In the UEFA Cup, Manchester United narrowly eliminated Ajax!
Returning to the Premier League, with Giggs, who played for Manchester United for the 900th time, scoring in the 92nd minute, Manchester United had a thrilling away victory over Norwich, who had performed very well this season.
Such a precious victory not only greatly boosted the morale of the entire Manchester United team, but also once again threw the pressure on the leader Manchester City. For Manchester United, which had just advanced to the Europa League, among the teams in the league
There is still a chance to win the 21st championship, and things are moving in a favorable direction.
Manchester United this season seems to be different from the past. In addition to the younger lineup, the team's combat attributes also seem to be quietly changing.
First of all, people will find that Manchester United is slowly becoming a "second-half team", which means that most of the team's goals come from the second half.
Before this game against Norwich, among Manchester United's first 19 Premier League goals, only one goal was scored before the 39th minute of the game. Although the goal rate was higher in the first half
However, on the other hand, it can also be shown that scoring more goals in the second half is more conducive to the team's victory.
Whether it was chasing three goals in a row to equalize Chelsea, or beating Norwich City in this game, they all proved the importance of scoring in the second half of the game. Therefore, if Manchester United can continue to "goal more in the last 45 minutes" as a rule
, maybe it can help the team go further.
On the other hand, Manchester United, which has always been known as the "home dragon" in previous seasons, has a surprising away record this season. The record is surprisingly good.
In the past 13 away games in the Premier League, Manchester United has achieved an outstanding record of 9 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss (average 231 points per game), ranking first in the away points in the Premier League, and is a veritable "away dragon".[
Even looking at the five major European leagues, this result is second only to Real Madrid (10 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in 12 away games, an average of 258 points per game), and higher than Milan, which has the best away record in Serie A (8 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses in 13 away games,
Average 2 points per game) and Dortmund, which has the best away record in the Bundesliga (12 away games, 7 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses, average 2 points per game).
In the past 11 league games, Manchester United has scored 28 goals indiscriminately, and their offensive power is quite terrifying. What is even more surprising is that among the 40 games that Manchester United has played this season, they have only scored once.
No goals were scored in a game! That was on January 4th, when they lost 0-3 to Newcastle United away from home.
This magical record is unparalleled in European football, and it also illustrates one thing well: Manchester United's offensive power is now very stable, and it is very difficult to limit their scoring points.
In this game, Manchester United scored goals from 37-year-old Scholes and 38-year-old Giggs respectively.
The last time these two veterans, whose combined age is 75, scored for Manchester United in the same game was five years ago, and the first time they started at the same time was in 1994.
In the past 13 times they faced Norwich in the league, Manchester United only lost one game, which gives them a greater psychological advantage. However, looking at this game, Manchester United was a little relaxed when leading by one goal, and it was very easy.
The ball was handed over to the home team, causing the penalty area to be in danger for a period of time. The only goal conceded was due to poor control of the ball.
bb's football commentator believes that "Manchester United paid the price for relaxing in the second half. Judging from the situation on the field, the team more likely to score should be Norwich." Head coach Lambert said that the team's success this season
Their goal is to get enough points to enter the top 10 in the league. And judging from their performance, they are indeed worthy of such results.
For Manchester United, the consecutive losses to Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle in the two league games on New Year's Eve severely damaged the team's vitality. Otherwise, the team would already be leading the league in the standings.
However, as the saying goes, after a period of adjustment, Manchester United is back on track: defeating arch-rivals Arsenal and Liverpool, equalizing Chelsea after being three goals behind, and eliminating Eredivisie giant Aja in two rounds of the Europa League.
Chris, these games have allowed Manchester United to regain their long-lost morale. They have not lost in the past five league games and retain the hope of continuing to compete for the championship.
It is not difficult to imagine that when the team is fighting fiercely in both lines of competition, the Red Devils fans will be even more looking forward to the decisive moment, and they will have a certain sense of urgency and pressure.
Of course, for the championship, the biggest capital comes from the strength and condition of the players. According to statistics, in the Premier League, Manchester United's shooting accuracy is as high as 53%, leading all the giants.
