Chapter 239 The worst start for the defending Premier League champions, next

Ronaldo's sudden red card really made his teammates and Sir Alex Ferguson feel very upset, and the tactical arrangement was completely disrupted. However, this situation also has its advantages, that is, the whole team's tactics will easily form a unified opinion: that is, to withdraw and defend with unity and counterattack, which is easier to execute with a simpler and clearer mindset.

After Ronaldo left the field, Ferguson immediately replaced Giggs with O'Shea and changed the formation to 4-4-1, leaving only Tevez in the front, but arranging Li Qi to use his speed to actively join in the counterattack and become the vanguard of holding the ball and advancing in the counterattack tactics.

Ferguson let Li Qi initiate the counterattack from the left because he found that after 65 minutes, Tevez, who lacked systematic training, could no longer run. The Argentine striker was fine standing still as a fulcrum, but he was obviously powerless to advance or penetrate the ball in a large area. However, there was no one on the bench who could replace Tevez, so he had to keep the Argentine on the field.

However, the home team with the numerical advantage took the lead. In the 72nd minute of the game, Portsmouth almost overtook the score. Mwaruwari forced his way into the left side of the penalty area and his shot was barely saved by Van der Sar. Fortunately, Evra returned to defense in time and cleared the ball into the empty goal 6 yards in front of the goal before Nugent could make a follow-up shot.

In the 76th minute, Manchester United launched a counterattack. Scholes and O'Shea grabbed the ball at the front of the penalty area and passed it directly to Li Qi on the left. The latter stopped the ball with his chest and then evaded Sean Davis' interception, and then rushed straight into the Portsmouth penalty area.

Li Qi rushed to the front of the Pompey Army's penalty area in a few steps, and then with the cover of Tevez, he made a big change of direction and rushed to the corner of the penalty area. Then he pretended to dribble, dribbled past Distin's flying tackle, and sent a diagonal pass to the middle.

Unfortunately, Tevez's follow-up shot from 10 yards in front of the goal was tipped over the crossbar with one hand by the heroic James.

Two minutes later, Li Qi made another comeback. Manchester United's backcourt cleverly kicked the ball out, breaking the home team's high-pressure defense. Evra sent a straight pass to Li Qi near the sideline. Li Qi faked Montari's center of gravity with his back, let the ball pass, turned around and shot directly, and rushed forward along the side road!

Richard Hughes, who had used a trick to get Ronaldo off, was unable to stop Li Qi, who had already hit the highway. Li Qi shook off Hughes's dirty hands with a flick of his hand, leaving the latter with nothing but the dust on his taillights.

This time, Li Qi cut into the penalty area at high speed and did not choose to pass the ball, because he felt that Tevez's physical strength was not enough to cope with the consumption of the set of actions of catching the ball, getting rid of it and shooting. So Li Qi made a right-angle fake body to dodge Zeng Zhi's former teammate Hredadson during the Charlton period, raised his foot and shot the ball straight to the far corner of the goal!

But the ball was once again saved by James, who was like a god descending from heaven! Tevez's supplementary shot from 6 yards in front of the goal was also out of the goal range due to the interference of Traore...

Although Li Qi's consecutive outstanding performances did not result in a goal, it made Sir Alex Ferguson in the audience nod his head with satisfaction, and also rekindled the hope of the entire Manchester United team to win the game, so the ball was more concentratedly delivered to Li Qi's side.

However, the tallest tree in the forest will be destroyed by the wind, and the Red Devils soon suffered their second loss of the game.

The game just entered the last ten minutes of regular time. Li Qi received the ball on the left again and prepared to launch a counterattack. However, the defender facing Li Qi this time decided not to give Li Qi a chance to break through. Because Montari's position was not very good at this time, and the black and hard player who had been fighting for 80 minutes was also buzzing in his head, and he knew that he could not let the No. 17 in red clothes pass again.

So Montari chose to do a flying tackle from the side, directly shoveling Li Qi and himself off the field...

