Chapter 456 vs. Leeds

Do you remember? Exactly 10 years ago, Red Devils Manchester United was in the second place in the Premier League standings as they do now, and it was Leeds who came to the FA Cup challenge last Sunday. The current ranking of the latter? It's just the first place in League One, and not only is the ranking gap between the two teams as high as 42 places, but the transfer value of the Leeds team is only 400,000 pounds - just Li Yu's two-week salary.

Such two teams played at the home court of Manchester United. The former youth guards not only did not collapse as most people guessed, but also played a typical game of the old youth army in the territory of the Giants' opponent, and even relied on the team's top scorer Beckford's clever goal in the 19th minute. It pissed off the opponent.

In order to show the importance attached to the past heavyweight opponents, but also to the semi-finals of the League Cup against the same city's sworn enemies in the middle of the week, Manchester United head coach Ancelotti ignored the players who had just participated in two league games in the past week, and sent the main players such as Li Yu, Mata and Brown in Sunday's game. The starting lineup. The intention is obvious, which is to take advantage of the home court advantage to eat the opponent, and then consider letting the second-tier newcomers come on the court to feel the atmosphere of the game.

But from the first minute of the game, Ancelotti's satisfactory calculation was wrong - Leeds, led by young coach Grayson, not only did not grit his teeth like many teams visiting Old Trafford, but also used his physical ability to fight against the guard to charge the hinterland of the Red Devil and once pressed his opponent in half. On the field. The efforts of the visiting team quickly paid off. In a quick counterattack, the long pass from Leeds midfield and backfield found the front line single arrow Beckford, who resolutely got up under the interference of the home team's central defender Brown, and the ball rolled into the net from the gap between Brown and goalkeeper Kushchak.

After conceding the goal, Manchester United fought back like a dream, but began to be impatient because they were unable to tear open the opponent's defense, so that just at the beginning of the second half, the players of the two sides had a collective conflict because of a malicious foul. Fortunately, the referee Foy persuaded him in time to calm down the situation. Seeing that the situation was not good, Ancelotti immediately replaced young men Obotene and Welbeck with Giggs and Valencia in the 57th minute, and sent the last trump card, Owen, 12 minutes later, to try to let go.

Indeed, the experience of Irving and other substitute veterans has greatly improved the quality of Manchester United's attack in the frontcourt, but Leeds did not blindly retreat in the final stage, but pressed and even waited for the opportunity to fight back. Among them, if it hadn't been for the slight deviation in the foot of the last shot, Beckford should have helped the team lock in the victory in advance.

The only comfort for Manchester United in the whole game is that the line injury that has deeply troubled the Red Devils in the past month has finally been greatly alleviated. You know, at the worst time, the team only had left-back Evra, a healthy first-team guard, but now Brown, Neville, Da Silva brothers and Vidic have returned to the field one after another to help the team bid farewell to 2009 with two consecutive league wins. During Sunday's game, before the game, Ancelotti predicted that there would be a "10-day comeback" Northern Ireland's young central defender Evans also unexpectedly got the starting line-up, but he didn't expect to usher in a new year with a loss.

In fact, too much has been said about the depravity of the youth army 10 years ago. It is especially worth mentioning that the team had the opportunity to avoid going to today's situation, but it is so tricky.

After Leeds was relegated from the Premier League in the 2003/04 season, the next season was mediocre, but the following season showed gratifying signs of recovery, and finally won the fifth place in the Football League and a qualification for the promotion play-offs. However, in the final of the playoffs, Leeds, who had a stable performance throughout the season, unexpectedly lost 0-3 to Watford. After this blow, the team fell into the following season and fell to League One in May 2007.

Just when people thought this would be the lowest point in Leeds, they didn't expect that this was the beginning of the nightmare.

Not long after the beginning of the first season of League One, the club broke out a tax arrears scandal and was punished by the football league with a penalty of 15 points.

Because of this, the current Leeds coach Grayson described that when he took over the team a year ago, Leeds "co could not have been worse."

However, fortunately, Grayson, who was born in the northern suburbs of Leeds and was also a Leeds youth training product when he was a player, has lived up to the expectations of Jiangdong's parents. The team has gradually been on the right track under his carefulness. Since the start of the new season, Leeds has shown an invincible absolute advantage in the League One. At present, it has led Norwich and Charlton by 8 points, and this is not a small game.

"I went to see their game and left a deep impression on me." Manchester United's headman Ferguson spoke highly of Leeds as early as before Sunday's game. "It must be admitted that Grayson's work there is excellent. He has supported Leeds since he was a child and used to be a Leeds player. Some people have their own people since childhood. He has an ideal, and his ideal seems to be to coach Leeds, and he has also realized his wish.

After Sunday's game, An Shuai is of course more optimistic about the current Leeds team: "At the beginning, the collapse of Leeds was just a financial problem. The club must sell the best players in the team to maintain the financial balance. However, once the best players are gone, I dare to take my life to guarantee that the team's performance will definitely plummet. I think they will definitely rise to the Football League Championship this season, and considering the continuous encouragement and promotion of Grayson's opponents, I believe that they can return to the Premier League in a few years.