It can be seen that the improvement of shooting skills will help the players score more goals and avoid wasting opportunities due to excessive shooting. Another good news is that Manchester United's serious injury problem has shown some signs of easing recently.
, the injured are gradually coming out of the hospital bed, and after a period of recuperation and training, they can participate in the competition.
Li Yu, Valencia, Mata, Cleverley and other core tactical figures will definitely play a huge role in the remaining 13 games of the season if they are healthy.
Judging from the remaining league schedule, apart from the next round of away challenge to Tottenham and the Tianwangshan showdown with Manchester City on May 1, other opponents are almost nothing to fear for Manchester United. As long as they perform normally
, striving to win is the only goal. The Blue Moon Legion’s enemies also include Arsenal and Chelsea, the London duo.
Now the season has reached the stage where it is most necessary to grit one's teeth and persevere. Teams including Arsenal, Chelsea and other teams have experienced mistakes in this period.[
So what the Manchester United people need to do now is to work together as a team to overcome the difficulties. In order to win the 21st top championship and shatter the Manchester City people's dream of "money championship", it can be said that there is "a long way to go".
Manchester United seems to be back on track, but Chelsea, who also changed their head coach this season, gave another answer early.
A smoke screen exploded at Chelsea's Cobham training ground last week - after the fire brigade arrived and discovered it was a false alarm, fans and the media understood that the "prank" played by two players in the Blues locker room was not actually about the football.
Is it the best expression of the team’s current situation?
Villas-Boas is facing a chaos that his seven predecessors have never faced: Although he has the patience that Abramovich has never had, the already broken dressing room and the coach who has lost trust are all draining Russia little by little.
The demeanor of the proprietor.
Facts have proved that Abramovich's patience and grace are indeed very limited: at 13:30 pm on March 4, London time, less than 24 hours after the Blues defeated the Hawthorn Stadium, Villas-Boas was officially dismissed. This was only 22 days after June 22 last year.
The Portuguese young coach took office in a high-profile manner, but only 256 days later, Villas-Boas has become the short-lived coach who has only more coaching time than Wilkins, Hiddink and Luiz Felipe Scolari since Abramovich took over.
Obviously, the away defeat to West Brom, which was the seventh league defeat this season, was the last straw for Villas-Boas.
After coaching the Blues for 40 games, the Portuguese coach's failure was equal to the sum of two equally short-lived coaches, Grant and Scolari.
Since the 200102 season, Chelsea has never been in such a miserable situation: 46 points in 27 games. No coach in the past 10 years has been able to create such miserable results. Chelsea has only won 1 victory in the past 6 league rounds, even West Brom has won
No less, they were overtaken by 3 points by Arsenal, who had faced a series of strong opponents and staged great comebacks.
Villas-Boas's winning rate is as low as less than 50%, which is not only the lowest in the Abramovich era, but also in Chelsea history dating back to the era of Hoddle who was dismissed in 1996.
After defeating West Brom, Villas-Boas, who knew the end was near, was furious at the press conference: "They grabbed all the first and second points. They are much better than us. Our performance did not meet Chelsea's standards. We
It was extremely bad. A goal might have given us extra motivation, but to be honest, I didn't think we deserved it."
Chelsea, who only had 10 shots in the whole game, did not deserve a victory at all. West Brom, who was hovering in the middle, got 24 shots. In terms of morale, confrontation and offensive efficiency, they were higher than the Blues. If it weren't for Cech's 5 shots
A wonderful save, and the Blues had to wait until 10 minutes before the end of the game before they were completely passive. In the game, the corner kick ratio between the home and away teams was also very different at 14 to 5. The Blues were completely overwhelmed by their opponents on both sides, and at the same time, their own wing attacks showed no threat.
Against West Brom, Chelsea's offense showed little improvement. Not only were they unable to achieve breakthroughs on the wings, but they were also unable to find breakthroughs in the middle of the overly dense defense. After the game, Villas-Boas claimed that only Cole performed well in the game, and the rest were average.
Failed.
