Chapter 406 It's not easy at all
Manchester United's Christmas schedule became extremely strange and relaxed, starting with the home game against Sunderland.
Manchester United remained unbeaten with 10 wins and 4 draws in the last 14 games between the two sides. The two sides have been unbeaten in 19 Premier League history. Manchester United has an absolute advantage of 13 wins, 5 draws and 1 loss, including 7 wins and 2 draws at home. The only defeat was the away defeat in March 1997. Sunderland's last victory over Manchester United was the fourth round of the League Cup in November 2000, but the winning history of Old Trafford dates back to May 1968. The two sides have played 130 historical games, with Manchester United with 55 wins, 36 draws and 39 losses.
Manchester United threatened the opponent's goal seven times in the first 20 minutes of the opening, completing one shot in less than 3 minutes on average, almost turning the competition between Old Trafford and Sunderland into a half-time offensive and defensive exercise.
The smooth sailing after the opening has nothing to do with Li Yu scoring early for the team in the 5th minute of the opening.
After Ferdinand relieved the siege in the backcourt, Anderson took the opportunity to instigate the attack. After receiving the Brazilian's pass, Giggs broke through the two-man defense in the middle and handed it to Rooney on the right. The well-prepared little fat sent the ball directly to the far point of the penalty area. At this time, Li Yu, who had already hit the horse, headed the ball at close range without being stared. Breaking the door, 1-0.
This goal is not so much the credit of Manchester United No. 9 as the embodiment of Ferguson's team's high-quality tactical literacy. From breaking the ball to instigating the attack, every connection is very smooth and clean.
In the 11th minute, Anderson passed Li Yu in the penalty area directly. Manchester United No. 9 received the ball comfortably after breaking into the penalty area. He took the opportunity to shoot vigorously, and the ball hit the post and bounced out!
Sunderland goalkeeper Gordon broke out in a cold sweat!
Just 11 minutes later, Manchester United No. 9 has hit the wind in front of the Black Cat!
In the 18th minute, the "soft egg" once said by the British media once staged another bloody scene: Li Yu received a long pass from Evra on the right and stopped the ball on his back to Basley. At this time, Manchester United 9 still stubbornly climbed up and participated in the attack and handed over the ball to the ground after being kicked to the ground by his opponent. At the foot of Park Ji-sung near the penalty area, the latter helped Rooney complete the shot, while the old Manchester United player Basley, who knocked down his opponent, thought the referee would blow a foul after Li Yu got up, but there was no response!
If Li Yu only played a good half-time ball, the British media would obviously not give a high score of 9 points after the game.
After changing sides and fighting again, Manchester United's No. 9 killer became more and more brave.
In the 52nd minute, Li Yu passed the ball with a beautiful heel in the front court and found Evra who broke through behind him, who almost killed at the bottom line. In the 54th minute, Manchester United No. 9 unexpectedly got rid of all the tears and firmly controlled the ball under his feet when he was pulled and dragged by two opponents in the midfield, winning the applause of the fans on the sidelines.
In the 57th minute, Anders made a cross from east to west and found Li Yu in the penalty area. The latter shot calmly. The shot hit Anton Ferdinand, who returned to the defense, and then refracted into the net. The Red Devils locked the victory at home!
In the 82nd minute, Ferguson replaced Li Yu with Hernandez. When he slowly walked to the bench, the surrounding fans stood up and applauded for him. Ferguson smiled even more rarely. He not only shook hands with the goal scorer, but also patted him kindly on the head.
After that, he also whispered to Li Yu, with a smile on his face. Manchester United No. 9 responded with a relaxed and confident expression.
Sunderland is not a soft persimmon. Before this game, Sunderland ranked 6th, and 9 of the previous 18 league games have been guaranteed, which is second to none in the Premier League this season. This season, Sunderland is a veritable giant killer. They beat Chelsea 3-0 away, drew 2-2 with Liverpool and 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur; beat Manchester City 1-0 at home, 0-0 with Manchester United and Arsenal 1-1. In the competition with the traditional top four and the two upstarts of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, he achieved an unbeaten record of 2 wins and 4 draws.
