Leeds United's home win over Chelsea was followed by a win away at 'Black Cat' Sunderland in the Premier League a week later.

Then came the expedition to Spain. In the situation of ensuring the first place in the group, George Lee sent a semi-main and half-substitute lineup to challenge old rival Sevilla.

The result was still a 1-0 win for Leeds United thanks to Kuyt's goal. Leeds United swept away the embarrassment of last season's group exit in the Champions League, and proved that it is indeed no longer just a Premier League powerhouse, but a European powerhouse.

They are top of the Champions League group, top of the league group, and are also in the round of eight in the League Cup, plus the Community Shield won before the start of the league.

It can be said that if Leeds United can continue to maintain, it will not be a problem to win the halfway title of the Premier League. Judging from the situation in previous years, most of the teams that won the Premier League halfway championship also won the final league title.

Although the half-marathon champion doesn't have medals and trophies, it's at least a good sign, isn't it?

^^^

Inside the Thorpe Arch training ground, Leeds United players are training and talking to each other. Everyone's faces were filled with smiles, and the training was carried out in a burst of laughter.

In recent rounds, although another player has been injured, there are also several players who have successfully made a comeback.

Both Woodgate and Sneijder are back in the squad after suffering a thigh strain to catch up with the next round of Premier League fixtures. Woodgate also came off the bench in the last game against Sevilla and was given nearly 30 minutes of playing time. Judging from the situation of the game, his recovery is relatively good.

Sneijder fared a little better, as he didn't make it to the Champions League but stayed in England to play in Leeds United's reserves. In the game, Sneijder showed the performance of "Passage to Heaven", which taught Manchester United's reserve team a good lesson.

"Next time, I'll put all the main players in the reserve team to play with you."

These are the words left by Alex Ferguson, who came to Yorkshire with the team to watch the reserve team game, and the old man specially came to inspect a few of his reserve team midfielders, thinking about whether he could promote one or two to the first team next season.

It's just that after seeing Sneijder's performance, the old man gave up on the idea.

Going back to prepare for the next Premier League game against Leeds United, seeing Sneijder's performance, he also knew that Sneijder's form would definitely play in the game, so he had to make a little preparation for this.

George Lee would have been shocked if he had known what Ferguson was thinking.

Because George Li himself didn't think about whether to let Sneijder start in the next game, it was not that Sneijder was not recovering well, it can be said that Sneijder's condition has fully recovered. It's because Smith has been playing too well in the central midfield position lately.

Although George Lee did not have to be too involved in the offensive organization in his performance with Chelsea, the stronger Smith still helped the team's midfielder to sort out the attack in the next two games, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the core of Leeds United's organization.

George Lee can't say anything yet, because Smith is not only organizing the attack, he is excellent at cutting, shooting, intercepting, scrambling and other aspects.

Since his job is very good, why does George Li have to organize such a thing as icing on the cake.

So, now George Lee has a little bit of happy troubles.

Originally, he envisioned a combination of Parker, Barry and Sneijder in midfield, with Smith partnering Arjen Robben on the wing.

But now Smith is back in central midfield and playing well.

"If you have to choose between Sneijder and Smith......," George Lee kept muttering to himself, "Barry is injured, and Parker and Barton seem to be better paired with Smith...... If Barry returns, Parker, Barry, and Snead are more suitable...... Barry...... Barry ......"

George Lee kept chanting the name "Barry".

"Barry, Gareth Barry!"

George Lee finally came up with a new combination.

^^^

The highlight of the 16th round of the 07/08 Premier League season has begun, with third-placed Manchester United hosting league leaders Leeds United.

As soon as kick-off kicked off, Kuyt, who was driving off the ball from Leeds United, had just passed the ball back to Sneijder, and Ferguson stopped chewing gum on the sidelines.

He discussed with his assistant for two days and thought that Leeds would put Sneijder back in the main squad after Sneijder's return. Especially after Ferguson watched Sneijder's game in the reserves, he specially arranged several defensive tactics to target Sneijder.

Today, he sent Hargreaves and Anderson as two midfielders, instead of Carrick, a field-controlled midfielder, just to use the Brazilian teenager Anderson in the midfield to impact the opponent's double back, and then with the small Ronaldo on the side and Rooney and Tevez in front, it should be able to make Sneijder consume more physical energy in defense, so that Sneijder's attention does not have to focus too much on attack.

Manchester United's Little Ronaldo, Rooney, and Tevez can be said to be Ferguson's most satisfying "counter-attacking trio" right now, and only three of them are needed in the attack to tear apart the opponent's entire backline.

But Ferguson was a little dumbfounded when he saw the man next to Sneijder.

Alan Smith is the midfield partner for Sneijder and Parker today.

George Lee abandoned the 354 formation that had been used before, and also abandoned the combination of two midfielders, leaving only Parker as a midfielder, and instead let Sneijder and Smith play as central midfielders at the same time.

He switched to the 433 he used at the start of the season, and it was still Kuyt who burst forward. Arneson and Gareth Bale were sent on the wings, and the two full-backs were also the faster Blake and Baines. James Milner is injured and Leeds United is still fielded on the right flank today with Blake, who has been in excellent form recently.

Ferguson has three "2s" here, but George Lee has a group of "A's" here.

Today's game is going to be a head-to-head battle, with both sides committing a lot of force in attack.

Correspondingly, both sides will be under intense pressure at the back. Here at Manchester United, Robinson, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, and Brown are the strongest defensive lineups that Manchester United can come up with. They have conceded the fewest goals since the start of the tournament with the exception of Leeds United.

Here at Leeds United, two fast and strong full-backs with strong forward ability are partnered with Woodgate and Mathieson, two central defenders with a certain ability to follow-up, and it is enough to deal with Manchester United's signature counterattack. Don't forget that their goalkeeper is the experienced Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.

If we talk about the decade before the 21st century, the best goalkeeper in the Premier League was Kasper Schmeichel. Then after the twenty-first year, the best goalkeepers in the Premier League are Edwin van der Sar and Petr Cech.

Originally, this honour should have belonged to Cech alone, but Van der Sar has been a serious contender for this honour after arriving at Leeds United with his outstanding performances.