Chapter 464 Short Lead

Out of the UEFA Champions League group stage, captain Vidic's season reimbursement, and all the lines are full of injuries, I'm afraid the most optimistic Manchester United fans did not expect that the Red Devils would wake up in adversity in such a wild way.

After sweeping Wigan 5-0, Manchester United has tied with Manchester City in league points. The championship balance that was once overturned by the Blue Moon Legion in the Manchester derby massacre was corrected by the Red Devils. The pair of enemies in the same city have returned to the same running line in points, even Manchester City once seemed to be far away. The goal-to-go goal advantage is also being gradually eaten up by the powerful Manchester United...

After a night of shame at St. Jacob's Park, the ashamed and brave Manchester United soldiers released their anger on the Premier League.

Since the 4-1 victory over Wolves, Manchester United has won four consecutive victories and only conceded 1 goal with 16 goals in 4 games. In the last three games against the Queen's Park Rangers, Fulham and Wigan, Manchester United have continuously used the blitz to score goals and easily turned the victory into a victory without giving the opponent any chance.

Especially in the game with Wigan, Ancelotti boldly carried out a large-scale rotation. Six rotating players, including Lindgaard, Evans, Park Jixing, Giggs, Gibson, Hernandez, and even the iron bench, got the opportunity to play. Valencia and Carrick made guest appearances that they were not good at. Right-back and central-back, only two absolute main players, Evra and Nani, and Evra was also pulled to the central defender position in the second half of the game.

Even so, Ancelotti's team still won the destruction and domineering. The goal difference between Manchester United and Manchester City has been sharply reduced from 17 to 5 in the last 4 games. Manchester City fans were once regarded as an insurmountable advantage and was consumed in an instant. Ancelotti is very satisfied with the current situation, as he said not long ago: "If we top the table in the New Year, or the same as Manchester City, our opportunity will come."

Indeed, the opportunity for Manchester United has come. In the next month, Manchester United's relatively easy schedule provided an excellent opportunity for the team's big reversal.

With the current state of Manchester United, Blackburn (home), Newcastle (away), Bolton (home) and Stoke City (home) seem to be unable to stop the Red Devils from grabbing points. Only Arsenal (away) may cause some trouble for Manchester United.

In terms of Manchester City, the state of scoring at the beginning of the season has faded. In the next month, we will face two European-level strong teams, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. In addition, there are two-round League Cup semi-finals with Liverpool. The task of the game is obviously much more difficult than that of the same city.

Manchester United has a good chance to overtake Manchester City to regain the top of the league table before the end of January. The winning and losing of the FA Cup Manchester derby during this period will also have a great impact on the championship mentality of the two teams. Judging from the current state of the two teams, Manchester United undoubtedly has a greater victory. This is not only an excellent opportunity to be ashamed of 1-6, but also a key game that can completely defeat the opponent in morale.

It is worth mentioning that the last time Manchester City ranked first in England's top leagues after Christmas dates back to the 1929/30 season, when Manchester City's final ranking was only the third in the league.

Therefore, the current league leader actually does not have the slightest advantage in mentality, especially after feeling the pressure of Manchester United's strong pursuit recently, Manchester City seems to have lost its domineering power and took on the burden during the game. On the contrary, Manchester United, which is used to exerting in the second half, has gradually regained its self-confidence and has a tendency to stage a big reversal of the season again.

In the 95/96 season, Manchester United beat Newcastle from 12 points behind by 4 points; in the 02/03 season, Manchester United achieved a late starting point from 9 points behind Arsenal to being crowned by 5 points. In the 07/08 season, Manchester United caught up from the disadvantage of 8 points and finally overtwined Arsenal and Chelsea to win the championship. In the 08/09 season, Manchester United was double-killed by Liverpool, but with the unreachable stability of the Reds, it finally completed a big reversal from 8 points behind to 4 points ahead.

Therefore, don't be fooled by Manchester United's temporary downturn. In fact, Manchester United's record this season is not bad, 14 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss in 18 league games, 45 points, 47 goals and 14 goals, and 33 goal difference.

The last time Manchester United reached 45 points after 18 rounds of the league was in the 1993-94 season. After 18 rounds of that season, Manchester United scored 36 goals and conceded 15 goals and won 21 goals, which was not as good as this season. The last time Manchester United had a better start in the league than this season, dating back to the 1907-08 season 104 years ago, when Manchester United scored 15 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses and 46 points after 18 rounds, scoring 54 goals and conceding 23 goals and winning 31 goals. That is to say, the start after 18 rounds of this season's league is Manchester United's best start in the last 103 years.

Not only that, Manchester United has recently won 5 consecutive victories in the league, and has maintained a goal and scored 15 points in the last 5 away games. In addition to the games of Community Shield, the Champions League and the League Cup, Manchester United has 19 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses in 28 games, 68 goals and 26 goals, and the record of scoring goals in each game is also absolutely circled. In addition, the team has only lost one league at home since August 2010, and Old Trafford is still the devil's home court.

