Talking about the grudges between Liverpool and Manchester, it can be traced back to a hundred years ago. At that time, Liverpool was one of the most famous ports in the UK, and its early prosperity was also based on port trade.

When the Industrial Revolution came, Liverpool had already begun to decline.

As an industrial city in the northwest, Manchester initially relied heavily on Liverpool's port transport, but when the Grand Canal was opened in the late 19th century, most ships could bypass Liverpool and drive directly to Manchester, which undoubtedly exacerbated Liverpool's decline. Therefore, Manchester and his Grand Canal have become one of the objects of jealousy of Liverpool people since then.

After the Industrial Revolution, both Liverpool and Manchester gradually declined, but the hatred between the two cities remained.

Manchester people hate Liverpool deeply, and Liverpool people also hate Manchester deeply. The hostile relationship between the two cities has been integrated into all aspects of life, and football has become a real battlefield.

In the past, Manchester United could only represent the city of Manchester, because after Manchester United rose to the 1990s, they kicked Liverpool off the throne of English football, turning them from a real giant to a "declined nobleman".

Manchester United coach Ferguson once said a classic saying, "My greatest achievement is to kick Liverpool off the throne of fucking." He can always remember the pleasure of leading Manchester United to overwhelm Liverpool. "Every Manchester man is proud to win against Liverpool. Because the opponent is like us, the most successful club in England. We can't stand the opponent's victory, as if we were trampled under our feet."

In short, Manchester United was the one who represented Manchester and Liverpool before, but now it is different. Manchester City has better results than Manchester United, so challenging Manchester United to "rule Manchester's status" has become an urgent matter.

In fact, Manchester City has a fan base in this regard.

In the city of Manchester, Manchester City fans have more fans than Manchester United because many fans think that Manchester United is an "international team", their influence is international, and their boss is also an American, and they cannot represent Manchester at all.

Manchester City is different. It is a completely fundamental Manchester team.

Because of this, when Wansheng talks in front of the media, 'Only we can represent Manchester', it will cause all kinds of discussion.

The media supporting Manchester City are very excited, and of course they are happy to see Manchester City rise. They replace Manchester United for Manchester and represent Manchester; neutral media are also interested in this matter. The competition between Manchester City and Manchester United is a unique scenery of English football; only those pure Manchester United media will come forward to criticize Wan Sheng and laugh at him for being overestimated.

Wansheng didn't refute anything about these.

In fact, he just put forward a slogan that excited Manchester City fans, and it had no substantial meaning, but he still had a purpose in saying this.

Since he came to Manchester City Club and took over Manchester City's coaching staff, he had to face one problem, that is, his mortal enemy Manchester United.

Even if he does nothing, as long as Manchester City has good results, they will always have to face Manchester United, and their relationship will become more and more hostile. Every Manchester United fan will regard him as his mortal enemy, and all those who support Manchester United will hate him.

This is inevitable unless he leaves Manchester City.

Wan Sheng is not afraid of these things. When he came to Manchester City, he was ready to "fight to the death" with Manchester United. So now when he led the team to the top of the league, there is no need for him to keep a low profile. He took the initiative to attack and gained the advantage of "first". Manchester United will be the one who has the headache.

The game against Liverpool is now a chance, so Wan Sheng said it, and his words were also reported by many media, and were regarded as a provocation to Manchester United.

Many media are talking about this matter, so things soon trace back to a fundamental issue - Manchester United and Manchester City's performance.

In the first game at the beginning of the season, Manchester City beat Manchester United. The next match between the two teams is worth looking forward to, but the most important thing is the results of the two teams in the league. Currently, Manchester City ranks first, while Manchester United is behind Chelsea and Wigan Athletics. It ranks fourth in the league. It is still a bit too difficult to catch up with this result.

After defeating West Ham United 2-1 away game in the last round, Manchester United won three consecutive games in the league and rose to fourth place in the standings, 13 points behind Manchester City with one less game. However, Manchester United's three consecutive games gave Ferguson hope to win the championship.

After learning Wan Sheng's remarks, Ferguson immediately sarcastically said, "That Chinese man has some achievements and doesn't know what it means. He wants to represent Manchester unless he wins as many championships as Manchester United first."

Next he talks about the league again.

"In football, things are changing very quickly, and the battle for the championship is far from over. Manchester City's results are rising all the way, but they have arrived, and I believe they are about to start to slip. Chelsea has already had several pauses, and I think their luck will be exhausted."

The pause Ferguson mentioned refers to the battle at Old Trafford, where Manchester United defeated Chelsea 1-0, and then continued its winning streak. However, Chelsea's pace has not stopped. After leaving Old Trafford, the Blues have won twice.

What he said clearly means not to give up on the competition for this season.

There are more people who have had Ferguson at Manchester United. He is 64 years old after all. Ferguson still looks at this for quite a long time. When asked how long he would be at Manchester United, he said that there will be at least 2 to 3 years left.

"I can still make long-term plans," Ferguson said. "I will be here next season, and I believe that by next summer, the club will still support me. Of course, I can't coach here for 10 years and maybe four years will not come, but I can make plans for next season."

