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Chapter 220 The battle for the top spot

After the game, Liverpool and Manchester City lost their hostile attitude before the game. The players who knew each other greeted each other, and the atmosphere on the court was in harmony.

From the moment the independent referee blew the whistle to the end of the game, both sides were no longer opponents.

After the game, Wan Sheng also came over and shook hands with Liverpool coach Benitez. The two had no contact in private, but in fact, they admired each other.

Benitez is known as a "tactic master". In 2O5 years, he led Liverpool to the top of the European championship. This championship is enough to make people talk about for many years. That Liverpool is not a strong team, but Benitez brought Liverpool into the Champions League final and created a "centennial miracle" in the final, defeating A Milan to win the European championship. This time the championship alone is admirable.

Liverpool is not a strong team now, but they have made progress in European games. Wan Sheng feels that he should learn more from Benitez.

Benitez also admires Wansheng very much.

In fact, Wan Sheng's achievements so far have shocked everyone who knows it. After all, he is less than a year old, and it is amazing to be a European first-line coach under the age of 10, not to mention leading the team to create miracles and winning the English championship twice in a row.

Both of them admire each other, and now the handshake seems very emotional.

At the same time, the atmosphere on the court is also very harmonious.

Morris took the initiative to find a handshake. He patted Gerald's arm and expressed comfort. Gerald also smiled and replied that the two were teammates of the England team. Although they had a competitive relationship, their private relationship was pretty good. When Morris first joined the national team, he had no familiar players at all, and Gerald also gave him a lot of help.

The competition between the two is getting more intense in the national team, but in addition to competition, they are still good friends off the field.

Afterwards, Morris found Hypia and apologized to him, "Sorry, I did that just now, it was not intentional. I just suddenly thought of having a chance like that," Morris said.

Hypia smiled bitterly and nodded.

There was no conflict between the two sides. If he had that skill, he would definitely do that on the court. If he thought about it carefully, it was nothing. Anyone would feel bad if he was replaced by a crotch, but the other party was in the game and did not intend to do crotch penetration against him. Hepia forgave Morris.

The two also exchanged jerseys and then walked towards the player channel together.

The conversation and friendship between the two were captured by many media cameras, and it would have become a chat in the media news after the game.

At the post-match press conference, Wan Sheng did not bring any players.

The best player of the game was ultimately owned by Morris, because his wonderful goal would almost certainly become the best in this round. But Wan Sheng did not intend to bring Morris to the press conference venue. He had enough attention to Morris and he did not need to be exposed to the media's vision.

At the press conference, the media praised it, and I hope that Wan Sheng would like to say what he wanted to win, what he thoughts and thoughts. Many media hope that Wan Sheng would reveal some big news about Liverpool, and that these off-court news will also become the focus of attracting fans' attention.

However, Wansheng will not follow the media's thoughts.

The game won, the players performed well in the game, and Wan Sheng was in a good mood. Naturally, there would be no more "hard" to lose Liverpool.

So the press conference was peaceful.

Liverpool media, which boasted about the "Liverpool victory argument" before the game, lost Liverpool, was really depressed and naturally didn't want to let Wansheng go like this. The way they made it difficult for Wansheng was on the little finger that appeared in the game, "Is this a provocation to Liverpool fans?" A reporter asked bluntly.

Wan Sheng just smiled lightly and looked at the reporter and said, "That's just my celebration move. After seeing David scored, I was very excited. I did that move unconsciously. If it was understood by the fans as provocation, I am sorry. Everyone knows that people can be forgiven for doing something extraordinary when they are excited. I didn't do that on purpose."

Wan Sheng shrugged as he said that, not caring at all.

Hearing these words, seeing the young Chinese on the stage looking for granted, the Liverpool reporter vomited blood in anger. He raised his little finger and was obviously provocative. He was actually a little excited and nervous when the Chinese was "taken for granted"? Can this be faked?

But Wansheng will definitely not admit it.

No matter the actual situation is considered a provocation, as long as he does not admit it, no one will be bored to hold the responsibility. But if it admits it is a provocation, the matter is really big, and the FA will intervene in the investigation. As long as you don’t admit it, there will be nothing to do, and he has no reason to cause trouble for himself.

This is a kind of ‘unspoken rule’ in the football world.

If you do anything, you will do it. No one will pursue it after the past, but if you stand up and blatantly admit that you did it, this is not only a provocation of the fans, but also a contempt of the FA. If the FA doesn’t cause trouble for you, who else can you ask for trouble?

Wansheng will not be so impulsive that he will fall into this pit on his own initiative.

After that, Wan Sheng said a few more words and left the press conference. It was unnecessary to talk to media reporters. It was important that Manchester City successfully took away three-pointers at Anfield Stadium and further stabilized the league results.

