The victory in the seventh round of the English Premier League allowed Millwall to successfully open the points gap with Arsenal and sit on the top spot in the league.

However, other competitors are gradually catching up with the points.

Take, for example, Manchester United.

Manchester United started the season with a poor record of two draws and one defeat, but won all four of their next rounds, especially the home win over Chelsea in the previous round, which boosted the morale of the United team.

Much of the media's attention has focused on the battle for the top spot between Millwall and Arsenal, and in fact, the match between Manchester United and Chelsea has also attracted a lot of attention.

In terms of the long-term trend of the league table, Manchester United and Chelsea are both teams that will definitely rush forward, and they are also strong contenders for the league title.

Chelsea in the Mourinho era can be said to be the nemesis of Manchester United, the two teams have met six times in the league, Manchester United's record is one win, two draws and three losses, in an absolute disadvantage, even if it is three home games, it is also one win, one draw and one loss, and it has not taken any advantage.

Now Mourinho is gone.

Alex Ferguson and his Manchester United immediately made a beautiful comeback, 2-0, with goals from Carlos Tevez and Saha, Manchester United beat Chelsea and jumped up to third in the table, just two points away from Arsenal in front.

At the end of the game, the whole Manchester United team celebrated wildly.

There is still a lot of controversy about the penalty in this game.

Ferguson did not rejoice in the victory, he was calm and even complained about his opponents, saying that Mikel's red card and Saha's late penalty were wrong, "I saw the red card process and it was a bit sloppy. It was a deliberate foul that could have hurt Patrice Evra, but some other referee might not have given a red card. ”

Ferguson also did not forget to defend his players, "Joe Cole's tackle on Cristiano was a red card, the kind of foul would have kicked the opponent straight away from the game, and the referee only gave him a yellow card because he had already sent off a Chelsea player and he was balancing the first decision. ”

He went on to say United deserved a penalty, but it wasn't Saha's goal.

"[Joe Cole tackles Patrice Evra] United deserve a penalty and I think it was a penalty. The penalty awarded to Saha was a bit sloppy, but it was offset by Joe Cole's. ”

Manchester United's 2-0 victory was the biggest win over Chelsea in all competitions in three years.

Ferguson wasn't satisfied, 'In terms of the game, United played very well in the first half hour, the penetration was great, the passing was great, we should have been two or three goals ahead in that period, but Cech kept making great saves from the start. ”

While United were happy to win the game, the focus of the Premier League is still on Millwall, who have the best results, with a one-goal win over Arsenal giving them a three-point lead over Arsenal and five points ahead of Manchester United, a margin considering that there are only seven league games to go.

However, in terms of the game process, Millwall and Arsenal "disappointed" the expectations of the media, and most of the media focused on this game because the game was likely to be a "goal shootout", and in the end the two teams 'joined hands' to make the game much more dull than Manchester United and Chelsea, and the Times even used the word "disappointment" to describe it, "The game process was very disappointing, Arsenal, Millwall, Arsene Wenger and Zhang Yang, they all seemed to be playing for the win, not for the football." ”

'It's a utilitarian game, Arsenal want to win, maybe they think a draw can end with it, and Millwall thinks the same way, and the two teams together make the game very dull.'

Other media commented on the contest --

"Indescribable, unpredictable."

"Disappointing."

"I can't believe that utilitarianism will make football lose its color."

Manchester Sport unreservedly sarcastically said, "The game is like dog-on the side of the road, it's disgusting to look at!" ”

However, for Millwall ranking first in the league, various media still gave praise to them, because Millwall did not rely on 'utilitarianism' to win the first, they scored the most, nineteen goals in seven rounds, and the efficiency was very surprising.

The Guardian summed up the data from the opening seven rounds, Millwall's attacking stats, far from the rest of the team, "Seven games, 101 shots, 19 goals, an average of five shots, to be able to score one goal, there is no doubt that Millwall are at the top of the Premier League in terms of chances, and this is certainly thanks to their front. ”

'The stats show that Jamie Vardy, Luca Toney, Simpson and Braniff are all efficient.

