Chapter 327: The Champions League is off to a good start
The first leg of the 2015/2016 season has come to an end.
Manchester United lost 4-3 at home to a tumultuous Liverpool side and missed a good chance to win against their century-old rivals.
After the game, there was an overwhelming amount of criticism surrounding Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal, with the media generally believing that manager Louis van Gaal was primarily responsible for the defeat, with his mistakes being a problematic line-up and player selection, and tactically going in the wrong direction.
Gary. Neville has questioned Louis van Gaal's relatively 'soft' back two of Carrick and Schweinsteiger as a major factor in United's defeat.
The Manchester Evening News believes Louis van Gaal should start Anthony Martial, while the newspaper has once again questioned Fellaini's tactics as a central striker.
There is overwhelming criticism around Manchester United, and on Liverpool's side, it is a lot of praise, especially for Liverpool's number one star Jiang Chenxi, and the media is full of flowers and applause.
"Jiang told the world how powerful he was!" - The Times.
"Jiang told Coutinho with practical actions that he is the most indispensable for Liverpool!" - The Guardian.
"Thanks to Jiang, with him, Liverpool will never be to be underestimated!" - The Daily Mirror.
The media's praise for Liverpool and Jiang Chenxi did not make Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp feel much better.
Klopp knew in his heart that if it weren't for Jiang Chenxi's outstanding performance, Liverpool's result in this game would not be optimistic, and he might even lose Old Trafford.
In this game, although Liverpool scored four goals, it all relied on Jiang Chenxi's personal ability, and the team exposed a lot of problems at the offensive end.
The most direct thing is that after Coutinho left, there was a problem with the connection of Liverpool's offensive line, especially behind Jiang Chenxi, there was a lack of players to organize the attack, and a player who threaded the needle.
As a result, in the game against Manchester United, Jiang Chenxi's goals came more from his solo fight under his super personal ability.
Although Liverpool won in the end, Klopp knew that Liverpool could not always rely on Jiang Chenxi's outburst, Jiang Chenxi is also a human being, he will be tired, he may be injured, and he may also be in bad shape, and in this case, Liverpool's opponent is bound to defend Jiang Chenxi more targeted, once Jiang Chenxi falls into the encirclement, Liverpool's attack will be contained.
Jurgen Klopp is looking for a replacement for Coutinho.
At present, the transfer market has long been closed, and it is impossible for Liverpool to bring in new signings to solve this problem, so Klopp can only think of a solution to the problem from the existing squad.
……
At the end of the fifth round of the league, Manchester City won all five games and led the table with 15 points.
Liverpool have won four and drawn one, accumulating 13 points and sitting second in the Premier League standings.
In third place is Leicester City, with the Foxes having a good record of three wins and two draws in five games.
In fact, Leicester's excellent performance has caught the attention of the media, and now, it is no longer a joke but an exclamation around this team, you know, Leicester City sat at the bottom of the table for a long time last season, and it was not until the final rounds of the league that they were miraculously relegated.
Some media began to say that Leicester City is a dark horse in the Premier League this season.
Of course, there are also different opinions in the media, they believe that Leicester City will go high and low, because at the beginning of last season, the performance of promoted Malicester City was also good, they achieved two wins, two draws and one loss in the first five rounds of the league, and they ranked seventh in the league with 8 points, and then there was an avalanche of long-term winless streaks, ranking at the bottom of the league.
These media also take Leicester City's investment in the transfer market as evidence, throughout the summer transfer market, Leicester City transferred and sent away as many as 13 players on loan, including the termination of contracts with well-known veterans such as Cambiaso and Upson, and they brought in seven players in the transfer market, it can be said that the team has undergone a major operation, the most expensive of the reinforcements is the Japanese international Shinji Okazaki, the transfer fee of the Japanese international is 7.2 million pounds, and then the introduction of French defender N'Golo from the French second league. N'Golo Kante, the French midfielder's £5.6 million transfer fee, has only played a season in Ligue 2 and a season in Ligue 3, and The Sun has questioned whether the diminutive French midfielder can establish himself in the Premier League.
The Sun's prediction for Leicester City is that the Foxes will continue to start high and go low this season, and at the end of the season, it will be a very good result to be able to survive relegation for two consecutive seasons.
……
Liverpool are set to play their first game in the 2015/2016 UEFA Champions League group stage after playing against Manchester United.
The opponent in the first match of the group stage is Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli League.
Maccabi Tel Aviv is also considered to be the weakest team in Liverpool's group, and the media generally believes that Liverpool will meet a weak team in the first game of the group stage, which is a good thing, which provides a buffer time for Liverpool, who are currently undergoing a 'tactical realignment': even if Liverpool is in average form during the tactical realignment phase, as long as Jiang Chenxi plays normally, it is no problem to win Maccabi Tel Aviv at home.
Two days later, Liverpool, Anfield.
Liverpool won the first game of the Champions League group stage of the new season by beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 at home and made a good start to the new Champions League season.
Jiang Chenxi made a pass and shot in the game, and Sturridge, who came off the bench, also scored a goal.
Liverpool won, however, Klopp was not satisfied with the team's performance, in the words of the media, this victory is not how good Liverpool performed, but Jiang Chenxi's continued highlight performance.
Throughout the game, in the face of Maccabi Tel Aviv, the weakest opponent in the group stage, and in the face of the opponent's comprehensive retraction, Liverpool did not have many ways at the offensive end, and still used two set-piece opportunities, one was Jiang Chenxi's header to score the goal, and the other was Jiang Chenxi's header to assist Sturridge to grab the point.
"The Times" has a more famous comment on this, "Grand Paris poached Neymar at the last moment of the transfer market, poached Barcelona's crown prince and also intended to cause trouble for Barcelona, Barcelona poached Coutinho with a backhand, and Barcelona's super strength in La Liga has not exposed any problems for the time being, but the known fact is that Barcelona has caused a lot of trouble for Liverpool...... It's a reminder that if you want to cause problems for a team, you need to poach their key players in the final minute of the transfer window...... For Liverpool, the biggest blessing is that they have Jiang Chenxi! ”