Three days after playing the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Manchester City ushered in the 32nd round of the Premier League.
This time the team visits the Emirates Stadium to challenge Arsenal.
The Gunners were recharging their energy and waiting for work, while Manchester City was fighting hard and obviously suffered more.
The two sides fought evenly.
Finally, in the 89th minute, with Yaya Toure's shot, Manchester City won 1-0 away from home.
Speaking of which, Yaya Toure is also full of resentment towards Arsenal.
His brother Kolo Toure, who played for Arsenal, once recommended him to the Gunners for a trial. He also wanted to play football with his brother and was full of expectations for his trip to Arsenal.
But in the end, Wenger didn't pay attention to him at all, causing him to fail the trial training.
This was a big blow to Yaya Toure.
Now, he wants to regain this spot on the court.
Arsenal are now fighting for the top four in the league. Yaya Toure's goal can be regarded as the biggest revenge against the Gunners.
…
There is another game a little earlier than Manchester City. Manchester United faces the newly promoted Queens Park Rangers at home.
Manchester United also won 1-0, but the difference was that Rooney's penalty kick occurred in the 15th minute of the first half. After that, Manchester United failed to create another goal throughout the game.
But the real focus of this game is not that, but Ferguson's lineup of 442.
Ashley Young, Sneijder, Carrick and Valencia, this is Manchester United's midfield.
Lars Diarra, who has caused a lot of noise in recent days, is not even included in the squad.
This is a bit strange.
After the game, some media asked Ferguson about Lass Diarra, but Ferguson said that the team was dealing with it and the player showed no signs of wanting to leave the team.
"We all know that agents want players to move every season, that's how they make a living."
"But we are confident of keeping Lass Diarra, he is a Manchester United player!"
There is nothing wrong with this, but it always feels like intimidation.
Ferguson is not a good guy.
It’s hard to make a profit on Ferguson!
…
Three days later, in the 33rd round of the Premier League, Manchester United challenged Wigan Athletic away.
Ferguson made some adjustments, but the midfield remained unchanged.
But this time, Manchester United lost 0-1 to Wigan Athletic away from home.
It was obvious to everyone that Manchester United's midfield lost its balance during the game, especially defensively.
Carrick is a deep-lying midfielder who is seriously underestimated, but it is unrealistic to rely on Carrick alone to support the team's midfield defense and interception these days.
And Manchester United currently has no way to provide sufficient midfield support.
During the halftime break, Ferguson replaced Ashley Young with the smart youngster Cleverley in an attempt to strengthen the midfield, but the youngster's performance was not particularly satisfactory, causing Manchester United's adjustments to be ineffective.
At the beginning of the second half, Wigan Athletic scored in the 50th minute.
In the end, Manchester United lost 0-1 away from home.
Lass Diarra was once again left out of the squad.
Before Manchester United's game, Manchester City relied on Suarez's two shots and two passes to defeat West Bromwich Albion 4-0 at home.
The Uruguayan center almost scored a double hat trick, but unfortunately, he missed the opportunity and his teammates also missed the opportunity. But no matter what, Suarez played in a very good state.
This is also closely related to the adjustment of the senior coaching staff.
With only five rounds left in the league, Manchester City has already won the league championship ahead of schedule and their dominance is strong enough.
The remaining five games have completely lost all suspense.
The media was particularly harsh on Manchester United's defeat.
According to the current situation in the Premier League, if Manchester United wins, there is still a high probability that Manchester City will win the championship, but at least it will not be so early. But if Ferguson's team loses, it will be very dazzling.
At the post-match press conference, Ferguson expressed his congratulations to Gao Shen.
"This is his third season in the Premier League and I have to congratulate him on his great achievements here."
Ferguson said that in the history of England's top league, winning three consecutive championships is very difficult.
"This has always been the most competitive league in the world."
In the English top league, there have only been three consecutive championships five times in history.
The first time was in the three years from 1924 to 1926, when Hurstfield won the first three consecutive championships in the history of England's top league.
You know, in just seven years from 1894 to 1900, Aston Villa won five top league championships, but failed to win three consecutive championships.
Teams including Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday and Liverpool have all won two consecutive championships, but no team can win three consecutive championships.
After Hasfield, Arsenal also won three consecutive top league titles in the three years from 1933 to 1935.
Going back further is Liverpool's peak period in the 1970s and 1980s.
From 1976 to 1990, in just fifteen years, ten Premier League championships were won, including two consecutive championships and one three consecutive championships.
As the Premier League kicked off, it ushered in the era of Ferguson and Manchester United.
