Kane, 30 years old, 0 championships; Chen Xiaoliang, 19 years old, 8 championships, 1 Ballon d'Or"
Topics like this are endless.
There is no harm without comparison, but competitive sports exist based on comparison and confrontation.
In addition to the eagerly awaited media, there were two other groups of people waiting for Manchester United and Chen Xiaoliang in Manchester.
One group was Newcastle United, who actually arrived in Manchester one day earlier than Manchester United.
Head coach Eddie Howe strategically withdrew from the League Cup early and selectively, allowing the team to maintain sufficient rotation space and physical reserves.
With 11 wins, 6 draws and 39 points, they remained unbeaten. Although they are currently ranked 4th, 2 points behind Liverpool, and only 1 point ahead of Chelsea due to more draws, they had 4 wins and 2 draws in 6 rounds of the Champions League group stage, also remaining unbeaten, and finally qualified as the top team.
Eddie Howe’s secret is just one word – defense.
However, it was not a defensive iron bucket formation of parking a bus, but a continuous use of running and pressing, launching a fierce pressing defense from the frontcourt.
Some fans will say that Klopp plays like this too, but Eddie Howe's team is obviously significantly different.
First, Newcastle is younger. The 24-year-old Isaac, the 26-year-old Guimaraes, the 24-year-old Joe Willock, and the 22-year-old Caicedo who was bought from Brighton in the summer, the entire midfield and frontcourt are full of lively young men, and the 27-year-old Rafinha bought from Barcelona is considered a veteran.
Second, their pressing was more ruthless and fierce, with more direct physical confrontations. This was due to Eddie Howe's devilish training intensity.
Although high-intensity training will affect the players' fatigue recovery level, relying on the large number of soldiers and generals under their command, high-pressure training can, on the one hand, effectively improve the players' tactical execution capabilities; on the other hand, it can also prevent these young people who come to Saudi Arabia's wealthy teams and get high salaries from having extra energy to spend money on wine and women and have fun at night.
Last season, Newcastle ranked fourth in the league, conceding 33 goals in 38 games, tied with Manchester City for the fewest goals conceded.
This season, Newcastle is currently ranked fourth in the league, having conceded 10 goals in 17 games, ranking first among the 20 teams.
Although their 32 goals are second from the bottom among the BIG7, only better than Tottenham, which is like a headless fly, they have a huge advantage in this game, that is, they have rested for a whole week, unlike Manchester United, which just played Southampton away on the 22nd, returned to Manchester to recover for half a day, and had to play another game at noon on the 24th.
With 3 goals and 1 assist, Chen Xiaoliang clocked in after playing for more than 60 minutes in the last game and gained 18 skill points.
However, the reward was directly redeemed here (17→35), and it was reminded that since they were facing a low-level league team, the conditions were not enough to trigger the multiple reward for the cup hat trick...
However, 4 breakthrough points were given (49→53)
Well, come to think of it... I'm already a max-level boss, I can't rely on the weaklings in the new village to gain experience...
After the game, Chen Xiaoliang only participated in 1 hour of recovery training and practiced tactical running with his team members for an additional hour, saving a pitiful 2 training points (12→14)
At 2 p.m. on December 24, 2023, in the heavy snow, Chen Xiaoliang and his teammates put on long-sleeved jerseys and walked into Old Trafford.
Although this stadium does not have a switchable roof, the floor heating under the lawn has long been turned on. Even if the snow is heavy, it will melt into water when it falls on the lawn and be discharged immediately through the drainage system.
The game also used the Premier League's winter ball this season. The eye-catching bright yellow background with blue, purple and red lines is particularly eye-catching in snowy days.
The starting lineups of both teams have changed significantly from last season.
Most of Manchester United's players did not play in the last League Cup match:
Goalkeeper De Gea, who was rested in the League Cup, returned to the starting lineup;
The back four: Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Lima and Timber;
Defensive midfielders Fred and Casemiro, central midfielder Chen Xiaoliang;
Left winger Kwa, center forward Cesco, right winger Rashford.
Newcastle:
goalkeeper Nick Pope;
The back four consists of Dan Burn, Botman, Schar and captain Trippier;
The three midfielders are Caicedo, Guimaraes and Willock;
Left winger Joelinton, center forward Isaac, right winger Raphinha.
From the very beginning, Newcastle immediately showed the momentum of taking advantage of the situation and taking the initiative.
In the 34th second, Fred received the ball in the backcourt and just as he turned around and wanted to move forward, he was pressed closely by Joelinton.
