The League Cup not only left Wang Xiaodong's name in Southampton's merit book, but also made Wang Xiaodong's name appear on a list called "The Most Influential Sports Figures of the Year" domestically.
Although this list has no actual value and no substantial reward, in the eyes of readers, it is a pleasure to watch.
Especially after Liu Xiang, Yao Ming, Guo Jingjing, Wang Liqin, and Zhang Yining, another young and unfamiliar football player's name appeared, which made the fans extremely happy.
Although this private evaluation list is obviously designed by some people in the football industry to take advantage of the opportunity to highlight the importance of football, Wang Xiaodong's actual performance in the League Cup does provide a reliable theoretical basis for it.
Now, even the old lady who sells candy balls at a street stall knows Wang Xiaodong's name.
After returning from the League Cup, Southampton began to focus on the remaining 12 league games.
Wang Xiaodong can satisfy the little witch's desire for the opposite sex with a few fruit photos, but if he wants to satisfy fans who are dissatisfied with their desires, he has to spend more and more energy.
On March 2, Southampton, who returned from winning the League Cup, experienced another boring 0-0 battle.
In the league I was submissive, but in the cup I was aggressive!
Now that the cup competition is over, Southampton has not yet adjusted.
In the match against Sheffield Wednesday on March 6, Southampton still failed to win.
Although Bell knocked on the opponent's door with a long shot in the first half, the opponent equalized the score just at the beginning of the second half.
The score of 1-1 remained until the end, and Southampton ended in a draw for the third consecutive time in the league.
On March 11, facing Crewe Alexander, the desperate Keegan once again placed Wang Xiaodong in the attacking midfielder position.
Southampton can no longer lose. If they lose again, they might really miss out on promotion!
It was the same routine as in the battle against Manchester United, except that Lallana appeared in the starting center back position.
With Lallana at the back, Wang Xiaodong focused more on the offense.
In the 67th minute, hard work paid off.
Wang Xiaodong made a "full moon scimitar" pass from the right, assisting Bell with a header in the penalty area to complete the fatal blow.
In fact, if the opponent had not strictly monitored Bell, his previous four headers might have broken through the opponent's door.
Before the end, Kendi Jones received Dyer's inverted triangle pass in the penalty area, pushed the goal from a small angle, and completed the fatal blow.
After winning the opponent 2-0, Southampton finally got a long-lost 3 points in the league.
But just when the Saints wanted to take advantage of the situation and win consecutive games, "bad news" came again from St. Mary's Stadium.
On March 15, back at home, Southampton faced Watford.
As one of the top six promotion opponents on the list, Southampton is naturally well prepared.
For a long time, Watford has been ups and downs in England's lower leagues, and it was not until the 2000-01 season that they were promoted to the Premier League for the first time.
But Watford was obviously inexperienced that season and was relegated after losing 22 consecutive games.
This season, Watford, which has once again accumulated strength, has been in the top six of the English Championship since the fourth round of the league. Although it fell out of the top six once or twice during the period, it quickly recovered. .
Not only that, Watford has been in third place in the league for most of the time, ranking directly behind Reading and Sheffield United.
You know, according to the promotion rules of the British Championship, the top two can advance directly, while the 3rd to 6th place need to play a play-off to select the last person to qualify.
Judging from Southampton's league results this season, it is already impossible to finish in the top two of the league; but if you want to be in the top six, it is not that difficult. This is what Kevin Keegan has done for Southampton since he took office. League goals set.
What's more, after winning the League Cup, Keegan has more confidence in his team.
It's just a play-off. With the resilience shown by this young Saint, it is more than enough to get the last qualification.
After the opening, Southampton took the lead in attacking. Dyer's cross was cleared by the opponent's defender at the front point. Then Wang Xiaodong passed the ball into the penalty area and was received by the opponent's goalkeeper in advance.
The Saints hoped to take the initiative at home, but the attacks launched from both wings were resolved one by one by their opponents. It seems that Watford made sufficient preparations before coming to St. Mary's.
Until the 9th minute, Wang Xiaodong couldn't help but kick a long shot from outside the penalty area. Unfortunately, the ball hit the defender and bounced out of the baseline.
After this, the game reached a deadlock.
Southampton's problems are still the same. After the three blows in the opening game, they can only engage in defensive counterattacks with their opponents.
But Watford is not as strong as the Premier League teams at all. It is difficult to fully suppress Southampton. Sometimes they even have to take the initiative to hand over the ball to make their defense more stable.
As soon as the game came to a positional battle, most of Southampton's advantage was wiped out.
The two sides continued to attack each other until the end of the first half, and the score was still 0-0.
In the second half, things changed.
Southampton took advantage of the fierce attack after the opening and did not give their opponents a chance to react.
Kendi Jones was tackled by his opponent when breaking through the middle, and the referee awarded Southampton a free kick at the top of the arc.