In fact, the ones who really performed well were Cech and Drogba. Cole could not take care of himself defensively, let alone offensively. As a result, the Blues could only rely on high-altitude passes. For Germany, whose physical confrontation ability was greatly reduced,
For Roba, such an attack would be suicidal.
Villas-Boas then replaced Torres and Malouda, but Torres only touched the ball twice in 15 minutes, while Malouda, like Lampard, did not work hard and spent more time leisurely. Plus
How can a youngster like Sturridge, who only wants to shoot his own goals, pose a threat to a relegation-defeating Chelsea team with such a lack of ambition?
After coaching 40 games, Villas-Boas lost to Bayer Leverkusen and Napoli in the Champions League, lost to Liverpool in the League Cup, and had to replay the only remaining FA Cup. This was Chelsea's most miserable record during the Abramovich era.
In this regard, Boas still insists on "fighting": "No matter what the situation, I will never resign. I just need to continue to do my job. It is the boss's right to fire me, and outsiders are just talking."
But the fans' patience has come to an end. After the defeat at the Hawthorn Stadium, the British media published an open letter from Chelsea fans to Abramovich, demanding the immediate dismissal of Villas-Boas.
Abramovich's patience, which was only related to money, was completely exhausted at this time: in the past 8 years, Abramovich has spent more than 80 million euros on coaching salaries and contract break-up payments. Faced with the current financial crisis in Europe, the Russians
It is indeed a bit of a trap. At this moment, Boas left
To start with, he needs to pay the Portuguese young coach 17.5 million euros, and last summer he paid 12.5 million euros in "transfer fee" for Villas-Boas. But obviously, the fans' open letter and the team's performance finally made Abramovich understand that Boas
Asi has reached the point where "not killing is not enough to make the people angry".
No coach in the Abramovich era who did not win a trophy died well, and Villas-Boas was no exception.
Recalling his first press conference at the Blue Bridge on June 28 last year, the ambitious Portuguese coach declared in a high-profile manner that his goal was to win the Premier League championship. However, the honeymoon ended quickly after losing to Manchester United 1-3 in September last year.
Another defeat to the newly promoted Queens Park Rangers in May started a nightmare for Villas-Boas: Chelsea lost 5 times in the next 9 games, and the conflict between him and the dressing room quickly became public.
Another 1-3 home defeat to Aston Villa on New Year's Eve forced Chelsea to start the 2012 schedule with a huge gap of 11 points behind Manchester City at the top. Two months later, his Chelsea was 20 points behind Manchester City at the top.
Far away!
British media speculated that Abramovich was actually ready to fire Villas-Boas after defeating Naples. In the resignation statement posted on Chelsea's official website yesterday afternoon (UK time), Chelsea's official wording was very strong: "At the critical moment of the season so far,
The team's performance and results are unsatisfactory and the team is still competing for the Champions League and FA Cup, as well as the top four in the league, so changes must be made."
Like Mourinho who was fired by Abramovich five years ago, Villas-Boas failed to use his results to recover the losses.
But unlike Mourinho, the madman only offended Shevchenko and Ballack back then, but now Villas has offended a group of players including Drogba, Lampard, Malouda and Mikel.
will be left behind.
Therefore, Villas-Boas also needs to hope that the players at the Blue Bridge today can be as emotional as the gift to Mourinho back then. Back then, the madman just did not hug Sheva and Ballack. Now, Boas may even not even give such a gift.
There was no farewell ceremony.
After just over 8 months in charge of Chelsea, Villas-Boas, who led Porto to achieve the Triple Crown last season, sadly resigned. The Daily Star said that Villas-Boas and Torres broke out on the training ground before he was fired.
Conflict. Of course, Torres is not the first player to quarrel with Villas-Boas. Lampard, Acor and Essien have all quarreled with Villas over tactics and personnel.
"Daily Star" stated that before the conflict with Torres, in an interview with Portuguese radio, Boas compared Torres with Shevchenko, Kezman and other forwards who had not performed well at Chelsea, which made Torres very
accurate.
