Chapter 223 The Sick Man of Manchester
"Hey, Ashley Young's 45-degree cross went straight out of the baseline"

“What a pity…”

Zhan Jun sighed.

To be honest, this cross was indeed a bit ugly for a professional player from a top club.

There was a burst of boos in the stands at Old Trafford, and everyone was obviously a little dissatisfied with Ashley Young's pass.

"Fuck, I suddenly feel like I can win!"

Jiang Yuan licked his lips. Ashley Young was so awesome, it would be shameless for Chelsea not to beat Manchester United.

Just as Zhan Jun analyzed before the game, both Manchester United and Chelsea seem to be sick this season, but Manchester United's illness is even more serious.

"Pass, pass, pass!"

Jiang Yuan on the right reached out for the ball, William decisively passed it to him, and Herrera immediately ran towards Jiang Yuan.

Snapped!
Seeing someone trying to defend him, Jiang Yuan returned the ball to William, ran forward to avoid Herrera, and received the pass from William again in front.

With a simple two-pass combination, Jiang Yuan successfully got rid of Herrera's defense.

In fact, if Jiang Yuan insisted on passing the ball, Herrera would not be able to defend him. It's just that Jiang Yuan's position is not particularly forward, and passing the ball is always the worst option when he can pass the ball.

During training, Rozovic repeatedly emphasized to Jiang Yuan that a football match lasts 90 minutes, and reasonable distribution of physical strength is the key to winning the game.

There are only 3 substitution spots in total, so you should save as much as possible!
"After receiving William's diagonal pass, Jiang Yuan was defended by Schweinsteiger. Hiss... This German midfielder transferred from Bayern to Manchester United for 900 million euros this summer. His performance so far this season is still very good."

"Wow! Jiang Yuan kicked the ball forward. This is a smart choice. After all, Schweinsteiger has no speed now."

"Jiang Yuan's choice was very strong. He continued to move to the baseline, cut inside and passed the ball to William."

"William...Costa! Give it to Hazard again!"

"Hazard faced Damian's defense and looked at his choice. He rushed in directly and knocked the ball with his left foot!"

"Hmm! Smalling fell to the ground and shoveled the ball out. In the 11th minute of the game, Chelsea got a corner kick. This was Chelsea's second corner kick in this game, and it was still Matic who was responsible for it!"

call--

Jiang Yuan sighed and slowly rushed into the penalty area from the right.

From his perspective, Hazard's cross had a great chance, but unfortunately Smalling's reaction was really quick, and other central defenders would not have been able to defend it.

"Come!"

Terry pointed to the place behind him, motioning Jiang Yuan to stand there. After Jiang Yuan ran over, Blind was about to come over to confront Jiang Yuan, but was pushed away by the Chelsea captain: "Go away!"

Referee Atkinson blew the whistle, Matic raised his left hand and slowly started to run.

Later point!

Jiang Yuan pretended to walk to the right, but actually pushed the ground with his right foot, changed direction in a short time and suddenly broke through to the left.

"Fuck!"

Blind cursed loudly. This was his first time playing against Chelsea. He had only seen Jiang Yuan play on TV broadcasts. At most, Van Gaal would emphasize Jiang Yuan's speed during daily training.

When they really met in the game, Blind realized that there was a reason why everyone had been praising Chelsea's speed.

Damn, this is really fast!
In order to ensure that Jiang Yuan, who suddenly slipped away, would not pose a threat to Manchester United's goal, Blind chose to chase him out, but he didn't know that this was the biggest mistake he made in this game.

In Manchester United's corner kick tactics, Blind is mainly responsible for Zouma, and then Jiang Yuan. When he rushes out like this, Zouma at the back post is left empty!

The ball flew from the corner flagpole to the front of Manchester United's penalty area. Zouma jumped up, tightened his core and headed for the goal.

De Gea stood there and did nothing.

"GOOOO-AAAAAAAAA-LLLLLLL!!!"

