Chapter 308: Manchester United's counterattack, the decisive battle of the FA Cup!

At the end of the last round of the league, in addition to Manchester United being five points behind Arsenal, the Premier League scorer list, which had previously been far ahead of the rest, also saw changes:

Arsenal's Adebayor has scored 9 league goals in the past 12 games, bringing his total league goals to 19, on par with Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, neither Sir Alex Ferguson nor Ronaldo can be impatient, because the next round of the Premier League will be in two weeks, the FA Cup will be held next weekend, and the Champions League will restart in the middle of next week after the FA Cup, with the round of 16 knockout stage coming up.

This weekend's FA Cup will see Manchester United and Arsenal battle it out, with the top two Premier League clubs competing for a ticket to the quarterfinals at Old Trafford.

Therefore, Sir Alex Ferguson also said that Manchester United's opponent in the FA Cup this weekend is Arsenal, the title rival in the league, and they are playing at home. So the old man who was in a bad mood before believes that the decisive battle of the Premier League in the FA Cup is the beginning of Manchester United's counterattack in the second half of the season!

Because after the FA Cup, Manchester United and Arsenal will have another league match, which will also be held at Manchester United's home ground.

In addition, Manchester United and Arsenal both have three matches against the other top three in the league.

阿森纳3月23日客场战切尔西，4月5日主场战利物浦，4月12日客场战曼联。

曼联3月23日主场战利物浦，4月12日主场战阿森纳，4月26日客场战切尔西。

Manchester United has an extra home advantage over Arsenal, so Sir Alex Ferguson issued a winning order in advance: "April will be the decisive month for the league, but Manchester United's big counterattack will start in February!"

Of course, Sir Alex is not making random decisions, but is targeting them, because the current pre-match situation seems to be extremely unfavorable to Arsenal:

Wenger's team, which already had bad luck in drawing games and could only play away games, suffered a serious blow in the last two days. Three of the four main players in the back line may not be able to play.

In 08, Arsenal's defense was surprisingly solid with Toure and Eboue participating in the African Cup. They conceded only 6 goals in 2 league games and kept a clean sheet in 4 of them.

The four-man defense of Sagna, Senderos, Gallas and Clichy is getting more and more tacit; winning streak is not scary, but it will be embarrassing if someone is missing...

However, at the end of the African Cup and when Toure returned, before leaving for Old Trafford, three players from the Gunners' defense were absent at the same time!

Wenger confirmed to the official website: "The basic lineup has not changed, plus the return of Toure and Eboue. But the team does have some problems. Clichy may not play at the weekend. He has a knee injury and a muscle strain, which may keep him out.

"Unfortunately, Sagna is off for personal reasons and there are question marks over others, like Senderos, who has not trained all week with thigh and knee injuries."

Three of the four defenders were absent at the same time, although Toure and Eboue returned in Egypt so Wenger did not have to worry about substitutes;

After all, the former was originally the starting choice for Senderos' position, and the latter was also the main right-back last season. He was only pushed to the forward line this season due to the joining of Sagna, and it should not be a problem for him to play as a guest in his old position.

However, there is still something on the defense line that gives the professor a headache, and that is their physical fitness problem.

Toure and Eboue both rushed back to Arsenal right after playing in the intense African Cup of Nations. Their first opponent was the powerful Manchester United, which was a test for both of them both physically and mentally.

Moreover, Toure was injured in the African Cup, and his physical and competitive condition are worrying.

The left back will probably become Manchester United's main attacking line. As Gallas cannot free up as a central defender, the only candidates who can replace Clichy are Hoyte and Traore. Both of them are far behind the Frenchman in terms of ability and experience, and it will be very difficult for them to withstand the offensive of Leeds, Ronaldo and Rooney.

After Eboue retreated, the only substitute for Hleb was Walcott, but the little tiger might not be able to make it to the FA Cup match at Old Trafford due to injury: it was also an old thigh injury.

In addition, Arsenal's injured players also include: Djordjevic with a groin strain, Van Persie with a foot injury, Diaby with a calf injury, Almunia with a cold, Denilson with a thigh contusion, and Rosicky with a muscle strain...

Therefore, the worst case scenario is that 10 Arsenal first-team players may not be able to play in the match against Manchester United, and it is very likely that Arsenal's injury situation will continue for some time because there will be a more intense Champions League knockout match next week.

On the other hand, Manchester United has Rooney and Ronaldo back from suspension, Saha will also return this week, and old captain Gary Neville has been constantly adjusting his comeback time. Now Manchester United's squad is overcrowded!

This is also the reason why Sir Alex Ferguson dared to make such a big statement and surpass Arsenal!

@

However, for Ricardo, he still has a crucial battle before the FA Cup this weekend, which is Valentine's Day!

For Li, a scumbag with multiple girlfriends, this special holiday is always the most difficult...

Fortunately, two people were laid off last summer. Although two new people were added this season, Liana and Emma Watson are both very sensible and will not quarrel at critical moments. They can just let Pimenta arrange two suitable gifts to get rid of them.