Last season at Old Trafford, Anton Ferdinand scored an own goal in the 94th minute, helping Manchester United get 1 point in the last minute. In the away game, Manchester United narrowly defeated Sunderland, which had an advantage in the scene, with a worthwhile goal from Nani. Manchester United failed to score in only two games this season, one of which is the away game against Sunderland. Sir Alex Ferguson said before the game, "We are lucky to get one point on Sunderland in October, which is our most difficult away game of the season."
However, the historical record is obviously beneficial to Manchester United. Sunderland has only won one away game in the Premier League this season, which is to beat Chelsea 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. Since defeating Manchester United 2-1 away in May 1968, Sunderland has not won the league in Old Trafford in the past 42 years. The last time Sunderland beat Manchester United in the league was in March 1997.
Moreover, of the 10 visiting teams of the Premier League visiting Old Trafford this season, only West Bromwich Albion took away 1 point, and the other 9 opponents fell under the butcher's knife of the Red Devils. Sunderland coach Bruce is a disciple of Ferguson. After this battle, the master and apprentice fought in the league 16 times, and Ferguson achieved an unbeaten record of 12 wins and 4 draws. After today's game, Bruce even said, "Many teams that came to Old Trafford have lost in the player channel."
This is not too much to say. After the away draw with Manchester United in the last round of the Champions League group stage, Spain's World Cup champion Mata said with lingering fear, "Old Trafford is really a terrible battlefield!" Even the 100-year-old Manchester United loyalist Les Burgess came to the scene today to cheer for the Red Devils. Ferguson's disciples also rewarded more than 70,000 infatuated fans with a half-time championship.
Compared with the start of a 1-0 home victory over Arsenal in the last league, Sir Alex Ferguson made two changes in the starting lineup in this game. Giggs and Park Ji-sung replaced Fletcher and Nani respectively.
The first 45 minutes of this game was the best 45 minutes of Manchester United this season, even better than the 7-1 victory over Blackburn. In this half, Manchester United bombarded Sunderland's door, and the "Black Cat" did not even have a shot before the end of the half.
No wonder the Lord said excitedly after the game, "We may even beat four or five of them in the first half." This is not worth it. Except for Li Yu's goal, Manchester United's No. 9 shot at the post and Anderson's shot, the opponent's goalkeeper Gordon could do nothing. In addition, Anderson, Rooney and others also missed a good opportunity to score.
From November 20, when they defeated Wigan 2-0 at home, Manchester United has won a four-game winning streak in the following months, beating Blackburn 7-1 at home, Arsenal 1-0, and Sunderland 2-0. After this game, Manchester United achieved a record of 10 wins and 7 draws after 17 rounds of league matches, and remained unbeaten in the league. It has also become the only team that remains unbeaten in this season among the 98 teams in the five major European leagues.
Previously, in the history of the Premier League, Manchester United topped the list five times at Christmas, and three times laughed to the end. After this game, Manchester United topped the list at Christmas for the sixth time, which is also the first time that Manchester United has topped the league during Christmas since 2006.
In the previous 18 seasons of the Premier League, Manchester United won seven half-time championships, two of which were reversed by Arsenal, in the 1997-98 season (Manchester United led the Gunners by 10 points in the half, and finally 1 point behind Arsenal) and the 2003-04 season (Manchester United led the Gunners by 1 point in the half, and finally 15 points behind Arsenal). For the remaining five times, Manchester United can successfully win the final championship after winning the half-time championship.
That is to say, Manchester United will win the half-time championship, and there is at least a 71% chance of winning the final championship. What's more, Manchester United finally reversed their opponents to win the championship six times without winning the half-time championship.