"KURT ZOUMAAAAAA!"

After scoring the goal, Zouma could no longer control himself. He ran from the small penalty area all the way to the right corner flagpole, half squatted down, and clenched his fists: “Roar ah ah ah ah ah——!!!”

"Fuck you!"

"nigga!"

“shit ball!”

"..."

The Manchester United fans in the side stands were already red-faced and started to yell at Zouma's face.

It’s a pity, once it’s in, it’s in. There’s no point in criticizing it!
"I scored! My goal!"

Zuma turned around and announced his great achievement to his teammates on the field. For a central defender whose main task is defense, scoring a goal is still not an easy task.

Terry, who is also a central defender, feels this deeply.

"good boy"

Terry put his arms around Zuma's neck and pressed his head against his chest. At this moment, Terry was like a father.

It is hard to imagine that the Chelsea captain holding Zouma in his arms in the picture is an alcoholic scumbag.

The director's camera was focused on Van Gaal, the Dutch coach had a very ferocious expression. It was hard for him to bear such heavy pressure at the age of over 60!

……

"Glory, glory, Man United!"

"Glory, glory, Man United!"

"Glory, glory, Man United!"

"As the reds go marching on! on! on!"

What the fans are singing now is Manchester United's team anthem "Glory Glory Man United", which is the most popular song in the Premier League. The reason for this is naturally related to the team's previous glorious achievements.

Although Manchester United's team song does not have the strong epic feeling of Real Madrid's, fortunately the lyrics can be sung very loudly at this rhythm.

If you often watch the top five leagues live, you will know that in the entire top five leagues, the singing at Old Trafford may be the loudest.

However, whether the fans sing loudly or not actually has little to do with the lyrics themselves, but mainly depends on how the players on the field play.

If the team plays particularly well, or even scores the winning goal, you ask the Coventry fans, whose stadium can only accommodate 3 people, to sing a chorus, and they may not sing any softer than the Manchester United fans.

So this is why the voices at Old Trafford have started to sink in recent years, and the team's poor record is still the main reason. If they keep losing, fewer people will be willing to be hysterical.

In the 35th minute of the game, Mata, Martial and Rooney formed a triangle in the frontcourt and pressed forward at the same time, successfully forcing a pass error between Jiang Yuan and William, and the ball was caught by Mata.

The Spaniard is actually a midfielder, but he played as a right winger in today's game. His midfielder status also determines that he will not break through, because Mata's speed is too slow for a league of the Premier League level.

"go!"

Mata had no intention of dribbling the ball. He pointed forward and immediately passed the ball after Rooney arrived.

"Go and grab it!"

Fabregas ran towards Matic's position, his intention was to help Matic fill the position so that Matic could press forward with confidence.

However, Matic's reaction was still a beat slow, and Rooney passed the ball to Martial before he got into defensive position.

The one holding the ball now is Manchester United’s 19-year-old star, Anthony Martial!
"Martial was very strong, moving left and right. Schweinsteiger was behind him asking for the ball, but Martial had no intention of passing it."

"Hiss - this kind of young player is really brave. Not only is he willing to take action, but his playing style is also unique. But I don't know if Martial's style of play can produce the same effect as Jiang Yuan's."

"Facing Ivanovic, he went straight inside. Martial made some movements with his hands, but the referee didn't blow the whistle."

"Ivanovic kicked the ball directly, Zouma received the ball and kicked it out of his own half. Chelsea is safe!"

Martial played very aggressively, but unfortunately, his possession of the ball was lost before he even entered the opponent's penalty area.

At this time, in the East Stand, the visiting fans wearing blue jerseys booed.

These boos were undoubtedly directed at Martial on the field. From January to October this year, the French prodigy was the biggest favorite for the Golden Boy Award. As a result, starting from October, Jiang Yuan successively won the top spot in both the Champions League and the league scorer list, which dealt a heavy blow to Martial.