After experiencing two consecutive championships in the 1990s, Ferguson led the Class of 1992 to win Manchester United's first three consecutive championships in the three years from 1999 to 2001.
After the losing season and Chelsea's two consecutive championships, they won their second three consecutive championships in the three years from 2007 to 2009.
In the past 100 years of history, there have only been three consecutive championships five times.
After Gao Shen landed in the Premier League, he led Manchester City to win the first three consecutive championships in the club's history.
But Ferguson still insists that Manchester City's investment without any regard for return is not necessarily beneficial to the entire Premier League.
"We all know that professional football is a business, and it is natural to consider long-term sustainable operations, rather than making crazy investments in just a few years without considering the consequences. This is unhealthy."
Regarding the sophisticated Manchester City, Ferguson said that Manchester City on the football field is worth learning from his peers, but Manchester City outside the football field still does not have the strength to become a top powerhouse.
"They want to thank Gao Shen."
"It is precisely because of his outstanding coaching that Manchester City built a beautiful palace out of a pile of sand and continued to consolidate the foundation of this palace in three years."
"But if they want to stand firm, only three years is not enough. They need to persist for longer."
Media reporters are not interested in the compliments between Ferguson and Gao Shen. They are now more concerned about the news about Las Diarra. After all, this is bad news.
The French midfielder has failed to make the squad for two consecutive games.
Ferguson said in this regard that Lass Diarra is adjusting his condition, but emphasized that no one is indispensable at Manchester United.
"In the past many years, we have sent away players one after another, but Manchester United has never stopped because of anyone."
"Lass is really good, he brings stability to our midfield and I don't think he can be special."
Ferguson also implicitly said that players like Lass Diarra are everywhere in the Premier League.
For example, Tottenham Hotspur's Luka Modric, Ferguson has been eyeing him for a long time.
"He's a real No. 10."
Ferguson rattled off the names of several Premier League players, as if he wanted to tell everyone that Manchester United doesn't have to be Lass Diarra, but can also have many different choices.
"Just a few days ago, our scouting team recommended a person to me. I believe you are all familiar with it. Morgan Schneiderlin from Leeds United in the English Championship. He is only 22 years old, but he averages every game
The game can help the team regain the ball 10.2 times, it is like a ball-grabbing machine."
"His average passing success rate this season is as high as 89.3%, and the number of passes is 61.2. When it comes to such data in the Premier League, few players can surpass him, and he is even better than the top midfielders.
"
"I felt that a player like this should not be buried in the Championship, so I asked our scouts to start looking at him."
Carrick's passing data in the Premier League are similar to Schneiderlin's, but his defense is much worse. He only recovers half the ball as many times as Schneiderlin's. Lars Diarra's defensive data is relatively better.
But it is also far behind Schneiderlin.
And the pass that Lars Diarra is most proud of is similar to Schneiderlin, with no advantage.
Of course, this is also related to Schneiderlin playing in the British Championship.
What Ferguson meant by listing Modric and Schneiderlin is obvious. If Lars Diarra wants to cause trouble, fine, I will continue to ban you until you compromise. There are plenty of people who can replace you.
Not to mention a famous Premier League star like Modric, a young player from the English Championship who is about to be promoted like Schneiderlin, they all perform better than you.
So, French boy, what are you doing?
…
Ferguson's original intention was to attack Lars Diarra, trying to suppress the French midfielder again and force him to admit his mistakes and submit, so he brought out Modric and Schneiderlin to apply pressure.
But the media obviously didn't follow Ferguson's train of thought.
Who is Modric?
The entire European football world knows that the Croatian genius is a player that Gao Shen has wanted to acquire several times.
What about Schneiderlin?
Midfielder for English Championship team Leeds United.
The reason why stories like Prince Dark Horse and Cinderella are ever popular is that people always talk about who becomes famous overnight, so the British media is always creating geniuses.
In January 2006, Arsenal poached 17-year-old Walcott from the English Championship team. In May, Walcott entered the England national team coached by Eriksson and competed in the squad for the World Cup in Germany.
This has become the focus of the entire Premier League and even the world's football world.
Now, of course, Schneiderlin does not have the overnight popularity that Walcott had, but with Ferguson's words, he has also attracted the attention of major European media.
First Bolasie, then Schneiderlin, everyone discovered that Ferguson was really interested in Leeds United.
And behind this team is Gao Shen's endorsement.
What could be more substantial than this?
But it’s miserable when you’re high and deep.
After seeing Ferguson's interview, he really felt a headache, and even had the urge to call Ferguson and scold him.