Only after Wansheng left did Benitez come.

The Spanish obviously walked into the venue by the time. He didn't want to be interviewed with Wan Sheng, so as the failed party would not be taken seriously at all. He didn't want to experience that feeling, so he simply came late for a while.

Perhaps this failure made Espanyol disheartened by the league. At the press conference, Benitez admitted directly that the team's goal of competing for the English championship this season was basically not achieved. The realistic goal is to compete for the top four and enter the Champions League next season."

"The fourth place is our goal now, and we have to fight for it. The championship is too far away because Manchester United and Manchester City are in excellent form as well as Chelsea."

"Our performance in the European arena may be more confident than in the UK-China-European game."

Benitez also admitted that in the game, when Morris scored his second goal, Liverpool basically gave up hope, and he saw the team's lack of fighting spirit. "The second goal was deadly, at the beginning of the game. We were able to compete with our opponents, but with the second goal coming, the game ended."

After this defeat, Liverpool had 14 points less than Manchester City. It was very difficult to catch up. In addition, they only scored one point in six away games, which was the worst away record in history.

"The failure of this home court is that we are not strong enough and cannot play well. But we are very confident at home. I believe the team will get a lot of points at home."

After Benitez was interviewed, Liverpool captain Gerrard was interviewed again, talking about England's rival Morris, "It's hard for me to imagine that his goal is beautiful, and I believe others feel this way. I just want to say now that he is not worse than me at all. If McLaren chooses to let him replace me, I'm not surprised at all. Because he is a very capable person."

Then he talked about the same topic as Benitez, which is Liverpool's points issue this season. "We lost too many away points, and it always seems difficult to play away with teams like Arsenal and Manchester United. But most importantly, no matter what the game is, we have to show more resilience, especially when we are behind with one goal."

“Showing resilience is a character that I’ve always been proud of, but now people say we haven’t shown that, which makes me sad. Maybe when we lose the ball, the team lacks confidence in what game it is always important.”

At this time last year, Liverpool was in the process of a ten-game winning streak. And only one goal was conceded in ten games. Gerrard said that the team must look for this state and momentum now, "You can't look too far, but we have to remember what we did last season and start an invincible journey now."

"We are now going to strive to enter the top four, and we are currently ranked seventh. We know that this is not enough to have ambitious goals at the beginning of the season, but now we are aiming to reach the top four as soon as possible before we can start thinking about higher goals."

"There is still a long way to go this season. Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea will have to go to Anfield in the second half of the season. After losing to Manchester United, we won five games, and now we have to win a longer streak."

Gerrard did not talk about Manchester City in the end, perhaps because the second match with Manchester City was Liverpool's away game, but this was also understood by the media that sang praises to Manchester City, "The Liverpool captain was discouraged by the match against Manchester City, because at Anfield, they could not find hope of victory."

This statement is very marketable because Manchester City won quite well in this game.

But the most popular game in this round is not the Liverpool and Manchester City, because there is also a more popular classic game between Manchester United and Chelsea at home!

Manchester United ranks first in the UK, Chelsea ranks third in the UK, with one Manchester City apart between the two teams. But in fact, Manchester United only leads Chelsea by three points, which is just a game gap.

Mourinho talked about the referee issue again before the game!

No matter how arrogant Chelsea and Manchester United are before the game, it is difficult for Mourinho and Ferguson to avoid a big worry in their hearts, that is Howard Webber, who served as the referee of this game.

Although 35-year-old Webber has only three seasons of law enforcement experience, he has no problems. The problems come from the hearts of the two coaches.

In Mourinho's opinion, Manchester United has always been the team that is most favored by referees. He obviously will not forget the favors that referee Kratenberg gave to them two seasons ago in the match between Manchester United and Tottenham. In that game, Tottenham player Mendes's lob shot was carried into the goal by Manchester United goalkeeper Carol, but the referee on duty ignored it and let Manchester United go.

"We don't want the referee to treat us like Tottenham. Mendes' shot was two meters above the line, and no one saw it." Mourinho said they didn't want to repeat the grievances that Portsmouth had suffered earlier this month. "We don't want to be awarded a penalty at the beginning of the game, just like what Portsmouth encountered in the first minute of the game against Manchester United. We don't want to encounter any of the above possibilities."

The Portuguese said that they do not want to be favored by the referee, but only want to get a fair game environment. "We only have some fair game and dignity that is often seen in football in Britain."

Since replacing Boll as the referee in this game, Weber has been put under pressure. Which referee enforces the law is not important to Mourinho, what is important is that he believes that it has become a tradition for them to favor Manchester United, and Chelsea are always treated specially.