Arsenal lost the game but summed up the first seven rounds and were also praised as they are top of the Premier League with a 56 per cent shot on target frame.

Although a shot on target does not mean a goal, it also shows the efficiency of the shot to some extent.

Instead, United have been criticized.

United have scored seven goals in seven league games, but they have had a whopping 108 shots on goal, more than Millwall, and a measly low goal scoring percentage, the bottom of the 20 teams in the Premier League.

Even if Manchester United win against Chelsea, this statistic will have to be confirmed.

The data doesn't tell the whole story, at least it proves that Manchester United's frontcourt has a very poor shooting efficiency, and the few players who shoot mainly will definitely have to bear some responsibility.

After the seventh round of the league, Millwall can breathe a sigh of relief, at least the league points advantage, and the pressure to be chased is a little less.

But the field is still dense.

In training, Zhang Yang began to emphasize that the players should pay attention to their bodies, rather than tactical training, as long as the players can be healthy, the team can continue to win.

Millwall face the Carabao Cup next.

The English League Cup is in the third round, with the top eight teams in the Premier League joining in, with Millwall drawing against Leicester City.

It was an easy game.

Millwall beat Leicester City 4-1 against Neil Stadium to advance to the next round of the Carabao Cup.

The Carabao Cup was followed by league play, with Millwall hosting Bolton.

Bolton are no difficult opponents.

Bolton finished 10th in the league last season and have made minor changes in the summer, with two notable signings: McCann and Hergusen.

McCann is a defensive midfielder with a fierce style.

The deal for Hergusen is somewhat questionable, as he has scored just seven goals in Fulham's 57 starts.

In terms of departing players, only Ben Haim is a "real loss", and the other five are all actively purged by Bolton.

Overall, Bolton has been little changed.

Millwall felt that the game was easy and playing at home gave the team more confidence.

What I didn't expect was that the game was extremely tough.

From the first minute of the game, Bolton has been constantly defending, Millwall has been used to it, most of the middle and lower teams in the Premier League will not play against Millwall, but will only be able to defend the goal and counterattack.

Of course, that's the best option.

Millwall was prepared, Zhang Yang discharged the 451 formation, but there was no definite answer to break the dense defense, even if there was a "word and word" in hand, it was very difficult to break the goal.

In the second half, Zhang Yang made substitution adjustments, he replaced Barragan with Luka Toney, and replaced the defender with a striker, not to say that he wanted to play a fast attack of 352, but just wanted to have one more striker and go to the front to find an opportunity to score.

But in the end, Millwall still failed to find the back of the net.

0 to 0.

Millwall could only accept the result of a draw.

After the game, Zhang Yang felt that there was nothing to say, "This may also be regarded as an honor, every league game is like this, the opponent will only defend." We've done our best. Yes, I dare say we didn't play badly, but it was a matter of luck to score goals. ”

Zhang Yang showed ironic helplessness.

Bolton Wanderers didn't matter, manager Sammy Lee said it would be a satisfying result to walk away a point under Millwall.

'A lot of teams didn't do it, in the last round, Arsenal worked hard, they were still at home, and we were away and we did it. Sammy Lee said, "Millwall are a strong opponent, very strong, and everyone has to admit that the other teams at the moment, should stop them. Just like us. ”

Sami Lee's statement left Zhang Yang speechless.

Is this to "unite all forces that can be united against Millwall"?

Zhang Yang was upset, Millwall was upset up and down, but the media was happy to hear what Sammy Lee had to say, because Millwall was too strong.

Last season, Millwall won both the league and the FA Cup.

Last season, Millwall won the 'treble'.

So far this season, Millwall has won the Community Shield, the UEFA Super Cup, and is still ranked first in the league, and before this game, it also pulled down the second place Arsenal by three points.