It's just that the 1-6 defeat in the Manchester derby and the out of the UEFA Champions League group stage and the League Cup amplification of Manchester United's crisis. Don't forget that the group of potential demons led by the Lord is far from showing all their strength. If Manchester United can still overwhelm Manchester City with the background of the king this season, then in the next few years, the Blue Moon Legion may not have a chance to defeat the gradually mature youth army of the Red Devils.

However, 5-0, Manchester United easily defeated Wigan Athletic without bloodshed, and the points tied with Manchester City. Unfortunately, in such a relatively easy game, the Red Devils lost another general. Central defender Evans was replaced in the midfield due to a calf injury, and he will be absent for two weeks. This is Manchester United's fifth injured central defender after captain Vidic's season reimbursement, Ferdinand, Smarling and Phil Jones were all absent due to injury.

In an interview with BBC Fifth Live Radio after the game, Ancelotti said, "Evans was replaced due to injury. He injured his calf and will be absent for two weeks. The past few days have been like a nightmare for us. Both Phil Jones and Smarin are sick. Ferdinand suffered a back injury yesterday, and now Evans has been replaced at half due to injury. This will put you under pressure."

For the red card that Wigan striker Samon suspected of elbowing Carrick, Ancelotti said, "I don't think that action is big. I don't think that boy (Samon) is intentional. He is very aggressive. I think he raised his arms. Carrick's reaction was not exaggerated. It was all made by the referee. I have to say that this is a little too strict. Wigan coach Martinez was very dissatisfied with Samon's sent-off. "That red card was a very unfortunate decision. What Samon did was fight for the ball. There is no need to show the red card directly. Football is a game that allows physical contact, and that red card kills the game.

An Shuai is satisfied with the current state of the team, and Li Yu's hat-trick makes him even happier. As I said a few weeks ago, we are really in a good state now. If we occupy the top of the table in the New Year, or have the same points as Manchester City, I will be very happy. We are really happy for Li Yu.

Manchester United returned to the table. It hasn't been three days. In the following games, Manchester United actually lost a good game at home.

The regretful De Gea looked blankly towards the player channel. He knew very well that he had messed up all this. After tonight, the major media will talk to him tomorrow. How should the young Spanish genius goalkeeper face this nightmarish end of the year?

Before this game, Manchester United was the team with the fewest goals in the Premier League, conceding only 14 goals in 18 games, and only 2 goals in 9 games after the Manchester Derby, including a clean sheet in 7 games. In the last two consecutive games, Lindgaard has witnessed a 5-0 as the main goalkeeper. The Danish goalkeeper has played five Premier League games for the team this season, and Manchester United has kept a goal.

Even if it is counted in the two appearances in the Champions League, Lindgaard's transcript of only one goal in seven times defending Manchester United's goal is definitely a great achievement. However, even the legendary Danish goalkeeper Schmeichel does not want to believe that this young man, who only spent 3.5 million pounds on Manchester United's transfer fee, will become the true son of the Red Devils No. 1. Therefore, De Gea, worth 17.8 million pounds, is still the main goalkeeper of the team.

On Ferguson's 70th birthday, Lord also appeared at Old Trafford, and Manchester United faced Blackburn, who was at the bottom of the league points at home. Manchester United, which occupied the right time and place, seemed to give a birthday gift to the greatest coach in the team's history with a hearty victory without any suspense.

In this case, people are more willing to pay attention to the changes on the offensive end of the team, such as Welbeck and Nani's two wings flying together, Raphael's guest central defender, Li Yu is still steadily getting the starting opportunity, Valencia continues to play the new McCon on the right side... However, no one cares about De Gea in two consecutive rounds of the game. After that, he returned to the main lineup, but it was this seemingly normal rotation that completely subverted the trend of the game.

In the 16th minute of the game, Welbeck's lame pulling action gave the opponent a big gift. Yakub's penalty completely deceived De Gea into hitting easily. Of course, it was not De Gea's responsibility not to save the penalty, but the opponent broke the goal and ended the record of not conceding three consecutive rounds. After all, it was unlucky. Omen.

Sure enough, in the 51st minute, when Yakub got another chance to single-handedly challenge De Gea, the Spaniard still failed to stop his opponent from scoring, and this time he was shot through the "small goal" by his opponent, 0-2, and Manchester United suddenly reached the edge of collapse. After that, Li Yu scored two goals in a row, and Manchester United seemed to smell the smell of reversal. Even Ferguson, who was dignified in the stands, began to show his confidence to win from applause to celebrate the goal.

However, De Gea's serious mistake caused the seemingly natural script to be completely rewritten.