In front of the ball, Fernandez flicked the ball, and Wang Xiaodong rushed over and fired an angry shot.
After several games, the Saints once again saw Wang Xiaodong's signature vigorous bombing.
The ball clung to the turf and quickly passed under the jumping wall. Although he hit the toe of a jumping player, he still did not lose momentum and went directly into the lower right corner of the goal.
After taking a one-goal lead, Southampton completely controlled the situation on the field. In the 64th minute, the Saints expanded the score.
Bell cut in from the left and shot with his right foot. The ball hit the far post and bounced back into the field. Belmadi was inserted and headed into the empty goal.
However, good luck did not always favor the Saints. After falling behind by two goals, the frustrated Watford launched a more fierce fight.
In the second minute when Belmadi headed the ball into the net, he was maliciously tackled by his opponent and had to be substituted early.
Five minutes later, another opponent fouled a Saints player for a tackle.
This time, although the referee issued a red card to the opponent, he still did not prevent the player from leaving the field injured.
Seeing two consecutive players being tackled by opponents, Kevin Keegan was so frightened that he immediately replaced Wang Xiaodong.
One is that he is afraid that Wang Xiaodong will also encounter malicious revenge from his opponents, but he is also afraid that when Wang Xiaodong's temper gets worse, he will also maliciously retaliate against his opponents.
Wang Xiaodong, who was substituted, cursed a lot, but fortunately, the home fans gave him the warmest applause, which gradually eased his mood.
In the 79th minute, facing ten-man Watford, Southampton once again expanded the score.
This time it was Bell's right corner kick. He made an arc with his left foot and landed accurately on top of Kendi Jones. The latter flicked the ball lightly and the ball hit the net.
3-0, there is not much time left, and there are only ten opponents left, so 3 points are easily available.
But at this moment, an accident no one expected happened.
In the 83rd minute of the game, Watford finally organized an attack that was cleared by the Southampton defender.
The ball flew across half the court and rolled out of the sideline.
The Watford defender who was chasing the ball quickly looked helpless when he saw this.
But as he ran across the sideline to chase the ball, Kevin Keegan stepped in between him and the ball.
In fact, Keegan didn't move at all, except that the ball had some spin after it hit the ground.
However, when Watford defender Marsali passed by Keegan while chasing the ball, he did not dodge and directly hit him hard with half of his shoulder.
Keegan, who had his hands in his pockets, was caught off guard. He leaned back and fell to the ground with a thud.
Combined with the performance of Watford players on the field in the past few decades, this is most likely a deliberate "retaliation".
Seeing his coach being knocked down, Wang Xiaodong on the bench was the first to rush forward.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Ma Shali ignored Wang Xiaodong's cry and picked up the ball, intending to run back to the sideline and throw the ball in.
"Fake, I'm calling you, are you deaf?"
Seeing that the other party was ignoring him, Wang Xiaodong reached out and grabbed the other party's arm.
"Let me go, you damn monkey!" Ma Shali yelled angrily, obviously very dissatisfied with Wang Xiaodong's "blocking".
It didn't matter if he didn't yell. This roar completely angered Wang Xiaodong.
"NO!!!"
When Kevin Keegan, who was lying on the ground, saw this scene, he immediately forgot about the pain in his waist and opened his mouth wide enough to stuff a goose egg.
"Yeah!"
boom! ! !
A groan rang out from the bridge of Ma Shali's nose. The fragile nose bones seemed to have been shattered the moment he was hit by a fist. Two streaks of nosebleeds flowed down from his nostrils involuntarily.
But at this moment, its owner had no reaction at all, because Ma Shali glanced twice and fainted.
"Bah! You uneducated guy, go back and let your mother educate you!"
As soon as Wang Xiaodong spat, he was pulled away by other saints who rushed over.
Originally, these substitute players and staff were all angry when their coach was knocked down, but after seeing Wang Xiaodong actually throw a punch, they were all frightened out of their wits.
Ancestor!
You could just scare him, but why did you actually do it?
With your move, our rationality has become irrational!
Amid Keegan's roar, the crowd pulled Wang Xiaodong behind him three times, and the remaining players stood in front of Wang Xiaodong to stop the Watford players who ran over in anger.
The experience of the FA Cup is still fresh in their minds, and Southampton's staff know that a few more from these guys won't be enough.
The immediate priority is to appease the angry Wang Xiaodong.
Under the referee's rapid whistle, Wang Xiaodong and the beaten Ma Shali were each shown a red card and sent off.
Keegan ignored the pain in his back and directly replaced Dyer, who accompanied Wang Xiaodong in the locker room to calm his irritable mood.
After all the farce was over, Keegan clutched his waist and looked at the 3-0 on the timer, but he couldn't laugh.
"Dong, Dong, you really gave me a big problem!"