The worst thing is that Martial’s league goals since joining Manchester United in September are less than a quarter of Jiang Yuan’s!
"xuuu——!"

On the field, whenever Martial got the ball, the away fans in the East Stand would boo him. It is said that Manchester United is rich and likes to buy young talents at high prices. The 6000 million euros spent on Martial from Lyon is the most classic example.

Chelsea fans have been envious for several seasons, but now they finally don’t need to be envious anymore. It is true that money can buy talented players, but not all talented players are expensive!
Isn't it great to spend 1300 million euros to buy a top scorer in both the league and the Champions League?
"Beep!"

As Hazard's long shot hit the crossbar, Atkinson blew the whistle to end the first half.

The home and away teams had a possession rate of 48:52.

There is basically no difference, but Chelsea had 1.5 times more shots than Manchester United.

If De Gea hadn't been so good, Chelsea would have beaten Manchester United 3-0 in the first half. Unfortunately, there is no if, because De Gea is really good.

"Everyone sit down and no one speaks"

In the home team's locker room, Van Gaal is giving his passionate speech.

"We are 0-1 behind our opponents at home, and this is not the first time this season. I don't think there is a problem with your individual abilities, but to tell you the truth, many of you have lost confidence since the beginning of the season."

"Anthony!"

Van Gaal turned slightly to face Martial: "I am very sorry that you lost the Golden Boy Award... But you have to know that you are not as good as Jiang Luo. He can only score a few goals, but his ball sense and control of the timing of passing are not as good as yours. There is no future for that kind of player!"

Van Gaal's words seemed to have touched a nerve in Martial's heart. When the Golden Boy Award was just announced two weeks ago, he was pushed to the forefront by British reporters as the second candidate.

With a difference of nearly 400 points, The Sun directly gave Martial the title of "Silver Boy", and the sarcasm was too obvious.

Now that Van Gaal praised him like this, Martial felt that it made sense.

What players value nowadays is comprehensiveness, but Jiang’s passing and ball-control abilities are not strong, which also proves that his ceiling is not high.

What is there to worry about? The Golden Boy Award is known as the "Little Golden Ball Award", but in the end, only Messi has won the Golden Boy Award.

Geniuses are not always geniuses. Jiang Yuan's weak passing and ball control ability will undoubtedly become a major stumbling block in his growth. And Martial can take this opportunity to complete the counterattack against Jiang Yuan.

……

At the same time, in the visiting team's locker room, Jiang Yuan, who was sitting on the bench drinking water, heard a familiar mechanical sound in his mind. [You have achieved cell regeneration if you have run more than 7km in 35 days]

[Your passing and controlling skills are slightly improved]

"call……"

Jiang Yuan leaned against the wardrobe at the back, reached behind his back and took out another jersey.

The field at Old Trafford was a bit wet, so Jiang Yuan's clothes were covered with a lot of mud. He could just take advantage of the half-time break to change his clothes.

"We had a lot of chances in the first half but we didn't take them."

This was Mourinho's overall assessment, and the Portuguese rarely failed to criticise anyone.

Jiang Yuan licked his lips and responded to Mourinho's words: "David's save is very strong, otherwise..."

"nonono!"

Mourinho said "no" three times in a row, interrupting Jiang Yuan's words directly: "I don't want to hear the word "but" from you. There is no "but" in competitive sports. De Gea is good at saving shots, but his passing is weak. What you need to do is to strengthen the pressure on Manchester United's defense instead of saying "but" to me here. It's useless!"

"Feel sorry!"

Jiang Yuan quickly shut his mouth. What Mourinho said made no sense.

The halftime break is about finding solutions, not excuses.

……

"Okay, welcome back, dear audience friends, this is the second half of the 19th round of the Premier League Manchester United VS Chelsea"

"Neither side made any substitutions!"

"Rooney kicks off!"

At the start of the second half, the home team fans were still singing in Old Trafford. As the 12th man of the team, the fans were also playing their role at this time.