Li Qi, who had already made a breakthrough, had his left thigh caught by the studs of Montari flying from the side, and then was directly knocked down by the latter's flying body, with no way to avoid it. However, Li Qi's bloody left thigh was actually fine, just a scratch; what really made Li Qi unable to continue the game was the sprain of his right ankle joint. Li Qi's right ankle was pressed by the big black guy when he landed.

So Sir Ferguson had a gloomy face and had to replace Li Qi with Eagles.

Montari, who left the court with Li Qi, was naturally asked by the referee to go back to the locker room to take a cold shower and cool down...

Although the number of players in both teams, like the scores, were back to the same starting line again, Sir Alex Ferguson was in a very heavy mood at this moment. It was really like adding insult to injury!

In the end, Manchester United drew 1-1 with Portsmouth away from home. Two consecutive draws at the start of the season, as well as Rooney's serious injury, Ronaldo's red card and Li Qi's sprain, made the start of Manchester United's 07/08 season look unprecedentedly dark.

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Fratton Park is a "devil's place". Last season, Manchester United lost the game 1-2 as an away team. Ferdinand's own goal in the last minute was jaw-dropping. In the four Premier League away games against Manchester United, they only had one win and three losses. In the first encounter of this season, the two sides shook hands and made peace, but Manchester United was still the loser, losing 4 points, plus Ronaldo was sent off and Ricardo was injured.

At the press conference after the game, Sir Alex Ferguson naturally had a grim face: "C Ronaldo was enraged and fell into the opponent's trap. He must learn a lesson from this red card, but one thing must be made clear, he was not effectively protected throughout the night... Portsmouth players were very brutal and fierce throughout the game, and our players were treated roughly... Ronaldo and Li Qi were not well protected all night."

However, Sir Alex still gave positive comments on the team's performance, especially that of Tevez and Lizzie: "We played well, especially when we had to deal with the opponent's fierce pressing... But we were unlucky, and we missed seven or eight chances by a hair's breadth. Tevez and Lizzie played very well tonight, which was Manchester United's biggest gain in this game. The former got an assist on his debut, and the latter was probably just a few millimeters away from his first Premier League goal... But the injuries of Rooney and Lizzie, as well as Ronaldo's suspension, will deal us a big blow."

@

After the game, Sky Sports rated the match and believed that no one from the Red Devils performed poorly in this match. As for why they failed to beat their opponents, Ferguson had to dig deeper into the reasons.

"This time last week, Ferguson was still dreaming of ascending to the Premier League crown for the tenth time. However, after just two rounds, Manchester United is already four points behind Chelsea, who have won two consecutive games. Although it is difficult to predict what will happen in the league afterwards, one thing cannot be denied, Manchester United started slowly.

抛开切尔西不谈，曼联就是与自己纵向对比也是开局比较差的一次，首场0比0闷平雷丁，第二场1比1被朴茨茅斯逼平，两战仅积2分进球1个。上一次两轮之后还未尝胜绩还要追溯到9年前，98/99赛季揭幕战主场被莱切斯特2比2逼平，此轮客场0比0被西汉姆逼平，不过当时曼联多进一球。比今年更惨的开局是英超刚刚更名的92/93赛季，曼联两连败进1球丢5球。

Now two consecutive draws are the second worst start in Manchester United's history, which casts a shadow on Manchester United's road to defending the title. People want to know why the Red Devils, who were still so majestic in May, became a sick cat three months later. After spending hundreds of millions of euros on signings in a summer, they only got two draws. What happened to Manchester United?

The accidental injury of Ricardo Lich in this round has brought Manchester United's injury disaster to a climax in the new season. Counting the Red Devils' injured list, the second goalkeeper Foster, the main right back Gary Neville, the midfielders Hargreaves, Park Ji-sung and Lich, the forwards are Rooney and Saha, plus Anderson, who has delayed pre-season training due to transfers and the America's Cup and is not yet in good condition, Manchester United's injury list is almost a strong lineup.

