Yang Yang went to Paris, France to receive the 2008 European Golden Ball Award, which once again attracted the attention and heated discussions of media and fans around the world. When he returned to Liverpool the next day, he was welcomed by Liverpool fans across the city.

This is another great event worth celebrating for the Red Army.

But the competition continues in full swing.

Two days after Yang Yang won the Golden Ball Award, in the last game of the Champions League group stage, Liverpool challenged Eindhoven away.

Since the Reds have already qualified in the group in advance, the outcome of this game is irrelevant.

Liverpool played with a full substitute and defeated Eindhoven 3-1 away.

Lucas Reva performed very well in this game, helping Liverpool reverse Eindhoven with two assists.

However, after the team returned to the Premier League, the 17th round of the game was immediately ushered in.

Liverpool's defense made a mistake in the first half and scored twice in a row by Hul City.

The first time was Aveloa on the right made a mistake in defense, and the second time was Reina's failure to attack, and Carragher scored an own goal.

This situation is very similar to when they were against Manchester City before, and everyone is waiting for Liverpool to turn the situation around.

It took Yang Yang only two minutes to receive Kuyt's right cross from the left, forcibly broke through two opponent's defensive players, assisting Gerald, who was unpreserved, to score a low shot and scored a goal.

Eight minutes later, Kuyt made a cross from the right, Crouch headed the ball, Yang Yang made a wonderful volley with his back, and Gerald rushed into the penalty area, and pushed the ball without defense to equalize the score.

Two to two!

Subsequently, Liverpool launched a fierce offensive, and Yang Yang was also very proactive, but it rained and the field was very slippery. Liverpool really lacked some luck and finally drew Hul City 2-2 away game.

...

Liverpool's away draw with Hul City is not an exception in this round of Premier League, and the other three are also underperforming.

Arsenal drew 1-1 away against Middlesbrough.

Chelsea drew 1-1 at home with West Ham United.

Manchester United drew with Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 away, and Cristiano Ronaldo played the whole game, but had no performance.

The semi-finals draw at the same time, although they did not lose, it was a major phenomenon in the Premier League.

Sky Sports made an analysis after the game, believing that the semi-finals of four draws have subjective and objective factors.

The so-called objective is the unprecedented fierce competition in the Premier League this season.

After the seventeenth round of the game, West Bromwich ranked last, and the second-to-last was Blackburn, who ranked seventh last season. This was something that no one expected before the season. Blackburn would be deeply trapped in the relegation zone?

And what's even more terrifying is that Violence is five points away from Sunderland, the third-last.

The newly promoted Mahul City is currently ranked sixth, while Stoke City is ranked thirteenth.

Which team is the same as Sunderland who has scored 18 points?

It turned out to be Manchester City, which invested the most in the European transfer market this summer!

Everton, who currently ranks seventh in the standings, only 25 points, which means that the twelve teams from seventh to eighteenth are only seven points away. What a fierce competition?

Even teams like Sunderland have performed very well this season, with many records that draw with Arsenal.

If the fierce competition in the league is an external factor, then the problems among the clubs are internal factors.

Manchester United relied heavily on Cristiano Ronaldo's goals last season, but the Portuguese obviously no longer as brave as last season's performance this season, and its performance is currently sluggish, which has led to a sharp drop in Manchester United's goals. Although Ferguson's team has obtained strong aid like Berbatov, the Bulgarian center has obviously not been able to integrate into the Manchester United team.

Not to mention Arsenal, its overall strength has declined significantly, and its control is no longer as good as before.

As for Chelsea, Drogba was injured for too long, and the Blues' offensive power was affected. The lack of effective means of breaking intensive defense has led to the team's continuous loss of points in strong dialogues and meeting teams with excellent defense.

"From the performance of the first seventeen rounds of the game, Liverpool is the one with the most championship!"

"Although Benitez's team draws this round, it has achieved an impressive record of 15 wins, draws and losses in 17 games so far, and has scored 46 points. It is more than nine points ahead of Chelsea, the second-placed Chelsea, and as many as 11 points ahead of Manchester United, the third-placed Manchester United, which can be said to be the best."

Sky Sports believes that Liverpool's strength mainly comes from Yang Yang's outbreak.

"Benitez's team has always been known for its balance of offense and defense, but after getting Yang Yang's joining, the team's offense has improved greatly. So far this season, in the 17 league rounds, Yang Yang scored 19 goals and thirteen assists, and one person gave the team thirty-two goals."