Fred didn't dare to stick to the ball, and immediately raised his left foot and tried to pass the ball to Casemiro on the left, but as soon as the ball went out, it was intercepted by Isaac who was retreating.
"Well……"
The fans in the stadium immediately booed. Fred himself felt embarrassed. He also knew that his situation had become very bad after the team confirmed the purchase of Milinkovic-Savic. He immediately ran after Isaac.
Lima, who was standing behind, did not expect Fred to lose the ball so easily, and immediately rushed forward to block it, while Isaac had already raised his right foot, ready to pass the ball to his teammate Rafinha on the right.
But Fred behind Isaac was very anxious. When he saw Isaac kicking the ball, he thought he was going to shoot directly, so he immediately stretched out his leg to interfere from behind.
“Beep!”
In this kind of difficult defensive action, the chance of foul is many times the chance of success. Before Fred's left leg touched the ball, it touched Isaac's right foot. The latter fell down. The referee Andy Medley blew the whistle immediately, fouling from behind and obstructing the attack. He was given a yellow card and a free kick about 1 meter outside the penalty area was awarded to Newcastle.
Now, even De Gea, who usually has a good relationship with Fred, shook his head.
His reckless behavior turned an attack that was not very threatening into a free kick in a perfect position.
Veteran Trippier stood on the penalty spot, and Manchester United used six people to form a human wall, with Chen Xiaoliang and Casemiro left on the left and right to be responsible for defending in the penalty area.
The human wall was positioned in front of Trippier on the right, while De Gea stood slightly to the left of the goal.
“Beep!”
The referee blew the whistle again, Trippier took two steps and rubbed the ball hard with the inside of his right foot!
The ball immediately took off on the spot, passed over the heads of Rashford and Timber on the right side of the wall, and flew directly into the upper right corner of the goal without falling!
Lou Yichen: "Wow! Veteran Trippier! A free kick that goes straight into the blind corner! Just one and a half minutes into the game, the away team Newcastle United took the lead!"
Liu Yue: "This goal is very similar to the one scored by Trippier in the 2018 World Cup match between England and Croatia. It was almost the same position and the same technique. It was the same as Beckham's, a crescent-shaped free kick."
Lou Yichen: "The camera first focused on the helpless De Gea, and then on Livakovic on the bench."
"Livakovic, as the second goalkeeper, played once in the Champions League group stage and three times in the cup this season, without conceding a goal, and in good form."
"But in the 2018 World Cup, Trippier scored against veteran goalkeeper Subasic."
Liu Yue: "Like when De Gea had just arrived at Manchester United, he saved a free kick from Mata, who was still at Chelsea at the time, in almost the same blind spot."
"Lian Po is old, can he still eat?"
After losing the ball, Fred kept muttering to himself, and it was unclear whether he was blaming himself or praying to God that he could make amends.
But in any case, his fate is already determined. Van der Sar has finalized his transfer to Fulham for a transfer fee of 27.5 million pounds. This is also necessary for the team to meet the Financial Fair Play Act and ensure a reasonable team structure.
But with Milinkovic-Savic not arriving until the winter transfer window opens, facing the muscle and speed of Newcastle's midfield and frontcourt today, Fred is indeed more useful than the more technically-minded Bruno Fernandes and Eriksen.
However, even the fans know that Fred is a god in one game and a ghost in the next. It seems that he has evolved today and drew the "God-level ghost card".
Chen Xiaoliang encouraged his teammates, raised his hand to ask the Manchester United fans at the scene not to stop cheering, then returned to his position and let Cesco kick the ball into the center circle.
“Beep!”
Two and a half minutes into the game, the referee blew the whistle four times . After Cesco kicked off, Newcastle continued with their aggressive style of play. The Manchester United backcourt players also had to consciously do enough protection for Fred when he received the ball.
In the 7th minute, Chen Xiaoliang dribbled the ball forward and was immediately double-teamed by Willock and Caicedo.
These two black players are young and strong, with a wide range of running. Although Caicedo is more defensive and Willock is more offensive in terms of ability, they do not compromise in executing the tactics of head coach Eddie Howe.
As a teammate, I like this kind of player the most, but once as an opponent, he will become the most troublesome.
The two men, who had already shrunk their formation for quick pressing, came up to Chen Xiaoliang without waiting for him to speed up. In a one-on-one situation with any of the opponents, Chen Xiaoliang could use his explosive power to push his opponent away and then speed up to get rid of him.
But this is football after all. You have to control the ball with your feet, push off the ground, and maintain your body balance.