The FA Cup Manchester United drew Leeds United, which excited the fans on both sides of the Benning Mountains, especially from the white side of Yorkshire. It's like a shark smelling blood, just like in the movie Green Street Football Rhooligan, West Ham fans hear that their blood will be bloody when they play against Millwall in the FA Cup.

In British football, there are many hostile confrontations between clubs, but there are only a few enemies when they meet each other. The feud between Manchester United and Leeds United is one of the five major derbys in English football. It can not only be traced back to the ancient battle of red and white roses, but also left countless legends in the past half century.

How deeply do the two fans hate each other? A more civilized example is a Leeds United fan who is a dry painter who refuses to use red paint. If he is asked to remove the red surface, he will automatically give you a discount. One day, he will oil all the red announcement bus station in a town white. Flynn, who scored a winning goal at Old Trafford in 1981, is still eating the old score. People on the street often ask him for his autograph and ask him to add a note of "Old Trafford's winning goal".

An uncivilized example? That's a lot. In addition to fighting, the most frightening thing for the neutrals is that the Leeds United fans are openly disrespectful to the newly deceased Sir Busby. Every field observes the late Manchester United general in silence according to the rules, except at the Elan Road Stadium. Hundreds of Leeds irons broke the silence, shouting "There is only one Don Levy in the world. The greatest head coach in history, in 1989)!" Even Liwei's widow said that it was too much: "Tang will be ashamed under the nine springs." The rudeness of Leeds fans is not entirely against Busby, but more to protest against British football's disregard for Levy's contribution to English football.

The hostility between Manchester United and Leeds United is a continuation of the two families of York and Lancaster competing for the throne in the 15th century, but the red and white roses on the court are ritic, which comes from the story of the two sides competing for the double crown in the 1960s.

Hatred was born in the FA Cup. The two teams met in Hillsborough in the semi-finals, and they all had fierce players. Manchester United's Styles, Claren and Leeds's Bremner, and Lorimar each played fiercely on the court. Finally, Bremner scored a goal in the 89th minute to eliminate Manchester United, and the fans of both sides immediately staged it in the stands. Quan Wuxing. Manchester United laughed to the end in the league and beat Leeds on average to win the championship, but Leeds became the second in the league and cup. But 10 years later, Leeds fans regained their balance: Manchester United was relegated.

Although the two sides have a deep feud, they are not as old as Manchester United and Liverpool. Players from both sides are trading quite frequent. Leeds's Jordan and McQueen joined Manchester United in the 1970s. McQueen made great contributions to the club's FA Cup final. On the day of the transfer, he openly declared: "More than 90% of the players are looking forward to joining Manchester United, and the rest say that they are not deceptive."

More than ten years later, Strachan was more successful in transferring from Manchester United to Leeds. He was the first-class hero of White Rose to win the last league championship in the history of the team. What saddened Leeds fans most was that Cantona was sold to Manchester United for almost nothing, thus opening up the era of hegemony of the Red Devils monopolizing the Premier League. Alan Smith was cultivated by Leeds, and he repeatedly vowed never to join "them", but as soon as Leeds was relegated, he defected to his sworn enemy.

The classic battle between the two sides is intriguing. After the FA Cup semi-finals in 1965, the two met in the semi-finals five years later. They played three games before winning or losing, and it was Bremner who scored the goal. In 1978, McQueen returned to Leeds with Manchester United, and the audience greeted him with a deafening "Judas". In the end, Manchester United's 2-2 triumphant team. Cantona returned to Elan Road for the first time after joining Manchester United. He scored but did not win, but after scoring, he raised his collar and stared at the distance, which made Manchester United fans intoxicated.

The FA Cup did not play well. Returning to the league, with the celebration officially named Ferguson Stand, what kind of game will Manchester United play against Sunderland at home?

The signs before the game showed that the match against Sunderland was almost a no-suspense match for Manchester United.

The last time Manchester United lost at home at 3 p.m. local time on Saturday dates back to September 24, 2005, that is, six years ago. In the past nine times against Sunderland in the league, Manchester United has had seven clean sheets. At the same time, Manchester United has scored 35 consecutive home games.

As a result, in this game, the old player Wes Brown gave an own goal, helping the old club get three points without bloodshed, and he himself was embarrassed to get the fourth own goal in the Premier League, which was even more than his total number of goals in the league (3 goals). The Mirror even used "Oolong Wes-Brown Perfect Gift to Celebrate Ferguson" as the title of the competition report, and the title of Sky Sports is similar: "Brown sends a big gift to his old boss".

Maybe the way to win is not smooth, but the important thing is that Manchester United got the inevitable three points.

