Chapter 628: Ferguson, who should not be underestimated
For other teams participating in the Champions Cup, Manchester City's two-goal away win over Inter Milan is enough to shock everyone - anyway, Inter Milan has also been one of the strongest teams in Europe in the past few years, although it was also lost to Liverpool by two goals in the first leg last year, but it was away from home, and it was also in the case of two red cards, this season with Mourinho, although the summer transfer Mancini Jr. and Quaresma failed, but they also have quite good strength after all, Now he has been beaten 2-0 by Manchester City without any temper at his home stadium, what kind of concept is this!
This means that Manchester City has completely reached the level of a top team in terms of real strength and mentality!
If Manchester City's quality was not so exaggerated at the beginning of the season, then after the training of the Champions League group stage, they have begun to mature, and what is especially frightening is that some of the young players in their squad are still improving, Benzema is getting better and better, Bale is also able to play a heavy role in many cases, plus a Vidal who can almost replace Deco's role...... The current Manchester City, the overall strength is indeed terrifying!
This victory has undoubtedly boosted Manchester City's self-confidence again, and despite being chased by Manchester United with only one point left in the lead, they are still undaunted and are beginning to believe that they can achieve the best results in the league and the Champions League!
Of course, at this time, all the Manchester City players did not feel that they had to win the Champions Cup, and for most of them, they felt that they could go one step further, and that was to win, win one game at a time, until they reached their limits.
Among Manchester City's players, in addition to Deco, although Torres, Di Natale, Yaya Toure and Alves have all won the Champions Cup under Dick, but except for Deco who was the main player when he was in Porto, the other four people have only won the Champions Cup as substitutes, and they now hope to attack the Champions Cup as the main force, even if it is not necessarily to win the championship, but as long as they show their value in the process of impact, then for them, it is the most important thing!
Back in the league, Manchester City continued to win in the league, while at the same time, their biggest rivals, Manchester United, were also stubbornly chasing after them, constantly narrowing the distance between them and Arsenal!
Arsenal's previous 14 wins in a row is the longest in the Premier League so far, and they are now on an 11-game winning streak, and if they win three more games, then United will set a new record!
"It's only fourteen? I would have liked to win the game against Liverpool if I had known......" Dick flipped through the newspaper and muttered to himself, he really hadn't noticed this before, otherwise, with Manchester City's previous momentum of ten consecutive wins, if you were serious, it would really be possible to break this record - but now, don't think about it, it's unlikely, even if you win all of them this season, it won't reach the scale of fourteen consecutive wins.
In the 27th round, Manchester City beat West Ham United 2-1 away, and with most of their main players rotated, their victory was precious, while Manchester United completed a 12-game winning streak, and they beat Portsmouth 2-0 at home to continue to chase after Manchester City.
In the 28th round, Manchester City defeated Aston Villa 2-0 at home, this game Manchester City can be said to have not given Aston Villa any opportunity, in the first round had faced Manchester City to complete a hat trick of Abang Lajo in Manchester City's targeted defense did not play at all, Manchester City through the control and steady progress of the midfield, scored a goal in each half and did not give Aston Villa any chance to counterattack, such a mature Manchester City is what everyone is afraid of, they are a little less rushed, But you can win in an easier way.
Manchester United, on the other hand, beat Newcastle 2-1 on the road, bringing their winning streak to thirteen games, leaving only one game away from Arsenal's record!
Manchester United's strong momentum has made many people start to feel that Manchester City is now a little unbearable, but after observing Manchester United's recent form, Dick said to the players on the training ground with great certainty: "Manchester United is now almost a period of exhaustion...... I think they're going to have bad grades. ”
Manchester City's players will be skeptical, but the second leg of the Champions League seems to have given Dick a slap in the face, as United swept Sporting Lisbon 7-1 at home to reach the quarter-finals!
Although Manchester City also controlled the opponent well at home, withstood Inter Milan's counterattack, and finally played 0-0 with the opponent at home, and entered the quarterfinals with an aggregate score of 2-0 over two legs, but Manchester United's crazy momentum undoubtedly cast a shadow on the hearts of countless people who support Manchester City!
"Actually...... They're really dying, don't you see? In the league, it is becoming more and more difficult for them to win, while in the Champions Cup, they have scored seven goals at once...... Typical is the state that can no longer control the whole, playing average all at once, and playing very well all of a sudden, with this state, it is already a very difficult thing for them to create a winning streak in the future. Dick said to Marina with some reluctance.
