The spn devil's schedule has just begun, but before Christmas arrives, there are still two important things waiting for Manchester United.
The first one is the draw for the first knockout round of the Champions League.
This time Manchester United drew Milan, who has Beckham joining on loan.
In the Champions League 18 finals, Manchester United has been associated with Milan for two consecutive years. Last season, it was Inter Milan. This time it met its old rival Milan. The first leg visited San Siro on February 16, and the second round returned to Old Trafford to face the enemy. Can the Red Devils
This ended the 50-year history of not defeating the Rossoneri in the knockout rounds.
When Ancelotti was still coaching Milan, Ferguson lost twice to the current Chelsea coach. This time the opponent was replaced by rookie coach Leonardo. Sir Alex naturally felt that it was time to win. He was looking forward to the game.
But he also said that the opponent is difficult to deal with: "We have met Milan many times, in the 14th finals or semi-finals. This will be a fantastic arrangement for two great clubs. We are looking forward to it very much."
The game is coming."[
However, compared to the victory or defeat, the media seems to be more concerned about the story of Beckham, who is about to join Milan on loan for the second time this winter, returning to the Theater of Dreams. Ferguson seems not interested in talking more about Beckham, who used to be a father and son with him, but former Manchester United striker Sheringham
Beckham's former teammates predicted that Old Trafford would "open the warmest arms to welcome his return": "There is no doubt that he is a top player and an idol, and Manchester United supporters will love his return more than anything else."
, listening to how he said goodbye and watching him step onto the court again."
Manchester United press liaison officer Phil Townsend expressed satisfaction with the draw result. In an interview with Sky Sports, he said: "This is a dream match. I think anyone who comes to Old Trafford will be very happy. This is the Champions League.
meaning.”
Phil Townsend hopes that Manchester United can defeat their opponents for the fans and end their winless history: "In 1952, we met Milan four times and never advanced. We still owe the fans a victory. Let's fight first.
The away game is key, it means you know what you need when you go back to Old Trafford and we will face Milan like we did against Inter Milan last year."
Speaking of Beckham's return, Phil Townsend also said that Manchester United fans will give him a grand welcome: "He will receive a warm welcome from London. He will return to Manchester United as a player. This is normal. When he
He was a very popular player at this club."
Evra, who has never met Beckham at Carrington Base, is looking forward to meeting Beckham: "I'm happy for Beckham. He means many great achievements to Manchester United. I hope to play with Beckham."
He said, welcome home. I met him and he is a gentleman,
A very good person and a very good professional player, which is why Milan hopes he can return to play. I admire this type of player and he is still one of the best right-sided players in the world.
, but I hope he can play worse by then."
In 2007, Manchester United was eliminated by Milan, which impressed Evra deeply. However, he felt that losing that game was very helpful for Manchester United's maturity: "It was really a failed year. We didn't play well in the first round, although we won 3-
2. I was suspended and couldn't play in the second round, so I could only watch TV. It was terrible to lose in that way, but we learned a lot of lessons after that game. The next year we won the championship, and last season we entered
We won the final. Now we are still enjoying that experience and we can definitely win this round."
No matter what, people are looking forward to seeing the former No. 7 player again at Old Trafford.
The second thing before Christmas is a visit to Craven Cottage Stadium to challenge Fulham.
This game is the 69th main-season meeting between the two clubs. Previously, Manchester United had an absolute advantage with 41 wins, 15 draws and 12 losses. However, 9 months ago, Fulham finally ended its 45-year record of not beating the Red Devils at home, and in
In the last 8 home games, they have 6 wins and 2 draws and remain unbeaten. In this campaign, Andrew Johnson is still injured, but Murphy's injury prevents him from continuing to start. For Manchester United, Vidic suffered a calf injury, and Delet moved from the right to the right.
The central defender partnered with Carrick to guard the fortress. Owen made his fourth league start after joining Manchester United, forming a double forward configuration with Rooney. The captain's armband was worn on Evra's arm.
Li Yu did not appear in the team's roster. Many fans are asking, what's wrong with our No. 9? Is he injured?
