Football King Bale

Chapter 665: The sky tilts to the northwest

The second Manchester City derby this season was also the first leg of the league derby. Both sides scored one point at the Etihad. Although this was a lose-lose result, it was also a result that both sides could reluctantly accept.

Having just finished the Manchester City derby with their local rival, Manchester United will soon usher in the English national derby with another rival, Liverpool.

At 19:45 on September 25, local time in the UK, a focus match in the third round of the 2013-2014 English League Cup started at the Old Trafford Stadium. The Red Devils Manchester United faced the Red Army Liverpool at home.

A month ago, in the first leg of the Double Reds meeting, Manchester United drew with Liverpool 1:1 at Anfield. However, they have won all their past five home games against Liverpool. The last time the Red Army won away from home at the Theater of Dreams was in 2009.

Because there will be a new round of Premier League games at the weekend, and Manchester United's situation in the league is not good, Ferguson still chose to make a larger rotation of the lineup. In addition to Robin van Persie, who has not yet recovered from injury, Bale, one of the front three, also received a rest in this game. Manchester United's starting lineup is goalkeeper De Gea, four defenders Rafael, Van Dijk, Phil Jones and Smalling; in the midfield, Valencia, Giggs and Pogba partner, and the striker is Ash Leigh Young, Hernandez and Rooney.

Since the team's first captain Vidic, second captain Bale and third captain Evra did not play, Rooney wore the Manchester United captain's armband in this game.

Liverpool forward Suarez returned from suspension, and Enrique also made a rotation. Suarez was suspended for 10 games in April this year for biting Chelsea defender Ivanovic during a game.

At the beginning of the game, Liverpool had the advantage. Manchester United made frequent passing errors, but neither side got a good chance. Just 39 seconds into the second half, Hernandez received Rooney's corner kick at the edge of the penalty area and volleyed home, giving Manchester United a one-goal lead.

After a sluggish first half, he gradually regained his form in the second half and created many excellent opportunities for Liverpool, but unfortunately he failed to score. Suarez first shot from the left side of the penalty area and hit the side net. Then Suarez's free kick shot directly and was saved by Manchester United goalkeeper De Gea.

Rooney, who was everywhere in the game, also almost scored twice with two shots, but unfortunately they were saved by Mignolet.

In the end, Manchester United defeated Liverpool 1:0 at Old Trafford and advanced to the fourth round of the League Cup.

In another game that day, Arsenal tied with West Brom 1:1 in the 90th minute. After a penalty shootout, the Gunners advanced 4:3. Chelsea defeated Swindon 2-0 the day before and Manchester City defeated Wigan 5-0.

The matchups in the fourth round of the League Cup are Manchester United vs. Norwich, Arsenal vs. Chelsea, and Manchester City vs. Newcastle. The winner will advance to the top 8.

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Over the weekend, the Premier League war reignited. In the first match that started at 12:45 noon, Tottenham faced Chelsea at White Hart Lane. In the end, the two sides fought to a draw with a score of 1:1.

Because the middle of next week is another Champions League match day, the schedule of teams with European competition tasks this weekend is scheduled for Saturday.

Not long after the match between Tottenham and Chelsea ended, at three o'clock in the afternoon, five games started at the same time, and the two heroes of Manchester City played at the same time. Manchester United faces West Brom at Old Trafford, while Manchester City goes to Villa Park to challenge Aston Villa.

The match between Manchester United and West Brom at Old Trafford is the 123rd main-season meeting between the two clubs. Previously, Manchester United had an advantage with 52 wins, 30 draws and 40 losses, including 14 against the Red Devils in the Premier League 11 times. Winning 3 and drawing 3 to remain unbeaten. In fact, West Brom have only won 1 in the last 20 main match matches. West Brom only ended its previous 8-game winless record in the league last weekend.

Because he is going to Ukraine in the middle of the week to challenge Shakhtar Donetsk, the second opponent in the Champions League, Ferguson did not field the strongest lineup for this game. Goalkeeper De Gea, back four Phil Jones, Ferdinand, Evans and Ashley Young, midfielders Kante, Carrick and Pogba,

The front line is a combination of Bale, Hernandez and Rooney. Hernandez made his first start in the Premier League in the new season, while Van Persie continued to sit on the bench.

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Because he was going to Ukraine in the middle of the week, in order to save energy for the Champions League match, Ferguson's arrangement was for Manchester United to attack fiercely at the beginning, hoping to solve the game in half time, and then replace the main players to rest.

According to this tactical arrangement, Manchester United went all out to attack after the start of the first half. However, in the first 10 minutes, there was no chance except for Bell's blocked shot from the front of the penalty area.

In the 10th minute, Mulumbu tackled Pogba and was given a yellow card. Sinclair was unfortunately injured while fighting for possession of the ball with Pogba, and Berahino came on as a temporary substitute.

In the 14th minute, Sessegnon easily broke through the bottom line from the right and passed a pass near the baseline, which was intercepted by Carrick. During Manchester United's counterattack, Pogba was too procrastinating and missed a good passing opportunity. Carrick committed a foul to delay the opponent's counter-attack tactics. Jacob is given a yellow card.