Caicedo has a very strong ability in stealing the ball. Chen Xiaoliang has watched his videos and the scout information of the coaching staff in detail.
If your own dribbling ability is 18 as the standard, Caicedo's stealing ability is at least above 18.
If it was when he first arrived in Rome two years ago, he would choose to continue dribbling. Even if he was intercepted, he could try to get the ball back through counter-attack.
But now they are one goal behind at home, and it is because of their teammates' reckless mistakes. As the spiritual pillar of the entire team, he cannot choose to act on impulse at this critical juncture.
He put his right foot on the ground, used the right side of his body to hold Willock, who was relatively weaker than the other two, and quickly passed the ball with his left foot, pushing it diagonally to Rashford who was running in front of the right.
The player facing Rashford in the snow today is the 31-year-old, 201cm tall giant Dan Burn.
Even if you use your butt to think about it, the situation for such a giant facing the extremely fast Rashford should be similar to using Maguire to defend Mbappe.
However, Newcastle had already made arrangements. As soon as Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball, left winger Joelinton had already chased back and blocked Rashford.
In Eddie Howe's tactics, the center shrinks to form a dense defense, and the space on both wings is opened up. When the side midfielders are there, they move to defend the wing. When the side midfielders are not there, the wingers retreat to defend the wing. Because the final attacking direction of the two wings with the ball is still the center, as long as the center fence is tightened, opening up the two wings appropriately will not increase the threat.
After all, there are only 10 people on the field, and the area they can cover at the same time is limited.
Joelinton used his strong body to interfere with Rashford's speed. When Rashford passed him, Dan Burn had already retreated to the penalty area, while Willock, who had just been defending Chen Xiaoliang, had run to the right side of the penalty area.
Rashford glanced sideways and saw that the people in front of Chen Xiaoliang were Caicedo and Brazilian midfielder Guimaraes, so he couldn't pass the ball back to Chen Xiaoliang.
So he simply went down the line and swept the ball towards the goal with great force. Although Cesco got in position in time, the ball was still cleared out of the baseline by Dan Byrne who was prepared.
“Beep!”
Manchester United takes a corner kick from the right side.
Kwa came over to kick off and chose a tactical corner kick.
Chen Xiaoliang received the ball on the right and made a direct cross.
Although the ball was passed very accurately, and the time difference between Sesco and Varane's feints and main attacks at the front and back points was well coordinated, these two tall players were really powerless facing Dan Burn, who is 201cm tall, Botman, who is 195cm tall, Willock, who is 186cm tall, and Schar, who is 186cm tall.
Dan Byrne, who was mainly defending Cesco in the set-piece defense, was like a center forward grabbing a rebound in basketball. He overpowered Cesco and headed the ball to the sideline of the penalty area. Trippier made a long pass and Rafinha immediately rushed forward.
This Brazilian star, who spent only one season at Barcelona before transferring back to the Premier League, is fast, good at crossing, dribbling and has excellent skills, but he may just lack a bit of sophistication in dealing with people.
He made 50 appearances for Barcelona in all competitions last season, the same number as main goalkeeper Ter Stegen, but was still listed by Xavi as a player for sale in exchange for funds to keep other players he wanted in the team, such as De Gea's coveted midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
Back in the Premier League, Rafinha has no other request but to be an absolute main force of a Champions League level team.
As a "luxury product" bought for 80 million euros, Eddie Howe naturally met his requirements.
Rafinha ran with the ball, and Timber, who stayed behind, gave Lima a gesture, asking him to defend the middle, while he kept running backwards in front of Rafinha.
The rest of the players, both attacking and defending, rushed from Newcastle's penalty area to Manchester United's half.
Timber retreated until he was almost to the left corner of his own penalty area, turned around, bent down and faced Rafinha in a defensive posture.
Rafinha cut inside directly. As a left-footed right winger, cutting inside is his specialty.
This is also one of the reasons why Ten Hag let Timberl play as a left-back tonight. Although a right-footed back playing as a left-back will be a little worse in offense, it is just right for him to match up with a left-footed right winger in defense.
Timber was not shaken off by Rafinha's first step inside, and kept following him inside.
Rafinha kicked the ball, and Tinbell thought he was going to shoot, so he immediately stretched out his legs to block it!
However, he failed to block it, and Tingbel immediately discovered that it was a cross!
The ball flew over Lima's head who was defending in the middle and flew to the back point!
Lou Yichen: "Insert from the back!"
"Oh!"
"Isaac, Isaac, he was just so close to helping the team secure the victory!"
