Chapter 268: The first battle for the top spot of the season, against Arsenal!

In the last ten minutes of the match between Manchester United and Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough also replaced an East Asian star to strengthen the attack. Like Ronaldo, he hoped to make a desperate struggle. What if he could score a goal?

Old Li Qi is also quite familiar with this East Asian star, because the neighboring country of South Korea is always bragging about this once-in-a-lifetime center seed - Lee Dong-guk.

Lee Dong-gook, also known as Lee Tong-gook, was born on April 1979, 4 in Pohang, South Korea. He is 29 meters tall and weighs 1 kg - alas, it is exactly the same as Ricardo's physical test data at the beginning of this season. However, it feels that there is still a gap between Lee Dong-gook and our protagonist in terms of explosive power, flexibility and agility.

After close contact, Li Qi felt that Li Dongguo had the physique of a center forward, but his skills and awareness were average, not enough to reach the level of a Premier League main player.

It is no wonder that at the golden age of 09 or , he has only spent one and a half seasons in the Premier League. If nothing changes, next summer Lee Dong-gook will end his short overseas career and return to South Korea to join Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, and Jeonbuk Hyundai, whose transfer in brought him to the peak of his career.

Therefore, Li Dongguo's substitute appearance did not stir up any waves in the game, nor did he have any performance. Instead, we watched Ronaldo's high-level embarrassing performance of missing shots for ten minutes...

Of course, it would be impolite to blame the loss of the game purely on Lee Dong-gook, because before Lee Dong-gook came on the court, the visiting team Middlesbrough had already been beaten by the home team Manchester United.

Because this season, as of this round, the best passing and controlling team in the Premier League is not the leading Gunners Arsenal, who have occupied the most top spots, but the Red Devils Manchester United, who have had a bad start.

Manchester United completed 5164 passes in the first ten games of the Premier League this season, far more than Arsenal, which ranked second with 4106. The 83.3% pass accuracy rate also ranked first among all Premier League teams.

In this game, several attacking players in the front field made many quick and accurate passes, which made Middlesbrough's players who were not very agile on their feet completely at a loss as to what to do and they could only chase the ball blindly.

In this game, Manchester United's passing success rate was as high as 83.9%, exceeding the average of the first ten rounds. In addition, the players' active running without the ball made it difficult for the visiting team to defend. Manchester United's third and fourth goals fully reflected the delicate and tacit team cooperation in the frontcourt.

So at the press conference, Sir Alex Ferguson praised the team's excellent performance and looked forward to the next round, when Manchester United will challenge Arsenal away. Sir Alex Ferguson believes: "... Manchester United is in great shape now. We have a luxurious technical midfield and an increasingly tacit attacking line. As the defending champions, we will directly compete with the current league leader, which will more directly compare who is the best team in the Premier League. By then, our two best technical teams in the Premier League will surely give the fans a wonderful duel!"

However, just 24 hours after Sir Alex Ferguson's comments, Arsenal was pulled down from the top of the league table, and it was Manchester United that overtook Arsenal.

2007年10月28日下午18时，07/08赛季英格兰超级联赛第11轮的一场焦点战在安菲尔德球场落下帷幕，红军利物浦主场1比1战平枪手阿森纳。

Gerrard scored the first goal and Fabregas equalized the score. In addition, the Gunners hit the goal frame twice and missed two empty-net chances. Liverpool has drawn 6 of the last 4 league games; while Arsenal's 12-game winning streak, including 7 consecutive league wins, was ruthlessly ended by the home team.

After this round of matches, Arsenal and Manchester United had the same points, but had to settle for second place in the rankings due to the disadvantage of goal difference. After all, Manchester United scored 3 goals in the last three league games and created a goal difference of 14...

@

And just the day after the end of this round of the Premier League, another major historical event came from the football world: Manchester United's legendary defender Jaap Stam announced his retirement!

Stam, 35, started his professional career in 1992 with Zweiler in the Dutch second division. In 1995, he joined PSV Eindhoven. Three years later, he joined Manchester United for a record 1600 million euros, the highest transfer fee for a defender in international football at the time, thus starting his road to stardom.

Stam was a key figure in Manchester United's treble miracle in 1999, but because he criticized the only special person in Manchester United's lineup, coach Sir Alex Ferguson, in his autobiography, Stam was sold to Lazio in 2002 and transferred to AC Milan in 2004. Two years ago, he left San Siro and returned to Ajax.

在代表阿贾克斯队踢了15个月的比赛以后，在10月20日阿贾克斯队0比0战平NEC尼美根队的比赛中，斯塔姆受伤在第46分钟被换下，这也是他职业生涯中的最后一场比赛……

Speaking of this famous player of the Red Devils, he is indeed notorious and a real killer of many strikers, just like his name in Cantonese transliteration - Shitan! Any attacker who is targeted by him is like sleeping in the toilet - not far from shit, or actively trying to break through him is like looking for shit in the toilet with a lantern!

