Is Dai Zhiwei really tired?

Since the start of the season, he has made the most appearances for Manchester United apart from David De Gea, with Jose Mourinho only daring to rotate him in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.

Judging by his second-half game against Bournemouth, it seemed that he was really a little tired.

"Do you want him to rest?" Jose Mourinho had the idea after the match against Bournemouth.

In midweek, Manchester United face the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup against a modest Bristol City side at Ashton Gate.

Jose Mourinho has made a significant rotation of his starting line-up, with all 10 positions in the squad changing from last weekend's league games except for Marcus Rashford, with Ibrahimovic starting for the first time since returning from injury and wearing the captain's armband, Pogba returning from a previous ban, and Mkhitaryan being in the squad for the first time since 25 November.

As for Dai Zhiwei, Mourinho didn't take him to the Ashton goalball at all.

It's a pity that in fact, this Manchester United team really can't do without Dai Zhiwei.

Bryan opened the scoring in the 51st minute and Ibrahimovic equalised from a direct free-kick three minutes later, but Smith struck home in the third minute of stoppage time.

So far, all the top four of this season's League Cup have been produced, namely Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Bristol City - the only one eliminated from the quarter-finals is the Red Devils who are missing Dai Zhiwei.

Seeing this result, Mourinho was even more afraid to let Dai Zhiwei rest in the league, and in the 18th round of the Premier League away to West Brom at the weekend, Dai Zhiwei still started and played the whole game.

In the 17th minute, veteran Barry opened the scoring for West Bromwich Albion.

Falling behind, Manchester United could only put the hope of equalising and overtaking on Dai Zhiwei, who was already a little tired.

And as it turned out, he really deserved to be trusted.

Five minutes after Barry's goal, Dai Zhiwei equalised for United with a powerful long-range shot from outside the box.

In the 61st minute of the second half, he broke through to the penalty area and chose to pass the ball in an inverted triangle to assist Lingard to overtake the score.

After the game, Dai Zhiwei almost collapsed on the seat when he returned to the locker room.

However, he could not rest yet.

The pit Daddy Premier League Christmas Express has a packed schedule in late December, with the Reds having just finished their 18th round on Sunday and Leicester City next Friday with a 19th round.

Leicester took the lead in the 27th minute when Ndidi played a long ball from the back, Riyad Mahrez chose to wait and then passed straight to Jamie Vardy's one-on-one shot from 10 yards.

Manchester United equalized in the 40th minute, Anthony Martial's cross from the left was deflected, Jesse Lingard knocked back, and Mata's powerful shot from 15 yards deflected into the bottom right corner, 1:1!

Manchester United overtook the score in the 60th minute, Maguire blocked Martial from fouling outside the edge of the penalty area, and Dai Zhiwei's free kick shot directly into the upper right corner, successfully overtaking the score, 2:1!

Leicester suffered a blow in the 73rd minute when Amartey was sent off for two yellow cards in five minutes.

In the 80th minute, Pogba made a diagonal pass, Rashford fell down when he tried to shake Schmeichel with a single knife, the referee awarded a penalty, and Dai Zhiwei hit the penalty to seal the victory 3:1!

With this comeback victory, Manchester United became the Premier League half-way champion in 2017-18!

And 19 rounds, 18 wins and 1 draw, accumulating 55 points, is also the highest point in the Premier League halfway!

The halfway win made the Red Devils led by Jose Mourinho even more confident that they were away from winning the first Premier League title since Alex Ferguson.

However, he is very open to this, thinking that the half-marathon championship does not mean the championship, and this is only the beginning of the championship road.

In the last four seasons, the Christmas title has been equated with the eventual Premier League title, and these statistics have also given Manchester United great psychological implications.

Manchester City's defeat in the same city derby has also led Spinach to point more of their predictions for this season's Premier League title to Manchester United.

Looking back at the Premier League in the past 10 years, there have been 7 half-way champions who have won the league title, with only three exceptions: in the 2008-09 season, the half-way champion was Liverpool, and the final champion was Manchester United; In the 2013-14 season, Liverpool won the half-way race, and Manchester City won the title in the end; In the 2015-16 season, the halfway title was Arsenal, and finally Leicester City won the title; These past stats are a wake-up call for Mourinho, who has a lesson from the past.

