Whether the impact of losing a game is big or not depends not only on the situation, but also on the follow-up.
For example, after Manchester United lost 9-0 to Leeds United at home, they drew three consecutive draws, namely a 2-2 away draw with Leicester City, a 1-1 draw with Wolves at home, and a 2-2 draw with Aston Villa at home.
pull.
Therefore, after 17 rounds of games, Manchester United's league ranking dropped back to 13th, while Arsenal's ranking rose to 12th. This can be seen from the battle at Old Trafford against Manchester United.
's influence.
For Leeds United, after losing 0-1 to Tottenham Hotspur in the away game, the reaction from the outside world was not big.
Everyone feels that Leeds United lost to Tottenham in an away game, especially when they lost the game on penalties. There was nothing wrong with the situation. At best, they were being caught up by Guardiola's Manchester City, who have been winning streak in recent times.
Distance, that's all.
After playing against Tottenham, the two teams met again in the League Cup semi-finals.
Leeds United vs Manchester City, Tottenham vs Newcastle.
Due to the continuous battles, both sides had to make substantial rotations.
After Christmas, this is already the fourth game in such a short period of time. Without rotation, even the Iron Man can't bear it.
But as soon as the team rotates, something goes wrong.
In this game at the Leeds Amazon Stadium, just 5 minutes into the game, near Leeds United's own 30-meter area, Alphonso Davies passed the ball behind him and directly lobbed the ball into the Manchester City half.
the left side of.
Rashford got rid of Cancelo who was guarding him at great speed and moved forward. After catching up with his teammate's pass in the left corner of the penalty area, he walked into the penalty area and attracted Stones' attention.
The left foot crossed to the middle.
Old captain Vardy caught up with him and easily succeeded in pushing the ball in front of the goal, opening the scoring for Leeds United.
This goal completely demonstrated the shrewdness of Rashford and Vardy in their movements.
Both of them almost started on the offside line.
Although Manchester City players protested and believed it was an offside, the VAR assistant referee made a clear conclusion.
The goal is valid!
After that, both sides restrained each other back and forth, and no one was able to create better opportunities.
Manchester City, in particular, has encountered big problems in organization and penetration.
Tonight, Pochettino lined up a midfield three of Joan Armene, Enzo Fernandez and Valverde in the midfield. This is Leeds United's main midfielder this season, which shows that Pochettino wants to follow Guaranteed.
Diola's determination to fight for the midfield.
In the midfield battle, Leeds United even had a slight advantage.
After changing sides in the second half, the home team once again launched a wave of attacks, but still failed to score.
After ten minutes of attacking, Manchester City began to counterattack, but at this moment, Leeds United once again launched a quick counterattack from the left.
After Enzo Fernandez completed a beautiful collision with Alphonso Davies on the left wing, Alphonso Davies surged all the way and passed diagonally to Rashford.
After the Leeds United left winger stopped the ball on the left side of the penalty area, he suddenly stopped, dunked past Stones, cut inward laterally, and hit a curve ball with his right foot, which hit the far corner of the goal.
Two to zero!
This goal basically helped Leeds United seal the victory.
Subsequently, substitute Kvarac Helia dribbled the ball from the left, passed three Manchester City players, and sent a wonderful pass. Alvarez got a solo opportunity, but he failed to score.
The spitting out of this cake is really embarrassing.
In the end, Leeds United defeated Manchester City 2-0 at home and successfully advanced to the final.
At another stadium, Tottenham Hotspur relied on two counterattack opportunities to defeat Newcastle 2-0 and join Leeds United in the League Cup final.
…
Gao Shen was very emotional when watching this game.
It's not because Leeds United immediately won Manchester City after losing to Tottenham.
In fact, even if Leeds United loses to Manchester City again, Gao Shen will not be surprised.
In this kind of strong-power dialogue, the outcome itself is between brothers and is full of unpredictability.
What really surprises people is that Manchester United lost three games in a row after losing. The opponents were not strong, but they failed to win. This is what really went wrong.
Like Leeds United, apart from the media deliberately creating panic, who would think there is a problem?
Gao Shen laments that there are fewer and fewer traces of himself on Manchester City.
David Silva is gone, Gundogan is here.
Javi Martinez, Robben, David Luiz, Kompany, Zabaleta, Suarez, Rakitic...
Under the coaching of Gao Shen, all of Manchester City's famous superstars are now either relegated to the second line, are old, or have left Manchester City, and some have even retired.
Manchester City now belongs to Guardiola's team.
Hazard is still a senior player, and he is still the core of Manchester City's frontcourt attack. He is the only one left with great achievements.
"Time flies so fast!" Gao Shen sighed.
Mubarak, Soriano and Begiristain personally led the team to the away game. They all received exquisite pre-match hospitality and sat together during the game.
After listening to Gao Shen's words, I felt somewhat sad.