"Usually in football games, a team that is worthy of victory should win," Mourinho said. "You can't be biased against a team, nor do you wear tinted glasses on the boss, coach or player of the club. We want to win when we should win, lose when we should lose, without being affected by external forces."

Just as the British referees have a preference for Manchester United, they have also developed a bias against Chelsea in recent seasons.

After being sent off with Tottenham captain Terry, the Chelsea coach thought they were too much. He arranged an opportunity to meet with referee Hackett. This meeting became an important factor in replacing Boll's law enforcement tonight's game, because after that game, Boll reported to the FA that Chelsea players had been harassing him.

Manchester United coach Ferguson feels it is necessary to say a few words.

"Weber is a young referee. I think he should have the opportunity to enforce such a major game. I just hope this game will not have the scenes that are often seen in recent games. I don't want to see players surround the referees. Although he is young, if his judgment is fair, the players shouldn't complain."

After talking about the referee issue, the game between the two teams was officially launched.

Facing Chelsea can be said to be the best touchstone for Manchester United's midfield strength. After this collision with Chelsea's luxury midfield, the Manchester United midfielder, which has always been suspicious, can be said to have passed the test.

Facing Chelsea's luxury midfielder, Giggs, Scholes, Carrick and Ronaldo's four-man combination did not show weakness that was worrying in advance. Although his stealing ability was not as good as that of his opponent, he had an advantage in breaking through on two sides. This midfield combination is faster and wider than Chelsea. There will also be more changes in the offense.

This also led to Manchester United suppressing Chelsea in the offensive in the first half.

Ronaldo is very active, and Carrick is increasingly showing his value, but this Manchester United midfielder can compete with the strongest Chelsea, but the key is that two veterans Giggs and Scholes. As many people say, the combination of Scholes and Carrick has begun to become a whole, and the brain of this mid-lane combination is still a sophisticated "ginger head".

Whether it is long pass transfer or short pass penetration, wide pass breakthrough or straight pass through in the middle, all changes are basically directed by Scholes in the middle. Although Carrick was elected the best player in this game, it is impossible to deny that playing football next to Scholes is a major reason for his outstanding performance. Giggs is an element of Manchester United's advantage in offensiveness.

Manchester United scored the goal in the first half from Giggs cut inside to direct transmission from the middle, and then Rooney passed directly to Saa and scored with a blow. Compared to Ronaldo, who was wasting opportunities on the right, Giggs' skill has brought valuable results to Manchester United.

Although this test proved that the four Manchester United midfielders were completely comparable to Britain's best midfielders. However, Giggs and Scholes' physical strength declined in the second half, which also exposed the concerns of over-reliance on veterans.

In the second half, Mourinho achieved Chelsea's counterattack with a classic substitution!

Mourinho replaced Gremy with Robben, and Essin took over the right offense and defense, and Chelsea's formation became 4312. Robben's breakthrough curbed Ronaldo. At the same time, Essin's right guard was safe and sound due to the outstanding performance of the Ghanaian.

The result of the game was Essin's assist from the right side indirectly led to the final equalization, but this time the protagonist was replaced by Carvalho.

1:1, this is the final result of the Old Trafford Stadium battle.

After the game, Ferguson lamented that Ronaldo, who had the most shots in England, missed opportunities repeatedly, and Van der Sar was not lucky enough. With the tone of masturbating with the Red Devils, he really could not hide the regret of Manchester United's release of mortal enemies at home.

Mourinho celebrated his rebound and said, "If I were a Manchester United player, I would be very disappointed. Because they lost a very big opportunity, an opportunity that would be enough to expand our lead to 6 points."

Mourinho did not make things difficult for the referee. The only thing that made him unhappy was Carrick, who was named the best in the game after the game. "The best in the game? Of course it was Carvalho. But the real best should be the Chelsea team doctor. They allowed Carvalho to recover in time within 3 days and created this great draw."

It was a really great draw.

Mourinho's view is exactly the same as Wan Sheng's, but the Portuguese was sighing, and Wan Sheng said this from the bottom of his heart, "I watched the whole game, it was really great. Both teams performed well. In the game, I saw the difference in the teams. At the same time, I was more confident in competing for the championship this season!"

All the reporters who came to interview nodded.

They all understand the saying of Wan Sheng, because Manchester United and Chelsea are Manchester City's biggest competitors in the league. Before this round, Manchester City and Manchester United were 2 points apart, which was only one more point than Chelsea. However, Manchester United tied with Chelsea, so Manchester City caught up with Manchester United's points, only one goal difference away, ranking second in the league. At the same time, Manchester City also had three more league points than Chelsea.

In this regard, as Manchester Stadium said, "The British list dispute has entered the most intense moment!" (To be continued.)

You can get the view after getting off the clouds.
Chapter completed!
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