There are only three advantages of home court: fans, grass, and the most important one: referees!

Speaking of grass, Jiang Yuan could clearly feel that the grass at Old Trafford was wetter than that of other teams. For a top league team, a mistake in watering must be deceptive. This was probably the intention of head coach Van Gaal.

Sprinkle more water and the passing rhythm will slow down, so the weaker team will have a higher chance of winning.

In the 62nd minute, Jiang Yuan got the ball on the right!

After receiving the pass, Jiang Yuan pointed in front of him, indicating William to run to the left, while he himself prepared to move to the middle.

William understood and started to move. Jiang Yuan jogged with the ball and suddenly accelerated to get rid of Schweinsteiger, but the latter fell to the ground and made a tackle, knocking Jiang Yuan to the ground.

"Hey!"

Jiang Yuan, who was sitting on the ground, spread his hands to Atkinson. The referee hurried over and showed a yellow card to Schweinsteiger who made the tackle.

Chelsea wins a free kick in the middle!

Fabregas took the ball from Mourinho and placed it on the white line drawn by Atkinson.

"Go, go, go!"

Terry signaled the players to move forward quickly. Obviously, Fabregas's set-piece would go directly into the Manchester United penalty area.

"Snapped!"

Fabregas kicked the ball with his right foot in the lower middle part, and the ball drew a slight arc in the air and pointed in front of the wall, which was the Manchester United penalty area.

Have the opportunity!
The forward's sense of smell made Jiang Yuan aware of the opportunity, so he rushed very fast. Costa was also very understanding. When he saw that the ball was not flying towards him, he took a step directly in front of Schneiderlin to prevent Schneiderlin from approaching Jiang Yuan.

Afterwards, Jiang Yuan completed the jump during the run-up process.

"boom!"

A heavy header was aimed at the goal and De Gea reacted, but by the time he reached out, the ball was already in the net.

Quickly glance at the linesman.

No flag raised!

"Wow!"

Jiang Yuan slid to his knees decisively. The feeling of his legs rubbing against the natural grass was the best way for the players on the field to vent their emotions.

After sliding on his knees, Jiang Yuan stood up and threw an uppercut that directly ignited the Old Trafford stadium.

"Wow, my god, haha, a header from Jiang Yuan, Chelsea used this set-piece to great effect"

"Yes, Schweinsteiger himself probably didn't expect that the free kick he gave after the foul would eventually become a goal for Chelsea"

"I don't know if the audience in the live broadcast room noticed that when Jiang Yuan rushed forward to jump for the header, Costa and Terry were both blocking Jiang Yuan's position. Chelsea is really united now."

There is nothing wrong with what Zhan Jun and Huang Jianxiang said. If you have watched Chelsea's games this season, you can feel that the Blues' form under Mourinho has been clearly improving recently.

The reason for the improved form is very simple. The cooperation between the players has become more tacit, and this more tacit cooperation has also concealed the fact that Hazard is in poor form, so there are fewer newspapers criticizing the Belgian recently.

Mourinho had already sat down in a chair in front of the bench. On the other hand, Van Gaal had a dead horse expression, as if the Manchester United players on the field had cheated him out of millions of pounds.

[Fuck, he scored a goal right after going to the toilet? Guys, wait for me, I'm going to the toilet again, let's see if I can help Xiao Jiang score a brace! ]

[Hey, this is the kind of relaxation I want. I haven’t felt so relaxed watching Chelsea games for a long time. If it weren’t for today’s game, I would have thought Chelsea was the weakest among the BIG6.]

[Don't talk nonsense, Chelsea has beaten Liverpool and Arsenal, and even beat Arsenal twice. But it's not as good as playing against Manchester United. They had 55- possession, but Manchester United had no chance to shoot! ]

So, who is the real golden boy?

[I feel like the Golden Boy Award is very poisonous. Didn’t Zhan Jun say that among all the Golden Boy Award winners, only Messi won the Golden Ball. This is like a curse.]