Liu Yue: "Rafinha still made a high-quality cross despite the interference from Timber."
"Lima played with two defenders, and had to prevent Rafinha from getting past Timber and threatening the goal directly, and also cut off his route to pass the ball to Isaac who was running at high speed, so he could only stand there."
"I didn't expect Isaac to be a little slow, and Rafinha's left-foot cross was arcing towards the bottom line. His header failed to completely hit the ball, and he finally rushed into the goal, but the ball hit the left post and flew out."
Lou Yichen: "The referee Andy Medley seemed to be communicating with the video referee team, while De Gea and Isaac both fell to the ground in the penalty area. Just after Isaac headed the ball, he collided with De Gea who was about to hit the ball. It seems that the collision was not light."
Barrage:
[Friendly reminder, Rafinha only costs 80 million euros, and Compass is sitting on the bench]
[Brazil has so many good players, but they chose to buy Fred and Anthony, two young talents]
[Anthony, take a good look at what a winger is! ]
…
The fans complained and the team doctors of both teams entered the field. After being prompted by the video referee team, the referee confirmed that Isaac did not head the ball and gave him a yellow card for obviously colliding with the goalkeeper.
The Newcastle players were still unconvinced and came up to appeal, but the referee made an elbowing motion, which was exactly the same as the motion Isaac made in slow motion when he saw that he could not reach the ball and was about to collide with De Gea.
Chen Xiaoliang ran to De Gea's side as soon as possible.
De Gea, lying on his back, pointed to the right side of his chest. After pressing it gently, the team doctor asked a few more questions and turned to Ten Hag and gestured for a substitution.
Livakovic, who was sitting on the bench, was immediately notified by assistant coach Van der Gage. He stood up and took off his thick coat. The prop manager and goalkeeper Heaton also hurried over to help him put on gloves.
The team was behind in the score and had not yet launched a threatening attack. The main goalkeeper was injured and left the field, which made all Manchester United fans feel a little sad.
Some held their chins in their hands in deep thought, while others prayed that De Gea would not be seriously injured.
But when they saw De Gea leaving the field on a stretcher, the fans still gave him loud applause.
Chen Xiaoliang stayed beside the stretcher and escorted it all the way to the sidelines.
Then after Livakovic was allowed to enter the field by the fourth official, he was caught by Chen Xiaoliang when he wanted to rush towards the goal.
"Relax, just like we do in our usual extra training." Chen Xiaoliang said, but his eyes did not look at Livakovic.
He was looking at the fans in the stands around him, raising his hands and pointing at Livakovic, then raising his hands further.
Manchester United players and staff on and off the field applauded at the first moment. Soon, all the Manchester United fans in the stadium burst into shouts and applause to cheer for the goalkeeper who was appointed in an emergency.
The referee blew the whistle to signal Livakovic to get to the position quickly. Chen Xiaoliang patted Livakovic on the back and said, "Go ahead. Believe in yourself. Otherwise, I will shoot you to death in tomorrow's extra practice!"
Livakovic was greatly encouraged and felt extremely grateful. He waved to Chen Xiaoliang while running, and then raised his hands high to thank the fans for their encouragement.
In this way, under the leadership of Chen Xiaoliang, the original setback turned into a battle ceremony that rekindled the fighting spirit of the whole audience.
This is what is called the victory of the army that mourns.
As the game continued, Newcastle, full of energy, continued to carry out strong high-pressure defense and midfield strangulation.
When facing such an opponent, you must be patient.
Chen Xiaoliang changed his previous style of playing with big moves and dashing left and right, and started an unprecedented mode in the middle of the midfield.
During the attack, if he shaved his hair and the two sides changed jerseys, many old fans would definitely feel that they were watching a Real Madrid game, and the person organizing the game in the midfield was Zidane.
Walk through a field of flowers without getting a single leaf on you.
Whether it was Caicedo or Willock, Isaac or Joelinton, they didn't even have the chance to stick to Chen Xiaoliang in defense.
In the 13th minute, Casemiro passed the ball and Chen Xiaoliang retreated to receive the ball.
Caicedo pressed forward and Isaac immediately retreated to double-team him.
Chen Xiaoliang half turned and sent a long pass with his left foot. Cesco in the middle rushed forward, leaned on Guimaraes with his back, jumped and headed the ball back to Kva who was inward-moving. Kva's low shot with his right foot was caught by Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope who fell to the ground and hugged the ball.
In the 16th minute, Lima stole the ball from Isaac on the penalty area line and passed it to Fred. Fred, who did not dare to make any more mistakes, chose the safest way and immediately passed it to Wan Bissaka who was closest to him and unguarded on the right.