Therefore, Li Qi, who considers himself a midfield attacker, although regrets the retirement of a generation of superstars, is also glad that he no longer needs to face such a troublesome person. It is definitely not because the original jersey of Stam that he got when Barcelona and AC Milan faced each other two years ago is about to become a discontinued jersey and appreciates greatly in value...

Well, the Stam jersey can be framed and used as a bragging right now, but where to put it? My house is too small... The old guys I played against will retire next year, so I'll have to get a bigger house next time to put the stuff I'm used to seeing.

However, after muttering to himself for a while, Ricardo casually placed the Stam jersey he had found on the box, intending to deal with it when he had time, after all, he had to hurry to the train station to pick someone up.

Little witch, Emma Watson is finally fat!

What could be more appropriate than Halloween with a witch by your side?

Emma came to Manchester from London this time, and she slipped away under the pretext of attending a small Halloween party with her besties. After all, after five months of movie promotion, Emma still had to return to school.

However, due to the influence of filming in the past two years, Emma's high school career will be delayed for one year; of course, this is also to be able to choose a better university.

So Emma's schoolwork was not too stressful. She used the excuse that the film shooting and promotion work was too tiring, so she asked for three days off from her parents and agent and came to Manchester to visit Ricardo.

Although Emma is not yet an adult and is only 17 years old, this year's scumbag Li is no longer the scumbag Li who couldn't bear to attack minors back then. His bottom line is even lower!

What's more, Emma, ​​a female academic who entered the film and television industry and was exposed to society very early, also seemed to be more mature and experienced than her age. Although she was not an old driver, she was definitely not a virgin. This scumbag Li had already tested it out...

Over the past six months, the two of them have been expressing their affection through text messages, and their relationship has quickly heated up. Of course, this is also inseparable from the heartwarming little gifts that the scumbag Li would mail to them every now and then.

Although Emma is not prettier than her two girlfriends and her other two ex-girlfriends, or is slightly inferior to them in figure and appearance, the little witch is young and has a star aura!

Which successful sea king wouldn't want to raise a world-class movie star? That's the highest achievement besides raising a legitimate princess...

After meeting Emma, ​​who was wearing a lotus-colored long skirt and a black cape, the two discussed and decided to skip the movie plan. After all, there were still movies in theaters, and they didn't have anything they particularly wanted to watch. "Saw 4"? Too bloody. "Enchanted" was appropriate for the festival, but they both felt it was a bit too childish, and there was no movie like "Basic Instinct"...

As for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ricardo had already attended the premiere, and Emma herself must have been sick of watching it, especially watching herself act. She herself said it was very embarrassing...

So they went straight back to Ricardo's apartment for a midnight snack. Ricardo had actually already had a nutritious meal after training, but in order to entertain the little witch who hadn't had dinner yet, he also prepared a table of Chinese cuisine - seafood hotpot!

After dinner, Emma, ​​who naturally drank a little wine, and the scumbag Li, who drank some milk, met each other frankly. The scumbag Li also had the opportunity to personally study the pair of jade feet that were selected as the world's best by some magazine...

Old Li Qi: Tsk, just so-so, not as delicate as those East Asian girls...

Scumbag Li: Mmm, it smells so good!

And Ricardo was finally freed. After all, in addition to the halo of a top female star, the background of his girlfriend's bestie was too exciting...

And the next morning after several releases... unexpectedly, Hermione Granger put on the wizard robe that she had given to Ricardo as a birthday present, and cast a peerless magic, which was a charm technique of a higher level than calling him dad - she actually called him brother-in-law!

Ah! This, this, this...

So Ricciardo's training session that day was a mess...

The youngsters' unbridled spending almost disrupted Sir Alex's preparations for the weekend's top battle. Because just one day before Halloween, the official website of Manchester United reported that Scholes would undergo knee ligament surgery on the second day of Halloween. After the surgery, the 32-year-old midfielder will be out for up to three months. With the announcement of this news, Scholes will miss 13 league games and bid farewell to all the games in 2007 in advance.

Although Hargreaves has returned, Evra can also play in this round, and Carrick is about to return, but facing a strong opponent, Sir Alex Ferguson naturally hopes to have as many cards in his hand as possible.

Ricardo is one of the players with the highest attendance rate in Manchester United this season, except for Ferdinand, the defensive stalwart who played in all the league games. In addition to the Champions League games and national team games, Sir Alex is also very worried that Ricardo will get injured due to excessive fatigue. After all, in Sir Alex's eyes, Ricardo is a good boy who doesn't like to go to nightclubs, is allergic to alcohol and has a positive attitude towards training.