Immediately, Rooney passed a low pass in front of the goal from the right. Hernandez failed to make a tackle. Myhill was shaken and then confiscated the ball in confusion.

However, Manchester United still broke the deadlock just thirty minutes into the game. Bell made continuous passes at the top of the penalty area to open up space, and shot a long shot through the West Brom goal. Bell scored a new goal. The eighth league goal of the season also helped Manchester United take the lead.

After taking the lead, Manchester United gradually opened up the situation and continuously threatened West Brom's goal.

In the 32nd minute, Rooney received a pass from Bell and headed the ball towards the goal. However, this close shot was blocked by Bell who was stunned.

Two minutes later, Manchester United once again had a good opportunity to score. Pogba received a pass from Bell from the left and headed the ball from close range. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced out, and then shot high. The linesman raised the flag to indicate offside, but from the replay The penalty is controversial.

In the end, Manchester United entered the halftime break with a 1:0 advantage.

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Although Manchester United only scored one goal in the first half of the game, Manchester United had every advantage on the scene. If it weren't for Manchester United's bad luck, they would be at least 3 goals ahead.

It is precisely because of Manchester United's large lead that although Manchester United only led 1:0, Ferguson still replaced Bell at halftime to save energy for the Champions League away game in midweek, and Belgian teenager Januzaj Substitute appearance.

Less than ten minutes into the second half, Manchester United unexpectedly conceded a goal.

In the 54th minute, Pogba sent a through ball in the middle, trying to find Januzaj on the left. However, Pogba miscalculated Januzaj's speed and was intercepted by a West Brom player first. Mulumbu got the ball and passed it. Amalfitano dribbled the ball into the half-court, easily wiping out Ferdinand's goal. In frontal defense, De Gea knocked down the Manchester United goalkeeper with a fake shot and then scored from the front of the small penalty area. The score became 1:1.

Ferguson's face suddenly turned ugly. He attached great importance to the two young men Pogba and Januzaj, but he did not expect that the two people would join forces to perform "How Mistakes Are Made", allowing West Brom to equalize the score.

Ferguson regretted a little. He was still too trusting, thinking that with Manchester United's advantage in the first half, they should be able to easily suppress West Brom, so he replaced Bell. But I didn't expect that Manchester United with Bell and without Bell are actually two teams. Then, Manchester United conceded the goal.

Bell had been replaced and could not reappear. Seeing that the situation was not good, Ferguson immediately asked Van Persie to prepare to come on as a substitute.

However, when Van Persie was warming up, Manchester United exceeded the score again.

In the 57th minute, Rooney took a free kick on the left side of the penalty area and hit the right corner of the goal with his right foot. When Hernandez failed to dive for the top, the ball bounced into the right corner of the goal.

Although Hernandez did not head the ball, his appearance still interfered with the West Brom goalkeeper's judgment.

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After the game restarted, Van Persie came on as a substitute for Hernandez.

However, Van Persie's appearance did not bring much change to Manchester United's situation on the field, and their goal was frequently threatened.

In the 59th minute, Mulumbu's shot from outside the penalty area missed.

In the 61st minute, Olsen took a corner kick from the right and headered Ferdinand's header. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced out.

Immediately, Sessegnon's shot went high.

Manchester United, whose goal was in constant danger, lost the city again in the 67th minute of the game. West Brom organized an attack on the right. Amalfitano caught the ball in the penalty area and returned. Ferdinand made another mistake in marking. Berahino volleyed with his left foot from the arc of the penalty area and scored, rewriting the score to 2:2!

After that, neither side could change the score, and the 2:2 draw was maintained until the end of the game.

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When the six rounds of the Premier League ended, people found that some people did not recognize this season's Premier League standings. Because the one at the top of the list is not the familiar Manchester United, nor Manchester City, which performed very well in the first two seasons, but Arsenal, who was ridiculed by the whole UK at the beginning of the season!

At 5:30 pm on Saturday, Arsenal visited Swansea. With a shot and a pass from Bale's national teammate Ramsey, Arsenal defeated Swansea 2:1 and continued to dominate the top spot with a record of 5 wins and 1 loss.

Although Tottenham were tied by Chelsea, they still occupy the second place in the standings with 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.

Coupled with fourth-ranked Chelsea, three of the top four London teams in the Premier League occupy three places!

With another draw in this game, Manchester United only achieved 2 wins and 4 draws in the first 6 games of the season, and the league ranking dropped to 7th again!

Compared with Manchester United's draw, Manchester City was even more miserable. They were defeated by the home team 32 at Villa Park, which was exactly the same score as the away game against Cardiff City.

As a result, Manchester City, which only had 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in the first 6 rounds of the season, dropped to 10th in the league!

The Manchester City duo, who were fully optimistic at the beginning of the season, suddenly fell to the middle of the Premier League, and the British media were all dumbfounded.

This weekend, a word swept the world: the sky is falling to the northwest!

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