I am the king of football

Chapter 227 Nightmare Competition Week

After the end of this round of the Champions League, Manchester United firmly holds the top spot in the group with a huge advantage of 9 points after three wins. No matter what the critical voices are, the facts are still very powerful.

The team has won all eight games since the start of the league, won all three groups in the Champions League group stage, and eliminated the Magpies in the League Cup. Everything is going well.

If Ferguson hadn't been frowning in the locker room, some optimistic players in the Red Devils would have almost shouted out that our goal is to win the championship.

In fact, Manchester United's problem is very simple and direct. The current strength of their defense line is between the level of giants and relegation teams. This embarrassing level makes them better than the bottom but not as good as the top.

Normally, they have no problem bullying weak teams, but once some lower-tier teams explode, they will have problems even beating lower-tier teams. The reason for their previous thrilling 3-2 wins against weak teams was because of this.

Fortunately, their forward line is still world-class. Whether it is Qin Hu, Rooney, Van Persie and others, they are all top stars and are in excellent form.

As a result, before the winter break, Ferguson's team seems to be able to only move forward by scoring one more goal than they concede.

After thinking for a long time, Ferguson finally decided to give the players the same one-day holiday for winning the game. If for no other reason, they will have two games next week. If they don't take this opportunity to rest, he is afraid that they will have less time to use.

Before announcing the disbandment of the team, Sir Alex Ferguson did not forget to praise Qin Hu in front of the whole team again for scoring twice to help the team reverse the game and win.

Problems aside, this game was still thrilling enough. As the MVP who stepped forward to help the team win the game, Qin Hu should be set an example.

The players naturally had no objection to this. As the season progressed, the players in other positions on Manchester United's front line had already faced the reality. Whether due to age or ability, there was no problem for Ferguson to promote Qin Hu as the team's first striker.

Finally, after the team applauded and cheered for Qin Hu again, the Red Devils team was officially disbanded, and this week's exhausting competition officially ended.

Next week, although they don't want to face it, Manchester United will face their first nightmare game week since the start of the season. They will visit Stamford Bridge twice in four days, first a league game, and then a League Cup match, all of which are away games against Chelsea.

Yes, the FA's event arrangement is so ridiculous. Let's not talk about the league arrangement for now. In the League Cup, as Manchester United eliminated Newcastle United and advanced to the fourth round, they met Chelsea who also advanced.

Such a schedule is actually a nightmare for both teams.

For Manchester United, facing the Blues, who play an extremely tough style and consume a lot of energy every time they go away, is undoubtedly a severe test for their players. You have to know that the opponent is the champion of the Champions League last season, not to mention twice.

For Chelsea, Manchester United, who have not lost since the start of the season, is also a tough opponent.

In this summer window, Chelsea introduced a number of new players in the transfer market at high prices, including heavyweight signings such as Belgian genius Hazard and Brazilian midfielder Oscar.

However, Di Matteo, who led the team to win the Champions League last season, did not find the proper use of the team's new players at the beginning. In the European Super Cup final and the England Community Shield final held in mid-August, Chelsea lost to Atletico Madrid and Manchester City respectively.

Fortunately, in the league, since there were no strong teams at the beginning of the season, Di Matteo continued to adjust and relied on the top strength of his players to achieve a record of six wins, one draw and one loss in eight rounds.

This is already amazing enough, and it’s not that they haven’t defeated BIG6 level teams. In the last round of the league, they just defeated Tottenham 4-2 away from home. That game was also quite exciting.

However, this is not the case in the Champions League. In the third round of the Champions League group stage that just ended, they lost 1-2 to Shakhtar Donetsk. The team played very anxiously and consumed a lot of energy. Before that, in addition to defeating Nordsjælland, they also drew with Juventus in another round of group stage with great energy consumption.

In short, given the team's heavy consumption and great mental blow, it would be more appropriate to play a weaker team in the new week to recover. It is not an appropriate time for Chelsea to directly clash with Manchester United.

Therefore, after seeing the schedule for the new week, the top management and coaches of both teams were cursing. Ferguson and Di Matteo also complained about the FA's sometimes outrageous schedules with stern faces when facing reporters' inquiries.

The most annoyed of the two was Ferguson. In his opinion, it really made no sense for the team to run back and forth to London. These two consecutive away games were a bit too tiring, which was indeed not good news for Manchester United.

The new week began quickly. Since the team only had three days to train before going out, Ferguson did not give everyone more breathing time after the holiday. The team directly entered the tense and high-pressure preparation stage.

Fortunately, in the past few days, Ferguson also received good news. His assistant coach in charge of monitoring the status of the defenders gave him a report on several veteran players of the team.

Among them, captain Vidic finally adjusted his condition and was evaluated as being able to play. Ferdinand and Evra have also recovered. The three performed well in the training matches over the past few days.

Therefore, when Ferguson arranged the starting lineup the day before the league match, he finally felt relieved.

"De Gea is the goalkeeper, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra are the back four, and Ashley Young, Cleverley, Carrick and Valencia are the midfield four."

A 442 formation was deployed, and the familiar defense line returned. As long as there was no problem with the team's form, this was the best defense combination for the team in Ferguson's mind.

Then came the midfielders. Two speedy wingers were deployed. To deal with Chelsea's tough and weak defense, Ferguson believed that more work had to be done on both sides. After all, his team had two top forwards with good headers.

"Qin and Van Persie form a double striker partnership!"

There is no controversy. The team's best and second-best forwards this season appeared in the starting position. Compared with the League Cup, the league match is obviously more important, and Ferguson did not hold back in the lineup.

"Our opponents are used to counterattack with a strong presence in the midfield, and there are several players in their team that we must pay special attention to."

Ferguson wrote a few names on the whiteboard with a determined look. Hazard, Torres, Mata, and several names of Chelsea's outstanding players this season appeared in everyone's eyes.

As for Drogba, who was once the core of Chelsea's forward line, he suffered a rapid decline in form last year, just like several veteran players such as Manchester United's Vidic this year. He was bought by the Chinese Super League team Shanghai Shenhua in this summer window.

The showdown between the Warcraft and the Tigers that people want to see is no longer possible. Many fans have expressed their regrets, but they have to accept the reality.

After all, the ultimate goal of the major clubs is to win games and championships, not just to create show effects and emotions.

After the long list was announced, the entire Manchester United team boarded the bus to London that night.

The first chapter is here! Thank you all for your support!!!

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(End of this chapter)