Sunderland coach Bruce said after the game, "Everyone knows that Manchester United has always played much better in the second half than in the first half."
Now, with 17 games in the same game, Manchester United is 5 points ahead of Arsenal and 6 points ahead of Chelsea. Although they are only 2 points ahead of Manchester City, the Red Devils are 2 games less than their sworn enemy in the same city.
That is to say, once Arsenal and Chelsea win the game tonight, the losing side may be further widened by Manchester United; and if the two teams draw, it is the result Ferguson wants to see most. Therefore, tonight, the Lord can sit in front of the TV with red wine and watch the tiger fight. In a sense, there is only one winner of this duel, that is Manchester United.
In 3 days, Manchester United will challenge Birmingham on the road!
The last time Birmingham beat Manchester United was on November 11, 1978, when the Red Devils lost 1-5 away. However, in the 23 games in the past 32 years, Manchester United remained unbeaten with 16 wins and 7 draws. The two sides have played 12 games in the Premier League history, and Manchester United has a clear advantage of 9 wins and 3 draws. The two sides have played 100 games in history, with Manchester United 47 wins, 28 draws and 25 losses.
Li Yu and Park Ji-sung all returned to Asia to participate in the Asian Cup!
Birmingham's home St. Andrews Stadium is really a magical place. Before the game, Sir Alex Ferguson said, "Birmingham's home record is very good. At St. Andrews Stadium, Birmingham is always difficult to be defeated." In the whole game, Birmingham scored a goal with only two shots. Of course, compared with Chelsea, Manchester United seems to be lucky enough. When Chelsea played at St. Andrews this season, Birmingham made only one shot in the whole game and beat the Blues with Bowyer's goal.
After this game, Birmingham has only lost one of the last 24 home league games, which was still 0-2 to Everton in October this year.
Fletcher caught a bad cold and Nani had a hip injury. The former sat on the bench, while the latter did not enter the 18-man list at all.
Compared with the starting lineup of defeating Sunderland 2-0 at home in the last round, Lord only made one replacement. He replaced Park Ji-sung, who represented South Korea in the Asian Cup with Gibson.
Judging from the record of the confrontation between the two sides, Manchester United has an absolute advantage. In the past 23 times (including 22 league games), Manchester United has not lost. The last time Birmingham beat Manchester United was in November 1978, when they beat Manchester United 5-1, but unfortunately, Birmingham was finally relegated that season. In the same year, Ferguson coached Aberdeen. He urged McLeish, the team's defender, to give up his accounting career and focus on football, and the Birmingham coach standing opposite him today is McLeish.
Before this battle, in the past four encounters between the two sides, Manchester United won 1-0 three times.
This is McLeish's fourth game against Ferguson, with 1 draw and 2 losses, scoring only 1 goal.
In the past 15 Premier League games, Birmingham has only won 2 games.
However, Manchester United's away record in the league this season is not good. In the previous seven league away games, they won only one game, which was still the away win over Stoke City 2-0 in October. After this game, Manchester United have been unbeaten in the last 13 Premier League away games, and have drawn 7 away games in the past 8 league games. The last time they lost in the away league was in February when they lost 1-3 to Everton at Goodison Park. But too many away draws have slowed down Manchester United's hegemony.
In the 58th minute of the game, the brave Rooney broke the deadlock for Manchester United, but three minutes later, the Englishman's shot hit the post, missing a good opportunity for Manchester United to lock the victory.
Manchester United, after taking the lead, tried to control the situation. In the 60th-65th minute, Manchester United's possession rate was as high as 78%.
In the 82nd minute, McLeish offered the winner, and he replaced Bossejour with high school striker Žijic. Perhaps it was a bad feeling. In the 88th minute, Ferguson made a gesture on the sidelines to remind Manchester United's disciples that they must pay attention to defense and hold on to the last few minutes.