No, there must be nothing wrong. It’s just that Ferguson wanted Li Yu to take a rest. When facing questions from the media, the old coach also said this: "Rotation, nothing else! Maybe you don’t know yet, this
The player who has played the most games this season is none other than our No. 9. Now that the forward line is complete, we can give him some leisure time!"
In this case, after the game, all media unanimously believed that this was the stupidest sentence Ferguson had ever said.
The reason is that Manchester United lost 0:3 to Fulham in the Christmas Eve game.
Without Li Yu, they lost two games in a row, one at home and now the away game, and it was still such a disparity.
After the game, Ferguson lowered his head sadly and held his head with his hands. Looking at the old man's actions after the game, you can tell that the old man himself may also be regretting it.
Christmas has not yet arrived, and the major powers are giving gifts in advance. There were two major upsets in the six Premier League games this Saturday. Liverpool, who played first, lost 0-2 in the naval port, and then Manchester United lost even more when they visited the "Farmhouse", losing three games in total.
Duck Egg went home in despair. This was Manchester United's biggest away defeat since they fell to Chelsea with the same score in April 2006. It was also the second consecutive season when Manchester United lost to Fulham away from home without scoring a goal. In the past, Manchester United once
I'm very worried about moving south to Portsmouth, and now my nemesis has moved and became Fulham.
The old coach Hodgson really used his tactics well. He did not give up the Europa League that was a big deal just because he played Manchester United in this round. Instead, he fought hard against Basel in the last round and triumphed 3-2. The team has already played seven games in all competitions.
Remaining undefeated, Zamora also showed his prowess. After many games, he finally ushered in a productive season, scoring 5 goals in 4 games and not empty-handed in every game. Fulham used all his talents to achieve a great victory against Manchester United, and against Wolves.
In sharp contrast to the team's previous practice of raising the white flag at Old Trafford to preserve their strength for this article, Fulham won the game and won the hearts of the people.
Although Manchester United has objective reasons for playing empty defense, they currently only have Evra as their main defender, Vidic has just returned from injury and is out of action, and Ferdinand, Evans, O'Shea, Neville and Brown are all tired.
Although he worked hard for more than two weeks, Ferguson's formation was the direct cause of the loss.
He unwisely arranged a 3-5-2 formation, letting Fletcher, Carrick and De Laet guard the center, letting Evra and Valencia serve in the corridors on both sides, and the midfielder tried to let Scholes lead Anderson.
and Gibson, two newcomers.[
This formation allowed Hodgson to catch him and attack the space behind Evra and Valencia, completely defeating Manchester United.
Although Manchester United's strategy of using the midfielder to replace the central defender was successful for a while, it was inevitable that the goal would be missed after a long period of time. The first goal conceded was the result of Carrick's blind patience, which led to Murphy's goal.
Ferguson still did not change his formation in the second half, and lost again in the first 18 seconds. Duff made a pass from the right, Dempsey headed the ball in front of the goal, Carrick and others failed to protect him, and Zamora scored in the six-yard area to seal the victory.
of a ball.
At this time, it was too late for Ferguson to make another substitution. Carrick and Fletcher still couldn't cope with Zamora's high point, and Duff scored the third goal.
Liverpool's loss was due to the team's lack of self-confidence and the sluggish state of the main players. Belhaj's first goal was the result of Johnson's header error in the clearance, and Picchionne's second goal from a small angle was even more...
The consequences of the defense being out of position. Liverpool lost both the ball and the man. Mascherano's rough violation of Ben Haim not only hurt himself, but also received a red card. Benitez boasted before the game that he "guaranteed" that Liverpool could return to the front line.
Fourth, his subordinates failed to live up to expectations and lost seven league games. This was Benitez's worst mid-season result since he took office. In the same period of his first season, he only lost six games and drew four, which was more than what he is doing now.
Got two points.
The most explosive news in this round is that Hughes was fired. Seven consecutive draws have paved the way for his dismissal. Even a narrow victory over Sunderland in this round could not save his job.
Manchester City's poor defense was the culprit for Hughes' dismissal. In this round, they faced Sunderland and were tied with a two-goal lead. The lead was tied again with a 3-2 lead. Santa Cruz scored the fourth goal to save the game, but it was not enough to keep Hughes.