In the 80th minute, Blackburn got a corner kick. Peterson opened the ball near the penalty area line. This position should be completely under the control of the goalkeeper. De Gea did choose to abandon the goal. However, the Spaniard once again exposed the high-altitude interception that he had been criticized when he first landed in England. He fought for the header against Hanley Tiger. De Gea, who was 1.93 meters tall, was knocked away by the opponent with the ball and people. The ball bounced high. At this time, the thin De Gea had been knocked to the ground, while Hanley crossed De Gea under his feet and entered the empty door during the fall of the ball, which messed up the Lord's birthday. Cake.

After conceding the ball, the TV broadcast scene** turned to the dignified Lindgaard on the bench, as if he was saying that if the 27-year-old Dane guarded the dragon gate, I'm afraid the situation would not be like this.

Some people say that Lindgaard conceded fewer goals because Ancelotti always let him play against the weak team. But this time at home against Blackburn, who ranked last in the league, De Gea also caught up with a bully game, but his mistake made his opponent take all three points in the devilish Old Trafford.

After this game, De Gea has played 19 games for Manchester United in various events this season, and the team has conceded 26 goals, which is the data gap between Lindgaard, who has only conceded 1 goal in 7 games. It seems that it can no longer be explained by the comparison between the opponent's strengths and weaknesses. OPTA's post-match statistics show that Blackburn completed a total of 11 shots in this game, of which 3 shots were all converted into goals, that is to say, De Gea failed to make even one save.

Sky Sports commented after the game that De Gea made a big mistake at the last minute and scored the lowest score of 4 points. And the fans gave him a shameful score of 2.2 without mercy, which shows that the fans are extremely dissatisfied with De Gea's poor performance of ruining Ferguson's birthday celebration.

Before, when the Red Youth Storm swept across the European continent, the men and soldiers of the Manchester United Youth Army were awarded various gorgeous successor titles, such as "New Ferdinand" Smarin, "New Edwards" Phil Jones, "New Solskjaer" Hernandez, etc., and De Gea was once considered to have The potential to become a new van der Sar.

But just after this game, hundreds of millions of angry Manchester United fans scolded De Gea through Weibo, Twitter, etc., and labeled him as "New Batz", which is the most vicious criticism for the Spaniards.

Of course, with the performance of just one game, it is a little arbitrary to judge De Gea's development prospects. Many calm Manchester United fans have cooled down the seemingly unstoppable "De Gea Criticism" in various ways, and pointed out that although De Gea has made a fatal mistake, don't forget how many times he has saved the Red Devils' goal this season. For this 21-year-old young man, the fans should Try to avoid impetuousness and shortsightedness.

Indeed, after experiencing the youth at the beginning of the season, De Gea has gradually shown his extraordinary talent. He once won the throne of the Premier League save list for a long time, and helped the team tide over the difficulties with world-class saves many times. After overcoming the long-range phobia, the lack of high-altitude ball control may become the only Achilles' heel that can block De Gea from going to the world-class goalkeeper's palace.

Arsenal's legendary striker Ian Wright believes: "De Gea's worth adds too much pressure to it, and every mistake he makes will be infinitely amplified, because this is the largest club in the world. There have been insurmountable peaks such as Schmeichel and Van der Sar. In my opinion, as long as De Gea can If you keep learning lessons, you will eventually overcome your shortcomings and become one of these legends.

Legend? De Gea is not on the road today, but as long as De Gea, who has a unique height advantage, becomes stronger and learns to use momentum to deter his opponents, De Gea may join the ranks of great goalkeepers.

As Sir Bobbi Charlton, the legendary superstar of Manchester United, said: "He has an extremely outstanding talent. We need to give him time and confidence. In the near future, he will become a great goalkeeper." But if you use this season's league championship as a bargaining chip in exchange for De Gea's growth, whether it is worth it or not is something that Ferguson needs to consider. After all, the over-year-old Lord has not had much time to wait for De Gea's growth.

A loss also made Li Yu's two goals dim. In two consecutive games, the highlight performance of scoring five goals also became less popular with the team's defeat.

If someone makes trouble at your birthday party, how would you feel? Angry? Or disappointed? I'm afraid that Lord Fu experienced such an experience today. Before Manchester United's home game against Blackburn, the former Manchester United coach, who ushered in the old year, was red. He proudly walked into Old Trafford, listened to the "Happy Birthday Song" presented to him by all the fans, and sat in the stands in a happy and festive atmosphere.

However, Sir Alex Ferguson may be hard to imagine that he will walk out of the field darkly with a score of 2-3 in 90 minutes. If he is still commanding the team, I'm afraid he will have to turn on the "hair dryer" again and teach his players a lesson in the locker room...

However, Ancelotti's face is not much better. Everyone knows what this game means, but at this time, Manchester United lost to the bottom team and may find an excuse for injury prevention, but in fact, the lost points can't come back anyway.

There won't be too much time for An Shuai to adjust. Ancelotti, who has experienced the Premier League Christmas war, will definitely try his best to mobilize the state of the players and play the following games well.