So, the only two left are Sarafina and Julian, who can be considered as his official girlfriends.

Although the latter is far away in Chicago, USA, he notified her in advance last week. This week, he and the professor have the opportunity to come to the UK again to attend a seminar. Naturally, he will have to spend Valentine's Day on Thursday night with the scumbag Li!

Originally, it looked like she was going to collide with number one, but fortunately, although the former was very close in England, when I sent her on the train back to London on Monday, the little princess happened to have her period...

After some calculations, Sarafina agreed and decided to avoid the Valentine's Day travel peak and come on Friday evening!

Thank God, Julian also booked a flight back to Chicago on Friday at noon, because she had to report to the college on behalf of the professor and apply for funding at the weekend...

Seeing Ice Princess Julianne in tight jeans and a black fleece sweater, B-man Li finally understood why Professor Connery gave the two Valentine's Day benefits;

It turned out that there was an accident with the two sports rehabilitation cryotherapy chambers that he had ordered through Professor Connolly. Due to the further fermentation of the US stock market crash, the original manufacturer was caught in a debt dispute and led to the suspension of production!

This caused the delivery of the two treatment cabins ordered by Ricardo to be delayed indefinitely...

Fortunately, the business experience in Old Li Qi's revelation taught Little B Man Li how to guard against such a situation. Before Ricardo paid the money, he asked a lawyer to sign a complete purchase and sales contract on his behalf with Professor Connolly.

Yes, the party performing the obligation is not the manufacturer, but Professor Connolly. After all, the money was transferred into Professor Connolly's account.

Ricardo doesn't want to get into triangular debts. If I let you, Professor Connolly, make money, I naturally need you to make a promise and guarantee me!

Therefore, Professor Connolly is now clearly in breach of contract. Although he is not unable to deliver the goods, he will at least be unable to deliver the goods on time.

So Professor Connery used the beauty trap and let the soft and tender Julian soften Ricardo's hardness first, oh no, it was hardening...

Professor Connelly then proposed a compensation plan, which was that Connelly's own integrated production and research laboratory would take on the project, but the delivery would be delayed until the end of July.

Wouldn't that mean he would miss the European Championship? Ricardo couldn't help but want to refuse...

But Professor Connolly added the most crucial chip: sharing all patents, designs and production drawings, and developing the second-generation product within a year, selling it to Ricardo at cost price, and also sharing all patents, designs and production drawings!

Damn! This condition is good! These things, half a year ago, can't be bought with a few million dollars! This is Professor Connolly giving money to B man Li in a roundabout way.

So Ricardo, who had the attributes of a businessman like old Richie, naturally would not go against money. He happily forgave Professor Connolly's breach of contract and gladly accepted his new proposal. Then he turned around and hugged Julian to continue to celebrate the holiday. After all, they had been apart for a long time...

@

Li, a man B, who felt very comfortable being served by Julian, couldn't help but want to upgrade his girlfriend's Valentine's Day gift. Bags, mobile phones, lipsticks, eye creams, etc. were too vulgar, but Julian made it clear that diamonds or jades were useless and she didn't like them. He is indeed a science and engineering genius!

So Ricardo thought about getting the Ice Goddess a new car in America, after all, it is a country known as living on an engine;

Moreover, Man B, Li, is the spokesperson for four circles, so he also has many ways and benefits.

Of course, as a Valentine's Day gift, B man Li is still very ethical. He would never get it for free from the brand endorsement. He would have to pay for it himself to show his sincerity.

So the two of them started to select various car models online, and if they found one they liked, they would place an order directly...

But I didn't expect that while I was scrolling, before I saw the car model I liked, I saw an advertisement for my best friend's latest model. And it was an advertisement for sneakers. This was totally out of the ordinary!

I was helping a girl choose a luxury car, how could I get Cristiano Ronaldo and soccer boots? Is this world magical? Has my career invaded my life?

Oh, it turns out that this is a joint advertisement made by Ronaldo for Nike's new combat boots and the supercar owned by German Volkswagen - Bugatti Veyron!

It's not unreasonable to have Bugatti Veyron as endorsement...

This ad of Cristiano Ronaldo wearing new yellow football boots and racing against the Bugatti Veyron supercar has a background that is very related to football:

Nike and the famous statistics company OPTA jointly released a list of the top ten fastest shooters in the Premier League last week, using data to prove that Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo has established himself as the Premier League's fastest man with a speed of around 10 seconds for both running 70 meters without the ball and chasing the ball.

The second place seems to be Everton's Andy Johnson, whose 10m time is about 81 seconds. The third place is the Spanish golden boy Torres who just joined Liverpool last summer. His sprint without the ball is 10 seconds.

Ranked fourth is Ronaldo's teammate, Ricardo Richie, who was making the news while resting his head on two plump breasts. His sprinting speed without the ball reached 10 seconds!

Behind Ricardo are Ashley Young of Aston Villa, Tottenham right winger Lennon, Chelsea winger Wright-Phillips, Defoe who just transferred to Portsmouth, and Blackburn winger Bentley, all famous Premier League speed players.