Wan-Bissaka saw Fred passing the blame to him and Joelinton was already coming back towards him, so he immediately passed the ball to Rashford in front of him.
Rashford dribbled the ball forward, but was immediately blocked by Willock. Seeing that his teammates in front of him had not arrived yet, he stopped the ball, turned around and passed it back to Chen Xiaoliang in the middle.
Chen Xiaoliang caught the ball elegantly in an open space, and then did a move that amazed all the fans in the stadium!
After receiving the ball, he first turned 360 degrees on the spot with his right foot. When he was halfway through and facing his own goal, he swung the ball behind him and towards the front court with his right foot. After turning around, he immediately ran towards the ball.
Caicedo, who was about to pounce just now, was stunned for a moment. He didn't know what Chen Xiaoliang was going to do. He thought he was going to pass the ball again. At this time, he saw him dribbling the ball and speeding up again.
However, he missed again. Chen Xiaoliang caught up with the ball, made a quick gesture with his left hand, and then at the same time swept his right foot and made a long pass directly to the front court!
The fans who were just shocked by Chen Xiaoliang's turn and shouted "Oh!" immediately fell into confusion and said "Huh?"
However, as soon as the doubts arose, the answer was revealed.
Sesco, who was at the front, rushed out from the front of Schar and behind Botman. The moment Chen Xiaoliang's long pass came out, he accelerated and rushed forward from the offside position.
One step inside the penalty area, the ball landed accurately on the top of his feet, then bounced up, fell on the grass in front of him, and bounced slightly again.
Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope looked at the route of the ball and Cesco's offside run, and predicted that his two central defender teammates were going to be overtaken, so he immediately attacked from the small penalty area!
Lou Yichen: "Good shot! Cesco made a great stop!"
"Clip shot!"
"Oh my! This ball is beautiful!!!"
"Over 60 meters of connection!"
"Xiaoliang's pass was accurate, and Cesco's shot was stunning!"
Liu Yue: "Whether it was the two-sided attack that Manchester United played after the start of the game, or the occasional attack in the middle just now that allowed Cesco to head the ball back, it seemed that Cesco still played the role of a fulcrum in this game, and the real threat still came from the two wings."
"But in this inertial thinking, Xiaoliang suddenly did something unexpected and used the most direct long pass to penetrate Newcastle's dense defense in the middle. The two central defenders were caught off guard and Cesco passed through the junction. Of course, the stop was really beautiful and the lob was also very clever."
After scoring the goal, Cesco ran all the way to the sidelines to celebrate, and kept looking back and waving to Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang ran up happily and the two of them high-fived to celebrate.
"Liangzi!" He has been calling him by this name for three years. He learned it from Wu Lei when he was in Rome.
"They actually forgot you're a midfielder! Haha."
Chen Xiaoliang: "You are the only one who talks too much, haha."
Casemiro, who was also smiling, said to Cesco: "Can you please stop flattering him? Can you blame him? Have you ever seen a midfielder who has scored more than 20 goals in less than half a season?"
Chen Xiaoliang laughed out loud.
Cesco was stunned at first, then suddenly realized and gently pushed Casemiro: "Old Carlo, you are still the one who said, this angle is great, I will learn it next time!"
Chen Xiaoliang stretched out his hands with his palms facing up, and Casemiro and Cesco on his left and right immediately stretched out their hands and patted his palms.
The other teammates nearby were walking back, laughing at their conversation.
Chen Xiaoliang: "It's just a tie! There's still plenty of time in the game, let's take the game back!"
Everyone: “Okay!”
In the stands, Sir Alex Ferguson and former Manchester United CEO David Gill, who were sitting together watching the game, were also applauding happily.
David Gill: "Sir, have you ever imagined that if you were 20 years younger, you could coach him?"
Ferguson smiled until his eyes narrowed into a line: "I don't need to be 20 years younger. If I knew the club could buy him, I wouldn't have retired ten years ago."
After a pause, he added: "Eric (ten Hag) will not have a heart attack. If I were him, I would sit on the sidelines leisurely without even blinking an eye."
David Gill: "Such a high evaluation? Then tell me, who is better, him or Cristiano back then?"
Ferguson waved his hands: "Haha, you are just like those boring reporters."
He cleared his throat and said, "Does this even need to be said?"
“How much energy I put into getting that kid to the Ballon d’Or.”
"And the person in front of us is already a Ballon d'Or winner. He will definitely win more than five, maybe even more than seven."