Rafael Benitez's Reds got off to a similarly strong start before being overtaken by Alex Ferguson's Manchester United for psychological reasons; Brendan Rodgers' Reds were even more staggering, and in the final three rounds of the contest against Chelsea, Steven Gerrard's fatal fall also handed the title to Manuel Pellegrini's Manchester City.

Fortunately, Mourinho does not care about the Christmas championship and the halfway title, but always focuses on his own performance, thinking that those are past statistics and do not say anything, and one or two losses will lead to a total loss!

In the 20th round, Manchester United almost capsized in the gutter.

At Burnley at Old Trafford, United conceded a goal again and did not equalise until the 53rd minute, when Ashley Young's cross from the right was met by Jesse Lingard, who was leaning on Kevin Lang's heel from 10 yards.

Manchester United only scored in the 91st minute, Dai Zhiwei's shot from the edge of the penalty area was blocked in a free-kick scuffle, and Lingard volleyed into the net from 15 yards, 2:1!

Although Manchester United won again, Dai Zhiwei, who played the whole game, did not score for the first time after joining Manchester United, and his Premier League record of consecutive goals came to an abrupt end, with 31 goals in 19 consecutive rounds!

Previously, the Premier League record was set by Frank Vardy in 2015/16, who scored 13 goals in 11 consecutive games, breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy's record of 10 consecutive Premier League goals.

Dai Zhiwei rushed to be tired and in urgent need of rest, if it was in Villarreal last season, La Liga had already begun the winter break at this time, but the Premier League did not have a winter break at all.

In midweek, Manchester United are about to face the 21st round of the Premier League, and there are signs that Tai Zhiwei will still start against Southampton, although Mourinho admitted before the game that Tai Zhiwei was very tired.

For Dai Zhiwei, the only good news is that Southampton, the opponent of this game, has been in very poor form recently, they lost 2:5 at the foot of Tottenham Hotspur in the last round, which is the third defeat suffered by Southampton in the last four rounds, and they have drawn three and lost four in the last seven rounds without a win.

Such an opponent who is not in good shape, maybe he can be replaced in advance without playing the whole game.

However, Southampton played tenaciously enough in this game, and the defense could not be poured, and the Red Devils attacking team led by Dai Zhiwei really did not have a good way to play in the sports battle.

If he is replaced by Dai Zhiwei, who is full of physical energy, he may not have the ability to break into Longtan alone to complete the goal, but he is really a little weak in his recent state.

In the 21st minute of the second half, Anthony Martial broke through to win a well-placed free-kick for United.

Dai Zhiwei stood in front of the ball without giving up, the free kick hit the goal directly, and the curved shot went around the human wall and flew into the near corner of the goal, hitting the goalkeeper by surprise, and finally broke the deadlock of the game, 1:0!

Dai Zhiwei, who completed the goal task, was immediately replaced by Mourinho, and then defended the victory by "swinging the bus".

Mourinho used the "swing bus" again, which attracted criticism from many Manchester City supporters after the game, because in this round of the game, Manchester City was forced to draw 0:0 by the "swing bus" Crystal Palace, and the points gap between the two teams was finally widened to a safe area - 5 points!

In the 22nd round, Manchester United challenged Everton at Goodison Park, and Dai Zhiwei recovered his form and began to exert force in the second half.

Manchester United broke the deadlock in the 51st minute, Herrera passed, and Dai Zhiwei's long-range shot with the outside of his left foot pierced the Everton goalkeeper's ten fingers and scored his 33rd Premier League goal!

In the 6th minute, Manchester United expanded the score, Pogba passed, and Martial shot into the upper right corner from the edge of the penalty area, 2:0!

Lingard was the icing on the cake in the 81st minute, Pogba scored a brace with an assist, and Lingard fired into the top right corner from the edge of the box to make it 3-0.

The biggest reason for Everton's lack of attack this campaign is the departure of the team's top scorer Romelu Lukaku - yesterday, the day after the Premier League's winter transfer window opened, Chelsea announced the signing of the "little monster" for a transfer fee of 75 million pounds.

And Lukaku's transfer has also directly ignited the hot market in the Premier League's winter transfer window!

Although Manchester United has had a lot of injuries this season, by the middle of the season, the injury situation has eased a lot.

During this winter transfer period, Manchester United are only preparing to make minor repairs, and Mourinho is not prepared to make major changes.

Given the frequent squandering of opportunities by strikers other than Dai Zhiwei, Mourinho is in desperate need of a prolific goalscorer to share the pressure on Dai Zhiwei, and although he has his eye on Mesut Ozil, whose contract expires this summer, the German midfielder will not be able to solve the stubborn problem of the goalkeeper.