Manchester City's rise is inseparable from the solid foundation laid by Gao Shen.
But now, because of its advanced skills, Manchester City's advantage in the Premier League has become less and less obvious.
It is unrealistic to say that Manchester City's management has no emotions in their hearts.
But hate?
Actually, I really don’t hate it.
This is the biggest difference between management and fans, because they are real stakeholders.
In any league, the organizers would never want to see a situation where one company dominates the other. Even like La Liga, where Real Madrid and Barcelona have two giants, they don't like to see it either.
Because this represents the oligarchs.
Therefore, in La Liga, Real Madrid and Barcelona can take away hundreds of millions in broadcast fees every year, which is more than all other teams combined. And in recent years, La Liga has been reforming.
In competitive sports, no one wants to see scripts and routines whose endings have already been written.
Manchester City wins the championship every year, and Leeds United wins the championship every year. Who cares?
What's the best?
It means that a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend.
To a certain extent, the current situation in the Premier League is the best situation.
More and more teams have the strength and qualifications to compete for the championship. In each round, there can be several strong dialogues of equal strength, and even upsets are constantly happening.
This makes the Premier League as a whole become more and more interesting and attractive.
As the whole cake continues to grow, each team will naturally get more benefits from it.
Being in this situation, for Manchester City's management, it is enough to ensure that their team wins the championship every year.
On the contrary, like in the past, before the rise of Leeds United in the Premier League, Manchester City relied on the foundation left by Gao Shen to win consecutive Premier League championships, almost becoming a dominant force. This is not a good thing.
Of course, this is a rational view based on a higher level.
From the perspective of Manchester City, Mubarak, Soriano, Begiristain and others believe that fierce competition is a good thing and urge Manchester City to continuously improve their own strength.
On the court, there is a life-and-death fight, but off the court, everyone has a dinner together. This kind of situation does not happen too often.
You can even see two players going back and forth on the court, shoveling and almost fighting, but as soon as the game is over and off the court, everyone makes an appointment to go out to a nightclub to party together.
This kind of thing is really normal.
Gao Shen's sentiment is not just a sentiment for Manchester City, but a crisis before them.
Metabolism!
The group of advanced players are now either old, retired, or in poor condition. It's time to change the group.
For example, in the midfield, Leeds United's midfielder crushed Manchester City today.
Enzo Fernandez, Valverde, Joan Armene, and even Camavinga and Bellingham who came on as substitutes, all performed well.
On the contrary, the combination of Manchester City, Gundogan and De Bruyne is indeed good in controlling the ball, but it is still not as good as it is.
Now on the right side of the frontcourt, Guardiola likes to use Mahrez, and Gareth Bale has fallen out of favor.
"Is it possible to sell Enzo Fernandez and Sancho this summer?"
Mubarak and Soriano were both reluctant to talk, and Begiristan was the most familiar with Gao Shen, so he was responsible for exploring this issue.
Gao Shen hesitated for a moment, but Rudolf Borrell refused without hesitation, "No way, these two players are our most important players and will not be sold."
As soon as Borrell finished speaking, Gao Shen smiled and said, "We will not sell anyone this summer."
Sancho's current worth is 500 million euros, and if he were to be sold, it would definitely be a sky-high price.
Enzo Fernandez is cheap, but there is still a lot of room for appreciation. More importantly, Leeds United are really optimistic about the Argentine midfielder and believe that he will be the core of the team's midfield in the next few years.
"What about Pedri, Camavinga, or Bellingham?" Begiristain asked again.
Gao Shen immediately became happy, "I said, you are staring at our Leeds United fat sheep and plucking it hard, right?"
Everyone around him suddenly laughed.
"Everyone knows that your Leeds United players are well-known," Soriano joked.
This is certainly true, but who doesn’t know Manchester City’s wishful thinking?
Leeds United's current revenue is higher than that of Manchester City. Buying Leeds United players not only strengthens itself, but also weakens its opponents, killing two birds with one stone.
"I'm telling you, don't stare at us. We have decided not to sell people now. I have a good suggestion." Gao Shen hurriedly diverted the trouble to the east and changed the target.
"You mean..." Su
"Barcelona!"
Gao Shen and Begiristan said in unison.
Everyone burst into laughter again.
"Barcelona is not as good as it used to be. Not to mention the debt, the situation is not optimistic. Moreover, the team has the midfielder you want, such as Frenkie de Jong, and even, I think, Messi is not
Can’t talk about it.”
At this point, Gao Shen said in a provocative voice: "I have received news that Manchester United is talking to Juventus about Ronaldo. If you recruit Messi, the Manchester Derby will be..."
Mubarak, Soriano and Begiristain all had their eyes lit up.
No need to be reminded, they all know what this means.
More importantly, if they don't take action, what if Newcastle or Tottenham, the two big tycoons, take action?
Gao Shen looked at their expressions and felt certain in his heart.