But what he didn't expect was that his intuition was so accurate. In the 89th minute, Birmingham took the ball from the right side. Jighiqi jumped high on Ferdinand's back with both hands and hit the far post with the junction of his chest and arms. This season, he defeated Chelsea's bad boy Bowyer at home and completed a fatal blow in the suspected offside position.
Although Fletcher and Vidic raised their hands to signal offside, and Van der Sar also ran to the linesman to indicate that the handball was first, the linesmen insisted that there was no problem with the ball, and the Dutch goalkeeper had to be disappointed.
According to the British news agency, Jigich was suspected of fouls and handball during the ferry. Sir Alex Ferguson was very angry after the game. "It was a handball, and Jigich fouled Ferdinand first. In such a high-profile event, you always want the referee to see all this. If he doesn't, what can you do? Today, I have nothing to complain about my team. They worked very hard and only took two days off after playing Sunderland. They are about to lose their socks, but in exchange for such a result, it is difficult to accept.
Birmingham coach McLeish simply admitted that Jighiqi's handball, but denied that the Serbian international was a deliberate handball, and he thought Bowyer was absolutely not offside.
In fact, the whole Manchester United team is really hard.
The Daily Mail reported that on Tuesday morning local time, the whole Manchester United team waited for the belated coach by the M56 road in the cold wind in Cheshire, and everyone's face was angry.
Most players wear thin sportswear. Veterangies Giggs and Gary Neville are relatively experienced. They wear thick cold suits. Rooney wore a Russian wool hat to protect his head and ears, which made many teammates envious. After nearly half an hour of waiting, the Manchester United luxury bus with the coach finally arrived.
After this toss, in the face of Birmingham, which had a full rest after the last round of league postponement, the Red Devils' physical strength is definitely not as good as their opponent.
The Guardian columnist McCarla claimed before the game that it was somewhat strange that Manchester United is now at the top of the table.
His reason is that Rooney has been dumb for a long time, while Manchester United has only won one away game this season.
What Man thinks now is that he can't continue to be "blackened" and continue to suffer mute losses.
Last season, in the home and away game between Manchester United and Chelsea, Chelsea scored 6 points from Manchester United with two controversial goals from Terry and Drogba. Among them, Drogba's goal to beat Manchester United on the road was an obvious offside. Without that goal, Manchester United would have achieved an unprecedented top league championship four times in a row last season. In this game, Manchester United unjustly lost 2 points at the last moment, but it is not known how much impact this 2 points will have on the final championship competition.
If Manchester United loses this season's Premier League championship just because of these two points at the end of the season, the old man will lose a lot.
Manchester United lost the ball in the 89th minute and lost the away game. It was equalized by the relegation team Birmingham. Coach Ferguson was very disappointed that the referee did not cancel the ball. "It was a handball. He (Digidigi) fouled our central defender (Ferinand) first, and he (Rigiqi) came from the right and pressed it. Our central defender (Ferinand) took off on the back. We hope the referee can see all this. If he doesn't see it, what is he here for?
"In such a size of competition, in such an important game, you always want the referee to see all this. If he doesn't, what can you do? Today, I have nothing to complain about my team. They worked very hard and only took a two-day break after playing Sunderland. Birmingham was postponed in the last round of the league and got a full rest.) They were about to lose their socks, but in exchange for such a result, which is difficult to accept. We deserve to win. We are obviously the better team.
Birmingham coach McLeish insisted after the game, "He (Boye) is not offside, absolutely not. It seems that Rigiqi hit the ball to the far post with his arm, but he definitely didn't mean it... It's really confusing. Intentional handball is punishable, but in other words, I don't mind.
The excited Bowyer said that Birmingham deserves 1 point. Every time you fight at St. Andrews Stadium, it is an achievement to equalize when you are behind. I have scored goals at the last minute in my entire career, and I think I will continue to do so until I retire. We work very hard. I think we deserve a point, but Manchester United has more possession.