Three days after Tottenham successfully advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League, Tottenham players returned to London from Spain to face the 33rd round opponent of the Premier League at White Hart Lane, Manchester City, coached by former England legendary left-back Stuart Pearce.
Faced with currently ranking tenth in the league, there is no hope of relegation in the European war. In the past year or so, the team has lost Anelka, Robbie Fowler and Wright Phillips Jr. and other generals. Manchester City, which is becoming increasingly mediocre, and Tottenham, which rested most of their main players in this game, did not suffer much test in the game. Relying on a solid defensive system and Klose's goal-scoring goal before the end of the first half, Tottenham successfully took all three points from the visiting team and continued to lead the Premier League standings with a six-point advantage.
Immediately afterwards, in the 34th round of the Premier League a week later, Everton, who had the advantage of home court, also failed to become a roadblock for Tottenham on the road to defending the league championship. Although the "Toffees" regained their form after entering 2006, Beatty, Cahill, McFadden and others who regained their shooting boots helped Everton quickly get out of the relegation zone, but they have not completely escaped from English football. The shackles of Everton were obviously no match for Tottenham, who were fully staffed and full of energy after a week's rest, and eventually lost 2-0 at Goodison Park.
It can be said that without adopting killing tactics or the referee's whistles being obviously biased, it is almost difficult for these mid- and lower-tier Premier League teams that still adhere to the traditional 4-4-2 parallel positioning to attack the team that has evolved into a complete system. What a threat Tottenham poses in this form!
Seeing that there is not much left in the league, and Tottenham at the top of the list has not affected its performance in the Premier League due to multi-front operations, Mourinho can only choose to bite the bullet and persist - coming to Chelsea with the halo of the Champions League champion coach, if he continues Since he has not won a championship trophy in two seasons, Abramovich is still willing to believe in and support him. The Portuguese madman's prospects at Stamford Bridge next season are hardly optimistic.
Regarding this situation, Mourinho can only secretly pray that Manchester United can help him and successfully snipe Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Because if Tottenham beat Manchester United in the next round of the league, with only three rounds left in the league, it will be almost an impossible task for Chelsea, which is six points behind, to overtake in the standings!
As the 1992 generation and the Triple Crown team have left and aged, Manchester United, which is in the throes of renewal, has long lost its courage. Especially in this life, Manchester United was preempted by George to steal Ronaldo and Vidic, which made the former Premier League hegemon even worse - like Bayern Munich three years ago, Manchester United failed in the Champions League group stage. And return. In addition, teams such as Benfica, Villarreal, and Lille were in the same group as Manchester United, which made Manchester United's exit from the group stage even more embarrassing!
After all, when Bayern was eliminated from the Champions League group stage three years ago, the teams in the same group as the Bundesliga hegemons were AC Milan and Deportivo La Coruna who were at their peak, and Lens, who won the Ligue 1 runner-up. Not to mention that Manchester United introduced many strong players last summer, several opponents in the same group were not as good as AC Milan and other teams in terms of strength, but the result was that the Red Devils ended up at the bottom of the group and bid farewell to the Champions League early. This is really Unacceptable.
For a time, there was a lot of talk that "Ferguson is old and needs a new coach who is more suitable for the current environment to lead Manchester United forward". Although Crown Prince Tamim Al-Thani, the chairman of Manchester United, denied the matter at a press conference, rumors that the management is preparing to change coaches next season have never subsided.
Whether it was because he didn't want to lose in front of his beloved disciple or to keep his position as Manchester United's head coach, Ferguson had no reason to help George. Instead, he attached great importance to this powerful dialogue and intended to prove that he was still the leader through a victory. The sword is not old yet!
Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Heinze, Hargreaves, Carrick, Park Ji-sung, Rooney, Joaquin and Ruud van Nistelrooy, and for the first time this season Compared with the previous match, Manchester United's starting lineup in this game seemed much neater, and their combat effectiveness was also different!
Over the past six months or so, Ferguson has gradually changed the team's usual formation from the "4-4-2 diamond midfield" that once brought him and Manchester United countless glory to the currently popular "4-3-3" , the cooperation between the players has become more tacit, coupled with the development and targeted adjustments of tactical routines, the Red Devils, who are in the period of running-in and replacement, have kept the final bottom line-a Champions League seat for next season.
Although many methods have been adopted to solve some of the team's previous problems, Manchester United still has many problems that need Ferguson to solve one by one: First, the team's left wing, Heinze and O'Shea can't do Carlos Like Cafu, one person takes over the offensive and defensive tasks of the entire wing, forcing Rooney, who serves as the virtual left winger in the formation, to invest more energy on the defensive end, which in turn affects his performance on the offensive end.
The second is the defense whose performance has always been ups and downs after Stam left the team. Brown and Sylvester have excellent physical fitness, but their football intelligence and frequent convulsions are obviously not suitable for serving as the main central defenders in a top giant like Manchester United. It is precisely for this reason that Ferguson has focused on Vermaelen, who performed quite well after joining Everton last year, and is preparing to try to bring the young central defender to Old Trafford.
The third point is a commonplace issue: the pain caused by the team's replacement. Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville, Scholes, Giggs and others who are currently serving as the main or rotation main players in the Manchester United team are all over 30 years old. These veterans have maintained a very good competitive state this season, but After all, age is there, and no one knows whether they will suddenly fall off a cliff at some point in time.
This is not unfounded. For these aging veterans, the probability of this happening is quite high. Therefore, if Manchester United wants to become a strong contender for the Premier League championship and even the Champions League championship again, Ferguson needs to continue to strengthen the lineup in the next transfer period and make the team's age structure more reasonable.
Fortunately, the one supporting Manchester United in this life is the Qatar Investment Authority, which has deep pockets and the confidence to play a real-life football manager. Therefore, Ferguson does not need to be as stretched as he was in his previous life when recruiting players, and can complete the replacement of the old and new Red Devils faster and better.
Back to business. This confrontation between Tottenham and Manchester United attracted the attention of a large number of fans and industry insiders - since the establishment of the Premier League, only Manchester United has achieved the feat of three consecutive Premier League titles. Now, as a new giant, Tottenham also has the opportunity to do this, which will naturally make fans focus their attention on this game!
The master-disciple duel between George Nelson and Ferguson, the direct confrontation between Tottenham and Manchester United, the new and old hegemons of the Premier League, and the key battle related to the direction of the Premier League championship this season... Various BUFFs are superimposed together, making this game a highly anticipated event. Focus battle!