After this game, Manchester United has accumulated a total of 901 home points in the Premier League, becoming the first team to score more than 900 points at home. It is a well-deserved home king of the Premier League. Although Arsenal, which ranked second, won at home in this round, the Premier League scored only 805 points at home, followed by 786 points from Liverpool and 782 points from Chelsea (Weibo).

Coupled with the away record, Manchester United's advantage is more obvious. Under the rule of the former Ferguson, the Red Devils have scored 1,600 points in the Premier League, while Arsenal, the second scoring master, scored 1,398 points, 202 points less than Manchester United.

Looking at Manchester United's next schedule, no one will doubt that the team that Ancelotti continues to lead will set off a red wave of crazy scoring in November. After defeating Sunderland, the Red Devils will have up to 14 days of rest, and then challenge Swansea, followed by three consecutive home games, namely the Champions League against Benfica, the league against Newcastle, and the League Cup against Crystal Palace. With the strong aura of Old Trafford, it is entirely possible for Manchester United to continue their winning streak until December.

In contrast, Manchester City, the sworn enemy of the same city, is about to usher in a suffocating devil's schedule: the remaining four games in November were first played at home against Newcastle, which ranked third in the league table, then went to Naples in the Champions League. When they returned to the league, they would challenge Liverpool, which was also the League Cup. He fought with the Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. In the first four games in December, Manchester City played against Norwich at home in the Premier League, Bayern at home in the Champions League, away from Chelsea in the Premier League, and Arsenal at home in the Premier League. It can be said that in the next eight games of the Blue Moon, there will be a strong dialogue.

More importantly, the ambitious Mancini wants to play in the fourth line of this season with his strong bench strength. The league, the FA Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the League Cup are all indispensable. Although the team's team is enough to have two sets of first-class starting lineups, such as David Silva, Yaya Toure and Aguero It is difficult for core players to get a chance to rotate and rest.

Ancelotti also played Ferguson's rotation system. Whether it can reach the magical level of his predecessor or not, it is still guaranteed for the player's status. He has skills and experience advantages that Mancini can't reach in dealing with multi-line battles, which may become the biggest capital of the Red Devil's future.

There is a saying that Barcelona plays art, Manchester United plays spirit, and Ancelotti fully inherits Ferguson's spiritual power to stay at Manchester United.

There is no doubt that the Red Devils are the most resilient and good at back-to-back team in football today. The Lord has injected the belief of never-lose into this steel division, which has been continuing. This spiritual power has been shown its power countless times in a season.

Ranked second in the league table by 5 points, regaining the lead in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, and reached the quarter-finals in the League Cup. Such a situation is definitely not bad for Manchester United, which has been harden in adversity. Ancelotti may introduce strong reinforcements in the winter transfer period, and Manchester United will be even more anticipated in the second half of the season. 1-6? That has become the past, and the immortal red devil has been reborn.

Manchester United keeps doing good things, but the sworn enemy of the same city has been distressed by an old Manchester United general!

Something happened to Tevez again! Manchester City originally expected to see him return to the team, but the Argentine "missed".

The Sun revealed that Tevez was ordered to return to the team, but he went his own way and stayed in Argentina, 7,000 miles away, not paying attention to the club's instructions at all, which made Manchester City very angry.

A spokesman for Manchester City said: "Tervis should return to the team on Tuesday, take a day off, and start training on Wednesday. We have made a training plan to help him recover."

However, according to the Sun, Tevez flew to Buenos Aires on Monday and told reporters after landing, "I'm here to rest for a while." According to the newspaper, Tevez is unlikely to return to the UK on Tuesday, and it seems that he will postpone his return without authorization. In professional teams, the Beast's move is called "AWOL" (unauthorized separation), which is an act that will definitely be punished.

Not long ago, Tevez was just fined by Manchester City for four weeks of salary, and a few days ago, Tevez accepted Manchester City's accusation of misconduct in the battle with Bayern and did not intend to appeal. It seems that the situation has just calmed down, and now it has been exposed that he will not return to the team without permission. I'm afraid Manchester City will show mercy to him.

Mancini once said that Tevez must apologize to him and his teammates, otherwise he will definitely sell the Argentines in January, but so far, Tevez has no intention of apologizing and has "disappeared". It seems that he is insisting on putting himself in the winter transfer market and leaving Manchester, which upsets him.

At the same time, Manchester City's bad luck is far from over. Manchester City officially announced the penalty for Colo Toure, deducting six weeks of salary, for a total of about 740,000 pounds. Colo Toure was suspended for six months by the FA for taking his wife's diet pills by mistake.

Manchester City said in a statement: "The club's internal discipline department has concluded that Colo Toure was fined six weeks' salary for failing to undertake the player's obligations well. Toure has accepted the above decision, and he and the club hope to end this incident and concentrate on the game after the season.

It is worth mentioning that Manchester City's fine for Toure this time exceeded that of Tevez not long ago. The Argentine was fined four weeks' salary, and the six-week penalty is the upper limit of the club's fine for players.