But the scumbag Li, who rubbed the softness behind him, always felt that the name of this fast gun list was obedient; he didn't know whether it was good or bad to be shortlisted in the top ten, especially when Julian flashed her big, sparkling eyes and praised innocently: "Wow! Ricardo, you are so fast!"

……

@

The time passed so quickly during the happy time, especially during the devilish training from Sir Alex Ferguson.

Of course, Sir Alex did not impose physical punishment this time. After all, it can be done once or twice, but not three times. If it is done again, it will backfire and it will be fun if the morale is destroyed on the eve of the counterattack.

So this time Sir Alex took advantage of the one-week break to mainly conduct tactical exercises, mainly two new tactics:

One is the offensive core tactic of Ronaldo playing as a center forward, which has been practiced for half a season;

The second one is completely new - the offensive core tactic with Ricardo playing as attacking midfielder or shadow striker!

Finally, the end is here! Everyone is so happy! The author and the protagonist hugged each other and cried and celebrated, and everyone was happy...

So even though Ricardo worked day and night, under the stimulation of spiritual opium, his fighting spirit was skyrocketing and he had endless energy!

……

On February 2008, 2, amid Ricardo’s eager anticipation, the focus battle of the fifth round of the FA Cup finally arrived!

The second-placed Red Devils Manchester United in red shirts and white pants will face the league leader Arsenal in white shirts and red pants at Old Trafford!

Although this game is the FA Cup, it is a clash between the top two teams in the Premier League standings, and it can be regarded as a decisive battle in the English arena! Even if it has nothing to do with the league rankings, it will surely affect the morale of both sides and their confidence in the subsequent match.

However, Manchester United's recent form has been mediocre, and the points gap with Arsenal has been widened to five points, and there is only a three-point advantage over Chelsea, which is third behind them.

However, although Arsenal is in better shape, the Gunners are currently plagued by injuries and are playing away, so the media generally believed that Manchester United would win before the game.

At the same time, both teams will start their journey in the knockout stage of the Champions League next week. There is no doubt that both sides will make certain trade-offs in the FA Cup, which is far less important and influential than the Champions League and the league.

In this game, Manchester United made a big rotation in the midfield and frontcourt. Ronaldo and Giggs were rested and neither of them entered the game lineup.

Li Qi knew that the former was given by Sir Alex Ferguson to make up for the winter transfer holiday. After all, the whole team should be treated equally.

In addition, Scholes and Tevez are also on standby on the bench.

The starting lineup arranged by Sir Alex Ferguson is somewhat similar to the previous round of the league. Although there were personnel rotations, the most obvious thing was that Li Qi, who performed brilliantly as an organizing forward in the previous game, was pushed to the front line again!

After all, Manchester United's forward line has been criticized for being short of players this season. Although Li Qi plays as a pseudo striker, Rooney, Saha, and even Ronaldo who is currently in special training can all play as a forward center.

If Li Qi can be trained well in the shadow striker position, Manchester United's tactical options will be more diverse and full of room for maneuver.

So Sir Alex naturally couldn't wait to test the formation again in a less important but more challenging match; so Sir Alex and Li Qi both agreed that Arsenal in the FA Cup came at the perfect time!

Manchester United's starting 11 for this game is as follows:

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Van der Sar;

The back line from right to left is No. 6 Wes Brown, No. 15 Vidic, No. 5 Ferdinand and No. 3 Evra;

The midfield quartet is No. 13 Park Ji-sung, No. 16 Carrick, No. 4 Fletcher and No. 8 Anderson;

The two forwards are No. 17 Li Qi and No. 10 Rooney.

Anderson, who is good at playing with his left foot, was arranged to play as left midfielder, replacing Li Qi; similarly, if Anderson's ability to play as a winger can be developed, it will be good for both Manchester United and Anderson.

C Ronaldo did not play, and Arsenal also had a tacit understanding and did not arrange main scorer Adebayor to start. Therefore, the battle for the Premier League top scorer that the fans and the media had been looking forward to was aborted.

In addition, Sagna, Rosicky, Clichy, Van Persie, Diaby and Denilson are also unable to play due to injuries.

Professor Wenger still arranged a 4-4-2 parallel formation and a semi-main lineup that was almost the same as the media's prediction before the game:

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Jens Lehmann;

The back line from right to left is No. 31 Hoyte, No. 5 Toure, No. 10 Gallas and No. 30 Traore;

The midfield quartet is No. 27 Eboue, No. 4 Fabregas, No. 19 Gilberto and No. 13 Hleb;

The two strikers are No. 9 Eduardo and No. 26 Bendtner.

In the FA Cup, Manchester United and Arsenal have faced each other 12 times in history. Manchester United has 5 wins, 5 losses and 2 draws, which is evenly matched with Arsenal. Therefore, the result of today's game will be of great significance. Whoever wins will be the one who overwhelms the other side...

Without further ado, the game began after the sides were chosen, and Arsenal kicked off first!

In the absence of Ronaldo, Li Qi, who once again gained the tactical core position, was extremely excited. He rushed out after the kick-off and actively pressed the Arsenal player with the ball...

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