S.
Hughes' pre-season investment in forwards did not bring about a qualitative change in Manchester City, and the defensive line that was put together on the spur of the moment was stretched. But Mancini, who succeeded him, may not be able to bring much improvement to Manchester City. He led Inter Milan to a lot of draws, which made it difficult for Manchester City.
It takes time for Manchester City to be reborn, but the club just can't give it time. After spending 200 million pounds, there is still no hope of the top four. In the last round of away games, they were defeated by Tottenham, who were also in the top four. Hughes spent a lot of money to acquire those players.
"Superstar" ultimately killed him.
Arsenal seized the opportunity of the two northern powers losing at the same time and easily defeated Hull 3-0. They were only two points behind Manchester United with a game in hand. If they win the make-up match against Bolton early next month, they will overtake the lead by one point.
Manchester United ranked second. However, this victory was slightly flawed. Hull failed to seize the opportunity to equalize with a penalty kick, and Nasri, who provoked the dispute on the field, only received a yellow card. After beating Burnley in the last round, Arsenal equalized with a penalty kick.
Arsenal only got a draw. If Giovani's penalty kick was scored, Arsenal's result would be difficult to predict.
Was Manchester United's loss surprising?
In fact, many omens have already warned the fans. First of all, Li Yu did not play, which is a big factor.
As we all know, Manchester United's series attack has now transitioned from the Rooney era to the Li Yu era. Li Yu's series attack is more threatening. Not only he personally, but the entire team is full of domineering forward attack.
Switching to Rooney again, it will be more or less different.
Then there are the injuries on the defense line. This season, defense injuries have broken out in full force. Many people think this is a coincidence, but careful people will also find a problem. The previously very strong Manchester United defense line is not only
It's injuries, and we also have to face the problem of players' declining condition.
It can be said that Ferdinand is no longer the Ferdinand he used to be!
These are not the most critical things. The key is that Manchester United's substitute players are often not good enough. Manchester United fans must really miss the baby-faced Norwegian at this time.
Perhaps because in the loss to Villa, the team's offense was limited by having only Rooney as a lone forward, so Ferguson has resorted to a 4-4-2 formation in the last two rounds. Since the league is about to enter the Christmas Devil schedule, he is retaining
In the case of Rooney, Li Yu and Irving, who had just returned from the Club World Cup, were rotated as starters. Rooney's strike partner in this campaign was "switched" to Irving, and this was only the old golden boy's fourth league start after joining Manchester United.
The characteristics of Irving and Li Yu are obviously different, and the biggest difference is that the current golden boy needs to rely more on his teammates to create opportunities for him, while Li Yu is more sophisticated and has the ability to create opportunities for his teammates.
"Manchester Evening News" said: The confidence Irving accumulated after performing a hat trick against Wolfsburg has obviously been exhausted. The British media were right. Irving only took advantage of the home team's clearance error in the 54th minute of the game.
There was a chance to shoot, but the ball went towards the corner flag. In 72 minutes on the field, Irving only had a pitiful 21 chances to touch the ball. This was won by his "hard work" when he retreated to the midfield in the first half.
.
Losing this game was a setback for Manchester United in their hopes of defending the title, while for Owen, his desire to go to the World Cup in South Africa was further diminished.
A big score can always magnify a team's strengths and weaknesses, and this was even more impressive after the game between Manchester United and Fulham. From August 20, 2006, they swept their opponents 5-1 to 0-0 today.
3 Complete defeat at the feet of their opponents. In which link did Manchester United have the biggest problem? The answer is its unique wing attack.
In the opening game of the 200607 Premier League season, Manchester United played a hearty game, and the Red Devils fully demonstrated their characteristics in that game. They firmly controlled the rhythm in the middle, and quickly broke through the wings to deliver good goals. As a result, Manchester United lost in less than 20 minutes.
Beaten Fulham four times. It is really necessary to briefly review some of the Red Devils' wonderful goals.[
For the first goal, Giggs passed the ball from the left, and Saha scored with a header; for the second goal, Saha passed the ball from the left, and Rooney pressed hard, leading to Pierce's own goal; for the third goal, Neville passed the ball from the right, and Saha scored.