Chelsea was also plagued by injuries and transfers, but it should be pointed out that most of Manchester United's injured players were concentrated in the midfield and frontcourt, which had a great impact on the team's offensive ability. Chelsea was missing Ballack, Sheva and Robben, but Mourinho brought in Sidwell, Malouda and Pizarro in time in the summer. Although there was a gap in fame, the strength was not bad. In comparison, Manchester United was dragged down more seriously by injuries.

In addition to injuries, this summer's trip to Asia was also an important factor that affected Manchester United's performance at the beginning of the new season. Although the Asian trip is a "reserved program" for Manchester United's summer preparations, this year they also toured China, Japan and South Korea, and the results were good, but it did not really serve the purpose of warming up and preparing for the game. The overly relaxed and slow game rhythm made Manchester United lose their sense of crisis.

Of course, to win the championship, you need luck in addition to strength. Even Manchester United admitted that they were too lucky last season. They scored miraculously against Liverpool and Fulham in away games when it seemed impossible to win. In the game against Everton, which was 0-2 behind, the opponent's goalkeeper made a stupid mistake, which led to Manchester United's crazy counterattack and scored 4 goals in a row.

However, this season, the Red Devils seem to have overdrawn their luck. In the first game of the new season against Reading, Manchester United shot more than 20 times but failed to score, and also lost the key player Rooney. In this round of visiting Portsmouth, the team also made a lot of noise but did not deliver. All shots on target in the first and second half were miraculously saved by the opponent's goalkeeper, and the opponent also killed them with one shot.

Manchester United's bad luck is likely to continue. Rooney will enter the recuperation period, Gary Neville and others are still undecided about when they will return, the severity of Li Qi's injury is still unknown, and Ronaldo will face suspension again...

The curse of winning the Community Shield but losing the Premier League has only been broken once by Chelsea in the past ten years. Can Manchester United break the curse this season? Fortunately, there is also a positive side to the historical record. Manchester United won the championship in the two previous bad starts, and even won the treble in the 98/99 season. Again, the starting gun has just been fired, and the fate is still in the hands of the Red Devils themselves! "

@

Fortunately, the MRI after the game found that Ricardo was fine, just a pure soft tissue contusion, and he would recover in two or three days with medication and physical therapy, which made Ferguson breathe a sigh of relief. However, Ricardo is basically confirmed to miss the weekend derby against Manchester City.

At first Ricardo was a little annoyed. After all, as the spokesperson for Old Li Qi, he actually missed the Chinese Premier League derby that was hyped by the Chinese media. That was the Manchester Derby between Manchester United's Chinese player Dong Yuanchao and Manchester City's Chinese player Sun Jihai!

But soon Ricardo was no longer upset, because he learned that neither Dong Yuanchao nor Sun Jihai were included in the game list...

At the same time, before the game, there was even news that Sun Jihai was told that he was not in the plan of Manchester City's new coach Eriksson and was one of the players that Manchester City was considering clearing out. The source of the news was a British tabloid that was not too serious - The Sunday Mirror.

Coincidentally, one of the largest online sports platforms in the UK, Sky Sports, also broke the news that the British Championship team, Watford, is preparing to rent Dong Yuanchao...

Therefore, the Chinese Premier League derby that the Chinese media used to entertain themselves turned back into a simple Manchester City derby...where Cardo could rest and recuperate peacefully and carry out recovery training.

In fact, Ricardo had resumed formal training the day before the game, but Sir Alex Ferguson did not include Ricardo in the game roster for safety reasons. Ricardo was happy to spend more time with Julian, after all, the day of the game was the traditional Chinese Valentine's Day, and Julian would return to Chicago next week to continue her boring doctoral career.

So although it's not auspicious, Julian is actually the happiest during the days when Ricardo was injured. Finally, she doesn't have to worry about Ricardo's training and competitions, and can squeeze her man's ammunition unscrupulously, without leaving a drop...