Fulham's 17-year-old Sessegnon is another potential signing, but he is only a potential signing. Manchester United are not destined to be the protagonist of this winter, after all, Mourinho has never been the focus of the winter window.

Arsene Wenger expects to be busy with the fringe players in the squad during this transfer window, and while opening offers to release some players, he also hopes to have the opportunity to bring in some quality reinforcements.

Mesut Ozil, who has been seeking to leave, continues to be at the centre of the 'scandal' in the transfer market, and he may prefer to wait until the summer to leave on a free transfer, but an advance offer from Manchester City or Paris could make this move happen sooner, and the Gunners will have to consider it.

The first piece of news about Manchester United's winter transfer is not about signings, but about departures.

On January 3, Manchester United said on their official website: "Ibrahimovic has officially left Manchester United. The club has confirmed the termination of Ibrahimovic's contract with immediate effect. Everyone in the club thanked Ibrahimovic for his contribution to the team and wished him well for the future. ”

At this point, Swedish Shenta's playing career at Manchester United officially ended.

Ibrahimovic joined United as a free agent in July 2016. Last season, he was in excellent form, scoring 28 goals in 46 appearances in all competitions and was a favourite among Manchester United fans.

Unfortunately, Ibrahimovic suffered a serious injury in last season's Europa League and had to undergo surgery and take a long time off.

In the summer of 2017, Manchester United announced that they would not renew his contract. However, in August, Ibrahimovic successfully signed a one-year contract with Manchester United.

Ibrahimovic has suffered a knee injury this season and his form has declined badly, scoring just one goal in just seven appearances for United in all competitions.

In fact, Ibrahimovic's departure today is not unexpected, the British media have long revealed that Ibrahimovic is leaving Manchester United ahead of schedule, after all, under Dai Zhiwei's outstanding performance, the Swedish striker can't find his chance to play at all.

Shortly after Manchester United announced Ibrahimovic's departure, Ibrahimovic himself said on social networks: "No matter how great a career is, there will be an end to it. After two fantastic seasons at Manchester United, it's time to say goodbye here. Thank you to the club, the fans, the team, the coaches, the staff and everyone who has shared this history with me. #foreverred(#一生红魔)"

At the same time, Ibu also uploaded a photo of himself wearing a white robe shaking hands with the red devil like a god.

When you come, you are legendary, and when you go, you are great.

According to reports from the United Kingdom and the United States yesterday, Ibrahimovic will join the Los Angeles Galaxy Club as soon as this Friday local time, and he will expand his new career in the United States.

After the forward line has been slimmed, Manchester United only has 3 strikers left, of which Anthony Martial and Rashford are more of the role of wingers, although they can also play center, but the effect is not good, so Dai Zhiwei's playing time in the second half of the season will only increase.

It's a pity that no one seems to pay attention to the issue of Dai Zhiwei's stand-in.

Manchester United's focus in this winter transfer window is all about how to deal with Mkhitaryan.

Mkhitaryan has always been a very important player for Mourinho before, and based on heavy expectations for him, Mourinho has publicly stated many times that the most important thing for Manchester United is to hand over the No. 10 position to Mkhitaryan!

However, with Mkhitaryan's poor performance in the middle of the season, he has failed to feature in games on several occasions and has not even been included in the squad, and he feels that he will not get enough playing time and wants to leave Manchester United in the winter window, while Mourinho has simply allowed him to leave.

This is Mourinho's usual style, and he has not kept much of the player's departure request, after Depay, Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger have all left the Red Devils, and Fellaini's contract expires at the end of the season, and there is no news of a contract extension from the club.

Jose Mourinho also spoke again about his team's attitude towards the winter window in his press conference before the 23rd round of the Premier League, saying that even if United do buy people, it will not disrupt the balance of the current squad.

"We built our squad with the idea of not bringing in new players in January, and we built the team with that philosophy and I shared my football philosophy with the club's vice-president, Mr Woodward, and the owners, and our investments are usually made in the summer. Keeping the balance of the team was done in the summer, barring a dramatic situation, a large number of injuries that led to the need for an urgent trade. But sometimes it happens that there's a great opportunity at the negotiating table, and you're fighting for that opportunity. ”

When asked if there was a great opportunity now, Mourinho didn't answer, just gave a mysterious smile.