If it continues, I'm afraid there will be no opponents in the Premier League!

This is definitely not going to work!

So it is still necessary to join forces to boycott Millwall, and it must make Millwall difficult, and this season will not be able to win the title anyway.

————

Zhang Yang was not in the mood to entangle with Sammy Leedo, and after the match with Bolton, he immediately ushered in a clash with Reading.

The two rounds of the league are only four days apart.

As with last season, Reading remain very petty in the transfer market.

The £2.5 million transfer of Cochester defender Halford in the winter transfer window is considered one of the biggest failures in Premier League history, leaving the board and manager Korber to lean towards a few youngsters who play in the upper leagues, with price still being the primary factor, with only two first-team players joining the club's first team.

Defender Carifa Cisse, who plays for Boavista in the Portuguese Premier League, became the first player to be brought in, signing a three-year contract with the club for a turnover of around £600,000.

The second deal was the signing of 23-year-old right-back Emese Fayet, who was relegated from Nantes last season, on a three-year contract, who made more than 100 appearances in Nantes and won the 2001 World Junior Championship for France, but he eventually opted for the Ivory Coast national team and was part of the Ivory Coast squad for the World Cup in Germany. Reading's head of football, Hammond, believes Faye's style of play could bring some kind of qualitative change to the team.

Two rookies joined, the others were free signings, and Reading went into the season with such a line-up.

Of course, the results were also disastrous.

So far, Reading has two wins and one draw, ranking sixteenth in the league, barely entering the relegation zone, considering the eighteenth Fulham in the league, one win and three draws, only one point away from Reading, in fact, there is no difference from entering the relegation zone.

Reading, who performed like this, couldn't catch up with Sammy Lee's Bolton at all, so they faced Millwall at home and did not hesitate to put out a defensive formation.

"We're going to defend until the end of the game!"

That's what Reading expressed.

Many media outlets who came to interview hoped that Reading would achieve their goal and that they would not need to beat Millwall, as a draw would be enough to drop Millwall to second place in the league.

That's what many people want to see.

In the end, though, Reading's performance was disappointing, or Millwall were too good.

Millwall breathed a sigh of relief, in the last round and Arsenal, in the last round and Bolton, and then in this round, almost every game they have to face "breaking dense defense", which is really a bit head-scratching, with the continuous "breaking dense defense", the players are used to it, and the performance on the field is more stable and better.

Zhang Yang simply sent two forwards, but the formation is not 352, but 442, "breaking the dense defense" does not need too complicated tactics at all, the simplest way to play is the best, 442 formation, play around the opponent's half, and pay attention to the defense at the same time.

With a simple set of 442, Millwall scored a total of five goals in the second half, which shattered the idea of the Reading team to "fight for a draw", and even made them feel hopeless.

"The same style of play will not work forever, and different teams will not have the same effect when they use it."

"Defence wins, I admit it, but defence alone won't win Millwall!"

After the game, Zhang Yang said very seriously.

This sentence was used as a front-page headline by various media --

"The defense wins, but the defense can't win against Millwall!"

"The defense wins, but the defense can't win Millwall?"

As long as the symbol is changed later, the meaning of the expression changes, some are in favor, some are questioning, and some are disdainful.

There are certainly more opponents in the Premier League who will choose to use defence against Millwall, and they may even include Manchester United and Chelsea.

That's what Millwall has to face.

After leading the team back to the club, Zhang Yang convened the coaching staff, and the focus of the discussion was "how to enhance the ability to break dense defense".

It's a long-term thinking exercise.

Zhang Yang makes everyone think, write something, record something, and at the same time, it will also increase the training of breaking dense defense for the team, in contrast, the formation adaptation does not seem to be important, because the league opponent will not play normally at all, and in the face of the opponent's dense defense, no matter how the formation changes, it will not be able to play.

This is where the real distress lies.

"The master is lonely...... There are a lot of troubles for the masters! ”