Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 382 The True Group of Death
The first round of the Premier League has concluded, and news about the matches is everywhere.

Among these matches, the most attention-grabbing was Manchester City's home draw against newly promoted Southampton.

"Manchester City drew with Southampton at home, with Shan Yongzhuo sitting on the bench."

"Guardiola's first league game was disappointing, and Manchester City are in crisis."

"Discord between manager and players? Manchester City's future this season looks bleak."

"Southampton's fighting spirit as a newly promoted team is a pleasant surprise."

"..."

After all the matches in the first round were completed, the game between Manchester City and Southampton, which originally did not receive much attention, became the most watched match.

The focus of the game was that Shan Yongzhuo sat on the bench for the entire match.

The ever-curious English media naturally wouldn't let this opportunity pass, launching a series of reports surrounding the conflict between Guardiola and Shan Yongzhuo.

Guardiola's days were not easy either. Online, Manchester City's die-hard fans were unanimously on Shan Yongzhuo's side, launching a barrage of criticism against him.

Fortunately, Guardiola wasn't the only one who suffered.

This wasn't the only upset in the first round of the league.

Manchester United's 1-0 away defeat to their younger rivals Everton was a major surprise. Although United are known for their slow starts, losing their opening match to Everton was still hard to accept.

Arsenal were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Sunderland, which was somewhat surprising, but considering Arsenal's current situation, it doesn't seem so strange.

Compared to Arsenal and Manchester United, Liverpool fared even worse, suffering a 3-0 defeat away to West Bromwich Albion, marking a disastrous start for new manager Brendan Rodgers.

Last season, Rodgers led newly promoted Swansea to an impressive 11th place finish in the Premier League, making the manager, who had previously managed lower-league teams, an overnight sensation. He was then spotted by Liverpool and took over the reins from Dalglish.

Liverpool fans still have high expectations for this young manager. After all, Swansea's performance last season was quite commendable. Despite having a very poor squad, they managed to finish 11th in the Premier League, which is the best proof of their success.

However, Rodgers' poor start to the season has been hard for Liverpool fans to accept.

After all, their opponent was only West Bromwich Albion.

As a result, Rodgers immediately replaced Guardiola and became the target of media criticism. Many English media outlets even predicted that Rodgers would be the first manager to be sacked this season.

Besides Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, who performed exceptionally well last season, also suffered a defeat in their opening match, losing 2-1 away to Newcastle United.

The loss of midfield maestro Luka Modric has significantly weakened Tottenham's strength.

The opening defeat has made people less optimistic about Villas-Boas's Tottenham journey, which ended in disappointment at Stamford Bridge last season.

However, compared to Rodgers, Villas-Boas's defeat seems more acceptable, after all, Newcastle United is not a weak team.

In the first round of this season's Premier League, traditional powerhouses suffered defeats one after another, which was quite surprising.

However, one strong team did not falter.

Matteo, Chelsea's interim manager last season, took over from Villas-Boas and went from assistant coach to interim manager to save the day. He miraculously led Chelsea, who were struggling in the league, to the Champions League semi-finals.

This season, Matteo was officially appointed as Chelsea's manager.

Moreover, Matteo was clearly much luckier than Villas-Boas. In the summer, Chelsea spent heavily, bringing in players like Hazard and Oscar. In the opening game of the new season, Matteo led the revamped Chelsea to a comfortable 0-2 away victory against Wigan Athletic, becoming the only powerhouse to avoid slipping up.

In this match, new signing Hazard was very active, contributing one goal and one assist, demonstrating impressive competitive ability.

For a time, Chelsea and Matteo were showered with praise and acclaim from the English media.

……

Amidst the commotion following the first round, Shan Yongzhuo paid no attention to it and did not give any interviews. He simply continued his training as usual, going home after training as if he had not been affected at all.

At this very moment, Manchester City seemed to be facing a double whammy of misfortunes.

Manchester City had another stroke of luck in the Champions League group stage draw, landing them in a group of death.

Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax...

Group D of the Champions League looks like it's full of death.

The newly crowned La Liga champions, the defending Bundesliga champions, the Eredivisie champions Ajax, plus the Premier League defending champions and the newly crowned Champions League champions Manchester City.

Looking at the draw, not only did the Manchester City players gasp in shock, but Guardiola also felt a great headache.

Although no one at Manchester City except Shan Yongzhuo dared to even think about defending their Champions League title.

After all, since the Champions League was restructured, no team has ever been able to successfully defend their Champions League title.

However, being placed in such a group, where even advancing from the group stage is not an easy task, is somewhat frustrating for Guardiola.

If Manchester City fails to advance from the group stage, the pressure Guardiola will face will be unimaginable.

After all, none of their opponents were easy to deal with.

Real Madrid, the Galacticos, have finally overtaken Barcelona in the league and reclaimed the long-awaited league title. The new coach, Mancini, is a champion coach who has just won five titles.

Furthermore, Real Madrid made a big splash in the summer by signing Croatian Luka Modric from Tottenham Hotspur, further strengthening their squad.

They are also considered strong favorites to win the championship.

Dortmund also dominated Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga for two consecutive seasons, achieving a Bundesliga title defense. Klopp's team is known for its frenetic style, toughness, and tireless running. In particular, their Westfalenstadion, a passionate home ground, is considered one of the most difficult stadiums to conquer in Europe. They are not an easy opponent to deal with; they are the kind of opponent that would leave you scratching your skin even if you beat them.

Even the weakest team, Ajax, is actually quite strong.

They won their 31st Eredivisie title last season, and they were actually very likely to advance from the Champions League group stage. Unfortunately, the Ajax debacle occurred last season, and in the final round of the competition, two of their goals were wrongly ruled offside, while Lyon won 7-1 against Dinamo Zagreb because they were down to 11 men for 60 minutes.

This scoreline allowed Lyon to advance to the next round with a two-goal advantage over Ajax.

Such objective factors leading to Ajax's elimination from the group stage do not prove anything. In fact, among the fourth-tier teams, Ajax is one of the most difficult to beat.

However, this opponent happens to be drawn into the same group as three strong teams: Manchester City, Real Madrid, and Borussia Dortmund.

Guardiola was having a terrible headache looking at such an opponent, feeling that Manchester City was being targeted. Even Shan Yongzhuo felt immense pressure after seeing such an opponent.

(End of this chapter)