In the 24th round of the league, there is a key match, and that is Liverpool, who are equal in points, host Chelsea. (Net)

In a game that neither side could afford to lose, Chelsea lost 2-0 away.

In this way, Manchester United continue to lead the table with 57 points, while Liverpool, who won Chelsea, are second in the table with 48 points, and Aston Villa have also overtaken Chelsea to move into third, with Chelsea slipping to fourth.

It is clear that Chelsea fans and the media in London are unhappy with Chelsea's current standings and tables. This dissatisfaction is concentrated in the dissatisfaction with Scolari.

The Times has put the fingers on Scolari to prove just how incompetent and terrible the Brazilian coach is.

During his time at Chelsea, Scolari played 35 competitive games with an overall record of 19 wins, 11 draws and five defeats (19 wins, 10 draws and six defeats based on FIFA's traditional 120 minutes). Among them, the defeat against Liverpool on October 26 last year was Scolari's first defeat at Chelsea, and it was also an unforgettable defeat, because this defeat not only lost the 86-game unbeaten league home game that began in the Ranieri era and continued after the Jose Mourinho era crossed the Grant period, but also kicked off the dismal start of Scolari's big club matchup in the minor league. Until this round of league defeat to Liverpool, Big Phil has been winless in direct dialogue with the other top three so far, 1 draw and 4 defeats.

After losing 3-1 to Roma in the Champions League group stage, they were eliminated by Burnley on penalties in the League Cup a week ago, and in the third round of the FA Cup, they were forced to draw at home by Thornend of League One and had to play a replay to get through. Since then, he has also played extremely inconsistently in the league, winning only 4 of the 12 rounds of games since November 15, and as a result, the league ranking has dropped again and again, and now it has been forced by Aston Villa to fall to 4th, 12 points less than the leader Manchester United, and it is basically certain that the league title will not be contested. According to statistics, Scolari has a win rate of 55.56% during his reign, Mourinho 67.03% and Grant 67.67%. In other words, Scolari has the lowest winning percentage of any Chelsea manager in recent years!

The Times concludes with a sentence: Should Scolari remain at Stamford Bridge?

Although this is a question mark, you can guess what the media is trying to say.

Should Scolari get out of class?

Seems like it should be.

However, the Telegraph makes another point of view, and that is that although Abou may already be unhappy with Scolari, Chelsea may not be sacking Scolari anytime soon!

Why?!

Money is a problem!

When Scolari came to power last year, he signed a three-year contract with Chelsea and a whopping £6.25 million a year. Seven months later, Big Phil is one of the names of the managers who are likely to be sacked, and the Telegraph has calculated for Chelsea that if the remaining months of the season are taken into account, plus the unfulfilled contract for the next two years, Chelsea could pay Scolari a hefty £15 million break-up fee if they fire him at this time. This is undoubtedly another heavy burden for the financially strapped Blues. What's even more staggering is that from Ranieri, Mourinho, Grant to now Scolari, the total amount of money earmarked for firing coaches since Abobou took office may need to be close to £40 million.

When Ranieri got out of class, the "tinkerer" got 8 million liquidated damages from Abu. Grant succeeded Jose Mourinho as Chelsea manager in September 2007 when he signed a four-year contract with the Blues before being sacked in May of the following year. It is reported that Mourinho and Grant have a combined breakup fee of £17 million, and Chelsea's definition of this amount is "extra expenses", which is attributed to the "private activity funds" of owner Roman Abramovich.

In such a situation, the sudden dismissal of Scolari would make it more difficult for Chelsea to cover up their financial reports. As a result of the financial crisis, Chelsea have already implemented a number of spending cuts this season, including cutting scouts, suspending player vouchers, cutting unnecessary budgets across all departments, and even affecting the food and dining locations of Blues players. Kenyon's long-term plan for the club is to achieve independent profit and loss around 2010. Looking at Chelsea's financial reports for the last three years, the team's losses have indeed decreased year on year, from £140 million in 2005 to £80 million in 2006 and then £75.8 million in 2007. If Scolari were to be sacked suddenly at this time, and the liquidated damages paid by the club, it would make the latest financial report very unpleasant.

Previously, even if Chelsea burned money every year, Abu was able to pay out of his own pocket to make up for the club's financial black hole. But Russia's private assets have shrunk from £14.6bn last year to £7 billion, and have suffered equally heavy losses in the stock markets of London and Moscow. For months, rumours of Abbu seeking a way to sell Chelsea have never stopped. In six years, Abu lost a total of 5. £7.8 billion! Everyone knows that Chelsea's rise to prominence is based on huge investments from the Russians, and that if Abbu withdraws, the "car" will fall apart with it. Unless a wealthy Middle Eastern businessman or sheikh is in charge, Chelsea are likely to return to the mediocrity of the Bates era, and the Premier League's "Big Four" will regress to the "three-legged triumvirate" of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Of course, this is too alarmist, and Chelsea are indeed the giants of the Premier League now, although the giants are a little worse than the other three.