Torres has not scored in the Premier League since September last year, but he did not allow his coach to comment on him like this. After hearing about this, Abramovich asked his staff to translate the full text of the interview in Russian to ensure that he could understand Boa.
What did Si say. At this very delicate moment, Abramovich was very concerned about what Boas would say to the media, and Boas's bombardment of Torres this time hit the target of Abu's gun.
"Daily Express" stated that at 9:30 a.m. local time in the UK on Sunday, Villas-Boas led the team to complete the warm-up, and then he was taken to an office. Abramovich, Chelsea eo Gurley and director Tennbaum were all there.
Waiting for Villas-Boas, the Portuguese coach was immediately told that his mission at Chelsea was over.
After sacking Villas-Boas, Abramovich later held a team meeting at Chelsea's training ground, where he told the players that they needed to fight for their futures in the remainder of the season.
The Daily Telegraph said that after dismissing Villas-Boas, Abramovich will purge a number of Chelsea big names this summer, including Lampard, Drogba and Ashley Cole. Among them, Lampard and Acol His contract with Chelsea expires next summer.
Malouda, Kalou and Bosingwa, their contracts with Chelsea expire this summer, and they will be free to leave after the expiration of their contracts. In addition, Mikel and Ferreira are also very likely to leave the team, and even the captain special There is no guarantee that Lidu will stay at Chelsea next season. In terms of signings, Chelsea is very interested in the 25-year-old Naples striker Cavani and the 19-year-old Brazilian Sao Paulo genius Lucas Moura. The core of Tottenham Modric and Porto midfielder Moutinho are also on the signing list.
Chelsea acting coach Di Matteo said, "This has been a very difficult 24 hours for most people at this club. We have to look forward and try to achieve good results in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup." "Results." The "Daily Telegraph" said that Abramovich hopes that Di Matteo can start with Torres, and he hopes to prove that this 50 million pound signing is not wrong.
At the same time, good news came from Manchester United on the field. This is of course somewhat ironic, because it is Chelsea's former coach Carlo Ancelotti who leads Manchester United.
Before Manchester United visited Tottenham at White Hart Lane, old captain Gary Neville said, "If after today, Manchester City's lead is still 5 points, then they will have a great chance of winning; if Manchester United plays at White Hart Lane, After defeating Tottenham, Manchester United people should understand that the championship is under their control." At White Hart Lane, although Manchester United only played good football for 25 minutes, it was enough. After defeating Tottenham 3-1 in the away game, Manchester United is heading towards 20 The crown's goal has taken another big step forward.
Looking at the technical statistics of opt, in the whole game, Manchester United only took a pitiful 6 shots, which was 13 of Tottenham's 18 shots. However, Manchester United's efficiency was extremely high. The Red Devils used 5 shots on target to score 3 goals. After the game, Tottenham coach Lao Lei said depressingly that his team's goalkeeper Friedel had no chance to save. While Ancelotti admitted that it was a miracle that Manchester United took the lead in the first half, he also lamented that the Red Devils were really lucky.
After losing 1-3, Tottenham have won one of the past 26 games against Manchester United (including 22 league games), with a specific record of 6 draws and 20 losses. The last time Tottenham defeated Manchester United was in May 2001, when they A 3-1 win at White Hart Lane, with Giggs and Scholes both starting in that game.
In this campaign, Defoe's goal allowed Tottenham to avoid a goalless defeat for the fifth time in the past six games against Manchester United.
This is the second time Tottenham has lost at home this season. The last time they lost at home was the 1-5 bloodbath by Manchester City in the third round of the league. However, this is the fifth time this season that Tottenham has been beaten by opponents by scoring 3 goals or more. More than 3 goals were scored, and they lost to Manchester City 1-5, 2-3 at home and away respectively; they lost to Manchester United 1-3, 0-3 respectively; they lost to Arsenal 2-5 in the away game.
Facing such a vulnerable opponent, this is definitely not the performance that a championship team should perform. After this game, Tottenham fell 13 points behind Manchester City at the top of the list and 11 points behind Manchester United. They basically announced that they would withdraw from the Premier League championship this season. The battle for the title became a real Manchester derby.