After the door was blocked, Rooney scored a goal; in the fourth goal, Rooney passed from the left and Ross scored; even the fifth goal was Brown's cross near the right baseline, thus assisting Rooney to score twice. That game was also
It is regarded as Manchester United's most self-styled game in recent seasons.
In just two and a half years, although Manchester United's skeleton is still there, due to various reasons such as transfers and injuries, they have completely lost what they are good at. Valencia's right wing barely made any effort in the first 45 minutes.
As a result, Ecuador's flying wing speed and dribbling advantage were completely lost under Koncheski's tight defense. It was not until the 50th minute that Valencia found a chance to complete the goal in the penalty area, which was eventually confiscated by Schwarzer.
The right side is not good, and the left side is not good either. Although Evra wears the captain's armband in this game, the Frenchman is not in the best economic condition. This is most obvious in several shots in the second half. Every time he controls the ball, he must stop behind him, which directly leads to
The result is that the attacking speed cannot be increased. In addition, Panthill resolutely implements the coach's request and tries not to let Evra get the ball. Therefore, we see that Manchester United can only rely on Gibson, Rooney and others to fire from the outside most of the time.
Test kick, but only 2 of the 16 shots in the game were on target, which shows how inefficient Manchester United's offense is.
"Manchester Evening News" commented after the game: The quality of Valencia's final pass was too poor, and although Evra was the most impactful person on the team, he was not in his best condition. Of course, this disastrous defeat was enough to
Ferguson and his coaching staff felt ashamed. Maybe one player could not change the situation at that time, but there were Obotan and Welbeck on the bench. Why did Ferguson not make timely adjustments when the team was passive?
The team's offensive effect on the right wing immediately improved. Since they lost, they should at least be able to find some positive factors and learn some lessons from it. After all, losing three points is a small matter, but losing the championship is a big deal!
"This is the worst performance I have seen since I supported Manchester United in 1956. I can't say anything else." A senior Manchester United fan complained on the message board of the "Manchester Evening News". In fact,
After Manchester United lost miserably to Fulham, the Red Devils fans went crazy.
What does the 0-3 defeat against Fulham mean to Manchester United? It means that Manchester United lost for the first time in the past 28 rounds with a net loss of three goals in a single game. The last time they lost their armor was nine months ago last season.
In the 28th round, they lost 1-4 to Liverpool. It is said that only by comparison can one judge, especially under the premise that Manchester United wants to complete four consecutive Premier League titles.
With one game left to complete the league halfway, Manchester United has already lost its fourth game, which is the same number of losses as the entire season in 2006\07 and 2007\08, and more than the entire season of last season.
One more game, the fourth away game defeat also means the same number of away games as the entire 2007\08 season, and one more game than the other two championship seasons.
No wonder Ferguson said this in an interview after the game: "I hope this defeat will not cost us the league championship. We need to get back to a better state as soon as possible. We spent too much time narrowing the gap.
There is no light at the end of the tunnel." bb senior reporter Mike Newty at Craven Farmhouse commented: Manchester United may have forgotten that there are any positive factors for the team in this game, because there are none!
Manchester United, which had only conceded a goal once in the previous 17 rounds due to poor defense from set pieces, lost twice in this campaign at its strongest link in the past. It was the first time in 50 years that they lost two consecutive away games to Fulham! Because
The last consecutive defeat was on December 10, 1949. And 0-3 was the most painful defeat for Manchester United in more than a century since the first confrontation between the two clubs in March 1908! It is no wonder that Manchester United football
"Miscellaneous" was angry after the game and dissatisfied with the team's performance.
As for losing 4 games in the first 18 rounds, this is also Manchester United's worst performance in the past eight seasons. The last time they performed so poorly before half-time was in the 2001\02 season. In that season, the Red Devils lost 6 games in the first 18 rounds.
, despite winning 7 consecutive victories, the final league ranking was only third place. So what will happen to Manchester United this time?
"Please let our great No. 9 start!" Manchester United fans have already found the crux of the problem.