※※※※※※※

In London, Chelsea are fourth, Arsenal are fifth, and the English capital is in mourning, while Manchester United are singing and dancing to celebrate their 11th consecutive win since the draw with Tottenham Hotspur in the 17th round of the league.

Winning 11 in a row, they remain at the top of the standings, nine points ahead of second-placed Liverpool, and lead the Premier League all the way. This has made Manchester United the most popular team.

Even because of Manchester United's current hot state, betting agencies such as Bwin have adjusted the odds for Manchester United to win the Premier League title, and then adjusted the odds for Manchester United to win the Champions League. It is clear that United are the favourites to win the title right now.

With his January 2009 Awards, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was undisputedly named Premier League Manager of the Month, while Yang Fan was unabashedly named Player of the Month. In the new season's official ACTIM index player rating list, Yang Fan is currently at the top of the list, and a total of 5 players in the current top 10 are from Manchester United. Among them, Yang Fan, Rooney and Vidic are in the top three. The excellent performance and strength of the whole Manchester United team during this period can be seen.

On February 7, in the 25th round of the league, Manchester United defeated West Ham United 2-1, and Yang Fan and Wayne Rooney scored for Manchester United.

After winning against West Ham, United have won 12 in a row!

In a week's time, United host Blackburn Rovers and then travel to Europe to renew the Champions League, where they travel to Serie A giants Inter Milan in the first leg of the quarter-finals.

All of United's players are eager to get to play against Inter Milan, and most of the conversation is about to rekindle the Champions League.

Ferguson didn't think the atmosphere was right.

Everyone seems to be overly keen on the knockout tie against Inter Milan, who in fact have a league game ahead of the game and will host Blackburn Rovers at home. In this atmosphere, the United players don't seem to be thinking about the game against Blackburn, and they are only thinking about the game against Inter Milan.

'It's all about getting our energy back and we're thinking about the game against Blackburn Rovers now. "Do you really think we're going to win this game against Blackburn?"

It's just a pity that Manchester United's players didn't take Ferguson's words to heart.

Even Yang Fan was immersed in the joy of this great success.

Especially after Cristiano Ronaldo's injury, Yang Fan, as the core of the Manchester United team, led the whole team to continue to move forward and won 12 consecutive victories. Invincible and invincible. In the league, the gap with the next team has been widened, and in the League Cup, Manchester United has reached the final of the League Cup. In the FA Cup, Manchester United has also reached the round of 16, which can be said to be a triumphant song on three fronts.

At this time, Yang Fan just wants to enjoy his own success. Enjoying the good situation of the team at the moment.

※※※※※※※

In such an atmosphere, Manchester United ushered in a league game against Blackburn.

Everyone, including Yang Fan, thought that Blackburn could not cause any problems for Manchester United and that the team would win comfortably.

No one expected that in this game, Blackburn was actually very difficult, and in the first five minutes of the game, Blackburn scored a goal.

Conceding a goal at the start of the game didn't make the United players vigilant enough that they didn't think Blackburn would have caused problems for themselves. Moreover, they still have a lot of time to find goals.

However, as time passed, especially when the game went to 81 minutes, the score on the field was still 0-1, and Manchester United was behind the score.

At this time, Manchester United began to be anxious, and the backward Manchester United launched a crazy counterattack. And the one-goal lead situation also made Blackburn have the capital to start a steady counterattack. If they can keep the score of 1-0, Blackburn is completely acceptable, not to mention that if they can seize the opportunity to score another goal, this game will be won: Blackburn broke a big upset, and actually defeated Manchester United, which is now in full swing, when everyone is not optimistic about them!

The development of the situation on the field can be written as a classic battle in which a weak team defeats the strong with the weak, and a strong enemy wins in a defensive counterattack.

The Reds pressed on the attack to try for an equaliser, only to allow Blackburn Rovers to take advantage of another goal and make it 2-0. It was the goal that sealed the win.

Manchester United were finally defeated after 12 consecutive wins, and they suffered a shock defeat to Blackburn. It was a result that no one could have imagined before the game. Manchester United, who have won 12 in a row, lost 0-2 to Blackburn!

This is definitely the biggest upset in this round of league and even the big five leagues in this weekend's competition.

Seeing that Manchester United, which had won 12 in a row, finally lost, the entire Premier League, everyone except Manchester United finally breathed a long sigh of relief. This full-powered luxury chariot has finally broken down temporarily!

The United didn't even have time to savor the feeling of a long-awaited defeat before they departed for Milan to prepare for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie away to Inter Milan.

Ferguson vs Mourinho, the two collided again after a year.

Yang Fan vs Ibrahimovic! The first duel between two equally talented and equally characterful stars!

This is really a much-talked-about and high-profile showdown.

《+》