Ricardo, who was recovering these days, was more tired than usual during training. He was listless and absent-minded when he took the time to communicate with UBS about his new account manager and the progress of his trust fund. He even forgot that his sports fashion brand Shuang Aru RR had sent him new equipment for the new season...

@

On August 2007, 8, Manchester United, led by Sir Alex Ferguson, faced Manchester City, led by Eriksson, in the 19th Manchester derby in the Premier League.

Now the momentum of the two teams is completely different. Looking back at the history of the Premier League, the momentum of the Manchester derby has never been reversed like today: the defending champion Manchester United has not won two games and suffered the worst start in 15 years, while Manchester City, which has undergone a major change, has won two games in a row and ranks first in the league.

Before the game, Manchester City manager Eriksson also made an important investment, spending 415 pounds to order a bottle of Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon red wine and said that he wanted to have a drink with Ferguson after the game: "There is no personal grudge between us."

However, Ferguson said that although he was happy to accept Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon, he would go home and enjoy it alone: ​​"I will accept it, but I will not share it with him, I will take it home..."

At 13:30 noon on Sunday, the 3th game of the 8rd round of the Premier League began.

Manchester United's biggest challenge is personnel. Rooney and Li Qi are injured and absent, and C Ronaldo is suspended due to a red card. The Red Devils are missing three of their sharpest offensive players. In addition, Saha has not recovered from his injury and Tevez has not yet integrated into the team. The forward line is stretched. However, it was predicted before the game that Hargreaves, who was absent due to a knee injury, would start the game. This was his official debut since joining Manchester United.

Sir Alex Ferguson changed the formation to 4-2-3-1, with Hargreaves and Carrick as double defensive midfielders in the midfield, Scholes, Giggs and O'Shea as the three attacking midfielders, and Tevez as the only striker; Fraser Campbell from the reserve was brought to the bench, and Dong Yuanchao was not given a chance...

Campbell was Dong Yuanchao's teammate in the Belgian Second Division Antwerp and was two years younger than Dong.

Eriksson, who met Ferguson for the first time in the league, replaced two starters, Bulgarian striker Bojinov replaced Bianchi, Brazilian midfielder Geowani replaced local teenager Ireland. Sun Jihai missed the squad for three consecutive rounds for the first time since joining Manchester City due to non-physical reasons.

Manchester City started with a 4-4-1-1 formation that focused on defensive counterattacks. So after the opening, Manchester United took the initiative and pressed Manchester City in the half.

However, the only goal of the game was scored by Manchester City, who only had their second shot in the 30th minute. And it was with this second shot, combined with the first shot on target, that Manchester City scored.

Elano made a low pass from the left, and Georginio volleyed the ball with his right foot from 25 meters in front of the goal. The ball hit Vidic's hips and flew over Van der Sar's fingertips to the extreme, and then went into the lower left corner of the goal with a strange arc...

In the end, the Red Devils' fierce attack throughout the game was fruitless, and even Van der Sar's rush into Manchester City's penalty area to compete for a corner kick in the final moments was powerless to save the situation.

Manchester United lost 0-1 to Manchester City in the away game, and has not won a game in the new season. Currently, they have only 2 points and are close to the relegation zone. Manchester City has won 3 consecutive games without conceding a goal, and has temporarily risen to the top of the rankings.

So Manchester United finally unlocked a hidden lifetime achievement - the worst start record for the defending Premier League champion!

英超前三轮2平1负，曼联创造了自92/93赛季英格兰顶级联赛更名为英超后，15支卫冕冠军打出的最差开局。此前纪录保持者是95/96赛季，1胜2负的布莱克本。

曼联前八次卫冕赛季的开局战绩为：1次三连胜，4次两胜一平和3次一胜两平，此前3轮最差也能拿到5分，这一次仅有2分。

What makes the Red Devils even more embarrassed is that their city rivals Manchester City topped the list with three consecutive wins, and their main competitor Chelsea has two wins and one draw, and has opened up a 2-point gap with Manchester United...

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