"Relying too much on Yang Yang will also become a problem for Liverpool, especially considering that Yang Yang has performed poorly every December in the past two years and fell into the quagmire of winter breaks, and Liverpool will be greatly affected by that time. This is a must for Benitez to be vigilant and will also become an opportunity for other teams."

However, Benitez said in an interview with the media that he was not worried at all about Sky Sports and other media concerns.

"I believe Yang Yang is ready."

Yang Yang himself also said in an interview with the media that he is confident of fighting the battle between Christmas and winter breaks.

"It starts with Arsenal!" Yang Yang said confidently.

In the 18th round of the Premier League, Liverpool challenged Arsenal away.

But unexpectedly, before the game, Liverpool suddenly suffered from injuries.

…………

…………

Mascherano has a cold!

However, Argentina's midfielder still came to Melwood, but only wore a mask and did not follow the team to participate in training.

But the team's head coach Benitez missed a whole day of training.

Paco Yesterdam explained to the players in the morning that Benitez asked for a temporary leave if he had something to do and could not lead the team to train.

Everyone also thinks it is normal for this. After all, who has nothing to do at home?

But in the afternoon, after the team's training, Yesterdam did not let the players disband, but announced to everyone with a serious face that he would be in charge of the team's training for the next few days and that he would also be in charge of the game.

"I regret to tell you that Raphael will leave us for a while, conservatively estimated to be half a month."

When everyone heard the news, they were very surprised and started to talk.

"Paco, what's going on?" Captain Gerald asked with concern.

Yesterdam signaled everyone not to discuss and not to worry.

"For a while, Raphael's body has been feeling a little uncomfortable, and he finds that his kidneys are getting more and more painful."

Kidney pain?

Yang Yang smiled bitterly.

"So, this morning, his wife Montsett accompanied him to the hospital for examination. She was diagnosed with kidney stones, so she had a lithotripsy surgery. She thought it was a minor problem, but she didn't expect that it would be even worse after returning home, so she went back to follow up and found that a hole was left in the kidney when the lithotripsy was found."

Everyone looked at each other in surprise. Isn’t this a bit unlucky?

"The operation is very successful, but it is estimated that it will take at least ten days to rest, so he will not be able to lead the team and command the competition during the next period of time. I hope everyone can work together and overcome this difficulty together."

After appeased the players, Yesterdam disbanded the team, but at the same time kept Gerald, Carragher, Yang Yang and Xavi Alonso. These four players were the mainstays of the team.

Yesterdam's meaning is also very clear. Benitez can no longer command the team's game, but the next one is the most troublesome Christmas devil schedule, especially this game against Arsenal, which is very difficult to deal with.

"Mascherano is injured, I'm considering letting Gareth Barry come on. What do you think?" Yesterdam asked everyone about his opinion.

Everyone nodded, this was a normal operation.

Mascherano has made great contributions to Liverpool's midfield, especially midfield defense and interception. Gareth Barrie also performed quite well after joining the team. Although his defensive end is not as good as Mascherano, he is still competent to fill the vacancy of the Argentine.

"When playing away from Arsenal, the opponent must be mainly pass-by and control, while I plan to focus on pressing and oppression, and at the same time, we are away from home, so we will take action after seeing the situation." Yesterdam is cautious by nature and is still worried about playing away from Arsenal.

Both teams are well aware of each other, and there is no so-called surprises at all. It depends on who will perform better on the spot and the tactics are more targeted.

Benitez is a tactical master. He can always guess the opponent's tactical intentions and give targeted restraint tactics. So before every game in the past, everyone was used to listening to Benitez's opinions, but now, suddenly losing him, everyone is really a little confused.

Should we focus on grabbing? Or should we be stable?

Logically speaking, Arsenal's overall strength is definitely not as good as Liverpool. If the team really fights against the Gunners, both teams will be forced to fight, and Yang Yang is confident that he can beat Arsenal's weak defense.

But the problem is that Liverpool's own defense is not solid, and Carragher's recent form is not very good. He even lost two goals before playing against Hul City and even scored an own goal, so the defense is unstable.

Therefore, after studying it for a long time, both Yang Yang and Gerald felt that although Yesterdam's words were more cautious, they were indeed more reasonable. At least it was the most important thing to make himself invincible first.

Yesterdam is an assistant coach and is a good guy on weekdays. During Benitez's absence, managing the team naturally requires the help of locker room bosses like Gerald and Yang Yang to talk and do something.

After Yang Yang won the European Golden Globe Award, he gave every teammate in the locker room a newest and highest-end Apple iPhone phone in advance. Although it was not worth much, everyone took his benefits. In addition, his prestige in the team on weekdays, people still listened to his words.
Chapter completed!