As a result, Ricardo's performance in training declined, and Sir Alex Ferguson subjectively believed that Ricardo was too tired and had stress symptoms, and almost took Ricardo off the list for the away game in London...

(⊙o⊙)Ah! ? But how can I do this? Sarafina has agreed to meet me in London, and she has also booked a box at the Emirates Stadium to watch the heavyweight clash this weekend! If I am absent, Sarafina will definitely find out... Ricardo immediately panicked!

After seeing off Emma, ​​Ricardo quickly showed his active performance in the last training session before leaving for London, asking for a fight and flattering the player. Finally, Sir Alex Ferguson modified the roster at the last minute, put Ricardo in the match roster, and promised to bring him on as a substitute in the second half depending on the situation.

The last time Sir Alex said this was three rounds ago, when Manchester United played against Wigan Athletic and injured two key players, Vidic and O'Shea, in the first half...

@

Although Arsenal's home ground, Highbury Stadium, is already one of the world's most famous professional football stadiums, Arsenal still realizes that if they want to continue to compete with the top European clubs, they still need a larger and more modern stadium!

So when head coach Professor Wenger proposed building a new stadium, Arsenal's board of directors seriously considered it and put it into practice.

In November 1999 it was announced that plans were underway to build a new stadium in the Ashburton area of ​​London.

The following year, we started applying to purchase land, and completed financing in February 2003. We started construction in the same year...

The new stadium was completed and opened in August 2006, and the reconstruction of Highbury Stadium could be started immediately.

The Emirates Stadium, with a construction cost of 4.7 million pounds, covers an area of ​​17 acres and can accommodate spectators. It has 150 executive boxes. The stadium also has 41 camera positions and 215 seats for media reporters!

The impact after the completion of the Emirates Stadium was enormous. Arsenal's match-day revenue per season jumped from £3740 million at Highbury to £9000 million, with almost every game earning £100 million more than before, and this does not include other commercial income.

After the Highbury Stadium was converted into residential housing and sold, Arsenal became one of the clubs with the best financial foundation in Europe. UEFA praised Arsenal as a model club for "Financial Fair Play" that all other clubs should learn from.

2007年11月3日中午12时45分，07/08赛季英格兰足球超级联赛第12轮的重头戏，在上赛季才启用的酋长球场拉开帷幕，阿森纳将在主场迎战卫冕冠军曼联。

阿森纳上赛季两胜曼联，近8个主场对阵曼联仅1次告负。不过双方英超历史交锋30场，曼联12胜9平9负占据上风，其中客场4胜5平6负。双方历史交锋200场，曼联80胜44平76负稍占上风。

Wenger continued to use the same 4-5-1 formation and starting lineup from last week's league game, while all the lineups from the midweek League Cup were replaced.

The goalkeeper is No. 24 Almunia;

The back line from right to left is No. 3 Sagna, No. 5 Kolo Toure, No. 10 Gallas, and No. 22 Clichy;

The central midfield combination from right to left is No. 13 Hleb, No. 27 Eboue, the commercial wizard No. 16 Flamini and No. 4 Fabregas;

The single attacking midfielder is No. 7 Rosicky, and the center forward is Adebayo.

Manchester United only made two adjustments, with Evra and Giggs replacing O'Shea and Leakey in the starting lineup respectively.

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Van der Sar;

The back line from right to left is No. 6 Wes Brown, No. 5 Ferdinand and No. 15 Vidic, as well as the emergency return of No. 3 Evra;

The central midfield combination from right to left is No. 7 Ronaldo, No. 4 Hargreaves, No. 8 Anderson and No. 11 Giggs;

The two strikers are No. 10 Rooney and No. 32 Tevez.

@

Before the game, Ricardo privately talked to the other three swans. Because the last game was a record-breaking game, a big win to overtake the top, and then a famous player retired, the four sets of celebrations originally designed were not highlighted by the media after the game.

The only report was from the famous tabloid The Sun: "Oh! The four little swans have learned to play musical instruments..."

Naturally, no one mentioned the name of the new group planned by Ricardo - the Magic Quartet - as it was different from the plan of the four stupid geese, so things had to continue in this round of competition.

In addition, according to reliable information from a certain stupid goose, this time he has bribed the sports columnists of several tabloids. As long as they score more goals and perform celebration moves - preferably with four people doing it together, then this will definitely be highlighted in the news after the game!

Well, winning the game is important, but changing the name is also important!

Four little swans, huh? No! Do it again!

It's the Magic Quartet, come on! Fae is standing!

……