"Why? With the momentum they have now, it wouldn't be a big deal to win one or two more games. Marriner was a little confused.
"Don't forget who they're going to be against in the next round." Dick laughed.
"Liverpool ......" Marriner replied casually, and then reacted: "You mean ......"
"It's impossible for Benitez not to see this, although their form has started to decline recently, but without the involvement of the Champions Cup, their strength is still very strong, which Benitez will take advantage of, maybe Manchester United will lose badly in this round." Dick replied with a smile.
Dick once again proved his unique vision and judgment - Manchester United, who were aiming for a fourteenth consecutive victory, suffered a heavy defeat in the fourteenth game, at their home stadium, they were beaten 4-1 by Liverpool, and they were embarrassed by the crazy running and strong physical confrontation of Liverpool's players throughout the game, except for Cristiano Ronaldo who scored a goal through a penalty, most of the time Manchester United were on the back foot, and their current decline has indeed been reflected. Physically, they started to be a little unbearable - after all, on the whole, they are not as good as Manchester City, and the pressure on their main squad is very great.
Dick, on the other hand, commanded Manchester City to draw 1-1 with Chelsea away from home, and in such a situation, taking more points than the opponent is an extra weight in the final moments of the league!
With this draw, Manchester City are two points ahead of Manchester United, meaning they are eligible to draw one more game than Manchester United in their remaining nine league games.
"I said it a long time ago, and you still don't believe it!" Dick simply dropped the phrase after that game and left the projection room where they were watching the game together, leaving all the City players looking at each other.
In the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup, four Premier League teams have once again reached the quarter-finals, so it is normal for teams to collide - in the end, Manchester City drew a relatively better draw, and their opponent was Villarreal from Spain.
Arsenal and Chelsea are fighting each other, Manchester United has drawn a good draw again, they met another Portuguese team, Porto, and the remaining game is a collision between Bayern and Barcelona!
The next two Champions League fixtures are in April, with City having two league games to play before the first leg away to Villarreal, at home to Sunderland and away to Arsenal.
Dick will not give up such two games, the game is playing at this time, it is the time to test the overall strength of Manchester City, Dick has made so many preparations before the season, carefully in the league with continuous rotation to train those potential players in the substitute players, not to mention that now not to mention being able to come up with two equally strong lineups, one and a half are also available, it is just in such a dense and important schedule, while winning as much as possible to make all the players not too tired, this is what Dick is pursuingIt's something he's always wanted to build in all the teams he's coached.
Now it seems that the situation is not bad.
In addition to the current main line-up, he can also use players such as Richards, Cahill, Barton, Deco, Di Natale, Bale and Ashley Young on the bench, and it is still possible to rotate to make all the players not too tired.
In the thirtieth round, Manchester City relied on a header from Richards at home, and beat Sunderland 1-0 at home with a lot of substitutes, and in the other game, Manchester United's fatigue did not pass, they suffered two consecutive defeats, lost 0-2 away to Fulham, and were opened up by Manchester City with a five-point gap!
"Now our league is stable." Marina was very pleased with the result.
"No...... Not necessarily, Ferguson, the old fox, he is accumulating power now, and he sent almost all the substitutes in this game to let the main players recover, just for the final sprint! Look, now that Manchester United's main players have almost recovered, in the FA Cup this weekend, they will most likely let the substitutes come on and let the main players rest, and then it will be the most difficult time. Dick shook his head and said that he had never given up his vigilance against Alex Ferguson, although he looked very old now, and Manchester United seemed to be in poor shape, but if there was anything not to pay attention to, he would definitely be hit hard by the Red Devils!
There are still eight rounds in the league, the difference of five points is nothing, compared with Manchester United, Manchester City needs to invest more in the Champions Cup, after all, they can not make any mistakes, and Manchester United is much more experienced, now both sides are going hand in hand, if you think that the league has been stabilized now, most of them will be slammed by this old fox.
Thinking of this, Dick can't help but admire Ferguson, he actually dares to use the substitute at this time to recover the main physical fitness at the same time, but also to paralyze the opponent, such a decision is not easy to under, it is easy to be self-defeating, and only after Ferguson's control of the team has reached a certain limit, he can adopt such a bold strategy!
Sure enough, in the sixth round of the FA Cup in the following midweek, Ferguson continued to send all the substitutes, and finally lost to the opponent and missed the FA Cup semi-finals, and Manchester United, who gave up the FA Cup, has already gathered strength and is ready to start the final impact!