One of Ferguson's plans is to find new players for Manchester United. After announcing that he has no interest in Barack, he revealed some clues, saying that his number one goal will come next summer. "In January, we may only introduce a few people, just to ensure the adequate staff. The one we really want to sign can only be introduced next summer."

"This guy can't represent us in the Champions League this season, and his club won't sell him by next summer. But I'm confident that the club will support my work in the summer and Manchester United will get the players they need."

Next, the media interviewed who Ferguson was interested in. The two clues he revealed were also very interesting. First of all, this player must have appeared on the Champions League stage this season, so even if he transfers, he cannot represent Manchester United in the remaining stages. Secondly, he is very important to the team. Before finding his substitute, the old club will not let people go easily.

Barack has ruled out that the British media speculation targets are focused on two people, with Gattuso of AC Milan and Maruda of Lyon becoming the focus.

But by next summer, it is still a mystery who this person is, and only Ferguson himself really knows the answer.

...

At the same time, Liverpool, one of the focus of attention, has no time to care about Manchester's "civil war".

As the defending champions of the UEFA Champions League, there were many problems in their team. The most troublesome thing to coach Benitez was perhaps the team's forward line problem.

Wednesday night was the UEFA Champions League group stage. Liverpool's opponent was Real Betis from Spain. Compared with Liverpool, Real Betis is just a rookie in European competitions. The strength of the two teams is quite different, but when Anfield left the game, most Red Army fans were full of contradictions.

On the one hand, the team's hard-won four-game winning streak came to an abrupt end on this day, but on the other hand, this is the fifth consecutive game for the team's goal to maintain "innocence"; although the club's history of never defeating Spain at home (3 draws and 1 loss) has not been rewritten, Liverpool's unbeaten games in the Champions League continued to 13 games.

This is the fifth "white scroll" of Liverpool in 19 games since the opening of the Premier League, and 0-0 is enough to ensure a place in the round of 16 knockout stages.

Two weeks later, the Premier League derby at Stamford Bridge could allow Chelsea to win the top spot in the group, but it could not change the fact that the two teams advanced together. Even last season when Liverpool won the European championship, they had to barely pass the final blow with captain Gerrard in the last group match.

(Liverpool relied on the 'Champions League defending champion' to win a place, but was assigned to the same group as Chelsea)

However, embarrassment and annoyance are also accompanied by a festive atmosphere, because from any perspective, this is a game that the home team should have easily won.

In 90 minutes, Liverpool's shots were as high as 25 times (8 of which hit the goal frame), far more than opponent Real Betis's 6 times (only two shots). On the scene, Real Betis gained a 54% advantage in possession, but the number of times he entered the 30-meter area in front of the home team was a very small number, not to mention the actual threat to Liverpool's goal.

What makes people even more regretful is that the high center Crouch, who has played for Liverpool for the 16th time this season, should have won his first goal since joining Anfield.

In just 4 minutes in the middle of the first half, Crouch had three excellent opportunities to break through the wasteland, and his left-footed volley in the second half was blocked by the arm of the visiting defender Rivas.

In UEFA's post-match technical statistics, Crouch scored 10 shots alone!

But...none of them scored.

This is a huge irony!

Crouch's nervousness and weakness in the face of the goal seemed to have spread to his teammates. Riser wasted a beautiful volley in the second half. Before the game, Gerald, who expressed his hope to be the second Emlin Hughes (the only captain in Liverpool's history to win the Champions League twice), received a wonderful pass from Covil when the game was about to enter stoppage time to form a single shot, but watched his powerful push shot be successfully blocked by visiting goalkeeper Dobras, so he shook his head repeatedly when he was replaced.

"If Crouch can keep playing today, I will be very satisfied," said the company, "No surprise, although Crouch has been up to 21 hours and 8 minutes since his last goal, head coach Benitis has provided solidarity with him again, and he has performed well in the last few games. In any case, we have successfully qualified, which is a huge improvement compared to last season."

I don’t know whether it’s a blessing or a disaster, but another mediocre appearance still did not defeat Crouch’s confidence.

"It's another embarrassing night, but what's important is that the team has achieved the results we want," Crouch, who was replaced by Covil in the 84th minute, said in a post-match interview. "As long as I can score the first goal, I believe more goals will follow."

But no matter what the "tactical" coaches and players say, Liverpool's forward line has become a huge problem.

Media commented, "In the game against Manchester City, how Liverpool scores has become a crucial issue."

Currently, Manchester City conceded the least number of goals in the Premier League, so there is no need to say much about defensive ability. It is not easy to break through Manchester City's goal. Benitez's Liverpool striker itself has problems, and Manchester City media have all laughed at the ridicule of "we can at least have one point."

Originally, the game between the two teams could go smoothly. After all, even if Wan Sheng said 'We can represent Manchester in the future', but that's the future, not now, this is not the match between Manchester United and Liverpool, but the news before the game suddenly made the two teams even more nervous - Benitez found Robbie Fowler privately, and the two had some conversations. Robbie Fowler is likely to return to Anfield Stadium in winter! (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!