[Messi was as famous as Xiao Jiang at the age of 17? ]

[Manchester United fans here just want Van Gaal to get out of here as soon as possible. He is not qualified to coach Manchester United. Any Dutchman would be better than Van Gaal. Van Gaal is just good at talking big.]

[This Ajax fan said that Van Gaal is old now, and there are many head coaches in the Netherlands who are better than Van Gaal, such as Utrecht's new head coach Ten Hag this season, who can definitely save Manchester United! ]

[Alas, 10 years ago, how could Manchester United be bullied like this? As an Arsenal fan, I feel heartbroken when I see this]

[Hahaha, beat Manchester United, so cool, so cool! Must support Chelsea! ]

[I can’t tell whether this guy above supports Chelsea or not, but I can tell which team you are a fan of]

……

In the 72nd minute, the fourth official on the sidelines raised a card.

Both teams made substitutions, starting with Manchester United, where Phil Jones replaced Blind and Depay replaced Mata.

Then it was Chelsea, with Remy replacing Costa and Oscar replacing Matic.

It can be seen that both teams are going to make a final effort to win the game.

Mourinho pressed Remy's shoulder with one hand and covered his mouth with the other hand, and whispered: "After replacing Diego, you have to take on the role of returning to defense. We don't need too much attack anymore!"

Remy gave a thumbs up and high-fived Costa before going on the court.

“Hiss—Costa seems a little unhappy about being substituted... We’ll talk about these things after the game. Let’s look at the field first. Chelsea’s corner kick is taken by Oscar who just came on!”

"..."

"Martial dribbled the ball forward, ran very fast, faced Fabregas directly, and had a wide space to try to get past him."

"Hmm? Martial chose to pass the ball, but it seemed that he didn't give it enough force, and the speed of the ball was a bit slow. Jiang Yuan ran over and tackled the ball directly, and the ball was given to Ivanovic!"

"Well, Martial should have chosen to dribble past the opponent just now. This choice is not a good one. Look at the time on the field now... 82 minutes. What Martial just lost might be the opportunity for Manchester United to score a goal."

"Ivanovic adjusted and made a long pass to William on the left. Chelsea is preparing to launch a counterattack to see how effective the counterattack is."

"..."

"Hazard goes down the wing, turns around and shoots into the far corner. Beautiful!"

"G——OOOOOO——AAAAAAA——LLLLLLL!!!"

Martial's pass was intercepted, and the Blues players on the field took advantage of this opportunity, making 14 consecutive passes, and finally Hazard sent the ball into the net.

De Gea can save Manchester United once, twice, but not the third time.

In the 84th minute, the Blues Chelsea beat the Red Devils Manchester United 3:0 away!

With the referee Atkinson's third whistle, the game ended.

Manchester United fans walked back to the player tunnel amid insults, waiting for them to face criticism from Van Gaal and trouble from the British press.

On the other hand, Chelsea has had a goal difference of 8 in the last two league games, which is quite terrifying.

It’s 7:pm London time and the sky above Old Trafford is neither red nor blue…

But black.

These are the current colours of the Manchester City Devils.

……

The front page headline of Manchester Evening News: Manchester United lost 0:3 to Chelsea at home, and Van Gaal refused to be interviewed by reporters after the game.

Premier League table:

ARSENAL——42
LEI CITY——41
CHE——41
TOT——40
LIVERPOOL——37
The Guardian - The Premier League title race is heating up halfway through the season, with the gap between the 4th and 1st place being only 2 points!

The Wall Street Journal - Using funding to stimulate more commercial value in professional sports competitions, taking the English Premier League as an example.

The second headline on the front page of The Sun - Based on the analysis of the teams' financial chains, there will be no major transfers among the 1 Premier League teams in the January window.

The Daily Telegraph's front page headline: £7500 million! Jiangsu Suning is bidding for Oscar at a sky-high price, but Chelsea is currently negative about the deal.

……

(End of this chapter)